We love Danielle Steel. A lot. Why? We can't pinpoint; there are many reasons to adore this SF-based writer. Her soft-focused images on the back of her books; her rumored affection for SFist mascot Vanessa Getty; her shifting into reverse with homely SF society; her daughters (fun!); her sons (sexy!); her home (insane!); her work (scintillating!); her money (loads!) -- we can't pick one reason. We just kinda like the gal. And according to......

Looking to get a few bucks out of the city for the Christmas Day tiger attack that claimed the life of their (alleged) friend Carlos Sousa Jr., Amritpal and Kulbir Dhaliwal have filed claims against the city. Finally. And our sources sent SFIst a copy of the claim! (We'll try to get that up for you shortly.)...

We're a bit late to the game with these images, but they're well-worth the tardiness. Believe us. Check out shots of Saturday's Church of Scientology protest/L Ron Hubbard celebration. In these images you will find protesters, Bay Area Scientologists, and an oldie-but-goodie NSFW shot thrown in for good measure. If any CoS Hubbard birthday attendees would like to chime in with regard to what went down or to write about the festivities for SFist, let......

Since the Scientologists moved the day of celebrating their church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, from last Saturday to this Saturday, due to last week's protest, there will be yet another rally against the CoS this Saturday. Ta da. Enturbulation.org has word that this protest will be "at the Hilton [at] 750 Kearny on the corners of Washington and Columbus" at 5 p.m. They'll be meeting on the Washington side iof the hotel near the......

If you're like us you spend every Friday afternoon glued to DJ Ted Leibowitz and the Bagel Radio Friday Live Show. If you aren't like us, you should be - it's the best rock radio show around. Ted has been a huge part of the indie rock world here in San Francisco for quite some time, he's a friend of SFist, and his wonderful Web radio show has been a huge boost to any number......

California's First Lady makes yet another visit to S.F...

Feel that? Why, those are your heart stings being tugged care of us and this cool little guy over here on the right. (Who like totally did not just make us completely tear up right now, so shut up!) Before we launch a few gift giveaways, why not take a moment to donate some money and/or effort to something worthy? Like giving people food, for example. No gift is too small and every bit......

Have a rant against Muni? This week, our Muni Driver rants too, all in a response to a comment from last week. And remember, folks, if you got a question, send them to jon@sfist.com. We may not get to your question automatically, but we'll get to them as soon as we can. ...

Maybe Tony Hall needs to put a yellow sticky on his campaign credit card and label it "FOR CAMPAIGN USE ONLY" -- the SF Ethics Commission has decided to proceed on charges against the former city supervisor based on the alleged misuse of funds in his star-crossed attempt to run for mayor last year, and his defense is that he used the wrong credit card. Namely, that $320 of what Tony Hall characterized as "office......

We came back from taking down the recycling yesterday evening to find we had locked ourselves out of our apartment. "Noooo!!" [Insert Emo Darth Vader ballad here. Warning -- audio.] We dialed the apartment manager on the call-box but got his voice mail. Lucky for us, the manager, who wouldn't be back until 10:00, called our s.o., who wouldn't be back until 8:00, and our s.o. called our friend who lives a few blocks away.......

Here's todays sports news...

We were in the Upper Haight last night, walking with friends along the street to the Magnolia for a late-ish dinner. We walked past a small group of punk-ish kids sitting on the street with a "give us some money [insert ironic saying here]" sign. They were talking with a guy who was standing there with a beautiful husky dog on a leash. We'll repeat - that dog was gorgeous. As we passed by, the......

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start: when Alex Smith got injured, there was some back-and-forth about whether or not he was healthy. While this was going on, Nolan made the occasional subtle and not-so-subtle dig at Smith for not being sufficiently tough. Cue speculation and rumormongering approaching Brangelina levels. The Merc apparently had heard some other Niners joining in on the Smith dog pile and asked Alex about it. Alex went a wee bit on the ballistic side and accused Nolan of trying to turn the team against him, making him play when he wasn't healthy, and for generally being a big poopy-head. This all hit the press sometime yesterday and, well, hello hullabaloo. Naturally, the two parties met and issued statements talking about how their relationship is all :) and not :( ...

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,......

In case you missed the packed ReadyMade party last night or were too distracted by all the cute people and free drinks to actually get any holiday shopping done here are some more events where you can spend some money and get your buzz on. Tonight Post-Postcard 11th Annual Small Format Art Sale The LAB 2948 16th Street @ Capp 1-7pm Free Originally starting out as a postcard show, the LAB now invites artists to......

-- In the 3600 block of Waterbury Court way down in San Jose last night, a double shooting left one man critically injured and another man dead. According to CBS 5, "no arrests have been made and no description of the suspect or suspects was immediately available." -- 17-year-old Rosie Blanckenburg left home on her bicycle for Berkeley High at 8 a.m. yesterday morning, and never showed up for class. According to SFGate, "a......

We were trolling around on the Interweb the other day and caught notice of this banner ad, which immediately depressed us, given that: 1) Somebody at MUNI thought that monthly passes make an awesome Christmas gift and 2) That person paid money for these banner ads, money that was probably just sitting there in the "spend money on stupid crap" folder that MUNI obviously keeps in the office, right next to the reception desk......

In order to prevent witnessing further gas station signage hilarity, MapQuest (remember them?) has a nifty cheap station location feature. Basically, it maps out gas stations in your neighborhood/city by price. In San Francisco there's a scant difference between the highest and lowest ranked stations. Whatever. But SFist readers way out in Whereverville -- i.e., cities where automotive discussions aren't whispered in hushed tones -- might appreciate the service. Especially if money is tight......

Remember that budget surplus? Remember when we were flush with cash and we decided to go on this spending binge and Chris Daly got into a fight with everyone because he wanted to spend the money his way and not everyone else's way? Well goodbye to all that because Gavin announced that we know have a whopping $229 million dollar deficit....

There's been so many murders lately that it's hard to find a new twist on the stories, so here's one: a Pizza Hut pizza delivery man was shot and killed in the Richmond last night as he was trying to deliver a pizza. Apparently, he got lost and was wandering around trying to find the house he was supposed to deliver the pizza too and when he was stopped by several men trying to rob him. When he tried to run away, he was shot in the back, something that anyone who has ever seen a Western knows is the coward's way. ...

So are we! Since this is the perfect time of the year to make a donation, we thought we'd help out those animal lovers among us by providing a list of local animal-related charities and nonprofits that can use a little (or alotta) support. PAWS (Pets are Wonderful Support) - Donate or volunteer for this fabulous organization which helps low-income persons with HIV/AIDS and other illnesses keep and take care of their companion animals. Rocket......

The new Maltese Falcon at John's Grill is less "pigeony" (Image: The Colbert Report). Applause to John's Grill owner John Konstin, who decided to put some money into the arts. When the Maltese Falcon replica displayed in the restaurant was stolen earlier this year, Mr. Konstin offered a $25,000 reward for its return. The heartless culprits were never found, however, and Mr. Konstin decided against buying an inexpensive replica or "fake," as the momentarily-panicked......

There is actually one team in the area that is playing well and that is your San Jose Sharks. For that, we turn to Sharks' correspondant Ian to get the latest...

The sands of Marin and San Mateo have officially reopened to the public. (We recommend hitting the beach in the fall. There's something luxurious about walking on the beach, bundled up in winter clothing.) What's more, 50 wild birds have been cleaned up and released at Pillar Point Yacht Harbor at Half Moon Bay. But what's worse, "the spill has cost the U.S. government $1.4 million, money spent on operations by the Coast Guard,......

Good news everyone-- well-known libertarian, Ron Paul fan, exotic male dancer and bisexual male escort Starchild has been aquitted of charges of prostitution by a Fremont court. Starchild was up on charges for soliciting prostitution on Craigslist and was caught up in a sting by a Fremont police officer. ...

After paying up last year for disclosure violations, Senator Carole Migden is once again under investigation for not disclosing or itemizing credit card charges that total $397,000. According to the LA Times, she faces $60,000 in administrative fines if she's in breach, our Miss Migden has investigators looking all up in her credit card charging for over the past seven years. Yikes. The main cause of concern for not keeping tidy books is that......

Here's todays sports news...

A photo of beaches affected and unaffected by the recent oil spill...

Okay, we're not exactly sure how this works, but it's...bizarre. Seems that a trio of scammers are preying upon the elderly Chinese American community in SF (no, not Ed Jew). What's interesting is their technique. See, a woman and two men approach their victim, telling them that they look sick. One of the suspects then "fills a teacup with water and invites the victim to stick a finger in the cup, explaining that it......

By Frances Reade Eugene Robinson has been the leader of S.F.'s most dangerous art-rock band Oxbow since 1989. We don’t mean Oxbow is "dangerous" as in "Tipper-Gore-no-likey." We mean "dangerous" like “Eugene is known to lurch into the crowd mid-set and strangle irritating audience members into unconsciousness." "Dangerous" as in "the man strips down and brandishes his pee-pee in a threatening manner onstage." "Dangerous” as in… "awesome." Besides slinging 18 years of sweet, sludgy......