Columns

SMITHEREENS: Reflections on Bits & Pieces

Gar Smith

Wednesday December 22, 2021 - 11:36:00 AM

Is the MLK Playground's New Tower a Tot-trap?

At the center of the new children's playground on Hopkins Street, adjacent to the MLK Middle School, is a glittering four-tiered Emerald Tower of intertwined green and yellow ribs. It's an alluring temptation to kids looking for a climbing challenge. Already, it's not unusual to find adventurous four-year-olds dangling from the tippy-top of the tower.

But are there safety issues with this new structure? The safety netting designed to keep tykes from tumbling out into thin air is only installed on the top two tiers.

On a recent visit, I was surprised to find a warning sticker affixed to one of the structure's curving vertical spires. I hadn't noticed it before and what I read was alarming. It warned of falling hazards, the possibility of sustaining serious burns by touching the tower surface on particularly hot, sunny days. And it cautioned against wearing necklaces for fear of experiencing "strangulation" incidents.

I hoped to photograph the warning to underscore the structure's potentially overlooked risks but, when I returned to the playground, I discovered that the caution sign had been peeled off, leaving visitors in the dark about of the inherent risks of exploring the potentially dangerous attraction.

A call to the City Parks Department was answered by a robot that advised the call would be "transcribed" and forwarded to the proper authorities. That did not sound like a recipe for quick action so I sent an email as well. I was surprised when, within minutes, I received an email from the head of the department expressing concern and promising to remedy the problem.

That was promising but two weeks have now gone by and the Tower still lacks its Warning Label. So, if you've got friends with kids who are planning to visit the playground, share the warning.

The Way Things Get Done These Days

A recent dispatch from Reader Supported News began with the colloquial quote: "If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done." This was followed by an observation: "Doesn't that explain the situation in Washington, DC?"

Fashion Plates

Kudos to the driver of a blue Honda with the license plate that reads: "VROOHM." (Go easy on that gas pedal.)

And the owner of a Honda Civic is letting us know he's a local guy because his license plate reads EVIL EMP and the frame declares: "I'd rather be gaming…. Games of Berkeley."

A blue Scion is being driven by a scrappy lady sporting a plate that reads: "HEXKITN."

A gray Toyota from Washington state leaves a puzzle in its wake as it tools around the East Bay sporting a plate that reads: "10NEWON". Possible translations: Ten New On, One Owe Anyone, One One Won, and One One One.

UC Santa Barbara and the War Machine

CODEPINK activists are seeing red with the discovery that "Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are crawling all over the College of Engineering and now UCSB is partnering with the DOD to fund STEM science programs, K-12, in the SB School District." And they've got a petition to address the matter: UCSB, Sever Ties with the War Machine. Click on the link to sign the petition and read more about UCSB's military-related contracts.

And don't get me started on UC Berkeley and it's ties to nuclear weapons. UCB Prof. John Goffman (who became a respected anti-war/anti-nuclear voice) helped to discover an isotope of plutonium and reportedly kept a container on a shelf in his campus office. Over the years, at least one contaminated room in a campus building (not Dr. Goffman's) had to be sealed off to prevent radioactive exposure to visitors. And, worst of all, Berkeley's Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Labs has spent decades designing nuclear weapons for the Pentagon.

Fiat Lux, Yes! Fiat Nukes, Nay! WTF, UCB?

The Solar-electric Revolution May Be Going to Pot

In a major scientific breakthrough, researchers claim to have proven that "hemp batteries are eight times more powerful than lithium," the costly, rare mineral that currently powers our battery-dependent toys and tools.

According to news reports: "A team of American and Canadian researchers [has] developed a battery [for] cars and power tools using hemp bast fiber—the inner bark of the plant that usually ends up in landfill." The "cooked" woody pulp can be processed into carbon nanosheets, which are then used to build supercapacitors "on a par with or better than graphene—the industry gold standard" for today's next-generation batteries.

But don't get your hopes up. As one Facebooker observed: "The Lithium People will buy the patent and bury the f— out of this. See Ford's 100% hemp vehicle for reference." Done! You can see Henry Ford's Hempmobile in action below.

Barbara Lee Backs Bill to Account for Pentagon Pollution

Veterans for Peace's Climate Crisis and Militarism Project (CCMP) has been in the trenches on The Hill engaging in a political battle to win legislative backing for HR 767: Recognizing the Duty of the Department of Defense to Annually Report All Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Progress on Reduction Targets.

HR 767 was introduced in conjunction with the COP 26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow and now has 31 co-sponsors—including the support of my organization, Environmentalists Against War. The Pentagon—which has been identified as the world's latest consumer of oil and one of the greatest sources of planet-cooking CO2—is currently exempt from having to report (let alone reduce) its Greenhouse Gas emissions. HR 767 would "hold the Department of Defense accountable to accurately report ALL of its emissions" and "reduce the overall environmental impact of all military activities and missions, and for other purposes."

The goal is to expand the list of legislative co-sponsors and co-signers in order to bring the resolution before the House Armed Services Committee.

If you would like to help propel this proposal to the floor of Congress, you can click on this portal https://bit.ly/REDUCEDODEMISSIONS to send an email to your Congressperson.

It's even easier if you are an East Bay resident since Barbara Lee, our esteemed Representative in Washington, is the sponsor of HR 767 so, instead of sending an appeal, you can just send a message of thanks.

To see the list of members of Congress who have already co-sponsored click this link:

Cosponsors - H.Res.767 - 117th Congress (2021-2022).

CCMP expects Elizabeth Warren soon will take the lead on this in the Senate where California's two Democratic senators—Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla—are expected to back the Senate version of the bill.

Weary of Politics? Hop a Cab!

Sometimes being a political commentator gets to be such a burden that you just need a nice juicy jolt of jive. Hence this video from a reader, offered along with a short note:

"A real treat that Paul Krugman added at the end of an editorial on evils of Rand Paul et al to lighten the mood. Just because."

Cede the Berkeley Marina to the Ohlone?

In the wake of spirited protests against the City's decision to allow developers to build a high-rise on the sacred Ohlone Shellmound (currently a paved-over parking lot across from Spenger's), the following message arrived from a disgruntled denizen of the Berkeley Marina:

"I’m concentrating on Berkeley ceding the Marina to the Indigenous Ohlone people. The city is having trouble keeping the Marina and it really needs to be in the hands of the First Peoples instead of the corporation that is negotiating behind the scenes. The Harbor Master is a control freak who has an agenda. She needs to go. Please write [US Secretary of the Interior] Deb Halland about this… and hopefully this idea of many can work."

The idea of returning control of the land and water to the Ohlone is appealing, although it's not clear if overseeing a Marina populated by hundreds of boat owners would be attractive to the Ohlone community. (Ohlone leaders have been apprised of the Marina-residents' proposal.)

Another possible problem: the actual land constituting the current Marina did not exist until the late 1920s when Berkeley officials began tossing refuse and construction debris into the offshore waters of the historic Ohlone settlement. The city's offshore dump has grown over time, first evolving into an open space dubbed the North Waterfront Park and later renamed "Cesar Chavez Park" in 1996. The Berkeley Yacht Harbor (now known as the Marina) didn't exist until the late 1930s.

Remembering the Christmas Truce of WW 1

Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All. In these desperate times, let's pause and marvel at how music and shared humanity once put an end to war.

David Swanson, Executive Director of World BEYOND War, recently collected more than a dozen online links to celebrate the little-known Christmas Truce of 1914.