The Big Cheez

Hello Everyone,

I'm writing to all of you in an attempt to connect two groups of people. The first group includes the Coast Guard, the City of San Francisco, the counties of Marin, San Mateo and San Francisco and the governor's office of the State of California. The second group is the Myocilium expert, Paul Stamets and his people.

If anyone out there has a connection, however small, to the first group please contact me via my treo at skihaserle@aol.com or at 801.556.5441 or forward this information to everyone you know that may know someone. I know it's a small world out there and it's just a matter of time before the connection happens.

I'll try to make this short. Yesterday I had the good fortune of listening to Paul Stamets speak at the Green Fest downtown. He's the leading guru in the world of mycelium aka. mushrooms and he has direct experience with bioremediation of oil.

This paragraph is an excerpt from an article found at http://www.yesmagazine.org/article…

"After several years, and redundant experiments to prove to naysayers that our data were valid, we have made some astonishing discoveries. The first significant study showed that a strain of Oyster mushrooms could break down heavy oil. A trial project at a vehicle storage center controlled by the Washington State Department of Transportation enlisted the techniques from several competing bioremediation groups. The soil was blackened with oil and reeked of aromatic hydrocarbons. We inoculated one berm of soil approximately 8 feet by 30 feet by 3 feet high with mushroom spawn, while others employed a variety of methods, ranging from bacteria to chemical agents. After four weeks, the tarps were pulled back from each test pile. The first piles employing the other techniques were unremarkable. Then the tarp was pulled from our pile, and gasps of astonishment and laughter welled up from the observers. The hydro-carbon-laden pile was bursting with mushrooms! Oyster mushrooms up to 12 inches in diameter had formed across the pile. Analyses showed that more than 95 percent of the PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) were destroyed, reduced to non-toxic components. The mushrooms were also free of any petroleum products.
After eight weeks, the mushrooms had rotted away, and then came another startling revelation. As the mushrooms rotted, flies were attracted, feeding on the mushroom spores. The flies became a magnet for other insects, which in turn brought in birds. Apparently the birds brought in seeds. Soon our pile was an oasis, the only pile teeming with life."

Additional information can be found by googling Paul Stamets, oil remediation.

I'm heading down to Ocean Beach at 2 today to help with the clean-up effort being spear-headed by the surfers. If anyone is in the local area please join us.

In the meantime I'd like to find out if its possible to put this bioremediation solution into action. I'm researching what kind of remediation work is being implemented currently and whether or not the materials used to absorb the oil are cellulose based. If so, the simple solution is halfway there for the oyster mushrooms to do their thing as they feed off cellulose-based material.

Again, if you have any connections to help put this plan into action please get in touch with me. I'm avail via treo- email (skihaserle@aol.com) txt or phone is 801.556.5441.


Best,
Lori




Lori Schwilling
801.556.5441
skihaserle@aol.com

The musical based on the movie of the novel the Color Purple is in San Francisco this month. Some of you might know Alice was named for Alice Walker, the author. The Color Purple is one of my favorite books. I wanted to see this when it was on Broadway but never made it. Now I want to see it here at the Orpheum Theater. Tickets are $75 orchestra, $60 mezzanine,$30-45 balcony on weeknights. It's playing 10/09/07 – 12/09/07. Who wants to go with me?
http://colorpurple.com/the_color_p…

If you have a Bank of America card or know someone who does, you can show it and get 2 tickets for free to any of these SF museums (works in museums in other cities as well):

Asian Art
De Young
SFMOMA
Legion of Honor
Academy of Sciences
Yerba Buena

They are general admission tickets. If there is a special exhibit (such as Vivenne Westwood at De young) you still have to pay extra for them.
Details: bankofamerica.com/art

My neighbor has been taking care of an abandoned dog who needs a home. To me she looks like a black lab pit bull mix puppy. From the neighbor:

"This dog was dumped in front of [school across the street] on Sunday. I have been feeding the dog. I took her for her vaccinations, had her de-wormed and bathed. She will be spayed on Friday. This dog desperately needs a loving home, preferably with someone who is home during the day, she is a very frightened and sweet little girl. Will you please spread the word and help me to get her adopted."

If interested, contact me and I'll give you the neighbor's email address.


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Thank you everyone for sending books to New Orleans. Here is an exerpt from Maria's blog:
"Around 10 packages arrived. I was so excited-it was like Christmas. The most amazing thing was that one of the books was the Time Life book on Katrina-full of pictures. One of the kids wanted to look at it and I was hesitant because I had not looked at it yet and knew that there would probably be a few pictures of dead people. But we looked at it together and suddenly this hard to reach girl was telling me her stories of Katrina. Soon a group of kids gathered around and started talking about it. They relayed thier stories of being rescued by boat, of waiting for 4 days on a bridge without food and water, of being in the Superdome or some other shelter, or relocation and how they were treated. They didn't edit or dramatize their stories all making these stories so more powerful. One girl in particular was so articulate and was able to describe different events in such heartfelt detail. She obviously needed to tell her stories as she would wait until one kid finished and she would begin again. I asked her if she had written any of this down. She hadn't and I asked if she would like a notebook to start with. She did and asked if I would help her. So she plans to start writing and come by the library so that I can look it over. I wished so much that I had a video camera attached to my head as she spoke. It was so powerful."
Read the rest of the blog entry here.

AIDS virus weakness detected:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/2007021…

This to me seems like the beginning of the end of the era of AIDS. I didn't think I'd see it in my lifetime. The epidemic has always seemed so aggressive, a never-ending war that targets the innocent. It's nice to see all that hard-won funding making a dent.

Thanks to nattotastic for the link.

My friend Maria is in New Orleans, volunteering with house gutting, tutoring, and several days a week she staffs a temporary library in one of the temporary YMCA elementary schools in one of the hardest-hit sections of New Orleans. These kids don't have a lot of books that survived the flooding. She talks about how excited they are when they see her in the library room, knowing they'll get some library time that day. She told the story of one little girl that checks out two books every time the library is open, and brings them back next time for two more. These kids don't have much of anything, many live in FEMA trailers. One thing they want and need is books. To that end, Maria has put together an Amazon wishlist of books for the kids. Every little bit helps, and for some of these kids, the opportunity to read is an opportunity to dream of a life post-Katrina.

Wishlist here.
Maria's blog here.
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A friend asked me to list my top ten favorite books, so here is the list. If you feel like posting yours, I'd love to see your top ten as well. Don't be mad I'm not much of a science fiction reader!

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Happy Birthday vechan!!!