There is an ugly, bullying aspect to this dispute, in which the pro-Christmas forces are not only asking, reasonably, that their religion be treated with equal status and respect but in which they are attacking legitimate efforts at inclusivity. It's this sense of aggrieved victimhood that confuses me: What, exactly, is so threatening about calling the school holiday a winter break rather than Christmas vacation?

Bill O'Reilly is in business to make money. The way he makes money is by getting people riled up about political issues. Last year, Bill O'Reilly, and some of his counterparts such as Rush Limbaugh, came up with a great way to generate revenue during "the holidays:" Get people rilled up about the fact that they are called "the holidays," while mixing in all of the present confusion about how to reconcile the establishment clause with the public celebration of religious cultural traditions. O'Reilly mined the depths of the news media in search of fringe cases that he held up as evidence that "the liberals are attacking Christmas."

The inevitable result of this last year was that "the holidays" were beset by thousands of pissed off conservatives who had a great big chip on their shoulder about the whole thing and got visibly offended whenever anyone wished them a "Happy Holidays," generally infecting the season with misery and strife, instead of, you know, good cheer. God forbid there might be a couple of Jews living in the United States and we might mean to wish them a joyous season as well.

This year, its on again, and it seems to be even bigger then it was last year. To deliberately infect the Holidays with this paranoid political poison is just about the most unChristian thing you can possibly do. But its here, and its not going to go away. The establishment clause questions are anything but simple, and I can assure you that Jews are not going to start referring to Dradles as "Christmas Tops." The only thing that the defenders of Christmas are likely to accomplish with their tirades is to make people so sick of them that they stop caring about the season all together. I almost see this outcome as inevitable, but I'm going to offer a proposal which might resolve the matter.

If you are offended when people wish you a "Happy Holidays" you should wear a yellow patch on your shirt with a picture of a cross on it whenever you are outside during the month of December. A yellow patch sends a clear message to others that you are a Christian and that you insist on being wished a "Merry Christmas" and not a "Happy Holidays." I'm sure you'll find that the liberal "anti-Christmas" forces are, for the most part, perfectly willing to comply with your wishes, upon seeing your patch. Some may wish you a "Happy Holidays" anyway, but those people are jerks, and you should ignore them. This seems to me the most efficient and reasonable way of dealing with the problem.

What 'War on Christmas'?

This list is always good for a few gems.

These are the ideas that, for better and worse, helped make 2005 what it was. You'll find entries that address momentous developments in Iraq ("The Totally Religious, Absolutely Democratic Constitution") as well as less conspicuous, more ghoulish occurrences in Pittsburgh ("Zombie Dogs"). There are ideas that may inspire ("The Laptop That Will Save the World"), that may turn your stomach ("In Vitro Meat"), that may arouse partisan passions ("Republican Elitism") and that may solve age-old mysteries ("Why Popcorn Doesn't Pop"). Some mysteries, of course, still remain. For instance, we do not yet have an entirely satisfying explanation for how Mark Cuban, the outspoken Internet mogul and NBA owner, came to be connected with three of the year's most notable ideas ("Collapsing the Distribution Window," "Scientific Free-Throw Distraction" and "Splogs"). That was just one surprising discovery we made in the course of assembling the issue. In the pages that follow, we're sure you'll make your own

The Year In Ideas 2005

Richard Pryor, the caustic yet perceptive actor-comedian who lived dangerously close to the edge both on stage and off, died Saturday. He was 65.

Pryor died shortly before 8 a.m. of a heart attack after being taken to a hospital from his home in the San Fernando Valley, said his business manager, Karen Finch. He had been ill for years with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.

I will miss him.

Comedian Richard Pryor Dies At 65

Like all good web services, Delicious is elegantly simple, truly useful, and subtly powerful. It doesn't try to do too much, and it delivers its core service -- bookmarking -- reliably and well. The Delicious API has made possible dozens of tools for extending the service, adding even greater utility (here's a big list).

Why Del.icio.us matters.

An online auction of a "brand new vulnerability" in Microsoft Excel had reached about $60 when eBay pulled the item late Thursday.

eBay halts auction of Excel flaw | CNET News.com

We're proud to announce that del.icio.us has joined the Yahoo! family. Together we'll continue to improve how people discover, remember and share on the Internet, with a big emphasis on the power of community. We're excited to be working with the Yahoo! Search team - they definitely get social systems and their potential to change the web. (We're also excited to be joining our fraternal twin Flickr!)

del.icio.us: y.ah.oo!

MemeStreams user Neoteric made Wonkette, or at least his Senate Webcam pointed at the Christmas tree did.

Happy Holidays from Washington DC.

One Tree Hill - Wonkette

"This shows that the program has worked beyond our expectations," said Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.)

?? It appears they shot an innocent person. There are questions. Where the proceedures followed? Are the proceedures correct? Even if this is the best we can hope for it should not be trumpeted as a success. It is a failure and it deserves critical analysis.

Shooting Is Defended But Gets Mixed Reviews

THEY are called echizen kurage and they sound like monsters from the trashier reaches of Japanese science fiction.
They are 6ft wide and weigh 450lb (200kg), with countless poisonous tentacles, they have drifted across the void to terrorise the people of Japan. Vast armadas of the slimy horrors have cut off the country’s food supply. As soon as one is killed more appear to take its place.

Giant Jellyfish Attack!

Status: Announced

Note: Since this project is categorized as being in production, the data is subject to change; some data could be removed completely.

huh...

Pattern Recognition (2006)