My two sons, their respective wives and children have descended upon us to pass Thanksgiving week--no turkey as old-time readers of this little blog know. It always has been one of my favorite holidays, and I hope we can have a good one, all the while missing David. We spent part of the day watching the World Cup, which David once loved but I find, well, boring. The US tied Wales, 1-1. I don't know; I didn't find that very exciting.
On the subject of soccer/football, and this is addressed to anybody genuinely in the know, why does the UK get more than one team? I know they invented the game, but hasn't the copyright expired? How do we get in on that deal? We missed it at the UN when the USSR got three seats: USSR, Ukraine, Belorussia. Just curious--oh, and how do they decide if a player goes to the Wales team or the England team, for example? Does it involve jousting? Archery? Hurling of insults? DNA? Just wondering. Too lazy to use Google. You tell me.
I see that CBS has gotten around to telling us that the Hunter Biden laptop is genuine. Next week, I understand, they will confirm that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Good journalism is about taking your time, not going headlong for some silly scoop that gets reversed later on . . .
Still not clear what is happening in Arizona. The count goes on, I guess? Now lawyers have gotten involved. This ain't the way to run a country. One feature which I have not heard anybody address--if they have, pardon--is the role of universities in skewing voting results in certain communities. These large schools, such as in Arizona, fill up with students from all over who register to vote locally. That can seriously affect the outcome in small towns or rural/suburban areas: A huge mass of liberal voters not connected to the local community casting ballots that will affect that community for years to come. This needs addressing.
OK, off to buy a thermometer--there is some potential high temp with one kiddo-- and some lunch for all the other gathered children.
I once lived in a college town that supposedly scheduled local elections for when the students were on break and not around.
ReplyDeleteGood idea
ReplyDeleteThe Diplomat
Happy Thanksgiving! We don't do turkey, either.
ReplyDelete"why does the UK get more than one team?" British Exceptionalism.
ReplyDeleteBack in high school when I had working knees and wind I played extra-curricular soccer. While I wasn't very good I really enjoyed playing, but even then I found watching it boring.
ReplyDeleteWatching soccer is as exciting as watching the World Paint Drying Contest replays.
ReplyDeleteDip I am sure the United Turkeys Liberation Front will thank you for your abstinence.
Have a happy Thanksgiving
"Anonymous" should have read David from Oz
DeleteWouldn’t one team for the UK make it more likely that Britain could win the cup? I find that soccer, to use the great American ice hockey coach John Mariucci’s description of basketball, is like watching old men fish.
ReplyDeletePurely historical reasons. The four home nations (as England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are called) were considered far too strong to be allowed to form a unified team when FIFA was established in 1904. To be a member of FIFA the member nation must be "an independent state recognised by the international community". However, in the FIFA statutes it is specifically stated "Each of the four British associations shall be recognised as a separate member association of FIFA.” So there. :-)
ReplyDelete/Mikgen
Thanks
DeleteThank you. Mystery solved.
DeleteRobo: Just to finish the soccer thing, eligibilty is by ancestry - at least one grandparent - so many players qualify for 2 of the teams. Interestingly, players from Jersey and Guernsey are eligible for France as well as England.
DeleteI hope the Diplomad Household has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteI live in a fairly sparsely populated country, politically dominated by a university (both students & staff). Since Obamacare and students (young adults) can be carried on their parents' health insurance, perhaps allowing voting where one's health insurance is paid?
ReplyDeleteOur biggest problem is that the students like the "small town" feel of the county and push to keep any commercial concerns out (while agricultural areas are gobbled up for more housing). Upon graduation, the students are shocked (shocked!) to learn there are no local jobs available and they have to leave if they want to work.
We stopped cooking turkey at T-giving years ago. Instead we cook several Cornish Game Hens which are always tender and moist. The hens still allow for a fowl event.
ReplyDeleteSounds delicious, but in the Diplomad household, it still won’t do.
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving everyone
ReplyDeleteMarxist Seminaries will be our downfall, and hardly not one that isn't in the country
Imagine, then, Boston, with it's roughly 274 colleges and universities, the students of which all vote straight Marxist-Leninist ticket under the guidance of their lunatic professoriate.
ReplyDeleteIn a very real sense, Massachusetts is lefty so that others will not have to be.
It's actually much less the professoriate than the administrative staff, who are far far more left as they are populated with rich kids who received degrees in pointless humanities and couldn't to anything but join different government, which matriculates into staff positions where they get to set the agenda for incoming students' entire education.
DeleteI don't know that the Admin swine have the same kind of influence as the professoriate.
DeleteThey run all student events, plan all signage throughout the University, and select what courses are 'required', what courses are 'elective' and what courses are 'not appropriate subjects of study'. They determine who gets punished for what non-crime on-campus violations of various behaviors (like holding beliefs different from those of the administration) and allow/disallow any/all clubs.
DeleteThe influence of university administrators is, imo, generally underappreciated.
If my kids are required to take a 'gender fluidity course', it's at the requirement of a university administrator, not a sociology professor.
- reader #1482
"Day is done, gone the Sun..."
ReplyDeleteCan't quite put my finger on it, but
I do sense an anti-gobbler element,
in the air, & in some hereabouts too...
However, tis not the "Feathers" of the
times engenderd by our thoughts, nor
images, of our dear Dip scouring the
'Eastside, Westside, and all around
the towne' for our other 'Great Bird', as
envisioned by some, if not most of us
hereabouts, we the sons of our migrated
fathers...Pilgrims and citizens enduring head winds
& tidal floods recently, a mean Nor'easter, sandwiched
between hurricanes and other calamities, as well as life's loves...
Thanksgiving dinner was offered to us by my wife's God Mother... was delighted w/leftovers, learned that origial dinner plan included the entire feast, BigBird and all, but was reduced to The fixins, and the Breast only {4lbs}. I asked, why downsize?
The wife shared that no one wanted to carve-up a Big Bird...
So that was it, and therein, is the rub, not enough Cooks~~~
I weep, for our collective future,
but sure was a Happy Camper,
mostly for those two days
of delicious leftovers~~~
On Watch ~~~
Sending~~~
Best Thanksgiving Wishes
to all Posters, Commenters,
Readers, who shared their
thoughts, wisdom, Ideas, etc
Hand Salute~~~
Now here's Gov. DeSantis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cu0HVZtU-s
"Let's Roll"
The best turkey I've ever had was a 24hr smoke in graduate school. It was a real chore, none of that newfangled pelletized smoker stuff. I've never tasted its equal among turkey.
ReplyDeleteSecond best was a turkey deep-fried whole in a jerry-rigged vat of oil. That was a fresh kill and fully skinned rather than plucked... so technically, no 'feathers'. Wild turkeys are surprisingly good.
- reader #1482