Cool!  I was at Ask a Scientist last night and found out that I'm pictured in the internationally renowned California Magazine, UC Berkeley's alumni magazine.  I know what I was thinking at the moment the picture was taken -- do you?  Oh you are sooo wrong... :^)

I guess I should use this space to make a plug for Ask a Scientist and its crosstown competitor Down to a Science.  The latter is a bit more policy and volunteering oriented while the former seems to be at a higher level scientifically.  Both are great.  You should go.

Karsty Goes to the Beach

Yesterday morning I checked the weather forecast and noticed that the huge storm that hit town on Friday kicked up offshore swells that were still over 25 feet.  Holy cow, in the 4 years I've been in SF I've never known of waves that big!  I checked SFgate and sure enough there was a big warning not to go anywhere near the beach because certain death would ensue.  So as fast as I could I jumped on my bike and rode through the rain and fallen trees (SF experienced winds over 50 MPH that did a lot of damage) to my favorite wave watching spot, Mile Rock on the north edge of the peninsula.  It was totally rad man.  These pics don't do the experience justice, but trust me when I say it was totally worth standing out there in the cool drizzle and observing nature's show.

These were taken in the same spot where I took pictures of a starfish a few days earlier:

Surely yesterday the starfish was thinking "What the hell?  I was basking in the sun on Tuesday and having tourists taking pictures of me and now I have to deal with this crap?" :^)

More pics here.