MetaFilter posts tagged with California and sanfrancisco

Mapping transit inequality

liketitanic — Wed, 08 May 2013 07:18:34 -0800

Dan Grover and Mike Belfrage have mapped transit inequality in the Bay Area after reading a New Yorker piece on the New York City subway (previously). The ways in which a widening income gap are changing the demography of San Francisco have been widely reported of late (previously, previously). The project's code is available if you'd like to try mapping your own city.

I believe I can fly

Room 641-A — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 10:25:02 -0800

R/C cameraman Robert Mcintosh takes you soaring high above Santa Monica, Venice, and San Francisco. Float through the air as you glide along the beach and up through the spokes of the Ferris wheel over the Santa Monica Pier. Then head a mile or two south and get a bird's eye view of Venice's Muscle Beach. When your head has stopped spinning you can take in San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge or get away from it all (including the ground) out at at Vasquez Rocks. Note: You may want to keep the Dramamine handy.

Adolph Sutro

MattMangels — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:32:06 -0800

Anyone who has spent any time at all on the Western side of San Francisco is familiar with the name Sutro. Being the 24th mayor of the City was actually one of his smaller and lesser-known accomplishments. Born in Prussia in 1830, he first made a name for himself with The Sutro Tunnel, which was used to drain water from underneath the Comstock Lode, improving working conditions and lowering the mine's operating costs. He sold his interest in the company he founded and left for San Francisco, where he built himself a mansion, among other things... The Sutro Baths: Located at Land's End, it contained not just swimming pools, but also a museum and a concert hall. Opened in 1896, the largest pool (or "tank" as it as known) was converted into an ice-skating (and later roller-skating) rink in its later years. The structure was set to be demolished when a fire broke out, in what was apparently no accident, in June of 1966. The ruins of the Baths are now an attraction in and of themselves. Across the street you can walk around the area that was once his estate. The Baths were sadly not the only structure Sutro financed to be destroyed by fire. He was responsible for the most elaborate (and short-lived) incarnation of the Cliff House (pictured here), which opened in 1896 and burned to the ground in 1907. Rising above even the thickest fog, Sutro Tower broadcast signals for 11 TV stations and four FM radio stations. It is located atop Mt. Sutro, which along with Mt. Davidson was completely barren before Mr. Sutro enlisted schoolchildren to plant trees (mostly Eucalyptus) as windbreaks.

What happens when the Big One hits?

rtha — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:38:13 -0800

Is Oakland supposed to...ripple like that? When the Hayward Fault finally flips out - and it will - what will it do to the Bay Area? Geologists have created simulations, from Berkeley to San Jose. warning: pop-up quicktime movies in the last link. Previously on MetaFilter; currently on AskMe (yes, you should buy earthquake insurance).

Urban[e] Renewal

Smart Dalek — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:12:07 -0800

Postcards from Our Awesome Future. [via] An art exhibition stemming from the minds of Packard Jennings (whose illustrations have appeared in Adbusters) and Steve Lambert (of Anti-Advertising Agency fame); using San Francisco's infrastructure as a model for improvement, the duo answered the siren call of Objectivism through an arcology devoid of “...budgets, beauracracy [sic], politics, or physics”. While the final result owes more to MAD Magazine than Le Corbusier, Frederick Law Olmstead or Lebbeus Woods, it does capitalize upon the Utilitarian ideals of reknowned multitaskers. Jennings and Lambert's works are also available for download.

California has been delta tough situation

salvia — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:19:30 -0800

"California has a decision to make. We either brace ourselves for long-term [water] cuts that threaten our economy and our very way of way of life, or we invest in a solution to fix the [San Francisco Bay] Delta and expand our water toolbox so we can meet future challenges head-on.” Long Beach, California has become the first California city to ration water after a court decision last month (SFChron, SacBee) which may require Delta water pumping to be cut by one-third starting in December -- "the single largest court-ordered redirection of water in state history" -- to protect a tiny threatened fish called the delta smelt [resizes window]. (The court decision is not online. An earlier related decision is here.) But the situation is more complex than "drinking water versus fish." Extensive previous efforts have not succeeded in addressing the problems of the Delta, where weak levies were already barely protecting the water supply for 23 million people, a key infrastructure pipeline [pdf], and more and more people's homes [pdf]. (More technical documents here.) Will current efforts be more successful? The many possible solutions each carry their own benefits and controversies. The decision to limit the pumps will certainly draw attention to the issues and give them new urgency. The situation is so complicated, interrelated, and ever-shifting that one artist's Delta primer portrays it as a giant game of chance [pdf].

The Cliff House Project

peacay — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:34:35 -0800

The Cliff House was San Francisco Mayor Adolph Sutro's amazing 7-storey Victorian chateau built in 1896 and destroyed by fire in 1907. The Cliff House Project (photos) has a large and absorbing database of related material. [via the indefatigable gmtPlus9 (-15)]

Rocking and rolling... California style!

RockBandit — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 18:35:53 -0800

San Andreas primed to "explode." Growing up in SoCal, we constantly practiced earthquake drills in anticipation of the "Big One." Now, new evidence suggests that the Big One will be even worse than we all feared. At the moment, everything looks calm though. People say we're crazy for living in either San Francisco or Los Angeles, of course we think living in New Orleans is crazy too. But cities are rebuilt. And no matter where you go, you really can't escape natural disasters. Besides, some of the biggest earthquakes in the United States were in Missouri! In any case, Forbes compiled a list of the safest and least safest places to live in the U.S. in regards to natural disasters. Apparently... we should all move to Hawaii!

The Chinese in California

OmieWise — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 07:17:53 -0800

The Chinese in California 1850-1925. The site is poorly designed. To get to the content click Essays & Galleries. To get to the photos, click on the (practically hidden) gallery link at the top right of each short essay.

Licenses Revoked

kokogiak — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 10:15:40 -0800

California Supreme Court voids all San Francisco same-sex marriages . Said the mayor overstepped his authority and that the city violated the state law.

Blistering attack on PBS

twsf — Thu, 29 Apr 2004 11:37:30 -0800

"Other channels do what PBS [does], with the added bonus of doing it better." On the 50th anniversary of San Francisco's KQED, the SF Chronicle's TV critic Tim Goodman levels a blistering attack on the station and on PBS, calling it "one of the worst-run, thoroughly backward media entities in the country."

Quake in CA

effugas — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 11:31:44 -0800

6.5 Quake Hits Central California. Felt for over a minute in San Jose, about 50 miles south of San Francisco. Interesting time to discover the oft-defunded USGS's instant earthquake news page. Talk about dynamically generating your pages your pages from the ground up...

Ommm you rough beast, Ommm.....

troutfishing — Thu, 22 May 2003 05:35:20 -0800

Buddhism tames the amygdala Covered recently on Metafilter (here), new research at the University of California San Francisco Medical Centre ( into the "Happy Buddhist" phenomenon ) shows that Buddhist meditation techniques "can tame the amygdala, an area of the brain which is the hub of fear memory." [BBC] -Is this the Rx for a nation of Americans gripped by fear? Do Christianity, Islam or Judaism have effective techniques to tame the amygdala too?

Confessions of a SF Pimp

KettleBlack — Mon, 09 Dec 2002 16:40:56 -0800

Everything you ever wanted to know about pimping but were afraid to ask "Money is a motivator. Pimping is perfect for a down-and-out freelance writer. Moreover, I do love danger. Not too much danger though, just enough to keep the nerves popping." A ripping yarn - a San Fransisco treat o< ! (via brutal.com).

Californians, did you feel the quake?

emptyage — Mon, 13 May 2002 22:28:37 -0800

Californians, did you feel the quake? This 5.2 quake was near the surface which, according to the San Francisco local news, allowed it to travel farther than usual. Did you feel it? If so, where? Did it create any problems? Was anyone at the Sharks game?

Dog-mauling convicts' adopted Aryan son might be the Night Stalker

brookish — Wed, 24 Apr 2002 13:56:21 -0800

Dog-mauling convicts' adopted Aryan son might be the Night Stalker says the SF Chronicle. This case continues to get weirder. The DA now wants DNA evidence from Paul "Cornfed" Schneider -- the Pelican Bay inmate and Aryan Brotherhood gang leader whose Presa Canario dogs mauled Diane Whipple to death and whose lawyers (convicted in that death) adopted him -- to see if he is the missing link in the decades old "Night Stalker" serial killer case in California. Yeesh.

IBM gets the bill

trioperative — Thu, 29 Nov 2001 23:48:56 -0800

IBM gets the bill for less-than-standard advertising methods supporting Linux. The city of San Francisco yesterday quashed some of the warm, fuzzy feelings associated with the Linux operating system when it reached a settlement with IBM that calls for the vendor to pay $120,000 to compensate the city for damages caused by a "guerrilla" marketing campaign centered on Linux.

LA is the number-one relocation city for fleeing San Franciscans.

josholalia — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 12:13:58 -0800

LA is the number-one relocation city for fleeing San Franciscans. Has the world turned upside down? The L.A. Examiner has the summary. And the complete story can be found, for now, on the LA Business Journal front page.

crushed — Tue, 27 Mar 2001 22:18:27 -0800

San Francisco couple has been charged with murder and manslaughter from the January 26 fatal mauling of a neighbor by two dogs they were caring for.

Dotcom Yuppies Gone Home.

Mr. skullhead — Thu, 28 Dec 2000 19:34:25 -0800

Dotcom Yuppies Gone Home. As dotcoms crash and burn, real estate prices start to drop.

Who can say that's a bad thing?

"Guess what, folks: We're taking back San Francisco."

johnb — Thu, 14 Dec 2000 07:50:58 -0800

"Guess what, folks: We're taking back San Francisco." -- Woo Hoo! Forget BushGore; on Tuesday progressives won big time in San Francisco. Chris Daly seriously kicked ass in my district, while progressives Matt Gonzalez (yes!), Aaron Peskin, Jake McGoldrick, Sophenia Maxwell and Gerardo Sandoval, will all join our hero Tom Ammiano on the board of supervisors. Take that, Willy Brown.

Salon is running a piece on how the internet has ruined San Francisco.

mathowie — Thu, 28 Oct 1999 14:07:15 -0800

Salon is running a piece on how the internet has ruined San Francisco. I have to say I agree 100%. I've lived in Southern California all my life and S.F. has historically been a much cooler, mellower place that I looked forward to visiting. But over the past couple of years, I've found myself travelling up there once every couple months, and every time I go it's busier, more crowded, and everyone is in a bigger hurry. For me, the mystique of S.F. is totally gone. The dotcom riches have ruined the place. [found at Camworld]