I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday, I think. It's truly a thing that everyone can do together, without worrying about offending anyone, unless it's because it's a typically American holiday. And let's face it: If that offends, then I'm happy to offend.

I cooked a turkey this year, for the first time ever. Being until recently a vegetarian, I was baffled by the various organs that I pulled out of the carcass, all neatly delivered in a little plastic bag. I realized that it was all probably edible, but I balked at eating the bagged innards, in the fear that one of them was the gizzard, which supposedly leaves a bad taste.

Treating Europeans to Thanksgiving is an enormous responsibility, but I think I pulled it off without disgracing my ancestors. By all accounts, my Southern Cornbread Dressing was not only edible, but delicious. I never realized that the defining taste of Thanksgiving Dressing is sage, of all things, and I was struggling Thursday afternoon with a tasteless mash of cornbread and gravy. But a few panicked phone calls to Mom can solve almost any crisis, and she finally, after all these years, spilled the recipe.

The in-laws were over, and I was able to feed and water them. There was French wine, German beer, and Southern American food. In short, there was much to be thankful for. And that's what I like about Thanksgiving: That reminder to sort out the things that make you happy, and be thankful for them. It's a good tradition; there's plenty of time to sweat the small stuff.

Hugs, Rube.

Technorati Tags: thanksgiving

Being a pompous douchebag, as the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina unmistakably is, does have its drawbacks. Can you imagine what kind of dishonest life you would have to lead if, like Edwards, you had to apologize nationally, in humiliating fashion, for trying to find your kids a Playstation 3 at Wal-Mart?

John Edwards _ a vocal critic of the retailer _ asked his local Wal- Mart store for help in getting the potential 2008 presidential candidate a Sony PlayStation 3. Edwards said a volunteer did so by mistake.

Edwards told The Associated Press that the volunteer "feels terrible" about seeking the game unit at Wal-Mart a day after his boss criticized the company, saying it doesn't treat its employees fairly.

Being an antisocial libertarian helps me immeasurably when it comes to lemming-like materialism. Were I not such a late adopter of technology, I would go into Wal-Mart myself and root around for Playstations 3; I would do this without a bad conscience, and would not have to apologize to anybody. Trust me, if Hitler's Electronics had them in ample supply, and at an acceptable price, I would walk in smiling with Visa in hand.

And now, as John Edwards contorts himself into various contrite postures, blaming his actions on subordinates, Playstations are most likely already in the homes of Wal-Mart executives across the country. Every Wal-Mart employee in North Carolina now has the opportunity to buy one before the good Senator. It's too bad they only make about $2 an hour, else they could bedeck the trailer with Christmas cheer, whilst a gloom hangs about the Edwards Manse.

Technorati Tags: consoles, politics, ps3

'Kubuntu' is the Swahili word for, 'Suck it, luser!'

For a lark, I downloaded the 4.5GB DVD for Kubuntu Linux. Ubuntu, upon which it's based, is the current darling of the Linux scene, so I figured I'd see how long it's come along since I last installed it.

Let's see...

• No MP3 support, even for network streams like you'll find at Shoutcast
• Major headache getting my ATI Radeon X1600 to work with 3D screen savers
• Refresh rate capped at 75Hz
• Printer sharing doesn't work
• Zero progress on sound card configuration
• Default resolution of 1600x1200 is a bit...ambitious. I can't find any way to change it permanently
• Applications like Firefox, Thunderbird, KOffice, Scribus, et. al. not included
• Did this thing really just ask me to insert my install DVD?! What is this, 1998?
• System always locks up after KDE session logout

Ah well, at least in Windows I can change my default sound card without being a Dungeon Master.

Technorati Tags: ubuntu, linux

For no particular reason, here's a list of national sales tax rates of European countries.

via Europe for Visitors.

Technorati Tags: germans, travel