Ducking an invitation? Yes, but it's okay. Amanda Fritz, it seems, has declined Randy Leonard's offer to light the new Portland, Oregon sign. Turns out the hot-and-heavy Oregon Ducks are playing their last home game of the season, and Fritz is a season ticket-holder. And the Ducks are contending for a national title.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled lousy fall weather: Dampness, rain, and blustery winds. The snow and the ice will all be back soon enough, no doubt.

Is that good news for the hordes of consumer patriots pulling through for America by lining up in our shopping malls even while their turkey carcasses were still warm? Maybe not. One dispatch says the longest lines at Lloyd Center were for the poop-stalls. People are talking about shopping here and here.

Meanwhile, in a land where people can't even eat, let alone line up for Chinese-made consumer goods, North Korea is back at it, firing off artillery rounds. But these rounds landed in its own territory, presumably part of a drill. And, yes, stories on the Korean clash are still using phrases like "brink of war."

There's a new dress code for New York City taxi drivers. Which is surprising, because I bet you didn't even know there was an old dress code. Read on about the sartorial lives of men and women who spend half their days sitting inside an armada of sedans.

What a dick.

Sarah Palin is thankful! Presumably for the opportunity to be petty and defensive on the internet. Here Facebook Thanksgiving message (did you remember to send one?) takes on the response to her latest, widely mocked language fart.

I'm glad we're not in England, right now. Because this kind of royal wedding chatter would be insufferable if we had to endure it every day. Oh, wait! We already do. (Disclosure: As the son of a native Canadian, thanks to Canada's citizenship laws, that makes Prince William my someday sovereign, too.)

HEY, BLAZERS FANS: Come back to Blogtown tonight. Ezra's going to be wearing his live-blogging suit while he live-blogs tonight's Basket-Ball contest against the Hornets of New Orleans (nee Charlotte).

[In slurred Aramaic:] Hey, man, like, I forgive everybody! And I love you all, too!

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