We haven’t had snow around these parts until yesterday morning, we got up and there was a couple inches of fresh snow on the ground. It stayed all day, so we had a white Christmas. Got up this morning, and it was raining, so all the snow got washed away.
Some people like it that way, but if I could get several feet of snow, I’d prefer that.
It keeps the idiots down.
Christmas happened, and we all got pretty much what we wanted. We’re an easy bunch. Freddie got gourmet dog biscuits and a sweater because of course he did.
My wife bought a Cure 81 spiral-cut ham, and I smoked it. Yes it was already cooked, but we smoked it low with cherry wood and a glaze made from brown sugar, honey and the drippings. Turned out really nice. I’m getting better at this smoking thing all the time, and yes, I realize I’m a walking stereotype, but it was either smoking meats or becoming an expert in one battle of the civil war or ww2, and I get hungry now and again so that’s the way I went.
Our negotiations with the agency are on hold for the holidays. We’ll hit it hard when we come back and while I strongly suspect the incoming administration will force the agency to cut a bunch of stuff out, we’ll wrap them up in paper for as long as we can because what else can we do?
Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer happens to be the only Republican that my union, American Federation of Government Employees, endorsed the last election. She has a history of supporting organized labor and supporting civil servants. I wonder how long she’ll last in Trump’s admin, and I wonder what’s going to happen. I honestly don’t think the GOP-controlled Senate would confim her.
Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, 52, graduated from Texas A&M University with an undergraduate degree in agricultural development before completing law school at the University of Texas. She served as domestic policy chief during Trump’s first term, a portfolio that included agricultural policy. After leaving the White House, she became president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration. Rollins, in an interview earlier this year, called Trump an “amazing boss.”
I find that last bit ominous.
We’re going to California for a week here in a couple days. Looking forward to it.
How did everybody make out for Christmas?
War for Ukraine Day 1,037: Kyiv Under Fire
Villago Delenda Est
I thought after last week’s Christmas joke swap thing on SNL, I had another chance at Scarlett Johansson. But no, it did not come to pass.
Nukular Biskits
How did you keep it lit?
<rimshot>
Scout211
Cure 81? Is that a rock group from the 80s?
Jay
@Scout211:
https://www.hormel.com/brands/hormel-cure-81-ham/
Cure 81 relates to the recipe for curing the ham.
different-church-lady
I’m stunned Trump wants to nominate anyone who has a background in any given position.
mvr
I got a setup for carrying fly rods without takng them apart on the Suburu – half a present from myself and half a present from my spouse. And a book entitled “James” which is the Huckleberry Finn story retold from Jim’s perspective. I hear it is good. And a couple of bird books and another about Cain’s in Tulsa where Bob Wills used to play and we saw Wilco earlier in the month. Got my spouse a nice Eddie Bauer puffy and a Patagonia puffy artificial filler vest to go over it. That way she has layers to keep warm when we travel to the mountains.
We had salmon roe on self-made bellini with champaign the night before along with homemade cream of assorted mushroom soup. And more of the salmon roe as leftovers with lobster and broccoli on the day with some berry shortcake I made for dessert. So that was good too.
If we could just fix the world it would all be OK.
rikyrah
Ham sounds delicious 😋
different-church-lady
Memories of that lonely Thanksgiving I baked a tiny already-cooked ham using instructions for a raw one… 🪨
BlueGuitarist
Drove by a house with a hand lettered sign
“smoke meat, not meth”
mrmoshpotato
I like a lot of snow too.
mrmoshpotato
@different-church-lady: Haha! I was surprised too.
Leto
I see you got the meme. I went the other way :p
zhena gogolia
I just read a family memoir. Happy to see we were on the right side in the Civil War.
Miki
Xmas is for pets and children, only one of which I have.
Ty got a Crackly Christmas Giraffe that he absolutely loves. He brought it to bed last night so every time I turned over (a lot) it crackled and woke both of us up. Good times.
I got a new Instant Pot with an air fryer lid. It arrives tomorrow. Can’t wait. First up is a whole chicken pressure cooked then air fried for crispy skin.
Xmas Eve dinner was excellent – pork tenderloin with balsamic cherry preserve reduction, wild/brown rice pilaf, buttered rosemary rolls. Easy peasy and awesome, all of it.
My folks got married on this day in 1950. They showered together every night until they both died in 2008, my dad on January 31, my mom on July 13. A love like theirs ….
Happy Holidays, ya’ll.
Jay
@Miki:
It’s so nice that they were into water conservation before it was a thing, : )
West of the Rockies
@Scout211:
Hmmm… I recall Level 42. (Although I did have to look them up; I was thinking Level 17 or 23.)
I made blended mudslides yesterday that were excellent: vodka, Kahlua, Bailey’s, and vanilla ice cream (Tillamook). Wow, I identified the ice cream but not the vodka. Tells you where my priorities lie/lay.
RaflW
Minneapolis did manage a white Christmas this year, so that made for a pretty view — and was desperately needed, as we’ve had I think 8 days in a row with full overcast, one of which I think had a few small breaks of filtered sun. The snow really makes it all brighter and easier to take. I can now just slightly detect the sunsets getting later.
The two of us had a variation on BF’s family tradition of pasta and sauce for Xmas Eve dinner, after I went to a nice UU Christmas service with tons of music (performed + congregation sung carols, and of course candlelit Silent Night). Xmas day was super simple since BF is still recovering from (mild) covid. I’m recovering from my “this holiday sucked” post yesterday.
Tomorrow I drive to the Kansas City, KS area to see my three cousins and fam. I’m happy for that. BF will catch up with me in Denver a few days later so he has more time to rest up and can skip the 16.5 hours of road tripping.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
A local view of what the Orange Fart Cloud’s Labor nominee is actually about:
https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2023/04/12/chavez-deremer-appears-moderate-but-shes-anything-but/
She has not been, to my knowledge, endorsed by the other Fed union, NFFE, but please correct me if they’ve taken a stance on her.
Moreover, The American Prospect is not impressed:
https://prospect.org/politics/2024-12-04-labor-nominee-chavez-deremer-trump-loyalist/
Also too, the Teamster’s head (scumbag) was supposedly pushing her with the Orange Fart Cloud:
https://thehill.com/business/5012478-trump-labor-secretary-chavez-deremer/
Pardon me if I raise an eyebrow at this nomination…as a retired Fed of 38+ years.
Scout211
@West of the Rockies: LOL
I was thinking The Cure and Blink 82 merged into Cure 81.
But Jay set me straight at #4.
NotMax
Start smaller, say with the The 1896 Anglo-Zanzibar War, and work your way up.
:)
RaflW
@West of the Rockies: Level 17 is the Casino tour band made up of some past Heaven 17 members + some from Level 42.
I’d kid. But I’d consider going to see such a thing! (Heaven 42? Absolutely not.)
Ruckus
If Brooke Rollins thinks shitforbrains is an amazing boss, this does not speak highly of her, well everything.
He’s a boob and a moron. He may not have been a moron earlier in his life but he is aging out and far faster than Joe Biden. Drama and stupidity does that to a human. And yes he is human. Not in any way a good example of human But at least you know what a stupid one looks like when you see him. Now he’s also pompous and arrogant because he thinks he’s the smartest dipshit in all of humanity. But alas he is wrong, stupid, useless and about 99 other derogatory things. Except he is also the bestest dipshit in human history. And yes there is competition for that bestest dipshit award, but he’s the one that takes the cake.
Soonergrunt
@mvr: That sounds AMAZING!
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: Which Civil War?
NotMax
@RaflW
IIRC the observation deck of the Foshay Tower is open year-round. A glimmering sight looking out from there after a significant snowfall.
different-church-lady
@Scout211: Hate to tell you this, but it’s Blink-182.
RaflW
@NotMax: I’ve been up there once, or to the bar that’s more or less up top, when a friend stayed there (it’s a W Hotel). I’ve not thought to go back up to the observation level, though!
opiejeanne
@Miki: Our 55th is tomorrow.
I tried to request an acknowledgment from the White House but couldn’t get the site to work. Meh. I thought my spouse would love it. There’s a good reason we didn’t put in a request for our 50th.
Scout211
@different-church-lady: LOL
Oops.
NotMax
@RaflW
Way back when my legs were (a lot) more functional, would on occasion bundle up and walk along Grand Avenue in St. Paul (If before it had been fully plowed, more the better). There’s something all Currier & Ives about stately mansions topped with snow.
mvr
@Ruckus: There was never a time that he wasn’t a boob and a moron. I moved to NJ in 1985 for grad school and it wasn’t a year before I knew as much. I have an old (early 90s) paper that I never could publish (too long) that uses him as an example of an untalented privileged person. I hated him when he was a Democrat and I hate him now. And he’s still a boob and a moron and a racist.
Almost Retired
@RaflW: Wow. I vaguely remember my grandparents taking me to Minneapolis on the old Kansas City-Minneapolis rocket train from Des Moines. Roughly 1969 or so. The Foshay Tower was still the tallest building in the city (the IDS Center was still a few years away) and the observation tower blew my six year old mind.
opiejeanne
@RaflW: We had the usual Christmas Eve party, standing rib, Yorkshire pudding, it was all good but only 7 guests including us. Our son’s car is on the fritz, so he and his wife, step-kids, and his baby were stranded at home in Portland, OR, and Middle kid and husband were in Florida. Youngest kid and her husband, niece and her husband, and my sister made up the party.
Went to the candlelight service at the UMC, sang in the choir. Nice service, mostly familiar carols other than the 3 pieces we sang.I was positioned between 2 sopranos who could stay on pitch on the high notes which help d me a lot. The toughest of the 3 was The Wexford Carol, the simplest of the 3 was actually gorgeous, full of lush harmonies.
Yesterday we stayed home and ate a lot of cookies.
RaflW
Oh, Sooner, for some reason I think you might occasionally ski at Cherry Peak? Am I making that up? Anyway, if that’s you, it’s opening tomorrow. Sounds like it’s been an unfortunately warm early season there.
hitchhiker
Both our daughters are married, mid-30s, moms of preschoolers. We all see each other every week or so and stay in touch more than that, which makes it feel unnecessary to make a big deal of Being Together on Christmas Morning. I like it better knowing that they’re making their own traditions — they’ll need them once we’re aged out anyway.
But we are going to all hang out on Saturday, which is when I’ll find out what sort of precious absurdities the grandkids decided I should have. Last year it was a pair of extremely ugly and non-functional salt and pepper shakers. Hard to top that, so my expectations are low.
I thank the baby jeebus none of these people are politically or religiously bonkers; honestly don’t know how I’d deal if they were.
BigJimSlade
@Jay: And here I was thinking he was going to start singing Primary.
Further we go
And older we grow
The more we know
The less we show…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xrZ61cuKLk
BeautifulPlumage
Here in the PNW we’re getting rain and atmospheric rivers. Still a good holiday of dinners and other gatherings. It’s now Christmas week, kinda like how birthday evolved into birth week (or month for some…). I’m not English/Canadian/Etc but I’ve had a lovely Boxing Day too (and someday I’ll understand that holiday).
RevRick
Our Jewish son-in-law smoked a chicken and a brisket for our Christmas dinner. Delish. Afterwards, he lit the menorah and sang the accompanying song in Hebrew. I got a sweater and flannel shirts and a couch candy and a gift card to B&N. Wife and I got tickets to the Philly Symphony
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Jay: I always wondered about smoking cooked hams. After all, salmon is smoked raw, isn’t it? So when does meat need to be both cooked & smoked?
NotMax
@opiejeanne
Gotta link it.
:)
Bupalos
@different-church-lady: Trump doesn’t “want” anything in particular. And definitely doesn’t give a flying fuck about a position like this.
I know that’s not good fodder for polarized community building, but it’s so obviously true that I’ll venture it.
Jay
@Chacal Charles Calthrop:
Salmon can be dried, smoked, salted, canned or candied to preserve it.
So can ham.
Ham is kinda unique in that if properly salted and air dried, (prosciutto, country ham) it doesn’t need to be cooked,
Ditto for smoking.
It all comes down to taste if you want it cooked and smoked.
NotMax
@hitchhiker
Did someone say salt and pepper shakers?
And since it’s B-J After Dark time, a set for kinky cat people.
:)
RandomMonster
I got some quality art books on Egon Schiele landscapes (didn’t know he did those) and Artemisia Gentileschi (bad ass 17th century painter). And some cash that will apparently be spent on finding the perfect pencil sharpener.
eclare
Where are “these parts” that got snow? I saw photos of Freddie on Bluesky, what a cutie
Personal peeve: please, let us know what general area you are in when you describe weather.
eclare
@Villago Delenda Est:
That was vicious. I have never liked Che.
NotMax
@eclare
He’s in Utah.
eclare
@Miki:
Awww…my parents died one week apart.
eclare
@opiejeanne:
Wow! Congratulations!
eclare
@NotMax:
Thanks. I guess around SLC?
Geminid
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I know very little about Rep. Chavez-DeRemer’s labor record. I followed her political career a little because her Oregon 5th CD is a swing district. It’s anchored in Portland’s suburbs and includes some rural/exurban counties to the east.
Chavez-DeRemer won it narrowly in 2022 after the incumbent, Blue Dog Curt Schrader, lost his primary to a more liberal Democrat, Jaime Skinner McLeod(?). It seems that district Democrats were fed up with Schrader’s relatively conservative voting behavior.
This year State Rep. Janelle Bynum beat Skinner McLeod in the primary and went on to defeat Chavez-DeRemer in another close election. I thought Republicans were trying to set up a rematch in 2026 by giving a Chavez-DeRemer a high profile job, but maybe they’re just throwing the Teamsters President a bone.
NotMax
@eclare
Trivia:
There’s also one on the other side of this big blue marble.
mvr
@RandomMonster: There was a feminist art collective in Chicago in the 70s with the name Artemisia. One of my old friends and roommates in that era had a long (as in many feet long) print (IIRC) of theirs that adorned our apartment. I think of it fondly as I do of that era in Chicago and Portland Oregon, when hope was a thing. Her mom was one of the founders. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_Gallery).
Now I know where the name came from. Never thought about it before.
BigJimSlade
@NotMax: regarding the fritz: lol!
John Revolta
@mvr: A friend of mine was one of the founders of the Artemisia gallery in Chicago. I just spoke to her on the phone a couple days ago! I was there a lot and was involved in several of their events. Very cool place.
sab
@opiejeanne: Thank you for reminding me of the Wexford Carol.
I googled it and found an Alison Krauss Yo Yo Ma version that was lovely.
I am so jealous of choir people. My voice was okay pitch wise but tiny. Not loud at all. Any choir I had to try out for a bigger voice got the slot.
mvr
@John Revolta: That’s super cool. I was a kid in Chicago in the 70s and my friend’s folks were divorced with one in the suburbs and one in the city. At around the same time her mom had a loft near the Kennedy that shook with the trucks going by. It was when lofts (the whole damn floor of the building!) were something starving artists could afford.
My friend and I hitched out to Portland when I transferred colleges in around 1978 and lived together for 3 years there. We’re still good friends though now miles apart and no longer a couple.
Her mom never thought that much of me, fwiw. I was a bit too conventional, I think.
I have a lot of fondness for the time as well as embarrassment for my naivety.
sab
OT: Echo the satby rescue is on my bed snuggling me! The house is cold but not that cold. The pitbull is sound asleep and snoring like a dump truck. Echo is at the point where she is wary of the pitbull ( Big dog!) but not frightened.
So here we are. I am kind of thrilled. Echo is a lovely little girl but quite skittish. Her whole comfortable loving world got up-ended this year. Of couse she is upset.
Her moose brother in the basement is another story. He is even better and has acquired a tiny harem. All my girl cats admire him and hang out around him.
sab
Spouse and I had an argument yesterdsy about when the grand daughter was landing.
He said Monday or Tuesday. I had thought tomorrow.
Turns out I was right and he was misdirected. I lost a day of prep. Also too where did he get his misinfo? He doesn’t lie. Somebody fed him garbage. Irks me bigggly.
eclare
@sab:
Yay!
My satby rescue kitty goes back and forth on approval of my dog. But he is safe, warm, and fed, and he gets lots of attention when he jumps in my lap, so he’s ok.
Ruckus
@sab:
Don’t know how old you are (AND AM NOT ASKING!) but I find, as I live in a seniors apartment complex, (one has to be over 55 to live here, and I’m well qualified) and of course time is different when you get older, retired and have fewer damns left to give. Maybe because I feel like we all have an actual fixed number of damns and by the time one gets to OLD, one has used up their allotment of damns. Seems to be the norm.
Jay
@Ruckus:
Wiltshire seeds sells both Damn and Fucks seeds, they can be planted in a field, planted in a garden or raised in a pot. About 3 months after planting, you can have a new crop.
John Revolta
@mvr: Lofts! Small world. I was living in one myself in the mid-70s, with my band, upstairs from a marzipan factory a few blocks from Wrigley. Oddly enough, the woman I was talking about lived in one too, next to an offramp from the Kennedy, complete with the rumbling trucks. She had a couple of daughters too………one was named Dania maybe? Not sure.
Kayla Rudbek
I have a Lego tuxedo cat to build, a book on the Poison Squad, and a gift card for fibre space (my local yarn store). I should have taken Christmas Eve off as dinner with my Rudbek in-laws was late enough that I could have worked the 26th. I am considering making this sweater https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/balliemore which will take me forever.
My younger nephews now have plenty of books to read before Christmas break ends. Second youngest one liked the various mythology and snake science books. My godson didn’t seem to like the shark book, but did like all the Lego and the Cat in the Hat science books.
BlueGuitarist
@Jay:
According to this song there are no more left to buy…
https://youtu.be/Vqbk9cDX0l0?si=vFTRd_0RiplorVrT
TBone
Giving Donold the Foghorn Leghorn treatment. Not new news now but helps me hold my mouth right so the edges curl up instead of down.
https://bsky.app/profile/fancysplace.bsky.social/post/3lebgj2s34c2n
I mean, that boy is about as sharp as a bowling ball.
MagdaInBlack
Holy cow, Elno seems to have set off the Maga with his H1B visa stance and calling hard workin’ Merkins the “r” word
Much fun to watch
And Laura Loomer comin’ at him from another angle. Also fun.
eclare
@MagdaInBlack:
And I think Vivek was worse.
MagdaInBlack
@eclare: TY. I was just moving on to that. Also Holy Cow!
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: she said “side piece” from a place of authority hahahaha! Which “r” word though? I haven’t had enough coffee.
Let them fight!
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: so glad you’re here – I need the laughs today!
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: Retarded.
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: facepalm
He put that word in print for all to see?
TBone
I looked it up at Times of India. Patrick Casey:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/elon-musk-sparks-outrage-amid-h-1b-debate-endorses-post-calling-americans-too-retarded-for-skilled-jobs/articleshow/116706861.cms
I wonder why these shiny objects are being dangled right now.
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: My mistake, what he typed is “subtards” I’m catching up on Reddit.
Also@TBone: In all fairness, its contempt for people in general.
eclare
@MagdaInBlack:
Seriously! He just insulted every American, from the prom queen to the math nerd (aside: sometimes they are the same person!).
As someone on CNN commented, I think we know who got shoved into his locker in high school.
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: you’re not mistaken, that’s even worse! I am slow today, stuffed full of leftovers.
I saw a post by Loomer last night elsewhere and didn’t check to see if it was real – it’s such a doozy it’s prolly verbatim
eclare
@TBone:
I noticed that too, side piece.
TBone
@eclare: the voice of experience!
TBone
Shiny objects closer than they appear
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzox6ea78vs
eclare
@TBone:
What made you think of that?
Jay
LazerPig on Felon Musk being a moron, again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxVsS9ZNUOU
TBone
@eclare: “let them fight!”
TBone
Tidbit from The Inky
A group of yarn enthusiasts called the Philadelphia Drunken Knitwits made sure Fitler Square Park’s animal statues stay cozy with custom sweaters. The dressed-up statues have been bringing joy to neighbors since early December and will remain clothed through Hanukkah — “just one more way to celebrate the holiday season.”
Soprano2
@opiejeanne: I love Wexford Carol!
TBone
@Jay: the comments there are great too!
eclare
@TBone:
Ahhh…that makes sense.
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: So that got me reminiscing: in a past life we had friends in South Philly. My husbands best friend married a woman whose family ran a fish market on 9th Street. When we went out for their wedding, they were living above a butcher on the nw corner of 9th and Christian. That’s when I fell in love with Philadelphia. The cannoli bakery next to the butcher shop did not hurt my love affair. I think the bakery is still there. Their fish market is now a restaurant.
Nostalgia tour over, ty for listening.
eclare
@TBone:
Damn. Paywall.
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: Thank you for sharing! I miss being in close proximity so very much. My parents used to spend Saturdays taking us to the Italian Market when we were kids so I roamed it all, took it all in, the good, the bad, and the ugly, from a very young age. On my first ever trip into The City as a very wee, I ran up to and promply fell into into a fountain while dressed in a fru fru dress with crinoline skirt on a day so cold they had to take me home immediately.
I didn’t know how much I would miss it, not even after spending a year in Texas. Regerts!
TBone
@eclare: sorry! I subscribe to the free newsletter. The Drunken Knitwits are, of course, primarily diverse female beauties of a certain age.
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: Don’t forget the cannoli’s
https://www.isgropastries.com/
and the mussels OMG
https://anastasiseafood.com/
TBone
My dumbphone is acting up, refusing to let me scroll or copy pasta. It is a sign that I should read the current issue of the Philadelphia Magazine gift my beloved Aunt bought for me, sitting on my coffee table. No, me sitting in cozy armchair, mag in hand!
Geminid
In Ankara, it’s been Infrastructure Week– for Syria. From Ragip Soylu on December 24:
But first things first:
Turkiye is also sending a team to evaluate needed repairs to Syria’s electrical grid, while the UAE says it’s sending a ship with electrical generation capacity to Syria to help out with its power problems.
Baud
@TBone:
@Geminid:
Nice.
eclare
@Geminid:
I googled a specialist I saw here in Memphis recently. He went to medical school in Syria but did his residency at UT. I have no idea how he ended up here.
Nice person, I guess mid-50’s.
schrodingers_cat
@RandomMonster: What kind are you looking for? I like T’Gaal sharpener for my colored pencils
Professor Bigfoot
Wife’s kid has me pegged- a cutting board/collapsing dish for brining and marinating and rubbing (wait, that don’t sound right…) a super-weird Japanese can opener that looks like an old P-38 that spent way too long in the gym (I don’t think I’ll ever use it, the box is a lot of what makes it cool).
I may have mentioned the Amazon (pfeh!) electric bikes that arrived Sunday before… they’re both assembled now and have been test ridden (1- holy cow, I DO remember how to ride a bike! 2- holy cow, it’s freakin’ COLD!) but they work pretty good. When we get a decent day we will walk them down to the local church parking lot so’s we can practice before actually going anywhere, but not shabby for less than $600 each.
AND THE DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER!
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: drool!
TBone
@Baud: hit that nail on its head
Geminid
@Geminid: The Hejaz Railway was an Ottoman project. Most of it was completed just in time for the Ottomans to lose WWI, along with its holdings in the Levant and Arabian Peninsula the railway was meant to service.
Americans may remember the Hejaz Railroad from the movie Lawrence of Arabia. It was a particular target for the hero and his Bedouin allies.
Predictably, pro-Assad advocates like Richard Medhurst are asking, where’s T.E. Lawrence now that we need him? Tankies like Medhurst are waging a fierce propaganda war against the new Syrian government and it’s Turkish ally.
On the other hand, railway enthusiast media sites are having a good time telling tales of the old Hejaz line. Fun fact: portions of the railway were laid on iron sleepers because the locals would dig out wooden sleepers and use them for firewood.
TBone
Hubby and I don’t do gifting to reduce holiday stress for him. I don’t mind gift shopping but am also glad for being frugal at this time of year so that works in both our favor. We spent some time with the neighbors’ Golden Retriever lowering blood pressure because that dawg is as sweet as the day is long. Such a pleasure to take care of and play with! while the neighbors are out away! I wore my Santa cowboy hat with the twinkly lights which scared her a little at first but she got over it when we hugged. Got lots of funny photos with her and hubby and me!
Where I DO splurge is FOOD
TBone
@Geminid: great comment!
eclare
@Geminid:
I don’t comment about your posts because I don’t know enough, but I read and appreciate all of your ME posts.
Geminid
@eclare: A lot of Syrians left over the last decades and many of them landed in the US. This Syrian American doctor may have been contacted by the interim government’s Health Ministry. They are inviting ex-patriot medical professionals to return and help rebuild the country.
lowtechcyclist
@Jay:
Now I know what gag gift my friends are getting from me next year.
eclare
@Geminid:
I hope he doesn’t leave, I like him, and we need him here! I was referred to him in Sept and got an appt in Dec, so it’s not like we have specialists to spare.
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: I’m remembering my dates at the Triangle Tavern and also the night I met Mamma while on a blind date. The various men at Mamma’s place kept sending me drinks and even a bottle of wine to our table and Mamma came over to speak to me. The date sucked other than that. Also I got lost during a thunderstorm on my way home hahahaha!
https://www.phillyvoice.com/mamma-maria-ristorante-italian-chef-seven-fishes-east-passyunk/
I used to pass for Italian real good.
My parents used to take me to the restaurant where all the waitstaff sing Opera too. And so many others.
Le sigh
Geminid
@eclare: The Syrian revolution is a really big story. It’s faded somewhat here in the US but it’s still an ongoing major event in the Middle East; it will have significant consequences going forward, and not just in Syria. Damascus has been a major center of Arab history and culture for over a thousand years.
I’ve been following the story on Twitter because it’s developing so swiftly. Middle East Eye is also a good source. Ragip Soylu, the reporter I cited above, is their Istanbul bureau chief and MEI has other knowledgeable journalists working the Syria beat. New Lines Magazine is another good source.
Matt McIrvin
@TBone: The ableist insult itself is a flex. Contempt for people with disabilities is part of the fascist package, from the Nazis to every radio crank who ever ranted about the oppression of wheelchair ramps.
TBone
@Matt McIrvin: that’s why I adore Foghorn Leghorn.
Another Scott
@mvr: You could put the paper on arXiv.org, or archive.org. It would be a shame for that work to be lost. Have the last laugh, so to speak.
Best wishes,
Scott.
beckya57
I got a bunch of hiking accessories, including insect repellent socks! We’ll see next spring how well they work. Also got knee pads per my hubby, since he’s tired of listening to me complain about my latest hiking fall and my bruised knees (which I am icing as I write this) 😬. We had a lovely veggie Christmas dinner. Cats got extra Delectables 😸. In the snow department, the mountains are getting blasted, which is great for skiing, once the snow stabilizes and the driving conditions improve (currently there’s avalanche warnings and there’s been a bunch of accidents on the passes). Went skiing on Christmas Eve, hoping to get out again in the next couple of days.
mvr
@John Revolta: You and I are talking about the very same loft and people. We may well have met at some point or another. Small world.
mvr
@Another Scott:
Thanks Scott for the suggestion to post it in those archives. I’ve got it up on my website along with a few other unpublished things, though I have been bad about keeping the website up to date. I’ve been meaning to move my paper archive to PhilPapers but I never seem to get to it. Part of the problem is figuring out which of my papers I have the right to repost in final form and which ones I can only post the penultimate manuscript of. I’ve been pretty careful to keep the rights and only have one or two papers that went to commercial publishers without a right to reprint. But the more commercial publishers have become more cutthroat and now want to charge an arm and a leg for open access.
mvr
@beckya57:
I’m generally pretty happy with the insect repellent clothing, FWIW. The shirts do a good job keeping mosquitos off and I wear the socks to repel ticks when mushrooming.
John Revolta
@mvr: Well, that’s pretty weird. Cheers, from another old Chicago jackal
Edit: Wait, it gets weirder! I went back over the thread and saw that you moved to NJ in ’85. I moved to Hoboken in 1982 myself. (And yes, Trumpf was already known to be a clown back then. That’s why I spent the whole first year or two in disbelief- I thought everybody knew about this putz!)
mvr
@John Revolta: Regards back!
BTW, the building with that loft was still there about a decade back when I stumbled into that neighborhood while there for work. I would not have predicted that with all the swaying the building did.
I wouldn’t mind comparing notes to figure out whether we might have met back in the day, but don’t feel entirely happy posting about friends who may not appreciate being talked about by name on a public forum. In any case, I’m easy enough to find by email as I’m a philosophy prof at the University of Nebraska these days.
John Revolta
@mvr: Well that’s the trifecta……… I lived in Omaha through most of the twenty-teens. Mrs. Revolta’s son is going to U of N Omaha now! Are you there or in Lincoln?
mvr
@John Revolta: In Lincoln. 33 years now.
This is all pretty amusing!
John Revolta
@mvr: I have dispatched an email to mvr at that locality
John Revolta
@mvr: Sent another to earthlink