***The Official Friday Silliness Thread****

[Lucky9teen]

Get ready to send out those Christmas cards (and letters)....

The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned by Sir John Callcott Horsley in London, 1843, and featured an illustration by Henry Cole. The picture, of a family with a small child drinking wine together, proved controversial, but the idea was shrewd.

Early English cards rarely showed winter or religious themes, instead favoring flowers, fairies and other fanciful designs that reminded the recipient of the approach of spring. Humorous and sentimental images of children and animals were popular, as were increasingly elaborate shapes, decorations and materials.

The production of Christmas cards was, throughout the 20th century, a profitable business for many stationery manufacturers, with the design of cards continually evolving with changing tastes and printing techniques. The World Wars brought cards with patriotic themes. Idiosyncratic "studio cards" with cartoon illustrations and sometimes risque humor caught on in the 1950s. Nostalgic, sentimental, and religious images have continued in popularity, and, in the 21st century, reproductions of Victorian and Edwardian cards are easy to obtain. Modern Christmas cards can be bought individually but are also sold in packs of the same or varied designs.

In recent decades changes in technology may be responsible for the decline of the Christmas card. The estimated number of cards received by American households dropped from 29 in 1987 to 20 in 2004.[1] Email and telephones allow for more frequent contact and are easier for generations raised without handwritten letters - especially given the availability of websites offering free email Christmas cards. Despite the decline, 1.9 billion cards were sent in the U.S. in 2005 alone. [2] Some card manufacters, such as Hallmark, now provide E-cards.

[Dallas59]

[JoeProBono]

[Daffynition]

"What is your favorite movie chase scene (preferably pre-CGI) - car or foot?"

Hands down. Steve McQueen's car chase in Bullit

[Daffynition]

[Red Badger]

Needs more cowbell!..............

[Red Badger]

VANISHING POINT!................

[Daffynition]

You betcha!

[NavyCanDo]

Love this!

MOM IS SANTA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmQDt7jVdXQ

[Dust in the Wind]

VANISHING POINT!................

Yep!!!

[dangus]

ROTFL

[ShadowAce]

What is your favorite movie chase scene (preferably pre-CGI) - car or foot?

[Eagle50AE]

>>VANISHING POINT!................<<

Jeez, How Did I Forget Kowalski and OA5599 that Beautiful Challenger ??

Must Make Amends and Watch DVD Now !

[paulycy]

What is your favorite movie chase scene (preferably pre-CGI) - car or foot?

Ryan O'Neil - What's Up Doc? (Sorry, includes Babs Streisand but is a *funny* movie)

[dangus]

The realism of that scene did make it unique. Great uncoolness that it made it cool: when he decides he’d better buckle up. Steve McQueen comes off a lot more like Daniel Craig than I’d ever considered.

Craig’s footrace in his first Bond film is certain a top chase scene. But when evaluating Bond, the dichotomy between car and foot is silly! There’s water skiing, snow skiing, jet skiing, viola sledding, airplane chases...

And then there’s that Terminator chase scene with the 18-wheeler. No CGI there, yet... only the driver “recomposing” himself after was CGI.

[jimtorr]

Cat billed for GEZ television fee

http://www.thelocal.de/national/20081212-16091.html

I found this in "The Local - Germany's News in English"

The GEZ is the Gebühreneinzugszentrale der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or “fee collection centre of public-law broadcasting institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany.”

The organization requires a license to own and use televisions, radio and sometimes internet. The fee money funds public broadcasters such as ARD and ZDF. It appears that it isn't that unusual for pets in Germany to receive bills from the GEZ.

Now, is NPR really all that bad?

[dangus]

>> Wallace and Gromit in “The Wrong Trousers”... Chasing the evil penguin on the train tracks. <<

Bingo! That’s a classic!

[Daffynition]

Recently, we had a cool thread about Mr. Cool.

[cyborg]

What is your favorite movie chase scene (preferably pre-CGI) - car or foot?

Elwood: This is definitely Lower Wacker Drive! If my estimations are correct, we should be very close to the Honorable Richard J. Daley Plaza!
Jake: That's where they got that Picasso.
Elwood: Yep.

[jimtorr]

I think, without question, Bullitt has the best chase seen ever. Real cars, real city streets at actual high speeds. McQueen did his own driving.

[Deaf Smith]

btt