There seems to be a lot of car-related news in the Chron today. Remember how everyone was so upset because it turns out that SF doesn't collect on like 60% of parking meter money? Well, the second half of the study is in and it turns out the city makes up virtually all of that difference in parking meter fines. (Thanks, opera/parking blogger The Standing Room, for helping the city balance its budget!) By contrast......

Okay, here's an update on that lawsuit against AT&T and the Federal Government for illegally snooping on people's phone calls and e-mails. Basically, there are about seventeen similar lawsuits out there in the midst of the legal world and because they're all sort of similar-- whiny Al Queda supporters suing the telecoms and government for doing something unconstitutional, they've been mashed together into one big lawsuit sandwich. That sandwich will be heard in San Francisco's very own Federal Court by one U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker. The reasoning is because out of all the various suits out there, the AT&T one is the most advanced. Bully to the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation and how awesome would it be if they started their own University just so people could say they go to EFF U?) and the ACLU for being on the ball. ...

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week's collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week's choice posts from across the Gothamist network. Torontoist (where it's 75 degrees F as of this writing)......

Muy Bueno! (Like that one's never been come up with before.) Jennifer Bueno, the woman who was hit in the face by a folding chair at an A's game, finally filed suit against the Texas Ranger who pitched the lawn decor at her husband for his sassy mouth, and the Rangers' organization. One of the reports we heard said that her husband Craig was supposed to be at the press conference too, but he works at the fire house with the three guys who got in the accident and tied up traffic yesterday on the San Mateo Bridge. Police are baffled about the mysterious beating of a 13-year-old foreign student in South San Francisco last week, just blocks from his host family's home. Robbery wasn't a motive, since the boy had all his money and his mp3 player on him. The boy is in critical condition at SF General, and authorities are offering a $12,000 reward for information. And interestingly, remember how the City of Fremont decided not to enforce burglar alarms unless there was proof of an actual break-in? Well, they did a study to see what happened after they adopted the policy, and robberies in the city are actually down 9%. Burglar alarm associations say it's too soon to tell. ...

It was a good year, it was a bad year. Here's my list of the so-best parts of 2004, in no order at all. So-Best photo: I'm not a super big fan of Norah Jones or anything, and it has no SF connection whatsoever, but I've been dying for an excuse to use this picture for months now. (I like the letter Y just fine, though.) So-Best city hall trend: Rate this year in local politics triple-X! Sex, violence, and foul language: F-bombs dropping like bunker busters, groping at the Gettys, and hand-to-mouth pumping action -- and that's just for two branches of the local government! Throw in some sizzling-hott judicial/executive same-sex marrying action, fights galore, plushie love, vandalism, computer hackery, and those ever-present Asian fetishists (you just love them for their money), and phew, you'd definitely have to prove you were over 18 to get into this movie! So-Best blotter entry/b>: The pranksters who stole the bronze Hermes outside the University Club. Runner-up: The angry Texas Ranger throwing the chair at heckling Mr. Bueno and hitting his wife in the nose. So-Best commuter tale: This was back in April, back when SFist was just a twinkle in our publisher's eye -- but remember that dude who threatened to kill himself on the Bay Bridge and tied up traffic for thirteen hours? And then they proposed shooting a big Spiderman net under him? The highlight of your westbound commute. Runner-up: The Baby Bullet/BART hookup finally working out is saa-weeeeeet. It could only be better if it actually went at like 200 miles an hour so when you looked out the windows, things go all blurry. So-Best makeshift top 40 radio station: I'm still torn up about the death of Z95.7. But now that I've finally gotten MTV Hits from my cable company RCN and TiVo DVR and an ipod to go, I'm completely up to date. (Damn you, Max Martin, and your catchy new Kelly Clarkson tune.) Runner-up MTV Networks so-best: Have you seen the new VH1 Classic show The Alternative? So-Best things I've learned at sfist: How to reserve books at the Public Library. Who this band the Arcade Fire is. How many different crime movies and TV shows were set in San Francisco. And all these cool people I have the privilege of writing with (awwww). Keep reading in 2005!...