When Simpsons creator Matt Groening's mother, Margaret (or Marge, as her friends knew her), died last month at the age of 94, a wonderful obituary was printed in a Portland, Oregon newspaper, which was cause for some fan excitement about all the Simpsons name echoes in the Groening family. While the real Marge's hair may not have been blue, her life story is filled with familiar names.

As many fans of the show already know, creator Matt Groening named the characters on the show after members of his own family, with the exception of Bart, though he has said in interviews that the real inspiration for Bart was actually his older brother Mark. Matt's younger siblings did get animated namesakes, however—Lisa and Maggie—and his father, who died in 1996, was named Homer. He also had an older sister named Patty (who died earlier this year), who seems to be the direct inspiration for the Patty and Selma characters — as one Redditor comments, he used to know Margaret and Patty Groening, who would come into a pharmacy where he worked, and Patty "was pleasant, but reeked of cigarette smoke and had crazy, wiry hair."

The most noteworthy part of the obituary, however, may be the fact that its writer fails to mention The Simpsons or the fame of Marge's son at all, as if that would be tacky.

The Simpsons began life in 1987 as a series of shorts created for interludes on The Tracey Ullman Show. Groening famously sketched out the concept for the show sitting in the lobby of director James L. Brooks' office after deciding he didn't want to risk losing the rights to his Life in Hell characters by doing an animated series about them. The Simpsons remains the longest-running prime-time animated series in the country.

[Reddit, obit via user Yarr]
[Willamette Week]
[The Oregonian]

Last night FOX aired a Simpsons 20-year review -- which was heavy on the white, male, GenX talking heads, even though scores of XX-chromosome types equally adore the popular cartoon satire -- featuring San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Newsom, along with former Cincinnati mayor and talk show host Jerry Springer, discussed Mayor Quimby. (You can watch Newsom's appearance here.) And next to a blue power tie, we sure as hell cannot find any connection between Gavin and the notoriously womanizing, charming-yet-slick, presumably Democrat leader of Springfield. Can you?

More intriguingly, though, you may remember that the feds also raided Ed's buddy Robert Chan's house (though he was referred to by the mellifluous name "Co-Conspirator No. 1" at the time). Not only did they find $20,000 (in $100 bills) at Chan's house, but also a box of hollow-point ammunition bullets. Chan's attorney says that the bullets are "of no consequence" to the investigation. Well, sure, we'd say that too if our client had a box of hollow-point bullets readily available!

Oh, and one last thing! So it turns out the only reason why the feds raided Ed's house? It turns out Ed noticed he kept being followed by cars and called the SFPD to ask if they could run the plates -- at which point the SFPD alerted the FBI, who decided they had to move. That is so bad spy movie! It reminds us of that Simpsons episode where Marge says "I think we're being spied on!" and then a van pulls away from their house and another pulls up, labeled "Flowers By Irene."

-- Verified Identity Pass. Scary. But kind of cool. [Chron]

-- Mark Leno, the scribe. [SFBG]

-- After yesterday's fire in the Castro -- or as the Examiner still calls it, "Eureka Valley" -- seven are hospitalized. [Examiner]

-- Our new vodka buddy/birthday mate, Beth Spotswood, calls Daly and Gonzalez bitches, annihilates your SF mayoral candidates. [Chron]

-- "Senior of the Year" Jose Morales wants to keep his rent-controlled Mission pad that he's had for 42 years. Jesus Christ. Wonder what he pays? [BeyondChron]

-- Braves beat Giants, 6-3. [Chron]

-- SF's most garish bathroom and bedroom decor. Ever. Well, created without the aid of meth, anyway. [Curbed SF]

-- Although not posted today, but always important: "Why I Hate The Simpsons" -- at last! [Techsploitation]

It's difficult to categorize Shearer's art because he's done radio (KRCW), TV (Jack Benny, SNL, Politically Incorrect, Ellen, Friends, Murphy Brown), movies (This is Spinal Tap, For Your Consideration, Abbott and Costello, A Mighty Wind, The Right Stuff, The Truman Show), voice work (The Simpsons, hello!) and more. He started acting at the age of seven. Shearer quipped, "I don't eat lunch," which must be the only way he takes care of all that business.

Sometimes, the GLBs can be a little mean when it comes to the Ts. Oh, sure, it's fine to be a butch lez or a fairy, but the minute you start taking hormones you're something exotic. In , David's just barely open enough to date a transitioning cutie named Ethan. David's curiosity is tactless, but their shared love of The Simpsons buoys the evening. And just as David is grasping desperately to explain why he's afraid to spend the night, Ethan erases his hesitation with the magic words that all diplomats ought to learn: "I have a strap-on."

We loved every minute, with the possible exception of a spit-take that's so hastily drawn it looks like someone's vomiting up Spiderman webbing. Man Enough's power lies in its quick, snappy dialogue, particularly when coupled with sensitive, unassuming characters. Yay. And as a bonus, the book also has a short story set in a porny videostore, where you can reconstruct your customers' damaged psyches with a single glance at their rental history. We used to work in just such a setting, and we can tell you that we had no choice but to judge every horrible secret lurking deep in each and every naughty customer. We still have nightmares. Some scary, some hot.

Anyways, these thoughts occur to us in the wake of the reports that four construction workers working on a 55-story condo at One Rincon Hill (sketch of the building at left) were injured when the deck they were standing on collapsed. Thank goodness they were only at the third floor when it happened -- though their injuries range from mild to serious. Cal OSHA had inspected the site a number of times before, but only found minor violations. Work's been shut down for the rest of the day and an investigation is pending.

We wish the workers a speedy recovery, of course --but this also reminds us of that Simpsons episode where they have a sign outside a construction site that says "---3 Days Since Our Last Accident," and then you see a cloud of dust and hear someone saying, "Aaaaaah, nuts."

Are fast food joints the blight Schlosser and company would have us believe, or are you "lovin' it"? (Incidentally, have you seen that McDonald's commercial where the prone McD's customer slides along the sidewalk into the restaurant, apparently a testament to the powerful wake-up effects of en Egg McMuffin? All we can think about when we watch that is how gross the idea of lying down -- let alone, letting one's body slide -- on the sidewalk in front of McDonald's is. Ugh.)

We'll let Morgan Spurlock handle the whole blight issue, while we check out this nifty Google maps hack (sent to us by Friend of SFist Ed) that shows us the locations of all the McDonald's, Burger Kings, Wendy's and Jack in the Boxes in the city. Wow, Wendy's is really getting its ass kicked, isn't it?

For those of you reading from elsewhere, there's also a map of the contiguous states to get your head around. Good to know that the next time we're after a cool Happy Meal toy, we can rely on something besides our increasingly fuzzy memories of our meat-eating days.