the tindog coffeehouse

mental_floss has the story behind the class A Charlie Brown Christmas… and why it almost didn’t air.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang, so naturally I make it a point to watch the Charlie Brown specials whenever they’re on, especially the Christmas special, and it’s become a holiday tradition for us and the kids. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without Charlie Brown’s sad little Christmas tree.

I’ve always wondered how they could get away with quoting Scripture in prime time, and I wonder every year if this will be the year ABC will edit it out and replace it with some sort of product placement spiel for Disneyworld. In recent years, they’ve followed the original version with a newer Peanuts Christmas cartoon which is more Santa-oriented. While still good, it definitely lacks the heart and soul that Charles Schulz put into his characters which made the original Christmas special so endearing.

And don’t even get me started on Shrek the Halls.

President Bush is expected to sign the recent energy bill passed by Congress which would require auto makers to increase the fuel efficiency of their cars to 35 mpg by 2020. Sounds good, right?

The AP is reporting how manufacturers will be “getting creative” to meet those figures, rolling out more advanced hybrids, using “cylinder deactivation systems,” and experimenting with lighter materials such as carbon fiber and aluminum. Still sounds good, doesn’t it?

Until you realize what this really means for consumers:

But Merkle noted that all of these alternatives will not come cheaply. Clean diesel and hybrid technology typically adds several thousand dollars to the cost of a vehicle, and more lightweight parts will also carry additional expenses.

Continue reading…

This last cold spell started getting me excited about the Fort Worth Stock Show. It’s still early; the stock show isn’t until January. But it’s one of the few things to really look forward to in late January. (You have to have something to keep you going after the end of college football season.)

On the surface it doesn’t really sound like anything too exciting: looking at a bunch of cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, horses, and various other livestock. But it actually is a lot of fun. We head out there every year with the kids and then go out for barbeque afterwards. (I still don’t think the girls understand where that yummy brisket comes from.) It’s one of those days you feel like you’re reconnecting with what it means to be a Texan. If you’re from Texas, you understand.

There’s a petting zoo and carnival midway, which we don’t bother with. There’s also the rodeo, which is really great but also a bit expensive. We haven’t taken the girls to the rodeo yet since they haven’t been old enough for us to really justify spending the money. Maybe this year, who knows?

I’m just glad to have the opportunity for the girls to see (and smell) these animals up close to get a real appreciation for the role they play in our lives. Agriculture is still a huge part of our economy and our statewide identity, and it’s easy to lose sight of that living in the suburbs and growing up surrounded by a Wal-Mart, Starbucks, and Home Depot on every corner. After all, what would Cowtown be without the cows?

Yes, cow patty pens: handcrafted pens made from “flecks of brown suspended in a clear plastic, looking almost like wood from a distance.” (Almost.)

Listening to Lopez describe how he arrived at his production method is like listening to a scientist describe a breakthrough discovery. The cow patties can’t be too dry but they can’t be too fresh, either. Also important is the type of feed the cattle in question are eating.

Eligible patties must be made from pure coastal grass, never grain, Lopez said adamantly, gesturing with both hands otherwise the patty “won’t be natural.”

Once selected and harvested, the winners are ground into a powder, placed in a tray and mixed with a plastic resin. After four days, he can cut the hardened plastic into small blocks for further custom milling. He said it’s the hardest substance he has ever cut because of sand ingested by the cows along with the grass.

The blocks are spun on a wood lathe at 3,900 revolutions per minute, worked into a cylinder, assembled with parts bought from a catalog and polished. The process yields 10 to 15 pens and takes six to eight hours, Lopez said.

(Hey, Mike Rowe, this sounds right up your alley!)

The pens sell for $45. The perfect gift for the senator or congressman in your life!

The List Universe has posted the Top 10 Facts about Saint Nicholas, the 3rd-century saint who would later come to symbolize the true meaning of our Savior’s birth: early-bird shop-a-thons, 50%-off sales, and an eternal shortage of Nintendo Wiis. (Wikipedia article here, from which the Top 10 list is derived.)

According to legend, Saint Nicholas became famous for his gift-giving ways after anonymously giving a man bags of gold coins to keep his daughters from prostituting themselves. Seems kind of ironic today, doesn’t it?

Our girls are 6 and 4, so every Christmas there’s the question of what to do about Santa Claus. I don’t want to take away the innocence of childhood by telling them that Santa isn’t real; they’ll figure that out soon enough. But I don’t want to emphasize Santa and presents to the point of diminishing what Christmas is really about: the birth of Jesus. It’s humbling to look around at our Christmas decorations and see so many images of Santa but yet next to nothing about Jesus.

Christy’s approach is a little different, suggesting we go ahead and tell them that Santa isn’t real. She makes the very good point that if they find out later that we lied to them about Santa, will they also think that Jesus is a lie, too?

I don’t know if they fully believe in Santa or not, but for now the Santa decorations are still up and the girls will be leaving cookies for him on Christmas Eve. But we’ll also be reading the story of the birth of Jesus in the Bible and will probably have a birthday cake for him too (as we did last year with their cousins).

We’ve started developing our own family Christmas traditions, and thankfully visiting Santa at the mall has never been one of them. I guess that’s one good thing. If nothing else, at least it’s one less thing we have to worry about.