Remember yarn bombing? Yeah, that’s sooooo 2011. It’s played, man. Get with the times. Now it’s all about bark bombing.
Not enough trees in your area? Just wrap your favorite “no parking” sign post in a layer of eucalyptus bark. It adds a natural and outdoorsy essence to the corner.
(Spotted at 16th and Sharon)
One of the best features of Mac OS X is TimeMachine, a ridiculously easy to use backup system. The downside to TimeMachine is you either have to use an external hard drive or buy Apple’s TimeCapsule backup hardware.
Turns out there’s a third option — use a Linux PC as your backup server.
With Ubuntu Linux 12.04, I highly recommend following this guide, which explains the safest route. Keep in mind it’s completely unsupported by Apple, of course, so if your backups are overwritten with My Little Pony pictures, don’t go complaining to the Genuis Bar.
A couple notes on the guide:
Last week, I posted a photo of Alley Barrel’s rules, which notably contains a tongue-in-cheek provision banning hipster conversations.
After some local coverage, several major sites covered the story. Why? I dunno, but it was amusing to watch — though a few commenters seemingly interpreted the hipster rule as VERY serious, most readers recognized that hipsters complaining about hipsters is the very type of irony that defines modern hipster culture.
This weekend, I went back and found a modified version of their rules. Changes to note:
not posting this on instagram, you hipster
Good thing I’m not hip enough to use Instagram.
Thanks to whistleblower Andrew D. Basiago, many news outlets picked up the story of Barack Obama’s early 1980’s jump gate to Mars teleportation scandal in late 2011.
The story of Jumpgategate apparently comes from Basiago’s frequent calls to the Coast to Coast AM radio show, which is of course where someone who wants to be taken seriously would call. He has sent Coast to Coast AM his time travel photo. For some reason there’s only one photo. Oh well.
Thanks to the internets, you don’t need an AM radio for one particularly amazing story — Basiago explains his childhood experience with “jump gates” on YouTube:
A few months later, the White House denied these claims to Wired’s Danger Room reporter Spencer Ackerman.
What could Obama possibly be hiding! And um, why are you only telling us about this now, Mr. Basiago? Why didn’t you mention any of this when you wrote about life on Mars in 2008? Kind of a glaring admission, in retrospect.
But Andrew Basiago has had some previous after-the-fact predictions that were remarkably equally belated; take, for example, this report of the Sept 11th attacks on the United States in 2001 that he predicted nearly a decade after they occurred. (Update: Link changed to Archive.org’s backup copy because the original link no longer loads the article.)
But it doesn’t end there, oh no. The same fellow has a range of stories that involve him and/or his father participating in unusual DARPA programs.
Here’s Basiago explaining his childhood teleportation experiences. (Update: this video has been made private.)
Andrew Basiago on visiting alternate timelines:
And here’s a video of Basiago lecturing for an hour about time travel, teleportation, unlimited energy, 3D holograms, etc. etc. (Update: this video has also been made private.)
Four Barrel’s back alley — aka Alley Barrel — hosts a weekend-only coffee service with occasional street food vendors.
Recently they posted a rule sheet, mostly consisting the please-don’t-piss-off-our-neighbors variety. But one rule stands out:
…not talking about annoying hipster topics, or who you fucked last night. You shouldn’t do that anyhow, but our neighbors actually can hear you.
Now while this particular rule may sound somewhat sarcastic, it’s worth noting that most people do not live vicariously through overheard stories of love conquests occurring at Crystal Castles concerts. So perhaps there is a shred of truth to this.
As mentioned in the previous post, Lisbon has a Super Mario thing going on with its street art. Someone must be nostalgic for the 8-bit days.
I think the sign in the 4th image is for a bar… can’t be certain since it was closed both times I walked by.
Lisbon is one of those rare places that looks just like the postcards. Even the street art is beautiful. Above are the best of what I happened to see.
Stay tuned for a subsequent post on Lisbon’s obsession with Mario, which will include some street art that deserves an Official Nintendo Seal.
I spent the last week in a small seaside city that seemed eerily reminiscent of home. Everywhere I looked, there were these little moments of deja vu. Here’s a list of some (surprising) similarities between the two cities, with a few differences thrown in for good measure.
Both cities have a red/orange painted suspension bridge.
Near the bridge, there’s a fort with cannons inside in both cities.
Restaurants close too early, so you have to go to a bar to hang out late.
San Francisco is known for its hippie beliefs and open spirit — but we have nothing on Portugal. In the 70’s Portugal had a goddamn hippie revolution that toppled a dictator and instated democracy, and it involved flowers.
Lisbon has steep hills, so they gouge tourists to ride streetcars. Sound familiar?
Both cities have charmingly historic poet cafes that now serve mediocre coffee to tourists.
An earthquake and fire leveled Lisbon in 1755. San Francisco’s big quake was 151 years later. Pretty much everything you see now in both cities was built post-quake.
Instead of being normal and installing an air conditioner, the folks in Lisbon and San Francisco prefer to pretend that we’re not affected by heat. The only option for cooling down is to visit a chain store or mall that doesn’t adhere to the local HVAC customs.
Small alleys throughout the cities contain a treasure trove of various types of street art.
A tasteless, impractical mansion built by a looney heir exist not far outside both cities.
I didn’t see much biking and skateboarding in or around Lisbon, for an obvious reason: cobblestone.
In spite of what Fox News would have you believe, there are no more communists in San Francisco than you’d find in any other American college town. In Lisbon they’re also a fringe element, but have a visible presence.
San Francisco’s local drink of choice is intended to put hair on your chest. Lisbon’s favorite shot of liquor, ginjinha, features a sweet syrupy flavor — and follows with a fierce headache.
While cars drive on the right side in both cities, the Metro and commuter trains in Lisbon drive on the left. This really messed with my head, particularly after a few shots of ginjinha.
I haven’t seen any bulls getting tackled head-on in San Francisco.
Portugal’s long, fascinating history is still visible, particularly in the form of castles. In fact, it’s the most castley place I’ve ever been.
Ever feel like you’re overpaying for alcoholic beverages? If you’re in the US of A, you are probably right; our society seems to treat alcohol as a luxury rather than a commodity, and it’s priced accordingly.
I took the above two photos in Spain. If you factor in the exchange rate the bottle of wine comes out to about $2.25 and the six pack of Amstel is about $2.85. These prices seem low but neither of these were on sale or special deals; these are everyday prices in Spain.
Granted, you can pay more for imported alcohol (i.e. from outside the EU) or for fancier wine, but even the top shelf wines top out at about $30. The prices here are simply a fraction of what us Americans are used to paying. I’ve found this phenomenon to be true throughout western Europe.
This all makes me wonder: are we getting ripped off? Sure, you can attribute some of this to the import tax — but that can’t be the entire story since domestic alcohol isn’t much cheaper. American has a sad history of puritanical anti-fun policies, a particularly embarrassing heritage when our supposed “freedom” and “abundance” aren’t reflected in the prices we pay.
It makes me wonder: are we simply getting ripped off? Why is the rest of the world paying a fraction of what we pay for alcohol when we purportedly value capitalism and freedom? Who’s pocketing the difference, and how are they getting away with it?
Remember when Green Day’s pop-friendly rock took over the airwaves in the mid 90’s? Well, times have changed. Billie, Mike, and Tre must have fallen on bad luck, as they’re now licensing their band’s name out for banana chips.
If you want to be an American Idiot and try these yourself, they’re sold at Walgreens.
Travel, movies, comedy, tech, and whatever I find on the streets of San Francisco.
Contact: mrericsir “at” gmail.com
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