Most melancholic Christmas song: Joni Mitchell's "River." It's gorgeous. Sarah McLachlan did a cover of it, which is also gorgeous. McLachlan has a lovely Christmas album: Wintersong. Google says she also has other Christmas albums. Fun Christmas song: Elvis's "Blue Christmas." He doesn't sound particularly blue.
Oddly, although he is a (the?) British National Treasure, "Wonderful Christmastime" is not ubiquitous in the UK. We seems to have recognised it as a not-up-to-his-usual-standard, "guess I better write a Christmas song too" job.
Of the ones listed for the US, "All I Want for Christmas is You" is unavoidable here; "Last Christmas" pretty common (and British, so you might expect that); I have no idea what the Andy Williams one is, it's that obscure; and while I've heard "The Carol of the Bells" (though as a theme - I wouldn't have been able to put a name to it), I've never heard of "Mannheim Steamroller" (who are surely a follow-up spoof to Lufthansa Terminal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FhYOcf2_5Q ), nor of their bland, forgettable take on it. How the hell has that become a nation's earworm?
But the juggernauts in the UK are "I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday" (Wizzard - the creative-differences brother band of ELO) and, above all, "Merry Xmas Everybody" by Slade. And, I suppose, "Do They Know It's Christmas" by BandAid, but that's cheating.
MS is responsible for boosting the idea that everybody needs to do a Christmas album. Mary Chapin Carpenter aside, who recorded a lovely album mostly free of seasonal tripe, the answer is generally “No, you don’t “.
This too shall pass. I remember despising this seventy years ago. Now it is thankfully gone. Unless you have the intestinal fortitude to click on this - https://youtu.be/I-iFsxSNN2c
How is mandated patient to nurse ratios going to help when there aren’t enough nurses in the first place? You don’t think we try to hire them? All this will do is put the burden on the managers and make them work 24/7 until they burn out and quit. Want to help the nursing shortage? Offer bonuses and free school.
Otherwise it’s like telling poor people that they now must follow specific food to kid ratios but not provide them any financial help.
"You might have to wait until 2030 to buy a house with an affordable mortgage rate."
Looks like the average 30-year mortgage rate is running about 8% - which is high, yes indeed, but not as high as it was at the end of the 80's into the 90s. I paid more than that on my first home in 1987, and only slightly less in 1994. When I refinanced in 2007, I thought I was lucky to get a 7% rate.
Despite this blurb on "The Atlantic" story ( I was unable to read the whole thing ), the main driver of unaffordable housing purchases is the incredible runup in home prices over the last couple of years. Since the pandemic started in Q1 2020 to Q3 2023, median home prices have increased 34%. Obviously, there are regional differences - with the more "desirable" locations increasing even faster.
I think 2030 is an optimistic estimate. Those seeking a house should probably pray to inherit one
Back in the early 80s I had to lose a good faith deposit on a house when the interest rate spiked to 18%. When we got a 7% mortgage years later, one friend told us to never pay it off because we would never get a lower rate.
It's all perspective. I've lived long enough to have a different one than the people who have had low interest rates for so long.
I was seriously worried in the mid 80s that my sister would never be able to afford to buy a house with such high mortgage rates.
Keep in mind the small house I bought that same year was just 20 K I had a pretty good job so I had money saved and paid cash.
She was an office worker and her hubby was a traveling salesman. They had almost no savings but bought a house for 35 K with a high rate mortgage anyway, and got to refinance it eventually.
Neither house was perfect but these days a goddamn shack will cost you 120 K even around here in our low life neighborhoods.
My highest mortgage was 10%, but the price of the house was a lot less than what they cost today. This bullshit about everyone deserving a home, but only if you can afford it, has to stop. Supply and demand is gonna kill us all!
There is a shortage of literally millions of houses across the US, construction isn't keeping up with population growth and hasn't for years. Increased density and the end of NIMBYism will be required to address the affordability issue. Mortgage rates aren't nearly as much of a factor.
People under 35 haven't ever seen mortgage rates over roughly 5%, they don't know what it's been like historically.
Claiming affirmative action hurt Asian-Americans was always smoke and mirrors, but it enabled republicans to pretend they cared about a minority they normally just bash for Covid and whatever other fear mongering they want to do against China.
Meatball Ron sucks in debates. They’re when his lizard persona really comes to the surface. I don’t see how this debates him no matter how many times Hannity turns off Newsom’s mike.
How does Ronna Romney still have a job?
The shooting in Vermont is just horrifying. The authorities were saying they’re still piecing together the motive, but yeah, hate crime. The only thing more horrifying is the rightwing response of “they’re Palestinians so they had it coming.”
My mortgage will be paid off in 2024. Yeah me and Mrs. Monster for buying a house in our twenties when that was still a possibility.
Chris Butler, who wrote and performed '"Christmas Wrapping" with his band The Waitresses, is a FB friend of mine. Every year he has a contest where the first person who hears the song in the wild - on the TV, in a supermarket or restaurant, whatever - gets a $500 donation made in their name to the children's section of the Dayton Public Library. He usually rolls it out on Black Friday and it rarely goes for more than 24 hours.
Newsom and Hannity met back when the former was married to Kimberly Guilfoyle, and she was at Faux Noise.
> “I can’t give you a date or a specific memory,” Hannity said of the early encounters with Newsom. “All I do remember is that on a personal level, he’s extraordinarily personable. 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙤𝙧 𝘿𝙚𝙎𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨. We hit it off. We just kind of hit it off. I respect both people at a very high level. I really do.”
Why do these people always say "at a very high level"? It sounds like an AI wrote that. Just not human. Oh wait, they got that from their Orange Savior, didn't they?
That’s my entire Christmas playlist. The first puts Christ in Christmas, for people who want the hippie dippy take care of the people version of Jesus, and the last lets you enjoy the spirit of the season in Tom Waits’ soothing voice. Assuming that the spirit of the season is depression and suicide, as it is for many.
It’s “Those Awful Hats” in yer head gif, and maybe on yer head. Looks good on you, though.
https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/those-awful-hats?r=angu9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Kittens tearing up a wonderful hat. Carl Reichert "The Mischievous Kittens" c1900
https://substack.com/chat/1783367/post/3877251d-fa4c-42ad-bced-9600eef462cb
Naughty!
This is so funny! The shock of the huge machinery coming down, I love it so much!
there is almost enough greenery in that .gif that it appears Birnham Wood is on its travels again, and King MacBeth better watch his ass
I can see Tabz - Yay! (In a dancing frog sort of way) - Did the Editrix tell you about my hat?
I can’t see the gif yet - it takes a minute to load in Substack - but - I had to come here and wish you a Happy French Toast Day -
The yolk's on us!
OMG, just listened to Libera (British boys' choir) sing "Carol of the Bells." Stunningly beautiful.
Forgot to mention that "Baby It's Cold Outside" is now considered a tad
predatory.
Most melancholic Christmas song: Joni Mitchell's "River." It's gorgeous. Sarah McLachlan did a cover of it, which is also gorgeous. McLachlan has a lovely Christmas album: Wintersong. Google says she also has other Christmas albums. Fun Christmas song: Elvis's "Blue Christmas." He doesn't sound particularly blue.
Oddly, although he is a (the?) British National Treasure, "Wonderful Christmastime" is not ubiquitous in the UK. We seems to have recognised it as a not-up-to-his-usual-standard, "guess I better write a Christmas song too" job.
Of the ones listed for the US, "All I Want for Christmas is You" is unavoidable here; "Last Christmas" pretty common (and British, so you might expect that); I have no idea what the Andy Williams one is, it's that obscure; and while I've heard "The Carol of the Bells" (though as a theme - I wouldn't have been able to put a name to it), I've never heard of "Mannheim Steamroller" (who are surely a follow-up spoof to Lufthansa Terminal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FhYOcf2_5Q ), nor of their bland, forgettable take on it. How the hell has that become a nation's earworm?
But the juggernauts in the UK are "I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday" (Wizzard - the creative-differences brother band of ELO) and, above all, "Merry Xmas Everybody" by Slade. And, I suppose, "Do They Know It's Christmas" by BandAid, but that's cheating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJPc7esgvsA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM7M7zSMJcw
i don't love Mannheim Steamroller.
MS is responsible for boosting the idea that everybody needs to do a Christmas album. Mary Chapin Carpenter aside, who recorded a lovely album mostly free of seasonal tripe, the answer is generally “No, you don’t “.
ahhh lovely linda.
This too shall pass. I remember despising this seventy years ago. Now it is thankfully gone. Unless you have the intestinal fortitude to click on this - https://youtu.be/I-iFsxSNN2c
How is mandated patient to nurse ratios going to help when there aren’t enough nurses in the first place? You don’t think we try to hire them? All this will do is put the burden on the managers and make them work 24/7 until they burn out and quit. Want to help the nursing shortage? Offer bonuses and free school.
Otherwise it’s like telling poor people that they now must follow specific food to kid ratios but not provide them any financial help.
Don't forget thoughts! Works so well when mass shootings occur.
Free pens!
"You might have to wait until 2030 to buy a house with an affordable mortgage rate."
Looks like the average 30-year mortgage rate is running about 8% - which is high, yes indeed, but not as high as it was at the end of the 80's into the 90s. I paid more than that on my first home in 1987, and only slightly less in 1994. When I refinanced in 2007, I thought I was lucky to get a 7% rate.
Despite this blurb on "The Atlantic" story ( I was unable to read the whole thing ), the main driver of unaffordable housing purchases is the incredible runup in home prices over the last couple of years. Since the pandemic started in Q1 2020 to Q3 2023, median home prices have increased 34%. Obviously, there are regional differences - with the more "desirable" locations increasing even faster.
I think 2030 is an optimistic estimate. Those seeking a house should probably pray to inherit one
Back in the early 80s I had to lose a good faith deposit on a house when the interest rate spiked to 18%. When we got a 7% mortgage years later, one friend told us to never pay it off because we would never get a lower rate.
It's all perspective. I've lived long enough to have a different one than the people who have had low interest rates for so long.
I was seriously worried in the mid 80s that my sister would never be able to afford to buy a house with such high mortgage rates.
Keep in mind the small house I bought that same year was just 20 K I had a pretty good job so I had money saved and paid cash.
She was an office worker and her hubby was a traveling salesman. They had almost no savings but bought a house for 35 K with a high rate mortgage anyway, and got to refinance it eventually.
Neither house was perfect but these days a goddamn shack will cost you 120 K even around here in our low life neighborhoods.
My highest mortgage was 10%, but the price of the house was a lot less than what they cost today. This bullshit about everyone deserving a home, but only if you can afford it, has to stop. Supply and demand is gonna kill us all!
There is a shortage of literally millions of houses across the US, construction isn't keeping up with population growth and hasn't for years. Increased density and the end of NIMBYism will be required to address the affordability issue. Mortgage rates aren't nearly as much of a factor.
People under 35 haven't ever seen mortgage rates over roughly 5%, they don't know what it's been like historically.
"DeSantis insists Newsom will be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2024"
To be fair, Newsom is just as likely to be the Democratic nominee as DeSantis is to be the Republican one...
Claiming affirmative action hurt Asian-Americans was always smoke and mirrors, but it enabled republicans to pretend they cared about a minority they normally just bash for Covid and whatever other fear mongering they want to do against China.
Meatball Ron sucks in debates. They’re when his lizard persona really comes to the surface. I don’t see how this debates him no matter how many times Hannity turns off Newsom’s mike.
How does Ronna Romney still have a job?
The shooting in Vermont is just horrifying. The authorities were saying they’re still piecing together the motive, but yeah, hate crime. The only thing more horrifying is the rightwing response of “they’re Palestinians so they had it coming.”
My mortgage will be paid off in 2024. Yeah me and Mrs. Monster for buying a house in our twenties when that was still a possibility.
Resistance is not futile.
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/76819451-6559-425f-9d05-3e30a8c4de4d
Congrats! Mine will be paid off when I'm about 96.
I was debt-free for a minute, but I was living in a place I hated. It was worth going back into debt to live where I want.
Chris Butler, who wrote and performed '"Christmas Wrapping" with his band The Waitresses, is a FB friend of mine. Every year he has a contest where the first person who hears the song in the wild - on the TV, in a supermarket or restaurant, whatever - gets a $500 donation made in their name to the children's section of the Dayton Public Library. He usually rolls it out on Black Friday and it rarely goes for more than 24 hours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BIBvul7_jg
One of my Christmas favorites
Newsom and Hannity met back when the former was married to Kimberly Guilfoyle, and she was at Faux Noise.
> “I can’t give you a date or a specific memory,” Hannity said of the early encounters with Newsom. “All I do remember is that on a personal level, he’s extraordinarily personable. 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙤𝙧 𝘿𝙚𝙎𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨. We hit it off. We just kind of hit it off. I respect both people at a very high level. I really do.”
Emphasis mine; hilariously obvious lie his.
Why do these people always say "at a very high level"? It sounds like an AI wrote that. Just not human. Oh wait, they got that from their Orange Savior, didn't they?
The main reason I do not own a gun is because hearing "Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer" sends me into a murderous rage and someone could get hurt.
“The Rebel Jesus” — The Chieftans, with Jackson Browne https://youtu.be/bbxrUtLOIZ0?si=2sS--UeorvTpaHMn
And “Hell Broke Luce” — Tom Waits. https://youtu.be/0Fju9o8BVJ8?si=OZkBLCAnebax9WNY
That’s my entire Christmas playlist. The first puts Christ in Christmas, for people who want the hippie dippy take care of the people version of Jesus, and the last lets you enjoy the spirit of the season in Tom Waits’ soothing voice. Assuming that the spirit of the season is depression and suicide, as it is for many.
I'm a big fan of "I Hate Fucking Christmas" by The Rugburns.
Steve Poltz is freaking great! I just saw him solo in September. I didn't stop laughing for two hours.