This seems like the perfect time to post this...
This old Chestnut... By mnem
Chestnuts roasting on an open Tek scope;
Jacks and plugs aligned in rows...
Yuletide songs played on tube amplifiers,
And folks warming their hands by the triodes' glow.
Every TEA'er knows... a little extra grid bias and a heated cathode,
Help to make their nixies bright.
EEs and HAMs with their benches all aglow,
Will find it hard to flip that breaker tonight.
They know the carrier's on his way;
He's loaded all kinds of scopes and meters and maybe a 2-way.
And every nerdling's child is going to spy,
To see if a therumin can really make you fly.
And so I'll offer to tune the phase;
on antennas from one to ninety-two...
Although it's been tuned, many times, many ways,
There's no such thing as just right, even when it's Christmas, at two...
Merry Christmas all you maniacs, and may your God go with you!
mnem