On Friday, a group of us set out for the Speakeasy brewery in Hunters Point. We were treated to the BEST brewery tour I’ve ever been on. Kevin, the head brewer, lead us on a hour long tour through the small warehouse. We talked malts, sweet worts, hops, and oh yes…more hops. Kevin was adept at explaining the science behind a good brew….how bitterness develops from enzymatic breakdown of certain proteins, the essential oils that emerge from hops at just right temperature. All the while, we sidled right up to …

About 10 DtaSers hauled themselves to the SF Dump for a tour of the facilities. SF has a huge disposal facility with many separates parts: There’s hazardous disposal (paint, batteries, oil, e-waste, etc.), public dump (for all your personal dumping needs at $123.07/ton), the recycling center (bottles and cans just claps your hand, just clap your hands), and of course the good ol’ household garbage transfer station.

The sheer volume of garbage was staggering…about 14-18 tons per day goes straight to the landfill. Looking out at the field of garbage, it …

With the continued federal deficit and expense redistribution from the war to homeland security, physical sciences are feeling the pinch. The Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) is getting the brunt of money cut, missing out on $23 million of requested funding. In response, SLAC is laying off 125 of it’s 1600 employees and shutting down its PEP-II collider in March.
The PEP-II collider was scheduled to be shut down in September, but this was still quite a jolt. Here’s a picture of DtaS’ recent tour of SLAC, perhaps tours will be …