Neanderpundit

Sitting and surfing, “White Christmas” plays over my shoulder.
In 1954, WW2 was still a recent memory for a lot of Americans, Korea had probably left a bad taste in their mouths, and a lot of GI’s probably still had their uniforms in their closets. Many of them may still have fit.

Despite the impending hippieization of the nation, there were people who still gave a shit about those who served. There were still guys with uniforms hanging in their closets who had maybe heard a V disc recording of Bing Crosby singing White Christmas in France, or germany, in the early 40’s. Those guys watched White Christmas and maybe thought about the memories they had, thought about comrades left behind.

Some of us stiill remember, Some of us still give a shit. This weekend, as you celebrate with your family, take a moment to think about al those servicemen and women who helped make your celebration possible, both those from 60 years ago, and those still in foreign lands. And say a prayer for them, all of them. Especially you athiests; G-d is especially amused to hear from you.

Ed Hering was discussing in comments the fact that Walgreens were selling leg lamps.

In case there is a human being alive who doesn’t understand the provenance of this item, they originated as a premium from Nehi Soft Drink company which later became Royal Crown cola, the pop that you got free with pizzas. The original leg lamp had a more cylindrical shade, and was a bit… racier. There’s a closer approximation of the real thing visible, briefly, in “A Summer Story” with Charles Grodin and Mary Steenburgen, another of Shep’s films that I’ve always enjoyed. Anyway the inspiration for the actual lamp was this advertisement:

Nehi. Knee High. Get it?

Anyway, the leg lamps at Walgreens were sold out. But they did have a big “poster” sort of thing, a transparent vinyl picture of the item in question, which now adorns the Kitchen window by the door.

Last night I got home a bit early to attend the wake of a good friend’s mother. I came home, changed clothes, and the Ogwife and I got in the car.

We stopped for gas, wherupon the car just… stopped.

We got a jump but that only gave us about a minute of operation.

We got another jump and moved to a safe location, then Partner came and got us and took us to the wake. After paying our respects we went back to the gas station where a wrecker met me and delivered the car to my driveway.

Thankfully, I was with the wife at the time, so she didn’t have to be stranded alone. Also thankfully, Partner came to our aid. Also thankfully, the rollback cost $55, which will be covered by insurance. And I took the battery to AutoZone, where it tested bad and they gave me a new battery, which I installed and now the Scape is in good running order once more.

I’ll take that as a timely Christmas gift from the Creator, and a reminder that he’s in charge.