WHATS GOING ON IN EAST BAY. SF???

[Joe Hadenuf]

Breaking news says everyone get inside and cover cracks in doors and windows with wet towels due to refinery incident?? Anyone have any info. Is this SF?

[Angelique]

...If not using the fireplace, close fireplace dampers and vents ..

CA is going through a giant heat-wave. Take it away SW

[Prodigal Daughter]

Rodeo: Etymology: Spanish, from rodear to surround, from rueda: wheel, from Latin rota. Dates from 1834 and can be used synonmously with roundup.

A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them. Proverbs 20:26

Go to the referring definition page, and click on the word roundup! It says: A very powerful weed killer. Their commercials are pretty funny with weeds that talk about a "new spray" that killed their friends "from the roots up".

[Tourist Guy]

>>>Can I have your mother's recipe collection?<<<<

Lick your butterfingers pie

2 Chocolate graham cracker crusts*
1/4 c sugar
8 oz cream cheese – softened
4 cups Cool Whip
3 cups cold milk
1 cup crushed Butterfingers (5-6 reg bars)
2 pkgs. Instant Chocolate pudding

Mix cream cheese and sugar in medium bowl with electric
mixer until smooth. Gently stir in 1/2 of the whipped topping.
Spread evenly over crusts. Sprinkle about 3/4 cup chopped
candy bar over cream cheese layer.



Pour milk into large bowl. Add pudding mixes, beat on low
speed for 2 minutes. Pour over candy bar layer, let stand
5 minutes until thickened. Spread remaining Cool Whip
over pudding layer. Garnish with remaining chopped candy.
Refrigerate 2 hours until firm.

*If desired, a 13 x 9” desert can be made by using 2 cups
crushed chocolate graham crackers mixed with 1/2 c. butter
and pressed into a rectangular dish for the crust.

[Prodigal Daughter]

Goosebumps time: "Sephardic Jews were in Texas way before the Alamo was founded in 1718.." "The Mexican Inquisition forced Sephardic Jews to find refuge across the Rio Grande River and in south central Texas, New Mexico and Southern Colorado. They were fleeing the horrific and dehumanizing acts of forced conversions to the Catholic faith through what is called Autos de Fe and wearing of horrible vests called San Benitos. Barbaric acts perpetrated against them included the confiscation of all wealth, the kidnapping of their little children, forcing the first-born sons into Catholic monasteries, psychological as well as physical tortures, hangings, garroting, decapitations, and most predominantly death by hogueras (burning at the stake)."

Read the whole article at The Sephardic Awakening in America.

Luis, in the last paragraph there is reference to Cubans finding out they have Jewish blood and making aliyah. My husband's grandmother's last name was "Barrios". Tell your dad to try to listen to a Miami station 1080 a.m. on Wednesdays, 6:30-7:00 p.m., program in Spanish "Shema Israel". They talk about this a lot and will investigate last names. Unfortunately it's not online, you have to live in Miami to be able to get the station.

[SierraWasp]

"...If not using the fireplace, close fireplace dampers and vents .. CA is going through a giant heat-wave. Take it away SW"

I cain't! My chimely cap blew off an now the danged heat-o-lator rusted through, as did my damper along with my fireplace insert!!!

Them poor suckers in Rodayo (that's how it's pronounced, ahem) are downstream frum me and I'm downwind from their gashus refinery. Therefore... their drinkin water's already been through my danged kidneys and I'ma breathin the gas they pass!!! Whew!!! Whata cuntry!!!

Plus... yew folks asking "can I have this" and "can I have that," know bedder than that! Miss Manners tole me yer supposed ta say "Muther May I!!!"

[Eva]

This is the same old Tosco refinery that has had one emergency after another. It should be shut down, but California won't let it be replaced, they'd rather keep having accidents.

[Eva]

Actually, I think that there has been a shelter in place warning with each one of those previously mentioned events. The area residents should be used to it by now.

[freebilly]

Just the quarterly shelter in place remergency from your friendly Tosco (now Phillips) refinery.

I was listening to the radio when the emergency broadcast system came on, and my first reaction was someone turned the wrong valve on some refinery equipment down in Benicia or Martinez. Rodeo ain't that far off....

[2sheep]

Recent news reports are beginning to paint a picture of a shelf, balcony, deck, cliff, etc. breaking away, often into water, i.e. the foundations being destroyed.  San Antonio sits on the Balcones Fault.  Lightening just struck and destroyed the balcony [Italian balcone, from Old Italian, scaffold, of Germanic origin.] in the church in Brownsville.  Watch for the concept.  It is interesting, especially in light of Tim Snodgrass' vision, the New Madrid area coming into play again and the West Coast heating up.  There as a 6.0 off the southern coast of Oregon today.

 Train Derails Over Calif. Cliff
 N.J. DECK COLLAPSE LEAVES 31 HURT
 NEW MADRID--WHAT'S IN A NAME?
 Series of Earthquakes Shake Mount Hood
 Super Volcano In Yellowstone National Park
 NEIC: Near Real Time Earthquake List

Odd how cartoons feature the idea of Jellystone, and people laugh, not recognizing it has happened before and could be preparing to do so again.

Ps 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

[SevenofNine]

Mtngrl ohhh noo I don't know anything

Ask one of NOrth Cal Freepers I am So Cal represenative here

YO YO LA IN DA HOUSE

[buffyt]

It was hot here in Claremont, Ca. (Los Angeles county) today. Ran the AC all day. It was hot like Santa Anna winds without the wind, they said on the news. It usually is really cool evenings, nights, and mornings though -- unlike on Texas Gulf Coast and in Houston in summer. Getting ready to walk into the village (old town part of Claremont) and have a nice big fat ice cream cone!!!!!! Wish you could all join me and chill tonight!!!

[happygrl]

Please keep your analysis coming; these are times to watch the signs...

[varina davis]

I am in Antioch. I noticed an odd smell for a bit, but nothing now. There is a fair distance for this kind of thing to dissipate before it reaches us here.

Is the city of Concord affected? thanks

[afraidfortherepublic]

They didn't even specify where this East Bay was.

If I remember correctly, Crockett is across an estuary from Benicia -- sort of north west of Martinez, the county seat of Contra Costa County. This is all due east of Richmond and Pinole.

Of course it has been 30 years since I moved away from there, so I probably have it all wrong! There is a lot of heavy industry -- sugar refineries, oil refineries, Navy "bone pile" of unused ships, etc. around there.

[Riley]

Is the city of Concord affected? thanks

Unlikely. The refinery is to the north of Concord, and the prevaailing winds are from the west. I don't think that this was a big deal at all-- I just spoke with a friend who lives much closer and downwind than I, and she didn't notice anything wrong at all.

All I noticed was a period of time during which the air smelled a little like a 'home permanent'.

[B4Ranch]

400 miles.

[Robert357]

Contra Costa County health officials have downgraded a health alert at 4:17 p.m. today after a sudden power failure triggered a controlled shutdown of the Philips 66 refinery in Rodeo.

OK gang, please check out post # 79!!!

This Refinery problem was realted to the Stage 2 Power Emergency! There is a connection and that connection needs to be talked up.

If someone has a connection to the Simons for Governor camp they should be made aware that Gov Davis lack of leadership in the Energy Crisis is now caused this problem at the Phillips Refinery!

[B4Ranch]

30-35 miles.

[Grammy]

That actually made me laugh out loud!!
Thanks, I'll try it 8-)

[Prodigal Daughter]

And in my backyard: Crumbling balconies in Beach overhauled
Residents decry timing, expense
By NICOLE WHITE, Miami Herald, July 8, 2002

Construction workers in Miami Beach are tearing away rotted balconies and windows on a number of older high-rises to replace them with more durable aluminum rails and frames -- sometimes at a cost of millions to the building owners.

Miami Beach has notified 18 building owners in the past two years that cracked concrete railings and slabs have made their balconies unsafe. Of the 18, nine pulled building permits to begin repairs, while six cases remain open as owners either work through concerns with the city's special master, or continue to face fines. Three are listed as works in progress.

The trouble is timing, says the city's building director Phil Azan. Most of those buildings with unsafe balconies were built more than 30 years ago when some builders, perhaps looking for shortcuts as they tried to meet heavy demands for high-rise condos, mixed beach sand with cement and other aggregates to make concrete. Azan said they weren't violating the building codes, but it is common knowledge in the building industry that beach sand should never be the aggregate of choice to mix with cement. But because there ''was no quality control, and no chloride tests as we are now required to do, no one checked,'' he said.

As a result, those mixtures had almost twice the amount of chloride content that is now recommended by the American Concrete Industry. Simply put, salt does not mix well with steel. It weakens it, rusts its frame. That in turn leads to the cracking and breaking of the concrete -- a process called spalling.

''This problem has been happening a lot, not just on the Beach, as these buildings are exposed to the elements and as they get older, they start to fall apart,'' said Beach building official Richard McConachie.

McConachie said builders often ignored guidelines to frame steel with enough concrete to stave off the effects of erosion.

At the Presidential Condominiums, 401 Ocean Dr., the 238 balconies were falling apart when the city slapped it with a violation notice last year for having an unsafe structure.

Now they're being fixed at a cost that's rising to $2.5 million. And the process is not pleasant for the residents: There is no natural light filtering into the apartments of residents living in the northern half of the Presidential. Sliding doors and windows in living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and even bathrooms are boarded up with sheet rock, turning once brilliant views of the ocean into views of nothingness.

Dust has settled on sofas, television sets, counter tops. It is, as one resident put it, ``a barbaric existence.''

INCONVENIENCE

''They're not happy campers here,'' said Beatrice Baxter, president of the condo board at the Presidential. ``This is a very big job, the noise is excruciating, it's a big inconvenience, but we had no choice.''

Residents at the Presidential were each assessed $6,000 to pay the estimated $1.5 million in repair costs. And this week, they received notices that because of cost overruns and other unforeseen expenses, they're likely to be charged an additional $1 million.

''I'll have to wear a bulletproof vest once they get those notices,'' Baxter joked. ``We're not doing cosmetic work. We're doing work that's got to be done.''

Farther north on the Beach, the spalling at the Alden Hotel, 2925 Indian Creek Dr., was so extreme that the city shut down the hotel last August after spending hours relocating guests.

''That was the worst of the worst,'' said Jeri Goodkin, a senior building inspector.

The balconies had deteriorated so badly that railings had fallen away. But the then-owner ignored every notice of violation, Goodkin said. He accrued $204,831 in fines to the city until building officials finally said ''enough was enough,'' Goodkin said. A new owner is now making the repairs.

Last month, the Maison Grande condominium at 6039 Collins Ave. was added to the list of buildings that need to take action. The city declared all 579 balconies at the building unsafe unless a unit owner can produce an engineering report proving otherwise.

The building's condo board has since hired an engineering firm to analyze each balcony. The Maison Grande will remain in violation until the board hires a contractor and pulls a building permit, building officials said.

Resident Jose Ferro says the board dragged its feet in addressing the violations.

''They were nave,'' Ferro said. ``It was no surprise that the balconies needed to be fixed, but everyone knows that they are not all falling down on people's heads. The board was working on the problem.''

The board president has not returned calls from The Herald for comment.

COST A FACTOR

Condo owners often resist making the repairs because of the cost, building officials and contractors say.

Jerry Guarch, president of Diversified, the company doing the repairs at the Presidential, says he wishes residents would look at the assessment as a one-time fee similar to those single-family home owners face when making repairs like fixing a roof.

Once they buy, ''they don't expect anything more than a maintenance fee, but they need to put [it] in perspective,'' said Guarch. ``Condo owners tend to have the mentality that says if the roof leaks, it's the penthouse problem and it's not.''

Although building officials expect that they'll continue to see more buildings with spalling concrete over time, new building codes and construction standards for coastal structures should reduce the problem, said Mohammed Partovi, chief structural plans examiner for the Beach.

The Florida Building Code, updated in March, requires most railings on exterior balconies to have a minimum coverage of an inch of concrete from the steel frame. For structures in corrosive atmospheres such as coastal areas, steel bars should also be galvanized to make it more difficult for bars to erode. And owners need to schedule regular maintenance for balconies, Guarch said.

Other tips: Avoid carpeting balconies because carpet acts like a sponge, holding water and salts that damage the concrete. Also, apply waterproofing to slabs before tiling balconies.

As for the repairs and often replacement of balconies, ''most residents understand that it has to happen,'' Guarch said. ``You can never make them all happy. The best tool is to educate them and let the great majority appreciate and understand what you're doing.''

ALEX KOLYER/HERALD STAFF -OUTSIDE JOB: The balconies at Presidential Condominiums on Ocean Drive are undergoing repairs as a result of receiving a violation notice from the city.

ALEX KOLYER/HERALD STAFF -'NO CHOICE': Marcelino Gonzalez fixes damage to the underside of the parking garage at the Presidential. Building owners who don't fix structures face fines.