Bah humbug:

ABC has still not posted the next episode of Day Break on its website despite promising to do so after it yanked the show from its broadcast schedule early this week. The online edition of TV Guide said that the network is blaming "unforeseen music-clearance issues" for the delay. The network apparently did not spell out the precise nature of the problems, but the musicians union has been demanding payment for online performances.

I am not looped by pain the way I was last night. The trick is to keep stretching the finger and bending it. It's already a lot better, but still sore. Do you think these would bother the TSA?

Bad news - Santa is dead.

Santa dies at children's party

Children watched in horror as a Santa Claus collapsed and died as he handed out presents at a Christmas party on Sunday.

Andrew Robertson was taken ill as the excited youngsters received their gifts. The 82-year-old was taken to a side room and attempts made to revive him, but he was pronounced dead when medics arrived.

Just about any story that starts with the words, "Children watched in horror as..." is a good one....

Dispatches from the front lines of the War on Christmas: Troops fight for Christmas in Seattle

NEWS ITEM: Officials at the Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle took down all the Christmas trees in the facility after a local rabbi asked the airport to erect a menorah to mark Hanukkah. The trees were returned after a national furor which, in the eyes of conservative talk show hosts, made the airport the central front in the mythical war on Christmas.

...

VOICE OF PAULY SHORE: My dearest Tiffani,

Tonight, all is quiet on the western front. We are bedded down in an airport Ramada, a few klicks from the main battlefield. Our surroundings are comfortable, or as comfortable as you can get at an airport Ramada. The minibars are well-stocked, but few among our ranks feel they can justify paying $18 for a small jar of macadamia nuts, much less $12 for one of those mini-bottles of Scotch.

And we have had to endure other hardships. The Wi-Fi connection in the lobby was down all afternoon. One of our number lost his valet parking ticket. The piano player in the lounge keeps playing the same Billy Joel songs over and over again. War is hell.

We just returned from conducting a patrol and attempting to engage the enemy in the main concourse of the airport. You should see it, darling. It's a wide concourse, brightly lit, a beautiful sight to these eyes made weary by horrors of the culture war. It's distressing to see such a place become a battlefield. It should be a placid place, a place for travelers to rest before embarking on their lengthy journeys, a place where the peace is shattered only by the screams of travelers trying to convince ticket agents to permit them to carry on a crate of duty-free wine.

Happy days getting longer.

Hey msbelle! What's on the hit parade of things Mac likes to do for fun?

Besides pout when you say "No."

I didn't know you could read Calvin and Hobbes online. Until Google pointed out that I could put it on my homepage.

happy birthday Strega

Hey! People are slacking off with the posting! Just because you think you're off work and headed off on a holiday adventure and/or shopping death match doesn't mean you get to stop posting.

Happy Birthday, Strega!

Happy Baby Gestating, Corwood family!

MERRY CEPHALOPODMAS, EVERYONE!

Am I the only Buffista who saw life cephalopods, in person, today? Because I totally did. I chaperoned a field trip to the New England Aquarium. We also saw the Sharks 3-D film, at the Aquarium's IMAX. I hate 3-D. It gives me a headache/eyeache sort of thing, but the film was cool.

The teacher put all boys in my group, though. All. Boys. All 10 and 11 year old boys. I told her colleague that the (group assigning) teacher was, "On the list." She laughed. The colleague is a total Buffista spirit baby though, anyhow.

I ended up calling two of the boys in my group "Ping" and "Pong" all day, because the experience of watching them was akin to watching two ping pong balls bounce around (and of course, in opposite directions, except for when they were pushing and punching each other). I ended up buying a few kids stuff in the gift shop, because the teachers told them they weren't going to be visiting the gift shop, but then put it on the itinerary for the day, and some kids had money, because their parents know how these things go, and some

I dismissed Ben from school when we got back, because there was only about 45 minutes left, and I wasn't sitting around for that time, and I wasn't overjoyed at the prospect of driving home, then turning around and driving back to get him.

We then went to Target, and I was so tired, I forgot to have an anxiety attack.

It was the best cephalopodmas, ever.

Hey! People are slacking off with the posting! Just because you think you're off work and headed off on a holiday adventure and/or shopping death match doesn't mean you get to stop posting.

I'm still at work. We just watched the Space Shuttle land.

I'll stop slacking. I'm not kerfuffling, mind you, but I am being a cranky pants.

NEWS ITEM: Officials at the Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle took down all the Christmas trees in the facility after a local rabbi asked the airport to erect a menorah to mark Hanukkah. The trees were returned after a national furor which, in the eyes of conservative talk show hosts, made the airport the central front in the mythical war on Christmas.

To be fair to the "warriors" -- that whole situation was stupid and Sea-Tac's fault. The rabbi never asked that trees be removed (nor, in fact, did he want that, and he spoke up, when that was Sea-Tac's response). He wanted a menorah included, and instead of including a menorah, they removed the trees.

Today, before the field trip, Ben's class did a word scramble paper to keep busy. The words were: carols, merry, sleigh, elves, holly, wreath, snowman, rudolph, December, vacation, reindeer, dreidel, tree, Hanukkah.

I couldn't help but wonder why the word Christmas was not on there.

The other day, Julia's class did a Hanukkah paper. It tells the story of King Antiochus, and Judah Maccabee, the Temple, the oil, etc. It then explains how the candles are lit to remember the miracle (uses the word 'miracle'), and explains that the word Hanukkah means rededication, because the Temple was cleansed and rededicated after the battle. Here's an excerpt from the Hanukkah paper (please excuse my typos in the Hebrew transliteration, I'm tired):

Here are the blessings we recite over the Hanukkah Menorha: Baruch Alah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech HaOlam, asher Kidshanu beMitazvotav, VeTzivanu LeHadlik Ner Shel Hanukah.

Blessed are You, O Lord Our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us through your commandments and commanded us to light the Hanukah lights.

Baruch Atah Adonai,Eloheinu Melech HaOlam, she'asha Nisim La'avoteinu, Bayamim HaHem Bazeman Hazeh.

Blessed are You, O Lord Our God, King of the Universe, who did wonders for our ancestors in former times at this season.

(On the first night only) Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech HaOlam, She'hecheyanu V'Kiyemanu V'higiyanu Lazeman Hazeh.

Blessed are You, O Lord Our God, King of the Universe, who has kept us in life, sustained us, and brought us to this time.

I'm not sure Julia's class did one Christmas paper with the word "Christmas" anywhere on the page. I Know they did no Christmas papers with the words to carols or prayers, or the religious meaning of the holiday.

I love that they're getting the education on the actual meaning of Hanukkah. I resent, though, that the school will teach the religious meaning behind one holiday, and pretend the other holiday is all about a fictional fat guy in a red suit, and mystical reindeer.

But... I know if I complain, the school will show no more sense than Sea-Tac did, with those Christmas trees.

I can see why the frezy-able people get in a frenzy about the perceived attacks on Christmas, because I know what I see at our public school.