We're taking a couple days off to be with friends and family. We'll be back Monday morning. In the meantime, consider this an open thread. Tell us what Santa brought you . . . or didn't! Share your thoughts on news or events! Or just fill this thread with comments about whatever crosses your mind!
Thanks! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good mornin'! :^)
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Ben!
ReplyDeleteAnd Merry Christmas (or alternative holidays) to all our readers!
We appreciate all of you who have come to read, come to comment, come to argue, or just to say hello! Thanks everyone!
Today is Festivus - the lead up day to Christmas where we tell those who we love the most the ways that they've disappointed us - and then engage in feats of strength.
ReplyDeleteBut Merry Christmas to one and all!!!
LL, Festivus, LOL! I haven't heard that one in a while! Merry Christmas and a deeply satisfying Festivus to you!
ReplyDeleteWell--I'd heard the stories, but this morning it finally happened in my household. I took my eye off the puppy for two seconds and he pulled the Christmas tree over. I hope this isn't a portent of things to come. LOL
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas everyone!
ReplyDeleteI flew back down to Florida and my grandfather's 80th birthday is on Christmas Day so I accompanied my dad to buy some "Jew food" the the occasion.
ReplyDeleteAnd he also took me to the gun range where I fired a gun for the first time. I wasn't the worst shot in the world but every time I fired the .38 special, I could feel it in my fillings!
Merry Christmas to all the Commentarama-amas! Enjoy the break guys, you've earned it!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Crispy!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas DUQ! Thanks! I am totally looking forward to a little break!
ReplyDeleteScott, Guns and "Jew food". . . sounds like a party? LOL!
ReplyDeleteActually, I always find shooting to be extremely fun and very stress-relieving.
Did you get groped at the airport? Did you go back for seconds? ;-)
Merry Christmas to all!
ReplyDeleteBah! Humbug!
ReplyDeleteNo, not really! Merry Christmas from the Boiler Room Elves, too! We hope everyone has a great holiday!
Go forth and eat cookies.
No, I didn't get groped. I did, however, have my toothpaste confiscated. Big deal. :-)
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas,
ReplyDeleteCommentarama-ers!!
May your gifts be satisfying and your family un-dys-functional!!
May your cookies be sweet and the pies (fill-in-the-blank) yummy!
And may we meet again in the New Year as the common sense and humor of this site continues to keep us sane in this crazy world!
Merry Christmas Patti!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you too Elves!
ReplyDelete"Go forth and eat cookies" -- LOL!
Scott, They took your toothpaste? Why on Earth would they do that? Was it made of explosives? Was it Al Qeada Brand? Was it called "Bombers Delight"?
ReplyDeleteJust Crest. Maybe they thought I was racist and prone to violence since it was the "extra whitening" kind. :-)
ReplyDeleterlaWTX, Thanks! Merry Christmas to you too, and hopefully you'll have a wonderful non-dysfunctional Christmas as well! :-)
ReplyDeleteScott, You buy "extra-whitening"? No wonder, you racist. LOL!
ReplyDeleteActually, you inadvertently bring up a point that is driving me crazy. What ever happened to plain toothpaste? I really don't like all this funky stuff in it, but now it seems you can't buy a toothpaste that doesn't whiten, strengthen, polish, remove unsightly blemishes from your colon, rearrange your chromosones, increase your IQ, stave off malaria, and increase the size of certain parts of your anatomy. What the heck?
Glad the season is upon us at last! I felt my soul was getting a little poisoned with all the political crap of the past few months, so I went out caroling with some others from my church last night. We sang for some really old people and the dad of a schoolmate of mine, who's recovering from a liver transplant none of us thought he'd get and who got really choked up listening to us. So I felt like I was in a really good place. Christmas caroling will do you some good if you're not in the holiday spirit.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Andrew, LawHawk, and everyone else at Commentarama! Have a good one.
Merry Christmas all, and if you're thinking about Groundhog Day already, here's a little humor you might appreciate:
ReplyDeleteIn 2011, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address occur on the same day. As a political observer pointed out, "It is an ironic juxtaposition of events; one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication while the other involves a groundhog."
Thanks T_Rav, Merry Christmas to you too! And I'm glad you got the chance to get into the spirit! :-)
ReplyDeletePitts, That's brilliant! And sadly, very, very true! Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteLawhawk, I missed your comment. Sounds like you've got your hands full.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas everyone. Thanks for the great articles and the great comments! I have felt my brain grow visiting here!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ed, same to you. I'm glad you've found our internet home interesting! :-)
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, all! Living in the greatest country in the world is as good a present as you can get. Thanks also to Andrew and LawHawk. Your blog is an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteSee you in the New Year!
P.S. The SEINFELD Fesitvus episode is required viewing for any family gathering. ;-) Love that episode.
Merry Christmas Writer X!
ReplyDeleteInspiration... cool! :-)
I agree about America -- greatest country on the planet!
Merry Christmas! To all at Commentarama, been working on my water damaged home.
ReplyDeleteStan H-
ReplyDeleteYikes! I know what that's like, having been through a flood also.
I hope it doesn't take too long to fix your home up and I hope you catch a break from the insurance.
Hang in there and try to have as much fun and celebrating as you can.
Andrew said:
ReplyDelete"...now it seems you can't buy a toothpaste that doesn't whiten, strengthen, polish, remove unsightly blemishes from your colon, rearrange your chromosones, increase your IQ, stave off malaria, and increase the size of certain parts of your anatomy. What the heck?"
Andrew, I hear ya. It's only a matter of time before Gillette, etc. (5 blades last time I checked and some strip that's supposed to tenderize your face or something) and the toothpasty scientists team up for the swiss army knife equivalent of personal hygiene, lol.
It'll be easier to say what it won't do.
Stan, Merry Christmas! Best of luck with the house! And don't forget the recipe... :-)
ReplyDeleteBen, At that point, I think I go insane. I will never buy a toothbrush-razor-comb-handsanitizer. Ug. But I can see it coming.
ReplyDeleteRazors drive me crazy too. I want something simple and easy to use. I don't need something that requires training to use, nor do I want a 1000 blades. Simple is better folks. I hope some company comes to realize that.
Good points, Andrew.
ReplyDeleteSimple is better as is "user friendly" and intuitive (I say that mainly irt electronic stuff.
Serously, if I can find a camera that's not too expensive where all I hafta do is point and shoot, I would buy it.
Same with cell phones, computers, dvd players/recorders, etc.. I don't wanna read a manual the size of the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I just wanna plug it in and press on and voila!
I know we have the technology, lol.
And don't get me started on cars. If I could afford it I would buy and maintain a muscle car from the 60's or 70's, or even the 50's.
'Cause I could actually work on them. I could see and change the plugs, filters, and hoses and I'm not what you would call mechanically inclined, lol.
They were simple, and you could see everything, do a tune up even.
Now I can't do anything except add oil or gas because of accessability problems and all the electronics that require other electronics to tune. It's a racket that would make the mafia proud, lol.
I'm not sayin' it's all bad, the advances that is and the better MPG. But I do think it's unAmerican we don't get a choice anymore without being wealthy.
I mean, I know there would be high demand for a return of the muscle cars, or other classics from earlier. Unfortunately, the politicians got too many folks bamboozled about the "evils" of oil, and they would probably find some way to prosecute any car company that tried it or make it not worth their effort.
Oops. I reckon you didn't hafta get me started on cars, lol.
Anyhow, there's always a chance, however remote, that more folks will demand an end to this nonsense (last election was encouraging) and a return of simple cars, muscle cars, and other simple, easy to use products that actually work as advertised and don't require an engineering degree to assemble.
Perhaps something to hope for come Christmas, 2012. :^)
Ben, I agree with everything you've said wholeheartedly -- and I will expand upon my response, but I need to rush out right now for some last minute stuff for dinner tonight! So please don't think I'm blowing you off, I will be back to comment fully.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Ben, I'm right there with you on simplicity. I'm still kind of a fan of SUV's, but with gas prices skyrocketing, I probably won't by another one. My first SUV was a 1990 GMC Jimmy. Simple. Utilitarian. I had it for 10 years and would've bought another, except that GM decided to "luxur-ize" it and totally ruined it. So in 2000, I switched car companies and bought a Jeep Cherokee. Simple. Utilitarian. And now that that car is 10 years old, what did Jeep go and do? They "luxur-ized" all their models. Can you honestly look at any Jeep today (except for the Wrangler, if they even still make it) and say that it even looks like a Jeep? I honestly don't know what I'm going to buy next. I'm liking Scions actually. They're pretty simple and reliable cars, for now anyway.
ReplyDeleteBy all means, Andrew! I hope traffic is kind to you.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I wouldn't think that unless you told me specifically you were.
I'm amazed you can answer every post but I realize not everyone types as slow as me. Still, quite an undertaking sometimes.
As a P.S., my dad bought a new Buick a few years ago (old man car), and he can't even rotate his tires himself because of a new computer feature that monitors tire pressure. I don't know much about it, but he says the computer needs to be reset at the dealer if the tires are moved around. And my dad was a "car guy" in his time--took apart engines and rebuilt them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up, Pittsburgh Enigma. I'll hafta check out the Scion when the time comes for us to trade our current vehicle in.
ReplyDeleteWe currently have a 2005 Chevy Vonage which is a smallish SUV that looks kind of like a van and is classified as a truck, lol.
We got it before GM was taken over by Obama and the Unions or I would've gotten a Ford or something else.
Wow! I heard about those new tires but I had no idea they were that complicated!
ReplyDeleteWhat's left, windshield wiper fluid? I jest, sort of, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were to happen.
Ben and Pitts, I agree completely about the problems with modern cars. When I was young, I had a 1961 Ford Falcon and then a 1979 VW Rabbit. I was able to fix everything on those two cars. Today, I barely know where to put the gas in modern cars. I recognize very little that's under the hood and I don't have any of the electronic gear needed to tinker with it.
ReplyDeleteOn tires, my new car (a Chrysler 300) has the kind of tires that tell the computer what the pressure is in each tire and I'm told those are like $400 each to replace and they need to be installed by someone with the right gear to make them speak to the computers. What the heck?
Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of the gadgets, but I think we've reached the point where the technology has moved beyond us average people to do anything with. Ug.
Ben, On your prior post, I think there would be a HUGE demand for a return to simpler products. Muscle cars are a good example. It seems that whenever they come out with a new one, it has more in common with modern luxury cars than their roots.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same thing with things like razor blades. There was an interesting article the other day that people are making money importing simpler razors from foreign countries, where they haven't been able to crack the market with the high-tech versions yet.
And what troubles me about these razors (and similar products) is that most of the changes they make are not intended to improve products but are meant to justify a higher price. For example, the whole multiple blade thing -- all the research shows that those not only do not do anything useful, they are actually harmful because they cut too much. But by pretending this is some mega innovation and phasing out the older versions, you end up with a situation where people are tricked (or forced) into paying more. That's where market forces are coming in, iwth people importing from overseas.
I firmly believe there are a lot of opportunities like that out there, if only industry would pay attention to them.
You're right about manuals too, they've reached the point of needing to be classified as literature. Grrr.
Did anybody see that Rahm Emanuel can now run for mayor? Was there every any doubt? I hope he wins, Chicago deserves him.
ReplyDeleteEd, I saw that. It sounds like Santa delivered early for Rahm. But you're right, I can't see a corrupt Democratic town like Chicago declaring that a Democrat did anything wrong.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Everyone!
ReplyDeleteHappy Chanukah? (If that's the correct thing to say... :-))
ReplyDeleteIn any event, Happy Holiday's Bev!
And thanks for all you contributed this year!
Apropos of nothing, did anyone happen to see Google's "holiday" logo today? It's a collage of "holiday" images but doesn't seem to include one reference to "Christmas". I swear there's a "Kwanza" reference there, though? And of course a secular Santa Claus reference. It was the same story last year. I don't get why they're so unwilling to acknowledge Christmas. We get logos celebrating everything from the xx'th anniversary of the light bulb to the birth of PacMan. Yet Christmas is an official national holiday (whether some people like it or not), so why not acknowledge it? But it's ok to acknowledge Kwanza? I guess I'm the idiot for continuing to use Google.
ReplyDeletePitts, I've given up on google because I don't like the way the new searches work, and I find their information gathering practices borderline criminal.
ReplyDeleteBut leaving that aside, I am not surprised. Somehow the only religion that the politically correct among us can't stand is Christianity.
They can tolerate the religion of hate a/k/a Islam, they love Buddha, Wicca, American-Indianism, and any other number of beliefs and/or insanities... yet somehow, they think it would be wrong to promote Christianity. That tells you all you need to know about the real foundations of political correctness -- it's not about inclusiveness, it's about hating the people and things that it views as the traditional pillars of Western civilization.
"Somehow the only religion that the politically correct among us can't stand is Christianity."
ReplyDeleteAndrew, ain't that the truth! This reminds me of something else. I rented Book of Eli recently on your recommendation, and I really liked it. So afterwards, I went to Amazon to check out the reviews, and I was a little amazed at the vitriol some people spewed about this film. The following snippet from one person's review pretty much summed up the hate for Christians and Christianity:
This is Hollywood at its absolute worst: a violent disgusting movie that only caters to the lowest human instincts, i.e. just perfect for bible-carrying gun-loving fundamentalist zealots in the pre-apocalypse.
Isn't that line quite telling? Someone else replied to the reviewer and suggested that he might be a militant atheist. But the reviewer just didn't get it. His defensiveness just painted him as more of a hate monger.
I also had to laugh that some people were offended that a cat was killed (and eaten.) Just what exactly should people in a post-apocalyptic world eat? Head to the nearest McDonald's? Amazing.
Pitts, I see that all the time in reviews. The left loves to claim that we're the ones who can't look beyond politics at films, but you put the slightest "non-approved" message into a film and leftists scream bloody murder. Allow me translate their thinking: "groupthink is doubleplus good and anyone who would dare suggest something I don't believe must be savagely murdered in body and spirit and driven from our collective memories. . . to protect society of course."
ReplyDeleteI also find it amazing how pathetic the people are who whine about things like a cat being eaten. Forget that they were eating people too, but oh no! how dare they suggest that someone would eat a cat after the apocalypse! Once we're freed of the requirements of evil capitalist society, we would all revert to our wonderful, peaceful natural state, where we eat nuts and berries from the trees.... idiots.
There are too many people on this planet who are incapable of dealing with the real world. Some of them join cults, the rest become "progressives."
Re: Book of Eli:
ReplyDeleteGreat flick! Man, talk about missing the point of the film! I saw some idiotic comments (and lefty reviews) anout Gran Torino also, calling Eastwood "racist," promoting violence, not pc, yadda yadda.
Both movies deserved oscar nominations IMO, but regardless, ourstanding flicks that I actually wanna watch again, because they are deep, entertaining, tell good, solid stories, have great acting and direction, and ain't the same old, tired, cliched, in your face, leftist propaganda.
Refreshing to see that at least some producers, directors and actors and writers can still make enjoyable and meaningful movies.
Speaking of which, I hope my wife got me The Expendables for Christmas! LOL! Probably not a real deep film but it sure sounds very enjoyable!
Besides, Stallone's Rambo was superb and one of the best films he has made! I rarely see a movie he is in I haven't enjoyed on some level. :^)
Ben, I wrote an article about Book of Eli, because I was so stunned at the conservative message of the film -- very unusual in Hollywood and it makes me wonder if things are starting to change in Hollywood?
ReplyDeleteI saw The Expendables the other day. It was enjoyable, but I wanted more. In particular, I wanted more from all the big name actors -- it focuses mainly on Stalone and Statham, and the others are more like cameos. Still, I enjoyed it for what it was -- it was very much like an 80's action film done with slightly higher production qualities. It was a good ride!
Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas everyone! Thanks for all your work this year.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Loved Book of Eli!
Merry Christmas Dane and Doc!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Commentarians
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Jed!
ReplyDelete