It seems that over 1,000 custodial artists have gone on strike as of this morning at some of Silicon Valley's most prestigious hi-tech companies, including Cisco Systems and Apple, livid over a new contract. Accordng to the Mercury News: Garcia said the proposal did not "do enough" to correct a system that makes workers wait 2 1/2 years to become eligible for health care benefits. For new hires, the waiting period for health care......

Silicon Valley whores less than pleased with Viagra. [Valleywag]That Nina "Bad Wife" Reiser trial is still going on, and getting interesting. [SF Gate]The rules of PDA during dinnertime. [CHOW]California, it seems, is the 8th worst place to be black. Huh. [The Snitch]Sarah Hromack breaks down SFBG's article on living the homeless life. Heh. [Curbed]MC Hammer dines at Aqua, announces "it's Hammer time" as he sits down to eat. Awesome. [Tablehopper]Don't forget about tomorrow's Valentine's......

So, you didn't like Microsoft, did you? Well, how about News Corp.? In an attempt to rejuvenate Yahoo and fend off Microsoft's advances, Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate is reportedly in talks to purchase Yahoo. Although claiming that his company is "not interested in buying Yahoo," the Merc reports: The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp., reported Wednesday that its parent company is considering taking a stake in Yahoo that could exceed......

According to a Valleywag tipster: FYI - I've heard the word from my peeps over at Yahoo Search Marketing in Burbank CA that the layoffs are going down as we speak, and people are being let go today. They're apparently walking the people into a meeting room, and then walking them out of the building. And according to an SFist tipster: [Layoffs will] occur over the next few days as employees are sent packing.......

It looks like Sunnyvale-based Yahoo plans on rejecting the $44.6 billion rose Microsoft offered it earlier this month. A move that would have merged the two tech giants won't happen, it seems, and we were so sure this relationship would've worked out swimmingly. Sniff. But all is not lost. According the Gate: Yahoo's board, which met Friday, has determined that the $31 per share offer Microsoft made is inadequate. The Wall Street Journal reported......

Help save your local Naval Historical Monument...

After EarthLink and Google gave up on high-speed networks that would have seen San Francisco gain access to free wireless service, Meraki Networks Inc. is now taking a stab at it. Financially backed up by Google, the Silicon Valley startup could make an even bigger name for itself if it follows through with its promise to "blanket San Francisco with free wireless Internet service." Although the specifics on their daunting plan will be released......

Photos from the San Francisco International Auto Show...

A 3.7 aftershock in San Jose just shook the ground of Silicon Valley. According to our own Spencer Williams, it happened a little before 4 p.m. and It "only lasted a couple of seconds." So there you have it. ...

Oh man, it's moments like these that we miss working in an office. Almost. You see, Valleywag has the most savory blind item today -- "CEO pisses on own grave". But for the life of us, we cannot figure out who in the hell they're talking about. (A recently ousted CEO? No idea.) And we must know. This is the craziest thing we've heard in a while. And we at Valleywag hear some crazy......

We know there's no shortage of young, successful, smart people in this town, but we still turn a little green with envy when we hear about guys like Ben Keighran. The Australia native is only 25 years old. After successfully launching bluepulse in his native land in 2002, he took the show on the road and ended up here in the Bay Area. Like another young tech-maestro we recently spoke to, Keighran houses his company in Silicon Valley (in fact, in YouTube's former quarters), but lives here in the city by the bay....

Andrew Frame was recently named by BusinessWeek as a "top entrepreneur under the age of 30". He's aiming to fulfill that promise with ooma, a company he founded in 2005 that has a whole new take on telephony. It enables unlimited U.S. domestic calls to any wireless or landline phone number . ooma's gotten media play for a couple reasons -- for one thing, much has been made in the press and on the podwaves about the involvement of Ashton Kutcher in the company. ...

In a case closely watched by Silicon Valley corporate types, a federal jury in San Francisco returned a guilty verdict against Brocade Communications CEO Gregory Reyes for knowingly backdating stock options, so they would count as having been issued at a time when the stock price was lower. While backdating is not in and of itself against the law, the SEC says that backdating and not telling your investors about it constitutes criminal fraud. Reyes......

It has been documented, in Nature no less, that listening to Mozart makes you smarter. Only for spatial reasoning, though. Only for 15mn afterwards. And the results got disputed later. Damn. And even worst, the same effect was observed with music from, hold on one second while we regain our composure, Yanni. Yanni!...

Bless the Chron's heart, they know kvetching about traffic is going to move a lot of papers on the newsstand -- so they go above the fold with their article about the twenty worst bottlenecks on the highway. As you'd've guessed, that horrendous interchange at Emeryville for 80/580/880 where you have to get over five lanes just to go south ranks high on the list. We did very much enjoy the descriptions of the worst......

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian! Oh, Tim Redmond, we're so sorry to hear about your dad. [Moment of silence.] Okay. The Guardian's with Daly on the budget. They got a letter from someone saying Ed Jew is innocent. More info on the layoffs at the Merc News. A man with psychiatric problems gets no help from the city. More people upset with Newsom's proposed budget. They're going to crack down on pot clubs --......

--Pride was fun! (Have you noticed we always have great weather for Pride?) [Chron, ABC 7, CBS 5.] --Who were the bloggers floating the Newsom coke rumors? We don't think it was us. [Chron.] --They're trying to apply the lessons from the Kim family search in looking for the Alameda County woman and her priest friend. [KTVU.] --Cal students getting hyphy. [Clog Blog.] --Don't try and fix the worst house in San Francisco yourself......

Last week's winner: the East Bay Express: It's the Summer Guide Issue: how to raise chickens (like LE Leone in the Guardian!), Segway scooter polo (this should be a Metro article), berry picking in Co-Co County and agrotourism (we believe the correct spelling is agritourism). Hey, there's even fruit in the Express' new blotter column! Alameda County Undersheriff busted for using official vehicle in lieu of moving van. (Ed Jew joke omitted.) The firm that......

--Does architecture critic John King ever like anything? --Sad! The San Franciscan speller in the National Bee got the dreaded misspelling bell of death this afternoon in the quarter finals, on the word "ursigram." --Giuliani's in town. Lock up your wives, cousins, and ferrets. Good thing Chron political writer Carla Marinucci loves him. --They reconvicted medicinal pot grower Ed Rosenthal, but he doesn't get any jail time. --BART may run more frequently, if they......

In 1938, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started a company from a garage in Palo Alto. Hewlett-Packard is now a household name, a tech giant, and a Silicon Valley fixture. And now the place that started it all has been given a "Historic Place" designation by the National Park Service....

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: Gosh, the Chron seems awfully enthralled with that Zodiac movie, doesn't it? Also, more on the Leno/Migden throwdown, quoting Paul Hogarth from Beyond Chron (who now supports Leno). Cover article: An awesome piece about mentally ill dogs. Who knew bordie collies got OCD? Meredith goes to the Presidio Social Club; SFist Ced gruffly concedes maybe she's been doing a good job lately. Let's Get Killed laments the new boring......

Bipartisan legislators introduced a bill in the California Senate Wednesday that would grant every child born within the state a $500 savings account, earmarked for higher education, a home downpayment, or retirement. We appreciate the idea of teaching young 'uns how to save for the future, sure. And we appreciate that people are working to counteract California's poverty. But, come on . . . finance lessons from the folks that have put California in the red?...

As it's Valentine's day, it's only fitting to talk about love... or lack there of... or rather the unique ways technology is helping people find love. This morning, the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle is stamped with a great story about how Silicon Valley execs have put love second to their job and are now using what appears to be a very successful matchmaking service in order to find the right mate. To be fair though, this strategy is expensive - - ($500 for entry level?!?! What?) So We've hunted down some other services that are lest costly, less time consuming and probably less helpful, but definitely very entertaining......

Here's the good news: there really isn't any news. Then again, who would know in the midst of the wall-to-wall Anna Nicole coverage? Oh, there was a staff shakeup and Gavin made a joke, but there really is nothing out there. No earth-shaking revelation, no new story of Gavin's lonely life living a Frank Sinatra tune, no clash with reporters. We guess that'll happen tomorrow for Fake Question Time II. That should be fun. ...

SFiS -- more than just SFist minus the T! We give the new glossy advertorial section of the Chronicle our patented By The Numbers treatment below. (Warning -- SFiS only appears in .pdf form so many, but not all, of the links featured here will require Adobe Acrobat.) Average cost of items promoted in SFiS (not including ads): $399.91. Number of Catherine Bigelow columns: 6. (new recaps of Gordon Getty's birthday party, the Red Tie......

-A woman's car breaking down caused a huge chain of events leading to her death and three hours worth of traffic on the upper deck of the Bay Bridge. -Where oh where did the snow go? ...

-The Oakland Tribune starts a three-part series on how all this Global Warming stuff is beginning to affect us locally. -Silicon Valley is back and better than before. -Ron Dellums was a hit at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. -Man shot and killed on Eddy Street early Saturday morning. -Blue and Gold fleet wants to raise prices. -Everybody loves the idea of an early primary. -Electric car catches on fire and burns down a building......

A woman biking to work (with a helmet) suffered life-threatening injuries after being struck by a cement truck making an illegal right turn onto the 101 onramp at Market and Octavia Monday morning. The truck didn't stop, but a motorcycle cop subsequently caught up with the driver on 101 by the Cesar Chavez exit (and determined that the driver didn't realize he'd hit the woman). There have been a number of accidents at that intersection,......

Some group out there with the name NewTithing Group got their hands on some 2004 tax returns, crunched some numbers, and determined that our rich people ain't that giving. In fact, LA's rich people totaly kicks our rich people's asses when it comes to giving, like twice as much. And we all know how much it hurts when LA kicks our asses in anything....

-Leader of the tree-hugging hippies who were hugging trees at Berkeley was cited and released for trespassing on campus. Apparently, he made the mistake of coming and going from tree. -Board of Supes quibble with each other over a lobbying firm being awarded a contract. -Mountain road gate James Kim walked through wasn't vandalized as first thought, but was just left unlocked. -Cameras might be put on DPT cars in light of the surge of......