I'm a lasagna boy!

McDonald's Book Shops Reopens

Although I thought that McDonald's Book Shop had shuttered its doors for good, a report from the Chronicle informs me that the owner was looking for a buyer and renovating the building.
And what atmosphere: "McDonald's, on Turk Street between Market and Taylor, is surrounded by residential hotels, liquor stores and porn shops. Junkies and alcoholics cluster on the sidewalk out front, shouting obscenities at one another and at passers-by." The shop boasts more than a million shabby items for sale in San Franciso's Skid Row.

Jesus don't cry, Or, Where Are the Satanists?

After your local newspaper inserts "advertisement" New Testament editions into your daily delivery, you want a sticker that says "God is on my shit list". You'll find it at Unamerican, celebrating their tenth irreverent anniversary.

Most national newspapers allow religious advertising on their religion pages, but it's unusual to see a Bible giveaway, said Aly Colón, a teacher at the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit journalism school and think tank.

If newspapers are going to accept that type of advertising campaign, they must also make sure that the newspaper maintains impartiality in its news section, he said.

Editors might want to place a disclaimer in the news portion of the paper to let readers know that the Bible they are receiving is an advertisement, not an editorial endorsement of a religion.

"The key thing is how the newspaper maintains its independence from their product and pays attention to their readership and how it maintains that clear separation," Colón said.

Messages left with the Colorado Springs Gazette for comment about the issue were not returned late Thursday.

Theoretically, members of a another group, such as Satanists, could seek to raise money and distribute copies of the Satanic Bible in newspapers, and publishers who deny them the advertising opportunity could be accused of discrimination.

It's on America's tortured brow

Do you want to IM with Martians? Vinton Cerf considers the possibility.

NASA is already studying designs for a "Mars network" of multiple orbiting relay satellites. These satellites would be launched over a period of years, possibly starting in 2005, and the constellation would be replenished by new launches as older satellites' orbits decay. This would enable connectivity between Earth and Mars much (or even most) of the time. The frequent and relatively high-speed connectivity provided by the planned Mars network wouldn't be as "stable" from minute to minute as a terrestrial backbone.

Ashes to ashes

Brewster Kahle wants to complete the circle of Google's Print service: once physical media are available online, make the books, movies, concerts, et al. available at cost to people everywhere.

The social and policy aspects of the internet archive are phenomenal.
Their first colo is in Alexandria, where once Ptolemy took all of your books for his library (and returned to you a faithful copy, but a copy).

The sacred and the profane

Brad, in discussion of the famed Caltrain party car, mentioned the Profanisaurus. Endless amusement; rib-tickling fun; side-splitting euphemisms. And I got to watch Snatch, a superlatively profane movie.
And while I'm on the movies tip, how about the latest Korean animated flick, "Doggy Poo", in which a dandelion sprout guides an existential turd through the thicket of life? (There's a colouring book for the young 'uns). I suppose this might join Léolo as an all-time classic movie about shit. "Gummo" doesn't count.

peppered spiders

Spider mustard, , is my new favourite salad green.

"Dear John ..."

If you're feeling the love for BART, send 'em an essay telling them why they're "America's #1 transit system" (self-aggrandization complete with stickers), and you might win $500 of BART tickets (which are invalid if damp, bent, or in your wallet).

Steal this bike

Someone stole Reed's bicycle. The most recent issue of Tube Times discusses bike theft in San Francisco, but doesn't talk about the open-air parts market at Civic Center, right in front of City Hall.

One damn song that could make me break down and cry

On the bus to work, listening to David Bowie's oeuvre, as so wonderfully encapsulated by Rykodisc's Sound and Vision box set. When the set came out, I skipped school (11th grade), met my parents for lunch in Oakland, and walked down to Jim's Records (now Paul's CDs) in Bloomfield to pick up the $60 4-cd set (packaged in an elegant album-sized box). At the record shop, I bumped into Josh, also skipping school to buy the same collection, and then walked back homewards through a light rain.

Drive-in Saturday. Young Americans. Station to Station. Speed of Life / Be My Wife. Not only is this the last show of the tour ... it's the last show we'll ever do.

Ryko issued the box set as the precursor to their lavish reissue of Bowie's back catagloue on CD (again out of print!): in addition to remastering all of the albums, they made CDs as beautiful as the original albums. And they put out "3-sided" LPs, in a fit of audiophile geekiness. Their Ziggy Stardust reissue ranks with Capitol / EMI's much-anticipated Pet Sounds box set. Damn I sound like an old hippy.

Expectation and resignation

I met several friends for a meal at a chic, well-established café. We didn't know whether five, or six, or seven would show up; five of us cconverged on the café at the same time. But the hostess would not seat us, pointing to the restaurant's policy that "We will not seat your party until everyone has arrived." This underscores the bottom line: money. Instead of focusing on their clientele, the restaurant focuses of seating as many people as possible in as short a time.
A counter to this is that they are in fact focusing on the guests: they focus on the guests who are there. But they fail to extend the convivial nature of eating to their diners.

It's a tough algorithm to satisfy. I asked the hostess to seat all five of us, that we were five only, but she smelled a rat: "I won't add another chair if someone else shows up," she said (I would add haughtily, but that's editorializing).

We ended up with a table for six, and the waiter kept forgetting items, did not bring our entrées all together (in fact, in two batches twenty minutes apart). But we had a great time together, all six of us. My wallet speaks louder than my dissatisfaction, and I will not again go to this café.

On the non-lethal application of beanbags

I'm frankly quite glad that the police subdued, rather than killed, the deranged man who was setting fires in our local (chain) drugstore

Police on Saturday arrested an incoherent man whom authorities said tried to set several items on fire inside a pharmacy before attempting to hold police at bay with a crude flamethrower.

The man, whom police did not identify, rushed the counter at Walgreens, 499 Haight St., at 11:15 a.m. and knocked medicine bottles from the shelves, police said. He then doused several items, including a display of teddy bears, with lighter fluid and started a small fire, said San Francisco police Sgt. Dan Linehan.

When police arrived, the man attempted to ignite one of the bears and throw it at the officers, then made a primitive flamethrower by spraying the liquid through a flame, Linehan said. Officers then shot the man with a nonlethal beanbag shotgun and handcuffed him.

The suspect was arrested and transported to San Francisco General Hospital. One officer was slightly injured when he was bitten by the suspect during the scuffle. He was being held Saturday night on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer, arson and burglary.