It's a short Swells this week! more ›

We saw the saddest obituary last week in the Chron, for the death of Sarah Tucker, a 26-year-old Mission resident who was killed in a hit-and-run bicycle accident on Polk and Geary Street on Thursday January 12. Witnesses reported seeing a black Honda CRV run a yellow light, and heard Tucker loudly shout "Hey!" before she was struck. The driver, reported to be an African-American man in his 40s, then turned off his headlights to hinder the reading of his license plate and drove away. Tucker, who was wearing her helmet, suffered severe head injuries and died shortly afterwards. Tucker, as she was known, was returning home from the Tango, Tango dance party when she was killed. Tucker was a fundraiser for the Cal Academy of Sciences by day and a filmmaker/DJ at night, volunteering for the SF Film Society, screening movies for the SF Int'l Film Fest, and running the Pretty Young Thing dance party at the Make-Out Room, among many other activities. As the obit says, "Sarah loved pugs, soul music, dancing, acronyms, sticky buns, fashion and aesthetics." If you see a black Honda CR-V with a large dent in its side on the passenger door, call SFPD Inspector Pat Tobin of the hit-and-run division at (415) 553-1641 or the confidential tip line (415) 575-4444. There's a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Please, folks, ride and drive safely out there. You probably love pugs and sticky buns too. more ›

Clap your hands say Wednesday! Tonight: Have a mellow hump day in that interregnum between Christmas and New Year's and check out the Mission-area Community Music Center's jazz clinic performance at the Savanna Jazz Club on Mission between 25th and 26th Streets at 7:30. Thursday: After trying and failing to return to Virgin that horrendous joke CD you won in the office Christmas pool ("come on! It's still shrink-wrapped!"), stop by Union Square and watch the Bill Graham menorah get the fifth candle lit at 5 p.m. Friday: Well, no one's going to try and swallow an alligator here or anything, but the Academy of Sciences will be conducting its weekly snake feedings at the Steinhart Aquarium today. Most of the snakes will be fed humanely-euthanized mice and rats, but the Burmese whipsnakes will be fed fish. Feedings start at 2, and we're guessing no, they will not allow you to wear a python like Britney Spears either. Don't forget the Academy of Sciences has temporarily moved to SoMA. Picture of Ned McAllister with a snake from the Academy of Sciences webpage more ›

It just keeps raining and raining and raining -- and we all know what rain brings: besides lovely May flowers and extended flight delays, rain in San Francisco means.... ants. When their dirt nests get washed out, they come pouring up out of the earth and into your kitchen and bathrooms. Aaaaaagh! We hate ants! During the 1998 El Nino, when we lived in a basement apartment, our bathroom looked like it had been tiled in black, that's how many ants there were. When we complained to the landlords, they shrugged and said, "all of San Francisco is an anthill." Others complained about finding ants that had climbed into the refrigerator water supply and frozen into the ice cubes, and a guy in the Marina turned on his shower and saw ants falling out. Ewwwwwww! If you've got ant problems, the best insecticide is boric acid with a little sugar, or you can try and seal off their entry points in your house with caulk. Or detergent. Meanwhile, stop by the Cal Academy of Science's ants exhibit to learn more/be grossed out beyond belief. more ›

Come celebrate the recently relocated Cal Academy of Science museum, now on Howard between 4th and 5th Streets and the rejuvenation of their exhibit on ants. (We would have used the picture of the big ant colony [scroll down] to illustrate this posting but -- well, it freaked us out. Sorry.) more ›