unclevlad

And watching football. And drinking. Especially if your team is an embarrassment on national TV. Grade school history portrayed it as a feast that the Indian tribes shared with the Pilgrims. Big mistake. Technically, it's still fall, but it's really too late to be a harvest festival in most places. It's well past first frost outside the Deep South and Southwest.,,and WELL past it for New England. If you go by the 1/4 of the year with the fewest hours of daylight...therefore, winter solstice is the midpoint (or, gee..Midwinter Day) rather than the start of winter, then winter starts basically at Halloween...the cross-quarter day. (Notice that the cross-quarter days are February 3rd, May 1, August 1, and October 31...beginning or end of months. Whereas the equinoxes and solstices are all in the middle. One almost suspects that the classical calendars considered the cross-quarter days to be the important ones.) So personally, I think of Thaksgiving as an early winter holiday.

You realize that compels me to quote Don Henley...chorus and outro removed...

Nope, it's this one: Yep. We're #3!! We're #3!!! And playing for #1!!! But it'll be tough. UMass is truly terrible consistently; no more than 4 wins since 2012 when they left the Colonial, and a combined 20-87 over the last 9 seasons. The Aggies would be right up there, but...they actually managed to get into a bowl game not that long ago. An aberration, to be sure. Oh...oh....CFP rankings...Ohio State just passed Bama. So it's Georgia, OSU, Bama, Cincy. Sheesh, Saban's a bum....#3???? Fire him!!!

To the surprise of few, the Giants realized in 20-odd games what Jerry Jones took 10 years to realize: Jason Garrett doesn't run offense very well. He got fired today. Question that comes to my mind is how long it'll be before someone else hires him as a coach. Or whether he maybe goes to media route, but he's never seemed to come across very well on camera. My, my. Chargers at Broncos. Fairly important game for the late slot. The coverage map isn't out...apparently it'll be released tomorrow...but the problem is, it's a CBS game, and CBS has only the 1 game this week. The other CBS games are Titans-Pats and Steelers-Bengals...both important. And, well, Houston and the Jets...eminently forgettable. Have to think Titans-Pats, as matchup of division leaders, will be the national, but Chargers-Broncos will draw a big western-states audience. Chicago at Detroit...yeah, that's a turkey game..... Edit: Just saw. The Adrian Peterson desperation play just ended. Peterson got cut.

The duck is in the bag getting properly lacquered. The first butternut squash was roasted over the weekend; made soup with some of it last night. Yum. Still have a second. The thought of roasting the seeds? I may still do it but it's hardly worthwhile. Got maybe a tablespoon of seeds from the first one.

And doing that in those countries is even more of a statement.

That's also not the first such report about the state of US democracy and/or freedom.

The XFL showed that another league is *possible*. Its timing was just unfortunate. And they're going for that latter spring into early summer window, which is quiet. Baseball's opening week is fun, but after that, the season's SOOOO long. College basketball's over. From a fan perspective, tho...playing all the games in one city? Say...what? How does that spark fan interest? In the world of watchmaking, there's a term: zombie brand. It's when a brand name with a good reputation in the past, but folded in the 70s when quartz watches disrupted the industry, is bought up by knock-off artist types making cheap junk. That's what these feel like: they're trying to sucker the old fans...if there are any, my gosh, that was 40 years ago!...with a product that seems to have no connection to the name. Oh, and they haven't said what city would be the host. Uhhhh....huh..... I'll put it at 50-50 that they never play a single game.

But with the short handle, it's unbalanced. Lodge is by far the most widely distributed brand. Bed Bath and Beyond has a Wall of Iron. Sportsman's Warehouse has it too, since it's good for camp cooking. Got my carbon steel pan there. Target and IIRC Wal-Mart have it. Victoria seasons a bit easier, and I prefer their handles a bit more, but we're not talking big differences.

Hey, the kid was honest. He liked it...but he wouldn't have paid the price. Which I get. He re-seasoned that pan multiple times; at that point, functionally, there won't be any difference between it and a Lodge or Victoria. And for $160, I can get...with a little searching...my fajita pan, comal (griddle) pan, and a 10 or 12 inch carbon steel skillet. (For higher heat, carbon steel works better, IMO. You don't have to baby it when cleaning, and with higher heat, that's more of an issue. And it's a LOT lighter and therefore easier to handle. I have a 12" square griddle with wide, sloped sides that I use regularly; it can hold 3 standard-size (4x4) slices or 2 large-size slices, plus 2 eggs (in egg rings), a 1/3 pound burger patty, or the like. (Lunch was, in fact, a pan-grilled egg and cheese sandwich.) The only downside? That pan's heavy.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin is not a death penalty state. I'm not an execution enthusiast, but there are cases where it's appropriate, and on the surface this is definitely one of them. The good news is...the accused was out on bail for some other stuff; his record is...busy. And the DA's going, oh boy, we blew it on that one! So with a list of charges a mile long...5 dead so far (several apparently are still in critical condition) and over 40 injuries, including 18 chlidren, with the guy's rap sheet, AND with the charges including intentional homicide...he'll certainly be held without bail, unless Wisconsin law doesn't allow it for some reason. I'd say this could be a relatively quick trial, but we all know that's a complete impossibility. But this one doesn't seem like it's gonna involve hair-splitting minutiae, and this guy is never, ever getting out.

That's why the prices start dropping so much. if all you focus on is Turkey Day, then, no, there's no chance you could *safely* get a 20 pound bird thawed in time. But some people do look past that...and figure, hey, if you can clear 1/3 of the total weight as meat, you're getting it for $1.50 a pound. It's somewhat tempting...even if the plan's just to thaw, then remove the breast pieces, and use most of the rest for turkey stock. One of the major commercial turkey processors puts out marinated turkey breasts; they're a decent choice. Could do the same here. Or stuff a chunk with mushrooms, onions, and bacon. Roast chunks in advance, shred; now you've got enchilada or burrito filling.

Speaking of birds...... For those of you who don't want to hassle a turkey simply because you're not in the mood for leftover turkey for a month...a wonderful alternative is a brined, roasted chicken. Brining is simple; it just means to give it a nice, long soak in salty liquid. Anything else is optional. The point of the brine is to get the salt WELL into the meat; this helps retain moisture and obviously helps season the whole bird. https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/brining-meat-zerz1508zcwil I have a funky brine for holidays...the strangest ingredient is a can of frozen raspberry lemonade. Why? Adds some sugar...check. Adds nice aromatic touches from the lemon and the raspberry...check. Other additions can include dried ginger, and dried orange or lemon zest. Not sure how much these can be tasted in the end. I've got some square 6 liter plastic containers with lids that holds 3 quarts of brine and a 5+ pound chicken perfectly. If you actually stop at the raspberry lemonade...a can of the concentrate isn't usually very expensive. I used to make this decently often on Friday nights, but I got lazy. Full birds are messier, and do take longer.

Where's the fun in that? And definitely, I heard WAY more cheers for the Steelers. Not the first time, tho. The Chargers aren't an LA team, they just have a house there. LA belongs to the Dodgers, Lakers, and Rams. The Clips have finally developed a following; the Angels...eh, they're Orange County. If the Clips are any measure, it'll take at least a decade for the Chargers to really settle in. Yes, it was a horrible move. And yeah, when the Steelers went ahead, I was already composing a post, writing the Chargers off for the year. They played an excellent game for about 48 minutes, then tried to implode. And ya gotta admit, the tipped-ball interception was a pretty freaky play, and a great play by the defender to scramble and dive to get it. Before the punt block, they were...checking...estimated 97% likely to win. Couple that with having lost 3 of 4, and this would've been a really, really bad loss. Right now, oddly enough, the top 4 teams are all division leaders; then there's 3 teams at 6-4, so they're the WCs. Oh, and don't look now, but the Pats lead the AFC East.

But ducks are. Mine should be about thawed. Tomorrow it goes into the oven bag with the spicy lacquer liquid. (Soy sauce, sesame oil, hoisin sauce, fake sugar, ancho chile powder rather than cayenne. 2 days suggested, I'll probably do 3.) Haven't done one of these in several years. Whole ducks used to be reasonable but they've gone up. And they're something of a pain to cook; there's that thick layer of insulating fat that gets rendered and needs to be drained off several times over the cooking period. But by the same token, OMG, does it taste good later!!!

Losing to Missouri is the death knell: I am only surprised...and that, not *that* much...that he was fired now. A loss would end the season, and for sure, no one would blink at that point. But technically, if they can win that, they'll be bowl-eligible...and there's 41 freakin' bowl games this year. It might be close. Athlon Sports reports there's 72 teams that are bowl-eligible, and 20 more that are one win away. It's noted there's 4 games matching up 2 teams in that position...Florida-FSU being one of em. But 6-6 is likely to get you into the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, or somesuch other mid-week, mid-afternoon, made-for-ESPN monstrosity. Side point: if they do? Take their opponents and give however many points the bookies want. To me, it's HIGHLY likely the Florida players will be singularly disinterested and the game has a high chance of being a debacle, particularly if the other team is one where even a minor bowl is something to be happy about.

Six months was the guideline for most of the US, so I got mine in mid-October. Still need to get the flu shot. Was gonna get em both but I forgot that CVS, where I got the booster, doesn't take Blue Cross. Perhaps I'll try to schedule it for Friday, Leftovers Day. Gonna have to restock the fridge that day anyway. EDIT: booked a flu shot just now...

And to circle back to the Rittenhouse case, if you're going to *carry* a firearm into a gathering, what does THAT say? When you're, let's face it, a clean-cut white *kid*...does anyone *expect* that you'll actually USE it? Not a skinhead. Not black. Not a strung-out druggie. We don't know how he carried himself with the weapon, but it is reasonable to say that a significant number of adults *won't* be intimidated at all. In fact, it'll be waving a red flag at them..."how dare this punk kid think he can scare ME?" One thing would probably help the Wisconsin firearms law WRT minors...and *shouldn't* raise hackles that much. Very simply: require that when carrying an acceptable firearm, said minor must be accompanied by an adult. If the fundamental standard in law is that a minor *generally* isn't considered competent to judge, in most situations. Well if that's the case, then how can the law not explicitly prohibit an unaccompanied minor from carrying a deadly weapon?

They aren't mathematically eliminated from the division, altho it's close. For a wild card? Technically, they're only 2 games back. At the moment, Vikes, Saints, and Niners are tied at 5-5, for 6th-8th. And remember they're going with 3 WCs this year. That said, they can maybe lose 1 more. 9-8 may well be good enough to make the playoffs, altho odds are, they're only 1-5 in the conference. That suggests they're probably not in good shape vis a vis the tiebreakers.

So did Cam. And Dak's down 10, with 10 minutes left. In a WEIRD game. And the Raiders lost. Pretty good day, long as the Chiefs don't implode here. And whoa, what's going on here? Bills lose again. Titans get waylaid...coulda made some good money on that game. Browns squeak by the Lions. So unless there's serious surprises...Cowboys are down 10, Arizona up 10, as the 2 minute mark approaches in both...Arizona will be the only team with 2 losses, after 11 games. To borrow from Joe Bob Briggs...this year in the NFL, anyone can lose at any time......

That the smiths who made them were aided by Sauron?

What possible justification can a judge have for becoming involved with another officer of the court, regardless of side? Pretty sure this is a different case, but it also goes to show the problems with trying to unseat a judge: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/08/14/wayne-county-judge-accused-sexually-harassing-women/3363245001/

Yeah...i saw a few, shall we say, less than complimentary comments about Mullen's game calling. And if he heeded to show well in his last 2 games as some columns wrote, well, losing to a team ranked 87 (out of 130 in FBS) is pretty bad. And another postgame comment: "We have to be mentally tougher. And that's on the coaches...and our preparation." Yeah, at this point? Pretty much an admission he's not up to the job in my book. Logan, at least...is your TV still intact?

So, slamming the judge on this sounds like sour grapes. He didn't write the details of the firearms law and it darn sure doesn't look like there was any room for interpretation. That said, I hesitated to comment on this thread initially because I agree: carrying the firearm, not simply in public, but into a situation where anger and hostility could be *assumed*, rationally challenges much, if not most, of the self-defense angles. But again, that's not how the law was written. I personally feel Rittenhouse deserves to be in jail. My standard's different...almost classical. It starts with: you don't draw a firearm unless you are prepared to use it. Extend that to this situation; Rittenhouse deliberately carried a weapon...why? That creates a presumption that he intends, or at least is willing, to use it. And his self-defense claims are FAR weaker. But that's not the law in Wisconsin. I'm not gonna touch the what-if's about similar scenarios with a black teen. Just this case. Those trying to make it a cause celebre for white privilege that the kid got off...sorry, but this really, really feels like knee-jerk reactions, that "oh the kid got off, it HAS TO BE WHITE PRIVILEGE!!" Sorry, folks, but it just doesn't look that way here. Bad law mixed with bad case handling.

My GOSH, I just saw the WORST!!!! goal line call I can remember...like...EVER. Bama-Arkansas. Hogs have the ball at the half yard line, run it into the line. Back doesn't blow through but the penetration's plenty good. 1. The back's body *clearly* gets over the goal line. 2. The back is able to *reach out*, and the ball has to be a good YARD into the end zone. On-field call is no TD...marked at the 6 inch line. RIDICULOUS. Overturned on review in an eyeblink. Bama's only up 17-14, late 2nd. Bama bashers still have hope.