Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

So many bastards, so little time.

Democrats are back in array!

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Merry Xmas

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Merry Xmas

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  3. 3.

    p.a.

    Theme Time Radio Hour archive has its Christmas/New Year link up, some great known & not-so-well-known holiday music, introduced by Hibbing, Minn’s most famous export (no, not Kevin McHale or Roger Maris).

  5. 5.

    satby

    Nollaig Shona Duit! Fröhliche Weihnachten! Joyeux Noël! Buon Natale!  ¡Feliz Navidad! メリークリスマス! സന്തോഷകരമായ ക്രിസ്മസ് !    Mele Kalikimaka!

    Merry Christmas, everyone!

  10. 10.

    Cermet

    The Web had a perfect launch and is on its journey to its deep space location (solar panels deployed successfully.

    So  very Merry Christmas to NASA and the Telescope Institute in Baltimore.

  14. 14.

    stinger

    Merry Christmas! I celebrated by making my first donation to Four Directions Michigan, so that all our days may be merry and bright!

  16. 16.

    Phylllis

    Merry Christmas to all y’all. Fixing to put the pancakes & sausages on here in a bit, then back to idly loafing until time start the holiday meal.

  17. 17.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Merry Christmas, goyim!  It’s starting to sink in that I have a book release on the 4th.  Christmas is all about necromancy, right?  Or was that Easter?

  27. 27.

    Tata

    Merry Christmas! My daughter sent a Polaroid Photo Frame and I’m having an absolute party with it. Five stars. Would recommend.

  28. 28.

    JMG

    Merry Christmas, everyone! We are house-bound today, as all outside surfaces in eastern Massachusetts are covered with a thin but lethal sheet of ice from freezing rain.

  32. 32.

    debbie

    I had to drive into work for something two years ago. It was Veterans Day, which we have off, so it was empty. Driving out of the parking lot, I saw a deer and an orange cat pal-ing around. They both looked at me, turned, and disappeared into the woods.

  36. 36.

    geg6

    Merry Christmas to all jackals!  It’s 54 F and raining to beat the band here in Western PA.  Glad we got the family stuff out of the way yesterday.  We’re gonna snuggle with the fur babies and find something to binge.  Anybody watch either season of The Hot Zone?  Anyway, hope you all have a lovely day, whether you celebrate or not.

  37. 37.

    Spanky

    @zhena gogolia: An average size fox is about the same size as an average housecat, plus fangs and nasty claws. Foxes around here know that there are a lot easier pickings than a cat, unless it’s old and/or sick. Plus, that fox is hand fed.

  38. 38.

    MagdaInBlack

    @zhena gogolia: There is a Maine Coon cat I follow on (the dreaded fb) named Louis. He lives outside Berlin, is ferried about in a canoe and has foxes for friends.

    Google ( or fb )  Louiswildlife if you’re so inclined.

  47. 47.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Merry Christmas all. It rained pretty heavy here yesterday and last night and we definitely needed it. This year’s been very dry.

    One of my cousins in England posted a pic of a fox. It looked surprisingly small. Maybe people are thinking coyotes are like foxes?? Coyotes will totally grab a cat or small dog. But they’re more like the size of a teenage german shepherd.

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    @geg6

    If you have access to Netflix, the two seasons (only six half-hour episodes in each) of Home for Christmas are pretty good fun.

    Per Netflix’ description, “Raunchy, Quirky, Irreverent, Heartfelt, Feel-Good, Emotional, Romantic.”

  50. 50.

    Geminid

    @Spanky: That fox seems pretty civilized. They are all around where I live, but I’ve only seen red foxes in the daylight twice. Once was after a sudden downpour, and they were fleeing their burrow.

  51. 51.

    debbie

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    A fox trotted by me while I was walking through my suburban neighborhood one day. It was about the same size as in the photo above. I’d bet cats can easily outrun them. Dogs maybe not; they’d probably stand there wanting to say hi to this new guy.

  53. 53.

    KM in NS

    Merry Christmas from Nova Scotia. It’s merry and bright here. The turkey is in the oven and the house smells…yummy!

  59. 59.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Happy Christian Revision of a Roman Holiday Celebrating the Winter Solstice, aka Merry Christmas.

    Went to the zoo lights display at the Denver Zoo last night. It’s great that we can walk to it. There are some resident foxes there and across the street at the golf course. I only see them when running at 3am. Back in Central Misery, I only saw foxes twice living in the country. Urban foxes are far less shy.

    Today, it’s back to bathroom and upstairs renovations because Tis the Season.

  62. 62.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Merry Christmas from New Mexico! Listening to Sufjan Stevens’ first Christmas album, a treasure and a tradition in our house.

  63. 63.

    Phylllis

    @geg6: Terrific little doc about industrial musicals on Netflix called Bathtubs Over Broadway. Fun and quirky. When your fellow enthusiasts include Jello Biafra and Don Bolles, you have found a niche.

  64. 64.

    JMG

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Animals have learned that in the American suburbs, they need not fear man. Coyotes roam through my neighborhood (not often, but more than once or twice a year) with no fear. At my public golf course, there’s one that lives there, I think, see we see him/her all summer and fall.

  66. 66.

    HinTN

    @Cermet: For the highest visibility launch of the (relatively) new millennium, who ya gonna trust? ESA, ESA, ESA!

    Congratulations to all affiliated with the JWST and Merry Christmas, all.

  68. 68.

    Kalakal

    Used to see foxes a lot back in England. Size of a small to medium dog but very lean and long legged. Urban foxes can be pretty relaxed around people. Early one morning when I stepped out the door there was one on the garden path about 10ft away. I expected it to do a quick sprint away. Nope, just sat there and looked at me then came up to say hello. let me pet it just like a dog would. I gave it some cat food and we were buddies. Lovely looking creature, very coarse fur

  69. 69.

    Kalakal

    @Cermet: It’s the perfect tribute and birthday present to Isaac Newton. His laws of motion and universal gravation gave us the maths for the calculation of the orbital motions and he invented the reflecting telescope.

  73. 73.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @WaterGirl:

    I’m not sure I have your address, which is odd, because I know we exchanged messages last time.  Yes, I am interested.  I’m always super reluctant to ask, especially with my on-again off-again attendance on the blog this year.

  74. 74.

    SFBayAreaGal

    From the windy and rainy (so happy and thankful for this rain) San Francisco area, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays everyone.

  75. 75.

    Another Scott

    @Kalakal: We stopped by a ranger station on our Yellowstone/Grand Teton NP a few years ago.  There was a guy on the path with a camera on a monopod taking landscape photos.  We happened to look down and a female fox just walked right past him down the path as if she owned the place.  I got a shot with my phone and showed it to him.  :-)

    Lots of foxes in our NoVA neighborhood – Ellie goes nuts trying to hunt them – they don’t much care (they seem to understand leashes).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  77. 77.

    H.E.Wolf

    Wishing a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it.

    One of my siblings has a tradition of choosing “the most Charlie-Brown-like” tree on the lot for their household – a tree that just needs a little tender loving care.

    May we all extend a little TLC to one another in this winter (summer) season, and in the seasons yet to come. :-)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvwybofO7UY

  78. 78.

    WaterGirl

    @Frankensteinbeck: You can reach any of us with our nym at balloon-juice.com

    If a person has more than one name, such as *John Cole, you put a hyphen in between.

    Adding that last information in case everyone wants to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to John Cole, in ALL CAPS.

  80. 80.

    jeffreyw

    We see foxes pretty often on the cameras we have distributed around the property.  Here’s one from spring of ’16 showing a raccoon chasing a fox from some corn.  The ‘coon is average adult sized. Foxes are fluffy during the winter but can be really scrawny looking during the warmer months.

  81. 81.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: Adding that last information in case everyone wants to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to John Cole, in ALL CAPS.

    You’ve been so kind to the lurkers this year, with those special meet-and-greet posts.  And now we see it was all a trap….

  84. 84.

    Kattails

    Merry Christmas and whatever else, to everyone.  I did my traveling yesterday, to my sister and her partners house, and have lovely beef and cream potato leftovers, cookies, and a new Tibetan singing bowl. We did Christmas eve because the forecast for today is, literally, freezing rain before 3 PM, then rain. Tonight rain, snow, freezing rain, sleet before 1 AM, then chance of snow, freezing drizzle, and sleet between 1 and 2 AM, and chance of snow and freezing drizzle after 2 AM. The furthest I am going is to the woodpile.

    The soft caramel recipe turned out well, there are chocolate raspberry truffles, the goldfinches are back at the feeder after last year’s mysterious absence.  I have things to putter with.  All is calm.

  85. 85.

    Emma from Miami

    Happy Holidays from a (relatively) cold South Florida. We did the “big party” yesterday in the Cuban tradition. Today it’s all about coffee in bed and hitting Prime for some Midsummer Murders binge-watching.

  88. 88.

    Miss Bianca

    @jeffreyw: Watched Scrooged again last night, and had forgotten the hilarious/terrifying sequence where Bobcat Goldthwait’s character is stalking Bill Murray with a shotgun, blearily sing-mumbling Santa Claus is Coming to Town as he does so.

    It *is* a pretty terrifying song, when you think about it.

  89. 89.

    Joe Falco

    Merry Xmas to those who celebrate it. I went to a family get-together last night with just my immediate family. I found out that a sibling tested positive for COVID-19 so looks like I’ll be getting myself tested as soon as possible. Good thing I got my booster a few weeks ago at least!

  91. 91.

    Ken

    @Miss Bianca: It *is* a pretty terrifying song, when you think about it.

    “Later on we’ll conspire as we dream by the fire, and face unafraid the plans we have made….”

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Eric L. Robinson @UticaEric 19h

    As I understand it, “Let’s Go Brandon” is code for “High school gym class was the most important time of my life.”

  95. 95.

    J R in WV

    @Frankensteinbeck: ​
     

    Congratulations on the book release date. I’ve enjoyed several of your novels, will try this on on for size too.

    Fellow jackals: Frankensteinbeck writes entertaining and funny novels about very strange situations. Kinda a cross between modern fantasy and SciFi with weird folded in carefully. Recommended!

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