Napa vintners finally get name recognition, European Union agrees this week on special designation for region
In China, Spain, Chile, Tahiti and other parts of the world there are at least a dozen winemakers using the words Napa or Napa Valley in their brand names in what California vintners say is a deliberate attempt to deceive customers.
Link to article
Interesting comments from current employees of the bridge including:
"People in Corvettes are very snotty," she said. "I hate to say that, but it's true. They don't give you the time of day."and
Forest "Woody" Becker said working on the bridge is "about the greatest job an ironworker can have. It's a great icon, and it's real security." He is proud to have designed camera mounts for the bridge and recently created a mold to make zinc castings used on suspender ropes. Becker first saw the Golden Gate in August 1964. "I was in the Navy, heading to Vietnam aboard the USS Ranger. Then I saw it 10 months later. It welcomed me home. I'll never forget it. "Link to article
Shek Kip Mei Estate, Hong Kong's oldest public housing estate, is composed of 100 rooms, each closet-like in size at only 100 square feet and built in response to a devastating fire in the 1950s that left thousands homeless. In a new series of photographs called "100 x 100," Michael Wolf captures the residents of this housing complex who are almost enveloped by the diminishing space around them, their belongings stacked to the ceiling.
Link to article and slides
photo: in2jazz
From article:
Why the San Francisco Chronicle is a candidate to exit print
Play with me on this one: Which major American newspaper should be the first to throw up its hands and stop publishing a print product?
It's a question worth asking. This could be the worst year for newspapers since the Great Depression. The double-digit revenue declines long forecast by doomsters have arrived. While nearly all the major papers still post profits, albeit smaller than before, a few prominent ones are losing boatloads. At Hearst Newspapers' San Francisco Chronicle, according to a deposition given by James M. Asher, the company's chief legal and business development officer, losses of $330 million piled up between mid-2000 and September, 2006, better—or should I say worse?—than $1 million a week. During negotiations with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's unions, the owning Block family disclosed that the paper lost $20 million in 2006. Late last year, The Boston Globe was headed for unprofitability as well, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Read more at BusinessWeek
Interesting SF Chronicle piece with comments from Warren Hinckle:
Notorious S.F. pioneer of porn films
Jim Mitchell, who helped bring eroticism into the political and social consciousness of San Francisco and later was imprisoned for the sensational killing of his brother, died apparently of a heart attack at his home in western Sonoma County, investigators said Friday.
...
But then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein did not see much humor in the peddling of porn. Her attempts to shut the brothers down came to a head when her unlisted phone number was placed on the theater marquee with the words "For a Good Time, Call ..."
west tower
Courtesy of a source who goes by the handle of Unaesthetic, we invite you to take in the scenery from the tippy-top of a San Francisco Bay Bridge suspension tower! And on a sunny day, no less
Link to article
Link to the photoset
Other Telstar San Francisco Bay Area links:
Photo: alsuga
In brief:
Saint Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco was designed by architect Pier Luigi Nervi in 1971 and built amid an atmosphere of controversy. The building has been described by many as resembling an overgrown washing machine agitator, and several San Franciscans have taken to calling it "Our Lady of Maytag" for this resemblance. Others find the swooping pyramid shape refreshingly modern for sacred Catholic architecture.
Technical:
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, known familiarly as St. Mary's Cathedral, in San Francisco has become a landmark that annually draws thousands of people to this sacred structure, which combines the rich traditions of the Catholic faith with modern technology.
The cathedral's striking design flows from the geometric principle of the hyperbolic paraboloid, in which the structure curves upward in graceful lines from the four comers meeting in a cross. Measuring 255 feet square, the cathedral soars to 190 feet high and is crowned with a 55 foot golden cross.
Four corner pylons, each one designed to withstand ten million pounds of pressure, support the cupola, which rises 19 stories above the floor. The pylons measure just 24 feet in circumference at their narrowest point and extend 90 feet down into bedrock. The inner surface of the cupola is made up of 1680 pre-cast triangular coffers of 128 different sizes, designed to distribute the weight of the cupola. At each comer of the cathedral, vast windows look out upon spectacular views of San Francisco, the City of Saint Francis of Assisi. The cathedral's red brick floor recalls early Mission architecture, and the rich heritage of the local church.
Above the altar is a kinetic sculpture by Richard Lippold. Alive with reflected light, the 14 tiers of triangular aluminum rods symbolize the channel of love and grace from God to His people, and their prayers and praise rising to him. The sculpture, suspended by gold wires, is 15 stories high and weighs one ton.
The 'boob' story:
Urban legend also has it that the Catholic Church sued the architect over the appearance of the breast, claiming that the appearance of a naked breast on the side of a cathedral somehow mocks the Church, which is reputed for being uptight about sexuality.
…
On the issue of the Catholic Church's lawsuit, extensive research shows no evidence that the church ever filed suit against Nervi or even threatened to. The rumor could have started by the "telephone game" effect after individuals associated with the church or the Archdiocese made private commentary on the shape, but even this is idle speculation.
See more about breasts (from the fabulous Miss Cellania)
Photo: sfegette
From article:
The San Francisco Taxi Commission is set to decide this evening whether one of the city's cabs is "associated with evil and Satan.''
A few years ago, Thigpen said, the cab held by medallion holder 666 "burned to a crisp on Good Friday ... and the only thing remaining after the fire were the numbers 666, visible in the rubble.''
Byrne, a 30-year veteran driver, was assigned No. 666 only last August, Thigpen said, after another applicant refused to accept the number. Since then, sources said, Byrne has been involved in at least one accident -- even after taking the precaution of having the cab blessed at Mission Dolores.
A commission clerk, who asked not to be identified, said Byrne "had many deaths around him and his family'' and that getting rid of the cursed number "is an idea that speaks for itself.''
Update:
Continue readingThe devil gets to keep riding around in a San Francisco cab, the San Francisco taxi commission decreed on Tuesday.
After nearly half an hour of discussion and debate, the commission brought the weight of government to the question of whether to grant a request by a San Francisco cab driver seeking to retire Medallion No. 666 because of the number's association with Satan.
The debate was the best show to play City Hall in some time. It featured commissioners bickering good-naturedly with one another, the head of the cab drivers union arguing before the board with red horns on his head and several other cabbies pleading for common sense, a quality not always found in the stone building at Civic Center.
At issue was the request of veteran driver Michael Byrne, who said he has had bad luck and misfortune since being assigned the supposedly cursed number last year.
Commission President Paul Gillespie said he favored granting the request, "and hopefully we can do this quickly so we never have to deal with this again.''
But with the underworld, the Book of Revelation and the Mark of the Beast at stake, quickness was not to be. Six cabbies had something to say during public comment.
"How dare you take Lucifer's number away,'' said Thomas George-Williams, president of the cab drivers union, who was sporting the red horns. "This is a serious issue.''
A cabbie named Tom warned the commission that it was "opening a can of worms" and would soon be deluged with requests to retire other numbers. A cabbie named Barry pointed out that 666 was the address of SS Peter and Paul's Church on Filbert Street, an outfit not thought to be in Satan's pocket. A cabbie named Grasshopper said it was a "bad idea to get into mysticism and voodoo.''
From news article:
Bay Area zero-emission advocates got their first test ride Thursday on a zippy new all-electric motor scooter that can take two commuters on a silent freeway ride that will cost them just pennies in electrical power.
The plug-in hybrid automobile crowd, in the news these days because of advances in the technology of fuel-efficient hybrids, gathered at San Francisco's Presidio to see the latest wrinkle in emission-free transportation - an electric motor scooter called the Vectrix that can whiz along at 60 miles an hour.
At $11,000, the Vectrix may be a bit pricey, but it is a first of sorts and it will probably appeal to the same high-income people who have ordered the $100,000 all-electric Tesla sports car. "We want to get to the right consumer demographics," said Jeff Morrill, Vectrix's managing director for marketing. "It's for urban commuting, and it targets environmentalists, active (electric power) enthusiasts."
Continue reading "Electric scooter zips along nicely for pennies per mile" »
Adobe, very clever (as usual) and witty to boot.
From the SJMercury news:
The code is cracked.
And for anyone who thought a simple message was being transmitted by the rotating disks atop the Adobe tower in downtown San Jose, boy, were you wrong.
The message of San Jose Semaphore is the entire text of the Thomas Pynchon book, "The Crying of Lot 49."
The solution was discovered by two Silicon Valley tech workers, Bob Mayo and Mark Snesrud, who received a commendation at San Jose City Hall today.
Burritoeater.com aims to be the Web’s most complete source of information on San Francisco taquerias – where they’re located, what they look like, if they’re open late, whether they serve breakfast, what the SF Department of Public Health says about them, which ones double as cell phone retailers, etc. etc. And while we realize that food may be one of the most objectively regarded things in life, we’re not shy about offering our opinion on any given burrito shop in town.
What is this about?
It's about finding an answer to that age-old question, the one that we have all asked ourselves:
What would happen if you shipped 20 unassembled old-timey wooden fishing lure kits off to be finished by a bunch of artists? It turns out that the answer is CRANKbait! Lures of Distinction.
Shown here by Hugh Macdonald, see them all here.
Mark Frauenfelder of Boing Boing fame painted one too.
The store which was frequented by Ry Cooder, Elvis Costello, Dave Edmunds, BB King and John Hiatt, to name a few, is going out of business at the end of the month due to the decline of vinyl sales.
Clip form article:
Goddard was celebrated last month at the 142 Throckmorton Theater in Mill Valley with an afternoon and evening of music that continued into the small hours across the street at the Sweetwater. Eating barbecue at folding tables in a bank parking lot that night were Bonnie Raitt, Sammy Hagar, Maria Muldaur and Narada Michael Walden, pretty much the four horsemen of Mill Valley music. New Orleans rock 'n' roll star Frankie Ford ("Sea Cruise") had to be kept out of sight for a day and a half in Mill Valley so he could surprise Goddard at the event.
Village Music's end will also be marked on Sunday at the Great American Music Hall - only a handful of tickets remain - where Goddard will be serenaded by a mix of performers that mirrors his fairly narrowly proscribed but passionate tastes in music: rockabilly by the Collins Kids, blues from Jimmy McCracklin and Sugar Pie DeSanto, soul music by Bettye LaVette and Swamp Dogg, among others.
If that isn't enough, world-renowned turntablist DJ Shadow will be spinning sides every day this month at Village Music, using only records from the store's bins. Goddard himself is thinking about closing down with a midnight Saturday-to-midnight-Sunday finale at the end of the month.
Continue reading
From MacNN:
Apple boss Steve Jobs today introduced the widely rumored and highly anticipated touch-sensitive iPod, codenamed iPod touch. The iPod looks nearly identical to the iPhone in appearance, with a large screen and a customary 'home' button at the bottom. "It features our revolutionary multi-touch interface that you've come to know and love on the iPhone," said Jobs. "If you've used an iPhone you'll feel at home, it's exactly the same." The company also unveiled a new application specific to iPod touch and the iPhone, the iTunes WiFi music store. The new store allows users to preview and download songs via WiFi in the same fashion as the original iTunes software. Apple will offer the iPod touch in two configurations with 8GB and 16GB storage capacities for $300 and $400, respectively. Both models are slated for shipment "in just a few weeks" but before the end of the month.
The 3.5-inch widescreen display displays photos just like the iPhone, and supports Apple's "pinch-to-zoom" technique as well as the customary slide for unlocking the device.
The iPod touch features CoverFlow technology, and includes a WiFi meter in the top-left corner of the screen to monitor signal strength. The new iPod's wireless capability includes 802.11 b/g support, and utilizes the company's Safari Web browser to login to public wireless networks as well as surf the Web.
Apple's iPod touch supports YouTube in a fashion similar to the iPhone, and boasts a battery life of 22 hours for audio playback or five hours of video playback.
These where sent to me by two local San francisco artists:
Below, [Above] you’ll find four choices that highlight the places that most of us urban hipsters like to frequent and the remainder of you drug addicts and johns like to frequent as well. Choose wisely. Your T-shirt will be a sign that you were the first in San Francisco history to own an ironic SF Parks and Rec parody shirt before everyone else did.
Each high-quality sweatshop-free 100% cotton American Apparel T comes with a free design on it and will only set you back $20.
Link to come shortly or check comments.
Physicists at UC Berkeley say they have produced the world's smallest radio out of a single carbon nanotube that is 10,000 times thinner than a human hair.
Professor Alex Zettl led a team that developed the minuscule filament, which can be tuned to receive AM or FM transmissions.
The first song it played? "Layla" by Derek & the Dominos. Eric Clapton's unmistakable guitar riff can be heard on a scratchy recording of the nanoradio's output posted by Zettl online.
Listen to the 'Layla' recording Courtesy Zettl Research Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California at Berkeley
HALF MOON BAY - Many of the world's best and bravest surfers are heading toward Half Moon Bay as organizers of the legendary Maverick's Surf Contest have scheduled the big-wave event for Saturday.
Surfers were given the word this morning, said brothers and surf partners Tyler and Russell Smith of Santa Cruz.
Organizers have been waiting for high-quality conditions - huge waves coupled with clear weather on the San Mateo County coast - since the contest window opened Dec. 7. Last year, a dearth of surf scuttled the event.
The contest, with a $75,000 prize pool, will be held Saturday morning off Pillar Point, with 24 surfers paddling into waves in a series of heats that will determine the winner. This will be the sixth time the contest has been held since 1999.
The timing of the event on a weekend may draw record crowds, but organizers have provided other ways for people to watch the show.
The surf break is more than a half-mile from the beach, so spectators may be in better position in front of computer screens, watching a free live Webcast, or by seeing the event shown on the big screen at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Admission to that is $20. More details are available at the contest's Web site, www.maverickssurf.com.
From article
a shot glass of ice cold dark German beer (Koestritzer) placed beside a tiny espresso cup of hot chocolate topped -- if you can believe it -- with Snickers-laced whipped cream. This dessert was presented on a small white rectangular platter and was amazing.
Hal Riney, the San Francisco advertising man whose iconic and memorable work helped establish the city as an important creative center for the industry and a magnet for major accounts, died of cancer in his San Francisco home Monday. He was 75.
Whether his client was an automobile manufacturer, a company selling wine coolers or the committee to re-elect President Ronald Reagan, no one could put as graceful a spin on Americana as could Hal Riney. He made likable, engaging advertising in a career of nearly 50 years.
He is best remembered for creating the brand - and the outside-Detroit image - of General Motors' Saturn automobiles, but he may be equally famous for creating the codgers Frank Bartles and Ed Jaymes, who sing the praises of the Gallo wine cooler that bore their names. In 1984, he created "Morning in America," the soft-textured, 60-second memorable montages of Americana, telling stories of swelling national pride, making people comfortable about re-electing Reagan.
These advertising campaigns and many more had a unique and relaxed western feeling to them, and stood in relief to so much in a New York-dominated industry. In the process, Riney ads prompted marketers to pay attention to the San Francisco ad scene.
Before Riney, the legendary Howard Gossage had established San Francisco's ad industry roots. Riney proteges Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, who started with Riney doing "Billy Ball" ads for the Oakland A's, left in the spring of 1983 to establish one of the country's top tier agencies and encourage the next generation of San Francisco creative advertising people.
"He created an atmosphere and body of work that attracted the highest level of creative people outside New York," said Goodby, co-founder of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. "Some would say higher."
Not George Bush, San Francisco is proposing naming a sewage plant after him!
"Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility. It seems the group would like to rename the SF Zoo adjacent facility to the 'George W Bush Sewage Plant,' SFist reports.Found on the Huffington Post
YouTube has been ordered by a New York Federal Judge to hand over viewing data that includes how often users watch videos, how much time they spend doing it, their Username and their Internet Protocol addresses.
Viacom demanded to review all of YouTube's logging information to prove that copyrighted clips are more popular than amateur videos on the site.
His dis-Honorable sagaciousness declared:
For every video on YouTube, [he] required Google to turn over to Viacom the login name of every user who had watched it, and the address of their computer, known as an I.P. or Internet protocol address.
When Google argued that:
"We see no reason why Viacom and the other plaintiffs seek or require such information," Google said in a letter filed with the court. "Given plaintiffs' stated reason for seeking information from the logging database ... potentially personal identifiable information should be irrelevant."
The right dis-Honorable Judge Stanton said in his ruling:
“A markedly higher proportion of infringing-video watching may bear on plaintiff’s vicarious liability claim, and defendants’ substantial noninfringing use defense”
Consider this:
The amount of data covered by the order is staggering, as it includes every video watched on YouTube since its founding in 2005. In April alone, 82 million people in the United States watched 4.1 billion clips there, according to comScore. Some experts say virtually every Internet user has visited YouTube.
Why? you ask yourself, would Viacom need such detailed information on viewers, just to make their case?
Viacom wants the viewing data in part to help it determine the extent to which YouTube’s success was built on the popularity of copyrighted clips that were illegally posted to the site.
"oh, I get it" and yet Google continues to reason with Viacom's lawyers:
In a letter sent Thursday, Google’s lawyers pressed their counterparts at Viacom to accept a more limited set of data. “We request that plaintiffs agree that YouTube may redact user names and I.P. addresses from the viewing data in the interests of protecting user privacy,” wrote David H. Kramer, a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
“Users should have the right to challenge and contest the production of this deeply private information,” said Kurt Opsahl, senior staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online civil liberties group.
That right is protected by the federal Video Privacy Protection Act, Mr. Opsahl added. Congress passed that law in 1988 to protect video rental records, after a newspaper disclosed the rental habits of Robert H. Bork, then a Supreme Court nominee.
Here's where the Judge becomes a stand-up guy:
While the judge said Viacom has a legitimate need for the users' information, he rejected Viacom's requests for Google to disclose its search engine source code.
I'm just sayin', WTF? Slippery slope.
Real name, Paul Curtis, Moose is the grand-daddy of reverse graffiti. He’s been cleaning the streets of the UK and beyond for around ten years.
Using detergent and a wire brush, the tools of many a cleaner, he works with advertisers to create innovative clean messages and slogans that inevitably turn into works of art. One of his more recent works, the Reverse Graffiti Project, was on San Francisco’s Broadway tunnel in conjunction with Green Works, to promote a plant-based cleaner.
Link to Cal Performances website.
Click here to see more Murakami book covers by John Gall and Chip Kidd.
Hi-Def San Francisco is project of CloudView Photography. The camera is a 3 megapixel StartDot Technologies Netcam XL mounted in a weather proof enclosure high in the hills of Sausalito. Images are captured every 15 seconds cropped from the full resolution to 1920x1080 and uploaded in 480, 720 and 1080 resolution to the web server. Periodically the software (running on a FreeBSD server) creates a time lapse that collapses the prior 24 hours into 240 seconds of video.
Link to site. Thanks JPP.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Intersection of Mission St.
and Cesear Chavez, NE corner
San FranciscoDear Shareholders and Clients,
The Billboard Liberation Front has partnered with Wachovia to release a daring advertising campaign that celebrates Wachovia’s new money management strategy. This campaign emphasizes the silver lining in the economic storm front now threatening to swamp our economy as well as our individual fiscal inner tubes.
“The calamitous decline in the value of all investments and the impending total collapse of the dollar will render the true value of the average savings account or investment portfolio roughly equal to a bucket of warm piss," noted Thomas J. Wurtz, CFO of Wachovia. Dr. John Silvia, Managing Director and Chief Economist noted: “After that golden shower we got from Golden West, we decided to fight fire with fire and start bailing for our clients and stockholders, mixed metaphors notwithstanding.”
This dramatic revaluation of your money has created the opportunity for our team at Wachovia to offer a unique service to our stockholders and clients. “With what promises to be the coldest winter in years now commencing, we’ve instructed our staff in all 21 States that we have offices in to start bundling greenbacks into tight rolls, perfect for small stoves and furnaces,” said Robert K. Steel CEO and President. “We believe this is the soundest application of our clients’ money.”
Scott Beale over at Laughing Squid has a piece on the smackdown last friday night:
A smackdown between mimes and clowns took place Friday at Dirty Marina 16th and Valencia at 10pm. It was reported that a clown picked a fight with a mime in front of Kilowatt by smashing a pie in his face. Later the mimes and clowns duked it out in Albion Alley, ala West Side Story. The fight ended when two clowns ganged up on a mime, wiped off his face paint and ‘demimed’ him. The mime, stripped of his powers was carried off by his troupe, screaming in terror.
More videos after the link
From The Squid List:
Every year since his untimely death, the San Francisco music community has come together to celebrate the life, music and spirit of Joe. All proceeds go to Strummerville (www.strummerville.com), the foundation in England set up in Joe's name that aims to create new opportunities for aspiring musicians.
This year, Eric McFadden, The Armagideons (w/ members of The Black Furies), The Hooks, Dead Ringers, Ferocious Few and Rubberside Down are donating their time and effort for the love of Joe at The Bottom of the Hill on Sunday 12/7, Pearl Harbor Day.
We have an early start for the working folk: 6:30 doors, 1st band at 7. Six bands for $10 and prizes!-recession proof fun!
From Scott Beale over at Laughing Squid:
Timed with today’s Inauguration, Bush Street signs in San Francisco were changed to Obama down the entire length of Bush Street from Presidio to Battery.
Link to "obamastreetsign" flickr set
My friend Brady found this beauty while cleaning out his studio. It's simply amazing! The different typefaces are cool, it must have looked very mod in its day.
The 'Engineering Appliance Company' is alas, no longer in business. The San Francisco street address in now condos and a google search returned no results.
Got it?
Thanks Brady
I came across this guitar yesterday at Real Guitars in San Francisco. It's great this small shop is surviving, I've been going there for over twenty years. Link to Real Guitars unfortunate website (the place is better in person).
Date: March 21, 2009
Time: 1pm - 5pm
Location: 500 3rd Street, Suite 510, San Francisco, CA
Previous posts involving bacon:
cortesy of Laughing Squid
cortesy of Laughing Squid
cortesy of Laughing Squid
cortesy of Michael Bolger
These two pieces were about one block apart on Laguna Street, San francisco.
Click on the images to see their location.
The first one recently became the victim of sidewalk repair.
Higher resolution versions are here.
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Puppies and Flowers in the San Francisco Bay Area category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
Middle East is the previous category.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
