Sunday was a great day for lighting up and reminiscin' -- and grooving with tens of thousands of other tuned in, turned on, and dropped out minds at the Summer of Love 40th Anniversary gathering at Golden Gate Park. Guardian writer/photographer Justin Juul was on the scene -- here's a few choice pics of the rockin' celebration. Check out more of Justin's Summer of Love pix here. (And look for his review of the event in tomorrow's issue of the Guardian!)

Good morning, Gaia!

Ah, the Magic Bus

Lunch with Wavy Gravy

An orgy of love

Burning Man graphic by Rod Garrett

Like most reactions I've heard to next year's Burning Man theme, "American Dream," mine has been one of dismay and disgust. BM founder Larry Harvey may be trying to reclaim America from the red state yahoos, which is a fine goal, but to overtly make this countercultural event about American patriotism seems to me to be an unforgivable mistake and severe misreading of the sensibilities of his core audience. Personally, I tend toward Tolstoy's view that patriotism is a vice that implies racism and causes warfare, and the sooner we can recognize it for the evil it is, the sooner we evolve.

But yesterday I discovered an unlikely supporter for Larry's new theme: Paul Addis, the man accused of prematurely torching the Man on Aug. 27. We spoke by phone yesterday in a long and rambling conversation, in which he generally reinforced his disgust with the state of Burning Man and American society in general. But when I asked about the theme, he said that he thinks nationalism and patriotism are good things worth celebrating: "People have a right to be proud of where they're from."

Addis mug shot by Pershing County Sheriff's Department

The Thrillist is the latest national "ist" franchise blog to set up shop in San Francisco, debuting here today after establishing itself first in New York and Los Angeles (Chicago is supposedly next). But judging by its lame sole entry -- praising a brunch and football spot in the Marina called Jones, which it covers using language that sounds like a bad advertorial plug -- I don't think the SFist (which has a plethora of local items everyday, compared to the Thrillist's sole offering) has much to fear. In fact, SF's average blogger in bunny slippers offers more and better content than these guys. Next.

Intrepid intern Lotto Chancellor rants about city bicyclists who should ride better -- or get off the road.

To the Idiot (not meaning every, just the Idiot) Bicyclist:

Congratulations. You're blowing it.

You strike fear into the very heart of me when I have to watch you sucking around on that thing like an ignoramus, cutting off cars at intersection, drawling down 16th Street in the center of the lane, following whatever rules of the road seem useful at the time, because it's all about you and your sustainable-coma commute—not about me or my post-wreck PTSD or my rented Malibu exploding your situation. The second-degree embarrassment I feel for you is also profound. Yes, like the public service announcements around town declare, your decision to buck the highway and cruise the green way saves us power, and proves you're a great and verdant guy. It's almost as bad as having to see some poor 27-year-old quarter-life crisis springing himself toward his death, the Financial District, "carving it up," a yuck-yuck Tofurkey on a longboard named Brock.

Awesome!

OK, so I'll admit that my main reason for this blog post is to shove a certain irrational, poorly written, anti-bike intern's post off our front page, where it will hopefully become just a bad distant memory (BTW, said intern, who goes by the pseudonym Lotto Chancellor, also goes by Chris Demento and can be contacted at cdemento@gmail.com). He's a kid who's still learning how to transform a petty, ill-informed rant into legitimate commentary, but after re-reading his piece and talking to him this morning, I do want to address a serious problem raised by his perspective and the flawed points he tried to make.
As one commenter noted, bicycles are traffic, as entitled under state law and local policies to that lane as cars are. We also occasionally take entire lanes because that's what safety dictates -- it's just not safe to ride in the door zone of parked cars -- not because we're simply idiots or assholes. Our intern tells me that he's scared to ride bikes, so he doesn't understand these realities, and he's not alone. That's why so many of us feel a need to assert our rights, sometimes aggressively, because attitudes like his, and the driver impatience and aggression that flows from this attitude, threatens not only our lives, but also the attractiveness and viability of a form of transportation that -- whether or not this kid thinks we're being sanctimonious -- really is one of the most environmentally beneficial simple choices that any of us can make.

In my opposition to this blog's recent attack on bicyclists, I should probably muscle up and address the most sensitive point of attack: illegal behavior by cyclists.
I am guilty of such behavior. I blow through stop signs, run red lights, and gleefully take part in Critical Mass as often as possible (and, like many of us, I'm particularly excited about the 15th anniversary ride coming up on Sept. 28). And you know what, I don't apologize for the vast majority of my behavior because, like many of us, I ride according to a morally defensible code of conduct.
I try to never take the right of way from another vehicle, which means I'll stop at stop signs when another vehicle arrives first in order to let it proceed, but not at signs where my ignoring the sign doesn't impede anyone's flow or usurp their rights. On a bike, where momentum is important, that's a logical way to behave and how most bicyclist behave every day in this city and others. It's so logical that Idaho has laws that reflect that reality (bicyclists there must treat stop signs as yield signs and stop lights as stop signs). We should adopt that law in California (along with drug law reform and other changes that comport with common, victimless practices) if we are ever going to foster a healthy respect for the law and convince motorists that they must share the road.

Who said the only thing you can park at a meter is a car? How about an actual park? That's the idea behind PARK(ing) Day, a one-day global event centered (and founded) in San Francisco, during which individuals and groups construct temporary parks in metered parking spaces all over their cities. The idea? To challenge the way we think about streets and how they're used, as well as to advocate for more urban open space. This year's event, which will be held tomorrow, promises to be bigger and better than ever, featuring more than 40 parks as well as Rebar's PARKcycle, a human-powered mobile park.

Check out the Parking Day website www.parkingday.org for maps and more information.

From artice: 14 American Apparel Models Freed In Daring Midnight Raid

By Paula Connelly

Ever wonder what you're out of work actor and artist friends have been up to? On the cover of this week's Onion is a picture of one of my dear friends from college! And no, she's not unemployed. She works for the Onion.

Well played, Onion. American Apparel ads and the sub-culture that they infer are disturbing. (Like the ones with girls spread eagle in the back of a taxi cab, for example.) My favorite line from the article would have to be:

"Before I knew it, I was squatting on the floor in this humid room with a camera pointed at my crotch," said model Gabrielle, whose image can be found on the back page of this newspaper.

So PARKing day is over and the city’s metered spots all belong to cars (and cigarette butts, and urine, and unidentifiable slimy objects) once again. But thanks to the good folks over at Rebar, we can all bask in the memories of last Friday’s adventure in creating our own urban spaces: the arts collective has updated the website www.parkingday.org, with photos from PARKing Days across the world, an interactive map of SF’s version, and a trailer for their just-finished documentary on this fabulous new phenomenon.

Though much of the PARKing Day activity was centered around downtown, my friends and I strolled past nearly five parks in the Mission just on Valencia between 16th and 22nd streets. The best, by far, was outside Ritual. The strangest interpretation of the day's purpose? An outdoor massage and chiropractic demonstration.

And in case you were wondering why we’re still talking about PARKing Day, it’s because we love every single thing about it: engaging in guerrilla art; inspiring people to manifest their own realities; drawing attention to the need for more green space; questioning our reliance on cars (and where to put them when we’re not driving them); finding solutions to problems with legal irreverence; and just being goddamned cool.