It’s the dead of San Francisco winter and 46 degrees — 46 degrees! — but that’s not stopping certain hardy residents of the sizable apartment structure at 1214 Polk from opening their windows and drying their laundry au naturale. We’re impressed. 46 degrees in San Francisco, particularly along this gusty urban corridor between Bush and Sutter, feels like autumn in the Yukon. This is the southern edge of Polk’s transitional zone, where it emerges from the sleazy chic of “nitespots” like Vertigo and Blur and slowly crawls toward more prim territory northward up into Russian Hill. The upstairs residences on this block are decidedly ordinary, but there’s a dichotomy at work between, for example, the stained glasswork at O’Reilly’s Holy Grail and the $5 haircuts and $20 facials across the road at the International College of Cosmetology II. Of course, Polk St. has always been known as one of San Francisco’s more diverse business thoroughfares....

Free bike light giveaway today only. ...

Brian Eno's visual imagescape 77 million paintings premiers tonight at Yerba Buena with a 45-foot wall of projections of changing images set to an evolving soundscape. Tickets are $25 unless you're a student or senior. No word on whether Eno will be there...but it seems worth it all the same. 701 Mission St., SF. Other haps: Cyndi Lauper, Erasure, Debbie Harry plus host Margaret Cho at the Greek Theater in Berkeley at 7pm. Feel......

Thank you, SFist Jenna, for being a friend. Also -- erotica! Erotica Reading: Drop by the Good Vibes Polk St location from 7-8 for a tantalizing session with Dahlia Schweitzer, who will be reading from her novel, The Slightest Provocation, a historical romance, and Pam Rosenthal, reading from Seduce Me, a collection of stories about women who always get their way. Good Vibrations Polk is at 1620 Polk Street (x Sacto), SF. Golden Reunion:......

Whew, it's finally Halloween - is it just us or has Halloween become a multi-day holiday like Hannukah or Kwanzaa? Of course, we'll be eating our words (and half-price Halloween candy) tomorrow when stores start preparing for 2 months of Christmas. But tonight is Halloween, so cue the Halloween stuff to do. Space Gallery and The Hemlock are having a mini-block party with the closing reception for PHANTASM: (in)visible bodies & haunted spaces, an......

Barrespondent Nico loves an unsubstantiated claim. Truly. Given that the Bermuda Triangle, the Loch Ness Monster and Area 51 remain a major part of his raison d'être one would think he runs out for the new edition of the Weekly World News at first light. Which is not entirely untrue. We feel the world would be much a less interesting place without the simple pleasure of freaks and cryptozoology. Take Sasquatch for example. Perpetually bashful,......

SFist reader Bob writes in with an issue we hear about almost every holiday: Muni buses that appear to be running, but blow by stop after stop after stop with "Out Of Service" on their displays. We not-so-fondly recall Thanksgiving, 1998, on which we had not one, not two, but six 5 Fultons pass us by. We have to wonder if drivers are celebrating by running their routes sans passengers! Mr. Ford, our 1998 problem......

Submissions go to yvesdroppings - at - gmail - dot - com. Striped shirt Marina guy: "It's like, we hold these truths to be self-evident. What movie is that from again?" -- From Ficus/On Polk St. Tiny brunette to big Middle-Eastern guy: "Sayed, what the fuck?" Big guy: "What? it's a cigar!" Tiny brunette: "You think I don't know the difference between a cigar and a cigarette? You little bitch!" From Arnaud/On Montgomery, in North......

Folks -- we want to encourage you to keep the questions coming. The best ones for us to answer are those with specific details. If questions don't hav enough detail, we are forced to simply snark (see question #1); if they are too open-ended, you'll see us blather on and on and on and on (see question #2)....