As if you needed any more proof that an eclipse is a demonic portent of doom, the Exploratorium has announced that it will be sending an expedition to someplace near Mongolia to videotape the eclipse on July 31 ... so that they can stream the footage into Second Life. Not, like, into the sky of Second Life -- just onto a big virtual projection screen, which your avatars can then gather around and stare......

The Washbag shuts its doors for good. (But didn't they, like, invent drinking? Or something like that?) [Culture Blog] Beware of the guerilla knife sharpener. [Curbed] Tetris cookies are good cookies. [The Snitch] FasTrak violators cost the Metropolitan Transportation Commission $3.5million. For shame. [Examiner] SF is oh so similar to Second Life. [ValleyWag] "O-N-E-L-E-S-S, I wanna be one less, one less." [SFBG] The real Ron Paul. Ick. [IKnowWhatImDoing] Image credit goes to artist Guy......

Says you! In an effort to diffuse to the sheer horror of being labeled a "dork," "techie," "queer," or even "local artist," recently San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had this to say during a virtual chat. In a fireside chat in the virtual world Second Life, Newsom responded to a question from Philip Rosedale, CEO of Second Life publisher Linden Lab, about virtual worlds not just attracting geeks. The mayor laughed and offered a......

Hey, Dan Noyes, here's a gotcha technique to consider -- cyberspace! Gavin took a break from Davos to do a virtual interview with the Second Life news center. Alas, there are no chicken avatars present. Good work, virtual Wade Crowfoot! That's Gavin's avatar to the left -- we got a little confused about the avatars because his Reuters interviewer is wearing a blue tie, and that threw us off. Also, we're not normally Second Life......

At the Roxie, (3117 16th St. between Valencia & Guerrero) it's FARMCORE, a documentary about punk rock's 1980s home in the Mission, The Farm. The screening is a benefit for San Francisco Indybay Media and Oaxaca Indymedia. The film documents the punk scene (Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, and Black Flag played there, to name a few) and the staff’s struggles to keep the doors open while battling a greedy landlord and hostile police, until the......

--They want to put more antennas on Sutro Tower. --Are you ashamed to be anti-Daly? --Expect ads for Tanqueray on your BART commute soon. --50 years of Lockheed Martin. --DA Kamala Harris is convicting more people. --It's Leather Pride week starting this weekend! --The Stanford band is barred from playing homecoming. --and there was a security breach on Second Life.......

Since we have to lead with anything Journey here at SFist, check out the YouTube clip of the ad for Atari's "Journey Escape" we found on Kotaku. Avoiding (pixelated representations of) crazed fans and manipulative music industry types never looked so fun! Buy it now! If espionage is more your game, then the cloak-and-dagger shenanigans at HP should be up your alley. Even reporters were entangled in the web of lives spun to discredit......

There are few places where people get their collective geek on like Burning Man. A lot of folks are staying home this year -- Violet Blue gives some good reasons why -- and taking a chance to relax on the full-press coverage and pimp as much anti-party legislation as they can while the freak vote is out of town. Of course, just because you decided not to crash diet to look good in your sand-filled......

With SFist Rita's report yesterday about Apple settling with Creative, Apple fanboys can console themselves with the news that Microsoft is also getting dinged for even more money in a patent infringment suit. Meanwhile, retail workers who downloaded the development version of Apple's new OS, Leopard, are getting canned left and right (scroll down). But BusinessWeek thinks good iPod news is on the way, while Wired News explores the back alleys of Chennai in search......

The good news is that the first battle in the legal fight against the NSA's wiretapping program has been won by everyone who doesn't work for the NSA. The bad news is that internet-enabled vigilante mobs could be the next big fad here in the States. Eh, we're too busy applying a new Dasani-branded profile treatment to our MySpace profile and checking out some of the videos. Damnit, we were totally going to lead off......

It's been a while since we published a tech roundup. But the Internet turned 15 last Sunday, we got a new laptop from an entrepreneur and friend who'll be enabling this 'Fister's addiction to blogging, and SFist Chuck, whom we dearly miss, was kidnapped by Disney, who force him to Imagineer at gunpoint. All the while, you've been lost in the unmapped multiverse, wondering who Supr.c.ilio.us and TechCrunch are, and which is the hipper one......

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express: Vote for SFist in the EBX Readers' Poll! We love the chicken holding a sword with its foot in this week's Dream Comic. A company that puts prank pink flamingos on people's lawns (called "Flamingo Surprise"). Cover article: The Coup, along with that picture of their album with the World Trade Center blowing up. Rob Harvilla tells us his departure for the Village Voice isn't us, it's him. Good luck out there on the cold East Coast, Rob! Have fun with Christgau! Lit section. Hyphy hyphy hyphy hyphy hyphy. And SFist Eve's horoscope: she's going to "find the passion to unite what at first glance seems like an unlikely gathering of associates." That's us over here at SFist! The SF Weekly: Vote for SFist in the SF Weekly Readers' Poll! The Apologist on the 1906 festivities, titled "Ready to Rumble." ("Honestly, I'm disgusted. This is a time to be celebrating earthquakes, not studying them." Ha!). Sucka Free City columnist (male) gives birth on Second Life. It's a girl! Cover article: Jewel thieves. Book section: The guilty pleasure of the Da Vinci Code. SFIFF. Meredith eats French! Good thing Ced's away, as we expect he was driven to heights of fury by the part where Meredith asks why a confit of rabbit isn't the same as a rabbit terrine. (We don't know the difference but we're sure our Gastronome does!). And Dan Savage infuriates bisexuals again. The Guardian and the Metro, after the jump, along with the Weekly of the Week....

Eric Rice posts the transcript of Lawrence Lessig's recent chat in Second Life, which could just be the most meta-geek thing ever. Niall Kennedy, Caterina Fake and Josh Kinberg build an ego-bot for bloggers, Whuffie Tracker, in just a few hours. Sex.com sells for $14 million -- after the legal fees, there might just be enough to take the family to In-N-Out. And wondered why that new Apple ad looked like an old Postal......

Ever wondered how those Googlers spent their "20%" time? Playing with obscene amounts of silly putty, apparently. Susan Mernit points to a blogger's tale of terror at 30,000 feet, the mainstream media coverage they received, and the nasty responses from commenters at an Alaskan Airlines IP address. Speaking of blogger relations, PR pro G.A. Marken drops by Silicon Valley Watcher to guest post about what bloggers mean to the media landscape from a marketing......

We'll start with the fun stuff. Beth Spotswood manages to score the hottest ticket in town, and returns with an "Only in San Francisco" review of Brokeback Mountain. Distraught after the loss of the Hayes Green temple? SF Mike finds solace at the festive Marlena's. SF Leef, on the other hand, is a little jealous of the new 826 Valencia satellite store themes. And remember, kids, Santarchy comes but once a year! Coastsider reports......