Best Things to Do on Father's Day in SF [holidays, events]

There is a lot of (mostly) free stuff going on in the Bay Area for Father's Day this year, so there is no excuse not to take Dear Old Dad out!

1. The Northern California Pirate Festival is happening in Vallejo from 10:00am to 6:00pm and celebrates all things Pirate.via FunCheapSF:

Celebrate all things Pirate, as Pirate Entertainers, Musicians, Singers, Swordfighters, Craftspeople, and more turn Vallejo’s waterfront into a Pirate Town the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Tortuga. Come on out for this two-day festival over fathers day weekend and have a swashbucklin’ great time at the SF Bay Area’s only Pirate Festival.

The entertainment roster encompasses performers featured on the main stage, the children’s stage, main gate stage, swordfighting & pirate’s “brawling” areas, participating vessels and roving entertainment

2. The 57th Annual North Beach Festival will be held in San Francisco from 10:00am to 6:00pm in Washington Square Park.

3. The 61st Annual Juneteenth Festival is happening in San Francisco from 11:00am to 7:00pm in the Fillmore.

4. For all you dancers, there is a free Michael Jackson "Beat It" Dance Class in SF from 12:00pm to 2:00pm at Bollyhood Cafe.

5. If you are a parkour fan, be sure to check out the 1st Annual Urban Ninja Festival in Berkeley from 12:00pm to 6:00pm at Memorial Glade (UC Berkeley).

6. The Stern Grove Festival 2011 kicks off tomorrow in SF at 2:00pm with the sounds of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.

7. The Father's Day Kite Day is happening in Berkeley from 12:00pm to 4:00pm at Cesar Chavez State Park.

8. For the urban history nerds (and cannon enthusiasts!) there is a hike of shipwrecks and and cannons starting at 2:00pm at the Presidio in San Francisco.

9. World Music Day will be held in Palo Alto from 3:00pm to 7:30pm.

Click here for even more free events!

Japan Nuclear Radiation Reaches NYC; Workers Fail to Repair Leak [news, earthquake]

Uh oh. It looks like "minute amounts of radiation" from the nuclear power plant in Japan has reached New York City.

Also, engineers have failed to repair a leak in a concrete shaft that is leaking "highly radioactive water into the ocean off Japan".

Great!

Bicycle Film Festival SF [events]

The 10th Annual Bicycle Film Festival is happening in San Francisco November 10-14.

SF: Fourth Annual Medical Cannabis Competition [events]

The Fourth Annual San Francisco Medical Cannabis Competition will take place at Terra Gallery on November 14th.

via SF Weekly:

Attractions & Giveaways include: Edibles, concentrates and strains for judges to vote on! Delicious catered food, award winning DJ's, volcano medication stations, & tons of medical marijuana products!

So bummed I'm moving and going to miss this!

Marijuana Economics: Prop 19 [SF events]

Tonight at the Commonwealth Club, 7:30pm.

via SF Weekly:

From where we sit, it looks like a done deal. Marijuana will be legalized sometime within the next ten years. Certainly, the industry as it stands is preparing itself for change. Uh, not that we would know anything about it. Tonight at "Marijuana Economics: Prop 19," the heavy hitters of the current bid for legalization sit down and discuss the actual facts of the matter. Richard Lee, the author of Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, is in the "pro" seat. Tim Rosales, the campaign manager of the No on Prop 19 outfit, is in the "anti." And somehow, somehow, Beau Kilmer of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center is thought not to have a position, but rather a lot of information.

Oil Spill Capped? [not likely]

@NewsHour recently tweeted that oil has stopped flowing a la the new cap BP has put on the oil well, but a camera above shows otherwise.

The SF Symphony Does Hitchcock [psycho!].

The San Francisco Symphony is performing a live orchestral accompaniment to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) on July 17th.

via the SF Symphony & SF Weekly:

Treat yourself to a night at the movies-with a live symphony orchestra! Bernard Herrmann revolutionized the art of film music with his hair-raising soundtrack to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. On July 17 the San Francisco Symphony performs the score live alongside Hitchcock’s iconic film that changed the silver screen and shocked audiences 50 years ago. Don't miss this opportunity to experience a cinematic classic as you've never seen (or heard) it before!

Arrive one hour prior to the concert for music and dancing with the Martini Brothers, plus desserts and specialty drinks.

Concert includes intermission.

Recommended for ages 18 and older. Groups of ten or more save 20%. Side and Center Terrace seats are not available for this performance.

Al Qaeda: Now in English! [propaganda]

Great news! You can now read propaganda from Al Qaeda in English! It's a magazine, and it's called "Inspire!"

It even includes a section on "how to make a bomb in kitchen of your mom" and "what to expect in jihad." Fantastic!

The Nervous Breakdown [SF event]

If my schedule allows tomorrow, I am going to try to hit up this event at The Make Out Room.

The Nervous Breakdown

via SFWeekly.com:

Penny For Your Thoughts
By Hiya Swanhuyser

If you're a woman who has ever leaned toward punk, you've either worshipped her or secretly hoped someone like her existed: Penelope Houston is an international icon. Not just as the lead singer of the Avengers, the band famous for the song "The American in Me," either, although the pictures of her in the early days of punk are as punk as anything else -- young, intelligent, infuriated, leather-jacketed. But in the rather many ensuing years, she's done nothing but continue to be admirable, in the form of taking on a new musical genre that's really hard to define: Mod-folk, maybe, or heartfelt go-go New Wave film soundtrack, with autoharp. Tonight, she reads at The Nervous Breakdown series, along with Johnny Genocide aka Hugh Thomas Patterson, Stephen Elliott, Paul Clayton, Lauren Becker, and Thomas Wood.

Literary Events

Make-Out Room
3225 22nd St. (at Mission); San Francisco CA

William Ayers in San Francisco.

I'm disappointed I missed William Ayers last night at The Green Arcade in San Francisco.

I was first introduced to William Ayers via his involvement in the Weather Underground, a 1960's militant student political organization.

94-Yr-Old Woman Graduates from College [touching story]

This is a touching story. A 94-year-old Oakland woman, Hazel Soares, just received her BA in art history from Mill's College in Oakland.

She is believed to be the second oldest person in the world to graduate from college, second to Nola Ochs, a woman who graduated from Fort Hays State University in Kansas three years ago at the age of 95. You go, girl!

Hazel is a living example of the "it's never too late to realize your dreams" mindset.

Sarah Palin Compares Her E-mail Hackery to Watergate.

David Kernell, the 20-yr-old University of Tennessee student who hacked into Sarah Palin's e-mail, has been convicted of computer fraud and obstruction of justice.

Palin, in a true moment of self-aggrandizement, compared it to Watergate.

via her Facebook page:

"My family and I are thankful that the jury thoroughly and carefully weighed the evidence and issued a just verdict. Besides the obvious invasion of privacy and security concerns surrounding this issue, many of us are concerned about the integrity of our country's political elections. America's elections depend upon fair competition. Violating the law, or simply invading someone's privacy for political gain, has long been repugnant to Americans' sense of fair play. As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates' private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election."

Suicidal Man Brings Cyanide onto NYC Subway.

A 20-yr-old suicidal college man was arrested in Manhattan early Friday for bringing sodium cyanide onto the subway.

Scary!

Now We Will All Know How Fat We Are Getting

The new health bill includes a provision requiring all chain restaurants to provide nutritional information for all food served.

Look out Ruby Tuesday and Panda Express everywhere!

transgender homecoming queen!

this is pretty cool. the college of william and mary has crowned their first transgender homecoming queen. not only that, ze identifies as genderqueer.

how cool is that?

read the full story here on flat news

34 dead after earthquake-induced tsunami hits american somoa

this is really tragic. an 8.0 earthquake in the ocean triggered a tsunami that killed 34 people in american samoa.

read the full post on gawker