September 2003

 

9/30/03

Today is Botswana National Day and Guinea-Bissau Independence Day.

Apparently, Mr. Choyce has plans for developing housing on the block immediately east of Fantasy, financed in part with our HUD money

The gas and electric company is installing new service along Pardee.

Sadly, the owner of the Missouri Bar has died. 

 

 

9/28/03

Sunday afternoon, Potter Creek hosted another elegant, catered, garden-party.

Ah, . . . will the h'orduerves, wine, champagne and cake never end?

 

 

9/26/03

What will become the Potter Creek Hazardous Material Users Map is now up at

My Neighborhood's Hazardous Material Users.

Initially, the users will be marked with a red dot at their approximate position within their block. When I receive more detailed information, the red will fill-in their entire lot.

 

9/25/03

So now just where is our namesake, Potter Creek? According to a City of Berkeley, Department of Engineering, 1990 Map it runs underground in a 2ft culvert entering Potter Creek, the neighborhood, at the southeast corner of San Pablo and Heinz, runs along Heinz and directly under the Scharffen Berger factory, turns southwest at just before the corner of Heinz and 7th, and leaves Potter Creek at Potter Street and the railroad right of way.

Thank you David, Peter, and Melody.

 

9/23/03

   
Seattle Post reporter, Robert McClure offers "High Level of PBDEs Found in Breast Milk" at MSNBC.com "Chemicals used to prevent fires in everyday items such as furniture and computers -- and known to cause developmental problems in test animals -- have been measured in women's breast milk at troubling levels, says the first national study of the phenomenon."

And, see our 9/6/03 post.

 

9/22/03

The Washington Post reports China's Hippies Find Their Berkeley. Oh, . . . well.

 

9/19/03

Reuters reports that Bayer stock rose after the Baycol court decision in their favor.

A look at British air-war strategy-and-tactics in the mid-East can be found in COIN: Taking up the White Man's Burden, Airpower and the British Empire, 1919-1938. Though the story has a definite political view and an attitude, it puts our time into perspective. It also has some great aircraft and armor profiles.

 

9/18/03

The APOC (Asphalt Products Oil Corporation) property that is not part of the proposed, but now temporarily withdrawn, Berkeley Bowl site is a rectangle bordered on the north by the proposed Berkeley Bowl facility, on the south by Ashby Avenue, on the east by the RR tracks, and on the west by 9th Street. This parcel of land includes the asphalt processing facility and offices. The site, in the past, stored and processed petroleum, had at least one explosion and fire, and has used asbestos in fire-proofing asphalt-products.

One of the leading proposed uses of this site is as a low-cost housing complex. I question such a use without a CAREFUL AND THOROUGH study of the property's toxicity.

Years ago, at a community meeting, city representatives named APOC (Asphalt Products Oil Corporation) as one of the three most environmentally threatening properties in our neighborhood.

 

9/17/03

In a recent conversation with the architect of the now withdrawn Berkeley Bowl project, I was told that the Berkeley Bowl property extends from the Sharffen Berger parking lot east to Ninth Street and from Heinz Street south to the APOC facility. This includes the APOC storage lot--a lot that for years was used for the storage of petroleum products. It would seem that if the Berkeley Bowl project ever goes forward, a hard look should be taken at the envorimental effects of the years of storage as well as the present and past effects of APOC's next-door facility.

For an hour or so it was "Old Home Week" at the Bakery Cafe on 9th and Parker, as Merryll, Ospy, Ed, Marvin, and Rick were together again.

 

9/16/03

Today is Mexico Independence Day and Papua New Guinea Independence Day 

The Material Safety Data Sheet for an APOC (Asphalt Products Oil Corporation) can found on the Internet. Note that the address for the Corporation is Long Beach, California--however, APOC is a registered hazardous materials user with the City of Berkeley.

Yesterday, I gave a from-high-school friend a tour of Potter Creek. An ole fart, he was as interested in Ed. Jones & Co. as he was in Scharffen Berger. (If there is interest, we should give proper tours.)

 

9/15/03

Today is Costa Rica Independence Day, El Salvador Independence Day, Guatemala Independence Day, Honduras Independence Day, Nicaragua Independence Day, and Battle of Britain Day 1940. 

If Berkeley Bowl's market and warehouse are built on the property they've purchased in Potter Creek, they will butt up against APOC (Asphalt Products Oil Corporation.) A facility which is now in production, stores and processes petroleum, has had at least one explosion and fire, and has used asbestos in fire-proofing asphalt-products.

Ed. Jones & Co. reads the sign at the engravers on 8th Street and judging by their use of punctuation they're Old School. They are a family owned business that has a history going back to the 1800s. I greatly appreciate their presence in Potter Creek.

 

 

9/13/03

WHOOPEE!

HOLY MOLEY, BATMAN!

 

Not as exuberant, but original, is "Bred for Power" by the new New York Times reporter, David Brooks.

 

 

9/12/03

Today is a Spare the Air day.

Rick Auerbach is back in town and it was good to see and talk to him last night. Rick's a very important part of our neighborhood. But then, so is Sally.

 

9/11/03

On the Second Anniversary of 9/11, MSNBC.com offers "Study Sees Trade Center Health Issues: Air Samples Show 'Chemical Factory' at Ground Zero." Among the substances inhaled were glass particles which can move through the lungs into the bloodstream and heart.

John Philips hopes to have their building finished in November and offered "Then it will no longer be a DuPont billboard."

Work has begun on the Scharffen Berger café.

Today is a Spare the Air day.

 

9/10/03

German actress, photographer and film-maker, Leni Riefenstahl died Monday. She was 101 years old.

I came down 8th yesterday mid-day and thought there was a fire in the 2800 block--there wasn't, it was just a quarter-block of drifting smoke.

I'd like to thank the half-dozen or so people who have given me information about environmental abuse in Potter Creek and would encourage others with information to email me at ronpenndorf@earthlink.net Your environment isn't an abstraction, it is your neighborhood, your property, your business, your children, you.

 

9/9/03

Yesterday morning, I was slowed in my drive to the bank by parents dropping off their children at Ecole Bilingue on 9th and Heinz. But there is something basic and wonderful about moms dropping off kids, even if it slows traffic. I don't understand the neighbors' objection to this small inconvenience. Rather than being annoyed, check out the Scene. (The crossing guards are particularly classy and noteworthy.)

David and his Lab, Gracie, came to visit last night. Gracie found her stick much more interesting than me. I'm trying not to take it personally.

Ah, . . . the printer's-ink-like-stink is back. I thought I'd go to Travlin' Joe's for corn-waffles. But since he's closer to it than me, I'm going to skip it.

 

9/8/03

Peter Finn and Susan Schmidt of the Washington Post offer "Al Qaeda Plans a Front in Iraq: Strategy Shift May Signal Weakness" at MSNBC.com

Then again, was a pair of what appeared to be F-14s circling our three bridges for an hour or so yesterday a standing patrol?

 

 

9/7/03

Swami Ron hopes to keep you out of trouble with "You judge a man first by what he does, not what he says and a woman first by what she says, not what she does."

Benjamin Siegel was a capitalist visionary but a lousy money manager . . . , and a criminal sociopath. Check out the movie, Bugsy.

A favorite composer of mine, Charles Ives, wrote in notes to his small composition Gup, the Blood or Hearst! Which is Worst? "Gup-a prominent criminal gets the gallows; Hearst-another prominent criminal gets the money."

Barbara Bush, another favorite person of mine, is supposed to have offered "Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is."

 

 

9/6/03

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) are found in many household items and increasingly in our blood--they are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic. "Rapidly Rising PBDE Levels in North America" explains why and more. This story appears on the Environmental Science and Technology site.

For more articles, see Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers.

Todays West County Times "Where We Live" features Berkeley and Albany.

The West County Times also offers "U.S Contines to Shed Jobs" by Peter G. Gosselin of the Los Angeles Times and "Universal Faces the Music by Cutting CD Prices" by Los Angeles Times' Jeff Leeds.

 

 

9/5/03

Berkeley High's principal has canceled our opening football game because of possible violence between attending adults of South Berkeley and North Oakland.

 

 

9/4/03

 

 

 

Geoff, fellow record and motorcycle collector, is a regular visitor to Potter Creek,

sometimes on his limited edition Ducati

 

 

 

 

9/2/03

HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY

MOTOR COMPANY!

 

WELCOME BACK E'COLE BILINGUE!

 

 

 

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

 

 

Richards and Michael Haley before they found the Buttercup

(see 8/8/03 post)

 

 

 

 

 

August 2003

 

8/29/03

So far this month, Scrambled Eggs and Lox pages have received over 2400 visits. The page most visited after "Almost Daily Posts" is "People and Their Places."

 

 

8/28/03

Immediately to the west and upwind of OSH is APOC or Asphalt Products Oil Corporation. Potter Creek lore has it that this firm some time ago made a petroleum-based waterproofing material, the manufacture of which involved high-temperatures and product-transfer. That would explain the odor, if they are now engaged in similar manufacturing processes. (Maybe not a new stink?)

At 11:45 PM on Monday, 8/25/03, the air in the 2700 block of 8th street was filled with a burning-rubber-like odor. More than unpleasant, it was physically irritating.

Two "small bombs" exploded at Emeryville's Chiron Corporation this morning around 3:00AM and 4:00AM. No one was injured and damage was confined to a blown-out window. A third explosion was reported at 7:00AM.

 

 

 

8/27/03

Ah, a New Stink!

About 9:00 yesterday morning, something I've only smelled while passing the refineries on Highway 80 found it's way into Potter Creek. It's an odor I associate with petroleum-cracking, but it surrounded the entrance to OSH on 9th Street--there was a tanker-like-truck unloading at a facility roughly opposite the driveway.

And over the weekend, I talked to my next-door neighbor-for-a-decade who recently moved to the Southwest but was here for a visit. "What's the best thing about it?" I asked. "I guess . . . the air. I don't feel tired all the time and when I am tired I don't feel wrung out, just tired. I don't wake up congested and with a headache either."

Which reminded me of a conversation I had here months ago with a New Yorker who lived on Long Island. While waiting for our breakfast at Bacheeso's, we began talking. "I love the weather, but how can you breath this air. I was on Ashby at the stoplight and the whole corner smelled of gasoline."

Mike Taugher of the West County Times offers "Audit Looks at Clean-Air Exemptions."

And John Markoff of the New York Times appears with "SoBig May Aim to Spew Spam."

 

 

8/26/03

 

FOOD NOTES

Yesterday, there was a great lemonade-stand in the 900 block of Grayson. Lemonade was 25 cents a cup and you could also buy cookies. The lemonade was VERY GOOD!

Sharffen Berger's café will serve breakfast and lunch, and will specialize in chocolate desserts and drinks. There will also be out-door seating--construction will begin presently. (The facility will be available for special evening events.)

Sunday night, Potter Creek hosted a wonderful garden party.

 

 

 

 

8/24/03

Andrew and his 1968 Norton Commando

This isn't a particularly small Norton, it's a particularly large Andrew.

 

 

 

Who ARE these guys? WHY . . . ARRGH! They're my neighbors.

 

In the '50s and '60s there was a group called "The Ray Charles Singers." They recorded very mid-American material for American Decca--not unlike Lawrence Welk's. In Berkeley, in the '60s, we carried their records at Campus Records on Telegraph Avenue. They didn't sell at all in Berkeley, but we stocked them out of deference to our Decca rep--a former liquor-salesman immaculately dressed in Italian silk-suits. Also, Albert the owner, would sometimes try out some "straight-kid," from maybe Hayward, in an attempt to broaden sales. It was such an employee who took a well-dressed, elderly Black-woman to the Ray Charles Singers section. "No" she protested "I want OUR Ray Charles." Actually, we all thought of him as our Ray Charles. Well, maybe not that kid.

(For more about that time, read "Back in The Day: Selling Records on Berkeley's Telegraph Avenue.")

 

 

 

8/23/03

Brian Krebs of the Washington Post offers his excellent report "Experts Race to Contain SoBig."

I question the City of Berkeley Parking Enforcement policy of ticketing a business's vehicle while parked in front of their business after loading. Seems a contradiction, especially when another one of our leading businesses is allowed to effectively block all thru traffic on the street in front of their facility while unloading.

Are Berkeley's city polices controlled by a "good ole boy" network of ex-radicals? Nah, nobody controls nothin'.

 

 

 

8/22/03

The same school of thought that offers "If you can ask the question, you already know the answer" would suggest that "If in Berkeley everything is political, nothing is political."

Or not.

 

 

8/21/03

Berkeley PD Motor-officer Ben Cardoza was the victim of a hit-and-run on the afternoon of 8/20/03. He and his motorcycle were run down on Ashby and Wheeler by a white Chevy Caprice. He was hit so hard "His motorcycle seemed to explode into the air" said one witness.

 

And where was that detergent-like, and irritating, smell coming from last-night around 7 to 8 o'clock on a west-wind. (It gave me a headache after twenty or so minutes.) Years ago, I used to think it came from Colgate-Palmolive. But Colgate isn't there anymore. And who still is? Well, NS&C for one--maybe only. (The residents in the 2800 block of 8th are bothered by it much more regularly.) Let's see, combine that odor with the diesel fumes from the railroad-trains, the printer-ink-like smell, rubber-dust from cars and trucks on the freeway, vehicle-emissions from the freeway, fumes from bunker-fuel in ships in the harbor, and any other up-wind polution.

Damn, one swell cocktail!

(Oh ya, the sometimes-west-wind pushes this into the Valley. So don't worry, we just create it. We don't always have to breath it.)

 

In Devil in the Blue Dress, one of my favorite fictional detectives, Easy Rollins, is offered some advice by a hardened hoodlum. It goes something like "As soon as you step out your door, you're mixed-up-in-it. Thing is to be mixed-up-in-it at the top."

 

 

 

8/20/03

I see that Bayer has a brand-new American Flag flying atop the old Colgate building. I've always thought of our flag as a symbol of the People and not the current government--notice that the flag doesn't change when one group of scoundrels leaves office and another comes in. I'd like to see the City of Berkeley Flag flying below Old Glory--seems even the Tribe of Berkeley has a symbol.

This morning, as I opened the carefully wrapped Czech-mil-spec shirt from Sportsman's Guide, I was amazed by the thought and care taken in packaging this new, but three-for-twelve-dollar, item. Stays, clips, pins, and cello-wrap protected the tan, cotton-blend shirt. As a kid, after WWII, one of the wonders of life was going through an Army surplus store. There was a lot of real good, inexpensive stuff then because after the War there was enormous surplus. Through the years the surplus store faded away in the Bay Area. But in Minnesota they have Sportsman's Guide and we have sportsmansguide.com. Definitely check it out!

 

 

8/19/03

Peter and Geralyn are relatively new to our neighborhood, yet they make maximum use of Potter Creek. They not only live here but both work here within easy biking distance, enjoy west-Berkeley's restaurants, study at one of our schools and generally are out-and-about. These, and other, new residents seem to fully use and enjoy Potter Creek.

In the way that the town-square "makes" a town, a park "makes" a neighborhood. We don't have one. And soon we won't even have the smallest green-space.

Perhaps a real solution to the parking problem in this area is an underground garage. With a park on top? Nah, this isn't Emeryville.

 

 

8/18/03

Somethings from a west-Berkeley Sunday bike-ride.

"The Bay Area's News Station," broadcast the sign on the side of the Channel 4 mobile-unit at the Marina--must be a different Channel 4.

And, "Positive. Thinking. Produces. Winning. Achievements. 63 Degrees." flashed a sign, word-by-word, in Bayer's Northgate parking lot.

Overwhelmed by the beauty of the bayscape just south of Skate's, I'm perversely reminded of a friend's comment as we drove through the Redwoods up at Kary Mullis'. "You see one tree, you've seen em all!" (Of course, his idea of nature was the grass-strip between his apartment building and the street.)

Have a crab sandwich with everything, and a Steward's--Since 1924--Root Beer at the Sea Breeze.

 

 

8/17/03

 Today is Gabon Independence Day and Indonesia Independence Day 

A couple of my neighbors mentioned that they recently started riding bicycles. More than twenty years ago, the boss-man at Advance Heli Welders regularly rode a lightweight around the neighborhood.

The Canned Food Store just got in Zentis Belfutta Raspberry Preserve--made and packed in Germany.

In the '50s, even as a white-boy in the mid-West, I knew that Jerry Lee Lewis had Soul. I just rediscovered him on the CD, Jerry Lee Lewis (Sun-37102). Among other tunes, it has "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On." "Little Queenie," "What'd I Say," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and "Great Balls of Fire." Border's, Emeryville has some for $5.99.

But then again, I did go to Jazz at the Phil in my zoot-suit, fedora, and blue-suede shoes--I was by no means the best-dressed person there.

 

More biker-wisdom from my Harley and Goldwing buddies.

Always remember you're unique. Just like everyone else.

Some days you are the bug; some days you are the windshield.

Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving.

The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.

Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

 

(For a story about Advance Heli Welders see People and Their Places.)

 

 

8/16/03

My Harley and Goldwing buddies offer about consequences "Life isn't like a box of chocolates . . . it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today might burn your ass tomorrow. "

 

 

8/15/03

Today is Congo National Day, India Independence Day, and Korea National Day.

It's only a guess, but I bet Kava's Mom put on one grand Persian feast last night.

One of our neighborhood's manufactures, engaged in an email exchange with a customer, was at a loss to explain Potter Creek, especially its smells. Exasperated, he offered Scrambled Eggs and Lox URL. At the end of the day he received a reply something like "I spent hours reading the pages of this site. Who IS this guy?"

(Of Persian cuisine I wrote on 7/18/03 "Persian Cuisine has taught me about the perfume of food--not the smell or taste--but the fragrance.")

 

 

8/14/03

I have been told officially that one of Potter Creek's largest businesses takes my environmental observations seriously. If they think they might be involved, engineering meetings are called and special monitoring is done.

One of Potter Creek's scientists recently offered "Science is like medicine, you can get a lot of different opinions."

While I was at the stop sign on Acton and Delaware, a bicyclist blew the sign, cut off a pedestrian, and, without signaling, made a left turn in front of a SUV that had stopped and was proceeding through the intersection. Sh####t! (Well, maybe he was one of those rubber people who bounce off of stuff unharmed.) My bicycling experience in west-Berkeley has been that motor-vehicle operators are generally aware of bicyclists and are even courteous. But there was that Gimmey pickup driver in Emeryville.

 

 

8/13/03

In my head, the Berkeley Bowl expansion and the Berkeley Bowl unionization are separate issues. You can have unionization with expansion and you can have unionization without expansion. You can have expansion with unionization and you can have expansion without unionization. It's simple--politics make it complex.

The Canned Food Store now has Ocean Prince Fish Steaks in Louisiana Hot Sauce; a little dry-red, some onion-rye corn-bread and fish steaks in hot sauce. Hmmm! They also have Zentis Belfutta Black Currant Preserve made and packed in Germany; peppers and eggs and corn rye-bread toast with black currant preserve and Italian roast. Hmmm!

Gary Williams, my UPS Man, gave me a five-minute dissertation on the use of the N-word within and outside the Black Community. Problem is, I can't print it.

Months ago Jerry, one of Potter Creek's enterprising recyclers, told me about the dangers of the pink flower that recently freaked-out the kids in Peoples Park when they chewed it. If I'd listen to him then and posted it, maybe . . . well, I didn't.

(Oh ya, the Zetis Black Currant Preserve comes in a funky, reusable jar. And, . . . I made the peppers and eggs for Fast Eddie Saylan--he loved it. Fast Eddie owns 927 Grayson. A former B-24 waist-gunner, and now really older than dirt, he just redid his 927 property, which is for lease.)

 

 

8/12/03

An informative story about living conditions of our fighting men and women in postwar Iraq can be found in the The New York Times.

This morning at the stop light, crossing San Pablo at Dwight Way to get my German Farmer's Omelet at Bacheeso's, I came across a sexy little powder-blue motor-scooter ridden by a fully-helmeted woman. "Honda?" I asked. "No, Kymko, made in Taiwan" I heard through her visor. "I had a Vespa, went to Mexico on it " I said and continued to breakfast. In fact, in the late '50s, in some surreal imitation of "On the Road ," Haley and I did ride a Vespa 175 Grand Sport two-up from the Bay Area into Mexico. I remember that it started raining early in the morning outside of Big Sur. We could stay in the camp ground and get wet, or go on the road and get wet. We chose the latter and continued down the coast. That's probably a good story.

 

 

8/10/03

Even in July's hazy, lazy days, "Scrambled Eggs and Lox" pages received over 2000 visits. The page most visited was the "July Almost Daily Posts" followed by "People and Their Places," the "May and June Almost Daily Posts" and "My Neighborhood's Hazardous Materials Users." If all four "Jerry Victor's Viper" pages are lumped together, they replace "People and Their Places" as second.

Patrick Kennedy has "withdrawn" his San Pablo Avenue project.

A preliminary laboratory test of a dust sample from my office shows particles of SIO2-silicon; under a microscope, glass.

Potter Creek lore has it that pesticides were developed in the '50s by a Hyman Laboratory in a facility at the end of 8th Street. I have been able to confirm that a Julius Hyman invented the pesticides chlordane, aldrin and dieldrin. If any one can confirm that this Julius Hyman was the Hyman of Berkeley or that development was done at the Berkeley Hyman Laboratory, please email me at ronpenndorf@earthlink.net

 

 

 

8/9/03

Today is Singapore National Day.

Ahhh, . . . Saturday morning. The air's fresh and I smell breakfast. 'Have ta go to Travlin' Joe's and get some food.

Stephanie Fleming was named Berkeley PD's first female captain.

George Avalos of the West County Times offers California's Job Slump Worsens: The job slump in California -- which accounted for half of the jobs lost in the country during July -- shows no signs of easing its grip on the Bay Area's fading economy.

&

Bay Area Continues to Lose Jobs : The regional job slump jolted the Bay Area and California during July. In a bleak update on the California economy, the government reported that employment losses continued in the state and the Bay Area in July.

Modern toilet paper was invented in 1857 by American, Joseph Gayetty.

 

8/8/03

The Buttercup and The California Breakfast

And just what is The California Breakfast that Richards and Mike Haley invented? Well, it's most likely the eggs-breakfast that you now have when you eat out. (But, as breakfast is the lowly meal, you probably haven't even thought about that.)

Yet, it's important to remember that Richards and Mike Haley not only developed The California Breakfast but they made breakfast a proper and respectable meal out.

Mike, as long as I can remember, loved his morning meal best. When we lived together on Carl Street in San Francisco in the '50s, Mike would sometimes make breakfast for both of us, and I too came to love this meal.

Years later, when Mike and Richards lived together, Richards would make Mike's favorite, adding her own Georgian touch. An excellent cook from the South, Richards was well aware of the hearty country breakfast.

So in the '70s, when they bought the Buttercup Bakery and Coffee Shop on College Avenue and made it into a bakery and restaurant, it was only natural for them to make it into a breakfast-restaurant. (Understand, at that time there were coffee-shops and diners but not proper breakfast restaurants.) Simply, Richards knew about the Southern country breakfast and Mike loved breakfast best. This was the start.

If there was an exact moment when The California Breakfast Out came into being I suppose it was when Richard's started making Michael's favorites for the restaurant: Fresh-eggs, quality meats, home-fries with onions and sour cream, and a good toasted-bread were part of Michael's morning meal at home. (Occasionally I was at their house at breakfast time and it was always a treat.)

Then, I suppose if you own a bakery-restaurant it's natural to offer fresh baked-goods with the meal: And early-on you could substitute a pastry for toast. Bagels and croissants were also offered, but bagels and croissants were still popularly thought of as foreign food and breakfast is a very American meal. Also, it is important to remember that at this time breakfast out was pretty much a meal you had--often rushed--before your day's work. It was not so much a special meal--and social event--as it was just a way to get food before working. Kruse Plumbing was then down the street, and I remember some of the original customers were plumbers having breakfast before going to a job. There were also truck drivers who stopped before their run as well as milkmen taking their break.

(Perhaps the fruit garnish was added when it became apparent to all that breakfast was now social, even special.)

So there you have it; The California Breakfast Out. Was this just a variation of the country breakfast that, through good-timing, people found pleasure in eating in a restaurant? Is California Cuisine just fish and under-cooked vegetables?

Of course not.

Many people, other than Mike and Richards, were involved in making the Buttercup. Moe Moskowitz lent money and support, Mary Guenther provided heart and soul, Karl Mullis provided color and was a hard worker, Suze Orman found-herself and brought loyal customers, and Nancy Lawrence at Wells Fargo Elmwood was simply indispensable. She was always there. (Oh, Nick Victor, with failing health and eyesight, and preoccupied with his business and building two large warehouses, took time to give sound, solid business advice. ) Me? It was a place to hang out.

 

Eric Pianin of The Washington Post offers Clean Air Ruling Blames Ohio Edison: Decision could affect future enforcement efforts.

 

 

8/7/03

This is the Italian edition of Kate and Sarah Klise's book, Trial by Journal.

You can read it in English too.

 

And where's the common sense in this? My neighbors have their annealing oven on at night, close to their six-pack of hydrogen cylinders, with no one present. "Been on at night as long as I've been there" offered an employee.

 

 

8/6/03

I just had a piece of beautifully-baked, flawless, flowerless-chocolate-cake made with Sharffen Berger's semi-sweet chocolate. It was served with a homemade fresh-raspberry sauce.

"Ooooooh, . . . yes, Yes, YES!"

 

The Buttercup and The California Breakfast

(see the 8/8/03 post)

 

 

 

Corey Lyons of the West County Times reports "Residents Find Living is Easier Elsewhere"
"In a sort of gold rush in reverse, more people left California in the late 1990s than moved in from other states . . . . "

 

As recently as a year ago I have seen sulfur-colored discharges into the atmosphere, late at night in the northwest. And, it has long been held that low-grade nuclear-waste was stored in the building at the end of Pardee at 7th. Something like this was confirmed by signs wired to the gate next to the guard-house as well as by talks with community activist, Rick Auerbach.

 

 

8/5/03

It seems obvious that Science of itself is not necessarily friendly to the environment. Neither is it environmentally unfriendly. But stories have been told that over the years facilities in Potter Creek have been irresponsible; that some have placed medical waste in City of Berkeley dumpsters or have dumped hazardous and toxic materials into these containers. A story that persists is that a large corrugated metal structure, now a parking lot, was used for anthrax experiments years ago. This is Potter Creek Lore. For instance, I have not been able to confirm that DDT was developed in a neighborhood lab. (My information is that it was invented in Switzerland in the '30s.) If anyone has relevant factual information about environmental abuse in our neighborhood please email me at ronpenndorf@earthlink.net

 

 

8/2/03

The Buttercup and The California Breakfast

(see the 8/8/03 post)

 

The Grocery Outlet has Danish Choice Preserves at a discount price. Made in Poland from a Danish recipe, it's European in flavor and aroma. The Grocery Outlet has Apricot, Plum, Strawberry, and Raspberry Preserves and Orange Marmalade.

 

 

 

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