2025.12.11
Dec. 11th, 2025 08:35 amMinneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne called it “the hardest budget season that I think I’ve been in.”
by Trevor Mitchell
https://www.minnpost.com/metro/2025/12/minneapolis-city-council-approves-2b-budget/
‘Somalis are the scapegoat’: fear rises as Trump targets Minneapolis community
Residents have had to adjust how they’re living – staying home, carrying passports – since Trump launched his attack
Rachel Leingang
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/11/somali-minneapolis-fear-trump-ice-deportation
That time a bunch of radical artists got under the hood at Mia – and stayed there
Fifty years on, the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program continues to provide an experimental, artist-curated space inside one of the region’s premier museums.
by Sheila Regan
https://www.minnpost.com/artscape/2025/12/that-time-a-bunch-of-radical-artists-got-under-the-hood-at-mia-and-stayed-there/
The Trump administration’s fight against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives has reached Minneapolis Public Schools. The U.S. Department of Justice has filed suit against the state’s third-largest school district, accusing it “of providing discriminatory protections to teachers of color in layoff and reassignment decisions,” specially “the district’s efforts to bolster its minority teaching ranks,” The Minnesota Star Tribune reports. Via MinnPost
https://www.startribune.com/trump-administration-accuses-minneapolis-schools-of-racism-in-protecting-minority-teachers/601543618?utm_source=gift
It’s cold outside. But what should you do if it’s cold indoors? If you have drafty windows or a sputtering furnace, MPR News offers “five things to know about making improvements to your home to save energy and cut heating costs this winter.” Via MinnPost
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/12/10/reducing-home-heating-costs-5-things-to-know
‘The whole thing disgusts me’: Australians ditch US travel as new rules require social media to be declared
Visitors will have to reveal at the border all social media activity over the past five years
Daisy Dumas and Ben Doherty
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/11/australia-us-tourism-new-visa-rules-social-media-history
Trump launches $1m ‘gold card’ visa scheme amid immigration crackdown
Wealthy immigrants will be able to buy residency, and $5m ‘platinum card’ will exempt holders from some US taxes
Marina Dunbar in New York
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/10/trump-us-gold-card-visa-launch
The town on the banks of the Nile that turned floods into fortune
After record flooding submerged Bor in South Sudan in 2020, the emergency response ended up turning it into a beacon of climate crisis adaptation
Florence Miettaux in Bor
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/dec/11/the-town-on-the-banks-of-the-nile-that-turned-floods-into-fortune
How monogamous are humans? Scientists compile 'league table' of pairing up
Helen Briggs
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gpvx3exglo
Jacinda Ardern once auditioned to be a Hobbit
The former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tells Graham Norton she auditioned for Lord of the Rings but fell short on a specific requirement.
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0mlyy58/jacinda-ardern-once-auditioned-to-be-a-hobbit
More London and heritage links
Dec. 11th, 2025 03:05 pmThis is rather news to me - I think of people protesting the enclosure of commons as doing this a) a lot earlier and in more rural parts: Today in London’s parklife: 1000s destroy enclosure fences, Hackney Downs, 1875:
The 1870s were a high point of anti-enclosure struggles in the London area, following on from a decade of (mostly, though not exclusively) peaceful campaigns to prevent large open spaces being developed in the 1860s. Wanstead Flats in 1871, Chiselhurst Common in 1876, Eelbrook Common (Fulham) in 1878, all saw direct action against fences, as part of long-running resistance against the theft of common land.
....
Many of these struggles were characterised by the large-scale involvement of radical movements, as London radicals, secularists and elements who would later help to form socialist groups made open space and working class access to it a major part of their political focus. Radical land agitation, notably through the Land and Labour League, was beginning to revive the question of access to land as a social question, and within cities this manifested as both battles to defend green space, and propaganda around the theft of the land from the labouring classes.
The struggle is not over:
Centuries of hard fought battles saved many beloved places from disappearing, and laws currently protect parks, greens and commons. But times change… Pressures change. Space in London is profitable like never before. For housing mainly, but also there are sharks ever-present looking to exploit space for ‘leisure’. And with the current onslaught on public spending in the name of balancing the books (ie cutting as much as possible in the interests of the wealthy), public money spent on public space is severely threatened.
Many are the pressures on open green spaces – the costs of upkeep, cleaning, maintenance,
improvement, looking after facilities… Local councils, who mainly look after open space, are struggling. Some local authorities are proposing to make cuts of 50 or 60 % to budgets for parks. As a result, there are the beginnings of changes, developments that look few and far between now, but could be the thin end of the wedge.
So you have councils looking to renting green space to businesses, charities, selling off bits, shutting off parks or parts of them for festivals and corporate events six times a year… Large parts of Hyde Park and Finsbury Park are regularly fenced off for paying festivals already; this could increase. Small developments now, but maybe signs of things to come. Now is the time to be on guard, if we want to preserve our free access to the green places that matter to us.
***
HEIR, the Historic Environment Image Resource:
HEIR’s mission is to rescue neglected and endangered photographic archives, unlock their research potential, and make them available to the public.
HEIR contains digitised historic photographic images from all over the world dating from the late nineteenth century onwards. HEIR’s core images come from lantern slide and glass plate negatives held in college, library, museum and departmental collections within the University of Oxford. New resources are being added all the time, including collections from outside the University.
***
Dragon’s teeth and elf garden among 2025 additions to English heritage list:
The heritage body publishes a roundup of unusual listings to draw attention to the diversity of places that join the national heritage list for England each year.
As well as the anti-tank defences, this year’s list of 19 places includes a revolutionary 1960s concrete university block, a model boat club boathouse built in 1933 by men who were long-term unemployed, and a magical suburban “elf garden”.
***
Art history is too important to be the preserve of the privileged:
The act of looking has become commodified as technology companies ‘mine and sell our attention like coal’, as Kee writes. Letting art history become endangered and drift further into elite status is not only unfair, it’s also perilous. ‘Art history gives you tools to interpret the visual world and makes you more of a critical viewer of political messages, advertising and a barrage of social media images,’ says Perry. ‘It’s dangerous if you can’t examine these things critically.’
Advent calendar 11
Dec. 11th, 2025 07:43 amARTHUR (singing): ♪ Get dressed you merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay! ♪
DOUGLAS: Yes, perhaps save the full rendition for tomorrow morning.
ARTHUR: Thank you, Douglas! Best present ever! Oh – and actually that’s great, because I got an extra present for everyone. The other thing you left off my list, Skip.
MARTIN: Hmm?
ARTHUR: This!
MARTIN: Mulled wine!
(Arthur pours out glasses of the mulled wine.)
MARTIN: How lovely!
DOUGLAS (murderously): You ... took my Petrus ’05 ... and you ... mulled it?
ARTHUR: Well, not properly. I don’t have the stuff. But, you know, I whacked in some fruit juice and some sugar and the rest of the orange Tic Tacs, and then I just blitzed it in the microwave! It’ll be close enough!
DOUGLAS (murderously): You ...
MARTIN (interrupting): Of course it will be close enough! And it’s the thought that counts, isn’t it, Douglas?
DOUGLAS (murderously): Absolutely. Thank you, Arthur.
ARTHUR: Oh, you’re welcome! Merry Christmas!
(They clink glasses, drink, and then all choke and cough.)
CAROLYN: ... That’s actually rather good!
2025/195: Voyage of the Damned — Frances White
Dec. 11th, 2025 08:06 amShe’s cutting off the weak to save the strong. No, not even that. Cutting off the poor to save the rich. [loc. 6441]
There has been peace in Concordia for a thousand years: the twelve provinces are united against the threat of invasion, and each province has an heir who's been granted a magical gift, a Blessing, by the Goddess Herself. Voyage of the Damned begins just as Ganymedes ('Dee'), the representative of Fish province, is desperately trying to avoid embarking on the eponymous voyage -- to a sacred mountain, on the Emperor's own ship -- with the other eleven Blesseds.( Read more... )
(Repost) Atmospheric River
Dec. 10th, 2025 09:10 pm(Climate Change Villanelle)
After an image by K.
Consider the atmospheric river
as a dragon, slithering through peri-
apocalyptic skies. The end is never
reached of all this rain. Its teeth of silver
gnaw the bones of men who refused boldly
to consider the atmospheric river
as a dragon, not just as the weather,
winning us the wages of false bravery:
apocalyptic skies. The end is never-
ending. Consider the dragon, glitter-
ing, greedy, cruel and wise; now carefully
consider the atmospheric river
as an alternative to the wither-
ing coils of smoke, wildfires' choking, hazy
apocalyptic skies. The end is never
quite what you expect or would prefer.
Drink if you wish, smoke up, get high, daily
consider the atmospheric river,
apocalyptic skies. The end is nigh.
Make my wish come true - due South drabble, Food Bank Thank-You
Dec. 10th, 2025 09:53 pmMake my wish come true (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: due South
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski
Characters: Benton Fraser, Ray Kowalski
Additional Tags: Drabble, Christmas Fluff
Summary:
Ray observes a holiday tradition.
*
If you donate 25 USD in cash or in kind to a food bank or food pantry, tell me about it and I'll write for you!
Today's Cooking
Dec. 10th, 2025 08:42 pmIntroducing Network Vulnerability Detection in DASH
Dec. 11th, 2025 01:08 amCards will not arrive in time for the holidays
Dec. 10th, 2025 09:23 pmI have not written my Dark Outside pieces yet, far less addressed and sent the mail, so I will send cards When I Get To It.
I am still going to write for people; it'll just be in your email inbox come Solstice, not your physical mailbox come whenever. People who just wanted cards will get cards at some date TBD.
Dept. of Unexpected Goodbye
Dec. 10th, 2025 06:16 pmI don't know how many people in my Dreamwidth circles are from OG science fiction fandom; those who are there may know this. Other people, especially those who aren't familiar with OG science fiction/fantasy fandom, will undoubtedly not be aware that the world lost an amazing man last night/the early hours of this morning.
Arthur Hlavaty, one of the most brilliant people it was my honor to know and communicate with, died unexpectedly, leaving his spouse Bernadette Bosky and co-husband Kevin Marony bereft. Even though Arthur was 83 and had been in poor health following a broken hip many months ago, no one expected him to leave this circle of the world so soon. He was Supergee on LJ and on Dreamwidth, where he should still be, dammit.
I am fairly certain that I have known, or at least known of, Arthur since the mid-1990s Usenet days of rec.arts.sf.fandom. When he responded to anything I posted, I was proud of having said something worthy of his notice. I once wrote a defense of good politicians/government officials that he acknowledged might have moved the needle slightly from his mostly cynical view of both. I was quietly over the moon at that immense praise. He was kind, wry, gentle about much of life and merciless about fools. He was very deaf, and thought that popular music ceased being good after about 1966. I occasionally twigged him about that, and he was able to reply in kind. Bob and I were lucky enough to have a meal with Arthur around 2002 during a Minicon. He was as impressive in person as he was on the printed page or pixel.
He was a ... well, the best description of Arthur comes from Arthur himself, although this is also useful. His personal zine Nice Distinctions was one I always was happy to receive in the mail and I treasure his very occasional letters to me. Oddly, or sadly, enough, I dug up a Nice Distinctions from my files about three days ago so that I could find Arthur's Bernadette's and Kevin's physical address. I mailed my holiday card to the three of them last night. less than 12 hours later, he died.
I cried out this afternoon when I read Bernadette's announcement. The world is darker today.
Sustainability
Dec. 10th, 2025 07:50 pmThe fossil fuel industry likes to make out that it is a pipe dream to think that we can completely replace fossil fuels with alternative sustainable sources. But the example of Uruguay shows that it is not only possible but the transformation can be done in as short a time as five years.
Now that's impressive.
Family Skills
Dec. 10th, 2025 06:10 pmIf marriage goes extinct, it will be because it deserves to.
All these factors converge on one result: increasingly, women are finding marriage unappealing. They see it as a ticket to second-class status where they're expected to subordinate their own lives and dreams to the desires of men.
( Read more... )

