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.
For a town that's been home to generations of wittily-dressed men, S.F. is rather impoverished as far as a one-stop thrift-shop for cool men's clothes.
The Ramos Fizz was invented a century ago in New Orleans, where one saloon, the Imperial Cabinet, employed 35 men to do nothing but shake up Ramoses during a particularly festive pre-Osterizer Mardi Gras.
PostedByPeter Jamison
on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 5:30 PM
Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, might soon have some explaining to do
With House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco promising to deliver enough votes to pass landmark federal health care legislation by the end of the week, one of her Democratic colleagues to the east continues to keep observers guessing about whether he'll support the bill.
Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton), is the last remaining Congressional representative from the Bay Area to decide where he stands on the legislation. While McNerney supported the House health care bill, he has voiced reservations about the Senate version of the bill that Democrats are now looking to pass.
What's interesting here is that McNerney, who four years ago ousted powerful Republican "Rancher Congressman" Richard Pombo, has said he doesn't like the reform package because it isn't ambitious enough. Not exactly what you'd expect from a well-known centrist trying to hold on to a seat in a swing district.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 5:17 PM
San Francisco, for those who don't know, is a union town. And now the city has one more group hoping to push for its interests via strength in numbers: Drug users.
SF Weekly was unable to reach the union's sole paid employee, Alexandra Goldman. But it did reach her union's benefactor, Laura Thomas, the San Francisco-based deputy state director of the Drug Policy Alliance.
PostedByMatt Smith
on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 5:15 PM
Unions for teachers and other school employees will bus more than 3,000 San Francisco City College students to Sacramento March 22 for a rally protesting budget cuts.
PostedByLauren Smiley
on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 4:35 PM
Coming soon to Taraval?
No, not everyone in this Marijuana-friendly city wants a pot club next door. The Examiner reported today that the Taraval district is resisting a medical pot dispensary that wants to move in between 31st and 32nd Avenues.
The area is one of the few zones left where pot clubs can open after the city banned new businesses from opening in residential areas or within 1,000 feet from schools. Yet the prospective medical pot entrepreneur, Paul Hansbury, did not receive a warm welcome at the Taraval Parkside Merchants Association's recent meeting.
"We said, 'Oh no you're not" opening a pot dispensary, said president Dallas Udovich, also the owner of Oceanside Sheet Metal. "We want something on Taraval Street that's conducive to everyone's lifestyle and to a close-knit wholesome community. You're not a good fit for us."
U.S. Attorney Joe Russoniello has worn out his welcome with sanctuary city proponents
No matter how many aggrieved citizens and legal experts immigrant advocates trot before the public in support of Supervisor David Campos' new amendment to the city's sanctuary law,
Mayor Gavin Newsom and Juvenile Probation Chief William Siffermann have
repeated the same line: They can't offer more protections to
undocumented juvenile suspects as long as U.S. Attorney Joseph
Russoniello refuses to shelve the possibility he will prosecute the
city for harboring and transporting illegal immigrants.
But Russoniello, a longtime immigration hardliner and one of the few
Bush-era U.S. attorneys still holding a job, is closer than ever to
being replaced -- and that's left San Francisco officials and lawyers
wondering whether an Obama appointee in Northern California will make
the crucial difference for sanctuary.
Local white-collar defense attorney Melinda Haag, Russoniello's likely replacement, began a weeks-long FBI background check in early February, the Recorder legal newspaper has reported.
President Obama has moved slowly on appointing U.S. attorneys, but as
midterm elections approach, the White House will need to get its
nominations in soon.
Haag, a former federal prosecutor with experience on civil rights
cases, is an unknown quantity when it comes to immigration enforcement.
But some involved in San Francisco's sanctuary debate believe that
anyone but Russoniello will give the city the breathing space it needs.
Haag herself declined to comment.
"Joe Russoniello is, hands down, the biggest obstacle to even modest
due process modifications for juvenile offenders," said one City Hall
source familiar with Russoniello's more-than-year-old investigation
into San Francisco's sanctuary practices.
This was due to a lack of maintenance on BART's aging fleet;
This was due to an operator attempting to drive like Steve McQueen in a train;
This was a straight-up, unpredictable equipment failure.
BART's official line is that it's the latter. Whether this is more or less unsettling than neglected maintenance or crazy driving is a matter of debate for us all.
Linton Johnson, the chief spokesman for BART, confirmed that the "yoke assembly" that fractured this morning was manufactured by Wabtech and installed on Jan. 9, 2009 -- and should have lasted "a lifetime." A device resembling a metal bar about the width of a man's arm, the yoke assembly essentially couples two train cars together. For reasons unknown, it ruptured at 6:23 this morning.
"It just kind of sheared in half. It's bizarre," said Johnson. This manner of equipment failure has never before happened at BART "And we've never heard of it happening anywhere else either."
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 12:59 PM
At around 9:05 this morning, a trio of massive crane fresh from the factory in Shanghai passed beneath the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges -- with a Lebron James vertical leap of room to spare. SF Weekly's favorite floating photographer, Gabor Gardonyi, was there. A tugboat chef who moonlights as an ace with the camera, he caught the Zhen Hua 15 with its load for the Port of Oakland before, during, and after its limbo with the Bay Bridge:
The Bay Guardian's total disregard of SF Weekly's lenders' senior lien rights have led those banks to ask a Delaware court to issue a temporary restraining order and injunction that would end Bruce Brugmann's increasingly frantic efforts to bleed money from the Weekly.
The lawsuit filed against the Guardian by the Bank of Montreal on behalf of a group of institutional lenders also asks a judge to force the newspaper to return any cash it may have already received as part of its attempts to collect on a $21 million below-cost pricing judgment now before the California Court of Appeal.
The Weekly has asked the appeals court to throw out the judgment, and the case is awaiting oral arguments. But rather than wait for a ruling, the Guardian has delayed the appeal as long as possible while at the same time plowing ahead with its collection efforts.
For months now, the Guardian has openly dared BMO to declare a default on its lending arrangement with the Weekly and step into the legal arena if it wishes to protect its interests.
What it got in return late last night is a lawsuit designed to prevent the Guardian from taking so much as a penny from the Weekly before the bank's interests have been satisfied.
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.'"
