Christmas is Monday, which means that the coming weekend likely to be a very slow period for your Curmudgeon’s blog. Our kind of news has been scarce anyway, and now it’ll be really scarce. But if we should find anything of interest, we’ll certainly tell you about it.
To enhance your holiday experience, we once again link to the Curmudgeon’s acclaimed poem, which is read to children all over the world: The Night Before Christmas Eve.
Feel free to use the comments as an Intellectual Free Fire Zone for the discussion of pretty much anything — science, politics, economics, whatever — as long as it’s interesting. Say what you will, but do so tastefully and beware of the profanity filters.
We now throw open the comments to you, dear reader. Have at it, and have a Merry Christmas!
Copyright © 2023. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.
The Sensuous Curmudgeon 
I propose a shorthand for the powerful Kalam cosmological argument, William Lane Craig variant. K. That way if you want to prove something then you can say for example, “K, therefore Jesus.” Or “K, therefore [put what you want to prove here].”
CNN Space and Science has a new article on the Webb telescope and Uranus.
“Uranus’ mysterious features are on display in a new Webb image.”
“Uranus is surrounded by rings and moons in a new Webb image”.
“A central bright feature on the planet is Uranus’ seasonal north polar cap.”
@och will
Thank you.
I just have to note that this article describes Uranus as being “in our own celestial backyard” … as if 1.75 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometers, the current distance of Uranus from Earth) were close by, In the old days, being much beyond Saturn was considered impossibly far – as one argument against the heliocentric model required that the lack of measurable stellar parallaxes meant that the “fixed stars” be so far.
TomS
Republicans are aghast that the Colorado Supreme Court sided with the 4 Republican and 2 Independent Plaintiffs v the CO Secretary of State [a Democrat]. The courts decided that the preponderance of evidence demonstrated that Trump was integral to the January 6th insurrection, and thus should not appear on the Republican Primary ballot in Colorado. The Trump cult seems not to understand that guilt/innocence is decided by the judicial system and not by a vote of the partisans.
Douglas is the Anonymous Coloradan 🙂
Maybe the planetary rings are God’s mnemonic system, like how the rainbow reminds God not to genocide everyone. Usually genocide is the least thing one needs a reminder not to do but God is not the brightest person.
@Douglas
The recent presidential vote in Colorado
2020 D 55.4% R 41.9%
2016 D 47.2% R 44.4%
2012 D 51.5% R 46.1%
2008 D 53.7% R 44.7%
TomS
Forgive my ignorance of US electoral law. What does “integral to the January 6th insurrection” mean? Does it mean, firstly, that the event in question has been determined by the court not to be a mere riot or a mob rampage similar to many, for instance, in the reaction to the George Floyd killing, but to have been a treasonous attempt to overthrow the government of the United States? Secondly, does it mean that the court believes that there is a preponderance of evidence that Trump knowingly directed, incited, supplied or assisted such an attempt?
If the Colorado Supreme Court has found in those terms, then obviously Trump cannot appear on the ballot in Colorado. But that must surely trigger an appeal to the US Supreme Court alleging that Trump’s Constitutional rights have been violated. If the US Supreme Court found the Colorado court to be in error, would that restore Trump’s right to appear on the Colorado ballot?
Please understand that I am NOT advocating that he should. I have no partisan interest in Trump or any other candidate for the office of President.
Santa is coming …
The Doc Bill Family wishes all of the Curmie Brigade a happy holiday however you celebrate or not. Personally, I’m a huge Christmas fan with a tree, family descending on the Doc Bill household, food, music, laughter, sarcastic banter and the whole nine yards. What’s not to like? Cats and wrapping paper, dog begging for table treats – we are joyous for the end of 2023 and looking forward to madness in 2024.
A toast to Curmie and the Gang! Cheers!
I join in the toast to Curmie and the Gang!
TomS
“Here’s looking at you, blog.” –Humphrey Bogart, born December 25, 1899
Imagine having to return your place of birth for the census, but your significant others weren’t born in the same place as you were born. Joseph and Mary don’t know how easy they had it.
In TheConversation.org, under the title “How St. Francis created the Nativity scene, with a miraculous event in 1223” by Vanessa Corcoran, there is a timely article about the origins of the traditional Nativity scene. For example, including the animals.
‘According to Bonaventure, Francis in 1223 sought permission from Pope Honorious III to do something “for the kindling of devotion” to the birth of Christ. As part of his preparations, Francis “made ready a manger, and bade hay, together with an ox and an ass,” in the small Italian town of Greccio.’
TomS
Dave L, the Colorado ruling is over 100 pages, so I don’t know all of their arguments. However it is clear that the Trump followers showed up at the behest of the President; January 6 was a last ditch effort to subvert a fair election, one that was affirmed in over 60 court cases lost by Trump; Trump instructed the crowd to march to the Capital and fight like hell to disrupt the certification of the election; Trump did nothing for hours as the bedlam ensued; and so on.