General

Danes tend to be happier than people in any other Western country. Why? Low expectations lead to pleasant surprises. Link courtesy of Boing Boing.

Chris Knight reviews Sophie Scholl: The Final Days --- the story of a member of the White Rose --- and finds the cover blurb “Chilling authenticity” goes further than anyone would think.

Time’s Person of the Year is me! I didn’t even realize I was up for it, but now that I’ve found out, I pledge to use my newfound status to…wait…never mind. Time’s Person of the Year is You. That’s right…You. Not me. All of You. Everyone else besides Me. Guess there’s always next year. That should just be down to me, and all of the babies born next year. I think I can beat out a bunch of babies. (Who am I kidding? They’ll be cute.) ...

It’s Christmas, and therefore the time for various media outlets to list dangerous toys. Radar has a good one, listing a few toys that were out when I was a kid. What I like about this sort of list is the indication the corporate world of the Seventies not only wasn’t concerned about us swallowing small toy pieces, but they actually wanted us to use open hot plates for melting plastic and to throw weighted metal darts at each other. Survival of the luckiest, or at least the kids who preferred to read. :) ...

Page 917 of the Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci: Describe the nature of Time as distinguished from the Geometrical definitions. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Donald Crowdis --- curator, television host, blogger, and survivor — will turn 93 on Christmas Eve. His wife has been in the hospital for a while, and he writes about missing her. In Mourning, Among Her Souvenirs

Yep, that’s a cat in a dress… A giant cat in a dress, judging by the mountains in the background. :) Cat dresses apparently are/were available – the catalog says Fall/Winter 2005 – at missglamourpuss.com. If it’s a boy cat? We believe cats are generally pretty open-minded, and metro-sexual to the point of being much more adventurous than your average man. In fact, we think cats are so haute-couture conscious, they looooove to experiment with their “feminine side”- kind of like all those New Romantics dressed up like Vivienne Westwood’s pirates in the 80’s. So while we draw the line at eyeliner, we say leave the inhibitions at the door and get a ballgown onto his cute little booty! ...

Percival X. Walker, Greensboro Billionaire, and his Peace Plan for Blog Commenter Wars (Inspired By Michael Richards). :) See also “Percy’s Big Gay Economic Development Plan” and “Be Thankful that the Pilgrims Recognized the Failure of Communism.”

I am thankful for so many things in my life. I have a wonderful wife, a nice house, a job that pays well, a not-too-weird family, interesting friends, and most of my hit points. I’m also thankful for spam, at least in moderation…of which it has none. Spam always says, “Someone’s interested in you…and a few million other people.” It’s almost life-affirming. But what I’m most thankful for is that it gives me a chance to fill up an entry with random spam subject lines, trying to determine if Spam really knows me at all. ...

Apparently euros are starting to physically crumble due to a combination of crystal meth residue and human sweat. I like William Gibson’s title better than mine: Rotting the Literal Fabric of the German Economy.