Posts Tagged ‘sparks’

“Nuisance Alcohol,” What’s That? Whatever, CVS Won’t Sell It in the Outer Richmond – No 40′s, No 4Loko, No Malts, No Nothing

Monday, November 15th, 2010

I don’t know, CVS Pharmacy. I think you all have been talking to NIMBYs too much when your PR people start bandying about recently-invented terms like “nuisance alcohol.”

Here’s what I mean – let’s review the plans for the former Fog Belt North Albertsons, that brokedown palace out there at 32nd and Clement, the place that will soon be a combo CVS / Fresh & Easy gro sto, per the always-reliable Richmond District Blog:

“CVS will not pursue permission to sell hard liquor at this location. CVS will pursue permission to sell beer and wine only. Per CVS company-wide policy, CVS does not sell malt liquor, singles or other nuisance alcohol.“

“Nuisance alcohol?” Is this your phrase now?

Click to be smooth, baby

Hey, you know what kind of people are maybe more than a nuisance? How about white people who live out in the Avenues but go downtown to drop $400 on wine and dinner and then head home via the Western Addition?

Can wine be a “nuisance alcohol” too, CVS?

P.S. The NIMBY groups you’ve been talking to only represent themselves. What about the 99% of Richmond District people who don’t belong to any NIMBYhood association? What do they think?

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First Sparks, Now This – Dennis Herrera Continues Campaign Against Alcoholic Energy Drinks.

Friday, November 13th, 2009

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera is stepping up his campaign to stop alcoholic drink makers from adding in caffeine and some of those other chemicals that help you party the night away. So the FDA is taking action right now.

That’s right - first they came for your Sparks, now they’re finishing the job. So stock up on your Booya Espresso Tequila ’cause it might not be around much longer. Oh well. Deets below. 

Remember getting loaded and showing off your orange tongue in the minivan? Those days are gone:

Sisters doing it for themselves. Click for full-on girl power, courtesy of rOOkrOc

Remember the ”Sparks Girls“ and the “Sparkitects” with their cans that were designed to look like batteries complete with anode plus signs?  They’re gone too:

by ncsparkitect

These are the drinks that might need to get reformulated soon:

List of Manufacturers of Caffeinated Alcoholic Beverages

Charge Beverages Corporation
Products: Liquid Charge, Liquid Core, High Gravity Core  

United Brands Company, Inc
Products: Joose, Max Vibe, Max Fury, Max Live, 3Sum  

Phusion Projects LLC
Products: Four, Four Loko, Four Maxed  

Point Blank Beverages Co.
Products: Torque  

Hard Wired Brewing Company, LLC
Products: Hard Wired  

Mix Master Beverage Co
Products: 24/7  

Catalyst Beverage Company
Products: Catalyst  

New Century Brewing Company
Products: Moonshot  

Melanie Brewing Co
Products: Evil Eye  

Thomas Creek Brewery, LLC
Products: Mobius Lager  

Diageo North America, Inc
Products: Smirnoff Raw Tea Malt Beverage  

Constellation Brands
Products: Wide Eye  

The P.I.N.K. Spirits Company/Prohibition Beverage Inc
Products: P.I.N.K. Vodka, P.I.N.K. Tequila, P.I.N.K. Rum, P.I.N.K. Gin, P.I.N.K. White Whiskey, P.I.N.K. Sake  

Delicious Brands Inc.
Products: Lotus Vodka  

Sovereign Brands
Products: 3AM Vodka  

Moet Hennessey/Millennium Import LLC
Products: Belvedere IX  

Shotpak Vodka
Products: Gravity Vodka  

Wingard USA (Importer)
Products: V2 Vodka with Caffeine, Everglo Vodka  

LeVecke Corporation
Products: Vicious Vodka with Caffeine  

Rocktail Drinks/Liquid Manufacturing LLC
Products: Slingshot Party Gel  

Cold Spring Brewing Company/Atomic Brands
Products: A:M Carpe Noctern  

808 Spirits Co.
Products: 808 Mango Beat  

Gaamm Imports Inc.
Products: Booya Espresso Silver Tequila with Caffeine  

Ithaca Beer Co.
Products: Ithaca Eleven Malt Beverage with Coffee  

Gluek Brewing Company
Products: Gruv Malt Beverage with Guarana  

MHW, Ltd and Niche Import Company
Products: Agwa De Bolivia  

Rizer Spirits Inc
Products: XZO Vodka with Caffeine, Taurine, and Guarana  

Read all about it, after the jump:

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OMG! No More Sparks Brand Alcoholic Energy Drinks for California!

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

Well, it had to happen, sooner or later. First, let’s get up to speed about Sparks (whoops, that official MillerCoors website got taken down, try this cached version instead.) So Sparks, created by S.F.-based beverage marketing firm McKenzie River Corporation on 1160 Battery, is:

“a caffeinated alcohol beverage, one of the first such beverages. Its active ingredients caffeine, taurine, ginseng and guarana are common to energy drinks; however, its additional focus on alcohol is not. Its packaging states a 6% alcoholic content by volume. Its flavor is similar to standard energy drinks such as Red Bull, Monster Energy, and Rockstar, with a tart, sugary taste.”

Sounds good so far, right? Well maybe not, as some teens run into trouble when they maybe look at Sparks’ “juvenile web site” and then get “hyper and drunk at the same time.”

Say good-bye to getting loaded and showing off your orange tongue in the minivan: 

Sisters doing it for themselves. Click for full-on girl power, courtesy of rOOkrOc

Comes now, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, representing the City and County of San Francisco, plus the entire State of California to make a deal with MillerCoors to stop selling Sparks (as it exists today complete with energy stuff plus alcohol) by January 10, 2009. Read all the deets after the jump, or here on CA Attorney General Jerry Brown’s website.

MillerCoors can take out the caffeine, taurine, etc. if they want to but Sparks, as you know it, will soon be no more. What will the Examiner’s Caffeine Examiner Big Red Boots (srsly, ”Caffeine Examiner“) think aboot that, eh? And don’t even ask what the Examiner’s Civil Liberties Examiner and Ayn Rand fan JD Tuccille (srsly, “JD“) will think about this, because you can already figure it out.

What will become of the ”Sparks Girls“ and “Sparkitects“?

by ncsparkitect

Sadly, there’ll be no more orange-lipped photos (aka Sparks Mouth) on Flickr from Sparks virgins and no more Sparks-related sexy MySpace-style poses on the Net. It’s all gone.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest says YES! And of course, Nintendo’s Mario says “let’s a go!”

What do you say?

Details after the jump.

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Posted in politics, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

San Francisco’s CrimeMaps System – Getting Fixed?

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

You, a concerned citizen, can always check out CrimeMaps to see what your “neighborhood crime trend” is like in San Francisco. But some people don’t like this online tool, and for good reason.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano wonders why homicides don’t show up on the system. Interesting question. Well, the SFPD is working on it and they’ll have something to say about software and hardware updates tonight at a Police Commission meeting starting at 5:00 PM.

But wouldn’t it be nice to have access to an ”Incident Report & Analysis Tool” (it works, just give it a little time for the video to load) from UniversalMind or something? Click to enlarge:

image031.jpg

You’ve seen the video, now it’s time to play with a demo yourself. What you’ll see is crime incident data, as you’d expect. The data is a little out of date, but this it’s just a demo.

In this orderly universe of mayhem you’ll see the expected constellations of crime, but also planetes asteres, wandering stars. Click on these dots to start playing.

It’s a live video feed from the Crown Vic of Officer Heinz! Hear him as he comes under automatic weapons fire and uses salty language. Oh no! Wonder what’s in his weapons cache? A .40 caliber Smith & Wesson, 9mm Luger, and .45 Colt. Natch.

(But wouldn’t he be better off trading in his PR-24 Nightstick for an enchanted Heavy Gnoll War Club or similar two-handed mace? And how much gold does he have?)

This future of live crime reporting will get here when it gets here, but fixing CrimeMaps should be something doable in 2008, dontcha think?

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Conan the Provider – Arnold Schwarzenegger Opens New Freeway with Blowtorch

Friday, April 11th, 2008

This is no mere ribbon cutting ceremony to open a new $429 million section of freeway approaching the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. Oh no.

The last step to opening this short but vital stretch of superslab involved Governor Schwarzenegger, cowboy boots, sunglasses and a big blow torch.

[Update: or welding torch, or cutting torch (based upon the O2 trigger) - Arnie's tool is an oxy-fuel welder of some kind, as commenter Doc helpfully points out. Arnie's sunglasses actually are sunglasses, but you could say that they were being used as goggles. The light coming from chain didn't seem all that bright compared to arc welding or whatever. FYI]

Enjoy your new freeway, San Francisco!

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Higher rez version after the jump.

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