IFTTT

Trying to automatically post from this blogā€™s RSS feed to Reddit using the IFTTT service.

Itā€™s not going well.

What the Dickens

Iā€™ve been reading ā€˜A Christmas Carolā€™, a few pages at a time not because itā€™s difficult (itā€™s not) and not because I donā€™t have the time (I do.) Itā€™s because on an entirely trivial level Iā€™m comparing it with each of the films Iā€™ve watched over the years (and the 2019 BBC 3-parter.)

These in particular stand out:

  • Scrooge (1951)
  • Scrooge (1970)
  • Scrooged (1988)
  • The Muppets Christmas Carol (1992)

There are a lot of film adaptations here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_A_Christmas_Carol

The book I decided to buy, the Penguin ā€˜A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writingsā€™ occupies only a quarter of the page total; Iā€™m really looking forward to exploring the rest.

The list of annotations provides historical context, changes in language, etc., and has been efficacious a couple of times already. (Yeah, I know.)

Twelfth Night

Itā€™s Twelfth Night ā€“ time those Christmas decorations were put away until next time. If you donā€™t itā€™s considered unlucky, but to ward it off theyā€™ve got to stay up until Candlemas Day February 2nd. Or Easter. Or until next Christmas.

Umā€¦

Before thinking ā€˜whatā€™s a seemly time to put them up again?ā€™ itā€™d probably be better to just take them down now eh?

Same as it ever was

Iā€™m not making resolutions.

Recycling 2017ā€™s:

  • Picking at my thumbnails at the traffic lights on the way to work: Done. Consistently done. Not even biting them (other than impromptu trims.)
  • Reducing sugars in my tea & coffee: Done, also consistently so. ā€˜Half Spoonā€™ sugar/sweetener helped a lot!
  • Eating more healthily: Getting there. Iā€™m a Cleveland Browns fan. Recently committed to a vegetarian diet to attempt to share influence with r/Browns over the football gods for the last 2 games in the season. We lost both, but Iā€™m now more aligned to veggie than I was.
  • Exercising: Failing still. Massively.
  • The thing that shall not be mentioned in polite society: Yup, still doing that.

Offseason

Iā€™m a Browns fan.

What will I doing over our offseason (the NFLā€™s centenary year playoffs)?

  • Wondering where my 8-7-1 season prediction went. (We finished 6-10 and our Head Coach was just fired after losing the final game to a 1-14 team ā€“ of all teams to end a season with it had to be a loss to the Bengals.)
  • Watching the playoffs. (Cheering for the Bills ā€“ our Lake Erie Bros. Itā€™s an emotional and a logical choice; emotional because Iā€™ll never forget their greatness in 4 consecutive Super Bowls when I first started watching the sport, logical for geographical proximity and an absence of antipathy between our franchises. (Iā€™m undecided whether to root for the underdog or for teams whoā€™ve beaten us ā€“ itā€™d only be an attempt to legitimise our losses. Donā€™t ask who Iā€™m thinking of.)
  • Getting more value from NFL GamePass International. (Though the live games were amazing after a long break listening to the radio, a through-the-ages Browns TV marathon might better prep me for 2020.)
  • Following the inevitable roster cuts. (And hoping Jamie Gillan, ā€˜The Scottish Hammerā€™, makes it; heā€™s earned his place.)
  • Hoping free agency brings us a dynasty, or at least some successful years. (Itā€™ll only work if we donā€™t do the Browns thing and collect wayward personalities and borderline/actual criminals.)
  • Hoping all who need treatment either return at 100% or have success elsewhere (just not against us!)
  • Also hoping Myles Garrettā€™s suspension is lifted and heā€™s ready for next season; thereā€™s unfinished business ā€“ sacks, pressures, dominance, not the other thing.
  • Speculating on upcoming coaching staff appointments (and how effective theyā€™re likely to be. Something tells me though that Sam Rutigliano wonā€™t even apply for the Head Coach job. We absolutely need someone with experience in that role though, someone with proven ability too.)
  • Wondering what the hell that ā€˜uniqueā€™ organisational thing for the Browns, mentioned before the Bengals game, actually is! (My request in Redditā€™s r/Browns for ways we could go headless wasnā€™t at all well received; Iā€™ve speculated that everyone thought I actually wanted it! It would be the most unique thing if it happened, not much else qualifies.)
  • Living in r/Browns. (And hoping more actually read all the way through my admittedly often silly questions before commenting negatively or downvoting.)
  • Awaiting the draft (even though I donā€™t believe weā€™ll find success there, though I know we need O-line I proved to myself Iā€™m rubbish at guessing who weā€™ll actually take.)
  • Reading more Browns history. (I started with Terry Plutoā€™s excellent but depressing/maddening ā€˜False Start: How the New Browns Were Set Up to Failā€™.)
  • Iā€™ve been reminded thereā€™s still room in my life for Britball. (British American football, alongside NFL Europeā€™s Scottish Claymores at one point a bigger part of my life than the NFL. Yeah.)
  • Wearing what Browns gear I have, often. (Iā€™m no ambassador, Iā€™m just this fan, you know?)
  • Scouring eBay listings for clothes worn by others. (No, itā€™s not what you think! Or maybe it is.)

Thunberg

I donā€™t understand the hate directed at Greta Thunberg and the relentless campaign against her and the inevitability of the depletion of the finite resources our planet holds. Honestly I donā€™t. Neglect climate change and her concerns remain valid.

It depresses me when people use nonsensical arguments masquerading as facts (or science), attack her Aspergers, attack her parentsā€¦ itā€™s almost as-if a 16 year old cannot be allowed to have an opinion, and must not be allowed to convert that opinion into action.

The most depressing thing, everyone with an inquiring mind can wade through the bullshit and examine the evidence behind her concerns. Weā€™re living in what I naively thought an age in which information is so readily available thereā€™s zero excuse for ignorance.

Oh, as for writing a book and those accusations of personally cashing in, itā€™s not even true.

Whatā€™s the thing that buries its head in the sand when danger approaches? Thatā€™s right, itā€™s a myth too.

Now, the only thing that remains to be said, do I get her book as a paperback, a hardback, or as an electronic download (thatā€™d be for my Kindle)? I canā€™t share it with my daughters if itā€™s all-electronic, and yetā€¦

After watching the BBCā€™s Christmas 2019 oddly controversial adaptation of Charles Dickensā€™ A Christmas Carol, I bought the paperback. Itā€™s quite the allegory for our times this book, and for the world in which we now find ourselves.

Verbs

Prompted by a tweet by @mlv:

ā€˜Daughter gave me a challenge. Write a story using only these verbs in this order (verbs like ā€œwill beā€ are okay).ā€™

Abused
Bargain
Cease
Decapitate
Elaborating
Fabricate
Gnashing
Honeymooning
Ignite
Jam
Knitting
Loved
Minced
Notified
Object
Petrify
Querying
Resist
Savvy
Tax
Unfrozen
Verbified
Waxed
X-irradiate
Yelped
Zeroed

ā€œVerbifiedā€ā€½ Wow.

Challenge accepted:

The Cleveland Browns fans, abused by all and sundry and one particular owner, bargain for their lives in 1995 (cease operation, decapitate the fan base.) Elaborating, the owner fabricates the narrative leading to gnashing of teeth throughout football.

Fast-forward to 1999, a honeymooning of sorts, a phoenix team with desire to ignite a new dynasty; but with an unprecedentedly short time to jam a knitting team, a loved fanbase minced by the previous owner, one who notified his intentions, into the established order.

Object back in ā€˜95 though, itā€™s useless. Petrify oneā€™s desires until the return. Querying why brings no joy, resist and a savvy owner, with tax unfrozen, verbified The Move.

Thr press waxed lyrical. Who X-irradiated their brains?

The fans yelped ā€œthe league zeroed our chances!ā€

20,001 days

I am a Cleveland Browns fan.

I have 3 items of official merchandise: a Matthews jersey predating my fandom, a cap also predating my fandom but worn in First Energy Stadium on opening day 2004, and a Cleveland Browns phone case commemorating the NFLā€™s Centenary year ā€“ this just arrived on Christmas Eve. This isnā€™t what makes me a fan.

Since becoming a fan Iā€™ve also bought a Bulgarian-made bright orange custom Red Right 88 tee, a Scottish Hammer tee (Szabo Apparel) and a bright orange CLE beanie (also Szabo.) This isnā€™t what makes me a fan.

I met Sam Rutigliano before that 2004 game, and what a great guy he is (long story), but even meeting him and Dante Lavelli and Kevin Mack in the stadium didnā€™t make me a fan.

Itā€™s not seeing Browns memorabilia in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio.

Itā€™s not the parallels I saw between the Browns at the end of the 2017 season and the Dallas Cowboys ā€“ a team to which I committed after their 1-15 season, at the point the JJs took the reins, after which they went on to win a Super Bowl within, 3 years was it?!

Itā€™s not because I read Terry Plutoā€™s ā€˜False Start: How The New Browns Were Set Up To Failā€™ ā€“ the account of how the Browns were shipped off to Baltimore one night in 1995, and Cleveland had no football until the league grudgingly allowed a new team to exist in 1999.

Itā€™s definitely not the teamā€™s W-L-T record since 1999, but who doesnā€™t love the underdogā€½

I didnā€™t even become a fan because Iā€™ve found a home of sorts in Redditā€™s r/Browns discussion forum, or due to the fact that only a small number there habitually downvote my posts and comments.

I can probably think of more reasons which singly didnā€™t contribute much to me becoming a Browns fan.

The Scottish Hammer

Jamie Gillan from Inverness made the Browns 2019 roster cut; we have a starter. Iā€™m buzzing about the season now for the first time!

I asked the guy a totally trivial question earlier. Given the magnitude of whatā€™s just happened for him Iā€™m not expecting a reply. (If I allowed myself to post them in the blog Iā€™d put a smiley face here.)

Misheard

My wife mentioned the gift sheā€™d left for me in the top of the kitchen cupboard. Due to the length of time Iā€™ve been on the Internet, I quite naturally parsed what she said incorrectly.

(There was a picture here once, but I migrated blogs from there to here, and it was lost).