On the Second Week of Christmas

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my bit torrent failed me. Several movies that made my list were unobtainable. So I punished myself by watching a couple HORRID RIFFTRAX Christmas movies.

So we’ll start with Santa’s Christmas Circus (with Wizzo the Clown!) Yes I watched it. Regional TV “personality does a Christmas movies. 0.4/10. Just don’t.

Followed it up with Santa and the Ice Crem Bunny – which is even worse than it sounds. It is now ranked 8,979 out of 8,992. I never have to do this again.

We return to the “normal” list with Elf. It’s grown on my but never gonna get much above the 4.7 I’ve been giving it. Hopefully something will eventually supplant it. Zoey is still the ideal manic pixie yadda yadda. Mary Steenburgen as the JAP celebrating Christmas. Angry Ed Asner as Claus. And Peter Dinklage in his breakout roll.

At last a classic. Christmas in Connecticut. Barbara Stanwyck. Sydney Greenstreet. And a marvelous supporting cast. Occasionaly seems to have outlived it’s stay but no – it’s just charming. 9.4. Top 500.

Kind of a Halloween carryover, but Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas keeps hanging around. Music is solid. Burton at his best. 6.3. Makes the list based on the masses.

And finally the last of the previously unwatched. Dr. Who. The Time of the Doctor. Probably good if you’re a fan. I’m not. 3.4. Maybe NEXT year Star Wars will make the list.

Back in the day

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I’d do a rundown of the major bowls. Tht was back when there WERE major bowls! Now iwth the final four, NIL and the transfer portal most of the 30+ games are merely excuses for trips ad to show off to potential recruits (although how much “showing off” can be done at the Mayo and Bacon Bowl in Poughkeepsie NY is questionable)

So we’ll deal with the REAL games.

Navy over Army is a VERY close game. Beautiful uniforms too. Should be watchable.

Montana State by 7+ over Bill and Mary (who should lose just over nickname issues.)

ND State over Samford by double digits ….. 13+

SD State over Holy Cross and it could get close to 20 unless Marquis Colston shows up.

Take the Buckeyes and the points against UGA. Had a guy offer me THIRTY until I tried to sign my house over to him, whereupon he swallowed his fandom and backed down. Xichigan over TCU by <7. I’d LOVE to see a rematch for the Natty. I’d take the bucks and just a little shade.

Top four in the NFL stays the same, although the Rams may have found themselves a QB. To bad the Browns don’t have a guy like that. And I laid 10-1 against the Bungles getting the #1 seed. Feeling pretty good but ask me again on monday.

On the first week of Christmas

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Same drill as October.And SOMEBODY suggested I do this with Thanksgiving movies NEXT year. There aren’t many but we may give it a shot. But first … Christmas 2022

We begin with a 1901 silent version of A Christmas Carol. I figure another 10-15 years I will have caught them all. The first of the unseens. Eleven minutes. Meh. 2.7/10

The Small One, a Don Bluth project from Disney in the late 70’s. Not really entertaining on any level. 2.7

The Long Kiss Goodnight. If YOU can have Die Hard I can have Geena Davis and Samuel L Jackson on the run from the CIA and the mob. With a TON of Christmas though. Dropped it to a 4.9 this year though. Probably won’t make it again.

Jumped the gun on Home Alone but there it is. And just for good measure we might throw in “2” in a few days. 8.8. Actually moved it UP!

Another silent Scrooge previously unseen, this time from 1923. Twenty-seven minutes this time. A marginal improvement at 3.1

The final movie of this set was … interesting. Anna and the Apocalypse. Think Shawn of the Dead meets High School Musical. Not the WORST thing I’ve seen this week but I’m not the target audience either. 4.5

No forgiveness

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I spent some time last night drafting a post about the flow vanishing. Water. Electricity. Goods. It was a long depressing apocalyptic meander. Very sad. But the essence is still in my head and I am NOT feeling good about ANY of it. I do NOT wanna be alive when the movie hits.

Which bring me to the probably very nice lady who thinks we need to forgive those who tried to destroy/ruin us for the last two years. The Covidiots. No. Just no.

So as a little palate cleanser I offer the following:

This woman went viral for not wearing a mask in 2020. Watch her again and tell me she hasn’t been completely vindicated.

No Pandemic Amnesty For Anyone, Accountability For All

UNEXPECTEDLY: Students who finished high school during COVID now failing in college.

FIRST REPENT:  Try Saying Sorry First.

also this: WHAT WE KNEW IN THE EARLY DAYS:

and this: WALKING IT BACK: FDA attorney argues guidance against ivermectin for COVID was recommendation, ‘not mandatory.’

Never, never, never forget what they did to us during the Covid lockdowns.

Jesse Kelly asked his followers for their Covid lockdown stories and their replies are tragic and heartbreaking

Read this A+ megathread of the CDC’s recent failures and why the agency has to be shut down

THE TYRANNY OF A COVID AMNESTY:

SWEDEN WINS! Country That Refused Lockdown and Kept Schools Open Has Lowest Pandemic Mortality in the World.

WHY PEOPLE DON’T TRUST “EXPERTS” ANYMORE: ‘Masks reduce racism’ study is latest sign US medical establishment is insanely, perilously woke.

Related: The Suicide of Expertise.

Zuby asked Twitter for the “silliest, least scientific” pandemic policies and the replies are perfect

and coming soon: TWENTY MINUTES INTO THE FUTURE: The Coming Storm Over Trans ‘Tuskegee Experiment.’ 

Two in a row

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I’m not quite as sanguine as many of my Buckeye brethren but I’m … sad … none-the-less. Don’t wanna turn this into a Fanville commercial. So we’ll quickly move on since the penultimate final four comes out tonight.

  1. Georgia. They’ll beat LSU 30-15
  2. Michigan. They’ll beat Purdue 33-16
  3. TCU . They’ll squeak by K State33-31

So much for the undefeateds. We’ll start the 1-loss teams with Ohio State. They’ll get a bid. Because USC will lose to Utah again. 33-31, because of course.

Two loss teams? No. Just no. Alabama, Tennessee, Penn State, Clemson, USC (see above,) Washington. No. To ALL of these.

TCU can beat USC but nobody else. OSU gets revenge but then loses to Georgia.

In the Senior Circuit: Bills, Chiefs, Cowboys, Eagles. And the Saints sink slowly into the South

The GaXe

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Who’s in?

Georgia wins out and makes it. The Big 10 champ goes undefeated and makes it. TCU wins out ugly and makes it even though there are a dozen better teams in the country. And they MIGHT lose to K State. Should be a single digit game.

That leaves one spot. The one-loss team? Big 10 loser of the game? SHOULD be in. Clemson? Not an aweful choice at this point. USC? Not convinced they beat the Fightin’ Irish. OR Utah. Or Oregon. So none of them make it.

So Georgia, two Big 10 teams, EITHER TCU or Clemson.And I still think Alabama is one of the four best teams in the country.

AFC is still Bills v Chiefs. NFC is <gulp> Cowboys v 49ers or Eagles. Saints go on the road against the hated 49ers. Only the Falcons have more games and wins against. Worst winning % against among teams they’ve played more than 20 times, and second most points against. There have been some GREAT games in the series, but the Saints will likely take it on the chin. Just hoping they can kep it under double digits.

Driving again soon

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and NOT optimistic. Turned the apps on recently coming home from school as the interwebs had some horror stories about the current state of the industry. Only got two rides worth accepting (roughly $1/mile) and midway through both of them the Px was switched to a pickup that required backtracking. I’ll try again Wednesday, Friday and perhaps Saturday. Hopefully Thursday was an anomaly.

The Biden administration, as per usual, is NOT helping. And by “helping” I mean staying out of the way.

DoL’s Independent Contracting Proposal Endangers Both Freedom and Prosperity

Thankfully most economists DO understand Give Gig Workers a Real Break

We’ll just have to defend ourselves. Uber Driver Cleverly Turns Tables On Backseat Thieves

At least we aren’t the ONLY employment he’s after:

  Fed-up US farmers tell why government will put them out of business.

But it’s okay guys. We’ll live on unicorn farts and bugs.  The would be aristos might want to remember they’re made of meat.

in other former employment news: An Empirical Analysis Of Racial Bias In The Uniform Bar Exam: A Law School’s First-Time Bar Pass Rate Decreases As Its Percentage Of Students Of Color Increases.

With two realistic weeks left

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the final four is all but decided with the Pac? meltdown.

Georgia runs the table and gets the top spot. tOSU beats Maryland, tsun by <10 and then a double digit win in the title game against whoever makes it. #2. Then it gets picky.

IMHO Alabama is probably the third best team in the country but with two loses and no title game they’re toast. Vols up next but again no title game means no final four even though they’re a one-loss team.

I have Michigan next and I’m willing to leave them here unless they lose to tOSU by double digits. Utah might be the class of the Pac? but needs to run the table and a USC win over UCLA to make the title game. Even winning THAT they’ll have two loses so not likely. Penn State? Nope. Oregon? Georgia already shellacked them.

Which brings us to TCU. Believe yet? Baylor and K State will keep it close but they’ll find a way.

So …. Georgia, tOSU, TCU, tsun. How much do they wanna help Georgia? By 8 if it’s in the Peach Bowl! Ohio State by double digits. Then on to Lucas Field where the Buckeyes win by <3.

In the NFL I’m still going with Bills and Chiefs, Eagles and Cowboys. Saints hang close to the Rams this week. Saints magic losing number is 5. Vikings magic winning number for the final wild card spot is 4 so NEXT week might see the elimination/clinching games start

Lies, damned lies, and statistical models!

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Satellite Temperature Data Show Almost All Climate Model Forecasts Over the Last 40 Years Were Wrong. Of course, the computer modelers erred on the high side  — just like the Covid modelers.

‘Climate Change’ Is a Dangerous Cult.

Didn’t we see this movie already? The White House is debating whether or not we should spray toxic gas into the atmosphere to fight climate change. For real.

Dropping this here because of the whole cult/religion thang: The Left Needs A Jesus

and this one will be posted again soon if you miss it THIS time: THE TRUST IN THE BLUE MODEL HAS GONE ICE COLD:  The Trust Thermocline, Twitter and the Feds.

READ THIS. All of it. Seriously. I’m adding the “build a model to predict something simple, like the lottery results” example from now on, until sufficiently discredited. THAT THEY CAN’T EVEN PREDICT THE PRESENT, GIVEN PAST DATA?  The Dirty Secrets inside the Black Box Climate Models.

and here, among other things, is the reason: IPCC’s 1990 Predictions Were Even Worse Than We Thought

try to have a good second half of November.

Alabama’s red wave failed

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and the Elph’s wasn’t what many expected. Final control of the House and Senate still up for grabs

ALSO up for grabs are the four CFBP spots. Buckeyes hold on after a slim win over Northwestern. Shades of the Woody Hayes era when they’d beat the Mildcats 16-0 while contending for a national title. Bucks will run the table, but I’m trimming the margin of victory over tsun to 8.

Georgia’s spanking of the Vols moves them to #2 on my list. They’ll run the table and get the #2 slot.

TCU? They lose to Texas this weekend and enter the 1-loss sweepstakes.

Much kerfuffle over the last two spots. Let’s look at the 1-loss teams. Michigan? If they keep OSU within 10. Tennessee? Maybe, but I doubt it. Oregon? Not if they lose to Utah. And the rest is a mess.

So MY four, in order, are OSU, Georgia, tsun and Tennessee, TWO of whom will have already lost to two others. Wanna avoid that? Take out tsun and the Vos, insert TCU and whoever wins the Pac X.And regardless, Lucas Oil gives the Buckeyes and edge.

In the NFL I’m still going with Bills/Chiefs and Eagles, but slipping the Cowboy’s into the fourth slot.