ACT 1: Humans are Now Expendable
STOP HIRING HUMANS
– Sign pulled by a plane flying over the San Francisco bay
These are strange times that we live in. The airplane was invented but a little over hundred years ago. At one point the only place airplanes landed in San Francisco was at Crissy Field, a small flat place on the bay by the Golden Gate Bridge. Not far from Chrissy Field, flying over the San Francisco Bay, on May 1, 2026 a small propeller-prop plane was observed pulling a sign that said “STOP HIRING HUMANS.” In the background was Alcatraz. What can this mean? Universal income for all? Are we all going to just be able stay in bed all day, not go to work, roll over and hit the snooze button? It is very ironic that it was May 1st – International Workers Day. You definitely have to give credit to the gall of whomever paid for this advertisement, but the crucial question is: was there a person in the cockpit flying the plane? Does he have a parachute if things do not work out?
ACT 2: How to Cook an Artichoke
It’s that time of year again. You will see them in piles at the grocery store or better yet – at a farmers market. Maybe $2 each. Sometimes less. It is the artichoke. What is this thing? Is it a vegetable? Maybe a plant from outer space? Actually it is but a flower. They love dancing in the fog. When they are fresh, they can be absolutely divine.
STEP ONE: Take a big pasta pot and fill it with water and set it to boil.
STEP TWO: Assess your artichoke. I prefer to take a clean scissors and cut off the leaf ends. Trim off the often prickly ends. You will not eat this part anyway.
STEP THREE: Wash the artichoke under cool water. Open up the center and allow any bugs to come out of hiding. Use more water. Sometimes there are pincher bugs that like to move in. You are now the evil landlord evicting the tenants. Be gentle though, and take the creature to the window and toss her out of the house. You did her a favor. She will not be boiled alive.
STEP FOUR: Put the artichokes in the boiling pot. Add some salt. I try to get the salt into the middle of the artichokes. Boil for one hour. Yes. One hour. A good medium boil will do. Remember – Rome was not built in a day you know.
STEP FIVE: After an hour, using tongs, take the artichokes out and put them in bowl. Poke them with a fork to make sure they are completely dead. If the stem is still hard, leave the artichokes in the hot water for more time, otherwise set aside.
STEP SIX: And here, ladies and gentlemen is my secret. Take a few tabs of butter and place them in the center of the flower, in the middle of the leaves. Squeeze a lemon on these same leaves. Add a little more salt. The heat of the artichoke will melt the butter. Wait about five minutes before serving.
Eat the meat in the leaves by pulling them off one at a time. Scrape the meat out with your teeth. Use an empty bowl and discard the remnants. When you make it to the heart, cut that out with a paring knife away from the hairy part (you’ll figure it out) and share with your friend. If you have no friends, sharing an artichoke heart will get you some.
That is my artichoke rant. Aren’t you glad you made it this far!
ACT 3: The Valencia Bike Does Actually Work
While the San Francisco Chronicle rambles on about how great it is that humans are slowly being replaced by the tech bros in the taxi business, a story that goes unreported is that the Valencia bike lane now does work. Zig zagging your way down to Market Street was evidently the best way. Humans. Sometimes they eventually get some things right.
ACT 4: Donald Trump is Just Jealous
It is an odd thing that no one has come to the realization that Donald Trump is simply jealous. When the U.S. sent in that stealth force into Caracas and kidnapped Nicolas Madura, what was really happening was that Trump was going after a leader who simply outdid him in the coup d’etat category. Maduro stayed in power by claiming he had won the election when it was quite apparent that he did not. Maduro outdid Trump by having a successful coup. Donald was perhaps pissed off that he had been outdone. Mob bosses hate to be one-upped. January 6th. If only that Pence guy had a spine!
By the way poor Nicolas seems to have fallen off the news radar. Reports about the prison food? What are the conditions like? How is the mattress holding up? We need details.
With Iran, it is a matter of simply being jealous of the Iranian style of government. Iran is a Religious Theocracy, the exact type of government that the current batch of Republicans esteem to. Instead of Islam they of course prefer Christianity. Instead of Mohammed it is Jesus. In the end, it is simply jealousy. My God is better than your God. My misogyny is better than your misogyny.
While Trump is perhaps the most non-religious president in United States history, the reason he is in power is because of these religious fanatics, who made a Faustian deal with the devil and who’s course he follows in his usual transactional style. Trump and his crazy entourage are all just fighting Iran because they have been outdone. Jesus, do save us.
Those are my rants. I have some artichokes to eat.
October and November are always pleasant months in San Francisco. The marine layer pushes back and we get warmer weather, often beautiful sunsets and good surf. The water temperature at Ocean Beach was often around sixty degrees which is warm for around here. A large swell came in and surf at Maverick’s near Half Moon Bay had some forty foot ridable surf. The longer period swells from the Alaska always means storms in California. Starting on November 13, 2025 the seasonal rain began. Hopefully this is just an omen for a good snow year, but these days anything can happen.
Speaking of the playoff, in baseball the lead up to and the MLB World Series in 2025 was one for the ages. In the end, the Los Angeles Dodgers won in seven games. The quality of the games throughout the playoffs was amazing. The Yankees got booted out in five. The Brewers were looking good but then ran out of gas and faced what was to be a very difficult opponent – Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the LA Dodgers. The Toronto Blues Jays were looking good until they had to face Yamamoto and could not connect with their bats. The Dodgers had been slumping at the plate until Game 6 when they slowly came to life. Like as it happens so often in baseball, it was almost as if the tide began to turn. First Mookie Betts got a key hit. Then veteran Venezuelan journeyman Miguel Rojas, playing second base, starts making plays and hitting the ball and you knew the Dodgers had it. The Blue Jays ended the baseball season by hitting into a double play with the winning run on second. And so it goes.
