Next weekend is the last weekend before Christmas. Are you done supporting destructive capitalism, uh, I mean buying gifts for friends and family? I am done. I even wrapped a few presents today. We used to go way overboard but have dialed it way back in the last dozen or so years. We actually have two budgets, the number my wife and I agree to spend on each other and the kids, and that number times 1.4, which is the number in my spreadsheet.

The big news this week was that I got an email on Friday informing me that I’ve been accepted into the 2026 training cohort of the Virginia Master Naturalist program. So once I complete the 35 hours of classes, plus field work, plus 40 hours of volunteer work, I’ll get the title, and the secret handshake.

Watching

This week’s overly sweet Christmas movie was A Princess Switch, with Vanessa Hudgens as both the Chicago baker in a fictional European kingdom for a baking competition, and the soon to be married Dutchess doppelganger. I’m not spoiling anything by telling you they switch lives for two days and baker Vanessa falls in love with the Prince and Dutchess Vanessa falls in love with Baker Vanessa’s guy friend. Shockingly, they live happily ever after. I think. There are apparently two sequels but I’m probably safe in assuming they too have happy endings.

Given the state of the world I will not be surprised if Hallmark type Christmas movies are having a moment this year.

We also watched the Knives Out flick, Wake Up Dead Man. I don’t know how to talk about without spoilers, so I’ll just say I was entertained, but it ran about 15 minutes longer than it needed to.

And, on the recommendation of author John Scalzi, we watched Strictly Ballroom, an early 90s Australian flick set in the overly competitive world of ballroom dancing. It far more entertaining than that plot has any right to be.

Reading

The only notable thing that happened to my TBR pile is that I gave up on A Farewell To Arms. I forced myself to about 1/3 done, but that is as far as I’m going to get. Add it the pile of uncompleted classics, with Moby Dick.

Listening

I got nothing to talk about musically this week. I just streamed That Station, which has added Christmas tunes to is usual awesome mix of tunes.

Links

This 15 minute video on the history of Gopher is fascinating. One of the lead guys ended up at Duke, and I’m fairly certain I met him a few years ago. I wish I could remember for sure.

Did you know that NASA has a bunch of free ebooks available? Get them now before the Trump administration realizes that there they are there.

Cory Doctorow’s long explanation of what is really happening with AI is worth reading.

Stephvee.ca on deleting Spotify reminded me of a similar article I wrote a few years ago.

I wouldn’t normally link to Yahoo Entertainment but I was amused to learn that Mila Kunnis is President of her HOA, and she is dealing with the same shit I deal with. It’ll give me something to open with if I ever run into her in an airport or something.

And that is it for this week. Remember, in a world where you can choose to be anything, you can choose to be kind.

Posted on December 14, 2025   #Weekend_Update