A minor thing yesterday just summed up 2020 for me. SP and I are moderately frugal, mostly because we’re indifferent about stuff that other people spend money on- clothing, jewelry, cars… everything except food. And while we delight in the fancy and spendy cuisine found in places with stars, we’re just as delighted with an awesome hole-in-the-wall dim sum restaurant. So our one splurge was a nice dinner once a month. Unfortunately, the lockdowns drove some of our favorite places into closure, caused several of them only do take-out, and others to restrict seating, making getting a table nearly impossible. So this month, we decided to use our splurge money on a drone, since that seems to be a fun toy for geeks. SP whipped out her phone, found what looked like an excellent candidate, read consumer reviews, then ordered it. An hour later, it was on our front porch.

There’s 2020 in a nutshell. Wild stupidity and panic couple with amazing advances in usable technology and remarkable consumer convenience.

And we still celebrate birthdays, including a guy willing to die for the Republicans; RAHeinlein’s spirit animal; the one and true Mr. Waverly; the pride of the Catholic church; an eternal symbol of the Deep State’s corruption and amorality; Spudalicious’s doppelganger; and a guy whose face is on every iodine bottle.

That said, let’s get to the Links.

 

I love this. Love. This.

 

Shout-out to these guys. They are heroes and deserve our support.

 

These guys, on the other hand, are really shitty at trolling.

 

This kind of thing wouldn’t faze Tom.

 

The War Against the Jews moves from the Middle East to New York.

 

Wait, wasn’t this a scene in Spinal Tap?

 

Enjoy it now, President Biden will fuck this up royally.

 

Old Guy Music features a group who pioneered the whole Celtic rock thing and managed to remain the greatest bar band ever. Too bad so many people tried to imitate this and achieved more commercial success doing it less well (cough, cough Ian Anderson).