Some events and exhibitions going on at the SFPL:

  • Presidential Inauguration. January 20, 2009, 9am-12pm, Koret Auditorium, Main Library, Lower Level: “Join us to watch the swearing in and inaugural address of President-elect Barack Obama. Celebratory refreshments in Latino/Hispanic Community Room B.”
  • Harvey Milk: Private Life, Public Life. Through January 10, 2009, Main Library, Third Floor, James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center, Sixth Floor, San Francisco History Center. “An exhibit of original photographs and archival material drawn from the collections of the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center and the San Francisco History Center that explores the life of Harvey Milk from his childhood to his days on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Highlights include family photos, love letters, candid snapshots and political papers.”
  • Our Rights as Human Beings, The 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Through December 1, 2009, Main Library, Third Floor, International Center. “In honor of the December 10, 1948 United Nations General Assembly adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Library presents a unique 1949 photo display designed to explain these rights in a way accessible to all, regardless of the language you speak, along with the full text of the Declaration.”
  • All Aboard! The San Fracisco Public Library Holiday Train. Through January 9, 2009, Main Library, Second Floor, Fisher Children’s Center. Featured is a Lionel O Scale replica of the Polar Express, which starred in Chris Van Allsburg’s 1985 holiday classic and the subsequent 2004 movie adaptation of the same name.

All programs at the Library are free.

San Francisco Public Library


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The San Francisco Department of the Environment has developed a Solar Map of The City which shows existing installations and provides estimates of how much solar energy can be obtained at a given location. There are also estimates to the cost of installing solar including incentive discounts available.

San Francisco Solar Map

The San Francisco Department of the Environment provides information and resources about a slew of environmental programs available in The City:

The San Francisco Department of the Environment (SFE) works to improve, enhance and preserve the environment, and to promote San Francisco’s long-term well-being. In addition to its historic function of providing environmental policy direction for the Mayor and Board of Supervisors, SFE delivers service programs for San Francisco residents and businesses, including recycling, toxics reduction, environmental justice grants, and renewable energy and efficiency. SFE develops innovative, practical and wide-ranging environmental programs, fosters groundbreaking legislation, and connects the public to environmental resources by providing access to comprehensive and easy-to-use information on a wide range of sustainable practices. Some of the Department’s ambitious, but deliverable, environmental goals include attaining 75 percent recycling by 2010, and curbing San Francisco’s greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. For more information about SFE, go to http://www.sfenvironment.org.

San Francisco Department of the Environment


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TED:

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

This year’s TED speakers include Bill Gates and Tim Berners-Lee. Past speakers have included Al Gore and Jane Goodall.

Our mission: Spreading ideas.

We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we’re building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.

I like that TED strives to get their message and information out and accessible:

More than 200 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

TED home page: http://www.ted.com/


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SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research) has published “A Midlife Crisis for Regional Rail,” a report on the progress of the Bay Area’s rail planning over the last 50 years, and on what needs to happen next. A lot of the emphasis is tying together the disparate transit systems throughout the region and making immediate incremental improvements that will have big effects.

Great reading for all you fellow transit and rail enthusiasts: A Midlife Crisis for Regional Rail

SPUR home page


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I’ve been reading some transit sites this morning and have added a couple new ones to the site links here.

Some highlights:

Headway Blog: Headway seeks to improve public transit by encouraging “improvements that a handful of passionate individuals can achieve on a shoestring budget.”

Muni Diaries: I have to admit, it can be fun reading some of the rants posted about happenings on Muni. I don’t say anything when someone is, for example, screaming into their cell phone on the bus, even though I’m wondering what would happen if someone else grabbed their phone and threw it out the window. So seeing pictures of such offenders posted, with details of their calls, makes me smile.

What Might Have Been: Geary: The Market Street Railway site has a great write-up on the B-line streetcars that used to run on Geary, with lots of pics of rolling stock and scenes along the route. It’s perplexing that we don’t currently have a streetcar line on Geary.

All day Muni transfers on Sundays: The N-Judah Chronicles points to a ShopSF promotion where Muni riders will receive an all-day transfer on Sundays from now to the end of the holiday season.

BART helps us read their signs: Gotta love the folks at BART, who’ve posted a page on their web site letting us know how to read the signs that display how many minutes until the next two trains arrive. BART says “the change has caused a little puzzlement.” I say BART is a more than a little puzzled since they clearly think their riders are complete morons. Okay, time to get me a snack, as I’m clearly getting cranky on this one.


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  • I have some downtime tonight.
  • It’s cold outside (47 degrees F!). Look, for San Francisco this is cold!
  • I love my steam radiator! Warm!
  • It may rain tomorrow.
  • I’m updating an Ubuntu machine to 8.10.
  • Wow, it takes me awhile to remember how to rig up the sewing machine when I haven’t used it lately.

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