Keep the Holy In Melancholy Christmas

You know what I love about this Charlie Brown Christmas song- it's the saddest song in the world! That's not singing, it's droning. Love it, so melancholy and weird.

https://youtu.be/GPG3zSgm_Qo

December 19, 2014

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So when can we talk about the Mandalorian finale? I was nearly in tears at the end.

*Fun fact- I woke up at 6am Friday to watch it so I wouldn't see any headlines ruining it. I had dreamt about it all that night, saw several variations of it in my dreams. One variation started off with... a Bill Murray sex tape! It wasn't even part of the story... it was an actual Bill Murray sex tape just edited right in. I guess I was scared it was going to be awful. Could there possibly be a worse beginning to a Star Wars movie???

December 19, 2020

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Notice the language... "impeachment hoax," "phony charges," etc. He IS impeached, there ARE charges. This stuff is, as they say, "real." The underlying theme is that Congress does not have right to investigate this guy, or to make charges based on those investigations. Whether he's guilty or innocent, everyone can agree Congress clearly has the sole right of Impeachment in the Constitution. It's not up to any president to declare themselves innocent and refuse to participate. There are all kinds of policy issues that we can disagree on, and it's good to disagree on policy and hash it out… but so much going on now doesn't even rise to the level of being debate-worthy. 

Let me put it in perspective. You're walking down the sidewalk and you see a dog turd. Do you eat it? No! It's not even worth debating, don't eat it! Well Trump is Divine. And many of his followers are like, "show me the statute that proves this is a crime!"

December 19, 2019

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If I make it to the front of the line for Santa before Emma shows up with the kids, I'm going to feel like an idiot.

December 19, 2017

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Trump's been saying that he won the election in a landslide. I thought he was lying, but I finally realized what he must mean- he won the election in a popular vote landslide for Clinton.

December 19, 2016

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I dressed up for Star Wars. I'm wearing my best camouflage pants and a nice sweater.

December 19, 2015

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I haven't seen the movie yet, but i'm going to get started on my fake spoilers below in the comments.

-I was NOT expecting a 45 minute pod race!

-Greedo's zombie shot Han??? Wow!

-Planets are no longer just one temperate zone. (Maybe that's true, I don't know.)

-A Wampa with PhD? I hope he gets a spinoff!

-Chewie shaved, and he's not wearing any underpants.

-The sad plight of Han Solo...we find out he was relagated to a life of herding nerfs, and his looks can only be described as scruffy.

-ES- That Sullustan orgy scene was a little over the top.

-PR-When Chewbacca was revealed as Kylo Ren!!! I got goosebumps!!

-Right, and Kylo Stimpy as his sidekick... who could have guessed that???

December 19, 2015

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From Sam Harris's debate with William Lane Craig, on values in science:

"And the truth is, science has always been in the values business. We simply cannot speak of facts without resorting to values. Consider the simplest statement of scientific fact: Water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. This seems as value-free an utterance as human beings ever make. But what do we do when someone doubts the truth of this proposition? Ok, all we can do is appeal to scientific values. The value of understanding the world. The value of evidence. The value of logical consistency. What if someone says, “Well, that’s not how I choose to think about water. Ok, I’m Biblical chemist, and I read in Genesis 1 that God created water before he created light. So I take that to mean that there were no stars. So there were no stars to fuse hydrogen and helium into heavier elements like oxygen; therefore there was no oxygen to put in the water, so either God created, either water has no oxygen, or God created special oxygen to put in the water—but I don’t think he would do that, because that would be Biblically inelegant.” Ok, what can we say to such a person? Ok, all we can do is appeal to scientific values. And if he doesn’t share those values, the conversation is over. Ok, if someone doesn’t value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn’t value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" https://youtu.be/yqaHXKLRKzg

December 19, 2011

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On this day in 1675, The Great Swamp Fight- a pivotal battle in King Philip's War, gave the English settlers a bitterly won victory. Sounds fun, huh?

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On this day in 1776, Thomas Paine published one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled "The American Crisis".

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."

"To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture."

"I love the man that smiles at trouble: that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection."

"A government or an administration, who means and acts honestly, has nothing to fear, and consequently has nothing to conceal."

"For though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire."

"The connection between vice and meanness is a fit subject for satire, but when the satire is a fact, it cuts with the irresistible power of a diamond."

"Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man."

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Notable birthdays- Édith Piaf (1915), "Mean Gene" Okerlund (1942), and Alyssa Milano (1972).

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Sinead- I'll Tell Me Ma

https://youtu.be/wq4moQ4H80E

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I'm so pleased with that Colbert Report finale. In 9 years the guy hasn't let me down once.

http://on.cc.com/1wv0UWM

December 19, 2014

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Big Think- 10 jokes from philosopher Slavoj Žižek

"In an old joke from the defunct German Democratic Republic, a German worker gets a job in Siberia; aware of how all mail will be read by censors, he tells his friends: "Let's establish a code: if a letter you will get from me is written in ordinary blue ink, it is true; if it is written in red ink, it is false." After a month, his friends get the first letter, written in blue ink: "Everything is wonderful here: stores are full, food is abundant, apartments are large and properly heated, movie theaters show films from the West, there are many beautiful girls ready for an affair—the only thing unavailable is red ink.""

https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/slavoj-zizek-jokes

December 19, 2020

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After 4 years of Trump being motivated purely by self-interest and undoing Obama's legacy, it would be funny to see Biden incorporate his special branch of the military (I think you know which one I mean, "pew pew") under the Air Force, where it was before. I say "special branch," because it's just too ridiculous to say the name out loud, or even write it. (At least he didn't call it Special Patrol Group, I'll give him that.)

https://youtu.be/N5X8eQ3nYAs

December 19, 2020

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Politico: Trump downplays cyberattack on U.S., breaks with Pompeo on Russia’s role

Pompeo says it was a Russian attack, and I did the countdown in my head, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and up pipes trump, "It might have been China!" Nobody TOLD him it might have been China, he's just saying it would have been China to, you know... deflect once again from Russia, for some mysterious reason.

Sure, it might have been Sri Lanka. You might have noticed that Trump's defense of anything having to do with Russia is simply this... "Russia, Russia, Russia."

So I guess the proper rebuttal, according to Trump's laws of debate would be, "Yes, Russia, Russia, Russia!" But as always don't listen to me, listen to Pompeo if you prefer.

https://www.newsandguts.com/link/politico-trump-downplays-cyberattack-on-u-s-breaks-with-pompeo-on-russias-role/

December 19, 2020

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This guy gave a fast food worker $1,000 for being nice to him...

https://www.facebook.com/reel/676502510665298

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The Onion- Report: Only 3% Of Conversations Actually Need To Happen

https://www.theonion.com/report-only-3-of-conversations-actually-need-to-happe-1820611008

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Jean Libbera, "The Double-Bodied Man," lived from about 1884 until about 1934-1936. 

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Pythagoras- “It is better to be silent than to dispute with the ignorant.”

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Isaac Asimov- "When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent."

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Bill Hicks- "I'm glad mushrooms are against the law, because I took them one time, and you know what happened to me? I laid in a field of green grass for four hours going, "My God! I love everything." Yeah, now if that isn't a hazard to our country … how are we gonna justify arms dealing when we realize that we're all one?"

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Arthur C. Clarke- "One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. So now people assume that religion and morality have a necessary connection. But the basis of morality is really very simple and doesn't require religion at all."

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Saki- "I think oysters are more beautiful than any religion,' he resumed presently. 'They not only forgive our unkindness to them; they justify it, they incite us to go on being perfectly horrid to them. Once they arrive at the supper-table they seem to enter thoroughly into the spirit of the thing. There's nothing in Christianity or Buddhism that quite matches the sympathetic unselfishness of an oyster."

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Epictetus- "Nothing important comes into being overnight; even grapes and figs need time to ripen. If you say that you want a fig now, I will tell you to be patient. First, you must allow the tree to flower, then put forth fruit; then you have to wait until the fruit is ripe. So if the fruit of a fig tree is not brought to maturity instantly or in an hour, how do you expect the human mind to come to fruition, so quickly and easily?"

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Steven Wright:

I have an inferiority complex, but it’s not a very good one.

Tell a man that there are 400 billion stars and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint and he has to touch it.

Whose cruel idea was it for the word “lisp” to have an “s” in it?

If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes?

I wear my heart on my sleeve. I wear my liver on my pant leg.

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Sagan- "To live in the hearts we leave behind is to live forever."

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Vonnegut- "All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist."

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Woody Allen- "I am at two with nature."

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Hitchens- "Do I think I'm going to paradise? Of course not. I wouldn't go if I was asked. I don't want to live in some fucking celestial North Korea for one thing. Where all I get to do is praise the dear leader from dawn to dusk."