Lugal

The wine-whine merger happened nearly everywhere else in North America accept southern Appalachia. I definitely use a different vowel between cot and caught, but marry and Barry are weird in that I randomly switch between using the same sound as Mary/merry and berry, or a lower /æ/ vowel. Bury however, to me rhymes with Murray (that Philadelphia influence).

Journalist and Documentarian John Pilger has died https://news.yahoo.com/tributes-pour-journalist-campaigner-john-172703670.html

It's funny, but Daffy Duck actually changed the way people say despicable (originally the stress was on the first syllable) because the cartoons were where a lot of people first heard the word. Question, do you say "cot" and "caught" differently? Because that usually identifies people from the East Coast.

I just finished Bill Watterson's new book, The Mysteries. I thought it was good, but I can see how not everyone will. It's a "fable for grownups" abut "what lies beyond human understanding." He collaborated with another artist, so don't expect it to look like Calvin and Hobbes. To me it looks sort of like German Expressionism. It's a short read and I'll probably reread it a few more times.

This one hurts. I loved him in Dairy of a Prosecutor and My Mister.

Rhotic or R-colored vowels (like in dollar) are exceedingly uncommon and only appear in less than 1% of the world's languages. However two languages they do appear in are North American English and Mandarin Chinese, two languages with some of the highest number of speakers on the planet!

Because I hate nearly all Christmas music that gets played on the radio (from years of working retail) I find myself looking for the obscure and unusual, and this year I found this gem: Carol of the Bells played on the hurdy-gurdy

I was also disappointed by Heidelberg. The scenery was amazing and it was fun to see the German Christmas customs, but our heroine was a bit much. And I just couldn't ignore that no one ships thousands of dollars of merchandise overseas in cardboard boxes with packing peanuts. That would be in a wooden crate with straw or paper.

It's just not fair.

Apparently it's Basque and means beloved.

I think that's probably the only movie I've seen him in. It was enough. Especially gross is that Depardieu pushed for Katherine Heigl to wear the thong in that scene.

Girl whut? Fuck you! The tone of her voice when she said 'Blacks' and 'Those people' onthe podcast when referring to non-binary is so disdainful. I guess that kinda clears up who was probably the problem between her and Archie. That is bizarre. Uh...Juliana, you're not a lesbian, you know. And what's with the oppression hierarchy? Jew is less oppressed than Black which is less oppressed than Gay? So everyone needs to fall in line? It's not a contest!

I remember that one. Well, I remember that was the one with the notorious "Christmas Blue Moon" when the second full moon of the month is on Christmas, which is astronomically impossible.

I'm intrigued. I'd be curious who they end up casting as Harald Hardrada of Norway. If not for Hardrada (a fascinating character in how own right) Harold would have probably defeated William.

I said it at the time and I stand by it: Moffat is the Idea Guy. He can come up with some really interesting and creative stories, but he needs someone overseeing him to make him fit it all together into a coherent whole.

That would be one of the easier things to explain: Flower spent the winter staring at a tree or something. I would hope they can work with her schedule somehow and have her put in some kind of appearance, even if she's just laying on a couch in the back of the room.

I've actually been holding off until after Thanksgiving so I don't OD on Hallmark Christmas movies. They've been accumulating on the DVR and I watched my first one last night (Mystery on Mistletoe Lane, which was pretty good). Except the said "mistletoe" which was just a few sprigs of pine and cedar bound together with juniper berries! Seriously, Hallmark, if you're going all in on Christmas, and I know it's your thing, then please learn what mistletoe looks like. Half the time the "mistletoe" is actually holly (however, in their defense, when you do an image search for mistletoe, half the results will also be holly). Holly has prickly leaves and red berries. Mistletoe has smooth leaves and white berries, viz.

I first heard it in "The Lollygang Save the World on Accident" a short story by Jay Lake published in a steampunk anthology in 2008. I always assumed it was dialectal. And since I first heard it in a steampunk setting, I thought it was an old fashioned form.

Small task forces can take heavy casualties in urban warfare. As for the other answer: "The emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy." - Daniel Hagari, Israeli army spokesman. Since October 7, Israel has dropped more than 25,000 tons of bombs on Gaza.

I can't really explain why or how, but the Brits seem to have mastered how to make awful unlikable characters funny. In the US it feels like they either soften them too much or they just come off as total assholes.

I blame social media for this idea that everyone must condemn/support/make a statement about any current event immediately or they are on the Other Side™

Not much else I can say, just tragic all around. But I will say to Brian Mast, shitbag from Florida: No innocent civilians is was the same reasoning that led to 9/11. Also Brian Mast was the same guy that wore an IDF uniform to Congress. Not going to get into sides, but just say that no elected official should wear a foreign military uniform to their job supposedly serving the American people.

According to Mike Rinder (I don't have the link handy right now) Will was never more than a dabbler, while Jada was a serious Scientologist, but they are supposedly both out now.

Wow, talk about the weaponization of identity politics! He would have been better off saying he identifies as a dog. He's not misunderstood for being neurodivergent, or socially awkward. Because lots of neurodivergent and socially awkward people still know you don't just rub yourself against random women.

I don't think it's desperation. I see it more like shark's teeth, there's always another one. The best friend and/or sister a few movies back is now the lead. They usually film their Christmas movies in January (the serious ones at least, as opposed to the ones where we see everyone all bundled up but maybe a few piles of snow in the background) so they probably are in the can. As for the SAG/AFTRA strike, it appears there were waivers for ACTRA productions.