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Popular Victorian-looking rum pub Hobson's Choice, on the corner of Clayton and Haight, will shutter after 26 years in business, owner Chris Dickerson told SFGATE columnist Stuart Schuffman this weekend. Dickerson cited the lack of pedestrian traffic on the famous street for the decision, and said the neighborhood hasn't yet bounced back from the pandemic.“A lot of service industry people lived in the neighborhood. So, they’d get off work at a restaurant at 10-ish, 11-ish, and come back to the neighborhood and hang out until close," Dickerson said. "They’re no longer here."

A 27-year-old Florida woman was arrested after her parents found two dozen pipe bombs in her bedroom and called the local sheriff's office, authorities said Friday. Michelle Louise Kolts was arrested early Friday and booked on 24 counts of making, possessing, throwing, projecting, placing or discharging a destructive device.

Greece will cease taking back refugees under the controversial Dublin Regulation, as the country’s limited capacities to host people are already on the brink of collapse, the Greek migration minister announced in an interview. “Greece is already shouldering a heavy burden,” Ioannis Mouzalas, the migration minister, said. “We accommodate 60,000 refugees... and it would be a mistake to make Greece’s burden heavier by the revival of the Dublin agreement,” he said, also adding that Germany, the primary destination for most refugees, “wants countries where refugees arrive first to bear a large portion of the burden.” Asked if Athens is ruling...

As a retired computer systems manager, I am always fascinated by large, complex software systems that fail -- such as the Federal ObamaCare "insurance exchange" currently being rolled out at HealthCare.gov. This software monstrosity is now in its second week, and most people trying to use it still can't get into the system, or else they can't create an account on it, or their account information is lost. I, and you, can follow this unfolding disaster at any time in the comments section on HealthCare.gov's own Facebook page, at https://www.facebook.com/Healthcare.gov. (You do not need a Facebook account to view this...

THE second week of the federal campaign is under way, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd facing accusations that he cheated in last night's debate by referring to notes. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott goes into the second week of the campaign in a promising position, with most commentators declaring him the stronger performer in the debate and the latest Newspoll, published in The Australian today, showing he has narrowed Mr Rudd's lead as preferred Prime Minister from 14 points to nine points.

Iran has started moving the machines that enrich uranium for nuclear fuel from its main atomic complex in the central city of Natanz to an underground bunker near the holy city of Qom, its top nuclear official was quoted as saying on Monday. "Transferring Natanz centrifuges to Fordow (near Qom) is under way with full observance of standards," Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani told state broadcaster IRIB, adding "Fordow's facilities are being prepared and some centrifuges have been transferred."

Amid the current diplomatic impasse between Ankara and Jerusalem, Turkish hackers hijacked some 350 Israeli websites on Sunday evening, launching a Domain Name System (DNS) attack on dozens of other websites as well. Israeli IT analysts said Tuesday the DNS hijacking is likely to be, in fact, a "test-run" ahead of a major attack on Israeli domains. Visitors to some of the sites were diverted to a page declaring it was “World Hackers Day." At least seven high-profile websites outside Israel were also hijacked, including those of The Telegraph, Acer, National Geographic, UPS and Vodafone. Hackers calling themselves the "TurkGuvenligi...

The NHS has begun rationing common surgical procedures such as hip replacements and cataracts removal in an effort to save money, it was revealed yesterday. New figures have found one in three Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England are reducing access to treatment for “non-urgent” operations. Examples of rationing include knee operations only being allowed to go ahead where patients are in severe pain, overweight patients being made to lose weight prior to procedures, and cataract patients being denied treatment until their sight problems seriously affect their ability to work. Chris Naylor, a senior researcher at the health think tank...

Posted by Jim Hoft on Monday, June 20, 2011, 6:19 AM It’s an Obama World… You will do as you’re told. You will keep your temperature at an Obama-approved level… Despite the double-standard set by our president. A woman was arrested this past weekend for not allowing officials to install a smart meters in her neighborhood. The P/Oed Patriot reported: SmartMeter.org reported: An activist protesting against the installation of ‘smart’ meters was arrested today for civil disobedience. Amy O’Hair was arrested at Monterey and Edna in the Sunnyside neighborhood of San Francisco at 9.30 on Saturday 18 June 2011. She...

They will stop at nothing… The International Association of Firefighters is using tasteless images from the Oklahoma City Bombing to fight a state bill which changes how public safety labor unions and cities handle contract disputes. Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, March 24, 2011, 12:02 PM They will stop at nothing… The International Association of Firefighters is using tasteless images from the Oklahoma City Bombing to fight a state bill which changes how public safety labor unions and cities handle contract disputes. NewsOK reported: A state senator today blasted a firefighter union television advertisement as “horrific and tasteless” for...

Last night’s “Parker-Spitzer” saw the lowest numbers yet for the program and the show did little to help the one that followed on the schedule — “Larry King Live” which had its worst numbers in more than 10 years. In its sixth outing, “Parker-Spitzer” drew 311,000 Total Viewers and 86,000 A25-54 viewers. That’s lower than the previous low for the time period set by Campbell Brown earlier this year. (332,000 / 87,000). Last week, Parker-Spitzer finished fourth in the time period averaging 465,000 Total Viewers and 124,000 A25-54. At 9pmET, “Larry King Live” put up its lowest A25-54 demo viewership...

Wife of Rep. Conyers begins federal prison sentence By Michael O'Brien - 09/10/10 04:28 PM ET The wife of Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) reported to a federal prison in West Virginia on Friday to begin a 37-month sentence on corruption charges. Monica Conyers, a former Detroit city councilwoman, reported to the Alderson Federal Prison Camp this afternoon 20 minutes before deadline, the Detroit Free Press reported. Conyers pleaded guilty last year for taking bribes to influence a vote on a sludge disposal contract in Detroit. She has since attempted to withdraw her plea. Her husband, the chairman of the House...

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, known for his smoothness and precision, seems to have erred egregiously twice in just weeks. First, he speculated on TV that Democrats might lose the House, an inexcusable blunder because it is his job to omit the truth — not lie, just omit the truth — when the truth hurts. Then, there he was in print this week, deriding “professional liberals” who label President Barack Obama too moderate, saying they need “to be drug tested.” Gibbs should have expected this would enrage liberals. Maybe that’s just what he planned. Facing reporters Wednesday, Gibbs neither...

Today the Royal Society will publish the first report based on its Atlas of Islamic-World Science and Innovation Project. The reason we have chosen to undertake this project is the potentially staggering impact that countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others could have on science in the coming decades. Saudi Arabia has established the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, which has risen from the desert in just a few years based on a £20 billion endowment. Qatar has built Education City, a 2500 acre campus outside Doha where seven of the top US universities now have bases....

A sudden uprising from the moguls of enterprise threatens to disrupt, if not demolish, Obama’s fake green plans for the world. The Sierra Club and other socialist despots have been bringing ‘vexatious and frivolous’ law cases against normal businesses for a long time, with Democratic approval. Al Gore used the same tactic in his run-up to the vice presidential elections. The Democrat rat-pack did the same recently to Sarah Palin, bringing malicious and unfounded accusations against her. The idea is to weaken opposition with continuous litigation, even though their cases are flimsy and stupid. The idea is not to win,...

The world's biggest animal sacrifice got under way in Nepal today with the killing of the first of more than 250,000 animals as part of a Hindu festival in the village of Biriyapur, near the Indian border. * * * In the main event, 250 appointed locals with traditional kukri knives began their task of decapitating more than 10,000 buffalo in a dusty enclosure guarded by high walls and armed police. Frightened calves galloped around in vain as the men, wearing red bandanas and armbands, pursued them and chopped off their heads. Banned from entering the animal pen, hundreds of...

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Thousands of people streamed into a football stadium on Sunday for media mogul Oprah Winfrey's second day of campaigning with Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Campaign supporters helped promote a rock concert-like atmosphere, yelling "fire it up" and bands entertained the crowd at the 80,000-seat University of South Carolina stadium. Temperatures were in the 70's — a stark contrast to frigid Iowa, where Winfrey told crowds a day earlier that Obama "has a new vision for America." Some early arrivals said the Illinois senator already had their vote. Others said they wanted to learn more about him,...

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill., Nov. 30, 2007 – A commercial cargo ship carrying more than 100 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles for troops in Iraq set sail this week from Naval Weapons Station Charleston, S.C. A mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle drives onto a commercial vessel at the Naval Weapons Station in Charleston, S.C. U.S. Transportation Command coordinated the transportation of more than 100 MRAPs to the U.S. Central Command area of operations, marking the first large-scale sealift movement of the life-saving vehicles. Photo by Senior Airman Micky M. Bazaldua, USAF  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The vehicles, known as MRAPS, are designed...

NEW YORK - Across town from the United Nations General Assembly session, other world leaders, celebrities and scholars gathered Wednesday for the third annual Clinton Global Initiative conference to discuss subjects of global importance. Climate change — one of four main topics of the conference this year, along with poverty, health and education — took center stage Wednesday morning as the three-day conference began. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist joined Clinton to announce plans by Florida Power & Light to build a solar power plant as part of a $2.4 billion clean energy program. "This is a huge deal for America...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Warriors of Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 10th Special Troops Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, along with Soldiers of Task Force Tiger, began Operation Mountain Lamb by visiting the village of Qalyuzbashi near Bagram recently. The goal was to empower the village elders by allowing them to take charge of the set-up and distribution of humanitarian items. In less than an hour, all 50 boxes and bags of clothes, school supplies, and boxes of candy were gone as both children and adult men went through the line. “We love you Americans!” said one village elder through an interpreter. “Four...