Delicious, effervescent cold remedy Airborne, it seems, exaggerated their sniffle-fighting prowess. Turns out they faked their clinical trials, and are now offering you, the customer, some cash back. According to a 2006 ABC report: Airborne said that a double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted with “care and professionalism” by a company specializing in clinical trial management, GNG Pharmaceutical Services. GNG is actually a two-man operation started up just to do the Airborne study. There was......

Multi-instrumentalist Evan Farrell passed away from smoke inhalation after a space heater in the Oakland apartment he was staying in caught on fire last week. Based in Bloomington, Indiana, Evan had flown to the Bay Area to play with his band Japonize Elephants, who are based in San Francisco/Oakland and originated in Bloomington. Evan also played bass, keys, and vocals for Rogue Wave up until early this year, touring with them in 2005 and......

While the real photo of the day should have gone to this, we got all Sophie's Choice over picking just one. So, the winner is this guy. Why? Because it's freezing today. (Yeah, yeah. We know that today's weather is positively balmy for our readers coming from Indiana, the Arctic, Prussia, or wherever on earth you sprouted. But for some of us, it's downright glacial.) Thus: the award goes to some gent sporting a......

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a......

Aaieeeee!! Just when you thought the Another Hole In The Head Indiefest horror film fest was over and it was safe to go back outside..... NO!!! Local stand-up splatter comics the Primitive Screwheads are presenting their blood-soaked Night of the Living Dead show, that both mocks -- and fears! -- the zombies stalking our land. $21, Doors at 7, show at 8, at the Hole in the Head Playhouse at 1333 Indiana (x 25th, in......

The "Celebrities Doing Things" reality TV trend continues tonight on ABC with "Fast Cars & Superstars." This sounds almost as stupid as that show that had LaToya Jackson arresting people in Indiana. Is it any surprise the "celebrities" in this reality show/product placement vehicle include the likes of Jewel, William Shatner, and wrestler John Cena? Of course, we've never understood the tremendous popularity of NASCAR racing, so we'll admit we aren't the demographic for......

Here's a list of things to do tonight...

Here's todays sports wrap up...

We were listening to the traffic reports a few days ago when one of the radio announcers said that there was a problem on 280 because a naked woman was spotted walking around the highway. All the deejays laughed, of course, so the traffic guy had to say over and over again that it was a true story. And you know what? It was a true story. Even crazier, police think there might be a connection between her and the murder of a transgender person. ...

You feel important standing there, in the cold of the Tenderloin night, hitting the buzzer next to the intimidating big brown door, a group of friends behind you, all just like you—a little nervous and curious as to what will be behind that door, or if you will even be let in. When the door does crack open there’s a pretty hostess on the other side, looking the crowd of you over suspiciously, as if she were your paranoid aunt in Indiana, unsure of even answering the door so late at night. Except your not in Indiana, your smack in the middle of one of San Francisco’s ugliest neighborhoods, eagerly waiting to be given entry into the much talked about Bourbon & Branch. You’re let in only after you give the pretty gatekeeper the password, which none of you want to mutter, mostly because you feel like an asshole not being let into a bar before saying a password. To be clear, you can’t say, “Roger, party of six”, you have to say “Boogie Boogie”, or some equally ridiculous word or phrase given to you after you made your reservations at the exclusive Bourbon and Branch....

-In the biggest game of the year, the Warriors stepped up and beat on the Indiana Pacers with ex-Pacer Stephen Jackson leading the way. What does it all mean? ...

If you were born after 1994 you have no idea what it's like. If you're a long-time fan, you might have a hazy, vague recollection of it. If you come from places like Los Angeles, Chicago, or Miami, you desperately miss it. We're talking a big game -- more specifically, a Warriors big game. An important game. A game that means something besides wrapping up a Lottery pick or nudging out Seattle or Memphis for the 11th overall spot in the Western Conference.

Tonight the Warriors play the Indiana Pacers in their biggest, most important game of this season or possibly the last 10 seasons. If the Dubs win, their slight hopes for the last playoff spot in the WC remain on life support; if they lose, consider the plug pulled on yet another failed season.

You can exhale Warriors fans, there is hope. The universe works in mysterious ways, and yesterday, it worked for the Warriors.

Just when the flagging team needed it, on a day when they could only suit up seven players in a loss to the Clippers (as predicted by our LAist comrades), the Warriors announced that they had pulled off an almost unbelievable eight-player trade with the Indiana Pacers. And there is more good news. Some how, some way, VP of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin convinced his Indiana counterpart, Larry Bird, to take Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy. That's right! The Warriors unloaded both baby Duns and Man-o-War in one fell swoop. And it keeps getting better. In return, Mullin snagged Al Harrington to help bolster the frontcourt lineup and guard Stephen Jackson to, uh, help with the police lineup. Both teams also threw in a couple of redshirts to level out the financials and collective bargaining requirements, but even the redshirts are looking good.

We're just as taken with the shiny new mall downtown as you are, but once you're inside it you may as well be in Wayne, New Jersey. Charm your friends and family this holiday season with some gifts you can only get in our lovely city, and rest easy knowing that you're helping local businesses and crafters thrive. Don't know all the local talent San Francisco has to offer, or where to shop for it? We're here for you....

We won't say the Democrats are confident right now, but we hear Nancy Pelosi is already asking her staff to refer to her only as Madame Speaker, Ms. Speaker if you're nasty. Democrats are so confident these days that Kos himself weighed in yesterday to say that everyone is getting too confident. Hell, Democrats are so confident these days that they're starting to wonder if Nancy being in charge is really such a great idea. ...

Expect Google to take a lot of crap over the next few weeks as the company has basically just popped their proverbial political cherry. What they've done is they've gone and set up their very own PAC, a PAC which is taking the first step to courting-- wait for it-- Republicans. Yep, that's Google, siding up to the party of Mr. Evil himself, Karl Rove. To help them, they've hired as lobbyists two ex-Republican Senators, Dan Coats of Indiana and Connie Mack of Florida. And on Wednesday, Google will take part in their first political fundraiser, for Republican Congresswoman Heather Wilson. ...

Celebrate Ben Franklin's 300th birthday with the Bikini Bandits and Phillyist! (NSFW). Speaking of Mr. Franklin, send in a picture of Ben (or Ed Rendell) with a red tongue and win a free t-shirt. And they might have the next YearlyKos in Philly. You know who's going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater. LAist's sex advice column on......

Our friends over at Shanghaiist brought our attention to Mercer Human Resource Consulting's annual quality of living (ack! PDF) report, which ranks the world's cities by quality of living The Quality of Living index is based on several criteria used to judge whether an expatriate is entitled to a hardship allowance. A city with a high Quality of Living index is a safe and stable one, but it may be lacking the dynamic je......

We thought the snow was weird enough, but what about last night's sudden thunderstorm? For about half-an-hour last night, the heavens provided better water pressure than we get in our apartment. Did you get caught in the downpour last night? We did. We exited the Castro Muni station a little after 6 last night, and were immediately completely soaked (amazingly, our SFist messenger bag remained impervious to the elements). The cause of the deluge:......

San Francisco seems a little darker this week, with the passing of former Chronicle photo editor Bob McLeod this Monday. This SFist only knew Bob a little bit. Our most vivid memory of him is from a night we spent in the Chronicle building, the night the Pacers and Pistons got into it. We were hanging out in the photo lab (which we're prone to do), watching the fight and subsequent replays of it......

La Cumbre, on Valencia at 16th, is the kind of place people tell visitors to San Francisco to go to get some "real Mission Mexican." Heck, it's the sort of place we can imagine bringing out-of-town folks ourselves, in an effort to show them the world beyond our late, lamented (for the booze and sentimental reasons, not the food) Chi-Chi's. In fact, the smartest folks we know -- that is, SFist Interview subjects --......

Realtor-slash-blogger Matt Lanning points up a new information site, San Francisco Bay Window, for that rare beast known as a San Francisco homeowner. Hey, it's free to dream, right? Cheesecake Factory employees dreamed of being able to take breaks, and now their dream has come true. The video game industry is none too happy about Arnold Schwarzenegger signing Leland Yee's bill restricting minors from purchasing 'mature' titles -- the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association is......

We guess all those Bay Guardian warnings about the dangers of gentrification are coming true because in a study trying to determine what's a conservative city and what's a liberal city, San Francisco only came in as the seventh most liberal city in the country. See what happens when you let a bunch of Yuppies move in? The most liberal city? Detroit, followed by Gary Indiana, Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana. San Francisco was even beaten by local brethren Berkeley (third) and Oakland (fifth) which does mean that we can say that we are the most liberal area in the country. In case you were wondering, the most conservative cities are Provo, Utah and Lubbock, Texas, two cities we're sure we'll see hosting MTV's "Real World" real soon....

We're bored silly just looking at most of the new releases this weekend, which have striken us with a malaise so severe we can't even summon the energy to make fun of Mick LaSalle. There's only one cure for the illness we're suffering from: the magical healing power of Madonna. That's right, folks, Midnight Mass at the Bridge Theater continues this week with Sing-Along Truth or Dare. (We can still remember sitting in the......

SFist has been so busy listening that we have barely found time to read. But remember, nothing is a better accompaniment to your favorite Quannum tracks than a book reserved from the San Francisco Public Library. And a close second would be those books purchased from our local independent bookstores. SFist Emily needed a break from studying this week. Luckily one of her roommates had the vaccous antidote for her over worked brain: He's Just......

Having trouble picking what to rent next from Netflix? Bought every DVD in existence and need to see what'll be out this week? Really bored at work and looking for something to read? Well, we here at SFist are here to help with a listing of some of the big titles being released this week on DVD. And if you're still having trouble deciding, we'll give you our very own Pick o' the Week. Here......