It's wet. Very wet. [SFGate] Lunching in the Financial District. (And, OMG, the most darling thing ever: an escaping escape key!) [Gridskipper]British satirist (is there any other kind?) throws down les bon mots on subprime mortgages. [Valleywag]"Love," it seems, "is the answer." [Curbed]Mecca is on deathwatch. [Eater]New Chron editor revealed: Ward E. Bushee. [SFGate]Diplo is coming, and we couldn't be more elated. Seriously. [ASD]Michael Vick's dogs--as well as this insanely hot piece of tail......

A photo of the FiDi at night with holiday lighting...

As Financial District blocks go, the 200 block of Front St. is notable for the human scale on which it’s built. The tallest buildings here between Sacramento and California rise a mere five stories. There’s plenty of potted foliage to counteract those “concrete jungle” accusations often lobbed this neighborhood’s way. No less than three popular, sit-down restaurants line its sidewalks. And unlike how things get on canyon-shadowed Sansome St. two blocks to the west, sunlight enjoys more than 15 minutes of daily fame on this stretch of Front. There’s more white-collar bustle than hustle occurring here toward the latter end of the lunch hour on an autumn Friday. Women slow their usual breakneck gait on the return to the office, while men dressed down to the eights in business-casual wear (it is a Friday, after all) appear to have dialed down their strides as well. Some women are decked out in heels and skirts, while others go less formal in flats and pants, but to their credit, it’s clear there’s no single look among them. The men? Not quite. We see the same striped shirt (always tucked in, of course) on three different men between the ages of 25-40 in under an hour....

Is anyone else's power going out every five to ten minutes today? Annoying. So far we have reports from One Market, Harrison/Fourth Street, UCSF Mission/Bay, parts of the Financial District -- the general downtown/SOMA area. What's more, we (and, most likely, you) have already lost several documents. Jesus Christ, make it stop. Really now. UPDATE: sites like Craigslist, Live Journal (ONTD!), VOX, and Yelp are temporarily down due to either thes power outages or punchy......

There's a lot to love about the Tadich Grill, that venerable San Francisco institution. We've eaten there many times before, and there are some things some folks don't get about it that we appreciate. We're not crazy about the cost -- 1849 cuisine, and we're low on gold nuggets. But please indulge us as we share some of the finer points of the Tadich experience, which ultimately make an occasional visit well worth it. ...

Photo of s sign prohibiting photography in Russian Hill...

Hey, it looks like today's theme is MUNI. But who doesn't love stories about MUNI? Anyways, the Chron did a story and discovered that MUNI has a lot of problems right now, mainly that it's on time only 70% of the time. That's 15% lower than mandated by Prop E. In fact, only three lines approach the 85% mark....

All you 9-to-5ers out there who loathe working, Aim Low Kid's got your number. Their debut album, aptly titled, Soundtrack for the New Depression, is a handbook for the thinking working folk. Listen to their track Couple Dozen People and imagine any given day in the Financial District. Since we happen to be engaged to lead singer Daniel Phifer, we get asked what Aim Low Kid sounds like quite a lot. We usually get frustrated......

Busses of all sorts have us in a tizzy these days. Got Milk? With our MUNI wait? That seems so 1993 and wrong! When we think of the smells of baked cookies, we feel a combo of anticipation, hunger, happiness, and youthful delight. Of course, that's assuming the doughy, chocolatey smells come from a real kitchen (preferably our own) and are not competing with cigarette smoke, exhaust fumes, urine, barf, or rancid food....

If you happen to be walking down the street this week and hear this sonic boom over your head and the street rumble, it's not the Kin Jong Il finally launching one of his Dong Rockets, it's just that time of the year again, Fleet Week. This year featuring, once again, the Blue Angels. ...

One hundred years ago this month, San Francisco survived an earthquake. You may have heard of it. Well, despite the odds (and the sky-high earthquake insurance rates), people keep moving here, and San Francisco's celebrating 100 years of rebirth and survival. The big day is April 18. And there's no shortage of things to do! Just to pick events randomly: the Commonwealth Club is holding a panel discussion about the 1906 quake on April 17. The SF Fire Department's historical society is sponsoring the 1906 Expo at Pier 48, from April 15-17, which will feature historical exhibits and modern-day preparedness events (and a costume party!). And City Hall will host a photo exhibit about post-1906 rebuilding (and a show about the PUC and Hetch Hetchy. It's so Bay Guardian!). And, like they have for the last 35 years, history buffs will meet at Lotte's Fountain on 3rd and Market, and then paint gold the one hydrant in SF that didn't fail in 1906 (on 20th and Dolores). Warning, though, the fountain meetup starts at 4:30 a.m., because that's when the quake hit. Adding insult to injury (if the quake itself wasn't injurious or insulting enough), they're expecting huge crowds for this event, to the tune of giant screens on Market Street showing the scene in closed-caption. The fountain gets painted at 7:30 a.m. We sincerely hope KRON 4 labels this program clearly so we can just TiVo it to watch later. Lots and lots and lots of other events after the jump -- we'll try and update this periodically as the big day gets closer. Let us know if we've left anything out too! Picture of the post-quake Financial District from the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco...

The family and friends of missing local man Jerry Tang have been doing a good job of keeping themselves in the public eye, with a recent appearance on KTVU and pursuit of a new lead. On January 7, the Financial District, North Beach, and SOMA were canvassed based on a December 16 possible sighting by a security guard in the 1 California area. In that sighting: (A) security guard was walking the perimeter of 1......

It's raining buckets out there. It's raining so hard, it's practically washed the streets of North Beach clean of tourists. Not only that, but we're getting some exciting thunder and lightning! Man are we glad we got all our moving done last weekend -- we saw one poor soul driving an open-bed pickup that had wood furniture and an uncovered mattress. Moving a mattress is one thing, moving a wet mattress is really gonna......

Send your submissions to yvesdroppings - at - gmail - dot - com. Hoodie Girl: I think only residents of the dorms are allowed to bring in guns. -- Outside an Academy of Art building Lady on cellphone: I don't care to exercise with people who I see socially. -- Yvesdropped on by Bill, at Draeger's Market in Menlo Park Hipster: There's nothing more pathetic than a naked man falling down. -- Orbit Room......

Since there’s so many places that went to all the trouble of getting a liquor license, Barrespondent Drew feels like it’s his responsibility to try them all out. And even if he doesn’t get a Nobel Prize for it, getting drunk is an acceptable consolation. Since we live in such an unfortunate time when most people have to work for a living, the ‘after work’ bar is an unfortunate necessity of life. All those ‘nine......

The East Bay's Casual Commute just got a little more codified with today's Chron cover story about the cheapest way to get across the Bay Bridge. We've never been able to find a website explaining the casual commute phenomenon, or where exactly to pick up rides -- though we have seen groups of artists-working-day-jobs, slumming consultants, and other downtown denizens patiently lined up on various corners in Berkeley and Rockridge waiting on corners around 8 in the morning. Thanks to the Chron for publishing the definitive list! So the trick with cas. commute is that East Bay denizens looking to get to San Francisco meet up at designated points with drivers who are looking to get three people for the free Bay Bridge carpool lane. Once in the car, the casual commute rules are famous: no chitchat unless the driver initiates; no cell phone calls; driver's radio should be set on NPR, classical, or jazz; no food. Riders are dropped off in SoMA (though sometimes a driver will agree to take you up to the Financial District if it's along their way.). But rule-breakers are legion. One friend who casual-commutes reports a lawyer blabbing on and on about his cases on his cell phone without ever figuring out one of his companions in the car was a federal judge, much to the snickerings of the rest of the people in the car (a carful of lawyers is apparently not otherwise notable, we guess). The Chron also reports that one environmentalist will open the door to SUVs waiting in line, shout at them for despoiling our earth, and then slam the door and move to the next car in line. Awesome. Any good casual commute stories out there? ...

Growing increasingly worried about safety, the union representing MUNI bus drivers have requested that the SFPD provide them with a dedicated police force....