Happy Holidays, Halforums!

Phew. That's OK then.I was genuinely worried. Cuz I've heard stories... *shudder* there are some truly horrendous clergy out there, who are abusive to put it mildly, and have no business what-so-ever in a leadership position anywhere, let alone with vulnerable populations. They do a lot of damage, both on personal and community levels.
my mother works for a catholic school attached to the very old, very conservative church named after the big man's right hand bringer of pain and justice. I am an unrelenting apostate, however I love my mother and so choose to give her a ride and walk her into church on Christmas. Father Smith proceeds to go all jokes about my mother raising a "wolf" in the midst of his flock. I almost died laughing. I suggested in rebuttal that sheep cant tell the difference between the sheep dogs and the wolves.
 
*snort*
I laugh only because I've seen worse. [And most often, the sermon is totally forgotten after the wedding is over, maybe remembered as a foot note, and kinda rightly so, The Word, while good to have (you hire clergy, you get a sermon), is not the point of the service.]

At a funeral.

For a teen.

Who committed suicide.

The rest of the clergy in town were beyond appalled.

Sadly, not only is suicide still considered by some to be a reason not to allow a Catholic funeral, I've actually heard the words "he'll burn in Hell for eternity" spoken by a priest to the grieving mother of a friend who chose euthanasia at 18 when he'd been struggling with terminal cancer for 3 years and had gotten blind and deaf. Let's just say that was - literally - the last time that mother set foot in a church.



Anyway, happy holidays to those who want it.
 
Been avoiding posting part of my Christmas loot, because I didn't wanna make @LittleSin too jealous





This was a latex model, unpainted. My step-son put it together and painted it for me
 
I just heard "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" for the first time in a long time. When I was a kid I used to laugh about it (much to my grandmother's consternation), but when I got older, I really wondered about this song: what kind of family lets their cleary-drunk grandmother wander out into snow by herself at night? And what kind of monsters carry on like nothing serious happened? Grandpa goes right back to watching football and playing cards. Aside from wearing black, the family is more concerned with getting their money back from Grandma's gifts. What kind of misanthropes are these people?!?

...and then I lived through the past 4 years and realized this song is more accurate depiction of an American family than every other Christmas song.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I just heard "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" for the first time in a long time. When I was a kid I used to laugh about it (much to my grandmother's consternation), but when I got older, I really wondered about this song: what kind of family lets their cleary-drunk grandmother wander out into snow by herself at night? And what kind of monsters carry on like nothing serious happened? Grandpa goes right back to watching football and playing cards. Aside from wearing black, the family is more concerned with getting their money back from Grandma's gifts. What kind of misanthropes are these people?!?

...and then I lived through the past 4 years and realized this song is more accurate depiction of an American family than every other Christmas song.
It always bothered me that there seemed to be something unwholesome implied to be going on between Grandpa and Cousin whatsername.
 
It always bothered me that there seemed to be something unwholesome implied to be going on between Grandpa and Cousin whatsername.
Mel? I think that's a he.

EDIT: I quick scan says there is some disagreement whether its "Cousin Mel", "Cousin Nell" or "Cousin Belle".
 
I mean, they’d still see it, it just wouldn’t be “red,” right? It would still be a point source illumination of indeterminate color.
Also let’s ignore the whole “can they fly?” part.

—Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Has there been any testing to show that red is more, or less, effective at illuminating through fog than other wavelengths of visible light?
 
Has there been any testing to show that red is more, or less, effective at illuminating through fog than other wavelengths of visible light?
...yyyes? At least, there has already been plenty of evidence showing that as the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation increases, the amount of energy required to get it to travel a fixed distance decreases. As such, since red has the longest wavelength, it should "reach" the farthest and be scattered less by fog. I seem to remember that is why neon tubes were chosen for beacons such as the one atop the Penobscot Building in Detroit, because that wavelength has such a loooong reach.

EDIT: I mention the above beacon because I remember being able to easily see it with the naked eye at night from a hill in Kensington Metropark, which is easily 35mi/60km away.

--Patrick
 
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Dave

Staff member
Got this email from Leila & Timo, Mikko's parents. Merry Christmas, all.


Thank you for your memories Mikko. We miss him deeply, we are grateful to see how his friends still remember and miss him after seven years.

IMG_0977.jpeg

picture Christmas crib was made together with Mikko in 1987.

We wish you, your family and Halforumites a Merry Christmas and a Happy, healty New Year 2021

Leila and Timo
 
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