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An idea whose time has come, because if you're going to act like a clown you might as well dress the part. Via BoingBoing.

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Ladies and gentlemen, the 12 most baffling genres of stock photos and accompanying explanation (via Arthur). That is all.

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Yeah, I know, diabetic coma-inducing, but WANT.



Sweet! Via BoingBoing.

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Damn, I woke up with my right foot in pain, and it hasn't let up all day. Good job I didn't have to go anywhere! Maybe next time I'll get a fictional disease (via BoingBoing). Then again, compared with some of them I think I'll take my chances with a bum foot...

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And now, this brief message:



The book is probably cute, but I think I'll stick with the videos.

Thanksgiving 2011

As promised, my annual Thanksgiving photos! Yesterday we went to my cousin's house, and all the photos I took from there are up on my Facebook page. But today we had another Thanksgiving for just the two of us. Here's the menu:



I forgot to put potatoes on the menu, because Robin made those for himself. Here's how the spread looked after everything was cooked:



And my plate:



Kitties were intensely interested:



Robin just seemed confused:



I'm grateful for so many things - that we have a roof over our heads, that I have a good job that I love with people whom I admire and like quote a lot, that we live in a nice quiet neighborhood and house, that we have our health, that we have such wonderful family and friends, and that I'm still excited about writing this blog 9+ years in. I hope your Thanksgiving was terrific, and that the coming holiday season is everything you wish it to be.

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As yesterday was Thanksgiving with family, I've decided today is Thanksgiving with just me and Robin. I'm cooking a turkey breast and a number of trimmings; will probably take my traditional Riggs Feast photos later. I will not be making turkey-shaped gelatin concoctions (via BoingBoing), however.

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Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow USA-ans! This is probably my favorite holiday - it's secular, it occurs during my favorite season, and it's all about family and food. Plus, I love the idea of a harvest festival, that seems to be something most cultures have had ever since humans became agrarian. After watching the parade on TV, we're heading up to my cousin Mara's house, where I will of course be at the adult table, but I love how Matthew Inman reminds us of the differences between Thanksgiving as a kid vs. Thanksgiving as an adult. Have a great day, everyone!

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Let's give thanks for kitties with Kitten Album Covers, Part 2!

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For those of you who can't quite picture relative money, how bad inequality is in this country, etc., I'm guessing lots of people are now going to be talking about Randall Munro's Money Chart. Really mind-blowing, meticulously researched work. Well done!

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Too tired, 10.5 hour day, must go to bed. All closed up, like these places (via Arthur). G'night!

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Is it too soon for some Occupy Lulz?

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As I'll be talking with my mom later today, because she likes 3D sidewalk paintings, here's Joe Hill's pavement art page (via BoingBoing).

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Much to do this weekend that didn't get done this afternoon, as I worked 4+ hours overtime. So I don't think I'll be blogging much. But someday, oh, someday. In the far, far future. Perhaps in a science-fictional one. Here's your handy timeline of media sf future stuff, via The Mary Sue.

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For those people just dying to prove how New York-centric we New Yorkers are, via BoingBoing here's ExtendNY, an interactive map that extends Manhattan's grid pattern worldwide. Apparently Robin's old haunts are somewhere around the intersection of 11,278th Avenue and 63,612 Street. And as Robin observes, when walking the world it's the avenues that really kill you. Interestingly, if we were to go strictly by the grid our cross-street would be named 280th, which is about 20 streets off from reality. Although it's essentially correct about Broadway, which runs through our neighborhood, being more the equivalent of 10th Avenue up these parts.

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Today, Neil Gaiman asks the non-musical question, what if Lord of the Rings were filmed noir-style in 1944?



Best not to watch this at full screen size, it hurts the eyes. Love the idea of Peter Lorre as Smeagle!

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How on earth could I have missed Marcel the Shell with Shoes On up until now?





Thanks, The Mary Sue!

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Want to feel as old as I do? Sure you do! Have a listen to (and look at) these all-but-obsolete sounds and machines. Via BoingBoing.

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Say, why not start this Sunday off with some nice music and a very cool video to go with it?

Hudson - Against The Grain from Dropbear on Vimeo.

Via BoingBoing.

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A lovely day indeed! Most of the morning was spent at the auto shop getting my car's quarterly oil change and safety check, but hey, they have free wifi so I was happy. And we checked out the new Whole Pocketbook Foods store in Yonkers, up on a hill where they're apparently building a mall as well as lots of condos. The view of I78 must be really spectacular, not to mention the view of the Stew Leonard's employees possibly quaking in their boots at the new competition or even more possibly surreptitiously submitting their resumes. In any case, a terrific afternoon for a short drive in a tuned-up vehicle. And this evening we watched the third Narnia movie, which only slightly confused me as I still haven't sat through the second. But way back once upon a time I know I read all of them - actually, twice upon a time, if I recall correctly. The plots and other niggling details, of course, I cannot recall at all. Which is why I have a library, so I can theoretically reread any of my fantasy and sf books whenever I want to and it'll still all seem like new again. Speaking of which, here's an interactive flowchart guide to NPR's top 100 fantasy and sf books (via io9), in case you have more time on your hands than I do.

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Via BoingBoing, another lovely Symphony of Science, this time featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson:



And now, I'll be moving onward to the edge of the curb to get the express bus to work...

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Considering my day job, I was very pleased to see this site called We are the 1 percent: We stand with the 99 percent (via Sheila Lennon). It's nice to see so many well-off people who realize exactly how lucky they are and who are working to change inequity.

Foggy Morning, Breakdown

Yeah, I've been taking photos lately. Here's a set from my phone's camera, which I took on the way to the bus yesterday. Note that the last three, from on the bus, are sans fog, as we were in Manhattan by that time. For those who don't like to click to Flickr, here's my favorite:



Not too shabby for a little phone camera! The next set, which I've put on Facebook, was taken this past Sunday, when we returned to Macy Park to assess the damage the freak pre-Hallowe'en snowstorm had caused. This one here is my car parked amid some of the major fallen branches:



Pretty scary. No use in taking a panorama photo, either - the trees were either bare or had too many branches down or were stubbornly refusing to change.

The trees around us are currently peak or a little past peak, with that wonderful russet color I wait all year to see. Here's a photo snapped from my camera phone around 4:30 this afternoon from outside my ophthalmologist's office:



This one's exclusive to Blogger. I like to spread around where I store my photos cloud-wise (although I'm leaning more and more to Facebook, that was a pretty easy upload from iPhoto). Oh, and I passed my visual field test and all other eye exam stuff with flying colors, in case you were wondering.

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And now for this commercial message brought to you by the Twitter page Ads of Yore (via BoingBoing). That is all.

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Darn it if the Muppet folks' scheme to get me to want to actually see the movie isn't working:



Via The Mary Sue. Of course, by "see the movie" I inevitably mean "wait to buy the DVD."

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Something tells me Elvis Costello did this bit for his twin boys:



Via Neil Gaiman.

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Speaking of kitties, as I just was, here's a new video from someone called Cyriak, whose stuff tends to live on in my nightmares, so be forewarned:



It's clever and pretty and creepy all at the same time! Via BoingBoing.

Belated Friday Cat Blogging*

We always celebrate Datsa's birthday on Hallowe'en, as I was told when I got him that he was born in the autumn. This past Monday he turned 19, and Robin snapped the yearly picture of me and my kitty together:



He isn't really struggling, he's purring, he just doesn't like to look in the camera (unlike his 14½-year-old sister who adores posing). It took me a few tries to get a shot of him where I could actually see his eyes:



I swear, he's going to outlive us all, this one.

*(Friday Cat Blogging is ™ Kevin Drum)

Silly Site o' the Day

Remember, remember, this 5th of November
The subprimes and mortgages plot
I know of no reason why foreclosure treason
Should ever be forgot
The banks, the banks
The one percent
Make class war 'til people are indigent
Then when the people have had enough
They send their goons in to get rough
By perseverence the truth wins out
And that's what Occupy's all about!

Here's a short video of some Guy Fawkes Day (actually Bonfire Night) festivities in Robin's old haunts in Lewes:



We were going to get our joint account and my savings out of one of the bigger banks on this Bank Transfer Day, or Move Your Money Day, or whatever you wish to call it, but too much else to do, I'm afraid. At least I got my money out of Bank of America last month!

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Via Robin and our Facebook friends, the definitive Snopes listing of snappy answers to dumb tourist questions (do scroll down for the Australian version).

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Is there anything more expected this time of year than leftover candy hierarchy (via BoingBoing)?

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At this point it's a few weeks until the end of Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas season, but I'm already spinning tunes in my head. And naturally, when it comes to the carols I'm pretty much a sucker for Jingle Cats and such. So I laughed out loud when I saw this on I Can Has Cheezburger?:



You know, back in the day McCartney was known as "the cute one," but I have to say, they're pretty much all cute as far as I'm concerned. Okay, one more:



"Is we not cute?" Yes, yes, I fear you are.

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Yum, Top Chef is back! I hope they explore ice cream soon. Did you know ice cream has a lot to say?



Via The Mary Sue.

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White Rabbits, and how about we begin November with the words of yet another Republican crazy?



Via BoingBoing. The thing is, the bad lip reading doesn't really make him look that much crazier than usual, does it?