Merry Christmas to all celebrating! And Happy Chanukah to those celebrating!
I learned, when my Israeli cousins visited, that the “ch” in English for Hebrew or Israeli references is not pronounced as “ch” as in “chair,” but as a guttural heavy “h” sound at the back of the throat. This explains what has been heretofore opaque to me as to why some spell it “Hanukah” and some “Chanukah.”
On a more serious note, to all Christians here, may you have a blessed Christmas season, and for us all, may God bring us peace in the new year.
The clip reminds me of George Michael. I have the Blu-ray of his last concert at Wembley. In the run up it shows him being driven into the venue in a limo. The local security guard stops the car and demands to see who’s in it. He looks in and sees Michael. And then says in a strong cockney accent: “I know George Michael, and you’re not fuckin’ George Michael!” They eventually drive in with Michael laughing and repeating the line in the perfect accent.
“…you’re not f***kin’ George Michael!”
Reminds me of a story that Pat Boone told on Johnny Carson’s show. Boone flew to Australia for a concert. On the drive from the airport the taxi driver kept talking about how excited he was that Pat Boone was coming there to do a concert.
Finally Boone said “I’m Pat Boone.”
The driver looked at him for a moment and said “You wish!”
I’ve forgotten where I first read of this Pew Research Center report, but I thought that it was worth an open-thread comment, which will be gone in a flash.
A quarter of all webpages that existed at one point between 2013 and 2023 are no longer accessible, as of October 2023. In most cases, this is because an individual page was deleted or removed on an otherwise functional website.
Some 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 are not available today, compared with 8% of pages that existed in 2023.
23% of news webpages contain at least one broken link, as do 21% of webpages from government sites. News sites with a high level of site traffic and those with less are about equally likely to contain broken links. Local-level government webpages (those belonging to city governments) are especially likely to have broken links.
54% of Wikipedia pages contain at least one link in their “References” section that points to a page that no longer exists.
Dax… that is too Australian to be anything other than true. I remember Pat telling that story and thinking ” no way.” Lived here for more than a bit now… Absolutely believably true. 😉
My day is off to a depressing start. There is what I presume to be an injured scaup sitting next to some steps about 60 feet away. They never come on shore. He was watching my dog but she was paying no attention to him. Now he is sleeping.
Aythya affinis aka little blue bill or lesser scaup. They are clam eaters.
My late wife used to volunteer for ticketing at the local racetrack. The volunteers were all motorheads, except for my wife. One time she was handling a customer and shouted out, “Hey does anyone know a guy named Emerson Fittipaldi?” Caused quite a ruckus.
Nice video. Film and TV celebs get a lot of weird reactions from people they encounter.
And a stunning recap of the past year’s extraordinary lowlights (with breathtaking, if not mouth-watering, commentary)….
Happy Christmas Eve. I hope today, and the rest of the week is uneventful, for every one.
In Hoc Anno Domini
This appears every Christmas Eve in the WSJ. I’ve always thought it wonderful.
https://neveryetmelted.com/tags/wall-street-journal/
Sorry, just realized that’s not the entire thing. Here it is.
https://archive.md/DUSFV
Merry Christmas to all celebrating! And Happy Chanukah to those celebrating!
I learned, when my Israeli cousins visited, that the “ch” in English for Hebrew or Israeli references is not pronounced as “ch” as in “chair,” but as a guttural heavy “h” sound at the back of the throat. This explains what has been heretofore opaque to me as to why some spell it “Hanukah” and some “Chanukah.”
On a more serious note, to all Christians here, may you have a blessed Christmas season, and for us all, may God bring us peace in the new year.
A roundup of Christmas-related links and quotes:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/72719.html
The clip reminds me of George Michael. I have the Blu-ray of his last concert at Wembley. In the run up it shows him being driven into the venue in a limo. The local security guard stops the car and demands to see who’s in it. He looks in and sees Michael. And then says in a strong cockney accent: “I know George Michael, and you’re not fuckin’ George Michael!” They eventually drive in with Michael laughing and repeating the line in the perfect accent.
“…you’re not f***kin’ George Michael!”
Reminds me of a story that Pat Boone told on Johnny Carson’s show. Boone flew to Australia for a concert. On the drive from the airport the taxi driver kept talking about how excited he was that Pat Boone was coming there to do a concert.
Finally Boone said “I’m Pat Boone.”
The driver looked at him for a moment and said “You wish!”
I’ve forgotten where I first read of this Pew Research Center report, but I thought that it was worth an open-thread comment, which will be gone in a flash.
title: When Online Content Disappears
authors: Athena Chapekis, Samuel Bestvater, Emma Remy, Gonzalo Rivero
date published: May 17, 2024
link: https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2024/05/17/when-online-content-disappears/
examples of findings:
A quarter of all webpages that existed at one point between 2013 and 2023 are no longer accessible, as of October 2023. In most cases, this is because an individual page was deleted or removed on an otherwise functional website.
Some 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 are not available today, compared with 8% of pages that existed in 2023.
23% of news webpages contain at least one broken link, as do 21% of webpages from government sites. News sites with a high level of site traffic and those with less are about equally likely to contain broken links. Local-level government webpages (those belonging to city governments) are especially likely to have broken links.
54% of Wikipedia pages contain at least one link in their “References” section that points to a page that no longer exists.
Dax… that is too Australian to be anything other than true. I remember Pat telling that story and thinking ” no way.” Lived here for more than a bit now… Absolutely believably true. 😉
My day is off to a depressing start. There is what I presume to be an injured scaup sitting next to some steps about 60 feet away. They never come on shore. He was watching my dog but she was paying no attention to him. Now he is sleeping.
Aythya affinis aka little blue bill or lesser scaup. They are clam eaters.
My late wife used to volunteer for ticketing at the local racetrack. The volunteers were all motorheads, except for my wife. One time she was handling a customer and shouted out, “Hey does anyone know a guy named Emerson Fittipaldi?” Caused quite a ruckus.
Nice video. Film and TV celebs get a lot of weird reactions from people they encounter.
And a stunning recap of the past year’s extraordinary lowlights (with breathtaking, if not mouth-watering, commentary)….
From The Scroll:
“What Happened This Year“—
https://thedailyscroll.substack.com/p/dec-23-what-happened-this-year
H/T Powerline blog.