Posts Tagged ‘swimming’
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
All right, I need to payoff on that headline.
Here are your humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) of San Francisco County, which, of course, includes a whole bunch of ocean (depending on how you look at it.)
A pair of namesake humps. This particular species is not endangered at all – there are tons of them out there.
Click to expand
Horizontal tale = whale, of course. These things are huge, like almost 50 feet long and weighing as much as older DC-9 jetliners:
Here’s Mama and Papa and Junior, just a pod of freelance whales coming and going as they please:
And here’s what happens when a killer whale takes a big bite out of your hump. Chomp chomp:
Bon courage, cetaceans!
Tags: "Papa", 2011, baby, bay area, bite, boat, california, county, diving, fish, fluke, freelance, freelance whales, Humpback, Humpback Whales, Humpbacked, image, images, junior, Killer Whale, mama, Megaptera novaeangliae), migrating, ocean, pacific ocean, parents, photo, photographs, pictures, San Francisco, swimming, tail, watch, watching, whales
Posted in Animals | No Comments »
Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Thusly:
Click to expand
And thusly:
Now you kids are too young to remember, but the Pool at Ham Rec is just like the Mario Bros. arcade game, from 1983:
Good times…
“In this game, Mario is portrayed as an Italian-American plumber who, along with his brother Luigi, has to defeat creatures that have been coming from the sewers below New York. The gameplay focuses on Mario’s extermination of pests in the sewers by flipping them on their backs and kicking them away.”
Tags: 1983, 2010, 2011, arcade, bay area, bikini, boulevard, california, department, dept., game, geary, Hamilton Pool, Hamilton Pool & Rec Center, Hamilton Pool & Recreation Center, italian, italian american, luigi, Mario, mario bros, mario brothers, orange, parks, pierce, pipes, plumber, pool, public, recreation, recreation center, rpd, San Francisco, scott, slide, steiner, street, swim, swimming, tube, Video, western addition, yellow
Posted in sports | 1 Comment »
Monday, July 18th, 2011
NMA-TV out of Taiwan, Free Republic of China, well, they’ve got us pegged. They know all about what goes on in California and they show that with pithy animated videos.
As here, with the whole Governor Jerry Brown vs. Jeff Bezos / Amazon.com sales tax / “use tax”* issue. NMA already has a proposed slogan for the statewide initiative that’s coming our way from Amazon.
See?
And here’s Jeff Bezos (fresh from swimming in a pool of his money) explaining things to California Governor Jerry Brown and our Official State Animal, who looks hungry for a little tax money.
It’s going to be a tough row to hoe getting people to vote for the Amazon tax next year, IMO.
Anyway, good job NMA-TV.
*The tax is on your “use” in CA of whatever you buy. It’s pretty much like a sales tax except it’s based on the tax rate of where you live (as opposed to sales tax, which is based upon where you buy something).
Tags: 2011, affiliates, amazon, associates, bay area, bear, california, election, free, gatherers, golden, Governor, initiative, jeff bezos, jerry brown, let's keep not paying taxes, moon, mooonbeam, NMA-TV, NMAtelevision, out of state, petition, program, Republic of China, sacramento, sales tax, sales taxes, San Francisco, seattle, signatures, state, superman, swim, swimming, taiwan, tax, taxes, use tax, use taxes, Video, videos, vote, Washington, yay, youtube
Posted in politics | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
It’s going to be on this Sunday.
Deets below.
Via Sonic Fitness
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.
Tags: 2011, 5th, alcatraz, amputees, Andy Potts, bay area, Becky Lavelle, bies, california, Craig Alexander., Creighton Wong, Elsabet Jones, escape, Escape from Alcatraz, Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, Fitness Festival & Expo, green, IMG, island, june, June 5, Leanda Cave, marathon, marina, Michellie Jones, One Armed Willie, Paul Groffsky, runners, San Francisco, Steven Emerson, Sumatran, sunday, swimmers, swimming, Triathlon, Willie Stewart, World Triathlon Corporation
Posted in sports | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
Dirty Harry at 40 continues with the case of the pool atop our Financial District / Chinatown Hilton.
Now check it – everybody’s favorite psycho killer hippie Scorpio somehow got on the roof of famously-sawtoothed* 555 California, you know, in order to start the carnage. See?
Click to expand
Now wouldn’t it be cool to go swimming up there on a dreaded sunny day?
Well, we’ll never know – here’s how it looks these days:
Empty empty empty.
Oh well…
I’ll get some more screen grabs and make some more posts from this movie later on.
In the meantime, check out all the locations – there are lots and lots:
In San Francisco:
- 555 California Street
- California Hall, 625 Polk Street (until recently, the California Culinary Academy)
- San Francisco City Hall
- Hall of Justice – 850 Bryant Street
- Forest Hill Station
- Hilton San Francisco Financial District, 750 Kearny Street – rooftop swimming pool in opening scenes
- Kezar Stadium – Frederick Street, Golden Gate Park
- Dolores Park, Mission District
- Mount Davidson
- Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Washington Square, 666 Filbert Street
- Washington Square, North Beach
- Big Al’s, 556 Broadway St.
- Roaring 20′s strip club, 552 Broadway
- North Beach, San Francisco
- Other locations
*So every shark laboring at triple-five Cal can have his/her own “corner office,” of sorts, that’s why the BofA Building has that distinctive shape.
Tags: 1971, 2011, 40th, 555 california, 555 California Street, 625 Polk, 750 Kearny, 850 bryant, bank, bank of america, bay area, Big Al's, building, cafe, california, California Hall, callahan, clint eastwood, cop, cross, detective, dirty harry, Dirty Harry at 40, dolores park, emptied, empty, film, financial district, Forest Hill Station, Greenbrae, Hall of Justice, harry, Hilton, hot dog, inspector callahan, Kezar Stadium - Frederick, Larkspur Landing, Mill Valley, mission district, mount davidson, movie, north beach, paddock, park general, Peter and Paul Church, pool, Roaring 20's, robbery, roof, San Francisco, Scorpio, SFPD, street, Sts., swimming, Universal Studios Hollywood, washington square
Posted in film | No Comments »
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
This was the scene at Geary and Steiner in the Western Addition / Japantown area today as hundreds gathered to see the debut of the new Hamilton Recreation Center and Pool. This place has it all – basketball, tennis courts, giant murals, the works.
Click to expand
After hearing a performance from students at the Willie L. Brown, Jr. College Preparatory Academy…
…and some brief heckling from Giants Cap, who wants laid-off RPD employees rehired…
…out comes Ross Mirkarimi, your District 5 Supervisor, to give his stemwinder, as seen on this CNN iReport (entitled “‘Bay Area Girls’” Teanage Girls perform [Pat Benatar's 'I love Rock and Roll'] at the Inaugural of the Hamilton Recreation Center”) and then cut the ribbon:
The mise-en-scene inside - it’s like a mini water park. Throw in an orca or two and then there’d be no reason to travel to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (aka Marine World) in Vallejo:
But who’s that atop the ladder for the yellow slide wearing his street clothes? It’s Ross!
Here he comes down the slide…
…and here’s the aftermath, looked like fun. Bill Wilson should have some good shots of the wettened supe. [Like this.]
OTOH, the orange slide is terrifying, apparently:
(I think you’re supposed to cross your arms like you’re an ejecting pilot – that’s what some people were doing in the orange tube/slide contraption.)
Not sure how much it costs to employ six(!) lifeguards (that would seem a lot more than required at slide-free Sava Pool in the Parkside) but oh well.
Bon courage, Ham Rec!
Tags: (415), 1900, 2010, 5, 6, 6th, b ball, band, basketball, bay area girls, blvd., board of supervisors, boulevard, center, City Hall, courts, cut, debut, department, dept., district, district 5, expressway, fillmore, five, geary, gym water, ham rec, hamilton, hamilton rec, i love rock and roll, japantown, kick off, kickoff, life guards, lifeguards, march, Mirkarimi, mural, opening, orange, park and recreation, parks and recreation, pat benatar, playground, pool, post, recreation, recreation and park, Recreation and Park Department, ribbon, ribbon cutting, ross, ross mirkarimi, rpd, San Francisco, scott, SF, slides, splash, steiner, street, Supervisor, swim, swimming, swimsuit, tennis, waterslides, western addition, wet, yellow
Posted in parks | 2 Comments »
