This is not a normal blog. Some will say it doesn't belong here. However during my time here, I have learned NN is a community. A community of living, breathing people. People who like everyone else in the world need to be reminded sometimes that there are lonely people, even on here. Christmas is a time of loneliness for many in the world. I had some smiles today from people because of modern technology, I can attest it can brighten a day. But as I write this I also feel that I let down others who because of circumstances may have loved to receive a text or call from me. Remember this, it could be a simple text to you but to the receiver it could make them decide life is worth living because people do care.
My plan was to go into detail but I could never put the spectrum of this down quite as well as Donald Bell at CNET has, so I borrowed this from him.

One call, one text can make a lot of difference.
Donald Bell/CNET
This is my annual appeal.

Though we amuse ourselves here with talk of gadgets and the future, the reality at Christmas is that, for some people, gadgets are all they have.

Otherwise, they are alone.

While others are celebrating together -- some reluctantly, some joyously -- there are people in every town, in every country who will spend Christmas with no one.

It may be that they have no more family and feel too embarrassed to accept invitations from others.

They might have lost contact with their family through circumstance, through their own bad judgment or through misunderstandings that no one bothered repairing.

They might be so enmeshed in a career that they suddenly look around and don't know how they got to where they are, but where they are is an empty space.

They might have lost a loved one or been rejected harshly, cruelly by someone they thought they'd spend their Christmas and their lives with.

They might have isolated themselves because of fears or complexes that twist their minds in all sorts of ways.

They might have been separated by capricious law from the very people they wish they were with most.

These are the people who need to be contacted at Christmas. And gadgets now have so many ways to facilitate communication with those who dearly, and perhaps privately, wish they weren't alone.

Whether it's a text or through FaceTime, Snapchat, Facebook or WhatsApp, a simple message, a small reminder, a basic human thought can make all the difference to these people.

The message might be anything from "I love you" to "I'm thinking of you" to "Why don't you come over now and help us eat some of this damn turkey?"

So many companies talk about a connected world, one in which we "share."

I fancy there are few more significant moments than Christmas to use your gadget to make someone else feel good.

You can't make everyone celebrate. But by offering your words or showing your face on a screen, you can demonstrate that pain, sorrow, offense, despair and hopelessness can be set aside just for a moment in favor of something slightly preferable.

So many tech execs like to claim they're making the world a better place.

Christmas is one time when a gadget can make a lonely person's world just a little better.

Peace and Love, Pony

A status post by guitartxn made me think of this. Terry Gilliam at his best. Merry Christmas to all.

Deck the halls with balls from Manny
Fa la la la la, la la la la
'Tis the season to fuck Penny
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Don we now leather apparel
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Grab the flogger and the handcuffs
Fa la la la la, la la la la

In honour of this, Queen and The Muppets, no not together - that would be totally silly.

For those who have always wondered; the B side of the single in most of the world was "I'm in Love with My Car".

Had a realtor try to back into the driveway between my place and the house next door. They didn't see there was a retaining wall between the properties. She drove right off it, one tire in the air, high centered the frame. i go out to check it out.
She gets out of her car, looks at me and says "I don't know why I'm stuck".
I said "you think maybe only having 3 wheels on the ground and your car stuck on a wall could be the issue".
She came back with "Oh no, that isn't it. I'm stuck somehow".

Here's your sign

Well this was the wrong image to post............

In a few years of course.