Happy Christmas, [JAC:and from India, too!]
There’s a Google Christmas Doodle today; click on the screenshot below and then advance to see the four panels. NDTV explains:
Christmas is here and Google announced the beginning of merriment with a four picture series of Doodles. December is synonymous with spending time with our family, friends and loved ones. And what’s better than a vacation with the family!
This is the thought behind the Christmas Google Doodle which shows a family of penguins – a “pair of slippery-footed siblings” – preparing for the season – packing their bags and suitcases for a vacation.
This continuous series which started on 18th December will unfold a complete story that would reach its conclusion on 1st January.
The illustrations show four calendar dates – 18th December, 25th December, 31st December and 1st January. One of the illustrations in the series has a photo frame with a picture of the penguin and parrot families and four wrapped gift boxes.
On the first day, which was 18th December – when the series debuted, the pair of penguins, inside an igloo at the South Pole, is seen packing their bags for a vacation with the family. They are visibly excited to be reunited with their parrot friends up north in a warmer region.
Today, on the 25th of December, the penguins are seen with their warm-weather relatives. While the family of parrots has tropical fruits, the penguins have come prepared with frozen fish. The two families come together on Christmas day to share a delicious feast and the spirit of Christmas.
From Twitter:
https://twitter.com/WorldAndScience/status/944824985511657473
#MerryChristmasEveryone !
Hope you have a lovely day. Try not to let it get too overwhelming… pic.twitter.com/OwcoCnfxJK— Dick King-Smith HQ (@DickKingSmith) December 25, 2017
This makes me so happy. Thank you @SnakeBuddies! pic.twitter.com/8zZrbAXRad
— Kaytee Smith (@SciKaytee) December 22, 2017
Season's Greetings derived in four lines of algebra from a well-chosen logarithmic expression: pic.twitter.com/tCUz5rSRIP
— Graham Farmelo (@grahamfarmelo) December 24, 2017
Reader pyers sent a photo of the most efficient way to protect your holiday tree from the depredations of moggies:
Gus got a catnip mouse for Christmas.
Out in Winnipeg, Gus got not only a catnip mouse for Christmas (see above) but some PORKCHOP, a treat that I told him he might get from Santa if he was a good cat. And he wrote his “Onkel Jerry” (he spells in Cat) to report this, sending a video. Note that he licks the chair!
Merreee Krizmess Onkel!!! Het werked! U letterz te Santa werked! I gotz de pokchopz!!! I wuz e bit spishus et furst, but het wuz delishus, jest lik u sed het wuz bee. I likked de plate cleen.
Tankz fur heppin Santa te find mee. I hev hed a furry gud dey. Hev a gud fly tday.
Neffu Gus
A holiday cartoon from reader Pliny the in Between:
And finally, our raison d’être.
Hili: I’m observing it carefully.
A: And?
Hili: And absolutely nothing.
In Polish:
Hili: Przyglądam się z uwagą.
Ja: I co?
Hili: No właśnie nic.
Since Jerry is not doing significant events while traveling, I will throw in a few. Isaac Newton was born on Dec 25 (Julian calendar) in 1642. Charlie Chaplin died forty years ago today. Carlos Castaneda was born this day in 1925. I bring him up to publicly shame myself. In my youth, I thought he was important and had good insights into the human condition. At least I took some good drugs.
In 274, a temple for Sol Invictus is dedicated in Rome by Emperor Aurelian. The real reason for the season – later co-opted by xians. In 1968, Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans-Earth injection maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit. 1968 was such a crappy year that I really do not mind all that much that the astronauts read from the Book of Genesis on Christmas Eve.
I must finish preparing for my Christmas tradition – making the traditional Christmas lasagna and curling up on the couch with Helen to begin binge watching Season 3 of Fargo.
Forgot one item – Mother Jones has a good story about how a real war on Christmas might proceed.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/war-on-christmas-north-pole-invasion/
Not sure why Alaska would be the front lines in this war but at the North Pole they would be on thin ice…ho ho ho. Not too sure about that reference to the 345th fighter Wing and Borrows??
Borrows? I suppose you mean the far north Point Barrow USAF LRR Site which has a military airstrip of sorts [gravel, shortish]. The article doesn’t say the 354th Wing is based there, but near Fairbanks at Eielson AFB 500 miles to the south of Point Barrow.
That is not a war against Christmas, but against Santa Claus. And even if he’s taken out, there is still “Sinterklaas” residing in ‘Spain’, not to mention Wodan/Odin.
In fact, if I were the US, I would be very weary to take on Wodan/Odin, would be highly likely to come second best. With his single eye he would scourge a whole regiment without blinking! And take out fleets of drones in the blink of an eye.
Hey, it could have been worse. At least they didn’t read from Dianetics!
Pliny the in Between’s cartoon is brilliant.
+1
About totally over my head
It’s a sly and apt reference to the Christmas film ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’.
Ah, don’t know that film. But Pliny is often quite sly, obviously so. One of the many reasons I love his cartoons.
Meanwhile “Pope Francis Prays for Peace in an Uneasy World.”
Only we mortals can bring that about, so the only way his prayer can make sense is if he’s addressing us rather than his god.
And of course that’s exactly what he’s doing, although I’m sure he’ll never admit it.
Gus is lovely as ever! I enjoyed watching him enjoy his bits of pork chop! 🙂
I was hoping to see Gus drag an entire pork chop but, as you say, it was still good.
I jus’ love Gus! Thrilled to hear that he got his porkchop.
Are you sure the spazzy cat isn’t being electrocuted?
The Google doodle does not show here, but it is not just parrots, there is a toucan there.