Mission Mission

First things first, let’s be clear about one thing:  a hate crime is an act perpetrated against another due to their race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.  It often results in the death or persecution of entire groups of people, and it is deplorable.  It most definitely does NOT include a confrontation over a highly controversial and expensive piece of intrusive technology.  There’s no need to go all Tom Perkins over here.

Now, on to the story.  Over the weekend, tech writer Sarah Slocum vented on Facebook:

OMG so you’ll never believe this but… I got verbally and physically asaulted and robbed last night in the city, had things thrown at me because of some wanker Google Glass haters, then some *bleeeeeeeeeep* tore them off my face and ran out with them then and when I ran out after him his *bleeeeeeep* friends stole my purse, cellphone walet and everything..

Of course, other patrons of Molotov’s someone working across the street had a different take upon reading the article:

That is not at all what happened. It was after last call, she was wasted and being a bitch, someone called her a glasshole and her boyfriend tried to fight the dude, and got his ass whooped. The glasses fell off her face and someone picked them up and gave them back to her. Nobody robbed her either, this [person] is making all this shit up. Go Molotovs!!!!!

At this point I thought the name sounded familiar, and I realized I went to school with her, so I reached out with the above version of events.  Sarah went on to continue defending herself on Facebook:

I wasn’t being any sort of a bitch until after I was flicked off, called a bitch, had dirty wet bar rags thrown at me and had people invading my personal space and trying to rip them off my face.

Your “friend” must have been one of the people who robbed me or who were friends with the robbers and tech glass haters at that bar and must have been the wasted one because they can’t even tell the difference between males and females or remember the story correctly. No glasses fell of my face. Those were my friend’s prescription glasses who defended me and got in a fight with the guy that ripped the glasses off my face and ran out of the bar with them. And if anyone got their ass beat it was the guy that that assaulted me and ran outside the bar with the Google Glasses. The only injuries that my friend has is a scrapped knee. And actually he was jumped by two other **** while he was fighting the douch bag.

I was minding my own biz with a computer phone. Everyone has a computer or phone these days. And what have they done to the city? Given people cool cellphones?? And awesome technology that we all use and take for granted everyday? I realize that I represented the tech millionaires and billionaires in their eyes, but that isn’t me and I didn’t even pay for my Google Glasses, one of my developer friends gave them to me because he wasn’t using them and doesn’t currently have time to develop an app for them right now.

Now, the whole story sounds pretty crazy.  There’s conflicting versions of events and a lot of alcohol involved.  Someone else even sent me this message on Facebook:

I wouldn’t normally comment on such things but i actually met this girl on the street after the incident happened. Couple of things: It was 2am on a friday night when i met her she was less than sober (she had had approx a small child full of vodka cran’s) secondly from what she told me it sounded like she left her bag and phone unattended in a busy bar on a friday night. Her friends were so riled up (and obnoxious) that they almost started fighting with me when i argued it maybe wasn’t the smartest idea to wear google glass and film in a punk rock bar and leaving a bag and phone unattended wasn’t the wisest of decisions. I left her feeling sorry only for myself that i had spent 5 minutes of my life in her groups bosom.

So I don’t know what happened.  What I do know, however, is that it is absolutely moronic to label this as a hate crime, as Josh Wolford thought fit to do.  Perspective, people.  Please.

(Now, if you want to go ahead and call it a HAIGHT CRIME, by all means be my guest)

Doubt anyone’s going to mess with that. Of course, you’d better hope that whoever decides to park in front of you knows how to parallel park without too much trial and error.

Well, that’s one way get some of the corporate buses off the streets.  According to an article on VC Post, the embattled tech giant has reserved the former office of Howard Quinn, a newspaper and catalog printer that went out of business in 2012 primarily due to the rise of digital publishing (you can still see the failed last-ditch effort “Digital Printing” sign on the building in the image above the banner is actually from H&H Printing, who moved across the street and are still in business).

Since the NE Mission area is mainly zoned for manufacturing, the new location will most likely serve as a lab for start ups acquired by Google that specialize in wearable technology and robotics, like that frightening techno-hound that will soon be running down insurgents and protesters alike in the near future:

A neighborhood resident quoted in the story provided some background:

“When Google is buying companies, they don’t want to work in the big corporate building in San Francisco or Mountain View. So they are acquiring something cool in the Mission where engineers want to work.”

While some believe that said “coolness” may arguably be leaving the city along along with out-priced artists and musicians, our pal Andy raises another important question:

“Hopefully city officials learned their lesson with the Twitter payroll tax cut fiasco and will quit the special treatment of these companies.”

I suppose we’ll see…

[Link via Mission Local, Image via Google Maps of course]

From the Mission Cliffs FB page:

Did you pass the rainy weekend watching the Sochi Olympics?

Then you MUST have noticed the highlight right? No, it wasn’t the triple Salchow, or the Air-to-fakie poptart….

IT WAS YOUR OWN Mission Cliffs Indoor Rock Climbing Gym APPEARING IN A COMMERCIAL! BOOM!

Look out world!

And take that, Putin!  Btw, here’s the commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks-SgE_waSo

Just because it’s cold and there’s a 100% chance of rain doesn’t mean you have to hideout in your house all day watching Netflix!  Or maybe it does.  But here’s a better idea:  dancing to the SMITHS and MISFITS all night!

Local heartthrobs Terry Malts are playing some tunes too, and who knows?  They might even play some Misfits covers!

Check it all out here.

Sadly, I haven’t talked to my buddy Jake Chevedden much since high school, but apparently this is what he’s been working on lately!

Mosswood Espresso Barrel Aged American Whiskey. Tennessee Bourbon Whiskey aged in a barrel seasoned with locally roasted coffee. Subtle notes of baker’s chocolate, nuttiness, bright red fruit and, of course, coffee spring from the glass. 46% ABV.

Located on San Francisco’s Treasure Island, Mosswood Distillers is comprised of Therese Agnew and Jake Chevedden. While plans for a fully functioning distillery are in progress, Mosswood is barrel aging and blending to bring interesting flavors together in harmonious ways.

Damn, that sounds like it would really hit the spot while huddled inside this weekend hiding out from the rain!

Check it out here.

How would you feel if someone wanted to give you a cupcake?  Like, REALLY wanted to give you a cupcake, as our pal Jimmie relates:

This morning on Feb 1 around 9:45am a man tried to force his way into our house.  I was in the shower and my wife heard our doorbell ring.  Assuming it was the mailman, she opened the door, but found a shirtless white male, about 5’8″ tall with short brown hair and stubble.  He said “Oh hey!” and immediately tried to enter our home.  She pushed him out by forcing the door closed.  Soon after he rang the door bell again and said “I have a cupcake for you!”  By that time we had called 911 and the police showed up soon after.  The man had indeed left a cupcake on our doorstep but was nowhere to be found.  Other neighbors reported a stranger ringing their doorbells or knocking on their doors immediately prior to this event.

Watch your backs, people!

[Cupcake image]

Our pal Greg S. snapped this shot while riding Caltrain down to work the other day.  Apparently, this phenomenon is referred to as Helmholtz Wave clouds, and while not quite as notorious as the Aurora Borealis, you’ve got to admit that they’re still quite rad.

Our good pal Roger Hill recently came back from the Gaza Strip where he worked with local children to help them create a movie about some of the things they do to cope with the harsh realities they face, and it’s being shown at 7pm this Wednesday night at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts!

Flying Paper is the uplifting story of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip on a quest to shatter the Guinness World Record for the most kites ever flown. It showcases the creative resilience of these children making and flying kites despite the difficult realities they face in their daily lives. The film has been co-produced with young Palestinians in Gaza trained by the filmmakers through a youth media program called Voices Beyond Walls.

http://vimeo.com/flyingpaper/short-trailer

Check out all the details here.

It’s for Mission School writer Chris Johanson! Start your night here, then head over to Australia Day! There, Saturday solved.