I don’t know, the FAA doesn’t seem to mind this kind of hot dogging so who am I to complain:
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Here’s what it looks like from inside.
Sometimes these birds land in the water due to engine trouble and then the Coast Guard tows them to shore.
It’s a living, I s’pose…
We’ve had some extra low-and-loud chopper traffic over the 415 recently, not sure why.
Are our U.S. Coast Guard HH-65 Dauphin helicopters taking a new short cut from the east side to the west side, buzzing the NoPA and Nob Hill, when they’re on search and rescue missions nowadays? Could be.
As seen over the Western Addition (yes, there are tiled roofs on the DivCo).
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As it noisily flew over my vast real estate holdings I started thinking about how a trend like this could affect property values, so I started yelling and waving my arms and chanting “U.S.* out of NoPA!” But I remembered I’m not a God Damn Landed Gentry NoPA NIMBY Millionaire and then everything was fine once again. Crisis averted.
Semper Paratus.
*The CG is the smallest branch of the U.S. military, hence the mil in .mil.
Get up to speed here on the whole airport security backscatter X-ray issue right here.
Since that time, Blogger Bob over at the TSA Blog took the time to say no biggee and point out this response from Health and Human Services.
Well, the UCSF crew remains unpersuaded:
Per John Sedat, a UCSF professor of biochemistry and biophysics and member of the National Academy of Sciences, “There are many misconceptions, and we will write a careful answer pointing out their errors. Because four people are working on this, it will not be done in one day.”
O.K. then.
And National Opt Out Day is coming up November 24th, the day before Thanksgiving. Are millions of travelers going to jam up the nation’s airports?
We’ll see…
Aviation journalist Joe Sharkey has just told the tale of what happened when he opted out of getting a whole body image scan at O’Hare International. That article prompted the Tweeters at UCSF to recall this Letter of Concern that came from some UCSF faculty members earlier this year.
Basically, the energy from these low-energy X-ray machines gets concentrated into your skin, as opposed to your entire body. So, dermatologists and cancer experts are raising red flags now before these machines become more common.
You went to colledge, right? So you should have no trouble with the letter from the UCSFers. Check it out, after the jump.
The joys of air travel:
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All the deets, after the jump
Like these guys.
It would take forever to make it up the stairs to the top of controversial landmark Sutro Tower, so a swaying elevator car is the preferred method.
Click to expand to get a closer look at a sunnier, more colorful San Francisco:
Take the tour.
Not that you’d really be able to tell, though. Sutro Tower Inc. has just finished a project that had some of the digital TV broadcast antennas (not “antennae” – that plural term is only used for bugs in our silly English language) gaining a higher altitude.
Not much howver, maybe a seven-percent increase, max. Does that make a big difference? No, not for most people, but at least STI is trying.
Here’s the antenna of KPIX-TV (OMG, that’s the home of Eye on Blogs – big ups, Brittney Gilbert!) a way up top, like 1700 feet above sea level. Now Channel 5 is as high as possible:
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The Future is Now, and what’s labeled “CURRENT” is history:
From this:
To this:
Well, they were still wrapping the KPIX, KRON, KTVU antenna assembly, but you get the idea.
So it looks like we’re all set with the Great Digital TV Conversion of 2009. As long as Sutro Tower doesn’t get hit by a shooting star….
…we’ll be all right.
San Francisco’s famous Sutro Tower (owned by Sutro Tower, Inc., the buyer-offer and $hutter-upperof San Francisco’s mid-town NIMBYs) has a new look for Fall.
Here’s Before (a way back in August 2009)…
…und jetzt After, the way it looks these days (when being buzzed by a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 NG heading to El Lay, camera right, see it?)
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Très chic! Non?
Now, she’s all set for the next meteor shower:
Courage.
Well here’s this scene this morning up on Mount Sutro (former home to the SF-89C Mount Sutro Nike Missile Control Station, don’t you know.) Can you see what’s missing?
Sutro Tower is losing antennas (that’s right, not antennae or antennea or anything else) and getting other updates all in the name of Our Digital Future. Get some deets here at the Burrito Justice.
The West Stack appears all nubbed out these days, no? Click to expand.
Make your necessary adjustments and your Wheel will come in just fine every evening, as per usual.
How can it be.
Believe me
All right, you already know about Sutro Tower, right? Well, here’s an update. Digital TV is here, not that you care, cause you get cable from the Comcast monopoly.
But, just in case you’re struggling with a free digital to analog converter box you just got from the govmint, there might be some good news coming in a few months when they lift the digital antennas up higher on the tower.
So, do you see this vertical array in the middle of this photo? Them’s the digital antennas:
Click to expand.
Kind of an afterthought, they were, so there was a big fuss about getting them up there. They weigh a ton (or rather 10 tons, actually). I’m a little hazy on all the deets of high-def and digital and whatnot, but whatever, this 125-foot long array is not long for this world. Check it:
See? All the “DT” antennas are going up all the way to the top (and losing the DT suffix). Match up the chart with real life here:
So what this all adds up to is that there’s a chance your reception will improve in a few months. No promises, however. Most of the people who are bummed with DTV are still going to be bummed with DTV, but it’s a Worthy Effort. Listen to a KQED Forum podcast from Scott Shafer and Glenn Phillips, field agent for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
And, as always, re-scan if you run into trouble. What’s that? You still can’t see Wheel and all your stories? Sorry.
Oh, and what about the Not In My Back Yard millionaires who never cottoned to Sutro Tower in the first place? Well, they’ve been bought off for peanuts.
Check it:
a. $ 3,000.00 per year to the Midtown Terrace Home Owners Association. The initial contribution payable prior to December 31, 2008. Subsequent contributions to be made on or before July 1 of each year.
b. $ 4,500.00 one time contribution to the Twin Peaks Improvement Association for an open space improvement project.
c. $ 6,000.00 one time contribution to the Forrest [sic] Knolls Neighborhood Organization to replace the Forrest Knolls [sic again - Run Forrest Run!] entrance sign.
d. $ 10,000.00 one time contribution for the benefit of the surrounding area to purchase two drinking fountains one each at the walking paths around two area reservoirs. The contribution will be payable only when the fountains are approved by the appropriate agencies and actually purchased.
How’s them apples?
Anyway, hang your antenna high and hope for the best.
