Safe in the Castro

Last night was a great time in the Castro. To those who've been wondering how we all are, the answer is fine. At 10:40pm when the shooting was, everyone was over at 140 Noe (3 blocks away) partying. It is a bummer that each year, Halloween in the Castro is less and less our community having a good time and more and more an excuse for south bay punks to drive up, start fights and make rude comments to women in slutty Halloween costumes. Thankfully, at least, it looks like no one died.

Appendix of champions

I got home from the hospital yesterday morning. I was a bit out of it but not too bad. Friday night I had dinner and was feeling stomach cramps afterwards. They were constant but not too bad. I watched a movie with Kris and went to bed. I didn't sleep much since I was in a bit of pain. Woke up Saturday and through the day they continued. I called Kaiser and they said I should come into the ER and get evaluated. I took a bus over to Geary and went into the ER around 8pm. By 3am I had gotten a blood test, had drank a half liter of "Banana Smoothie" with barium sulfate suspension, had a CT scan, was dressed in my shoes, boxerbriefs and a backless gown, had been hooked up to an IV drip, and had been admitted to the hospital in anticipation of a possible appendectomy. I was in that bed, hooked up to an IV until Monday morning over which time I slowly got better (inexplicably). I had my first meal (not including the clear liquid and full liquid "meals" I had in the hospital) last night and feel fine. It couldn't have been worse timing though. I missed Nuala and Adie's birthday weekend extravaganza in Santa Barbara.

The Trash Folder

Matt Power wrote an excellent piece on Computer Recycling in the January 2005 issue of Harper's. I highly recommend reading it.
Here's an excert :

PVC-sheathed wires such as these are collected and burned in
open ditches on the edges of Guiyu, after which the 9 cents’
worth of copper in each is collected and sold. In the process, the
burning plastic releases dioxins and furans, two of the world’s most
carcinogenic substances, into the air. Most of the burning is
done at night, as the Chinese government banned import of ewaste
in 2000. This has not dented the practice, though. Customs
inspectors are well-lubricated by e-waste brokers, who themselves
are amply compensated at both ends: they are paid in
America to “recycle” the computers—$10 to $30 per machine,
on average—and also sell them upon reaching China. As one broker
told the Washington Post last year, “I could care less where they
go. My job is to make money.” The workers of Guiyu, meanwhile,
are given an untenable choice between poverty and poison.