One of the photos accompanying today’s Chronicle story on SFGate.com about the gay marriage decision gives a glimpse into San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s desk drawer: Altoids, and a large bottle of something that looks like Rolaids, or maybe aspirin. Both standard equipment for a busy politician. (What, no hair spray?)
There is a reason I carry a camera in my bag every day. I have three digital cameras, constantly charging, of various sizes, on the ready to capture news, odd sightings or anything in my path.
Many questions from folks have been launched at me while wandering into BART on a daily basis… “Do you want to take a FREE personally test?”, “Do you have some change?”, “Do you know where I can get some pot?”…
Yesterday, I heard, “Would you like to buy a rat for $5.00?”
(Insert trusty camera here)
This is Mia, and she sells rats in BART for $5.00.
(I used to have rats for pets and it broke my little heart
when they only lived to their meager lifespan of 2 years)
The annual Java One conference in San Francisco is still going on, and if there are a lot of sick tech geeks today, it’s because they just discovered that dozens of attendees caught norovirus, the same fast-spreading illness that has afflicted cruise ships for the last several years.
People with norovirus (CDC page) experience vomiting, fever and diarrhea for up to 48 hours. It’s not fatal but when you’re in its grip you may wish it was.
With all the video games, cell phones, vending machines and ATM’s in our midst, many people would argue humans have lost touch with their wild side forever.
I’ve spent most of my life in metropolitan areas. Though I’ve spent some time on horseback, I’ve spent 95% of my time riding urban public transportation systems instead. I buy my food in boxes, in bags, and heat it at home. Hell, for lunch, I even graze at a salad bar.
A train takes me to my job, which is as far from harvesting my own food and repairing my homestead as a job could possibly be. I work with digital media. CDs and DVDs and the computers that record them are my daily companions. I have an iPod, a few computers, a cell phone, a personal organizer and automated payments. I’m the perfect example of the city-dwelling, half-woman, half-machine that has every day of the week organized to an annoying level.
You could say I’m far from my roots as a savanna-loving homo sapien… you could say that of my co-workers too. So it was pretty interesting to see something quite to the contrary in the middle of my day-to-day technology bustle. I heard quite a ruckus on the bottom floor of our brand-new, giant-sized office. I gazed down from my loft to see a fork-lift pushing a giant machine into the corner of the production area.
Diagonally across from the machinery was the entire assembly crew, staring in wonder. I went downstairs to check it out. A brand new machine that resembles a yellow submarine attached to complete photo-developing station was being hoisted into our midst. It’s a massive tangle of steel and gears, still shining from the factory and looming large over every other machine in our company. I hear tell this was the major reason for moving to our new office. The gaggle of human assemblers were still staring at the great beast.
That’s when I realized what seemed so odd about the bunch…
they were afraid.
(more…)
Here is the current state of affairs in SF.
Gas = $4.41 / gallon
Parking ticket = $50 (minimum fine, sfgate story)
“Raising parking fines will lead to more abuse on the streets,” said Luis Estrella, a San Francisco parking-control officer for the past eight years who said he was punched last year by a firefighter who got a $50 ticket.
Downtown meter violations, for example, will be fined up to $60, and parking in a street-cleaning zone will set drivers back $50. The city now makes about $90 million a year from parking fines. The increase would bring in an estimated $13 million more in the new fiscal year.
I’ll be posting a reminder on the 13th, but since you can never have too much prior notice…
The second annual San Francisco Cocktail Week is coming. Running from May 13th - 19th, SFCW celebrates, as the name suggests, cocktails and “the dynamic beverage culture of our community.”
From the Opening Gala at Harry Denton’s Starlight Room to the Closing Party at Absinthe, attendees will be able to learn more about the history of cocktails, observe San Francisco’s bar illuminati in action and, more importantly, sample the essence of their labors. Select restaurants will offer tasting menus with specially paired cocktails. Neighborhood-favorite Elixir will celebrate its 150th anniversary with a tribute to the Sazerac. On the 14th, you’ll even be able to imbibe with the best — renowned guest bartenders from across the country will display their craft at bars around The City.
So put on your drinking shoes (closed-toe highly recommended) and come celebrate San Francisco’s hallowed place at the altar of fine drinkables. Just don’t forget to designate a driver or MUNI navigator.
Could it be good, old-fashioned … humiliation?
It’s a rite of passage, a fraction of the cost of items, it’s prevention is a billion-dollar industry… it’s SHOP-LIFTING.
One grocery store in West Portal has decided to offer two choices to folks who purloin their goods…
1) Talk to the police…
or
2) Be openly mocked
I had quite a time joking with the shop-keep
about the woman in picture number 2!
She is clearly saying, “Well, I would… neeeevvvver…”
Apparently, she WOULD, and was caught shoveling handfuls of apples into her purse.
She was caught… red-handed… (sorry…)
The Stop AIDS project’s biggest annual fundraiser is Thursday night April 24th, and to participate all you have to do to help is something you were likely to do anyway… eat. Many local restaurants will donate 25% of your check to the Stop Aids Foundation just for dining between 6 & 10 pm…
It’s the 7th annual evening, and last year’s raised over $200,000 for Aids related charities, and they hope to exceed that this year.
Amongst the participating restaurants in Dining Out For Life this Thursday, April 24th are numerous joints ranging from high end to many mid priced indie run spots from the ballpark’s Acme Chophouse to Alamo Sq Grill, or Anchor Oyster Bar in the Castro.
In the chain dept. all the local Amici’s Pizza & Pasta Pomodoro locations…
Whether you like Askew or Zazil, there’s something on the list in almost anyone’s potential price range…
more info and link to the
complete list at
A study performed by the National motorists association has shown that increasing the time that a light is Yellow during it’s cycle can markedly improve the safety of that intersection. Conversely, decreasing the time can increase revenues from tickets generated by the cameras at those intersections. Money or safety, amazing that Union City California was one of the six busted for trapping motorists with short yellow times.
Short yellow light times at intersections have been shown to increase the number of traffic violations and accidents. Conversely, increasing the yellow light duration can dramatically reduce red-light violations at an intersection.
Some local governments have ignored the safety benefit of increasing the yellow light time and decided to install red-light cameras, shorten the yellow light duration, and collect the profits instead.
With red light running being one of the cities major issues, along with gun play and road rage, I wonder how SF measures up wrt Yellow light times.
More on the subject
h/t BoingBoing, Leftlane, NMA.
Cyborg Enforcers Illustration courtesy of Mike Kline
