And who doesn’t love Thanksgiving leftovers? If you’re still looking at leftovers in the fridge from Thanksgiving Day, you may want to consider ordering pizza tonight … just sayin’.

White Supremacy Turkeys

The media continues to fall and fail for us. Hard. Over the weekend “all the news that’s fit to print” – The New York Times – included a profile of Tony & Maria Horvater, Ohio Nazi sympathizers. Although the Times stopped short of publishing a wedding photo of the happy couple, we can assume from the first paragraph that the Horvaters like pineapple.

Ugh. The normalization of extremism, hate, fear.  In response to The Times, Twitter user Mangy Jay offered suggestions for future reporting. In the Twitter thread, she breaks down the missed opportunities, the in-depth inquiries The Times took a pass on, and she includes a photo of Traditionalist Worker Party members in their on-duty uniform. Hardly wedding wear. Hardly attire for prom. No, they are scary and threatening and their pineapple slicer was left at home.

Pretend news. The NYTimes just wanted in on the fun. Covering a Nazi sympathizer as normal. Pshht. Stop it NYTimes.

Just stop. 

Mashed potatoes & salty gravy

The first presidential election I voted in, Ronald Reagan won in a landslide.  And my thoughts that the US operates as an imperfect union formed during the Reagan years and I wondered into Reagan and his wild Star Wars defense which bankrupted the Soviet Union and brought Mikhail Gorbachev to signing ‘uncle’ — we are “unable to compete” –at the Reagan White House.  In 1980, Putin would have been 28 years old and in his mid-30’s when Mikhail Gorbachev caved.

And now 29 years later, he’s baaack. Is Putin exercising a long-game against Reagan and the United States with the 2016 Trump Shit Storm Administration election meddling? Check. Megalomaniac installed as Prescedense? Check. Puppetmaster? Check.

Democracy fail? Eh? Regular programming has been interrupted. Stay tuned.

Dressing or stuffing: Druffing

I grew up and “dressing” was the dry bread doctored up on a stove top – “start with a stick of butter” – and maybe finished in the oven. Regardless, dressing did not inhabit the turkey cavity. Stuffing is just that. Dry bread shoved up in the turkey’s body cavity.

Historically, I didn’t care whether I was eating “stuffing” or “dressing” as long as it did not contain giblets.

Druffing. “Start with a stick of butter.” Thanks, mom.

The druffing last week included tasty bits of turkey sausage which is probably a sneaky way of introducing giblets.

And it was good.

Pumpkin pie

So today in the Washington Post, I see that a woman is running against Putin in Russia’s 2018 elections. She may only be Putin’s stooge but still.  Consider Russia without Putin as puppetmaster. Consider Prescedense Trump reporting for duty sir to a woman! (And since I can’t locate the WaPo article, here’s a link to The Guardian on Ksenia Sobchak. And maybe Putin would prefer to deal with Trump through Ms. Sobchak. I know. I know. I’m just sayin’. Could be. Ya never know.)

Perhaps the same hackers who worked on our elections in 2016 could influence their own in 2018? Surely one of them has an opinion on running Russia and who and how best. Or maybe Anonymous is already on it? Hold the pumpkin pie.

Fair elections? Gone. Banana splits for everyone!

Found! Cashews between the sofa cushions

Electronic hypochondria

Since the announcement that net neutrality is up for sale on the chopping block will be a fond memory, it seems my internet has slowed down.

Oh fiddlesticks! Imagination and the power of suggestion. I am always the slowest component in an electronic exchange but that doesn’t mean my electronic devices aren’t preemptively slowing in preparation for the return to exclusively scribbling in notebooks.

Or maybe it’s because of Cyber Monday. All that internet shopping traffic is slowing me down.

When the ride is electric.

When sharing a ride in an electric car, how do you split gas transportation costs?

Asking for a friend.

Compound words vs. hyphenated.

Is shitstorm a closed compound word? Should it be hyphenated?

Again, asking for a friend.

Nearing the end …

… of my scribbling notebook. Notes from the 2017 MAA Conference on the page opposite and upside down of where I’m writing state “Even Chuck Norris can’t square the circle.”¹

And just for today, this gives me pause, makes me smile, and gives me hope.

We can try. We can turn a problem over. We can examine it’s guts. But we can’t explain everything.

Yet.

¹ Dr. David Richeson, Mathematics Department, Dickinson College, presentation “Four Problems from Antiquity,” July 27, 2017. Chuck Norris can’t, but I’m on it! After I find my straight edge, any day now.