What made you happy today? :)

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

I'm almost done decorating for Christmas,

Almost? Man, you've already decorated every inch of the place, what more can you add to it?

Seriously though, it looks great. My wife thought the rotating tree was a nice touch, and she loves how festive the presentation is. I just hope that you invite a bunch of guests over to enjoy it with you.

BTW, as usual, great choice of music.

[Andybev01]

Where would I fit guests in?

I have a few people in at a time.

It's 700 sqft and I have enough seating for a grand total of 7 people, including me.

I suppose some could sit on the bed and shout into the living room?

Thank you and your wife for the compliments.

If you're tempted to get a rotating christmas tree stand for your fake tree , there's one caveat; There's no bad side that you can hide in a corner.You have to decorate evenly all the way around.

[Murfreesboro]

Just got back from my Chicago weekend, and I saw your video. Wow, Andy, you could have a second career as an interior decorator if you wanted to! Or you could dress store windows or something like that. Such a beautiful presentation!

We are having intermittent rain for the next couple of days, and then the bottom drops out of the temps on Weds. Somehow I've got to get my yard decorated in the middle of all that. I don't do what some people do, but I do put out several items, and I'm behind.

[Andybev01]

You could get inspired by watching a bizarre 'Christmas' movie I found.

3 Bears Christmas.

Supposed to be a children's movie.

Any kid who watches it will be on a fast track to therapy.

I captured the opening 3.5 minutes from yootoob, where it is offered in full, for free, exemplifying the phrase" you couldn't give it away".

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/x02hb4gj ... ik0ht&dl=0

[Murfreesboro]

Andy, that thing is buffering so much that I'll have to try it another time. It looks. . . interesting.

I put up my light sculpture Nativity this afternoon. Joseph and half of baby Jesus won't light. The stable, Mary, and Jesus' feet shine fine.

[Andybev01]

Just tell folks it's post-modern.

[Murfreesboro]

Lol

I don't know how it is that you can put something up that's working fine, and then, after a year of non-use in storage, it won't work right. My husband says it may be one bulb. I guess we'll look at it better this weekend. In the meantime, I'll get my candy canes up today, at least. It's going to get really cold tomorrow, and I want everything that needs to be staked to go into the ground today, while the ground is soft. Otherwise I just string lights in trees.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

I watched the video, it was... disturbing.

Andy - What happened to the chandelier tree, and the angry Santa from a few years ago? Honestly, they might have been in your decorations video, but there was so much stuff we didn't notice them.

Murf - I hope you enjoyed your trip, how is your son doing?

[Andybev01]

Angry Santa is holding court on my dresser alongside a nutcracker and an unfinished snowman.

I've made them for several years but this year I had the supplies to make one 3x the size of the originals.

I'm at a crossroads with this one though.

The little ones have eyes, buttons and a nose, but no mouth. It gives them a serene, contemplative look.

It took me some time to find beads that are to scale for the new one, but the more I look at him the more I think he shouldn't have a face at all.

They are nothing more than 2 Styrofoam balls covered in glue and rolled in crushed glass glitter, and a miniature wreath for his scarf and bow tie.

A sister knits the hats based on one she made for me.

[Andybev01]

Here's a video that really shows just how beautiful the life-threatening glitter looks, but not as beautiful as it does in person, like diamonds, hence the brand name 'Diamond Dust'.

It comes as plain glass shards or fused with sterling silver, 18k gold and many enamel colors.

The silver tarnishes over time except where it is fused to the glass, so it looks like antique glitter but still sparkles.

Leave it to the Germans to come up with something so stunning but advisable to wear PPE as a precaution when working with it.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yqr6srxa ... 9hkry&dl=0

[Murfreesboro]

Love your snowpeople, with and without faces.

That song, Carol of the Bells, is a universal favorite, but in Vanderbilt Concert Choir we used to call it the soprano killer. Every Christmas season we would sell singing Christmas cards in the cafeteria for $5 each, then at night we'd go around to the dorms in groups of 4 or 5 to deliver them. The recipients almost always chose Carol of the Bells. Alto, tenor, and bass were droning along, ding dong ding dong. But the poor soprano would be singing non-stop lyrics, no second to come up for a breath of air. It was fun times, though.

HH, my son is doing OK, thanks for asking. He loves Chicago and wants to stay there, but his job at Univ of Chicago is coming to a close, so he's brainstorming about ways to stay. He has some ideas, but nothing definite yet. That's why I needed to seize this opportunity to go up for the Christmas Market. I may or may not get another chance.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Andy - My wife and I really like the snowmen you made, and you just gave us a good idea, thanks!

Murf - Is his current position at the University a part of his intended career path, or would he be able to find another type of work in Chicago so that he could stay there?

[Murfreesboro]

He has a PhD in math, so of course univ work is the top option. He taught at Vanderbilt (even won an award for it as a grad student), as well as Ohio State for a post-doc. But mainly he's focused on publishing and has gotten quite a bit in print, most notably perhaps in The Lancet, which is a very prestigious journal.

He is in a niche field, bio-math, which studies the math of the human body. His dissertation was on the math of rods and cones in the retina, the electrical impulses running through them, and how they accept/reject/are affected by drugs used to treat eye disease. I'm sure that's a gross oversimplification. But it's the best way I know to explain it. His work at Univ Chicago has been in the retinue of a prof he worked with at OSU who transferred to U of C. But their joint project concludes in a few weeks.

There's a lot of politics involved in univ hires. One problem my son has is that he's in a niche field, and some of the "pure" mathematicians look down on this hybrid work. Not every school has a position for it. Another issue is that universities have been obsessed in recent years with diversity hiring in STEM fields. They actually get more government grants if they hire women or people of color. So it's a disadvantage to my son that he's a red-headed, middle-American, straight male. He doesnt like to talk about this, because it sounds like sour grapes. But it's the truth. He's seen everyone who doesn't look like him land jobs.

He has friends in the pharmaceutical industry who say their companies are looking to hire people like him for remote work, so that may be his best bet. He'd be paid way more than he gets in academia, but any discoveries he might make would probably be credited to the company, not him. PhDs in math can also do very well on Wall Street, but he finds that type of math rather sterile.

I'm not really worried about him, because he's the most resilient person I've ever known, and he has remarkable perspective on his difficulties. He knows what he wants, and he knows his value as a human being is not determined by the academic world, which can be insane.

[Andybev01]

Andy - My wife and I really like the snowmen you made, and you just gave us a good idea, thanks!

You can buy the original Diamond Dust on Amazoon, but the silver and gold I buy from a company in New Jersey, D. Blümchen.

https://www.blumchen.com/craft_shop_mic ... r_pg2.html

A little of this goes a long way so if you order get the smallest size.

They used to sell small samples but I didn't see it on the site.

And to reiterate; wear dirposable gloves, no fans or a/c blowing, no pets near your workspace, and depending on the age and abilities of your kids, supervision is recommended.

I also wear safety goggles because if I inadvertently try to wipe my eyes it's a safeguard.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Murf - I hope that it works out for him, and he can find a way to stay where he is. It sounds like he has the potential to do something good in his field, even though his work is on the fringes and not taken seriously by more established people right now, he could be a part of something that will change the world tomorrow.

Some of the greatest discoveries in science were once laughed at and dismissed as a joke by people that were too stubborn to look ahead, because they thought they knew everything.

There is a old saying that rejection is the Lord's protection. I know that's not what any young person wants to hear, regardless of where they are in life, and at the time the whole picture isn't clear yet, but the right opportunity will present itself at the right time.

Andy - Thanks for the tips. I won't be able to get anything delivered before tomorrow, but there are a few craft stores in my area that I'll be going to tonight, and hopefully they will have what we need.