We've heard some pretty good stories of police running bike thief sting operations and stolen bicycles returned through some hawk-eyed Craigslist hunting, but this is a new one: a San Francisco Reddit user has tracked down his pal's stolen bicycle and plans to confront the alleged thief in person today, all while live-streaming the entire encounter for us folks at home.

Under the Reddit account bike_be_gone, the live-streaming vigilante (apparently named Ed) explains the situation:

Meet my friend/neighbor: 1. married with 3 children 2. his wife survived cancer(breast), in remission as of this summer 3. middle kid has auto-immune disease and is hospitalized regularly 4. guy is a designer here in San Francisco, he's the most humble nice guy you've ever met. 5. uses his bike as his primary form of transportation - it's how he gets to work every day.

Someone broke into his garage, broke the lock, and took his bike 2 weeks ago.
Just found it on craigslist in a nearby town.

Gonna go get it back.

Gonna Livestream it from one phone and record it from another. I'll post the link when meeting arrangements have been made, hoping to do it this afternoon!

In updates to the original post, bike_be_gone/Ed says the whole thing should be going down around 2 p.m. today. As of right this second, Ed and the bike's owner (who wishes to remain somewhat anonymous) are on their way to the address from the Craigslist post, somewhere outside the city. The video should come back live when he gets there around 2:45 or so. (It can also be found here on Livestream.com.) We will, of course, be updating, so grab some popcorn:

Update 2:50 p.m. Whoops, it looks like Ed's live-stream account doesn't support embedding, but you can keep an eye on the live-stream right over here and we'll keep posting the lastest videos as we get them. As of about 2:45 p.m. Ed and the bike's owner were about to meet the local police who will accompany them as they confront the alleged bike thief. Nobody will be kicking down any doors or anything since there's no search warrant, but we imagine things could get pretty awkward. Like Chris Hansen-style awkward.

Update 3 p.m. Ed and friend are currently with the cops, discussing their options for getting the bike back. Apparently the bike's owner failed to write down his bicycle's serial number, which does not bode well for getting it back immediately. (Note to bike owners: always write down your bike's serial number! Take a picture of it with your cellphone or something.) Anyway, this might turn out to be less like To Catch A Predator and more like an outtake from The Office:

Update 3:10 p.m. In a surprising turn of events (not that surprising, actually), it turns out the bike was not, in fact, the one stolen from Ed's friend's garage. But it was "so, so similar..." the bike's owner lamented. We believe this is what Reddit would call an "epic fail":

Epilogue: In a final comment posted to his live-stream page, Ed notes that they do think it was the right bike, but that they "buckled under pressure [frowny face]." Either way, the video stands and we can use this as a teachable moment to remember to always keep your bike's serial number in a safe place.

Video streaming by Ustream

Check out the Burning Man Webcast, which, while entertaining you with aural niceties care of 94.5 BMIR, will broadcast the entire festival live 24/7 from the Playa. Whether pro or con Burning Man, you should watch it. The webcast will show you how the entire city comes together in just one week. Fascinating stuff, actually.

For those of you lucky enough to escape the daily rigmarole of life (and can afford ticket prices) and plan on heading to Burning Man for the first time, read SFist's wildly helpful Burner Scribes Bestow Burning Man Tips For Rookies.

Since some of you can't follow directions - unless you're a bitchin' surfer, you're not supposed to go to Ocean Beach, you guys! - here's a livestream of Ocean Beach during today tsunami warning in progress, via Mat Honan (SFGate).

As you can see, not much is going on. Rapid low and high tide fluctuations, but that's about it for San Francisco.

For more information, check back at SFist's continuing Japan quake/tsunami coverage.

Below: video of huge tsunami hitting Japan's coast shortly after the 8.9 earthquake.

If you're stuck at work, you can view the Giants World Series victory parade live on SFist. Loads of confetti, fans, teammates in their own cable car, and orange and black attire as far as the eye can see. (Check out parade photos here!) An historic day for San Francisco and the Bay Area. Congratulations, everyone.

Too old, young, married with children, in the closet, cracked out, hungover or far away to watch this morning's Gay Pride Parade? Relax. You can watch it within the warm, glowing, comforting glow of your computer screen. Check out the parade live at 10 a.m. this morning over SFPrideLive.com, hosted by alleged celebrities Jai Rodriguez, Michelle Meow and Sebastian Kunz.. (An aside:? Where the fuck are Jan Wahl and Donna Sachet? It's not a LGBTTQGLGQ Pride parade without Jan and the Castro district's tranny of note. This is bullshit.) You can also watch it live on Comcast channel 99 starting at 10:30 a.m. Who knows? Coverage might just border on 'almost interesting.' Oh, and also be sure to send SFist your Pride pics. If you want to, that is You can do by by electronically mailing them to editor@sfist.com, or simply tag them with 'sfist' IN Flickr. Have fun, kids.

Want to watch the Inauguration at work? Or at a cafe? Of if it's just you and your laptop stuck on Muni? Check it out at any major news network -- CBS, ABC, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, C-SPAN and BBC -- or over at Hulu, who will be streaming it live.

Or right here at SFist, complete with the sporadic commercial for Blart: Mall Cop.

Update, 8:50 a.m.: Dianne Feinstein just spoke, now Rick Warren is yelling at the TV in the name of God.

Update, 8:55 a.m.: A big bow is attacking Aretha Franklin's head while she sings "My Country, 'Tis of The"

Don't forget to check out Persephone's Bees, The Duke Spirit, The Tings Tings and Hot Tub, tonight at Rickshaw Stop. It's going to be an awesome night of music. The concert starts at 8pm and tickets are $15.

Take the jump for full concert listings...

Ordinarily at this time Ted's gearing up for South by Southwest, where he would be grinning from ear to ear, seeing the bands you'll be listening to next year, tracking down people for yet another celebrity station ID, and radiating joy wherever he goes. However, this year he might not make it - the station is what Ted does, and it can't pay his way this time around. Fans of the station have started a drive to Send Ted to SXSW - and we here at SFist are happy to do our part to help. If you can, click over to his pad and flip him what you can. Ted has given as much as anyone to San Francisco music; it would be nice if he got a little back.