San Francisco

[King Bob]

I also saw a coffee roaster/cafe on Columbus about across from the playground/pool that looked good. I think I need to come back and poke around North Beach some, and also head over to City Lights. I haven't been there in over 20 years.

In my drive all over SF yesterday, I went through the Broadway tunnel, and I don't think I've been through there since I was about five. I distinctly remember my dad driving us through there once. I also drove past Swensen's, which I had forgotten was still there.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I also saw a coffee roaster/cafe on Columbus about across from the playground/pool that looked good. I think I need to come back and poke around North Beach some, and also head over to City Lights. I haven't been there in over 20 years.

In my drive all over SF yesterday, I went through the Broadway tunnel, and I don't think I've been through there since I was about five. I distinctly remember my dad driving us through there once. I also drove past Swensen's, which I had forgotten was still there.

You are hitting the highlights. Coffee culture in North Beach is mostly stuck in 1990’s Italian mode. Not bad, but not good, either. Combine it with cafe people-watching, however, and it is all good. Warn me next time you are in a North Beach mood and I’ll try to join you or at least give you the skinny.

City Lights is one of my least favorite bookstores due to the super-snooty staff. OTOH, if it is Literature (with a capital L) you are looking for, it is the place.

[King Bob]

I have a fondness for City Lights because I went in there once and they were playing a rare Miles Davis live album that I had never heard of, and it was amazing music. I used to enjoy browsing the poetry because they had so much. But since I never buy new books anymore, maybe I'd skip it. (I have so much trade credit at Recycle that I almost never go anywhere else.)

[Drunk Monk]

I too have a fondness for City Lights because I left my SF status behind decades ago. I’d always stop in on my way to Eastwind back in the day. But I seldom buy new books either. I got so many books.

[King Bob]

Couldn't find time to see a Yeti in it's natural habitat, but I did get a few minutes to head over to Bird & Beckett bookstore in Glen Park, a part of town I'd never been to. It's a nice store. Good selection of literature and poetry, and a small but good selection of SF. One of those old school cramped places with too many books for the shelves. I found a reprint of a dystopian SF novel from the 20s on the clearance cart. Did a lot of schlepping for the wedding reception. It was at the Sunnyside Conservatory on Monterey. It's a nice place in a lush garden. Glad to be home. Too much family time, and not enough silence for me.

[thatguy]

BART-Man is the public transit hero the Bay Area needs
Dan Gentile, SFGATE
May 4, 2021Updated: May 4, 2021 7:29 a.m.

BART-man make way!

BART unveils cool anime mascots to woo youth riders

Rusty Blazenhoff 2:11 pm Fri  May 26, 2023 
[img=742x0]https://i0.wp.com/boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Anime-BART.png?fit=1&resize=620%2C4000&ssl=1[/img]
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), a public transportation system in the San Francisco Bay Area, has found a fun new way to appeal to youth riders. Answering an open call for anime mascot designs, local artists sent in a over 500 submissions. The winning five designs draw inspiration from local Bay Area characters, like Pac-Man, the Harris hawk employed to shoo away pigeons, the grazing goats that eat away at overgrown BART properties, and the hardworking frontline workers of BART itself.
KRON:

BART's anime mascots include:

• "Baylee The GOAT," a "star online influencer" inspired by the goats BART hires to graze the East Bay hills
  
  
• "Nimus Bard of BART," a "historian with a hawk companion," inspired by Pac-Man the hawk
  
  
• "Jasmine #1 Transit Fan," inspired by BART fans who attended last year's 50th anniversary celebrations
  
  
• "Mira the Train Operator," a train operator character inspired by actual BART train operators
  
  
• "BARTY," an R2-D2-type character inspired by BART's legacy fleet
  

If you're in the San Jose, California area this weekend, you can meet the new mascots:

BART's anime mascots will make their formal debut at FanimeCon, a popular anime convention held at McEnery Convention Center in Downtown San Jose from May 26 to 29. BART staff will be tabling at the convention and will have BART-themed anime merchandise, promotional tickets, collectible charms and postcards, and more. 

—tg

[Greg]

Time to visit San Francisco

Victor Tangermann

Mon, August 14, 2023, 11:48 AM PDT

Horniness remains undefeated. Case in point? Passengers are apparently getting it on in the backseat while their driverless robotaxi ferries them to their destination in San Francisco.
As the San Francisco Standard reports, the added privacy of not having a pesky driver judging you appears to be lowering inhibitions in the self-driving cabs that are now rapidly taking over the city.
"We got in and just got straight to it, making out," Megan, a woman in her 20s, who recently took a Cruise ride in the city, told the Standard. "One thing led to another, and he made sure that I was taken care of, if you will."
Things only got more steamy from there.

"I was like, 'I have no underwear on, and I am ready to go in this kimono,'" she added. "And I was using his slippers that were like five sizes too big."
Hilarity aside, it's a fascinating glimpse at the future of passenger vehicle transportation. Inside the autonomous vehicles of tomorrow, drivers are no longer stuck behind the wheel, allowing them to, well, do other things.
Megan's anonymous accomplice admitted to performing sex acts in robotaxis at least six times, including three "full-on" sessions.
"I mean, there's no one to tell you, 'You can't do that,'" he told the newspaper. "It gets to the point where you're more and more and more comfortable, and if you're with someone, like a more serious partner, it can escalate to other activities."
For years, General Motors' Cruise and Google's Waymo have been operating driverless robotaxis in the Bay Area city. The cars have sometimes wreaked chaos in the city, bringing traffic to a standstill on a number of occasions.
And they can be dangerous, too. Reports of collisions and near-misses have become almost commonplace. Earlier this year, one Cruise vehicle even plowed into an active firefighting scene.
None of that seems to have dissuaded riders from copulating while on the road. Oddly enough, the Standard wasn't able to confirm any Waymo riders to have had sex during rides — only Cruise.
But whether Megan and her date will get away with their deed remains unclear. In fact, there's a chance Cruise will have their sex tape stored on its servers, privacy implications be damned.
"We record video inside of the car for added safety and support," Cruise's websitereads. "If something happened during your ride, we might review the recording to better understand what happened."
And if they were caught, it could be game over.
"We're working hard to make sure our service is safe, clean, and open to everyone, and riders agree to do their part when they sign up to use our service," a Cruise spokesperson told the Standard. "We will take appropriate action against anyone who violates those guidelines."
But that kind of policy won't stop Megan and her date.
"I was just along for the ride," she said. "Literally."

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Still don’t like ‘em.

[Greg]

Driverless taxis in a city like San Francisco just seems like a bad idea.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Driverless taxis in a city like San Francisco just seems like a bad idea.

It is.

[King Bob]

Agreed. On Sunday we just drove into the city and back out, and were delayed both times by driverless car failures.

There was a segment on NBC news, where the reporter was in the car, and it got confused by construction, and turned hard toward the median and stopped, blocking two lanes. After twenty minutes, a guy came to drive it away. And the exec from the company said that the car was confused by construction, so it came to a stop, which was reasonable! Reasonable to stop at a 45 degree angle in the middle of the road and block two lanes? The arrogance is amazing.

[thatguy]

I like to think of them as lightly trained, very large animals that can get spooked easily. 



--tg

[Drunk Monk]

Driverless taxis in a city like San Francisco just seems like a bad idea.

It is.

I see your driverless taxis and raise you a driverless bus...

[King Bob]

Just read in the Mercury that the DMV told Cruise to cut the number of cars on the street by 50%. The passenger injury no doubt played a part. And I guess unlike the PUC, a former Cruise exec wasn't voting on it.

[King Bob]

Apparently much of SF is built on top of cemetaries: Lost SF graveyards