Hoosier in San Francisco

Dot com all over?

2012-02-02T04:34:00.001-08:00

Another round of over-the-top parties and rent gouging?

http://gigaom.com/2012/02/01/what-a-facebook-ipo-means-for-silicon-valley/

Parents paying rent?

2012-01-12T10:14:00.001-08:00

Crap. New neighbor leaves television on all night and in the morning I'm awakened by police because "he hasn't answered calls from his parents for days." This is a guy living alone in an apartment bigger than mine, and I rented mine for TWO people. The guy answers his door, seems ok. I hope this isn't another situation like my Cow Hollow apartment, spoiled brats whose parents are paying rent. At least his television wasn't too loud.

Dress differently and rule of law

2012-01-04T13:44:00.001-08:00

Stepping out of San Francisco to a place where there's more conformity, and ruminating on my preferences. Some people dress outlandishly or in a stylized unique way to bring attention to themselves. Though there may be very rare occasions where that is me, what I am more about is freedom. When there is a huge spectrum of acceptability, everyone is more able to find their comfortable niche without sticking out as someone trying to bring attention to themselves. It is not about LOOK AT ME, but more about "this is who I am. " The outlandish "look at me" people are required to provide a social buffer for the slightly off center "this is me" without the shy "this is me" bringing undue attention to themselves.

This is a subtlety lost on many, in the same vein as the "rule of law." The same people who don't understand freedom of dress are likely to not understand that rule of law means that even people branded as criminals deserve a fair trial. In the world of the conformist, the non-conformist is labeled criminal, while those who honor the appearance of conformity can walk away from murder.

Goats in San Francisco?

2011-12-26T18:51:00.001-08:00

Well, I've seen goats brought in to clean out weeds on various properties, but I haven't seen this... (video)

Scooter pain

2011-12-21T09:03:00.001-08:00

Damn... another relatively new scooter - not even mine, but I heard the noise and didn't think anything - now looking out my window I see the pieces of plastic on the pavement and think, Hey, do scooter drivers go around with a sledgehammer smashing cars? What is the answer to giant negligent metal beasts roaming the city?

Pancho Parks & Rec

2011-12-16T04:29:00.001-08:00

I often dine under the watchful eye of Pancho Villa.

San Pancho Villa de Don Juan Swanson’s

Tourists vs Homeless

2011-12-14T11:08:00.000-08:00

It's tough when tourists and the homeless are competing for the same rooms!
Illegal Hotel Conversions Sweep San Francisco

Election guide?

2011-11-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

I've received a truckload of sensationalist political crap in my mailbox. Day of election, I get an email link to a "non-partisan guide to mayoral candidates." Mind you - ELECTION DAY I'm receiving this email. And the guide? It doesn't have two candidates on it. "Responses unavailable at time of printing." Is it because the candidates didn't respond? Or more likely, considering that I'm receiving this announcement on election day, these people started their process way too late. San Francisco politics... it would be like a high school election, except the stakes are a little higher.

The Big Apple

2011-11-08T08:58:00.001-08:00

Now knowing several people who have moved to New York, I pick up my neighbor's old New York Times, and it solidifies in my mind: There are some things that New York really is better at. There are things that make enterprises or attempts in other places look like wannabe amateurs. But not everything. The Sunday Magazine might as well be a Pottery Barn flyer. The Travel Section has a caption referring to "stand-up paddle surfing on Lake Parano'a." There is not a wave in the picture, and New York is too far from Hawaii to call it paddle boarding? Or maybe in Brazil it goes by a different name or there's a translation problem. But I like to think it's because there's a snooty travel editor who got their job by knowing someone and would choose immersion in a good book over immersion in the waters of a lake in Brazil. Yes, that house in Connecticut looks lovely, if only slightly more scenic than my brother's place in the Midwest which is the same size but maybe a fifth the cost. I will retain my exaggerated sense of self importance, and let them have theirs.

Doesn't speak English??!!

2011-11-06T21:51:00.000-08:00

There is a sandwich shop that's one of my regular places. Good sandwiches, good price. Saturday, much to my surprise, I realized the guy behind the counter, whom I've seen for over 2 years, has a very limited understanding of English. I recall one other occasion when I came in and told him something, just being conversational, he just sort of nodded his head. Now I know, he probably didn't understand a word of what I said.

It happened when a lady came in and wanted a SALAD instead of a sandwich. There are no salads on the menu. She tried to explain, just put everything on the plate with the bread on the side. She tried to say it five different ways, finally gave up and left. Hey lady, it's a SANDWICH shop - and heck, after the 2nd attempt, I realized he didn't understand what she was saying, so just give it up, right??

The same day, a tourist wandered in and asked if they had lattes. Huh? This is a sandwich shop. You order what's on the menu, you get it, it's good. Don't go gettin' fancy.

Actually, now that I think about it - I always liked seeing the guy there, because he made good sandwiches. When the relatives were there, it wasn't the same consistent quality. But in retrospect - the relatives actually speak English. One of them said "Hey - haven't seen you in awhile?" The guy never said that - and when I tried to explain to him why I hadn't been around for awhile, I just thought he was indifferent. Nope. He didn't understand what I was saying.

Apartment shuffle

2011-10-29T09:03:00.001-07:00

Uh oh. I'm sad to see my neighbor of one year moving out. There is a closet or something in the neighboring apartment with the wall directly adjacent to my bed headboard. Other than occasional scraping sounds at 5am, my current neighbor has been remarkably quiet and friendly - a rare commodity! Crossing fingers for a new neighbor as nice as the one leaving!

Around the neighborhood

2011-10-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

Glass entryway to a house up the hill.

Ranked Choice Voting

2011-10-22T06:12:00.001-07:00

WTF??!!! I've read editorial after editorial AGAINST ranked choice voting. Most of them whining "oh, woe, it's TOO CONFUSING! " Now, I realize that half the population is below average intelligence. BUT how difficult is it to vote for your top THREE choices instead of just one? Especially when there are 14 choices for mayor?! If the population can't handle that, what about the myriad complicated and confusing ballot initiatives, some of which are INTENTIONALLY misleading and confusing?? (those are yes or no, but what the hell does the initiative actually mean?) I can only reach the conclusion that it is primarily POLITICAL CANDIDATES who hate ranked choice voting, because they have to play nice with their closest rivals. Attack ads could smear both candidates, moving them down the scale. They can't sort out the best campaign strategy when the smear campaign is eliminated as an option.
The editorials all go into the more complicated process of how votes get eliminated when there is no clear winner. But that's really something the people counting and the politicians have to worry about. One campaign is urging people to only vote for one candidate across the board, essentially throwing away their supporters' 2nd and 3rd options because they're afraid people are going to get confused and mark the wrong column on the ballot. I was considering voting for this candidate, but hearing this makes me less inclined to vote for them.

Places I've eaten in San Francisco

2011-10-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

This post will be updated over time. Ratings limited to 1-3 stars, based on combination of price / quality. A fancy restaurant with high prices will rank lower due to the cost factor.

Note: the best food for the price in the entire city is the student cafeteria at City College, due to their culinary program! Be aware that there are multiple sections to the cafeteria, and only one of them has the gourmet stuff for peasant prices.

City College Cafeteria ***
UCSF Cafeteria **

A la Turca ***
Mel's Diner (Geary,Lombard,Mission) **

Pizza? Not worth driving across town for. Burritos? Maybe.
North Beach Pizza (Stanyan,Grant) **
Golden Boy Pizza ***
Escape from New York Pizza (Polk,Castro) **

Sigh... noise.

2011-10-08T06:41:00.000-07:00

Good lord, has my otherwise agreeable neighbor of one year decided to become a crackhead, or is this just a random closet cleaning; scraping around on my wall at 0530 pn a Saturday morning?!

A man and a bucket

2011-10-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, you can't really see up there, a man with a bucket on his head. Towers of Gold stage at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. A friend of mine told me about this guy, so I had to see if he really wore a bucket on his head. Yep. Give it a listen!

Robert Plant in town

2011-10-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

Robert Plant was playing in my back yard last night, free concert. Where was I? ...at work. Doh. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

2011-10-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

Get up! get on up. GET UP! get on up. James Brown and kids on horses. Oakland. It's the Black Cowboy Parade :-)
...well, I missed the parade because the exact time wasn't on their web site. But the party was still going on.

Sunny?

2011-09-22T21:27:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year in San Francisco when a million things are going on, because everyone is trying to take advantage of the sunny window between summer fog and winter rain.

Lompoc

2011-02-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

If you're in Lompoc, California, stop by the seed and milling place and get a souvenir canvas bag of beans (low price). You might also want to visit Lightning recumbent bicycles (high price), but you'll have to be serious and call ahead, because it's a small shop not set up for tourists.

Election Time

2010-11-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

Ha! I've seen Starchild on the ballot for 10 years, and only today realized it's a man, not a woman.

Ignore the bodies

2010-05-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

This is just the problem when you've got a landscape littered with passed-out inebriates. You really don't know, and don't want to make the effort to find out if every one you pass is alive or dead, just a normal passed out, or having some serious medical problem. So you just go about your business amidst the fallen bodies.
Hurt man found lying in BART Station

This blog has moved

2010-04-30T10:38:00.001-07:00

This blog is now located at http://hoosiernsf.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://hoosiernsf.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Scariest Carl's Jr. ever

2010-01-21T22:50:00.001-08:00

When I lived downtown, I went into this Carl's Jr. occasionally. I have to say, it always had some pretty scary customers.
Murder charges filed in Carl's Jr. attack - SFGate

MUNI Driver FIGHTS BACK!!

2009-11-10T22:25:00.001-08:00

Hey, I've had my share of disputes with MUNI drivers, but when it comes to assault, they should be allowed to fight back! MUNI Driver Released

Unemployment & advancement

2009-05-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

My philosophy is that the government shouldn't be so concerned about people losing jobs in obsolete businesses. But the government should help ease the transition between the old employment and skills required for new employment. ...and people shouldn't have to worry about losing health care benefits.

This is a step in the right direction:
Obama aims to refocus unemployment system (SFGATE)

Boom Bust Boom

2009-04-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

In the eight short years I've lived in San Francisco, I'm now witnessing the second bust; the first being the dot-com implosion.

As someone who could barely afford a tiny condo in the worst neighborhood, it's nice to imagine that the spoiled children whose parents are footing their rent and the trust fund babies are getting their allowances cut.

There seem to be more moving trucks than usual in the nicer neighborhoods. But you know the turnover mostly occurs in the marginal fringes, and the prime locations are firmly held or passed on to friends (not entirely true... all it takes is a pocketful of cash?). When the boom happens, the elite converge from Ivy League schools and make their millions, then jet off to Europe or some country with a favorable exchange rate to sit out the downturn.

The rent's still outrageously expensive, and there's an empty Pacific Heights lot on the market for $25 million.

Radio Talk Show Assholes

2009-03-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

While waiting for MUNI, a shuttle bus pulled up with the radio blaring, "WE'RE TALKING ABOUT A GUY WHO RAPED A 12 YEAR-OLD..." BLAH BLAH BLAH Someone else who was also waiting for MUNI looked at me and we both shook our heads. Pathetic.

This, of course, related to the shoot-out between police officers and a 26 year-old who had been in and out of prison. This is a tragedy, the man is dead, the police officers are dead.

Of course, people want to understand why he got crazy and shot the police, but there are also people, myself included, who have seen the police get crazy and shoot people. Most of us think there needs to be less shooting. I suppose some people ventilate their anger through radio talk shows, but to me it just seems this venom spewing only hardens people in their wrong-headed perspectives.

I'm not saying the guy who shot the cops was a choir-boy, but the blaring headlines and shouting radio assholes are convicting a dead man of multiple crimes based on bits of information leaked by angry law enforcement colleagues. This is about as disgusting as running up and kicking the corpse, or hanging it from a bridge, or dragging it through town behind a pick-up truck. It doesn't encourage respect for the law. It doesn't encourage respect for a judicial system and giving citizens fair trials. It doesn't encourage civility. It encourages more shooting and vigilantism.

Who's telling the truth here?

2009-03-07T11:16:00.000-08:00

hmmm... the writing has taken a turn for the more dramatic? You'd think that some day these entities would be able to get together for some solutions... but also realize there may be all sorts of details we don't know; lack of evidence? police have been known to set people up for convenience sake, or target individuals out of spite or revenge. You'd think this wouldn't be necessary in the Tenderloin, but it's a tricky game all these people play.
-------------
Fri Mar 6, 2009 4:45 pm (PST)

Tenderloin District Newsletter
Captain Gary Jimenez
Friday, March 06, 2008

Captain's Comments:

In the desperate battle your Police Department has been waging against a
constant stream of criminals invading our neighborhood with their bitter
brand of senseless violence, Tenderloin Police Station has lost six
Officers who are not expected to return to work for some time as they
recover from surgery necessitated by injuries received in the line of
duty fighting this hoard of drug dealing resisters to the Justice
System.

On Monday evening at approximately 7:50 PM on the corner of Ellis and
Jones two of your Tenderloin Officers heard shots fired moved quickly to
where two men were on the ground fighting. The man on top was punching
the man he had just chased and tackled. Your Officers immediately
approached and proceeded to separate the combatants. As they pulled the
man off the other person he yelled out; "He shot me!" Your Officers
observed he was bleeding from three gun shot wounds. The 19 year old
man on the bottom had a gun fall out of his pocket. The shooter was in
possession of drugs for sale and in an angry voice declared, "I'm from
Oakland and he owed me money!" One of your Officers thought this remark
was made to justify the shooter's shooting someone who doesn't pay his
debt. The shooter gave no apology for the bullet he put into a passing
Muni bus.

In light of all the violence we have had over just the last week
imported from outside our neighborhood, it would seem reasonable that a
District Attorney's requests that a stay away order be imposed by our
Court for one of these dangerous invaders would be a simple thing to
expect. Judge Wick in Department #9 of the Superior Court does not
concur and another dangerous element is given a pass to our neighborhood
to lurk and spread his vile trade and the violence it promises. In
thirty days a motion will be heard for Judge Wick's consideration
regarding the need to impose a restriction on this East Bay drug dealer
from returning to the Tenderloin. In the meantime he lurks on our
streets and threatens our residents. If this be the protection we can
expect from our judiciary, the war we wage is multiplied by the
blindness of justice.

In this violent ridden week and half since the cold blooded murder at
Turk and Taylor Street, we have confiscated five guns and three knives.
Your Officers have arrested 140 drug dealers, 45 fugitives and four more
of your Officers received injuries which will keep them off duty for a
week or two. I light of all this, another purveyor of evil has
callously been sent back to our neighborhood for us to deal with.

This brave fight is not only being made by your Police Department but by
many of your Tenderloin neighbors who constantly step up to be witnesses
to this violence even in the face of harms way. If you live or work in
the Tenderloin you have much to be proud of, for this is a good
neighborhood made up of good people. Be proud!

KKK and the Underground Railroad

2009-03-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

Visited MoAD today, Museum of the African Diaspora. I was expecting more of an expansive historical look at the migrations of people and the current cultural spectrum of various populations. It wasn't that, though there were some tidbits of that, it was mostly... top floor -- modern art and "statement" art, next floor, things about slavery (not expansive), South Africa (rather more expansive), the spread of culture, food, music (not expansive), a bit about the 60s, Howard Thurman, and Toussaint L'ouverture (liberation of Haiti).

...and so now, I tell my story that I recall from childhood mention of the Underground Railroad...

Growing up, I recall my grandmother and my father mentioned numerous times that the large brick home my grandparents owned was a link in the Underground Railroad. This is Middletown, Indiana. They said escaped slaves would hide in the basement until it was safe to move on to the next stop. On my last visit to the area (around 2006?), I asked my father, and he pointed out another larger home (or mansion, it might be called) that was also part of the Underground Railroad. The other home was a few doors over, and my father said it had trap doors that people could hide in.

Keep in mind that this is an all white town, somewhat redneck (or extremely redneck, depending upon your perspective). It is not far from Elwood, Indiana, which has been known as a KKK headquarters.

Though I don't know much of the history (Indiana is not big on Black History), and Indiana was never a slave state, I would guess that the KKK became active as slaves migrated northward. My guess is that there were people who wanted to help them find a new life, but also knew that there was too much local prejudice, and so it would be best for the escaped or released slaves to keep heading northward to Chicago.

And so the Underground Railroad was a necessary component even in a "free" state, because even if it was a free state, there was lots of prejudice and KKK activity.

For awhile, my aunt was elected mayor of this small town. There was concurrently a move by the National Park Service to begin some sort of exploration towards exhibits related to the Underground Railroad. I talked to my mother, "You know, Middletown could get on the map if they established an Underground Railroad museum. They might get visitors from Indianapolis." Of course, many of the visitors would be black, and my mother just laughed at the notion. The last thing that Middletown would want would be a lot of black tourists nosing around town, because on the surface, Middletown is still an all-white town, and those would help the blacks get ahead are a silent minority.

RVCA

2009-03-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

Passed by this store on Haight several times on the bus, wondering what the heck it is... They've cut the corner off a building and made this huge display window (in relative terms) that has nothing in it (that I could see from the bus) except a forest-like setting?

So I was curious what the store was... apparently, boys clothing ??

...but they're carefully targeting their market (this is their flagship store), with an art gallery in the back and kicking off with free art lessons? (this through a yelp post, apparently the art lessons have ended)

So, maybe someone else has realized (a la Academy of Art University) that there's a ton of money to be made from relatively wealthy kids who want to be "artists" and whose parents can afford to send them to SF for that dream.

Makes me want to visit the store just out of curiosity -- hey FREE ART MAGAZINES upfront... RVCA website

Surprise! SF has a homeless problem?

2009-03-01T01:21:00.000-08:00

Apparently, some people have come from Los Angeles to educate people on the sidewalk that San Francisco has a homeless problem. Really? Yes, please give us money so we can tell you there's a homeless problem ?! Story in SFGATE

New kid ?

2009-02-24T11:28:00.000-08:00

New boss in town? Somebody owe somebody money? New kid have to prove he's part of the gang? Five people shot in the Tenderloin, one dead SFGATE

And let's think about how someone could escape across a very long bridge with police in pursuit... well, I suppose if they blocked off the bridge, there would be lots of hostages and some idiots with guns. But then, there's the issue of "losing" the car by the (ahem) Oakland police... Homeland Security? You can't have lots of drug cash floating around without mayhem and corruption. How many replays of the Tenderloin shooting/escape to Oakland/Richmond have we seen?

Blackhawk in Tenderloin

2009-02-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

Though I'm not fond of "BeyondChron" for it's sometimes ultra-left politics, and claiming to operate a forum, though it refuses to acknowledge diverse opinions (it's essentially a Fox News on the other side of the fence), I give them credit for bringing up a bit of history I didn't know about the entire time I lived in the neighborhood. ...although I did know that the area was "uptown" once, and what are now "adult theaters" were then popular theaters. Source notes follow...
==============
222 Club, 222 Hyde St (at Turk St) In the 50s and 60s this used to be a famous jazz club called the Blackhawk. Today it is a cutting edge underground venue with DJs and live music. The Blackhawk was actually at 200 Hyde St, which is now a parking lot. (WikiTravel)
===============
From the start, the Blackhawk presented all the jazz stars, local and national, and until the Jazz Workshop opened in 1956 (with former Blackhawk regular, pianist Jeannie Hoffman). The small, ugly, 'Hawk was the Bay Area's principal modern jazz club outside the Filmore District.

Dave Brubeck, Cal Tjader, Vince Guaraldi, Vernon Alley, Art Tatum, Johnny Hodges (with John Coltrane), Anita O'Day, Oscar Peterson, the MJQ, Chico Hamilton, Red Norvo with Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Barker, Miles Davis, Shelly Manne, Thelonious Monk, all played (and many recorded) there. (this from a Logitech promotional site)
===================
The New York Times recently described how American Beauty was the quintessential Grateful Dead album. That album was recorded across the street from the Blackhawk at the Hyde Street Studios.

So was every Creedence Clearwater Revival album after Green River, and Santana’s legendary Abraxis. Keith Richards recorded there, along with stars too numerous to name. BeyondChron
================
Well, above paragraphs have named a lot of them, but thanks to BeyondChron for pointing out this landmark -- which is actually now a parking lot, in spite of 222 claims to be the reincarnation)

Indiana police implicated, readers blame Obama

2009-02-24T00:24:00.000-08:00

In a perfect example of twisted conservative logic, a large number of policemen were implicated by their part-time jobs working for a company where stolen goods were commonly sold. Yet, the reader responses in a very convoluted twist of logic, turn this around and say this is an example of Obama's administration?!

read: Police raid major metal recycling firm

Sad retail implosion

2009-02-18T01:07:00.000-08:00

Sad to see the Metreon doing so poorly. The place had such high hopes that slowly dissipated. Now in the hands of Westfield, I don't foresee anything mind-blowing, but let's see what they can pull out of the hat in what seems a prime downtown location. SF GATE Article

Mean Streets

2009-02-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

This guy was clean for 2 years, and then wiped out by his neighborhood gangstas.

The killer ? "He's our basic stupid guy gets out of prison, wants to be a thug," Johnson said. S.F. burglary victim killed for going to police

Chinese New Year Parade Treasure Hunt

2009-02-08T10:50:00.000-08:00

The Chinese New Year Parade is fun, but it can seem really long and occasionally tedious, and you always end up moving around to get a better view or just because you're tired of standing in one place.

Enter CNYP Treasure Hunt... Fun to run around through the crowd following clues looking for various points in the city, winding around through the parade route. More of a challenge with a larger "team." (bathroom breaks? hungry? tired now of wandering?)

At every spot there were a few other clipboard-wielding teams searching for the clue, and if the thing became too popular, that could reduce the fun and intrigue. But last night, good fun team (if a bit scattered due to size?) and a nice excuse to roam from the Ferry Building to Chinatown and North Beach.

Oh, and and looks like we got 10 of the 17 "treasures," though I haven't looked yet to see if our answers are correct.

Hipster Meltdown

2009-02-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

uh oh, the notion that American Apparel is opening a store in the Mission is causing a hipster meltdown, as chronicled on Scott Beale's blog...

photo of hipsters posting signs on the storefront "no more hipster scum" ?

Scott Beale's twitter survey "what is a hipster" (crap, I refuse to follow any links from twitter to see what they're pointing at as their definition)

A great hipster commercial, and another video "hipster olympics" which apparently is a re-make of a Monty Python skit. Scott Beale Blog

Success?

2009-02-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

What happens when you take 30% of the buildings in a city core off the market, and house homeless people, drug addicts, and people who can't really afford to live in the city there?

Here's the quote from the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation's newsletter:

Thirty years later, we can declare victory: 30% or more of the Tenderloin is owned or controlled by nonprofit and public entities, and the threat that the neighborhood will transform into an exclusively middle class enclave is much diminished. Quality of life, not gentrification, is today’s primary issue.

I repeat the claim I've shouted before... wouldn't it be more cost effective to house these people somewhere besides the most expensive real estate in the country?

Rowing on the Bay

2009-02-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

Finally passed all the hurdles to allow me to take the gorgeous rowboats outside the Aquatic Park cove ! It was an incredibly gorgeous day for February. A woman was lying on the pier in her bikini, and I took my shirt off to get a little sun on my row back. This time of year, it could just as easily been pouring cold windy rain.

Don't feed the pigeons ?!

2009-01-31T23:28:00.000-08:00

Seems I wrote to Mr. Nevius, or was it someone else, about this ?

Services too focused on the Tenderloin

US workers get the shaft?

2008-12-20T00:29:00.001-08:00

Interesting... So workers in other countries get healthcare through the government. Well, workers in US plants owned by foreign auto companies probably get healthcare too... we hope??
-----------------
Condition of Bush's bail-out plan for automakers:
The United Auto Workers union will be asked to rework contracts to make wages and work rules comparable with those at nonunion plants in the U.S. owned by foreign automakers by Dec. 31, 2009.
White House rescue plan for US auto industry SFGATE

Stealing from a crackhead?

2008-12-18T20:53:00.000-08:00

Found a dime on the sidewalk where the crackhead usually sits to panhandle. Did he drop it out of his cup? Who knows. Meanwhile, a very happy looking crackhead was bouncing up the street -- but he was still panhandling, throwing his arms around passersby, singing songs to them, and everybody in the world was his best friend. I'd say he got his rock, and I picked up the extra dime.

Suicide online

2008-11-21T12:10:00.000-08:00

"Crane said she knows of at least one other case in which a South Florida man shot himself in the head in front of an online audience, although she didn't know how much viewers saw. In Britain last year, a man hanged himself while chatting online."
Florida teen commits suicide in front of webcam SFGATE

Whoa. A new fad? Brutal. Makes jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge seem like a stroll in the park.

Hilary as Secretary of State

2008-11-21T11:55:00.000-08:00

Would this be a tribute, or payback for that commercial ? Barack: I need my sleep. Hilary, you take those pesky 3 a.m. phone calls!

Bloated Ballot

2008-11-21T11:51:00.000-08:00

Court: Sex-offender law unfairly restrictive

Wouldn't it be nice if they quit piling the ballot with initiatives that don't hold legal water?

Welcome to the Moon

2008-11-15T11:28:00.000-08:00

"But while the celebrations conjured up images akin to that of the U.S. flag unfurled on the moon by Apollo astronauts, India's flag is most likely scattered over a wide swath of the moon's Shackleton crater after the probe slammed into the surface at more than 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) per hour."

India celebrates planting its flag on moon SFGATE

Ah, new wealth -- always wanting to crash the party.

Government Bailout

2008-11-12T10:47:00.000-08:00

Just give us $700 billion. Oh wait, we decided to do something else with it. Well, it sounds a little better than "Plan A," but still looks like a monkey trying to catch a fish flopping around on dry land. A monkey with $700 billion in its pocket?
Paulson: Government won't buy troubled bank assets

Blue / Red

2008-11-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

At 05:28 AM 11/8/2008, you wrote:
some revealing cartographic versions of the election's red-blue distribution.

Hey, study that enough, and you might be able to redraw some district boundaries in a way that favors one party or the other !

Some time ago I realized it boiled down to a large difference in the problems encountered by rural or small-town people vs. the people who live in large cities. Different problems encountered every day, different ways of dealing with those problems, and different ways of thinking about the world, based on these encounters.

Gun control -- probably just as many idiots with guns in the country as in the city, but when they fire them off in the country, they're most likely to only injure themselves, their friends, or their family members, whereas in the city, they're going to injure strangers.

Abortion -- rural areas are the baby factories and breadbaskets. In the city, it's ENOUGH PEOPLE ALREADY ! ...and of course, we want to fund abortions for people who can't afford them, because those people will have more problems raising their kids if they can't get abortions. But if you own a farm, you can have 6 wives and 40 kids, and it won't bother your neighbors (or they can shoot at them when they cross the property line!) You can bury the miscarriages in the back yard, but people in the city don't want to see them in the apartment garbage can !

Property rights -- when the next neighbor is 1/2 mile away, who cares? When only wealthy landlords can afford to own rental buildings, of course everybody wants some standards for those buildings and some rights for the tenants, and control over whether someone builds a dynamite factory in the building next door.

Endangered species -- no one in an office cubicle has to worry about their cubicle encroaching on endangered species habitat; those species were driven out years ago ! On the farm, it's, "oh crap, now I'm not going to be able to plow that strip of land, which is going to lose $XX a season."

So the challenge is trying to regionalize the laws -- the current big legal dichotomy is federal / state, but it seems like the dichotomy should instead be federal / county. "States" seem much more artificial than rural / urban boundaries. Maybe there should be a movement towards rural / suburban / urban associations that better define the issues in each area, and work out compromises that are more agreeable, rather than a blanket of laws that don't fit either situation very well.

Burt's Bees eviscerated

2008-11-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

Burt's Bees was bought by a giant consumer products corporation, and the soul has now officially been eviscerated and turned into a marketing facade:

PRODUCT COMMENTS:

I am very annoyed by the course you have taken regarding Burt's Bees Herbal Deodorant, now "Deodorant??!!"

First you bought the company -- then you cut the size of the container in half. Now, I see that the word "herbal" has been dropped from the label. Whoa -- smells completely different, and burns the skin a little more. WTF???!!!!

I am sensitive to various products, and it has taken me a long time to settle on a product I like. That's why I stuck with your herbal deodorant when you doubled the price. Now, you've completely changed the ingredients?! ...and you've done so in an extremely deceptive way -- by making the label very similar, so I thought I was buying the same product, not getting screwed by your crew of ruthless profiteers.

I am going to return this container to the store and demand a refund. Do you still make the same product as before, or have you discontinued it ? I am willing to forgive if you can give me the old product back, otherwise, you are scum in my book.

Bold Mandate?

2008-11-06T11:58:00.000-08:00

Heck, all he has to do is restore government agencies to their proper functioning ! ...the EPA, the FDA, FEMA Get rid of the clowns who were sent to destroy all these agencies, and get them functioning properly.

Healthcare is vastly more complicated, but it seems we ought to be able to find some minimal standards for public health, and do it with less money than our current inefficient crisis management.

Texas

2008-11-06T01:33:00.000-08:00

Thank heavens we will no longer have a president with an agenda of cutting California down to size. Texas can do better than what we finally dislodged.

Tech Support in India

2008-10-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

Really, I have nothing against the guy in India who's trying to help me.

It's...

The phone tree which is now voice recognition, but not really, so you have to repeat yourself, or make sure you say one of the words in their vocabulary, because if you don't, you'll be talking to a machine for awhile before it gives up and transfers you.

Oh sure, maybe 99% of calls are in the categories stated, and SERVICE OUTAGE is so rare that SYSTEM STATUS is not something people ever call about. But if you can't look it up on the internet because your service is out, wouldn't you... Call?? You can't say they don't have a sense of humor, asking you if you have a dial tone when you just told them you're calling from the phone number on the account.

I had a bit of an epiphany with this phone call. "How can I help you today?" is not really a query of "how they can help you," it is merely a computer prompt, where they're listening intently for ONE WORD that matches one of the words on their computer screen. I'm not sure why that function hasn't been replaced by a machine.

But I realized, as the guy goes through his layers of screens searching for how he can help you that I didn't really have to rephrase my inquiry 50 different ways, in case there was some nuance he didn't quite understand. All I had to do was repeat my initial inquiry 4 times, each time becoming more machine-like in my voice, until "Ray" finally found the screen that answered the question. No service outages anywhere in California. Which I find truly amazing, but thanks Ray, I'll check my crappy extension cable and call you back.

"Ray? Is that the name you were born with?"

"Of course."

I didn't say it, but if parents are naming their children "Ray" in India, I feel like there's something a bit sad about that. After all, Ray has probably attended some diction classes, and is doing an incredible job of hiding his Indian accent. I myself, upon leaving Indiana (oddly named after his country) was teased mercilessly about my accent, and worked on getting rid of it. But just as anyone who knows accents immediately knows I'm from the Midwest, pretty much anyone in the United States would detect that Ray is probably in the number one country for outsourcing.

And since we're all aware of that, and since we're both former colonies of England, why not a real name? Americans could do with a little more familiarity with their sister colonies.

Kid gone wrong

2008-10-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

Bad parents, bad society, bad kids, bad genes? Maybe all of the above? In other cultures, these children might be working steady jobs, and we would look down our noses at their child labor but otherwise maybe productive lifestyles? Or maybe in those cultures, these children would be in prison and having their organs removed for high-paying transplant patients?

SF Gate - abandoned children in SF as in Nebraska

Water testing eliminated??

2008-10-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

At 11:59 AM 10/21/2008, Suzie D wrote:
Perhaps on saturday we could all sign a petition to reinstate the water quality testing???

My local chapter of Surfrider alerted me to this. Pleas email the
governator.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has cut all funding (approximately $1 million per year) for beach water quality monitoring throughout the state. This sudden and unexpected action has gutted the country’s most extensive and progressive beach water quality monitoring and public health notification program. As a result, San Diego County (who received the biggest share of the state funds) has already suspended their monitoring program and other coastal counties may soon follow suit.

Without regular beach monitoring, surfers, swimmers and other beach-goers will be completely in the dark about water quality at their beach. Essentially, a “swim or surf at your own risk” sign just went up all along the California coast.
--------------------------
From: James Lamb
Subject: Re: [dolphinclubsf] beach/water quality testing ELIMINATED

At the national level, believing "sympathy for the impoverished" falls into the rubric of religion, the government still felt there should be a transitory period, where instead of just cutting programs, they should dole out some cash to beef up religious programs before jettisoning the entire notion of social justice to the church.

It appears, however, that on the state level, there will be no transitory period? No period where state funds go to the religious who are of the conviction that clean water is a social necessity? Well, o.k., perhaps some lobbying, but in this era of government bankruptcy, let me know how much extra each member should contribute towards the testing of local waters -- would this be an existing club member taking over the task? I will consider volunteering two days a week in lieu of cash contributions; I have some laboratory backgound, and have actually tested water samples, though in a different setting, I'm willing to learn. Of course, if we post the data, I feel there should be advertising on the web site with the information, to help defray costs.

Proposition F flyer

2008-10-21T00:53:00.000-07:00

An Ah-Ha! moment on Proposition F came about only by reading every word of a political flyer received in the mail.

Prop. F would reduce San Francisco elections to EVEN years, rather than having elections for purely local issues on odd years. The arguments for and against in the voter's guide say, well, voters need some elections to focus on local issues without being sidetracked by the national issues. Lousy argument, even if it's true that significantly fewer voters come out for local elections.

But a phrase in the flyer, funded by the SF Association of Realtors says "It would stifle the initiative process and prevent issues from being acted on in a timely manner." Buried in that sentence I think is the big one... initiatives get placed on the ballot on the basis of the number of signatures required -- and the number of signatures required is based on the number of people who voted in a prior election. This means, that if the only elections are the ones combined with national ones, there will always be more voters, and it will be more difficult to place initiatives on the ballot because more signatures will be required.

True, but I don't think that really hampers our current form of democracy. Why? Because even with the reduced number of signatures, the only people who get stuff on the ballot are people with money to pay for signature gathering and a handful of activists with lots of connections. I think those people are still going to do what it takes to get things on the ballot (but it will cost more money for people like the Association of Realtors, who would always pay for signatures ?? Still, I can't see why it concerns them so much. There must be another reason.

Panhandler Franklin & Lombard

2008-10-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

So I'm on my motorcycle, stoplight at the corner of Franklin and Lombard. The pandhandler is a polite guy -- just stands at the side of the road with his sign, "hungry, please help" or something of that nature. He's wearing what look like second-hand clothes, but they're clean, so he seems down-and-out, but not homeless.

After a few seconds, the guy in front of me rolls down his window and hands him a bill. Then the lady in a van next lane over, opens her window and hands him a sandwich bag half full of coins. As he walks back to the curb with a slight limp, yes, polite, doesn't hang out in the lanes, I say, "Wow -- are those all coins?"

He glances at me with a friendly expression, "ah, just pennies... a few silver though..."

I reply, "well, coupla bucks maybe."

"Ya."

It all just seems like nice polite conversation with a stranger. No tugging at the heartstrings, sad-sack story, whatever, just a civil exchange.

Paranoid Wimp ?

2008-10-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

So I get off the train. I see the next Fillmore bus is FORTY-FIVE minutes. Crap. I'm studying the map to see night owl options, and decide to head for Market when I hear this "Hey Buddy!" There's a guy striding towards me, but he's far enough away that I can turn around and keep walking, as I notice the entire block has suddenly become deserted except for me and this fairly young (20's?), physically fit-looking guy who's more rapidly striding towards me, and I'm carrying a heavy backpack with some books and a computer, "Hey Buddy!" as he gets closer crap, I don't really want to be close to him, so I veer into the street, get honked at by a slow-moving car, but I'd rather be in their headlights than on the dark sidewalk with my new found "friend."

I keep going and he keeps following me, so I head towards the Safeway, which I'm pretty sure is open, and as I veer that direction, he says, "Don't go there." What, like I'm going to listen to somebody who is stalking me on the street?!

I get in the entry way, where it's light, and I see a security guard just inside, so I stop, and this guy is still approaching me, so I say, "What's the problem?" He's getting closer and I notice what seems like he's clinching his fist, crap, I'm not going to stand any closer to a guy clinching his fists, so I step inside the door, and say to the Security Guard, this guy's following me (sorta feeling like a timid wimp). Anyway, the Security Guard confronts him, and he's still standing there, looking sorta innocent, but also still clenching his fist, and I say, look, he's clinching his fist... so the guy opens his hand and he's got two quarters in it. So did he want a quarter, or my backpack? Hell, I dunno, but he walks into the store with the security guard and I'm glad to be rid of him, and thankful to get out on Market where there are more lights and people.

Maybe the security guard can give him advice on how to appear more kindly rather than intimidating when panhandling. ...and, does anyone really use the phrase "Hey Buddy..." in a genuinely congenial sense?

My old 'hood.

2008-10-04T01:40:00.000-07:00

Do I miss the friendly folks in my old neighborhood ??

Fake-crack deal led to Tenderloin slaying, police say

We are no longer the beacon

2008-09-26T12:11:00.001-07:00

What? The FDA hasn't jumped right on this, letting the EU take the lead?

But wait, maybe this is yet another example of the "liberal press" trying to make our administration look bad ?

New York Times:
European Union regulators on Thursday ordered rigorous testing of imports containing at least 15 percent milk powder after concluding that food containing tainted milk powder from China may well be circulating in Europe and putting children at risk.

Theaters and Gas Stations

2008-09-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

Whoa, this is too weird. First theaters, and now gas stations both make more money at candy sales than their actual "product?" And the big guys are putting on the squeeze.

click to read full story:
At many stations, it's the convenience store that makes money. Gas is seen as a loss leader, something a station sells to attract people who might buy higher-profit-margin items like coffee and sandwiches.

Bike to Mill Valley

2008-09-25T00:09:00.000-07:00

Rode my bicycle to Mill Valley today, and took the ferry from Sausalito home. Here's a nice camera phone pic of Mount Tamalpais, framed by the Highway 101 bridge over Richardson Bay.

Chemical / Pharmaceutical...

2008-09-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

Isn't it ironic that on one hand, the world is awash in chemicals incidentally released into the environment -- pesticides, flame retardents from your bed sheets, estrogens from birth control pills affecting marine life... and on the other hand, people are dying a more rapid death from lack of life-saving pharmaceuticals?
=============================

Although the work of MSF and other groups that started in Seattle has helped to dramatically decrease the prices of AIDS and other essential medicines, the global system of drug research and development remains fundamentally flawed. Between 1975 and 2004, 1,556 new chemical entities were marketed globally. Only 20 of these – a mere 1.3 per cent – were for tropical diseases and tuberculosis, which account for 12 percent of the total disease burden. This 1 percent ratio has been steady over the last three decades.
Doctors Without Borders

Money bags

2008-09-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

In some circles, it's not considered polite to ask what you do "for a living." Wouldn't want to insult anyone, eh?

S.F. man with tales of woe is convicted of bilking parents

AT&T shell for scam artists?

2008-09-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

How long does it take to get your bill from AT&T corrected? Well, I guess I was lucky, it only took two months. sound clip

Others have not been so lucky.

I think Steven Colbert sums up the company fairly well in this clip. By the way, I couldn't find that clip at Comedy Central -- not sure where the copy came from.

But the truth behind AT&T may be even more convoluted than Colbert reports. I posit that AT&T is now a virtual corporation, a loose confederation of Dilbert cubicles, independent contractors, and consultants, each division of which has its own profit motives and interior hierarchies, none of which is entirely understood by anyone inside or outside of "the company" including its headquarters, stock holders, the government, and last of all anyone who is a customer.

In fact, some of these branches of "the company" could be entirely criminal enterprises, using the monniker "AT&T" as a front for their various fraudulent activities. Would anyone even know? Further evidence:

AT&T agrees to repay fees charged to people who say they weren't even customers

AT&T fined more than $300,000 for overcharging on prison calls

Ohio Phone Users Are Warned about AT&T Over-Billing Error

AT&T Busted For Fine Print Trickery

Government & Regulation

2008-09-17T00:39:00.001-07:00

There are those who think the free market can take care of everything. Poison milk? Word will get out and people will stop buying it. Yes, but not before quite a few babies die or are injured.

For those who think big government is bad, and all this regulation is killing industry, you only have to look to China to see what things were like before the FDA. Look to China to see what covering up scandal and silencing critics does to the national psyche. Oh sure, their economy is booming, and U.S. capitalists complain that they can't compete because of regulation in the U.S., having to pay minimum wage, and all sorts of nuisance factors that have created our standard of living. But really -- does the U.S. want to revert to what it was like before the FDA ?

link to article on poison milk

Inconvenient Murder

2008-09-12T01:47:00.001-07:00

Oh by the way, could you send someone to get this dead body outta here? It's starting to smell.
==============
A tip today led San Francisco police to a body, wrapped in plastic and dumped into a trash can in the basement of a Tenderloin building.

Authorities are investigating the death as a homicide, said police spokesman Sgt. Neville Gittens. He did not release any information about the victim's identity.

Gittens said someone called authorities a little before noon to "let police know" about the body. The person is not a suspect, he said. (SF Chronicle)

Dear Apple Computer

2008-09-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Apple Computer...

OK, I made my first Apple purchase, as you might guess, an iPod. Yes, I'm running Windows/Intel desktop. So first iTunes screwed up my music folders. I spent days sorting it all out within your software, but then I couldn't back it up without losing all the extras your software added (like playlists, and play count).

Then came the problems synchronizing with the desktop. I thought maybe your new version of iTunes might fix that, but what did it do? It lost half of my album art, and didn't fix the sync problem.

I'm sure you want to blame all this on Microsoft, but what kind of bastards did you hire to write this software? Maybe they were Microsoft minions hellbent on destroying your most popular product. Whoever wrote the software, they've convinced me that both Apple and Microsoft are now both greedy inhuman corporations whose goal is to enslave and drain the pocketbooks of their users. Sorry, I prefer companies whose goal is to create quality products that serve the customer.

The iPod is nice, but the software sucks, and the entire experience of my first Apple product has convinced me not to buy any more.

Berkeley goes bust

2008-09-07T22:15:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, UC Berkeley was one of the hotbeds of the counter-cultural revolution. While the town itself retains some of that reputation, the university itself seems to embrace the Reagan revolution -- and is hell-bent on destroying any remaining mother nature that stands in the way. For a new athletic center:
"Among the trees felled was a 200-year-old coast live oak, dubbed by protesters as "Grandma," which was apparently the oldest oak on the main campus, according to local historians."
SFGATE link

SF to Rodeo Beach on Bike

2008-09-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

Rode bike to Rodeo Beach (Fort Cronkhite). Click on images for larger views. Starting and ending point are at the lower right of the map, and elevation graph tracks accordingly.I joined tracks that were disconnected by going through a tunnel. I think the red zone on the outbound, the signal was blocked by a hill coming out of the tunnel, which didn't happen on the return. Of course, it could just be that I made an error joining tracks, but this looks about right. Outbound, uphill in the tunnel is a bit freaky, since you can't keep up with cars, and before the end, you have cars coming at you in close quarters (but there is a bike lane).

Smithsonian and What's Wrong?

2008-08-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

This is a very vivid and concrete example of what's wrong in our country. Those who are highly paid, presumably for having great expertise, really have no expertise other than how to line their own pockets.

A co-worker recently told me she was going to visit Washington, D.C. I said I really like it there, especially all the free museums of the Smithsonian. "Oh, they charge admission." What? Well, that's the way things have been going -- but I decided to look it up (and surprise, just today, a new article about the institution)...

Article 1 (link): From 2006, there is a discussion of charging admission, because "the complex is crumbling because there is not enough money for critical repairs." However, in the founding charter of some portions of the Smithsonian, it is explicitly stated that the institution will be supported by taxpayer funds.

Article 2 (link) : Institution considering cutting exorbitant salaries of executives -- one who resigned was also using institution funds to repair his home swimming pool.

Now, presumably, these people are getting paid very large amounts of money because they have incredible management expertise, right? So the institution shouldn't have fallen into disrepair if that were the case. Instead, they vote themselves larger and larger salaries, abuse the funds, and ask the public for more money to repair facilities they have mismanaged. This is the kind of work you can only get if you have friends in high places.

And resignation is too easy for these people -- this is a crime against the taxpayers, and against the institution they were entrusted to maintain. Certainly worthy of prison time.

Olympic Closing Ceremonies

2008-08-29T01:24:00.001-07:00

Awright, after fiddling with the Microsoft wanks to see NBC's closing ceremonies via website... OK, yes, she's more attractive than Robert Plant (at least, to this half of the species), and I can see why Mr. Page consented. But it's... Well, after a Zep song was used to sell Cadillacs, what can you really expect anymore?

Dancing

2008-08-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

Tried to go out dancing again last night... place I thought might be ok... ugh. Music was awful. This is after walking about a mile to get there, since all the MUNI buses were bunched up going the other direction.

Tenderloin still the same

2008-08-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

Concentration of services to the homeless also creates concentration of customers for drug dealers. (see article) One stop shopping; all you have to do is get in line, and everything you need will be taken care of (except restrooms -- see earlier post -- those handing out food should provide 24 hr restrooms as well).

Wanna be an actor?

2008-08-28T11:42:00.001-07:00

So you want to be an actor? Get in line, over there, behind the people who are paying big bucks to be in a film (well, big bucks to the average Joe; peanuts to heiresses). (see article)

Mayor's 2nd wife. Ah, the trials and tribulations of living in the public eye.

Castro tour bus

2008-08-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

Article in the Chronicle about tourists visiting the Castro. When I worked in the Castro, my co-worker pointed out the tourist buses driving by and said we should always wave to the tourists ! It became a funny ritual.
link to Chronicle article

Leaving Las Vegas

2008-08-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

As we were leaving Las Vegas, the people at the gate waiting for the San Francisco flight seemed shockingly normal. My brother, in another gate bound for the Midwest texted me; "plenty of silicone at the gate."

For the first time since I've moved here, San Francisco seemed oddly wholesome.

Three Strikes

2008-08-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

Three strikes on an evening I decided I should get out of the apartment more often.

Mojitos, a bar which usually has live dance bands was holding a special event; ticket holders only. Info on tiki bar that sounded huge was outdated (it's now been split in half). A "new" bar mentioned by a co-worker turned out to be somewhere I had been already.

Oh, en route to the new bar, there were four kids on the bus. Girls cute and sober, guys drunk. First time I've almost been the target of projectile vomiting and it was funny, maybe because a) it barely missed me and b) I was sympathizing with the girls.

War

2008-08-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

My niece just signed up for the National Guard "to get money for college."

Isn't it great that we live in the Land of Opportunity?

The Genius of AT&T

2008-07-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

Please wait while we find an agent to assist you...

Thank you for contacting AT&T Internet Services, my name is Aeon Willows. One moment while I review your information.

Aeon Willows: Hello there James Lamb !

James Lamb: Hello Aeon Willows. Last month I cancelled my service via phone. I asked them if I needed to do something separate for DSL / internet and they said no. Yet I get a bill for internet services. WHY?

Aeon Willows: I see.

Aeon Willows: AS I understand it, you are asking as to why your request for a service cancellation has not been approved and processed. Am I right?

James Lamb: No. I am asking you why I was told the cancellation was good for both phone and internet, and yet it wasn't.

Aeon Willows: I see.

James Lamb: I am asking you for a credit of the internet fees, and I am also asking you to cancel the service. I am asking you for some proof that this will be done and I will not receive another bill for service that was cancelled.

Aeon Willows: Mr. Lamb, you have reached the High Speed Internet Technical Support group. For assistance with your billing question we have help available at 1-877-722-3755 between 8am to 6pm Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 5pm on Saturday.

Aeon Willows: Will there be anything that I can assist you with today?

James Lamb: Yes, this is exactly the problem You call one place, they say no problem, taken care of. You try somewhere else, and they say, "oh, that's another department."

James Lamb: Yes, you can assist me by getting a job with a company that is capable of communicating within departments to achieve customer satisfaction.

James Lamb: You are wasting your valuable talent working for a company that only frustrates people who are paying for service.

Aeon Willows: Okay, I really do apologize for this hassle.

James Lamb: It's not your fault. Will you try to get a job with a company that doesn't do this to its customers?

Aeon Willows: I really do understand where you are coming from.
Aeon Willows: It must be really frustrating being charged for something that you have not availed.

James Lamb: So what are your objectives for improving your own life and those of your customers?

Aeon Willows: Mr. Lamb, I'm pretty sure, this is just a discrepancy between your request and the records.
Aeon Willows: I really do hope that you can call the billing department to clarify the case that we have.

James Lamb: Yes, but your company is notorious for this. Of course, I'm probably wrong here, because you are probably just an independent contractor who doesn't directly work for AT&T. That's the problem -- the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

Aeon Willows: I really do apologize for this, I know that this is really frustrating. And believe it or not, I would really like to do more at my end to help you with this.
Aeon Willows: However, only you can make that call to the billing department, so that the issue can be settled.

James Lamb: I have heard there are countries where bureaucracy is horrendous and people's daily lives are spent trying to track down the appropriate department... waiting in lines and waiting on hold and being sent to another department. Paying bribes, and still getting nothing accomplished. This is no way to run a company or a country.

Aeon Willows: Yes, I definitely agree.

James Lamb: You have no way to contact this department directly?

Aeon Willows: I can feel how frustrated you are about this.

James Lamb: Can you contact the department for me?

Aeon Willows: I'll be sending a form where you can express your opinions regarding AT&T ensuring that AT&T will hear it from you.
The agent is sending you to http://helpme.att.net/productfeedback.php.

James Lamb: Can I receive a copy of this discussion?

Bike Hut

2008-07-26T11:25:00.000-07:00

Years ago, someone recommended Victor at the Bike Hut on Pier 40 as a place to go for bike repairs and related used items. I liked going there, because the money you spend goes towards mentoring kids (it's a nonprofit), and Victor was an interesting fellow.

Unfortunately, Victor moved on, and another "activist" is running the joint. What an irritating fellow. I was just trying to have a conversation with the guy. The city built him a new building, and he complained about that (they took so long; I wish they had just given me the money; they had the crappy lowest bidder do it...) He complained about the guy running the pier where it's located. He complained about the people who VISIT him "They all want to know where the restroom is. OPEN YOUR EYES, I say, LOOK..." points in direction.

It wasn't just the complaining, it was also that if you tried to use any gap in his complaining to say something, he would immediate launch into some other diatribe, not giving you any chance to speak, inform, rebut, or discuss. What a miserable crank. It's easy to see why he's pissed off at the world, because he lacks the basic social skills to participate in a simple conversation. These are the kind of people who give Critical Mass a bad name. Is this someone appropriate for mentoring youth?

Festival of Sail

2008-07-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

The Festival of Sail seems quite a large, amorphous blob with tentacles all over the waterfront and Justin Herman Plaza... Tour a ship, get your picture taken in a pirate costume, or pay $5 to climb a plastic coconut tree?

Rode my bike from home to the Bay Bridge, then back around Embarcadero. Many booths in front of the ferry building; the ships are parked down south of the Bay Bridge, with many booths in front of them, and many more booths set up down by Aquatic Park. Of course, at least half the booths are selling trinkets; others are educational or representing aquatic organizations.

Bicycling to the Golden Gate Bridge

2008-07-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

The bicycle rental tourist maps point everyone to the Golden Gate Bridge by riding along the waterfront. Nice, until you get to the Warming Hut, and then, unless you're a cycling maniac, you probably end up walking up the huge hill instead of riding.

Might I suggest... riding through the Presidio enroute to the bridge, which is a more gradual incline, and then coming back down that giant hill behind the Warming Hut. Note: click images for larger view; also, my altitude scale is slightly off.

Though I must warn you, it's easy to get lost in the Presidio. Below is an old map of the route, from when the Presidio still belonged to the Army. I suggest viewing and printing out one of the park maps on this clickable link.

iTunes glitchies

2008-07-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

iTunes has this function "do you want to consolidate library?" which duplicates all of your sound files, wherever they might reside into one folder called iTunes music (with artist folders inside). Doing that was the mistake, though it seemed reasonable before I knew much about the program. The program does help clean up folders by creating artist-specific ones, but it also has some glitches via computer database that, for example, labels Disc1 of Bob Dylan's greatest hits as an "album" but Disc2 as a "compilation" which goes into a generic folder without artist title. It also sometimes splits an album because songs were recorded earlier on a different album, and doesn't recognize the new album.

But subsequent to "consolidating library", all changes made in iTunes are not reflected in original folders (i.e. you didn't have the album name, but found it and added it via iTunes). Using a standard back-up program doesn't work with the iTunes folder, because it seems the program adds something to each file with data on how many times you've played it or if you've "rated it." So you end up with multiple copies, unless you use the iTunes program to back it up, in which case you can only do it to disks, not hard drive.

So I've got pre-iTunes folders, which probably contain incomplete song info, and I've got post-iTunes folders, which contain many duplicates.

I'm sorting through, and copying anything out of iTunes back into the original folders that was added after iTunes so I can do automated back-ups to hard drive.

They'll steal everything

2008-07-01T02:11:00.000-07:00

Yep, they'll even steal your garbage in this town !

link Chronicle article on recyclables theft

Mail Delivery

2008-06-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Mail delivery around here is pathetic. It was o.k. for awhile, but then the regular guy retired or something... this is the guy I always saw sitting on someone's steps reading everyone's magazines. That was the "good" one. At least he got the addresses right. Now it's random luck of the draw. Last week, I got an unemployment check for someone who lives on Fillmore. Coupla times I've gone to the supervisor and handed him stuff, but after I had it a few days, and still didn't have time, I wrote WRONG ADDRESS and dropped it in the box.

Dancing around the world

2008-06-22T18:53:00.001-07:00

Ya, the first time I saw one of these, I thought it was great. But the second or third time made me realize, "Hey, if I had made a ton of money during the dot-com boom, I'd be dancing around the world too!" Where did I go wrong? All these bastards blew into town, jacked up the rent, and now they're travelling around the world. ...and I was still living in the Tenderloin. Boy it's a good thing I got out of the Tenderloin. But I'm still eternally cranky. ...would be even if I had gotten rich.

Link to dancing video

Genetically modified...

2008-06-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

Interesting the nuances of environmentalism in relation to genetically modified organisms.

Environmentalists would not mind if yeast or bacteria were modified in such a way that they could create better biofuels from cellulose or other sugar sources. However, they (maybe I should say "we" here) do mind when crops are engineered to be resistant to pesticides, or genes of one animal are put into another to enhance production, and then fed to us.

The difference here is that one project is entirely contained within an industrial facility, while in the other case, organisms are spread across the open environment and allowed to mingle with natural organisms. It's like the difference between having hydrochloric acid in a laboratory beaker and pouring it on a priceless art object. Some genies are best kept in the bottle !

Voting on Tuesday

2008-05-31T15:01:00.000-07:00

Here's how I plan to mark various issues; challenges welcome.

Props 98,99 NO on both. Prop. 98 goes too far. Prop. 99 doesn't seem to do much really (especially since I'm not a landowner, and don't have much sympathy).

Prop A NO ABSTAIN. ~~Don't know why, but I find myself agreeing with the opponents of this measure. Why should 2/3 of the residents be exempt from contributions to education? Let them re-write something better.~~ OK, after thinking about it; all schools are paid for by property tax, and CA is a laggard in this regard. So while the opponents argument is interesting, it doesn't stand up. However, I'm not a property owner, so I shall abstain.

Prop B YES Seems they've done their homework and come up with a solution... I think it's reasonable that the taxpayers vote on this

Props C,D,E ABSTAIN Seems a bunch of political haggling that I don't give a rats ass about, and feel I shouldn't be bothered. I can see both sides.

Prop F NO Encourages concentration of poverty to continue. 50% requirement seems arbitrary and doesn't seem to take developer's economic incentives into account.

Prop G YES In some respects, I'm bowing to the powers that be, but I trust that they've made deals that include a fair amount of public interest.

Prop H YES This vote-buying is ridiculous; what is this, Louisiana ?!

Run 'em outta town ?

2008-05-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

The right to bear arms is one thing, but Mr. Huckabee's "joke" is quite another. Seems Mr. Huckabee is the one who "doesn't really get it."
article in Chronicle

Goldman's Burger King

2008-04-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I was an unsophisticated kid who joined the military to see the world. I ate at places like Burger King. When I was stationed in Northern California, I discovered an amazing Burger King in the Presidio of San Francisco. Back then, the Presidio was a military base. While visiting San Francisco, I even stayed in the Presidio's visitors quarters once, and went to a concert at the Cow Palace. As active duty military, you could stay in military lodging at other bases.

The Burger King in the Presidio was amazing because it had a wall of glass windows and was on a hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay, with a stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Most restaurants with that kind of view charge top dollar for a meal. But the Burger King in the Presidio served those on lower budgets, including a large population of military who were serving their country. There are very few places in the world where a guy on an enlisted budget could eat with a view like that.

Fast forward to the future. The Presidio is now becoming a national park, presumedly open to the general population. What's become of that Burger King, where a simple guy serving his country could get an inexpensive meal with a stunning view? It is now the office of Richard N. Goldman, and the Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund, some of the wealthiest people in the city. As if to say, the "Burger King crowd isn't welcome here," a new high-end restaurant has sprung up nearby -- higher prices without even the benefit of a view (since the Goldmans got the view).

This is not to say that the Goldmans aren't doing wonderful things with their money, things in the public interest. But this is to say that someone who could afford to have their office anywhere, has taken something away FOR THEIR PRIVATE USE, something formerly enjoyed by those who serve their country in the armed forces.

You could blame it on the Reagan Administration for setting up the policy that the Presidio had to generate enough money to pay for its own upkeep. You could argue that Lucas is doing the same thing, when Letterman Hospital (a friend of mine spent quite a bit of time there before he died) was converted to an animation studio. But there are other military hospitals. And the Goldmans AREN'T conservatives, they're just wealthy recipients of Reagan's policies -- which makes it all the more annoying that a supposedly civic-minded group has taken the very best for themselves.

You could even argue that the Goldmans deserve that perch, after all they did to help make Crissy Field a beautiful park that thousands of people enjoy. But my point is that they have the money and probably other properties that have equal views of San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. And if they are truly the civic-minded people that their money seems to buy, you'd think they could give up that spot for the people it formerly served; the people on low budgets who serve their country; possibly with their lives. God forbid we should let any uncultured militaristic conservatives into the Presidio, why, we just managed to get rid of them !

Parking spaces shaken, not stirred

2008-04-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

Like a James Bond movie, a white van pulled up. Four men wearing immaculate white jackets bolted out, running up the street, while another man in a white jacket revved the engine of a new Mercedes, ready to peel out. There were no machine guns. This was a professional version of a game many San Franciscans play when having visitors.

When you reach a certain level of affluence in the city, you decide that paying for parking is worth it. No longer will you spend half an hour every evening jockeying for a parking space on the street.

But if you have visitors, they have to go through the parking ritual. Unless -- you pull your car out of its safely assigned space, and use it to hold a public space near your house for your friends' car.

Enter the professionals. I had seen them in Pacific Heights before, but didn't realize they were a highly coordinated, crack team of athletes. Soiree Valet -- they have a van full of drivers. If you're having a party and don't want to piss off your neighbors, you have them park your visitors' cars a block or two away. They shuffle the fleet of cars to keep spaces available for incoming visitors. Or maybe a visitor finds a parking space, and calls the van to pick them up. At any rate, if you live in Pacific Heights, you don't worry about visitors having parking spaces; you hire professionals.

Homeless insanity

2008-04-24T21:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I walked by a woman who seemed to be homeless, but had five separate carts of belongings, including two suitcases and three 2-wheel grocery carts. She would pull two carts up the sidewalk, come back and get two more, and then come back and get the last one.

I passed her, and went into the public library. About 1/2 hour later, I came back out, and there was the woman, still moving her carts up the sidewalk. She had gained about 100 yards in 1/2 hour. Where she was going, who knows.

Bowling in Altoona

2008-04-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

well isn't this an odd coincidence... Obama's bowling fiasco happened in Altoona, PA, which oddly enough, is where my ex-father-in-law was from and where his ashes are buried (thanks to my credit card).

On a memorable trip, I actually visited Altoona. My ex-father-in-law's father showed me the little gun he always carries with him, "Probably not so good for killing somebody, but you could bust a kneecap with it if you needed to." I was shown various knives and guns, the old man's pride, and later, the obligatory side-trip to "Horseshoe Curve" ...well, here's Horseshoe Curve in wikipedia -- so important to national security that it was guarded by Union Troops, and later there was an attempted sabotage by Nazis ?!

Five miles west of Altoona. Huh. Wonder if Obama made the obligatory pilgramage to Horseshoe Curve? Wonder if anyone showed him their gun collection? After his remarks at an SF fundraiser, surely he must have had his ear bent by someone about their gun collection!

Safeway - ConAgra Foods

2008-04-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

Interesting flyer in the mail from Safeway (fine print says ConAgra).

"Your recipe for a balanced life," with ads for PAM cooking spray oil, egg beaters (artificial eggs), and Hunt's tomatoes. Are these all ConAgra brands? I dunno, what I was trying to find was what's in PAM cooking oil. Is it really healthy? Well, the amusing thing is that the "serving size" - "one spray" is so small, that it doesn't have to list itself as containing fat ?! Who uses just one spray?

There are now numerous varieties of PAM -- olive oil, and some other types of oil, but the original PAM ingredients isn't listed in an obvious place on their site. BUT THEY NEVER ACTUALLY CLAIM IT'S HEALTHY !

Inside: "Balanced Living Starts Here -- Eat Well. Get Active. Live Right." Huh. Doesn't say "eat healthy" it says "eat well." Because who wants that diet crap? Let's have... (picture) "Begin your day with balance and our Fresh Vegetable Omelet" made with PAM cooking oil, egg beaters, and Hunts canned tomatoes.

Not healthy living, "Balanced Living." Brought to you by ConAgra processed and chemically manipulated wonder-foods! Hey, I'm sure the people there believe they're performing a great service to humanity; why, the convenience of spray-can oil lets you use less; less fat in your food, right? Egg beaters; not evil eggs. Never mind that you're generating a lot of packaging trash with that PAM can, and you could just put oil in your own spritz bottle, and do you need eggs every day so badly you'll eat the fake ones instead of the real ones less often? It's the Safeway lifestyle. How do you market "healthy" and still manage to maintain the profit margin of chemically processed products?

Blind Poop

2008-04-12T09:26:00.001-07:00

While walking home after dark one evening, I spotted a figure a block ahead on the sidewalk. The person seemed to be loitering about, which unnerved me a bit, and I debated moving to the other side of the street, but forged on.

Turns out it was a woman walking her dog, and the loitering was because the dog was in the midst of decorating the sidewalk. As I got closer, I realized the woman was blind, and this was a guide dog. The woman could tell by the dog's actions that it was squatting for a dump. I started thinking, hmmm... wonder how or if she's going to clean up after this dog ??

Since the dog was in a harness, the woman could tell exactly where the back end was. I watched as she carefully put a plastic bag over her hand, reached down, and felt along the sidewalk until she located the steaming pile. Wow. I was impressed, and all the more disgusted that sighted individuals can't perform that simple act.

Holocaust Didn't Happen ?

2008-04-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

One can't really accuse animal rights activists of being logical. They recently had an incredible opportunity to engage the public in an extended discourse, but instead chose to threaten institutions, as if holding their fingers in their ears and yelling "the holocaust doesn't exist," would make it go away.

The venue was an "art" exhibit to be shown on Chestnut Street, where the "artist" video taped loops of animals being killed with a sledgehammer. These were mostly animals that are slaughtered by the thousands on a daily basis for food. An animal rights activist might describe this as mass murder, a holocaust, if you will, and at the extremes, some of them are willing to risk jail for their efforts to put an end to this killing.

More mainstream animal rights activists devote large sums of money to distribute gross pictures of animals being slaughtered. Some of the more obnoxious activists hang out in front of retail stores, where they're unwanted, and harass customers about the retailer's policy towards selling fur items.

But here was a perfect venue, an "art" exhibit *designed* to provoke controversy and dialogue. It would have been ideal for animal rights activists to post themselves outside the exhibit and convince viewers that vegetarianism is the way to go. Who wouldn't consider it, after watching loops of animals being killed with a sledgehammer? It would have been even better if the animals were eviscerated and eaten on film -- people need to see where their food comes from.

But the animal rights activists didn't see it this way. They only saw the horror, and felt they needed to stop it -- even if it was not as disgusting as their own literature, and provided a wonderful venue for reaching a new audience of potential recruits. The animal slaughter continues every day, but people shouldn't be allowed to see it -- unless it's in an animal rights brochure?!

So the show was cancelled. There was no dialogue, other than animal rights activists strangely not wanting people to see that animals get killed, and to realize that's how meat gets on their table. They called it "disgusting," and "not art." Though they may be right on both accounts, to remove it and prevent the dialogue is like removing all references to the holocaust because it was disgusting. Isn't the larger objective to make everyone more aware?

Olympic Torch Chasing

2008-04-09T15:19:00.001-07:00

San Francisco has invented a new Olympic event: Torch Chasing.

My plan for the day was to do laundry. I didn't pay much attention to the three helicopters and sirens, thinking the torch was on the other side of the hill. A call from my ex-girlfriend alerted me that the torch was headed into my neighborhood. Driven off course by protestors, the torch was meandering through the city trying to look dignified while being chased by helicopter gnats in the sky and army ant squadrons of protestors on the ground.

OK, I've got a load of laundry going, I'll walk to the corner and take a peek. I saw five police cars, a media vehicle bristling with microphone booms, and there, up on the hill, a crowd of people proceeding westward, with a number of Tibetan flags and banners waving. Ah, the procession. I began following the crowd, realizing I had joined the new impromptu Olympic event.

I walked far enough to see a herd of flashing emergency vehicles off in the distance, with the helicopters hovering above, and an ABC camera crew to my left. Never saw the torch. I thought I should alert the media that San Francisco had invented a new Olympic event: Torch Chasing. The camera-ready blonde didn't seem impressed, but she replied matter-of-factly, "Exactly."

Moments on MUNI

2008-03-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

Jumped on the F Line in the Castro, an old rehabbed Italian streetcar
with nice wood interior. Next stop, two guys get on who looked like
they just stepped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch ad. One of them is
wearing a Roman gladiator helmet, made of shiny gold fabric with a crest on top of bright red fur.

Next stop, three people get on who look vaguely familiar; maybe from
Burning Man or something.

All the while, I'm listening to Stone Temple Pilots on the headphones,
and the two guys also appear to be listening to headphones.

Next, a hustler-looking guy in a bright blue dapper hat gets on. He
sits next to me and smells of some sort of alcohol. He starts talking,
it seems to no one in particular, and I can't hear him over my music. I
decide it's better that way. Since everyone is ignoring him, he starts
talking to a little boy, whose mother is not looking pleased, and even
the little boy rebuffs him.

Finally, in a last gesture to get someone's attention, the guy pulls out
a wad of cash and starts counting $50 bills. Looks like maybe $1000
cash in that wad. Real? Counterfeit? Who knows. We all watch, but
generally ignore him, and he moves to the front of the streetcar to talk
to someone else.

Between songs, I hear that the Ambercrombie model guys are speaking some
European language (German?)