“Here’s your routeprofile, starting from the SoMA near the bay going all the way to the breakers of Ocean Beach. See that big incline just before mile marker three? That’s the vaunted Hayes Street Hill. (And actually, the highest part of Hayes Street on this part of the course is near Pierce, not “at Fillmore and Steiner“ and not ”between Fillmore and Sutter.”)
Now, here’s your winner. It’s the 270-something foot high saddle on JFK Jr. Drive betwixt Prayer Book Cross and Stow Lake / Strawberry Hill, where ”Kennedy” is written:
“Race organizers and media have reported that the course records set by Sammy Kitwara in 2009 and Lineth Chepkurui in 2010 are also world records at the 12 km distance;[31] however, the International Association of Athletics Federations, the international governing body for the sport of athletics/track and field, does not recognize world records or world bests in either an indoor or outdoor 12 km.[32] The Association of Road Racing Statisticians, a non-regulatory group that collects road running data, does recognize world records in the outdoor 12 km provided that the race course meets certain criteria.[33][34] In order to rule-out the possibility of wind assistancein point-to-point courses, the ARRS stipulates that the course must have “not more than 30% of the race distance separation between that start and finish”, or 3.6 km for a 12 km race.[34] Given that the Bay to Breakers is run on a point-to-point course in which the start and finish of the event are approximately 10.5 linear kilometers apart, the ARRS recognizes two other marks as 12 km world records: Kenyan Simon Kigen‘s 33:46 in Portland, Oregon on May 19, 1985 and Chepkurui’s 38:10 at the 2010Lilac Bloomsday Run.[33][nb 2]
“The Bay to Breakers is known for the large number of unregistered runners, or “bandits”, who participate in the race. Ross Mirkarimi, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, reported that over half of the 60,000 participants in the 2010 Bay to Breakers were unregistered.[19]San Francisco MayorGavin Newsom was among the runners in 2010 who did not pay the registration fee to obtain a race number.[19][22]Registered participation was 24,430 in 2010,[23] 43,954 in 2011,[24] 23,072 for 2012,[25], and approximately 20,000 for 2013.[26]“
One car gets away in the nick of time, but three others aren’t so lucky:
Ted and Al’s had like ten yellow tow trucks ready to go late Saturday night, in the driving rain. (Note how Bank of America is protecting its windows – the IndyBay crowd got to them, smashy smashy, about a year or so back, unrelated to Bay to Breakers.)
Now, speaking of prêt-à-porters, this is the main body, this is the largest array for the Golden Gate Park Panhandle:
And here’s the second-biggest grouping, along Masonic:
And there are some on the other side of Fell, typically in groups of six on some of the blocks.
But that’s it.
Not sure where B2B is hiding their 1000+ portable toilets claimed for 2011, at this point, just hours before the Kenyans take off on their winning runs.
Oh well.
And there’s no sign of the fencing neither, except for what they have every year.
We’ll see.
The Great Fence of B2B100 is supposed to have upon it either images of Christ hand-selected by P. Anschutz or photos of people who ran the race before white NIMBYs moved into the Western Addition. (You’ll have to tell me about it…). Anyway, here’s the baby fencing they have on scene already along with, and isn’t this cute, a message from San Francisco Natives for a Fun and Buzzed Bay to Breakers. Apparently, the cops can’t arrest for an open container in San Francisco…
And doesn’t this just break your heart – this Vespa scooter has been forgotten on the slopes of the famed Hayes Street Hill, the second highest point on the “racecourse.” Will Auto-Return charge $700 for its return?
Oh, you are a sucker. Well, then be my guest – pay $48 for a number. And actually, and you’ll enjoy this, sucker, it’s already too late to get a good deal on registration for 2013. Prices be higher now.
Most people who aren’t professional runners don’t pay and here’s a good reason not to pay:
How many bibs do you see? Every year they say they will eject all these people and every year they don’t actually do it.
Now the San Francisco Nike Womens Marathon is different. You see, they give out coveted awards and people just can’t help themselves. And then stuff like this happens; “NO BIB NO BIB NO BIB!”
But B2B aint like that.
One difference this year will be a limit on the size of the bags you might carry.
Your free “My Bag” won’t be as lilac as this, but it will contain a free goodie for you, assuming you’re one of the first 1000 customers on Nov 30th:
All the deets:
“MUJI SOMA will open on November 30, 2012.
New York, NY, November 14th, 2012, MUJI U.S.A. LIMITED announces its opening date of SOMA store, which has been set to November 30, 2012, the first MUJI store to open on the West coast. Located at 540 9th street, San Francisco, MUJI SOMA will open from 11:00a.m. to 8:00p.m. during its first day of operation.
With approximately 7,250 square feet of retail floor space, MUJI’s first store on the West coast will offer over 2,000 items of MUJI products, including about 1,700 items of Household and 300 items of Apparels. After the first day of opening, the store will open regularly from 10:30a.m. to 8:00p.m. from Monday to Saturday, 11:00a.m. to 6:30p.m. on Sundays.
Giveaways for the opening day
MUJI is dedicated to reducing waste and conserving resources. In this spirit, MUJI encourages its customers to use My Bag in order to reduce waste that results from the use of paper or plastic bags at MUJI store. For its special giveaways, MUJI will offer an exclusive My Bag with map of San Francisco for the first 1,000 customers who come to the store on the opening day. There will be a MUJI gift inside of the bag. MUJI plain My Bag will be offered starting at $1 after the opening.
For further information, please contact: press@muji.com
MUJI offers good quality products at reasonable prices, which include a wide variety of stationeries, household items and apparel. Mujirushi Ryohin, MUJI in Japanese, translates as “no-brand quality goods”. The value of the MUJI product is in its effectiveness without the renowned brand or designer name. The essence of MUJI products lies in its simplicity, flexibility and modesty to fit different life styles and individual preferences. MUJI, originally founded in Japan, does not direct its products to be affected by any trends and “isms”, rather does aim to be universally relevant. MUJI products maintain reasonable price levels, not by compromising quality, but by avoiding the waste typical of many products’ manufacturing and distribution in the form of unnecessary functionality, an excess of decoration, and needless packaging.
MUJI U.S.A. LIMITED is the U.S. subsidiary of Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd. which is MUJI’s corporate entity incorporated in Japan. Since its founding in 1980, MUJI has expanded around the world and has 372 stores in Japan, 163 stores in other countries (as of Feb, 2012) including Asia, Europe. Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd., is a publicly owned company traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker number: 7453) with $2.2 billion in sales in 2011.”
So, basically, SFGov will soon be doing more stuff through a network instead of doing stuff on-site, for better or worse.
Check it:
“We implemented a cloud-first IT strategy as part of our effort to address a multimillion-dollar, city-wide budget deficit, avoid staff reductions and implement business-enabling IT solutions. Our cloud-first strategy has allowed us to roll out a wide-ranging series of transformative virtualization and cloud initiatives with CommVault Simpana software as the foundation of our data management strategy,” said Gina Tomlinson, Chief Technology Officer for the City and County of San Francisco. “These successful initiatives have helped us expand our footprint in the cloud and anticipate future demands to ensure our cloud services fulfill and grow with the needs of our agencies and community.”
OK, then. We’ll soon have Cloud Computing First to go with our existing Transit First policy. What other Firsts will we soon have?
Anyway, all your local government data, your parking ticket payment history records and the like, are heading up to the sky. Let’s hope they stay safe up there.
It’ll look something like this:
The company that got the contract to do this has a lot of blah blah blah about it.
Armored General, Qin dynasty 221-206 BCE, Height 203 cm, weight 250 kg. Excavated from Pit 1, Qin Shihuang tomb complex, 1980. Reproduced with kind permission from the Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum. Serial number 002747.
All the deets:
“CHINA’S TERRACOTTA WARRIORS:THE FIRST EMPEROR’S LEGACY - Asian Art Museum kicks off 10th anniversary in Civic Center with epic exhibition
SAN FRANCISCO, August 15, 2012—The Asian Art Museum kicks off its 10th anniversary in San Francisco’s Civic Center with an exhibition from one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in modern time. China’s Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor’s Legacy will be on view February 22 – May 27, 2013.
The exhibition features 120 rare objects from the great tomb complex of China’s First Emperor (259-210 BCE), including 10 life-size terracotta figures—the maximum number of figures permitted outside China in a single exhibition.
Captivating the world since its discovery in 1974, the First Emperor’s tomb complex is one of the largest burial sites ever constructed. Estimated at nearly 250,000 square feet—or more than four American football fields—it includes a scale replica of the emperor’s imperial palace, complete with stables, offices, an armory and even a zoo. Ancient historians also described “flowing rivers” of mercury, of which trace amounts have recently been confirmed by scientists.
Perhaps most impressive are the estimated 8,000 terracotta figures excavated to date, including warriors of all ranks (all individually constructed, no two faces are alike), acrobats, musicians and horses. The tomb complex took 700,000 laborers nearly 40 years to build.
In 1994, the museum, then located in Golden Gate Park, was among the first to present the terracotta warriors to a U.S. audience. The 2013 exhibition offers a new generation of visitors the rare chance to view the clay figures up close. Visitors will also discover new secrets from the tomb, with more information than ever before on the First Emperor, his reign, and his quest for immortality.
“Celebrating 10 years in our Civic Center home calls for something extraordinary,” said Jay Xu, executive director, Asian Art Museum. “In China, history is being unearthed. Bringing a chapter of this epic story to San Francisco—with 10 life-size sculptures from one of the most significant discoveries of our time—is a great way to commemorate this occasion.”
“Supervisor Eric Mar First Candidate To Qualify for Public Financing
SAN FRANCISCO, July 2, 2012 – Late on Friday afternoon, Supervisor Eric Mar’s re-election campaign received the official word from the San Francisco Ethics Commission that he is the first candidate in the city, from any district or any race, to qualify to receive public matching funds.
Supervisor Mar’s campaign will receive their first $20,000 in qualifying public funds from the city shortly.
Campaign spokeswoman Nicole Derse said, “This accomplishment highlights Supervisor Mar’s broad community support and the strength of our grassroots campaign. We are proud to be the only candidate in the city to have met this goal.”
To receive public financing, a candidate must collect at least $15,000 in qualifying contributions from San Franciscans for donations up to $100. Although many candidates, including Supervisor Mar, have raised substantially more funds than that, the threshold for public financing measures the quantity of low-dollar donations. Supervisor Mar’s campaign has received donations from over 450 individual donors, the vast majority of them from San Franciscans in amounts from $5-$100.
“I am incredibly honored to be the first candidate in the city to qualify for public financing. I look forward to engaging thousands of Richmond residents in our grassroots campaign over the next four months,” said Supervisor Eric Mar.
Supervisor Mar is running a strong grassroots campaign, and signature gathering and voter contact efforts will further intensify in July.
Supervisor Mar’s re-election campaign will open the doors on their new Richmond office at 5812 Geary Blvd. (at 22nd Avenue) this week and will hold an office opening celebration and signature gathering mobilization next Saturday, July 7th at 12:00 Noon.
Supervisor Mar will be updating information on his campaign regularly at his website www.ReelectMar.com“
Aslan, the Lion of the Richmond, is, once again, on the move, the same as four years ago:
Sorry, CW Nevius. The conservative-faction victory you, for some reason, so desperately seek won’t be found in District One. Not this year.
2. You don’t get a refund even if the Philip Anschutz people decide to cancel the race – you agreed to that in the oppressive agreement you made on the Bay to Breakers website when you signed up: “…all Race entry fees are non-refundable, even if Race is cancelled…” See after the jump for details on that.
3. Most other participants don’t pay, so why should you? Take a look right here, this is early on during the first hour of the 2012 event - how many registrants can you spot?
Click to expand
I’ll tell you, I see just one soul with a “racing” bib. Do you think any of these people cared about getting a “racing” time that shows how long it took them to run the BtoB? Do you think any of them were arrested by the SFPD? Do you think any of them were ejected from the “race” course by “race” organizers? I don’t.
Those were just Three Reasons Why You Were Foolish to Have Registered for the Bay to Breakers.
Sucker!
Often identified as “Christian billionaire Phil Anschutz”,[26] he is a Republican donor who supported George W. Bush‘s administration. He has been an active patron of a number of religious and conservative causes:
Helped fund Colorado‘s 1992 Amendment 2, a ballot initiative designed to overturn local and state laws that prohibit discrimination against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation but was invalidated by Romer v. Evans after it passed.[19]
Contributed $70,000 in 2003 to the Discovery Institute, to specifically support the work of telecom guru George Gilder but not matters related to intelligent design. That fact was validated by Discovery President Bruce Chapman in a letter-to-the-editor to the Rocky Mounatain News, “Anschutz never gave that program a nickel,”[27]
The Discovery Institute is a think tank based in Seattle, Washington that also promotes intelligent design and criticizes evolution.[28]
Philip Anschutz and fellow board members of the American Petroleum Institute in Washington are credited by Bush’s energy secretary for the Oval Office decision to kill the Kyoto Protocol in 2001.
