If this sounds familiar, it is because, in the great tradition
of Herb Caen and Jon Carroll, I am recycling my thirteen 
previous Thanksgiving messages. I missed two years; last year I was so
busy printing a blog entry celebrating Thanksgiving in Mali
 with Marlow that I forgot my own message.

It is funny what a difference two years make. In 2010, we were
all in Oregon with my dad. Now that both my parents are gone, we
probably won't ever spend another Thanksgiving in Oregon. This year the
dinner will be in Orinda; my wife and
daughters,
and my nephew. A cozy group of five around the glass table in the dining
nook. Vicki has  to work the week of Thanksgiving, but this
year will not be doing a
bunch of volunteering for Amma's visit, because this year Amma isn't
coming to San Ramon.  My older daughter starts a new job on
Nov. 19.
But for the sixth  time, I have the whole week off. I pay for
it at the
end of the school year, which is now the second week of June instead of
the first.

I know I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a job that
still gets better every year, I have my health, such as it is, and I
have my family. I can't imagine why I would bother getting out of bed
each morning if not for my wife and my two girls.

Regular readers know that. after 27 years as a journalist, I
earned my teaching credential and now
teach 8th grade US History at a middle school. It is still true that I
have not been this excited and challenged since 1974, when I started
working as a professional journalist. This is my tenth  year teaching.
Each year
gets easier, and I get better, but it never gets easy. (as Kent
Peterman puts it). 

Still, my most important role is as husband to Vicki and
father to my daughters, the older one going to work for the Small
Business Administration, the younger working on a degree at Mills
College.

I think we all lose perspective sometimes, forget what's
really important. We get wrapped up in our jobs and spend too much time
working on them, both at home and in the office.

The years I spent full-time with my girls (I worked from home)
are priceless. The
time I spend with them now is priceless as well. Not everyone
can work in a home office–and I don't anymore.

But no matter where you work, the next time you have to make
the tough call between the meeting and the soccer game, go to the
soccer game. You'll never regret it. I am thankful for my family. Be
thankful for yours.

Also give thanks for your friends and your good fortune.
Spread that good fortune around in any way you can. I have much to be
thankful for this holiday season, as I have had every year of my life.

I am thankful that I have a  loving
brother. I am thankful for my loving and understanding wife, and for
the two most wonderful daughters I could have imagined, both of them
turning into vibrant, intelligent young women before my very eyes.

I am thankful for every sunrise and sunset I get to see, every
moment I get to be in, every flower I try so desperately to stop and
smell. I am thankful that I can move closer every day to living a life
in balance. Every morning, I am grateful to be alive. Not a bad way to
start the day. For reasons I don't want to detail, I am extremely
grateful just to be alive.

I am thankful for 240 pounds; down 60 from my peak. I am
thankful for
the fact that I will still be near that weight next year at
Thanksgiving.

Every week at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Orinda, the
priest concludes the service with this homily. The provenance seems
uncertain; the Internet lists several attributions. All I know is, it
touches me every time I hear it and is sound advice for life:

"Remember that life is short and we have too little time to
gladden the hearts of those who travel the way with us. So be quick to
be kind, make haste to love, and may the blessing of God be with you
now and always."

It has been with me. I hope it is with you. In the meantime, I
am thankful, finally, for each and every one of you reading this
column. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Daniel Dern was tipped to the presence of opinining
on Big Bird. And then, let loose the
photoshops of war — Dern particularly
like the last one.

I knew all of this, but do you know How
the Internet Works?

Kent Peterman ran across an old George Carlin question, "If
lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, then doesn't it follow
that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys
deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners
depressed?"  I found a site that continues the
discussion in an amusing way. Kent also found this: "I’ll
believe corporations are people as soon as Texas executes one of them."

Oedb.org recently
published an article, 100
Indispensable
Twitter Tips for Journalism Students.
Looks to
me like these are good tips for anyone (and, alas, that means everyone)
for whom social media will be a part of their professional life in the
future. Well, shall we say everyone under 60 (which is how old I am,
and, conveniently therefore, excludes me)

Dan Grobstein File

• A
  Mockumentary Pulls In Real Players
• Real time Tokyo
  subway map (ed. note: wish there was one for New York)
• Why
  textbooks are boring (ed. note: amen)
• ThinkProgress @thinkprogress
  
  10/7/12
  10:35 AM Jack Welch, coming from the corporate world,
  probably doesn't understand how hard it is to fudge government
  numbers." — Paul Krugman
• Liars League NYC (@LiarsLeagueNYC) 10/5/12 8:18 PM "When he
  was young Mitt Romney looked like a porn star. Now he looks like an old
  porn star." Martin Amis, ladies and gentlemen. #nyfest

Sorry, but your cat is not your friend is the latest entry in Jon Carroll's growing list of wonderful cat columns, over at the San Francisco Chronicle, which is still published daily (heck, which is still published!) for now.

Kent Peterman found some funny definitions which he forwarded in an email; I found the same list elsewhere on the internet. Here are the first two:
1.  ARBITRATOR: A cook that leaves Arby’s to work at McDonalds
2.  AVOIDABLE: What a bullfighter tries to do

Dan Grobstein File

• Probation Fees Rise, Firms Profit and the Poor Go to Jail
• Weaker teacher's unions or changed demogragraphics?
• Why Should We Reform Education Using Microsoft's Failed Ranking Policies?
• After Libert'e and 'Egalit'e, It's Autopsie
• Libor's Dirty Laundry
• WiseGuyEddie (@WiseGuyEddie) 7/7/12 9:35 AM Blessed are the corporations, for they shall inherit the earth. Citizens United 3:16 #uppers 

If you, like me, are a huge Weird Al fan (I have loved his work since day one and play it constantly in the car; just ask my daughters), you will want to listen to the WTF Podcast:

Richard Dalton asks: "How's this for a stomach turner?  I wonder if anyone has correlated this tax non-payers list with major PAC donations?

Kent Peterman forwards  this challenging test of things you see every day.

Dan Grobstein File

• Media Matters (@mmfa) 4/16/12 6:22 PM In 2011, Sunday shows only interviewed Republicans on climate change. No Democrats. No scientists.

Hilarious! Or perhaps Hillaryiarious: Texts from Hillary

Did you think that the new movie John Carter was awful just because most reviewers hated it? Daniel Dern begs to differ.

Kent Peterman writes: Another fine product of American education. God help us all. Would that it were an April Fool's joke. [Actually, I suspect it is. Really, could anyone not answer that?]

Bob Nilsson saw this in the Boston Globe: Researchers found that simply holding a gun yourself can make you think others have a gun, too. and (same link) … “Note to the Republican Party: You might want to serve alcohol and give prizes for fast voting at the polls. Psychologists at the universities of Arkansas, Kansas, and Wisconsin found that people instructed to multitask, go fast, or go with their gut adopted more conservative attitudes. Moreover, people leaving a bar were more conservative the higher their blood-alcohol level…”
Also, Bob has a Nissan Leaf: "I’m loving my LEAF. It’s a great car and I no longer waste any time or money at gas stations."

Speaking of belated April Fools: "We Made A Huge Mistake" . Also, Why Some People Attended MIT

Richard Dalton sent me this Pew study, which, I think USA Today would headline, We're Reading Less.

Borowitz Report: Citing Safety Concerns, Somali Pirates Refuse to Board Cruise Ships: Fire, Capsizing Top Pirates’ Concerns, Spokesman Says

My friend Bob Nillson recently bought a Nissan Leaf electric car. Since I drive less than 20 miles a day most days, I am thinking of a Leaf as well. He's going to keep me posted on the ownership experience. In the meantime, his car reads my column to him.

Kent Peterman shared a definition: "synonym (noun): A word used in place of the one  you can't spell."  I don't know about you, but I do that all the time.

Dan Grobstein File

• Family planning
  There seems to be some mistaken notion out there that the the efforts to limit access to family planning by Republicans are purely abstract and hypothetical and “political” and unlikely to have any real effect on real women, if Democrats win the “message war” on the HHS contraception rule. That isn’t true.
• It is still amazing to me that the wingnuts don't realize that when the Republicans control all three branches of government they don't make abortion illegal because they need it to stir up the base.
  Meghan McCain in Playboy and Why It Matters 
• Greek Yogurt, Meet American Politics,  By Matthew Yglesias
  I had a Greek neighbor when I was in jr high. Her yogurt was more sour but I've always liked the thicker stuff and an glad that Greek style is popular. The absolute best is noosa from Colorado which says it's an Australian style yogurt. Much more like pudding. It was available here for a few months in the Shoprite chain but recently disappeared. I don't know if you can get it in California but is highly recommended and delicious. 
• Quote from British PM David Cameron's speech: "There is now an urgent need to repair the decades-long degradation of our national infrastructure and to build for the future with as much confidence and ambition as the Victorians once did."

  Anyway, I wonder how much Thatcher's privatization is the cause of the "decades-long degradation of our national infrastructure". So much money was sucked out of what had been public infrastructure. Government services should not have to make a profit. The profit is the improvement in the quality of life for the population which allows so many other aspects of society to improve.

• Mr. Zimmerman, a criminal justice major, often patrolled the neighborhood. He had placed 46 calls to 911 in 14 months, for reports including open windows and suspicious persons. unquote. he's a cop wannabe with a completely wrong idea of what it means to be a cop.
  U.S.   | March 21, 2012
  A Florida Law Gets Scrutiny After a Teenager's Killing
  By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
  Seven years after Florida adopted the "Stand Your Ground" law, the shooting of Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed, has put that law at the center of an increasingly angry debate. 
• It's not as easy as it once was before the internet, but it is still much easier to do things in the states that would not be done with national publicity. The Republicans hide their true agenda (look at all the no-power moderates speaking at their conventions). Of course when in power federal wins.
  OPINION   | March 20, 2012
  Editorial:  The States Get a Poor Report Card
  State governments have long been accused of backroom dealing and cozy relationships with moneyed lobbyists. A new study suggests those accusations barely scratch the surface.

After I wrote about the Ahwahnee dropping its requirement for a coat and tie on men at dinner, I got this from Kent Peterman:

I responded: "Wow Kent! I could not agree more. In 1985, we were thrown out of London's pricey  Connaught hotel at BREAKFAST because I was not wearing a coat and tie. I think the LA Country Club still maintains standards, but it may be among the last places on earth. That and television. When we turn on the TV and an anchor in the studio or a late-night talk show host is not wearing a coat and tie, that will be a sign of the apocalypse."

Kent also sent me an email showing a visualization of the national debt. I found it on a web site, although just from the name of it, I am sure I don't agree with ANY commentary or analysis on this site. Still, the simple facts are staggering, regardless of  your take on it.

My tale of computer woe brought commiseration from Joe Edwards, along with the fact that he uses "a service called Mozy that automatically sweeps my entire system every few hours and stores it centrally."

Cbuck Carroll was tickled by the invisible Mercedes. Now you can be too.

Dan Grobstein File

Just one item in the file this week:

• Jesse Lee (@jesseclee44) 105 million Americans (1/3 of total population) no longer face lifetime limits on their insurance.

Every year, I am the MC at a Christmas Carol singing party held by my good friend and fellow teacher, Mrs. S.  do a little commentary on each carol. Another good friend and teacher (ret.), Kent Peterman, has slipped me the real inside dope on Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

We went to see Richard Glazier in concert last night and he does a great show about music from the old time eras. (Gershwin, Arlen, etc.)

One of the things he said was that the original lyrics for Have Yourself etc. were much darker and he sang some of them. He said Judy, Judy, Judy said she wouldn't sing it to Margaret O'Brien with those lyrics because people would think her a monster. I thought that you might want to work it in to your background…or not.
Herewith the original lyrics:

ORIGINAL VERSION
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
It may be your last
Next year we may all be living in the past
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Pop that champagne cork
Next year we may all be living in New York
No good times like the olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us no more
But at least we all will be together
If the Lord allows
From now on, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

 One can readily see Judy's reluctance. The Glazier show was wonderful. Highly recommend. Especially for people like us who love the back stories. He's been on PBS and will be again soon. He's also at richardglazier.com but it's not a great website.

My friend Richard Dalton checks in with How Apple's Magazine Subscription Plan Helped Sell More Copies Of Popular Science. A bright spot for publishing

A Gilbert and Sullivan parody featuring Barack Obama? Yes we can, says correspondent Kent Peterman.

Kent Peterman notes:

The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that it's difficult to determine if they are true or not.
–Abraham Lincoln

If you enjoy droll British humor, as practiced by an expat American in London, don't miss Boot Hall. I cherish it nearly as much as Private Eye, to which I have been a subscriber for 25 years

Richard Dalton writes:

While most everyone has heard that America's wealthiest have a disproportionate share of our wealth, this Pew research identifies another disparity–older households vs. the youngest and the gap which has grown substantially over the last 25 years. "Wealth" is defined as assets minus debts, a number directly affected by home ownership.

Disproportion, disparity and the increasing absence of wealth among younger household. Does a lot to explain the "99%" encampments. Also makes me feel a bit itchier about insisting that Medicare benefits are sacrosanct, even though they are a major portion of my own "wealth.".

Daniel Dern writes:

If I were at CES (or back at Comdex) and saw this, I'd immediately slot it for the "Dangdest thing I saw at the show" award (as coined by Jerry Pournelle): Gadget Allows You to Keep Bees In Your Apartment

Dan Grobstein File

• Maybe We Could Hire People To Do Some Stuff
• Where's the part about how much the companies supplying the contract workers are getting paid to supply them? Add that to the $10 an hour these poor people are now making and I doubt if there is a tremendous savings. The rich aren't paying their fair share and our elected officials are afraid to offend the people who pay for their campaigns. We're spiraling downward. Less employed people = less tax revenue. Employed people at a lower rate = less tax revenue. and the article finally says quote:
  

  Recent data from Arizona shows that privately operated prisons often cost more to operate than state-run facilities. A study by the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit Washington group, found that in 33 of 35 occupations, using contractors cost the federal government billions of dollars more than using government employees. And some municipalities have brought outsourced services back into the public fold after determining they could perform the work as cost-effectively as private companies. 
  unquote.

  It's just another way to make people vulnerable so that they can't fight back.
  Hidden Toll as states shift to contract workers