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.
We don't often go out of our way for restrooms, but in the case of Macy's sixth-floor ladies room (sorry guys: you'll just have to make do with having everything else), all who pass through its doors will understand why it's worth the effort.
San Francisco Film Society held their Film Society Awards Night at Bimbo's on Tuesday, May 7th. Harrison Ford was in attendance accepting the 2013 Peter J. Owens Award. Photographs by Josh Edelson for SF Weekly.
PostedByPeter Jamison
on Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 5:35 PM
Soon-to-be outlaw?
San Francisco Police Lieutenant Lyn Tomioka's response when we called her to talk about a proposed statewide ban on the use of mobile phones while bicycling was revealing: an amused chuckle.
Ever circumspect in her public comments, department spokesperson Tomioka wouldn't comment extensively when asked whether the proposed ban would be enforceable in San Francisco, a city with hordes of bicyclists, a great love of personal mobile devices, and a police department struggling to stay on top of violent crime. "I think we just need to wait and see if it's passed," Tomioka said.
Former Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez alleges that influence peddling was behind a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency decision to scotch a contract for management of city-owned parking garages.
Gonzalez' law firm has been engaged by Fred Bekele, whose firm Convenient Parking last summer won a bid to manage several downtown, city-owned parking garages. Gonzalez alleges that San Francisco attorney Steven Kay, an associate of former mayor Willie Brown, was behind a proposed deal whereby Bekele was urged to let Kay's clients manage city garages, even though Convenient Parking won the bidding.
"Fred was specifically told, 'you don't know how things work,'" Gonzalez said, in reference to alleged threats.*
PostedByAndy Wright
on Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 4:20 PM
These awesome drag queen portraits, with the one on the top left bearing a striking resemblance to San Francisco's Peaches Christ, were spotted on the corner of Market and Church. Wear and tear is already taking its toll, but you know what they say: Hair today, gone tomorrow.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 1:59 PM
Alone at the top
Last night, the Golden State Warriors dispatched Minnesota, 116-107. This year, any victory for the Warriors is cause for celebration; the team is struggling to win 30 percent of its games. But this one was special: It was victory No. 1,333 for coach Don Nelson -- the league's all-time mark.
Congratulations, coach. Now go.
It's a harsh sentiment, but an honest one. Your humble narrator waddled into the Oakland Coliseum for the first time on Dec. 29, 1985. The home side -- Sleepy Floyd at the point, Joe Barry Carroll barely caring -- astoundingly dispatched the Showtime Lakers, 137-113. I thought being a Warriors fan would be easy. Well, it isn't.
Three years later, the team would first hire Nelson, a scrappy former Boston Celtic who'd already been around the block as a coach. He was brash. He wore sneakers with suits. He wore fish ties. He was thrown out of games all the time. These were the fondest basketball memories of my life. Recounting the last 20 years of the Warriors' franchise history could induce post-traumatic stress disorder, but this much is true: For all his flaws, Don Nelson is the origin of every joyous pro basketball moment in the Bay Area since that time.
This time, it was a 39-year-old Oakland man named Aboubacar Soumah who moved across the aisle to be next to a 14-year-old, according to an FBI investigator. Soumah then allegedly asked the girl questions about whether she was by herself, if she liked him, and if she would like to touch his lap. He repeatedly rubbed her arm, leg, and chest underneath her shirt, authorities told the Chron.
PostedByLauren Smiley
on Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 8:30 AM
At the Pacific Sociological Association conference in Oakland today, a gaggle of academics from the U.C. Irvine will be presenting their research on the Anonymous protesters of the Church of Scientology, the movement we covered in a 2008 cover story. The paper is titled "Project Chanology, Scientology & Memes: Shifting Notions of Movement Frames & Protest Strategy in the Age of Internet Culture." A pretty lofty title for a bunch of self-professed computer nerds wearing funny masks. We caught up with one of the co-authors, sociology graduate student B. Remy Cross, to get a preview.
Why would an academic want to study internet geeks in Guy Fawkes masks?
"This was interesting to us from an academic perspective because social movement scholars say you need some important things to make a movement successful: resources, a physical location, people you can depend on, money. This was a movement that didn't seem to have any of these things.
Many online movements try to take it from online to offline and usually
they fail. That's what we were expecting. [On the way to the first international
Anonymous protest day in February 2008 in Las Vegas] we were joking it would
be a success if there were 15 people. We get there and drive past the
church and there's hundreds of people there."
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 7:30 AM
If you are industrious or fortunate enough to be able to scare up $1 million on short notice, what would you do?
A. Invest in government bonds; B. Invest in real estate; C. Hand it over to some skeezy guys who float a wild scheme about "leasing" $10 million, and parlaying that into earnings of $10 million a week.
Sadly, it's (C) if you're the very embarrassed Alan J. Watson or David F. Klima. The pair last week filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court against Gabriel Gonzalez, Jr., Jose Israel Castillo Robles, and Brian J. Engel, claiming the defendants -- surprise, surprise, surprise -- didn't make them any money. In fact, that $1 million? Uh, they're working on that.
PostedByJoe Eskenazi
on Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 7:15 AM
Oh no, Eugenio!
In what will hopefully not be a defining moment in his career or the San Francisco Giants' season, reserve outfielder Eugenio Velez entered yesterday's game wearing a jersey emblazoned with the name of a city that doesn't exist. That'd be "San Francicso."
"No, no, I didn't know," he told The Associated Press by cell phone
from the team bus on the way to the airport. "That's the first I've
heard."
"Increible!" the Dominican-born utility player said in Spanish.
Those hoping to find some kind of cosmic connection between a misspelled jersey and the imminent doom of the Giants -- who have opened their season with three consecutive wins -- are stretching a bit too hard to read the tea leaves. This kind of stuff happens more often than you'd think:
In fiscal 2009, the NIH sent $463,287,103 UCSF's way -- yes, that'd be around $1.3 million a day -- with more than $441 million of that for research grants. The biggest winner at UCSF: Internal Medicine, at $153,989,540, easily outpacing in-house runner-up Neurology ($38,851,146).
While $463 million and change will buy a few microscopes, it's actually far less than UCSF received in 2008: $510,735,527.
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.'"
