The San Francisco Garter Snake

These baby San Francisco garters will be one foot long in
a year, when they will be released in SM County. (Chron)

With an estimated population of over one million, garter snakes are a common sight throughout the continental United States. However, one of the thirteen (13) subspecies--the San Francisco garter--is classified as endangered.

The San Francisco garter snake, with its brilliant hues of deep red and turquoise, is widely considered one of the most beautiful snakes in North America. It’s also one of the rarest, with maybe 2,000 living in the wild today, all in San Mateo County.

In a bid to ensure a future for the endangered snake, Bay Area scientists are teaming up on a first-ever effort to rear a captive colony of the colorful crawlers, with plans to start releasing the newborns and rebuilding their populations at local ponds and hillsides.

“If we don’t have more snakes out there, they could disappear in our lifetime,” said Rochelle Stiles, director of field conservation for the San Francisco Zoo and Gardens, where the captive group is being raised. “The snakes serve a very important role in the ecosystem.”

...The snakes have historically lived in wetlands and grasslands only in San Mateo County and northern Santa Cruz County. (They’ve never resided in their namesake city.) Much of their limited habitat has been developed for housing and farming while invasive predators, such as bullfrogs, have proliferated, all squeezing out the native reptile.

Also, the striking appearance of the snakes once made them a premium target of the illegal pet trade. The snakes are characterized by a wide, bluish dorsal stripe that stands in contrast to jet-black and reddish-orange stripes and a blue-greenish underbelly.

Their vivid coloring, unusual for North American snakes, is likely a defense mechanism, signaling to predators — falsely — that they’re venomous or poisonous. The San Francisco garter snake, like the many other types of garter snakes, is not a danger to people or pets.

The snake was listed as a federally endangered species in 1967, setting the stage for protections that have fallen short of securing its recovery.

Although the "San Francisco garter" only lives in San Mateo County, leave it to the City to hog the glory, as it often does, for goings-on in other parts of the Bay Area.

You May Not Like This Answer

(WSJ graphic)

The assassination of Charlie Kirk has prompted a stream of commentary unrivalled by the death of anyone this century. While such commentary has covered a wide range of topics and opinions, WSj columnist Peggy Noonan is one of the few who spent time on the oft-criticized Christian phrase, "thoughts and prayers."

During recent national traumas we’ve heard the side argument over “thoughts and prayers.” Something terrible happens, someone sends thoughts and prayers, someone else snaps, “We don’t need your prayers, we need action.” They denounce the phrase only because they don’t understand it, and give unwitting offense. (I always hope it is unwitting.)

Prayer is action. It’s effort. It takes time. Christians believe God is an actual participant in history. He’s here, every day, in the trenches. He didn’t create the universe and disappear into the mists; his creation is an ongoing event, he is here in the world with you. When something terrible happens and you talk to him—that’s what prayer is, talking to him, communicating with concentration—you are actively asking for help, for intercession. “Please help her suffering, help their children, they are so alone.” “Help me be brave through this.”

It’s active, not passive. Catholics, when they’d pray over and over or with friends, used to call it storming heaven. It isn’t a way of dodging responsibility, it is (if you are really doing it and not just publicly posing) a way of taking it.

So pray now for America. We are in big trouble.

One of the first questions we ask in Sunday School is, why didn't more Jews accept Jesus as the Messiah? After all, love is the answer to everything.

It's only after we have lived life for a while that we understand why comparatively few listened to Jesus. They wanted God to answer their prayers, but on their terms. The ancients understood the Messiah to be the conqueror who would drive out the Romans and be David reincarnated, the mighty King of the Jews. They refused to consider evidence that this wasn't going to happen.

The parallel today is the wish for a strong leader who will remove hundreds of milliohs of firearms from society, thereby solving gun violence. If that's the answer we want God to give us, then we are not really open to listening, nor or we submitting ourselves to His will, and we will mock "thoughts and prayers" as a shibboleth. The human heart was, is, and ever shall be the true battlefield.

Self-Defeating Deportations

Federal agents detain Korean workers in Georgia (Fox News)

While the majority of Americans supports border control in some form, the manner in which the policy is executed threatens to erode that support. Alleged deportation abuses of migrants from south of the border gets all the (negative) publicity, but last week's actions against South Korean workers at a battery plant in Georgia is an unforced error by the Administration.

More than 300 South Korean workers were sent back to South Korea on Thursday after being arrested in an immigration raid on a battery factory next to the Hyundai plant. “This could significantly impact future direct investment in the U.S.,” [President Lee Jae Myung] said at a news conference. South Korean companies “can’t help hesitating a lot” about making new investments in the U.S. if their workers are liable to end up in detention facilities.

Companies often bring in skilled workers to get factories up and running and to train local staff. “It’s not like these are long-term workers,” Mr. Lee continued. “When you build a facility or install equipment at a plant, you need technicians, but the U.S. doesn’t have that workforce and yet they won’t issue visas to let our people stay and do the work.”

U.S. policies can conflict with each other: 1) peaceful containment of China requires strengthening relations with Asian countries like South Korea and india; 2) building up American manufacturing involves penalizing potential and actual allies with tariffs. Deporting South Korean workers when there are not enough skilled Americans to do the work is not only self-defeating but sours a relationship with an important ally.

Ordering the Georgia plant to hire American workers when there aren't any seems as foolish as California shutting down gasoline refineries and fossil-fuel energy plants before alternative-energy replacements are on line.

"A Toaster on Wheels"

Seven years after relocating to Foster City and five years after Amazon acquired it, autonomous-driving company Zoox is introducing its robotaxis in Las Vegas.

Zoox’s first public launch kicks off Wednesday on the Las Vegas strip. The company is offering free rides from a few select locations, with plans to expand more broadly across the city in the coming months. Riders will eventually have to pay, but Zoox said it’s waiting on regulatory approval to take that step.

Amazon is jumping into a market that’s all about the future, but one where Waymo has a major head start, having offered commercial driverless rides since 2020. Earlier this year, Waymo said it surpassed 10 million paid rides, and the company now operates in five cities, with Dallas, Denver, Miami, Seattle and Washington, D.C., coming next year.

Tesla, meanwhile, began testing a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June, though with human supervisors on board.

But unlike Waymo and Tesla, Zoox’s electric robotaxi doesn’t resemble a car. There’s no steering wheel or pedals, and the rectangular shape has led many in the industry to describe it as a toaster on wheels. Zoox co-founder and technology chief Jesse Levinson says, “We use robotaxi or vehicle or Zoox.”

Our driving skills have been eroding, and in 3 to 5 years we foresee being in the market for a self driving vehicle. Waymo and Tesla would've been at the top of our shopping list, but we'll take a look at Zoox. I wonder if they'll give a hometown discount to local customers?

2018: Zoox prototype (Bloomberg photo)

Perspective

Charlie Kirk at the 2024 Republican convention (Politico)

24 years later the significance of September 11th is receding from memory, much as December 7th already has for most Americans. Besides, many people don't feel like reminiscing (again) about 9-11; what's on their minds is yesterday's murder of Charlie Kirk.

9-11 does allow us to put some perspective on the events of yesterday, however. "Everything changed" on September 10, 2025, is something I've read repeatedly on social media. No, I'm afraid not; tragic and emotional as it was, the killing of one man pales in comparison to the death of 3,000 people and the destruction of the twin towers in 2001.

Then, as now, some identifiable groups are easy to blame for the horror. However, the principle of individual responsibility is still strongly ingrained in the culture, and most Americans are able to resist condemning entire groups for the actions of a few members.

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) are the enemies of rational decision-making, and if we are honest with ourselves, there was a lot more FUD in 2001 about the next terrorist attack than there is today about how many people will get killed because of their politics.

We have the motivation, ability, and character to get through today's problems, if only we can see it.

Ineffably Sad

(Instagram photo)

The assassination of Charlie Kirk, 31, is ineffably sad. I say this, not because I agree with many of Mr. Kirk's views but because a young father of two was shot for his political beliefs. He never called for violence against those who disagreed with him; in fact he encouraged college students to argue with him and abhorred moves to silence opponents of all stripes. (There are hundreds of videos showing his spirited, mostly civil engagements.)

Kirk became well-known for debating students in front of an audience in a public setting, offering a conservative, and often provocative, perspective. Videos of him sparring with liberal-minded students garnered millions of views online. According to videos of the attack, Kirk was debating a student about mass shootings involving transgender people when he was shot.

The act of political violence is a jarring coda to Kirk’s meteoric rise from college dropout to standard-bearer of the MAGA movement. Kirk left an indelible mark on the Republican party, drawing young voters to its ranks and influencing Trump’s presidency.

Kirk was a strong advocate for most of the president’s positions, which he discussed in detail during his podcast The Charlie Kirk Show and other media appearances. His support—and talent as an orator—helped him earn significant political sway with the president, with whom he spoke frequently.

Your humble blogger will not over-react by asserting the end of civil society occurred today; that might well have happened fourteen (14) months ago had then-candidate Trump not escaped with his life. Today's damage was grievous enough. R.i.P.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Divorced Ryan Hambry and Morgan Dickson have dinner
together with their children at their Florida house once a week

The cliché about the economics of marriage--"two can live as cheaply as one"--remains true even though the marriage is over. Some divorced couples continue to live together because their housing costs would rise substantially if they were to sell their house with a low-interest mortgage.

For divorcing couples, there is a particularly tricky version of what housing professionals call the “lock-in effect,” where homeowners stay in place because they don’t want to give up their low rates. Across the housing market, the lock-in effect prevented almost two million home sales between mid-2022 and mid-2024, according to Federal Housing Finance Agency research. The number of people moving is significantly lower than it was before the pandemic, according to Bank of America.

Some ex-spouses are choosing to “nest,” an arrangement in which the kids remain in the family home and the parents rotate in and out. The practice has been around a long time, but it has gained popularity as the costs of moving have risen, according to family-law attorneys and mediators.

There are compelling short-term financial reasons for not cutting the cord completely, but keeping the family house under joint ownership will make it difficult to find other partners, relocate to other cities, and move on with their lives.

Unsurprising Development

The water has been shut off over a year (SFGate)

In August we commented on the City's decision to remove the Vaillancourt Fountain as part of a 5-acre development plan. As is true of every highly visible construction project in Northern California, legal methods have been employed to halt the fountain's removal.

Armand Vaillancourt, the 96-year-old artist behind the brutalist fountain in Embarcadero Plaza, tapped a lawyer to write the letter, asking the city on August 29 to “immediately cease and desist from taking any steps whatsoever that may endanger or damage the Vaillancourt Fountain.”

...If the city ignores Vaillancourt’s warning and request for the city to hand over all documents related to the fountain’s future and keep the artist in the loop on ongoing conversations, Vaillancourt and six “long-standing” architectural and cultural organizations are prepared to take legal action, according to the letter.

We have seen this play before: opposition to the removal of an old building or public work of art has not furnished a plan to pay for the repair and upkeep of the object being eliminated. In Vaillancourt's case the repair is estimated to cost $29 million. One easily foreseeable result is that nothing happens while the property deteriorates. If San Francisco avoids this outcome, it will be a good sign that it's back.

Resurging Anglicanism: Signs of Hope

Liturgical worship is coming back (anglicanmom)

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth regarding the collapse of British society. There are widespread allegations that the British elites condemn displays of patriotism but look the other way at immigrant grooming gangs and rape culture.

There is reason for hope: there are signs of a resurgent Christianity, led by Anglicanism, that can counter the Islamist wave and beat back the secularism that has dominated British culture in the second half of the 20th century. [bold added]

Across Britain, a wealth of evidence tells of a modest but real Christian revival.

Anglican clergy regularly describe a “steady trickle” of new parishioners seeking to know more about the faith. Some Catholic dioceses note a sharp increase in adults asking to be baptized. In July, the coastal town of Bournemouth witnessed a mass baptism of 92 new Christians in the sea. More than 1,000 attended the service—a striking display in a society where faith tends to be privately nurtured more than it is publicly proclaimed.

Ms. [Jo] Gilbert works for a parish in Brighton and coordinates the Catholic chaplaincy team for the town’s two universities. She has worked with students and young people for two decades. The past few years, she says, have seen a marked change. “A lot of us working in pastoral ministry, and a lot of people in a lot of churches, are saying we’re seeing a renewed interest and spiritual openness, and more new converts.”

...Such stories have been brought into focus by a controversial study from YouGov, one of the U.K.’s most respected polling companies. The study, titled “The Quiet Revival,” claimed that churchgoing surged from 3.7 million in 2018 to 5.8 million in 2024—a 56% increase. The most marked change, according to the data, was among 18- to 24-year-olds, among whom churchgoing was said to have quadrupled.

It's still early days, and indeed some of the enthusiasm with which this trend has been received may be inflated by wishful thinking, but I, for one, prefer to hope than despair.

Zippy's

I'm only frustrating myself when I open
the App in Zippy-less California.

It's not gourmet, but it serves local favorites late into the evening and when it opens at 6 a.m. [bold added]

The takeout and dine-in menu is large and varied — with everything from spaghetti to plate lunches, chili and burgers — and regulars usually have a go-to dish.

Bruno Mars’ favorite is the “Korean chicken plate with a small chili with rice,” according to a 50th anniversary publication. Jason Momoa recently proclaimed Zippy’s has the “best fried chicken in the world.” Former President Barack Obama likes the Zip Min, a bowl of saimin with wontons, char siu, fish cake and breaded shrimp.

I usually order the Zip Pac, containing one piece of fried chicken, Spam, breaded fish and a slice of marinated teriyaki beef over furikake-seasoned rice.

There are two Zippy's--one next to my father's high school, McKinley, and one on Kapahulu Ave.--within walking distance of my parent's home. I go to Zippy's two or three times on each trip home. It's time to book a flight.....

The Science Helps You Get Settled

(Photo by Sergiy Barchuk/WSJ)

In our there's-a-pill-for-everything culture there are worse medications than propranolol:

Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1967 to treat symptoms of cardiovascular disease, propranolol has become the go-to pill for dealing with all sorts of stressful situations, from public speaking to first dates. Prescriptions are on the rise, up 28 percent from 2020, according to the most recent data from IQVIA, making propranolol—a generic drug that is relatively inexpensive—the fastest-growing pill in the category. By slowing down heart rate and lowering blood pressure, the drug can reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety, though it has not been approved by the FDA to treat the condition. Most people take it situationally; musicians and actors, for instance, have long relied on beta blockers like propranolol before performing (“I took a beta blocker, so this is going to be a breeze,” the actor Robert Downey Jr. said during his 2024 Golden Globes acceptance speech). Now a new generation of stars is spreading the gospel.

I have never taken the drug but can't be too judgmental: if my livelihood depended on being cool in stressful situations I may well be using propranolol all the time.

Where other beta blockers focus on specific parts of the body, propranolol “affects beta receptors in the heart and everywhere else in the body, including the brain,” according to Dr. Nassir Ghaemi, an academic psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine.

“The effects on the brain are the effects that cause the decrease of anxiety,” Ghaemi says.

Compared to benzodiazepines, such as Xanax or Valium, propranolol is considered nonaddictive and is among the “mildest variety of anti-anxiety medication,” he says, but it is not without risk. Because propranolol works to reduce blood pressure and heart rate, if you reduce it too much, the person could faint.

The Mayo Clinic lists the "more common" side effects:

Chest tightness

cough producing mucus

difficulty with breathing

Anxiety

dry mouth

hyperventilation

irritability

restlessness

shaking

sleepiness or unusual drowsiness

trouble sleeping

unusual dreams

None of the above side effects appear particularly dangerous, so users are probably not gambling with their long-term health by taking propranolol or other beta blockers. Speaking as a baby boomer who witnessed some work colleagues taking prescriptions and illegal drugs (cocaine, marijuana) 40 to 50 years ago without apparent ill effect into their golden years, the rewards outweigh the risks, so you won't hear tsk-tsks from me.

My Dog Has Fleas

Every Hawaiian kid I know has picked up a ukulele at some point in his or her life. It's easy to learn a few chords; the ukulele has only four strings compared to the six strings on a guitar, and the first chord, C Major, is quickly learned by placing the second (the middle) finger on the A.

To tune the ukulele each of the strings G,C,E, and A can be matched to the corresponding key on the piano, although a musician only needs one "true" note to tune the entire instrument, much like an entire orchestra tunes to an "A."

The "air ukulele" cartoon is funny because of the ukulele's popular image as a sedate, Island instrument. However, the current generation of artists, including my cousin by way of marriage, tests the limits of the ukulele.

Having a Big Head Will be a Compliment

There are two schools of thought regarding the change in size of the human brain:
1) Brains are getting smaller because they are exercised less; data and thinking have been uploaded to books, paper files, the internet, the cloud, etc.
2) Brains are getting bigger because of better pre-natal care, nutrition, and education.

(Beth Goody/WSJ)

Whichever theory best describes the past is unsettled, but the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution seems to make future brain shrinkage inevitable. [bold added]

At our [Stanford] lab, we’ve spent a decade treating patients, studying how technology shapes the human mind, and supporting the integration of mental-health and well-being principles into AI and social-media platforms. As generative AI enters workplaces and schools at unprecedented speed, we’re observing a troubling phenomenon: the quiet erosion of our cognitive capabilities.

The allure of the technology is powerful. As our colleague Darja Djordjevic, a psychiatrist at Harlem Hospital and Columbia University says, “Here is a machine that is always available, endlessly enthusiastic, and seemingly competent in every domain. That creates a powerful feedback loop. You skip the discomfort of starting from scratch and get rewarded in seconds.”

No wonder our brain, delighted to dodge difficulty, craves these shortcuts. Humans have always used technology for cognitive offloading—using external tools to reduce mental demands. We write notes to remember, use calculators for arithmetic, and rely on GPS for navigation.

Where previous technologies affected discrete skills, however, generative AI tools raise the stakes. These tools are so expansive in their applications, so autonomous in their execution, that when we activate them, our minds effectively power down.

Therein lies the risk. The very convenience that boosts short-term productivity may also be accelerating long-term cognitive atrophy, across more domains than any technology before it.

The authors offer a variety of remedies, ranging from trying to solve the problem before turning to AI, to an outright AI "fast." I don't hold out much hope that these solutions will make a dent in stemming the AI takeover of our cognitive functions.

In my working life I spent many nights and weekends on audits, business plans, tax returns, and merger deals. If I had an AI bot to help me out, I would have not hesitated to use it. Now that I'm retired (and much lazier) I would still use the tools that made me both efficient and effective.

I pity future generations. I have a bigger brain than they do.

The Club I Can Never Join

(WSJ graphic - darker blue circles are women)

Using data from Altrata, the WSJ profiles America's billionaires:

There were 1,135 billionaires in the U.S. as of 2024—up from 927 in 2020, according to data from Altrata, a wealth intelligence firm. The biggest concentration, 255 of them, is in California. But the super rich are also behind businesses in places such as Ridgeland, Miss., and Waunakee, Wisc.

Collectively, these people are worth about $5.7 trillion, according to Altrata’s estimates... The 100 richest billionaires account for nearly $3.86 trillion in wealth—more than half the total. Just three men—Elon Musk, [Jeff] Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg—account for almost $1 trillion of it.

Billionaires have publicly donated or pledged to give about $185 billion since 2015, according to Altrata. Mostly, they support causes such as education and medical research—they gave $90 billion to those two in the past 10 years. That has given them sway in ongoing campus debates over freedom of speech and antisemitism.

While some billionaires such as [Bill] Gates and Warren Buffett have openly pledged to give away much of their wealth, others have donated little so far. About a quarter of the billionaires in the list have known donations of less than $1 million in the past decade.

I'm wary of concluding that billionaires are selfish based on their lack of known donations. If I were a billionaire--of course, I'll never be part of that club--I would keep my donations quiet, both so I would not be inundated with other requests and because of the ethic against self-glorification.

I never knew a billionaire,
Such a life, I would not choose it
Too much time would be ensnared
Worrying about how I could lose it.
---inspired by the Purple Cow

Home Alone: the New Normal for Seniors

(Photo from futurity.org)

Being home alone is the new normal for millions of senior Americans:

More than 16 million people aged 65 and older in the U.S. live alone. That represents 28% of that age group, almost triple the share in 1950. Among the reasons: increased longevity, higher divorce rates among older adults and children more scattered than previous generations.

“It’s very likely most of us will live alone in old age,” says Elena Portacolone, professor at the Institute for Health & Aging at the University of California, San Francisco. Older adults with more financial resources have more care options, but even those with resources may find themselves hunting for in-home help.

Most people are unprepared to age alone. Only one-fourth of those living alone have someone who helps or would help with cooking, cleaning and getting groceries, and more than 80% haven’t planned for ongoing living assistance, according to an AARP 2023 report. At least one-fourth of older adults with dementia live alone.

Some crises take us by surprise. The growing alone-ness that has overtaken seniors is not one of these; it has been looming for years. Money can solve some of the problems, but it can't reverse the consequences of not having more children decades ago, or moving away from hometowns where siblings, cousins, and high school friends reside, or walking away from long-time marriages.

Although everyone can point to some things they are grateful for, too often they say that if they had to do it all over again, they would not change a thing. It's sad when people lie to others and even sadder when they lie to themselves.