Hooray For Santa Claus

I left this nugget off my 2007 list of favorite Christmas songs.

It's not one you'll hear on the Wal-Mart P.A. system or as background music when a dupe of a husband lays an expensive diamond necklace on his wife in a Christmas tree lot. It was from the film, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. I just found the original rendition which was done by a small choir of children (Milton DeLugg and the Eskimos), but I have been enjoying a delightfully raw version done by an outfit called Sloppy Seconds. Either way, screaming little heathens or punks can only do justice to this tune. Celine Dion will never cover it.

It makes no pretence about the anticipation of getting gifts that fuels most of our episodes of 'Christmas Spirit'. No magic, no wonderment, no bells, no warm hearth, no mention of family. It's all about the toys. They don't come any more secular.

enjoy:

http://www.the-isb.com/Media/HoorayForSantaClaus.mp3

Reruns?

Actually, yes. I thoroughly explored the subject of the Christmas Holiday last December. There was a mention of the most annoying Christmas tunes on CNN. I starting thinking about this then realized I had chimed in the previous season with my picks. So here's last December's seven entries, which saves me from repeating myself.

http://trmink.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html

and November

http://trmink.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html

Modern Marvels

I've always been a friend to technology. I don't fear it and mostly put it to good use. I offer a few comments on the gadgets and appliances that make me appreciate the age I live in:

DVR
I never was much into using VCRs, they served merely as a playback device for rented and purchased VHS tapes. The quality was low and the switch to DVDs relegated my VCR to being available for the copying of old home viseos to DVD. Once DVRs did HD, I jumped in. Now I can't do without. Everything from time shifting to avoid commercials to saving episodes for late-night viewing (without the hassles of tapes) is beneficial. Replaying a bit of dialogue if interrupted is a plus.

Wireless Home Network
Three computers, a printer and an iPod touch are all connected. No more being chained to the big desktop. The laptops / iPod become ready fact checkers while watching TV or settling an argument.

iPod Touch
A must if you have wireless at home. Not only can you carry photos, music and video around, but you have plenty of little apps, adequate browser and other conveniences within the reach of this little wonder. No big fee for data like on the iPhone.

Digital Camera
I'm not much for pictures and Patti is slow to migrate from film. Our camera was pricey a few years ago and a similarly capable model can be had for under $100 now. This is one purchase that has not panned out.

HDTV / Home Theatre
I'm very picky about such things. Sure, a 19" tube would do just as well. -BUT- this one thing I treat myself to. I'm spoiled. I won't watch standard programming if at all possible. I even shy away when something isn't in true 5:1 digital.

Internet
I shop mostly online and won't buy anything until I've researched first. As mentioned before, fact checking is at the core of my online experience. I also maintain a web site, and run a very small business online.

Phones
This is one area where I am content with low tech. The convenience of a cell phone is great, but all I need to do is talk on it when necessary. No texting, no walking around with a dorky ear piece, no surfing the mobile web while driving. Dial, answer, talk, hang up. That''s all I need.

Ink Jet Printers.
Get a photo printer and a color laser printer. Ink Jet printing is expensive and of far lower quality. I'll never have another.

GPS
Got a factory set up in the car. I forget to use it half the time, but it has enough utility to it to make me glad I have it.

Satellite radio
Being doomed to listen to the same old classic rock tunes, yakity-yack radio "personalities"and strings of commercials was frightening. Hopefully the price won't be jacked up too high after the XM / Sirius meager.

The calculator
I don't always need to go to the spreadsheet. Nothing beats negotiating a price on the phone with calculator in hand. Believe me, I came up thinking slide rules were amazing and actually know how to manually find the square root of a number or determine the standard deviation for a population. This is the most amazing thing to come along in my lifetime.

The Pork Goes On

Thick pork chops tonight. This is probably the prime portion of the now legendary C.O.P. We knocked off five of them and have 4 more in reserve. A simple cooking in a stick-proof pan with a dash of cajun seasoning was all they required.

One more pork chop dinner, and probably a big two-day western rib feast remain. It's going to be tough to pay more than $1 per pound for meat after the supply in exhausted.

The End of the World

Prophets. I put them in the same bargain bin as psychics, sports touts, stock brokers, and Grandpa's weather-predicting bunion. This includes stars of The Bible like Elijah, Micah, and St. John the Divine.

You heard right. I say, take these guys out of the scriptures and The Good Book would be ... gooder. As far as some evangelists are concerned, few if any, of these prophecies have came to pass.(Bad for businesss, if they had.) So wouldn't you want to see a few predictions pan out before getting behind a soothsayer?

Mostly, the vague prophecies, are proclaimed as fulfilled when coincidental events are shoe-horned to match the prediction, or the prediction is reshaped to fit the event. If you have the stamina to sit through a Nostradamus show, you'll see what I mean. All it takes is the mention of any conflagration and you can easily find a match to a skirmish, war, or natural disaster. A similar sounding word, like Hister comes out to mean Hilter. Then there's the contradiction prediction where a prophet is right half the time on every set of predictions. It's an old handicapper trick. Tell half the people the the Cowboys are a lock and the other half that the Eagles are a sure thing, and you have half your clients thinking you are a genius.

This has been a golden age for sooths with economic problems, Barack "The Antichrist" Obama, weird weather, the dawn of the 21st century, and the extraordinary number of Jesus sightings in ethnic foods.

Back to The End of The World. Would this largely unread blog gain more readers if I were to start predictin' stuff? Perhaps.

OK, I predict the End of The World (That being The Earth) will come on a day when we no longer have the same calendar and are on some sort of metric time. The inhabitants of the planet will be humans whose DNA has been fused with that of the durable cockroach. You wouldn't recognize the place or would want to live during the period. Send me $50 and I'll tell you more.