Self-consciously conservative Debra Saunders, The Chronicle's anti-gay "token conservative," tried to make a funny yesterday. Or rather, in a failed attempt to sound Coulterian, she slammed President Obama as a total "wuss." Why? Because he wore a bike helmet while pedaling around in Martha's Vineyward. Behold: more ›

This past weekend the Chron's food staff revealed their picks for the Rising Star Chefs of 2010, and it's an all-male slate this time around. Last year's list had two women on it, and most years there is at least one. But as Michael Bauer laments in his intro, they tried hard to "diversify the pool, [but] these guys kept rising to the top." more ›

Long seen by economists as a truer marker than the traditional unemployment rate, CA's underemployment rate hit a shocking 22% in September. Per the Chron: "That figure includes 1.9 million jobless Californians, 1.4 million people who had to work part time, and 865,000 adults loosely described as discouraged." (Full chart after the jump.) Many of those working part time are people who were furloughed or otherwise given fewer work hours rather than being laid off. And those "discouraged" folks are the ones who no longer qualify for unemployment and who have basically given up on looking for work. more ›

We know it's, like, not cool around these parts to admit one's love of over-processed, non-organic, industrially farmed fast food. And maybe it's just that we haven't had breakfast yet, but we couldn't help but notice that all of the foods chosen by Chron editor and "Poop" columnist Peter Hartlaub in his roundup of fast foods he finds "vile" look sort of delicious to us right now. McDonald's McGriddle sandwich? Who doesn't like the combination of sausage with a pancake with syrup? Those KFC bowls? Delicious hangover food if you ask us. And while Domino's is hardly the best pizza or the most politically conscious food choice for liberals, that bacon cheeseburger pizza would also hit the spot. We admit we have not tried the Taco Bell Volcano Taco (pictured), but it, too, might entice us after a long day of driving down I-5. We're really sorry if this offends your sensibilities. And all this on a day when Mayor Newsom issued an executive order for sustainable food practices citywide! more ›

After more than 60 years of broadcasting in analog, television stations across the nation made the switch to digital today -- following on an Obama-mandated six-month delay so that more outreach could be done for people likely to be most affected, namely the elderly and rural poor. But interestingly, Ryan Kim who writes for the Chron's Technology Chronicles, will also be affected because he decided recently to go cable-less. This seems ironic given the fact that the Tech Chronicles' tagline is "News and views from the digital frontier" (emphasis ours). Ryan apparently has some trouble seeing NBC from where he lives in the Inner Sunset, and must concentrate his technology coverage on the digital frontiers outside of the TV sphere -- also, he appears excited by the idea of getting digital TV streamed on his mobile phone via Qualcomm's FLO TV. Why not have it on a ful screen, Ryan? more ›

Matier & Ross were all over this nugget of news today: bronze plaques will be placed in locations where the city's homeless have died. The "memorials" will be placed in Chris Daly and Ross Mirkarimi's districts, which include the Tenderloin, Civic Center, Haight-Ashbury and Western Addition. Each will be 2 feet by 2 feet "human-shaped plaques" and "[inscribed] with details of the deceased's lives and the circumstances of their deaths," according to the Chron. Let's just hope they don't look like the mockup the Gate created above. more ›

The Chron got all investigative reporting today and discovered that after getting raises in 2002, the Board now meets less than when they did before the raise. Let's see...more money...less work hours...how do we get that job? more ›

It was announced today that SF Chronicle's editor, Phil Bronstein, will be "shifting his role from running day-to-day operations in the newsroom to taking on broader strategic responsibilities at the paper and for its owner, Hearst Corporation." Whoa. more ›

With the perpetual rebuilding process that is the San Francisco 49er franchise, every so often an old part of old successes will cycle back through SF. This Sunday, Gilroy’s second-most-favorite export returns to the Bay Area at the reigns of Chucky Gruden’s particular strain of West Coast Offense. You never should have been run out of town, Jeff. more ›

Oh this is bizarre. And scary. An old man was arrested today for not following a "restraining order that prohibited him from having any contact with employees of The Chronicle." Oh my. It seems that Julian Hartzell, 64, made "inappropriate contact" with some of the Chronicle staff this past summer. The paper then got themselves a restraining order against him, but he continued to try contacting employees. So? He was arrested. What kind of... more ›

In an effort to tame the trolls, SFGate's site (as well as a few others like ThinkProgress) use software from an outside company that implements a unique "block user" function. This feature blocks all comments made by a user from view by anyone but themselves (upon login). That is to say, whenever the quasi-banned user logs in to the site, they see their comments intact; but to everyone else, the offending comment is simply... more ›

After yesterday's fog-induced Cosco Busan/Bay Bridge crash -- resulting in 58,000 gallons of fuel and 8,000 gallons of "heavy-duty bunker fuel oil" spilling into the Bay -- Baker Beach, Crissy Field, China Beach, Kirby Cove, and Fort Point beaches (or "beaches" to some of you purists out there) have been closed. Large blobby slicks as big as 50 yards long and 20 yards wide have been spotted off Tiburon and near Mill Valley's Bayfront... more ›

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The Chronicle called Ed Jew's office today, and his legislative aide Barbara Meskunas said he wasn't in because he was sleeping. Jet lag, you know. more ›

The current contribution to the mass spoon-feeding that is the summer blockbuster schedule is is 168 minutes of pee-inducing ocean battles. more ›

The Chronicle has been doing a lot of back-slapping over their work in the BALCO case, turning their two reporters, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, into full and official Martyrs of the Constitution, complete with the victory lap around the newsroom. Yay, Chronicle. But maybe they shouldn't be so excited. more ›

Last night, we went to last night's Warriors/Cavs game, a game the Warriors lost in overtime. Now, we'll let Basketball Chris do the analysis and post-game wrap up, but we wanted to make an observation of our own. Mainly, that we went to see Lebron and we were disappointed. But not surprised. more ›

-The Rai-duhs are going to take their time looking for a new coach which is code for "find somebody desperate enough to take the job." The Betting Fool wallows in the Raiders' misery. more ›

Two small plane crashes -- one into a tank of raw sewage in Gilroy, and another onto Highway 4 in Contra Costa County. The Highway 4 crash involved a pilot who misjudged the location of the landing runway in the low cloud cover Thursday, and tied up traffic for miles. They're still investigating the Gilroy crash; investigators got a later start because they had to drain and disinfect the tank before it was safe to go in. more ›

Lucky Carol Ness! The Chronicle Food section scribe is off in Turin, Italy, to update us on a BIG meeting for the Slow Food Movement. Her detailed reporting has always shined (ring the full disclosure bell: yes, we used to intern there, and yes, we have pals there, including our husband). Of particular note is the fact that many Californians--both famous and not so much - are participating. For the record, Dairy Queen at The Ethicurean is interested and green with envy over the Turin happenings. Mmmmkay. We're not sure we agree with Ms. DQ that the Bay Area scene is “as deserted as New York in August.” We'd rather be here, with all the artisan chocolate with tea notes, pumpkins, squash, beets, and cavolo nero popping up. We mean it, we really, really do. more ›

As we think fondly back on our college days, we've come to the conclusion that alcohol is never going to taste as good as it did before we turned 21. That, however, may not be true for poor Brittanie Mountz, who just got busted by the Chronicle's Cecilia Vega for possibly drinking with the mayor while underage. more ›

about the Westfield San Francisco Shopping Centre's reopening of the old Emporium space on Market and Powell this Thursday (the 28th). Cross your fingers along with us that the opening ceremonies will include Gavin cutting a red ribbon with a big ol' pair of scissors! more ›

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. more ›

Okay, so it’s not a great time to flip your house, and rents are rising, but there are still some real estate developments that are not bad news. Retail rents across San Francisco are up 2.6% over last year to an average of $32.11 per square foot, indicating some competitive demand. Demand = more business in the city. We love business in the city, especially when it might lead to jobs – and it looks like San Francisco’s employers might add another 14,000 jobs. more ›

This week, after years of dithering, the 49ers announced that there finally is A Stadium Plan. OK. What plan? The Chronicle's Matier & Ross say that gleefully impudent Chron sports columnist Ray Ratto's incisive piece about the team's lack of movement on the stadium put the spurs to the Niners making the conciliatory announcement that they have A Plan and that they are putting a lot of work into The Plan. OK. So, then? more ›

Well, it's April 19, 2006, and the goodwill created by celebrating disaster rising above disaster has now officially dissipated. The Chronicle reports that numerous public officials are disgruntled at various protocol lapses that left them feeling insufficiently fawned over at the big 4:30 a.m. party.

There was predawn political infighting because some elected officials weren't offered a coveted spot on stage, an awkward moment when the master of ceremonies called into the audience to locate former Mayor Willie Brown even though he was standing not far behind her, and what should have been a memorable finale with the crowd singing a roaring rendition of "San Francisco" puttered out because many didn't know the lyrics.

It snowed in the Bay Area this weekend -- the first March snowstorm since 1896. And we're not just talking snow like in the Sierras or maybe on the top of Mount Tam -- there was snow in Danville, on Mount Baker in the South Bay, and even some snow in San Francisco by West Portal. more ›

Well, it's awards season around the Blogosphere. You've got your Food Blog Awards, Bloggies, your Webbys -- heck, it's the first week in January and SFist has already won one. So when we saw that the Most Valuable Network was holding a poll to crown a best writer for 2005, we figured it would be a good chance to put in a plug for our favorite MVN blogger, Dave Isaacs of The City. more ›

We decided to cheat a little for the letter S. Instead of choosing a restaurant name, we settled on an entire cuisine - from S is for South of India. By the end of the meal, at popular new spot, Dosa, we realised that the initial of the day would more aptly describe S is for "Secret" recipes. The menu is apparently full of them. more ›

We've heard of evergreen news stories, but this an evergreen story about decorated evergreens: assorted East Bay neighborhoods inevitably have one or two streets where the decorating is absolutely over-the-top. We are dying to head out to Pleasanton to Widmer World -- 132,000 lights, plus wood figurines and a live Santa, all on Bob and Susan Widmer's lawn. We'll be joining 3,000-5,000 of our closest friends for that one, if previous years' visiting estimates are at all accurate. more ›