Golden Gate Bridge

You might like this article, especially this part…

There are a couple of misconceptions about how often the Bridge is painted. Some say once every seven years, others say from end to end each year. The truth is that the Bridge is painted continuously. Painting the Bridge is an ongoing task and a primary maintenance job. The paint applied to the Bridge’s steel protects it from the high salt content in the air which can cause the steel to corrode or rust.

Via:
Golden Gate Bridge
[automated]

Reading Around on November 4th through November 6th

A few interesting links collected November 4th through November 6th:

  • The Unemployment Rate for People Like You – Interactive Graphic – NYTimes.com – “For white men ages 25 to 44 with a college degree”: 3.9% unemployment. Oh, well that makes a less compelling headline now, doesn’t it.
  • Dorms for the dead | Crain’s Chicago Business – The dead may breathe new life into the Three Arts Club in the Gold Coast. Once a 110-room dormitory for women artists, the landmark building could become a permanent home to the cremated remains of as many as 15,000 people. That plan, put forth by a group of investors led by Chicago architect Bill Bickford, is a novel one for a property revered by preservationists
  • Preserving the History of Haight-Ashbury – Photo Journal – WSJ – “Two groups are planning museums in the legendary neighborhood to capture memories of the 1960s hippie movement before they fade with age. If the museums launch, they would be the latest in a recent push by San Francisco groups to better document the city’s history”

Museums of Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood

The Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco was one of the more interesting cultural experiments in LBJ’s America, at least before everyone and their sister left Idaho, and became an amphetamine junky walking the streets…

San Fran Legs

The Haight-Ashbury neighborhood is history. At least, so think two groups of residents who are planning museums to capture memories of the 1960s hippie movement before they fade with its aging participants.

One, led by Haight-Ashbury Free Clinics founder David E. Smith, will function as a “library museum” of the free-clinic movement, which began in the Haight in the 1960s to provide free health care to residents. The other effort, led by local artist David Wills, will chronicle the neighborhood’s history from its farming days in the late 1800s to the Summer of Love in the 1960s.

If the museums launch — neither is slated to open until after 2011 — they would be the latest in a recent push by San Francisco groups to better document the city’s history. The San Francisco Museum and Historical Society has been working to renovate the old Mint Building in the South of Market neighborhood into a San Francisco Museum by 2013. Last year, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender Historical Society opened a museum in the Castro district. Another half a dozen local museums have expanded in the past five years, according to the San Francisco historical society.

[Click to continue reading Museums Hope to Bring New Life to Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood of San Francisco – WSJ.com]

The museums will not be just a hippie theme park

Residents say they are eager to move past the neighborhood’s “hippie theme park” reputation emphasized by the head shops. With new museums, “We hope to educate people about what it was like here at the time, and try to get more into the philosophy of the free society that people don’t get,” said Jim Siegel, who owns the Distractions head shop and who likely will contribute items to Mr. Wills’s museum.

There is a nice photo essay (don’t need to be a WSJ subscriber to see it, I don’t think) of the Haight-Ashubry area if you click here

Speaking of SF, I really want to visit there again, as it has been too many years1. When I was a younger dude, I spent several days strolling around the city on several different occasions, but I didn’t have a camera then2 so all the funky stuff I saw is relegated to my memory banks. I do love San Fran though, in an ideal world, I would have a house there for extended visits.3

Footnotes:
  1. I’m thinking the last time was in 2003 – which is when the above photo was taken []
  2. pre-digital years, and pre-photography years too when I think about it. I didn’t start carrying a camera around until I spent a couple months in Europe after I finished my undergraduate degree []
  3. along with places in New York City, Venice, London, and wherever else. You know, if I was fabulously wealthy. []

Reading Around on May 8th through May 11th

A few interesting links collected May 8th through May 11th:

  • TidBITS Opinion: SFMOMA’s ArtScope Offers New Way To Browse Museum Collections – “The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s ArtScope is a great example of an innovative approach to bringing a museum’s collection to the Web. ArtScope is a visual browsing tool comprised of a thumbnail grid displaying 3,500 works from the SFMOMA’s permanent collection. The grid is zoomable, displaying a lens which can be moved over it to magnify certain areas, enabling users to view hundreds of artworks simultaneously, or just one at a time in close detail.”
  • Death Star & Star Wars Spacecraft Fly Around San Francisco – If you haven’t already seen this…

    “Speaking of great Star Wars videos, Michael Horn made this absolutely amazing video on Current featuring the Death Star and various Star Wars spacecraft flying around San Francisco during Imperial Fleet Week”

  • The Official George W. Bush Presidential Librarium – Completion of the George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas may be stalled indefinitely, due to an apparent lack of funding, public support, and basic legality. Make no mistake, the public’s desire to endlessly relive Bush’s greatest achievements may go unanswered for years to come—and his legacy remain (like America) in limbo.

    All hope is not lost. We at Origen & Golan Architects are proud to unveil the plans for the George W. Bush Presidential Librarium! Themed attractions provide more entertainment than a library, and more accurately represent Bush’s remarkable legacy—start by exploring The Stax, Supreme Food Court, Book BBQ, and the ever-popular Golden Parachutes. We ask for your support in promoting the Librarium among your colleagues. We cannot blink.

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