I survived camping............and a quick missive on class warfare

Well I am back, I survived camping with the Boy Scouts and am glad to be home.  While I was there , I assisted on the Rifle and Shotgun Range,  I didn't think it was a big deal...

 

    They thought enough of it to give me this cool coffee mug,  I was floored by the gesture and was very touched that they thought enough of me and my effort to do that.    Thank you very much to Mac and Mike and crew.

      Nothing like getting home and starting the "Lets clean stuff up" part.  We still have the Christmas tree up and I will start working on that part of it shortly.

    

    The above poster is actually taken from the archives of the Old Soviet Union.  I remember reading books in the late 70's and early 80's that the Soviets under Joseph Stalin fomented class warfare on a massive scale, his target was the Kulaks, landowning Peasants under the Czars. basically the middle class of Russia   He wanted to break the Kulaks up and seize their land for the collective farming that was necessary for the communist ideals to work.  Joseph Stalin and the communist party stirred up major class warfare and envy against the Kulaks, and when the people got mad, he then used the power of the state to tax them out of their wealth, then seize their land..."For the good of all", and punish the rich,   was the logic of the seizures.     Once the Kulaks were gone, then he started the massive collective farms that was necessary,  The problem was that the collective farming didn't work and it caused massive famines especially in the Ukraine and other areas of the Soviet Union.  Entire villages were wiped out, the surviving Ukrainians for this reason initially favored the Germans when they invaded...until the short sighted policies of the Nazi's turned the people against them.  The money that was seized from the Kulaks was used to finance the heavy industry that seemed to favor the communist ideals.    Funny how I am seeing the same thing again since obungler got elected.

"Fear the Victim"

I am still at camp and this is also loaded into my scheduler thingie from Blogger, so far it has worked as advertised and I am cool with that.

The average thug don't fear the police because they know that the police have to operate according to a certain code of conduct, and rules that are imposed upon them by society and the politicians.  The same rules control the courts so a thug will know that he will be treated leniently by the courts.  So the only thing a thug fears is the armed victim.  A thug is by nature a bully, he, she, it use force either physical force through their strength, or weapons.  or they use mental force of personality or the threat of force to get what he, she, it wants.  If a thug attacks a victim and discovers that the victim has "teeth" as it were, it totally derails the course of action.  An armed "victim" will not give them what they want and they have to hope to persuade the victim to let them leave because their own life is the most important thing they have.  other people lives mean nothing to them....their own life is precious.  A "Victim" that is attacked by a thug isn't governed by the same code of conduct as the courts or the police.  The victim can and most will use all the force they have...and usually is a bad ending for the thug....the phrase D.R.T usually comes to mind.

Monday Music "Just got Lucky" from JoBoxers

I am still at camp and I preloaded this song for my Monday Music.  I decided to go with one of my 80's new wave songs that I have on my MP3 with all the other songs I have from my favorite Decade.

   

JoBoxers was a predominantly British new wave group formed in 1982, when former Subway Sect members Rob Marche (guitarist), Dave Collard (keyboardist), Chris Bostock (bassist), and Sean McLusky (drummer) teamed up with American singer Dig Wayne (born Timothy Wayne Ball, 20 July 1958, Cambridge, Ohio). Wayne had previously fronted the New York based punkabilly band, Buzz and the Flyers as Buzz Wayne.

 
    
The band's debut single, "Boxerbeat" found success in Britain, peaking at number three in the UK Singles Chart. However, it was their next hit, "Just Got Lucky," that truly broke the band internationally. This single also sold 250,000 copies, made the UK Top 10, and cracked the U.S. Top 40. It remains the band's only American top-40 hit to date, and the group are often branded as one-hit wonders in the U.S.
Subsequent singles "Johnny Friendly" and "Jealous Love" did less well. JoBoxers' debut album, Like Gangbusters, featuring all of the abovementioned hits, reached the Top 20 of the UK Albums Chart. The band released another single "Is This Really The First Time" and a second album Skin and Bone in 1985, but then split up, with McLusky joining Marche and Paul Wells in the indie-dance band called If? and Bostock joining Dave Stewart's post-Eurythmics group, The Spiritual Cowboys.
Meanwhile, Wayne remained in London and briefly attempted a solo career, releasing the album Square Business in 1987, featuring fellow former JoBoxer Dave Collard on keyboards. One single, "Mastermind" was released from this album. After his solo efforts proved unsuccessful, Wayne began pursuing an acting career. He would go on to appear in several stage productions (including a starring role in the successful West End musical Five Guys Named Moe) in the UK. In 1995, he returned to the U.S., settling in Los Angeles, California, to continue pursuing his acting/television career.

Barrel is kinda Hot......

     To many in America, this might be a reality, we have decided if the time comes and the .gov colossus decides to finally implement the confiscation of firearms to further their goals of a "Utopia over the hill" if all the old nasty guns are gone and the government can act..."In our best interest" of course because "Our Betters" know what is best for us old nasty serfs.  This is feudalism and this was what ruled Europe during the middle ages, before the rise of the merchant class(read middle class) and the magna carta helped check the power of the royalty.  We as western based peoples have been raised to believe that the individual is sacrosanct, and that the government is to help you not rule you.  Now we have people in government that believe that they should be our rulers, the government is the master and the people are the servants
      This is anathema to a free people. The West is based on Greco-Roman principles of law and individuality , our system is built this way.  In other areas of the world, it matters what race, tribe,family you belong to, and you as an individual are subservient to that goal.   This ties in our individual right of self defense against tyranny,

   This is what happned when a western based society stripped the God-Given rights of self defense from their citizens all in the name of "Public safety".  the Gestapo was able to exterminate 6,000000000 Jews plus other "undesirables".  With no means of defending themselves people were

      I remember the Warsaw rebellion in history class, before they sanitized it for later generations, the German had crowded the Jews into the ghetto and were planning on killing them off because the Soviets were almost to Warsaw.  the Jewish residents of the ghetto had stolen rifles, made home made rifles and other weapons and when the SS came for them, they made a fight of it.  the Jews had nothing to lose, if they lost, they would go to Treblinka, Auschwitz and other places and exterminated.  They forced the Germans to fight for each house and blocks. the resources that the Germans had to expend against the ghetto was resources that they had to pull away from the Soviets.  Stalin showing his gratitude, stopped his armies outside of Warsaw and let the Jews fight, he wanted to make sure in the post German era, there would be no resistance to his plans to set up a puppet government in Poland answerable to the Kremlin.
     If they came for me, they would have a fight, I would rather die as a free man standing for my beliefs than die on my knees as a slave.  this is the difference between us and many others.  We believe in our God-Given rights and will not go into that long night quietly.

The Difusion of Responsibility....in the modern era...

Before I get started, I will be camping with the Boy Scouts, and internet will be sporadic.  I will post stuff in the scheduler and hope things pop up as it is supposed to.

           I had saved this cartoon from a while back, it was drawn when the Boko Haram a Nigerian Islamist kidnapped 276 girls mostly Christian girls from a boarding school.   Everybody can remember Michelle Obama Standing holding a sign

“My husband and I are outraged and heartbroken,” said First Lady Michelle Obama, subbing for the president in his weekly radio address May 10. “In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters.”
     

     I am going to touch on 2 different subjects on this post.....Yay go Touretts!!  Well anyway,

     The cartoon touched upon the "hashtag activism" that the left and liberals seem to favor, and is based upon a real event that happened in March 13 1964 where Kitty Genovese was raped and stabbed to death and the investigations had uncovered that 38 people heard her cries(that number has changed to less and more since then but I will go with the official police report of the time.)  People outside the urban areas were amazed that all those people did nothing to stop the attack.  The effect is called "The diffusion of responsibility", the more people that know or hear something, the less people will step forward and do or say nothing.   The people in the city call it "the golden rule"  You mind your own business or they will come and do the same to you.  The incident in New York had already shown the effects of large groups of people living together.  there have been several case studies involving Mice and the resulting breakdown of society due to overcrowding. you can read of it here.  

      Two weeks later, a newspaper article reported the circumstances of Genovese's murder and the lack of reaction from numerous neighbors. The common portrayal of her neighbors as being fully aware of what was transpiring but completely unresponsive has since been criticized as inaccurate. Nonetheless, that portrayal prompted investigation into the social psychological phenomenon that has become known as the bystander effect or "Genovese syndrome", especially diffusion of responsibility.

    
Diffusion of responsibility can manifest itself:

• In a group of people who, through action or inaction, allow events to occur which they would never allow if they were alone. This is referred to as groupthink and groupshift.
• In a group of people working on a task who lose motivation, feel less responsibility for achievement of group goals, and hide their lack of effort in the group (social loafing).
• In hierarchical organizations, when subordinates claim to simply be following orders and supervisors claim that they merely issue directives and do not perform the actions under question. The difficulty of identifying the culpable party is often seen in trials regarding crimes against humanity. 

Diffusion of responsibility is also called " more people see, the less will get done, many people will stand in the background and will see who will step up and then act.  It is pack dynamics, people are afraid to step outside the shelter and anonymity of the group and be noticed, especially if there is pressure or adverse reaction if you step forward.   I liken it to the military term " Don't volunteer"   this was endemic in basic training because the one that stepped forward usually got extra punishment.  I saw it and did my best to hide in the background and avoid notice from the Drill Sergeants. 
     I will then touch on my second topic and will then try to link them together,

Squirrel...

    The liberals and others from the left love to use hashtag to denote what pet causes they are interested in,  You have seen it on many things from #can't breath, #Ferguson#,#don't shoot#, #meat is murder# and many other social causes.  I disparage hashtag activism, for it does nothing, it is immediate, then fades away.  Like the attention span of the average liberal.  All it does is show how pious you are in embracing the latest social cause to your liberal friends, it shows that you have embraced the latest group think that is prevalent at the time and does nothing.

       Left leaning People don't know how to use independent reasoning and logic in their decision process. The average liberal runs on pure emotions, they are the followers in group activities, they provide the "foot soldiers" for the latest cause.  The ones that use logic and reasoning and do what they do anyway, are the leaders, they know logic and reasoning but decide to continue anyway for the sake of power, they tell the followers what to do.  Those are the dangerous ones....those are the ones that do this for pure personal power and self gratification.

     How this ties together are 2 fold, when people get in groups, they submerge their individuality for the group dynamics, even if something is wrong, they will not step up.  Also it ties in with the immediate gratification, if they don't do anything, the problem goes away.  If they get involved, then the problem stays with them and people in groups don't want that.  The average liberal believes in immediate gratification, "do something now" and "if it feels good".  Doing hashtags feels good, but does nothing, because unless you are in a western based society, where social media is very strong, the effect is lost everywhere else but to a liberal, being "active on emotion" is better than actually doing something...because if they focus on one cause too long and it falls out of favor because the next cause has arrived, then they are no longer on the forefront of "social Justice" and they lose standings with their friends and peer groups.

The Day after Christmas.......

Well I was like most people, I spent time with my family on Christmas and that was very nice, spending time with family is important, it reminds us what the season is....It isn't gifts...although those are cool, it is spending time with people, and it don't have to be with family, but spend time with people you want to spend time with or have to spend time with.  I wasn't upset about having to work on part of my Christmas....it is necessary and  knew that I would go home when it is over.  To those that have been checking out my little corner of the internet know that I was in the service and was deployed to the Middle East, in my case it was in 1990, I was stationed in Germany since 1986 and we got deployed when Desert Shield started becoming Desert Storm.  Being closer to where Jesus was born was uplifting.  I remember a bunch of us were walking around the tents in Dammon waiting for our equipment  to catch up with us and singing all the Christmas songs.  From all the different units, soldiers were coming together in groups to sing and that was magical in itself.
     Flash forward to today, Christmas still has its magic for me, there is still a little kid inside of me that loves Christmas, that will never change.   But now it is the day after Christmas and the reality is here.....

Yes I did it this way one time...

     Now is the time we have to clean up the decorations, pack them away for next year.  And get ready to start ramping up for New Years.  I will be spending time with my son at winter-camp with the Boy Scouts until the New Years Eve.  so I will be preloading stuff into the scheduler so I will have things posting and my various comments about the pictures.  I will have sporadic internet usage so I will not be able to respond immediately.

More Christmas Tidbits Part III

Well this is the 3rd and final post on Christmas Tidbits, and other information that you can use to either win bets at the bar, try for jeopardy or even to impress/annoy your friends, family and coworkers....I have posted 2 prior bits of tidbits, they are Here and Here.

     Before I continue to post, I do have an observation, I was driving to work last night in a great Southern City where features prominently  in "Gone with the Wind", and it was raining hard...and all I can say was....:

   I havn't seen such dumbness and head up neither regions in a long time........Jeez, nothing like playing the law of averages on the way to work...

-Paul McCartney earns $400,000 a year off his Christmas song, which is widely regarded as the worst song he ever recorded.

-The first person to decorate a Christmas tree was reportedly the Protestant reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546). According to legend, he was so moved by the beauty of the stars shining between the branches of a fir tree, he brought home an evergreen tree and decorated it with candles to share the image with his children.

-Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was invented for a US firm's Christmas promotion in 1938.

-In 1647, the English parliament passed a law making Christmas illegal. The Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell, who considered feasting and revelry on what was supposed to be a holy day to be immoral, banned the Christmas festivities. The ban was lifted only when Cromwell lost power in 1660.

-The largest Christmas cracker, 45.72m long and 3.04m in diameter, was pulled in Australia in 1991.

-Did you know that giving presents were once banned by the Catholic Church? It was believed that gift giving was connected to paganism.

-Approximately 30-35 million real Christmas trees are sold each year in the US.

-Franklin Pierce was the first president to decorate an official White House Christmas tree.

-The long shopping spree before Christmas began in America when relatives of soldiers posted overseas in the Second World War were encouraged to mail gifts early.

-Do you know why we say the Twelve Days of Christmas? It is believed that it took the 3 kings 12 days to find baby Jesus.

-The highest-grossing festive movie is 2000's How The Grinch Stole Christmas, which has raked in $345M to date.

-Christmas is a contraction of "Christ's Mass," which is derived from the Old English Cristes mæsse (first recorded in 1038). The letter "X" in Greek is the first letter of Christ, and "Xmas" has been used as an abbreviation for Christmas since the mid-1500s.

-Christmas Crackers were invented around 1846 by Tom Smith who developed them for Christmas from the French habit of wrapping sugared almonds in twists of paper as gifts.

-Jingle Bells was the first song broadcast from space when Gemini 6 astronauts sang it on December 16, 1965.

-Many years ago in England a traditional Christmas dinner included a pig head served with mustard.

-Commissioned by Sir Henry Cole, British illustrator John Callcott Horsley invented the first Christmas card in 1843.

-The Canadian province of Nova Scotia leads the world in exporting lobster, wild blueberries and Christmas trees.

-Astronomers believe the Star Of Bethlehem, which guided the wise men to Jesus, may have been a comet or the planet Uranus.

-The tradition of naughty children getting a lump of coal in their stocking comes from Italy.

-Christmas purchases account for 1/6 of all anual retail sales in the US.

-Roast turkey did not appear consistently on royal Christmas Day menus until 1851 when it replaced roast swan. The medieval dish of Boar's head remained popular with Royals for much longer.

-Upside-down artificial Xmas trees are sold to allow more gifts to be piled under.

-Tinsel was once made from real silver. It was invented in Germany in 1610.

-In the Czech Republic they enjoy dinners of fish soup, eggs and carp. The number of people at the table must be even, or the one without a partner will die next year.

-December 25 was originally a pagan celebration. Nobody knows when Jesus of Nazareth was born and nobody celebrated his birthday for hundreds of years.

-Electric Christmas lights were first used in 1854.

-Christmas pudding was originally a soup made with raisins and wine.

-There are two islands named Christmas. Christmas Island (formerly Kiritimati) in the Pacific Ocean and Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

-"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" was originally a threat. The ever-popular song was originally sung, loudly and repeatedly, by crowds of rowdy, lower-class servants demanding booze from their masters... or else.

-Many parts of the Christmas tree can actually be eaten, with the needles being a good source of Vitamin C.

    And this completes the Christmas Trivia section of my little corner of the internet.  Remember the reason for the season and" be good to each other...

  "And Party On Dudes..!!."

More Christmas Tidbits Part II

On Sunday I posted Part ONE of little Christmas Tidbits, here are part II, I will post a part III tomorrow...This will provide entertainment or horror for your coworkers, family..and anybody else within earshot.....

-According to the UNICEF there are 2,106 million children under age 18 in the world. If there are on average 2.5 children per household, Santa would have to make 842 million stops on Christmas Eve, traveling 221 million miles. To reach all 842 million stops, Santa would need to travel between houses in 2/10,000 second, which means he would need to accelerate 12.19 million miles (20.5 billion meters) per second on each stop. The force of this acceleration would reduce Santa to salsa.

-It is said that candy canes were invented by a candy maker in Indiana. He wanted to use them to spread the name Jesus around the world.-Mistletoe kissing originated with fertility rites. The hanging sprig is a very ancient symbol of virility and therefore anybody standing beneath it is signalling that he or she is sexually available.

-America's official national Christmas tree is located in King's Canyon National Park in California. The tree, a giant sequoia called the "General Grant Tree" is over 90 meters (300 feet) high, and was made the official Christmas tree in 1925.

-There is no reference to angels singing anywhere in the Bible.

-Some zoos take donated Christmas trees and use them to feed their animals.

-Because they viewed Christmas as a decadent Catholic holiday, the Puritans in America banned all Christmas celebrations from 1659-1681 with a penalty of five shillings for each offense. Some Puritan leaders condemned those who favoured Christmas as enemies of the Christian religion.

-The first Christmas was celebrated on December 25, AD 336 in Rome.

-Nearly 60 million Christmas trees are grown each year in Europe.

-Charles Dickens grew up during a 'Little Ice Age' - it snowed for each of his first 8 Christmases, influencing his writing and hence today's tradition of a 'White Christmas'.

-Early illustrations of St. Nicholas depict him as stern, commanding, and holding a birch rod. He was more a symbol of discipline and punishment than the jolly, overweight elf children know today.
-Artificial Christmas trees have outsold real ones in the US since 1991.

-Biblical scholars believe Jesus was probably born in a cave and not a wooden stable.

-Mormon missionaries can only call home twice a year: once on Mother's Day and again on Christmas.

-In Greece, Italy, Spain and Germany, workers get a Christmas bonus of one month's salary by law.

-Christmas stockings allegedly evolved from three sisters who were too poor to afford a marriage dowry and were therefore doomed to a life of prostitution. They were saved however when the wealthy Bishop Saint Nicholas of Smyrna (the precursor to Santa Claus) crept down their chimney and generously filled their stockings with gold coins.

-St. Nicholas was bishop of the Turkish town in the early 4th century. The Dutch first made him into a Christmas gift-giver, and settlers brought him to America where his name eventually became the familiar Santa Claus.

-The chances of a white Christmas is Australia is pretty much 0.

-Telling "scary ghost stories" is an old Christmas Eve tradition that has died out in the past century.

-95% of all Americans celebrate Christmas (only 75% of the U.S. is Christian), and just 51% of the holiday's celebrators consider it a "strongly religious" holiday.

-President Teddy Roosevelt, an environmentalist, banned Christmas trees from the White House in 1912.

-In Armenia, the traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of fried fish, lettuce and spinach.

-Many theologians estimate that Jesus wasn't born sometime in September between 6BC and 30AD.

-Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen is the only record to get the UK Christmas Singles Chart Number One twice, once in 1975 and again in 1991.

-It is estimated that the single "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin is the bestselling single of all time, with over 100 million sales worldwide.

-Christmas has different meanings around the world; Christmas Eve in Japan is a good day to eat fried chicken and strawberry shortcake.

-In 1999, residents of the state of Maine in America built the world's biggest ever snowman. He stood at 113ft tall.

-Engineers designing the Voyager Space mission planned it to avoid planetary encounters over Thanksgiving and Christmas.

-Gold-wrapped chocolate coins commemorate St Nicholas who gave bags of gold coins to the poor.

-There are approximately 21,000 Christmas tree farms in the United States. In 2008, nearly 45 million Christmas trees were planted, adding to the existing 400 million trees.

-Alabama was the first US state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday, and the tradition began in 1836. Oklahoma was the last to declare it a legal holiday, in 1907.

Monday Music Celtic Women "O Holy Night"

I had in the past have gone with "traditional" Music, 2 years ago, I had used "Do they know it is Christmas" by Band Aid and last year I went with Bing Crosby and David Bowie with "Little Drummer Boy".  I consider those songs "Iconic: Christmas Songs.  This year I decided to go with something new and different.....I heard a track from "Celtic Women" and I was mesmerized.  There is something haunting and sends chills down my spine when I hear songs like this.   There is something about a group of people able to sing in symphony and play off their voice strength.  I really thought this was very good.  I remember what it was in the late 90's when the Celtic movement hit the states when we had "Riverdance" and others like that.  it was nice to see the culture no longer be submerged and I like that.

Celtic Woman: A Christmas Celebration is the second album from the singing group Celtic Woman. The album's main vocalists are the same five women who were first featured on the PBS music special of the same name: Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, Órla Fallon, Lisa Kelly, Chloë Agnew and Máiréad Nesbitt. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA in December 2009, for sales of 500,000, and certified Platinum in November 2011 for sales of 1,000,000.

    

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born;

O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from the Orient land.

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weaknesses no stranger,

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

The Irish Holiday Film Orchestra was recorded at Icicle Studios, Dublin, Ireland Directed by Timothy Wells Celtic Woman Band:
 The Antonas Choir was recorded at South Hill Studios, Dublin, Ireland Directed by Rosemary Collier All Christmas arrangements by David Downes

Little Known facts about Christmas

    Here are some facts I picked up here and there, information you can use to impress or annoy your friends, family, guest, coworkers, ete,ete...the list is endless....Just call it a Public Service announcement from my little corner of the internet.

-Each year there are approximately 20,000 "rent-a-Santa's" across the United States. These Santa's usually undergo seasonal training on how to maintain a jolly attitude under pressure from the public. They also receive practical advice, such as not accepting money from parents while children are looking and avoiding garlic, onions, or beans for lunch.

-Norwegian scientists have hypothesized that Rudolph's red nose is probably the result of a parasitic infection of his respiratory system.

-Silent Night was first sung as part of a church service in Austria. A guitar was used because the church organ was so badly rusted it couldn't be played.

-Before Christians decided on December 25 to celebrate the birth of Jesus, several dates were proposed: January 2, March 21, March 25, April 18, April 19, May 20, May 28, and November 20.

-Japanese people traditionally eat at KFC for Christmas dinner, thanks to a successful marketing campaign 40 years ago. KFC is so popular that customers must place their Christmas orders 2 months in advance.

-The Germans made the first artificial Christmas trees out of dyed goose feathers.

-In Germany and some other western European countries, St. Nicholas, or Nikolaus comes on the night from the 5th to the 6th of December, where children have their boots all shined and clean in front of a door or window. He will leave toys, nuts oranges, apples and chocolate for the good children. The bad child gets a branch to be used by the parents to beat the offending child.

-Santa Claus has different names in different countries: Sheng Dan Lao Ren in China, Father Christmas in England, Papa Noel in Brazil and Peru and Pere Noel in France.

-An artificial Christmas tree would have to be reused for more than 20 years to be "greener" than buying a fresh-cut tree annually.

-Each year more than 3 billion Christmas cards are sent in the U.S. alone.

-The "true love" mentioned in the song "Twelve Days of Christmas" does not refer to a romantic couple, but the Catholic Church's code for God. The person who receives the gifts represents someone who has accepted that code. For example, the "partridge in a pear tree" represents Christ. The "two turtledoves" represent the Old and New Testaments.

-Guatemalan adults do not exchange Christmas gifts until New Year's Day. Children get theirs on Christmas morning.

-The two biggest selling Christmas songs are "White Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

-The Nazi party tried to turn Christmas into a nonreligious holiday celebrating the coming of Hitler, with Saint Nicholas replaced by Odin the "Solstice Man" and swastikas on top of Christmas trees.

-The US playing card company 'Bicycle' had manufactured a playing card in WW2. That, when the card was soaked, it would reveal an escape route for POWs. These cards were Christmas presents for all POWs in Germany. The Nazis were none the wiser!

-Most of Santa's reindeer have male-sounding names, such as Blitzen, Comet, and Cupid. However, male reindeers shed their antlers around Christmas, so the reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh are likely not male, but female or castrati.

-In North America, children put stockings out at Christmas time. Their Dutch counterparts use shoes.

-The smallest Christmas card was made by scientists at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom in 2010. At only 200 x 290 micrometres in size, 8,276 of these cards would fit in one postage stamp.

-The people of Oslo, Norway donate the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree every year in gratitude to the people of London for their assistance during WWII.

-According to the Guinness world records, the tallest Christmas tree ever cut was a 221-foot Douglas fir that was displayed in 1950 at the Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle.

-The traditional three colours of Christmas are green, red, and gold. Green has long been a symbol of life and rebirth; red symbolises the blood of Christ, and gold represents light as well as wealth and royalty.

-When visiting Finland, Santa leaves his sleigh behind and rides on a goat named Ukko. Finnish folklore has it that Ukko is made of straw, but is strong enough to carry Santa Claus anyway.

-The most expensively dressed Christmas tree was valued at $11,026,900 and was displayed by the Emirates Palace in the UAE.

-During the Christmas of 2010, the Colombian government covered jungle trees with lights. When FARC guerrillas (terrorists) walked by, the trees lit up and banners asking them to lay down their arms became visible. 331 guerrillas re-entered society and the campaign won an award for strategic marketing excellence.

-According to data analysed from Facebook posts, two weeks before Christmas is one of the two most popular times for couples to break up. Christmas Day is the least favourite day for breakups.

-When distributing gifts in Holland, St. Nicholas is accompanied his servant, Black, who is responsible for actually dropping the presents down their recipients' chimneys. He also punishes bad children by putting them in a bag and carrying them away to Spain.

-The largest artificial Christmas tree measures 170.6 feet and can be found in Brazil.

-Nearly all of the most popular Christmas songs including 'Winter Wonderland', 'Chestnuts roasting', and 'I'm Dreaming of a white Christmas' were written by Jews.

-Contrary to popular belief, suicide rates during the Christmas holiday are low. The highest rates are during spring.

-In Syria, Christmas gifts are distributed by one of the Wise Men's camels. The gift-giving camel is said to have been the smallest one in the Wise Men's caravan.

-The largest Christmas star ornament measures 103 feet and eight inches tall and can be found in India.

-All letters addressed to Santa in the United States go to Santa Claus, Indiana.

-The world's largest Christmas stocking measured 106 feet and 9 inches (32.56 m) long and 49 feet and 1 inch (14.97 m) wide. It weighed as much as five reindeer and held almost 1,000 presents. It was made by the Children's Society in London on December 14, 2007.

-One town in Indiana is called Santa Claus. There is also a Santa, Idaho.

-The most lights lit on simultaneously on a Christmas tree is 194,672 and was achieved in Belgium last year.

-During the Christmas of 1914 (WWI), a truce was held between Germany and the UK. They decorated their shelters, exchanged gifts across no man's land and played a game of football between themselves.

-Christmas trees usually grow for about 15 years before they are sold.

-The popular Christmas song "Jingle Bells" was actually written for Thanksgiving. The song was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont, and was originally called "One Horse Open Sleigh".

-Although now mostly vegetarian, in Victorian times, mince pies were made with beef and spices.

-In 1867, a Boston industrialist heard Charles Dickens read A Christmas Carol and was so moved he closed his factory on Christmas Day and gave every one of his employees a turkey.

-In Poland, spiders or spider webs are common Christmas trees decorations because according to legend, a spider wove a blanket for Baby Jesus. In fact, Polish people consider spiders to be symbols of goodness and prosperity at Christmas.

-Despite the tale of three wise men paying homage to baby Jesus, the Bible never gives a number. It refers to merely "wise men".

-There are 364 gifts mentioned in "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

-Ancient peoples, such as the Druids, considered mistletoe sacred because it remains green and bears fruit during the winter when all other plants appear to die. Druids would cut the plant with golden sickles and never let it touch the ground. They thought it had the power to cure infertility and nervous diseases and to ward off evil.

-Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life.

-The Boxing Day holiday was originally celebrated in England for the servants to the rich people. After Christmas the servants "boxed up" all the left-overs from the rich people and took them home.

-The Beatles hold the record for most Xmas number 1 singles, topping the charts in 1963, 65 and 67.

      I will post another batch of Christmas trivia on Tuesday......You know that Monday is my "Monday Music"...Can't break tradition..  And I will find some cool Christmas Video, Last Year I believe I used "Little Drummer Boy from Bing Crosby and David Bowie...So I gotta find another one....and one more thing.....

Star Wars Parody...With Weird Al......

I ran across this surfing star wars video clips I am a fan of Star Wars...Star Trek....BattleStar Galactica....The old one.....and of course Babylon5.  But Weird Al did a parody of Star Wars using the lyrics of "American Pie"...And it is very good...

    

How our neighbor up north viewed our elections and aftermath.

I saw this in an email my Dad sent out.   I am shamelessly cutting and pasting this.   This person said it far better than I could.

    

By Marc Patrone, Sun News network

 America is on the edge of a second revolutionary war.

    It may not be bloody like the first one, but it will be hugely important.

    Some might suggest it’s more a civil war, but with liberty and the constitution hanging in the balance, revolution seems a more appropriate comparison.

    There are no British troops or monarchy to fight this time.

    The ‘shot heard around the world’ wasn’t fired from a musket, it came from the ballot box.

    Americans have taken a long hard look at the kind of fundamental transformation promised by Barack Obama and the Democrat party and they want nothing to do with it.

    The Republican victory suggests Americans are more than just unhappy with the direction the country is headed.

Such was the devastating scope of the electoral debacle for the Democrats that it appears Americans are mobilizing for war against the Obama agenda.

    They are only now truly beginning to understand the threat to liberty he presents.

    What’s so deeply troubling, albeit not entirely unexpected, is the disdain, arrogance and contempt  with which this president dismissed the results.

    “So to everyone who voted, I want you to know I hear you. To the two-thirds of voters who chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you, too,” he said.

    Meaning what?

    He seems to be suggesting that by not voting, the majority of Americans agree with what he’s doing.

    Terrifying? You bet.

    It’s taken six years, but the ugly truth about Obama’s contemptuous attitudes toward the people who elected him twice is becoming all too evident.

    Lame duck? Guess again.

    The man probably realizes that a chance to remake the U.S. according to his far left view of the world may not come around again.

    His time is running out. Obama’s ‘nuclear’ option is amnesty for millions of illegals.

    He expects those illegals will become dependents of the state, thus stacking the electoral deck in favour of Democrats by promising the new ‘wards of the state’ a suite of entitlements.

    The depth of this destructive agenda is clear, rip off trillions in wealth (which Obama believes was stolen anyway)  and give it to those whom he considers ‘victims’ of capitalism.

    The beneficiaries will naturally reward the progressive left with voter support into perpetuity. Viola, the progressive dream of a one-party state is realized.

    This has been decades in the making. The left has infiltrated, corrupted, and subverted the institutions that had, up to now, served as pillars supporting freedom, democracy, and prosperity.

    The bulk of what was once a free and independent media has been reduced to little more than an arm of the Democrats.

That tens of millions of Americans are flocking to Fox News, Conservative talk radio and online news sites is heartening but doesn’t change the fact most TV, print media outlets are in an advanced state of putrid, cancerous liberal rot.

    The same cancer has undermined the school system, ‘big labour,' the environmental movement, and the Hollywood culture machine.

    Even capitalism itself has succumbed to the lure of easy government money, power and cronyism.

    So who is left to fight for freedom? The rest of America.

    Obama will attempt to ram through amnesty, climate change, wealth redistribution and he will ignore the constitution to do it.

Republicans have assured Obama impeachment is off the table. And so the battle lines are drawn.

    Fasten your seatbelts Canada, we’re about to get a front-row seat to the battle for the soul of America and indeed the free world.

    Let’s hope that, as in the first revolutionary war, that the right side wins.

    If it doesn’t, we all lose.

The Future of Law Enforcement engagements....with potential Perp....

• Any Street, Anywhere USA
  
  Victim: Officer, officer! That man just stole my purse!
  
  Officer: Good morning ma'm, or does that pronoun offend you. If so, please advise me of the correct pronoun I may use in order to not....
  
  victim: Officer, you're not listening to me! That man stole my purse.
  
  officer: That gentleman across the street?
  
  Victim: Yeah, that's him.
  
  officer: Okay, let me go talk to him.
  
  victim: He's a big guy, don't you want some help?
  
  Officer: Oh no, anything that might give the appearance of a show of force isn't allowed.

Officer leaves to talk to the alleged suspect and then returns:

 

Officer: Is it a red purse with black trim and brass colored clasp with the initials MS on the side?

 

Victim: That's it, my name is Mary Smith and those are my initials. That's my purse.

• 
  Officer: I figured it was yours, he doesn't look like the purse type. The problem is he doesn't want to give it back.
  
• 
  Victim: Well, arrest him, he robbed me of that purse. He punched me, knocked me down and then took my purse. Look at this bruise on my arm, and I'm bleeding from my forehead.
  
  Officer: I'm afraid I can't do that. He said he wouldn't allow me to arrest him. I can call the EMS folks though to treat you for your injuries. There will be a fee of course.
  
  Victim: What??!! You have to arrest him. He committed a robbery and I'm the victim. I demand you arrest him.
  
  Officer: I'm afraid I can't do that. He said he would fight if I tried to arrest him and our new Rules Of Engagement don't allow us to confront a hostile suspect.
  
  Victim: Rules Of Engagement? What the hell is that?
  
  Officer: Basically it means if the alleged suspect offers any resistance, or even says he will resist, our Rules Of Engagement say we shall not "engage". It's really quite simple and it makes our job much simpler. No more fights, no violence involved and everyone is much safer that way aren't they?
  
  Victim: But he robbed me and he's standing right there, you mean you can't do anything?
  
  Officer: Oh, whether or not I could do something doesn't matter. I'm not allowed to confront a possibly hostile suspect. Perhaps you could talk to him and see if he will come down to the precinct house and turn himself in.
  
  Victim: That's it? That's all you can do?
  
  Officer: Well, I can give you our website and you can make a report of this alleged crime. It's a really neat website, designed by the same folks that did that Affordable Care Act site. And I'd be glad to give you the office phone numbers for Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Eric Holder.
  
  Victim: Will they do anything?
  
  Officer: Not really, they're only interested if I do something.
  
  Victim: Well did you at least get his name so I know who the bad guy is when I make this report?
  
  Officer: No, he didn't want to give me his name, and gosh all I can do is ask.
  
  Victim: This is incredible. He's just standing over there like he knows nothing will be done about this.
  
  Officer: I know. Happens all the time now. Well, have a nice day and call any time, we're here to help.
  
  Victim: But officer....
  
  Officer: You'll have to excuse me, I have to go apologize to that gentlemen for disrupting his day.

   I ripped this off from another website and expanded on it.  Unfortunately it does sounds very   prophetic. 

 

 

Monday Music "Armageddon it" by Def Leppard

 Well today is another installment of my "Monday Music".  You have a song that just keeps playing on in your head....Well I heard a riff from this song last week and it has stayed on.  And speaking of last week, here are some more pics of my accident that I had last Thursday evening.
    

    I m a bit sore from the accident but considering what happened, I am glad that I am walking away from it.  The weird thing is that we have the same insurance company, the one that caters to Military families...So It will be interesting how it plays out. 
     Well I decided to go with "Armageddon it" by Def Leppard, this song was huge especially in Germany where I was stationed.  Robinson Barracks had a problem keeping the CD in stock for a while.  I consider it up there with the Joshua Tree by U-2 in popularity and influence.  I still jam on the songs when they come on the radio, or on my MP3 player.

"Armageddon It" is a song by English hard rock band Def Leppard from their 1987 album Hysteria. It was released as a single in 1988 and went to No. 3 in the U.S. (their fourth U.S. Top Ten hit).
The actual line of "Armageddon It" is meant to be a word play on the line "I'm A Gettin' It," thought up by the band during the recording sessions for the Hysteria album. The vocal style of the song is described as "T.Rex meets Eddie Cochran with backing vocals", according to singer Joe Elliott in the liner notes for Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980-1995).
The video for the song was the second to feature Def Leppard in a live arena setting. On 12-13 February 1988, the band recorded two shows at the McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado for a future live film release. However, a month later, "Armageddon It" was set to be released as the sixth single off the popular Hysteria album and a promo video clip was urgently needed.
From the band's end, there was hesitation to film another concept video. Although they were happy with the results for "Hysteria" (the single) and "Animal," they were very unsatisfied with the way "Pour Some Sugar on Me" had turned out for its concept.
Therefore, an idea was pitched to quickly create a video edited from the Denver footage. It was another hit in the UK, reaching the Top 20. Months later, it was released in the United States and was even more successful, reaching the Top 3.
However, "Pour Some Sugar on Me" was the first song used there for the "live" concept (in fact, many of the scenes are the same in the two), but instead of filming a different video, slight changes were made using footage filmed in October at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia.
There are two mixes of the song that appeared in the single: "The Atomic Mix," which is the album version, and "The Nuclear Mix," which is an extended version.

 

Light posting this past weekend....

My Apologoes for the light posting this past weekend, On Thursday I was on the way to "roundtable",  a Boy Scout Leader monthly meeting.  Well I never got there....

   Apparently a SUV( you can see it off to one side on the right side of the picture,)  decided to make a left turn in front of me.  She was coming the other way and turned in front of me.  She told the Police that she didn't see me.  I took my first ambulance ride on this one.  I got banged up and bruised.  I tried to take it easy as much as I could, they had prescribed vikotin and muscle relaxer.  I took 2 days off from work.  Thursday night and Sunday night.  I will see what happens when I get in contact with the lady's insurance company
   

   This is a reminder of the spending bill that congress passed, loaded with pork, fully funding Obunglercare and the executive amnesty.  The establishment GOP is afraid that the voters will not like them.  ..Lessee the voters were so pissed after the last shutdown, they elected more republicans for the 2014 midterm......Something doesn't connect here.   Am I missing something?   Well I saw this great shirt for Speaker Boehner