Cheekily choosing a very common enemy, one Oakland startup is gaining tons of press and good will — and fast.

How fast? 5 minutes flat — or, rather, that's how long AirPaper says it can make the usually onerous task of unsubscribing from Comcast.

So many of us are caught in the clutches of cable, an industry many a technology company considers a legacy and whose customer service most agree is ripe for disruption. So, for just $5, AirPaper claims it can save you the grief of dealing with one of Comcast's dreaded "retention specialists" and hours of their wheedling.

"Billions of hours of beautiful human life are lost each year to terrible but required processes." writes AirPaper of the unsubscription process. The startup duo of Earl St Sauver and Eli Pollak met while working at Climate.com and have now received coverage everywhere from TechCrunch to CBS.

"We're dedicated to helping people spend as much time as possible doing the things they love," the company continues, "We love turning bureaucratic processes into surprisingly pleasant processes we call 'AirPapers.'"

You get the hint. Things don't stop with Comcast. Up next is a streamlined, outsourced process for getting a San Francisco parking permit, or for registering for SF Business tax. AirPaper says it won't sell your information, and that it only requires details necessary for the bureaucratic processes in which it engages on your behalf. Let's hope they really do subscribe to those ideals of privacy.

After a snapped support cable struck three cars on the upper deck at around 5:45 p.m., the Bay Bridge was shut down in both directions this evening to check the structural integrity, according to ActionNewsSF.

SFGate reports:

CHP Officer Peter Van Eckhardt said what appeared to be a cable and a steel bracket fell from the eastern span's overhead steel support structure and onto the upper deck. The parts fell at about 5:30 p.m. Eckhardt said the passengers in one vehicle hit by the falling debris were shaken up but not injured.

Mercury News, however, says that one person has been injured.

Expect major delays. Check 511 for updates on traffic.

Update (7:45): Image of Bay Bridge overpass empty after tonight's closure went into effect. CHP is now diverting eastbound traffic onto Fourth Street. Also, Muni line 108 Treasure Island service has been suspended until further notice.

Update (8:08): The bridge will be closed for "at least 24 hours." Vehicles are backed up at the toll plaza. Nightmareish scene tonight, folks.

A new piece by Lauren Smiley in SF Weekly chronicles the demise/transitioning of our local public access TV org, Access SF. The upshot is that Comcast doesn't cover operating expenses anymore, and the City can only pony up a fraction of what the station has been used to running on, providing us with such programs as "If the Christ Returned Today" (tonight at 7 p.m.), "Atheist Viewpoint," (today at 12:30 p.m.), "Tranny Talk TV," "Ace in Your Face," and our favorite nudist 9/11 conspiracy discussion group, "My Naked Truth." The producers of many of these shows are, shall we say, of a generation for whom YouTube is still a confusing and frightening world of flashes and buttons. They are currently in a bit of an uproar over a proposal by the kids at BAVC (Bay Area Video Coalition) to take over and run the city's two public access channels on a YouTube/Current TV model, in which everyone shoots and edits their shit on their own equipment, uploads it to a site, and a minimal staff keeps the channel schedules rolling.

While the idea makes perfect sense to us -- and is based on a successful model taken up by Denver public access -- those who have been producing these shows since the early 90s, like 53-year-old roller-skate daddy, David Miles Jr. of "Skatin' Place," aren't comfortable with the idea of producing their shows without the hand-holding of Access SF's current full-time studio staff.

Scene at Third and Channel Streets.