A View From The Brink ... the beach is backwards

Wind Turns Golden Gate Bridge Into World’s Largest Harmonica

       

The Golden Gate Bridge has been creating new sounds since recent engineering updates related to the netting being put in place underneath it to deter suicides from the bridge. Many Richmond District residents – some who like it and some who find it annoying – hear the noises during periods of high winds.

    

Story and photo by Thomas K. Pendergast

               

To many people, it sounds as though – under the right wind conditions – the Golden Gate Bridge is singing, humming, whistling or playing the world’s biggest harmonica. Some people like the sound; some hate it. But many agree that the new sound is loud. Really loud. 

Terry Trevino lives in San Francisco and commutes across the bridge to Marin regularly.

“I think it’s probably one of my downfalls, is that I definitely have sensitive ears and I was trained as a musician most of my life, and because of that I think I’m just quite sensitive to the sound,” Trevino said. “And I have to say, going across it as it’s ‘singing,’ it’s incredibly loud. It’s desperately loud, almost to the point where it’s debilitating if you’re really sensitive to sounds.”

Trevino lives on Lone Mountain and was in his home when he first noticed the noise. At first he thought it was a street cleaning truck, but it kept going. So then he thought it was a carpet cleaning machine operating somewhere in his neighborhood.

“I’m on the upslope of Lone Mountain,” Trevino said. “Our house and our land is literally tilted toward the bridge. That may be one reason why,”

And the sound just went on and on and on.

“It literally went on all day long,” he said. “It’s like when you get a bunch of metronomes in the room and they all play at the same time, you get all of them playing together.”

             

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Suspected California porch pirates arrested with 108 packages after flipping car

     

Two alleged porch pirates were arrested Tuesday after police found more than 100 items addressed to other people in their car. ( Butte County Sheriff's Office )

     

Two suspected Northern California porch pirates were found early Monday with 108 packages and envelopes in their car after the vehicle rolled over on the side of a highway while the pair were being pursued by police, authorities said.

KTVU Fox 2 reported that the Butte County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call around 1:50 a.m. reporting a man who was seen possibly taking items out of mailboxes in an area of Durham, a rural community about 80 miles north of Sacramento, the sheriff's office said Tuesday.

A sergeant then "saw a vehicle traveling north [...] that looked similar to the description given of the vehicle involved in the mail theft," police said.

When authorities went to catch the vehicle, it "had already lost control and had rolled over on the north side of the roadway," according to the statement.

      

Go here for the full story on the KTVU Fox 2 website   --->>>

       

Thousands of 'penis fish' washed up on a Point Reyes beach. Yes, really.

       

     

SFGate.com and Bay Nature reported on a mass stranding of the 10-inch worms on Drakes Beach in Point Reyes Friday. Alix Marichoux wrote that naturalist Ivan Parr attributes the phenomenon to the aftermath of a strong storm.

If you want to get scientific about it, these thick, pink worms are called Urechis caupo. They live in shallow water along the West Coast, between Oregon and Baja California. They're most commonly seen here in Northern California, Parr writes.

Their predators include otters, as well sharks, rays and gulls. They are also eaten raw or stir-fried in Korea and China.
    

     
Go here for the full story on the SFGate.com website   --->>>

         

New Details Emerge In Pursuit Of Stolen CHP Car

     

PALMDALE (CBSLA)  — CBS News Los Angeles reports that the chase started in Palmdale but it could have started in the active imagination of a fiction writer.

Wednesday’s wild and crazy pursuit — that started in Palmdale and ended with the suspect driving into a small ditch — was easily one of the most memorable in many years.

At moments, it was more Hollywood movie than Los Angeles pursuit.

There was off and on road driving, speeding, clouds of dust driving through the desert, an armed carjacking (caught on camera, no less), the suspect brazenly toying with authorities and if playing cat-and-mouse with officials wasn’t enough, at one point the suspect double-backed while being chased on foot and jumped into an unoccupied CHP vehicle and commandeered it.

Go here for the full report on the website of CBS Los Angeles   --->>>

      

Turkey takes up residence in Golden Gate Park

     

A turkey has been spotted in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park several times throughout the last few weeks and apparently has taken up residence there. On Independence Day, 2019, it decided to take a stroll along with those other two-legged creatures. Video by Thomas K. Pendergast

     

 

Caught On Video: Bicyclists Spotted Riding On LA Freeways Twice This Week

     

     

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — People riding bicycles alongside cars in Los Angeles traffic have been spotted not once, but twice this week.

A driver captured at least people on bicycles in middle lanes of the northbound 110 Freeway toward the 101 Freeway interchange through downtown Los Angeles Thursday. At least one of them was caught on video popping a wheelie.

Thursday’s bizarre sighting was actually the second time someone has been seen riding a bicycle – the type powered by feet and legs – down a busy freeway. On Monday, a man was caught on video riding down a center lane of the 101 Freeway in Hollywood.
     

Go here for the video and full story on the website of CBSLA   --->>>

      

An obituary for old Orange County, dead at age 129

       

Katie Kalvoda talks to Allen Chen, deputy political director, as she volunteers for Gil Cisneros in Brea, Calif. on Oct. 11. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

       

“Orange County,” the California collection of 34 cities and 3.2 million residents once described by President Reagan as where “all the good Republicans go to die,” died Tuesday. It was 129 years old.

Long famous for its wealth, whiteness and conservative values, Orange County is survived by its offspring, who include a population that is about 60% people of color, some of the most crowded and poor neighborhoods in the United States and a Republican Party that’s on the ropes. Once reliably red, the official cause of O.C.’s passing is a case of the blue flu, which turned its politics more purple than Barney the dinosaur.

While the election results won’t be final, possibly for days, Gustavo Arellano of the Los Angeles Times newspaper opines that by Wednesday morning it seemed likely that Democrats could represent five of of the seven congressional districts that are are entirely or partially in the county — a once-unthinkable prospect in the land that spawned the modern-day GOP.

The death shocked everyone who hadn’t bothered to pay attention for decades. County boosters and leaders had desperately tried to mask its failing health with a series of anti-immigrant resolutions, orange-shaped balloons at Great Park, and a string of increasingly vapid reality TV series. But as the years went on, the Orange County of old gradually succumbed to a new generation of working-class unions, multicultural youngsters and middle-class voters who just didn’t care about demonizing the downtrodden, except for the homeless.

      

Go here for the full article on the website of the Los Angeles Times   --->>>

     

Meet Adonis, The New Mountain Lion In Town. He's Kind Of A Big Deal

       

Adonis, the first male mountain lion to be spotted in the Verdugo mountains since P-41's death last October. (Photo courtesy of Roy Dunn)

     

Sorry dog lovers, Los Angeles is a cat town. We're one of only two megacities in the world that can say they have a big cat living within city limits. Mumbai has its leopards, we have our mountain lions. And we recently added a new feline resident.

Lori Galarreta of the website LAist reports that a new cougar has been photographed in the Verdugo Mountains above Glendale and Burbank. It's the first time a male has been spotted in that area since the death of P-41, nine months ago. People have named the new puma Adonis, a nod to Aphrodite's lover in Greek mythology who was known for his remarkable youth and beauty. So the moniker is perfect. Adonis is young and seemingly flawless.

"It's been kind of like a new season of 'Game of Thrones.' It's a really engaging drama," says Miguel Ordeñana, a wildlife biologist at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. "We don't know much about him other than he looks very healthy." And that he's a handsome devil.

     

Go here for the full story on the LAist website   --->>>

     

The Bay to Breakers footrace: 2018

    

 

Video posted by SFBay.ca and produced by Thomas K. Pendergast

Some, as usual, were naked.

Others decided it was a good idea to run the annual Bay to Breakers 12-kilometer race Sunday as a unicorn, gorilla, dinosaur, superhero or whatever else suited their only-in-San-Francisco fancy. And there were the outliers dressed as runners.

Annie Ma, Michael Cabanatuan and Jill Tucker of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported that for the 107th time, a crowd gathered at the Embarcadero and then took off running west, up and over a few hills and through Golden Gate Park before hitting the finish line at the Pacific Ocean.

The very first Bay to Breakers in 1912 included 181 runners at the starting line and 121 who made it to the finish. William Howard Taft was president, and it appears no one ran naked that day. But times have changed.

An estimated 40,000 or so folks ran the route this year, many in costumes, including one who decided to run the race as a naked Harry Potter, with a fully clothed Dumbledore by his side.
          

Go here for the full story on SFGate.com   --->>>

           

Resident had 'staring contest' with mountain lion roaming Azusa neighborhood

     

Still photo from video courtesy of KTLA

 

Joseph Serna of the Los Angeles Times newspaper reported that residents in an Azusa neighborhood were told to stay indoors Monday morning after a mountain lion wandered into the area and prowled around several homes, police said.

The animal was first sighted before 7 a.m. in the 600 block of Virginia Ann Drive, where it jumped a residence's wall and climbed into the backyard, said Azusa police Officer Mike Bires.

"We have the mountain lion contained to the rear of the residence and we do have [California Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens] on the way," Bires said. "It's just hanging out."

Deborah Moore, 65, was among the first locals to see it. She was walking home from a neighbor's house when she spotted it from across the street, standing on her front yard.

     

Go here for the full story on the website of the Los Angeles Times   --->>>