This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on December 24, 2008). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.
Sometime between December 23rd and December 24th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!
- Recall: Snow globe poses fire hazard: Talk about going from cold to hot. Approximately 7,000 snowman snow globes were recalled today for posing a fire hazard. The transparent globes at the center of Hallmark's Jumbo Snowman Snow Globe can magnify the intensity of sunlight passing through the glass, causing nearby objects to catch on fire.
- eBay: Rare Seattle/NW States Seasonal White Christmas Snow – eBay (item 170288410743 end time Dec-25-08 13:53:34 PST): Rare Seattle Area or Northwest Washington Snow, .24 acre by 15" deep of premium white stuff to enhance your home and gardens and create a White Christmas atmosphere. Great snowman building material, wet enough for good compacting. Lot includes preshoveled piles or groomed snow for easy hauling and also special underlit with Christmas lights bush snow, very lovely! All can go, sorry no delivery, you haul. Bidding starts low to make this affordable for all even in these economic times. So buy it all and wrap some up for gifts! Make it into snowballs and put in your freezer for later, like those Christmas in July parties at your place, your guests will be impressed!
- VHS era is winding down: Pop culture is finally hitting the eject button on the VHS tape, the once-ubiquitous home-video format that will finish this month as a creaky ghost of Christmas past. After three decades of steady if unspectacular service, the spinning wheels of the home-entertainment stalwart are slowing to a halt at retail outlets. On a crisp Friday morning in October, the final truckload of VHS tapes rolled out of a Palm Harbor, Fla., warehouse run by Ryan J. Kugler, the last major supplier of the tapes. "It's dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt," said Kugler, 34, a Burbank businessman. "I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I'm done. Anything left in warehouse we'll just give away or throw away."
- Forer effect: The Forer effect (also called personal validation fallacy or the Barnum Effect) is the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people.
- Roger Ebert chooses some of his favorite quotes from bad movie reviews:: Keanu Reeves is often low-key in his roles, but in this movie, his piano has no keys at all. He is so solemn, detached and uninvolved he makes Mr. Spock look like Hunter S. Thompson at closing time. — "The Day the Earth Stood Still"