Netanyahu's Christmas Greeting 2012

Via Linkmaster Smith:

No Room for Seconds

Everything turned out just perfect, via Twitter.

I think we have some pumpkin pie in the fridge, but that's going to wait until later tonight, way later.

Science Gifts

At the New York Times, "Gifts That Keep Giving (if Not Exploding)":

Ask scientists of a certain age about their childhood memories, and odds are they’ll start yarning about the stink bombs and gunpowder they concocted with their chemistry sets. Dangerous? Yes, but fun.

“Admittedly, I have blown some things up in my time,” said William L. Whittaker, 64, a robotics professor at Carnegie Mellon University who unearthed his first chemistry set, an A. C. Gilbert, in a junkyard around age 8. By 16, he was dabbling in advanced explosives. “There’s no question that I burned some skin off my face,” he recalled.

Under today’s Christmas tree, girls and boys will unwrap science toys of a very different ilk: slime-making kits and perfume labs, vials of a fluff-making polymer called Insta-Snow, “no-chem” chemistry sets (chemical free!), plus a dazzling array of modern telescopes, microscopes and D.I.Y. volcanoes. Nothing in these gifts will set the curtains on fire.

“Basically, you have to be able to eat everything in the science kit,” said Jim Becker, president of SmartLab Toys, who recalled learning the names of chemicals from his childhood chemistry set, which contained substances that have long since been banned from toys.

Some scientists lament the passing of the trial-and-error days that inspired so many careers. “Science kits are a lot less open-ended these days,” said Kimberly Gerson, a science blogger who lives outside Toronto. “Everything is packaged. It’s either ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ If you don’t get the right result, you’ve done it wrong and you’re out of chemicals.”

Others, though, say the new crop of science toys — even with their cartoonish packaging and heavy emphasis on neon goo — actually represent progress. More entertaining, educational and accessible than earlier products, which relied heavily on a child’s inner motivation, these toys may actually help democratize the learning of science and introduce children to scientific methods and concepts at an earlier age.

“I grew up in the 1960s, and a lot of the chemistry sets were kind of boring,” said William Gurstelle, a science and technology writer. “You’d go through the book, and at the end of the experiment you’d get some light precipitate at the bottom of the beaker. Maybe at most it changes color or something.”

Mr. Gurstelle’s books, which include “Whoosh Boom Splat” and “Backyard Ballistics,” teach people how to make dangerous projectiles, like a potato cannon that uses hair spray as launching fluid. But he had high praise for commercial science kits, which show children (among other things) how to make slime.

“Well, that’s a pretty cool thing to have when you’re done,” Mr. Gurstelle said. “You’re not going to really learn to be a chemist from a chemistry set when you’re in seventh grade; you’re just going to be inspired. The point is that new chemistry sets and new toys are just better, because the manufacturers have figured out how to make them more fun.”

More at that top link.

Christmas Visits

I just got back from my aunt's house in Mission Viejo. My sister Chris was visiting. (Recall the last time I blogged about my sister here.) It was a nice visit. Chris is 53 now. She's living in Sherman Oaks and is a human resource executive with Kelly Services. In other news, we're getting ready shortly to start fixing dinner. We've had the beef slow-cooking all day but we've got the lobsters and potatoes to prepare. I'll be blogging and enjoying food and wine throughout the evening. Merry Christmas!

'The Joy of Hate'

My wife gave me Greg Gutfeld's new book, The Joy of Hate: How to Triumph over Whiners in the Age of Phony Outrage.

An Apple Christmas

An interesting post from Gabe Rivera, "Techmeme's top 20 headline terms of 2012, and what they signify":

Several things stand out from this list:

- Yeah, Apple is #1. It's no surprise that tech's largest company by revenue, market cap, and influence is also the biggest newsmaker, appearing in over 11.45% of Techmeme's headlines.

Continue reading.

It's going to be an Apple Christmas morning around my household. I'll post some photos later...

Neil Heslin, Father of Jesse Lewis, Killed in Newtown Shooting, Spends Christmas Eve Graveside

I cried listening to this interview a couple of days after the shooting. Not shaking, sobbing crying. Just crying in my soul for this man and his unbearable loss. My wife saw this later after I'd seen it and she said, "He was still in shock."

The story's at the New York Post, "Alone together: Grieving dad at Jesse’s grave."

I get a little misty watching it again at the clip.

Pope Benedict XVI Delivers His 2012 Christmas Message

At Telegraph UK:

The Pope used his Christmas message to the world to say that people should never lose hope for peace, even in war-torn Syria and in Nigeria, where he spoke of "terrorism" against Christians.

Shopping for Christmas Dinner

Last night, at Costco Tustin:

We picked up a bottle of wine* and some of those lobsters pictured, plus some beef tri-tip roast. Mmm, it's going to be tasty!

* Louis M. Martini, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County 2010 (about $11.00 at Costco, a little more at Amazon).

Hallelujah Chorus

Via EBL:

Spider-Man for Christmas

Pretty cool:

Merry Christmas 2012

My family's presents under the tree, via Twitter.

And from Thomas Sowell, at National Review, "Christmas-Tree Totalitarians":

Some people seem to think that, if life is not fair, then the answer is to turn more of the nation’s resources over to politicians — who will, of course, then spend these resources in ways that increase the politicians’ chances of getting reelected.

The annual outbursts of intolerance toward any display of traditional Christmas scenes, or even daring to call a Christmas tree by its name, show that today’s liberals are by no means liberal. Behind the mist of their lofty words, the totalitarian mindset shows through....

If someone wrote a novel about a man who was raised from childhood to resent the successful and despise the basic values of America — and who then went on to become president of the United States — that novel would be considered too unbelievable, even for a work of fiction. Yet that is what has happened in real life.

Merry Christmas.

Two Firefighters Shot and Killed Responding to Fire in Upstate New York

At USA Today, "4 firefighters shot, 2 killed at Webster, N.Y., fire."

More video here: "Firefighters report 2 dead on dispatch audio.

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Suspect in fatal N.Y. firefighter ambush killed grandmother in 1980."

'Blue Christmas'

This song's been playing at The Sound L.A.

Can't miss:

'Hanging on the Telephone'

Via Killian and Kurt Loder, "Taking punk platinum: How #Blondie’s “Parallel Lines” was made" (on Twitter).

One number for which she didn't have to put pen to paper was Parallel Lines' dynamic opening track, 'Hanging On The Telephone', which was also the opener on a 1976 EP by guitarist Jack Lee's short-lived LA power pop trio, the Nerves. Blondie had shared a bill with the Nerves on one of their first visits to the West Coast, and they had already worked on the song by the time they introduced it to Mike Chapman.

"That track was magic from the beginning," he says. "Unlike some of the others, it was an easy one to cut because it was more like Blondie's normal, frantic sort of style, and I also vibed it up a lot. Initially, they didn't know quite how much to put into it, but I told them, 'Look, this is more like the stuff on your first two records. Let's give it that sort of punk/new wave attitude.' I knew that the energy level on that track would make or break it. If we didn't have that energy we'd miss the point, because the musical structure of the song is very tense — it sits you on the end of your chair, and we had to have a track that did the same thing.

"They were all very much into giving it that full-on energy, and of course this was Clem's favourite way of playing. If he really liked something, that in itself added extra energy. So, I think we did four takes and I then took the best one to work on and fix things. If there was a guitar mistake or a bass mistake, we'd punch in and out. In those days, I didn't cut the tape a lot like I'd do later on."

While Burke's sharp drumming and Nigel Harrison's pumping bass are punctuated by Frank Infante's electrifying, punk-edged guitar lines, 'Hanging On The Telephone' is nevertheless powered right from the start by Deborah Harry's energetic, in-your-face vocals as she spits out the song's staccato-style opening lines with machine-gun rapidity: "I'm in the phone booth, it's the one across the hall. If you don't answer, I'll just ring it off the wall. I know he's there, but I just had to call..."

"Debbie always got it right away whenever I tried to describe what to do, but a lot of the phrasing was totally down to her," Chapman states. "She has a strange way of delivering certain phrases, and I found myself accepting things from her that I never would have accepted from anyone else. I would have had other people change it, whereas with her I'd think, 'No, no, no, I've got to leave it like that,' or else it just wouldn't be her. For instance, in 'Hanging On The Telephone', the lines 'I heard your mother now she's going out the door. Did she go to work or just go to the store?' — I remember listening to those and thinking, 'This is the dumbest lyric I've ever heard.' However, it was so dumb, it was beautiful, it was brilliant, and when Debbie then sang it in her inimitable way it suddenly sounded even funnier. It just sounded like the weirdest, most bizarre thing I'd ever heard."

It's a long piece, but fascinating.

It's about Mike Chapman as much as it is about Blondie (one band I never did see back in the day).

Christmas Eve Roundup of the Roundups

I should probably do this more often.

We could just save readers some time by linking to all the good stuff.

Maggie's Farm always has great links, for example, "My Christmas Eve post," and "Monday morning links."

And at Director Blue, "Larwyn's Linx: The Perfect Prison."

The Other McCain usually has the "Live at Five" roundup posted, but Wombat must be taking the day off. So here's this, "Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Chains Rattling, and Who’s That Ghost?" And, "FLASHBACK: December 2010 - Christmas Cheesecake."

Plus, more at Theo Spark's, "Pic Dump," and "News..."

You know Instapundit's the place to go, and this one's really worth it, "LARRY CORREIA: An Opinion On Gun Control. (Reposted)."

And from The Never-Saw-It-Coming Department at Weasel Zippers, "Socialists Blame Capitalism For Newtown Massacre…"

Now, over at Right Wing News, you can get your fill, "Monday, December 24, 2012. Plus, "The Journal News Doxes (possible) NY Handgun Owners.

Check Pirate's Cove as well, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See…is an flooded world, you might just be a Warmist."

Also at Ninety Miles From Nowhere, "If Gun Free Zones Are Good Enough For Our Children...."

And at Astute Bloggers, "GUN CONTROL IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF ILLOGICAL LIBERAL POLICY-MAIKNG."

I'll have more blogging this afternoon. My wife and I are heading over to Costco in a bit to get some beef tri-tip and lobster for tomorrow's Christmas dinner.

Drop your links in the comments to be added. And have a Merry Christmas Eve.

If you got haters...

...you must be doing something right!

Seen while out Christmas shopping earlier today and posted at Twitter.

Grinch UPS Delivery Man Steals iPad Off Front Porch Days Before Christmas

Well, so much for that yuletide spirit.

At the Los Angeles Times, "UPS guy steals homeowner's FedEx package -- on video":

Getting holiday packages swiped from outside your door is an unfortunate risk of online shopping. Unless you’re Al Alverson, a Texas homeowner with a security camera.

When he returned home one recent day to discover that the FedEx package he was expecting was missing, he turned to his footage and discovered the culprit.

And it wasn’t the milkman.

“I said, 'Oh my God, it’s the UPS guy,'” Alverson told KHOU 11 News.

In a video that’s now posted on YouTube and circulating around Reddit, the Grinch in a brown uniform drops off a parcel at Alverson’s door and then soon returns to nab the FedEx package.

The box contained an iPad mini for Alverson’s daughter.

At first, Alverston told the news station, UPS was less than helpful when he called to complain. But once he posted the damning footage, the shipping company promised to send him a replacement tablet, he said.

The delivery man was a temporary holiday worker for UPS, not a driver, spokeswoman Natalie Godwin said. He was fired and arrested, though he has since been released from custody, she said.

Continue reading.

Pre-Christmas Blizzard Batters the Midwest

An ABC News report:

And at the New York Times, "A Reminder of What Midwest Winters Are About."

Well, it's a white Christmas at least. I'm sending a prayer out to all those who're traveling.

If You're Doing Any Last Minute Shopping

There's still some holiday specials all day today, at Amazon.