August 2005 Archives

Imagine that your credit card records are on a computer somewhere. And then add your health records, your income tax filings, your employment records, your library records, and your air travel records.... oh yes, and your phone calls. That's not so hard to imagine, is it? Especially, since both you and I know that those things are on computers somewhere.

Now suppose that someone could pool all of this information and sell it, perhaps to a Customer Relationship Magement (CRM) software company. But wait, you don't have to imagine this, because the ACLU and their ad agency have already done a very good job of imagining it. Check out the: Pizza Store CRM Application from Hell.

As far as I can tell people stand in a long line for a long time for one of two reasons: 1) they are at a government facility and they are told to stand there, or 2) they know there is something really good waiting when then finally get to the front. The line at Mama's for weekend brunch is obviously a type #2 line. It looks incredibly long and it is undoubtedly worse than the line at Dottie's True Blue Cafe. But, once you get inside, you will be greeted by a bright sunny room with jazz playing in the background and an impressive list of breakfast items to choose from.

One would think that San Francisco is a pretty good place for an afcianado of tea to live. Such a person wants excellent quality and a wide selection of tea, and it wouldn't hurt if there were tea experts to talk to, and places where tea could be tasted. San Francisco has enough tea shops that it meets these requirements admirably, and in Chinatown, you can check out several places in the space of an hour or two.

Here are my favorite places and a few comments about each (they are ordered from south to north as you might visit them when entering Chinatown through the Grant Street Gate):

Charles Murray has bravely rejoined the debate on racial and gender differences in an article: The Inequality Taboo in the September 2005 issue of Commentary Magazine

I have omitted perhaps the most obvious reason why men and women differ at the highest levels of accomplishment: megn take more risks, are more competitive, and are more aggressive than women. The word "testosterone" may come to mind, and appropriately. Much technical literature documents the hormonal basis of personality differences that bear on sex differences in extreme and venturesome effort, and hence in extremes of accomplishment--and that bear as well on the male propensity to produce an overwhelming proportion of the world's crime and approximately 100 percent of its wars. But this is just one more of the ways in which science is demonstrating that men and women are really and truly different, a fact so obvious that only intellectuals could ever have thought otherwise.

It was Tuesday and dinner time. I picked up a bottle of wine and walked over to my local French Bistro, Fringale. So why am I telling you about dinner at Fringale in a note about the Fifth Floor? Because Fringale, although comfortable, quite accomodating of my BYOB habits, and a purveyor of reasonably-priced, delicious food was busy. Too busy. There were no tables and there were no seats at the bar, and there weren't going to be any tables or seats at the bar anytime soon, either. So on the spur of the moment, after assessing my clothing for the correct degree of formality (adequate), I reversed direction and strode down 4th Street to the Palomar Hotel and rode the elevator up to the Fifth Floor.

The Palomar opened not too long prior to my move to San Francisco in 2000. It is a luxurious and comfortable hotel with new, large and bright rooms filled with all manner of neat toys like CD and DVD players. The decor is retro-chic and is kind of european. As I walked across the art-filled lobby and into the restaurant, it really did seem like I was in the lap of luxury. I was looking forward to being rewarded for my impetuosity.

History of the ViseGrip.

History of Duct (a.k.a Duck) Tape.

UPDATE: Here's some compelling proof on just how useful Duct Tape really is....

I had lunch yesterday with four Chow-friends at Harbor Village in the Embarcadero Center. This was a most excellent lunch, but it was also a bit bittersweet --certainly a universal emotion—- but normally not a Chinese taste. Almost three years ago, a Sunday lunch at Harbor Village was my second Chowhound event, and my introduction to serious dim sum. This Sunday, August 28th, Harbor Village will close.

In George Orwell's 1984, Winston Smith works in the Ministry of Truth where he doctors historical records to comply with the Party's version of the past. The 1984 view of history is unburdened by reality, it is a past torn apart and remolded to conform to a current ideology. In San Francisco in 2005, eight members of the Board of Supervisors labor at a similar task — banishing the past and crippling the present in the service of progressive ideology.

In 2001, former San Francisco mayor, and current U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein helped to pass a $3 million appropriation to tow the battleship USS Iowa from its mothball location in Rhode Island to the Bay Area hoping to add the mighty ship to Fisherman's Wharf as an additional tourist attraction. The Iowa sits today anchored in a backwater of San Francisco Bay, looking for a home.

When —last October— I first discovered Skype, a free Voice Over IP application, I was amazed to see the application reporting that there "969,077 Users Online." That was nothing. I checked just now, and the Skype status dialog reports there are "2,984,226 Users Online." The correlation between users on-line at one time and total users isn't exact, but it is pretty safe to say that Skype use has tripled in the last ten months. A few weeks ago there were rumors that Rupert Murdoch was negotiating to pay $3 Billion for Skype. Skype is a big deal. Even without the Murdoch news, anyone who has ever tried Skype knew it was big.

By now, everyone must know that Skype enables peer to peer Voice-over-IP with remarkably high quality.

It was love at first sight. She was beautiful and mysterious, and I had to find out more about her. The story I found involved high culture in New York, spectacle in San Francisco, scandalous behaviour in the nascent film industry, the leading lights of American Beaux Arts sculpture, murder, insanity, the U.S. dime and half-dollar, and sad and strange biography that I will remember for a long time.

Someone my age should have had more sense than to fall head over heels for a complete stranger. After all, there was the age difference —she was ninety years old— and besides that, it was obvious she had a heart of stone. She was created by Alexander Stirling Calder for the Pan Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915.

She was also a clone. The Star Maiden and her ninety-four sisters stood atop the parapet above the Court of the Universe, a Colonnade of Stars: "looking down on the activities of men." Her pointed headdress was hung with cut-glass Novagems which were illuminated at night by spotlights.

How I wished I could have stood in the Court of the Universe and looked up at those stars. I was reminded of, and consoled by a poem by W.H. Auden:

Here's a short one for San Franciscans:

"At its creation, Treasure Island was 14' above sea level. It is now 9 feet. Earthquake activity would result in liquefactions and lateral spreading and could cause substantial damage if improvements are not made. Officials estimate the cost of shoring up the island for redevelopment at $100 million depending on reuse."

Treasure Island was originally constructed for the 1939 San Francisco World's Fair, and was intended to be the site of San Francisco's municipal airport. Alas, those plans were overtaken by events (World War II) and the island became a U.S. Naval Air Station until it was returned to the city in 1997.

With the right (wrong?) kind of earthquake we could rename it Atlantis.

If they do so at all, most people probably remember Barbara Belle Geddes as Miss Ellie, the matriarch in the long running Dallas television series, but I remember Barbara from her role in I Remember Mama, a jewel of a film from 1948 set in San Francisco dealing brillianty with the usual things: life, death and coming of age. I also remember Barbara from Vertigo (the ultimate San Francisco tour film), where she plays Jimmy Stewart's old college flame, Midge, who watches sadly and helplessly as Kim Novak leads Jimmy's character, Scottie, deep into romantic obsession.

Some (including Ann Althouse) have commented that Barbara just wasn't sexy, but I thought she was a babe. Scottie would have been a lot better off spending more time with Midge, and spending less time pursuing the mysterious blonde Madeleine/Judy. Terry Teachout agrees with me about BBG's attractiveness, and suggests that the Western, Blood on the Moon is another film that fans of Barbara Belle Geddes should seek out.

Babe or not, she cartainly was an actress of distinction who left the world richer for having been here.

Zuppa, the new venture by Globe owners Joseph and Mary Manzare opened seven weeks ago. I've visited five times, trying a number of items from the menu, and watching the evolution of the place.

As one would hope, the food has improved and the service has settled into a comfortable professionalism, welcoming and friendly. The menu hasn't changed much, but prices have gone up a bit, though they remain very reasonable. (Appetizers were $6 to $9 and are now $6 to $11, while entrees which used to be $16 - $19, now range from $16 to $24).

There is seating for seven at the small but busy bar, and seating for 10 along a counter in front of the open kitchen along a long wall. Tables (both upstairs and down) make up the rest of the seats (a total of 97 - with about 30 upstairs and the rest on the main floor). Decor, befitting the space's history as the Dot com era Cafe Monk is strictly concrete and stainless steel industrial, but it has been softened a bit with some dark paint.

In 1914 a small book with a big title made its appearance. The Elegant Art of Dining: Bohemian San Francisco, Its Restaurants and Their Most Famous Recipes - The Elegant Art of Dining by Clarence E. Edwords may have been the first foodie's guide to the city, pre-dating the invention of the word, "foodie" by about 80 years.

It's a lot of fun to browse thru, and thanks to the continuing marvel of the Internet, you can do so yourself starting, perhaps, at this link which chronicles the beginning of French dining in the city. Here you will learn that one of the earliest such places was called The Poodle Dog.

Maybe someone will try this recipe for Oysters a La Poulette and let us know the results!

As far as I was concerned, The Piano was a really bad movie. I still resent having lost two hours to that absurd contrivance. However, I now have the chance to make an entirely unoriginal comment about Truth Being Stranger than Fiction and must now draw your attention to The Piano Man.

Princess Cariboo also comes to mind when thinking about this news item, but I liked that delightful romp and don't at all mind being reminded of it.

Catchy name: Genetic Savings & Clone, but I'm not sure I'd be an investor.

Noriko Takiguchi has a five-part series Sushi Lesson: How to eat sushi properly. Noriko's blog is devoted to the San Francisco Bay area and this series covers things like the correct order of sushi eating, what to do with soy sauce, and the role of history and discipline in the sushi experience.

Part 1: Read the Signs
Part 2: Some History
Part 3: The Encounter
Part 4: The order of sushi eating
Part 5: Something about soy sauce
Part 6: Wasabi
Part 7: Rice and Sushi

After you become an expert sushi eater, you'll need an expert sushi restaurant. Ino Sushi fits this bill perfectly, down to details like serving sushi directly on the counter.

UPDATE: Also see this earlier post on a sushi reference site ("Sushi Encyclopedism").

UPDATE 2: Parts #6 & #7 added, above. 08/20/2005