Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Henry Rollins: Holiday (henryrollins.com)
I'm not trying to be cynical but I've never understood how anyone could enjoy sending or receiving Christmas cards. The ones I don't shred I put to good use. I print out images I find online and glue them into the cards and leave them all over Heidi's office, so she can enjoy them when she returns in the new year. Often, it's terrified zebras with their legs stuck in the jaws of crocodiles. I've been doing this for years. In January of every year, without a word, Heidi shreds them all.
Andrew Tobias: The Spirit of Christmas
My faith in that spirit, and in America - plus the happy gene inherited from parents who gave my brother and me so many magical childhood Christmases - lead me to believe "this too shall pass" and we will regain our footing. But it's not guaranteed. Democracy did not last forever in Greece or Rome; nor in parts of Europe in the first half of the last century. And it lasted in Russia for about five minutes, subverted by Putin, who is now well on his way to successfully subverting ours.
Hadley Freeman: How to cope with a solo Christmas? Relish every moment (The Guardian)
How To Cope With A Solo Christmas is a headline that turns up this time every year, studded among the 10 million other headlines about the "easy" way to cook a Christmas dinner for 35 people, and how to buy the perfect present for every person you know. Quite why these ambitions, which should only ever be attempted by the certified insane, are presented as normal and universal, while staying in alone and eating all the mince pies is pitiable, is just one of the many things about Christmas this Jew will never get fully on board with.
What I'm really thinking: the reluctant Christmas Day guest (The Guardian)
I wish you realised I find it a little painful seeing the indulgence of the children.
Mark Shields: Normal Speech (Creators Syndicate)
Doug Jones] declined to pump his fist in self-congratulatory pleasure but rather insisted on giving credit to others. He would not stop thanking - by name - family members, friends and campaign staffers for the win. He was optimistic, repeating his belief that he and all those either listening or not have more things in common than they have issues that divide them, adding, "This campaign has been about common courtesy and decency and making sure everyone in this state, regardless of which ZIP code you live in, is going to get a fair shake in life."
Mark Shields: Resolutions and Predictions (Creators Syndicate)
… there will be a sharp increase in the number of GOP incumbents announcing that rather than seek re-election, they have decided to spend more time with their families. Before doing so, each would be wise to check with David Letterman, who, having retired after his career as the longest-tenured late-night host in TV history, explained that he was now leaving his two-year retirement to return to work: "Here's what I have learned: If you retire to spend more time with your family, check with your family first."
Froma Harrop: God Rest Ye Merry, Subway Riders (Creators Syndicate)
Collective groans greeted the New York subway system's decision to stop referring to passengers as "ladies and gentlemen." In olden days, which now date to last month, subway conductors would include these words in public announcements. For example: "Ladies and gentlemen, please watch your personal belongings."
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
merry christmas
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
This is a hilarious Wonkette:
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
PUT A CORK IN IT BOB.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOODNIGHT."
FREE BILLY!
A NOOSE FOR TRUMP!
THE VOTER FRAUD COMMISSION IS A FRAUD.
THE ELVES CHEER 'BAD SANTA'.
GUIDO APPOINTS "THE FIXER".
TAKE FIVE SANTA.
BAD SANTA WANTS TO KILL, KILL, KILL!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Seasonal salutations.
Christmas Thwarted
Nebraska
An elderly California couple discovered by Nebraska sheriff's deputies with 60 pounds of marijuana in their truck during a cross-country trip said they had planned to give the weed to family as Christmas presents, police said.
Patrick Jiron, 83, and his wife Barbara, 80, of Clearlake Oaks, California, were both cited on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver after police smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from their vehicle during a traffic stop on Tuesday, the York County Sheriff's Office said in a press release.
Patrick Jiron admitted to having the drug inside the vehicle and consented to a search during the traffic stop. Police said they found the 60 pounds of pot, with an estimated street value of more than $300,000, and multiple containers of concentrated tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a major active ingredient in marijuana.
"Both occupants advised that they were traveling from California making stops in Boston, Massachusetts and Vermont to distribute the marijuana to family and friends as Christmas gifts," York County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Patrick Jiron was booked into the York County Jail on Tuesday before being released on bail for an unknown amount and his wife was only given a citation, police said.
Nebraska
Medieval Manuscripts and Xmas Recipes
Altomuenster Abbey
Take 20 liters of honey and boil it together with 2 liters of water. Add in cinnamon and nutmeg, a healthy amount of ginger and pepper, plus some aniseed and coriander. Mix it all together with rye flour and water.
The result? A perfect batch of 17th-century Lebkuchen - Germany's famous Christmas gingerbread - for a Bavarian monastery housing up to 60 nuns and 25 brothers belonging to the uniquely women-led Bridgettine Order.
The recipe is among a collection of more than 1,000 books that were taken from the Altomuenster Abbey after it was closed down at the request of the Vatican earlier this year, a precious collection that scholars had worried might be locked away or, worse, broken up and possibly sold.
But instead it has been preserved intact at the diocesan archive in Munich and researchers have been given complete access, while work is underway to digitize much of the collection to make it available to anyone.
The rarest and most valuable tomes include manuscripts with colorful illustrations from the late 15th and early 16th century, but experts say items like the recipe books are also invaluable to the study of the Bridgettines, helping tell the tale of what daily life was like behind the closed doors of the monastery hundreds of years ago.
Altomuenster Abbey
Alexander the Great
Macedonia
Macedonia's left-wing prime minister said he is ready to renounce his country's claim to be the sole heirs of the legacy of Alexander the Great to help solve a 26-year-old dispute with neighboring Greece over the country's name.
"I give up (the claim) of Macedonia being the sole heir to Alexander. The history belongs not only to us, but also to Greece and many other countries," Zoran Zaev, in power since the spring, said in an interview to TV station Telma late Friday.
Since its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, Macedonia has claimed at least part of the heritage of the most famous ruler of the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia, infuriating Greeks who also view the name "Macedonia" itself as hiding expansionist claims against the Greek region of Macedonia.
In 2008, Greece blocked Macedonia's bid to join NATO under its provisional name of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as a result.
The former conservative government has named the country's main highway and airport by the ancient hero's and has erected a 28-meter (90-foot) high monument at the main square in Macedonia's capital.
Macedonia
Oryx Reserve
Oman
The Gulf sultanate of Oman is looking to carve itself a new niche in ecotourism by opening up a sanctuary for one of the desert's most fabled creatures -- the Arabian oryx.
Once extinct in the wild, the rare member of the antelope family famed for its elegant horns has been dragged back from the precipice in a sprawling reserve fenced off for decades from the public.
That changed last month when authorities for the first time officially opened the sanctuary to visitors -- part of a broader bid by Oman to boost tourism as oil revenues decline.
The story of the Arabian oryx -- sometimes referred to as the Arabian "unicorn" due to its distinctive profile -- is one of miraculous survival.
Hunted prolifically, the last wild member of the species was killed in Oman by suspected poachers in 1972.
Oman
Hopes He's Wrong
Marine Commandant
The commandant of the US Marine Corps told around 300 Marines stationed in Norway they should prepare for a "bigass fight."
General Robert Neller told the Marine rotational force at the Norwegian Home Guard base near Trondheim: "I hope I'm wrong, but there's a war coming.
"You're in a fight here, an informational fight, a political fight, by your presence," he said, in comments reported by Military.com.
The general later said he expects the Pacific and Russia to be the focus of future conflicts outside of the Middle East.
"Just remember why you're here," Sergeant Major Ronald Green told the Marines, according to the military news site.
Marine Commandant
Climate Change
Lapland
Lapland occupies a happy space in the popular imagination as a winter wonderland, occupied by reindeer, elves and Father Christmas.
The real life Lapland, however, is increasingly facing up to the grim reality of global warming.
Besides being the name of Swedish and Finnish provinces, Lapland is the English name for a region largely above the Arctic Circle that stretches across the north of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.
Research has revealed the disproportionate impact of climate change in the Arctic, where temperatures are currently rising at double the rate of the global average.
The far north is bearing the brunt of global warming, and, as much of Lapland's population relies on its polar climate for their livelihoods, the effects are starting to be felt.
Lapland
Last Known Dancing Bears Rescued
Nepal
The last two known bears forced to dance for spectators in Nepal have been rescued.
On Tuesday, conservation nonprofit Jane Goodall Institute of Nepal, with help from international nonprofit World Animal Protection and local police, confiscated the two sloth bears, named Rangila and Sridevi, from their handlers in the town of Iharbari.
"We know that Rangila and Sridevi were suffering in captivity since they [were] poached from the wild and their muzzles were pierced with hot iron rods," Neil D'Cruze of World Animal Protection told National Geographic. He also noted the bears' teeth had been removed.
D'Cruze told HuffPost in an email that bear dancing is illegal in Nepal in accordance with the 1973 Wildlife Protection Act. He said that the centuries-old practice has already "successfully ended" in countries including Greece, India and Turkey. He added that international animal protection groups are working to end it in Pakistan.
The practice is widely considered cruel for several reasons - including painful "training" meant to subdue bear cubs at a young age and the fact that the cubs are often torn from their mothers in the wild. In those cases, the mothers are often killed.
Nepal
Modern-Day Amber 'Klondikes'
Ukraine
Volodymyr Korkosh steps on the accelerator and his jeep lurches forward, jumping through deep water-filled ditches. "We often come too late by just two to three minutes," the police officer shouts in disappointment.
His unit carries out daily raids on the outskirts of the village of Kryvytsya and nearby settlements in northwestern Ukraine's Rivne region, aimed at catching locals red-handed mining amber illegally.
Once a scenic forest area, the site has been turned into a moonscape with wet marshy sand on the surface and man-made, funnel-like pits scattered for hundreds of metres around, evidence of work by hundreds of illicit prospectors.
This site, which locals call a "Klondike" in reference to a 19th-century gold rush in Canada, is one of a number of amber fields in Ukraine, which has the world's second-largest reserves of amber -- some 15,000 tonnes -- after Russia, according to the country's state geology committee.
But as prices for amber have quadrupled in recent years, fuelled by demand from China, Ukraine has suffered from an illegal mining crisis.
Ukraine
Weekend Box Office
'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is still the biggest box office draw in the galaxy. Disney and Lucasfilm's space-fantasy sequel is poised to gross an estimated $100.7 million from 4,232 theaters in the U.S. and Canada over the long holiday weekend (Friday-Monday), holding off newcomers including Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Pitch Perfect 3, and The Greatest Showman.
After notching the No. 2 domestic debut of all time last week, The Last Jedi is now looking at a domestic total of about $397.3 million through Christmas Day. Of that figure, $68.5 million comes from this weekend's Friday-Sunday frame, which represents a steep (but bearable) drop-off of 69 percent from last week. The film is also on track to add about $75.1 million from foreign markets through Sunday, bringing its worldwide total to a whopping $745.4 million after 10 days in theaters.
Sony's Jumanji reboot is making a strong showing in second place, earning an estimated $47.5 million over the long weekend, or $34 million Friday-Sunday. That's after taking in combined $16.6 million Wednesday and Thursday, its first two days of release.
Universal's a cappella comedy Pitch Perfect 3 is also hitting the right notes, bowing to about $27 million through Christmas, or $20.5 million Friday-Sunday. Although movie critics have not been kind to the threequel, moviegoers gave it an A-minus CinemaScore.
1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi - $68.5 million ($100.7 million four-day)
2. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - $34 million ($47.5 million four-day)
3. Pitch Perfect 3 - $20.5 million ($27 million four-day)
4. The Greatest Showman - $8.6 million ($13.6 million four-day)
5. Ferdinand - $7.1 million ($9.2 million four-day)
6. Coco - $5.2 million ($7.4 million four-day)
7. Downsizing - $4.6 million ($6.2 million four-day)
8. Darkest Hour - $4.1 million ($5.9 million four-day)
9. Father Figures - $3.2 million ($4.8 million four-day)
10. The Shape of Water - $3.1 million ($4.3 million four-day)
'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'
In Memory
Bob Givens
Robert "Bob" Givens, a key figure in animation, died Dec. 14 in Burbank from acute respiratory failure. He was 99.
His daughter, Mariana Givens, President of 'Platinum Pathways' in California, confirmed the news on her Facebook page and to the Associated Press.
During his career, which spanned over 60 years, Givens worked for the likes of Disney, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera and more. In 1937 he started work for Disney as an animation checker on Donald Duck and Snow White cartoons.
In 1940 he moved to Warner Bros., where he was widely known for working on the redesign of a character that would come to be known as Bugs Bunny. According to Animation Magazine, "One of Givens' biggest career moments came in 1940, when Tex Avery asked him to review designs of a new character - a grey rabbit that was coming across 'too cute' for the slapstick cartoons. Givens went on to create the first official design for Bugs Bunny, now the iconic lead character of the Looney Tunes franchise, in the Merrie Melodies short A Wild Hare." Givens also illustrated characters such as Tom & Jerry, Daffy Duck, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Popeye.
After a stint in the army during WWII, Givens returned to the studio to work mainly as a layout artist for various directors.
He's also known for his work as a storyboard artist on the TV series Linus! The Lion Hearted and as a graphic designer on the show Baggy Pants & the Nitwits.
Bob Givens
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