Thanksgiving and All That

I hope those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday had a nice time. I had a mid-afternoon dinner at the lakeside home of some friends and neighbors, the Wexlers. Despite the fact that such things are seldom called for in country living, I broke out the good jeans and an actual sport jacket for the occasion. With a pocket handkerchief, even! Well, sort of...

Like my natty pocket handkerchief? The maker is a hip and
happening high-style fashion brand called KN95.

I had a lovely time. The people (only two of whom I had met before this week) were accomplished and engaging and great to talk to, and I joked that the dinner was the best meal I've had in the decade of the 2020s—except I wasn't joking, it really was. A very nice occasion, and big thanks to Ilene and Philip for including me. It's not a good day to be away from family! (I did have a nice call with Xander, though.)

Along with many other people, I'm not very happy with the way a lot of things are going in my country and the world these days. But I was heartened to read online that a number of States have banned retail sales on Thanksgiving so their employees can celebrate the holiday just like they were actual citizens of our nation. Because of course, as you know, there's been a War on Thanksgiving in recent years, as the remorseless juggernaut of Christmas seeks to invade and annex ever greater swaths of temporal territory, not to mention mindshare and money. Another thing regarding Thanksgiving I ran across—well, actually it was shoved under my nose, by Apple News—was a feature on Buzzfeed (rule of life: never click on Buzzfeed! You only have one life and you can never get wasted time back!) featuring peoples' worst Thanksgiving horror stories. The one that made me laugh was this one from someone identified as LOTR4eva1 on Reddit:

"I was probably six or seven at the time. My mom's candles caught the kitchen curtains and some decorative greenery on fire. My sister and my cousins and I were at the 'kid’s table' in the kitchen while the adults were in the dining room, so no one of significance noticed anything except me. My mom threatened us with pain of death if we annoyed the adults during dinner, so I quietly walked to the dining room and stood silently for a minute or two, until someone noticed me, and only then did I politely say, 'Sorry, but the kitchen’s on fire.' My mom still gives me grief about my prioritizing politeness over sense...."

Fortunately we had no such excitement yesterday. All was very civilized, convivial, and pleasant, just as Thanksgiving is supposed to be. I hope yours was all that too.

Mike

Book o' the Week

Our National Monuments: America's Hidden Gems by Q.T. Luong. Just out! Brand new. Publishing isn't easy. Our friend QT (Tuan) Luong tells me that his new book will have to sell 6,200 copies out of a print run of 7,500 just to break even! And that's not including the labor and time it took to make the photographs. Fortunately, the predecessor book, Treasured Lands, has done exceedingly well. It has won 12 international awards and is now in its 6th printing.

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Featured Comments from:

KeithB: "Recently seen meme: 'I will stop my war on Christmas once it stops its illegal occupation of November!'"

Comments

[James]

While I support not having Black Friday sales invade Thanksgiving day, closing all stores is a bit of an overreaction. For example, grocery stores should be allowed to open into the early afternoon, so that forgetful cooks can grab that emergency last secret ingredient for the meal. Plenty of time for grocery store workers to get to dinner with friends and family.

[Malcolm Myers]

Great self-portrait. It's been several years since I've seen a picture of you and in my mind's eye you always had, shall we say, a fuller face and figure. Your dieting has clearly helped, you look very well.

[Thank you, I feel very well too.

Dieting is all relative. When I was dating Sara and walking two miles every day I got all the way down to 221 (from my peak of 273) and I was very proud of myself. I thought, if only I could stay at this weight. Then a few years ago I went on a full plant-based diet and got down to just under 200. Then last May I went off the plant-based diet (well, not completely off, but I stopped being strict) and now I have regained a lot of weight...and I'm back to 221, except that now I am ashamed of myself and consider myself fat! But that's the same weight I used to be so proud of. It's all relative. --Mike]

[Moose]

Any particular reason you are reversed in the pic?

[Taken in the mirror. It's a selfie. --Mike]

[Hélcio J. Tagliolatto]

Oh! No more beard! And thin!

Old Mike has changed. Good thing the wit of his writings haven't changed!

[Brian]

Have you always had the superman curl? Or are you really Clark Kent's secret identity?

Happy Holidays ;)

[One thing I can never claim is being super! Walter Mitty maybe. --Mike]

[darlene]

Well, Hello Handsome!
Glad your holiday was shared with others.

[Jim Arthur]

That is one sublime Calvin Klein pose you've got goin' there. Well done! :-)

[Andrew J.]

My first impression was that you were holding a glass of wine until I realised it was your smartphone! Cheers anyway.
About the reversed image, do you know that all selfies (with the face-camera) are also reversed? And they are not taken facing a mirror. Stupid idea.

[James]

You do realize they are trying to cast the next James Bond, don't you?

[I've been looking to prop up my income a bit. I can't do my own stunts, though. --Mike]

[scott kirkpatrick]

My android has a selfie mirror on-off slider, so they don't all do it.

[MikeR]

I called my wife over to see your selfie. She said, He's one handsome dude.

[Rod S.]

Nice pic, Mike!

I took a moment to realise that it was you!

Well done.

[Richard Parkin]

Not sure that’s a selfie — the term was coined for the face camera and I’m fairly sure iPhones can be set to reverse those.
There should be a name for ‘mirror-portraits’ in which taking camera also features unlike a true selfie.

[Peter R]

Your fire story made me smile. 20 years ago when my daughter was about 4, she interrupted me while I was on the PC.
Hannah : "Daddy can you come in the other room?"
Me (distracted) : "Hannah I'm busy"
Hannah : "Daddy!"
Me (still distracted): "What?"
Hannah : "Daddy it's an emergency. The televison is on fire"
Me : panic - and it was indeed smoking...... She's always been very sensible.

[hans muus]

@Andrew J : Not the case here (iPhone 7). True, the face-camera produces a mirror image, presumably for mirror-like purposes, but as soon as the button is pressed, a picture shows up where left is left, right is right and texts are readable in the usual way. Clever - think of how silly a reversed Notre-Dame or Tower of London (even if only partly visible because the face of a holiday maker is blocking the other part) would look.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

You’re a very dapper fellow there, Mike! And you’re a vanguard of a new fashion statement with the new-age pocket square! I see a cover shoot for Esquire and several fashion labels following suit!

[c.d.embrey]

I don't eat either Turkey or Ham, so I had some rice and Kosher hot dogs for Thanksgiving dinner.

This is Tink, who has a better, and more expensive, haircut than I do.

BTW it is 63 °F in my neck-of-Orange County this evening.

[Dillan]

Happy Thanksgiving, Mike.

[Jnny]

I taught my kids that the first word out of their mouth in an emergency is "Emergency!" It has stood us well in several near disasters over the years.