Oh, and here are some tips from the NERT (National Neighborhood Emergency Response Team), care of Ed Chu of the San Francisco Fire department. It's not the most entertaining bit of footage you'll see this year, but could be the most important. (Quick quiz: how many gallons of water per person is recommended for the 72 hour period after an earthquake? Five!) Also, for more in-depth earthquake safety info, SFGTV2 (channel 78) is running......

Oh, this looks like fun. While hogging the Internet today, we came across this Yahoo group for the homeless, which bills itself as a "unique, independent, community based support group, moderated by anonymous homeless and formerly homeless volunteers, in San Francisco, California." It's great. The homeless or lease signers among us can send them tips, blow whistles, upload real photos of meals served in several shelters, see photos of health and hygiene conditions at......

Jesus Christ, this has sent us into a tailspin. While we can safely say that our biggest accomplishments in life thus far have been finding synonyms for the word "poop" and being able to thoroughly enjoy steak tartare, it seems that a few other driven, Type-A individuals have done more at our age. Much, much more. Behold what we should have done at this point on Earth: Amelia Earhart became the first woman to......

Today's toy test event in Union Square....

Oh this is bizarre. And scary. An old man was arrested today for not following a "restraining order that prohibited him from having any contact with employees of The Chronicle." Oh my. It seems that Julian Hartzell, 64, made "inappropriate contact" with some of the Chronicle staff this past summer. The paper then got themselves a restraining order against him, but he continued to try contacting employees. So? He was arrested. What kind of......

San Francisco is America's most "walkable" city...

Non-union member Edward Hall, 47, was crushed to death by a tractor-trailer at the Port of Oakland. It seems that a driver (accidentally) backed into Hall last night as he was working. This is the second fatal accident to have happened at the Port of Oakland this year, which happened in September. According to the Examiner, "ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees said this latest incident highlights the need for better safety protocols at the port."......

By day he's an Alight Electric employee. By night? A Ford F-350 Super Duty hero. It seems that last night on the Golden Gate Bridge, John Beatty of Mill Valley saved the day, so to speak, after noticing a woman unconscious in her Jeep, moving into oncoming traffic. At around 6:50 p.m., Sylvia Durrance, 62, came to a stop while driving southbound in the No. 2 lane. She appeared lifeless, her body slumped over......

Either under the table for protection or hiding from someone sporting a fiendish fannypack-khakis combo, Catherine Kilkenny of San Jose's Willow Glen looks scared as all hell, doesn't she? Many people were. Last night's 5.6 earthquake, which we didn't feel but hear the majority of you did, tore nerves to shreds, shook the ground, and sent magazines flying to the floor. In a little over 12 hours, it managed to cause quite the stir.......

Ah, beautiful Diviz. Is there no boulevard more perfect, more blissful? When we think "nice places to take an afternoon constitutional," we are drawn instantly to its divine charm. It is, simply put, an Eden. To alter it would be to play God. But SOME PEOPLE want to change all that. The out-of-touch bureaucrats in City Hall think that the stretch from Haight to Geary needs to be improved. Strange terms like "greening" and......

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian. Tim Redmond says the Navy is the gayest armed services branch. Well, sure. Cars are worse than homeless people, says a letter writer. Halloween will suuuuuck. A former director of Intersection for the Arts died in a car crash. The new crackdown on homelessness, and why aren't people more upset? Cover article: Our pals at SwapSF make the cover! About the whole freetail trend! Yay SwapSF! (and other freegans!)......

-- Fog City Notes has a crush. Also, our favorite Little Debbie outlet, Rainbo discount bread store, is closed. Dude. [Fog City Notes] -- Castro residents are scared poopless want more info about safety regarding Halloween night. [SFGate] -- SOMA fire "sends residents fleeing." Yikes! [Examiner] -- Surprise, surprise. The N-Judah was down today. [N-Judah Chronicles] -- Nauseatingly pimped Lexus sedan crashes into building. [Oakland Tribune] -- Beyond Chron has issues with Proposition 93.......

Attention citizenry! The SFPD needs your help. Especially if you're a web designer. They're currently conducting a poll, with the help of a Massachusetts company called, ominously, the Public Safety Strategies Group. Do you like foot patrols? Do you know where your police station is? Have you been the victim of a crime lately? These and other exciting questions will be answered on tonight's episode of "The San Francisco Police Effectiveness Review"! Sadly, the......

Oh No, Chris Kavanaugh! Berkeley's own Ed Jew, a Green Party member of the Berkeley rent board who was actually living (and litigating with his landlord) in Oakland, pled not guilty to three charges of voter fraud, one charge of perjury, and one of grand theft (for taking a stipend from the Berkeley rent board) yesterday. Kavanaugh spent Friday night living in the Santa Rita jail before being released on $30,000 bond, and will report......

Following up on yesterday's blotter, we're sorry to pass along word from today's Chronicle that one of the murder victims over the weekend, David Sterling, was killed on the way home Monday afternoon, after picking up a burrito for his girlfriend. Investigators think it was supposed to be a retaliation shooting from the guy shot in the garage by kids on bikes a day earlier, but because Sterling had no record and no known gang......

Bad series of news items for the SFPD -- the rookie cop who accidentally shot himself at a party earlier this month when trying to demonstrate tips on gun safety was legally drunk (just barely), and that cop, Jesse Serna, who keeps (allegedly) beating up people like Barry Bonds' trainer and Willie Brown's friends in North Beach just got the city sued again, this time for beating up a doctor starting his residency at Harvard......

-- Veronica Klaus: High-art performer and jazz songstress croons alongside her Boom Boom Boys tonight at 9 p.m. at Cafe Du Nord, 2170 Market Street (at Sanchez); $15. -- DMX Krew: Hipsters of SF! Come and dance to this electro beat, '80s-y, rap-ish star at the tres popular club night "Eggs". DJs PJ Pooterhoots and Safety Scissors will also man the decks for your added aural pleasure. It all goes down tonight at 10......

We were running in the Presidio this morning, and after a few cars nearly creamed us it struck us that one of San Francisco's preeminent outdoor plagrounds is a very dangerous place in which to play outside. Bike lanes appear and disappear randomly, and when they're doing maintenance and logging on the Coastal Trail (like today), runners and walkers coming from Arguello are forced to Washington Street, praying that cars don't splatter them on......

Remember the Jamba Juice hepatitis A scare? And remember how we said there were gymnasts competing in a national meet in San Jose a few weeks ago? Well -- you guessed it -- it turns out the gymnasts might have been exposed to the virus. The hepatitis A carrier made smoothies for the gymnasts during the meet and in the trade shows outside. She claims she used good hygiene and food safety practices throughout (wearing......

Man, this dull-as-dishwater mayoral "race" is getting us in the blogging doldrums. Someone do something funny, quick! Meanwhile, we'll pass along the news of the latest progressive hope for the Newsom mayoral steamroller juggernaut, Quintin Mecke. Mecke's the director of the Safety Network Partnership, active on homelessness and public safety issues, praises Project Homeless Connect, and has worked on Chris Daly's, Matt Gonzalez's, and Ross Mirkarimi's campaigns. His first order of business is going to......

This week's installment: Bus comfort, back door hard-ons, and -- surprise! -- no official MUNI policy. When do you decide to make an effort to try and affect things on the bus (telling people to move back or making a fuss if people try and enter through the back door). And if you don't do one of those things, why not? This sort of thing lives in the Land of Personal Preference; there's no......

As promised, non-mayoral candidate Chris Daly's proposing his nonbinding resolution to ban the Blue Angels from flying over San Francisco at the Governmental Audit and Oversight Committee meeting today. Daly, who's been working with Code Pink, Global Exchange, and Veterans for Peace on the resolution, is asking that San Francisco elected officials work to reduce unnecessary military flyovers in the area, saying that the loud jets are a threat to publich safety; upset pets,......

It's just gotten easier to travel -ist to -ist on the West Coast -- British cheapo bus service Megabus is starting up next week between the Bay Area and LA. Megabus is already in Chicago too. The big draw are the $1 tickets (yes, you read that right, one dollar to go to LA) -- if you're one of the first four people to book on a particular bus, that's all you'll have to pay.......

It must be oddly freeing to have an ongoing, very public work-related crisis, because Officer Andrew Cohen seems to have a lot to say these days. And why the heck not? It's an interesting opportunity to take a look into the mind of what a veteran police officer -- one that no longer has to play politics -- really thinks. We got his opinion on the recent 'use of force' at AT&T Park. ...

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi's come out swinging at the lackadaisical response from Mayor Gavin Newsom on the state of Golden Gate Park, after public outcry that the city was more concerned about two dogs getting bitten by a coyote than it's been about the public safety and cleanliness issues created by homeless encampments and rampant IV drug use. (While Golden Gate Park isn't in any particular district is is District 1 (see comment), Ross's District 5......

Okay, we don't usually do crime wrapups on Monday, but we're starting to actually get more and more freaked out about the state of public safety in the city these days. If you were anywhere near 17th and Capp Street around 6 p.m. last Friday, you couldn't miss the seven extremely loud shots being fired, and the subsequent mess of sirens and ambulance screeching onto the scene. One of our readers on the scene......

The fog is back! And we love it! Well, some of us do, but the chill is a good reason to motivate yourself out the door tonight. Take, for example: -- The Transfer kicks off their new Sunday party, "Tea With Honey," with famous Bay Area rave DJ Gavin Hardkiss. (The ’90s really are back. Beware of pacifiers and lollipops used as accessories.) Honey Soundsystem's Peeplay, Kenvulsion, Robot Hustle, and Safety Scissors also take......

An illustrated discussion of the intersection at Fell and Masonic....

Remember that couple we told you about that was stealing stuff from open houses? They got busted by the OnStar in their rental Hummer. Police won't reveal where they were, except to say they were "out of state." DA Kamala Harris went to the Board of Supes to ask for more money to fight misdemeanor crimes (usually your smaller quality-of-life ones). The SF DA's office only has nine attorneys handling misdemeanors, and they've got an......

Photo and discussion of the news conference concerning ped and biker safety. ...