Sunday, December 02, 2018

First Sunday of Advent


22 comments:

  1. Restaurants Aren’t What They Used to Be [Click] Some interesting history and perspective/speculation.
    By Rebecca Spang, Director of the Center for Eighteenth-Century Studies at Indiana University

    The Fall Of The Mall And How To Make Them Rise Again [Click] Make them a public space—to replace restaurants’ function, among others?

    I can’t locate it, but yesterday I came across a graph showing retail job losses in the US for the past ten or twelve years; they are the massive, and now the worst sector for job losses—shocking, really. Many of the retailers laying people off are offering warehouse jobs in their internet sales divisions, but those are very different jobs. But regularly employed salespeople in department stores have long been remarkable for their rarity compared to half a century ago.

    The Bootleg Video Vans of the Soviet Union [Click] An interesting method of language acquisition, probably impossible to implement purposefully. Among other things.

    Here is Michael Cohen’s federal sentencing memorandum, with some excerpts and commentary [Click]

    George HW Bush thought the world belonged to his family. How wrong he was [Click] Lest we forget.

    A Bloomberg 2020 run would help the left – by failing spectacularly [Click]

    O’Rourke wins over Obamaland [Click]

    US farmers' troubles over tariffs show the value in looking ahead [Click] Looking ahead? No need with Trump’s gut in charge.

    Beautiful weather here this morning; clearest air in months and months. We can see the mountains both to the north and the east, and the snow on them. Now to get moving.

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    1. Hurrah for clean air...and views!!

      No thanks on the DT gut barometer. I've heard what he eats.


      8 Popular Tea Bag Brands That Contain Illegal Amounts of Deadly Pesticides
      https://livelovefruit.com/8-popular-tea-bag-companies-contain-illegal-amounts-deadly-pesticides/

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    2. Well bummer! I'm especially disappointed in Celestial Seasonings crookery. I guess I'll just continue to rot my brain with Diet Coke.

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  2. ✨🕯✨ Lo! It's Advent! ✨🕯✨
    Instead of attending Anima's farewell concert last evening, or participating in a church service today, or getting a Christmas tree or digging out decorations, I am still at home, sick and laying low. But Advent came anyway. 💜 And I am grateful. So, I am playing Anima and Loreena McKennitt music and hoping for an afternoon thunderstorm.
    Remember to open your Advent calendars!

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    1. Ah, Advent calendars. No doubt it's terribly crass, but what I remember best about them is the
      chocolate.

      Hope you feel better soon, Listener.

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    2. Thanks, Cat...!

      I'd never heard of Advent calendars until our children were little and a dear friend who was also homeschooling sent us one. I've never had the chocolate sort. But I do enjoy them when they're well made. My favorite are the ones that ADD to the scene as you open the window, instead of being beautiful scene that gets all capped up. I don't do the Santa once, but I love opening the final double doors to reveal the Babe. It's just sweet.

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    3. *favourite
      *cropped up
      *Santa ones

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  3. Nope. After hearing Cohen's Mob Enforcer threats to others he *needs* jail time. He gloried in threatening others with extinction, he was positively gleeful making his f-word peppered threats. He's not repentant, he's not sorry, he just wants to be let off the hook. Will he mend his ways? I doubt it.

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    1. Cohen must be of the ilk who grew up thinking that if you committed an offense all you had to do was SAY you were sorry. No need for restitution. Fortunately, Mueller grew up with some real values.

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  4. Wonderfully warm here. Won't last. Which is fine. Meanwhile front door open so air leaking in on purpose.

    Susan, don'e think he has any power left to wield.

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    1. It's 65 here today, due to drop to the 30's tomorrow.

      Yes, Cohen, Stone, Manafort, Corsi, Fart (trump) all think they are far more powerful than they actually are. I really hope to see them get their wake-up call.

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  5. A friend at Fun Trivia reminded me of something I should have remembered. In British slang, trump can be and often is used as a synonym for fart. Hence, Pres. Fart. Most apropos, eh?

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    1. Hmmm.... the etymology is not self-evident.

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    2. I remember in high school being aghast at some literature we were assigned talking about farting being "playing on his arse trombone". It was some ancient English, so that would leave a clue as to trump=fart.

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    3. I wonder if it might be an example of an expression that is the punch line of a completely forgotten joke; there are quite a few of those.

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  6. Curtains for the Clintons. By Maureen Dowd [Click] I wonder if Kamala Harris [Click] will be able to read these particular tea leaves; there is no question that she is a Clintonista.

    Massive Vote Fraud Suspected In North Carolina 9th Congressional District [Click] [in favor of Republican “winner”] Includes link to Raleigh News-Observer story, which is longer and more detailed.

    Title[Click]
    New Hampshire Dems Join Iowans In Inviting Beto To Visit And Meet Voters [Click]

    Oh, and if you didn’t notice it, G20 leaders pledge to fight climate change — except for Trump [Click]

    Another “lest we forget:” George H. W. Bush: The Last WASP President [Click]

    Some clouds have formed over the Sierra Nevada (now early afternoon), but the snow at the crest is still visible from here—it must be a good fifty miles from here as the crow flies. We may not have had such clear air since Spring—I’m not sure, it has been so long.

    Now back to work on my final Art project; I may have it finished a week early.

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  7. Speaking of Advent calendars (unknown to me until well into adulthood) brings
    This [Click] column to mind—which features another holiday association that was until today unknown to me.

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  8. The thing I remember about the Bush family is that they purchased the largest fresh water aquifer in South America. So when the time comes that we can only get water by paying for it they'll be in clover.

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  9. Thanks for the Armadillo, Alan.

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