European Union

Oakland's WHY? Releases New EP? Awesome?

Quaffing The Vino During Riesling Week

Wine Label War: EU vs. USA

"Champagne" is usually a bad sign on a bottle of California sparkling wine, anyway.

Banned in the UK: The ghosts in Agent Ribbons' attic

"Champagne" is usually a bad sign on a bottle of California sparkling wine, anyway.

Heaven Can Wait

Storylines and cultures crash in this German/Turkish import — and isn't it arty?

Mother Polka

Storylines and cultures crash in this German/Turkish import — and isn't it arty?

Mexico Burning? Don't believe it.

S.F.'s Global Exchange wins publicity by pushing a vote recount Mexico doesn't need

Deep-Sixed

Hollywood pounces on 6-6-06 with a needless Omen revival

World Music

Sometimes a single performance can carry an entire production

Rise of the Pod People

Podcasting: What it is, how to get it, and what it means for a radio dial near you

Gallic Anxiety

Podcasting: What it is, how to get it, and what it means for a radio dial near you

What's Matt Smokin'?

A state assemblyman explains why our columnist is wrong about legislation that would legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp

Lights, Camera, Gospel!

A look inside the grandiose cinematic dreams -- and genuine transcendent joy -- at Voice of Pentecost Church

How to Secede From Jesusland, Without Really Fighting

A plan to split California from the United States. And it's serious. Maybe.

Bioscience Warfare

UC professor Tyrone Hayes found that a highly profitable weed killer causes sexual abnormalities in frogs. Then he found out how nasty a biotech multinational can be.

Various Artists

Turkish Delights
Hava Narghile
Devil's Anvil

Side Dish

The Cuisinart for You, the Calphalon for Me, Musical Chairs, Shrooming, Debutante Dish, and Down But Not Out

Swine Flu, Shwine Flu: Curiously Written Missive From Mexican Tourism Board Urges Visitors to Come Anyway

Public Enemy No. 1...Employing language worthy of a fast-talking abogado, a release fired off Wednesday by the Mexican Tourism Board and Ministry of Tourism and sent to members of the American media by Mexican consulates notes that "No tourists currently in Mexico have been infected by the H1N1 Infl ... More >>

The Dardennes do what they do, again, in Lorna's Silence

Public Enemy No. 1...Employing language worthy of a fast-talking abogado, a release fired off Wednesday by the Mexican Tourism Board and Ministry of Tourism and sent to members of the American media by Mexican consulates notes that "No tourists currently in Mexico have been infected by the H1N1 Infl ... More >>

Just in Time for Halloween: The World's Deadliest Foods

Think last night's burrito made you sick? Even the worst food poisoning from the grubbiest taqueria is nothing compared to what might happen if you chow down on these really deadly foods.​8. FuguEating fugu, or Japanese pufferfish, is always a life-or-death gamble. Considered a delicacy, the rathe ... More >>

Doggy Bag: 2009 Unearthed

Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesPlotting the White House garden.​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. Harvest of fame: Last week Weird Vegetables' Kale Daikon ticked down five vegetal highlights of 2009. Five? Who knew? Daikon looks back at Michelle Obama's scratching around in D.C. dirt, th ... More >>

Watching the detective in Police, Adjective

Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesPlotting the White House garden.​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. Harvest of fame: Last week Weird Vegetables' Kale Daikon ticked down five vegetal highlights of 2009. Five? Who knew? Daikon looks back at Michelle Obama's scratching around in D.C. dirt, th ... More >>

Tristram Stuart Traces Food Waste Back to the Source

​Our favorite morsel from the blogs.Waste not: Tristram Stuart, a young British historian, is making a career of writing erudite studies of timely food issues. His first book, The Bloodless Revolution, traced the history of vegetarianism in Europe from the 17th century on. The followup, Waste: Unc ... More >>

Congestion Pricing Showdown: Assemblyman Jerry Hill To Address San Francisco Supes

Seriously, take Caltrain. You're allowed to drink coffee and everything. ​San Francisco's idea to charge motorists $6 a day to enter or exit the city's southern border has spurred what could only be labeled a congestion pricing pissing contest. Peninsula officials are huffing that they'll impose a ... More >>

How the Happy Meal ban explains San Francisco

Seriously, take Caltrain. You're allowed to drink coffee and everything. ​San Francisco's idea to charge motorists $6 a day to enter or exit the city's southern border has spurred what could only be labeled a congestion pricing pissing contest. Peninsula officials are huffing that they'll impose a ... More >>

Six Songs That Really Should Have Been Nominated For an Oscar

It's Oscar week! Woo! And in the spirit of these prestigious awards, we'd like to present some past soundtrack moments that also deserve to have a light shined on them for enhancing moments of true cinematic genius. We've selected only the finest -- songs of strength, purpose, guts and, above all, a ... More >>

A Field Guide to Sustainable and Delicious Dry Farmed Wines

Whole lotta irrigation goin' on in Napa.​Irrigation is plainly a function of the modern world. Though the ancient Romans built spectacular gravity-driven aqueducts, drip irrigation for agriculture was not invented until the late 1960s in Israel, and only in the 1970s did water-bearing pipes a ... More >>

Amy Winehouse's Website Hacked with Lil B Prank: Full Mayhemic Text Here

Not swag?​ As if anything could get worse for Amy Winehouse: Yesterday, her last bastion of unmarred public image -- her website -- got hacked. There weren't any references to her drug and alcohol problems, though. Instead, what you get is a profane prank from apparent fans of Berkeley rapper ... More >>

San Francisco's Top 5 British Pubs

Darts and old British stuff at The Pig and Whistle​Let's face it, San Francisco: We wish we had lost the Revolutionary War. Hurray, we have the Tea Party! Wouldn't you really rather be in the EU? Then, when Oklahoma and Kansas and Alabama get together to elect President Bachmann, we could al ... More >>

Hey Food Activists: Can We Get a Ban on GMOs and BGH?

PCC Farmland Trust​California's food activists are on the verge of gaining a ban on the import of shark fins. And starting next July, sale of foie gras in this state will be illegal. We care about animal welfare here; we passed a law regulating the size of chickens' cages. But perhaps becaus ... More >>

Save the Frogs Calls for Your Signature on Herbicide Ban

kqedquestThe California Red-Legged Frog is one of our state's 16 threatened amphibian species​Last week, the US Environmental Protection Agency called for public comment on a potential ban of Atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States. Atrazine has been banned in th ... More >>

Ron Paul Is Crazy. Admit It.

Ron Paul, crazy person.​Congressman Ron Paul grabbed the lion's share of headlines among GOP presidential candidates last week, and not just because he is the latest improbable figure to challenge the inevitable nomination of Mitt Romney.The conservative Weekly Standard ran a rehash by writer Jame ... More >>

Think China's Doping Pigs? Not Nearly as Much as American Farmers Are

Dirk Ott / ShutterstockBet you didn't know these pigs were involved in a doping scandal.​Last year, American readers clucked their tongues when news emerged from China about outbreaks of illness traced back to Chinese farmers who doped their pigs with clenbuterol, aka "lean meat powder," to make t ... More >>