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- 12/15/11--14:43: Today's Holiday Chorus (chan 2097897)
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- 12/22/11--12:52: Beef Carbonnades—thanks to tim1965 (chan 2097897)
- 12/24/11--03:53: A Christmas gift (chan 2097897)
- 12/26/11--03:50: "Christmas in a glass" (chan 2097897)
- 12/29/11--01:36: Today's Seasonal Joke (chan 2097897)
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- 12/31/11--03:48: Dinner for One (chan 2097897)
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- 01/02/12--10:00: Today's "Make Up Your Mind" photo (chan 2097897)
- 01/07/12--15:00: Computer woes, again (chan 2097897)
- 01/11/12--05:34: Today's Religious Joke (chan 2097897)
- 01/11/12--12:51: The Body of Christ, Sold for You (chan 2097897)
- 01/11/12--14:18: There'll Always Be a Massachusetts, Veterans Division (chan 2097897)
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We are all used to hearing Handel's Messiah sung at this time, even though Handel probably meant it as a Lenten piece. Messiah sing-a-longs are ubiquitous during Advent. Let it not be said that this blog does not join in the holiday cheer.
Thus, the following video will be of great interest to all.
Note to non-USans: The Supreme Court ruled a while back that corporations were actual persons and had all the rights of persons, including the right to give loadsa money to political campaigns.
…and many happy returns of the day!
A man in Scotland calls his son in London the day before Christmas Eve and says, "I hate to ruin your day but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough".
"Dad, what are you talking about?'" the son screams.
"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer", the father says. "We're sick of each other and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Leeds and tell her".
Frantically, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone, "Like hell they're getting divorced", she shouts, "I'll take care of this".
She calls Scotland immediately and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up.
The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife and says, "Done! Not only are they're coming for Christmas— but they're paying their own way too."
Don't blame me, I got it from MadPriest, who blames someone named Michelle.
There was a man who worked for the Post Office whose job was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses. One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting to God with no actual address. He thought he should open it to see what it was about.
The letter read: "Dear God, I am an 83 year old widow, living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had "£100" in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension payment. Next Sunday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with, have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me? Sincerely, Edna."
The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few pounds. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected £96, which they put into an envelope and sent to the woman. The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends.
Christmas came and went. A few days later, another letter came from the same old lady to God. All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened.
It read: Dear God, How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift. By the way, there was £4 missing. I think it might have been those bastards at the post office. Sincerely, Edna."
Thanks to towleroad for finding this gem. This is one frog that won't end up on the dissecting table.
I am always looking for interesting, simple, and tasty recipes to keep HWMBO and myself well-fed and happy. Thanks to
tim1965, I've found another one.
I have to preface this recipe with the comment that, over years of making stews and soups of various sorts, I have always been cursed by stringy beef. On top of the stove, it never actually gets tender and moist. It's always been stringy and somewhat dry. This dish, however, was tender, moist, and melt-in-your-mouth good. I shall have to try cooking other stews and soups in the oven, rather than on top of the stove.
Here's the ingredient list as Tim gives it:
2 bacon slices—finely diced
2 1/2 pounds chuck roast—boned, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 garlic clove—minced
5 cups onion—thinly sliced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 can beef broth—(10-1/2-ounce)
1 can light beer—(12-ounce)
1 bay leaf
6 cups egg noodles—cooked (about 1 12-ounce package)
I'll start out by saying that British bacon is not as good for this purpose as US bacon. I think that using pancetta (Italian bacon pieces for cooking) might be better. British bacon seems to be (at least the stuff I bought at Tesco) full of water and not very useful as an ingredient in cooking. I also used regular stew beef rather than the chuck roast. I think they're equivalent in this dish, and the results bear this out. Finally, I didn't have any light beer but I did have a bottle of bitter, so I used that rather than the light beer.
All that having been said, here we go.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F/Gas Mark 3.
Cook bacon slices in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp; remove bacon with a slotted spoon, reserving drippings in pan. Set bacon aside.
Add beef, salt, and pepper to drippings in pan; cook 5 minutes, browning beef well on all sides. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds. Remove beef from pan with a slotted spoon; set aside.
Add sliced onion to pan; cover and cook over medium heat 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in flour, and cook 2 minutes.
Add vinegar and the next 5 ingredients (vinegar through bay leaf), and bring to a boil.
Return bacon and beef to pan. Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours or until beef is tender, and discard the bay leaf.
Serve over noodles.
When it's finished, it looks like this:

Now after some thought, I took down my copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and looked up the recipe. She calls it Carbonnades à la Flamande, and remarks:
Beer is typical for the Belgian braise, and gives a quite different character to beef than the red wine of the bourguignon. A bit of brown sugar masks the beer's slightly bitter quality, and a little vinegar at the end gives character. Serve this with parsley potatoes or buttered noodles, a green salad, and beer.
Her recipe departs from Tim's in several ways. She only specifies "rendered pork fat" rather than bacon, and allows for "good cooking oil". She uses 4 cloves of garlic, not one. She uses slices of beef, not cubes. And, finally, rather than putting the flour and vinegar into the dish while cooking, she removes the meat and onions to a plate and thickens the sauce that's left with flour dissolved in vinegar, then pours the sauce over the meat/onion mixture and serves it thus.
I may try her method of thickening the sauce the next time I make this. Another departure I might make is putting button mushrooms in with the onions to sauté. There is a distinct lack of texture except for the beef, and I am wondering whether mushrooms might improve the dish.
Good food is important. This is a good dish, and tastes wonderful. I am so grateful to
I came across this picture while browsing through a Stanford archive of tobacco advertising. Do have a very happy Christmas, all!

Apologies for the slight crookedness of the image.
We had a relatively quiet Christmas this year.
spwebdesign did not need to stay here this year as he's otherwise engaged than the choir at English Martyrs, so we had no house guests. Good thing, too, as we're still not totally recovered from the infestation of bedbugs we had a while back and have bags of clothing that need to be laundered and either hung up or donated to the jumble at church in the spare room. But, we'll get there.
Midnight Mass, which I had prepared for, was a dud. Only four people showed up, including the Rector and HWMBO, so we did not sing anything and it was over by 12:20 am. The Rector ascribed it to the abandonment of the Heygate Estate across New Kent Road, and people not wishing to walk near it to get to church at that late hour. I'm not so sure, but I'll reserve judgment.
While I was preparing for Midnight Mass, the Sky satellite box chose Christmas Eve to die on us. This means no TV until later on in the week, as today is a holiday, and so is tomorrow. So the earliest I can call them to get it replaced is Wednesday, and I can imagine how difficult it will be to get through. Will listen to the Queen's Christmas message on iPlayer later on.
Our neighbour, Mark, had nowhere to go this year so we offered him Christmas lunch. He brought crackers and cheese, and we supplied the lunch. Ham, stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, sprouts, with key lime pie for dessert. Befores were stuffed celery, the aforementioned cheese and crackers, and a glass of homemade egg nog.
It's peculiar that in England you must make your own egg nog; no handy quarts of egg nog in the supermarkets. So I did, just enough for three glasses. When Mark got his, he took a sip and said, "Ah, Christmas in a glass!" which seems to encapsulate the holiday season well enough.
We did not exchange presents. This is deliberate, for whatever I buy for HWMBO is just not right. So I don't dare give him anything as he won't like it, guaranteed. We have the present of each other, and that is just about right.
The key lime pie (made with regular limes) was good, but I still didn't chop the lime zest quite finely enough. However, I don't think I'll try it again as it's much too sweet for me. It does taste good, though.
Today is Boxing Day, the origins of which name are shrouded in history and much argued over. The Tube drivers are mostly on strike, which makes it difficult to go anywhere. So we'll just stay at home today and savour the peace and quiet.
I hope that you all had a very nice Christmas, are having a good Boxing Day (if you celebrate it), and will have a happy and prosperous New Year.
It's a bit late for Christmas, but good nonetheless.
A couple was shopping at the mall on Christmas Eve and the mall was packed.
Walking through the mall the wife looked up and noticed her husband was nowhere around; she was very upset because they had a lot to do.
She used her mobile phone to call her husband to ask him where he was, because she was so upset.
In a calm voice the husband said, "Honey, remember the jewelry store we went into 5 years ago where you fell in love with that diamond necklace that we could not afford, and I told you that I would get it for you one day?"
His wife said, tearing up, "Yes, I remember that jewelry store."
He said, "Well, I'm in the bar next to it."
…and many happy returns of the day!
In the Germanic and Scandinavian worlds, there is nothing funnier to do on New Year's Eve than sit down with a drink and watch a television skit from England called Dinner for One. That is, unless you are Norwegian, in which case you watch it on December 23rd.
The strange thing is this: it's English, but hardly anyone in the United Kingdom knows about it or has seen it. And those who have seen it in the UK think it is profoundly UNfunny. And although it's in English, it has NEVER been shown in North America.
On BBC Radio4 this morning there was a segment exploring why Germans think it's side-splittingly funny and why Englishpeople watch it and wonder exactly why anyone would laugh at it. I thought that my readers (both of you…) might want to watch it to compare. It will be either the funniest or the most boring 11 minutes of your life.
No, I haven't taken leave of my senses. Easter Sunday will still be 8 April, 2012. However, while standing in the checkout queue at Tesco's at the Elephant, I spied, with my little eye, a display of Easter eggs!

Tesco must be running on some other ecclesiastical calendar than the rest of Christendom does. After the excesses of Christmas, and the excesses of New Year's Eve to come tonight, a Cadbury's Creme Egg would be just the thing to top them off. And chocolate bunnies the perfect present for your little one as the clock ticks away toward midnight.
This tops the year when Tesco supplied Christmas puddings starting at the end of August. Those particular puddings had a "best before" date of November that year. If they wouldn't even last until Christmas, why sell them as "Christmas" puddings. Perhaps they should have been "Harvest" puddings.
Note to
Everyone else seems to be writing about this, so I will too. Warning: it's very boring.
January through March: St. Matthew's Court, Southwark (homebase)
March (for two days) Bed 4, Matthew Whiting Ward, Kings College Hospital (angioplasty)
April through September: homebase
September through November: futon in living room (bedbugs drove us our of our bed)
November, first two weeks: Bed 4, Matthew Whiting Ward, King College Hospital (bone operation)
Second half of November through end of December: homebase
I hope to be travelling in March 2012 to the United States.
Note: By chance, they put me in the same bed the second time I was in hospital. Good thing, too: cute male nurses are few and far between and that ward had one.
Was looking at a story about the Singapore MRT when the suggested linked stories at the bottom of the screen came up.

So, are they, or aren't they?
Well, I am back on a computer yet again. My woes started two days ago when the other computer froze on me around 5 minutes after I started up. I thought it was some kind of software problem. but after taking the SSD out and putting it in a bay on this computer, I discovered that the SSD was freezing after around 5 minutes. Luckily, I back up everything daily, so I only lost a few hours of email, and the other disk is OK, so all of my real data is present and accounted for as well.
So I've restored my Thunderbird profile from backup, downloaded two days' worth of email, got Chrome up and running, and learned some stuff.
First, I've learned how to switch my profile directory from C:\Users to F:\Users and link it from F:\ to C:\. This will mean that my C: drive will remain mostly the operating system. On the other computer, I didn't know how to do this, and my C:\ drive was more than 95% full. Won't happen again.
Second, I've decided to replace the SSD in these two computers with regular HDDs: 2-1/4" 250GB drives. HWMBO will source them from Singapore when he goes next week. Yes, the computer will be slower booting up. However, after some investigation online, I discovered that, in general, this generation of SSDs is not considered to be very reliable. The one in the other computer lasted around 9 months. A regular HDD, for me, generally lasts around 3-5 years, and some have lasted much longer than that.
Now I have to reload all the programs that I had on the other computer. That should be a treat. Will do it slowly. However, as I've backed everything up, I don't have to bother with disks and things (generally).
A CNN journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time. So she went to check it out. She went to the Western Wall and there he was, walking slowly up to the holy site.
She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, using a cane and moving very slowly, she approached him for an interview.
"Pardon me, sir, I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN. What's your name?
"Morris Feinberg," he replied.
"Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?"
"For about 60 years."
"60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?"
"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims. I pray for all the wars and all the hatred to stop. I pray for all our children to grow up safely as responsible adults and to love their fellow man. I pray that politicians tell us the truth and put the interests of the people ahead of their own interests."
"How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?"
"Like I'm talking to a wall."
Thanks to Grandmère Mimi for this one...
A very interesting article came to my attention this evening. It describes the industry of making Communion wafers in the United States. You might think that it has been saintly nuns toiling over waffle irons making your hosts, but these days, you'd mostly be wrong.
Hate crimes are a stain on an entire community. When some ignorant thug threw a rock through a window of an Iraqi restaurant in Lowell, Massachusetts, the local veterans stepped in and held an eat-in at the restaurant to show solidarity with the owners and opposition to hate. Watch below.
They are my "Bricks of the Day" (shamelessly copied from MadPriest).
Mrs. Better Bowers, America's Favourite Christian, has made a video to lay down the law on Bible-based marriage.
I can almost guarantee that no one who has seen it will have one.
As some of you will remember, occasionally I post excerpts from the Police Log from Marblehead, Massachusetts, my home town. Perhaps it's not as good as Lake Wobegon, but it often forces a chuckle out of me.
This particular log, dated 11 January, will be of interest to hens everywhere.
5:25 a.m. Upon investigating alarm at pro shop at Tedesco Country Club, officers found that building had been broken into, as evidenced by broken glass and door. A witness reported seeing two men in their late 20s leaving the scene. State Police K9 unit was requested, which was sent from Stoneham. Officers checked nearby yards, but nothing was found.
7:30 a.m. Caller on Flint Street reported that her house had been egged twice overnight, once at 2:30 a.m. and again at 3:30 a.m. She said she believed the perpetrators were on foot, as she did not hear a car.
7:47 a.m. Caller on Pleasant Street reported car had been egged sometime after 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Caller planned to give Marblehead High School assistant principal the names of two boys with whom she had a problem on Tuesday.
7:58 a.m. Caller repeated a previous complaint about cars coming inbound at Lafayette and Humphrey streets cutting inside the lane of traffic and then “screaming” into the Marblehead Bank parking lot to drop off kids. Plate number given of woman who had done so in the morning while on cell phone. Police were unable to find match of plate and description of vehicle given.
8:29 a.m. Tailgating reported on Ocean and Atlantic avenues. Detail officer said he would send driver a citation when his detail ended.
10:02 a.m. Washington Street merchant complained about shop being egged overnight. It was added to the list of places that had been egged.
10:27 a.m. Vehicle driving on flat tire on Atlantic Avenue and Chestnut Street reported by detail officer. Woman was driving to garage to get it fixed. Officer put some air in woman’s tire using portable tank and then sent her on her way.
11:12 a.m. Minor accident involving two pickup trucks reported on Barnard Street. One vehicle had a broken taillight; other had no damage.
11:55 a.m. Constable serving eviction notice on State Street asked officer to stand by to keep the peace. Constable later called back to compliment the officers who responded.
1:22 p.m. Caller on Ocean Avenue reported car had been egged overnight.
1:37 p.m. A 911 call for medical aid in Danvers was relayed to Danvers responders.
2:42 p.m. Fight reported at post office gate behind Marblehead High School. Officers found no fight but a lot of kids in the area. Kids dispersed when officers arrived.
2:54 p.m. Skateboarding reported in post office lot on Smith Street.
6:05 p.m. Walk-in reported house and car on Hines Court had been egged overnight.
6:52 p.m. Lift assistance provided on Green Street Court.
8:22 p.m. Investigated report of credit-card fraud by Intrepid Circle resident, who reported her card had been used to purchase $442 worth of tickets to the Broadway play “Wicked.”
11:32 p.m. Caller reported that a drunken man had tried to open her car door and get in on Humphrey Street and Countryside Lane. He had been last seen running outbound on Humphrey Street.
There was an egg shortage somewhere recently; apparently, the somewhere was not Marblehead.
I sometimes wonder whether the League of Gentlemen was not filmed in Marblehead—the things that go on there are often worthy of a comedy hour. This is from January 6.
2:08 a.m. Walk-in declared intent to repossess vehicle on Pond Street.
2:14 a.m. Walk-in reported intent to tow car from private lot on Pleasant Street.
8:31 a.m. Car alarm sounding reported on Prospect Street. Owner came out to car, and officer disabled the alarm. Owner was awaiting AAA.
9:21 a.m. Caller on Sewall Street complained about work being done 7 feet from her house. Caller reported contractor had been working since 8 a.m. and that there were high sound levels and stone dust wafting towards her home. Caller was advised to direct her complaints to the Health and Building departments. Caller said that her home is heated with hot air and that she believed the work site was polluting her family. Officer inspected the site and found mason conducting “business as usual.”
10:16 a.m. Delivery van escorted to Harding Lane after traffic stop on Beacon and Norman streets.
11:54 a.m. Caller reported sign from post on Mugford and Washington streets was down near the base and needed to be repaired. Sign belonged on anchored post in the middle of Market Square and was deemed to be a safety issue. On-call Department of Public Works person contacted. Sign left at the door of the DPW office.
12:19 p.m. Caller on Naugus Avenue complained about hunters in the middle of the harbor towards the Salem power plant. Dispatcher contacted Salem harbormaster, who said the hunters usually head down to the island near the Lead Mills and scope out that area. Salem harbormaster said he would check out the situation. Police determined that Massachusetts Wildlife website indicated that migratory birds could be hunted until March, from a half-hour before sunrise until sunset. Salem harbormaster reported that the hunters had checked in with the station in the morning, were “regulars” with whom he was familiar, and that they always obey the required 500-foot setback. The 13 cameras monitoring Salem harbor also indicated that all was in order. Dispatcher called back caller to adviser her of the findings.
1:23 p.m. Caller reported lots of broken glass on path that is on the side of the tracks going towards Smith Street off Pleasant Street at Mohawk Road. Park office was e-mailed to clean up the broken glass.
2:16 p.m. Caller on Cornell Road reported ongoing theft problem outside her house, this time involving a 5-gallon Poland Spring water container. Previous thefts have involved a trash barrel, a recycling bin, Christmas ornaments and a potted plant. Caller reported that a neighbor had also had things stolen from in front of her house. Officer took reported and talked to neighbors. Poland Spring said it would replace bottle at no charge. Officer checked area around Tower School to no avail.
3:17 p.m. Walk-in reported he had signed up to be a mystery shopper and had received two checks totaling around $2,000. Man said he would check on Monday at the post office to see if the checks were real and said he was not out any money and had not given out his Social Security number or any credit-card information.
3:27 p.m. Caller reported that there was a girl on her hands and knees vomiting outside a vehicle on Tedesco and Maple streets. Officers checked the area but found no one.
4:31 p.m. Caller reported a “green man” designed to calm traffic had been found broken on neighbor’s property. Green man had previously been taken from driveway and found a couple of streets over as well.
4:35 p.m. Caller reported her 10-year-old daughter had received an inappropriate text message from an unknown number. Officers determined initial text may have been sent to the wrong recipient and said to contact them if any other texts were received.
4:57 p.m. Vehicle which prevented fire engine from getting down Rowland Street was towed.
5:21 p.m. Two men reported going through the trash bin behind Marblehead Bank on Humphrey Street. Men worked for cleaning service and were thrown stuff in the trash.
5:52 p.m. Caller reported vehicle with flat tires on Homestead Road and Maple Street. Tow was en route but caller thought driver looked a little distressed. Tow arrived while officer was on scene.
5:55 p.m. Caller on Auburndale Road reported coming home to find large potted plant had been smashed on the sidewalk. The same thing had been done at her neighbor’s house within the past 25 minutes.
And this from January 5th:
8:07 a.m. Caller requested well-being check for neighbor on Pleasant Street. Neighbor was fine.
9:26 a.m. Woman in western Massachusetts called to report that her father had mailed out letters with personal information on them to relatives, including her grandmother in Marblehead. Grandmother came into station later n the day to speak to officer.
1:04 p.m. Caller reported people possibly doing drugs in vehicle on Anderson Street and Roundhouse Road. Caller said people in vehicle appeared to be cutting up marijuana and putting it into plastic baggies Officer searched area but found no evidence of such activity.
2:22 p.m. Walk-in reported past hit-and-run on Lafayette Street.
3:10 p.m. Walk-in reported her credit card had been compromised. She said she would return with paperwork.
4:26 p.m. Caller reported almost being struck while in crosswalk on Pleasant Street and Mohawk Road. Officer checked area; vehicle was not in owner’s driveway.
5:18 p.m. Swampscott Police received a report of a two-car crash in the area of Tedesco Street. Officers determined the accident had occurred in Salem and notified Salem Police.
5:36 p.m. Man reported he had just pulled into parking spot, and his soon-to-be-ex-wife pulled in and blocked him in. Fearing a problem, he locked himself in the vehicle and called police. The woman was asked to leave.
6:28 p.m. Salem Police referred a call from the State Police for a well-being check when it was determined subject was actually on Lafayette Street in Marblehead. Woman was transported to hospital.
Ah, Marblehead! An idyllic place, where people get $2,000 cheques for mystery shopping! I think that Zippy the Pinhead ought to make a visit.
I subscribe to a service from the Guardian (otherwise referred to as the Grauniad because of its penchant for typos, mistakes, and corrections) that sends me an image of its front page each morning.
When I got today's front page, I did a double-take.

I do hope that they don't try buying that cruise ship for Her Majesty.
Some of the non-religious among us will snicker at this article, which tells of a student's birthday tweet that turned into tragedy.
I can only say "Matthew 25:13". May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
I wonder sometimes how gullible the SPAM™mers think we are. There is the email I just received, excepting the link, which I am assuming is malware:
Have you ever heard that here are modern utility that makes photographies of you, while you are browsing (looking 4 pornography in yhe internet)?
Great example:
{link deleted to protect the guilty}
In this picture you are masturbating in dirty restroom (?)...
Please, confirm, that lucky face in the photo is yours!
Tom Harvison
I suppose that the same people who thought the television set looked back at you when TV was new might fall for this one…
I've had massages in traditional studios using traditional methods. However, this Singaporean masseur uses innovative methods to soothe his patients' aches and pains.