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San Francisco Gets an "F" in Air Quality
The American Lung Association's annual report card rates air quality on three major measures: smog, sooty air days, and annual levels of particle pollution The American Lung Association's annual report card rates air quality on three major measures: smog, sooty air days, and annual levels ... more
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Straight Outta Hunters Point by Kevin Epps
"Straight Outta Hunters Point", the award-winning Hip Hop documentary by Hunters Point filmmaker Kevin Epps is a stark cinematic portrait of a community struggling to stop the forces of gentrification -- denial of jobs, police brutality, environmental racism and more -- that have pushed 23 percent of San Francisco's Black population out of the City in the past decade. It has won the acclaim of critics and audiences at independent film festivals around the U.S., including Sundance and the Santa Fe Film Fest, where it was described as "a gritty, uncompromising film about the evolution and perseverance of a black culture in the shadow of poverty, race riots and gang-related rap wars."
Drive-bys, drug peddling and heavy dealing, hot rodding, gun toting, pimping, hustling and rapping - and young people can see very few paths out. "Once that culture is bred, it's prevalent," says Kevin Epps, who has called Hunters Point his home for 30 years.
Epps' film touches briefly on the period during World War II, when Hunters Point was the home of African American shipyard workers who migrated from the South with their families in search of better-paying jobs. After the war, when white men returned from the war front to take back their jobs, opportunities for blacks at the shipyard started to dwindle. The area soon became home to the city's poor, unemployed and unwanted.
The documentary leaves audiences with the taste of despair that churns in the bellies of most residents.
"We're numb to the situation because we've been there so long, even though you know it's not normal," Epps says. "I'm trying to communicate to people this is not normal and we can't accept it."
The result is a montage of voices: Mothers sob unable to reconcile their losses; friends and family celebrate another young life cut off too soon; evangelicals rush in to soothe and save souls. "Can I get with you in prayer," one missionary asks as the young man turns his back. Politicians declare at press conferences that the violence must stop. Police vow to stop it. All the while gangsters from both turfs explain themselves and the unapologetic ways of the streets.
"We have so many guns over here," Epps says. "AL47s. 223s. "Straight Outta Hunters Point", the award-winning Hip Hop documentary by Hunters Point filmmaker Kevin Epps is a stark cinematic portr... more -
Old Guard - The Technology of Oil Spill Cleanup
cnet news writer explores the technology of oil spill cleanup, touching upon the irony that in a high-tech nexus such as the bay area, the technology being used to address this giant environmental issue is relatively low, and, he suggests, antiquated.
as someone surrounded by technobabble and incessant talk of optimization, efficiency, and data in her day-to-day line of work (web 2.0!), i am aghast whenever i get glimpses into industries that have far loftier reasons to be anal about data, staying up on technology, etc and are completely dropping the ball. not that that hot new visualization widget is not important, but i kind of like the ocean too. and more. cnet news writer explores the technology of oil spill cleanup, touching upon the irony that in a high-tech nexus such as the bay area,... more -
Golden Gate Oil Spill
On November 7, 2007, A container ship struck a tower of the Bay Bridge spilling 58,000 gallons of bunker oil into the San Francisco Bay. The following day, several Bay Area beaches were closed due to the spill. This pod takes us to the Bay Area coastline to see how the spill is impacting the wildlife and the people who frequent the coastal waters of San Francisco. On November 7, 2007, A container ship struck a tower of the Bay Bridge spilling 58,000 gallons of bunker oil into the San Francisco Ba... more
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Naked man runs for mayor of San Francisco
Watch as he is interviewed by a local tv channel in the middle of union square. Funny Video.
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