Is San Francisco really that bad?

Now to get around San Francisco I can use the Clipper card which covers Muni, Cable Cars and Bart. You can download and use the app on the iPhone, but to get senior rates one must go to the Embarcadero or apply about 2 weeks ahead by filling out a form on the internet and mailing it in.

Yeah, the Clipper card is fabulous. It also works on CalTrain (but not ACE), the light rail, some of the commuter ferry lines, and most of the bus systems around the bay area. We always had a bunch of clipper cards around - one for each member of the family and extras for the occasional guest(s).

Where to use the Clipper Card

Sirius Glass said:

Now to get around San Francisco I can use the Clipper card which covers Muni, Cable Cars and Bart. You can download and use the app on the iPhone, but to get senior rates one must go to the Embarcadero or apply about 2 weeks ahead by filling out a form on the internet and mailing it in.

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Put it away as soon as possible after you tap. When I first time I used a HOP card (busses, light rail and streetcar) it had charged for three rides. When I called customer service, they asked if I had been standing by the reader with the card in my pocket. The person at customer service told me the readers will ping the card if it's within a certian range.

madNbad said:

Put it away as soon as possible after you tap. When I first time I used a HOP card (busses, light rail and streetcar) it had charged for three rides. When I called customer service, they asked if I had been standing by the reader with the card in my pocket. The person at customer service told me the readers will ping the card if it's within a certian range.

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Thank you, that is important to know!

madNbad said:

Put it away as soon as possible after you tap. When I first time I used a HOP card (busses, light rail and streetcar) it had charged for three rides. When I called customer service, they asked if I had been standing by the reader with the card in my pocket. The person at customer service told me the readers will ping the card if it's within a certian range.

Click to expand...

Sirius Glass said:

Thank you, that is important to know!

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I don't think that's a problem with the clipper cards - at least it is certainly not an issue with the physical cards. I don't know how the iPhone app works - I've never used it. The physical clipper card needs to be really close (ie a couple of inches max) to the reader for it to be recognized and the reader chirps when it "sees" the card.

So it is best not to be a high end camera store in San Francisco and other locations. I will keep that in mind.

BradS said:

I don't think that's a problem with the clipper cards - at least it is certainly not an issue with the physical cards. I don't know how the iPhone app works - I've never used it. The physical clipper card needs to be really close (ie a couple of inches max) to the reader for it to be recognized and the reader chirps when it "sees" the card.

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Thank you.

BradS said:

I don't think that's a problem with the clipper cards - at least it is certainly not an issue with the physical cards. I don't know how the iPhone app works - I've never used it. The physical clipper card needs to be really close (ie a couple of inches max) to the reader for it to be recognized and the reader chirps when it "sees" the card.

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The streetcar was crowded, I got on, tapped the card then put it in my shirt pocket. I was probably holding onto the post the reader is mounted to. Since then, I’ve learned to find a different post!

People have been killed in the Iron Triangle of Richmond to steal designer tennis shoes. I had one of my warehouse assistants shot dead just for his cell phone right across the street from the Junior College outside the Iron Triangle. Another assistant was nearly beaten to death for wearing the wrong color T-shirt, and his friend had his throat slit. Hunter's Point in SF is worse, or certainly was. Most SF residents are smart enough not to go there. I guess one could live there if they had bullet-proof siding. Same goes for the International Blvd section of Oakland, where the statistical rate of being killed is higher than in Baghdad. I won't drive through that neighborhood even in broad daylight.

I have one friend, a successful artist in fact, who lived on a street which was the territory boundary between rival Oakland and Berkeley drug gangs, who had a number of his canvas oil paintings ruined by the automatic weapons fire going through his own walls in their attempt to kill his neighbor. That was back when the Berkeley heroin trade was controlled by a group of doctors who acquired medical heroin from Canada and cut it for street use, while the kingpin of the Oakland heroin trade was its Mayor at that time, and of course, lived in the nicest section of town, and was himself an ideal neighbor with never a thug around. A serious latino gang kingpin lived now far from me in a nice house with flower boxes, with his daughters in uppity private schools, and never a problem with neighbors. Only their low-level thugs are stupid enough to drive around looking tough in bad neighborhoods, tempting other gangs to retaliate.

Watch out for these three...

Vaughn said:

Watch out for these three...

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Nice one Vaughn, or should I say nice three!!!

Roger

Vaughn said:

Watch out for these three...

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Never trust side eye.

madNbad said:

Is that the actual Golden Gate?

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Yessuh

Used to be gold.
The gold was stolen.
It was replaced with Zinc alloy.

Gosh, Vaughn, there is a huge one of those Diner Doggies propped up like the town statue in front of a trailer house snack bar in a quirky
surrealistic location near here. I bagged it with color film under just the right light and season a couple of weeks ago. All shut down this time of year, except as far as the tree squirrels are concerned.

If anyone reading this thread finds themselves uncomfortable in SF, drive south Hwy 1 to Linda Mar and go to the Beach Monkey Cafe. I can meet you there and have a cup of coffee as you plan the next move. There’s beaches and hiking trails.

If you think you’re being followed, pull a u-turn at Reina Del Mar and then turn right into the police station after the auto body shop to shake them.

Bill Burk said:

If you think you’re being followed, pull a u-turn at Reina Del Mar and then turn right into the police station after the auto body shop to shake them

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What if it is Huss who is doing the following?

DREW WILEY said:

Gosh, Vaughn, there is a huge one of those Diner Doggies propped up like the town statue in front of a trailer house snack bar in a quirky
surrealistic location near here. I bagged it with color film under just the right light and season a couple of weeks ago. All shut down this time of year, except as far as the tree squirrels are concerned.

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These were on a trailer on Treasure Island a decade or two ago.

Here’s another one of the Golden Gate, this time from China Beach, with a Nikon F and a Micro Nikkor 55mm f3.5.

MattKing said:

What if it is Huss who is doing the following?

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This is a small town.

The last time someone followed me, it was the manager of the local hardware store.

I’d stopped in “the loop” where you drop off kids for high school. A customer was having an urgent situation that needed my attention so I took the phone call.

The hardware store manager followed me home to chew me out for holding up traffic.

Huss said:

Never trust side eye.

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I remember seeing a Doggie Diner driving thru SF back when they were in operation back in the early 70s. If I had seen them as a kid -- a dog head stuck high on a pole -- I'd rather go with the strange clown dude.

MattKing said:

What if it is Huss who is doing the following?

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This Bill Burk character has become so lazy w his murdering that he no longer goes to do it in San Francisco, like any other self respecting murderer. Instead he invites you to come to him for a coffee and piece of pie so he doesn’t need to even get out of his jammies.

The Beach Monkey Cafe? Puhleeze. Take out some letters, add some new ones in, rearrange them and it spells ‘Today’s special is murder”

You guys are so funny. I will tell your "murder" stories to my friends, who live in a gated community in Oakland, where a gang member who just got out of prison, tried to escape from being killed by the other gang members, and jumped multiple fences to their yards last night and tried to get inside their home. I'm sure they would be like YOLO, nothing to worry about.

But you know, don't quit your dayjob. You are no where near as funny as you think. It's all fun and game until someone pokes you in the eye.

All of this witty repartee slays me!

BrianShaw said:

All of this witty repartee slays me!

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Didn’t you already get slayed in San Francisco? I can’t remember.