Please take a moment today, Veterans Day, to reflect on the fact that brave men and women fight daily for the freedoms that we at times take for granted. Our nation would be nothing without their sacrifices and the sacrifices of those before them. eab

Not to be forgotten on this Veterans Day are the families affected by the loss of a loved one. The American Widow Project is an NPO dedicated to assist widows deal with such a tragic loss. eab

We would also like to wish a one-day belated happy birthday to the United States Marine Corps. eab

Keeping with the Veterans Day theme, here is an entire site dedicated to lesser known facts of WWII. jmj

Kottke is doubting the new Pixar film, "Up," but I know better. An old curmudgeon and a young Boy Scout stuck in a floating house; how could you go wrong? tjc

College Basketball is just getting underway. Bringing back the Scheyer Face. eab

Of all the headlines from the "an historic election," I really enjoyed the Onion's: "Kobe Bryant Scores 25 In Holy Shit We Elected A Black President." tjc

Lakers forward Lamar Odom also chipped in with 16 points and eight boards in the historic 349-162 Electoral College victory over the slumping Clippers, who are clearly missing the presence of former power forward Elton Brand--a Democrat, let alone a black Democrat, winning Indiana for the first time in 44 years? Florida? Ohio? Maybe even North goddamned Carolina? Are you fucking kidding? Is it absolutely confirmed that he won Virginia? Virginia, for crying out loud. Fucking crazy is what that is.

First, Gears of War ad execs used Michael Andrews' Mad World, as musical accompaniment to the critically-acclaimed video game. Now for Gears of War 2 they have come up with an even more stunning match, Devotchka's, How it Ends. Originally made famous by its use in Little Miss Sunshine. eab

Colorado Rockies All-Star slugger Matt Holliday has been traded to the Oakland Athletics for three players, rumored to be pitchers Huston Street and Greg Smith, and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez. Let the Hot Stove begin! jmj

Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays and Geovany Soto of the Chicago Cubs both won the Rookie of the Year Awards in their respective leagues. While my the MLB post-season didn't pan out the way I thought that it would, I'm 2-for-2 in the awards category. jmj

A short glimpse at the Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, who is said to be the basis for the Joshua Lyman character on The West Wing, from the New Yorker (one of two TV characterizations in the Emanuel family, read on): tjc

Emanuel, Lopatin emphasized, is "a genius at balancing things." A few weeks ago, Emanuel consulted Lopatin about working on the financial-bailout package during Rosh Hashanah. The rabbi gave his approval, citing the principle of pikkuah nefesh--"To save a life, you can violate almost any commandment," he said. "There's no doubt that somewhere in the world there would be a serious risk to lives and personal survival if the financial system melted down," he reasoned. So Emanuel tiptoed out of the service to take a conference call. But the rest of the time he was in synagogue. "This year, I'd asked Rahm to open the ark," the rabbi said. "We had to make sure we gave him an ark-opening time that didn't conflict with the conference call, so he could get down from the bimah in time." (Lopatin said that he had missed the episode of "Entourage" in which the character based on Emanuel's brother, the Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, sneaks out of Yom Kippur services to talk to a studio head on his cell phone. "That is so funny!" Lopatin said. "I like Jewish characters on TV. I think it's a good thing.")

Another New Yorker piece looks at the Obama win and pinpoints as a pivotal moment the remark by Obama the he would meet with Iranian leadership. The following exemplifies both his character and penchant for independent thought: tjc

"We know this is going to be the issue of the day," Dan Pfeiffer, recalling a conference call the following morning, said. "We have the sense they're going to come after us on it. And we're all on the bus trying to figure out how to get out of it, how not to talk about it." Obama, who was listening to part of the conversation, took the telephone from an aide and instructed his staff not to back down. According to an aide, Obama said something to the effect of "This is ridiculous. We met with Stalin. We met with Mao. The idea that we can't meet with Ahmadinejad is ridiculous. This is a bunch of Washington-insider conventional wisdom that makes no sense. We should not run from this debate. We should have it."

A video of The Killers covering Cyndi Lauper's, "Girls Just Want To Have Fun." A pretty good rendition. (via the AV Club) eab ... As much as I want to say something, I'll just say, "no comment." But I can add to the discourse this Raconteurs promo video skewering the Antique Roadshow. tjc

Malcolm Gladwell is being buried by the press fro his new book "Outliers." The criticism is no different than it was in the past, but I guess people (read: critics) are tired of his anecdote-cum-theory routine. Personally, I think his narratives are enjoyable and I am able to temper the weight I give to his theories. tjc