Urban Jungle

San Francisco is a lot closer to wilderness than New York. I mean, New York has hawks and owls and the odd coyote (not to mention the occasional bobcat or alligator brought back from vacation and stuck away in the bathroom by clueless tourists). But here...in the grassy patch across from our house (Emily's customary squeezing place) there is a skunk who comes to visit and raid the garbage can. And today, driving up to the dog park, I saw a dead possum in the middle of the road. I'd never seen a live possum before, and here I see my first one, and it's...well, it's roadkill. In New York all you see, roadkill-wise, is the odd pigeon or rat. This sure is an interesting place to live.

Callous + Stupid=Dangerous

A 28-year-old woman died after drinking two gallons of water in an attempt to win a Nintendo Wii as part of a drive time radio contest.

I'm sure there are lots of people who do not know such a thing as water intoxication exists, and very likely no one at KDND thought there was anything really dangerous about what they were planning. But then several people called in to warn that the 18 participants in the contest were putting themselves at risk. The hosts laughed it off (I heard a recording this afternoon of one on-air guy telling a caller, "Hey, don't worry. They signed releases, so we're okay."

It's all fun and games, until someone puts an eye out.

The morning drive time show has been taken off the air "until the investigation is completed."