Happy Veterans Day. Thanks, all of you, for stepping up!

I guess Dr. Ben Carson represents the gift that just keeps giving. Here’s Dr. Ben Carson Is Not Smart by neuroguy for DailyKos. Neuroguy provides as fine an analysis of “smart” as any I think I’ve ever read. For non-clicker, neuroguy is a neurologist who defines “smart” as:

a multifaceted cognitive feature composed of excellent analytical skills, possession of an extensive knowledge base that is easily and frequently augmented, possession of a good memory, and being readily curious about the world and willing, even eager, to reject previously accepted notions in the face of new data. Being smart includes having the ability to analyze new data for validity and, thinking creatively, draw new insights from existing common knowledge.

You likely don’t need to read the rest of the piece to understand why neuroguy does not think Dr. Carson is smart.

Emma Green takes on stupid in The Inanity of the Starbucks Christmas Cup ‘Controversy’ for The Atlantic on November 10. Plain red coffee cups. No snowflakes? Heathens! I’m sorry, but when stupid happens, it deserves attention.

Anyone with an interest in economics or travel should read Can Airlines Make Money? Written by Alex Mayyosi for Priceonomics, it offers lots of pretty elevated—but totally comprehensible—analysis of a very interesting industry. Answer? Maybe, but at what cost. Sometimes, free markets are not ideal!

Here’s President Obama & Marilynne Robinson: A Conversation—II from the New York Review of Books. One fine read! (In case you missed Part I, it’s here.)

I’m off to San Diego this weekend, so I thought I’d share—probably not for the first time—San Diego Cheap Eats: 10 Great Dishes Under $10, written by Erin Jackson for SeriousEats.com. My choice? Not sure, but I can’t ignore, for beauty, the khachapuri, shown below. I do best when I stay away from gluten, dairy, and eggs, so note the fact that this is a bread, stuffed with cheese and butter, with an egg in the middle.

And for an encore, the picture above this paragraph comes from the story, The BeefLT at Brian’s 24 in San Diego is All About the Bacon, also by Erin Jackson for SeriousEats.com. I’ve surely walked by Brian’s 24 in downtown SD several dozen times. By, but never in! That might change this weekend, and, if it does, you’ll read about it here, soon.