Friday, August 28, 2009

Alembic

I love this place. Old-timey cocktails to die for, made like nobody else makes them.

We were in there on Saturday, and had little roasted duck hearts on a stick. It made me feel like a dark pagan god receiving burnt offerings from my worshippers.

The wait staff and bartenders are pretty well illustrated. When the waitress slipped my Old-Fashioned (Rittenhouse 80, no garbage) onto the table, I saw this on her forearm.

"Money doesn't talk, it swears." -- Bob Dylan

It made me wonder how to tip her.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

News of SUV's Death Greatly Exaggerated

The US Dept. of Transportation's CARS program, popularly known as "Cash for Clunkers," reports that the top four clunkers being dumped are Ford Explorers, and top new vehicles being bought are mostly foreign-made economy cars like the Toyota Corolla and the Prius.



Cash for Clunkers (Yahoo)

Is it the death of the SUV? Well, not quite. Edmunds challenged the numbers, pointing out that if you count simply by make and model, instead of treating each configuration (e.g., 2WD and 4WD) separately, the top vehicle purchased is actually another SUV, the Ford Escape, and two pickup trucks actually made the top-10 list.



Analyst disputes top replacements for clunkers (Toledo Blade)

Edmunds: DOT’s Cash for Clunkers Top Ten List Gets It Wrong

Well, it is a bit smaller.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Valencia Hit-and-Run Suspect Arrested

Many other blogs have covered the story of Andrew Bennett, who was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding with his 4-year-old son on July 1. The driver was reportedly talking on a cell phone, and ran a red light.

The good news in this story is that a suspect was just arrested by the SFPD.

Hopefully the medical costs of Andrew's injuries won't break his family, and he'll be able to work again. I suppose we should simply be glad he and his son are alive at all.

No props to the Chron on this one, sadly: not only did they not cover the story, but actually published several anti-cyclist Letters to the Editor on the days following.

I'm especially impressed with this comment of Andrew's:

"... even if you ride a little bit around the city it makes you feel really good. I really miss the best way to move in San Francisco."

Amen.