Among the many wild realities you'll experience on the World Wide Web is this awesome video of "geezers" having a pillow fight in the park.
We're pretty damn sure this might be the only time we're gonna see a bunch of old(er) people plunking pillows in to one another in a public setting, but perhaps it's a well-attended activity at senior rest homes? If not, it should be.
We also have no idea whether this clip was shot in San Francisco, and we don't really care. We just want you to watch this and then go have a good 'ol fashioned pillow fight with your grandma.
Update, 4:02 p.m.: Phil Bronstein responds, see bottom.
This morning a Bloomberg TV interview with former San Francisco Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein made the rounds, causing mild, renewed blogosphere hysteria about the Chron's now-defunct paywall.
Bronstein said via an anonymous source that the paywall netted about $500,000 before the paper's new leadership took it down -- a number that he (or the source) evidently forgot to prorate. We talked to another source close to the situation who said that two or three weeks ago the Chron had about 4,000 digital-only subscribers.
Multiply that by the monthly $12 each of them was paying, and you'd get $48,000 in revenues each money, or $576,000 annually.
But that's not the story.
One hundred and sixty-two years ago tomorrow, one of the great quotes entered the cultural lexicon. When the schooner America trounced its English competition on Aug. 22, 1851, Queen Victoria turned to an underling and asked who came second. "Your majesty," he replied, "there is no second."
Sadly, when discussing the current iteration of the America's Cup, this quote can be repurposed to describe the number of boats racing on the water.
So, on a happier note, the Cup turns 162 tomorrow. And those in need of a Cup-related gift could do worse than running down to the Pier 27 Louis Vuitton pop-up store and throwing down $1,430 for this limited edition Louis Vuitton San Francisco Neverfull Tote Bag.
Folks at Louis Vuitton declined to tell us how many of these bags were produced and how many remain. But they do claim the novelty and "San Francisco Giants colors" have helped them to sell well enough. Haggling, your humble narrator is told, is not encouraged. You can't negotiate a deal if you want to buy multiple bags.
See Also: The problem with marketing the America's Cup as "NASCAR on Water" is you create NASCAR on water
Yes, the Lusty Lady is run-down, shabby, and has a sticky floor that we don't need to discuss here.
But the San Francisco institution also happens to be very capitalist in nature: it is competition. Without the Lusty, San Francisco becomes a company town for strip clubs. As of Sept. 9, Seattle-based adult entertainment conglomerate, Deja Vu Entertainment -- which is connected to the landlord who's shoving the Lusty out the door -- will have a monopoly on the strip trade in the city.
Just when you had given up on the violent, broken, angry world, a good Samaritan comes along and makes you think "This place really isn't so bad."
Yesterday, an honest person picked up a wad of cash that was left behind near a Bernal Heights playground -- and didn't spend it. Instead of going on a shopping spree with the cache of cash, the noble woman has decided to track down the rightful owner.
A San Francisco Giants ball girl seems to have temporarily forgotten the rules of the game.
The other night as Joaquin Arias was chasing after a pop-up, the ball girl inserted herself into the play, attempting to catch the ball as it was still in play.
Luckily, he was able to catch the ball, despite the interference. As for the girl, she was embarrassed, mortified, and apologetic.
Watch:
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was sentenced this morning to 35 years in prison for giving U.S. secrets to WikiLeaks.
Prosecutors had portrayed 25-year-old Manning as "the determined insider," an anarchist hacker and traitor who started working within weeks of his 2009 deployment to provide WikiLeaks with all the information it wanted, according to an Associated Press report. The government was hoping that the military judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, would give Manning 60 years behind bars for crimes he was convicted for, including Espionage Act violations, five theft counts, and computer fraud.
Manning supporters, who are calling on President Obama to pardon him, will be out in San Francisco later this evening for a rally. They plan to gather at Justin Herman Plaza on The Embarcadero at 5 p.m.
