Michael Wolraich's picture

    Chanukkah For Goyim - The True Story of Chanukkah + Bonus Pronunciation Tips

    Gather round, children, and I will tell you the story of Chanukkah (which I brazenly lifted from the internet).

    Long ago in the land of Judea there was a Syrian king, Antiochus. The king ordered the Jewish people to reject their God, their religion, their customs and their beliefs and to worship the Greek gods. There were some who did as they were told, but many refused. One who refused was Judah Maccabee.

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    Deadman's picture

    Questions roasting on an open-source blog...

    Questions: The Happy Holidays Edition

    1) Christmas Songs

    2) Christmas Lights

    3) Best gift

    4) Come, Sit on My Lap

    5) No, really, come sit on my lap

    6) The Ball or The Parade

    7) New Year's Resolution

    8) Prediction Time

    And because I'm out of holiday questions, a couple lingering non-thematic questions

    9) Tipping

    10) Pigeons

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    Deadman's picture

    MOFT: Episode 4 (Weather.com's short-term forecasts)

    I'm keeping this one short but My One Favorite Thing this week is Weather.com's short-term forecasting, offered in hourly and even fifteen-minute intervals. (Here's an example for New York, NY)

    Prophet's picture

    Top Ten Albums of '08 - Number 7

    7. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals

    A relative of mine admitted recently that even though he loved the new Girl Talk album, he couldn't help but think of it as cheating.

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    George Bush on the mortgage crisis: "How did we get here?"

    It was Sept. 18. Lehman Brothers had just gone belly-up, overwhelmed by toxic mortgages. Bank of America had swallowed Merrill Lynch in a hastily arranged sale. Two days earlier, Mr. Bush had agreed to pump $85 billion into the failing insurance giant American International Group. The president listened as Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, laid out the latest terrifying news: The credit markets, gripped by panic, had frozen overnight, and banks were refusing to lend money. Then his Treasury secretary, Henry M.

    Deadman's picture

    Let's Get (A Real) Physical ...

    Earlier this week, I went to my doctor to get a physical.

    What a joke.

    DF's picture

    Jerry Brown Facing Off With Ken Starr Over Prop. 8

    Although it's been expected that there would be legal arguements both for and against the legal standing of California's Proposition 8, which amends the state's constitution such that only opposite sex marriages are recognized, the manner in which these arguments are playing out has just become more interesting.  State Attorney General Jerry Brown has asked the California State Supreme Court to overturn Prop. 8 in a recent filing.  From the SF Chronicle:

    DF's picture

    A Shoe in the Hand is Worth Two Thrown at Bush

    Or something like that.  At least that seems like it might the underlying philosophy behind Thank You for Throwing Your Shoe, where you can find pictures of people holding up their shoes in support of Muntadhar al-Zaidi.  It's definitely a mark of the Internet age and makes for a fun visual statement.

    DF's picture

    A Novel Response to Rick Warren

    One of the interesting developments of the past several years has been what seems to be a more prominent place in American dialogues for the voices of non-believers.  Best-selling books on the subject of atheism have emerged from Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchins.  A humorous examination of religious belief was offered up in cinematic format by Bill Maher.  All of this has more or less been part of rather uncharacteristically mainstream attention, much to the chagrin of self-labeled culture warriors.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Sledgehammer Politics in South Korea

    Ah Democracy...freely elected legislators dutifully fulfilling the will of the people by blockading themselves in a locked room while the honorable opposition attempts to dutifully fulfill the will of the rest of the people by breaking down the door with a sledgehammer and other sundry power tools. Full video after the jump.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Vote for dagblog

    Dear dagreaders, we love ya. Thanks for reading and writing in and being cool people (which I know is a particular challenge for you Canadians).

    It's tough to make a name a for yourself in the blogosphere, but the good word is getting out, and our audience is growing. In a fit of wild (yet completely unbiased) enthusiasm, I recently nominated dagblog for the blogger's choice awards. You may have noticed the badge in the right panel. If you can spare us a little love, I hope that you'll see fit to vote for us for 2009 by clicking the badge or this here link. We're nominated for politics, humor, and stuff. I think that you get 3 votes. It does require you to enter an email, but they won't spam you.

    If you're feeling especially magnanimous, you can rate us and add us to your favorites at blogcatalog.com. You can also follow us on Facebook's NetworkBlogs.

    Thanks so much for your help. Dag.

    PS Personally, I've been stupidly busy this month, so I haven't been writing in much, but I promise to pick it up in the new year.

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    Orlando's picture

    Rick Warren: It's only a prayer, for the love of God

    Dear fellow Liberals,

    Listen up.

    Obama's decision to ask Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration is not a slap in the face. It's not a betrayal. It's not an indication that Obama is a secret conservative who is going to force you to have babies with a non-same-sex partner.

    It's a freaking prayer.

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    Deadman's picture

    What goes up, must come down ....

    I believe in balance. In yin and yang. I believe in cycles. In symmetry. I believe big wild parties end with big, nasty hangovers. I believe that what goes up, must come down.

    Unfortunately, our government does not agree.

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    Ed or Thom

    While living in suburban D.C., I decided to enter the progressive talk radio business in large part because of two hosts - Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz. I heard both in early 2004 on WWRC a weak station transmitting from Silver Spring, MD. Stephanie is humorous and has a sidekick who does great impressions - sometimes the two are almost as funny as Howard Stern on an average day - plus she is timely, topical, liberal, and doesn't leave me with that queasy feeling and slightly dirty sheen that Stern usually did. Schultz has a great voice - better than Limbaugh's.

    Greek Riots

    Police CarsLast Saturday I got a call from my parents in Athens.  It was around seven o'clock here in Pittsburgh, so it must have been around two in the morning for them.  They were calling on their cell-phone.  They were trapped by riots in a tavern in downtown Athens.  But they were not frightened.  In fact, they sounded excited, and they held the cell-phone up for me, so that I could hear the chanting of protesters and the

    DF's picture

    Eliot Spitzer: John or Patsy?

    There's this interesting theory floating around over at Crooks and Liars: Eliot Spitzer was investigating Madoff.  While the initial evidence offered up is pretty thin, to the tune of some anonymous comments made on an investment forum a couple of years ago, there's also this piece by Greg Palast and this one from Project Censored

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    DF's picture

    You Dirty Rat: Jesse Jackson Jr. Informed FBI of Blago's Gambit

    It's hitting the headlines from the WaPo to the HuffPo.  In a terribly fun twist, Jesse Jackson Jr.

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