Got feelings.

Today's Tids Issue 4,546

Somewhere inside:

Hysteria is the new national pastime.

I’m thinking that this may be a good time to start some Christmas shopping, you know, to catch some of those late season panic sales.

The good news is that the economy is catching up with the stock market. It’s always nice when stock movement is based on something solid.

On the Dem campaign front, somewhat buried in the DC Dem TV show, Bernie is making the big move. He is now top gun in New Hampshire shooting past Elizabeth and Biden, And he has moved up into second in Iowa, now a mere 3 points behind Pete. In the new national Marist/NPR Polls he is at 22% just behind Joe at 24%, and well ahead of Liz down now to 17. He dominates by far with voters under 45 years old. He is steady and he sticks to his message, unlike fellow lib Eliz who continually seeks out a winner. One rumor has it that Obama will lead a sort of “Anybody but Bernie” campaign if he takes further ground. A lot of Dems don’t think he would have chance against Trump) So maybe in their hearts Dems will also be quite happy to get the Anti Trump event out of the headlines so they can focus on how they want to take out Trump in November 2020. The real American way, by election.

Handel didn’t write the Messiah to celebrate a secular materialistic holiday.

The Question:

Who created the first Nativity scene and what was in it? Bonus: With last night’s triumph by Drew Brees, who do you think are the greatest top Ten QB’s of all time?

The Headlines:

--Markets Up Early; Steady At Noon; Housing Starts Surpass Expectation- Best In Two Years.

--Boeing Suspension Of Max Manufacturing Blow to Stocks And Employees.

--New USAToday Poll: Trump Leads All Dem Challengers – Joe By 3, Bernie By 5, Liz By 8; Bloomberg By 9 and Pete By 10.

--As Boris Johnson Makes Achieving Brexit Law, Pound Drops.

--Drew Brees Spectacular Last Night As He Breaks Manning’s All Time TD Pass Record; Brees With 29 of 30 Completions Also Breaks All Time One-Game Best Completion Percentage; Tom Brady Salutes Him.

It was particularly nice yesterday morning to get an immediate response to my opening paragraph about Beethoven’s 9th. It was from a guy I admire. Hitting one person’s heart each day is worth the time of writing this mess.

The Voice finale was a very good, entertaining show last night. Each finalist, all likable, sang 3 times one with his or her coach, one cover and one original song. In the duets it was often hard to tell the difference between the seasoned pro and the aspirant. The two best duets tt me were Legend and Katie and a beautiful match between Kelly and Jake Hoot. Ricky played some great guitar in his duo with Blake, but I thing Gwen and Rose got lost in the staging shuffle. Ricky D’s original song was beautiful, and low and behold it was the #1 Song sold on iTunes last night. 7 of the top ten songs sold on iTunes/Apple Streaming last night were The Voice offerings. After Duran, #3 was Hoot and Kelly, followed by Katie at #4 and then Hoot, Hoot at 5 and 6, Katie at #8 and Hoot one more time at 10. Rose chimed in at #12. The majority of the rest of the top 100 sales were Hoot ad Katie. I think Katie should win, but wouldn’t put it past the active bloc of Country voters to put in Jake Hoot. We’ll see tonight. Sounds like good show on tap.

After her recent railroad rant, it appears that Greta Thunberg is the new global hyperbolist. And at but 16 years old, she will be venting for a long time, with sensationalizing and omissions. Until, the media finds a new darling.

As more and more young families eat out in restaurants, how come new homeowners still must have gigantic kitchens?

A guy told me yesterday that the way to make money in America today is to create a hysteria and then figure out how to monetize it.

Everybody ballyhoo’s the big Christmas selling season. But you don’t hear that much about the big post-Christmas returns season.

Self-appointed kindness groups say we have to say Happy Holidays so as not to hurt the feelings of those who hate Christmas. How come they never consider the feelings of those who prefer Merry Christmas.

Yesterday, I asked a surgeon who was sewing up my leg how you could tell good surgeons form bad. He said that all he knows is that he is well trained, and painstakingly careful.

The Answer:

According to the history books, St. Francis of Assisi created the first Nativity scene in 1223. It was in a cave near open fields and included obviously, Jesus and Mary and Joseph. Towns people of Greccio Italy (Where he lived at the time) were costumed and played all of the human roles. He also borrowed some animals from his neighbors, including a Donkey and an Ox. In the back ground he had several shepherds tending their flock. And suddenly he had voices of angels rising, as more towns people entered in. It was all part of his Christmas sermon for that day over 796 years ago.   Bonus: Well, #1 is Peyton Manning. I wonder if that is because he is on so many commercials. #2 is Joe Montana and he is followed by Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Dan Marino, John Elway, the Great Johnny Unitas, Steve Young, Drew Brees and Aaron Rogers. I really am suspect of Sports greatest lists because they are typically skewed towards recent payers. So, with my personal favorite Navy Academy guy Roger Staubach at 11 and Terry Bradshaw at 12, you might be looking at two guys in the more realistic top ten. Super Winner Otto Graham is #16. I really don’t know why Kurt Warner is as high as 14. Or one-big-game Joe Namath is at 21. I think Kenny Stabler should be higher than 23. Eli Manning higher than Sid Luckman? I’ll get out of this (I could go on forever) by saying that Dan Marino is way too high, despite his big stats.

You would learn a lot every day from writing this mess to a broad base of people. Obviously, you learn that everybody doesn’t think exactly like you. But I also find that people have feelings you might never suspect they had. Having your own personal feeling about anything is a wonderful thing.