Christmas messages from the Trumps, the Bidens, and Queen Elizabeth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is interesting to compare the holiday message given by the President Trump and Melania with the one from President-Elect Joe Biden and Dr. Jill. The YouTube video of The President and First Lady’s 2020 Christmas Message lasts for 2:40 and has 352 words:

  

“The President and I want to wish every American a very merry Christmas. During the sacred season Christians celebrate the greatest miracle in human history. More than 2000 years ago God sent his only begotten Son to be with us. An angel announced the birth of our Lord and Savior to humble shepherds. He said, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all of the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. You will find the baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger. At Christmas we thank God for sending us his Son to bring peace to our souls and joy to the world. As you know, this Christmas is different than years past. We are battling a global pandemic that has affected all of us. Yes[t], through these great challenge we have been inspired by the kindness and courage of citizens across this country. Teachers have worked extraordinar[il]y hard to keep our children learning. Students have delivered groceries to elderly neighbors. Communities have found new ways to stay connected to one another. Courageous first responders, doctors, and nurses have given everything to save lives. Brilliant scientists have developed treatments and vaccines. We are delivering millions of doses of a safe and effective vaccine that soon end this terrible pandemic and save millions and millions of lives. We’re grateful for all of the scientists, researchers, manufacturing workers, and service members who have worked tirelessly to make this breakthrough possible. It is truly a Christmas miracle. During this wonderful time of year we also give thanks for the brave and selfless Americans who keep us safe. We are forever grateful for the men and women of law enforcement, and the heroes of the United States military. In this holy season, we thank God for his infinite love and we pray that the light of his glory will forever shine on this magnificent land. On behalf of Melania and the entire Trump family, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.”         

 

The YouTube video of A Holiday Message from the Bidens lasts for 2:09 and has 345 words:  

 

“Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. Jill and I wish you and your family peace, joy, health and happiness this season. But we know for so many of you in our nation this has been a very difficult year. And we’re reminded in this season of hope our common humanity and what we’re called to do for one another. Many of our fellow Americans are struggling to find work, literally put food on the table, pay their rent or their mortgage. We’re reminded we’re on this earth to care for one another, to give what we can, and to be a source of help and hope to friend and stranger alike. Many families are facing their first Christmas having lost a loved one. And Joe and I know that sorrow. And we know how, in times of grief, a kind word can mean so much. This is also a season of gratitude. And we’re so thankful for the frontline and essential workers who have put themselves at risk for all of us – and for the scientists and researchers who worked to deliver vaccines that are an incredible scientific breakthrough. And we’re thinking of our service members who are far from home and the loved ones who miss them. Our family knows your sacrifice, and our hearts are with you. For the Bidens, we usually have 20 to 25 people over Christmas Eve for dinner, but not this year. We’re going to miss our family, but it’s what we need to do to keep our family safe. We hope you’ll consider limiting travel and the size of family gatherings as well this year. Even as our celebrations are dimmed, we know that this won’t be forever, and brighter days are coming soon. On this holy day, we remember that love and joy can be shared across the farthest distances. We celebrate apart, but not alone, and look forward to next year, when we can come together with renewed appreciation for the people and the traditions we love. So from our family to yours – Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.”

 

The most striking difference between the two is that the Trump speech uses ‘we’ 10 times while the Biden speech uses it 18 times. The Biden speech effectively says that ‘we feel your pain.’ And there also is a wordless 0:41 YouTube video with A Holiday message from Champ and Major Biden. President Trump merrily headed off to Florida for Christmas without either signing or vetoing the relief bill it had taken Congress months to compromise on.

 

The YouTube video of The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2020 lasts 7:15. It opens with a mounted band playing God Save the Queen, and closes with the The Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir singing Joy to the World. Elizabeth has been doing a televised Christmas broadcast for over six decades! The first one, from 1957, lasted a very similar 7:26. It contains a message that Trump might well have taken to heart:

 

 “….That it’s possible for some of you to see me today is just another example of the speed at which things are changing all around us. Because of these changes, I’m not surprised that many people feel lost and unable to decide what to hold onto and what to discard; how to take advantage of the new life without losing the best of the old.

 

But it’s not the new inventions which are the difficulty. The trouble is caused by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals as if they were old and outworn machinery.

 

They would have religion thrown aside, morality in personal and public life made meaningless, honesty counted as foolishness, and self-interest set up in place of self-restraint.

 

At this critical moment in our history, we will certainly lose the trust and respect of the world if we just abandon those fundamental principles which guided the men and women who built the greatness of this country and Commonwealth.

 

Today we need a special kind of courage, not the kind needed in battle, but a kind which makes us stand up for everything that we know is right, everything that is true and honest. We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics, so that we can show the world that we are not afraid of the future.

 

It has always been easy to hate and destroy; to build and to cherish is much more difficult. That is why we can take pride in the new Commonwealth we are building. ….”   

 

On a lighter note, from Channel 4, there also is a 3:45 YouTube video titled Deepfake Queen: 2020 Alternative Christmas Message. It is rather amazing.

 

A painting of Christmas Eve 1878 by J. Hoover and Son is from Wikimedia Commons.

 

Be your very own Santa Claus by downloading free e-textbooks about public speaking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santa is a fairy tale for kids, but free e-books are real. On December 12, 2017 I blogged about how to Be your own Santa Claus – download free public speaking e-textbooks. In that post I provided links to the Open Textbook Library at the University of Minnesota.

 

There you can find the newer 2019 fourth edition of Exploring Public Speaking by Kris Barton and Barbara G. Tucker. There also is the 2016 book Stand Up, Speak Out (author not identified, but really by Jason S. Wrench), and the 2019 book Speak Out, Call In: Public Speaking as Advocacy by Meggie Mapes. Toastmasters and other students of public speaking will find those e-textbooks useful as references.

  

On September 4, 2020 I blogged about how Two of my blog posts are referenced in a textbook on Exploring Public Speaking.

 

The image was adapted from an 1898 stereograph card titled Santa looking up those who are good at the Library of Congress.

 

Do Wayne Hoffman or the Idaho Freedom Foundation really believe in Santa Claus?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably not. Santa Claus is a Christmas fairy tale for children. Yet at the Idaho Freedom Foundation on December 18, 2020 there is an article by Wayne Hoffman titled Dear Santa. His wish is for one gift – an ‘unbiased’ Idaho news reporter. His opinions are way out on the rabid right fringe, so his notion of who would be unbiased is suspect. Another article of his titled A letter to Santa appeared on December 19, 2019.

 

Wayne occasionally has mentioned that he is Jewish (and thus would not have grown up with Santa as his holiday tradition), as he noted in an article on July 1, 2018 titled Rendering personal assistance to people reflects who we are as Idahoans:

“Many of my Mormon friends know that I am Jewish, and (in addition to trying to convert me!) they’ve taught me much about the generosity that is the heart of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s one of the features of the church I admire most.”

 

How about the Idaho Freedom Foundation? The What We Believe section in their About web page doesn’t have a clause that mentions Santa Claus. They and Wayne are not above spreading other fairy tales though. On June 22, 2020 I blogged about Will the Idaho Legislature convene a “Red Dawn” special session on June 23, 2020. They had distributed a fairy tale legal opinion claiming the Idaho Legislature could convene itself without the governor.

 

An image of Santa was adapted from a December 7, 1904 Puck magazine cover at the Library of Congress.

 

Is this one showerhead or two?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kohler Converge shower fixture shown above has a hollow square hand shower on a hose that can be used alone or together with the wall mounted head. When I bought it at Costco in April of 2019, it met the current standard calling for a total flow rate of less than 2.5 gallons per minute (at a supply pressure of 80 psi).

 

But on December 16, 2020 the Trump administration changed the definition so this fixture now would count as having two heads, and thus be allowed to deliver 5 gallons per minute. An article by Timothy Gardner at Reuters on August 12, 2020 is titled Trump hair rinsing complaints prompt U.S. to ease shower standards. A second article by Sean Neumann at People on December 17, 2020 is titled U.S. changes showerhead restrictions – as Trump has complained old rule ruined his ‘perfect’ hair.

 

That silly change is predictable but was unnecessary. It also is bad psychology. The previous standard was met by including a plastic doughnut called a flow restrictor inside the showerhead. Anyone who had a problem with low flow could easily remove the doughnut with a hand tool like a screwdriver. The default was water conservation, which you could opt-out of, if that was necessary. Now if you want to conserve water you have to opt-in and add a flow restrictor. Yet another article by Alpha’s Path at Medium on April 25, 2019 titled Opt-in vs Opt-out psychology said to:

“Make the actions you want to encourage easier, akin to moving downhill; and make the actions you want to discourage more difficult, akin to moving uphill.”

 

Still another article by Michael E. Mann at NBC News Think on December 19, 2020 titled Trump’s toilet obsession is a metaphor for years of flushing climate progress down the drain told about his outrageous exaggeration that people were having to flush their low-flow toilets ten or fifteen times. I’ve never had to flush more than twice.

 

Another fraudulent ‘Shamazon’ email

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tis the season for shopping and fraud. Yesterday I received the totally phony phishing email shown above. The title line should say ‘suspended,’ but instead says ‘suspend’. It claimed to be from Amazon, but the sender address is wrong. It has other bad grammar. The text is missing the word ‘because’ and has the extra phrase ‘to unlock your account’. I did not click on the orange Verify Account box to give those thieves my account information.

Back on June 2, 2017 I had blogged about WARNING: Shamazon and other phony phishing emails.

Don’t botch your spelling!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Typos in visual aids for a speech can occur easily. Even one wrong letter will change the meaning of a word, as is shown above where botch could become batch, bitch, or butch. The vowels U, I, and O are right next to each other on a keyboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other examples where just changing a vowel will produce one of either three or four words are shown above. There even is a 2015 book by Kalman Toth titled 8100 One Letter Different Word Pairs: Nurture Your IQ.

 

Homophones are another spelling problem. Today’s Pearls Before Swine comic strip has Larry the Crocodile starting a new venture offering the world his opinions. At first his sign says Larry Nose, but then Zebra corrects him, and he fixes it to say Larry Knows.  

 

Use writing prompts to get unstuck

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes we can get stuck when trying to come up with a speech topic. One way around this is to look at a list of prompts for writers. At Writer’s Digest on November 6, 2020 there is an article by Cassandra Lipp titled 81 Creative writing prompts for writers. And at Written Word Media on September 21, 2020 there is another article by Kelsey Worsham titled 500 Writing prompts to help beat writer’s block.

 

Starting from a prompt also is a way to practice impromptu speaking - responding to questions like in the Table Topics section in a Toastmasters club meeting. At Spirited Speech Masters on July 8, 2019 there is yet another article by Lori Huff titled Using writing prompts to improve at Table Topics.

 

The cartoon was adapted from one of a woman thinking of spending her money found at Wikimedia Commons.