Linking fourth . . .

“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” — Benjamin Franklin

• San Francisco Mission district murals : Ay candela!
• Portuguese influence on San Leandro : Bem-vindo
• China tourism to the city could double : ??
• Free San Francisco walking tours : Can’t be beat
• San Francisco webcams : We like to watch
• Interactive map of California fires and California air quality conditions and forecasts : Enough already
• Polk Street restaurants heat check : Where’s the action?
• SF tops for honeymoons : Or so this person says
• 10 Most Literate Cities in America : Are we really less literate than Pittsburgh?

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photo from tinou bao’s photostream

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Oakland has been shaken by a series of takeover-style restaurant robberies. Now a suspect has been arrested, and warrants issued for two more.

The arrested suspect is a 16-year-old boy from San Francisco, and one of the warrants is for a 15-year-old.

There. Now don’t you feel safer?

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via A Better Oakland

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A programmer named Lawrence Kesteloot was considering buying a house in San Francisco. In the process of researching neighborhoods he created this interesting mashup showing crime rates in San Francisco by neighborhood.

Kesteloot mentions the significant caveat that “The color represents the number of crimes, but really it should represent the number of crimes per unit area, since some plots are much larger than others. For example, just below the two bright yellow plots are two smaller plots that are suspiciously dark. It’s probably because they’re smaller that their numbers are lower in absolute terms. ” Maybe this is also part of the reason Golden Gate Park looks dangerous. Probably some people had things stolen out of cars, but I have parked there many times without a problem or a worry.

Still, it’s a suggestive visualization. Yellow represents the highest number of crimes. See the bright yellow areas in midtown between Polk and Larkin? That’s where I eat lunch most days.