At the Cool Edge Café...

... everything is clearly defined.

(You can buy that book here. And here are some compact Nikon binoculars.)

ADDED: Some commenters are saying they'd prefer binoculars with image stabilization. Here are Nikon StabilEyes Marine Binoculars. Expensive! Here are some cheaper Canon ones.

At the Paperweight Café...

... step away from that desk.

At the Under-the-Table Café...

... I can hang out longer than you.

At the Feeling Swindled Café...

... I'm not feeling swindled. I'm feeling thankful. It's Thanksgiving!

***

"Café," here at the Althouse blog, signifies an open thread in the comments. Write about what you like. And if you enjoy hanging out here, you can let me know by using this Amazon link as you go about your Christmas shopping, your Thanksgiving shopping, your other holiday shopping, and your nonholiday shopping. Entering Amazon through that link — which is always at the top of the page under the blog's title at the words "Shop Amazon" — will send me a commission on whatever you buy there before you click away. I'm heading into a 9th year of solo blogging, 365 days a year, without even a single missed day, and the Amazon action really is encouraging. It's so not a swindle, since you only get things you want and you pay nothing extra for what I experience as a gesture of encouragement.

At the Happy Center Café...

... checking the rules of the game.

***

Here's the game: Hive Carbon. That's an Amazon link. And if you happen to have any other shopping you need to do, entering Amazon through this link will — at no extra cost to you — send me: 1. some money, and 2. the message that you appreciate what this blog gives to you. (That link is always at the top of the page, under the blog's title: click "Shop Amazon.")

Playing Hive at Graze.

Here's the game we were playing. Here's the restaurant.

At the Wine Beaker Café...

... drink up and chat all night!

IN THE COMMENTS: Jimmy said: "Those aren't beakers they are Erlenmeyer flasks." I knew I had the wrong word and I tried — a little! — to get the right word. If I hadn't drunk an 2 Erlenmeyer flasks of wine, maybe I would have tried harder. (The flasks only held a modest glassful, despite the appearance given by the camera angle.)

At the Robot Eclipse Café...

... shake 2 red fists and get on with whatever conversation you wanted to have.

AND: Stock up on the official chewing gum of the Althouse blog.

Somewhere in America.

(Yesterday, lunchtime.)

At the Tablescape Café...

... you don't have to extend your perspective.

At the Tablescape Café...

... there's a place for you.

At the Pre-Snow Café...

... there are things you can do and things you can't.

At the Countertop Café...

... there's plenty to eat.

Tablescape with pizza.

ADDED: The red thing is a Ball of Whacks.

IN THE COMMENTS: Palladian has his tablescape, which contains an image of this page:



And Roger von Oech, the designer of the Ball of Whacks stops in.

Photo blues.

Oh dear...



You know what that is? It's the first digital photograph I ever took. I'm uploading it to Flickr tonight along with 2,000+ other photographs from 2004 to 2005. These were all pictures I originally uploaded to Mac.com, before I started using Flickr. I just discovered that when Apple started Me.com, all the photographs on Mac.com stopped displaying. I can still download them, but then I need to re-upload them, and they will have different code at that point, which means every blog post that originally displayed those photographs will need to be redone.

I have to go through all the old posts to find the ones that had photographs, open them up for editing, and enter the new code for the old photographs. Part of the process will be figuring out which photos belong in the post, which will not be easy. Maybe you think it doesn't matter what's in the archive 5 or 6 years ago, but it matters to me. A lot.

I'm so annoyed at Apple for doing this. I've paid every year to have a Mac.com account, mainly only to preserve those old photo displays. I have sometimes thought of putting the pictures on Flickr so I can stop making those annual payments. At least now I can stop paying, but I'm disgusted that after making all those payments to Apple, it saw fit to wreck all that work of mine.

***

By the way, thanks for using my links — my Black Friday gift selections — to buy things on Amazon. It really is nice to get the support from readers. I'm saying this here in case you're wondering what that book on the table is. It's "Strong Opinions" — and if you buy it at that link, some of the money will pay me for tending this blog, including the massive — 20,000+ posts — archive. It also works to use this search box:

Random deskscape.

A Madison bratscape.

(I have bratblogged before.)

At The Kitchen...

... if you show up for dinner, lunch, and then dinner — all within a 24-hour period — maybe they'll treat you to glasses of Prosecco.

Talk about whatever you want here, and, when you're in Boulder, Colorado, eat at The Kitchen — over and over again.

At the Chicago Breakfast Café...

... I blog alongside the Great Lake...



... in the shadow of the Great Tower...



... but this is not our destination. This is a stopover on a Great Pilgrimage.

"That's fried mush, baby! You're a Hoosier now."

1. Meade makes mush ... apropos of all that grits talk in the Whole Foods threads (1 & 2). And yes, we bought the corn meal mush at Whole Foods.

2. Enlarge for details — but don't think you'll be able read the papers. I've blurred out all the text.

3. To answer the question I'm sure is coming first: Yes, the bacon is Nueskes. And you can't buy that at Whole Foods.

4. Answer to that other question: Ate Berries in the Canaries.

5. Note the hinge defect. Unpropped, the thing lies flat. I've heard of the much-rumored Apple tablet, but the Air should not pretend to be one.

6. That stool is a Swopper. (Buy one: here.)

7. Popcorn.