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Spotted: The Twittermobile

Either Twitter is taking a cue from Google and hired their own roving Tweet machine, or some guy is really into Bambi and turned a Disney word into a license plate back in 1994 and has absolutely nothing to do with the company.

On a side note, how much do you think that license plate is worth if he sold it? Do you think Biz Stone would buy him a decent car for it?

Nerds Gone Wild: The Day San Francisco Died

On Monday, November 5th at 10pm, Bravo TV will murder the last remaining scraps of San Francisco's economic engine's dignity.  No, really:

Although the show is called “Start-Ups: Silicon Valley”, much of it was filmed right here in SOMA and the Mission (update: and The Shore House was in Upper Castro)!  Not only is there a hot scene filmed at Mission Cliffs, we're told the Toga Party was filmed near 26th and Guerrero.  The apartment's tenant, who understandably wishes to remain anonymous, tells us his “friend from college” called him up the day of the party and asked if he could “bring his camera crew.”  The guests then proceeded to found a pop-up bed sheet-sharing service and 'disrupt' the market for red Solo cups (via going blue cup).

Anyway, the trailer is full of typical brogrammer arrogance and braggadocio that has come to define the tech industry.  With gems like “I'd say I'm living paycheck to paycheck, but I don't have a paycheck!” followed by “If you're not aiming for something a billion dollars or higher, why waste your time?”, mixed in with the typical “I never thought I'd ever get here!” (because you didn't think you could afford the rent?) flare, this show is destine to make our Mondays even more depressing than they already are.

Update: Since some people are questioning our “insider knowledge” about the party, we verified that the party's host is, at least, Facebook friends with Toga-wearing Silicon Valley “star” Dwight Crow.  We also spoke with mutual friends of the host that vouched for him.

Google Shuttle Privilege, Broken Down in Handy Map Form

The folks over at Stamen Design, famous for their Crimespotting and Cabspotting maps, created this handy transit map explaining the approximate routes all those pesky 'gentrifying' (according to some stencil outside of Ritual, at least) wifi-equiped white buses full of tech workers take:

Fundamental shifts are underway in the relationship between San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Historically, workers have lived in residential suburbs while commuting to work in the city. For Silicon Valley, however, the situation is reversed: many of the largest technology companies are based in suburbs, but look to recruit younger knowledge workers who are more likely to dwell in the city.

…Several Stamen staff live on Google shuttle routes, so we see those shuttles every day. They're ubiquitous in San Francisco, but the scale and shape of the network is invisible.

We decided to try some dedicated observation. We sat 18th & Dolores one morning, and counted shuttles. We counted a new shuttle every five minutes or so; several different companies, high frequency. We also researched online sources like Foursquare to look for shuttle movements, and a 2011 San Francisco city report helped fill in gaps and establish basic routes.

As you can imagine, this map isn't completely accurate.  They wanted to imagine what this all would look like if the private shuttles were an actual transit system, so they simplified things a bit.  But, at the end of the day, this alt transit network carries 35% of the Caltrain load every day—and the Mission is well represented.

Now, if someone would mash this map with average rents, things could get really interesting.

[Stamen]

Fancy Ice Cubes Are A Thing

When I went to check out The Armory Club last weekend, I was SHOCKED to learn that ice cubes can be more than just frozen water—they can be used to communicate elegance…class…panache (I don't know what panache means).  In the rough-and-tumble world of $9 cocktails, ice makes the difference between which bar people stumble into and which they stumble past.

But, as you may recall, ice cubes are slave food—ice balls are “the real hotness right now.”  And fortunately for us, Gizmodo recently took a look at what goes into making an ice ball:

It watches like a Disney Channel remake of Breaking Bad, where Walty White opted to make The Finest Ice In All of Brooklyn instead of delicious, teeth-melting meth.  But it's not all hype, it really is a superior product:

Not all ice is created equal. Sother Teague gave us this example—bite into an ice cube in a fresh drink. It's hard, and then it shatters like glass. A minute later, if you bite it again, it kind of squishes and squeaks a little. That's the effect of low-density ice. Clear, dense ice, frozen slowly using this lake effect, can last a half hour before it starts to soften up.

But beyond that, custom-frozen giant chunks give a bartender much more creativity and control. What could be better, for example, than a clear sphere of ice? The thing you see in the video is the Cirrus Ice Ball Press. Using gravity to apply pressure, the metal wicks heat, melting the ice in about a minute, which really looks like magic. You're left with a 2.75-inch-diameter, six-ounce sphere of ice. In a rocks glass, it will last you a loooong time—a sphere is the ideal shape for ice to retain its heat. One ball should last you several drinks.

God bless America.

[Gizmodo]

Haus Coffee Laptop Thief Caught and Put on Display

UA tipster Mike was on the scene at Haus on 24th earlier today when a laptop theft victim caught the thief and reclaimed what was rightfully hers:

Check out the attached photo to see what expression a low level Mission thug makes while he's being held down by regular neighborhood folks on the sidewalk after stealing a laptop from Haus Coffee.  This chump made it about 5 feet before being tripped by the victim then pinned up against the car in the photo while everyone else on the sidewalk called the cops.  He was arrested a few minutes later and the DA will likely be looking at charges.  This all happened about 2:10 pm today.

I saw the whole thing go down as I was sitting right next to the table the laptop was on which was right next to the door.  Absolutely zero chance this knob is not the guy who did it.

We should note that there has been an uptick in these thefts lately, with (according to the Valencia Merchant's Association) criminals looting employee's personal belongings (and cash and merch) at Harrington's, Public Bikes, the gallery at 973 Valencia, BelJar, Serendipity, and Dema over the past few weeks.  Not necessarily related, but be sure to keep your head up.

Model Airplane Scores Epic Shots of Dolores Park

Ever wanted to know what it'd look like to shoot video from a model airplane zipping past Dolores Park?  I certainly have, but considering my habit of landing planes in the side of mountains in flight simulators, I figured doing so would most certainly be a bad idea.

Luckily, the menacing dorks at Noisebridge tried it for us.  Their landing wasn't much better than what I could do, but no one was killed and the resulting video is definitely a cool watch.  Action picks up about 1:30 in:

Those Fuzzy Pink Mustaches on Cars Actually Mean Something

I've been seeing cars driving around the city with those weird pink fuzzy mustaches on their grills for some months now.  I figured it was just a cancer protest, or maybe the automobile version of the hanky code, thereby alerting fellow motorists to honk twice for some parking lot handie or something.  But after seeing more and more of these things, my curiosity got the better of me.  So while crossing the street the other day, I spotted one of these pink mustache rides stopped at the red light and went up to the driver's window, knocked on it, and asked what's up.

Here's a brief account of the conversation, most of which the young female driver spent frantically finishing for something in her purse (mace?):

Me: Hey, what's the deal with the pink mustache thing on…

Driver: I don't have any money leave me alone!

Me: What? No, I wanna know about the mustache.

Driver (cracking her window): Oh, uh, it tells people that I'm a taxi.

Me: A what?

Driver: It's through an app called Lyft.  People say they need a ride and I go pick 'em up. Donation-based. They give me however much they think is fair to pay me.

Me: Isn't that illegal?

Driver: No. At least I don't think it is.

Me: Weird.

Driver: Dude the light is green and you're standing in the middle of traffic.

Me: Oh, right.

Anyway, now I know!

No Cuts For Mark Zuckerberg at Wise Sons

Mark Zuckerberg, the infamous founder of Facebook worth $20 billion (or whatever half of that is), has been waiting in line for brunch at Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen for the last 30 minutes.  According to Uptown Almanac's Jewish sources, his appearance is underwhelming in the wake of Woody Allen's recent meal at the establishment.  This is only further illustrated by the fact that Woody skipped the line, care of a special reservation the restaurant gave him, whereas Zuckerberg was left to stand in line like a chump.

“I mean, this is no Larry David sighting at Canter's,” one Jewish source noted, “but it'll do.”

Note: as of press time, Mark Zuckerberg was still in line.

Four Barrel Bans Instagraming Anti-Hipster Signage

Four Barrel updated their draconian laws this week, adding “not posting this on instagram” to the list.  The irony, of course, is that the very first photo taken with Instagram was of a Four Barrel cappuccino.  I guess they really hate the attention.

[via Instagram]

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