November, 2011 archive
Walking It Off 0
The local rag reports that the average “all-American” Thanksgiving dinner equals 4500 calories per glutton person.
Get cracking.
Bargain-Hunting Strategies 0
I understand that UC-Davis is recruiting her for the campus police force.
The Shopping Lists 0
Lists as in joust, that is, at Comically Vintage.
Remember To Eat Some Pizza with Your Left-Over Turkey 0
Everyone needs vegetables.
The Meaning of Thanksgiving 0
Shaun Mullen considers what should have been, while Hadley Freeman considers what it could become.
Light Bloggery 0
I’m taking a break for a couple of days; QOTD will keep an eye on things.
In the meantime,
Remember Summer
Lies, Damned Lies, and Republican Campaign Commercials 0
Steve Benen comments on Mitt Romney’s prevaricating advertisement:
In light Mitt Romney’s obvious and glaring falsehood in his first television ad, take a wild guess which camp the Republican’s presidential campaign falls into.
Mitt the Flip. There’s no there, there.
Thanksgiving Tips 0
The Chicago Trib’s Mary Schmich offers hints to make your tomorrow go more smoothly.
You probably can’t.
At the Thanksgiving dinner I host, I’m always popping up and down because the slugs at the table keep asking for things. How can I relax?
You are the host. You will never relax. But when one of the slugs says, “Are there more lumpy mashed potatoes?” you might smile sweetly and say, “Why, yes. Would you get them?”
The Return of the Phony War on Christmas 0
Honestly, wingers aren’t happy unless they are picking fights. If they can’t pick one, they just make one up.
If there is a war on Christmas, the primary combatants are the axis of advertisers, the multitudes of marketers, and the herds of hucksters equating Christmas with gadgets, geegaws, and gear.
Mitt the Flip without Borders 0
It is notable when Newt the Gingrinch sounds more reasonable than Mitt “Well, What Do You Want Me To Say?” Romney.
Pepper Rally (Updated) 2
At Philly dot com, John Timpane considers the “meme-mification” of the pepper spraying of protestors at the University of California at Davis, examining theories about why images and pastiches of that indicident spread so rapidly.
A nugget:
“That image was just too striking not to stick with people,” Wolford says.
Nonchalant cruelty towards the defenseless does tend to catch the eye, as Xeni Jardin points out at the Guardian:
Addendum:
We laugh because otherwise we cry.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
For all practical purposes, no change. Reuters tries to present that as something positive:
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits climbed to a seasonally adjusted 393,000 from an upwardly revised 391,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Wednesday.
(snip)
Initial claims below the 400,000 mark are normally seen as pointing to some healing in the jobs market.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, fell 3,250 to 394,250, the lowest since April.
As usual in these stories, there is no mention of how many persons no longer eligible for benefits are still out of work.
But the Dow is over 11,000.
