Posts from — December 2013

Charlie Pierce and Digby, among others, are put out with the whinging of Ken Langone about the things Pope Francis says about rich people. He doesn’t see how he can convince other rich Catholics to donate to his $180 million fund to rehabilitate St. Patrick’s Cathedral, if the Pope continues to be unkind.

Cardinal Dolan of NYC says that it is really a misunderstanding, and the Pope isn’t really talking about American rich people who are so generous, but the bad rich people in other places.

Okay, first off I would suggest Langone and Dolan find and open a New Testament to Mark 10:25, which says: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” It seems to be all inclusive on ‘rich men’.

Then, Cardinal Dolan should sit down with Mr. Langone, and other rich donors to the the rehabilitation fund and watch the nice little Christmas movie, The Bishop’s Wife, which puts the money spent on cathedrals in its proper place.

The BBC is reporting that Rescue for Antarctic ice-bound ship under threat

A rescue mission for a ship trapped in ice in Antarctica is under threat as reports have emerged that one of the assisting vessels may itself be stuck.

Fifty-two passengers and four crew members were due to be evacuated by helicopter from China’s Xue Long ship as soon as conditions allowed.

However, the Xue Long has barely moved in a day and may be stuck in the ice.

If you don’t keep moving in polar waters, the ice will collect around you. The Snow Dragon [Xue Long] has the helicopter that was to be used in the attempt to remove the passengers and crew from the Russian vessel, and may have held position too long hoping to launch its helicopter.

Now it looks like they are going to have to await the arrival of the US Coast Guard heavy icebreaker, Polar Star to break through the ice pack.

That’s Grandfather Frost [Дед Мороз] and he is the Russian ‘gift giver’. He is assisted by the Snow Maiden [Снегурочка], but ever the jolly, fun-loving people, the ‘gifts’ are a bit different. Threats of coal or sticks would be weird to a people who are trying to stay warm, they would consider them welcome.

Generally there are sweets, maybe salo [salted fatback], and other high energy food.

For the ‘naughty’ list there is the staff. You don’t get beaten, merely touched, which turns you into a popsicle. [I told you they were fun-loving.]

Tonight’s the night – you’ve been nice, right?

It is going to be a hard start to the New Year.

Cyclone Christine tears through Wickham, in Western Australia’s Pilbara, lifting roofs and felling trees. It is going to take a lot of work just to clear the debris caused by the storm on the coast, and it is still a Category 2 storm well inland.

Much further south the weather is also unkind: Mawson expedition set to be stranded in Antarctic for new year after bad weather delays helicopter rescue. The helicopter that was supposed to take them off the stranded vessel couldn’t fly because of the high winds and blowing snow.

The Cyclone season starts in December in the Southern Hemisphere, and the winds move clockwise.

The third named storm, Severe Tropical Cyclone Christine, is getting ready to slam into the northwestern coast of Australia [track map] with winds of 115 mph and a pressure of 965mb. This would be a Category 3 major hurricane in the Atlantic.

That particular stretch of coast gets hit a lot by tropical cyclones.

This is not a nice way to celebrate the New Year.

John McKay of archy is trying to finish his book on mammoths and sell it to a publisher.

Earlier this month he came to the decision that he would be better off moving back to Alaska where he had a network of friends and family to help him find work to pay his bills.

The path to Alaska was not an easy one.

The only way of finding work in this economy is to know someone who can recommend you to the right people. Resumes and CVs are worthless for almost any job that opens these days.

I wish him well.

Since Christmas Australian researchers have been stuck in pack ice in the Antarctic. The way things are going they may be there for some time.

The researchers are aboard the Russian research ship, Academic Shokalskiy, which was designed for polar exploration, so they are in no immediate danger, but the first attempt at a rescue by the Chinese icebreaker, Snow Dragon, failed as the ice was too thick for the vessel to clear a path.

The BBC reports that:

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the rescue, confirmed that a French vessel had also failed to penetrate the ice.

The agency said another boat, the Aurora Australis, was on its way to the Russian vessel and expected to arrive on Sunday.

It is high summer in the Antarctic, so the temperatures are relatively benign, but massive blocks of ice break off from the ice pack and are blown by the wind to form the structures that have entrapped the research vessel.

Everyone seems to be busy at this time of the year, so it always seems that not much is going on in the world, but that is a misconception.

People in the US and Canada around the Great Lakes are still without power. Ice storms are even worse than hurricanes for taking out the electrical grid, and it is harder to work in freezing temperatures.

I’ve also discovered a great time-killer – Internet Archive puts classic 70s and 80s games online. You load their emulator and play the original Space Invaders to totally waste time. We actually paid money to do this back in the day. I never bought a game console, but my Dad had one [for visiting grandkids, of course 😉 ].

It is nice to take a break, now and again.

Merry Catmas!

HO! … Ho? … Whatever.

[Editor: Sox, Dot, and Ringo being as merry as they were ever likely to be. The outdoor cats are in the warmer areas of cat-space.]

The Friday Ark is on holiday this week

Time again for my annual rant about a Christmas carol.

While December 26^th is celebrated by a lot of people in the US in shopping malls returning gifts or taking advantage of inventory clearance sales, there are other celebrations.

It is the first day of the Kwanzaa celebration, which is explained at the link.

It is Boxing Day, a celebration of noblisse oblige when the upper classes bestow gifts on the lower and the contents of the poor boxes are distributed. Under the feudal system this was part of the “contract,” the mutual system of obligations that tied the system together.

As the feast of St. Stephen it honors the first Christian martyr, but Ireland’s Saint Stephen’s Day celebration is a bit different and is the reason for the wren on this post.

However, this post is really my complaint about “Good King Whatshisface.”

[Read more →]

[As I look for the annual A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge, I thought I would re-run this post. Frankly I can’t find anyone really playing Christmas carols on the radio.]

The British have some wonderful Christmas customs that have survived the incursion of Christianity, especially the Puritan party poopers. Stealing customs from the Celts, Germans, and Scandinavians, they have created a wonderful holiday that I fondly remember from time spent there.

The bird is a European robin that is featured on British Christmas cards, as it is a Winter bird in England, unlike the fair-weather laggard of the same name in America. It is bracketed by holly and mistletoe. All go back to the druids and solstice celebrations.

If you read the Harry Potter books you will get a taste, but not the full effect of a British Christmas. A full-on Christmas dinner is wretched excess to the n^th degree – Thanksgiving on steroids.

The BBC has the background on Father Christmas.

This is a prime example of why you should make a list and check it twice when traveling during holidays. Following stars is all well and good, but can you tell the difference between a star and a meteorite headed directly for you?

If you are migrating home, or off on a vacation, be safe.

Ho Ho Ho!

Happy NODWISH
С Рождеством Христовым
Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Vrolijk Kerstfeest
Nadolig Llawen
Fröhliche Weihnachten
Joyeux Noël
Buon Natale
Feliz Navidad
God Jul
Rauhallista Joulua
Koli Sana Wa Anta Tayib
Happy Christmas

At 4AM CDT Christmas arrives in Asia, and the excitement is building among the “rug rats” that will burst forth at any moment to waken their poor parents who have probably had about two hours of sleep after dealing with “some assembly required” and/or “batteries not included”.

To avoid any bad feelings: it is an official requirement contained in the “Manual for Childless Adults” that some form or type of device that makes loud and obnoxious noises must be included in all Christmas parcels for children [of all ages].