My Christmas message
The Queen of England has a Christmas message. You can view it here if you wish: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25492508.
The Pope has a Christmas message. You can read it here if you wish: http://www.wkrg.com/story/24300658/text-of-popes-christmas-message.
President Obama puts out various messages around the Christmas holiday. They are described here: http://www.religionnews.com/2013/12/16/president-obama-framing-christmas-message-year/
My Christmas message is a wish about some things I'd like to see go on in our world, for at least just one day.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would go to sleep hungry.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would go to sleep without a roof over their head.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would be denied healthcare.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would die at the hand of another.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would be the victim of any crime against person or property.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would go the entire day without performing at least one random act of kindness.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would be alone, unless that's by choice.
I wish that just for one day, no parent in the world would be faced with the death of a child, for any reason.
I actually wish these things would take place every day, but perhaps if we started with just one, we could go from there.
* * *
Postage stamps are going up. A first class postage stamp that is currently 46 cents will rise in price to 49 cents on January 26th of next year.
I don't see why people should complain about this. You can send a letter from wherever you are in the U. S. to anywhere else in the U. S. for less than two quarters. From Key West to Anchorage or across town, it is still the best bargain in town.
Most of the Postal Service's financial woes come from the mandates they receive from Congress. Paying future retiree expenses ahead of time is something no other government agency does. Mandating that Saturday delivery continue is also a money loser. There's no reason for Saturday delivery to continue.
Congress should give the Postal Service a break. It isn't their fault people are moving away from snail-mail.
* * *
On Christmas Day, as I was coming home from the movies (I saw "47 Ronin") I drove past two different McDonald's locations. One was open and the other was closed. How can this be? There was a national marketing campaign to let the customer base know that they were going to be open.
It happened because 8 out of every 10 McDonald's are owned and operated by a franchisee. And a franchisee has to sell only approved products, but they can set their own prices and they definitely get to set their own hours. So apparently the one location's owner wanted to give their employees the day off and the other wanted to be open and earn some money. Maybe the other 364 days of the year weren't enough in 2013. Considering the company's sales receipts are down over last year, the move to be open is not surprising.
We don't hear anyone raising a fuss about cops or firefighters or hospital employees or anyone else having to work on the holidays. It comes with the territory. When you are in an industry where your customers are there to eat, eating doesn't stop on the holidays. Denny's is open 24/7 365 days a year. So is 7/11. There were cars outside the Rite-Aid when I drove past. The Coffee Bean was open.
The employees who work here get holiday pay rates today. I'm willing to wager that most of them didn't mind earning the extra money.
But don't judge by me. When I was in the military I always volunteered to work on Christmas, in order to allow someone who has a family, or celebrates the holiday, to have the day off.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
I don't have much cause to ever take another trip by plane, but if I do, I'll never fly on an airline that charges $10 to print a boarding pass at the airport. Oh, and when American Airlines charges $20 to make a reservation on the phone and $35 to do it in person, count me out.
Did the HR folks at McDonald's really put a page on the employee resource website that told their employees eating McDonald's food is an unhealthy choice? Do they live in a vacuum?
I don't think Minnesota Twins pitching prospect Alex Meyer is substitute teaching in the off-season for the money. He signed a $2 million contract. He's just making sure he has a career in case baseball doesn't pan out. Look for him to make his major league debut next season. I admire his foresight and planning.
Raising the sales tax above the current Los Angeles County level of 9% is a bad idea.
I can't believe that an adult man stabbed his father to death on Christmas Day, but it happened. How utterly tragic.
I wonder if any of the drivers who are "busted" by the Boca Raton teenager who holds up a sign when she's a passenger in her family's car and catches someone texting while driving, will be motivated to stop doing that. Probably not.
I'll believe Justin Bieber has really retired when he cancels all plans to tour and record, and becomes a recluse. Which is not going to happen in my lifetime.
No one sentenced Phil Robertson to 600 lashes and the death penalty, but that's what is going to happen to a Saudi citizen who was found guilty of apostasy. Guess they really don't have any freedo of speech in Saudi Arabia, huh?
This year's Grinch is Snarf's Subs of Chicago for closing one of its locations and firing all the employees via email. That's just awful.
20 years have passed and I still remember the name Jeff Gillooly. Do you? It is a bit of arcane trivia, so don't be upset if you've forgotten.
Utah counties that are continuing to deny marriage licenses to same-sex licenses should be help in contempt of court by the judge. The clerks should go to jail for failure to comply.
* * *
December 25th in History:
333 – Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar.
336 – First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in ancient Rome
350 – Vetranio meets Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and is forced to abdicate his title (Caesar). Constantius allows him to live as a private citizen on a state pension.
496 – Clovis I, king of the Franks, is baptized into the Catholic faith at Reims, by Saint Remigius.
597 – Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptise in Kent more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons.
800 – Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.
1000 – The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
1025 – Coronation of Mieszko II Lambert as King of Poland
1066 – William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.
1076 – Coronation of Boleslaw II the Generous as king of Poland
1100 – Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity.
1130 – Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first King of Sicily.
1261 – John IV Laskaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos.
1493 – Caravel "Santa Maria" captained by Christopher Columbus ran into reefs near Haiti shores due to fault of sailor on duty. Local natives helped to save food, armory and amunition but not ship.
1553 – Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeat the Spanish conquistadors and executes the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia.
1643 – Christmas Island found and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Company vessel, the Royal Mary.
1776 – George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day.
1809 – Dr. Ephraim McDowell performs the first ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor.
1814 – Rev. Samuel Marsden holds the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay.
1815 – The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continuously performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance.
1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concludes after beginning the previous evening.
1837 – Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor leads 1100 troops against the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee.
1868 – U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.
1926 – Emperor Taishō of Japan dies. His son, Prince Hirohito, succeeds him as Emperor Shōwa.
1927 – The Vietnamese Nationalist Party is founded.
1932 – A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills 275 people.
1941 – Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
1941 – World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
1941 – Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces.
1946 – The first in Europe artificial, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within Soviet nuclear reactor F-1.
1947 – The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.
1950 – The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.
1963 – Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
1965 – The Yemeni Nasserist Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Ta'izz
1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.
1968 – 42 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers.
1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Northern Territory Australia.
1974 – Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff.
1977 – Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat.
1989 – Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena Ceaușescu are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.
1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.
2000 – Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a bill into law that officially establishes a new National Anthem of Russia, with music adopted from the anthem of the Soviet Union that was composed by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov.
2003 – The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express Spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing.
2004 – Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
2009 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack against the US while on board a flight to Detroit Metro Airport Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Famous Folk Born on December 25th:
Isaac Newton
Dorothy Wordsworth
Clara Barton
Evangeline Booth
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Louis Chevrolet
Conrad Nicholson Hilton, Sr.
Robert Leroy Ripley
Humphrey Bogart
Cab Calloway
Tony Martin
Anwar Sadat
Rod Serling
Carlos Casteneda
Ismail Merchant
Henry Vestine
Rick Berman
Gary Sandy
Ken Stabler
Jimmy Buffett
Larry Csonka
Barbara Mandrell
Sissy Spacek
Karl Rove
Annie Lennox
Ricky Henderson
Alannah Myles
Dido
Katie Wright
No movie quotes today.
The Pope has a Christmas message. You can read it here if you wish: http://www.wkrg.com/story/24300658/text-of-popes-christmas-message.
President Obama puts out various messages around the Christmas holiday. They are described here: http://www.religionnews.com/2013/12/16/president-obama-framing-christmas-message-year/
My Christmas message is a wish about some things I'd like to see go on in our world, for at least just one day.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would go to sleep hungry.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would go to sleep without a roof over their head.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would be denied healthcare.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would die at the hand of another.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would be the victim of any crime against person or property.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would go the entire day without performing at least one random act of kindness.
I wish that just for one day, no one in the world would be alone, unless that's by choice.
I wish that just for one day, no parent in the world would be faced with the death of a child, for any reason.
I actually wish these things would take place every day, but perhaps if we started with just one, we could go from there.
* * *
Postage stamps are going up. A first class postage stamp that is currently 46 cents will rise in price to 49 cents on January 26th of next year.
I don't see why people should complain about this. You can send a letter from wherever you are in the U. S. to anywhere else in the U. S. for less than two quarters. From Key West to Anchorage or across town, it is still the best bargain in town.
Most of the Postal Service's financial woes come from the mandates they receive from Congress. Paying future retiree expenses ahead of time is something no other government agency does. Mandating that Saturday delivery continue is also a money loser. There's no reason for Saturday delivery to continue.
Congress should give the Postal Service a break. It isn't their fault people are moving away from snail-mail.
* * *
On Christmas Day, as I was coming home from the movies (I saw "47 Ronin") I drove past two different McDonald's locations. One was open and the other was closed. How can this be? There was a national marketing campaign to let the customer base know that they were going to be open.
It happened because 8 out of every 10 McDonald's are owned and operated by a franchisee. And a franchisee has to sell only approved products, but they can set their own prices and they definitely get to set their own hours. So apparently the one location's owner wanted to give their employees the day off and the other wanted to be open and earn some money. Maybe the other 364 days of the year weren't enough in 2013. Considering the company's sales receipts are down over last year, the move to be open is not surprising.
We don't hear anyone raising a fuss about cops or firefighters or hospital employees or anyone else having to work on the holidays. It comes with the territory. When you are in an industry where your customers are there to eat, eating doesn't stop on the holidays. Denny's is open 24/7 365 days a year. So is 7/11. There were cars outside the Rite-Aid when I drove past. The Coffee Bean was open.
The employees who work here get holiday pay rates today. I'm willing to wager that most of them didn't mind earning the extra money.
But don't judge by me. When I was in the military I always volunteered to work on Christmas, in order to allow someone who has a family, or celebrates the holiday, to have the day off.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
I don't have much cause to ever take another trip by plane, but if I do, I'll never fly on an airline that charges $10 to print a boarding pass at the airport. Oh, and when American Airlines charges $20 to make a reservation on the phone and $35 to do it in person, count me out.
Did the HR folks at McDonald's really put a page on the employee resource website that told their employees eating McDonald's food is an unhealthy choice? Do they live in a vacuum?
I don't think Minnesota Twins pitching prospect Alex Meyer is substitute teaching in the off-season for the money. He signed a $2 million contract. He's just making sure he has a career in case baseball doesn't pan out. Look for him to make his major league debut next season. I admire his foresight and planning.
Raising the sales tax above the current Los Angeles County level of 9% is a bad idea.
I can't believe that an adult man stabbed his father to death on Christmas Day, but it happened. How utterly tragic.
I wonder if any of the drivers who are "busted" by the Boca Raton teenager who holds up a sign when she's a passenger in her family's car and catches someone texting while driving, will be motivated to stop doing that. Probably not.
I'll believe Justin Bieber has really retired when he cancels all plans to tour and record, and becomes a recluse. Which is not going to happen in my lifetime.
No one sentenced Phil Robertson to 600 lashes and the death penalty, but that's what is going to happen to a Saudi citizen who was found guilty of apostasy. Guess they really don't have any freedo of speech in Saudi Arabia, huh?
This year's Grinch is Snarf's Subs of Chicago for closing one of its locations and firing all the employees via email. That's just awful.
20 years have passed and I still remember the name Jeff Gillooly. Do you? It is a bit of arcane trivia, so don't be upset if you've forgotten.
Utah counties that are continuing to deny marriage licenses to same-sex licenses should be help in contempt of court by the judge. The clerks should go to jail for failure to comply.
* * *
December 25th in History:
333 – Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar.
336 – First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in ancient Rome
350 – Vetranio meets Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and is forced to abdicate his title (Caesar). Constantius allows him to live as a private citizen on a state pension.
496 – Clovis I, king of the Franks, is baptized into the Catholic faith at Reims, by Saint Remigius.
597 – Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptise in Kent more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons.
800 – Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.
1000 – The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
1025 – Coronation of Mieszko II Lambert as King of Poland
1066 – William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.
1076 – Coronation of Boleslaw II the Generous as king of Poland
1100 – Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity.
1130 – Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first King of Sicily.
1261 – John IV Laskaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos.
1493 – Caravel "Santa Maria" captained by Christopher Columbus ran into reefs near Haiti shores due to fault of sailor on duty. Local natives helped to save food, armory and amunition but not ship.
1553 – Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeat the Spanish conquistadors and executes the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia.
1643 – Christmas Island found and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Company vessel, the Royal Mary.
1776 – George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day.
1809 – Dr. Ephraim McDowell performs the first ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor.
1814 – Rev. Samuel Marsden holds the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay.
1815 – The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continuously performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance.
1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concludes after beginning the previous evening.
1837 – Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor leads 1100 troops against the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee.
1868 – U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.
1926 – Emperor Taishō of Japan dies. His son, Prince Hirohito, succeeds him as Emperor Shōwa.
1927 – The Vietnamese Nationalist Party is founded.
1932 – A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills 275 people.
1941 – Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
1941 – World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
1941 – Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces.
1946 – The first in Europe artificial, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within Soviet nuclear reactor F-1.
1947 – The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.
1950 – The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.
1963 – Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
1965 – The Yemeni Nasserist Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Ta'izz
1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.
1968 – 42 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers.
1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Northern Territory Australia.
1974 – Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff.
1977 – Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat.
1989 – Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena Ceaușescu are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.
1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.
2000 – Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a bill into law that officially establishes a new National Anthem of Russia, with music adopted from the anthem of the Soviet Union that was composed by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov.
2003 – The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express Spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing.
2004 – Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
2009 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack against the US while on board a flight to Detroit Metro Airport Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Famous Folk Born on December 25th:
Isaac Newton
Dorothy Wordsworth
Clara Barton
Evangeline Booth
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Louis Chevrolet
Conrad Nicholson Hilton, Sr.
Robert Leroy Ripley
Humphrey Bogart
Cab Calloway
Tony Martin
Anwar Sadat
Rod Serling
Carlos Casteneda
Ismail Merchant
Henry Vestine
Rick Berman
Gary Sandy
Ken Stabler
Jimmy Buffett
Larry Csonka
Barbara Mandrell
Sissy Spacek
Karl Rove
Annie Lennox
Ricky Henderson
Alannah Myles
Dido
Katie Wright
No movie quotes today.
posted by me at 6:23 AM
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