Monday Overnight Open Thread - January 6, 2025 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings, and a happy Monday to you all! Donald J. Trump and J.D. Vance have been officially certified as the winners of the 2024 election for president and vice-president. Hooray! What's say you grab a beverage (or 2) and maybe a snack (or 2) and step on into tonight's ONT? As you can see from the photo above, the water's fine!

Something Important Happened Today

I finally have an answer to the question "What’s Kamala’s greatest accomplishment as Vice President?” pic.twitter.com/ahh3xZzcpv

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) January 6, 2025

The Twelve Days of Christmas Are Over

Have you figured out what to do with all 364 gifts you received from your true love? Yes, that's the aggregate number of gifts received over all of the days in the classic "Twelve Days of Christmas" song.

(Since we've been repeatedly told there will be no math, there is no c-ONT-stitutional requirement to show one's work)

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany on the Christian calendar. It commemorates the visit of the Magi (in Eastern Christianity, it also commemorates additional events). Tradition holds that there were 3 magi. However, the only Biblical account of the visit, in the book of Matthew, does not specify a number. There were three gifts mentioned - gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This is the likely reason why there were thought to be 3 magi - or "Wise Men".

Here's a different take on the Twelve Days.

Additional content from Teresa - The Twelve Daze of Christmas - Fay McKay

Strange Geography - Exclaves

A previous ONT featured a segment about an exclave (a portion of territory of one state completely surrounded by territory of another or others, as viewed by the home territory) known as the Kentucky Bend - an section of Kentucky which is only reachable by boat or by traveling through a portion of Tennessee.

(commenting on old threads is dangerous and may earn you a permanent strike from the banhammer)

Tonight, we have 2 more examples of exclaves in the United States. Both of these locations are only reachable by watercraft or by traveling through portions of Canada.

Up first - Northwest Angle in Minnesota.

The Northwest Angle aka “the Angle” is located on the northern side of Lake of the Woods, or when viewing a map, the “chimney”. The area is 596.3 miles, 473.2 miles of that is water. It is also the northern most point of the contiguous 48 states. The Angle is in coexistence with Angle Township and Lake of the Woods County, surrounded by Manitoba and Ontario. The reefs create a fun and unique fishing experience for all!

Another US exclave is Point Roberts, Washington.

Point Roberts, WA is an unincorporated community located just South of the Vancouver, BC metro area. It can only be accessed by crossing by vehicle through Canada, flying in on a small plane or coming in by private boat. It is not physically connected to the continental United States, but it is part of Whatcom County [Washington].

Bonus exclave - The Lost Peninsula of Michigan.

The Lost Peninsula is a small exclave of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of Monroe County in the southeasternmost corner of the state.

The Lost Peninsula was created as a result of the Toledo War boundary dispute in 1835 and 1836 to determine whether the State of Ohio or the Michigan Territory would control an area known as the Toledo Strip. After the Toledo War, the state border was established at approximately the 41,44 north latitude line just north of the mouth of the Maumee River. This gave the river and the city of Toledo to the state of Ohio. However, the state line continued across the smaller Ottawa River and divided the peninsula on the far side of the river. The land north of the state line on the far side of the river remained in Michigan, but it no longer had any land connection to the remainder of the state. The area became known as the “Lost Peninsula".

Phrase Origins

On this morning's art thread, our moron friend Bulg (Or Glub, as I call him) mentioned the phrase "by and large" and wondered about it's origin. Well - here ya go!

By and large means “in general” or "on the whole" in most contexts, but in sailors’ lingo of yore, whence the phrase arose, by and large described a vessel alternately sailing as directly into the wind as possible (typically within about 45 degrees of the wind) - that is, by - and away from the direction from which the wind is blowing, with the wind hitting the vessel’s widest point - that is, large.

A phrase that has multiple possible origins is "the whole nine yards". Some say it refers to the length of an ammunition belt used by airmen during WWI and/or WWII. Others say it has to do with the amount of fabric required to make a men's suit or kilt. Lots of conflicting information on the interwebz. If you're interested, start with the Wikipedia entry, then go from there.

Here are 7 more phrase origins to check out.

DJ Doof – Epiphany Version

Bonus "Epiphany" song, courtesy of Admiral Ackbar

Back By Popular Demand

Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [167 names] 'Historically Minded Miklos' [23.44 unique names/day]
2 [89 names] 'Quarter Twenty '
3 [88 names] 'Ciampino - ephemeral wispy tendrils'
4 [85 names] 'BOKEP'
5 [60 names] 'Lucifer is reputedly one good-looking dude'
6 [58 names] 'Voice of Doom'
7 [42 names] 'Count de Monet'
8 [34 names] 'Bob And Martha Quisling, federal lackeys'
9 [26 names] 'mindful webworker - wrapping this up'
10 [26 names] 'Joe Biden, Old Sex Pest'

For a whelming experience, follow AoS_Doof on X @doof2112 or you can choose to whelm me with your comments and suggestions in an email to doof2112 at proton dot me. By the way - how are your New Year's resolutions coming along?

posted by Open Blogger at 09:55 PM

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