Christians' War Against Christmas

Even though Bill O'Reilly would have us believe that Christians have long supported Christmas in America and that Christmas is the ultimate American religious holiday, America's religious history is bit more complicated.

Does not auger well

The main auger on our snowblower is acting lazy, even in the fluffy snow. It took twice as long as it should have to make the path to the wood pile and the general cleanup. (Mike plowed the driveway.) The forecast calls for an evil mix of snow, ice, and glop late Saturday into Sunday. It'll be important to clean out quickly because near-zero weather will follow.

We had about nine inches of snow.

How to see cats

When Sandra and I stayed at The Red Lion Inn recently, their house cat, Simon, visited us in our room, staying a while for nap under the bed. Some years ago, we decided that we would add no more pets to our household, but Simon's visit has made us waver.

Neatorama reports on a Japanese rent-a-cat service where you can spend time with cats without the care, cleaning, and furniture repair that are required when you have a cat at home.

Lore has it that cats can see in the dark. With the magic of cloning, cats can be made fluorescent and so we can see back at them.

Panel hears songs against cosmetic pesticides. Wait. What?

Charlottetown, The Guardian: News | Panel hears songs against cosmetic pesticides

News from PEI: some headlines don't need a punch line

The FMLA Blog: Leave Due to "Depression" Insufficient Notice for FMLA Protections

The FMLA Blog: Leave Due to "Depression" Insufficient Notice for FMLA Protections: "the FMLA does not 'include depression in all of its forms.'"

Will there be a Christmas? Jesus action figure out of stock at Walmart

Trends: Talking Jesus Action Figure Sells Out At Walmart

Turning over a new leaf sometimes leaves it upside down

Google Maps Streetview hits Worcester « Daily Worcesteria

Google Maps Streetview hits Worcester « Daily Worcesteria

Google Blogoscoped: Monsters of the Programming World

Why it's better to be the grandparents

The author of this article used instructions for squirrel-proofing a house, changed the word squirrel to teen, and found domestic tranquility.

Living healthy with Google

So I thought it would be a good idea to find out more about organic fruits and vegetables for sale in this area. Google offers a handy package of applications for the Blackberry so that it's easy to download tools such as GMail, Picasa, Google Docs, Google Maps, and the venerable search page itself.

Freedom requires religion?

Massachusetts has a time-honored tradition of putting nut-job politicians on the national stage. Remember, this is Kennedy country. So, even though Mitt Romney was a one-term, undistinguished guvnuh, he showed good form in his speech on faith in America the other day. Without religion, he lectured us, we cannot see, appreciate, and apply the deep thoughts required to sustain freedom and thus are not strong enough to receive the gift of liberty.

Um, no.

Article VI:
... no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Continuing the search for the

Continuing the search for the lost hippies. This time, they've been sighted in N. Adams MA, where graybeards play the fiddle in coffee shops.

Bug-compatible

People who use any piece of software (or, perhaps, anything) long enough will become accustomed to its fault, regarding those misbehaviors as quirks of the system. Some of the quirks are interesting enough to be regarded as features.

Then, when it comes time for an upgrade, users will howl like three-year-olds fixes something that they've already adapted to. This story is a fine example of what we at a former company used to call a bug-compatible release.

On demographics

'Splain this. On the local Fox affiliate, before and during a rerun episode of the Simpsons, we see ads from the following:

• Hilary Clinton
• Mitt Romney
• Rudy Giuliani
  
• Olay Regenerist (a facial treatment, not a third-party candidate)

Venturing out

Sandra and I had a nice day while waiting for the storm to come. We first went to Bodies, the Exhibition. (The website has an annoying amount of Flash.) The exhibition shows detailed views of human bodies and organs, delicately preserved and well-presented. It's not for the squeamish, particularly the section on human embryos. It is for anyone who wants a good view of bone, muscle, skin, blood vessels, nerves, lungs, and naughty bits.

Afterwards, we wandered down the road to the newly renovated, upscale mall, Natick Collection. So, they have Nordstrom's, Neiman Marcus, Brooks Brothers, and lots of single-name boutiques. But, they also have a guy selling Black & Decker power tools in a kiosk. The mall wasn't very busy. As expected, the non-crowds were pretty much white - stylin' teens, young families and screaming kids, football widows, and a grandmotherly-type woman with long gray hair and a Bluetooth headset. We didn't buy anything except lunch. (Service at the Nordstrom Cafe was very strange, but they gave us a bowl of French onion soup and a bread pudding to compensate for our waiting a half hour for our meal.

It was a bid sad to look around at the clothes and other stuff that I might need if I was going to go to work. Nordstrom had some cool and colorful socks. Good for them. I have plenty of sock and can't bring myself to buy any more, at least not now.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. I can't let a day at a mall in December go by without saying, "I know that this has something to do with Jesus, but, darned if I can figure out what it is."

"many corporate names now have the ring of a collection of Dr. Seuss characters"

The following two articles showed up in my reading list today:

• Worcester Drug Company Gets Girlier Name
  
• How Do You Tell a Web Name From A Typo? - washingtonpost.com
  

Never get lost again, almost

The mobile version of Google Maps now has a built-in location finder, such that it can detect where you are, even if you don't have a GPS-enabled phone. On-screen, it shows your location, along with a disclaimer that says that you may or may not be exactly at that spot. (It'll depend on the proximity of the cell towers and other stuff.)

Eine kleine Blogmusik

A sidebar on this blog's home page includes a blurb about the music that I'm listening to or thinking about. Folks who subscribe to this blog via email or rss won't see the blurbs. If you'd like to receive the blurbs, you can sign up here.