AFTER A TWO DAY PERIOD WHICH SAW YOUR CORRESPONDENT CONFINED TO APARTMENT here in Winona thanks to sharply cold weather and wind chills, he returned back to a sort of normal routine this morning.

As in keeping the que vive around the office of a certain motel here in Winona (name on request), not to mention maintaining the coffee service therefor in same.

Back to the weather for a moment: Things should improve(?!) slightly as the day wears on, with maxima expected in the mid-teens Fahrenheit (and remaining stable through the night) along with some snow in the bargain. Which, by Sunday, could segue into near 40 degrees Fahrenheit along with rain showers, returning to a more seasonable pattern as January segues into February.

*************

THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE OF THE ALMANACAL PERSUASION OUT THERE IN THE GREATER BLOGOSPHERE may not know it, but when it comes to noting Sundays therein, a device known as a Dominical Letter is used.

Same being the letters A-G, inclusive, depending on when the first Sunday in the year fell; e.g., if January 1st was the first Sunday of the year, A would be used in almanacks to designate Sundays. However, in the case of leap years such as this, two sets of Dominical Letters are used, one covering the months of January and February, the other for the rest of the year.

In the case of 2008, the two Dominical Letters are F (inasmuch as the first Sunday of the year was January 6th) and, from March, B (inasmuch as the first Sunday after the February 29th leap day is March 2nd).

For 2009, your Dominical Letter will be D (inasmuch as the first Sunday of that year is Sunday, January 4th).

Interesting what you can learn, no?

*************

ANOTHER WAY BY WHICH YOU CAN SUPPORT THIS BLOG, AND THEN SOME: After Your Correspondent's previous weblog, the daily phosdex, was nominated for Worst Weblog of All Time in the Blogger's Choice Awards, such attracted some attention and notice--as well as a few votes, but not enough for serious contention.

In that spirit, and in the interest of attracting some attention to (not to mention respect, or reasonable facsimilies thereof, for) this new blog, he has entered The Exaggerator into the Blogger's Choice Awards for 2008, the actual awards therefor based all the on your votes (which requires registration into same, just so you know).

Not just as Worst Weblog of All Time, but also as:

• Best Weblog of All Time
• Freakiest Blogger
• Most Obnoxious Blogger

(The voting links can be found on the left-hand side of the page, in case you'd like to show your support in any of these categories. I'd appreciate all the votes you can get in any or all of these categories.)

=============

YOU'LL NOTE WHERE THIS BLOG HAS BEEN ENTERED EQUALLY into both the Best Weblog of All Time and Worst Weblog of All Time categories of said Blogger's Choice Awards.

In case you ask, I decided to take this step for the sake of (to paraphrase the rather hackneyed ad slogan of Fox Noise) "fairness and balance;" i.e., if it's unlikely to attract votes (or support) for Best Weblog, then it's probable you can expect support for Worst Weblog. And vice versa, so to speak.

It's up to you, dear readers, to make the difference. But make sure you register first.

*************

WHAT RACIST AND WHITE-SUPREMACIST ZEALOTS AND TRUE BELIEVERS ARE LIKELY TO SEE as Divine Judgement upon South Africa for forsaking and repudiating the Divinely Ordained institution of apartheid: Videlicet, nearly three weeks of erratic power supplies across the South African national grid as have led to blackouts and suspension of interconnexions with several neighbouring countries in the region.

The which have become critical enough to prompt the major gold and platinum mining companies in South Africa to suspend production until reliable power supplies can be maintained by Eskom, South Africa's national power utility, to operate mine elevator shafts, lighting and water-pumping systems and even ventilation systems.

Not to mention providing further ammunition for the weird and unwholesome seeking the evacuation of the remaining Afrikaner population "facing fear of persecution from a Communistic-leaning regime" for being white and Christian (in the latter instance, more than likely following the Dutch Reformed model, or that which could be considered Fundamentalist or Primitive)--said "fear of persecution," however, needing to be seen as suspect or otherwise raising questions of their sincerity.

Especially if the "sponsoring" organisations in the United States (themselves with connexions to racists, white supremacists and neo-Nazis) are scripting the whole for such contacts they may have among the Afrikaner community in South Africa, in particular such elements unlikely to come to terms with the abolition of apartheid and their loss of (howbeit misguided) "privilege" under the ancien regime of enforced racism and, hence, must resort to fear and loathing to try and maintain their hubris-fuelled arrogance.

So what are Immigration and Customs Enforcement expected to do in the circumstances?

*************

FIRST, THERE WAS DON IMUS.

Then, Michael Savage.

Now, you can add Fox Noise's John Gibson to the list of pseudocommentators pandering to Those Who Should Know Better when it comes to exploiting latent racist, homophobic, xenophobic and jingoistic feelings and paranoia.

In Gibson's case, his rather tasteless remarks directed @ Heath Ledger in the wake of his shock death (as played upon his gay-cowboy role in Brokeback Mountain) were the last straw in a pattern which Media Matters for America has documented for your review (q.v.) and condemnation.

Methinks perhaps the dumbest of all was when Mr. Gibson echoed apartheid South Africa's "Maak Bokkies vir Botha" campaign of the mid-1980's to increase white birth rates in the name of National and Racial Honour.

In any event, John Gibson, insincere apology for the Heath Ledger crack notwithstanding, should be told in no uncertain terms (howbeit politely) that he no longer has the confidence or trust of the Right-Thinking American Peoples heretofore expected to accept such as gospel. That on top of what could be called Fox Noise's "verwerp almal bewyse van oë en ore" mentality expecting its audience of, for the most part, the Great Unwashed to play "goodthinker" (as in one who practices orthodoxy like second nature, accepting the prevailing Fox Noise agenda unswervingly and without question or reservation).

*************

BLAME IT ALL ON MIKE HUCKABEE: If you want evidence of "insects that spoil the vegetable live inside the vegetable" in action vis-a-vis the Pseudoreligiopolitical Right's power and influence on die Amerikanischer Realpolitik heading into Indecision 2008, consider these articles from People For the American Way's Right Wing Watch blog as evidence therefor.

Not to mention what The Wall Street Journal has to say about His Fraudulency perhaps helping to destroy any shred of credibility (as well as confidence and trust) the GOP may still have.

In other words, the GOP may have destroyed itself from within, if not already starting to. And may be forced to resort to "dirty tricks" to save any chance of credibility, requiring the involvement of weird and unwholesome elements all the more.