Friday Odds & Sods Was Up at Four Today for a PS4

As another celebration of Black Friday winds to an end, one hopes that the great gods of commerce have had their thirst slaked for another year.  Despite the cynical displays of consumption soon to grace the evening news, may I be allowed to admit that I still harbour some affection for the notion of giving thanks itself?  In our days of continuous wanting and continuous dissatisfaction, it is always nice to acknowledge how much that we do have and just how little it is one needs to be happy.  In that spirit, then, accept the following as a Thanksgiving helping of Friday Odds & Sods

• To begin, two articles to provide some context on the recent festivities, an overview of the political machinations of the Pequot and how Thanksgiving became a national holiday.
• In articles of the non-holiday nature, an account of the failure of international development to actually develop and an elegy for a fallen retail empire, and a mysterious Texas self-immolation.
• Finally, a song about the pleasure of both arriving to your destination and departing:

Friday Odds & Sods Rocks and Rolls All Nights, Parties When Able

Another week draws to an end, and with it, I hope, the end of the illness under which your poor correspondent has been suffering.  Plenty of green tea and bed rests have left me with only a sore throat, and I hope that by next week I will once again be the picture of good health.  In which case, dear reader, you may hopefully expect more postings as my body and mind both finally make the adjustment into winter.  But for now, let us leave the future to the future and turn to the present with this week's Friday Odds & Sods.

• For weekend reading, a story about bullies, con artists, and the Swiss boarding school that produced them and an examination of the sometimes revolutionary history of the much maligned Times Style section.
• If looking for something to do this weekend, allow me as a philhellene to recommend this exhibit at NYU documenting the history of the Greeks in Egypt.
• Longtime readers will remember the recommendation to check out The Great War series on YouTube, where the course of World War One is recorded week by week. I know pass along a story I heard there of Gunther Plüschow, the only man in either world war to escape from a POW camp in England.
• Speaking of heroic men, a recording of Robert Frost reading his poetry.
• Finally, a song for your Sunday morning, the only example, at least that I know of, of throat singing in America.  A bit odd at first, but I find that it grows on you.  

Friday Odds & Sods Throws the Bums Out

Another election come and gone, and your humble correspondent is reminded of a certain anthem of the 1970s.  Indeed, this has been a week of changes that feel significant but in the end are less than they appear.  For instance, Daylight Savings time is officially over and tout le monde complains of the grogginess and darkness that ensues.  Yet in another few months, will not the same people be complaining in the exact opposite vein as we spring forward versus falling back?  And so it goes.  As an officially licensed gallipot, I advise foregoing worry on such matters, and instead turning to this weeks Odds & Sods

• The New Yorker with what I consider the definitive take on Tuesday's happenings
• Speaking of sociopaths, a very interesting article about the Spahn Ranch, the semi-abandoned Western set that became the Manson Family hideaway
• Your humble is leaving the confines of the Metropolis today for a journey to the vast expanse known as Upstate.  While I generally consider myself a dazzling urbanite, there is something to be said for apple cider and turning leaves.  And of course, beer
• Finally, a song that, while a little rustic, I find very appropriately autumnal