Cumulus Dramaticus
Tis the season of interesting, puffy clouds.
I’m not a big HDR fan, but this shot of Bernal converted to black and white worked out nicely.
Better than the color verison, I think.
And another angle of upper La Lengua and our advanced motor services industry.
Last Saturday, there was crazy-ass sunlight piercing the upper deck, leading to sunny ground and socked in skies. While this shot pushes through my HDR acceptability barrier, it was the only way to give you a feel of how insane the lighting was.
Meanwhile, Peninsulaward:
In outer La Lengua, Groger’s Western Store continues its fine wheatpastery:
Sucka free, indeed:
(Re)Name Your New SF Hockey Team
The esteemed @peterhartlaub over at SFGate was kind enough to reference my post on the “SF Bulls” hockey naming controversy. He quickly came up with seven awesome names that will avoid this unfortunate fate:
http://twitter.com/#!/oshanada/status/121014886854701056
This of course immediately sparked new cheers by my new Twitter friends:
https://twitter.com/#!/sfhockeydude/status/121013921841807360
https://twitter.com/#!/sfhockeydude/status/121079101065920512
(I think we all see where this is headed.)
Anyway, I have created a poll to get a feel for which of these alternate names shall replace the tragedy of the San Francisco Bulls. Please read Peter’s finely crafted article to understand the nuances of each choice before voting, along with my original post. And of course, gazing upon the glory of the San Francisco Sutros:
Ahhhh. Oh yeah, the poll. In the spirit of Ranked Choice Voting, you can pick up to three names (though you can’t actually rank them, sorry…) And of course a write-in option.
And a note to Pat Curcio – please take all this as constructive criticism. We really want hockey to work here.
Oh, Free Marketing Idea:
Have REALLY good food and beer during games at the Cow Palace. Seriously. While renaming the team the San Francisco Food Trucks is admittedly a stretch, you should seriously consider doing a weekly Off The Grid food truck extravaganza and get local/regional brewers like Anchor, Speakeasy, Trumer and Almanac to be partners.
SF on Ice
Good news, San Franciscans of northern and eastern extraction! Minor League hockey is returning to our fair city! (Well, technically Daly City — the Cow Palace actually touches the SF city line.) They’ll be playing in the ECHL, an mid-level league with ties to the NHL.
While I am excited to watch hockey, even in a 1940s era arena, there are a few marketing issues to discuss. First is the name of the team. Minor league teams often have strange or uninspiring names. Consider our neighboring ECHL teams– the Las Vegas Wranglers, the Ontario Reign, the Stockton Thunder, the Bakersfield Condors. Meh.
The San Francisco team will be named… (wait for it…)
The San Francisco Bulls!
Get it? Cow Palace? Bulls? Or perhaps this is a nod to the Spanish-era rachos and the cattle hide industry? (Unfortunately, the Cow Palace is not in the jurisdiction of the old Bernal Rancho — Visitacion Valley and south belonged to Señor Ridley.)
While the logo itself is not bad, it’s not exactly screaming San Francisco. Something a little more local would be nice.
Consider a former ECHL team, the Victoria Salmon Kings. Lots of salmon around Victoria! And I like salmon!
(Wait, I think I like eating salmon more than watching salmon.)
Anyway, I have decided to lead an effort to rename the Bulls to something more appropriate to San Francisco.
The San Francisco Fog
Pros:
- iconic, readily associated with San Francisco
- fog is fast
- opposing teams will find it hard to get away from all encompassing nature
- other weather related teams in the ECHL (Stockton Thunder, Cincinnati Cyclones)
Cons:
- potentially too literal
- SF is foggy in summer, not winter (despite hockey playoffs going through June)
- uncertain mascot costume
- uncertain home vs away uniforms
(When I was a kid, NHL teams wore their more colorful jerseys on the road. They wore white at home — I thought this was what gave teams a home ice advantage (ice and the boards were white… hey, come on, I was 4.))
Derivation with more action and aggression:
The San Francisco Fog Eaters
(tip of the hat to Trail, BC.)
Pros:
- indicates an ability to eat things
Cons:
- fog seems to be primary component of diet (as opposed to animal-branded teams)
Those with long memories will remember the California Golden Seals who played in Oakland from 1967-1976 (then becoming the Cleveland Barons, which merged with the Minnesota North Stars, that moved to Dallas. However, the former owner of the Seals sold his shares in the Stars and helped found the Sharks).
Pros:
- seals do well in cold environments
Cons:
- seals get eaten by bears when on top of the ice
- potential confusion with Lou Seal
Clearly another logo is required. This brings up the obvious and awesome possibility of…
The San Francisco Sutros
(via Jeff/@theoverheadwire)
Alternate logo, taking a page from the Giants:
Adding a bit of a hockey motif:
(Note: it is hard drawing Sutro Tower using hockey sticks. However, this clearly indicates we are serious about hockey.)
Pros:
- can communicate over long distances our utter awesomeness
- reflects the majesty of the hockey stick (the Canadian ceremonial sword)
- “Suuuuuuuuu-troooooooooo” is a very good cheer
Cons:
- none
Please welcome the San Francisco Sutros to the Cow Palace in 2012-2013!
MegaSutro
Following upon the popular but sadly short-lived MilliSutro, behold the power of MEGASUTRO:
At 47 inches (4.5 feet / 1.2 meters) MEGASUTRO should technically be called MicroSutro since it’s close to 1/100 scale. But I as a Namer of Things have decided upon the more differentiated MEGA prefix for this CNCd model. (「メッチャ・スートロ」was a close second.)
I mean, you can cradle this puppy:
MEGASUTRO is available now over at dotmatrixdesign.
Valencitro
I wear my Sutroglasses at night.
I tried to get a shot with the 14-Mission sign right below Valencitro, but it was not to be. This is the best you’re getting.
San Franthropomorphism 2012 Calendar
Anthropomorphic Twitter accounts are increasingly common. San Francisco is particularly rich with these accounts — @SFBayBridge, @SutroTVtower, @TransamericaBdg and @555CaliforniaSt are but a few, and all have taken on distinct personalities.
@seismogenic, a real human being, is a geologist who would rather be in San Francisco but is trapped for the time being in Southern California, and wants to make a Kickstarter-funded San Franthropomorphism 2012 calendar:
The gist of this project is San Francisco and anthropomorphism. These are my interpretations of what many of San Francisco’s major landmarks would look like (and act like) if they were humans. Anthropomorphism as an artistic and literary device goes waaay back, so why not extend it to some of the structures and icons whose personalities contribute so much to the character of the larger City?
More on the calendar itself:
It’s a 2012 calendar featuring drawings of personified landmarks in their setting within the cityscape. It’s kind of a send-up of those calendars of pretty pictures of famous landmarks that you see in every gift shop in any city: that kind of scenery, but replacing the actual landmark with a human character based on that landmark. Since this is a San Francisco calendar specifically, in addition to including all the standard US holidays, it will also have key dates in the City’s history included in the day grid itself.
The final print size will be 8.5×11 inch pages – 11×17 once it’s unfolded. The prints will be in full color on glossy paper, with a glossy cardstock cover. They’ll be bound with a staple and have a hole punched in the top for ease in hanging. They will not be individually shrink-wrapped, because that’s not green at all, and this is San Francisco.
If you find this kind of thing appealing, as I obviously do, jump over and help fund the project by October 17th. (We’re already 1/6th of the way there!)
A History of the Sky
I’m not sure how I missed this — behold a composite of hundreds of days worth of time lapsed skies taken from the roof of the Exploratorium.
All time synched, one shot every 10 seconds. Remarkable, especially the rolling sunrises and sunsets.
It was created by Ken Murphy, owner and proprietor of MurphLab here in SF. More details on this ongoing timelapse project here. (It looks like a full running year of timelapses is underway.)
Other rather obscenely cool MurphLab projects include such diverse elements as:
…a series of Hyper-3D Timelapses Dolores Park below. Hope you can do that eye-crossing thing. (Hopefully the 3D Cones of Distress trained you well!)
…and the Church and 30th St Muni track reconstruction weekend timelapse:
…as well as panoramic timelapses.
Just go visit MurphLab already. It’s not like you get anything done at work on Thursdays anyway.
Animated GIF from 1929
Real life has been interfering with important historical research. This must stop! Despite a busy day at work, I will bring history forward! Or something like that.
Anyway, we’ve all seen the majestic glory of Old SF, who have revealed the secret history of the SFPL’s most excellent (though unfortunately lowish-resolution) photo archive. I can’t tell you how happy I am that they took the time to geotag things. It certainly makes my time-wasting more efficient. (Hey, OldSFians, ping me, we need to talk about integrating the Sanborn maps!)
Geotagging these resources is but the first step. There’s also the efforts of Historypin (who recently grabbed Jon Voss, of LookBackMaps fame) where we align photos and tag more information about them. (I cannot wait until we get a geohistory API…)
Anyway, many of you have probably seen the series of photos from the corner of 24th and Valencia from 1929. This one looks east down 24th towards Potrero, standing next to Papalote. The building on the right (SW corner) and one across the street on the left (NE corner) are still there.
Hey, ice cream! And we sure could use a deli on that corner again. Strangely enough, that’s a gas station across the street (where the church is now), and the Fiesta ice cream building will eventually flip to a gas station.
Another view looking south towards Bernal where you can see a lumberyard and a proto-fixie.
(If anyone wants to load these in historypin and do the before/after Google Street View thing, go for it, I’m so out of time it’s absurd.)
The Sanborn maps for this intersection are particular pain in the ass to put together — basically four different maps in two different volumes. But such is my love for you all and of history.
Anyway, here’s 1915 vs 1950 side by side. Goodbye lumberyards and the candy factory and light industry and the train station (which is a post in itself). (Click to make bigger.)
(I also did a quick and dirty map of that corner in 1899 for the 200 Yards project a while back.)
Zooming in 24th and Valencia, here’s 1915 vs 1950 in an animated GIF with a 35 year delta. The two photos were taken on the left looking right (east looking west), and top looking down (north looking south) respectively.
Click on it if nothing’s happening, or to get a wider version.
Given the title of the post, you can probably figure out where I’m going next. The interesting thing about the 1929 photo is there are actually TWO of them, taken less than a minute apart. It’s as if the photographer knew that we would use a format invented in 1987 to animate his 82 year old images! The detail in any one of these photos is impressive, but the animation below makes it that much more real.
(Click for a 1000 pixel wide version).
Note the kids hamming it up. They’re in their 90s now.
And check out the streetcar under the Fiesta Ice Cream sign! I never noticed it until I made this animation.
Anyway, enjoy the mildly coherent historic discourse and retina jarring animated GIFs.
Sutrouflage
Driving south on 101, just past the tunnel, you can see Secret Sutro:
Sutro is closely related to the cuttlefish and will attempt to blend into its environment, scurrying between towers when you aren’t looking.
Sutro also has control over space and time, and can appear in multiple locations simultaneously if threatened.
Good Day Moon
We use our MonkeyBrains dish to maintain high speed communications with the Burrito Justice lunar research center (along with on-world and local facilities).
Alas, Bernal often obstructs our view of the moon:
Development on the Illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator is slow going.
Burrito Justice 