Tryptophan Coma

So much turkey...

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

-- Robert Frost

Muppet Rhapsody

Happy Thanksgiving

No Experience Needed

Does this graph make anybody besides me nervous? Especially since the Obama administration presumes to change the American economy in their image?

Woo Hoo

It's time to rock. Blur performing "Song 2."

Blur - Song 2

The only Palin post

I'm not the biggest Sarah Palin fan - she's got to prove herself to me in the policy & ideas department first - but I will say this for her: she drives the right people absolutely crazy.

Or as David Harsanyri said today - "all you haters out there force me to root for her."

Jason Aldean: Why

Jason Aldean - Why

www.yallwire.com

Lileks on Pixar

Sorry, one more Bleat link: Lileks discusses Pixar here.

Wall-E is plucky & cheerful, but horribly lonely; whoever figured out the little scene where he rocks himself to sleep at the end of his day should get laurels and a lifetime of champagne. “Up” puts it up front. “Toy Story 2” has that rip-out-your-heart song by the doll who was left under the bed when her girl grew up and forgot her. “Monsters Inc,” less so – everyone’s well-adjusted, except for the evil lizard – but Sully’s scene at the end is pretty much every parent’s dream, a trip back to toddlerhood.

Maybe that’s why I don’t mind that they’re making “Cars 2.” Slogan: “Because we don’t need to rip your heart out every summer, do we?”

Quotable

From Lileks' The Bleat:

The difficult part of the day is not sinking into the Slough of Carelessness, and letting all the obligations and duties float past while I twirl in the eddies.

Veterans Day & Remembrance Day

Originally conceived as a commemoration of the end of the Great War, Armistice Day became Veterans' Day in America and Remembrance Day in the UK, Canada, and elsewhere after the Second World War.

I wonder why we diverged; perhaps because America did not suffer such grievous losses in WWI, we tend to avoid the more somber connotations.

Since then, more Americans and members of the Commonwealth have answered the call, many to the sacrifice of their own lives.

All I can do is thank you. For the freedoms that I am able to enjoy, unlike so many, thank you.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The Unexpected Peaceful End

Twenty years ago today, the Berlin Wall fell. The East German government announced a new travel policy allowing East Germans to leave - at will.

The Wall fell. A wall built for the purpose not of keeping invaders out but keeping subjects within fell.

The Berlin Wall, a plain and obvious reminder of the tyranny that the Soviet Union imposed was shattered; and the world changed again. My grandparents saw that wall be built; they never imagined that it would come down in their lifetimes.

What it has become, we are still trying to understand.

The Telegraph has an excellent feature with background information.

ABC News has posted some archival footage on YouTube:
Nov. 9, 1989 Special Report
Nov. 10, 1989
Nov. 10, 1989 Nightline

And National Review has some pieces:
Centuries in the Making
The Road from 1989
Remembering the Fall
Symposium

Wasatch Fall

One last glorious day of fall.

Losin' Lately Gambler

Corb Lund - A Game In Town Like This