I feel bad for journalist’s families and that’s about it. Maybe they should be doing what these condescending cunts told the coal miners to do and learn how to code.
Did someone say Disney? I had a summer internship there.
There’s a concept in Judaism you’ve likely heard of called “shabbos goy.” And here’s the background to understand that concept.
In Judaism, the five books of Moshe (Torah) are supposedly IT, the words and deeds of Yahweh, directly. And the laws of Yahweh. As I’ve talked about in other Jewsday posts, over time Pharisaical Judaism arose, wherein each word and phrase in the Torah is subject to tortured analysis and a lot of new rules set by rabbis. Curiously, those rules often seem to benefit certain people, as well as establish the power of rabbis; the kosher laws are a perfect example, with varying interpretations and complex new (compared to 2000 BCE) rules in force creating much opportunity for inspection and certification firms, not to mention rabbinical counsels. Here’s an example: the Torah says that the meat of a calf cannot be cooked in its mother’s milk. Generations of Pharisaical rabbis have turned this into a complex set of regulations requiring two sets of dishes, strict separation of any dairy product from any meat product, ritual purifications, and true biological weirdness (think of how dairy and beef are raised in the modern world). The Jews who feel that the Torah says what the Torah says, and fuck rabbis trying to complexify it and work out loopholes, are referred to as Karaites and are a minuscule minority.
I think some parallels are familiar and striking.
In any case, Pharisaical thinking resulted in the institution of the shabbos goy, a non-Jew hired to perform labor on the sabbath that Yahweh forbade Jews to do. But it’s a typical rabbinical workaround, interpret the sabbath as benefiting and binding on Jews, then rule that it’s OK to make some goy do your work for you, but with a whole set of rules and loopholes around that as well. And don’t get me started on how the rabbis have interpreted the word “work.” Here’s an example of the reasoning of one orthodox Pharisaical school of thought, just so you can get a flavor of how convoluted and ridiculous this shit is. So an orthodox jew (who can’t operate light switches on shabbos) can’t say to the goy, “Please tun on the light.” But it’s A-OK for him to say, “It’s dark in here,” and the goy will then know to turn on the light. See, we have the rules worked out!
So here it is, the goy holiday, and you guys don’t have a word for the opposite of a shabbos goy, me. A Noel Hebe? Well that’s OK, you deserve a day off and it’s going to be a slow day here anyway.
For years, I have had a set of rules about movies which generally works for me. One of them is, “Any movie by Robert Zemeckis is going to suck donkey balls.” Apparently, I was ahead of the curve.
Old Guy Music today is my favorite Christmas song. SP tells me, “You’re putting up too many Jeffrey Foucault songs. People won’t click them.” This is a brilliant song, so please prove her wrong. I get chills every time I hear it and think about the wonderful poetry.
The star up above the 5th Avenue Christmas tree
Is shining tonight through the cold and the rain
To light all the faces in the live nativity
Down on the floor of the stock exchange
Dark is the night, cold is the ground
The armies march out to defend
And the Ghost Repeaters of the revelators
Are singing “Peace on Earth and Good Will to all Men”
Well, I’m pretending to work, because why waste a vacation day when nobody else is around to verify my productivity? So y’all get links! Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, enjoy your day off for those that don’t. My Christmas is already complete. My mother declared my version of Ina Garten’s seafood chowder her “favorite meal” last night. It is damn good. I’m not at all sure it will be better than the prime rib she is making tonight, but its nice to have a family meal tradition that my mother enjoys that doesn’t involve her slaving away. As to why we made it on the 23rd, my mother-in-law is in town, but won’t stay for Christmas dinner and my wife talked up the meal so much that MiL really wanted to participate. I think that’s cool. And tonight I will bury myself in my mother’s chocolate covered cherries handed down from her mother. What are your holiday meal traditions?
Mattis performs one last act of obedience to orders given by his CiC before he leaves.
Axl Rose, fanboy of Ayn Rand. Hard to say which one is more self-indulgent, but I see why he could relate to her.
Hey, Florida Man, I think you went to the well one too many times. Sure was nice of the church to leave that truck for him to load all their gear in and pawn it. Santa don’t visit the jail.
The fact that they narrowed it down and still came up with a large egregious list tells you how bad the media has become (not to say they were not horrible before, but they’re not even trying anymore).
And I’m starting the day with a warm glow, partially due to some excellent home-made limoncello, and partially due to watching a delightful upset last night. If New Orleans will cooperate by putting away the Steelers today, all will be well in the universe.
Auspicious birthdays today include ancestor of quarterbacks and imaginative scrivener Joseph Smith; superb cartoonist and master of simple black lines Otto Soglow; brilliant and flawed trumpeter Chet Baker; Spinal Tap stalwart Harry Shearer; guitar master and twang bar king Adrian Belew; Sloopy’s dreamy hero and former Chicago Bear Jim Harbaugh; and Mr. War Boner himself, Bill Kristol.
TSA will take a back seat to no-one. Or maybe to everyone. Why is this news? Then again, why does an oppressive and useless agency somehow escape populist wrath? In a just society, there would be uniformed agents dangling from lampposts.
Old Guy Music features, inevitably, today’s birthday boy, demonstrating that as great as he is on guitar, his vocals and songwriting are in that same class.
We’re just soooo excited. Tonight is Festivus Eve!!! I’ve got my list of grievances prepared and I’ve checked it twice. We set up our pole. I’ve been exercising like crazy so as not to embarrass myself at the Feats of Strength. And we’re preparing vegetarian meatloaf, which kills two birds with one stone (sorry, “feeds two birds with one scone”). It’s going to be a Festivus miracle tonight! Just to keep my idle hands busy until then… here’s some links. Yes, I’m doing these as an excuse to avoid packing chores.
Oh wait, first it’s the birthday list. And one anniversary of note- the Embargo Act of 1807, proof that even brilliant men get stupid ideas, and the stupid idea of restricting trade as a retaliatory measure never ends well. And this particular stupid idea has cropped up again and again, with always the same results. Actual birthdays include composer and Zappa influence Edgard Varese; Vladimir Fock, he of the eponymous Hartree-Fock self consistent field methods; ideal mom and fluent speaker of jive Barbara Billingsley; and Princess Bride expert Ted Cruz.
Old Guy Music today features a brilliantly talented friend of ours who is decidedly not old. The lyrics were particularly resonant with us this week. But we WILL get all the way to Arizona.
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. BRUTALMAS….WHAT? OH, “CHRISTMAS” APPROACHES. ZARDOZ WILL BE GIVING THE GIFT OF THE GUN, AS ALWAYS, TO THE BRUTAL EXTERMINATORS.
BUT FOR THE CHOSEN ONES…LINKS! ZARDOZ WAS THINKING OF GIVING GRAIN, BUT THE ETERNALS SCARFED IT ALL DOWN.
THIS ALL YOU HAVE? WE NEED MORE!
THEREFOR, RECEIVE THEN THE GIFT OF THE LINK! GO FORTH AND COMMENT.
THIS SEEMS TO BE SPREADING…. ZARDOZ WONDERS IF THEY WERE WEARING YELLOW VESTS?
ZARDOZ IS NOT IMPRESSED. THISBRUTAL WILL CERTAINLY NOT BE RECRUITED INTO THE BRUTAL EXTERMINATORS!
ZARDOZ DISAVOWS ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THESE FLYING DEVICES. ZARDOZ IS THE ONLY FLYING ENTITY FROM THE VORTEX!
It’s Friday! The winter solstice is here, and for the next six months the days will get longer in the best hemisphere. Woohoo! OK, that seems like enough editorializing.
I imagine this guy couldn’t make the trains run on time either.
How do I top SP’s announcement from yesterday? I can’t, any more so than I can top her formatting. So fuck it, since I’m the equivalent of the Shabbos Goy for the actual goyim who run links on weekdays, let’s just get to the (vegetarian and kosher) meat of the post.
Old Man music has no choice today. The “video” actually starts with a minute of Latex Solar Beef (with vocals by The Turtles), then segues into Willie. Zappa shreds his way through some insane guitar solos with his very distinctive tone and phrasing. And then bonus fuzz box and wah wah in Part 2. If you love electric guitar, you need to hear these.
Hi guys, how’s it going? I’ve officially hit the work lull. Nobody’s bothering me and its almost better than being off. My father and I did our annual Christmas lunch of oysters on the half shell and other seafood. It’s a nice tradition. I hope we do it for 20 more years.
STEVE SMITH VOW VENGEANCE! ALTHOUGH HIM MUST ADMIT, SHOOT STEVE FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER PROBABLY BEST WAY TO PREVENT RAPE.
And some Glibs like the thicc, and others dig otters. Here is a thicc otter for them.
