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.
Animal Control was begging people to adopt the dogs.
And while they didn't find a home locally, the dogs are upgrading their lifestyles -- to New York City, where apparently, the purse dogs are in great demand.
In a recent SF Weekly cover story, Worms in the Apple, writer Tim Elfrink detailed the saga of the Rudy and Robert Pedraza, a couple of rogue computer programming brothers who hacked Apple's OS X and retooled it for use on cheaper PCs.
Elfrink wrote about how legal experts believed that the Pedraza brothers had a chance to prevail in San Francisco's Northern District Court, where Apple is suing them for copyright infringement. In the end, that didn't happen.
On Tuesday, Judge William Alsup ruled that Psystar could not longer sell PC computers with Apple's Macintosh operating systems installed. And today, Dow Jones reported that basically, Psystar is dead.
Reportedly, all eight employees will be let go and Psystar's website is now inaccessible. The doors are shuttered. The lights are out. Game over. Moral of the story? Don't mess with Apple.
PostedByAndy Wright
on Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 2:13 PM
You know there's something amiss when the Employment Development Department feels the need to subtitle the month's unemployment statistics report "Total jobs saw its 15th consecutive month of losses on a year-over basis." In bold. Italicized. And underlined.
Yes, Virginia, things are not looking up.
The unemployment rate in San Francisco, Marin and Redwood counties (which is the metropolitan division S.F. is lumped into) was 9.2 percent in November, down from 9.4 percent in October. The good-news-that-isn't-really-good-news? San Francisco's unemployment rate is down, from 9.9 to 9.7. Wave your hands in the air, 0.2 percent of people who have found jobs. Wave them like you just don't care. Of course, San Mateo's is is 8.9 percent and Marin's is a mere 8.0, but who ever gained anything from comparing themselves from others?
PostedByAndy Wright
on Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 1:17 PM
The phenomenon of Ugly Sweater Parties is fast becoming a holiday staple, but the demand for hideous sweaters may have exceeded supply in one San Francisco neighborhood. Mission District shoppers looking for an acrylic sweater decorated with a giant glitter reindeer head and whimsical antler sleeves, or a sweatshirt with a puffy-painted sunglasses-wearing Santa decorating a palm tree in Los Angeles, were greeted by near empty racks at neighborhood stores yesterday.
The Meta-Sweater: not available at local stores.
At Thrift Town, located at the corners of Mission and 17th Street, the rack usually reserved for seasonal wear offered only one sweater, a fairly inoffensive navy blue knit decorated with snowflakes. While it easily lent itself to hilarious jokes about going "skiing," its ugliness was minimal. The remainder of the rack was occupied by red T-shirts, some of which didn't even have Christmas slogans on them. At least one shirt was for a Thanksgiving fun-run. Two women who were both shopping for something to wear to the same party were debating the purchase of the lone Christmas tree decorated vest. "If you don't buy it, I will," said one cheerfully, through gritted teeth.
PostedByMatt Smith
on Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 12:37 PM
1922 Map of Spring Valley Water Company holdings, later bought by SF to become Hetch Hetchy Water System
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission general manager Ed Harrington seemed to be twitching his foot in exasperation Thursday as one neighborhood activist after another demanded he re-explain a deal he cut with environmental groups to limt San Franciscans' water use.
"We came to agreement with these groups because we did not want to be sued," Harrington said.
San Francisco recently signed a deal with suburban users of water from the Hetch Hetchy system, recommending a limit of 264 million gallons per day the amount of water drawn from the Tuolumne River in the Sierra Nevada. Harrington feared groups such as the Tuolumne River Trust might challenge environmental studies conducted as part of a $5 billion Hetch Hetchy system upgrade, unless they obtained a concession limiting water use.
PostedByLauren Smiley
on Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Not just Santa Claus is coming to town this holiday, folks. State, federal and city law
via Flikr by McBLG97
On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a DUI from the SFPD....
enforcement will be out in force for 17 days starting this weekend to nail your drunk ass if you get behind the wheel after downing too many holiday libations.
Tomorrow, the SFPD with their friends from the United States Park Police, San Francisco Community College District Police and the California Highway Patrol will be setting up sobriety checkpoints at three locations in the city. It's the first of three dates throughout the holiday season: the others are December 27th (to catch the depressed post-Christmas drunks), and January 3 (for the depressed post-New Year's drunks).
The checkpoint locations will remain undisclosed until two hours before they begin at 8:30 p.m., when the campaign's spokeswoman, Jan Ford, agreed to call and snitch. To the Snitch.
So naturally, when we learned about one MUNI driver who claimed she was fired earlier this year, we had to know why.
A longtime MUNI operator, Jeanette Molex, says she was fired from the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency in March after the empty train she was operating crashed. Molex is suing the agency for wrongful termination and racial and gender discrimination, according to San Francisco Superior Court records.
Molex's attorney did not return phone calls, but according to court records, Molex claimed on Aug. 4, 2008, she was driving an empty MUNI streetcar coasting toward Washington Street when the brakes failed. She says she tried to use the emergency brake, and she even attempted to reverse the car. Nothing worked, and the streetcar collided with the one in front of her.
Even in a dismal economy there are two things unemployed people are still willing to shell out for: a double latte and their pets.
Specifically, their pets pooh.
It seems that the poop-scooping business is proving to be recession proof. So Matt "Red" Boswell, Chief (Excrement) Officer of Pet Butler, a Texas-based poop-scoop business, has immediate plans to expand his franchise into San Francisco, where people can hire Pet Butler to come in and clean up after their dogs, cats, birds or even snakes.
After picking up pet waste, Pet Butler will dispose of it in an eco-friendly manner and then rid the area of foul odors.
Why here? And why now?
Well, San Francisco is filled with very busy pet lovers, Boswell says. And with the downturn in the economy, many people have had to take on second jobs or work longer hours, making it hard for them to complete everyday tasks such as picking up pet poop.
"We all go to the restroom, but nobody likes cleaning it up," Boswell said, noting that the average dog has "to go" 23 times a week.
The business, which will be based in San Francisco and have as many as 12 locations in the entire Bay Area, targets pet-friendly communities with parks and family neighborhoods. And Boswell pointed out that the smaller the yard, the more likely people are to call Pet Butler.
If you are unemployed, Boswell's business will be accepting applications soon.
PostedByPeter Jamison
on Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 7:00 AM
Despite -- or perhaps because of -- loud lamentations about bizarre union work rules that promised to displace secretaries at San Francisco schools, only one school site has so far been affected by the regulations, school-district officials say.
Earlier this month we told the story of Sandra Rios, the beloved secretary at Longfellow Elementary School in the Outer Mission. Rios, like her counterparts at other San Francisco schools, believed she was on the verge of becoming an indirect casualty of massive layoffs in the ranks of the city's public employees. Those layoffs were aimed at clerical workers in the Department of Public Health. But because of Service Employees International Union seniority rules, the health department secretaries would be allowed to "bump" school secretaries -- who share the same job classification -- from their positions.
This has caused considerable ire at San Francisco Unified School District, where officials claim that health workers don't necessarily have the skills or desire to work with children in a school setting. In particular, the prospect of losing bilingual secretaries in schools with large numbers of families who don't speak English well is problematic. (Rios, a Spanish speaker, is one such secretary.) However, SFUSD spokeswoman Gentle Blythe told us this week that only one school thus far -- Thurgood Marshall High School in the Bayview -- has had a worker bumped.
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.'"
