An Arab sheikh has had his first name carved into the sand of the island he owns in letters so large they can be seem from space. Hamad bin Hamdan al Nahyan (the articles are calling him Al Ahyan, but that’s incorrect) is a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi. The letters are half a mile high. It’s interesting, though, that he chose “HAMAD” instead of “حمد.”
BART will be working with the Designworks USA, the design-consulting division of BMW Group. The goal is to create the Fleet of the Future and the future being 2017.
The San Francisco Examiner also wrote about the partnership:
BART currently has the oldest fleet of train cars in the country — with the current vehicles nearing 40 years old. This summer, the agency is expected to award a $3 billion contract to replace all 669 of BART’s existing cars.
“When Pakistan experienced severe flooding last year, it had the unexpected and rather creepy-crawly side effect of driving millions upon millions of spiders to the trees, where they could escape the floodwater. Since the flooding lasted for such a long time, many trees became blanketed in thick layers of web.”
Read more at: http://www.geekosystem.com/spiderweb-trees-pakistan/
the little poops are epoxy
Sunday Streets San Francisco is again tomorrow! Come out to Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for a pedestrian- and bicycle-only takeover of the streets!
I saw this in a hotel lobby the other day in San Francisco. Good luck visitors.
PlayMo is an urban intervention by City Leaks in Melbourne (Australia).
(via A Temporary Playground for Urban Dwellers at Sub-Studio Design Blog)
fun things cooked up by The Fun Theory folks
Volkswagen Ambient Ad - The Speed Camera Lottery - ‘The Fun Theory’ - Can we get more people to obey the speed limit by making it fun to do? Obey the speed limit and get a ‘Like’
Today, SF Undergound Market sent this bittersweet message out to its members:
I started the Underground Market in 2009 as a reaction to the high bar of entry that has been created to start a food business, something that I experienced personally. Starting in a house in the Mission with seven vendors and 150 eaters, the market has grown to feed over 50,000 people and help over 400 vendors get their start.
As many of you have heard, the health department came to the last Underground Market on July 11th and served us a cease and desist letter, stating they no longer considered the market a private event.
The market was able to function to this point because it was considered a private event (hence the market sign-ups). We organized it in this way following a suggestion by the health department. Everyone who walks through the door is a member who knows they are eating un-certified food , so technically the health department doesn’t have to be involved.
They have decided (apparently with pressure from the state level), that the market is no longer a private event, and can therefore not continue as it has. We have requested a meeting with the city attorney for a definition of what a private/public event is exactly, so we can determine where the line is, and continue running the market.
This was not an unexpected event. We’ve known that it was only a matter of time until someone became upset about the popularity of the event. Because we’ve been expecting it doesn’t mean that we accept it.
Over the last year and a half The Underground Market has grown into a supportive community of makers and eaters. We see that in the 30-50 new vendors that apply every month, bringing samples of foods they clearly poured their hearts into, and the thousands of people who walk through the door each month to eat that food.
Our goal is to keep this momentum going. We would like to see the market continue to exist much as it has because we feel that it provides a necessary venue for people starting new food businesses. We’re interested in providing a space for entrepreneurs who for a myriad of reasons are not able to abide by the regulations put in place. The regulations, upfront costs, red tape, and lack of clarity in procedures all too often stop amazing food from ever being eaten.
The market is used in different ways by different people. Some are home cooks that have always wanted to sell, but for various reasons have not been able. Cocotutti is a prime example. She sold her first chocolates at the market over a year ago, and has since won national awards, moved into a commercial kitchen, and is approaching markets to stock her goods. KitchenSidecar worked at a bio consulting job, with a food blog on the side, before she found the market. Now she cooks full-time, caters, holds her own dinners, and collaborates on a Vietnamese pop-up restaurant called Rice Paper Scissors with another vendor, Little Knock. Nosh This was working as an architect before he was laid off and turned to the world of candy. Following his recent appearances in the New York Times, his wholesale accounts have exploded, he has moved into a commercial kitchen, and is working to make “Bacon Crack” a household name.
These are a few examples of people whose business, and some would say lives, have been changed because of their exposure at the market. People who have been able to earn money for themselves instead of populating the unemployment rolls. People who are contributing to the local economy while at the same time expanding the local food community.
We want the Underground Market to be a space for food entrepreneurs to get started on a small scale. And we want to continue to offer them more resources to move forward. We have seen the need for some time to have a space where vendors can produce their wares commercially. A space where we can hold classes on food safety/business, have commercial kitchen space for vendor use, retail space for them to sell, and café space with rotating chefs for them to cook. This space will be a hub, a place where people can come together around the wealth of food being produced in our city. We are starting work on looking for a space/getting details together on the project, and will send more information out soon.
On a personal note, I want to say that I really appreciate all the support people have shown. From emails from friends to tweets from strangers, you have all shown that you think the market is an important event and that you want it to continue.
This shutdown is an opportunity to find a workable model that can help not only The Underground Market in SF, but similar markets all over the country. The precedent we set here will ripple across the country. It will effect not only San Francisco vendors, but vendors nationwide. From cottage food laws to street food, we’ve seen an explosion of opportunity for small entrepreneur food businesses pop up over the last several years. We will continue to move forward toward our goal of keeping the market open, and our struggle can be an opportunity to find yet another way to help this movement grow.
Thank you,
Iso Rabins
founder, forageSF
———- How to be involved ————
Contact your local city supervisor or:
- Call or email the Mission District supervisor, David Campos
David.Campos@sfgov.org
(415) 554-5144
There are also more tangible ways to get involved, especially if you have legal expertise, so please email us if you’d like to get help out:
1. Keep the Underground Market
- Legal and political organizing expertise, email markets@foragesf.com
2. forageSF incubator project
- Investors, designers, contractors, lawyers email iso@foragesf.com
We want to hear what you think, so if you have any other ideas, questions, or suggestions, please email iso@foragesf.com. To stay up to date on what’s happening, follow our blog atforagesf.com/blog.
New York Times Newsbits:
Bay Area Underground Market Draws Authorities’ Notice (18 June 2011)
Renegade San Francisco Underground Market (8 April 2011)
Underground Market and Pop-ups in San Francisco Draw Foodies (slideshow)
Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as hydrofracking or fracking, is the process of applying fluid pressure of onto reservoir rock formations causing a fracture so that the internal fluid spreads, leading to oil and natural gas capture. This causes severe environmental concerns explained in this fun video.
“To make way for the enlarged sidewalks, all parking spaces on the two-block stretch will be removed.”
This is in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Seven buckles cost LA tax-payers over $325,000. Look, state DOTs need to rethink their designs and incorporate higher heat and lower temperatures. Or, do like France and make road contractors responsible for any flaws or problems that occur to their product. This crappy work based on low state standards is too expensive, and could cost people their lives. We’ve become a nation of constant infrastructure repair, which drags down the economy like an anchor. Politicians need to get their shit together and get to work!
Jefferson Parish officials blamed seven road buckles on the heat. The phenomenon occurs when concrete panels expand in high temperatures and run out of space between them, rupturing upward and suddenly forming potentially dangerous and damaging ramps.
“It hasn’t been cooling down at night,” to give the roads a break, said Randy Nicholson, Jefferson Parish streets director. “You walk out early in the morning, it’s like you’re walking into an oven.”
When roads pop, Nicholson said parish crews remove the upended panels and temporarily fill the void with limestone gravel until a contractor can make the permanent fix.
Three of Jefferson Parish’s road eruptions took place along Severn Avenue in Metairie on Sunday, he said. With three lanes in each direction, Severn has more seams where concrete sheets can strain against each other, he said.
Nicholson said one of the larger upheavals on Severn might cost $30,000 to repair. Spots only involving two concrete panels cost about $10,000.
Kenner has reported responding to 23 road buckles since May 5 at a total cost to the city of $338,258.
When Casey Neistat was issued a $50 ticket for not riding in the bike lane, he protested against the ticket by making this homemade video showing himself in various situations where the bike lane isn’t really the safest place to bike.
