We know there's no shortage of young, successful, smart people in this town, but we still turn a little green with envy when we hear about guys like Ben Keighran. The Australia native is only 25 years old. After successfully launching bluepulse in his native land in 2002, he took the show on the road and ended up here in the Bay Area. Like another young tech-maestro we recently spoke to, Keighran houses his company in Silicon Valley (in fact, in YouTube's former quarters), but lives here in the city by the bay.... [continue]

Even though he defected to Los Angeles, we were tickled when local fave Keith Knight took home a Harvey Award. Now another Bay Area sequential artist is up for a prestigious comics industry award. Melanie "Minty" Lewis was nominated for an Ignatz Award for her P.S. Comics #3, a book we bought at this years' Alternative Press Expo and totally loved.... [continue]

Here's a video posted on YouTube by the San Francisco State College Republicans. Yes, boo, hiss, etc. -- BUT they were trying to co-host a peaceful memorial for 9/11 victims with their democratic counterparts. Extending the olive branch and, according to the speech the guy gives, trying to whitewash this of political partisanship to whatever extent possible. Of course, some protesters showed up, once again proving that there are just too damned many opinions constrained within this predominately two-party system of ours. ... [continue]

Wired Magazine has an interesting feature piece on what we believe to be one of those "only in San Francisco" kinda businesses: a mechanic who not only specializes in hybrids, but attempts to run a green garage. ... [continue]

There's been much ado about SFFD screw-ups from the top (Mr. h. brown over at sfbulldog.com has actually provided some really interesting insight . . . not that he'll see this hat tip, since he doesn't come out to play much anymore). But if you are interested in seeing some of the day-to-day stuff, documentary style, check this out, courtesy of blip.tv. To quote from the description: "The Battalion is a Web-TV series that follows the lives of the men and women firefighters around the nation. The current season takes place in San Francisco."... [continue]

Sept. 11, 2007 -- Megadeth at the Warfield.... [continue]

This Saturday at the San Francisco Embarcadero Hyatt Regency from noon-4 p.m., you can join KGO Radio and the Mendocino Wine Growers Foundation in celebration of the wines and other good stuff from Mendocino County. The event, called "Wine By The Bay 2007,", is $35 if you buy your ticket now; it'll be ten buck more ($45) at the door. What's exciting to us is that Friend of SFist, Destination Dinners' Lisa Diamond, is scheduled to be interviewed by KGO's Gene Burns during the event for his "Dining Around" program.... [continue]

Dave Eggers, well-known author and tutoring activist via 826 Valencia and its affiliates, has been awarded a grant from the Heinz Family Foundation. $250,000 smackers. ... [continue]

San Rafael-based Edutopia Magazine, which is brought to us by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, looks to the future in its latest issue, identifying 10 ideas or trends that its experts believe can improve K-12 education. We found them thought provoking, and hope you agree. ... [continue]

Photo obviously from whatimseeing.com It seems the guy behind a photo blog called "whatimseeing.com" left us a tip in the contribute section that he treated Frank Chu to an extra baseball ticket he had yesterday. (Please click thru to see all the great photos; we're assuming the writer is blogging anonymously because he censors out his face in the pics). This is possibly the greatest thing ever. We especially like the comment on the... [continue]

A reader that wished to remain anonymous took this pic of a sign affixed to a tree on Chattanooga St. in lovely Noe Valley, where there are dogs (and children) aplenty. The text, for those who have trouble making it out, reads: "Hi Neighbor, need your help. We have soaped in disinfected the area around this tree to free it from the stench of dog urine . . ."... [continue]

The 20th Annual Harvey Awards (named for Harvey Kurtzman, genius cartoonist, founder of MAD Magazine, and lont-time Playboy contributor to boot) were announced this weekend at the Baltimore Comic Con. According to comics news site Newsarama, local cartoonist Keith Knight won in the panel strip category! ... [continue]

We feel way dirty for posting this, but maybe someone cares. According to what is supposedly actually Paris Hilton's blog via some youth-oriented contraption called "MySpace," the omnipresent socialite is going to be at Macy's Union Square tomorrow at 3 p.m. to launch her clothing line.... [continue]

American Airlines flights leaving the San Francisco area will soon be testing an in-flight program that eschews cash. From Sept. 10-Sept. 30, certain flights from the carrier will allow you to purchase cool stuff like $3 headphones and $[way too much] snacks using your major credit or debit card--and ONLY those cards. No legal tender allowed.... [continue]

Edward Gorey's art is perhaps the greatest combination of cute and grotesque we've seen. And it's not just for goth kids; everyone can enjoy the new exhibit at the Cartoon Museum of Art (655 Mission St.) through January 20, 2008.... [continue]

Why on earth would an almost 60-year-old former city councilman from Vallejo want to be on Hell's Kitchen<? To be continually called a "donkey" ("don-keeeeeh!") on route to embarassing yourself on national television?... [continue]

Today, we really enjoyed an interview of Chronicle Executive Editor Phil Bronstein by Julie Haire, an L.A.-based freelance writer, that was published on MediaBistro. And, yes, we confess, part of that enjoyment was due to multiple references to SFist.... [continue]

Ahhh, the lazy days of summer keep on keeping on, yet the commentary here on SFist continues to be fast, furious, fierce, and even funny. We like when you talk back to us about stuff--some of our favorite comments from last week follow.... [continue]

But for those of you that this applies to (or those of you thinking about owning property in the future), consider this a bit of a PSA. Prop 13 will only let the government increase its valuation of your property for tax purposes by 2% -- but should you let them take even that much in a down market (understatement? perhaps; we'll leave that to the experts)? Point is, you might want to think about contesting your revaluation. ... [continue]

With their usual whimsy, those folks from 826 Valenicia celebrated their 5-year anniversary on 8/26. They did so with a community festival at Mission Playground, which is right near the store. Entry was free; folks purchased tickets to engage in many of the activities. Kids and adult-sized kids engaged in music, games, pie-eating contests, and tried their hand at dunking folks. Seemed like everyone was having a swell time for a swell cause.... [continue]