How Much Water Do We Need?

encounters

 How Much Water Do We Need?

On March 22, 2016, the world is going to celebrate “World Water Day”.  It was first observed in 1993, after the United Nations General Assembly Declaration.  After a prolonged draught, California finally got its share of rain.  But even this might not be enough. On January 13th, the San Francisco Chronicle reported: “How much El Nino rain needed to end drought?” While California has had a drought, some other parts of the United States and other parts of the world have had flooding issues.  It seems that in spite of all the progress humans accomplished, we cannot control how much water will fall on us from above. Water is one of the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water, which is mentioned in the Torah at the beginning of the creation of our world “and the Divine Presence hovered upon the surface of the water” (Genesis 1:2).

On December 14, 2015, water.usgs.gov reported, “About 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth’s water.  Water also exists in the air as water vapor, in rivers and lakes, in icecaps and glaciers, in the ground as soil moisture, and aquifers and even in you and your dog.”  The amount of water on Earth did not change from the day of creation.  According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry, #158, the human brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water.  The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even bones are watery 31%.”

The Torah shows how nature and man are interconnected: “Now all the trees of the field were not yet on the earth and the herb of the field had not yet sprouted, for Hashem God had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to work the soil” (Genesis 2:5).  After man was created, ”Hashem God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, to work it and to guard it” (Genesis 2:15).  And since some of us are complacent, only when we lack something are we are reminded that our task is to keep the garden (ourselves, family, city, state, country, world) blooming and giving fruits, and we need to work it and to guard it.  And yes, we need water.  You can learn how to save water in the book “Beat the Drought: Water Savings Tips and Techniques” by Kyle Tsukamoto.  You can get it for free on Kindle.  Enjoy and Share.

P.S. I like to photograph the rain through the windshield.  It always creates unexpected abstract images.

Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!

Cheers,

Manny<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />                                                               Signature

How To Get From Here To There

encounters

 How To Get From Here To There

Most of us (at least those who read my “Encounters”) live comfortable lives.  We have a roof above our heads, cable television, and transportation to get us around.  We easily travel from one place to another, often without thinking that life can be different.  For those who came to San Francisco after discovery of gold in 1848 it was.  Since the city is surrounded by water, the way to get from here to there, regardless of the destination, was by boat.  As the population grew, some settled across the Bay in Marin and others on the Oakland side of the Bay.  Ferry service actually started much earlier, in 1826, to get to the other side of the Bay.  But the first recorded system on the Bay was established in 1850.  By the end of the 1800s, twenty-two passenger cross-bay ferry companies were in operation, and another five companies carried only automobiles (You can read more in,   “A Brief History of Ferries on the Bay”.  Among many personalities who lived in San Francisco in the early days, was Emperor Norton, who was considered to be eccentric, visionary or simply crazy.  On the 6th of January, he proclaimed the need to “bridge the Bay”.  Two months later, on March 23rd 1878, the Emperor made a second proclamation, “That a suspension bridge be built from Oakland Point to Goat Island (Yerba Buena Island), and thence to Telegraph Hill, provided such bridge can be built without injury to the navigable waters of the Bay of San Francisco.”  He suggested that the Central Pacific Railroad Company be granted the right to lay down trucks to connect two destinations.

Then on the 15th of June, 1878, Emperor Norton envisioned the possibility of an underwater rail tunnel to connect both coasts.  It took some time for his visions to come to life.  The construction of the Bay Bridge started on July 8th, 1933 and opened on November 12th, 1936.  About 240,000 cars cross the bridge. daily.  In 2002, construction began to replace the East Span.  It was completed on September 2nd, 2013 with the estimated cost of 6.3 billion dollars.

Driving on the new bridge and seeing the old one in the middle of the bay, I wondered how it is going to be dismantled.  The answer came in the San Francisco Chronicle on February 6th in the article, “Millions of Memories – and Pounds of Steel”.  The image shows the process.  You can see remarkable photographs of the Bay Bridge construction progress in the Bay Bridge History.

The Golden Gate Bridge, which is a famous symbol of San Francisco around the world, was opened on May 27, 1937.  I found many incredible photos online, but if you want to see remarkable photos, buy or rent “Mystical San Francisco” by Frederic Larson in the San Francisco Public Library.

P.S. I use every opportunity to photograph the bridge, which appears differently every time I photograph it.

Enjoy and Share.

Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!

Cheers,

Manny<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />                                                               Signature

To Demonstrate And To Celebrate

encounters

 To Demonstrate And To Celebrate

While my first book in the series “42 Encounters in San Francisco” is being printed, I needed more images for the next one, “42 Encounters in San Francisco with Couples”. A friend of mine told me about an upcoming Chinese Parade in Downtown, San Francisco. I usually do not purposefully go to events, in order to photograph. Nevertheless, I took the Muni underground over the weekend, with the intention to photograph the preparations for the parade. When I reached Powell Street, even before getting to the street level, I could hear people shouting, “Justice for All!” There was a huge demonstration of Chinese-Americans carrying signs that read, “Accident Not Crime” and “Justice for Peter Liang”. Online, I found out that the demonstrations took place in more than 30 cities in support of former NYPD police officer, Peter Liang, who was convicted of manslaughter in the 2014 shooting death of Akai Gurley, in a housing project stairwell. The 28 year-old Liang, who could be sentenced for 5 to 15 years, testified that the shooting was an accident.

Many of the demonstrators are probably descendants of the Chinese immigrants, who came to San Francisco during the Gold Rush, which started in 1849. After the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill thousands of laborers came from China to work in the gold mines. At the beginning everyone was happy, but soon white laborers felt threatened by the hard working and cheaper Chinese. As a result of the protests and demonstrations, the Chinese had to leave the gold mines and settled in the area of San Francisco, which is now known as Chinatown where about 70,000 (about half of the total Chinese-American population) is still residing. In the early days, the area was known for the opium dens and exotic women.

Over the years that followed, many laws were passed in San Francisco restricting Chinese immigration, which eventually led to the United States Federal Law, “The Chinese Exclusion Act” of 1882, the most significant restriction of free immigration in U.S. history. Only in 1943, the Chinese immigrants residing in the U.S. were given permission to become U.S. Citizens.

Chinese-Americans live all over San Francisco, but many still live in Chinatown in small apartments, without living rooms. For many of them Portsmouth Square has become a meeting place where members of the local community can get together to play cards or other games or just to relax.

The Chinese New Year’s Parade began here in 1860, and this year, it had more than 20 floats with 2,500 marches and an estimated 750,000 guests, who came from all over the world. No wonder why some families started waiting for the parade to start, along Post Street as early as 2pm. You can read more about it in the San Francisco Chronicle article, “Crowd Has Barrel of Fun at Chinese New Year Parade”. As part of the celebration, Grant Street was closed with vendors set up along the narrow street and a huge crowd trying to push through it. It seemed that many visitors as well as locals had a lot of fun, and enjoyed the great weather.

P.S. Coming home with close to 400 images in my camera, I found a few for my next book, as well as these four to share with you today.

Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!

Cheers,

Manny<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />                                                               Signature

Do You Feel Protected?

encounters

 Do You Feel Protected?

On a recent photo trip to the Embarcadero Area, where the pre-50th Super Bowl festivities were taking place (I wrote about it last week), I encountered a lot of police (men and women), whose jobs were to protect the public. They looked very friendly and helped to direct the influx of people to the special events. But later on, when I walked on Market Street, I encountered a different attitude. First, I noticed about 20 policemen on motorcycles, with their engines roaring. They were parked in perfect formation, and it seemed, they were geared up for something to happen. Just in front of them, stood 20 or so policemen on foot, with their batons in hand and about the same number across the Street. Suddenly, the first of the officers from the motorcycle group raised his hand and they started moving, one by one in a very disciplined manner, while the policemen on foot followed. They blocked a group of demonstrators who were moving toward Embarcadero, while protesting against police brutality. It was almost as though everything that was happening was being very well orchestrated. Every policeman knew where to be and what to do. Fortunately, nothing “exciting” happened. There was no confrontation, and after the demonstrators were ordered to move to the sidewalk, the tension dropped. I only knew about police brutality toward black people from the headlines in the newspapers and some images I saw on the news. I also encountered and photographed a “Black Lives Matter” demonstration in Union Square in November, 2014. In my view, any prejudices stem from being afraid of the stereotyped images of how “they”, whoever that would be, can hurt us.

 

Former Mayor Willie Brown (who is African-American), wrote an article in the February 7, 2016 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle, where he described his encounter at Ruth’s Chris Steak House with a group of members of two opposing football teams (before the Super Bowl). He wrote, “No sooner had I sat down than the maître d’ comes over and says, ”Mr. Brown, I seated five big black guys in one dining room, and three other big black guys who just came in are in the other dining room.” After visiting both groups Mr. Brown continues, “Given the guys’ size and outfits and crazy hair, I’m sure half the diners thought they were going to be robbed at any minute.”

During the recent debates Donald Trump stated, “Police are the most mistreated people in America… Police are amazing people. Police force just cannot do their job”. It seems that every side paints a different picture. Is there a middle ground to find a solution? This might take time. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice started to investigate the policies and practices of the SFPD. You can read the story written by Martin Halloran, the President of San Francisco Police Officers Association. When it comes to my personal safety, I would rather be protected than politically correct.

P.S. I was fortunate to snap a few interesting images. Enjoy and Share.

Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!

Cheers,

Manny<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />                                                               Signature

All Lives Matter

encounters

 All Lives Matter

I never liked to go to demonstrations, especially when they had a political connotation.  Perhaps my aversion was a result of the demonstrations we had to attend while living in Riga, Latvia, which at that time was part of the Soviet Union.  There are no such demonstrations in the United States, but we have our share of people’s demonstrations to support different causes. I encountered one, an anti-abortion rally, a few weeks ago, and wrote about it last week.  A week before, I was at the Embarcadero to witness the preparation for the celebration of this monumental event.  The security was very tight with the representatives of different branches of government enforcement agencies.  I decided to leave the crowd to go back to Market Street.  A few blocks away, I encountered a big group of policemen.  Some were on motorcycles, with their engines roaring, some were ready for “action”. Two more groups of the policemen waited, with their batons in their hands preparing for the invisible confrontation, on both sides of the street.  And then I saw the reason for this tension: a demonstration protesting the December 2nd police killing of African-American convicted felon Mario Woods after he slashed someone with his knife.  In the “American Free Press” online, I found that “Over the past 35 years in America, an estimated 324,000 blacks have been killed at the hands of fellow blacks.”  There is a lot of effort spent on protecting human lives.

Some of the cases get more attention and criticism than others.  But where is the silver lining?  On January 24th, on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, there was a story titled “Potential Threats as Big as the Game” by Evan Sernoffsky.  According to the FBI, “If someone wants to commit an act, they are going to commit an act.  There’s only so much that we can do.”  Meanwhile, a lot of money has been spent and many people are involved to save our lives.  This could make perfect sense, until you get the bigger picture.  On the same date in the “Insight” part of San Francisco Chronicle, I read an article by Leland H. Faust “In Our Scary Times, We Can’t Lose Sight of the Real Threats.  The article points out, “Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, fewer than 50 people have died in the United States at the hand of Jihadists.”  She continues, “There were some 164,000 homicides due to firearms between 2001 through 2014.  Drunk drivers killed more than 170,000 people, during that same period.  50,000 people drowned and more than 60,000 pedestrians were killed.”  She points out that “Beyond commonsense precautions that do save lives, here are a few smart measures we can take to restore our sense of proportion and preserve our core values:  Name the problem, Remember Je suis Charlie.  Respect First Amendment rights.  Practice resolve, Protect human rights.  Speak out against un-American ideas.  Recognize that all lives matter.”

I agree with Ms. Faust’s assessments.  The question is, how we can protect others and ourselves?  I also think that one way to save people’s lives is to focus on solutions through education and what is really important, and what we have in common rather than what divides us.

P.S. I could choose only four images to share with you.  I hope that they convey the glimpse of my experience and encounters.Enjoy and Share.

Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!

Cheers,

Manny<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />                                                               Signature