Oh Lordy

Disney buys Marvel

Embrace the Royal

Jenna Bush Hager

Hicks Engine

Hicks Engine

This guy is sitting on the Hyde Street pier. It's a 1925 4-stroke Hicks engine. Made by (James L.) Hicks Engine Sales company here in town, it shows that San Francisco once made things other than sourdough bread and grand speeches. Two fellows who were beside me were disparaging it in comparison to their motorcycle engines, but I don't think you could run their bikes on whatever (including hootch) or repair them with a file and a ball peen hammer. Saltwater cooled, make-break ignition, 799 cc with a , six and one half inch bore, they powered the Monterey fishing boats and tugs. There is a video of a restored Hicks here and a discussion by Lauren Williams here

Sunday Again

View from Broadway

This week's this and that. One follows up the augmented reality idea from last week, listing some of the engineering problems. The Tom and Jerry cartoon refers to an older version, not the cat and mouse duo. As for the guitar museum, I hope some of the upstate N.Y.luthiers get some attention for their craft.The cell article seems an extention of using the sim card in your phone as a payment platform. They use it in some other countries,and recently did a test run here. We're assured all sorts of security measures will be in place, and the back doors will only open to authorized persons or politicians or security contractors or the guy down the street who's brother-in-law is a cop or that bright kid in Falls Creek with too much time on her hands.

• Visual Cryptography
• Local Guitar Museum
• Wot a Night: Tom and Jerry ( Van Beuren)
• finisterre by Maria Deira
• Larison on Russian Policy
• Nokia cell banking
• Augmented Reality glitches

Outside Lands has a cast on You Tube if you're not in the area. Grab a cuppa and see if the bandwidth you pay for delivers.

Warning Sign

A Stranger in Town

This guy was checking out the shipwright's workshop on Hyde Street pier today. As far as I can tell, it's an immature brown pelican. ( if I'm wrong, Marilyn or Susan will set me straight.) It definitely had flying down, but on the dock it did a very credible imitation of a drunken sailor. One of the older guys in the shop was taking a break, so I showed him the picture. He said that when he started in the mid-sixties he saw a few almost every day, but now they're rather unusual. Let's hope that changes, it was a pretty impressive bird.

Tiger Phone Card

Dengue Fever's documentary, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong, is coming to town.

Addendum, next day: Where's the best place to go for the real skinny on all things Cambodian? The answer, of course, is May at Happy Donuts. It turns out that the singer, Chhom Nimol ( Dengue Fever), and her family are friends of May's dad. A quick lesson in Cambodian pop and a high school story ensued. A bit of education and the usual cup of expresso, what could be better?

( pn: deŋ - gē )

Paul Majeski

In Memory of Paul Majeski

Kind of Blue

The 50 year anniversary ... Kind of Blue

Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue Transcriptions

Fu Lion fubar

Two Fu Lions sit outside of Chinatown gate. This doesn't come as a surprise, you might say. But I've noticed something that is sure to get the tempest brewing. A hard hitting, action story that must be told. I can almost hear the propulsive music in the background as the stay-tuned announcement is made. The guardians are placed backwards.

Jackob Jelling, of the Hills of Beverly, insists that the male goes stage left. I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no. You can tell the sex by what's under their forepaw. The experts over at Geomancy agree as to left/right, but bring the compass heading into it. (it's all wrong, bad qi). Over at Fung Shui best buy, nobody seems to have an opinion, but their prepared to sell you three fengsiye lions each carrying its auspicious object just in case. Dragon Gateway is, of course, prepared to do a lunar chart to ensure all this is according to best practices. The funny thing is, the builders at Forbidden City in Beijing got theirs backward too.

S.F. Zine Fest

The S.F. Zine Fest was in the old Hall of Flowers at the park today. Great hints and good contacts for those who think DYI is a real alternative to reading about the latest Brad Pitt gossip at the supermarket checkout.

Street Food

Yesterday was the S.F. Street Food fest. Billed as a benefit for La Cocina, a micro-enterprise incubator, it lined up its sponsors on a block of Folsom to sell street food. Plenty of people, half hour lines, and multi-cultys tweeting their thumbs away. All the food was pretty un-street, the carts and taco trucks having been banished for several blocks. A large police presence, half a block of wagons and a command center, made sure a cordon sanitaire was established between the neighborhood and the jeunesse dorée. Still, a chance to nosh a street style Crème Brûlée on a very nice day.

Carol

Yes folks, there was a time when hot sauce was a Cajun thing and salsa was a recipe in a little-used cookbook, not something on your table. Ask Carol, who turns ..um.. older tomorrow. Happy Birthday. Why, back in the day, we used to ... well, I'm sure you don't want to hear about that. Jim

An Augmented Cooperstown

Stinking Rose ... North Beach

Round-Up of the week's this and that. The augmented reality article made me think of Cooperstown and S.F. Both depend on tourists to a great extent, both have the infrastructure and tech base, and both have the Historical Societies to help with the initial modeling. S.F. could probably hitch on the local cloud, Cooperstown might have to install an extra server and some bandwidth, but it's going to have to do that anyway. The Cooperstown Opera might use it to enhance the superscript on stage and I'm sure S.F. will be a pioneer in the artistic (read less savory) uses. Put that cell phone to work at something besides being your e-leash.

• Augmented Reality
• Fiction Bruce Sterling
• Alcatraz Island
• Putting Man Before Descartes
• Hypercubes
• Indonesian Mimic Octopus

Hope you enjoy

Sign of the Times

I just know a political joke is in here somewhere.

Buddhas Hand

Buddhas Hand

Discover Magazine has a photo review of ten unusual fruit HERE. The Buddhas Hand (above) is a fruit we get around Christmas. The peel has a citron/lemon smell and flavor, so one fruit goes toward decoration, and any others go in cookies and drinks. They're still a bit hard to come by, but some groves in S. Cal are coming into maturity and the demand, while relatively small, is probably enough to start some more.

Oh .. That Secret

I wonder if the crew that installed the sign noticed anything unusual?

Candyland on Lombard

photo by Steve Rhodes

Yesterday, the twisty part of Lombard Street was closed off and made into a giant Candyland game. Children from UCSF Children's Hospital got to play and everyone had some cake after. The money collected went to the Children's Hospital through the non-profit Friends of the Children. More pictures here

Me Love Cookies

It's such a relief to have the explanation pros on the job. After the chorus line antics of the WSJ and the faux-sophistication of NYT et al., Ernie and Cookie Monster cut to the chase.

Winds of Dune

Winds of Dune ... August 6, 2009

As is almost always the case, I'm of two minds about this. On one hand, the publication of Dune (© 1965). was a cultural watershed *. Part of science fiction's weltanschauung, It can stand quite comfortably on its own, without reference to its age or circumstances. Even Frank Herbert's own sequels ( through Chapterhouse, with another in note form) had a whiff of shtick to them. We were treated to "wheels within wheels within wheels" a tad more often then good writing necessitated.

On the other hand, Mr. Herbert did write sequels, and Brian ( his son along with co-author Kevin Anderson) has his notes, along with the legal and familial rights. The hard and cold is that we all wondered who the Bene Gesseret were, what Jihad was being referred to, and how the heck a starfaring culture ended up with an Emperor, witches, and all the other twisted Dramatis Personae. Now we know. While each sequel is a dilution of the original moment, chasing the dragon as it were, I still read them. (Thank God for public libraries.) More books are reported to be in the works. (please; no Sligs of Dune IV) I guess you can treat them like lollypops after a fine meal, pleasant, but not the main course.

* (note to the reader: please forgive the pun, I couldn't help myself.)

Sargent Peppers

Christmas on Earth ... December 1967

Sunday Morning Read

Sunday.. Coffee.. Get the round-up out, then more coffee. The last entry is a doozy. I've heard some pretty convoluted theories over the years , offered by some earnestly single minded folks, and I think this one takes the cake in the mountain / molehill category.

This Week

• The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3-D
• Bringing *.gov documents out into the open
• Marine Tools (pace: Marilyn and Ed)
• Crisis or Not
• Icebergs
• Lady Gaga, Illuminati Puppet

Enjoy your Sunday

La Chiffoniere

La Chiffoniere ... 1978

This piece, by Jean Dubuffet, (so passioné, so décadente, such a salesman) stands by the Hyatt at Justin Herman Plaza. Made of stainless steel with black epoxy, its title translates roughly to ragpicker. If you catch it in the morning, as the sun clears the horizon, it seems to de-cohere as the glare catches one plane, then the next.

Unfortunately, La Chiffoniere is a textbook example of shoddy placement. It's tall, and doesn't scan as a whole piece until you step back. When you're next to it all you really notice are the sheets of stainless, discolored by bird droppings, and the underside, featuring various gifts from the gimmies. Traffic paths from the buildings to the street flow around it closely. Getting a larger view is blocked in most directions by the building and the one clear sightline, out in sk8ter country, shows a side view with the armatures visible. A wet rag and about a ten foot move would change things right around.

Ganesha

Vighneshvara

Keeping with my interest in the intersection of Indian and American culture, here's Ganesha, done by Carlos Ramos (The Monkey Puzzle). You can see previews of his upcoming show at The Cory Helford Gallery. Chalkzone meets the son of Shiva. As Vighnesha, he is the Lord of Beginnings, in his aspect as Vighneshvara, he is the Remover of Obstacles.

Lumière et Compagnie

Premonitions of an Evil Deed

Forty of the world's leading directors used the original Lumière picture camera to create short films. Here is David Lynch's entry. All effects and continuity were done in-camera and the time limited to a single roll of film.

Les Paul

Les Paul ... June 9,1915 - August 13, 2009

Local Shared Objects

Spy vs Spy

I recently downloaded Adobe 8 and decided to pop the hood to see what I could see. A bit of playing around and a lot of web time yielded a not so new tracking device. (here)

A Flash LSO is a local stored object which is somewhat similar to a browser cookie but is saved by a Flash application and is browser agnostic.

These little buggers can bypass browser privacy settings, go to a *.sol directory apart from the cookie file, hold up to 100K, and can re-enable deleted cookies without triggering anti-viral programs. Oh joy. Even if your not worried about tracking, they are a major space sucker. No delete by date, and they just pile up. Another one of many reasons Windows run slower and slower as time goes by.

To deal with this you can remove the objects manually. LSO files are stored typically with a “.SOL” extension, within each user’s Application Data directory, under Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects. The more long term solution is to go to the Macromedia site and use their tool to reset your global privacy. I suggest going to Google first and reading up on deleting flash cookies.

While we're here, you should know about CCleaner. It's the freeware of choice ( I keep mine in the recycle icon) to tidy up cookies, extraneous registry crap, event files and general Windows clutter. If for profit companies and now the government want to leave their tools on your computer, they can pay rent on the space.

It's Hot Out

The unusual weather (hot, sunny and clear) has wilted many of the gardens planted for the fog, but more than a few plants are really feeling their oats. Perhaps S.F. has joined the rest of California, perhaps maritime weather will kick back in. Time will tell. For now, everyone is finding every excuse to get away from the keyboard and go out in the sun.

Guerrilla Gardening

Works for me

Found in Beyond the Beyond

Laura's Shrimp

Shuck and devein shrimp. If you're going to skewer them, remove the tail, if they're jumbo (16-20 or larger) leave the tail for presentation. Crush some garlic into oil. Add fresh rosemary, red pepper flakes or both if inclined. Marinate the shrimp for an hour or two. Remember to keep everything cold, raw shrimp will limp out and spoil quickly at room temperature. Take a strip of prosciutto, put a fresh basil leaf on it, and place a shrimp on the leaf. Roll the assembly up, put on prep tray, cover and back to the fridge.

When the grill is ready, (med) oil it. If you're using wooden skewers, pin the shrimp now with sticks that are soaked in water. Even at medium heat, the shrimp will cook quickly. A bit of char is ok, but moderation in everything. Grind some black pepper over them and plate. Serve with lemon wedges, lime wedges or dipping sauce.

Variations

• Boil the shrimp, butterfly, pipe in pesto, wrap with prosciutto
• Change meats: Lamb proscuitto, soreno ham, bacon, etc.
• Substitute ginger for garlic
• Substitute langoustine or scallops for shrimp

Floating About

Cell reception is probably patchy too.

Cherokee

John McLaughlin shows a side most fans don't see. The song is Cherokee with the Tonight Show Band in 1985.

The Heritage

The Heritage ... Bay x Laguna

The Heritage is currently in service as a high-end care home. It was designed by Julia Morgan, who also designed Hearst Castle and environs. Built on landfill, it is one of the few multistory brick buildings in the marina to survive Loma Prieta unscathed. The garden is in bloom, but the sun was so high and hot today that everything wilted. I suspect the plantings were chosen with an eye toward the usual fog.

Links

Poodle / Baby Doll Installation ... SFMOMA

Sunday morning seems to come around once a week lately. Below are some links that caught my attention this week.

• Say on Pay
• Gluten Intolerance
• Palin is no Nixon
• New Map Of Titan (pdf)
• Saint Patrick, The Druids, The Irish
• George Carlin
• Sunbeam by Paul Vestar

Thanks to Laura and Henry for hosting the party yesterday. I enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new.

Jim and Cindee

Jim (lower picture, middle) and Cindee (upper picture) stopped in Marin as part of their vacation. I spent the day with them catching up on this and that rather than preparing a proper entry. Some days are just too nice to spend a lot of time on the keyboard.

Googly Eyes

I was looking through Evil Mad Scientist and found out how to make edible googly eyes. Granted it's not something you use in the kitchen every day. However, like Micky Mouse pancakes and Oreo parfait, it might be good to keep in your back pocket for a kid's birthday party or Halloween. Instructions for making and pictures are here

Kyle Cassidy

where i write

Kyle Cassidy has taken photographs of the workspaces of several authors. Posted are the ones that I've read, many more can be found here, along with other projects. (Armed America, Warpaint, and American Rockers)

No Mind

The Sentinel Building ... 916 Kearny

I have a little Canon pocket camera. After seeing Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, and Robert Frank at SFMOMA yesterday, I decided maybe it's about time I learned what the settings, other than automatic, actually did. So I got my pen and scratch pad, the camera, some change, and went to Happy Donuts. ( it was early, and I can barely form a coherent thought without a massive coffee infusion) I started to take pictures of the Sentinel Building across the street, changed one setting at a time, and recorded what I had done. I tried the artistic shots, extreme close-ups, the turn the camera on its side shots, artfully framing drunks by the building shots, monkeying with the color shots, the whole schmeer. About 45 pictures later it was time to go back upstairs and start on a proposal for work. Finished my cup, killed the donut, pocketed my stuff and thought, just one more quick one. Pulled the camera, didn't really bother to frame anything, pushed the button and went up. Of course, that turned out to be the best image. No mind wins again.

The Sentinel Building, or Columbus Tower, is currently owned by Francis Ford Coppola, housing the American Zoetrope company and café Niebaum on the ground floor and sidewalk. The flatiron building is a former home to Enrico Banducci's original hungry i, Trident Productions, (Columbus Recorders: early Dead, Kingsmen) and Caesars Grill.(one of those places during Prohibition)

A Cautionary Tale

Originally I wanted a picture of John Phillips, but the ones from the time period I'm going to write about reflect the fact that massive amounts of coke doesn't do your face a lick of good. The Mamas and Papas seemed to dominate the radio in the mid-sixties. John Phillips' songs, professional backing (the Wrecking Crew ), and a serious case of right time, right place. As did most bands of the era, they broke up for artistic reasons. (they french-fried themselves) Cass went on to try her hand at show tunes, had a hit with Dream a Little Dream of Me and was working her way toward a successful solo career. ( no, she wasn't a jazz chanteuse, sorry ) She died of an apparent heart attack in London. (no, not a ham sandwich, sorry ) Michelle, who's job was to look pretty and keep the big voice in check, went on to look pretty as an actress. ( see above ) Denny returned to Canada and worked as an artist. He voiced the harbormaster in Theodore Tugboat (PBS), made records,and sometimes worked with Phillips.

John Phillips became the poster boy for rock and roll trainwrecks. Brittany, et al. got nothing. He wrote a few songs ( Me and my Uncle: pace the Dead), helped Mackenzie with her career, and tottered about with various Mamas and Papas while trying to outdo Sly Stone as promoters' nightmare #1. The point of all this gossipy churlishness is the discovery of some old tapes of a play that John attempted in conjunction with Andy Warhol called Man on the Moon. The cautionary part? Don't snort your own PR.

My Faith, Restored

Detail of Museum of Modern Art - S.F.

Today (first Tuesday of the month) is free admission day at SFMOMA. There are two kinds of free, a five dollar free to see the special exhibits and a regular free to see the usual suspects. And yes, it was a long line. (either kind of free is a savings on the usual price) My first stop was the corner that Joseph Cornell lives in. I keep imagining that Wintermute might slip in a new box when no one is looking . (come on, it's not that obscure; hint - Lady 3Jane Tessier-Ashpool, Molly, the Finn) That business being attended to, it's off to Warhol, Johns, Matisse, et al. One gallery consisted of a scattering of small paintings and a single wall-sized 3D lithograph with a standing installation in the middle of the floor. The floor piece consisted of black-plush poodles ( $1.29 ea if bought in bulk) standing in four concentric rings around a baby doll laying on a green paper cutout of a star. To my left, a tall professor type, straight out of central casting , was explaining the significance of this work to a group of Asian students. '...interior motive ... deconstructing the ritual .... aesthetics of the neo-objective.' I was feeling pretty down. "I'm just not getting it." Suddenly a little girl came bursting through, ducking between everyone's legs, pointing, and she was yelling in the happiest voice one can imagine; 'Mama, look at that ... LOOK Mama.' Darn good advice.

Allison's Birthday

Allison Considers Her Cousin

The mysterious woman in the picture is the other half of the Amazing Tans, Allison, who is having a birthday tomorrow.Happy Birthday to you, Happy ...(repeat 4x Rubusto)

Unmanned Aircraft Systems

United States Air Force Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan 2009-2047 (Unclassified)

Somewhat acronym rich, but that's how they do. I don't think I need remind anyone that what starts on the battlefield, doesn't necessarily stay on the battlefield. Stay tuned for home-brew kits in the back of Popular Mechanics featuring an open payload slot.

Minnie the Moocher

A public domain copy of Max Fleischer's Betty Boop with Cab Calloway. Found here in the Film Chest Vintage Cartoons subsection of the internet archives. No need for any bla-bla on my part about the current crop of Saturday morning fare, it's just not on the same playing field.

thanks to Cory Doctorow at boingboing

Temporary Park

Blocking off Mason st.

Somebody was thinking at City Hall. I know you think I'm going to launch off on a fantasy or reveal it was all a dream, but it really happened. North Beach library is due for its seismic makeover. The construction money has been set aside for construction, as opposed to committees, signature salespeople, politically connected academics, and theorists of various stripes. ( Brylcreem Boy is off running for Governor, and the circus of supervisors is summering in Marin) The environmental impact statement needs to be signed so the digging and hammering can start. Someone, God bless their soul, decided to block the area with a temporary park, and actually count the cars shunted off to Columbus st. Of course, the idea of actual numbers on an impact statement upsets some people. No theoretical papers, no need for a special committee to meet at the Mandarin Oriental @ $10K per, and even less need for a supervisor to come to the rescue someone living in St. Francis Wood who feels the city should buy his signature because...well, he drove by once. Actual numbers, generated on site, in the neighborhood, in San Francisco. I'm sure the person who did this won't have much trouble getting a real job when the city identifies and fires him/her.

Various and Sundry

View from Saint Mary's Square

Sunday ... Rent paid, check ... Coffee, check ... double expresso, check ... Doing something useful, ...uhh, Sunday, check.

Various and Sundry

• Peer to Peer in India
• Stockbots and Anti-Stockbots
• Larison on Iraq Strategy
• Gates, another opinion
• Time on Hipsters
• Annie Lennox Mashup

The sun isn't quite out, and it's still chilly ( August in S.F., after all ) but it's looking like a good day here, hope you're having the same.

Diane Arbus

Anderson Cooper by Diane Arbus

"Diane Arbus (née Nemerov) was born in New York City into a wealthy, Jewish family." Her art was a bit fascistic. Ordinary people, cleverly packaged, for the delectation of the wealthy and pampered. A sort of curatorial carnival sideshow with critical commentary. They're not like us, you know. We're "immune and exempt from circumstance." I suspect that if she turned her eye toward artists and their support cadres, "most original and influential" would turn to nada and a day job.