h a l f b a k e r yKeep out of reach of children.
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So, this is Christmas. I’ve dutifully made the pilgrimage to my parents’ home with a car full of kids and luggage, the dog and a swag of presents, wrapped in paper that will soon be part of the waste stream.
We arrive late at night, shuttle the kids, groggy and tired, to the beds Grandma has made
for them. Then we sit down for a cup of coffee and a cordial chat before tempers have a chance to fray and we, as guests, begin to assume the air of stale fish in the eyes of our hosts.
During the chat, I realise there is what appears to be a dark, hulking shape that might be a Christmas tree in the corner of the lounge room.
After the conversation is over and my Dad has finally gone to bed, I sneak over to the tree, to look carefully at it. It’s a Christmas tree all right, but it’s wrong, somehow. I flip the light switch and it becomes clearer. The tree is festooned with all of the usual decorations, just not how you’d imagine. There are small webbing nets slung between the branches in place of the usual strings of beads. Tinsel has been replaced with ‘ghillie” strips; shaggy ropes that resemble long, leafy vines. All of this conspires to conceal dark spaces within the structure of branches.
Baubles and stars hang from every branch, each carefully handpainted with Disruptive Camouflage Pattern, blending almost perfectly into the colouring of the tree.
Dad has been busy. The boys will enjoy it tomorrow.
The office version
http://www.bleachea...ience/OB/micromine/
Impressive! [UnaBubba, Dec 19 2007]
Camo-pattern Christmas tree decorations
http://www.psfk.com...alth-christmas.html
[hippo, Dec 20 2007]
Camo-pattern Christmas tree decorations
http://presurfer.bl...decorations-in.html
[hippo, Dec 20 2007]
A US postal stamp with a camo Christmas tree on it
http://www.zazzle.c...-172721673598159811
[hippo, Dec 20 2007]
2-3 Field Artillery's Christmas tree (made from camo netting)
http://www.flickr.c...tchild81/314248618/
[hippo, Dec 20 2007]
Camouflage Christmas tree
http://www.savingad...as-tree-photos.html
Excellent selection of trees here - scroll down to the bottom [hippo, Dec 20 2007]
Richard Dawkins
http://en.wikipedia...iki/Richard_Dawkins
Love him or loathe him, you can't ignore him. [8th of 7, Dec 21 2007]
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Before you ask, [8/7]. There are no M18A1 devices hidden at the base of the tree. |
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Hah! I should have thought of that. |
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It looks just like a normal tree through
your night-vision scope |
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<tear of disappointment trickles down cheel> |
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I intend to Bake this forthwith ! |
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Have a Giant Christmas Bun {++++++++++++] |
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Post photos. It would be an excellent Xmas display for a disposals store. |
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Get one of those strings of LED lights; swap 'em all out for IR. |
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Wow, [hippo]! Who knew? I just figured it would be something my Dad would do, after spending many thousands restoring a 1942 military Jeep. I bought him a genuine US Army WWII helmet for Christmas, so he can dress up and pretend to be GI Joe in military parades. |
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He doesn't know yet what's in the box but Mum caught him, down on his hands and knees under the Xmas tree, peering in through a hole in the box where it was slightly torn in the post. He's 68. |
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BTW, I meant a real tree, camouflaged very carefully with real decorations that are trying hard not to be noticed, a bit like the Lebedev ones. |
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What, no grenade ornaments? |
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Nice work - [UB] is back on form! |
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Have a bun and a Death Bauble. |
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Careful! The ones with 6 points are Death Stars. In the hands of a ninja a camouflaged, explosive shuriken is deadly. |
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Hm...yet another Christmas tree decoration idea celebrating the art of war. I wonder what this tells us about the nature of holidays at Chateau Bubba? |
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Nothing at all, [Curry]. Particularly nasty weather. |
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Of course Christmas is about war. The local tribes were looking for a rallying point, so they threw their weight behind the idea of a miracle birth that was the result of a conception that no-one would own up to for fear of being stoned. |
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That in turn united a group of revolutionary Zionists who sought to overthrow the government of the day, firstly by attacking their centre of banking and commerce, then by providing health and counselling services to the disenfranchised peasantry. |
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That the Romans decided to execute the ringleader at about the time of the first Spring moon was just bad luck. Lining up the birthdate of the martyr with the winter solstice celebrations was a stroke of political genius. |
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[UB] You are Richard Dawkins <link> and we claim our five dollars .... |
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Five bucks? Is that all. I'd have expected 30 pieces of silver, at the very least. |
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Ahhh, the price of betrayal. I think that was Blair's Silver Handshake ..... |
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I figured that was the colour of the hair on his palm. |
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