Diving Doggo Open Thread

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Buck Rogers Disco Open Thread

Unfortunately I can't find the full clip.

In the first clip, Rogers attends a formal Space Dance where everyone is doing staid Space Dance Moves.

Rogers doesn't like this stiff choreography, so he goes over to the band and teaches them how to "play something funky."

The next clip shows Rogers getting funky to this disco music he just willed into being.

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Battle of the Network Stars Open Thread

How about a little Battle of the Network Stars' T&A?

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The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

The two great evils of the 20th century have faired quite differently in current popular culture. Fascism has been discredited as a political philosophy, even though its most famous acolyte -- Adolph Hitler -- was in reality a socialist who used nationalism to attract the masses. Communism, otherwise known as "international socialism," has never been discredited among the bien-pensants in academia, labor, and the disaffected youth that provides the foot soldiers for the Democrat/progressive movement.

And that is a fantastic feat, because the death toll of communism in the 20th century is at the top of the list by a very wide margin. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and a host of lesser but still dedicated monsters conspired to murder more than 100,000,000 people.

Yet we romanticize communism, or its more civilized (bowdlerized) term: socialism. I watched "Oppenheimer" last night, and the ridiculousness of its presentation of communism was embarrassing. The fixation on the ultimate evil of atomic weapons and the arms race and the cold war was equally ridiculous, and carefully linked to the non-communists! I have written in the past that the atomic weapons used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945 was the greatest humanitarian act in history. Their use saved possibly 1,000,000 Allied military lives and probably millions of Japanese, yet their use was presented as at best a murky ethical issue, and at worst the beginning of the end of humanity.

Antonio Gramsci's long march through our institutions is mostly complete, so the defense of communism and the vilification of freedom and free markets is embedded in our educational system. And of course the half-wits who become our "journalists" are particularly susceptible to the allure of the romantic version of communism, so the ranks of useful idiots in media are endemic.

But reality always intrudes upon the savagery and misery that is the ultimate result of every communist experiment. The Soviet Union fell in spite of 70 years of support from the West's left. China is a brutal regime frantically spinning to keep their economy from imploding (one child policy anyone?). Venezuela, Cuba, a bunch of African countries...all failing. And look to the North! Canada, in spite of abundant natural resources and a western work ethic has tumbled into the socialist sewer, courtesy of Castro's spawn, otherwise known as Justin Trudeau.

The evidence is clear that the grand experiment in perfecting Man has failed. All humanity got for it was misery, poverty, and death. All we have to do is teach history, and communism will be firmly planted in the dustbin of history. So why can't we do that?

Power. Communism is a tool to achieve power, not an end in itself. So discrediting it isn't enough...we must build a wall between the power inherent in government and its use for all but the most basic things. The founders of this great country understood that very well, but the desire for power among some overwhelmed even their prescience. They will never stop, so we cannot be complacent and assume that logic and reality will carry the day.

We had a great victory in November, and it may very well be an indication of a fundamental change in the American political and cultural psyche.

Now is the exactly perfect time to solidify those gains and build into our institutions a defense against the insanity that the Left uses to consolidate power. And to that end, the era of collegiality and accommodation and compromise is past. We see that attitude in Donald Trump's cabinet appointments, and we see it in his various pronouncements about Greenland and Panama and Gaza.

It is a return to American Exceptionalism, which is anathema to the communist experiment. And that is a very good thing!

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter]

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Mid-Morning Art Thread

Traffic Stop
Frank Xavier Leyendecker

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The Morning Report — 12/26/24

Good morning kids. Hope you all had a blessed Christmas and that the light from the menorah this year, more than ever, serves as a beacon of hope not just for Jews but for all of us who yearn for freedom and for the darkness of evil and tyranny wherever it exists to be vanquished.

On that note, let us commence. The late, lamented and brilliant Andrew Breitbart long ago so eloquently observed that "politics is downstream from culture." I certainly agree with this but then it begs the question, what is culture? I'm not really looking for a Funk & Wagnall's definition of the word, but trying to put into words for me what seems to be a sort of chicken vs egg. situation. I guess culture is sort of a distillation, good and bad, of the shared human experience up to a certain moment in time of customs, traditions and patterns of behavior that taken together define a nation, society or community.

Why ask this question, because for me despite the fact that the human experience over thousands of years dictates that for a given society to thrive, people have to organize themselves and behave in a certain way. To wit The Judeo-Christian Western Model. And yet in a quest for absolute power and control, people have time and again demonstrated the need to abandon rationality, sanity and common decency. And when that happens, you create misery, pain, suffering and waste beyond belief.

Not so very long ago, the notion that anyone would be cheering with near orgasmic glee the gunning down in cold blood of UHC CEO Brian Thompson would've been nearly unthinkable to anyone except someone like David Berkowitz.

Of course, those cheering the loudest would immediately point the finger at me accusing me of cheering what Daniel Penny did that caused the death of a deranged man threatening him and fellow passengers on a NYC subway train. The only thing people were cheering was that Daniel Penny had the bravery and presence of mind to risk his own life in restraining the deviant in question who could've been armed and indeed caused grievous bodily harm to Penny and anyone else at that time without warning. No one cheered the death, which sadly, as I and others noted was the fault of Leftist policy that created a deranged drug-addicted lost soul and unleashed him on society. So that being said, and in the wake of a sleeping woman being immolated on a NYC subway train late last week, we get this comment from a supposed thought-leader in and of the left:

Stalin famously said, “a single death is a tragedy; a million deaths are a statistic.” This is the statist bean-counter’s view of human life. Humans are sort of like widgets, existing to serve the needs of the state. . . I thought of Stalin’s words when I read what Nate Silver, the statistician, had to say about the fact that an illegal alien allegedly set a woman alight on the New York City subway. Just to get the facts straight, the illegal alien was kicked out of the country on Trump’s watch and sneaked back in on Biden’s watch. He lived for free in a homeless shelter while somehow managing to support a $ 30-a-day drug habit, in addition to drinking heavily.

. . .Bill Ackman points out what most Americans instinctively understand: That poor woman was burned alive in the most horrific fashion because of the Biden administration’s open border. Nate Silver, however, has a different take, which can be summed up thusly: “Hey, it was bad, but crime happens in big cities, so people shouldn’t get their knickers in a twist about the alleged murderer’s immigration status.”
NYC has a considerably lower crime rate than most large American cities. It's also a city of 8+ million where lots of crazy shit happens on a daily basis. I don't blame anyone for being concerned but it's sort of a test for whether you think in terms of narratives or base rates.

. . . I don’t mean to pick only on Nate Silver because his approach to the issue is typical for Democrats. They love to point out that illegal aliens commit fewer crimes than Americans or legal immigrants, which kind of overlooks the fact that every one of them is a criminal by virtue of being here. I also doubt the continuing validity of those statistics given crimes at the border that don’t go into the database, as well as the increasing aggression and geographic spread of Latin American gangs such as Tren de Aragua.

Well, a single death is a tragedy, but Comrade Stalin's fellow travelers in the Democrat Party of 2024 view it as yet another opportunity to blame the society they have worked so very hard to tear down and fundamentally transform by shifting the blame onto us who point out the conditions that allowed this barbarism to occur.

I do not know Nate Silver, nor his background. But for the life of me I cannot fathom how people that I grew up with, attended the same schools with and have similar backgrounds with, can even begin to rationalize things in so cold a manner so as to preserve their own personal political beliefs. His comments just beggar the imagination. I had quite a few liberal if not hardcore leftist professors in college back in the late 70s and yet here I am.

Then again, my mother of blessed memory and her family went through the same hell on earth courtesy of the Nazis as Anthony Blinken's (step?) father and yet there he and his ilk are, eagerly working to destroy the state of Israel and grease the wheels of Iran's atomic weapons program.

Well, if the death of a million per Stalin is a statistic, those who enthusiastically cheered Mangione for what he did, and were aghast at Daniel Penny's acquittal will one day, be the ones who will volunteer to line us up in front of a ditch and shoot us into it with a smile on their faces. That in the cold light of day is or God-forbid will be the politics that is downstream from today's culture.

Luigi Mangione has killer abs, a broad smile and a vendetta against the U.S. health care system. Progressive politicians like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were among several who criticized the killing, only to add “But …” to their statements. . . Chances are a MAGA rally wouldn’t cheer Mangione’s name in any setting, but liberal late-night TV watchers have had a similar reaction to some progressive politicians.Earlier this month, Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” alerted his audience that Mangione had been captured after a brief manhunt.

The crowd’s reaction? Boos. . . Why are late-night TV audiences cheering on Mangione?  It’s a complex constellation of reasons, from the Left’s embrace of political violence to our increasingly divided age. One possible culprit? Late-Night TV. These propaganda shows have been dehumanizing their political opponents for years. Trump is Hitler … and his fans are just as bad.

So, chicken and egg. Is the problem the Late Night schtick-meisters and the rest of the media/entertainment complex or is it the audiences cheering on murderers and the dehumanization of Trump and normal Americans. Or is it a self-licking ice cream cone?

Yesterday, we recalled how we marveled at the view of earth from Apollo 8 at Christmastime in 1968. Lest we forget the mindset of some of our fellow citizens at that time, such as one Bill Ayers, among others.

In No Place to Hide, Grathwohl explains that the Weathermen actually believed that they would be successful in overthrowing the U.S. government and that, with the help of the Cubans, Chinese, Russians, and North Vietnamese, they would occupy America. Americans would have to be "re-educated" in camps, similar to what the communists did in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and other countries they had taken over. Here is one of the chilling revelations Larry Grathwohl made in the film:
I asked, "Well what is going to happen to those people we can’t reeducate, that are diehard capitalists?" And the reply was that they’d have to be eliminated.
I asked, "Well what is going to happen to those people we can’t reeducate, that are diehard capitalists?" And the reply was that they’d have to be eliminated.
And when I pursued this further, they estimated they would have to eliminate 25 million people in these reeducation centers.
And when I say "eliminate," I mean "kill."
Twenty-five million people.
I want you to imagine sitting in a room with 25 people, most of which have graduate degrees, from Columbia and other well-known educational centers, and hear them figuring out the logistics for the elimination of 25 million people and they were dead serious.

Consider this in light of those cheering on the shooting of Thompson, and the rending of cloth over the acquittal of Daniel Penny, and the passing of laws calling for the arrest of parents who refuse to let their children's genitals be lopped off and for the state to become the parents.

There are signs, the biggest one being the relative landslide victory of Donald Trump last November and a rejection of the more openly avowed Leftist policies of the Democrat party across demographic lines. Let us hope and pray that this trend is indeed a cultural shift reflected in the election and that it continues for years to come, as it must if we and our progeny are to survive and thrive. What cannot go on will not go on. Hopefully it's the evil insanity of Leftist/Progressivism and not our beloved America as we want to restore.

Lastly, a quick shout-out and thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know. Have a great day!

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• His tweet about the statistics behind the illegal alien burning up a woman on a subway is just chilling.
  Nate Silver shows how leftists think like communists, not like human beings
  
• Prominent figures say they've been kicked out of their banks over politics
  What Is Debanking And Why Are People Talking About It?

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Daily Tech News 26 December 2024

Top Story

• A record 18,000 games were published on Steam in 2024 - around fifty per day. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Of course most of these are small indie titles, but given that most of the tentpole AAA titles in 2024 were catastrophic failures - cough Concord cough - that's not only entirely understandable but a good thing.
  
  
  
• Meanwhile in Europe new game sales dropped by 29% year-on-year. (WCCFTech)
  
  Star Wars Outlaws, one of Ubisoft's biggest failures of 2024, was the 14th best selling title in 2024 out of games released in 2024. But when you include sales of older games, it drops to number 45.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (122) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - December 25, 2024 [TRex]

[Photo: Silent Night Chapel, Oberndorf, Austria]

[Click through for Stille Nacht in the native German language, as God intended. No hidden Yoko. Really. How many skeptics want to click anyway just to check? What, you do not trust a dinosaur?]

***

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Christmas Cafe

When a strange dog decides to give you a present and that present is himself.

A lonely golden doodle in a wheelchair makes a friend.

The cutest little shop clerk.

Playing soccer with an elk.

It's too quacking cold!

Deer running on a trail at night.

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In the Lion's Den Open Thread

Whoops I got caught up and forgot I still have to post!

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The Hounds of Christmas Open Thread

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Reindeer Rock Open Thread

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Forgotten Toys Open Thread

Some toy commercials, and a couple of videos looking at older toys.

One of the toylines shown is the "Ding-a-Lings," a line of robot toys. Terrible name, cool toys. They've got a big giant robot that's piloted by a smaller robot that goes inside his head. The smaller robot is "Brain."

And obviously, you have your Star Wars, Steve Austin, Evil Kneval, etc. Also "Action Man," which was (I think) the UK's version of GI Joe. Not sure if they were sold in the US.

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Dog Christmas Open Thread

Merry Christmas to all! And to all, a good boy!

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Christmas Day Non-Rant

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, Horde. For those of you who observe Hanukkah (which, in an unusual but not too rare congruence, also starts tonight), Happy Hanukkah. For those of you who are in interfaith households, both!

It has been a year of ups and downs, but I hope everyone reading today is having a nice holiday and is in the midst of joy. Please enjoy a Christmas open thread and some nice performances of Christmas music between, I hope, spending time with loved ones, cooking and eating, exchanging gifts and praising G-d as we end the year! I am as always both proud and constantly astonished to be a part of the community we have here at the HQ. For those who are checking in on this holiday, once again, Merry Christmas! For those catching up later, I hope you had a lovely holiday!

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Mid-Morning Art Thread

Nativity. Birth of Jesus
Giotto di Bondone

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The Morning Report — 12/25/24

Good morning kids. Here's wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah. Hope you are all surrounded by loving family and hip deep in wrapping paper and enjoying a big mug of cocoa. As per usual, after a glance at the links that cocoa is bound to be topped off with a healthy dollop of gin.

On a more positive note, I've put the Christmas-related links at the top for easy perusal and thankfully they are all in the main generally positive in their outlook. As a Jew, though not-terribly devout, while I do not celebrate Christmas in a religious manner, I nevertheless recognize and respect the life of Christ, its meaning and his words and deeds as truly a man of God, perhaps the greatest to ever walk the earth.

For me personally, there are two historical events that occurred at Christmastime, one that many of us personally experienced which made a lasting impression. From friend and friend of the blog Bob Zimmerman, his thoughts on the iconic image of the Earth as seen from Apollo 8 as it orbited on Christmas of 1968 before heading towards the moon:

When we here are on Earth frame the image with the horizon on the bottom, we immediately reveal our limited planet-bound perspective. We automatically see ourselves on a planet’s surface, watching another planet rise above the distant horizon line.

This difference in perspective is to me the real meaning of this picture. On one hand we see the perspective of the past. On the other we see the perspective the future, for as long humanity can remain alive.

I prefer the future perspective, which is why I framed this image on the cover of Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 the way Bill Anders took it. I prefer to align myself with that space-faring future.

And it was that space-faring future that spoke when they read from Genesis that evening. They had made the first human leap to another world, and they wished to describe and capture the majesty of that leap to the world. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Yet, they were also still mostly Earth-bound in mind, which is why Frank Borman’s concluding words during that Christmas eve telecast were so heartfelt. He was a spaceman in a delicate vehicle talking to his home of Earth, 240,000 miles away. “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you — all of you on the good Earth.” They longed deeply to return, a wish that at that moment, in that vehicle, was quite reasonable.

Someday that desire to return to Earth will be gone. People will live and work and grow up in space, and see the Earth as Bill Anders saw it in his photograph fifty years ago.

And it is for that time that I long. It will be a future of majesty we can only imagine. Merry Christmas to all, all of us still pinned down here on “the good Earth.”

While 18 months later, witnessing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin actually walking on the moon was something else entirely, to this day, that shot of the earth as seen from Apollo 8 is no less mind-blowing when you get right down to it.

The other seminal event that shaped my life, though it occurred 16 years before I was born, that some of our parents and grandparents actually lived through, and sadly perhaps did not because they had a front row seat to history as they became a part of it, was in and around a place called Bastogne, in Belgium.

[80] years ago this Christmas Eve, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe wrote this letter to his troops during the Battle of the Bulge. . . McAuliffe’s letter began with the heading “Merry Christmas”:
What’s Merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting — it’s cold, we aren’t home. All true but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South and West. We have identifications from four German Panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one German Parachute Division.

When the Germans pounded our lines and the civilians of the area with artillery and blockbuster bombs demanding our surrender, McAuliffe's one word response is as iconic and historic, and quintessentially American, as that photo of the earth from Apollo 8:

22 December 1944 “To the German Commander: N U T S !

The American Commander”

Allied Troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure the success of the Allied Armies. We know that our Division Commander, General Taylor, will say: “Well Done!”

We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas.

And just before Christmas of '44, the weather cleared, Allied fighter-bombers took to the skies and with rocket, cannon and machine-gun fire decimated German armor, artillery and troops, paving the way for Patton's tanks, led by Creighton Abrams to break through the German lines, sweep into Bastogne and relieve the beleaguered 101st holding on for dear life in that freezing hell known as the Bulge.

No, I did not personally live through it, but having been raised by parents and family who directly endured their own hell on earth such as my mother of blessed memory or my father whose beloved brother gave his life in the tropical hell called Saipan six months earlier. And so I was fortunate enough to have been born and raised in a land of liberty and taught the meaning of living in darkness and having an abiding faith that brings us at long last into the light of freedom, love and redemption.

On that note, I reference the estimable Daniel Greenfield and his reflections on Hanukkah this year:

On this Chanukah, menorahs will be lit not only in the land of Israel, from Jerusalem to Gaza, but in Lebanon and on the heights of Mt. Hermon overlooking Syria. Vacationing families will visit the waterfalls of the Hermon Stream in the Golan Heights from which the Syrian Greek armies had descended thousands of years ago to conquer Israel leading to the events of. Chanukah.

The lights of the menorahs over darkness are a reminder that miracles can still happen here. . .

Over two thousand years ago, Judah Maccabee walked among his men, hungry and dressed in rags, and urged them, “O my fellow soldiers, no other time remains more opportune than the present for courage and contempt of dangers; for if you now fight manfully, you may recover your liberty, which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable to all men, so it proves to be to us much more desirable, by its affording us the liberty of worshiping God.”

“You must either recover that liberty, and so regain a happy and blessed way of living, which is that according to our laws, and the customs of our country, or to submit to the most opprobrious sufferings; nor will any seed of your nation remain if ye be defeated in this battle. Fight therefore manfully; and suppose that you must die, though you do not fight; but believe, that besides such glorious rewards as those of the liberty of your country, of your laws, of your religion, you shall then obtain everlasting glory.”

Over two thousand years later the descendants of the Maccabees once again stand watch.

In the days of the Seleucid Empire, Israel existed as a beleaguered encampment surrounded by the Syrian-Greeks, Romans, Edomites and Arabs. That much has not changed. But neither has the will of a small people to keep the light of truth and faith burning against all enemies.

Considering the times in which we live, and what we have seen and endured in a nation that was founded by decent and righteous God-fearing men in response to tyranny, that despite the foibles and failings of men in its relatively 248-year-long microsecond of comparative human history, continues to endure, despite the latest rendition of human evil that seeks to extinguish it, the metaphor of a light among the darkness keeps hope alive that we too shall endure.

We shall overcome this evil that seeks our souls and the destruction of that which we hold dear for their own personal gain and undeserved glory.

The above examples of deliverance from the darkness to the light are a comfort. But as evil indeed never rests, so the struggle to keep it in check if not vanquish it goes on.

May God bless all of you on this Christmas and Hanukkah of 2024 and give us the strength and courage to endure, as well as the faith in ourselves and each other to carry on and make a better world for our loved ones, to restore the promise of America as the last great hope for humanity.

Okay, before I go completely over the top with the schmaltz . . . just a quick shout-out and thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know. Have a great day! See you tomorrow and for the remainder of the week.

God bless us, everyone!!!

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY

CHRISTMAS 2024 . . .

• For the first time in 15 years, Hanukkah and Christmas coincide in 2024: The Jewish holiday begins with the first candle lighting at sundown on Christmas Day. These holidays are an important affirmation of our religious heritage. America was established on a biblical worldview, and it can’t survive without it.
  Faith is at the core of American freedom — and losing it endangers us all

• It's definitely a different look at the original Christmas story. Windle published an article last year in which you can see some of the archaeological findings near the Church of the Nativity, as well as an example of a 1st-century stone manger. Now, I’m not suggesting that you throw away your nativity sets, but consider the different take on the nativity story that archaeology suggests. Let it deepen your sense of awe and wonder and your worship this Christmas.
  Recent Archaeological Finds May Have You Rethinking Your Nativity Scene
  
• [While]... The video footage is from Christmas 2018 and is narrated by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former White House Spokeswoman at the time. Don’t miss it!
  “A Christmas to Remember” – President Trump Releases Powerful New Video on Christmas Eve 2024

• His perspective was that of a spacefarer, an explorer of the universe that sees the planets around him as objects within that universe in which he floats.
  The real meaning of the Apollo 8 Earthrise image
  
• A celebration of faith and unity reveals the enduring power of community and hope amidst a divided and changing world.
  Tidings of Great Joy
  
• Robert Spencer: Christmas reminds us of the certainties in a world of uncertainty.
  The Still Point of the Turning World
  
• "We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present," McAuliffe wrote.
  Read The Letter General Anthony McAuliffe Sent Exhausted, Surrounded Men At The Battle Of The Bulge

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:30 AM | Comments (196) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 25 December 2024

Top Story

• Merry Christmas everybody!
  
  
  
• Electric aircraft startup Lilium has ceased operations and laid off 1000 workers after being unable run raise additional funds. (Tech Crunch)
  
  The German company has filed for insolvency - effectively bankrupt - after fundraising attempts fell through. It had been operating for over ten years and laid off 200 workers earlier this year.
  
  
  
• Electric aircraft startup Lilium has been bought out of insolvency by a group of American and European investors. (Tech Crunch)
  
  The deal is expected to complete early in January and the new owners plan to rehire former workers.
  
  Sometimes things mostly work out.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (125) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Christmas Eve Overnight Open Thread (12/24/24)

*****

The true and correct version of Christmas.

Luke 2:1-20 (King James Version)

2 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 09:36 PM | Comments (539) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Christmas Eve Cafe

Here's a fun popular historian explaining how Christmas traditions came to be. The Christmas tree comes from the pre-Christian practice of putting up a tall tree in the town square and... hanging apples from it, which people could take from the boughs and eat. So that's what ornaments are symbolizing.

Another cool fact he brings up is that the "yule log" was an actual log, or trunk, of six to ten feet long. One corner of the log was put on the fireplace, the rest was outside of the fireplace, laying on the floor. The idea was to burn the yule log for all twelve days of Yule (and then, the twelve days of Christmas). One log can't last that long, so the family would just put it in the fire for a certain amount of time every night, so that the end of the log would be burned on the twelfth night.

Interestingly, Hanukah also features the tradition of extending a fuel source for a number of days (eight in the case of Hanukah). I have no idea if these ideas are related or it's just a case of great minds thinking a light.

Everyone don our festive sweaters.

The cat pled "not guilty," saying he was carried away by Christmas cheer.

Very civilized penguin queues up and waits in line.

Deer chewing bubble gum.

Enough with the TikTok!

Like Daniel in the lion's den.

These pretty dogs have the Christmas Spirit.

Sea lion employs Trumpian negotiation tactics.

Cat says bah, humbug because of course he does.

Posted by: Ace at 07:42 PM | Comments (348) | Trackbacks (Suck)