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POPSIke's Place sandwiches, San Francisco More: Caution: Ike's Place can be very busy, and the wait times can be very long, but if you avoid the DAILY 11:30-3:30 p.m. rush it shouldn't be too long. Or even better, call in your order and we will tell you when to come and get it. So why does it always take 'forever' at Ike's? Good question! Unlike most sandwich shops where the bread was baked earlier that morning, the bread your sandwich is made on isn't baked until after you order your sandwich. That means every sandwich is freshly baked to order.
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POPSSunday 11/22/09: Oakland Taco Truck Tour Numero Dos — don't miss it!by
Lexica Yesterday 10:05 PM 
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The first Taco Truck Tour was a lot of fun. If you're in Oakland on Sunday and have a bike, I highly encourage you to come join the ride. I will point out again (oh so modestly) that the two people sitting down in the center of the photo, behind the dark blue bike, are {{Spiritualmonkey}} and me. :-D
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POPSCupkates Truck battles City of Berkeley over parking location issues more: On Monday, I met with two departments: one who assured me my permit is still valid and I am authorized to vend in legal parking spaces, and another who told me that it is against city law to do so. The deputy city manager assured me that she would resolve the discrepancy and get back to me on Tuesday. Today, I went to meet with her and was informed that she was too busy to see me; Berkeley Police then escorted me out of the building. I stressed to the city that I quit my job and invested my life savings building a business that the City of Berkeley permitted and endorsed just three months ago. Every day I remain closed, waiting for the city to sort out internal miscommunications, I lose a tremendous amount of income. The city’s response to my crisis has been to continually ignore me and now to have an armed officer escort me out of city hall.
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POPSBook review: The High Cost of Free Parking More: By breaking the relationship between use and payment, "free" parking eliminates the negative feedback that keeps the system in balance. As a result, everyone decides to drive everywhere, and the car crowds out other forms of transportation… Of all the transport systems available, including public transit, shipping, and rail, cars are unique in that terminal costs (doing something with your vehicle when the trip is finished) are offset to the rest of the economy… Worse still, "free" parking provides the biggest per-mile subsidy to the shortest trips, meaning drivers have a major incentive to drive to destinations they would otherwise be able to reach with ease by foot or bicycle… Anticipating the righteous ire of those drivers accustomed to free parking, Shoup notes that the biggest barrier to eliminating this subsidy is political, not technical, and proper implementation is critical.
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POPSRunning Doc: PLEASE "do the aspirin"! More: Now, it's true that one case doesn’t prove anything. The International Marathon Medical Directors Association is meeting in March 2010 to develop a multi-city, multi-country research project. It may be that all runners develop high serum myoglobins, since they clear quickly (sometime within one day) -- but they also interact in the body, creating a cascade of other inflammatory elevations that may be markers of risk and may help us to get a better handle on SCD. As Dr. Siegel says: “Like the runner herein, these SCD victims during races can be saved. But wouldn't it make even more sense to try to prevent the SCD's in the first place? Taking aspirin may just do the trick." You can help us make this research project "smarter." If you happen to visit your doctor within 24 hours after finishing a full or half-marathon, please bring a copy of this post with you, record the information below, then e-mail the results to us
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POPSBrad Warner: On driving people away from Zen with a stick
More: Compared to them I am a big ol' softie. Whatever. As to the notion that the disputes among Buddhists should not be exposed on-line... All's I can say is that's just not gonna happen. It's out there. This kind of stuff did not start on the Internet. But the Internet has amplified it. And until the Internet goes away, the exposure of disputes among Buddhists on the Internet isn't going away either. It's probably best not to air any more dirty laundry in public than is strictly necessary. But, for my own part, I have no regrets about what I've said regarding Genpo Roshi. It needed saying and nobody else was saying it. At least not that I was aware of at the time. Yeah, I might have bolstered my arguments…more if I hadn't used the word scumbag. But what's done is done. What I said served to call attention to a very serious misuse of the Dharma and I'm glad for that. It probably wouldn't have gotten nearly as much coverage had my argument been more well-reasoned.
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POPSLooking at the math behind "53 miles per burrito" More: Of course, a burrito comes with sales taxes, which pay for another fraction of that road. And the margin on a burrito is much higher than on gasoline - that margin then becomes profit for the owner and wages for the workers, all of which are taxable and turn into another fraction of that road I am freeloading on. Beyond the margin for the taqueria, money is made by people who grow and sell food, which is ostensibly a nobler pursuit than drilling, baby, drilling. But the real bottom line? It's not really 53 miles per burrito. It's one burrito per 53 miles. If you are sitting in your car, you will be shortly sitting on that burrito as it becomes a permanent part of your ass. I meanwhile will be adding extra guacamole because after I rode 53 miles to work, I ride 7 miles back to Caltrain on the way home. Yum. Guacamole, anyone? :-D
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POPS"Fuck you, Disney princesses" More: But you only succeeded in teaching me these things because you weren’t alone. You were a bullhorn in a room of sympathizers. There were healthier less damaging whispers around the outskirts, but you and the like-minded denounced them as social pariahs, sexual deviants, mentally disturbed, and political extremists… In short, fuck you Disney princesses. I will not pay to see your regressive movies, I will not look up to your flawless beauty-standard-compliant faces. Additionally, I will live my life telling everyone who will listen that we’ve got it all wrong. You and your clique of impossibly beautiful peers are the ones that ought to be silenced and ostracized. Not me, and not all those other beautiful and achingly real girls who desperately need to be heard and appreciated for how they are, not scorned for how they fail to be just like you: the perfectly useless, silent, submissive princess.
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POPSCarrie Fisher: "So I 'used' to be hot?" More: I understand completely if you can’t find it in your heart to forgive me for looking like 3 decades have passed…….Of COURSE you should mock & belittle me for being so large!! What else could you POSSIBLY do?????!?… You have every right to compare me to Yoda or Elton or Kirstie…….I’ve brought it on myself. But here’s this thing that I found myself wondering………what the fuck do YOU look like??! I know i don’t really have the right to ask……I’m a public figure——Ive made an unspoken contract to keep that figure slim…….but still, I find myself wondering…….See, I think the folks that insult & mock celebrities who DARE to pack on ten pounds or—–God forbid——MORE than ten!…..I would think it only fair that they post a photo of themselves along with their poisonous observations! And you know what else would be SUPER cool??? Their IQ! ALL the numbers! An approximate count of Weight AND wisdom!
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POPSpoem: "The Power of the Dog" by Rudyard Kipling More: We've sorrow enough in the natural way, When it comes to burying Christian clay. Our loves are not given, but only lent, At compound interest of cent per cent. Though it is not always the case, I believe, That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve: For, when debts are payable, right or wrong, A short-time loan is as bad as a long-- So why in Heaven (before we are there) Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?
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POPSIan Walker: Why I hate pedestrians More: And recently…it's got worse. As I'm driving up the street I constantly come across pedestrians walking across my part of the road to get from one of these pavements to another. I mean, what the hell...? They've been given vast tracts of pedestrian-only routes, where I'm certainly not allowed to drive, but apparently this isn't enough for them . Oh no, they want to keep encroaching into my space as well. Sure, we've all heard these walking zealots who say that it's because the 'pavements' don't form a joined-up network, meaning they can't walk to where they want to go without having to step onto the road from time to time. Aw, bless their little hearts. To pedestrians I say this: get off my part of the road. If you walk there when I'm coming along then I'll happily run you down , that's all.
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POPSRestaurant review: La Bedaine, Berkeley More: I didn't eat the plump pork sausage yet, but unwrapped them and they have a wonderful smokey aroma. Two sausages were $4. The mason jar of onion soup was $4. I had a croissant ($1.50). It was tasty but not the crunchy, super buttery version. It was smaller and more bready. It reminded me of some I was served in breakfast baskets in France… IMO, one of the best sausages in the Bay Area. So much better than the fancy artisan new sausage makers and right up there with the best of the old-timers ... maybe beyond. Extremely rich so limit yourself to one at a sitting… The texture of that halibut was exquisite. Anyone with a passion for smoked whitefish will drop to their knees in reverence for this… We ended up getting the rillettes ($4), which seemed, based on the one bite I had, less salty than, and at least as good as, Fatted Calf's--at a significantly lower price.
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POPSWhy is marriage a civil right? More: This is why refusing communion is not a violation of civil rights - because communion is not a civil contract, it does not confer civil rights or responsibilities, and is therefore not a matter of civil law. I will say it yet again. Your laws that say same-sex couples can't get married are the same laws that say they can't eat shrimp or cut their beards. Which is fine and well for you, but I'm going to continue to enjoy my crab louie salad bare-faced without even humoring the idea that I need to protect, defend, and preserve your "sanctity of brunch".
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POPSTo whom it may concern: I resign More: I want to return to a time when life was simple. When all you knew were colours, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you, because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care. All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset. I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams,the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow. So.... here's my cheque book and my car keys, my company badge, my credit card bills, and all 32 of my computer passwords. I am officially resigning from adulthood. And if you want to discuss this further, you'll have to catch me first, cause, TAG!! YOU'RE IT!!
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POPSWhy is sexual assault investigated differently from other crimes? More: Dr. Lisak, by the way, appears to be the best ally to and advocate for survivors of sexual assault that I've never heard of. In the past hour, I've found this rape fact sheet that he prepared containing a metric fuckton of good information, multiple presentations (pdf) and papers (pdf), a submission to an anthology on "Confronting Rape and Sexual Assault," and an unflinching critique of "Male Gender Socialization and the Perpetuation of Sexual Abuse." This is a man who knows how to work a goddamned teaspoon. Thanks, Dr. Lisak. Couldn't make the links to Dr. Lisak's Google Books excerpts work – click through for those.
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POPSMarine reservist attacks Greek priest with tire iron, says "He's a terrorist!" More: An exterior surveillance video of Tuesday's chase captured the two men in motion… "You see a very short, small man running, and an enormous, large muscular man chasing after him." This is what police say happened at 6:35 p.m. Monday: The priest's GPS gave him the wrong directions, leading him off Interstate 275 and into downtown Tampa. He followed a line of cars into a garage at the Seaport Channelside condominium to ask for help. He found Bruce, whose back was turned, bending over the trunk of his car, and he tapped his shoulder before saying, in broken English, "please" and "help." That's when Bruce reached for the tire iron. Police say that by the end of the chase, he had hit the priest four times… say that the priest was disoriented when they found him at the corner of Madison and Meridian avenues, but a translator at Tampa General Hospital helped him communicate. And that the GPS corroborates the priest's story.
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POPSSchwarzenegger quietly kills effort to get commuter rail funds More: Eliminated from the state application for federal funds was almost $170 million for positive train control — computer-guided braking systems designed to prevent crashes and allow conventional trains to safely travel at 110 mph. Such automated systems, which the federal government wants installed by 2015, would have prevented the commuter rail crash in suburban Los Angeles last year that killed 25 people in the worst rail accident in modern California history. Also removed was $969 million in railroad crossing improvements, track additions, overpasses and maintenance projects designed to benefit the corridor between San Diego and Los Advertisement Angeles as well as the main rail line through Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. One major goal of commuter rail services has been to reduce the travel time between San Diego and Los Angeles from about three hours to two hours.
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POPSMark Morford: The Lethal Injection College Fund More: Do you know what $30 million can buy these days? What your average cash-strapped urban playground could do with that kind of money, particularly during a recession? Here's my simple and semi-obvious idea: what if Washington D.C. had taken the same $30 million, and instead of killing a single remorseless criminal, created upwards of 600 full-ride college scholarships for lower-income or minority students, at 50 grand each. In other words, for every criminal a given state is seeking to execute -- like, for example, the Fort Hood killer, who they say might well be eligible for the death penalty -- we take the same tens of millions in taxpayer dollars and send hundreds of kids through college instead, kids who otherwise would never have been able to afford it and in fact might've ended up on the streets or in prison. We'll call it the Lethal Injection College Fund… From dark to light. From excrement, flowers. From our most violent nightmares, a hint of grace. What a th
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POPSbikehacks: Illuminate your bike — for free! More: How I came to acquire this stash of reflective material (self-adhesive 3M-type stuff) was by contacting a shop that does signs (like highway exit signs, marking guardrails, etc.) and asked if they had any scraps they’d otherwise be tossing out. They said to come by and I got several 8×10 sized pieces for FREE! I started cutting the pieces to fit various parts of the bike – starting with items like fenders, and eventually working to the frame, fork, rear rack, and wheels. Since then I’ve been experimenting with making wheel (spoke) reflectors using the bottoms of microwave pasta dishes as backing material. There’s one pic of a drop-bar old 10-speed I installed one of these experimental wheel reflectors on – it’s on the rear wheel, zip-tied to the spokes.
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