David Cohn › Likes

"Oakland police are looking for the growers of at least 1,000 marijuana plants found after a small fire at a one-time Oakland fortune cookie factory. Sgt. Rich Vierra says the pot plants, valued at about $500,000, were not burned during Monday's fire in the former Kar Mee Fortune Cookie Factory in Oakland's Chinatown district. Police say the plants ranged in size from seedlings to 4 feet tall and were being grown in about 1,750 square feet of space. The growers were apparently using an old power line outside the building to run the lights, ventilation and irrigation systems. Authorities say the small blaze was sparked by an electrical malfunction. The cookie factory's previous owners were evicted last year." - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

I can see everybody standing around inhaling - VAL D. Zone

How did they ever get the cookies made and packed? Muncheeeez. - Jennifer Dittrich

"Remember that whole idea about shutting part of Market Street to vehicle traffic, kind of like what they've done with sections of Broadway in New York City? Well, it's coming to pass in a pilot program, at least for a six-week test run, starting on September 29th." - Mike Doeff from Bookmarklet

Hmm, I'm not so sure about this. - Mike Doeff

"The former legislator has a minuscule carbon footprint despite days filled with travel. He recycles and reuses at home. He owns no car but walks, and uses mass transit and a city CarShare program." - Chester from Bookmarklet

I'm not impressed to the extent that he's doing something monumental, but I'm impressed he chose to make some personal sacrifice that he doesn't need to make because it widens his personal viewpoint, which ought to benefit how he governs the city. It's newsworthy because it's not common and, because it's not common for someone in his position, it's praise-worthy. Not gush-worthy, but praise-worthy. - Chester

aie. - anna sauce

Yikes! - Kevin Winn

I mostly agree, but think there are no absolutes. A citizen journallst oftimes lives with a passion for a particular niche which pervades life and thought, making them far more diligent and committed than a professional journalist who may be pulled in multiple directions - Ken Camp

Not Starving Students. I have heard people have good luck with picking up a couple of sparsely documented workers from the parking lot of Home Depot. Buy YMMV. - Thaths

"It appears that BART workers will stay on the job at least until the vote is taken, union representatives said. They did not know exactly when that would be, other than sometime next week" - Mike Doeff from Bookmarklet

"General Motors plans to quit a joint venture with Toyota to make cars at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. in Fremont, a decision that threatens the survival of the West Coast's only automotive plant and puts 4,700 factory jobs at risk." - Chester from Bookmarklet

hahah. Hmm. Last time I did that I must have been changing the channel on the radio. - anna sauce

Have to love the "I 'Stupidly Locked Up My Bike By The Quick-Releasable Front Wheel' SF," Sutro Tower Cloud City, and squalid homage to 6th Street. - Chester from Bookmarklet

the N is Near is one of my faves - anna sauce

I have an idea for a 30-stockton, pink bag brigade style shirt too - anna sauce

"The Spot.Us community had a good week. First we had an article on the front page of the Oakland Tribune. And now we have a story in the East Bay Express!! Budget May Stall Effort to Reform Internal Affairs Oakland’s huge deficit may derail a long-standing effort to “civilianize” investigations of police complaints. By Andrew Stelzer" - Richard pancakhaus Walker from Bookmarklet

"Just about any long-term West Oakland resident can rattle off a list of health issues effecting their community: toxins from cargo ships docking at the nearby Port of Oakland, diesel smoke from Port-bound trucks, pollution from the two freeways that border the neighborhood, illegal dumping, and lack of accessible health care." - Dinah from Bookmarklet

This is a story that Spot.Us has had very close to our hearts. You can see the whole series here: http://blog.spot.us/2009... - David Cohn

I hope it was a good conversation. Would love to know your own thoughts. - David Cohn

Ahh yes, Oliver Chiang. He sent me some email questions and I responded via Video: http://www.viddler.com/explore... - you shouldn't feel bad at all. We are lucky to have you involved in the past and I hope you will be involved in the future too!!! You are a most rocking community member. - David Cohn

"In an effort to foster more civic collaboration and connectivity with constituents, Mayor Newsom today announced a first of its kind application that allows citizens to access the City’s 311 Call Center through Twitter, a social networking service. Instead of making a phone call, members of the public can send a short message called a "tweet" to alert the city about a pothole, or simply find out about the City’s green initiatives." - Mike Doeff from Bookmarklet

interesting- esp since nextbus has been claiming it's offline more due to budget cuts - anna sauce

Twitter for public service - a cost benefit analysis: http://spot.us/stories/205 - David Cohn

"a fundraiser for our legal defense fund. The front contains the DNA-in-handcuffs logo, and the back says "A DISORDERLY HOUSE INJURIOUS TO THE PUBLIC WELFARE AND MORALS". These are only available as green-on-black t-shirts, also with glow-in-the-dark ink. Buy one today and help out with our legal struggle! You can order these fine products below, or you can buy them at coat check every night we're open. "Save DNA" shirts are $20 plus shipping. - Richard pancakhaus Walker from Bookmarklet

Rohan I think this is a much bigger issue than a few "rude bouncer" incidents... - Richard pancakhaus Walker

Two days ago http://friendfeed.com/louisgr... Louis Gray pointed out on FriendFeed that when a new user signs up for FriendFeed that they receive 24 suggested FriendFeed users to follow. I'm one of those 24. There is no mystery to how these 24 users are selected for promotion on the FriendFeed platform, they are simply the 24 FriendFeed users with the most followers. Once a user subscribes to someone this list changes. it roughly becomes the most popular people followed by their friend(s). And while Friendfeed's objective and simplified method of promoting users to new sign ups is probably better than Twitter's much criticized subjective method of elite favoritism, it could be vastly improved yet. - Thomas Hawk

I haven't looked at the suggested list since last year. It was something very similar even then, people with the most followers were chosen, but they aren't always the most active people. I think there could be a different way to suggest people to new users, maybe a way that chooses suggested users by interest. - Candace

although I didnt quite understand the compromise: "Under the deal, the EU will buy more US beef in return for keeping a ban on hormone-treated beef, which it claims poses a threat to human health." Hardly a victory, or am I missing something? http://friendfeed.com/iphigen... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Joelle: anything that removes trade barriers is a victory - to both sides. - Niklas Morberg

but did it remove a trade barrier if it means the EU agrees to buy fixed amounts of US beef or else? I totally agree the cheese thing was totally silly but it just showed the US as absurd, this is beef people dont need, bought just to placate the US so we can still refuse hormone-crazy beef on health and animal welfare grounds? It just moved the silliness to some less embarrassing place (here went my chance to ever be hired as a WTO negociator) - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

"Support appears to be growing at City Hall for Supervisor David Chiu's resolution to reject the MTA's budget passed last Thursday. Very little has changed to satisfy Chiu, who remains deeply concerned about fare hikes, service cuts and work orders that are draining the MTA's budget. "Given the levels of concern about raising fares and at the same time cutting services it just seems to be a lose-lose proposition," Chiu said in an interview late today. "I think it's tough to tell San Franciscans that we're going to make you pay more and see less and see our critical public transit system take a hit." When asked if it's possible Sunday parking enforcement, along with evening enforcement, could be put back on the table to raise much-needed revenue, Chiu said it's possible "we may end up somewhere midway."" - Richard pancakhaus Walker from Bookmarklet

Don't worry - it's not real. They blew up a tanker truck and some cars on the 280 while shooting a TV pilot. - Mike Doeff from Bookmarklet

Looks like this TV pilot (Trauma) has been picked up by NBC and will be airing in the fall. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin... - Mike Doeff

Yuck. - Mike Doeff from Bookmarklet

It's just a shame we don't have the political consensus to create a gas price floor via gas taxes in order to make mass transit viable. Also: BART should have charged for parking from the get-go. And more than the $1 they're finally going to be instituting. - Chester

"As SFist reported yesterday, a sad press release went out from the owners of the Parkway Speakeasy Theater in Oakland saying that they would be closing their doors after Sunday's screenings. A Facebook group has now started to raise support to save the theater, and an Oakland activist is lobbying to get the City of Oakland to step in with some emergency business retention funds. Whether or not the beloved beer-and-couches cinema can be saved, supporters are planning a nearby gathering on Sunday, and you can hear everyone mourn and rally on Twitter." - Richard pancakhaus Walker from Bookmarklet