Harvesting items, newsworthy or not

 
A couple of links, and...

Anyone still have one of these, or its equivalent? This is what we still use to cook our holiday turkey. Ours is a Westinghouse, probably purchased in the late 1950's. Works like a charm, too. "A little knowledge, etc." Don't let this happen to you! Oh, but don't let this happen to you, either; Hoopty, I'm talkin' to you!

Speaking of Hoopty, he's outdone himself in his post today; speaking for myself, I'm honored to be mentioned at all. I admire the hell out of people who brighten other folks' days, and for my money, he's one of the best. Glad to know you, pal!
posted by Link Meister at 6:16 PM

 
The US Coast Guard explores a whole new spin on "Dragnet"; fire one over a cigarette boat to slow it down. Q would love it! Another staple of the 007 world, champagne, may actually speed up inebriation. Pass the Dom Perignon, please. And why do I have to do pharmaceutical research, when I could be working on a project like this? On a far less humorous note, Microsoft has issued a new patch to fix holes in IE 5.5 and 6.0 security. A new method of discovering whether the "Six Degrees of Separation" theory works via E-mail is about to begin, so keep an eye on your in-basket.

I am absolutely mystified by the inability of the government of South Africa to recognize that HIV/AIDS has infected, according to the article, roughly 11% of its population. Today's appeal of a court decision requiring it to make a drug available to pregnant women is horrifying. In another example of a government focusing solely on money rather than outcomes, the current MBA in the White House apparently doesn't get astronomy. Speaking of the current administration, what has happened to Ariana Huffington? As quoted in Media Notes, she's suddenly changed her tune at least in terms of knee-jerk Republican cuddling with business. (Thanks to Howard Kurtz; the story at Salon is premium content, and I have no subscription.)
posted by Link Meister at 2:13 PM

 
Yikes! You know that new car smell? It might be (gasp) toxic! And now comes news of fossilized raindrops; after a morning chasing prescriptions and wandering the mall, I feel a tad fossilized myself. Maybe I should try some of these nitrate-free meats. Pancetta, anyone? And since Eric is gender-challenged at the moment, here's an article whose title may worry him even more..
posted by Link Meister at 5:40 PM

 
Uh oh. This may be the first one of these dopey things that has me pretty much dead-on. Now what do I do? Both lifted from Deborah, posting at the Z-List boards.

Couple Kissing in Train Station
I'm probably an old-fashioned romantic if I'm Couple. Even if I'm not, I still have a flair for older things in life, while enjoying the new. Safety and tradition are old standbys for me, as well as taking things slowly. Beauty, in my eyes, is in the eye of the beholder.

What piece of photography are you?

Find out at The Stock Photo Quiz.

Apparently answering the questions in this one as though it really is better to give than to receive caused this result:

Santa Claus

Christmas Tree: 10/50 Snowman: 0/50 Santa Claus: 40/50 Reindeer: 0/50 Mistletoe: 10/50 Star: 0/50

Take the What in Christmas Are You? test by webkin and aaronr!

Well, I can't help it. I really do enjoy finding the right gifts, be they jokes or important. And I really do enjoy watching them being opened. See stock photo description above.
posted by Link Meister at 11:24 PM

 
Anybody else have a hard time keeping up with editorial cartoonists? Here's an index. Think partisan politics are relatively new? Wrong again, dogbreath! Check this out, from JAMA's edition of 100 years ago. And for all you folks with kids, "The Effect of Children on Parents." Here's some more penguin news, for those so inclined. In a follow-up to a story I posted in my Live Journal, an Italian woman has given birth to a child purportedly conceived while she was already pregnant. "New research suggests eating that proverbial apple a day can reduce the risk of developing asthma." Umm...I'll take a Granny Smith, please.
posted by Link Meister at 5:27 PM

 
The Word of the Day may (may, I say, only may) describe Hoopty. That word is refractory \rih-FRAK-tuh-ree\, adjective: 1. Stubbornly disobedient; unmanageable. 2. Resisting ordinary treatment or cure.

Despite my earlier link to an article on nose surgery, I am not fixated on cosmetic surgery as a Christmas gift. Perhaps, though, cosmetic surgery could have been used in the filming of LOTR, as Director Peter Jackson explains. More surgery news, this time for Tina.
posted by Link Meister at 3:31 PM

 
Memo to all Z-Listers: Sorry to have to run out on the chat this a.m. My brother-in-law showed up with one of my nieces to help get the tree up straight and decorated, and no help is ever declined while facing that task. It could be worse; for quite a while we put up two trees, one in the downstairs living room (the "designer" tree, I called it), and one in the family room. The designer tree was the fancy one (albeit artificial)...all gold and orange silk balls, pearl, silver and glass ornaments, the whole shooting match. The family room tree had the fun stuff: my baby rattles from eons ago, all the Christmas ornaments my sister and her kids made at school, and things of that sort.

Two years ago we decided that that was too much, since no-one, including Mom, ever went downstairs to the living room any longer. So now the artificial tree stays in its box, along with all the really fancy ornaments and pearl garlands, and the fun (real) tree is the only one we put up. It's always a treat to see all that silly stuff. Dad built a creche about 40 years ago, and we set that up in a prominent spot.

When we lived where we could have fireplaces, we used to put a sheet of flour-covered waxed paper down, hoping to see Santa's footprint. Invariably, there'd be one there Christmas morning. The cookies and milk we'd left out for the old elf would have been eaten and drunk, too. Nowadays, with just me and Mom in the house, we don't get quite as hokey.

My sister and her family have the early Christmas presents at her house (hmm...they've got an electric fireplace. I wonder if they do the flour-paper bit?), and then they all converge over here about 10:30 a.m. Christmas Day. The previous day, Christmas Eve, we cook the traditional turkey dinner; on Christmas Day we have a standing rib roast. We used to go over to my sister's house for that meal, to admire all the gifts Santa had brought, but we can't do that any longer, so they all come back over here that evening to cook the roast. It's a happy if exhausting two days.
posted by Link Meister at 10:33 PM