[HN Gopher] Tell HN: Happy Thanksgiving Everyone
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Tell HN: Happy Thanksgiving Everyone
        
       I have been really thankful for hackernews. This place has been
       full of great knowledge and people.  I really appreciate the
       efforts of the people who are running this platform.  HAPPY
       THANKSGIVING
        
       Author : mr_o47
       Score  : 959 points
       Date   : 2021-11-25 04:12 UTC (18 hours ago)
        
       | swader999 wrote:
       | Happy for some. We're only allowed to have gatherings of six
       | people. Up to twenty for funerals. Sadly, our beloved family pet
       | turkey passed away yesterday.
        
       | yawnxyz wrote:
       | Happy thanksgiving!!
       | 
       | I actually find stuff and learn stuff on here that's relevant to
       | both my personal and professional development.
       | 
       | Stuff I've learned here includes: how to manage my own time
       | better and make better decisions, how to do better code testing,
       | lots of pro- and anti- crypto stuff, and a ton more. I've also
       | discovered things like Svelte JS, CUE Lang, and a ton of other
       | tools I use daily.
       | 
       | So thanks, HN!!
        
       | aspenmayer wrote:
       | Thank you, HN, one and all. You're my favorite online place.
        
       | randycupertino wrote:
       | Thank you hacker news commentors for being more thoughtful,
       | insightful, and well-spoken than people commenting on Reddit!
       | Always enjoy and appreciate the discussions and threads on here
       | and love finding interesting articles and thought-provoking
       | commentary.
       | 
       | Additionally, truly appreciate the text-based interface!
        
       | rnoorda wrote:
       | I was recently in a meeting with a colleague about some recent
       | craziness that just finished. A lot of hard work, not fun, but
       | ended up just fine. Then a few minutes later, I find out her
       | daughter is in the hospital, so she's been back-and-forth there a
       | lot, and her life is exponentially more crazy than my own. I felt
       | terrible for complaining about my dumb issues. Work's hard
       | sometimes, but it's so small in comparison.
       | 
       | The upside of the conversation is that I've felt extra thankful
       | this year- I have friends/family/coworkers going through
       | sickness, abuse, divorce, coming out of the closet, and more, and
       | it puts my concerns in perspective. My life is far from perfect,
       | but I'm grateful for what I do have.
       | 
       | I know very little about any of you personally, but I hope you
       | continue to share your knowledge, wisdom, dumb anecdotes, and
       | opinions both great and terrible.
        
       | Dumblydorr wrote:
       | Today, I am thankful for all of the technologists who made the
       | greatest tool of all time: the computer. And here's to the
       | greatest language of all time: VBA. Haha just kidding, it's
       | obviously Rust. Or is it? Hehehehe.
       | 
       | Just getting my snarky comment practice in before the family
       | dinner. Alright, I'm off to bake a sweet potato souffle!
        
       | DoreenMichele wrote:
       | HN is the best place I've found to discuss medical stuff in a
       | serious and sciency manner, for which I am endlessly grateful.
        
         | eru wrote:
         | You might like https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ and Slate
         | Star Codex.
        
           | Godel_unicode wrote:
           | Ah yes, the people who keep promoting ivermectin despite a
           | mountain of evidence that it doesn't do what they wish it
           | would. The idea that something is effective in one place but
           | not in another, because although similar it's different in
           | several important ways, seems to just be too much for them.
           | It's unfortunate, really. It's also amazing to me that these
           | people don't seem to have thought of the most obvious proof
           | that it doesn't work: a publicly traded American big pharma
           | company is saying very clearly "do not buy our product for
           | treating COVID-19".
           | 
           | One of the most distressing things to me about the last 2
           | years is the bright line that has been drawn under the
           | innumeracy of the general population of the world.
           | 
           | https://www.merck.com/news/merck-statement-on-ivermectin-
           | use...
        
             | dang wrote:
             | " _Eschew flamebait. Avoid unrelated controversies and
             | generic tangents._ "
             | 
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
       | omot wrote:
       | Thanks dang! Hopefully they'll give you a promotion soon, maybe
       | some equity in YC companies! Maybe you'll even let us implement
       | dark mode on Hacker News soon. ;)
       | 
       | You the real one!
        
         | freetinker wrote:
         | Yup, thanks Dang!
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | ionwake wrote:
       | Happy thanksgiving dang and to all of you
        
       | sbuccini wrote:
       | Thinking about all the folks on call for the Black Friday/Cyber
       | Monday crush. They were some of my favorite days working in
       | e-commerce but, then again, everything always went smoothly
       | during my tenure. Thanks for holding down the fort for the rest
       | of us!
        
         | throwanem wrote:
         | I've been in that trench too. I'm thankful to be out of it, and
         | able to enjoy the festivities without always having an ear out
         | for that PagerDuty ringtone.
         | 
         | (EAS tones, I always used, the SAME FSK chirps followed by the
         | attention tone. Wake the dead, that will. If you never want to
         | miss a page again - and never want anyone in earshot to doubt
         | it's important, besides - give it a try! Bonus side effect:
         | you'll immediately be in the correct frame of mind if the real
         | balloon ever goes up.)
        
           | exikyut wrote:
           | 853 + 960Hz? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbegB49B1TY
           | 
           | (If you do check, maybe turn it down to be nice to your
           | nerves :D)
        
             | throwanem wrote:
             | Oh, I don't need to check, I looked it up ages ago while I
             | was implementing my SAME encoder. It's definitely that
             | frequency pair, and they're deliberately chosen to be
             | _exactly_ as unpleasant when mixed as they are.
        
         | enahs-sf wrote:
         | Was up at 1:30am fixing that blocker in production last night.
         | Never a dull moment!
        
           | exikyut wrote:
           | Aw, what was it? (Roughly)
        
             | enahs-sf wrote:
             | Bug in the Black Friday promo code logic that made the deal
             | unavailable. No bueno.
        
           | kwertyoowiyop wrote:
           | Thanks to you, and everyone who is on call today!
        
       | waleedamer wrote:
       | Happy thanksgiving!!!
        
       | nickpp wrote:
       | I am not American, but I give thanks today that USA exists.
       | Because, for all its failings, it still is such an inspiration
       | for how things can be great in the world and how a dream for a
       | future in which we are so much more than we are today - can
       | exist.
       | 
       | Happy Thanksgiving!
        
       | michaelsbradley wrote:
       | We give Thee thanks, almighty God, for all Thy benefits, who
       | livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.
       | 
       | May the Lord grant us His peace and life everlasting. Amen.
       | 
       | Happy Thanksgiving!
        
       | chainwax wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving! Hackernews has been a godsend for me and my
       | success as a software engineer is owed in part to this forum.
       | 
       | I grew up the son of an English teacher. As a kid, I was always
       | encouraged to look up words I didn't know in the dictionary. I do
       | the same thing here, just replace words with topics and the
       | dictionary with Google. The sheer amount of topics that I now
       | know "enough to have a conversation about" is insane.
       | 
       | On posts about new versions of libraries, frameworks, languages,
       | services, etc, it is not uncommon to see members of the teams
       | that built them chatting about it in the comments. Hearing from
       | developers directly rather than release notes or marketing
       | dribble is so refreshing.
       | 
       | The holy wars that go on in comments sections are also always
       | entertaining. Honestly, those are probably my favorite part.
       | 
       | I've never found a board/community online that is as high
       | quality, informative in topics I care about, or entertaining as
       | this one. I'm thankful for HN, the mods, and the community here.
        
       | yrral wrote:
       | I've been a HN member for 11 years and 11 months to this exact
       | day (I joined Christmas 2009).
       | 
       | Since then, I've lived in 6 different cities, 5 different
       | timezones and worked on countless side projects. But all this
       | time, HN has always been my most visited month after month.
       | 
       | I can always count on this place to keep me up to date with the
       | latest tech trends and read discussions between reasonable
       | people. Thank you all and especially dang for keeping discussions
       | high quality. Especially as the quality of content on the rest of
       | the internet deteriorates in the pursuit of virility.
       | 
       | It's a testament to you all that place feels the same as it did
       | 10+ years ago.
        
         | kilroy123 wrote:
         | Same here! My account is about the same age, and I've lived
         | abroad all over the world.
         | 
         | Hackernews always helped me feel grounded and connected to the
         | tech world and community at large.
        
       | myohmy wrote:
       | Happy turkey day everyone!
       | 
       | I hope your turkey comes out better than mine did...
        
       | barrenko wrote:
       | HN and coding is keeping me sane since March 2020.
       | 
       | Thank you OP and everyone on HN.
        
       | Toobam wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving day family. I love you all here. May the gods
       | of tech be with you all.
        
       | kodon wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving back at you
        
       | busymom0 wrote:
       | We had the Canadian thanksgiving few weeks ago. Happy
       | thanksgiving to all my American friends and family!
        
       | drakonka wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving! There is no Thanksgiving in my country, but I
       | have been reflecting on my work life as we approach the end of
       | the year and I'm really thankful for having gotten to spend 14
       | happy years working with a bunch of different, interesting tech
       | stacks.
        
       | area51org wrote:
       | Let's be thankful for being alive.
       | 
       | EDIT: "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." -Carl Sagan
        
         | TaylorAlexander wrote:
         | I wonder what Carl Sagan would say about Black Friday.
        
       | midasuni wrote:
       | That was 2 months ago
        
       | teddyh wrote:
       | Thanksgiving?
       | 
       | I guess next up is President's Day? Columbus Day?
        
       | atlasunshrugged wrote:
       | Happy thanksgiving, thanks to everyone who makes this an
       | informative and interesting place and especially thanks to Dang
       | for the usually thankless job of moderating tough discussions!
        
       | systemvoltage wrote:
       | Interesting bunch, thanks for good discussion and thanks to the
       | HN team.
        
       | rajasimon wrote:
       | Happy thanksgiving HN. I'm living in India and recently got the
       | US company offer through HackerNews. It's truely one of the best
       | forum that I recommend to my friends and families. Stay safe!
        
       | Ccecil wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving.
       | 
       | Eat some food, love your fellow humans but most importantly.
       | 
       | Thank you to all the Opensource Devs
        
       | splch wrote:
       | discovered this site this year! super thankful for that :)
        
       | authed wrote:
       | Happy thanksgiving, Hackers!
       | 
       | https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/spatchcock-turkey/
        
         | kmstout wrote:
         | I've butterflied turkeys for years and the results have always
         | been great. Evenly cooked, juicy meat. Crispy skin. Less time.
         | (You can also cook the bird atop a layer of stuffing.)
        
           | authed wrote:
           | It is a great way to cook chicken and turkey.
        
       | meken wrote:
       | I am thankful for the recent Ask HN thread where the guy
       | mentioned he feels dumb and lazy. I found it very relatable and
       | it caused good introspection on my part as well.
        
       | rcconf wrote:
       | Thank you all, HN is a fantastic community.
        
       | oschvr wrote:
       | I got hired through Hacker News, thanks to this forum !
        
       | josh2600 wrote:
       | Hackernews is simultaneously the most cantankerous and, imho,
       | highest quality response on average public forum on the net. I
       | absolutely love it here and sincerely appreciate this place. I
       | feel like I've grown up on this site in so many ways.
       | 
       | I am continually humbled by not just the consistent quality of
       | content but also the comments. It's a testament to the moderators
       | that this site has maintained this level of quality for so long.
       | 
       | I am thankful and happy to use thanksgiving as an excuse to
       | express that notion.
        
         | skeeter2020 wrote:
         | >> Hackernews is simultaneously the most cantankerous and,
         | imho, highest quality response
         | 
         | In other words, exactly what the internet was and (for people
         | like me) hoped it would continue to be. I don't think it's
         | entirely the moderation (though that certainly helps) but
         | somehow the conceptual integrity has been maintained and has a
         | powerful shaping force.
         | 
         | I never completely agree with the content and opinions, but we
         | all seem really well aligned with the rules of the game.
        
         | prohobo wrote:
         | Hackernews works. I respect the mods and appreciate their work
         | keeping everything running. We're living in increasingly
         | volatile times, and while a lot of us are stubborn and hard of
         | hearing - myself included - and people like Jonathan Blow like
         | to hate on that, I still think this forum is a bastion for real
         | discussion and understanding on all kinds of topics.
        
           | imran0 wrote:
           | It's bizarre how many times I've come across someone just
           | randomly hating on Jon Blow. I don't know what this guy does
           | to attract such attention considering his relatively niche
           | space of work.
        
             | prohobo wrote:
             | I'm not hating on him, I like him almost as much as John
             | Carmack. I think he brings criticism on himself though
             | because he's very negative on some topics, obviously not
             | making friends. While he's doing his niche work he's
             | shooting off strong opinions all the time.
        
           | someuname wrote:
           | If you go against the status quo you get flagged. It's just
           | as shit as any other forum.
        
             | dang wrote:
             | If you post like
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29342840 you certainly
             | do! Do you really think you shouldn't?
        
               | omot wrote:
               | Moderating even on Thanksgiving Day!
        
         | silisili wrote:
         | It's definitely one of the only places on the internet where
         | you can ask a question or insult something, and have either the
         | creator or most renown SME pop out of nowhere to explain
         | everything. Never seen anything quite like it in any other
         | field of interest I have.
        
           | underdeserver wrote:
           | SME = subject matter expert?
           | 
           | Please spell out your abbreviations for those of us who are
           | not familiar :)
        
             | silisili wrote:
             | Everyone else seems having fun with it, but yes - subject
             | matter expert.
        
             | valvar wrote:
             | This is why one should watch our for TLAs ;)
        
               | exdsq wrote:
               | Temporal logic of actions?
        
               | wyldfire wrote:
               | TLA is a TLA. Only slightly less popular are FLAs.
        
               | behnamoh wrote:
               | If by FLA you mean Macromedia Flash Files, then yes,
               | they're less popular now!
        
             | acoard wrote:
             | Worse, at least in the government circles I work in, people
             | pronounce "SME" as "smee." Almost like you're saying the
             | first syllable of Smeagol. Good luck googling that.
        
               | krisrm wrote:
               | You are not alone in this... The first time I heard
               | "smee", I thought my ears had gone.
        
             | phist_mcgee wrote:
             | They're talking about the most renowned execs at Sony Music
             | Entertainment obviously..
        
               | 1cvmask wrote:
               | Or Small & Medium-sized Enterprises
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_and_medium-
               | sized_enterpr...
        
               | adolph wrote:
               | I'd bet somewhere deep in the organization SME has a SME
               | SME.
        
               | yawnxyz wrote:
               | 'smee!
               | 
               | edit: "it's me!"
        
               | coddle-hark wrote:
               | Exec at Sony Music Entertainment here. You are correct.
        
         | leemailll wrote:
         | HN is quite enjoyable to read, the only exception I observed is
         | any topic political or someway a topic is diverted into that
         | trench.
        
           | macrowhat wrote:
           | Don't worry I take care of that
        
         | jonplackett wrote:
         | My proudest work-achievement of the year was getting to #1 spot
         | of my favourite website with termsandconditions.game
         | 
         | I love HN. Happy thanksgiving!
        
         | ravenstine wrote:
         | Even the worst comments on HN are far better than the worst
         | comments on Reddit or Twitter.
        
         | hellbannedguy wrote:
         | I agree on everything, but the moderation. Personally, I have
         | seen very few times where their assistance is even needed.
         | 
         | I have seen them squash interesting debates.
         | 
         | I had one guy email me, and tell me at home to stop commenting
         | so much. (Never forgot that one, and there are no TOS. I will
         | probally pay for those last two sentences? Then again if HN is
         | what it claims, maybe not?)
         | 
         | What makes this place special is there are a wide range of
         | people here interested in many subjects. What I love most is
         | cutting through the bull. I doubt there's a person here who
         | doesn't know about The Scientific Method, or The Placebo
         | Effect.
         | 
         | We don't automatically give credit to the wealthy boys unless
         | they did something really spectacular in their lives, and we
         | want to know exactly how much help the wealthy family had in
         | the success. We don't let them pontificate ad nausium because
         | they made money. We scrutinize and investigate everyone, and
         | every idea. From the best in class PhDs to lost disenfranchised
         | souls. Everyone has a chance to make their point.
         | 
         | Hacker News is by far the best site for technical discussion.
         | 
         | (I do spend too much time here. It's my fault though. I don't
         | have much of a life, and I am lonely. I am looking for new
         | sites besides Reddit. Reddit would be so much better if
         | everyone wasen't trying out for a SNL contract.)
        
           | newbamboo wrote:
           | Didn't really read you post but this jumped out at me,
           | "Hacker News is by far the best site for technical
           | discussion."
           | 
           | Indubitably true.
           | 
           | Frankly, even if I'm forever shadowbanned, I can't think of a
           | better place on the net. It reminds me of the old net, the
           | best parts. The current fashion and culture change a bit over
           | the years but not too much. It's hard to not mess up a good
           | thing but they do well to do that here, even if there's a
           | strong pro-CCP bias evident at times in some of the
           | moderation.
        
         | codetrotter wrote:
         | HN is a great place to learn new things. And new words! This is
         | the first time I've ever heard the word "cantankerous" :)
        
           | psalminen wrote:
           | Agreed. I can think of a few words off hand I learned here.
           | Rejoinder has probably been my favorite.
        
             | didericis wrote:
             | Can often learn the most words from the magniloquence of
             | cantankerous rejoinders.
             | 
             | I'm actually just as thankful for all the words I _don't_
             | have to learn here. This is often the first place I go to
             | when I want to look for a distilled, "real" take on
             | something by people capable of communicating with a lot of
             | jargon but generally choose to speak simply and succinctly.
        
         | beezischillin wrote:
         | This is the only platform I frequent where I read more than I
         | comment and I learn a lot from people, too. I always come here
         | to find interesting takes on things and I'm very rarely
         | disappointed. A lot of times I delete my comments instead of
         | posting because I worry ot might not be a good enough
         | contribution and that I might sound dumb. That's very humbling.
         | 
         | Happy Thanksgiving!
        
         | gigatexal wrote:
         | Yup, you all on the whole teach me a ton and keep me honest.
         | You call me out on my shit and also submit really cool things.
         | Here's to more.
        
       | arpa wrote:
       | Happy United States Holiday to you too good fellow. I hope to
       | live to see greetings for obscure Ghana holiday on the front page
       | as well.
       | 
       | Yeah I got karma to burn, but this is the hill i want to die on.
       | Too many a good place went to ruin due to eternal septemberites
       | coming from one place geographically and inadvertedly creating a
       | monoculture. I get that ycombinator is US based, but hacker
       | culture is so much more than just US.
        
       | kwertyoowiyop wrote:
       | this->gratitude++; // thank you (almost) all!
        
       | dt3ft wrote:
       | I am very thankful for being alive and for getting to experience
       | this world, no matter how cruel it may be at times. I survived 4
       | years of war that begun when I was 9 years old in the 90s. There
       | is plenty to be thankful for.
       | 
       | Happy thanksgiving!
        
       | bob1029 wrote:
       | There is no other place like this on the internet.
       | 
       | I would like to thank everyone who visits this site and
       | participates in these _excellent_ conversation threads.
       | 
       | Extra special thanks to dang for keeping all of these cats in 1
       | bag.
        
       | TheBigLebowski wrote:
       | Non-American but I do truly appreciate any holiday that puts
       | emphasis on taking stock of what, and who, you are lucky enough
       | to have in your life. Keep on hacking and posting folks, and I'll
       | remain thankful for many years to come!
        
       | Zensynthium wrote:
       | Happy thanksgiving everyone! Proud to be a part of the community.
       | Been here for about a year now and I'm looking forward to another
       | one with you all!
        
       | TaylorAlexander wrote:
       | I really do not understand why someone's comment about how Native
       | Americans view thanksgiving, and my response to it, got flagged.
       | Is it off topic? Is my concern for consumerism over Black Friday
       | not relevant? I understand it's not a cheerful subject but there
       | are many historical aspects of this holiday that are in fact not
       | cheerful. I found it unsettling to see pure positivity when to me
       | this feels like a day of mourning. I thought it appropriate to
       | discuss, or is there some rule in violation?
        
         | exdsq wrote:
         | People don't want to deal with an Ebenezer Scrooge saying "bah
         | humbug" after a year of lockdowns and not seeing families.
         | Interesting topic but maybe one for after the holidays.
         | 
         | Cool robots in your bio :)
        
           | TaylorAlexander wrote:
           | I'm not saying "bah humbug", I am saying this country was
           | founded on genocide and that our celebrations of early
           | american life have too often ignored the truth about how we
           | behaved. To celebrate only the positives during the holiday
           | with the expectation that we will talk about atrocities
           | later, we let ourselves off the hook to face the reality of
           | what happened. Doing so only allows us to perpetuate the
           | violence our nation has visited upon indigenous peoples since
           | its founding. You need only look at the treatment of
           | indigenous people protesting against Enbridge's Line 3 Oil
           | Pipeline to see that violence continue. [1]
           | 
           | The cool robots mean nothing if we cannot find our humanity
           | and understand our past behavior so we may stop repeating it.
           | 
           | [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/climate/line-3-pipelin
           | e-p...
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | DoreenMichele wrote:
         | Flags are typically by users, not staff.
         | 
         | I hesitated to leave my comment here because I'm part Native
         | and aware that it's complicated. The kind of comment you left
         | is not the best way to broach such subjects.
         | 
         | I would like to see more articles about Natives generally
         | without focusing overly much on the victim narrative. I think
         | I'm alive in part because of my Native heritage, for which I am
         | also deeply grateful.
         | 
         | My other comment that I'm talking about:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29338387
        
           | TaylorAlexander wrote:
           | I appreciate your comment. I guess I am frustrated because I
           | grew up with the colonizer mindset, that the Europeans who
           | came here were nice people that did nice things and everyone
           | had a big party together. I did a school play when I was a
           | kid about making friends with the Natives.
           | 
           | It wasn't until after school that I learned what was really
           | going on, and now when I see celebration for this day I
           | really do just think of genocide. Probably not the best way
           | to approach this but I was surprised at how strongly users
           | are flagging any comment that mentions it. It makes me feel
           | like people want to keep up their cognitive dissonance, and
           | it feels like that mechanism is what allows our nation to
           | continue harming first nations people to this day.
        
             | toni wrote:
             | Hi Taylor!
             | 
             | Clearly you touched on a very sensitive subject. I was also
             | surprised that my link was flagged by this much people, as
             | it was a very informative blog post about the fact that
             | some First Nation tribes might have a different point of
             | view about what Thanksgiving actually means to them.
             | 
             | I did email dang and asked if he can take a look at down
             | votes in this thread. But either way, keep up the good work
             | and don't get disappointed by the sheer amount of
             | injustices!
        
             | DoreenMichele wrote:
             | Redacted for privacy reasons.
        
               | TaylorAlexander wrote:
               | I understand the people were not exterminated. Genocide
               | does not require extermination, a partial extermination
               | still counts as genocide.
               | 
               | "Genocide is the intentional action to destroy a people--
               | usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or
               | religious group--in whole or in part." - Wikipeda
               | 
               | In my comment I mentioned that I am concerned about how
               | widespread willful ignorance of these matters allows our
               | nation to continue harming first nations peoples today.
               | So certainly I am not spreading some extermination
               | rhetoric.
               | 
               | And I agree with you that my comment was not the best
               | approach for getting people to understand. But I was
               | responding to someone who already understood, and
               | commiserating with them. Unfortunately my comment was
               | flagged and killed, so others could not see how I feel.
               | 
               | That knee jerk desire to bury discussion of the truth is
               | what concerns me. That same reaction allowed police to
               | mass arrest protesters fighting Enbridge's Line 3 oil
               | pipeline.
               | 
               | It seems clear to me the culture in the USA is one that
               | wants to ignore what really happened. I think it is good
               | that you post positive articles about Native culture and
               | history, but I know too there must be a time to look at
               | the facts head on, without blinders, and acknowledge what
               | happened. I say this not to look back, but to look at
               | those today who hold our founders in reverence every
               | holiday season as bastions of freedom, even when their
               | crimes are well known. The people must hear stories of
               | George Washington and think "Town Destroyer"[1], not
               | "cherry tree".
               | 
               | My aim is not to convince, but to show the strength of
               | our cognitive dissonance by telling the truth. And this
               | thread today has done a lot to illustrate how strong that
               | dissonance is.
               | 
               | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Destroyer
        
         | Afforess wrote:
         | Today celebrates thanksgiving and the apocalypse for Native
         | Americans. On one hand, sad, on the other hand, proof that
         | people can live, perhaps even thrive, beyond the apocalypse. It
         | may become more relevant to us after the end of climate change
         | or other world events.
        
         | KingOfCoders wrote:
         | I'm with you, as probably are most people outside of the US.
         | 
         | To my knowledge it is the only celebration of the beginning of
         | a genocide today.
        
         | thepasswordis wrote:
         | Just to be blunt: because eventually nobody wants to hear it
         | anymore.
         | 
         | This has been an extremely brutal couple of years for
         | everybody, and by most estimations the brutality is going to
         | continue. People want something to be happy about, and the idea
         | of sharing things they're thankful for is that. You don't need
         | to take that from them.
        
           | TaylorAlexander wrote:
           | Historically, American's have never wanted to hear the truth
           | about what the colonists did to the indigenous people of
           | America. I would not say this is a recent phenomenon. But
           | giving ourselves a pass to forget it allows us to perpetuate
           | the violence against indigenous people.
        
         | brink wrote:
         | If it feels like a day of mourning to you, then go ahead and
         | mourn. You seem to believe that we are celebrating what you are
         | mourning; we're not.
        
           | TaylorAlexander wrote:
           | I promise you I don't have any opinion about what you are
           | celebrating. I do not think people here are celebrating
           | genocide, I think they are ignoring it and then downvoting
           | and flagging comments that mention it. That behavior does not
           | seem appropriate to me.
        
             | thepasswordis wrote:
             | Man, why don't you just go outside and get some fresh air?
             | Seriously nobody wants to hear this. Don't yuck other
             | peoples yum.
             | 
             | Nobody is celebrating genocide. People want to get together
             | with their families and be happy.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please don't get personal.
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
               | 
               | Edit: also, please don't call names -
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29338611 is not ok
               | here, regardless of how wrong someone else is or you feel
               | they are.
        
           | jeabays wrote:
           | You are celebrating a holiday commemorating western settlers
           | committing genocide against the indigenous nations of
           | America, whether you choose to recognize it or not, that is
           | indeed its historical legacy.
        
             | thepasswordis wrote:
             | That is absolutely not what the holiday is for. If you
             | believe that, you are either lying, or are suffering some
             | sort of paranoid delusion. Go outside.
        
         | Godel_unicode wrote:
         | > Is it off topic?
         | 
         | Yes.
         | 
         | > Is my concern for consumerism over Black Friday not relevant?
         | 
         | To a post about being thankful on Thanksgiving? It is
         | absolutely not relevant. Let people be happy.
        
           | throwaway984393 wrote:
           | That's what the Dutch say about Black Pete. It's just a bit
           | of blackface, and the children are happy.
        
         | protomyth wrote:
         | Users flag and I would assume _I mostly associate the holiday
         | with genocide._ did it. Then you have the wrong association
         | given the current tribal views on the holiday. This view doesn
         | 't help anyone and actively hurts the perception of the tribes.
         | Can we just have one day where we are thankful and get along?
         | 
         | I work at a TCU and we gathered canned items as a staff to
         | distribute to the less fortunate. That's the actual spirit of
         | Thanksgiving.
        
           | DonHopkins wrote:
           | 4/20 is also traditionally celebrated as Hitler's birthday by
           | white supremacists, but that doesn't mean all the stoners and
           | hippies who celebrate cannabis on that same day are also
           | celebrating Hitler trying to exterminate the Jews.
           | 
           | Decent people have reclaimed the day 4/20 and number 420 for
           | better purposes than celebrating Hitler's birthday, the same
           | way "queers" have reclaimed that term as our own and use it
           | in the acronym LGBTQ+.
           | 
           | So let's please not let the white supremacists who celebrate
           | American's genocide against the original natives maintain
           | their exclusive claim on Thanksgiving, which literally means
           | giving thanks, which is a good thing for everyone to do in
           | general.
        
             | zozbot234 wrote:
             | While Thanksgiving is indeed partially a celebration of the
             | yearly harvest, to say "Thanksgiving is just about giving
             | thanks" really misses the point of what people are rightly
             | complaining about - which is that much of the folklore
             | relating to the holiday amounts to a celebration of
             | collective denial around the historically dismal and
             | dishonorable ways English settlers behaved towards the
             | natives. And the controversy about Thanksgiving is not even
             | new: Mark Twain acknowledged it as early as the 1920s! http
             | s://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)#C...
        
               | yesenadam wrote:
               | > Mark Twain acknowledged it as early as the 1920s!
               | 
               | He died in 1910.
        
               | zozbot234 wrote:
               | Sure, but the portions of his autobiography where he had
               | remarked on this were only published in the 1920s. So
               | these remarks were not known prior to that timeframe.
        
               | kwertyoowiyop wrote:
               | So you are technically correct. Which is, of course, the
               | best kind of correct.
        
             | protomyth wrote:
             | They never had an exclusive or even a meaningful claim on
             | Thanksgiving. I grew up on rezs and have never heard such.
             | Thanksgiving has always been a celebrated holiday that
             | shows Native American generosity.
        
           | TaylorAlexander wrote:
           | I'm stating a flat fact about my beliefs. It is how I see the
           | holiday.
           | 
           | > Then you have the wrong association given the current
           | tribal views on the holiday.
           | 
           | Which tribal views? I was responding to a comment that linked
           | to a purportedly indigenous American view that mentioned the
           | link to genocide.
           | 
           | > actively hurts the perception of the tribes.
           | 
           | Tell that to the people who wrote the article linked in the
           | comment I was responding to.
           | 
           | > we gathered canned items as a staff to distribute to the
           | less fortunate. That's the actual spirit of Thanksgiving.
           | 
           | How do you define "actual?" My understanding of indigenous
           | life in the Americas before colonization is that people would
           | have been cared for based on need year round, not once a
           | year.
        
         | throwaway984393 wrote:
         | It's one of the unspoken rules here ( _" Thou shalt not bring
         | up painful or inconvenient truths"_, related to _" Thou shalt
         | not be controversial in a way that doesn't reinforce our
         | beliefs"_). But now you're violating an actual rule too ( _"
         | Thou shalt not comment on being downvoted/flagged"_).
        
       | b3lvedere wrote:
       | Happy thanksgiving everyone!
        
       | eganist wrote:
       | This is nice, and I'm glad you posted it, and I'm glad it's still
       | up.
       | 
       | Happy thanksgiving! And for non-Americans wondering what it is:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving
       | 
       | Controversy around origin aside, hey at least the spirit of it is
       | nice.
        
       | enimodas wrote:
       | Let's try to not go shopping this year so those retail workers
       | can also have a happy thanksgiving.
        
       | 5555624 wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
        
       | exdsq wrote:
       | First thanksgiving in the US. My wife and I have stocked up on
       | some of the worst looking pre-made things from Safeway to easily
       | make tomorrow so neither of us have to cook. Excited to have a
       | long weekend :) Enjoy yours too!
        
         | elguyosupremo wrote:
         | The most important part of Thanksgiving is spending time with
         | the people you care about, the food is all secondary; it sounds
         | like you're doing things right.
         | 
         | That being said, in the future I recommend seeking out the best
         | pies that you can, my personal favorites are blueberry and
         | apple.
         | 
         | Welcome to America and happy Thanksgiving!
        
       | OMGCable wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
        
       | ryan0x00 wrote:
       | Much love. Happy thanksgiving <3
        
       | jonplackett wrote:
       | Pretty much the only place on the internet where the comments are
       | as intelligent and informative - or more so - than the articles
       | themselves.
       | 
       | Actually, that's probably a much higher bar than needs leaping
       | over - it's pretty much the only place where the comments aren't
       | just a bunch of hate filled bile.
        
       | rfreytag wrote:
       | Yes! Happy thanksgiving to all y'all (especially you dang)!
        
       | hereforphone wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving. Please remember that regardless of the
       | "difficulties" the western world is facing now, you have it
       | better than almost everyone on the planet. I've been to some of
       | the poorest countries on earth in war and peace. Never take
       | anything for granted. Please be safe, and be _thankful_.
        
       | m0llusk wrote:
       | An interesting game, mr_o47. The only winning move is to play.
        
       | jollybean wrote:
       | Happy 'American' Thanksgiving. :)
        
       | EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote:
       | My daily news fix converged to just two sources - HN and Daily
       | Science telegram channels. Thank you guys for liberating me from
       | the Reddit hell!
        
       | eric4smith wrote:
       | As an Immigrant to the USA, I did not get the whole thanksgiving
       | thing. But then as I had a kid there, I warmed up to it.
       | 
       | Then now I've been living abroad for almost 10 years without
       | returning home to the USA and if I did not see this post I would
       | not even have remembered.
       | 
       | It's strange how we can so quickly adjust to holidays from
       | different countries in just a few years -- while forgetting the
       | ones back home so easily. And it's not because we were ingrained
       | with them as kids, because while I grew up in Jamaica, I've
       | totally forgotten the holidays there now.
       | 
       | I guess the main one is Christmas - it's hard to forget because
       | of all the shopping - and that's kinda celebrated here in Asia
       | too.
       | 
       | Anyway... Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
        
         | busymom0 wrote:
         | In the same boat myself. I immigrated from india to Canada many
         | years ago and since then, Christmas is the only one I can
         | actually remember and usually celebrate. The other traditional
         | ones like Diwali, Durga Puja, Holi, Eid etc are all forgotten
         | to me unless my family reminds me of it.
        
           | bufordtwain wrote:
           | UK immigrant to the USA here. I heard about and celebrated
           | Diwali for the first time this year (by going out for Indian
           | food). I'm up for any and all holidays. Especially ones that
           | involve food and no other commitments :) Happy Thanksgiving
           | to all!
        
         | A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote:
         | I can relate as I am an immigrant as well. I do not know if it
         | is me getting older or the fact this year was especially
         | eventful ( new title, first baby ), but, despite all the stuff
         | going on in the world today, I feel especially thankful.
         | 
         | It is funny, because only few years ago I was more cynical
         | about it and reduced all holidays to the 'feast' part.
        
       | andrew_ wrote:
       | Citizen of the Earth, member of the Cherokee Nation - let us not
       | forget the spirit of the day. Everyone viewing this post has
       | something to be thankful for. Be humble, be kind. Happy
       | Thanksgiving.
        
         | theonething wrote:
         | > be kind
         | 
         | Likewise to you.
        
       | DeathArrow wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans!
        
         | DeathArrow wrote:
         | Why the downvote? Not everybody here is from US.
        
           | sul_tasto wrote:
           | Can't say I agree with the downvote. Nevertheless, even
           | though Thanksgiving is a US holiday, the spirit of
           | Thanksgiving is to invite and include everyone. You don't
           | have to be a US citizen to celebrate Thanksgiving.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | tartoran wrote:
       | Happy TG HN, Dang and PG
        
       | rackjack wrote:
       | In terms of Hacker News specific gratitude, I am thankful for the
       | deep and diverse level of experience lots of people on here
       | possess, and the moderators who enable these voices to rise to
       | the top.
        
       | stephenitis wrote:
       | I am thankful for this community helping largely stay off normal
       | news sources and providing me with healthy discussion to jog my
       | brain in some long ass Austrian lockdowns.
       | 
       | Thanks everyone & HN staff
        
       | kaladin_1 wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.
       | 
       | I am grateful for this platform, the moderators and all
       | contributors.
       | 
       | Thank you Dan.
       | 
       | I remember when I was new here. I was impressed and equally
       | challenged by the achievements of people here. One of my first
       | questions was how I could get a good remote job. Dan replied and
       | informed me about the Whoishiring account. He sounded very
       | positive and even wished me good luck. I felt so motivated and
       | eventually used it to secure a remote work that I really like.
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Yay! I love it when HN has positive effects on people's real
         | lives. It did that for me too, long before I became a moderator
         | here. Thank you, PG.
        
       | b20000 wrote:
       | thanks, and happy thanksgiving to you as well and everyone else
       | here. apart from the occasional ranting and bitching this has
       | been a very nice place.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | larodi wrote:
       | Most honest gratitude to all of you who contribute with
       | incredible comments and valuable insights in the comments
       | section!
        
       | ablekh wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving! I appreciate this community and wish everyone
       | all the best this holiday season and beyond.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | tehlike wrote:
       | We recently learned our friend's 9-month-old was diagnosed with
       | leukemia. I have a two year old daughter, and cant even imagine
       | the pain they are going through.
       | 
       | This year, I am thankful for being healthy as a family, and i am
       | praying for the kid.
       | 
       | That's all.
        
       | tjpnz wrote:
       | To all those saying it's a strictly American affair I would point
       | out that Japan also has it's own version on the same week.
       | 
       | Happy Labor Thanksgiving Day everyone!
        
         | dang wrote:
         | What is the Japanese version of Thanksgiving? I had no idea.
        
           | krapp wrote:
           | They probably mean this:
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Thanksgiving_Day
        
       | vmception wrote:
       | It's a nice reason to recollect what you are thankful for or can
       | be as other people share
       | 
       | To me i can appreciate that far more than worrying about the
       | origin story, but the version thats told is inspirational too
        
       | mynegation wrote:
       | Thank you Dan Gackle for making this site my happy place, the
       | only place on the internet that I read every day.
       | 
       | Thank you all for posting and upvoting the interesting stories.
       | Thank you for replying to my comments. Thank you for upvoting
       | them. Thank you for downvoting them, too. I come here to learn
       | and be amazed at knowledge, creativity, and kindness.
        
         | rwbhn wrote:
         | Hear, hear!
         | 
         | Happy Thanksgiving, all. Hope you are able to spend time with
         | family and friends.
        
         | ericd wrote:
         | Definitely, thanks dang!
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | newbie789 wrote:
         | I'll upvote that. Being a mod is a difficult and nearly
         | completely thankless (but utterly necessary) job, he's got a
         | good attitude and consistent enforcement of the rules. Cheers
         | dang!
        
         | hackitup7 wrote:
         | Dang is the traffic cop + mom + cool older cousin + prison
         | warden that HN needs, and I think that's what's allowed this
         | place to stay so great.
        
         | christophilus wrote:
         | dang does a dang good job. He's corrected me a few times for
         | posting unhelpful, snarky, or dismissive comments. His care and
         | vigilance really makes this the best forum on the web that I'm
         | aware of.
        
           | rsj_hn wrote:
           | dang good egg, confirmed.
           | 
           | Happy Thanksgiving!
        
             | randycupertino wrote:
             | I always like how even when people are so cranky and rude
             | to him because they're complaining about whatever they
             | disagree with, he's always so respectful and thoughtful
             | back. It's rather amusing to see a mod rule via benevolent
             | kindness instead of like a petty HOA president :P
        
         | missedthecue wrote:
         | As someone who has been rapped across the proverbial knuckles
         | by dang for making unnecessarily combative or snarky comments,
         | I too want to thank him for making this a great place.
        
         | tentacleuno wrote:
         | Dang is a bloody excellent moderator. I personally love his
         | more talkative and eloquent tone, instead of the "can you
         | stop", "just follow the rules or fuck off" attitude other
         | moderators seem to have. He's a bit of a role model to me, so I
         | do tend to try and watch how he moderates and blend it into my
         | own style.
        
           | randycupertino wrote:
           | Ha! I literally just commented almost exactly the same thing
           | below to another post. I'm glad there's a few of us who
           | appreciate his benevolence.
        
           | TravHatesMe wrote:
           | Didn't know his name, I was saying dang as in _dangit_ in my
           | head for year. Need to fix that to Dan-G.
        
             | acoard wrote:
             | For what it's worth, I still mentally pronounce it as
             | "dang" (i.e. part of dang-it). I know it's not his name,
             | but it's so perfect, I thought it had to be intentional,
             | like a little joke.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | That's right.
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25061563
        
         | benjaminwootton wrote:
         | I always assumed dang was an Asian name. Didn't realise it was
         | a Dan G :-)
        
           | newbamboo wrote:
           | Knowing his name is Gackle I still suspect he is of Asian
           | descent. Because Asians are cool. They have western names if
           | they are mixed. Nothing at all wrong with that.
        
           | cghendrix wrote:
           | Same!
        
       | thepasswordis wrote:
       | Happy thanksgiving, HN! Hoping for a safe and happy weekend for
       | everyone, and praying for anybody daring to brave an airport!
       | Good luck, and reminder: take as much leftovers home as you
       | possibly can. Stuffing a Hawaiian roll full of cold turkey and
       | cranberry sauce and eating it over the sink is a godly act.
       | 
       | For those of you who have to work to keep this giant machine
       | running, just be aware: legally you are allowed to have one drink
       | at your desk at all times during the holiday weekend. I don't
       | make the rules.
        
         | gwill wrote:
         | "Stuffing a Hawaiian roll full of cold turkey and cranberry
         | sauce and eating it over the sink is a godly act."
         | 
         | what i would pay for that experience while walking home after a
         | night out.
        
       | sakopov wrote:
       | My 10th year on HN after several years lurking. There is no
       | better place on internet. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Stay
       | healthy, be kind and count your blessings.
        
       | rookderby wrote:
       | I am thankful for this site, and the awesome comments from users.
       | I'm really thankful for comments with sources and that a lot of
       | users follow the guidelines [1]. It makes for interesting
       | reading. Thanks for a place I can read something new on every
       | day.
       | 
       | [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
       | NotPractical wrote:
       | It's pleasant to see something like this on here mixed in with
       | all the technical posts. Happy thanksgiving!
        
       | dudus wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you can spend some time with
       | family this holidays.
       | 
       | You are all beautiful, bickering, nerds. And I love you all.
        
       | sheetbird wrote:
       | This site is poison. Very pretentious, Silicon Valley try-hards.
       | Please downvote me you delicate geniuses!
        
       | goblinux wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving y'all!
        
       | primitivesuave wrote:
       | It's been over 8 years for me with you wonderful people, thank
       | you all so much for the immeasurable wisdom you have imparted
       | over the years.
        
       | plainOldText wrote:
       | I - like other people have reported - have grown tremendously
       | intellectually by reading HN through the years.
       | 
       | Happy Thanksgiving!
        
       | TuneG wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.
        
       | unkulunkulu wrote:
       | I'm from another culture and this is a FIRST thanksgiving for me
       | :)
       | 
       | This place has been not only enjoyable and absolutely blowing
       | away for me because of all the great people who participated in
       | key events for our industry and provided first hand perspective
       | on something I only remotely heard of before.
       | 
       | But the warm inclusive accepting and encouraging atmosphere here
       | is totally something else on the internets nowadays, thank every
       | single one of you for that.
       | 
       | And a cherry on top, one of the book recommendations here changed
       | my life in ways I could not have imagined, so you're all very
       | special for me, hope to be a part of this big and warm community
       | for the years to come, thank you for your precious time and
       | attention!
        
         | shill wrote:
         | Do you mind sharing the name of the book?
        
           | unkulunkulu wrote:
           | It's Keith Johnston Improv. It really helped me to become
           | friends with my subconscious, imagination, destroy some
           | assumptions about myself, reframe my view of children, of
           | course laid a stone into my decision to have a child (like
           | this year as opposed to "eventually" or some day as I started
           | interacting with children after reading the book), showed me
           | a cool hobby and a new way to express myself as an event
           | organizer. I have like 240 highlights and notes in it, more
           | than in any other book by far, it was really a book written
           | just for me at that point in life, you know? It also has a
           | bit of a twist towards the end. Highly recommend! I'm 33 if
           | this provides some context I dunno :)
        
         | neoncontrails wrote:
         | Gosh, this was beautiful to read as an incidentally American
         | person.
         | 
         | There's something truly healing in giving thanks, in calling
         | attention to the countless small acts of kindness without which
         | we wouldn't be where we are today. The holiday itself is so
         | freighted with the weight of our history, but the premise seems
         | good. It actually seems to me more humanist, less materialistic
         | and less secular, than any other holiday on the Western
         | calendar.
        
           | unkulunkulu wrote:
           | For sure, gratitude is healing both ways, holidays like this
           | must really have a wide positive effect on communities and
           | wellbeing of people. We need more of those :)
           | Goingaroundstreetsandscreamingiloveyouateachotherday anyone?
           | :))
        
         | aydwi wrote:
         | Speaking of books discovered on HN, this website is an
         | excellent, distilled resource: https://hackernewsbooks.com/
        
           | 1cvmask wrote:
           | The number one book this week is:
           | 
           | How to Destroy a Tech Startup in 3 Easy Steps
        
         | wiether wrote:
         | I'll also be thankful for the book's name
        
           | unkulunkulu wrote:
           | Replied to the first post with details, Keith Johnston Improv
        
       | protomyth wrote:
       | For those that are alone, remember the world is full of
       | serendipity and the desolate years can change.
       | 
       | For those in groups, be thankful for those you break bread with
       | and the paths that led them to your table.
        
         | tentacleuno wrote:
         | Some people are both at the same time. You can be in a social
         | group yet feel bitterly alone at the same time. That's
         | essentially what I used to feel like.
        
           | Shared404 wrote:
           | That's a hard place to be in, for those in that situation,
           | know that at least one internet stranger cares enough to chat
           | for a bit - emails in my bio.
           | 
           | Can't promise to respond instantly, but will respond before I
           | go to bed tonight.
        
       | sheetbird wrote:
       | happy
        
       | knaik94 wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving y'all
        
       | senectus1 wrote:
       | hows this thankful thing work? is it a specifically Christian
       | thing or is it secular?
       | 
       | I'm peripherally aware it has something to do with (North
       | American first nation) Indians and early settlers plus it tends
       | to involve feasting on turkey and pumpkin dishes.
        
         | hollerith wrote:
         | Many cultures celebrate the annual harvest although maybe not
         | all of them combine it with gratitude.
        
           | eru wrote:
           | Many cultures in temperate climates do.
           | 
           | Much further away from the equator, you can't really do
           | agriculture to harvest stuff. Closer to the equator you can
           | often do multiple harvests a year.
           | 
           | Mentioning this not just to be pedantic (though I enjoy
           | that), but also because the connection between our physical
           | surroundings and culture are endlessly fascinating.
           | 
           | See eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghmjIBD2Fd4
        
         | area51org wrote:
         | Let's just be thankful for what we have.
        
         | implements wrote:
         | (A British person ponders ...) "Why do Americans have two
         | Christmas-type celebrations (travel, food, family drama) a
         | month apart? It seems ... odd."
        
           | kwertyoowiyop wrote:
           | If you're recommending we add another two in June and July
           | for symmetry, I'm up for that.
        
           | marginalia_nu wrote:
           | To be fair, both New Year's Eve and Christmas are essentially
           | the same holiday (a solstice celebration missing the mark by
           | a few days).
        
             | Turing_Machine wrote:
             | Thanksgiving is more of a (somewhat late) harvest festival
             | than a solstice festival.
        
         | sakopov wrote:
         | I mean, you clearly know exactly what the holiday is about.
         | What's the point of your comment?
        
         | pdonis wrote:
         | _> is it a specifically Christian thing or is it secular?_
         | 
         | As far as the US holiday is concerned, it's secular, by which I
         | mean it is celebrated by pretty much everybody regardless of
         | religious persuasion (or lack thereof).
        
           | eru wrote:
           | Thanksgiving is a bit like Christmas Eve. It's the evening
           | before Black Friday.
        
             | grp000 wrote:
             | Now, let us pray to the one True God of the United States,
             | Consumerism.
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | skissane wrote:
           | It is Christian in origin, albeit a minor local Christian
           | tradition (developed in the US) rather than a major near-
           | universal one. Like many Christian traditions, it has been
           | secularised, just as Christmas has been. I think the big
           | difference between Thanksgiving and Christmas, is the
           | Christian origins of the later are much harder to forget.
           | That's why relatively few Jews (for example) are willing to
           | celebrate Christmas even in a wholly secularised form,
           | whereas the majority of American Jews have no problem with
           | celebrating Thanksgiving-Christmas is still identified with
           | its Christian origins in a way in which Thanksgiving is not.
           | 
           | That said, not all American Jews do view Thanksgiving as
           | acceptable. Among ultra-Orthodox Jews, the belief is
           | widespread that celebrating Thanksgiving violates Jewish
           | religious law against observing non-Jewish festivals.
           | Likewise, some conservative Muslims (Salafis in particular)
           | view Thanksgiving as _haram_ for parallel reasons. You might
           | say these Jewish and Muslim objectors are paying more
           | attention to the festival's Christian origins than most
           | Americans do.
           | 
           | Thanksgiving isn't the only example of a minor American
           | Christian tradition being secularised - the same is true of
           | Mother's Day and Father's Day. Unlike Thanksgiving, which is
           | rarely observed outside of North America, Mother's Day and
           | Father's Day have spread to most of the rest of the English-
           | speaking world, even if not always on the same date. Many
           | cultures have indigenous traditions of festivals to celebrate
           | motherhood and/or fatherhood, going back centuries or more;
           | but in Anglophone countries, Mother's Day and Father's Day
           | are generally American in origin, and only date to the 20th
           | century, not due to one of those older traditions.
        
             | senectus1 wrote:
             | interesting. So its an American Settler Christian event
             | thats been, as usual typically watered down for the mass
             | marketability.
             | 
             | We dont have it here in Australia (except apparently on a
             | small island off to the side of the mainland). We don't
             | really have any sort of festival or celebration that is
             | comparable.
        
               | skissane wrote:
               | I think the equivalent for the majority of Australians
               | really is Christmas. Americans tend to see extended
               | family on Thanksgiving, whereas Christmas (for those who
               | observe it) tends to be a smaller affair more likely to
               | be spent with immediate family only. By contrast,
               | Australians are much more likely to see extended family
               | at Christmas. Also, our traditional equivalent to the
               | Black Friday sales is the Boxing Day sales, which is
               | another way in which Australian Christmas = American
               | Thanksgiving. Very many secular Australians celebrate
               | Christmas in a completely secular way, with no religious
               | component.
               | 
               | Of course it is not entirely equivalent, in that
               | Thanksgiving is a more religiously inclusive holiday than
               | Christmas is. While there are people with a religious
               | objection to both, there are many more with a religious
               | objection to the later but not the former.
        
               | senectus1 wrote:
               | thats twice I've seen black friday mentioned along side
               | of thanksgiving... I'll have to look up exactly what
               | started black friday now :P
        
               | skissane wrote:
               | Day after Thanksgiving when stores reopen having been
               | closed the day before. Traditionally called "Black
               | Friday" because it put retail businesses books back into
               | the black.
               | 
               | I think this recent adoption of Black Friday in Australia
               | is dumb, for two reasons:
               | 
               | (1) It makes zero sense given we don't celebrate
               | Thanksgiving
               | 
               | (2) Given the term's historical association in Australian
               | culture with mass death (1939 Black Friday bushfires that
               | killed over 70 people, 2009 Black Saturday bushfires that
               | killed over 170 people), using it for sales could be seen
               | as disrespectful and culturally insensitive
        
             | hiyer wrote:
             | > It is Christian in origin, albeit a minor local Christian
             | tradition (developed in the US) rather than a major near-
             | universal one.
             | 
             | It is Christian only in the sense that the people who
             | celebrated it were Christian. The events that led to the
             | festival were purely political in nature, and not
             | necessarily wholesome either.
             | 
             | 1. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/thanks
             | givi...
             | 
             | 2. https://www.salon.com/2016/11/23/thanksgiving-a-day-of-
             | mourn...
        
               | skissane wrote:
               | Thanksgiving, as a consistent national holiday formally
               | observed every year, was established by Abraham Lincoln's
               | proclamation in 1863, which declared it a day for
               | "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who
               | dwelleth in the Heavens". Clearly religious in nature,
               | although no doubt Lincoln had political motivations as
               | well - the two are not mutually exclusive. 1621 was in
               | itself a one-off event; the fact that it was later cited
               | as justification for a regular observance says more about
               | those later times than about 1621, and how 1621 was
               | presented at those later times (such as in 1863, but also
               | various earlier times too-it was observed at the
               | state/local level, and intermittently nationally too,
               | before Lincoln made it a regular national observance) is
               | more important than what really happened _for the purpose
               | of determining whether it should be classified as
               | religious_. Abraham Lincoln appears to have not believed
               | in Christianity personally (his personal beliefs are
               | obscure, but he may have been some kind of deist); but
               | when he made that proclamation I think he was expecting
               | most Americans to understand it in Christian terms and
               | most Americans at the time in fact did.
        
         | armenarmen wrote:
         | https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=what+is+thanksgiving
        
           | toni wrote:
           | https://blog.nativehope.org/what-does-thanksgiving-mean-
           | to-n...
        
             | TaylorAlexander wrote:
             | Yep, it's weird to see all the cheerful "Happy
             | Thanksgiving" comments. I mostly associate the holiday with
             | genocide. And when people talk about Black Friday I think
             | of the poor working conditions of workers overseas whose
             | country has been turned in to a factory for cheap goods for
             | Americans and Europeans. The consumerist excitement for the
             | next shiny good trains us to see joy in consumption even as
             | our consumption is destroying the most beautiful thing we
             | know, the Earth. It's depressing seeing all the ads for
             | more landfill fodder and doubly so to see people excited
             | about it. New technology can be liberating but Black Friday
             | is a celebration of overproduction as fantasy and practice
             | and it's grotesque.
             | 
             | EDIT: Flagged? Have I broken a rule? Or just raised an
             | uncomfortable subject?
        
           | SwiftyBug wrote:
           | If @usnectus1 asked this here is because they wanted to
           | initiate a conversation about thanks giving in this very
           | light-hearted post (which, gasp, happened). It's not like
           | they are spamming or cluttering a technical post with an
           | "easily googleable question".
           | 
           | This year I'm thankful I don't have to deal with that kind of
           | behaviour outside the internet.
        
             | senectus1 wrote:
             | I was actually curious of the personal views on this. Sure
             | I can google and delve into different non-authoritive
             | sources. But HN is a community i value their points of
             | views (mostly).
             | 
             | The only thing that comes to mind about my knowledge of
             | Thanks Giving is from the Addams Family Values film... I'm
             | pretty sure I shouldn't be taking that revision of a
             | historical event too seriously.
        
       | teruakohatu wrote:
       | Happy thanksgiving. This is such a wonderful community that I am
       | so pleased to be part of.
        
       | Huhty wrote:
       | Right back at ya!
        
       | relwin wrote:
       | My Thanksgiving Bullet Enumerated List:
       | 
       | 1) I'm thankful my elderly parents and in-laws are healthy and
       | survived the worst of the pandemic.
       | 
       | 2) I'm thankful new relatives are healthy and thriving (who
       | doesn't adore babies?)
       | 
       | 3) I'm thankful my immediate family is OK. Zoom-schooling and
       | masking is not ideal but we adjusted and adapted.
       | 
       | 4) I'm in awe of the medical professionals who withstood the
       | brunt of the pandemic and continue to provide for our well-being.
       | 
       | 5) And the technologists that support the medical professionals
       | -- the those who build the tools, design the scientific
       | instruments, operate the equipment, push the tech to
       | incrementally do more -- all this seems like magic but is
       | comprised of late night debugging, inspired insight, that blood-
       | sweat-beers workpersonship that keeps society chugging along.
        
       | cirrus3 wrote:
       | Agree. As much as this place drives up my anxiety and displeasure
       | everyday, it is still my #1 source for news that I care to hear
       | about. Kind of a low bar, but hey, still above the bar =)
        
       | Tokelin wrote:
       | I may not celebrate Thanksgiving (not American) but I would still
       | like to say thanks to hacker news. I don't remember how long ago
       | I discovered it, but it's been an amazing journey. Let it never
       | end. Thank you to this amazing community.
        
       | bhu1st wrote:
       | Happy Thanksgiving all. I'm from Kathmandu, Nepal we celebrate
       | something similar around October, called Dashain, the spirit is
       | the same. Family time, good food and being thankful for what we
       | have.
        
         | deberon wrote:
         | What is the appropriate way to wish somebody a happy Dashain?
        
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