Here’s the latest photo from faithful Balloon Juice reader and fellow Floridian “cope” — a green anole contemplating a metalwork sculpture of its Frog God:
Or maybe it just figures that’s a good spot for a green critter to blend. Cope says green anoles have made a comeback in his yard. I hadn’t noticed a drop in their numbers, despite my dog Daisy’s attempt to hunt them to extinction on our property.
We spent a mostly quiet weekend here in Cockroach Acres. Lured our kid and her SO over for dinner with a big pot of spaghetti sauce and the mister’s famous garlic knots. There was some discussion of Thanksgiving and what everybody’s cooking.
I’m assigned the turkey and dressing. Turkey I know how to cook, but I have to make a vegetarian dressing this year. This sounds like a decent recipe from the Epicurious site. Has anyone tried it?
Anyhoo, that’s all I’ve got as the weekend winds down. What’s up in your neck of the woods?
Major Major Major Major
This Hannah Arendt quote has been making the rounds.
Miss Bianca
Hoping to look at a horse in my neck of the woods this week. Writers group tomorrow. It’s the little things…
beth
That dressing recipe looks like what I’ve done in the past but I’ve added some crumbled Morningstar breakfast sausage to it. My vegetarian guests seemed to like it. Lots of fresh herbs help too.
Corner Stone
“Some people just want to see the world burn.”
/Abe Lincoln
burnspbesq
I have no idea what to say in response to this, other than the obligatory fuck off, Dreher.
What a maroon.
Corner Stone
There is no such thing as a decent Republican. That’s like looking for a Squatch in the FL swamps. You ain’t gonna find one because they don’t fucking exist.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Abe Lincoln?
Kristine
Had the first hard freeze last night here by the lake, which knocked out the begonias. Bummed about that–I enjoyed seeing white and pink flowers blooming amid the falling leaves. Seeing Fantastic Beasts on Tuesday. Pondering Bobby Flay’s Brussels sprouts with pancetta for a T-giving side.
Major Major Major Major
@burnspbesq:
Whatever else happened, I would hope the church lost its tax-exempt status.
NotMax
Public service announcement.
catclub
yeah, right. How many New York minutes did it take the last time before McCain caved to the Bush the lesser admin on torture? 7 years or so?
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: technically it was Alfred but he was saying it about Abe Lincoln.
Larkspur
I have no recipes, and I am (at the moment) totally lacking in anything insightful, comforting, or delicious to share. But on Thanksgiving I will be sitting for a 15 year old Tibetan terrier while her mom goes to New York City to celebrate, and I will be making visits to three different cats and one fish. This makes me happy. Sure, I’ll be driving a lot, but just think of all the snuggling and cuddling! Not with the fish, duh. I think I will eat a salad or possibly spaghetti. And at the end of the driving around, there will be wine. Thank you, BC, for this post. Also: spidey bite all better?
schrodinger's cat
What is a dressing? Is it like salad dressing? What does it have to do with a turkey?
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: Stuffing = dressing.
Miss Bianca
@efgoldman: Hey, as long as it’s not a horse’s head in my bed…
NotMax
@schrodinger’s cat
Stuffing, to the plebes.
catclub
That stuffing sounds good. I was going to recommend cornbread stuffing which has the same onion celery part, but then does not have the craisins or apple bits.
khead
I was in a diner on Thursday where I had the chance to listen to the most interesting conversation I have heard in some time. 4 Trump voters. I started out by taking notes for a post but after going back to look at them I figured I would just share the notes. While waiting for my food I just started typing.
The conversation included:
those damn protests, pants too low, Common Core, Hillary stealing that foundation money in a pay-for-play scheme (she gets 80%), kids who can’t make change, bus drivers, stupid people who voted for Clinton, big cities where they teach each other how to borrow each other’s kids to get more welfare, welfare people should have to show receipts where they spend their money, tired of steak crabs and shrimp paid for with food stamps, Trump will drain the swamp, the media that says he isn’t is biased, it can’t get worse, world is going downhill fast, just common sense to tax Hershey Mexican products, Trump is a businessman who makes a profit, he’s a go-getter. He really could do ok. He doesn’t owe any lobbyists, already made the media mad, why SHOULD he tell the press where he’s going for dinner, Chelsea wanted to live in the WH again, Chelsea’s hubby is corrupt, the Clintons took the China when they left, Obama has had most death threats if any Prez – he should have! open borders are illegal and lead to free stuff welfare food stamps, cops are reading license plates at anti IRS rallies…
The man was definitely an “expert” at telling ladies how things are “in the city”. This was just 10-20 minutes. I couldn’t even keep up with typing. I welcome any suggestions on how to engage these folks.
Tldr – bring on the brawndo. We are doomed.
NotMax
@Miss Bianca
Horse’s Neck
burnspbesq
@schrodinger’s cat:
At the risk of getting into a vicious holy war about what does or does not belong in stuffing, it’s a bread-based concoction, typically including some sort of sausage, vegetables, herbs, and spices, that is loaded into and baked inside the abdominal cavity of a whole turkey and served as a side dish at Thanksgiving dinner before being turned into all sorts of strange and occasionally wonderful things for the rest of the weekend.
frosty
Agenda? Cold wind’s been blowing for over 24 hours and I’m remembering our German Shepherd who got freaked out by wind. She’d try go crawl under chairs, then behind the sofa, then just crawl into our laps.
I’m basically with her now. I can haz stillness plz?
Larkspur
@khead: Klaatu, barada nikto. Stat.
Major Major Major Major
@khead: Eeeeeeeeeeesh. I would’ve left.
No, really, that’s what I would have done.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Apropos.
J R in WV
Put nuts in it. The dressing, I mean. And mushrooms. I use pecans, but lots of people use chestnuts, which seem to be a pain to me, and fake to boot, as real chestnuts are almost extinct. Otherwise just leave the giblets and turkey broth out, I would use vegetable broth, organic free range (I kid ;-) ) from the supermarket, unless you care to simmer down veges in water and white wine for hours.
Celery, onions, cornbread, regular bread, parsley, sage and a very little rosemary and thyme. Then saute the ‘shrooms and nuts in butter if they’re not vegan, then add the onions and celery, then stir everything into the bread bits with the broth, press lightly, and bake. If anyone is vegan, use olive oil instead of butter, if they care.
burnspbesq
@efgoldman:
Have at it. Monitors are dirt cheap these days.
P.S. Duke 75, URI 65. Rams are going to be good this year, but not that good.
Mnemosyne
@schrodinger’s cat:
Some people will tell you to call it “stuffing” if you cook it inside the bird and “dressing” if you bake it in a separate pan, but most people use the terms interchangeably.
We’re getting takeout from Mimi’s Cafe, which is good but usually on the salty side. And there will be much video game playing since the teenagers are PSYCHED that the new Pokemon game will be out.
ETA: “Teenagers” being my niece and nephew. I continue to not have children.
catclub
@burnspbesq: The stuffing I valued the most was chestnut stuffing because we had burned our fingertips peeling the chestnuts.
But with heavy cream it was VERY rich and tasty. I have heard that sybarites can actually buy chestnuts already peeled. It was not a consideration at the time.
khead
Also… I ran some errands on Thursday and Friday.
The diner? Fox news.
The bank? Fox news.
The car dealership? Fox News.
Pretty sure someone else mentioned this sort of thing in a thread earlier (germy?), but this is in suburban Maryland. It’s a real problem.
Miss Bianca
@khead: I had a fascinating (read, “tear your hair out frustrating”) conversation with one of my friends who deplored the election of Trump but then told me in the next breath that he didn’t vote. Cuz why? Cus he “just didn’t like either Clinton or Trump”. When pressed on why he didn’t like HRC, he couldn’t give me an actual real reason – that is, a reason based in any kind of reality. He: “She wants to destroy the 2nd Amendment.” Me: “That’s ridiculous – *no* politician running for national office wants to do any such thing. It’s a non-issue”. He: “Well, I just don’t trust her. She and Bill are both corrupt.” Me” “What has she *actually done* that’s “corrupt”?” He: (can’t give me any real answer). Me: “Well, let’s look at it this way. Do you think she’d actually do anything that would put us in danger on the world stage?” He: “No”. Me: “Do you think Trump would?” He: “Oh, yeah!” Me: “That being the case, how could you NOT VOTE?!”
Aaagh…
Corner Stone
@Larkspur: Wasn’t that the code to tell him to stop from blowing the world apart?
Larkspur
@J R in WV: You have cheered me up. Free range vegetables! Call any vegetable. Will they respond to me?
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman: Sure, but he wasn’t lectured.
NotMax
Betty, just a stray thought. Japan (sometimes called Asian or Korean or Tottori or Nashi) pear might be a surprising substitute for the apples. Wouldn’t get as mushy as an apple might.
catclub
@Major Major Major Major:
Not sure how closely you listened to Trump’s rallies, but this is one hobby horse that will probably get rushed through. Repealing ‘the Johnson Amendment’.
That says churches are tax exempt only if they do not get involved (ha!) in politics.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Funny! : )
frosty
Other agenda – both my kids are working (yay) but in retail with no seniority (boo) but they’re off Wed until Fri nite so no change in our travel plans and Thanksgiving (yay). I’m immodertely pleased that it all worked out, specially since one of ’em has to fly on Wednesday.
khead
@Major Major Major Major:
I like my local diner. F$ck those people.
Jeffro
@khead:
Whew…that’s a pretty intense 10 minutes!
Funny about the license plates: while making the usual soccer-practice-taxi rounds last week, I saw a pickup truck with a (VA) Tea Party-themed license plate that looked like it had Saran Wrap wound tightly around it, perhaps the better to confound those pesky cops. That’ll show ’em!!
Also noted: almost all of the comments from your Trump fans would seem to fall within a) I know a LOT more than most, yet b) someone else is still getting over on me and mine. It’s what fuels the perpetual outrage machine with these kklowns: Dunning-Kruger and IGMFU all the way down…
Mnemosyne
Also, too, when I stopped off at the local spa to buy sunscreen, I asked on impulse if they had any open appointments for massage and they did. Then I went across the street to the games/cat rescue/miscellaneous geekery store and spent some time petting a very vocal tortoiseshell named Freya. All in all, and afternoon well-spent.
burnspbesq
One more reason to hate Trump: I sat through an entire semester of (excruciatingly boring, even for a tax geek) estate & gift tax that is now going to be useless.
Lyrebird
Betty, for your recipe, sounds worth a try, though the can of vegetable broth sounds ripe for an upgrade. Either Savory Choice veggie broth or Better than Bouillon (sp?), plus suitable hot water, should make it yummier than canned. FWIW adding cooked toasted millet (looks like chicken feed bc it is) to stuffing can be yummy.
Best to you and your family!
Lyrebird
@J R in WV: Oh, YUM!
khead
@Jeffro:
I am well versed in wingnutese. The only thing I had to look up was the Hershey comment. That’s from 10 years ago.
I really wish I was making this $hit up.
Omnes Omnibus
@burnspbesq: Trusts and Estates was interesting. Estate and Gift Tax? Dear god.
Lizzy L
@burnspbesq: Noodles, not bread, at least in the stuffing my mother made. It was really simple: wide egg noodles, chopped and lightly sauteed bacon, onions, and celery, baked in the turkey cavity. It was amazingly delicious.
@khead: Yes. And I am sure if the people at that table were to overhear a discussion among me and my friends about Trump, his family, his business practices, the election, his attitude toward women, his Cabinet choices, the Iraq war, the Bush administration, Bush v. Gore, etc. –they would recoil with the same kind of contempt that the table conversation you recount engenders in me. We can no longer talk to each other, and we have to.
I don’t know what to do about this.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: The plastic wrap on the license plate is supposed to make it unreadable by traffic cameras. My understanding is that it does not do so.
Major Major Major Major
@khead: I misread; I thought you were at a dinner, with those people.
Carry on.
@catclub: I have heard noises about that. I’ll keep my ears open-er.
Jeffro
Also b/c Fro Jr and I cannot get enough of the DBT’s latest,American Band , and this song in particular…
Larkspur
@Corner Stone: I always thought it was like, dude, get me back to the intergalactic transponder thing because they’ve shot my humanoid ass, those morons, and I haven’t decided whether we should reduce them to a smoking cinder or give them a chance to encinder themselves, or maybe do something in between, which could involve giving them a break just this once …. or giving them a Trump, depending on how annoyed I am when you resuscitate me, Gort. So shut up and make it happen.
But yes, I do tend to embellish.
hovercraft
@khead:
I don’t think there’s anything there to engage with. The rot has spread too far, they are beyond reach, walk away. I try to be an optimist, but some people are just too far gone. That list is so chock full of fwd. fwd. fwd. bullshit that you can never undo. These people have been brainwashed, as my president’s been saying a lot recently, if you can’t agree on basic facts, you cannot begin to have a meaningful debate. These people have been mainlining FOX and Rush and his ilk for years, undoing the damage is well beyond the skills of mere mortals like us, it will take something, I don’t know what, but something bigger that just talking to them and sharing “facts.”
burnspbesq
@efgoldman:
And they could make it happen on union wages. In the late 1950s, a year at Michigan cost about $1,100. In-state tuition at Penn State in 1956 was $252.
Adam L Silverman
@Lizzy L: You ever been around when George tells everyone that “aikido is about communication, which is funny because almost everyone who does aikido doesn’t like to communicate.”
America is sort of the same way. Its all about freedom of speech, conscience, and religion. As long as its my freedom of speech, conscience, and religion. Everyone else needs to shut up and believe in the same things I do.
(the my and you in the above is merely for explanatory purpose – I really could care less what anyone says or believes or how they pray as long as everyone else gets the same opportunity to do so)
Lizzy L
@Larkspur: Beam me up, Scotty. There is no intelligent life on this planet.
NotMax
@burnspbesq
Back when still has a store, someone from U.S. Chamber of Commerce would come by every few weeks to try to convince me to join. Eventually told him I’d consider it when the organization stopped using the slanted and specious term Death Tax in their literature and website and instructed their spokespeople to stop using it on TV and radio.
Never saw him again after that.
Jeffro
@khead:
Oh me too. Did they not have time for a slam of the “beer summit” or something about Valerie Jarrett? Maybe saving that for discussion over coffee later? Sheesh.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
I swear sometimes we are twins. I was just going to post that clip.
GrandJury
@Jeffro: I gotta shake my head at the ignorance of these people. They totally believe the Clinton not for profit is some sort of pyramid scheme or dog knows what.
Meanwhile, Trump U settles for $25Mil because it actually WAS a scam that ripped off Americans and they just ignore it like it never even happened.
These people are either willfully ignorant or hopelessly brainwashed by faux news.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: Splitter!
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: You claim to know nothing about Rock music, yet you are aware of an obscure, 90s, Welsh, indie band?
rikyrah
An Open Letter to the White Working Class: You Don’t Get to Hide Your Racism Behind “Economic Concerns”
Spandan Chakrabarti
November 20, 2016
Dear “Working Class” White Voters:
I don’t feel like niceties today, so I’m just going to launch into my rant. Brace yourselves.
Look, I think we all know what part of your “white working class” identity is overriding for you. It’s not the “working class” part. According to exit polling, Hillary Clinton won the working class vote. It’s the ‘white’ part that cost her the election.
Still, we’re told by the media again and again that you guys aren’t all racists, that you are all just pissed off that your working class living is gone. We are told that the factory jobs – at least the good paying factory jobs – have either disappeared from the “heartland” (given what you gave us though, we’re going to call you ‘heart-attack-land’ from now on) or been replaced with lower paying jobs. Even in the rust-belt, we’re told, a white man can no longer expect to put in all day at the local manufacturing (or coal) plant and expect to own a home, put food on the table, and raise his children.
We’re told that you are nostalgic for those days, and that this nostalgia is why you voted for the human wrecking ball. You blame politicians for not being able to restore the olden days, for making trade deals that move “your” jobs overseas for the fraction of the cost, and for immigrants you view as willingly providing cheaper labor here at home.
But seriously, can we have a moment to address what your nostalgia is really about?
Think about it. What, exactly, do you think gives you the entitlement to these jobs? What exactly makes these your jobs?
khead
@hovercraft:
Yeah, I don’t really want to tee off on the dumbasses in the local diner. I was just a bit stunned that they were having no problem letting their fact-free freak flags fly.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
My mistake. I clicked on your link and it took me to the YouTube I had just watched and was going to link. Should have waited a few seconds for yours to load.
We are not twins at all, in any way.
And never mind. /Emily Littella
burnspbesq
@NotMax:
My law school tax prof, Mike Graetz, co-authored the definitive book on the politics of the estate tax. The entire thing was a con. The NFIB, none of whose members were ever going to amass enough wealth to be subject to the estate tax, played useful idiot for family offices, which run the wealth of people like the Romneys who are potentially subject to it–or were until they got Delaware and Nevada to do away with the Rule against Perpetuities, enabling the creation of so-called “dynasty trusts.”
Lizzy L
@GrandJury:
All of them, Katie!
rikyrah
but but but…Hillary Clinton and emails….
Adam Khan @Khanoisseur
Connect the dots:
Trump gets hundreds of millions from Bank of China
Promises to pull US out of TPP
fuckwit
@Adam L Silverman: Freedom without equality is just privilege enshrined, said Billy Bragg.
This is why “they hate us for our freedom” had legs– they hate us for our privileged, arrogant, lying, cultural and economic imperialism, backing dictatorships, and bullying. Which we were free to do.
Freedom here means free to be white, straight, male, christian, and middle aged. Without having to kowtow to those beneath us.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: I think it’s because of the relentless focus on rights (which are good, don’t get me wrong!) and so little talk about responsibilities to each other, our communities, etc. Sort of the devil’s bargain we get for having a system with strong individual rights mixed in with near-religious worship of capitalism.
I think a lot of folks get their rights mixed up with their racial/gender/other privilege and feel like they’ve had something taken away as others work to gain equal opportunity in society. It makes them fearful and certainly makes them feel less responsibility to ‘others’ and to society as a whole, as we have seen these past 30+ years with the Republicans.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: I had a confused. I am better now.
Omnes Omnibus
Green Bay’s defense is just too beat up. It is not our year.
Jeffro
@GrandJury:
Well yeah, anything that involves the Clintons is shady, while Donald – out of the goodness of his heart, because you know he NEVER settles – decided he could spare $25M in small change so that he can get on with presidentin’. And you’re right on both counts: FOX just helps harden the willfully ignorant so that those votes are locked down, no questions asked.
People do it to themselves. Changing one’s mind is hard. Admitting you’ve been suckered – especially the longer the scam has gone on – is even harder. Better to reach out to all the non-voting folks out there, the occasional voters, young folks, and get them on board.
Corner Stone
@fuckwit:
And Thank God for that!
fuckwit
@Larkspur: only if you call it by name.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: Life in general, and the election in specific have basically beaten any enthusiasm I had for football out of me. This was an interesting game, at least, until that last turnover and subsequent brutal drive.
WarMunchkin
I have gotten three rah-rah immigrants e-mails from my state’s governor in the last week, and while that’s appreciated, I’m not going to magically forget who Andrew Cuomo is, and neither should you. Cuomo’s presidential campaign started mere moments after the electoral vote tally was called for Trump. For the love of dog, don’t get taken in by his rhetoric and vote anyone-but-Cuomo come 2020.
japa21
@Omnes Omnibus: @Omnes Omnibus: No kidding. Hard to watch.
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman: “When the President does it, that means it is deductible!”
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: GB is out of Corners. They are playing 3d string ILBs. Their most effective RB is technically a WR. They can put up a fight, but they can’t beat a good team right now.
ETA: I was hoping to use the Packers as a distraction from the other events of the year. No hope of that now. I now expect the Badgers to disappoint as well. At least Joe Strummer won’t die this year.
Bill E Pilgrim
The whole Mr Pence Goes to the Theater thing is hilariously funny, I loved the part about how the theater should be a “safe space”.
So is Trump saying that the cast addressing a VP-elect was wrong, politically speaking? So politically, it was not right? Isn’t there an expression for that, hang on, it will come to me….
Corner Stone
@Bill E Pilgrim: “If loving you is wrong, I don’t wanna be right…”
Hmmm, that may not be where you were going with that.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Corner Stone: “Enforcing political correctness is okay as long as I’m the one doing it” I think is one of the verses anyway.
Major Major Major Major
@Bill E Pilgrim: always always always it is projection with these people.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: Was just about to type that. It’ll be written off as a business loss.
Gretchen
Betty: The stuffing recipe starts with a pound of butter – how could it not be good? I think it sounds fabulous, and would make it myself, but we have to go with gluten-free this year. Maybe I could make it with gf bread. I miss French bread.
Suzanne
@J R in WV: We are trying a new stuffing recipe from ATK this year that uses dried cherries. But we are also not doing a turkey, as we are all MEH about turkey. Costco has some awesome prices on standing rib roasts, so that is our plan.
Turkey kinda sucks. Even when it’s good, it’s mediocre, yanno?
Eric NNY
I have a confession. I rescued two abandoned outdoor cats to become my barn cats. The chickens brought rats. I’m feeding and veterinariang them, but I know they will kill some wildlife. They have bells around their neck. They’re certainly not top predator around these parts so they’re vulnerable as well. … I feel better now, but just a little.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Suzanne:
Nope, my turkey is great. Even the wife likes it and she hates turkey(Koreans don’t like turkey). That said, we’re doing kalbi this year(she’s cooking).
KS in MA
@efgoldman: Bless you, and happy Thanksgiving!
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne:
I’ve mentioned before that my dad and I ask for goose every year. My grandma did T-day every year until she died. She insisted. After she was 85, she let her daughter (my aunt) and her d-i-l (my mom) help; she wanted turkey – one couldn’t really argue. After she died, my brother claimed the holiday dinner. He likes turkey. Dad and I are screwed; we also will never get a mincemeat pie again.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: I don’t really dislike it, it’s just never awesome or memorable. The best I have ever had is still….fine. It’s fine.
I like all the other Thanksgiving food, though. Except for that fucking monstrosity in which sweet potatoes are destroyed by marshmallows. Fuck. So gross.
It is the culinary equivalent of wearing socks with your sandals. #thecircleiscomplete
Emdee
The stuffing recipe looks pretty suspicious to me. “One loaf” of French bread? How much is that? Are your loaves the same size as the recipe writer’s?
I love Serious Eats’ stuffing recipe for classic sage and sausage stuffing, but I think it’d be too bland just substituting mushrooms for the sausage and veggie broth for the chicken broth. It turns out, however, that Kenji made a recipe for The Best Vegan Stuffing. It makes a 13″ by 9″ pan, and it tells you how much of the ingredients you need in measurements you can verify. If I had to do a vegetarian stuffing, I would definitely start with this recipe.
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/11/best-vegan-stuffing-thanksgiving-recipe-vegetarian.html
GrandJury
@Jeffro: 18-25’s voted something like 85% for Clinton.
So getting new or occasional voters on board is not the problem. And once they start voting Democrat I don’t think they change very easily as they get older.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: I like turkey. I also like goose. I also like mincemeat pie. I am aware of all Internet Thanksgiving traditions.
Basically, if it’s on the table at Thanksgiving dinner, I’m eating it unless it eats me first.
BillinGlendaleCA
@GrandJury:
No, the problem is getting them to the polls.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne:
I was unaware of such a monstrosity. And, honestly, why would one wear socks with sandals? It rather defeats the point of sandals. The only exception I make is for soccer and rugby players at a tournament. Switching out of cleats and into slides between games is a good idea.
J R in WV
@Larkspur: No, they’ll run freely around their range … like yard birds.
Major Major Major Major
@GrandJury: no no you’re doing it wrong. you need to blame all your problems on millennials.
ETA: or people of color! you know, blame anybody except the people who voted for Trump.
Suzanne
There is a fabulous vegetarian stuffing recipe in the Joy of Cooking, edition roughly 1998, when I went to college and my mother didn’t want me eating ramen every night. It might even be vegan, but if it isn’t, I’m sure it isn’t difficult to adapt it.
It uses cornbread, which is the best kind of bread for stuffing (don’t agree? WANNA FIGHT?!?!), and I usually bake that myself, too.
Food food food, I love eating.
Amir Khalid
As I have no Thanksgiving dinner plans or stories to share (obviously), I’ll just mention that I’m in the market for a budget smartphone, to cost not more than 800 ringgit or so. My year-old but long-obsolete Lenovo won’t support the apps I need, Grumble. Are these smartphone jobbies something you need to buy new every couple of years? I really hate that.
Mnemosyne
Hey, it’s actually RAINING in the City of Angels tonight. I must have brought it back from SF with me.
(Actually, it is the same weather system. Miraculously, it did not dissipate before it got to us like the rain had been doing the last few times.)
BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: Exactly, we need to spend our efforts getting the folk that khead was listening to(ya know WWC’s, aka Common Clay of the West) to embrace our candidates.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Amir Khalid:
Yes.
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
I prefer sourdough stuffing. Cornbread stuffing is too crumbly. Yes, I like my stuffing in a bread pudding-like glob.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: I love sweet potatoes, but I hate that traditional sweet-potato-plus-marshmallow casserole thing that everyone else seems to love. Like, just make sweet potato pie. It tastes better and is more honest about its role as dessert.
Sweet potatoes with marshmallows is like your drunk uncle who gets loud and hits on the bridesmaids at all of the weddings. Always there, overly aggressive, cloying, and more pathetic with each passing year.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Storms usually conk out when the get to Pt. Conception; this one doesn’t look like it did(seeing alot of yellow and orange on the ol’ radar).
ETA: According to the ol’ rain gauge outside the cave entrance, we’ve already got 6/10’s of a inch of rain today.
Major Major Major Major
@BillinGlendaleCA: I think you might be unclear on the concept of blame.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
I’ve been playing around with tarot cards for my plot and character stuff. There are a surprisingly large number of “tarot spreads for writers” blog posts out there.
Plus they had an electronic version of my favorite tarot deck as an iOS app for only $3.99, so I didn’t even have to go dig out the physical deck of cards.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: I eat the turkey, but I go for the dark meat. And now that my brother is doing it, I take seconds of EVERYTHING, because my s-i-l is hyper-sensitive and frequently misses my sense of humor – my brother gets it (and we laugh). And my ex intimidated her somehow. S-i-l is a wonderful person who does more good in a day than I do in a month, but, boy, is she high maintenance.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: Please take your Snark-o-meter™ in for servicing first thing tomorrow. Maybe it got wet in the rain.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@efgoldman:
It’s the on-going dumbing down of America. Ignorant people tend to vote Republican (and against their own interests). The GOP knows this and thus aren’t too concerned about improving education.
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: I still have an iPhone3 with the 3S software. Sorry.
J R in WV
@Suzanne:
You need to try a local farm raised organic turkey, instead of a commercial Buttermilk bird. There are bad turkeys out there, 4 sure, but there are very good ones too!
Suzanne
@Mnemosyne: I really hate mushy food. I have teeth for chewing, damnit. So the texture of cornbread is the best part of me.
Major Major Major Major
@BillinGlendaleCA: and boy did it rain!
Not that much actually. But it rained!
Suzanne
@J R in WV: I’ve bought the fancy-ass turkeys. They’re fine. They’re just all turkeys.
Larkspur
@Omnes Omnibus: Why would one wear socks with sandals? Well, I don’t, although I’d like to. Here’s why: even in socks, my feet get to breathe and almost frolic in the out of doors. My feet would definitely be happier in sandals with no socks, or even better, with neither socks nor sandals. But, alas, my bunions are so huge they have their own zip codes, and years of running have left my toenails looking more like tiny hooves. I am not complaining because my feet do everything I ask them to do, and I SO appreciate it that I don’t ask them to look pretty. Hence no sandals & socks, but I’d sure like to. Too inhibited. But I am thankful for my feet.
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
When you make sourdough bread stuffing, you’re supposed to leave the crusts on. That gives it a little extra chewiness. But i think we can join hands and agree that Wonder Bread stuffing is an abomination unto this earth, unless the person it’s being served to has no teeth left at all.
@Major Major Major Major:
It rained pretty darn good, at least while I was tromping around. But my feet stayed dry and toasty, which is my primary consideration in the rain. My backpack was slightly damp by the time I got to Oakland, but everything was dry by this morning.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: My paternal grandmother (of pure NE Puritan stock) was the best nonprofessional baker I have ever come across. Her mincemeat pies were amazing.
Omnes Omnibus
@Larkspur: My dad has ugly feet. He does not wear sandals.
frosty
@Amir Khalid: I had to give up my Motorola Droid 2 with the real keyboard when if finally decided to be too damn fussy about charging. Because of my peculiar desire for the smallest possible device I ended up with a (shudder) iPhone SE. Not bad, at least until the Apple Borg decides to brick it. I don’t know ringgets from ringtones but if it’s in your budget give it a look. #noiswearididntdrinkthekoolaid
John Weiss
Vegetarian dressing?! No oysters?!!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: Heavy rain just got started here(we’ve had light rain all day), 7/10’s of in inch now.
Omnes Omnibus
@John Weiss: Keep the oysters for shooters.
BillinGlendaleCA
@John Weiss:
Oh gawd no! No fungus either, tyvm.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: Srsly. If you don’t want people to see your feet, then wear shoes! We don’t want to see your socks, either!
I must say, if I can get just one person to put down the Tevas and put on some non-flashy sneakers, I will feel like I’ve done some good in the world.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hey, they dropped a game to UMD this weekend, but they’ll still be ranked #1 or #2 when the polls come out tomorrow.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne: Changing subjects slightly: there are two cultures in the US about education. One demands that the degree be immediately turned into a job: business, engineering, computer science, etc. The other does not: English, Math, Government, History, Bio, Anthro, etc.
Mnemosyne
@efgoldman:
For some reason, the women in my family don’t cook, and several of them married men who cook instead. My uncle who lives out here in CA (my aunt’s second husband) makes filled pastas from scratch and the dough is stretched thinner than anything you can buy commercially.
I like to cook for special occasions, but I had to learn it from home ec class and experimentation.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Major Major Major Major:
Alfred the Great, or Alfred the butler?
Major Major Major Major
@BillinGlendaleCA: stay dry! We’re done here for now.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: You know I was talking about football. But, yeah, WI is always going to be a good hockey school. Remember Mark Johnson?
Larkspur
@Omnes Omnibus: Does he ever just go barefoot? He must, or else you wouldn’t have witnessed the horror, unless he told you. Tell your dad’s feet that I sympathize, and that someday our feet will find wings to the summer lands cause all god’s children’s feet got wings. This will happen after we’re dead, but you cannot prove me wrong.
frosty
@Amir Khalid: FYmobileWP.
Anyway, the Droid crapped out and I went with the iPhone 6e ’cause it’s smal. No problems yet unless Apple bricks it. And yes the rest of my iPhone family mocks me. #!ireallydidntdrinkthekoolaid
GrandJury
So there is some conspiracy talk that the vote actually was rigged. The biggest thing for me is that, other than the usual outliers, all the polls were wrong. Even that gold standard Ohio poll was wrong. This is the first time they were ever wrong across the board. So that one fact is kind of curious. I normally don’t buy into conspiracies but I would like to see more analysis of everything.
I don’t know how votes are counted county by county state by state. From what little I know, it would be pretty difficult to rig a national election across multiple states. They only needed to rig 4 and Trump coincidentally won’t those 4 by about the same amount (about 1%).
http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/rigged-election-hillary-clintons-early-voting-lead-florida-mathematically-insurmountable/114/
Omnes Omnibus
@Larkspur: Inside the house. With only immediate family present.
frosty
@Amir Khalid:
PS yeah it seems they only design them to last about 2 yearsxbe ause there’s all this shiny new stuff you’ll be able to do.
I used to tell people my phone had 2 apps… I could both send *and receive* calls. Ooh ooh, and text! 3 apps!!
Omnes Omnibus
@GrandJury: No one takes you seriously, derf.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Omnes Omnibus: I can’t forget Mark Johnson, since he’ll be on the other bench when I’m in Madison in two weeks.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Fine. Three. Happy now?
Larkspur
@Omnes Omnibus: Well, that’s okay then. I am more inhibited than that, and that’s why I never married or had children. Pregnant? Sure. Barefoot? No way. Unmixy things.
Suzanne
@efgoldman: Yeah, I am fine with the first two cultures. I mean, my undergrad degree is a BFA in visual arts, so I definitely see the value in the non-career-path path. And I know that college is not what everyone can do, or what everyone wants to do.
I have less-than-zero use for the people in the third culture, though. And I fucking quit my job as a single parent and took out a ludicrous amount of student debt and moved in with my mom and nearly worked myself into major medical problems to get through graduate school and to get my license, and what I do is complex and important and valuable and I am better-than-fair at it, and you’re goddamn right that I expect to be compensated at a higher rate than the drywall dudes on my job sites. Sorry not sorry.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: My mom got a BS in Ed. (later an M.S.) and my dad a BA in Econ. But they lived in a weird academic/artistic/political place in the mid to late 60s. They pushed me at LACs. Hard. I think they were right.
Edited.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: My point was trying to be that the anti-edu folks are a minority. I may not have gotten there.
fuckwit
@GrandJury: Meh. Way too hard to do even across 4 states. It’s not rigged if only 43% vote nationwide. It’s not rigged if your campaign does stupid-ass things like go “stealth” in those states in some kind of brain-fuck (brain-dead?) attempt to “psyche out” the competition by not looking like you care about those states. It’s not rigged if you have a stupid voting system that gives smaller states disproportional say over the government than more populous states, and failing multiple times by throwing elections to the person who lost the popular vote– oh, wait, that is rigged. On purpose though, and not in secret– we’ve known about this problem since at least 1789.
Omnes Omnibus
@fuckwit: Fuck you.
Mnemosyne
@fuckwit:
I guess it depends on if one’s definition of “fraud” includes minority voter suppression in key states that would otherwise have gone to Hillary. But I’ve already had people here tell me that voter suppression doesn’t matter and anyway it couldn’t have made a difference in those states even though all 4 of them combined were decided by the number of voters who could comfortably fit into a football stadium, so …
BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Seconded.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: I see you found your hobby horse again?.
Glidwrith
@Omnes Omnibus: Why can’t you two go buy a goose and prepare it yourselves along with the rest of dinner? Might change a few minds…
grumpy realist
@NotMax: I don’t think nashi ever stand up to cooking. They’re only crisp while raw.
I’d suggest water chestnuts or lotus root if you want something crunchy in the dressing. Pine nuts are good as well.
(Damn, now I’m getting HUNGRY!!!)