Pacificapocalypse

Picked up Doc and Melissa afterwook last night and headed over to The Alembic in the Haight. Dodged the scruffy gutter punks with their obligatory dogs and found a table in the back. Court was bummed; they didn’t have the bacon Cracker Jacks on the menu (so sad; ok so you’ve had honey baked ham and maple cured bacon right? So you know that pork has a great affinity for the salty caramel/molasses family of sweets? Well the bacon Cracker Jacks are like a million times that – all flavor and mouth texture. Fan fucking tastic – so much so that we’re putting it on the wedding menu.) But they did have pickeled quail eggs and a few other things that were new (oh man Kobe beef tongue sliders and baked bone marrow with garlic confit and caper gremolata – food nerd, I know) Drinking and eating lip smacky noises commenced. Doc’s keeping busy and it sound like he has a new gig lined up in mobile platform game development. Ended up staying out later than I wanted, but it was good to catch up and they do make a mean Old Fashioned. Oh and Doc has agreed to stand up as my Best Man for the wedding, so that’s cool.

A report hit on Monday, January 26, regarding High Fructose Corn Syrup and mercury.
Not cool.
I’ve been a nay-sayer and hatchet man against HFCS since reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma about two years ago. (An excellent read by the way, if you have any interest in where your food comes from.) Suffice to say I’ll take sugar or honey (though honey has it’s own set of problems) any day over HFCS. The funny thing is that right around the time people started becoming more aware of HFCS, how pervasive they are, and the potential health risks associated with it, the Corn Refiners Association (the trade association that represents the corn refining industry) who have a vested interest in the production of HFCS, apparently hired a PR firm and threw together a little site called The Truth About High Fructose Corn Syrup, to plead their case before the public. It’s filled with all sorts of fascinating information about Our Friend High Fructose Corn Syrup™. They play a little fast and lose with the details, but come on kids! It’s from CORN! So it has to be good right? It’s natural. Yeah. Right. Lead, arsenic and cancer are all naturally occurring, let’s slather some of that on your toast. Big tobacco plays this game too.
So of course they had to respond to this negative report ASAP, and here’s what they had to say:

“This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance. Our industry has used mercury-free versions of the two re-agents mentioned in the study, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, for several years.”

Hydrochloric acid and caustic soda?
Really, Corn Refiners Association? Is that what you wanted to say?

You’re not helping.

Hey check it! New baby giraffe at the San Francisco Zoo.

Finally some good news  amongst all the doom and gloom lately. I’m thinking if it’s nice this weekend Court and I will take a day trip to the Zoo and check out his spindly leggedness. I dig giraffes.
One simple request; I like the dude too, but please please please.. don’t name it Obama. ‘Cause that’s just silly.

Oh great, this I need right now. Just got this in a company wide email:

To: SFC-All Users
Subject: Chronicle Communication – This Evening’s Planned Protest
We have been advised that there is a protest planned today from 5 until 7 p.m. at The Chronicle building at 901 Mission St. The protest is in response to the media’s coverage of events in the Middle East.

If you make me miss my bus, you keffia wearing hipster trustafarian douchebags, I’m gonna start crackin; skulls.

Jeez, it’s barely 2009 and I’m swamped it seems.
Work + busy = job security. Which in these clichéd uncertain times is saying something.
Did I mention that I proposed to Courtenay? Yes, yes I did. So we’re working on wedding plans; looking like it’s going to be fun.
A Fantastical Pirate theme.
On a sailing ship on the Bay.
I shit you not.
Holidays over and done for another year. No major fall out from that I think… (pause)… yeah nothing I can think of.
I got a new camera (thanks Archie!)
Court got a nekkid kitteh. (not quite yet… he’s still baking)

What else?
World is in turmoil both locally and globally, but that’s nothing new unfortunately.

I got my teeth cleaned yesterday.

So yeah, everything is going swimmingly.

More soon.

Via Pacifica Riptide

Local Mideast Peace Rally Turns Ugly

Tonight around 6, as people gathered peacefully at Highway 1 and Linda Mar to protest the war in Gaza, an enraged motorist stopped in traffic and engaged in a shouting match with the demonstrators. Then he parked his car at the shopping center and returned to the scene, shouting and shoving demonstrators, slightly injuring one of them. When the agitated man ran through the parking lot, several demonstrators followed him to take his picture and hold him for police, who shortly came on the scene to question the man and several witnesses. No one pressed charges, so because police did not see the incident occur, they took down the man’s information and released him. One bystander noted that as soon as the police detained him, his demeanor changed drastically, and he spoke calmly with police as if nothing had happened. But this reporter had heard the man shouting earlier and had seen him up close as he ran through the parking lot, his face and eyes full of hate and fear.

Pretty spot on; coincidentally I was in my car directly opposite this as it occurred, lamenting the fact that I didn’t have my camera on me. ‘This reporter’ sounds like he has a little bit of a personal agenda with the line ‘face and eyes full of hate and fear.‘, but I can confirm the that the guy threw punches and tore down some of the protesters signs.

Every discussion board I’m a member of is burning up with the war in Gaza right now and man there are some absolutely white hot emotions and incredibly vitriolic rants being posted. There seems to be no middle ground (or such a small amount that cooler heads get trampled in the rush to post screeds.) with these people. And that’s just online, from people that are *not* getting shot or blown up or having rockets dropped on them.
When will this shit ever end?

Sublime Point/Counterpoint at Union Square.

I’m in with the In Crowd!
Ok not really.

Via The SFist