San Francisco's favorite otter Sutro Sam, has mysteriously disappeared from his Outer Richmond abode, breaking our hearts in the process.
Sam made a bachelor pad out of the Sutro Baths last fall and quickly gained thousands of adoring fans who flocked to the remains of the old swimming house to see San Francisco's first river otter in nearly half a century. No one was quite sure how Sam got to the city or where he came from – although there was speculation that he had come across the Golden Gate from Marin – but we were all glad to have him.
Now, the city's cutest resident has packed up his bags and mysteriously disappeared without leaving a goodbye note or a forwarding address. Scientist from The River Ecology Project aren't sure where Sam may have wandered off too, according to the San Francisco Examiner, but there could be a couple reasons why he had to leave our fair city behind.
Sam may have gone in search of a mate (which has us squealing with the idea of baby otters shacking up in the baths), or he may have gotten sick of the same ol' boring goldfish day in and day out. Or, as SFist pointed out, maybe he just moved to Oakland with everyone else.
Either way, we're gonna miss him.
All photos by Jouko van der Krujissen. See more of his photos of Sutro Sam here.
Categories:
Outer Richmond, Outdoor
Photo by mollypop
Turns out, March 8 is International Women's Day – who knew? Not this gal. Anyway, in the spirit of celebrating the world's ovaries we've compiled the best possible things all San Franciscans can do this very night to commemorate the superior gender.
See Sex and the City at Trannyshack
These fabulous queens really know what it means to be a woman. They reenact classic scenes from Sex and the City every night, and we all know that Carrie Bradshaw is the epitome of womanhood (cough).
GNO (Girl's Night Out)
Put on some heels, head over to your favorite karaoke bar, request Destiny's Child (or some other equally powerful feminist anthem performer) and shake your booty – after all, your waist to hips ratio is one of the things that differentiates you from the other, boxier half of the species.
Call Your Mom
This is sincere, guys. After all she did push you out so that you could become the burrito-eating, fixie-riding, coffee connoisseur that you are today. Consider sending her a thank you card for your good looks.
Get Laid
Think about the years and years women had to fight for basic rights like birth control. Pay homage to your foremothers and get some tonight (safely, of course).
Go Tampooning
Okay, this is basically TPing but with tampons ... you get the picture. Now go out and paint the town red.
Categories:
Holidays
It's been a good week in the Bay Area – a little sunshine, lots of shiny new lights, and we spotted someone famous on BART. Here's what you might have missed in the news.
Photo by Angela May Chen Tuesday night, the Golden Gate Bridge's less famous little sister finally got to take center stage and shine. Designed by Leo Villareal, the Bay Bridge is now the world's largest LED light installation and its inaugural show garnered thousands of "oohs" and "ahhs" from the Bay Area residents who braved the rain to see the spectacle. If you missed the premiere, never fear! The lights will go on everyday for the next two years for your viewing pleasure. (Bay Lights)
Photo by roger.williams
In a tragic final look at California's quickly disappearing glaciers, Tim Palmer spent almost a year photographing the last of the rare breed. "It was a privilege to see such beauty. It was tragic to know I would not see it again," he writes in an article in The Chronicle. Palmer also cites a chilling fact: scientists have predicted that the entire snowpack of the Sierra Nevada will diminish by 30-60 percent this year alone; the same snowpack that accounts for 60 percent of California's water supply. (SF Gate)
Looks like George Lucas is continuing his slow domination of the universe (aka Bay Area). The Emperor of the Nerds wants to build and fund a new museum in the Presidio that would house an art collection he's been curating for more than 40 years. The collection would focus on 150 years of populist art, including original Norman Rockwell works. Thanks for sharing with us little folk, George, can you just make sure you put a Yoda statue there too? (NPR)
In other news, San Francisco’s homeless will now be receiving free cell phones. According to CBS Local, a new statewide program has been instituted that will allow homeless people and Californians who make less than $14,702 a year to get free cell phones and service. The program is brought to you by Lifeline, which previously only provided land lines to the needy, but recently realized it was the 21st century and no one uses land lines anymore. (CBS)
Photo via Jerry Brown's Twitter
BART etiquette is seriously declining when this guy can't even get a seat. Governor Jerry Brown tweeted this picture of him hanging on for dear life on a recent trip to the city. Thankfully, it looks like the 74-year-old is still in pretty good shape – way to go Moonbeam! (SFist)
Tired of having to sign into Twitter to make someone cry? Cryface makes bringing someone to tears easier than ever before. Let's be clear, I normally never pay for apps when I'm sober, but I made an exception in this case because Cryface brings me enough evil satisfaction to justify spending a 1/4 of a box of Girl Scout cookies.
The Cryface app understands that Homeland isn't on right now and many of us have found ourselves hard up for ugly cry faces. The app allows you to upload photos of whoever you want to see look puffy and edits them to make them look like they just watched Downton Abbey Season 3 Episode 5 complete with frown, tears, and mascara. You can then send your cry pics to friends and laugh at the absurdity or accuracy of the sour pusses.
I recommend waiting to send cry pics until the timing is right. Why not try your luck on a morning after a friend blacks out and might be hung over enough to believe you photographed them balling over American Idol? If you're not the emotional blackmail type, there's another $0.99 feature that allows you to add text and finally become the third world problems spokesperson you were always meant to be.
This addition to the app world reminds me that photoshop can be used for both good and evil. And I find it nice to be reminded that everyone looks ugly when they cry. Sure, the edited pics look a little computer generated-y, but I would argue that some people (especially the Kardashians) always do.
Categories:
Tech
I've made a hobby out of scouring our analytics and reading people's awkward and entertaining searches. I've decided to share the splendors of my nosey antics and see if you come to the same conclusions I did: San Francisco likes sex, rhinestones, and pork. Since the internet works in mysterious ways some of the links seem random, but all are worth a read. Here is a list of the top key terms that brought you lovable weirdos to The Bold Italic:
