"I have to go make a pie" - my wife, 1045PM, stone cold sober, not employing any euphemisms.

When the pie demons strike, their thirst must be satiated.

Thanksgiving II - Electric Boogaloo.

Friday after Thanksgiving, starring a turkey smuggled by suitcase from America to Liberia.  Filled with good foods, good funs, good peoples and good alcohols...  well done, all around.

"Hello.  We're still awesome.  Thank you very much." 

That is a man, who in his first year as an American, is rightfully proud of his turkey. 

I am clearly pontificating, as is my wont, on something I know nothing about. 

Dessert excellence. 

The wife's dessert plate reveals great truths. 

I had to know - 'Wild Africa Cream' liqueur [it has a felt leopard skin bottle, people.]

It was kinda like a Baileys/MudSlide/Kahlua kinda thing... tasty.  Or, as wiser minds put it - an alcoholic chocolate milk.  My 18 year old self would've killed for this beverage.  Newest favorite thing from Africa.

Wild Africa Cream | Taste:

"Wild Africa Cream is a tantalising blend of fresh cream, distilled spirit and caramel, yielding a delectable, easy drinking, exotic cream liqueur."

Turkey Day in Liberia...

...consisted of the Embassy/military/expat community potluck shindig.  Pleasant vistas, nice folks & tasty food.

 Campari & Orange.  To defend against the scurvy.

 "Hello.  We're awesome.  Nice to meet you."

 The ambassador addresses the folks.

 Culinary goodness.  Turkey, ham, biscuits, mashed potatoes and mac & cheese [of two varieties... both almost as good as the Mrs' baked mac & cheese awesomeness.  Almost.]  I'd heard there were veggies somewhere, but not on my plate, thank Buddha.

 The only 'wild' animal I've seen in Africa.  If by 'wild' you mean 'running around on the Embassy compound.'  Somebody tried to sell the wife a monkey once though.

 Obligatory annual Thanksgiving viewing of "The Sound of Music."

Comics + Internet-ery = The Funny.

[That's Hourman, for the uninitiated.]

Thankful "...there be no witches here." From the actual invocation at Thanksgiving dinner.

Liberia is different.

[And people wonder why I find religion... troubling.]

Your Thanksgiving Weekend Message - "Maybe it's the syphilis talking, but some of that made sense."

"Spike: Oh! Someone put a stake in me.

Xander: You got a lot of volunteers in here.

Spike: I just can't take all this namby-pamby boo-hooing about the bloody Indians! You won! Alright? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That's what conquering nations do. It's what Caesar did and he's not going around saying "I came, I conquered, I feel really bad about it." The history of the world is not people making friends - you had better weapons and you massacred them. End of story.

Buffy: Well, I think the Spaniards actually did a lot of - Not that I don't like Spaniards.

Spike: Listen to you. How you gonna fight anyone with that attitude?

Willow: We don't wanna fight anyone.

Buffy: I just wanna have Thanksgiving.

Spike: Heh heh. Yeah... Good luck.

Willow: Well, if we could talk to him...

Spike: You exterminated his race. What could you possibly say that would make him feel better? It's kill or be killed here, take your bloody pick.

Xander: Maybe it's the syphilis talking, but some of that made sense.

Giles: I made a lot of these points earlier, but no, it's fine, no one listens to me."

You will never be this awesome.

The inventor of the Super Soaker will save us all.

Seriously. The second piece from The Atlantic is lengthier & fascinating.

Super Soaker Inventor Aims to Cut Solar Costs in Half - Popular Mechanics

Shooting for the Sun - Magazine - The Atlantic

This is genius and you have no excuse.

"Only" a commercial, but still about the most inspiring thing I've seen recently.

Via RossTraining.com Blog

"Ron Paul's 'What If?' - Remastered."

Still, nobody's listening. Still, the only guy making sense [to me] in politics.  [Though Gary Johnson's getting there.]

Wil Wheaton brings the amusingly well-written anecdote.

From childhood actor to accomplished literary draftsman.  I defy you not to be entertained and [if you click over] kinda touched.

good evening (and good night) - WWdN: In Exile:

"...She closed her magazine and tossed it onto the coffee table. 'Where do you want to go?'

'Someplace we haven't gone before. That'll be an adventure.'

Yeah, I've been suburbanized so long, going to a restaurant I haven't been to before now qualifies as an adventure. Twenty-two year-old Wil just put down his copy of Naked Lunch long enough to shake his head in either sadness, or disgust, depending on what angle you're looking at him from.

"Let's try that cafe on Raymond," she said.

So we did, and it was amazing, and we'll be going back frequently in the weeks and months to come.

(Parenthetical highlight: during our meal, a woman in her late 40s, wearing a fur leopard-print bucket hat and a shiny patent leather overcoat sat down next to us. It was such a stunning display of wrongness that I involuntarily stopped talking in mid word, and just stared at Anne. She looked back at me and very calmly said, "I have ... comments." I laughed so hard, it must have looked like I was having a seizure.)"

It *is* how you know.

Texts From Last Night:

"(321): I watched her choke out a bouncer with the broken strap from her purse, I think shes the one."

Best date ever - The Question & The Huntress - [yes, embrace your inner geek.]

Via the recently discovered awesome tumblr of all things Question related - Not About the Answers.  Seen it before, but forgot how quirky, cool & funny it is.

Professional "TSA security groping leaves 61-year-old bladder cancer survivor soaked in own urine."

Filled with nothing but empathy & anger, I swear.

TSA security groping leaves 61-year-old bladder cancer survivor soaked in own urine - Boing Boing:

"61-year-old Thomas Sawyer is a retired special education teacher, and a survivor of bladder cancer. He says he was 'absolutely humiliated,' broke down in tears and soaked in his own urine, after a degrading and invasive TSA 'pat-down' at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on November 7 caused his urostomy bag to rupture"

Celibate, cross-dressing German magician embraces 19th century technology - "Pope Benedict XVI says condom use is acceptable in 'single justified cases.'"

My cynical nature, I'm sure, but given the wiggle room/mistranslation they talk about in the link, I fully expect the Vatican to start walking this back once the weekend is over.

Pope, condoms: Pope Benedict XVI says condom use is acceptable in 'single justified cases' - latimes.com:

"In a seemingly offhand remark that caught the Roman Catholic world by surprise, Pope Benedict XVI appears to have relaxed, at least slightly, the Vatican's longstanding adamant opposition to the use of condoms.

In a book-length interview with a German journalist, portions of which were released Saturday, the pontiff said that under some circumstances it might be acceptable for a prostitute — or, in some translations, a male prostitute — to use a condom."