We were on the 7 a few days ago and four gutterpunk types were complaining about how the city had taken their stuff from camps in Golden Gate Park. One of them, a long-haired fellow with a small backpack and very large pants, went on and on about how he was going to get a grant to put GPS chips in all of his things so he could get them back. Who, exactly, would pay......

So we're reading this morning in the Chronicle about the "Frozen Bun Run" on Bethel Island in Contra Costa County, where fun-loving polar bears go water-skiing on the Sacramento River every New Year's Day. And here's the paragraphs that caught our eye: Take Josh Wolf. With the water at 47 degrees and the air outside at a comparatively balmy 49.2 degrees, Wolf decided he didn't need to wear his shorts while wakeboarding in front of......

Well, maybe they're not sending human evacuees to the Bay Area anymore, but we're definitely taking the four-legged kind -- the first organized evacuation of pets from the devastated Gulf Coast arrived at SFO yesterday afternoon. The flight had a layover in San Diego, where 50 dogs were dropped off, and then flew to San Francisco with 30 dogs and 20 cats. The airlift was organized by Texas philanthropist T. Boone Pickens, who donated $50,000 to charter the plane and is seeking more donations to charter more planes to airlift out another 30,000 animals (with about 1000 ultimately to come here). The first group of pets are going to the Marin Humane Society and the Sacramento SPCA. MHS is looking for as much help as possible with the pets -- you can donate cash, time at the shelter (cleaning kennels, doing laundry, or the dreaded "data entry"), pet supplies, or foster some of the animals (if you live in Marin). You won't be allowed to adopt the animals just yet, because MHS will be trying to reunite pets with their owners (but you can foster-to-adopt if the animals turn out to be abandoned). Photo of dog too sick to travel by crate from the Chron by Mark Costantini...