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.
Last year, 27 portable toilets went up in flames in San Francisco, and nobody knows why. In the absence of any explanation, we made some shit up. But the terrifying reality is that some nefarious toilet igniter is still out there, perhaps targeting his or her next defenseless shitter at this very minute.
We say that because after a nine-month hiatus, the firestarter has seemingly launched on another spree, lighting up two crappers in the past several weeks. The most recent incident occurred on Friday inside a porta-potty on the 600 block of Haight, to which the police and fire departments both responded around 3:45 a.m.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 2:12 PM
In San Francisco politics, brazenly picking a fight with powerful labor unions is the equivalent of wandering into Yom Kippur services while wearing an outfit entirely made of bacon -- with shellfish for the buttons.
You can't do that without some sort of mathematical analysis -- and now Elsbernd has one in his back pocket. The city's Department of Human Resources has put together a series of tables measuring the city's health care and retirement costs of a decade ago, today, and projected expenses five years down the road. And it's bad enough that one 10-year cost hike is actually described as "infinite." Yes, a staid government report actually used "infinite" to describe the growth of public expenditures. This is a riveting read.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Wait! We're not ready!
You don't need to be a top-flight engineer to figure that a century-old water main that crumbled on its own over the weekend turning SoMa into a swamp would not have survived a strong earthquake. Chris Poland, however, is a top-flight engineer, and he confirmed it -- the city's Taft administration water mains will not survive the Big One. In fact, much of our "lifeline" systems -- water, sewers, roads, cables, etc. -- won't make it. The good news is, the city is aware of this and is taking steps to combat the problem.
The bad news is, that won't mean much if the Big One were to come tomorrow.
"We'll have the new Hetch Hetchy water system to get the water to our reservoirs. There's good reliability there" in terms of a quake, said Poland, the CEO and chairman of Degenkolb Engineers in the city and a 35-year veteran of building design. "But getting water from the reservoirs to our homes so we can go on with our daily lives needs to be dealt with."
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 7:30 AM
Tom Tracy
Steve Mahoney and Meridith spur the home side to victory
Was it the tenacious defense? Perhaps. Frank Gore rumbling through the 'Stick like a runaway train? Could be. Steve Mahoney leading the 49ers out of the gate on his custom Niners Harley? You can't scientifically prove otherwise. In any event, the home team dumped the Arizona Cardinals last night, 24-9, on Monday Night Football -- marking the second time in as many chances that the team has gone on to victory after Department of Public Works steam-cleaner Mahoney has whooped up the crowd by rumbling his chopper onto Candlestick Park's turf.
Considering he isn't paid for his services -- Mahoney's a city native who used to peddle seat-covers at Kezar and bleeds red and gold -- we think he's earned his keep.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 6:30 AM
If you offer your vote according to which candidate accepted to spend no more than the city's voluntary expenditure ceiling -- there must be some of you -- well, then we've got bad news. You're going to have to do a little more work to figure out who's minding the city's rules and who's potentially breaking the bank.
Starting on the first of the year, the city's Voter Information Pamphlet will no longer list which candidates agreed to the spending limit and which didn't. Depending upon your worldview, this move either cleans up a paradoxical situation in which those who may well have spent like Croesus in Vegas were rewarded with the designation of being fiscally restrained -- or is yet another concession to big money.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Of course this is the city's charter! Don't you recognize Chris Daly's handwriting?
San Francisco supervisors have long known that there ain' t no party like a charter amendment party because a charter amendment party don't stop. Unless you don't get five other votes from your colleagues. Then the music stops.
Today is the last Board of Supervisors meeting of 2009. A longtime board insider told us that, no, there won't be any end-of-the-year party -- because "the members of the board don't like each other." That makes for interesting meetings, though. And today's meeting may be more interesting than usual because it's the last opportunity for supes to introduce charter amendments -- which alter the city's constitution or "charter" -- prior to June's election.
If a majority of the board votes to approve a charter amendment, voters will have the opportunity to weigh in come election time. If history is a precedent, anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen charter amendments may be introduced today. But, as is the case with young sea turtles waddling toward the ocean, the path to maturity is treacherous. Most of the fledgling amendments introduced today will never safely navigate their way into the city charter.
So, perhaps it's the maternal instinct that leads supes to sometimes be a bit secretive about what their charter amendment plans are.
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.'"
