The big news this post-Xmas weekend was, of course, that little punk who boarded the plane in Nigeria and tried to blow up that Northwest/Delta flight landing in Detroit on Friday. He failed, of course, but fearing that there are more sleeper operatives out there trying to bring down planes using similar measures, the TSA has imposed a slew of "unpredictable" new restrictions and precautions, including (according to the passengers in the ABC 7 video that follows) not letting passengers out of their seats for the last hour of the flight, and not telling passengers when they would be landing. International travelers are being subjected to all kinds of new pat-downs and interrogations, and there were a number of reported incidents of suspicious persons being escorted off planes. more ›

From 7 a.m. to noon on Christmas Day, KTVU 36 will air the famous holiday log, which will set your TV set ablaze while KOIT easy-listening holiday tunes coo softy in the background. (Sadly, we can't say they won't play the worst Christmas carol of all time: "Christmas In San Francisco." it'll be in heavy rotation, we assume.) more ›

Light winds and cool, dry air predicted for the end of the week may be a bad, smoke-trapping combo with the addition of wood burning fires. So the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is asking residents to check this site for updates tomorrow and Friday to see whether wood burning fires will be permitted -- or you can sign up for alerts here. Unfortunately, these Spare the Air days seem to keep falling on holidays when people like to light fires, with the first one this season happening to fall on Thanksgiving day. We, ourselves, don't have a fireplace or know anyone who does, but we can see how this might be a bummer. [via the Oakland Tribune] more ›

Courtesy of Big Cat Rescue comes this adorable holiday video featuring tigers, lions, and a baby leopard chewing open some Xmas gifts! Let's just try to enjoy these lovely animals and put that ugly incident of two Xmases ago behind us, shall we? more ›

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During the week between Christmas and New Year's, Yahoo! is furloughing most of their 13,000 employees or forcing them to use remaining vacation days, in order to trim costs on their end-of-year balance sheet. Though it's not uncommon for Silicon Valley companies like Apple and Adobe to shut down during this last week of the year, tech expert Rob Enderle notes in the above segment from ABC7 that, as a media company, this shut-down is a little more awkward than it would be at a software or manufacturing company. more ›

Last week, Mayor Gavin Newsom kicked off a new online communication series on YouTube, ingeniously christened "Mayor Newsom's YouTube Update." Yeah. But it's kinda cool, actually, where in each week Newsom sits down in front of a marble fireplace and talks to SF denizens, saying, "What's up, yo? Here's what I've been up to..." more ›

"Frosty Chu" by Flickr user moppet65535. more ›

While shooting in Union Square the other day, local photographer Henry Navarro came across this arresting scene. He describes it: more ›

"Holly Jolly" by Darwin Bell. more ›

This video's already gotten around the past couple of days, but just in case you missed it: It's a kid, playing "Guitar Hero," but the screen is made of Christmas lights. Is this an actual working game or just something that got rigged up for YouTube's sake? We suspect the latter, but anyhow... fun! [via Laughing Squid] more ›

The Muppets have been up to all kinds of new web stuff lately -- like this revived "Bohemian Rhapsody" that we shared a few weeks back -- and now we have this delightful version of the classic "Carol of the Bells" performed by the Swedish Chef, Beaker, and Animal. For an alternate version, please refer to Destiny's Child's "Opera of the Bells" from a few years back. more ›

What do you get when you couple a torrentially rainy day with the now annual SantaCon in which people gather in SF (and around the globe) to lead citywide bar crawls and/or flash mobs all dressed as Santa? You get a lot of wet, drunk people in who smell a little like wet dogs -- but nevertheless, the party went on yesterday, and there was an all-day dance party at Triple Crown for those who wanted to huddle indoors with their PBR rather than traipse around the city with others dressed in red. A little bit of rain wasn't going to stop these determined drinkers from having a festive good time! See a few pics here (more possibly coming), or check out this extensive slideshow by Gretchen Robinette over at the Weekly. more ›

If you've got the means, or if you're going to be up in Napa and need a special-occasion date place between now and December 19th, look no further than the 12 Days of Christmas events at Meadowood in St. Helena. Guest chefs from around the country join resident chef (and Eater's Hottest Chef contest front-runner) Christopher Kostow in Meadowood's kitchen each night to create a special menu to be paired with wines from a local vineyard. We had the pleasure of joining them for Day 4, featuring Los Angeles chefs/Food Network stars Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Animal, serving up a protein-rich, five-course meal alongside Schramsberg Vineyards sparkling wines -- and one Cabernet from Schramsberg's still wine label, J. Davies. The meal was totally worth the trek up there, and we'd also recommend -- as a special holiday splurge -- booking a room at Meadowood's onsite resort so you can avoid the drive home until the next morning. See a few shots of the food porn from Day 4 here. more ›

Nothing says Christmas like a drag performance, right? New York-based drag performer Mimi Imfurst is doing the second of two shows tonight in San Francisco at Finn's Funhouse (814 Grove St) of her show "Madonna's Christmas Celebration" -- and that's The Madonna, as opposed to "Like a Virgin" Madonna. Tickets are still available, and judging from the preview vid above, it looks like a straight-up, good old fashioned comedy drag medley show, heavy on pop song parodies and Sarah Palin jokes. more ›

This should please those commenters whose knee-jerk response to any and all posts regarding transit woes is "Get a bike.": UPS, who lately has been bombarding us with those ads with the white-board guy in a lady wig, is going inadvertently green this holiday season. Due to the unsustainable costs of renting extra trucks to accommodate delivery of holiday packages, UPS is employing bicycles with little trailers towed behind them in select neighborhoods around the Bay Area. more ›

Although it's still rather warm outside, the Holiday Ice Rink at Union Square officially opened this morning. SF Appeal/Bay City News informed us that a snow machine will drop snow on the rink throughout the day, and members of the national figure skating team will be performing at 5 p.m. today. Apparently they also performed at Noon as well. Did anyone see the show? more ›

What with Christmas and Hanukkah right around the coroner, this Muni bus is the perfect gift for the holiday season. Starting out at $2,300.00 on eBay, this 1984 articulated 60-ft MAN bus began life carrying passengers throughout the streets of San Francisco before being hauled down to SoCal to star in the movie The Italian Job and a couple of other small television bit parts. This Muni bus is still in its original condition, complete with of-its-era colors, logos, and original roll signs. more ›