Dash away all….
Merry Christmas to all the Moonhowler Contributors. Many this be the best Christmas of all.
Stop by and let us know what is good cooking at your house. Did you get a favorite gift, did you spend time with your family? Do you have out of town guests?
Who admits to watching A Christmas Story at least once this season? I will hit it a couple of times tomorrow. TBS has not let me down.
I have discovered Poldark. I am mesmerized. When something is set in the late 1700’s, it doesn’t matter that it is over 30 years old.
How many of the men helped with wrapping? [crickets]
Who has that Christmas nap all planned out?
Merry Christmas!
Nothing marks time quite like Christmas. My youngest is 17 now, which means that I am peacefully sitting by the tree, not a gift opened yet, because no one else is awake.
Prime rib is on the menu for today.
Merry Christmas to all. If you need to kill a couple of minutes while waiting on the rest of the family to rally and get the day going, check out this story on NPR about the origins of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I heard it on the radio yesterday while running errands and ended up driving home the long way in order to hear the whole story.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=144176035
Merry Christmas to all.
Emma, its sort of creepy to sit alone at Christmas, for the first few years it happens. Then it gets enjoyable. I used to sit and snicker that someone else was up at the crack of dawn after getting no sleep. Sweet revenge.
I thought someone was breaking into the house this morning. Turns out it was out gdaughter sneaking their dog in the backyard because they are headed to Maryland until later this afternoon. No advance notice, no nothing. Its the 4 dogs of Christmas for us today.
I am in huge trouble because I might have mentioned to the wrong person (when asked, of course) that someone I knew had been naughty a time or two. In particular, they had scratched up their brother’s face.
http://www.portablenorthpole.tv
This is a very neat site.l
Merry Christmas!!!
Merry Christmas to all! My kids actually slept in til 7:20 🙂
I love Christmas, yes, the Jew loves seeing the kids light up when they see Santa has visited during the night. I figure my time is limited til Santa no longer exists 🙁
Very true article. Interesting read!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-christmas-effect-how-hanukkah-became-a-big-holiday/2011/12/20/gIQAt944BP_story.html?hpid=z8
A quiet morning walk with Santa and the dog. Wore a loud red Christmas sweater to Trinity and rang the bell in the bell tower after 11 a.m. church service. Turkey baking, all the fixings ready, the leaf is in the table. Listening to the Messiah off I-tunes and looking at the tree. Santa is tilted back in the La-z-boy and snoring. The adult children and their significant others arrive later today. My son stopped at that house on Liberia to buy his girlfriend a birdhouse. There’s a story on Manassas.Patch.com about him. Kipp Hanley’s story about a family at the ACTS homeless shelter on the front page of the News & Messenger today is extraordinary. Grateful for this island of peace, and ever mindful of the needs of others.
Poldark! Totally fascinating. It played as a series on Public television decades ago. My daughter was crazy about it and read the book several times over. There’s something special about those stories with men riding over lonly moores in rain, storm and moonlight.
Moon/ where can I find it now?
@punchak
Netflix streaming. Instant on!!! Its great.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, or Hanukka, or both. I did.
Wrapping? Santa does that. What wrapping? Christmas presents just appear on Christmas morning.
I was surprised by the gift of a new computer! My wife made all sorts of noises about waiting until after Christmas for the sales and then Santa brought me a new HP!
Soooo…if you don’t hear from me…I’m probably laying under my desk, snarled in cables, with smoke all around me.
We had roast beef, ham, corn, homemade pie, ice cream, cake, beer, egg nog, and sodas.
In fact, I’m going to surprise darling daughter when she wakes up with an offer of breakfast pie.
And for the Christmas spirit: The War Against Christmas: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8763834@N02/sets/72157622985260251/
Tell us about your new computer, Cargo! Weren’t you holding the old one together with bandaids and duck tape?
Let’s hope that new computer ushers in some new political ideas and moderizes you a little. 👿
Paper clips and gum!
Actually, I love my (this) computer. Its been “on” for most of its life. It’s only “hiccuped” once and was easily fixed. If the new one is anything like this one…I predict that I’ll be using it ten years from now also. This one is still fine for everyday things.
Memory usage sucks, but that’s because browsers suck so much memory and websites have so much junk on them.
I’ll probably be changing it out in the next few days. Right now I’m (gulp) cleaning and rearranging Darling Daughter’s room. She has too much stuff.
She’s giving away her Barbies to either a younger friend or to the Children’s Hospital or local shelter.
@Cargo, First off, don;t throw those Barbies away! Pack them away if no longer played with and save them until she is a grown woman. They will be very valued old friends when she is an adult. That is girl talk. Trust me, I know. This is particularly important if they still have heads on them etc.
Your loved computer—I would laugh like hell at you being so loyal to an old computer but I am the same way. They is also a resistance to moving stuff. I just retired my work horse computer and I still haven’t put it out of reach. Is it my next to youngesty? Oh hell no. I have 2 notebooks newer than the workhorse. Am I using them? Finally. Mental.
Part of the problem was giving up XP. XP is so much easier than Windows 7.
Workshorse has had no less than 5 keyboards changed out. I wear out keyboards. It takes a long time to start up and shut down. It has had one new hard drive. I have more than gotten my money out of it.
Merry Christmas to all! A little late, but I’ve been working on a ‘feature length’ home video of all the various family Christmas videos with some photos thrown in. Everyone has a digital video or still camera these days, and keeping the files organized becomes a full time job when covering major events like Christmas. A labor of love I guess you’d call it. Now on to New Years, and I just got the hang of writing 2011, rats!
Merry Christmas to you also, SA. Your project sounds very interesting. Was it just your family?
Agreed about 2011. It will take longer to learn 2012 for me because I write fewer checks.
Just the family, but from different locations. I have to edit 3 hours of accumulated video clips into a single movie. It takes time to edit, add music, transitions, etc., but in the end it brings it all together into something people will actually sit down and watch. Gone are the boring days of the 8mm projector click-clack in a darkened room.
@SA,
It sounds like quite a production and time consuming but very worthwhile for your family. Where did you learn to do this?
Several of my cousins have been sharing old 8mms with the rest of us on our cousins channel on facebook. I wish one of them would do that!
I dont think any of my immediate cousins grew around a movie camera. Those were for the near-wealthy during my childhood. Sort of like polaroid cameras!
@Moon-howler
She didn’t play with them earlier. She only played with dolls when her friends wanted to. She has been a Tom Boy all her life. Her favorite toys are toy swords, especially Nerf swords. (I would have given my left arm for Nerf swords when I was a kid. They’re cool.)
As for my “old faithful”, its quickly losing its luster as I harangue it to stop “hanging” while I want to read a website. And I really don’t want to talk about its inability to show movies. You Tube looks like an old flip film, it stutters so much.
So, I’ll retire it. Just don’t know what I’m going to do with it. Perhaps use it with older games.
If she didnt play with them, they are in good shape. Pack them away. She might have daughters who enjoy them. Plus some of them will be collectors items.
Just put it away, Cargo. You don’t have to do anything with it. It will eventually find its way to the dump but not for a while.
I sure wish I had some of these old apple computers I used to have that went to the dump. Cry.
“Just don’t know what I’m going to do with it.”
I’ve always found that taping a picture of the monster-in-law to the screen and placing it downrange of an Alexander Arms .50 Beowulf has a remarkable therapeutic effect.
The 1% have created their own non-profit to educate the sheepeople on the needs of the mega-wealthy. The group just formed this year, so there is no public information available other than its website. They have policy positions on the evil of taxes, the oppression of the new health care law, and a drill-baby-drill environmental/energy position. I trust many on here will want to give until it hurts … it is tax-deductible.
http://jobcreatorsalliance.org/Default.aspx
I just finished watching to Poldark series. Setting was late 1700s in England, post Revolution. Unfortunately, he was in the middle. Non-titled but landed gentry. The lower classes were treated horribly. After watching that series I realized more than ever why liberty from the mother country was so important. The people had no health cares, equal protection under the law,
I am glad to see that the 1% are out protecting their sorry asses. Class warfare? I believe I was accused of promoting it on this blog. Funny how some folks side with their opporessors. Is that a version of Stockholm syndrome?
There will always be a war against the middle and lower classes. The upper class wants to stay elite and have the worker bees to oppress.
All the guns in the world won’t help. The uppers can buy the govt and the army if they set their minds to it.
@Mom
Then I have a problem.
1) I had GREAT in-laws.
2) I have no where to go shoot it.
3) You’re teasing me about owning .50 Beowulf. I’ve wanted one of those since I found out about them.
Oh well…..
Why can’t you join the Quantico Range? You are a vet. Why can’t you come up and go to the NRA range? Why not pay to use Bull Run Regional Range? Clark Bros is about half way….and I think you shoot there if you buy your ammo from them.
@Cargo
1. Great In-Laws is an oxymoron and genetically impossible.
2. Long Park or Silver Lake after hours works fine, otherwise any powercut west of PWC.
3. Lots of friends with lots of interesting (and loud) toys.
@Mom
Alas, I’m way to south of you to use Long Park or Silver Lake. Or anything west of PWC. I’ll have to find somewhere around Richmond.
I did, though, have great in-laws. I feel that I was uniquely blessed. They’ve since passed away.
Make our day. Come to Long Park or Silver Lake and start firing that boy toy. 😈
Shall we tell Chief Deane you are on your way?
Is target shooting authorized on Silver Lake? Sweet. My tax dollars at work!!
Speaking of .50…
http://blog.vcdl.org/index.php?/archives/1225-VA-ALERT-Serbu-Gun-Giveaway-to-a-lucky-VCDL-member!!.html
VCDL Executive Member Ed Levine made arrangements with Serbu Firearms to receive a BFG-50 to be given away to a lucky VCDL member at Lobby Day on Monday, January 16, 2012!!!
“That’s not a gun. THIS is a gun!”
The Serbu BFG-50 is a .50 BMG single-shot rifle which weights 22 lbs, has a 29.5 inch barrel, and is 51.5 inches long.
Join up!! Protect your freedoms. Send a message to Richmond to keep the government away from our liberties.
Mo, I checked out the website. AWE-SOME. I’m waiting for the made for web video, “The 1%’s Strike Back” or “Wrath of the 1%”
No it is not authorized at Silver Lake. However, there is a firing range at Bull Run Regional Park. I am sure They can accommodate you. I particularly enjoy it during the Christmas light show. It makes you think you are really in the middle east. Yup. Peace on earth good will towards men.
Actually I think there was such an outcry that the range closes before the lights go on each night. It really gives on a creepy feeling.
Just out of curiosity, what does any civilian need with weaponry like that? Is that what real men shoot deer with?
Is target shooting authorized on Silver Lake?
Only when its closed and the guard is gone. The BRMC property makes a great backstop (as does the occasional Bambi that wanders into the field of fire).
“Just out of curiosity, what does any civilian need with weaponry like that? Is that what real men shoot deer with?”
High end adult entertainment? 😉
Is it like the Ipad of guns? From a person who has never met an electronics gadget they didnt like….
States’ rights champion Rick Perry has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Virginia State Board of Elections — chaired by Republican Charles Judd — asking the federal government to set aside the rules the State of Virginia enacted with which he failed to comply. States’ rights was the one of the main themes of his “Fed Up” book. Doesn’t that make him a flip-flopper?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/76617114/Perry-VA-Ballot-Access
I would guess Virginia could make any laws it wanted about its election. I would say old Rick Boy if flip flopping like a flounder. Maybe he wants less state govt and more federal govt.
Thanks Moe. Keep us posted on these opportunists.
ps beware of hanging chads
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20111227-perry-seeks-to-overturn-virginias-republican-primary-ballot-law.ece
“States can be free to experiment with different ideas to deal with societal concerns and problems, and they can do so at a level closer to the people so that those particular trials can match the morals and beliefs of the people most affected,” he wrote. Americans “do not want to be told how to live their lives. They certainly don’t want some faraway bureaucrat, judge or representative of a different community to tell them how to live.” – Mr. Perry.
Activist judges? Try activist presidential candidates!! Get off the stage Mr. Perry. Your 15 minutes are up.
I am getting that queasy feeling again that comes from agreeing with conservatives and libertarians. Twice in one day is bringing on a bad case of vertigo, Marin.
The thing is still 2200 bucks. That’s a bunch of lettuce! I’ve been kicking around the idea of a H&R Handi-Rifle in .500 S&W Magnum for those situations when I want to obliterate anything in front of me in one shot. I can see the attraction, but I just don’t know what I’d use that for.
@pokie
By a video game and play it after the boys have gone to bed. its legal and leaves no permanent holes.
@Morris Davis
Yeah, that makes him a flip-flopper. Like most “conservatives”, he’s only a conservative when it serves his needs. Of course, when an actual conservative does come along like Ron Paul, he’s labeled a kook by the idiots like Hannity who wouldn’t know the first thing about the founding fathers and what they thought.
@pokie,
not to be a smart ass, but….what do any of us really know about what the founding fathers and what they thought. I grew up in the shadow of the crown prince of founding fathers and I don’t know jack. I have an old friend translating the Madison papers. I am not sure she knows jack. Different time, different place. The crown prince certainly was not a conservative either. I am speaking of Mr. Jeffereson. He was probably about as radical as they come for his day.
I am convinced that the founding fathers set in motion a form of government they expected to fail simply because it had never been done before. They did a remarkable job because the framework has the flexiblity to change with the times.
I am going to be bold and say I don’t think it matters what the founding fathers thought. They were the intelligensia of their day and much of what they set into motion was social experimentation. It was fraught with contradiction and hypocrisy on the one hand and yet embrazened enough with a concept to carry us more than 200 years into the future. People have been willing to die for this concept. Others have risked life and limb, just to have a taste. The ability to grow and adapt to change is probably the best thing about the Constitution.
One of my first baby sitters was a German lady who had, along with her husband and one year old baby, escaped the East Berlin parameter. They jumped into the river amidst a spray of rifle fire and swam to freedom. They came to America via political asylum. What kind of magnet has a draw like that for a young couple with a year old baby?
But I digress. Ron Paul is strange and I am not sure he is a conservative. I am not sure what he is actually.
I guess if you’re Obama, it’s “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men, and I need another couple billion dollars!”
Uhhh, Trillion, that is. What was I thinking?
Oh, and I watched A Christmas Story a few times (probably four total) starting Christmas Eve. Love that movie. Darren McGavin is my favorite…I love the Dad he plays. “Fra-gee-lay”!!
@SlowpokeRodriguez
Slow — If you think BO is “peace on earth and good will to men” you didn’t read the WaPo story on the ever-expanding drone program. Turns out DOD and the CIA have their own separate kill lists. At least we have a Nobel Peace Prize winner with the final say on who gets to live and who has to die without the inconvenience of a trial. By BO standards Bush was a weak-kneed, law-abiding, wimp.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/under-obama-an-emerging-global-apparatus-for-drone-killing/2011/12/13/gIQANPdILP_print.html
Thanks to Bill Golden who is NOT an Obama supporter for pointing out that the actual national debt in January 2009 when President Obama took office was $11,909,829,003,511.75 (Jan 30, 2009) per the U.S. Treasury.
That is a far cry from what the politicians are blathering about.
Usual appologies for using a FoxNews link but this is good.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/28/on-eve-net-boycott-dump-godaddy-exodus-begins/
What I like about this is that people across the internet. Hard core misguided liberals, independents, republicans, conservatives and libertarians have all come out to try and kill SOPA. And to damage any company that dares to support it.
I think the company shot itself in the foot by supporting a government effort to neuter the First Amendment.
Bravo to the community for supporting this NATO-type doctrine. An attack on one is an attack on us all.
Thank you very much for posting this article, Marin. It would be difficult for me to police it also. I would probably just discontinue to bblog. It would make too many legal iffies. Who wants that kind of liability.
Here is my question….if I got moonhowlings.net through godaddy, can I renew it through another one of those types of companies?
Remember Oprah?
Apparently her network is NOT doing well. She thought she could retire to work behind the scenes.
Well, I’ve figured out a possible clue to why her network is not as popular has her show. I saw this while scrolling through the Menu guide:
OWN
The Rosie Show
Tribute to Jane Fonda
Yep. That’s who Oprah needs to give a tribute to: Ol’ Hanoi Jane.
By a 9/11 truther.
You know, I am so tired of hearing about Hanoi Jane. The only reason her legend lives on is because she is Hollywood. Lots of other folks did things equally as ‘treasonous’ yet we never hear about them. Basically, I don’t really much care. She was a young woman and she operated 45 years ago. Time to move on.
Are you as rabid about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg?
Cargo, how old were you when Janie did her nasty deed? I was a kid when the Rosenbergs supposedly betrayed their country. Life’s too short.
Want to know why Santorum won’t win a nomination, much less the election?
I, a political junkie, saw his picture on Drudge, and did not automatically recognize him.
If I don’t recognize him without clicking on the article, then the average American won’t know him at all.
Santorum won’t win because he is an extremist who doesn’t believe in birth control. From everything he says he doesn’t really believe in separation of church and state.
Possible prerequisites for firing at Long Park/Silver Lake
1) Duster
2) Be on horseback
3) Be a Gainesville District Resident(must have documentation certified by the chief of staff or supervisor)
Mom,
Really, lots of amigos? lol
@Moon-howler
Lots of companies are offering incentives for a webmaster to switch domain registrations. It’s not that hard to do. They basically do all the work for you.
MH, here is an article that has good info for you.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57349256-501465/dumping-go-daddy-rivals-offer-domain-transfer-day-deals/
Hanoi Jane. LOL. Love it.
Lafyayette, thanks for the tip. I’ve been looking at an excuse to buy a Duster and a Mossberg. 😉
@Moon-howler
If Ethel and Julius were still around and “being famous”, yes I would.
My brother is a Viet Nam vet. Her actions affected him, however indirectly. Her poison and her continued support for her actions and her support for those ideals show that she has not changed one iota. I am a staunch anti-communist. Her continued support for those ideals show that she is still a shill for evil. Yes, she admitted that her support for the Viet Cong was a betrayal of our forces in a biography. Too little, too late. She should have been brought up on charges. But we don’t charge anyone with treason in time of war anymore.
Pffft. Jane Fonda is probably unknown to most people except for her exercise videos.
@Censored bybvbl
🙂 We can but hope. Still….. having a Fonda tribute by a known 9/11 truther is supposed to HELP her ratings?