Open thread

A very nice Thanksgiving day it was in Chicago. Hope you all had the same. Read the rest of this post...

Retailers open on Thanksgiving

This is total nonsense. When I am in the US, sure, I love being able to shop in the evening and on Sundays. In my neighborhood I have one grocery store that closes at 8PM and the other at 9 and both are closed on Sundays. I sort of get the concept which is that people ought to be able to spend time with their families though when I worked shift work I loved taking on as many hours as possible, generally working 35-40 hours per week plus a full load at school. I needed the cash so I was fine with working every day or the week.

Maybe some balance between the two isn't such a bad idea but this? Open for shopping on Thanksgiving? C'mon. What is the matter with people who shop on Thanksgiving and just how sad is this that the stores are open? It's not possible to step away from shopping for one single day? Read the rest of this post...

Carmela likes me

Since it's a holiday, I've told Joe that we're going to go a bit light on the content today. Seems of late there's been nothing but bad news, so hopefully today we can lift the mood a bit. To wit: Carmela the wonder dog (aka, my sister Kathy's pooch). Carmela, for reasons unbeknownst to me, adores me. I'm one of her three favorite people (well, outside of her immediate family). But since I don't live in town, and haven't in over 20 years, it's a bit odd that she's got this fixation on me. I think part of it might be due to my meeting her shortly after my sister got her - I was in charge of calming the trembling two-month old Carmela down (in my arms) before, during, and after her first vet visit. I have a hunch I may have become doggy daddy on that day. Anyway, she's as adorable as ever, and in the spirit of going light today, here's a quick video I shot last night walking into my sister's house for the first time in over a month. Carmela was at the door as soon as I got out of the car. There truly is something special about the blind idiotic and totally undeserving love of a dog.

Read the rest of this post...

More Thanksgiving fun

Sometimes even the president needs a little help with the turkee:



(h/t Big Orange) Read the rest of this post...

It's a holiday, let's share some simple stuff - like your favorite Thanksgiving recipes/traditions

What do you guys do for Thanksgiving? We get the extended family together and do the standard fare - turkey, stuffing, screaming children, my brother's insanely large and clumsy german shepherd, etc. Mom's stuffing has chestnuts in it, and raisins or apricots or something - I never quite liked the chestnuts until now, now they're tolerable. This year we're trying the whole fried turkey thing out back - cooks in 45 minutes. I'm taking a video, will post it here later. I suspect our Thanksgiving tradition is pretty standard. Oh yeah, we also usually celebrate my birthday, often with a birthday pumpkin pie (my bday is always around, and often on, Thanksgiving - the 27th).

Your traditions, foods, etc? Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Start stirring the pot -- both figuratively on the blog -- and literally in your kitchens for everyone preparing a Thanksgiving meal today. Read the rest of this post...

Happy Thanksgiving

It's still the work week over here but a get together is planned for Saturday. The four kilo turkey in Paris is going for "a very reasonable €40" as I was told. (That's almost $60 for an 8.8 pound bird.) The upside is that the the best turkey I ever had was a black feathered turkey from the market on rue Levis. They are not the same steroid infused freaks of nature that you find in the US and taste great.

Some of the critical issues to be addressed today include:

- Stuffing or dressing? Or both?
- Red wine, white wine or beer?
- Who really knows how to carve a turkey? (The Times has help here.)
- Football after the meal, talking with the family or a nap?
- Will the lovable family pooch manage to grab the turkey this year as it cools? Hey, it was just sittin' there, OK?

What else? Any fun family traditions or stories? Read the rest of this post...

National ID card, anyone?

In light of the massive personal data loss by the British government, plans for a national ID card are obviously now in question. Remember when ID cards were the answer to our 9/11 problems? Yikes.

Of course, just think about the current situation where Condi's State Department bungled the US passport processing program with outrageous delays. Who knows what happened with standard procedures during that time when the backlog became months of waiting? Even when there's no backlog, just look at what has happened at the federal level not to mention countless states. We don't even need to talk about the corporate losses either, which are even worse.

A year ago, Hillary talked about a privacy bill of rights and as quickly as it emerged, it disappeared again. I don't know if the quietness on the Democratic side has anything to do with ties to the likes of Acxiom or other businesses that manage, manipulate and lose data on millions of people, but it's worrying that none of the major candidates have announced serious plans.

If there have already been data losses of 219 million individual records (again, could be some overlap) in the US, that means the majority of Americans have been negatively impacted. What is it going to take to hear the Democrats discuss the issues? Today, Americans don't trust the GOP on the issue and believe they will not do anything. Instead of stupid discussions about where someone lived until age 10, how about some substance? Read the rest of this post...

First Snow Open Thread

It hit the low 70s in DC today, and in Chicago we're getting our first snow. Kooky weather. Read the rest of this post...