Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Hey, is this thing on?

San Francisco coder Alex Payne’s downforeveryoneorjustme.com gets a plug in the New York Times tomorrow; the piece went online an hour ago. Payne’s site answers that nagging question “Is there something wrong with (insert favorite website) again?”

In a blog entry in which he discusses that and other side projects, he calls the site “a quick hack” for which “I don’t have the time or resources or desire to build the ideal solution. I hope that some big ISP or networking outfit takes the simple design and puts it in front of a proper setup.”

If that concept sounds familiar, not surprisingly Payne works at Twitter.

LA Times reports Violet Blue vs Boing Boing web "sh*tstorm"

I saw that occasional SF Metblogs contributor and relentless self promoter and sex book author Violet Blue is the latest recipient of the tempest in a web teapot award. The LA Times website has David Sarno covering a fracas in which any Violet Blue mentions or posts have been deleted from Boing Boing and it’s archives.

Writes Sarno:

“I’ve been wracking my brain thinking of what issues I might’ve come down on the wrong side of,” Blue told me on the phone. “There’s been no argument, there’s been no disagreement, no flame war, none of the usual things.”

Could Boing Boing really be a Stalin era throwback that wants to erase it’s own history, and somehow have the world to believe the widely read SF Gate columnist doesn’t exist?

At AdRants they speculated a possible conflict with blog ad provider Federated Media, which seemed somewhat unlikely to be involved in editorial concerns (IMHO ) since they supply ads for dozens of popular sites including the Metblogs network.

BoingBoing eventually issued it’s own terse comment and explanation after the web “sh*tstorm” lapped up on it’s serenely acerbic shores:


“[Violet’s] posts were removed from public view a year ago. Violet behaved in a way that made us reconsider whether we wanted to lend her any credibility or associate with her. It’s our blog and so we made an editorial decision, like we do every single day. We didn’t attempt to silence Violet. We unpublished our own work. There’s a big difference between that and censorship.”

Read the LA times blog, or for a more concise semi ad biz related wrap up read more at AdRants.

Dogs Are People Too…

I washed my dog this morning, clipped his nails and got out the door to go see the vet for his regular check-up. Because I did not have any cash on me, I walked a little further to get coffee, to a place that takes cards.

I go in this place frequently enough. Though the “law” says dogs cannot go into food establishments, both of my closest coffee shops allow them. When I bring the pup in there, I carry him in my hoodie, just to be respectful of others.

Today, I go in and order a mocha and bagel to go. I have my dog on my shoulder.

I’m waiting for my food, when I get the feeling that someone is staring at me. I look around and my eyes land on one of the most foul specimens of human waste I’ve ever seen. Literally, this man is the human version of “Jabba the Hut”. He is a desending pile of tires of fat, rings of flesh telescoping towards the ground. He is shaped like a fleshy soft-serve, ice cream cone. His skin is yellow from jaundice and his eyes are bright red in the lids and whites, showing “Pink Eye” at the very least.

This foul man-pile yells at me from his stench-seat, “The dog goes outside”. I reply, “Are you the owner? I’m not leaving him outside.” I go back to waiting… “It’s the law” says flesh-sore-man, “Are you above the law? I’ll call the Board of Health.”

I grab my stuff to go and say to him loudly, so the whole cafe gets the message, “When you call the Board of Health, tell them you have a full-blown case of the infection known as “Pink Eye”, and that everything you have touched, including that stainless steel spoon someone else will later use, is infected.” I continue, “Tell them the money you gave the cashier, has now been handled by the same people handling the customer’s food. Tell them you have now exposed your infection to everyone in the cafe. Maybe you should think about THAT next time you worry about health codes…”

Do I need to take my 4th Anger Management class? YES.

Is it ridiculous that in San Francisco, an 8 pound, freshly-bathed dog is a health hazard, when in EVERY corner of this city, the average San Franciscan comes upon human fecal matter on every train, door handle, cafe, bathroom they use because this city is swarming with filthy, homeless crackheads?

YES, more than I need Anger Management, YES.

I pick my dog’s crap up, no matter where it lands. EVERY DAY when I walk to work, I dodge SEVERAL piles of human waste. The people who made those piles can go into any establishment they like. But I can’t bring my 8 pound, clean dog on my shoulder to get a coffee to go without having some ridiculous law spouted at me from Jabba the Jaundiced?

The LAW must GO!

San Francisco’s Smoking Section

These photos were taken from my friend, Cyan’s, backyard on Tuesday. The hills of Brisbane were on fire for while. The smell is lingering…

Fire in the Hills, photo by Cyan

Nighttime fire in Brisbane, photo by Cyan

Be in a real Rock Band…

School’s out, summer is around the corner. It’s time to get out there and do some of that stuff you’ve been putting off for months.

Remember January 1st and that list you made?

A) Get handle on finances
B) Go to the gym
C) Take up a new hobby

Well, no one is going to make you hit that gym any harder, but if you want to pick up a new hobby for a price that won’t hurt your finances, you should try the San Francisco Community Music Center!

CMC offers a sliding scale pay rate and even some work exchange for dedicated students. They offer a wide range of music lessons and even have rental equipment available. And if that wasn’t enough, they even offer VERY cheap practice space rental, WITH pianos!

There are two beautiful locations in the city: Richmond district, and the Mission district. Both are large houses, surrounded by gardens and trees. There are MUNI bus lines within a block of both locations.

After a few weeks paying a fraction of the usual cost for music lessons with talented professionals, you can even take part in a concert.

San Francisco Community Music Center

Your chance to kill Peanuts

Garfield by Jim EvansComing up on SFGate.com: a poll asking readers which comics they’d like to keep, which they’d like to kill.

Among the several way-past-it strips which lost all humor and inspiration many years ago, yet still take up space on the Chronicle’s comics page, are:

Garfield (a panel from today’s strip seen at right) — Absurdly boring and limited in range, this strip shows the same characters in the same poses using variations on the same jokes year after year after year. Perhaps this strip’s biggest offense — aside from it never being funny — is that while it’s supposed to be about a cat, it has absolutely nothing to do with cats.

Peanuts — The zombie-like quality of this strip — about the suburban life of children of the mid-20th century, and how their desires and dreams are mercilessly crushed by circumstance, human nature, and a dead God — brings a new meaning to the term “syndication.” The artist is dead and they’ve been rerunning “classic” strips — with little attention to the strip’s only classic period, the early 60s — for years now, inadvertently reinforcing the strip’s core message of nihilism and suffering.

More after the jump.

Windy as hell

redflags.jpgA red flag warning has been posted for the East Bay hills today. Winds from the north will be dry and gusty — perfect wildfire weather. Hold onto your hat.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 8

Who says you can’t get anything for free?

Okay, so it’s not free for Warren Hellman. But thanks to his pile of money and musical obsession, “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass” is FREE to everyone else in San Francisco and beyond.

On October 27th, 2001, the free “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass” started it’s first year in Golden Gate Park.
The dates for it’s 8th year will be October 3rd-5th, 2008. It’s anticipated to have nearly 70 acts and approximately 100,000 spectators… all for free.

When I arrived in San Francisco 8 years ago, I sought out a variety of events to get to know my new home. Normally, I wouldn’t imagine myself going to something “Bluegrass”-related. (Let’s just say “Slayer” is one of my favorite bands.) But, I was in the park, it was a nice day, and there was some free music. A few hours later, I was surprised to say it was a great day and I found I actually liked Bluegrass!

The same time in 2002 , I received a call from a former co-worker from Boston, then living in LA. He was coming up to this brand-new festival to see Gillian Welch. So, I headed out to the festival intentionally this time.

As the new line-up for number 8 was announced recently, I realized I had gone every year since it’s birth. In that time, a lot has changed, my first ‘Bluegrass’ companion went back to Boston. In the past 8 years, my family has grown and now my husband and chihuahua come to the festival with me. And I actually have a few Gillian Welch albums in my iPod now!

A sunny day in the park broadened my musical horizons forever. And this year, the sunny day in the park is meeting me half-way, featuring one of my long-time favorites.

After a collaborative album with Alison Krauss came out late last year, I’d been crossing my fingers… and my wish has come true!

Robert Plant is playing at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 8!

Below is a partial list of performers.

It’s going to be a great year!

http://www.strictlybluegrass.com/

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss feat. T-Bone Burnett
Loudon Wainwright III
Gogol Bordello
Hazel Dickens
Bonnie Prince Billie
Asleep at the Wheel
Mike Farris & The Roseland Rythm Revue
The Del McCoury Band
Bad Livers
Robert Earl Keen
Iris Dement
Jerry Jeff Walker
The Desert Rose Band
Earl Scruggs
Greg Brown

Answer to Prison Over-crowding?

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…)

Been Caught Stealing

Cat saves man from burning house

cat-house-fire.jpgA cat saved its owner from a burning house this morning in San Mateo.

The cat woke the guy up once, and he sleepily let the cat out and went back to bed, not even noticing his house was on fire. The cat continued yowling from outside and when the man got up again to yell at the cat, he finally noticed the house was on fire and called 911.

The cat was not harmed. (Photo is not from this incident.)

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