Miscellaneous thoughts and links for a Sunday morning. Mainly for those of you that don’t read Squandrous on a regular basis.

Silent and Stupid

I can’t be the only person that thinks the Silent Keynote idea is absolutely ridiculous, right? Seriously? Apple has a right to stop attending MacWorld, and it has nothing to do with spurning its fans. It’s business. Also, by not attending MacWorld, Steve Jobs may be doing what Apple needs to do to stay relevant: being different. For more, check out Gruber’s most awesome post here.

What’s really sad is that Apple has decided to cancel Christmas as well. (Yes, it’s a spoof.)

Bad Mamma Jamma

Yes folks, that’s how groovy your next President is going to be. What’s even more impressive, however, is his checklist of what he wants to get done in his first two years of office. Among the highlights include: help the economy recover, create jobs, expand health care coverage, shift America to a new energy economy, revitalize public school systems, close down Guantánamo in a responsible way, put a clear end to torture, rebuild foreign alliances, and reinvigorate international institutions to deal with transnational threats like climate change.

This quote, however, is the most telling of Obama’s goals:

“Outside of specific policy measures, two years from now, I want the American people to be able to say, ‘Government’s not perfect; there are some things Obama does that get on my nerves. But you know what? I feel like the government’s working for me. I feel like it’s accountable. I feel like it’s transparent. I feel that I am well informed about what government actions are being taken. I feel that this is a President and an Administration that admits when it makes mistakes and adapts itself to new information.’”

Big goals from one bad mamma jamma.

The Year, Pictured

Almost everyone has seen these already, but for those of you that haven’t: The Big Picture is recapping the year using some of the greatest photos taken in 2008. The series of photos (being presented in three parts) range from beautiful to horrifying to humorous to uplifting. Check out Part One, Part Two and Part Three. In the photo above: “The head of a male student, still alive, trapped under the debris is pictured at the scene of the church school that collapsed on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, November 7, 2008.”

Lame Duck Dinner

Found a link via Kottke that highlights Christmas dinner menus at the White House before Bush leaves office. Among the highlights:

• Sub-prime rib, equity reduction
• Bucket of right wings
• Deep-fried Halliburton, in Saddam Hoisin Sauce
• New Orleans flounder
• Condied yams

Yummy and hilarious. My favorite combination.

F F F Freezing

It’s cold outside. You need a cute holiday song video (via) to cheer you up.

More info about the band on their website. And yes, I think the lead singer is adorable.

If You Can Dodge A Shoe, You Can Dodge A Ball

I’m not sure I can throw my support behind Muntadar al-Zeidi (via), but I do like this quote from the website:

We don’t condone shoe throwing, but we prefer it to war.

I prefer a lot of things to war. Most things, in fact. Anyhoo, no matter what you may think about the shoe-thrower support network, you have to admit that some of the photos in the gallery are super cute.

Monopolized

My new personal quest in life is to make sure Hasbro allows Andy Mangold to make this repackaging (via) of my favorite board game of all time and then buy it for whatever it may end up costing.

As the self-proclaimed king of Monopoly — who else do you know that has played a game of Monopoly for 53 hours straight? — I deem this to be the best board game packaging ever.