In what promises to be an unyielding display of unbridled Christmas horror, officials at City Hall will gather on the front steps on Tuesday to witness the 25th annual chipping of Christmas trees in a giant wood chipper. Terror will know no bounds as tree after tree is systematically forced through a machine that will turn onetime holiday decor into bits of sawdust and woodchips. more ›

In an effort to protest Newsom's recent budget cuts to public health departments and services for low-income San Franciscans, a totally awesome guy used a bicycle chain and handcuffs to attach himself to the giant "Tree of Hope" (sigh) at San Francisco City Hall today. The incident happened around 11 a.m. Aaron Buchbinder, 25, was arrested after the one-man protest. According to reports, Buchbinder "poured glue into the handcuff lock, forcing deputies to cut him free from the bindings before they could detain him." He was stuck up in the tree for about an hour. "The Tree of Hope," the goes on to say, "was not harmed in the incident." We repeat, the tree was unharmed. (Photo: Jim Herd) more ›

Before we start our daily roundup of news items, we would like to talk about an issue of utmost importance-- SFist MattyMattt needs help choosing which glasses he should wear. So please, please, go to his site and help him choose. Matt and SFist thank you. more ›

-The rain and all the usual stuff causing havoc on the roads. more ›

-Protestors call for impeachment. Pelosi calls for not doing anything crazy. more ›

We've heard of evergreen news stories, but this an evergreen story about decorated evergreens: assorted East Bay neighborhoods inevitably have one or two streets where the decorating is absolutely over-the-top. We are dying to head out to Pleasanton to Widmer World -- 132,000 lights, plus wood figurines and a live Santa, all on Bob and Susan Widmer's lawn. We'll be joining 3,000-5,000 of our closest friends for that one, if previous years' visiting estimates are at all accurate. more ›

"Seinfeld" has given much to us over the years. It's given us more words and phrases to enter into our language than Billy Shakespeare, it's given us a whole new way of perceiving and quantifying reality, and it's single-handedly killed off the puffy-shirt look. Could you even say that about "Friends?" It also appears to giving us a new holiday--Festivus, of course. more ›