To follow-up on Joanne’s remarkable post below, I need to share the following present from my mother-in-law with the Interwebs:
I adore it as a pure surrealistic experience. It’s Einstein. But he’s a bear. And a Christmas ornament.
With things like this, I always imagine the master european craftsman lovingly designing the product, while wondering, “Who the hell is going to buy this crap????”.
PS. For the record, I actually do collect expensive hand crafted european christmas ornaments, but eschew the traditional santas and angels and scientists-as-bears in favor of food. My most cherished one is the expensive hand crafted potato. Nothing says “Christmas” like a tuber.
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Oh man, I gotta get one of these!
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Christmas tree ornaments are totally alien to me. However, these things probably mean a lot to many people as the two posts on the topic indicate. The fact these objects actually have emotional content reminded me of the many small things of similar emotional content that many people sacrifice for the privilege of working in Western countries.
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:49 pm
I like bears & I like Einstein…but NOT a bear who looks like Einstein! What next? A cat that looks like Sch\”odinger?
January 22nd, 2007 at 7:29 pm
ooh, I collect bears and that would be so cool!
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:48 pm
You should go to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:04 am
I used to go to summer camp in Michigan every year (Albion College Summer Adventure, in case there are any alums out there), and I have vague memories of going there on a field trip. I’d totally forgotten about it until you mentioned it!
Also, banerjee — I have enormous sympathy for the many people who are forced to chose between staying in their homeland and spending years studying/working abroad, particularly in the sciences. And yes, it’s often the small differences that drive home how far one is from home.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:16 am
Ok, this is really off topic, but I have just noticed that the order of the contributors in the side bar isn’t fixed. Is there some pattern/logi to it (like Julianne is on top now and has the last comment) or is it random?