No clever introduction this week. Just this week’s TMQ (which you won’t be able to read in its entirety unless you subscribe to “All Predictions Wrong”, which is the actual title of Gregg Easterbrook’s Substack) after the jump…
Archive for the ‘Christmas’ Category
TMQ Watch: December 5, 2023.
Tuesday, December 5th, 2023Obit watch: November 30, 2023, part 2.
Thursday, November 30th, 2023Shane MacGowan. Pitchfork. NYT. THR.
I’ve never been a Pogues fanatic. I pretty much missed them when they were an operational band, and the first thing I ever heard from them was “Fairytale Of New York”. I think we can play that now. After all, it is the Christmas season.
Later on, I picked up some more Pogues by way of “The Wire”. Unfortunately, I can’t find a clip of a drunk McNulty (not the valued commenter here, the other one) repeatedly ramming his car into a bridge abutment while playing “Transmetropolitan”…
And Shane MacGowan was Irish, but I think I’d be willing to grant him honorary US citizenship just for this song, which should probably be the national anthem. (Well, either that, or “You Never Even Called Me By My Name”.)
Frances Sternhagen, actress. THR. Other credits include “Law and Order”, “Up the Down Staircase”, and “Communion”.
You dry-docked my battleship!
Monday, January 23rd, 2023
You don’t really realize how big these things are until you’re standing right next to them.
You also don’t realize just how large the infrastructure supporting these things is until you see it.
(If you live in Texas, or want to make a trip, the Battleship Texas Foundation is doing these tours through April 30th, only on Sundays. You can find details here if you’re interested.)
(This was a Christmas present from my beloved and indulgent brother and his family. Thanks, folks!)
Happy New Year! Have some more gun books!
Thursday, January 5th, 2023But first, answers to a couple of questions:
“Did you get any guns for Christmas?” No, not as presents. I expect to pick up one gun on Saturday, and may pick up a second one off of layaway at the same time. I’ll blog them once I have them, as I think folks will find these guns historically interesting. (Hint: if everything works out the way I want it to, Saturday will be The Day of the .45.)
“Did you get any gun books for Christmas?” Not yet: my beloved and indulgent sister has been wrestling with Amazon, but I don’t know what she got me, I’m not looking (that’d ruin the surprise!), and so I don’t know if there are any gun books in the lot. (Speaking of new gun books, though, this interests me: I liked American Gunfight, his book with Stephen Hunter, so I’m willing to take a chance. And speaking of Stephen Hunter, I pre-ordred a signed copy of The Bullet Garden from The Mysterious Bookshop, but that won’t be released until later this month.)
(And before you say “Isn’t it kind of late for Christmas?”, as all people of goodwill know, the Christmas season runs through January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany, and so anything given, or even ordered, in this period earns you full faith and credit. Also, you can leave your Christmas decorations up until after the 6th. If the Judgy McJudgersons say anything to you, tell them I have spoken. So let it be written, so let it be done.)
Anyway, some more gun books. One was ordered before Thanksgiving, one was picked up at Half-Price Books while I was out after the holiday.
Cereal experiments lame.
Monday, January 2nd, 2023Mike the Musicologist and I have a tradition, dating back quite a while: if we find ourselves in a grocery store, we go look in the cereal aisle…for silly cereals.
Over the weekend, we went by a WalMart Supercenter because we were looking for a specific silly cereal.
Yes, that is “Elf on the Shelf Hot Cocoa Cereal with Marshmallows”. That was the only flavor (and the only box) WalMart had, but there’s also “Sugar Cookie” flavor and “North Pole Snow Creme” flavor.
Other things that we found, but did not buy, because we’re not that silly.
Kellogg’s Frosted Pandora Flakes. Do you suppose that anyone at Kellogg’s thought about the symbolism of opening a box labeled “Pandora”?
“Wendy’s Frosty Chocolatey Cereal With Wendy’s Frosty Flavor”. “Frosty” is not a flavor.
“IHOP Mini Pancake Cereal”, for when you want the taste of IHOP pancakes, but don’t want to deal with the Mongolian fire drill that IHOP has become.
Not cereals, but on the same aisle:
“Mrs. Butterworth’s Fruity Pebbles Flavored Syrup” and “Cap’n Crunch’s Ocean Blue Artificially Maple Flavored Syrup”. There are so many things wrong with these, I can’t even.
I’ll throw in one more photo from the weekend that’s totally unrelated. I like the way this came out, though I did manually adjust the exposure and crop. (I thought it came out a little dark: it was more overcast than I thought it was.)
Christmas “tree” at Garrison Brothers Distillery in Hye, Texas.
Quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore (#6 in a series).
Wednesday, December 28th, 2022Here’s a fun little quickie: a thoughtful Christmas present from FotB RoadRich.
The 1981 Braniff annual report.
The significance of this: the 1981 annual report came out in April of 1982. Braniff’s original airline operations ceased May 12, 1982.
(“Two later airlines used the Braniff name: the Hyatt Hotels-backed Braniff, Inc. in 1983–89, and Braniff International Airlines, Inc. in 1991–92.” Also: “…continues today as a retailer, hotelier, travel service and branding and licensing company, administering the former airline’s employee pass program and other airline administrative duties.“)
Here’s a Christmas story for you.
Tuesday, December 27th, 2022By way of my beloved and indulgent sister: a man and his wife are planning to celebrate the holiday holed up in their house. In Buffalo.
Cutting to the chase, instead of digging the van out (these people weren’t going anywhere in that snow) they invited the travelers in.
The visitors — seven women and three men — filled the three-bedroom house, sleeping on couches, sleeping bags, an air mattress and in the home’s guest bedroom. The other travelers included parents with their daughter, an Indiana college student, and two college-age friends from Seoul. Three of them spoke English proficiently.
They spent the weekend swapping stories, watching the Buffalo Bills defeat the Chicago Bears on Christmas Eve and sharing delicious Korean home-cooked meals prepared by the guests, like jeyuk bokkeum, a spicy stir-fried pork dish, and dakdori tang, a chicken stew laced with fiery red pepper. To the surprise and glee of the Korean guests, Mr. Campagna and his wife, who are both fans of Korean food, had all the necessary condiments on hand: mirin, soy sauce, Korean red pepper paste, sesame oil and chili flakes. There was also kimchi and a rice cooker.
…
Really, the only downside to this story from my point of view is that the Buffalo Bills won. The rest of the tale warms the cockles of my heart.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Sunday, December 25th, 2022Not exactly traditional, or musical, but why not?
Not a video, but I kind of liked this. One line in particular got me in the feels:
…”because it was the right thing to do.”
(Since I’ve already linked Paul Harvey, here’s the rest of the story: Bob May left Montgomery Ward to manage Rudolph, but returned seven years later. Yes, he made a ton of money, but sales declined over time, and the federal tax rates were usurius. He worked for Ward’s until his retirement in 1970, and died in 1976. He converted to Catholicism in 1972, after his second wife died, and married her sister the same year.)
Here’s a brief historical note, suitable for use in schools, from the Imperial War Museum:
And now a musical interlude from our interlude.
One more, I think, just for fun:
Merry Christmas to one and all. May those of you on the watch have a quiet shift. May those of you who are suffering find comfort.
Random gun crankery.
Friday, November 25th, 2022One of my grail guns (sort of: it’s complicated) is the H&K P7 pistol.
Yes, I know: “H&K: You suck and we hate you.” And I’ve heard the triggers on the P7 are…not great. (I’ve never actually shot one.) But it is such an interesting and cool design. And I could probably put together the money for one.
Stealing blatantly from Wikipedia:
You’d kind of think remembering to squeeze the lever would make it harder to learn the gun. Perhaps. As I’ve said, I’ve never fired one. But in my experience with other pistols, gripping them hard enough to where I would (probably) depress a (hypothetical) cocking lever has never been a problem. Indeed, I suspect that Karl (official firearms trainer to WCD) would tell anyone who asked that I have a death grip on my guns when shooting, that if you shoved a lump of carbon between me and the gun you’d get diamonds when I’m done, and that I’d shoot better if I relaxed.
(At least, I suspect he’d say that if he could. I also feel like Karl is probably much like a priest, in that confidentiality prevents him from discussing the flaws of his students. At least, not unless there’s a court order.)
My ideal would be the M13 variant, because 13 rounds of 9mm goodness. But I’d settle for a M8. Or the M10, which is the .40 S&W variant.
When I see them in shops or at fun shows, they seem to go for $2,000 and up. “Up” is doing a lot of work here: check GunBroker to see what I mean.
Noted:
Why is that significant? And what does this have to do with Christmas? (I’m really not expecting a P7 under the tree, thankyouverymuch, though I have been good this year. Mostly.)
The Internet Movie Firearms Database has a write-up on one of the more famous fictional users of the P7. He was originally intended to be carrying some sort of Walther, but I’m guessing the movie armorer suggested the P7M13 and everyone liked the look of it.
Because it’s just not Christmas until I see Hans Gruber fall from the Nakatomi Tower.
Obit watch: August 1, 2022.
Monday, August 1st, 2022It never fails. I posted an obit watch yesterday, and as soon as I did, it got hectic.
Samuel Sandoval has passed away at the age of 98. Mr. Sandoval served his country with honor during WWII as one of the Navajo code talkers.
Nichelle Nichols. THR. Tributes.
I’m sorry if it seems like I’m giving her death short shrift, but her passing has received an enormous amount of attention, and anything I could add at this point would be superfluous.
Russell was the ultimate winner. He led the University of San Francisco to N.C.A.A. tournament championships in 1955 and 1956. He won a gold medal with the United States Olympic basketball team in 1956. He led the Celtics to eight consecutive N.B.A. titles from 1959 to 1966, far eclipsing the Yankees’ five straight World Series victories (1949 to 1953) and the Montreal Canadiens’ five consecutive Stanley Cup championships (1956 to 1960).
He was the N.B.A.’s most valuable player five times and an All-Star 12 times.
A reedy, towering figure at 6 feet 10 inches and 220 pounds, Russell was cagey under the basket, able to anticipate an opponent’s shots and gain position for a rebound. And if the ball caromed off the hoop, his tremendous leaping ability almost guaranteed that he’d grab it. He finished his career as the No. 2 rebounder in N.B.A. history, behind his longtime rival Wilt Chamberlain, who had three inches on him.
Russell pulled down 21,620 rebounds, an astonishing average of 22.5 per game, with a single-game high of 51 against the Syracuse Nationals (the forerunners of the Philadelphia 76ers) in 1960.
He didn’t have much of a shooting touch, but he scored 14,522 points — many on high-percentage, short left-handed hook shots — for an average of 15.1 per game. His blocked shots — the total is unrecorded, because such records were not kept in his era — altered games.
Pat Carroll. THR. Other credits include “She’s the Sheriff”, “Too Close For Comfort”, and “ER”.
John Aielli, longtime local public radio host.
Paul Coker Jr. Interesting guy: he was one of the old-time “Mad Magazine” staff (aka the “Usual Gang Of Idiots”). He was also a production designer for Rankin/Bass.
Hattip to Lawrence on this one, and for reminding me to order the Rifftrax of “Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey” for Christmas viewing this year.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Saturday, December 25th, 2021I’m not sure that Annie Lennox gets enough credit for her musical talent. I think many people still associate her with the Eurythmics, but she’s gone on to do really interesting solo work. And there’s something about her voice that I find…well, I’m not sure “compelling” is the word for it, but maybe that will do.
I set this to start at the four minute mark because, but this is the whole album for your listening pleasure.
Tradition:
More tradition. This one makes me smile.
Not traditional, but I like it:
’twas the night before Christmas…
Friday, December 24th, 2021Chartwell Booksellers sent this over, and I thought I’d share it with everyone:
Winston Churchill’s Christmas Eve message, December 24, 1941.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
(Ugly Christmas Beanie from Magpul (affiliate link). I don’t know that you’ll be able to get one on or before the 25th: but as all people of goodwill know, the Christmas season runs through January 6th, the Feast of Epiphany, and thus your ugly Christmas beanie (or sweater, if you live someplace that cold) is appropriate wear at least through then.)