As the weather grows warmer, more and more people are heading to the coastal waters of California. And why not? The beaches are scenic, the water is clean and there’s a vibrant social scene there. And as it goes for humans, so too is this the case for great white sharks, which are also venturing out of their usual habitats and up the coast, reaching the waters around San Francisco. a new article by Scott Wilson in The Washington Post . And before you swear off heading into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California ever again, it’s worth mentioning that these sharks are juveniles — in other words, they’re closer to human-sized than not, and they don’t show any interest in devouring people. coexist peacefully more often than not — which doesn’t mean you should necessarily run out and hug a fully-grown great white shark, but it does suggest that this is a bit less worrisome than it looks on paper. More Like This “Jackass” Is Returning to TV, And They’ve Got Sharks … [Read more...]

In regard to that recent court ruling that Larry Elder and other gubernatorial candidates cannot be required to submit recent tax returns. It raises the question: Isn’t a person’s character and integrity relevant to their qualification to be governor? Whether a person cheats on taxes or not seems a good indication of their character and integrity. If they do not cheat, don’t they want to prove it by disclosing their tax returns? And if they fight to hide their tax returns, doesn’t that put at least a little doubt on their integrity? And that raises the further question: Why do we stick with a tax system that promotes cheating as part of the status quo? We could eliminate this part of our culture by just taxing everyone at the same rate. No excuses, no deductions, no loopholes for corporations or individuals. Chad Krimmel, San Francisco Don’t give home to boss By embracing work-from-home, we are unwittingly trading away the sanctity of our homes for perceived … [Read more...]

Sign up for our Remote Control newsletter to receive our best streaming stories of the week in your inbox. Bertie, a withdrawn cartoon bird in her 30s, is growing increasingly agitated as she scans through a database of mental health professionals on her computer screen. “There are so many therapists,” groans the song thrush, voiced by San Francisco native Ali Wong. “How can I choose one?” She’s intrigued by a certain Dr. Esther Emu and clicks on her profile to book a consultation. The problem? She’s not available until June 7, 2074. Bertie panics and does what any logical bird (or human) would in her situation: She frantically clicks on every provider available until her computer irreparably glitches out and confetti explodes from the monitor. Like thousands of other anxiety-ridden millennials who have been plagued by the pursuit of a new therapist, I only wished this episode didn’t make me feel so seen. But the charm of “Tuca & Bertie” lies in its ability to … [Read more...]

In Tory Belleci’s new Amazon Prime show, “The Great Escapists,” the former “Mythbusters” alum finds himself shipwrecked on a desert island alongside “Top Gear” host Richard Hammond. The goal is to find a way back to civilization, but unlike the typical Bear Grylls outdoor adventure, surviving is the easy part. “We figure out water, food and shelter straight away. The real challenge is how do we deal with the boredom of being stuck on this island,” says Belleci over Zoom. The faux-reality show, which premiered January 29, pits Belleci’s affable inventor ingenuity against Hammond’s need for speed personality as the pair bicker over the best way to get themselves rescued in a premise that’s essentially “Gilligan’s Island” meets “MacGyver.” Filming took place in Panama over the course of six weeks in early 2020, just before shelter-in-place was announced. “We literally got off the island a week before the shutdown. So if we’d been filming any longer, we would’ve got stuck on the … [Read more...]

Good morning, it’s 7:30 a.m. Pacific on Saturday, and midnight is approaching in Tokyo. Here’s what you missed while you were sleeping, as the first full day of the Games got underway. Three things to know 1. China won the first gold medal of the Games when Yang Qian won the first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics in women’s 10-meter air rifle. The Chinese scored golds in weightlifting (Hou Zhihui, women’s 49 kilogram) and fencing (Sun Yiwen, women’s epee individual), bringing their total to three after the Games’ first slate of finals. Seven other countries have one gold medal, including host Japan. The U.S. is awaiting its first medal, which could be won by Davis native Nyjah Huston in skateboarding’s Olympic debut tonight (men’s street final, 8:30 p.m., NBC). 2. The first medals of the Olympics are one thing. We would be remiss to not mention the first meme of the Olympics. That honor went to ... the boyfriend of the mother of U.S. basketball player and flagbearer Sue Bird. … [Read more...]

3 OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Several states scaled back their reporting of COVID-19 statistics this month just as cases across the country started to skyrocket, depriving the public of real-time information on outbreaks, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in their communities. The shift to weekly instead of daily reporting in Florida, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota marked a notable shift during a pandemic in which coronavirus dashboards have become a staple for Americans closely tracking case counts and trends to navigate a crisis that has killed more than 600,000 people in the U.S. In Nebraska, the state actually stopped reporting on the virus altogether for two weeks after Gov. Pete Ricketts declared an end to the official virus emergency, forcing news reporters to file public records requests or turn to national websites that track state data to learn about COVID statistics. The state backtracked two weeks later and came up with a weekly site that … [Read more...]