Happy Thanksgiving! As you settle in to enjoy food, family/friends, and football, take a minute to think about how lucky you are to have woken up this morning, to have a place to call home, people in your life who actually care, etc. It's easy to take those things for granted.

"I don't want to lay this all on Duke, but Duke has a wonderful situation," Williams said of the Tar Heels' hated, albeit respected, rival. "Duke has four or five upperclassmen who have done it and now have five freshmen who can really play." --Roy Williams, head coach, UNC [link]

Today's football game features the top-ranked Whiteys against the second-place Darkies, who got tarred and feathered the last time the two teams faced off..."Whitey means all-powerful, superior, masters of the game," one fan said. "It has nothing to do with racism, slavery or bilking American Indians out of Manhattan for $24 worth of beads." [washington post]

This past Saturday, amid tight security, the Dalai Lama was to address the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington. For months now, a group of Chinese scientists has protested the Dalai Lama's attendance at the meeting, saying it was inappropriate for a religious leader to attend a scientific meeting.

His weekend agenda was to discuss how scientists can design studies to see whether and how mental exercise can alter the brain in positive ways. His prepared speech also included a discussion of ethics and morality in the pursuit of knowledge. [newsday]

For the first time in modern African history, an African nation (Liberia) has officially elected a female president. For all the talk about how "backwards" things are over there, why is it that we have not yet seen the same thing in America? Clearly it's a very complicated issue, but I still don't think the American public is willing to vote a woman into the oval office in the near future.

...in recent years, African women have gained power and visibility. In 2004 a Kenyan environmentalist, Wangari Muta Maathai, won the Nobel Peace Prize, while Nigeria's finance minister and feared corruption fighter, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has emerged as one of that country's most respected officials.

Women have also made gains at the ballot box. The prime minister of Mozambique, Luísa Dias Diogo, is widely seen as a likely future president. In Rwanda, there is a greater proportion of women serving in Parliament than in any other nation; they occupy nearly half the seats.

Indeed, Africa leads the developing world in the percentage of women in legislative positions, at about 16 percent, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an organization of parliamentary bodies worldwide.

"At the end of the day, I don't have to worry about what people think of me, whether they hate me or not. People hated on Jesus. They threw stones at him and tried to kill him, so how can I complain or worry about what people think?"
-- Owens to Miami Herald, July, 2005 [more]

so yeah, it's been a rough week. don't forget that the red sox got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by the eventual world series champions, and that they've already lost gm Theo Epstein due to what has to have been some dumb moves by the upper level management. looking at the bright side, the NE Revolution have advanced to the MLS Cup and will face the LA Galaxy, in a rematch of the 2002 final. Let's hope they can pull out the "V" this time and bring home the first championship in franchise history. It's about time Boston had something else to celebrate.

the 2006 baseball season is gonna feel very long at this rate...if it wasn't bad enough for the Sox to get knocked out in the first round this year, now Theo's gone, Manny reportedly wants out (again), and Damon may be soon to follow. the Epstein announcement was especially shocking, since it had already been reported that a 4 year deal had been made, and the announcement was just a formality. i doubt anyone will be able to live up to the expectations established under Epstein's tenure. Good luck Theo, we'll miss you (although we'll never forgive you if you ever decide to work for the evil empire).