On-line Opinion Magazine…OK, it's a blog

The Register is on the case: Dutch nuclear authority bans anti-5G pendants that could hurt their owners via – you guessed it – radiation:

The Dutch Authority for Nuclear Safety and Regulation Protection has banned a list of so-called anti-5G necklaces, wristbands and eye masks because they could harm their gullible users.

The agency commissioned a study by the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) found that many of these so-called radiation protection devices actually emit harmful levels of ionizing radiation from “radioactive materials or waste.” While the emission levels are low, if you’re the kind of person who’d wear these non-stop then they could cause harm.

I would say, just let them die, but they are around others and radiation doesn’t check for a signed informed consent form. This is like the Covid vaccine refuseniks – they don’t just affect themselves, they affect and infect the people around them.

Every time Apple updates iOS or iPadOS it turns on Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a broadcasting transceiver which is both a security risk and a battery vampire. The cell companies can already track you so there is no need to announce your presence to every other smartphone user around you. If you spent a decade answering the phones at work with “This an unclassified line.”, you are conscious of security risks.

In other news my camellia bush is blooming about six weeks early.

Having survived every holiday season since 2016, Gävlebocken was attacked and burned early this morning Swedish time.

A suspect was arrested at the scene.

“Boldly going

where no man has gone before.”

The Wright Brothers make the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

This is Saint Lucia’s Day for Scandinavians.

It features special treats that are handed out by a girl wearing a crown of candles, Lucia coming from the Latin for light, LUX.

Saint Lucia was an early Christian martyr from Syracuse on Sicily, but her official feast day, December 13, fit perfectly with the local pagan celebration of the Lussi on December 13, which was the Winter Solstice at the time. Yep, more cover to continue the fun mid-winter celebrations by pretending they are associated with Christianity to get the Church off everyone’s case.

Tannenbaum are fir trees. They are part of ancient Teutonic/Germanic celebrations of the winter solstice. They are yet another of many “pagan” celebrations absorbed by the Christian Church. They were introduced to the wider world by Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha, Prince Consort of Queen Victoria of Britain.

The court of Albert & Victoria was a major social “influencer” in the 19th century. So when Albert put a small fir tree on a table in the palace and decorated it, much of the world followed his example, and the “Christmas tree” was born. It has nothing to do with any currently practiced major religion and is a secular symbol like Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Given how quickly the Faux News faux tree burned, it shouldn’t have been permitted to be erected near structures or people. Maybe Faux News should invest in some security if they are going install a bonfire outside their building. Maybe FDNY should start inspecting these large “trees”.

The eightieth anniversary of “a date which will live in infamy…”

The official US Navy site on the Pearl Harbor attack.

The memorial service aboard NAS Pensacola will have few, if any, survivors of the attack due to the age of the survivors.

Yes, it is the day that kindly old Saint Nicholas fills the footware of good little girls and boys with treats [or his assistants beat the evil out of bad children, depending on the local customs – they didn’t just leave the sticks – in some places they use them.] Don’t forget the carrot if he rides a horse in your area.

He is the patron saint of Russian merchants and pawnbrokers (three gold balls are one of the symbols associated with him).

Trump wins a Vizzini Award, First Class for this:

… and how can Santa Claus visit every house, go down chimneys, leave toys, all over the world in one night?

One of the answers is found on European Christmas trees.

Read about Finland’s version of the Julbock, Joulupukki.

Note: Don’t try this at home unless you have the kidneys of a reindeer. It also explains why gnomes are so cheerful.

Happy NODWISH Greetings

As a service to my readers I have compiled a list of useful terms for our modern global village.

It is time to wish family and friends: [select one]

Happy NODWISH
Merry Solstice
Happy Holiday
Happy Hanukkah
Happy Kwanzaa
Happy Hogwatch
Merry Christmas
С Рождеством Христовым
성탄 축하
Vrolijk Kerstfeest
Nadolig Llawen
Fröhliche Weihnachten
Joyeux Noël
Buon Natale
Feliz Navidad
God Jul
Rauhallista Joulua
Happy Christmas
Happy Holidays

[Read more →]

While it wasn’t officially over until today, There has been no activity since November 8 when Wanda faded. 2021 joins 2005 and 2020 as the only seasons that used all 21 names allotted for the season.

There were two Subtropical Storms, twelve Tropical Storms, and seven Hurricanes with four of the Hurricanes rated as Major (Category 3 or higher).

The Gulf Coast saw six landfalls: one on the Texas/Louisiana border, two in Eastern Louisiana, and three in the Eastern Time Zone of the Florida Panhandle. Rhode Island and South Carolina had one landfall each.

The season started early when Tropical Storm Ana showed up in the third week of May. There is a La Niña in the Pacific, which usually results in a quiet Atlantic. That would be a nice change, but avoid wagering on the way things used to work.

Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends. I miss the latkes and jelly doughnuts my roommates received for the holiday at college. [Their grandmothers were afraid they wouldn’t celebrate or couldn’t get “real” food at that terrible Baptist university.] It was a great break.

One of the nice things about Hanukkah is that there are established “gifts”, so you don’t have to rack your brains about what to get: a card and gelt covers just about everyone.

General background at Wikipedia’s entry for Hanukkah and even more at Chabad’s Chanukah page.

[Note: on the Jewish calendar the day changes at sundown, not midnight.]

Today is the First Sunday of Advent which means you should have made your Christmas Pudding and Why Now? is pleased to present the Fifty-fifth version of the Gävlebocken, The biggest Christmas Goat in the world [now on Twitter @Gavlebocken].

From Steve Bates of Yellow Doggerel Something in the comments from 2006:

Why build a giant goat of straw,
Which most of us would scarcely note?
Some, though, defy the very law,
To vandalize the Gävle Goat.

In some years, they used wayward cars;
In others, flaming arrows smote.
This year’s survives, although with scars…
A fact that gets some people’s goat.

A webcam and some watchful eyes,
A flame-retardant second coat,
Should save it… unless Dubya spies
The thing, and claims it’s his pet goat!

– SB the YSS