The previous U.S.S Hornet (CV-8) made it about a year before being sunk in WWII, so the Navy recycled the name for CV-12, the museum ship we have berthed in Alameda these days.
That’s your Lesson of the Day.
Now, pour yourself a drink:
Via Monica’s Dad – click to expand
Remember happier times back in aught-eight, when “Pribot,” the famous autonomous Prius, was roving the Streets of San Francisco with a huge SFPD escort and teams of camerapeople in tow?
Well, those halcyon days are over, so now Pribot has been relegated to getting ticketed by DPT, just like regular nonrobotic cars.
See?
Click to expand
You can’t see the the damage from when Pribot scraped its left side exiting the Bay Bridge, but these days there’s evidence he/she/it has had more driving trouble.
See?
Did Pribot crash into something? Or maybe a careless San Francisco driver backed up too far? Or maybe a human master made a mistake?
(Of course, when you’re making an omelet, as Google is doing in full force in 2011, you’re going to break a few eggs. Anyway…)
Poor Pribot!
All I could do was put a spare Kraftwerk mixtape under one of its windshield wiper arms and then turn to walk away.
Pribot, you were the first, you are the ur-robotic Prius, you are the Jetfire of the autonomous car universe.
Bon courage, Pribot!
Apparently.
Some people think it’d be a great idea to move this WWII monster from Alameda to San Francisco, in order to get more visitors the thinking goes.
But where would we put it?
The USS Hornet what didn’t get sunk by the Japanese Navy – click to expand
Seems like a long-shot, but who knows?
In the meantime, don’t forget about Living Ship Day, September 17th, 2011 in Alameda.
All the deets:
“USS Hornet Museum Receives $100,000 Matching Grant From Texas Foundation
KINGSLAND, Texas, Sept. 12, 2011 – The Wreyford Family Foundation has awarded a $100,000 matching grant to the USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, CA. The grant will assist in the museum’s relocation effort to move the USS Hornet to San Francisco.
“Our organization is proud to be a partner with the USS Hornet Museum on its relocation plans and believes that this effort will ultimately be as successful as the USS Intrepid and USS Midway are in their own communities,” said Deborah A. Wreyford, President, Wreyford Family Foundation.
For more information, contact www.WreyfordFamilyFoundation.org
The Wreyford Family Foundation is a privately funded non-profit organization founded in 2009 by prominent businessman Donald M. Wreyford and his wife Annette. With keen interest in aerospace science, the organization supports The W Foundation and co-sponsors the “Navy in Space” exhibit on display during San Francisco Fleet Week.
SOURCE Wreyford Family Foundation
CONTACT: Deborah Wreyford, President, The Wreyford Family Foundation”
Isn’t San Francisco’s green triangle of landfill over in the East Bay beautiful?
Why don’t we do something with it, like put in a casino or something? People’d take a ferry from Fishermans Wharf or South Beach.
Click to expand
And think of the revenues from all those America’s Cup richers.
Here it is a map showing the borders of San Francisco. And here’s the view of two East Bay peninsulas looking south from the Bay Bridge.
See? The nearer peninsula, the one with the big white crane, is part of the City of Oakland. It shows respect for the Alameda / San Francisco county border by stopping exactly where it should. But the farther one, part of the City of Alameda, simply juts all the way into San Francisco County.
How wude!
Here’s the borderline:
Anyway, it’s our land but it’s in the East Bay.
Somehow.
All the deets:
“Looking eastward from Twin Peaks, San Francisco. That’s Mission Bay / Dogpatch in the foreground with Oakland in the background.
Here’s your first choice. Does this line represent the border betwixt the counties?
Click to expand
And here’s your second, with the westernmost portion of Alameda in the City and County of San Francisco:
And here’s your third choice, right down the channel:
And here’s your answer, it’s photo #2, for some odd reason.
Now, you Better Know the Bay Area.
Thanks for playing!”
It’s going to be on this Sunday.
Deets below.
See you there!
2011 Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon to Invade San Francisco on Sunday, June 5 — 2,000 Athletes to Compete in One of World’s Toughest Sporting Events
SAN FRANCISCO, June 1, 2011 — The world’s top athletes will take over the streets and waters of San Francisco to compete in one of the most prestigious triathlons in the world, the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. Featuring a 1.5 mile swim from Alcatraz Island to the shore, an 18-mile bike race and an 8-mile run through San Francisco, this race is considered one of the oldest and most difficult triathlons in the world. More than 2,000 competitors from more than 34 countries will compete.
Several professional triathletes are returning to participate in this year’s Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon including: Three-time Winner Andy Potts from Colorado Springs, Colo.; Three-time Winner Leanda Cave from Tucson, AZ; 2006 Champion Becky Lavelle from Los Gatos, Calif.; Eight-time Champion Michellie Jones, from Carlsbad, Calif., and Two-time Ironman Champion Craig Alexander.
A handful of physically challenged athletes will join the abled-body competitors including Middle East War Survivor Mike Johnston – a single leg amputee and part of Operation Rebound which helps injured veterans “get back in the game,” single arm amputee Creighton Wong; and “One Armed Willie” Stewart from Boise, Idaho. These amputees will compete in this difficult race to demonstrate to other challenged athletes and injured soldiers that sports can be a powerful force for recovery. The youngest competitors include 15-year-old San Francisco resident Elsabet Jones and 15-year-old Dallas resident Steven Emerson. West Bloomfield, MI resident Paul Groffsky will be the oldest competitor at 78 years old.
The race will take place on Sunday, June 5, at 7:30 a.m. on the Marina Green, in San Francisco. The public is invited to watch the race and attend the free all day Fitness Festival & Expo which will feature more than 40 booths exhibiting the health and fitness industries’ latest products and services, food and more. The Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon is produced by IMG with race direction provided in part by World Triathlon Corporation. For more information please visit www.escapefromalcatraztriathlon.com.
See?
How are you supposed to drive through this stuff?
Click to expand
Anyway, read the sign on our Asian Art Museum – it says BALI, baby.
See you there!
Bali, Art, Ritual, Performance is here at our Asian Art Museum.
SF Museum Examiner Nancy Ewart considers this exhibit:
“…an intelligent, gorgeous and vibrant show of a richly textured, religious and seductive culture.”
And Jesse Hamlin says:
“The galleries are filled with wondrous objects that seduce the eye and trigger the imagination.”
Here’s a sneak peek at todays sked, and you can get info on other events for 2011 after the jump.
Opening Celebration Friday, February 25, 2011, 10:00 am–10:15 am, Purification Dance; 12:00 noon–2:00 pm: Gamelan Music FREE with museum admission. Watch Bay Area dance troupe Gadung Kasturi open special exhibition Bali with nyapuh jagat (“sweeping the world”), the ritual cleansing dance of the self and the environment necessary before an important Balinese event. Later, hear the shimmering sounds of Bay Area ensemble Gamelan Gender Wayang.
O.K. then. See you there!
All right, here’s the background, check it out all right, I’ll wait for you.
No, really, check it out. See how he just loooooved the first AC13 proposal last year, you know, until the second proposal came out? Then he hated the first proposal and somehow forgot how much he loved it just three months before.
Well, since then, we’ve gotten the third proposal, which, I imagine, is somewhere between the first two. (Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi is now looking into how much of the farm former Mayor Gavin Newsom gave away to seal the deal. Bon Courage, R.M.)
Anywho, C.W. Neviuseses’ part-time job of cheering for the powers the are will compel him to break out his pom poms and cheer for, over and over and over, the America’s Cup boat race over the coming months and years.
But make sure to keep in mind this old bit from CW from a half-decade back - it’s about the Olympics, but there’s little difference betwixt an Olympics coming to town and AC13, right? Events like these could be good for a city, of course, but usually they end up being bad, net net. Of course, there’s no way to know for sure ahead of time, right? (Usually, cities “win” a competition like this by not winning, IMO.) Anyway, it’s a nuance thing. It all depends on the deets of any particular deal.
So check it, nuance ‘n stuff from The Nevius:
“San Francisco organizers say much of the cost would be offset by existing facilities, and that’s a fine plan. But costs have a way of spiraling out of control.”
Of course, the Nevius could have reacted to the AC this way, but he didn’t.
Maybe he had more backbone back five years ago.
The bleating voices of the Nevii:
Oh well.
Looks like BMW got out of the America’s Cup in the nick of time:
“On the design and engineering front, BMW engineers set new benchmarks in terms of intelligent lightweight design,” said Ralf Hussmann, General Manager BMW Sports Marketing and Brand Cooperation. “In winning the 33rd America’s Cup, we achieved all of our ambitious goals.*”
Let’s get a reading here:
Oh Larry, will you ever win?
*In response to your request for another dinner/movie, I’d just like to say that our evening at the Stonestown Olive Garden followed by that midnight showing of Harry Potter 7 set new benchmarks in terms of memorable evenings. You must agree that we’ve “achieved all of our ambitious goals,” so let’s see other people. Welcome to Dumpsville. Population: You.
