TenEleven things to do in San Francisco

San Francisco* has all kinds of interesting events going on. Here are some of my favourite off-the-beaten-path activities: Storytelling Porchlight Science Ask a Scientist Down to a Science [on hiatus] Music Paul’s San Francisco House Concerts Drew Pearce’s House Concerts Songwriters in the round, hosted by Heather Combs Literature Writers With Drinks Talk Show The Heather Gold …

Homeland insecurity: Customs delays ambulance

Two weeks ago, US customs held up a fire truck, and a hotel burned to the ground. How do you top that? Delay an ambulance with a heart-attack victim. The incident happened last Monday, when 46-year-old Rick Laport needed emergency angioplasty — a procedure that couldn’t be performed at his Windsor, Ont., hospital. Medical officials rushed …

Math is hard

The Manchester Evening News, a British rag is reporting a lottery scratchcard has been withdrawn from sale “because players couldn’t understand it.”Apparently your average Brit is well-qualified for a job at Verizon: Tina Farrell, from Levenshulme, called Camelot after failing to win with several cards.The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths …

Homeland insecurity: Customs delays firefighters while hotel burns

Some Québec firefighters tried to help save a burning building. They didn’t get there in time. Why? US customs. Six volunteer firefighters rushing to assist a small-town fire department in upper New York State, part of a long-standing mutual-aid agreement, were held up while being grilled about their identification by a U.S. Customs official this …

Welcome, Wachovia. Seriously.

A while back, Wachovia bought World Savings, a bank I use for CDs. I received a few letters in the mail describing the process and telling me what I had to do. The first thing I had to do was register for an account with Wachovia’s online banking. I do. Mistake #1: Only three of …