40withegg: a tasty, filling meal for your mind: Posts

Man playing a hand-made, electrified, one-stringed musical instrument in New York's Central Park

Joseph's shared items in Google Reader — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:35:22 -0500

Shared by Joseph
Really cool -- half Chinese stringed instrument, half bluesy electric-slide

I met this man in New York's Central Park. He was playing an electrified one-stringed instrument he had built himself. He couldn't speak English very well, but I showed him a photo of my 3-stringed dronestick, and he nodded in approval. I want to make one!

San Francisco Botanical Garden Fee Proposal Meeting

joe — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:36:47 -0500

On April 6, 2009, the city of San Francisco held a public meeting regarding the proposed $5 entrance fee to the San Francisco Botanical Garden. About 200 people showed up to profess nearly unanimous disapproval for the plan.

Here are some of the points I found were noteworthy:

No other proposal other than the $5 entrance fee were mentioned by the city. People were disappointed that no innovative or even traditional proposals were floated, such as fund raisers or benefit concerts.
The fee would not only make of up for the budget shortfall but also increase available funds for improving the Garden.
The City is trying to float the $5 as having the same (positive) impact as the fees for the Japanese Tea Garden and the Conservatory of Flowers.
Most people realized that the money needs to come from somewhere.
Almost everyone gathered agreed that a $5 fee was prohibitively expensive given how often SF local visit the Botanical Garden.
Most of the crowd agreed that San Francisco residents should not be charged for visiting the Garden; "tourists" should be charged a fee.
The SF locals in the meeting felt that the Botanical Garden's large size, ease of access, casual family usage, and other features constitute a much larger cultural asset, and thus loss to the community, were a fee to be imposed, especially to low-income, fixed-income, and retired people.

Personally I feel that we need to explore other funding alternatives. Charging an entrance fee would shift the Botanical Garden away from an easily accessible San Francisco experience into an exclusive tourist destination. No locals would wander through 3 days a week at $5 a pop. We need fund raisers, benefit events, and political lobbying. I'm a realist: I realize that that money does not grow on the international trees planted there, and I usually roll my eyes at anyone who wants a free lunch. But, I truly feel that a $5 flat fee would kill the place for locals. There must be some other combination of funding for fees: what about a $1 fee plus heavy fund raising? What about a "suggested fee" donation that is heavily pushed and manned at gate entrances, such as at the Museum of Natural History in NYC? Despite the income that the Botanical Garden might generate, this income will not make up for the cultural loss to the city, especially to those who low-income folks who frequent the Garden multiple times per week.

Check out my sideshow on Flickr:

Community meeting to discuss proposed fees for S.F. Botancical Gardens

Joseph's shared items in Google Reader — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:56:26 -0500

Steve Rhodes posted a photo:

Community meeting April 6 at 6:30 - 8 p.m. at the County Fair Building 9th Avenue and Lincoln Way, Golden Gate Park

The proposed fees are:

-- Adults: residents, $5; non-residents $7

-- Seniors: residents, $3; non-residents $4

-- Youths, ages 17-20: residents $3; non-residents $4

-- Children, ages 5-11: residents $1.50; non-residents $2

-- Children, under age 4: free

-- Annual family pass for the garden, the Japanese Tea Garden and Conservatory of Flowers: $75

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/24/BAKS...

Tweet: first sunburn of the year

Twitter / joe_moore — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:08:56 -0500

first sunburn of the year

Tweet: heading out for a sunny...

Twitter / joe_moore — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:16:08 -0500

heading out for a sunny Sunday picnic in Golden Gate Park.

Virgin America RED Linux Boot Sequence - 2

Uploads from joe.moore, tagged 40withegg — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:58:13 -0500

Tweet: official obsessed with Saddleback Leather...

Twitter / joe_moore — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:05:33 -0500

official obsessed with Saddleback Leather Company bags: http://www.saddlebackleather.com/

Tweet: @bert9576 we're completely up to...

Twitter / joe_moore — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:03:46 -0500

@bert9576 we're completely up to date on Lost now. Now I can sleep.

Tweet: @dav DO NOT EXCEDED THE...

Twitter / joe_moore — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:49:26 -0500

@dav DO NOT EXCEDED THE SPEED LIMIT in Colfax! Speeding tickets provide something like 99.9999% of the city budget.

Joint statement from the Iowa legislative leadership on today's same-gender marriage decision

Joseph's shared items in Google Reader — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 06:05:23 -0500

Shared by Xian
I'm proud of my home state.

Wow. Apparently all Dems are NOT spineless wonders.

News Release
For Immediate Release: April 3, 2008
Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal
House Speaker Pat Murphy

Iowa continues to be a leader in guaranteeing civil rights

This is a joint statement from Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal and Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy on today's Supreme Court decision:

"Thanks to today's decision, Iowa continues to be a leader in guaranteeing all of our citizens' equal rights.

"The court has ruled today that when two Iowans promise to share their lives together, state law will respect that commitment, regardless of whether the couple is gay or straight.

"When all is said and done, we believe the only lasting question about today's events will be why it took us so long. It is a tough question to answer because treating everyone fairly is really a matter of Iowa common sense and Iowa common decency.

"Today, the Iowa Supreme Court has reaffirmed those Iowa values by ruling that gay and lesbian Iowans have all the same rights and responsibilities of citizenship as any other Iowan.

"Iowa has always been a leader in the area of civil rights.

"In 1839, the Iowa Supreme Court rejected slavery in a decision that found that a slave named Ralph became free when he stepped on Iowa soil, 26 years before the end of the Civil War decided the issue.

"In 1868, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated "separate but equal" schools had no place in Iowa, 85 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.

"In 1873, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against racial discrimination in public accommodations, 91 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.

"In 1869, Iowa became the first state in the union to admit women to the practice of law.

"In the case of recognizing loving relationships between two adults, the Iowa Supreme Court is once again taking a leadership position on civil rights.

"Today, we congratulate the thousands of Iowans who now can express their love for each other and have it recognized by our laws."