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.
According to Indian thought, we have seven centers of spiritual power on our bodies called chakras, starting from our reproductive organs all the way up to the top of our heads.
The world nearly stopped last year when rumors that this well-graffitied, deeply historied Market Street rock 'n' roll bar would be knocked down and turned into condos started circulating.
PostedByAndy Wright
on Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 4:59 PM
I randomly ended up at the fabric8 boutique in the Mission on Friday night, where there was an art show in progress and food cart vendors like the Creme Brulee Man serving up hot food on a back patio. The art and the food were great but the best part was the bathroom. (Cross my heart, this is not going to devolve into scatological and/or drug humor. Not this time.)
A bathtub sitting next to the toilet had been rigged up as an aquarium and was filled with greenery and goldfish, with the shower head above sending a continuous stream of water into the basin:
PostedByMatt Smith
on Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 4:25 PM
Will Yo Mama Care cover my tatoos?
Except for the hipster provision, extending to 26 the age brakeless track bike-riders get to stay on their parents' health insurance, most of the effects of the federal health-care legislation on its way to final passage won't be seen for several years.
So for a view of the unintended consequences of the bill's clauses extending health care coverage to a larger proportion of Americans, it's necessary to take a look at San Francisco, where, as of December, 50,000 locals had signed up for Healthy San Francisco, a program where the uninsured can turn to local government and nonprofit-run clinics for care.
Statistics compiled by the city controller suggest that while numerous San Franciscans have signed up for Healthy San Francisco -- and, a study says, they've apparently been happy with their status as newly insured -- care for the poor and downtrodden already on the public health care dole may have deteriorated.
PostedByLois Beckett
on Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 3:50 PM
As of this afternoon, the Bay Area News Project, the F. Warren Hellman-funded bid to reinvent the metro newspaper, has a new, Pulitzer Prize-winning managing editor, a new Web site, and a new name, "The Bay Citizen," with the slogan, "News/Culture/Community."
Fainaru, who was born in Mountain View, is a Bay Area local and lives in El Cerrito. His brother, Mark Fainaru-Wada, used to work for the Chronicle, and narrowly avoided jail time three years ago when he and Lance Williams refused to reveal the sources for their BALCO steroid scandal investigation, which won a George Polk Award. There's a charming E&P profile of "The Brothers Fainaru" from 2006, if you want to learn more about the fraternal investigative journalism duo. SF Weekly was unable to reach Fainaru.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 1:20 PM
Yes, Virginia, she's infected -- with socialism!
Health care, undoubtedly, is the subject du jour. We are in the midst of a crescendo of health care coverage so overpowering and unrelenting -- well, it could make you sick. But are we learning anything via the nonstop written and televised coverage regarding the passage of health care reform?
That's hard to say. For many, this has devolved into a matter of personal and political feeling. You're either supporting the president, or supporting the tea-partiers and their Republican enablers. Getting hard facts from health care proponents or opponents about why they feel the way they do often has less to do with premiums and more to do with partisanship.
While the Ex, predictably, trumpets the views of ultra-conservative think tanks to make its points, this article's premises aren't so easy to dismiss. Simply put, some of these things are true -- and inconvenient.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 8:30 AM
This may soon be illegal in State Parks. It's still kosher in National Parks, though -- as are firearms.
Smoking in the park? Perish the thought. A smoking gun in the park? Well ... that all depends on the park.
Yesterday, the state Assembly passed a bill enacting a broad smoking ban in the state's parks and along California's beaches. This was promoted as a move against litter, fires, and second-hand smoke (fair enough -- but the notion of being menaced by second-hand smoke while surrounded by thousands of miles of the great outdoors is a tad odd). California's cigar-smoking governor, meanwhile, is no dead cert to sign the bill.
Yet the state is setting up an odd situation in which a gun lighter could get you in more trouble at a State Park than a gun at a national one.
The newspaper's neighbors tell SF Weekly that they have collected as many as 50 signatures on a petition opposing the project, in which Guardian Publisher Bruce Brugmann hopes to lease out space on the building's roof to T-Mobile for a cluster of cellular antenna panels. The petition urges the San Francisco Planning Commission -- scheduled to vote on the application from Brugmann and T-Mobile on Thursday -- to reject the plan, asserting that the antennas are unnecessary and should be sited in a less residential area.
The neighbors say they are also concerned about what they view as the secrecy surrounding the project. Yvonne Gavre, who is helping spearhead the drive to gather signatures, did not learn about the upcoming commission meeting until late Friday afternoon, after Village Voice Media Executive Editor Michael Lacey mailed a letter to the Guardian's neighbors and other city residents informing them of the proposal and meeting. (Village Voice Media is the parent company of SF Weekly.) "Everybody we spoke to was very upset," Gavre said. "They didn't know about it."
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 7:30 AM
If Joltin' Joe had witnessed this alleged crime against coffee, the cops would never have been bothered...
Far be it for us to give alleged thieves advice on their alleged thievery. But a police report out of Ingleside did give us pause.
According to the cops, a man was recently caught in the act on the 3300 block of Mission. The man's alleged crime: Filching "numerous instant coffee products."
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 6:30 AM
Whether or not the cops can ask you what's in here is a matter the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently mulled over...
A man whom an appeals court ruled should arguably never have been arrested by San Francisco police may also not have deserved to have cops peering down his underwear, according to a federal appeals court.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled in Erris Edgerly's favor back in 2007, determining that police were unjustified for arresting him for, in his words, "just chilling" at the Martin Luther
King-Marcus Garvey Cooperative Apartments on Eddy Street back in 2000. Following that '07 ruling, Edgerly's case was remanded back to district court -- where his claims against the city were dismissed.
This time around, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that San Francisco police officers did indeed have probable cause to arrest Edgerly. But, in its Friday ruling, the three-judge panel reversed the district court's dismissal of Edgerley's claim of false arrest -- and also breathed new life into his claim that he never should have been made to drop his shorts.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 12:01 AM
Yesterday we reported on a viscerally anti-Gavin Newsom flier landing in mailboxes across the state. In addition to a pair of eye-popping photos, the anonymous postcard gives the phone numbers of two political consultants -- who say they don't know what the hell is going on here -- and lists the return address of another -- who is also mystified.
Oakland's Larry Tramutola was befuddled to find his address on the mailer. When asked what else there was on the postcard, he answered "There's a picture of Gavin with what looks like a butthole instead of where a mouth is, if I may be so rude, and another picture on the right-hand side of Gavin looking down a woman's blouse." It turns out Tramutola's description of the mailer was dead-on:
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.'"
