Should we talk about the weather? Hi, hi, hi

We know what’s on your mind as Friday gets under way. No, not that, you perv. It’s this “weather” we’re having. That thing everyone is either freaking out about or making fun of us for.

This being San Francisco, several citizens have answered the unsolicited call to help us cope with these trying times. Behold, Mat Honan’s Is It Snowing in San Francisco, from which the image above comes.

And the Pepsi to Mat’s Coke, Sean C. send us the following dispatch:

I got bored at work Thursday and threw together a silly site that will be completely irrelevant in a few days. I love it.

Too lazy to look out your window to see if the mythical snow has arrived? Check out Is It Snowing in SF Yet.

So now you’re totally in the know about one of the three topics to occupy all conversations for at least the next 24 hours. Enjoy!

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Will this Muni get me to Mos Eisley?

Eagle-eyed Star Wars fan (the original trilogy, what?) @dalbizo spotted this Jedi lookalike on the 38L-Geary this afternoon. He tweets:

Call me silly, but I think Ben Kenobi’s brother is riding on the 38L. Ken Kenobi?

When stopped by fare inspectors, did he wave his hand and say, “These aren’t the scofflaws you’re looking for.”? Yep, thought so. Clever old bastard …

Win $100 worth of grilled meat at Espetus

Sign up with our fantastic mobile deal sponsor, Scoutmob, and get a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to Espetus Churrascaria on Market and Gough. The contest window closes next Monday, so don’t forget!

Scoutmob has an easy-to-use interface for its once-a-day half-off deals to local reviewed sites like Clare’s and Samovar. Their mobile app makes it easy to carry those deals with you without having to remember or pay for a thing in advance.

You’ve got until Monday for the Scoutmob offer of a $100 gift certificate to Espetus for one lucky Muni Diaries reader. So sign up for Scoutmob so you can win $100 worth of delicious grilled meat!

Exclusive for Muni Diaries readers: Sign up for Scoutmob and win a $100 Espetus Churrascaria gift certificate!

Violence on Muni, and Reports of Violence on Muni

Old No. 7003
Photo by Brandon Doran

After last week’s stabbing of a teenager on the 14-Mission, Mission Local followed up with two reports. One said that teens who ride the 14 consider violence on that bus route to be normal. Another suggested that 14-Mission drivers agree with them.

Just last weekend, Tyler experienced first-hand an altercation on the 1-California. Also over the weekend, a man was punched and robbed on a bus (14? 49?) in the outer Mission.

Stories of violence on Muni can appear and jolt those of us who don’t experience it on an everyday basis. For some riders and some routes, violence is clearly more the norm than the exception. But we’d guess that the vast majority of Muni riders feel safe riding the system. The latest statistics of crime on Muni show that it’s trending downward, clearly a good thing.

So, we wanna know: Do you feel safe riding Muni?

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NextBus sends unsolicited gibberish texts

IMG_3653.JPG
Photo by tantek

This just in: Reports of SF residents receiving unsolicited, meaningless, and quite puzzling texts from “41411.” We’re having difficulty determining just WTF that is, but here’s a sampling of the messages we received:

41411:: NextBus Alert:
5 & 20 min
South Lake Union Line
Westlake & Mercer

41411:: NextBus Alert:
@3:14PM
r=Rd
s=Hrsshe
d=Cntns Lp
2&24min

Rply: 1-30) for alert or S)ave
name

41411:: NextBus Alert:
0 & 7 min
White
MIMOSA

Which prompted this response from us:

STOP TEXTING ME, REMOVE ME FROM THIS LIST

Which got this reply:

41411: Sorry it didn’t work out for you. You won’t recv any further messages from 41411.help@41411.com

Is anyone else receiving these texts? Does anyone know what’s up?

Taking Kids on the Muni Rollercoaster

Kate Holland Holmes (@k1ate) has a young son who loves the bus, and via Twitter we found her story about her effort to take him on the bus more often, even though the temptation is to either walk or drive. From Kate’s blog, Everything But the Squeal:

My son LOVES buses. Telling him we are going to take a bus ride is like telling him we are going on a rollercoaster. I guess in San Francisco they are somewhat similar.

Once I had a kid, I focused more on walking +car than car+bus. A lot of my errands became closer, local. My pharmacy, my grocery store,the bakery, the green grocer, the book store, are all in walking distance. I know where the potholes are, which side of the street is better for walking. I have watched a mural being painted, Jaime at La Victoria worries if they don’t see me on Monday morning.

But with a toddler or larger packages, I’ve been defaulting to the car. It just seems easier, faster. Of course, it also costs to park, and gas prices just keep going up. Not to mention, we only have one car.

Read the rest of Kate’s diary about making the effort to take the bus with her toddler.

What’s your experience with kids on the bus? Does having children mean eventually requiring a car? Comment or submit your own Muni diary and let us know.

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