As Mission Mission already pointed out, The Chronicle's front page photo today seems -- how can we put this bluntly? -- sexually charged. To say the least. While the shot without the canine would've been erotic as-is, the addition of a voyeuristic pooch (not to mention the model's tight body, open mouth and hand placements) bring the entire thing to another level. Too bad, really. The accompanying article, about sunscreens lack of UVA ray protection, is a crucial one. more ›

Seen in yesterday's Chronicle. Oops. It happens. more ›

If you buy a print version of the SF Chronicle today, you will find pop-out 3D glasses and a full-page 3-D ad (page A3). The three-dimensional magic shows a man's body and head slightly floating above a Verizon ad. more ›

Well, that was fast. The San Francisco Chronicle has declared involuntary manslaughter "the right verdict in Mehserle case." Way to wait a day or two to let things settle. Or sink in. Sheesh. (Read SFist's continuing coverage of the verdict reaction.) more ›

Sports writer Ray Ratto is jumping ship at SF Chronicle. SF Weekly reports, "Word out of the San Francisco Chronicle newsroom is that Ray Ratto, the paper's longtime prolix sports columnist, is leaving the newsprint world -- a move Ratto has confirmed to SF Weekly." more ›

We love reviews that rate in star form. Or thumb form. Or snap form. Those who claims otherwise are pretentious, liars, or both. Why? Because it's convenient, eye-catching, and allows the reader to stack up the competition via shiny little stars. Today, the Chronicle's Michael Bauer explains how the food scribes on Fifth and Mission award stars to restaurants. more ›

Oh, what fun. Objectivity takes a back seat to what will hopefully be a swank bash for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. See, along with Bloomberg, the SF Chronicle is throwing a party for Gavin. Why? Who knows. No names from the Chron are listed in the invite, so we're not sure how they're involved, exactly. Well, except for their name, that is. more ›

Oh no! Tom Sienstra, cherished Chronicle writer and host of the much-loved Great Outdoors With Tom Stienstra, was pinched last week by the fuzz for growing marijuana for sale. Over 60 pot plants, 11.1 pounds of weed, "scales, packaging materials and other paraphernalia" were taken from his residence. The Chronicle reports: "Siskiyou County sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said deputies found 'a sophisticated marijuana cultivation operation in the barn' at Stienstra's home in Weed, a small town 30 miles south of Yreka, when they searched it March 25." Stienstra and his wife, Stephani Cruickshank, were arrested and booked on suspicion of possession of drugs for sale. They were later released "with no charges filed pending an investigation" more ›

Plucked from this article in the Chronicle, we look forward to other subheds like "snow cold" and "Earth round." more ›

Look out, Chronicle sports writers -- your bosses seem to think a bunch of fans can do just as good a job of covering sports as you can, for a fraction of the price. San Francisco Business Times reports that Hearst, owner of the San Francisco Chronicle, just cut a with "citizen sportswriters" business Bleacher Report (“the world’s largest publisher of exclusively fan-generated sports reporting”) to farm out some of the items in its sports section. more ›

Under the impression that online internet world wide webloggers are swiping their golden nuggets of wisdom without linkage, SFGate recently infused their site with inane cross-scripting nonsense that automatically adds a url link when you copy/paste any of the Gate's content. Basically, it's like a teddy bear cam for writers who use their site. It is, for lack of a better word, retarded. more ›

We are highly offended that, in a headline, SFGate uses an acronym that includes a letter that stands for the word "fuck." more ›

C.W. "Phone It In" Nevius is complaining about one of his favorite topics in today's Chronicle: "recycling rustlers." How many columns can one guy write about industrious homeless people prying discarded fine recyclables out of neighborhood blue bins? Why is it such an issue for people in this city? Personally, this writer is grateful for the rag picking variety of the underclass. Whenever some random hipster is forced to evacuate a unit in his building, thus dumping boxes of irony rich clothing, books, and assorted tschokes on the sidewalk, the shopping cart set can always be counted on to fetch the lot of it before sundown. No fuss, no muss. These people provide a valuable service to the community! more ›

Conspiracy theorists freaked the holy hell out this morning over a piece penned by Phil Bronstein -- one that was critical of Gavin Newsom as California's next governor -- which was pulled. Or so it seemed. What happened was, local-politics fanboy types, like the anonymous ILoveGavinNewsom and journo Josh Wolf, accused SFGate of censoring the anti-Newsom bit. (While Wolf, a journalist by fame, didn't balls out accuse them of censorship, he retweeted the anonymous blog's assertion without consideration of the source.) more ›

For those of you who still read print editions of newspapers, did you happen to see 's latest makeover? To be blunt, it looks downright lovely. The font, the sharper images, the cozier size -- all of it works. Much better than the previous format, we think. You know, if print issues are your thing. more ›

Oh God. more ›

After making a TV appearance at some sort of Minnesota State Fair, Eater kicked off a search for famed SF Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer's elusive visage. (Oh God. Speaking of TV, did anybody catch the premier episode of Obsessed last night? Give it time; it has loads of potential. Because: remember the scene where, after arriving at the germophobic gay guy's jarringly immaculate Palm Springs home, the therapist whips out a tampon and says, "As luck would have it, I'm on my period," and then uses his pristine bathroom to insert a fresh Stayfree? Then, in a stroke that was nothing short of genius, she asks said obsessed gay guy to come look at her used tampon floating in his once -sterilized toilet? That's called TV magic, folks.) In record time, they found a photo of him frolicking at the Ferry Building in a mustard yellow top. Hungry for more, the fine people over at Eater are now requesting your help in finding other local food critics' faces. Help them out, won't you? (Update: Since most of you are new to the internet, or so it would seem, we've partially blocked out Bauer's face. In the meantime, here you go.) more ›

We're almost certain that more esteemed colleagues like Steven T. Jones and Joe Eskenazi didn't come across a request from a Chronicle reporter to unpublish their items on yesterday's involuntary layoffs more ›

It's rumored that 20 newsroom-based Media Workers Guild employees at the San Francisco Chronicle will be involuntarily laid off today. We're told that a union steward sent a message to its members recommending that, if they are indeed called to HR, to bring a guild representative with them to help protect their interests. Yikes. more ›

Daring to go where no online writer in their right mind should ever, ever, ever go, SF Chronicle's Ryan Kim profiles SFGate's most "prolific" commenters, Kimble McSweeney, a Dallas resident. (!) During the first three months of 2009 alone, "McSweeney posted about 1,400 comments -- about 16 per day -- on a variety of stories." And much to our surprise, he's allegedly none too shabby when it comes to penning his thoughts on the Gate, or at least when compared to the others. (While not necessarily at the level of YouTube commenters, SFGate comments, much like arguing on the Internet, can lean toward the developmentally-disabled side -- or, as Kim too delicately puts it, "playground humor.") more ›

Prepared to take l'internet by storm, SF Chronicle just unveiled their new "e-edition" (which is sophisticated, high-tech talk for "electronic edition"). What is the "e-edition," you ask? Well, according to the advertisement, it's a "new way to enjoy the San Francisco Chronicle." The "e-edition," the press material goes on to say, "includes the same page layout, headlines and photographs as the San Francisco Chronicle, with the advantage of interactive features that can be viewed from any Internet connection, anytime." Still confused? Let us explains: See, it offers the readers an "exact digital replica of the San Francisco Chronicle," "easy navigation," "keyword search for stories, topics and people" (genius!), and "access to a 30-day archive" (whoa!). more ›

Alas, it has arrived. Today is the deadline for the Chronicle buyout. If the ailing publication can't get rid of 150 jobs by 5 p.m., the paper will start layoffs next month. A slew of noted journalists (surprisingly?) opted for the buyout. SFist's favorite book sniffer and City Bright, Frances Dinkelspiel, has the official word on just who on the editorial staff took management's buyout offer of up to one year's pay, plus health insurance. more ›

It was announced today that Hearst Corporation's other troubled publication, Seattle P-I, will roll out its final print publication tomorrow. Publisher Roger Oglesby just made the announcement on behalf of Hearst. The online version, seattlepi.com, will remain up and running. more ›

SFist commenter Oskarv sent us the above image taken from that famous billboard at Larkin and Turk. Why? Because weblog naysayer and SF Chronicle scribe C.W. Nevius's golden nuggets of wisdom made it up on said billboard more ›

Insiders at SF Chronicle, according to SFBG, say that "it wants to cut 150 union workers, most of them in the newsroom." Egads. That is to say, half of the newsroom would be cut. Hearst Corporation also wants to end seniority at the paper. (No more overinflated masthead titles? Noooooooo!) This could mean a somewhat serious reduction in Bay Area coverage. This news comes on the heels of last week's announcement that Hearst Corporation might shutdown the paper for good. more ›

According to a CBS 5/KCBS/AP report, "Union leaders at the San Francisco Chronicle said they were drafting a compromise to a management proposal that offers severe job cuts that officials indicated were imperative to keeping the newspaper open for business." This adds weight to the argument that the Hearst Corporation is strongarming the union via a threat of a shutdown. The cuts, the press release-ish news report, goes on to say that job cuts could "include more than 50 employees." If it takes a mere 50+ job cuts to save a paper, it seems like the choice is clear. more ›

This just in: the SF Chronicle is (practically) up for sale. Word is that "if they don't sell it, they'll shut it down." No deadline communicated yet. more ›

We'll 'fess up. We haven't been to the Cow Palace since the 2005 Tattoo Expo. With that said, we're a bit torn with how to feel about the possibility of the Cow Palace being demolished. With such historical events as the Beatles playing there and John F. Kennedy speaking to the masses about starting the Peace Corp, on that hand alone, we'd hate to see this place go. more ›

We gobble the various food sections up each Wednesday. Here are our favorite food section nibbles from today's offerings. more ›