"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in many languages"

How to wish people a Merry Christmas and Happy New year in many different languages with recordings for some of them. Omniglot

"California Crop Circle Sparks UFO Talk"

"An unexplained crop circle in Salinas, Calif., has captured the curiosity of alien enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists across the nation."

"The patterns were noticed by aerial photographer Julie Belanger, who told ABC News she was shocked to discover them during a flyover on Monday."

 

 

"Adding to the mystery is a video posted on Youtube that shows two friends coming across the patterns after seeing green lights emanate from a field."

ABC News via Drudge tweet

Bob Wright/Jim Pinkerton on Bloggingheads

If you're a little bored, you might listen to this. Over at Bloggingheads, Pinkerton is viewed indulgently as the crackpot uncle at Thanksgiving dinner, a lovable lug with a usually negative/alarmist outlook. Here, he foresees an expansionist China based upon their rising economic power.

"I know that you will fart on me"

"Nobody wants to sit next to a fat person on a plane. Don't think we don't know."

"I have, in my life, been a considerably thinner person and had a fat person sit next to me on a plane. I have also, more recently, been the fat person that makes other travelers' faces fall. Anecdotally, I can verify that being the fat person is almost indescribably worse."

 

Here's What It Feels Like to Be a Fat Person on a Plane. 

 

ht @theAnchoress 

Eric Posner: "The NSA’s Metadata Program Is Perfectly Constitutional"

"The other side is that criminals can use technology today in a way they could not in the past. There were no jihadi websites in 1979. It was harder for criminals to transfer money or communicate instructions across borders. Bomb-making directions were not available on the Web."

"There are also major differences in public attitudes about privacy. People can more easily find out things about each other today than in 1979, thanks to the Web, and so people now expect strangers—including potential friends, mates, and bosses—to know more about them today than they did in the past. People can also more easily share personal information about themselves, and rather than refrain from doing so in order to protect their privacy, they enthusiastically post photos and videos of themselves on Facebook and other social media sites. Thus, it is possible that people’s sense of privacy is also greatly altered, as if the whole country moved from a big city to a small town, trading in the benefits of anonymity and independence for the advantages of community and security."

I get the feeling were are not going to "recognize ourselves" in 10 years.

Salon via Instapundit's notice of professor Eric Posner's new blog

Resolutions

1.    Don't tempt fate
2.    Clear the deck
3.    Let the dog in
4.    Rock around the clock
5.    Throw caution to the wind
6.    Cut the cards
7.    Wise up
8.    Preheat the oven
9.    Lean to the left
10.  Lean to the right
11.  Stand up
12.  Sit down
13.  Fight fight fight
14.  Put your whole self in
15.  Pull your whole self out
16.  Do the hokey pokey
17.  And turn yourself around
18.  Take one for the team
19.  Close cover before striking
20.  Look both ways before crossing
21.  Jump at the opportunity
22.  Make a leap of faith
23.  Work your butt off
24.  Cut to the quick
25.  Get to the heart of the matter
26.  Swing hard in case you hit the ball
27.  Throw a kiss
28.  Be the lead dog
29.  Check the oil
30.  Don't stare at the sun
31.  Bring home the bacon
32.  Go for the gusto
33.  Leave the gun
34.  Take the cannoli
35.  Save a horse
36.  Ride a cowboy
37.  See the ball
38.  Be the ball
39.  Rock and roll
40.  Get ready to rumble
41.  Prepare to march
42.  March
43.  Pull the ripcord
44.  Cash in
45.  Cash out
46.  Cut the cheese
47.  Steal third base
48.  Play another song
49.  Check the temperature
50.  Take off your shirt
51.  Leave your shoes by the door
52.  Bend and stretch
53.  Reach for the sky
54.  Take a load off Fanny
55.  Take a load for free
56.  Take a load off Fanny
57.  And you can put the load right on me
58.  Wag more woof less
59.  Call your bets
60.  Phone home
61.  Start a revolution
62.  Pass the pipe
63.  Load the guns
64.  Wait by the side of the road
65.  Call now
66.  Party like it's 1999
67.  Say hidee hidee hidee hi
68.  Say hode hode hode ho
69.  Leave your message at the tone
70.  Remember me to one who lives there
71.  Find your own way
77.  Pack a lunch
78.  Send lawyers guns and money
79.  Walk a mile in my shoes
80.  Walk the line
81.  Run away
82.  Shake don't stir
83.  Get out of a jam
84.  Fire when ready
85.  Go back to square one
86.  Break the ice
87.  Cry wolf
88.  Count the chickens before they hatch
89.  Fight fire with fire
90.  Jump in with both feet
91.  Burn the candle at both ends
92.  Take it for a drive
93.  Make a scene
94.  Walk the dog
95.  Talk the talk
96.  Sing the song
97.  Drink to your health
98.  Tough it out
99.  Remember the Alamo
100.Naked coeds frollicking

"No person shall knowingly operate, possess, or use a vehicle with a hidden compartment..."

"The driver, 30-year-old Norman Gurley of Michigan, was pulled over for speeding. A highway patrolman noticed wires running to a secret compartment in the car and arrested Gurley, even though there were no drugs in the compartment..."

It makes no difference whether police find drugs or not, according to a new Ohio law that prohibits secret compartments.

“We apparently caught them between runs, so to speak, so this takes away one tool they have in their illegal trade,” said Lt. Michael Combs in a statement to local news. “The law does help us and is on our side.”

Driving a car is a privilege, I believe, although I'm not sure you give up your 4th amendment right while operating a vehicle. I know driving is a privilege because I've had it suspended in New Jersey. But, enough about me, this post is not about me.

What about the drug runner? is he up-worthy of 4th amendment rights? Or is this apparent exception justified in order to aid law enforcement ... It's for a good cause.

via Drudge tweet where I found little sympathy for the police power.

Shocking 7 second video

On Vine.

That you can play over and over for fun. I downloaded it to re-host it but then I thought, no, this is too shocking to display.

Súper pelo público means 'super hair public', you perv, not 'super hair pubic,'  I know that's what you were thinking, it felt like I heard someone think that.

A simple twist of fate

cashew

Hello Friend. I love fruit trees too. You're right! That is what they should teach us in school because look, it makes and an apple and a nut attached right onto it. That is bizarre! And all those flowers mean the tree has only started making apples with a nut on them. 

Like a rare alien plant from another world and here we put them in a jars with regular nuts.

I tried that toffee theory in imitation of Enstrom candy company but I used cashews instead of almonds and it worked. This is exactly how I recall Enstrom's except mine has rare alien otherworldly nuts and theirs has ordinary Earthly almonds. Almonds are like the carrots of the nut world. Apparently more healthy than most so they always get top billing at least that is the story that told, so stuck in things all over the place, and yet here we have this evident life from another world.

I still want to try hazelnut. Mostly because that is my dad's all-time  favorite nut and I'm trying to understand the man.

"Can you imagine Mitt Romney and Kanye West as in-laws?”

It appeared as if MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry and her guests could not quite figure out what to say about the Romney's family picture, in which Mitt Romney is holding his adopted black grandson.

So, they made stupid comments, giving my side a rare, legitimate opening to call them on hypocrisy and other nasty things, they themselves, constantly, I mean night and day, attribute to tea party and the GOP... you know the drill.

 

For a sample of the swift reaction so far click read more.

Regarding a place to meditate

1.The place should be clean and quiet.
2. Its temperature should be comfortable during all seasons.
3. It should be well ventilated.
4. The place should be neither too dark nor too light.
5. It should not offer any any view that might be distracting.
7. Beginners in meditation should avoid association with either well-known or           argumentative people.
8. Beginners should avoid those who are competitive.
9. Beginners should avoid all places and situations such as fire , flood, and the haunts of criminals.
10. Beginners should not meditate by the sea or in the vicinity of popular resorts.

-Buddhism and Zen, Nyogen Senzaki, Ruth Strout McCandless

Please add any suggestions you think may be appropriate.

"Here's something you can blame Bush for: "

Here's something you can blame Bush for: http://t.co/Dx3DY4640z
— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) December 30, 2013

Fair and Balance. Bush has been getting a lot of good coverage lately.

"Two monster meteors flare and boom over Minnesota and Midwest"

"The sky’s been rumbling with two bright fireball sightings in Minnesota across the Midwest this past week. On Dec. 26 a monster fireball that garnered more than 1,050 reports on the American Meteor Society’s website turned night into day across parts of Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. The fireball traveled from east to west and flashed into view in late twilight around 5:45 p.m."

"Of the 96 sightings so far reported, 29 people heard associated explosions and booms, likely signs that pieces of the original meteoroid survived the searing heat and pressure of atmospheric entry and landed as meteorites."

Astro Bob

"State Dept. whistleblower has email hacked, deleted"

The personal e-mail account of a State Department whis­tle­­blower was hacked, and four years worth of messages — some detailing alleged wrongdoing at the agency — were deleted, The Post has learned.

The computer attack targeted the Gmail account of Diplomatic Security Service criminal investigator Richard Higbie, his lawyer, Cary Schulman, confirmed.

Higbie has asked the FBI in Dallas, where he lives, to investigate the hacking, which occurred this month.

Higbie played a key role in helping fellow whistleblower Aurelia Fedenisn, a former investigator for the department’s inspector general, reveal in June a pattern of alleged coverups by top department officials.

The alleged coverups included keeping quiet separate IG investigations that found that members of then-Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton’s security detail had engaged hookers and that the Belgian ambassador had solicited underage prostitutes.

These were among a string of investigations by the service, responsible for protecting dignitaries and investigating crimes within the department, that were allegedly derailed by senior officials, including one instance of interference by Clinton Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills.

Astute observers connect the timing of the NYT Benghazi article to the possibility that something else, more sinister, is being kept under wraps. In other words, it's a "wag the dog" maneuver, made notorious by Hillary's husband Bill Clinton, back when he was president. "It's like deja vu all over again." Back to Higbie...

"Second Icebreaker Nears Ship Stranded Off Antarctica"

An Australian icebreaker worked its way slowly through thick ice off Antarctica early Monday in the latest attempt to rescue about 70 people aboard a stranded research ship. Even though it is summer in the Antarctic, waiting for the ice to break up on its own is not an option,

Dr. Turney said, because of the risk that the ship could drift along with the ice and collide with one of several icebergs in the area, which are drifting independently of the pack ice.

Dr. Turney is a professor of climate change at the University of New South Wales.

Since the ship became stuck, Dr. Turney and others have been a regular presence on Twitter and other social media sites. Some have made short videos describing their experiences.

Dr. Turney said that some of the people aboard had gone onto the ice to study birds and make other scientific observations, and that others had occupied themselves on board with ad-hoc classes in subjects like knot tying. And a steady diet of films has been available to help pass the time, he said.

“At first, people were starting to watch disaster movies,” Dr. Turney added. “But I had to stop that.” Now it is mostly comedies, although episodes of the hit series “Breaking Bad” have been popular, too.

Intapundit mocks "WAIT, ISN’T IT SUMMER DOWN THERE?

David Kirkpatrick, author of NYT Benghazi piece claiming no Al Qaeda involvement

If by Al Qaeda you mean the organization started by Bin Laden. No, the attack on the Benghazi consulate was carried out by locals. They are all well known around those parts. Their histories known. Nothing worthwhile to see here.

Nothing except the spectacle of a grown man fellating Hillary Clinton in public. It is unsightly and unbecoming a professional journalist. The effort falls far short of what is already known. Journalistic curiosity fails to cover why the Ambassador was ordered to that specific compound on that specific day and why the consulate was insufficiently protected. The answers to that still are wanting,  and further, no curiosity at all concerning the whereabouts of the most significant person in government, apparently, and we all know why. David Kirkkpatrick's own immobilizing patronizing racism.

But none of that matters. The report is already counterattacked all over the place, and the distraction has already served its dual purpose of another cyclical temporary squirrel for Obama, and simultaneously terrain preparation for Hillary Clinton. Look at this guy. This is my little sister, haunting me, haunting me again, her irrational ways so obvious. Say whatever you wish, it will not compute properly, she is occupied preparing the next attack.

Let's speak our own language and short circuit the prepared discussion as Ted Cruz does earlier, ask why this is coming up now after being roundly dismissed as irrelevant for so long even though we already know why, the answer does not matter, and while David Kirkpatrick or whoever formulates their answer if they care to, we'll be formulating the next line of damaging questions, observations, remarks no matter the response. That is how we talk nowadays, mutual understanding is not the aim.

Who cares if it was Al Qaeda, or offshoot, or rival, or nothing related at all,that is not the point. Hillary Clinton's own incompetency is the point, that is the reason why Hillary Clinton has over her a big fat spray painted X and this prime coat attempt is not going to stop the bleed through.

say what you see

Front paged on B3ta, best of the board. The challenge for the week is 'change a single letter to well-known word or phrase.' 

Ted Cruz, ABC This Week. Shutdown was Obama's

KARL: You have had a couple of months to think about this whole government shutdown strategy. Now that it’s over in hindsight, are you prepared to say that it was a mistake, it wasn’t the right tactic?

This is the sort of thing that drives me nuts and I do not handle well, so loaded it reeks, so plump with raw unexamined premise, and conclusions already formed out of aphorisms and whatnot, and forces one to step back and go,whoa whoa, and wonder then just how far backward must we go to fix this ideologic mess and is any of that ever worth it? Frankly, no.

CRUZ: I think it was absolutely a mistake for President Obama and Harry Reid to force a government shutdown.

Hah. Speak another language. Talk past.

KARL: Now you know even John Boehner has said this was a Republican shutdown.

CRUZ: Look, I can’t help what other people say.
And Jon, I understand that in the media, every day the media reported the Republicans shut the government down…

KARL: No, I mean, but come on. I mean we’re a couple months away from this, the only reason why this happened is because you insisted, Republicans insisted that Obamacare be defunded as a condition of funding the government. If you didn’t — if you took away that insistence, there would be no shutdown. I mean, really.

CRUZ: You’ve got conservatives who stood strong and said let’s stop the train wreck that is Obamacare, and you’ve got Democrats in the middle of the shutdown, President Obama called every Senate Republican to the White House, sat us in a room and said I called you to tell you, we’re not going to negotiate, we’re not going to compromise on anything.

More at therightscoop, there is a video of Cruz too. A tacit internet rule prevents me nicking the whole thing but I sure would like to.

The interviewer opens with a remark about first year senators sitting in the back and being seen and not heard and here again I utterly fail the diplomat test, it is at the beginning so the whole time I'm thinking how racist to suggest to a minority senator he sit in the back and shut up. I hoped he would answer referring to Elizabeth Warren but Cruz has more tact than I.

Carefree Highway

Cutting down and clearing out

The new year approaches, and now is a logical time for me to get rid of junk/crap/clutter/stuff. As I type I have a group of boxes in my living room labeled donate, not sure, cords, etc. I have yet to be successful in this task.

I do not want to go the minimalist route, but I wish to drastically cut down and live more lightly. Please share with me your favorite clutter removal and life lightening tips.

Acceptance

How old were you when you calmed down?  Or maybe you haven’t calmed down yet.  No worries; it’ll come along soon enough.

It’s an odd question, isn’t it, my asking you when you calmed down.  I mean it in the best sense, just asking your age when you came to realize that you can’t change everything.  And perhaps in some way accepting that you can’t change anything or anyone other than yourself.

When did you finally realize that it was time to stop pushing as hard as you could against doors that were clearly marked “Pull to Open”?  And then when you finally gave those doors a pull and they opened easily and you said “Ahhh….I should have known this years ago!”  When was that?

Acceptance of one’s imperfections, of one’s fallibilities, of one’s inability to control the world is the entry point to adulthood.  Not the adulthood of being age 21, or even age 31 or age 41, I suppose.  Not the adulthood marked by boxes and pages on a calendar, but the adulthood of accepting one’s mortality and smallness.  Not smallness in the sense of bad behavior and pettiness, but smallness in the universe.  The smallness that causes you to do good things for those you care about rather than trying to save the world; and a faith that if everyone does small, good things the maybe the world will be better.

It happened to me the first time when I was in my late 40s.  In a flash I knew that I didn’t want to continue living on airplanes, chasing one business meeting after another at the cost of being apart from my family.  I quit that day.

And it happens again every year after Christmas Day and before New Year’s Day.  I resolve that I am not in control, and I accept that.  I can’t fix every problem, but I can listen when loved ones share theirs.  I can’t change the world, but I can change myself.  I don’t need to be in the social register, or to go to the right parties with the right people.  I don’t need to have the big house, the new cars, or the showy aspirational things.

Accepting that one can’t have everything is the first step on the path to having the things that truly matter.

Just A Bite Of April's Apple

April Apple said:

I really don't care about Bill at this point. He's old, gross and over-with and his penis is probably shrived and his libido neutered. Thank GOD. His dog days in the sun raping females without consequence are over. Sure, he still rings them up, but the smart ones know to hang up and shiver *yuck*. 

Clinton was dragged kicking and screaming to enact welfare reform. He never wanted to do it himself. But yeah, I'll give him credit for that. Obama's ego doesn't allow for any such compromise- And thanks to Obama, most of those welfare reforms have been dismantled. 

If Hillary gets in, say hello to permanent ACA and the continued socialization of our healthcare system. If you want an open, competitive, free-market based health care system, it will never happen with Hillary. She is far more rigid than Bill, and single payer will more than likely occur on her watch. Obama just teed it up. 

The one thing I like about Barack Obama is that he has the class to keep his pecker in his pants. It may be the one thing that I appreciate and admire most about the guy. He passes the biggest test of all: Scarlet Johansson threw herself at Obama and he had enough intelligence to say, as a person under the microscope, cut it out. If Scarlet Johansson threw herself at Bill Clinton, there would be a sex tape by now. (yeah – Viagra would be involved...and perhaps a black eye) Sure, Obama is an incompetent socialist, but at least he isn’t making a mockery out of the office of the Presidency with his penis. When you are the leader of the free world, how difficult is it to buck-up and realize such actions are non-becoming of the office? The days of secret Kennedy sex are over. 

yeah - Why doesn't the media ever discuss Juanita Broderick?

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même meme chosen

The Cologne Cathedral withstood a bombing hail but a new threat comes from within:

Story

First Mate Of The Ship Of State

Over at Althouse, somefeller obliquely piqued my interest:

somefeller wrote: Plus, he may become the first First Husband.

This raises a practical question. Should such a man be referred to as "First Husband" given the already extant meaning of "first husband" in the context of divorce? "First Husband" would signal a need to retitle "First Lady" as "First Wife."

"First Gentleman" would better reflect the quaint "First Lady," a title already cemented by tradition. Of course, the GLAAD handers would prefer "First Partner" as battleground preparation and reparation for years of oppression.

Thoughts?

How do you calculate the odds? or It was bound to happen

What seemed to innocently start out as a good luck wish ...

@SpiderAnderson Break a leg tomorrow! Hopefully not yours!
— Tim Reuben (@TimReuben) December 28, 2013

Turns excruciatingly braking true for the wish.e. (do not click the links if you squeamish easily)

Silva, after being decked by a first-round right hand by champion Chris Weidman, tried a second-round left kick that Weidman (11-0) blocked with his own left shin.

The impact of the contact broke Silva's lower left leg, bending it as he crashed to the mat and screamed in agony while Weidman was declared the repeat winner 1:16 into the round at MGM Grand.

What's puzzling to me is the neck breaking? speed of RT @TimReuben (the well wisher) is getting. At one point I tracked at over 100 a minute.

What is it?... A virtual rubber necking?... A desire to believe?

Thank you for offering, Sir.

But I'm afraid I cannot come to your pool party on Friday, besides, Mum warned me never trust a guy wearing a fez.

Ross Sisters

They're bendy.

Manhattan Lullaby

On City Streets is an anthology of poetry. It was taught to me in high school in the mid-seventies. My sister and I liked it very much, and we read it together frequently. Here is a poem that I think especially captures the cozy feel the city can elicit. Incidentally, I thought of this poem when DBQ's and Freeman's new grand-son and son were born.

Manhattan Lullaby

(for Richard, one day old)

Now lighted windows climb the dark,
The streets are dim with snow,
Like tireless beetles, amber-eyed,
The creeping taxis go.
Cars roar through the caverns made of steel,
Shrill sounds the siren horn,
And people dance and die and wed-
And boys like you are born.

-Rachel Field

Twitter Praise for our own Tari's Take on Phil's Victory

When news broke yesterday afternoon, that Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson had prevailed over the pressure GLADD had exerted over A&E. Tary tweeted ...

People did not buy the hate spin on Phil. Encouraged.
— Tari (@uncommentari) December 27, 2013

She got 52 re-tweets and 55 Favorites. How big is that?
Later she tweeted ...

Holy crap. Thank you all for the retweets.
— Tari (@uncommentari) December 27, 2013

And then finally...

You know what? People see the love shared by the Robertsons. They don't sense hate. Love wins.
— Tari (@uncommentari) December 27, 2013

Love sure does win and for that I'm glaad.

Dreamers Nightmare or Higher Calling

"In the Texas incident earlier this month, Border Patrol agents arrested six Mexicans — two adults, two 17-year-olds, a 16-year-old and the 12-year-old — smuggling more than 300 pounds of marijuana."

“They were carrying the marijuana on their backs and when arrested it was discovered that the 12-year-old boy had the heaviest load at 80 pounds,” the Border Patrol said in a statement describing the arrest."

The youngest was made to carry a bigger load. Do you think Phil Robertson would quote from Matthew 11:28-30

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Or would he take a different tack?

Phil

I call him Phil because he and I, we're tight, like that:

Apologies for posting so much but this guy is bugging me because his face is all over the place and his beard is skank. 

I would like to tell Phill,

With great beards come great responsibility you cannot allow them go wild like this, and just because the prophets looked like that and you sound like a prophet when you get on a roll in a church as we've been shown, and use the amusing excuse the cousin of Jesus, what's his name, you pause for the answer, John, went around in a hair shirt, all that  does not mean you must be the same way. John ate locust, will you too? John had his head chopped off will you follow that example? No, that was then and this is now. And we have products now. 

The hair is flyaway and scraggly. I would assure Phil women do not like it. Dry. Hands always in it. Fiddling with it. Digging around. One expect insects or animals, bats to come flapping out, debris to drop out. It apparently itches because it is scratched constantly. The color transitions look like drips. Rust. The drippy dead hair color transitions of pubic-like scraggly hair resemble an old dog's mouth when the drippy hair color transitions are not resembling an old sheepdog's ass. I'm trying to say what I see.

I'm not big on products but a beard like this needs conditioning. Lots of conditioning. The kind that sits in the beard over time and changes the texture, restores moisture without being oily. And the gentleman must persist with this lavish beard treatment regimen forever. And trimming the tips off and keeping them trimmed and shaping will make the whole beard appear much fuller and healthier more masculine, more together, more with it, worn by a man with more gravitas more worth listening to. A little moisture, a little trim, a little wave and he'd take on the appearance ancient royalty, a groomed Nebuchadnezzar, instead of a crackpot. I'm tired of seeing his face actually. Apologies for showing it, but here are the before/after examples. 

marines, pullups

Stetson hats

Much has changed over time in the manufacturing of Stenson hats.

 Then:



Now



What has changed? Color. Music. Narration. Number of employees. Integration, apparently.

magic

Some things make so much sense they become instantly encoded and impossible to forget. Until you die. When I was young, so young that I could not reach the knobs of a public bathroom sink to turn on/off the water, my older brother and I were standing next to each other meticulously washing our hands soaping them up, making an "o" with our fingers and blowing air through to float bubbles, and trying to get them to be big. We stopped and Barry said, "Hey Chip, look over here. I'm magic. Look! Look into my eyes." 

So I did. He flicked his fingers directly at me and I felt the power of his magic all over my face and I was awestruck dumbfounded by my amazing brother's magical abilities. I want to be magic too! I clamped onto his shirt.

"How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat? How'dyoudothat?"  As little brothers do, until he relented and revealed the secrets to his magical Jedi-ninja ways. His hands were wet. Bastard.

And turns out, that is how you say magic.

Remembering Erwin Knoll

Erwin Knoll (1931-1994)

"Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true except for the rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge" ~Knoll's Law of Media Accuracy

A few days ago, I linked to a video I made from a 1988 radio broadcast by the late Erwin Knoll. If you listened to that recording through conservative eardrums, you probably bristled a bit at Knoll's take on the topic. Knoll personified the sort of Madison liberal I knew well growing up Wisconsin. But in fact, I once met Erwin Knoll, and we probably nodded heads over something at the time.

Knoll used to come into the tiny grocery store where I worked during college. The store was just around the corner from the former offices of The Progressive on W. Gorham St.  He used to come in to buy snacks and whatnot.  I remember his colleague Howard Morland better -- I used to sell him his smokes -- he was the guy who wrote the piece "The H-Bomb Secret, How We Got It -- Why We're Telling It" -- a story which landed them both in a 1st Amendment lawsuit in which they prevailed. They didn't tell me what they were up to at the time, even though this was 1979.

Why the praise for Knoll? He stood adamantly opposed to squelching anti-abortion views of contrarian progressives. This enraged some of his readers. Said one: "I'm always intrigued at how few people understand that free speech encompasses a little more than the speech you like." link

[added: Young Hegelian links to The Progressive article about abortion which Knoll published in 1980]

Remington 870

I found a long-unused Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun in my late father's belongings when we cleaned out his apartment and storage locker.  He must have bought it, I don't know, maybe 50 years ago when he would go grouse hunting with friends. 

I put it aside as a winter project, and it's now winter.  The gun needs disassembly and a good cleaning, a few metal parts need a bit of re-bluing, and the wooden stock and pump would benefit from re-finishing.  There was no factory instruction manual; I found one in Remington's website and printed it.  The case was old and disintegrating so I went to Cabela's and bought a new one, plus some gun cleaning supplies and a tool kit. 

Since I'm a visual learner I thought I'd see if there were YouTube videos for disassembly.  And I found this video of a man having a heckuva fun time shooting bottles, gongs, cans, zombies and other things with his Remington 870.  Zip past the one-minute mention of an eBay sale at about 2:00, and enjoy the rest of the video.  I'd like to be on his property!

 

The guy is a pretty good marksman - hitting a gong at about 100 yards with a shotgun slug is not an easy thing to do.

 

When I have finished reconditioning my father's shotgun, I'll keep it next to a 1917 Stevens 10 gauge that I inherited from my grandfather a few years back.  That gun was given to him by his father (my great-grandfather) when my grandfather was 12, because his job was to go into the woods and not come home without meat for supper.  While neither gun is especially valuable, they are filled with priceless memories.

 

Enjoy the video.

lost and found

I had a dream that left a deep impression in which I am lost, utterly lost in a vast expanse of barren landscape. My shirt is off. I am walking without knowing where I am going exactly and I realize I am with other people who are also quite hot. We are all walking, trudging along and hopelessly lost but oddly I am not feeling hopeless and I do not understand why everyone appears to be so without hope. So, although surround by people, in the dream I am isolated among them. They are all speaking Spanish and my Spanish is crap and my attitude of well being is not contagious. 

I notice someone in the crowd that I know and my heart leaps up with joy. Now in life this person is a positive fellow. Nothing gets the guy down that I know of. This guy gets smacked down and smashed flat and bounces right back, frankly, like an idiot, like the inflatable toy punching bag. Tubthumping was written for him, I think, possibly, maybe, it could happen. 

He drinks a lot too. When he gets going. Binger. Spills wine all over the place. I can mention for instance one time as a youngster he hooked up with a fellow in Las Vegas and took off for Hawaii. Within a few days the FBI burst into the hotel room arrested both in their underwear, took the fellow off. Permanently. A criminal apparently, bank robber, now that I'm recalling it, and left my friend stranded there on the island with no clothes no money just his resourceful impervious self. 

How did you make it back? And that is a whole 'nuther story. 

Oddly not an entirely stupid fellow. Lengthy escapades in Central America led to him speaking Spanish ably and it was at this point in the dream I was attempting to convey to the down and out mass an acceptance of abundance, and failing. We were now passing by abundance but the people around me were resolutely not allowing themselves to see it. The people had formed into a line and as we move through a town and the colorful fruits all wet and juicy are stacked up I am trying to say this is yours but their mindset is slavery. Their minds are different. They think differently than I do. They are not paying attention to me. Like a body or plant having available minerals but unable to use them due to some other lack, that along with being completely lost. We trod along in a line, there was nothing left in this dream as I departed and woke up in stages it seemed I drifted off from the scene backward and upward and outward away and just as quickly off planet to see from above the view that Apollo moon mission provided and I know as I waken fully, aware of myself as a living dot somewhere down there on that planet now itself a dot in this vast universe loaded with such gigantic dots that I am assuredly located properly my position known, I am sensibly placed and most comfortably completely serenely and profoundly found.

I told my friend this and he goes, "Oh, thank you for telling me that. I'm thrilled being the happy person in the dream. It's like I'm there, man." 

"I am actually turned off when I look at an account and don’t see any selfies"

"But a well-stocked collection of selfies seems to get attention. And attention seems to be the name of the game when it comes to social networking. In this age of too much information at a click of a button, the power to attract viewers amid the sea of things to read and watch is power indeed. It’s what the movie studios want for their products, it’s what professional writers want for their work, it’s what newspapers want — hell, it’s what everyone wants: attention. Attention is power. And if you are someone people are interested in, then the selfie provides something very powerful, from the most privileged perspective possible."  Says James Franco, in a selfie parody for the New York Times.

***

Meanwhile, Slate has posted a cartoon from 20 years ago, it says to find "disturbingly prescient".

UPDATE: N.S.A. Phone Surveillance Is Lawful, Federal Judge Rules

Name The Countries

Name the countries made safer, better or more secure by the Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton/ John Kerry foreign policy.

Go ahead, I'll wait.   *pours fresh cup of coffee*

Never mind the obscure little countries that nobody ever hears about,  just look at the medium to larger countries.

I did this last night during an hour of sleeplessness.  I sat down next to the globe (outdated because some countries keep changing their names) and looked at each continent. 

South America?  No real improvements here, and much economic decline.  Lots of al-Qaeda  movement into some areas to set up footholds.

Africa?  No good news here, either in sub-Saharan Africa, or northern Africa.  Too much violence, too many wars, too much poverty.  And al-Qaeda is making big, violent swings through some parts.  Don't forget the Chinese, who are making a very big presence in the mineral rich parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Europe?  Germany is the only European nation that is showing some signs of improvement, but only because of the economic conservatism of Angela Merkel.  And the smaller Eastern European nations are less secure because the umbrella of American protection against Russian hegemony is beginning to fold.

Asia?  Japan is feeling threats from China and has taken steps necessary to build its own massive military.  India is being infiltrated by Muslim terrorists, as are smaller Asian countries.

North America?  Mexico is still a drug-addled mess.  Canada is benign.  The US is floundering economically and has a weakened military.

My late night list of countries made better/stronger/ more secure by the administration's policies came down to these:

China

Russia

Iran

North Korea

They told me that if I voted for Mitt Romney, the axis of evil countries would become stronger.  And they were right!

Discuss.

Christmas shipping nightmares.

This is the entrepreneur linked by Insty. The premise is both UPS and FEDEX are being excoriated for delays in holiday shipping. That the companies erred twice by planning poorly and over promising. In reality, Ray Hennessey says we are responsible because 1) We are procrastinators (true here) 2) Retailers are discounting later 3) Americans are generous (eh, maybe).

Are the companies blameless? Hennessey asks. No. Hennessey answers. They should have known better.

From what I saw UPS plan brilliantly and Amazon cannot be criticized.  I am amazed this year. Impressed beyond expectation. These people are good. They did plan, and brilliantly. They were ready and showed it. They under promised at every point in every way, and that is quite a few leaning over words there just now proving how good they are.

I did not deserve a free return that I caused but Amazon gave it to me anyway. I was told the money would show up when the item is returned but the money transferred immediately. The return item picked up at the first moment of the 4-day time span provided. The replacement items delivered before the promised delivery time, at the same time as the return pick up, scheduled for two days earlier. An altogether impressive experience through Amazon and UPS. I saw substitute drivers for things delivered here.

sheep rally protest

Fantasy Quotient

I saw this piece at House of Eratosthenes, a blog hosted on Peekinthewell. By this guy, I do not see his name.

The author's idea is that IQ is calculated a certain way, a commenter corrected him about how, apparently, but that is not important, in his model the measure is related to age.

The writer goes on about his observations regarding the healthcare act and the site rollout, how all that happened, observations about how the Act's  proponents see things and what all that means, then the more value he sees in measuring what he calls F.Q. for fantasy quotient.

In his model he uses to understand people an engineer would have F.Q. of zero and a healthy F.Q. would be oh, he doesn't really know, maybe somewhere in the 10's or 20's.

If your F.Q. is 100 you cannot learn anything and that is what the author sees now. In his model such a person never grows up.

Eratosthenes is an interesting place.

On the road back home

We should be back in NJ by morning, God willing.

Teaching birds to sing

The Bird Fancyer's Delight, a title first used in 1714 by Thomas Ward, is a collection of tunes intended to coax birds to sing music not natural to them, but within their vocal range.

Teaching birds to sing "lessons properly composed within the faculty and compass of each bird," was a popular and lucrative hobby in the eighteenth century. The instruments used were the bird-flageolet and the recorder and other small home-made pipes.

Here is are a few examples of songs played on the recorder by Sarah Angliss. (Play button in top bar.)

Many thanks to MamaM who first introduced me to the subject.

"Snowden cites Orwell in Christmas message"

"Speaking directly into the camera from Moscow, where he took refuge after leaking vast troves of information on NSA spying, Snowden said government surveillance methods far surpass those described in Orwell’s dystopic novel “1984.”

“The types of collection in the book — microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us — are nothing compared to what we have available today. We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go,” he said. “Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person.”

New York Post via Drudge tweet (Read more for video)

A Curious Omission...

...present in Bob Dylan's original but absent in The Byrds' cover:

A self-ordained professor’s tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
“Equality,” I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

50 Years Ago To The Day...

...December 26, 1963, was the day Capitol Records released The Beatles' song "I Want To Hold Your Hand" along with "I Saw Her Standing There" as a single 45 RPM in the US.

Ever wonder who those NYC girls going crazy on the Ed Sullivan show in February of 1964 were? They weren't imported from England where The Beatles were already throbbing hearts; they were girls savvy enough to have heard and bought that first release, driving "I Want To Hold Your Hand" to #1 less than a month later.

"There is something profoundly anti-Incarnational about it all"

"Incarnation is a process; it is actually a succession of processes — an ongoing pursuit of becoming. Incarnation involves intention and then consent, but not in isolation, and not just once; the consent happens again and again. It is a consent to be present; a consent to see, to hear, to listen, to respond, to love, to ache, to surrender in order to attain the fullness of that intention with which it all started."

"The narcissism on display in these “holiday greetings” suggests no intention to seek out a greatness beyond ourselves; it consents to only the barest engagement with an ever-diminishing sense of social obligation. As such, it is empty and void; the “nothing” that is only possible without God. For with God — the angels tell Mary — “nothing” is “impossible.”

The anchoress Elizabeth Scalia, posting for the National Review.

"Iron Maiden found its worst music pirates -- then went and played for them"

"In the case of Iron Maiden, still a top-drawing band in the U.S. and Europe after thirty years, it noted a surge in traffic in South America. Also, it saw that Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Columbia, and Chile were among the top 10 countries with the most Iron Maiden Twitter followers. There was also a huge amount of BitTorrent traffic in South America, particularly in Brazil."

Rather than send in the lawyers, Maiden sent itself in. The band has focused extensively on South American tours in recent years, one of which was filmed for the documentary "Flight 666." After all, fans can't download a concert or t-shirts. The result was massive sellouts. The São Paolo show alone grossed £1.58 million (US$2.58 million) alone.

And in a positive cycle, Maiden's online fanbase grew. According to Musicmetric, in the 12 months ending May 31, 2012, the band attracted more than 3.1 million social media fans. After its Maiden England world tour, which ran from June 2012 to October 2013, Maiden's fan base grew by five million online fans, with a significant increase in popularity in South America.

"Iron Maiden were formed on Christmas Day 1975 by bassist Steve Harris shortly after he left his previous group, Smiler. Harris attributes the band's name to a film adaptation of The Man in the Iron Mask from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, which he saw around that time and which had a verbal connection to the iron maiden torture device."

Citeworld, Wikipedia. via Instapundit

These are a few of my favorite things...

plaid flannel pajamas

apricot jelly

the scent of lilacs

What are some of yours?

caramel vs toffee

Toffee is sugar and butter cooked to 300℉, caramel is sugar and butter and cream, and cooked to 248℉, hardens at 270℉.  

Heath bar VS Enstrom's 

Heath 

Pros:

   inexpensive

   readily available

   neatly packaged in individual servings

Cons:

   tastes like crap

   I meant to say just now not so great chocolate

Enstrom's

Pros:

   reliably made with real ingredients

   makes great gift

   shows you know good candy and appreciate craftsmanship involved

   delicious

   contains serious chocolate and healthy nuts

   always carefully handled

   top quality all around

   gift and holiday packaging available

   online store

  

Cons:

   addictive

  well, it's all butter and sugar, innit. 

It occurred to me, those Heath bars are toffee, a hard caramel, more hard than pralines, draped with chocolate. And we did all that before.

The thing that made the Heath bar I ate taste so bad is the chocolate coating. It is such a bad chocolate it nearly made me barf. I bought two because they are in the Ben & Jerry's ice cream and the chunks of Heath bar are excellent that way, but not as a candy bar unfrozen outside of ice cream encasement. And it is so bad I do not want the second Heath bar. The chocolate coating is oily. 

We know about chocolate, I buy it in large boxes of couverture, and that is not good chocolate. Anything would be better. I think they do that so it coats easily.They spray it on or drip it on by a chocolate enrobing machine. Hard toffee rectangles travel along a chain belt and pass under  a chocolate waterfall, a chocolatefall that recycles. The bottoms already coated. The Heath bar enrobing machine apparently goes very fast. It is chocolate for children who do not know any better Same as Kinder Surprise chocolate, great when you're little, not so much when you're grown. 

Homemade would be better than that. 

Enstrom's out of Grand Junction makes this spectacularly. Their toffee is thicker and holds toasted almonds, their chocolate coating is much better quality and not oiled down, and then an additional coating of powdery toasted nuts. 

It is excellent.

I gave a box to Ed Merrill to give to his dad because he mentioned toffee is his dad's favorite candy.

Months later I saw Ed and I asked, "How did that go?"  

Ed said, "Oh, Chip." He paused dramatically and looked at me sternly. "Now I have to admit I stole your present." He broke eye contact and hung his head, also dramatically, then looked back up. "Our whole family gathered in Bermuda to settle some more of Mom's things and as usual Sis started a dispute at home at the table. It was Valentine's Day besides, and Dad became despondent really down right then because his kids were being so ugly again and arguing over things. Sis wanted the Bermuda place for herself and said so right there. Dad stopped eating, flounced off to sit behind his desk in the dark by himself. I waited then followed and went in and handed him your box of toffee. He became emotional and told me nobody ever gave him a Valentine's gift before. Nobody. That was a first. I felt ashamed. I did not have the heart to tell him it wasn't' intended for Valentine's and it wasn't from me. Sorry. Ha ha ha ha ha."

Contemporary Dance by Contemporary Eric

Come on, let's dance! Who wants to be my bich?

Merry Christmas... Again

Note to Self

Self, when making krumkake do not touch the base of the krumkake iron with your bare fingers.

What I was making:

Recipe:

3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla, or almond, or lemon, or cardamom
1/2 cup flour

Do the usual stuff with the butter and sugar, flour and eggs, and flavoring.
Cook a teaspoon at a time on a krumkake iron over low-ish heat until they are golden.  Roll onto a tapered dowel while hot.  Slide off the dowel.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar if you must.

Don't Cry Over Spilt Nog

This wretched holiday is soon ended...

In Winter In The Woods Alone

In winter in the woods alone
Against the trees I go
I mark a maple for my own
And lay the maple low. 

At four o’clock I shoulder ax,
And in the afterglow
I link a line of shadowy tracks
Across the tinted snow. 

I see for Nature no defeat
In one tree’s overthrow
Or for myself in my retreat
For yet another blow. 

~Robert Frost (1962)

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Very best wishes to every one on Lem's blog.

 

 

 

Last Letters From Stalingrad

It's that time of the year again for me...time to reflect on Last Letters From Stalingrad.

Many years ago (1988), I recorded a piece of what had become a Madison radio tradition. I posted the recording as a YouTube video which has over 4,000 views now, nearly all from people searching for it.  The voices are those of Erwin Knoll and George Vukelich.

I originally split the half hour recording into three ten minute parts to conform to YouTube's then 10 minute limit.  Here I have linked the three together:

I also blogged the text of most of the 39 letters in the book. I recently looked back at each of the letters and tried picking a few words to characterize each one. The gamut of human emotion comes out in these letters:

#1: helplessness and insignificance
#2: love and loneliness
#3: resignation and loss
#4: remorse
#5: defiance
#6: entrapment
#7: absolution
#8: obliviousness
#9: doubt and faith
#10: cynicism
#11: fatigue
#12: false pride
#13: homesickness
#14: optimism
#15: disbelief (George reads this one in Part 2)
#16: faith and perseverance (George reads this one in Part 3)
#17: nihilism
#18: friendship
#19: jocularity
#20: love and sacrifice
#21: stoicism
#22: selflessness
#23: cynicism
#24: divorce and betrayal
#25: parental love; fatherhood
#26: obliviousness and denial
#27: false pride
#28: to be done
#29: to be done
#30: rebellion
#31: regret and futility
#32: to be done
#33: to be done
#34: to be done
#35: guilt, murder, and remorse.
#36: to be done
#37: to be done
#38: This one is my favorite, because I too love words and sounds. George reads this one in Part 2.
#39: This was George Vukelich's favorite. The young man writing to his father had what the Germans call Pflicht which means obligation and duty. George reads it in Part 3 of the linked video.

Others have considered whether the letters are forgeries but I think each person is entitled to form his or her own opinion.

Merry Christmas

West

The sun slips behind the mountain range and darkness of night descends upon the Queen City of the Plaines. It is a weird feeling all around because the weather is perfect, and I mean perfect, and calm as all h-e-double-hecksticks like another planet because it is dark where I'm at but light over there, within driving distance, and the clouds are dark on top and bright on the bottom. WoOOOoo. It makes you want to go out there and yell, "Merry Christmas!" 

The Airing of Grievances

Today is Festivus and its time to begin the celebrations. 

The celebration of Festivus begins with Airing of Grievances, which takes place immediately after the Festivus dinner has been served.

Frank Costanza:  And at the Festivus dinner, you gather your family around, and tell them all the ways they have disappointed you over the past year!

 

Each participant tells friends and family of all the instances where they disappointed him or her that year.

Frank Costanza: Welcome, new comers. The tradition of Festivus begins with the airing of grievances. I got a lot of problems with you people! And now you're gonna hear about it!

Don't forget to include guests (newcomers) to your list of people you may have grievances about, especially if you have a boss of a company that really stinks.

Frank Costanza: You, Kruger. My son tells me your company stinks! You couldn't smooth a silk sheet if you had a hot date with a babe...I lost my train of thought.

If you have to, write your grievances out on note cards beforehand, just in case you lose your train of thought.

I've got a lot of problems with you people!