'Twas the Day After Christmas Cafe

—Ace

Shizuoka, Japan

Shiatsu massage more like shiats-roo massage amirite

Bird enjoys an accidental fountain.

Dogs love visiting the grandparents.

This advertising model is so narcissistic.

Getting a trim.

World traveler.

Twin baby elephants.

Roundabout Open Thread

—Ace

Tree Mansion Open Thread

—Ace

Ultimate Makeover: Treehouse Edition.

Hedgehog Hospital Open Thread

—Ace

Couple Turns Their Home Into A Hedgehog Hospital - Complete With A Maternity Ward And 'Hogbulances'

Sharon and Andy Longhurst started Burntisland Hedgehog Haven nearly three years ago after rescuing two sick hedgehogs they found by the roadside. The experience inspired them to learn how to care for the tiny creatures -- and before long, their passion turned into a full-time mission to save them.

Since then, the Longhursts have treated 567 hedgehogs, caring for sick, injured, and orphaned ones around the clock. Their garage has been transformed into an ICU with seven incubators and 40 cages, while their garden now hosts a special hedgehog maternity ward. A dedicated team of 18 volunteers helps with cleaning, feeding, and transporting hedgehogs in the rescue's "Hogbulances."

Sharon, who works as a school crossing guard, and Andy, a bus driver, have poured their hearts -- and much of their free time -- into keeping the rescue running. They even fundraise through local events, raffles, and races to cover monthly costs of about £800 for food, bedding, and electricity, plus another £3,500 a year for vet bills.

"If there's a hedgehog out there that needs help and it's in pain, I can't say no," Sharon told BBC News. "It's a full-time job -- we always say we have to draw a line, but then the phone rings and we say, 'Bring it in.'"

...

Of the hundreds of hedgehogs they've treated, 65% have survived and been released back into the wild -- a meaningful achievement given that European hedgehogs are now listed as "near threatened" due to habitat loss and other environmental pressures.

"We'll do this until we're unable to," Andy said. "They're adorable -- really lovely animals."

Jetpack Transfer Open Thread

—Ace

Google's worthless AI says it's all real:

Yes, jetpacks are actively being tested by militaries, especially the British Royal Marines and Royal Navy, to move personnel between ships or from ship to shore for faster boarding, reconnaissance, and tactical access, using companies like Gravity Industries's suits that resemble Iron Man's tech and offer potential for combat medics and pilot rescue, moving beyond simple transfers to tactical swarming

They fly now?!

They fly now.

The Most Played Movies on HBO During the 80s Open Thread

—Ace

I would call this The Beastmaster thread, but prepare for disappointment: Even the guy compiling this list is shocked that Beastmaster doesn't actually make his list.

But I do have questions. He counts by air dates. Not by times. The difference is that HBO could show a movie on a specific date, but how many times did it show it on that date? He doesn't have that information.

I know that kid-friendly PG movies played all day long on HBO, so maybe a listing of airings by number of times actually aired would give some love to Beastmaster.

Now that I've prepared you for disappointment...

Skiing Mount Everest Open Thread

—Ace

This is insane. He starts off skiing from the top of Mount Everest pretty slowly, but then he hits some very steep areas where slow skiing is pretty much impossible. For long dangerous runs, he's just grinding down on steep ice.

I kept wondering: What happens if he loses a ski?

Also, I wonder: What if he goes over the edge?

And he is on the edge of a precarious ridgeline a few times.

For example, at 6:45 in the video, and 10:00. And around 16:00.

For those with vertigo: Content warning.

This took place a month ago. Apparently it's a first. At least, climbing Everest and then skiing down without oxygen tanks is a first.

Really amazing. Insane! Consider going full screen for this one or watching it on your TV.

THE MORNING RANT: We Should Cheer for Bari Weiss to Fail in Her Effort to Rehabilitate CBS’ Reputation

—Buck Throckmorton

There is a civil war being fought at CBS News. The battle is being played out between Bari Weiss, its new left-of-center editor-in-chief, and the left-of-Trotsky journalists she inherited at the laughingstock news operation.

There are many conservatives cheering Ms. Weiss on in her battle against her hyper-partisan corps of journalists. I’m not one of them. In fact, I’m cheering for the insurgent “journalists” to prevail, and to maintain CBS News’ well-earned reputation for being unethical, dishonest, and openly hostile to impartial political coverage.

In fact, my worst fear is that Ms. Weiss might succeed in restoring CBS News to a level of respectability such that it might able to reassert its liberal influence on politics as it once did.

The recent imbroglio is due to Ms. Weiss yanking a typical 60 Minutes hit job just hours before it was to air. If you are reading this, you are almost certainly acquainted with the story. A 60 Minutes journalist, Sharyn Alfonsi, who has a history of dishonest hit jobs against Republicans*, produced a sob story about Venezuelan illegal immigrants being deported to “CECOT,” a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. (*In 2021, Ms. Alfonsi famously ran a hit piece against Ron DeSantis accusing him of prioritizing Publix as a provider of Covid shots in exchange for campaign contributions. The story was subsequently debunked and widely criticized by Florida politicians of both parties.)

Ms. Alfonsi’s story alleged that these Venezuelan deportees were being tortured at CECOT at the behest of the Trump administration, but she did not bother to provide any rebuttals from the Trump administration, which had been provided to CBS News, as acknowledged by left-wing outlet Axios:

• One of the main reasons Weiss cited for pulling the segment was that the "60 Minutes" team didn't include any of the three on-the-record statements from the White House, State Department and Department of Homeland Security that were provided to CBS News journalists.

• According to a source familiar with the "60 Minutes" team's correspondence with the administration, journalists reached out to press officials at the White House, State Department and DHS, all of which provided comment to CBS News ahead of the piece's anticipated run date.

• None of those comments, which varied in length and substance, were included in the piece.

We all know 60 Minutes as the show on which Dan Rather self-immolated his career by using forged military documents in an effort to harm George W. Bush’s 2004 presidential campaign. It’s also the show that spliced together various ramblings of Kamala Harris in 2024 to try to make it sound like she was making coherent answers to questions. And 60 Minutes is also the show that falsely claimed Hunter Biden’s laptop was not really his in the last weeks of the 2020 election, in an effort to push Joe Biden over the finish line.

CBS News has a well-earned reputation for being a place where journalistic malpractice is not considered a problem, it’s policy. I don’t want that to change. As Margot Cleveland joked about 60 Minutes ”At this point I wouldn't even trust CBS News division to tell me how many minutes were in an hour...”

How bad is the media’s disrepute?

“Trust in Media at New Low of 28% in US: Republicans' confidence in mass media to report news ‘fully, accurately and fairly’ now at 8%” [Gallup – 10/02/2025]

Americans’ confidence in the mass media has edged down to a new low, with just 28% expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. This is down from 31% last year and 40% five years ago.

Meanwhile, seven in 10 U.S. adults now say they have “not very much” confidence (36%) or “none at all” (34%).

The legacy media is fully discredited, and that is a good thing. There is no “scandal” that network news divisions can promote at this point that will be taken as fact.

It’s important to remember that Bari Weiss does not dispute the general thesis of the 60 Minutes piece that was pulled, specifically that deportees are being subject to Trump-approved torture. She simply wants the story to come across as impartial journalism, not as another clumsy “we finally got him” hit job.

Therefore, I hope Ms. Weiss fails. The last thing we need is for the legacy media to have its reputation restored to a point that it can once again promote left-wing propaganda with a veneer of respectability. Instead, let CBS and the rest of the legacy news media proceed down the path to permanent irrelevance.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Mid-Morning Art Thread

—CBD

Canon de 27 cm, modèle 1870
Gustave Bourgain

This was sent to me a few years ago by a commenter, but damned if I can't find the email. So...dear anonymous commenter...thank you!

The Morning Report — 12/26/25

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. Hope you all had a very merry and blessed Christmas. With that in mind, as well as an early doctor's appointment for the wife, I really am going to try and keep things brief and posting a little earlier than usual, so away we go.

The big story this morning is that President Trump launched some strikes against Muslim terrorists, but I repeat myself, in Africa who have been slaughtering Christians, not just of late but going on years already.

President Trump announced Thursday that the US military hit ISIS terrorists in Nigeria targeting Christians with “numerous” deadly airstrikes.

“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” the president continued.

“Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”

US Africa Command said the Christmas Day strike was carried out in Sokoto state and initial assessments indicate “multiple ISIS terrorists were killed in the ISIS camps.”

The Department of War shared unclassified footage of a missile being launched from the deck of a military vessel after Trump announced the operation. 

The Pentagon coordinated with the Nigerian government ahead of the strikes.

“The Department of War worked with the government of Nigeria to carry out these strikes,” a War Department official told The Post.

“These strikes were approved by the government of Nigeria.” 

. . . The airstrikes come one day after a bomb ripped through a mosque in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri, killing five people and injuring dozens, in a suspected suicide attack. 

The African nation has been plagued by violence carried out by multiple armed militant groups, including Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province. 

I have some mixed feelings about this. First of all, the government of Nigeria hasn't done a damn thing to protect its own citizens and has allowed the cancer of Islam, in this case the strain known as Boko Haram, to fester within its borders for years. That said, Islam is spilling a river of blood all across the Western World as we witnessed in abject horror just last week in Bondi Beach, while western leaders are burying their heads, prior to being lopped off by Khalid's rusty hacksaw, in the sand and worse, blaming the victims and celebrating the butchers as the real victims.

While there is no such thing as "Radical" Islam because that is a redundancy. Islam itself is an evil, "radical" retrograde genocidal political movement that for 1500 years has sought the domination and/or destruction of the world. Whom they can neither convince nor dupe nor force into conversion they will annihilate.

On the one hand it is a good thing that President Trump and therefore America is picking up the mantle of defender of civilization as no other nation nor leader is capable or willing to do the same, On the other hand my fear is American boots on the ground in Africa. It should be noted that Nigeria and much of the African continent is rich in natural resources including petroleum as well as the much coveted and discussed rare earth elements. So much so that the Red Chinese are desperate to set up shop and in essence put the dark continent into its sphere of influence, like everywhere else on planet earth, so denying yet another retrograde tyranny the means and bases with which to challenge America's vital foreign interests and security would be a positive in supporting the Nigerian government. On these pages and on the latest episode of the podcast linked here, and in the sidebar as well as on the usual popular outlets listed below, CBD and I discussed President Trump's recent announcement of his desire to construct a fleet of 25 modern battleships.

This of course is sheer folly, but at least it sends a message that he and we mean business when it comes to defending our interests at home and abroad.

But what are our interests? While it's certainly a good thing that the literal cutting edge of Islam is met and beaten back with blunt force. I fear that by not shedding this ridiculous and self-defeating notion of legitimizing the idiocy of the twin myths of both "radical" and "moderate" or mainstream Islam, we are ultimately doomed to fail. President Trump is usually very good at boxing his enemies into rhetorical corners and confronting them with their hipocrisies and shoving them down their throat. Here is the golden (pun intended) opportunity for Trump to call on these alleged Moderate Muslims to publicly renounce and reject any and alll Koranic/Isamic teachings calling for the death of infidels. When this is of course summarily rejected and or denied, those who have eyes to see will see it plain as day.

Meanwhile, as per the podcast, I for one look forward to the day when the USS Covfefe sails up the Mississippi or down the St. Lawrence Seaway into the Great Lakes and trains its 18-inch guns on Dearborn and Minneapolis:

The cutting edge of ISlam is right under our nose and creeping down towards our jugular vein.

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) said there was a possibility that the potential $9 billion in welfare fraud allegedly committed in Minnesota may have been sent to terrorists in Somalia. “Do you sense, Congressman Gill, that any of your Democrat colleagues in Congress, in the House, are so outraged that they’ll actually join in the investigation or maybe try to give a little bit of credence to this bill?” guest host Kellyanne Conway asked. “I mean, they they’ve got to feel outraged that billions of dollars meant to go and feed hungry people could have gone to Somalia — certainly went to fraud and waste and abuse and not to those truly in need. . “You know, I hope that Democrats recognize how unbelievably corrupt this is, how it undermines our entire social system, our entire economic system, and gets on board,” he continued. “But, you know, they’ve been pretty hesitant to do that so far. The Democrat playbook has been import as many unassimilable foreigners as they possibly can, get them on the dole, and ensure that these people vote Democrat for life. That’s what we’re up against here.”

Hope over experience. Feh. A quick spin of your Replogle globe will show that Somalia is just a couple of not very long Tarzan vine swings from Nigeria. No doubt that Boko Haram, ISIS or whatever in Somalia, the Houthis just across the Red Sea and every other clit-clipper and head chopper are all interconnected. And far too many of them are right here already in the US of A.

But I better erase all of this as I wouldn't want to be labeled Islamphobic. Let's not lose our heads. Literally!

On all these cheery notes, have a great weekend!

And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
• “Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
  Trump launches ‘powerful and deadly’ Christmas Day strikes on ISIS targeting Christians in Nigeria: ‘Terrorist Scum’ (Now launch on Dearborn and Minneapolis - jjs)

Daily Tech News 26 December 2025

—Pixy Misa

• AI has reached the Uncanny Valley. (The Verge) (archive site)

  I gave Buddy the same dialogue as in the commercial, using my son's name rather than Emma. Hearing that same manufactured voice say my kid's name out loud set alarm bells off in my head. An AI generated Buddy in front of the Eiffel Tower? Sorta weird, sorta cute. AI Buddy addressing my son by name? Nope, absolutely not, no thank you.

  Even the idiots at The Verge are, when it comes down to it, human.
  
  
  
• 2025 marked the year when Hollywood embraced AI, and the results were, frankly, awful. (The Verge) (archive site)

  Amazon's gen-AI dubs became a shining example of how poorly this technology can perform. They also highlighted how some studios aren't putting all that much effort into making sure that their gen AI-derived projects are polished enough to be released to the public. That was also true of Amazon's machine-generated TV recaps, which frequently got details about different shows very wrong. Both of these fiascos made it seem as if Amazon somehow thought that people wouldn't notice or care about AI's inability to consistently generate high-quality outputs. The studio quickly pulled its AI-dubbed series and the recap feature down, but it didn't say that it wouldn't try this kind of nonsense again.

  Lots of juicy AI hate from The Verge today.

Christmas Overnight Open Thread - December 25, 2025 [Doof]

—Open Blogger

Santa has done his job. He's earned a drink!

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4:58 am on Christmas morning and mom has already started the chain of lung darts that will be necessary to endure this shitshow … pic.twitter.com/TnWbbnPkeh

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) December 25, 2025

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When the presents are all opened

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Tonight's Christmas ONT brought to you by the ONT legal team

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Tonight's ONT is a special present from Doof Enterprises, LLC. No gift slips will be provided - returns are not allowed!

Your feedback may or may not be very important to Doof Enterprises. Follow Mr. Doof on X @doof2112 or do the email thing – doof2112 at proton dot me. For Christmas, here is the ultimate Rush deep cut!

Close it up

Christmas Cafe

—Ace

Rescue fox is happy to see his rescuer come home.

This cat is in heaven -- a rock-climbing gym.

Christmas is more fun than a bucket of baby otters.

Baby rabbit. (?)

Hitchin' a ride.

Bears and a bison enjoying the snow.

Christmas is For the Dogs Open Thread

—Ace

Christmas Cookies Open Thread

—Ace

Safe Travels Open Thread

—Ace

Ghosts of Christmas Past Open Thread

—Ace

Lost traditions of the Christmas buying and decorating season -- Christmas savers' clubs, Christmas stamps, layaway plans, bubble lights, Humbold statues,

Christmas Market Open Thread

—Ace

Thanks to Michael the Texan for that (@Michael_Texan).

It's a shame these will all be closed within five years.

Hep Jazzy Christmas Yule Log Open Thread

—Ace

Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra sing Christmas songs.