Pat Robertson said that God was punishing Sharon (original) by sending him a stroke. We are, of course, horrified. What a cruel thing to say! Then again, it’s in the same logical category as something that’s said every day, broadcast on TV regularly, and so on. “… and I thank God for helping us win this game.” Which is equivalent to “I thank God for making sure my opponents lost the game.” Which means God’s making choices about who wins and who loses. He’s gotta choose sides there. ...

My lovely sweetheart is going to be in Boston from January 20th to January 30th or so; the first weekend we’ll be mostly down on the Cape, but other than that we’re free. I’m still gonna be working that week, which means offers of daytime company would certainly be appreciated. Also we probably oughta do a dinner Monday night or something like that. Who’s in?

Someone in my family who will remain nameless for soon to be apparent reasons got me a T-shirt for Christmas. Kinda. It looks a lot like this. Except he didn’t buy it from threadless.com. He downloaded the image, printed it onto transfer paper, and ironed it onto a blank T-shirt. So I’m horrified, right? Intellectual property, the ability to profit from creativity, etc. I’d buy one except that design is sold out. But I’m also tremendously amused. Talk about your remix culture. This particular family member is like fifteen years old. He didn’t even think twice about getting the T-shirt that way. Immediate satisfaction, no wait time. ...

So far the score in the War on Christmas (original) goes something like this: Number of people who’ve told me the PC police will yell at anyone who says “Merry Christmas”: 3 Number of times I’ve been yelled at for saying Merry Christmas: 0 Number of attorneys ready to file suits against people who substitute “Happy Holidays” for “Merry Christmas”: 1550 Number of ACLU employees in the main New York office: 170 (original) (in 2002) ...

It is somewhat unlikely that I will do a best movies post this year, because I fell in love and maintaining an LDR wreaks merry havoc with the movie-going. I liked Sin City and A History of Violence; they make a nice pair of bookends, as one’s a commentary on the memes captured by the other. Roger Ebert’s list (original) looks pretty good, though. I wanted to see most of the movies he lists.

IFMapper (original) is pretty sweet, if you’re wanting to map interactive fiction. I’ve tried a few mappers over the years, and none of them had a sufficiently low degree of friction for me to keep using ‘em. IFMapper is nicely painless.

These Depression era photos in color are amazing; the subjects are interesting, but the perceptual aspect is more so. I think perhaps we’re used to thinking of the denizens of the 30s in black and white. These color versions — surely they’re publicity stills from Seabiscuit or Road to Perdition? It seems artificial, even though it’s definitionally authentic. We don’t live in the world we live in. It’s an imaginary construct, and it’s surprising to see it as it really is. ...

My opinion on the news I just read is sort of an incoherent haze of happiness. So, Mister Bond, would you like a six CD set (original) of Richard Thompson rarities and live performances for your birthday? “Yes please.” Gosh. What’s going to be on it? Lots of stuff. (original) An entire CD full of live performances with extended improvisations. A CD of covers! Which has that cover of “Willie and the Hand Jive/Not Fade Away” he was doing on the 1985 tour on it — pity they didn’t stick his “ Hey Joe” on there. What an insane set.

You know, you ought to be able to comment on Google search results. Hm.

David Pinto comments on the Beckett trade here and here. Both times he notes that the Red Sox are going for “win now” rather than rebuilding — but it doesn’t seem to me like that’s a wildly goofy thing to do. The Red Sox are one year off from a World Series victory and they have three postseason appearances in a row; in theory, at least, it makes sense to try and keep the streak going rather than rebuild. ...