Leftovers & Links #67

A festive shit log, anyone?

It’s Christmas Eve, which means children across Spain’s Catalan region are gathering in their homes for the traditional whacking of the festive shit log.

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I don’t like video games. Sorry, they're just not my thing. It gets my attention, though, when a video game wins a Hugo Award.

That's the highest honor in sci-fi, and if sci-fi takes gaming seriously enough to add a new category of Hugo, I had to check it out.

I didn't buy or play the game — I'm intrigued, but not that intrigued — but I watched this preview of Hades and it looks like fun.

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How Christmas was celebrated in the middle ages

“Once Christmas Day came around, if you had the stamina, then you were expected to eat, drink, be merry, dress up, play games, go dancing around the neighborhood for 12 days solid before you collapsed in a heap,” she says.

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Five observations from one cranky old man:

① Whatever Spun wanted me to take away from visiting their site, I only yawned for a few moments of frustration while my computer and browser struggled to render the page.

It’s just me, right? It’s just me who wants to read a website, not follow bouncing words and flashing headlines and swim through un-asked-for visual effects?

② Here’s a charming old gent in a short film from 1929, that’s been so beautifully and painstakingly restored and colorized, it looks more like a hoax than history.

③ I'm not among the mourners saddened by the departure of Chris Wallace from Fox News.

I've read that Wallace was “fair and balanced,” unlike the rest of Fox News, but even if that’s true, so what? Did I miss a shred of enlightenment by watching exactly none of Wallace’s work? Did he do any journalism — meaning, was there any news reported by Wallace in his 18 extremely well-paid years at Fox, that wasn’t reported everywhere?

He's just another TV celebrity whose 'talent' was good ratings, not good journalism.

④ A time-saver, when surfing the internet for news: If a link takes me to video from a TV station’s newscast, it’s not worth watching. If it's video from a network TV newscast, I’m still skeptical, and I'll look for a more reliable source — which means, a news source written to be read, not watched.

⑤ And finally, a question from this week’s New Yorker, which is the magazine's annual all-comics issue:

“It’s that time of year again, when the grim graybeards of The New Yorker cede their control of the magazine to the lighthearted loonies and let them run the esteemed asylum for a change. What does that mean for you, the reader?”

Since you asked, I’ll answer: It means a New Yorker I’m finished with in about twenty minutes. I have no interest in pages and pages of comics, so it’s an annual issue that gets skimmed and quickly tossed in the recycling bin. I feel the same about The New Yorker’s annual issue dedicated to short stories.

It’s a testament to the quality of The New Yorker’s writing, that despite getting screwed out of two issues every year, I continue renewing my subscription.

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University of Hong Kong removes Tiananmen Massacre monument — which isn’t theirs — in dead of night.

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Biden extends pause on student loan repayment through May 1

That's good news indeed, but sweet jeebers he had to be harangued into doing this — and he almost didn’t.

Biden is a walking pile of reverse charisma, with no ideas, and no notion what ordinary people are like. He wouldn’t have won in 2020 against any Republican except Trump, and he can’t possibly be re-elected in 2024 unless he’s running against Trump again. Just sayin'.

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High-beams on fire.

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Stealth bomber caught on Google Maps.

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Vintage photographs of Amsterdam streets.

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One-word newscast:

• Covid

Dead:

• Eve Babitz

• Joan Didion

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U.S. has reunited 100 children forcibly taken from parents under Trump.

Which is great news, of course, but…

About 5,500 children were forcibly removed from their parents under Trump...

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As a lifelong resident of apartment buildings and residential hotels, I found this article interesting. Most American cities require even low-rise apartment buildings to have two stairways, which wastes a lot of space and doesn’t seem to really make the buildings any safer from fires.

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Mystery links — Like life itself, there’s no knowing where you’re going:

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Sing along with Doug:
My Buddy Valentine, by Mary Lou Lord
Sincere tip 'o the hat:
Linden Arden • BoingBoing
Captain Hampockets • Follow Me Here
John the Basket • LiarTownUSA
Messy Nessy Chick • National Zero
Ran Prieur • Vintage Everyday
Voenix Rising
Extra special thanks:
Clayton Barnes • Becky Jo
Name Withheld • Dave S.
12/24/2021
Leftovers & Links