When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a strain as well. The ability to cruise along on flat inland water, surveying the sights, is another advantage. Finally, it’s a good core workout. If you’re sold on the idea, schedule an intro SUP lesson, free with board and paddle rental, and you may find yourself riding the waves like a Polynesian king.More
Many of us remember coming home from our elementary schools with freshly glazed pinchpots, cups, or whatever else our young imaginations could conjure up. Saturday mornings at the Randall Museum can bring that memory back, or create a new one for the youngsters. Ceramics make great gifts — especially on Mothers' and Fathers' Day. Hop on board for the Randall's once-weekly class, and for $6 and two weeks to have your work fired and glazed, you'll have all the materials you need.More
December is almost over - the New Year is coming up and everyone is busy drying off from the rain or holiday shopping. Let's take a look at what's happened this month.
Newcomers to town without a barbershop of their own may be hard-pressed to fit in on Fillmore Street or Geneva Avenue, where hangers-out are still fresh meat even after a decade.
PostedByLauren Smiley
on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 5:20 PM
The age-old question that has tormented thinkers for ages -- regarding whether you could walk off with nine pianos and get away with it-- was answered Tuesday. No. You cannot.
A San Francisco jury smacked down 66-year-old piano thief Susan Gilner today, convicting her of 11 felonies in connections with selling pianos on consignment and not paying the former owners their owed share. The total tab of the stolen merchandise came to $138,000 filched from nine victims.
As owner of Encore Vintage Pianos, Gilner had entered into agreements with the hapless piano owners to move their antique instruments for an agreed upon price, 10 percent of which Gilner would keep as commission.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 4:49 PM
Murder charges have been filed against 34-year-old Kira Roueche concerning the Sunday homicide of Cameron Miller in his SRO hotel room -- and they're somewhat eye-catching. Roueche is accused of killing Miller with a pair of "deadly weapons" -- a bottle and a clock.
Following her Monday arrest she was moments ago hit with three charges by the District Attorney: murder, allegedly with a dangerous and deadly weapon (the bottle and clock) and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with allegations of great bodily injury.
It is unclear exactly what manner of clock Roueche is accused of using as a murder weapon in what must have been a horrific scene in Miller's room at the Henry Hotel at 106 Sixth Street.
Roueche will be arraigned on Thursday morning at 9 a.m.
PostedByPeter Jamison
on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 4:42 PM
City Attorney Dennis Herrera indicated today that he might seek a ruling from a federal court assuring the legality of San Francisco's newly minted sanctuary policy, shortly after supervisors voted to override Mayor Gavin Newsom's veto of the law. The new city policy establishes a more permissive approach to undocumented youths who are arrested.
Dennis Herrera, man in the middle
In a letter to U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello, posted on the city attorney's Web site, Herrera asks that Russoniello "provide an assurance that if the City proceeds to implement this Amendment... City law enforcement officers and employees will not be prosecuted for violating federal criminal laws." The city law revises the sanctuary ordinance so undocumented juveniles would only be reported to federal immigration authorities if convicted of a crime -- not after they are arrested, which is the current city policy.
Herrera's letter goes on to state that if the U.S. Attorney's office does not provide "an adequate assurance" of city employees' freedom from criminal liability under the new sanctuary policy, the city might file for declaratory relief in federal court -- essentially asking a judge to decide the matter.
The debate on whether the Mission Bay thief who allegedly snagged three wallets from the China Basin Building (including one belonging to an SF Weekly employee) is incredibly crafty/ballsy or incredibly desperate/stupid has come to a close. He's apparently a dumbass, and as of two hours ago, the alleged thief is in police custody.
On Monday last week, a man showed up at our gargantuan office building; in professional attire, and stood out only because of his bright red sneakers and coke-bottle glasses. So when our employee returned from a trip to the kitchenette to find him sitting at her desk, she thought he might be new or lost. "Hi?" she said.
"Oh, hi!" he responded, then jumped out of the seat and fled the building. She noticed immediately that her bag had been tampered with and that her wallet was missing. When she called security, she learned that two other wallets had been stolen from a U.C. San Francisco office nearby, and that a suspect had been caught on camera. Although a building security chased the man down the street, he jumped onto Muni and escaped.
PostedByPeter Jamison
on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 2:53 PM
San Francisco's Board of Supervisors today mustered enough votes to override Mayor Gavin Newsom's veto of a law softening the city's treatment of juvenile undocumented immigrants who are arrested. But the mayor's office was quick to dismiss the widely expected vote as a symbolic gesture that would have no effect on city policy.
A crowd gathers around Supervisor David Campos after today's veto override
"This veto override cannot really take effect," Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard said immediately after the vote, which took place at today's full board meeting. Ballard contended that the legislation cannot be enforced because it conflicts with federal immigration law. "The board can't force our law-enforcement officials to break federal law." He added, "We've got to protect our city officials from symbolic gestures like this bill, no matter how well-intentioned it is."
Supervisor David Campos, the bill's chief sponsor, anticipated this response in his remarks before the vote on the ordinance, which passed 8-3 with Supervisors Michela Alioto-Pier, Carmen Chu and Sean Elsbernd voting no. "It is unfortunate that we are at this point," Campos said. "It saddens and pains me to say that what we hear from the mayor is that he is going to ignore the democratic process that's been followed."
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 2:30 PM
Lauren Smiley
Supervisor David Campos meets the press after initial passage of his ordinance in October
As anticipated, the Board of Supervisors this afternoon beat back Mayor Gavin Newsom's veto of Supervisor David Campos' sanctuary policy legislation.
With a vote of 8-3 (Carmen Chu, Michela Alioto-Pier, and Sean Elsbernd dissenting), the supes adopted a new policy in which law enforcement would not be required to inform immigration authorities of a juvenile's status until after he or she is convicted of a felony.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Will Harper
Ah, the sociable days...
For those who don't walk through the tall, ornate doors of City Hall on a regular basis, the ongoing elusiveness of formerly gadabout Mayor Gavin Newsom comes off as bizarre -- or even surreal. Mayoral Spokesman Nathan Ballard's daily pronouncements that the mayor will not speak to the press today -- but maybe tomorrow -- sound like Beckett quotes ripped from Waiting for Godot (an all City Hall presentation, Waiting for Gavin, would be a great way to pass the time. Call me. We can do this).
Meanwhile, one has to wonder: If Gavin finally leaves his office at Room 200, sees his shadow, and retreats within, will we have six more weeks of budget deficits?
Still, a handful of longtime City Hall employees seemed unfazed by The Gavin Newsom Reality TV Show currently not being filmed by the pod of increasingly cranky reporters hanging out in front of the mayor's office. "Gavin's MO is to get out of his hybrid Tahoe, walk briskly to and from his office -- and he has a suite of offices -- and not come out," said one City Hall insider. "Like most politicians who get a lot of press attention -- particularly this one, because he's so bad with people -- he walks briskly to his office. And he always has two police guards with him to keep everyone away he doesn't want to talk to."
Adds another longtime City Hall employee (and, by the way, these are all folks whose names you'd know if you follow politics closely in this city), "The mayor is never around City Hall. He does his presntation of the city budget, and pops up at press conferences or to announce initiatives at random locations around the city. That's his role."
The takeaway: "My mayor sightings are few and far-between," said a City Hall insider. Now "the only big deal is that the mayor is being weird."
PostedBySteve Elliott
on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Photo by Coaster 420, Wikimedia Commons
Coming to a dispensary near you
For years, one of the main arrows in the quiver of anti-pot zealots in arguing against medical Marijuana (along with the federal pot prohibition, recently blunted by the Obama Administration) has been "But the American Medical Association says pot has no medical value." As of today, that's no longer true.
In a move considered historic by supporters of medical Marijuana, the AMA voted today to reverse its long-held position that Marijuana should continue to be classified under federal law as a Schedule I substance with no medical value. The organization, which is the largest physician-based group in the United States, adopted a report, "Use of Cannabis for Medicinal Purposes," drafted by the AMA Council on Science and Public Health (CSAPH), which affirms the therapeutic benefits of medical Marijuana and calls for further research.
The CSAPH report concludes that "short term controlled trials indicate that smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis."
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Gavin Milhous Newsom's Nixon-like treatment of the San Francisco press reached 10 days yesterday. The Chron noted earlier that the man once given the sobriquet Mayor Twitter has even sworn off the service; Newsom last tweeted on Oct. 28. For the past two weeks, Newsom may as well have been Amish when it comes to electronic media.
Has Newsom ever before gone cold turkey on the Twitter before? Surely you can't Tweet everything. Well, the answers to those questions are "not really" and "unfortunately, you can."
Newsom has been Tweeting ever since December of 2007 and has amassed 520 Tweets -- but he didn't start Tweeting compulsively until this year. Scrolling through his feed, a gap of even more than two days is rare in this the modern Tweeting era, though he has gone on hiatus for up to six days at a time (He Tweeted "Hitting the trail hard next couple weeks. Town halls in Long Beach, OC, SAC and Riverside. Hope to see you." on Aug. 4 and "Talked with company, @Kiva that is changing lives through micro-lending on my radio show. Podcast is up" on Aug. 10, for example).
Back in his primordial Twitter days -- that'd be December and January, he once went a full 14 days between Tweets (Dec. 31: "Help me launch my campaign for Governor, go to www.GavinNewsom.com/Contribute and give $5 before midnight tonight!". Jan. 14: "Great day for equality. Aide announces that President Obama will end "don't ask, don't tell" http://tinyurl.com/7d4yjs12:27 AM Jan 14thfrom web."). And, finally, back in the Pleistocene Newsom went between December of '07 and October of '08 between Tweets.
Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'.
Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"
