Category Archives: Rancho Roly Poly

Video games go to war

Mr. B.’s big item for his and Mrs. Charm’s secular Christmas celebration was Guitar Hero. When he’s older he may find the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns more enlightening. Fortunately there’ll be more available than the usual anti-American, anti-war movies that Hollyweird churns out:

Video "game makers aren’t afraid to put players in situations where U.S. soldiers are unambiguously the good guys, while the combatants – often Muslims – are the bad guys."

Via Instapundit.

Re our secular Christmas at the rancho: This celebration of parties, presents and poinsettias has more to do with Saturnalia than Christianity. It is far older than the religious version. (Some nineteenth century Protestants found it so unnerving that they took to assuring their fellows that while they did mark the Nativity they did "not worship the tree.")

Christians still confuse the two, some of them whacking the secular version as ungodly. Well, to each his own. Mrs. C. would be lost without her favorite time of the year. And while he long ago graduated from Santa to understanding who the real gift-givers are, Mr. B. likewise would be bereft without packages to unwrap and goodies to consume. Good thing they needn’t be.

Link via Power Line.

Merry, merry

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Merry Christmas, y’all, and to all a good night.

Eight Days of Chanukah

On the last night of Chanukah, a miracle occurred! I discovered a really cool hip-hop Chanukah song written by the senior senator from Utah. Who also writes love songs. And this is also one of them. Hey!

Happy Chanukah

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Bring on the stone Maccabees, our favorite menorah, and the book about them I’ve been reading to Mr. B. since he was five. And Aish is a good, all-around, all-purpose site about Judaism.

The problem with ebooks…

Mainly, it’s the price. But there’s also the problem of reading them on Shabbat. No loop-holes. Whereas there’s no problem there with books. Donald Sensing’s analysis here is timely for me, considering my own previous consideration. I’ve just about decided to ask for a new digital camera, instead. I’ve been borrowing Mrs. Charm’s ever since I managed to destroy my old one.

Holiday gifting

So far, most of my shopping has been (as usual) online: at Amazon and Kodak Easy-Share. With a side trip to X-treme Geek. My one bricks-n-mortar buy was a unique toy at our local hardware store. Last up is Harry & David for my diabetic veteran friends, one of whom (Mr. Boy’s godfather) also is allergic to nuts or he’d be getting a traditional Texas fruit cake from Corsicana.

So, do I need a Kindle?

Are there really all that many reasonably-priced, reasonably-desirable books available for download? And is it easy on the eyes, or like trying to read a standard, flickering video-display monitor?