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The acoustic panels swim into view before each performance by the San Francisco Symphony, and the dance they do above the stage of Davies Symphony Hall - a sort of mechanized aerial ballet as each one finds its precise location - has become a familiar ritual of local musical life. But for all its grace and apparent ease, this is a dance whose steps are rigidly predetermined. The configuration of the 59 panels - each one a 6-foot square of Plexiglas weighing about 100 pounds - is dictated by the number of performers onstage and their position.

Dear Tom and Ray: We have a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country van. Is it OK to buy and replace the original battery ourselves? Or is this a job for the professionals? We just bought and replaced the battery in our 5-year-old John Deere lawn tractor with no problem, so I am thinking we could do this ourselves, too. My husband says no - that things have to be reset on a vehicle. Is he right? We plan to replace the battery before winter either way; it was sluggish on cold days last winter.

When no one's looking, pants and sleeves make excellent napkins. But sometimes you have to convince colleagues, company and, well, yourself, that you are indeed civilized. What will you use when the moment to wipe your mouth is nigh? There's no shortage of options. Go with a classic color combination and pattern that will complement any number of place settings. We particularly like the Fog Linen Napkin by Japanese designer Yumiko Sekine, sold at Design Within Reach for $14 each (or $56 for the typical set of four; www.dwr.

Former Primary Global Research LLC expert networking consultant Winifred Jiau, charged in New York as part of a Justice Department probe into insider trading, will remain jailed for the weekend, a federal magistrate judge in San Francisco said. U.S. Magistrate Judge Nandor Vadas said Jiau, who was granted $250,000 bail earlier Thursday, must remain in custody after her surety failed to appear in court. Vadas scheduled a Monday hearing for Jiau to renew her bail request after a federal prosecutor said he intended to ask a U.S. district judge in New York to block the defendant from being released.

Unless someone picky and important is coming for dinner - like your mom, in-laws or boss - chances are you're planning to keep the place mats in the drawer. But even if that's the case, there's no reason your table setting should look like another awkward guest. To avoid this, consider place mats whose natural tones and materials will blend nicely with an evolving collection of dishes, silverware and tablecloths. New York designer Kim Seybert sells a series of round, textured place mats that have been hand-strung with a bull's-eye of wood beads.

Peace Meals Candy-Wrapped Kalashnikovs and Other War Stories By Anna Badkhen (Free Press; 272 pages; $25) When the world around you is going to hell in a handbasket, eat. Unless you are one of the truly unfortunate, denied even a crust, food is the arch compensation for the brutality of life. Food begets conviviality in the most humble or dire settings. Wartime is an especially good time to eat, as an act of defiance and cheer, typifying the "brazen, congenial, persistent ways in which life in the most forlorn and violent places on earth shamelessly reasserts itself," writes war correspondent Anna Badkhen, who did some hair-raising stints in the Middle East for The Chronicle.

Dear Tom and Ray: We have a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country van. Is it OK to buy and replace the original battery ourselves? Or is this a job for the professionals? We just bought and replaced the battery in our 5-year-old John Deere lawn tractor with no problem, so I am thinking we could do this ourselves, too. My husband says no - that things have to be reset on a vehicle. Is he right? We plan to replace the battery before winter either way; it was sluggish on cold days last winter.

Classical The vocal music of Dutch master Jan Sweelinck represents the last great flowering of the Northern Renaissance, but he's often overshadowed by his better-known predecessors. These sacred works - settings of the French Psalms along with such Latin texts as "Magnificat" and "De profundis" - attest to both his technical mastery of polyphony and his fertile imagination. In the psalm settings, he treats the melodic material with particular care and precision, weaving individual lines into intricate but always transparent textures.

Remember when we thought that instantly heating hot rollers were so high tech? Today's beauty gadgetry is more advanced than ever, promising increasingly dramatic results that claim to rival the results from doctors' offices and spas. Last month, Tria Beauty in Dublin began selling a hand-held device that emits a steady band of blue light designed to diminish acne-causing bacteria and blemishes. (It turns off instantly if lifted from the skin and is intended to be used for 5 minutes daily.

Facebook, responding to a growing backlash over its privacy policies, on Wednesday began rolling out new settings that simplify how members can shield personal information from public view. During a news conference at the company's Palo Alto headquarters, a chastened Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said he and other officials listened to the outcry from Facebook members, privacy watchdogs and elected officials. "The No. 1 thing we heard is the settings have gotten complex and it has become hard for people to use them and control their information," Zuckerberg said.

Baritone Thomas Hampson is never less than a fascinating programmer and his Sunday night recital in Herbst Theatre -- an assemblage of English-language songs most of them little known -- was no exception. The "X" factor as ever is how much energy and commitment he chooses to put into that material. For the final event of San Francisco Performances' season Hampson put together a brilliant program of music from Britain and the United States ranging from the simple melodies of Thomas Moore Robert Burns and Stephen Foster to more ambitious works by Samuel Barber and George Butterworth.

Cider mugs in orange and black for Halloween, platters adorned with turkeys for Thanksgiving and reindeer for Christmas. Decorated canisters, colanders and small appliances. Manufacturers offer infinite opportunities to theme one's table, house and neighborhood -- all well and good for those who have a lifetime's collection of holiday ware or piles of money and a warehouse to store everything. I know our culture is all about shopping -- and, believe me, working half a block from Bloomingdale's and the new Westfield shopping mall is like suddenly having a gravity-dense asteroid settle in on the next block -- but let me make a case, not for reason or restraint, but for white.

Jane Kim's black belt in tae kwon do, a martial art emphasizing strength, discipline and self-defense, may come in handy in her new job as San Francisco supervisor in the sometimes bare-knuckles environment of City Hall politics. Kim, a Boalt Hall-trained attorney practicing civil rights law, will take over the District Six seat representing the South of Market, Tenderloin and North Mission areas on Jan. 8. She already has shown she can hold her own during her four-year tenure on the San Francisco Board of Education, the last year as president.

South San Francisco police have established an anonymous tip line for information about the drive-by shooting that killed three people last week. Three men, Omar Cortez, 18; Gonzalo Avalos, 19, and Hector Flores, 20 were fatally shot just after 7 p.m. Dec. 22 when, police say, three men in a dark-colored Chevy Impala with tinted windows opened fire at the corner of Linden Avenue and an alley called Eighth Lane. Three minors were wounded in the shooting. Police say they have not received cooperation from friends or family of the victims, who could provide essential clues about the identity of the shooters.

A radical Muslim sect has claimed responsibility for the Christmas Eve bombings and church attacks in Nigeria that killed at least 38 people, and the group threatened new attacks to avenge local violence against Muslims. Religious fighting has left more than 500 people dead this year in the deeply divided region where Jos is located. Authorities had blamed the Boko Haram group for some of the deaths Friday, but the online statement attributed to the group was the first solid connection between the violence in two cities.

McAfee Labs released its annual "Threat Predictions" on Tuesday, highlighting online vulnerabilities that cyber-criminals are likely to target in the coming year. They include URL shortening services like bit.ly, social geolocation services such as Gowalla, mobile devices like smart phones, and the Mac operating system, which has long been considered a less attractive target than Microsoft's far more popular Windows. The Santa Clara security company also anticipates more "hacktivism" in 2011, along the lines of the denial of service and other attacks launched by WikiLeaks supporters against companies and individuals deemed to be critical of the site.

(12-28) 03:11 PST SAN FRANCISCO, (AP) -- Animation website Xtranormal ? whose cartoon-making tools have spawned viral videos of cuddly puppies debating such topics as quantitative easing and the iPhone in stilted monotones ? is no longer offering free, unlimited use of its tools. The change reflects the higher costs of running Xtranormal as the site's popularly grew. More than 2 million people now use its simple moviemaking tools, up from about 500,000 in June. According to Xtranormal, those users have published about 9.3 million videos so far. Some of the videos have received thousands or even millions of views, further boosting Xtranormal's popularity and usage.

Malia Cohen was on a City Hall field trip in third grade when Dianne Feinstein, who was mayor of San Francisco at the time, invited the class into her office. The young student was hooked. "It wasn't just the grandeur of the rotunda that really left an impression on me. It was also Mayor Feinstein, who talked about working in public service," said Cohen, now 32. "I knew I wanted to work at City Hall. " On Jan. 8, Cohen will be sworn in as a member of the Board of Supervisors, one of four newcomers elected in November.

Stanford wide receiver and kickoff returner Chris Owusu , who was limited to six games this year because of a knee injury, is back to 100 percent and will play in the Orange Bowl, a source close to the team said Monday. Despite missing half the season, the 6-foot-2 junior was the team's fourth-leading receiver with 24 catches for 394 yards and three touchdowns. He underwent arthroscopic surgery during the season, according to the source. Stanford does not issue information on injuries or on the playing status of injured players.

New England quarterback Tom Brady set the NFL record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception in the Patriots' 34-3 rout of the Bills on Sunday. Brady broke the mark of 308 attempts without a pick set by Cleveland's Bernie Kosar over the 1990-91 seasons, finishing 15-of-27 for 140 yards to extend the record to 319. "I guess I'm glad I'm not throwing interceptions," Brady said, shrugging off the record. Brady has thrown only four interceptions this season, his last coming nine games ago when he threw two in a 23-20 win over Baltimore on Oct. 17. Patriots coach Bill Belichick is so accustomed to Brady's efficiency that he didn't even know what his quarterback had accomplished.