Industries

The Fiber-Optic Umbilical: Pay-TV Companies Want You to Forget About All That Internet Media Nonsense

Cruise Ship Terminal Finances Terrified Port Director

The news that the city's nascent cruise ship terminal could well lose the city boatloads of money is disturbing -- but hardly unanticipated. Last year, SF Weekly obtained a January 2012 e-mail from Port of San Francisco Director Monique Moyer to members of her staff lamenting the proposed cruise shi ... More >>

Haute Links: When Blogs Become Ads

"Greedy Lying Bastards": No Thanks for Wrecking the Planet

French Bees Are Producing Blue Honey

Yet another sign that the end of the world is nigh: Recently a French beekeeper in Alsace found that his bees were producing honey in unnatural hues like blue and green. Genetic mutation? No -- it turns out that instead of frolicking to the flowers for nectar like regular bees have for thousands of ... More >>

Wine and Dine

Wine and Dine

Investing in Buzz Is a Loser's Game

There will likely never again be anything quite like the dotcom boom-and-bust of the late '90s. But that doesn't mean that everybody learned their lesson about investing in companies with questionable business models -- or at least in those with outsized expectations for growth. It only means that t ... More >>

Art of Gold

Changing Keys: Martuni's Piano Bar Thrives in a Karaoke World

Occupy Noe Valley Tries to Save More Homes

Since Occupy Bernal has proven to be the only local Occupy group to actually get shit done, homeowners in Noe Valley went ahead and formed a similar movement, riffing off Bernal's model of not occupying.In other words, no tents necessary.Tomorrow, Occupy Noe will start collecting signatures at the N ... More >>

Viacom's Insane Move to Yank Shows From The Web

Viacom's decision to yank its programming from the Web last week as a tactic in its dispute with DirecTV was absolutely insane. The last people to realize this fact were Viacom's executives. As of Tuesday, the company had restored The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Since it's the middle of summe ... More >>

The Copyright Standoff: Technology Pits Bad Rules vs. No Rules

Here's What the State's Historic Foreclosure Protection Bill Means to Homeowners

One of the worst parts of going through a foreclosure is the sense of helplessness. There's a lot of waiting and hoping and let-me-transfer-you-over run-arounds. The process feels closed and distant, marked by indifferent operators and vague brief loan modification denial letters. Yesterday the Cal ... More >>

'Men Invented the Internet,' New York Times flatly declares

It was the thud heard 'round the world: The opening sentence of a story about sexism in Silicon Valley anchoring the front page of the New York Times' Sunday business section. "Men Invented the Internet," declared David Streitfeld, and it was impossible not to do a double-take, even if you didn't kn ... More >>

Hilarious Campaign Video Bluntly Explains Why California Should Smoke Tobacco

Generally, we think it's safe to say that Big Tobacco has given people more reasons to cry than laugh.But we found ourselves chuckling a lot after watching this sorta depressing campaign video which uses gallows humor (our favorite!) to make voters -- and smokers -- smile and then think about all th ... More >>

Happy Birthday, Cesar

No More Cheap Gas at Safeway?

The price at the pump could get even pricier -- but only at your local Safeway store. An Alameda County judge has "hinted" that he will block Safeway stores from offering cheaper gasoline to their Club Card members and loyal shoppers across the Bay Area. And you can thank the surrounding fuel statio ... More >>

Ron Paul Counts Bay Area Tech Companies Among Top Donors

This week Republican presidential cult favorite Ron Paul will campaign through California, with stops at well-known party school Chico State, as well as UCLA, and Berkeley. While the venues reflect Paul's solid and passionate base among college kids, a closer look at Paul's donor list shows that the ... More >>

The Creators Project: Show Preview

Image Is Everything

Meet Our Masterminds: Eric Cohen and Eliane Lima

The economy sucks, but we don't care -- the Bay Area is home to artists so talented they deserve to take over the world. That's why the Masterminds grants are given to three local and emerging artists who need that little push to become even more awesome. SF Weekly has narrowed down the potential w ... More >>

Digital Statesman

Occupy Geriatrics: Seniors in Walkers Shut Down Local Bank of America

​What some healthy and spry Occupy Movements across the nation couldn't quite accomplish, San Francisco geriatrics have! KCBS reports that a small group of senior citizens between the ages of 69 and 82 successfully shut down a Bank of America in Bernal Heights on Thursday with nothing more than wa ... More >>

Carl's Jr.'s New Pitchman: 482-Pound Man

Michael Moore pictured with President Obama, who, incidentally also likes meat ​Contrary to what Supervisor Eric Mar might tell you, fast food needn't be awful for you. Bay Area man Michael Moore swears by his Carl's Jr.-only diet, which he says is largely responsible for helping him to shed almos ... More >>

Our Bay, Our Fish: Local Fishermen Can Now Sell Herring in S.F.

Google, Facebook, Others Fight Legislation to Stop Online Content Piracy

​A veritable who's who of major tech firms in San Francisco and the Silicon Valley are fighting federal legislation aimed at putting a stop to theft of original content online.The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) would allow content creators to seek court orders barring internet service providers, se ... More >>

The Lighter Side of India's Deities

Move Your Money Day: San Francisco Residents to Dump Their Banks

​In what could be the first practical request by the Occupy Movement yet, protesters are asking everyone across the nation to take part in the "Move Your Money Day" tomorrow and divert their investments from big banks. It might seem ambitious, but considering how the mass exodus of customers from ... More >>

Sugar Sues Corn Syrup for False Advertising. No Joke.

Sugar: going on the offensive. Yesterday the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles began hearing arguments over an odd lawsuit filed by a group of sugar producers against a group of producers and marketers of high-fructose corn syrup. The charge? False advertising. Big Sugar is mad that Big HFCS -- u ... More >>

Millions of Bees Buzz in S.F. Backyards and Balconies

BotheredByBees/flickr​San Francisco is a gold mine -- not for the precious metal, though. We're talking about honey. Since the 2007 media furor over mysterious honeybee deaths, when alarming numbers of North American honeybee colonies suffered colony collapse, urban beekeeping has taken off. ... More >>

The Cool Kids: Cool with Recording for Mountain Dew

Who Hates Smart Meters? Glen Park Residents

It's been a while since we've seen any good sparring over the contentious so-called smart meter, but apparently strong sentiments are circulating in parts of the city. A kind and anonymous reader passed along this photo that's being posted around homes in Noe Valley and Glen Park neighborhoods, wher ... More >>

June's Literary Events

Mayor Ed Lee's New Port Commissioner Clarifies Role in 2009 S.F. Bank Failure

What did Doreen Wu Ho Know About Tommy Wu? And When Did She Know It?​Earlier this month, Mayor Ed Lee appointed a new port commissioner, which raised many eyebrows here, given that Doreen Woo Ho was a top official at the failed United Commercial Bank. In November 2011, United Commercial Bank was s ... More >>

Claim: Limewire's Shutdown Reduced Music Piracy by 7 Percent

​The nationally-recognized market research nerds NPD Group just released their latest poll, which suggests the shutdown of the file-sharing application Limewire this past October reduced peer-to-peer-based music piracy in the U.S. by a significant 7 percent. Wait, that many of you were still ... More >>

Clean Cheese, Ginger Ale, and the Mighty Subway

Madame Fromage/FlickrSally Jackson's amazing cheese, now lost to the world after an FDA crackdown.​A new daily column: Notes on national stories, local trends, random tastes, and other miscellanea dredged up from the food media.1. Cheese makers under attack? San Francisco diners haven't felt the i ... More >>

Supes Want to Rescind Law that Bans Competition in SF Trash Collection

Public Power Program Likely to Cover Fewer Customers at Outset

​Community Choice Aggregation Could be Offered to Just One-Tenth of CityWe've reported in the past on the intractable problems -- both in design and execution -- of CleanPowerSF, San Francisco's ambitious plan to shift the city to a more eco-friendly power supply. The program, as initially conceiv ... More >>

A Postcard from the Future

Or, how 2011 was the year everything changed in music.

Taste Local Cheese for the Holidays (and a Good Cause)

​For obvious, if college-humor, reasons, our favorite of the twelve days of Christmas has always been the eight maids a-milking. Egg nog and Santa's glass of milk always have a place in the holiday celebrations, but why can't we include dairy in its more awesome and solid forms? The

Are Liquor Companies Stealing S.F.'s Best Bartenders As 'Brand Ambassadors'?

Brandywine HartmanNeyah White left the bar at Nopa to work for Suntory Japanese whisky.​As a career choice, bartending has seen historic ups and downs. It was a genuine profession in the 19th century, an outlaw one during Prohibition. And up until recently, tending bar was a gig you held down ... More >>

PG&E Disseminates List of 100 Riskiest Pipelines

Is this pipe on the list too? ​List is released. See jump for more. PG&E President Chris Johns told the media today a list of his agency's 100 pipes most likely to explode and ruin your day will be disseminated later today. In the meantime, he says, customers can call (888) 743-7431, and disco ... More >>

PG&E Will Reveal Pipeline Locations -- Sort Of

KTVT/KTXALook! There's one! ​In the wake of the San Bruno disaster, a number of environmental and First Amendment types have demanded PG&E disclose the routes of its riskiest gas pipes. The utility provider has declined, however, citing the risk that terrorists could capitalize on that sort of ... More >>

Dine About Town

St. Nick, Reporting for Duty

Wine Elites?

Music from Big Pink

Transmutation and Transformation at Dinner

How We Slice It