Yesterday and today, it is the Spare the Air day in the Bay area. All the public transportation services - BART, MUNI etc - were all free for riders. During summer months, when the air quality is deemed to be unhealthy, the local Bay Area Air Management District advises people to use public transportation.
On Spare [...]
A place with character and history on Oakland’s water front Jack London Sqaure is Heinold’s First and Last Chance, a ramshackle wooden hut of a pub. For weary travelers boarding and disembarking boats in the Oakland port, this was indeed the first and last chance to get a drink. The name stuck, and the place [...]
1. Is Germany of 2006 France of 1998? Germans have been really impressive, especially in light of all the dissension and talk of unhappiness within the team.
2. Do ESPN commentators and analysts suck or what? Here is the best line I heard when Portugal was awarded a penalty this morning: this is a great opportunity [...]
1. What would make an author choose Kamsa as his pen name?
When Samsa wrote his best play, Vigada Vikramaraya, it was published in 1925 in Mysore University’s new and prestigious journal, Prabuddha Karnataka. It was a major honor for a ‘matric fail’, who had educated himself and come to hate passionately university scholars and palace [...]
The Coach came back. FIFA chief Sepp Blatter sent his henchmen and threatened Togo players with dire consequences. This ain’t like letting Gandhi’s Indians launch their boycott in 1950, over not being allowed to play barefoot. FIFA didn’t care then but now the TV companies who run the universe would have sued the boots [...]
1. Pacific time zone is strange. Everything important happens much before one is ready to receive news of it. How does one watch NBA finals at 5:30?
2. In my book, the quality of dessert cafes is a determinant of how good a neighborhood is. I see my young friend and (born) aesthete of desserts Kavi [...]