Month: December 2020

The Danish Christmas Porridge That Appeased a Vengeful ‘House Elf’

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Hateful Scandinavian Christmas Elves? I’m in! From Atlas Obscura:

Nineteenth-century depictions of the nisse show a child-sized, bearded man in a pointy red cap, the traditional garb for farmhands. Yet earlier portrayals were much more monstrous. In an illustration from Olaus Magnus’s 1555 book, A Description of the Northern Peoples, a demonic-looking creature sweeps a barn. Tangherlini notes this may be one of the earliest known illustrations of a nisse.

A family that wanted to stay on their nisse’s good side could offer him a tasty present. On Christmas Eve, before the harsh winter had truly set in, farmers left a bowl of porridge in the barn. Everyday porridge was made by boiling barley, rye, or oats in water. But the nisse received something special: a luxurious, sweet porridge of rice boiled in milk and topped with butter.

Woe to the person who forgot the nisse’s butter. In one story, a milkmaid decides to play a trick on her farm’s nisse, hiding the butter beneath the porridge. Seeing his offering ungarnished, the nisse flies into a rage and kills the family’s cow. When he finishes his meal and realizes his mistake, he “solves” the problem by stealing a neighbor’s cow and delivering it to his family’s farm.

 

Lazy Coup Attempts and Japanese Omelets – What I Learned Today – Tuesday, December 8

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People keep saying that Trump is only fighting to keep the money coming in, which most likely started out true, but as with everything else, Trump keeps losing the script and thinking that it really is about overthrowing Democracy and installing himself dictator:

And his band of sycophants line right up behind him:

 

Texas AG petitions the Supreme Court to overturn the election results:

And then there is this:

The first person (well, outside of trials l suppose) has been vaccinated against Covid-19.  She is a 90 year old grandmother in the UK:

Margaret Keenan received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at about 6.45am at her local hospital in Coventry.

Originally from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, she has lived in Coventry for more than 60 years. She will receive a booster jab in 21 days to ensure she has the best chance of being protected against the virus.

Ms Keenan, who turns 91 next week, is a former jewellery shop assistant who only retired four years ago.

And after asking himself to vaccine or not to vaccine, that is the question, the 2nd person stepped unto the breach:

And another screwup of Trumpian proportions:

Covid deaths are 8 times higher than flu or pneumonia.

Coronavirus is causing more than eight times the number of deaths from flu or pneumonia, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.

In the week to 20 November the ONS said there were 2,697 deaths where Covid-19 was listed on the death certificate and 2,361 deaths where the virus was considered the main cause of death.

This compares to just 280 deaths with flu or pneumonia listed as the cause of death in the same week. There were 2,605 deaths which involved flu of pneumonia.

Across England and Wales, there were 20 per cent more deaths in the seven days to 20 November than the five-year average, with a total of 12,535 deaths reported.

 

A quick overview of how the Covid-19 vaccine works:

Japanese cooking relaxes me:

In complete disclosure, I’m bored with the choreographed Christmas light idea, but since this is A-ha’s Take on Me, I ended up watching most of it:

Mario Lopez is Colonel Sanders, in a KFC seduction thriller movie on Lifetime. Because, sure, why not?

Birthday Eclairs and Dog Volleyball – What I Learned Today – Monday, December 7

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Mrs. C’s birthday was yesterday. We celebrated it alone because we’re not fucking idiots who think that gatherings are a good idea during a pandemic. Yes, it sucks not being able to spend time with loved ones, or even go out to a restaurant for a change of scenery, or to a museum, but those aren’t acceptable risks to us at this time.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t do other things. Like work on our baking skills. I made these for her:

I used a bit of a few different recipes but the bulk of it came from this video from the Preppy Kitchen:

Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lead “attorney” for his coup attempt, unwitting star of Borat who runs his microphone cord under his nutsack, giver of press conferences at local luxury garden shops, public microphone farter, and dripper of hair dyes despite being 80% bald (what a couple of months this guy has had!) has finally tested positive with Covid-19 and become a one man superspreading event. I’m really shocked it has taken him this long to catch it. He is currently hospitalized:

And allegedly, Giuliani has been feeling ill for the past few days but it didn’t stop him from interacting with everyone he could.

The selfishness of people who are having large weddings right now just astounds me:

Covid is now the top killer in the US:

The coronavirus surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States this week, as many of the nation’s hospitals are overwhelmed and officials implement new COVID-19 restrictions.

The GOP has been mocking people for being worried about Covid now for months. And the GOP in Minnesota is now pushing people out of the way so they can be first in line for a vaccine.

In Michigan, it’s perfectly acceptable to people with weapons to intimidate you outside your home:


I should have said it’s perfectly acceptable for white people to do this at least.