Dave in SF

Skiing in the Streets

dave — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:41:01 +0000

The utter lack of snow this winter has me in an groomer funk. Where are the trees? Where are the bumps? Where is the powder? Here is an ode to skiing on something other corduroy. The street…

Nature is the Best in HD

dave — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:04:16 +0000

The next installment of popular HD time lapse videos taking place in the eastern part of the state of California is…

YOSEMITE. Enjoy.

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Making Noise

dave — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:36:00 +0000

What’s cooler than pre-heating the tubes before belting out 5 watts of clean analog sound from a gorgeously simple amp? Building that gorgeously simple amp yourself. Eric Kingsbury builds these babies custom through his hi-fi hobby shop and webzine, AudioTropic. You can pick one up for a cool $3,600. Or, pick up the schematics, read up on electrocution fatalities, and build it yourself.

On 100 Good Things

dave — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:43:29 +0000

There are many good things to say about Good. Their annual “The Good 100” is a perfect little summation of a wide swath of their content. At the very least, it’s a decent HTML5 bookmark interface of the site.

On Fernet Branca Anthems

dave — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:31:50 +0000

In regards to the amaros, I’d like to say that my preferences have become quite a bit more refined as of late. However, seeing as how this is a song celebrating San Francisco and our unusual drink of choice; it’s an instant favorite. If you haven’t tried Fernet, you’re not really missing out… Or are you?

Making Stuff

dave — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:08:41 +0000

It’s fascinating to see us building stuff again. From startup manufacturers, to product designers, to new crowdsourced inventing communities like Quirky.com; we’re creating things again. The last century taught us that no one could compete with the scale of our manufacturing, maybe this century will prove our prowess at boutique, customized creation.

There’s no better example of this happening in San Francisco than organizations like SFMade – a non-profit established in 2010 to support the growing base of people again making stuff in the city. Their manufacturer membership is over 250 companies and growing – responsible for over 2,500 jobs in San Francisco.

From SFMade.org: SFMade’s mission is to build and support a vibrant manufacturing sector in San Francisco, that sustains companies producing locally-made products, encourages entrepreneurship and innovation, and creates employment opportunities for a diverse local workforce.

On The America’s Cup

dave — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:35:31 +0000

Holy shit. This has to be the best thing to happen to San Francisco in the last 2 decades. Sure, the ski jump on Fillmore was fun until our neighbors in Pac Heights shut it down and the Great Snow Controversy of 2011 kept us all guessing, but this is bigger.

1955 San Francisco

dave — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:14:17 +0000

Wow. That looks…really…similar. Too bad we lost PlayLand. At least we still have Camera Obscura.

From BoingBoing: Rick Prelinger sez, “Here’s a little holiday gift from Prelinger Archives. It’s the work of accomplished amateur filmmaker (and expert tinkerer) Tullio Pellegrini, who combined a 16mm Bell & Howell Cinemascope lens with the wonders of Kodachrome and made this homage to the city of San Francisco. You’ll see Playland, our oceanside amusement park which was closed in 1972, very rare footage of the SkyTram (an extinct ride over Seal Rocks and Sutro Baths), and a brakescreeching ride down the Crookedest Street in the World. Happy Holidays!”

Summer in Winter

dave — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:57:29 +0000

Thanks go out to this fantastic piece of Tahoe videography for making the depression set in. It’s mid-January and all of the following are true:

1.) We have no snow
2.) We have no snow in the forecast
3.) I haven’t touched my Squaw pass
4.) I haven’t touched the accompanying Alpine pass
5.) I haven’t seen the ski cabin friends and I paid for in October
6.) I haven’t taken the wrapping off my new gear from 2011
7.) I haven’t been caught in ridiculous traffic on I-80
8.) I turned my furnace off

T A H O E from Shortt and Epic Productions on Vimeo.

On Being Healthy

dave — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:37:55 +0000

Everyone loves a good YouTube visual lecture. Especially one done in the UPS-TV-spot-like white board diagram genre. Here’s to your health…