Harvesting items, newsworthy or not

 
Been there, done that; a story for those who work on Christmas day. In other pressing issues of daily life, perhaps the Batgrl could enlighten us as to paragraph one and her own experiences? Life experience? Wow! Courtesy of Jon, a first-hand description of being on the same flight with the shoe-explosive guy. In a much more pleasant light, here's a story about an organization about which I knew nothing. Good corporate citizens should be applauded.

Advertising--2001 in review. Stuart Elliott's take on the best and worst of the year (caution: Britney Spears photo within), and Cyber-Law in review: Opinions from the legal fraternity. In a somewhat related story, an environmental group has published a list of farm subsidy recipients. Granted that it's your tax dollar and mine, I feel some sympathy for those farmers whose personal businesses are suddenly "naked before the world." For me, it shows how much of a double-edged sword privacy issues have become.

The end of the year seems to have taken its toll on the blogging community (no links; they might be useless at the moment): Tracy and Kare have both gone into temporary (I hope) hiatus; Faith is thinking of massive consolidations; Lee has moved to Greymatter, and both The Other Cheek and Toxic LabRat have moved to kd's house. How can a Linkmeister keep up with all the changing links? Yeeks!
posted by Link Meister at 4:07 PM

 
Two items from the Tech pages, one for fun and one a cautionary tale (esp. in light of Blogger's troubles yesterday): nifty 2001 introductions and stupid password tricks some may recognize. And hey! If anyone is driving to the Freakers Ball, an artificial passenger might be a very useful companion. More leftover food info: eat spaghetti or curry, but avoid sprouts. Check out your surgeon's abilities. Don't even think of working in casinos. (That's to ensure nobody defects to Vegas during the Freakers Ball). Finally, those of you in cold climates may not want to see this, but all you surfers will wanna hop a plane ASAP.
posted by Link Meister at 3:57 PM

 
Hoops, an airline just for you! If you try to buy an E-ticket there, however, you may run into a very dark web. The BBC issued a list of the top five gadgets for the holiday season. Oh, and perhaps Deb could speak to this? Then there's this factoid: "the Postal Service requires $1.93 in revenue a day for each addressee". Oh well, it's still cheaper than caviar. Stay tuned for an update on sashimi prices, which go through the roof for New Year's parties here.

Let the end-of-year top ten lists begin: here's one from the publishers of Science Magazine. On the always-popular subject of SEX, there's new research out from my neighborhood; Vitamins and soy may contribute to sexual fitness. Other soy flackery: "Lose 10 pounds, or the terrorists win"? If you want to find out what sort of dieter you'll be, go here.

I got my premium for paying my six-month dues to the local public radio station today. A coffee mug with logo, natch, but within the mug was a piece of paper, upon which was written:

To preserve the vibrancy of your mug please hand wash with mild detergent and do not store for long periods of time in direct sunlight.

'Nuff said.
posted by Link Meister at 10:31 PM

 
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus?Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

Yes, Virginia: Text of the famous editorial. There's some follow-up about the two writers at the site. This little vignette of American cultural history always makes me smile; I thought some of y'all might like it as well.
posted by Link Meister at 10:42 AM

 
Damn! I am infuriated with myself. Mercy and her husband spent a half-hour (on a Sunday night, mind you; just two days before Christmas!) on IM giving me advice about server requirements based on my client's needs, and when I saved the content of the chat, I did something screwy, because the saved file has no text in it. Arrgh! Those folks were so kind and helpful, and through my own stupidity, all that useful information (other than what I have in memory) is gone! Let's see: Athlon 256-512 server, ISDN line, Linux OS, and the O'Reilly book "Running Linux" were among the recommendations. What a damned idiot; all because I wasn't paying attention while saving the file. Ritual seppuku is obviously in order! Or worse.
posted by Link Meister at 10:42 PM