Zombie, what’s up with this?

Move over Lou Seal, there’s a new San Francisco mascot that will be appearing at parades, street fairs and other public events around the city over the coming year. It’s the six-foot-fall Healthy Penis.

Actually, there are three of them, and they’ll make their reappearance Friday at noon at the corner of Castro and Market. They were controversial when they debuted in 2002, but became popular and were spotted around the city until 2006 to encourage gay and bisexual men to get tested for syphilis. (They come with a fourth, much less attractive buddy, Phil the Syphilis Sore.)

I bet they’re a blast at kids’ parties.

There’s also this bit of party-pooping:

Like banishing beads and masks from Mardi Gras or removing the red carpet and gold statues from the Academy Awards, the banning of floats, beer and nudity at this year’s Bay to Breakers will take all the fun out of it, many longtime revelers say.

City leaders and sponsors of the 98th annual wacky footrace announced several major changes Wednesday that detractors say will turn the over-the-top, only-in-San Francisco party into a 12K footrace like any other race in any other city in the world.

Sounds like a fate worse than death, don’t it?