Voyage of The Damned Downloading

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It is certainly Christmas. I can tell because Liberal Values is getting lots of hits from people searching for the Doctor Who Christmas special–Voyage of the Damned. My attempts earlier in the evening weren’t too successful, but there are finally enough people sharing the episode in the UK to get reasonable speed. The download is varying from 0 up to 34 KB/s. Fortunately, as more people are sharing portions of the episode, the faster it should get and I’m optimistic that the download will be completed well before morning.

The BBC has the episode available for download here, but it is blocked for those of us outside the UK.

Not everyone is happy about this episode. The Sun reports that the oldest living survivor of The Titanic, who was a two month old baby when it sunk, finds it disrecpecful to set the show on a replica of The Titanic.

How Ron Paul Wins All Those Internet Polls

The heart of the Ron Paul poll spamming operation is here. (As most beyond the cult probably realize, I’m referring more to the technique than the particular site as there are several such sites out there. Incidentally, notice how they use redirection–not that they are fooling anyone.)

The Osborn Family Lights

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bs3o-hABxE]

Besides the lighting at Cinderella’s Castle and the Christmas Parade, one of the most memorable scenes around the holidays at Walt Disney World is the Osborn Family Lights at Disney MGM Studios.

Cinderella’s Castle Christmas Lighting

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hts9rMreyfM]

In related news, there was a pleasant surprise when I got to the recording of this morning’s Disney Christmas Parade. For the first time it was broadcast in HD, giving more of a feeling of actually attending the parade at Walt Disney World. It also makes me wonder why I’m not there for the holidays this year as I was last year and some previous years.

Reason’s Very Special, Very Secular Christmas Party

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7SFlbzkv4Q]

Ok, so maybe some people really are waging war on Christmas. This video is of Christopher Hitchens at Reason’s “Very Special, Very Secular Christmas Party.” Hitchens reads Tom Lehrer’s “Christmas Carol. Following is from his introduction:

“It may have struck you, ladies and gentlemen, that there’s a big relationship between this marvelous time of year and living in a one-party state,” Hitchens told the overflow crowd of 250. “You can’t go anywhere without listening to the same music. You can’t go anywhere without hearing the name of the Great Leader, and his son, the Dear Leader….All broadcasts, all songs, all jokes, all references are, just for that magic few weeks, just exactly like living in…North Korea.”

The Twelve Days of Christmas–A New Interpretation

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8]

The Star Wars Holiday Special

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asnVcbWQ2cg]

Tracking Santa

NORAD is tracking Santa’s progress and posting updates on line. How did we ever know when to put out the cookies and milk before the internet?