A melancholy December vision in Liverpool invokes a Dickensian ghost with more worldly but still warm realism https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/dec/22/poem-of-the-week-down-on-the-canal-on-christmas-day-by-chris-mccabe

Experts have warned that the world’s ability to feed itself is under threat from the “chaos” of extreme weather caused by climate change.
#ClimateCrisis
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2025/dec/18/how-climate-breakdown-is-putting-the-worlds-food-in-peril-in-maps-and-charts

I remember watching "Mephisto" when it first came out. It was mesmerising , and really quite thrilling in terms of its quality and content. Have never forgotten it or Klaus Maria Brandauer's performance
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/dec/18/istvan-szabo-nazi-actor-mephisto

Class Action believes US universities have abandoned their civic duty and wants them to restore their commitment to educating students for the greater good. At a time when many universities are on the defensive, its members seek to defend the university – but also transform it https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/18/class-action-organization-universities

Maybe if he wasn't hopeless out of his depth and not so under the sway of monied interests...
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/politics/daniel-lurie-eyes-challenges-ahead-for-sf-as-first-year-ends/article_eb83ed02-266f-4414-a6d8-813875c3b0c3.html

The global environmental impact of the rapidly spreading technology has been estimated in research published on Wednesday, which also found that AI-related water use now exceeds the entirety of global bottled-water demand.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/18/2025-ai-boom-huge-co2-emissions-use-water-research-finds

The 18th annual Mostly British Film Festival returns in 2026 at the famous Vogue Theatre in San Francisco, California. Stay tuned for complete details including films, schedule and special guests.

Series passes to all 26 films with priority seating and to parties at a discounted price of $250 through December
https://mostlybritish.org/
#SFBAWhatsOn

@tito_swineflu We had to go through this previously MORE THAN ONCE.

Maybe Alan thinks the City doesn't have enough on its plate and so relitigating something that was extensively reviewed, lots of meetings, etc. previously would be a fun project for bored and underworked City staff.

(Someone out there painted a message on their garage door lambasting the City Traffic Engineer, who's a pal, for parking loss on Taraval that was done for the safety of pedestrians and transit users.)

@haljor Good point. Or drones and sidewalk robots. (But no not the latter as I've had to fend off a couple of proposals on that already in the last couple years)

I wonder why....
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/18/us-mental-health-poll

Great. Awesome. A couple days into the job and the new D4 supervisor has already taken up the tired complaint of merchants along Taraval about parking...

This is why we can't have safe and sensible things.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/sf-sunset-district-supervisor-tries-to-tackle-21247244.php

For often-underfunded non-profits, merch can help raise funds and visibility – here are gifts that support animal conservation, civil liberties and public media
https://www.theguardian.com/thefilter-us/2025/dec/17/gifts-that-give-back

It seems like that speech was very seasonal - part Scrooge, part Potter

It's so strange to me that everyone has not already added "Klaus" to their list of Christmas classics and seasonal rewatches. If you've not yet seen it, or haven't shown it to your kids, you really ought to
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/dec/18/best-underrated-christmas-films

Celebrate Beethoven's birthday with one of the greatest performances of his lovely "Pastoral" symphony (yes, the one in Fantasia) - with Mariss Jansons conducting the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. Absolute perfection, full of joy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCMyFAOa5Fs

As anyone who's followed me for a while probably knows, I love books - and I really loved used bookstores. And I love Oxford (as an idea, at least - not a fan of things like that new McDonalds or of some of what the uni gets up to, like effective altruism).

So... Blackwell's (which I love - see above) is doing Jane Austen for the rare book newsletter. And I love Jane Austen.

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Novels-by-Austen-Jane/2900000751477

Calvin's mom is a "lesser of two evils" voter.

Calvin - like so many young people - wants to live in a better world, not a slightly less evil one.

Wow. The casual corruption- and the clear awareness. Like “no, I won’t put this improper thing in writing but I still expect you to do it.”

@mason What does “succeed[ing] on Mastodon” mean for you? What would count as success?

True dat