Probably not many people will be interested in it, but I thought that this was a pretty neat interview.

We went to Hawaiian Punch's daycare's Christmas party this afternoon. At one point Hawaiian Punch went for more fruit, and the teacher said, "Here, let me help you, Piggy-piggy." Then the teacher turned to Jammies and I and said brightly, "I call her 'Piggy' because she's always first for snack and lunchtime!"

I had a really visceral stunned reaction. I didn't say anything, though. I couldn't tell if I was being hypersensitive or not. As I sat there, I rationalized that Hawaiian Punch has no body image baggage yet, and won't have any memory of this later on, when she does. But even though I don't think this nickname matters in the grand scheme of things, I don't know what to make of this incident.

The commercial has Tom Waits playing, and they say things about how hunger is a reality for too many Americans. Which is absolutely true. Then they say "One in eight Americans suffers from hunger. Who is the one in eight in your life?" Every time, I am compelled to bark "THAT'S NOT HOW DISTRIBUTIONS WORK."

I've been detecting some snarls about Pomplamoose's recent foray into making ads for Hyundai. Specifically, I overheard someone at a holiday party talking about those "hipster doofuses" in the new ads for Hyundai.

I submit that this usage of "hipster" is flawed. To me, the consummate hipster doesn't do anything. Nothing. Specifically, nothing creative or useful. That's the defining characteristic. Period.

So, hate on Pomplamoose all you want, music-wise. But they're not hipsters. And, hey, it turns out they even took the recordings from the Hyundai ads and used them for a good cause. Bully for them.

Me? I'm reserving my snarls for investment bankers and people who suck at driving in snow.

I'll buy this: Earning enough that you pay more in taxes than the median person earns in income makes you rich.

But then the rich person could say, "That's because my taxes are too high! If we weren't so socialist I'd be middle class." What a jerk.

Via Becks

From time to time you may find yourself piloting a motor vehicle on a road surface covered, fully or partially, in snow. DO NOT PANIC. This situation has happened many times before, and many have even survived it. I promise.

Now that you're calm, we need to talk about hills. You may have to go up some of them, even though they are covered in snow. It's unfortunate, but it's true. I'm sorry. Let's proceed.

You're now going up the hill, the snow-covered hill, in your motor vehicle. Very good! You're doing great.

Now: don't stop. For the love of god: do. not. stop.

[This PSA has been brought to you by my morning commute.]

New advice from the government on surviving a nuclear war. Apparently you're supposed to stay in the basement for a couple of hours, after which the fallout will have cleared up and you're free to go.

Ignoring the post title for a moment, what makes this new? My apartment building as a kid had trefoil fallout shelter signs in the elevator hallways, presumably in service of the same advice. This sounds exactly like everything I ever heard, including the Reagan administration's priceless "Dig a hole in the back yard, covered with an old door and a couple of feet of dirt."

Do you guys send out mass holiday greeting cards? We never have. I don't feel bad about this except occasionally, when I do. After all, I like getting them from other people and putting the photos on the fridge.

This could potentially be a very big deal indeed.

The "Berlin Patient"--a man living with HIV who underwent a transplant involving HIV-resistant stem cells in 2007 for the treatment of leukemia--has been classified as cured of his HIV, according to an update of the patient's experience published online, ahead of print, on December 8 by the journal Blood. The man has remained off HIV treatment for three-and-a-half years with normal CD4 counts and no evidence of HIV replication.

Though it was initially suspected that HIV archived in the man's cells would begin proliferating once his immune system began to recover from pre- and post-transplantation treatment, this was not observed and the team monitoring the patient now conclude, "our results strongly suggest that cure of HIV has been achieved in this patient."

The abstract is here. Thank goodness Bush and the Republicans kept us safe from abortion cooties stem cell research for as long as they did.

The hip new way to identify blowhards is that they hire a bartender for their private parties.

So when Claudia Argiro, 33, gave a holiday party last Saturday night, she pared down her guest list to about two dozen of her closest friends, hid the TV behind an industrial column wrapped with holiday lights and turned the media console into a bar.

But one thing she had to have was a bartender. "I'm an adult now, living by myself, and this is my sh-bam, my moment," said Ms. Argiro

Of course it is, sweetie. What does Dustin Terry think?

"In my opinion, if you don't have a bartender at your party, you're a loser," said Dustin Terry, who lives a floor below Ms. Argiro and said his job was to get models and Saudi royalty into hot clubs. "The bartender brings class and sophistication."

"If you can't afford to hire a bartender," he added, "you shouldn't be having a party."

Of course you shouldn't.

"Hosts don't want to have to look after their guests' needs," said Matt Solan, a bartender who works many such small locations. "But they also want a level of prestige."

They deserve a level of prestige. They've worked hard all week.

For the cost - $100 to $200 - it's completely unsurprising that people who care would spring for a bartender at their party. I doubt this is a new trend, since this is next door to just having someone cater your party. Mostly the article is just a big boat full of great pretentious quotes.

I do like this guy, though:

Another guest, Eric Carson, 32, a stock trader who lives in nearby Greenpoint, agreed that the bartender added class. "I feel very sophisticated at this party," he said. "And I usually feel like a complete dirt bag."

I sorta feel like a jerk for saying it, but the John-Boehner-cries-a-lot thing is just weird.

Why?