By Tecca

Aside from ionosphere disturbances, nature has a number of ways that signify an earthquake's arrival far earlier than an iPhone can. Animals, for instance, are known to leave their homes and head to safety anywhere from a few seconds to weeks before humans can feel quakes. It was easy enough for researchers to determine the science behind the behavior seconds before ground tremors are felt, but the explanation behind instances of animal exodus days or weeks prior to any seismic activity has eluded them — until now, that is. Rachel Grant from the U.K. Open University and Friedemann Freund from NASA believe they may have figured it all out, thanks to a colony of toads.

Grant monitored a toad colony in L'Aquila, Italy for her PhD project, when she noticed the population number dropped from 96 to almost zero at least three days before an earthquake hit. After forming a team with Freund, they studied how and why that event happened. The results — which were recently published in a research paper — showed that stress in the surrounding rocks released charged particles that contaminated the groundwater. The toads, of course, sought refuge away from their environment which had suddenly become toxic.

More Here

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press – Sat Apr 9, 5:41 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – A certain feeling is back in San Francisco. Murmurings of stock market riches.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) April 07, 2011

The San Francisco International Film Festival (commonly abbreviated SFIFF) has made a reputation for itself over its storied 54 year history. Every year, the festival puts on more than 200 film shows and live events and invites some of the biggest names in the movie industry. This year the festival takes place April 21 to May 5 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, the Castro Theatre and other venues around San Francisco.

Spotted here

by Randy Shaw‚ Apr. 07‚ 2011

As San Francisco faces its most brutal budget cutting in history, everyone is looking for ways to either save or raise money without sacrificing essential services.

The Associated Press
Posted: 04/07/2011 06:02:29 AM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco International Airport's new Terminal 2 features waiting areas with white leather sofas, free Wi-Fi and a children's play area with wooden xylophones.
Members of the news media were given a tour of the terminal, which underwent a $383 million upgrade, on Wednesday.
It will open to commercial flights on April 14.
The terminal's architect, Arthur Gensler, told the San Francisco Chronicle the goal was to create a place where people could be comfortable.

Spotted here

There are 8 million phone numbers in the naked city. And no matter who you were calling in San Jose -- or large swaths of the South Bay -- for the past half century, you've had to dial this: area code 408.

But with the explosive proliferation of cell phones, wireless IP addresses and 4G-enabled baby pacifiers, the area code that has served San Jose since neighbors could listen in on each other's party line calls is officially "exhausted."

»www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/···_check=1

SAN FRANCISCO – One out of 10 Sikhs living in the San Francisco Bay Area has been the victim of a hate crime, revealed a new report released Nov. 18 by the Sikh Coalition.

Over the past 14 months, four of San Francisco's most influential citizens have died: Donald Fisher, Evelyn Haas, Walter Shorenstein and Richard Goldman. It's easy to say that their influence came about because of their money - they were all immensely wealthy, and most of them were known as tough, tenacious businesspeople.

»www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-200134···_3-0-20

The proposed law:
»sf-planning.org/ftp/files/Commis···54U.pdf

A jury has convicted a former Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of an unarmed man on an Oakland train platform.

Johannes Mehserle was found guilty on Thursday afternoon in the New Year's Day 2009 killing of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III.

By Terry Collins

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - In the Tenderloin, not far from tourists at the historic cable-car turnaround, the city's incoming police chief was shocked to see open drug-dealing.
Then, in the swank Union Square shopping area, the visiting Sacramento mayor's garment bag was swiped as he helped someone get into a taxi.

To the list of complaints lodged against Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s new SmartMeters, add another - potential health risk.

Some Sebastopol residents have questioned whether radio frequency radiation from the meters, which transmit their data to the utility via wireless communications, could threaten their health.

Their concerns grow from the heated debate over whether radiation from cell phones, Wi-Fi computers and other wireless devices can cause cancer or other ailments. They want a moratorium on installing the SmartMeters to measure electricity and gas use.

Read more: »www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c···fS6Gucb

By Dan Levy

(Bloomberg) -- San Francisco Bay Area home prices rose for the first time since November 2007 as fewer foreclosures were sold, MDA DataQuick said.

The median price for houses and condominiums increased 4 percent in October from a year earlier to $390,000, the San Diego-based research company said today in a statement.

Carolyn Tyler

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- If you own a home, we have a warning for you. Beware of companies claiming to save you money by helping to get your property taxes reduced for a fee.

Contra Costa Times

JC Cellars Wine Wednesday — The first Wednesday of the month, sample wine and cheese in a casual and fun atmosphere. 55 4th St., Oakland.

By Tiffany Hsu

Green businesses are blooming in California, creating jobs at a faster pace than the broader economy, a new study has found.

The report from Next 10, a nonprofit research group in Palo Alto, explores California's "core green economy," including areas such as research and advocacy, finance and investment, energy efficiency, recycling and building.

Timothy B. Hurst

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom today announced that Nissan would be bringing its all-electric LEAF, to the Bay Area market in 2010. Speaking on behalf of the Bay Area Electric Vehicle (EV) Corridor program, Newsom said Nissan will work with San Francisco and the Bay Area to promote and build-out an EV charging infrastructure, including development of a streamlined process for customer installation of charging equipment in their homes.

“Nissan is committed to the San Francisco market and is looking forward to working with the city and others in the partnership to make zero emissions a reality throughout the Bay Area,” said Brian Carolin, senior vice president, sales and marketing for Nissan North America. Piquing the interest of anyone in the Bay Area who is a little EV-curious, Carolin added: “In one year, Nissan LEAF zero-emission vehicles will be driving on the streets of San Francisco.”

Spotted here

By SAMANTHA YOUNG

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California regulators have adopted the nation's first energy-efficiency standards for televisions, a move that will eventually ban power-hungry sets from the state's store shelves.

The last five 49ers drafts have produced more unemployed coaches than first-round success stories, but three of the team’s most exasperating picks in recent years — Alex Smtih, Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree — nearly led San Francisco to a come-from-behind win at Houston on Sunday.

Smith, the No.

Firefighters in San Francisco had their hands full Sunday fighting two large fires.

The biggest was a four-alarm fire at 1526 Wallace Ave.