James provides an illustrated guide to opening and eating a pomegranate. Until you get good at it, don't wear good clothes.

But a "designer drug" lab, instead. The Globe reports on court papers in the case of that alleged sex club / meth lab at 369 Congress St. No meth, but plenty of other drugs and drug pre-cursors, including LSD, magic mushrooms and plenty of chemicals for making West Coast-style designer drugs:

... "Almost exclusively, these labs are going to be in California, in the San Francisco area," said Gregory D. Lee, a former special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and author of drug investigation texts. ..."

Meanwhile, people who knew Kevin "Frostbyte" McCormick, whose heart-attack death sparked the whole investigation, continue to post tributes.

Charisse recalls when he began building a performance space at 369 Congress:

... Finally, he had all the space he needed to create an alternate universe. Stumbling from room to room, his visitors walked through mazes, projections, paintings, sculptures and other visitors. Frostbyte occupied a space that demanded more bodies; his visitors were integral to his work and his existence. He was far from antisocial, rather desperately social, and offered up his home and his self for the pleasure of others; he ensured that his visitors were comfortable, happy, and above all, satisfied.

Frostbyte did everything he could to make others smile, and, on more than one occasion, he saved me from myself. I loved him very much, as I know we all did. He altered my life and taught me to love myself as much as he loved me. ...

ESPN reports the Sox will send shortstop Hanley Ramirez and a couple of minor leaguers to Florida for starter Josh Beckett and third baseman Mike Lowell.

Seat 21: This is huge.

Sox1Fan: THIS IS A MISTAKE:

... [Beckett] has been placed o the DL on seven separate occasions IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS! Yikes! He has won more than ten games a grand total of ONCE in his career (15 W in 2005)… he has NEVER pitched 200 innings in one season… and he hasn’t averaged a strikeout per inning pitched since 2003. Furthermore, and most disturbing, his pitching splits are VERY problematic: 10-2, 2.47 at pitcher-friendly Pro Player Stadium and 5-6, 4.31 on the road —- in the National League (tantamount to 4-A ball)! ...

Freddy acknowledges that, but says:

... In exchange (for hot prospect Ramirez) they receive a player who if nothing else should provide more offense than Kevin Millar last year and a pitcher who may be on the verge of breaking loose as a star. I need to think more on this but for now, I like this deal a LOT.

Kathleen recalls Derek Lamb, her good friend and animator, who died earlier this week:

... I don't remember what it is like not to have Derek in my life. We were very close and would spend long hours together--laughing, telling stories, and just hanging around. I loved Derek's work as an artist and whenever he came for dinner, we often had a post-meal screening of his cartoons. Each one was a piece of genius. ...

Mark's been chronicling the wave of Globe newsroom staffers taking buyouts. Among them, obit writer Tom Long:

... "I'm 55 years old and they're offering me health insurance and it gives me a chance to find out if there's life on the other side," he says. "I'm not retiring. I'm just passing on to another dimension."

Johnny watches the 5:30 news on Channel 7 tonight and finds his IQ oozing under the door:

I'm watching the 5:30PM news on Channel 7, which is making me bleed out of every orifice on my head, and they just ran a tease for a story on Newton being ranked the safest town in America. You mean rich people can buy themselves good police protection? Get the fuck out of town! Caterina Bandini said that "Springfield also made the list, but this one is the list of most dangerous cities." That's pretty funny, Caterina. I'm wishing ill upon you right now. ...

They also did a story about Home Depot building an aquarium for the community...in Atlanta. Because the local news covers...all the shit that goes down in...Atlanta. ...

Dan explains why he finds Sidekick completely worthless.

My standard newspaper disclosure.

In case you missed it, last night's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" involved a young Medfield boy with a disease that has left him unable to walk. David, who lives in Medfield, discusses:

... The entire town was involved: our pal David Sharff was the architect, and a gazillion tradespeople donated their time (one of our son's coaches was one of the 23 (!) plumbers, and the coordination was beyond belief: leveling and carting away the old house, digging the new foundation (which I think included removing some ledge), and then building the entire thing in less than a week. We had several chances to watch the process, and I think (I'm not sure, since I was bawling the whole time) it was amazing. ...

He gives a special shout-out to Medfield's own Curt Schilling, who got involved as well.

Most exits from Downtown Crossing exist solely to disgorge as many people as quickly as possible. Cat writes that one is different:

... This portal from the subway to street level has no staircase. It has a beautifully cleaned escalator with shiny gold handrails. This portal lacks the muck-covered gray floors. It's carpeted in a lush maroon oriental design. The walls are not smeared with God-knows-what, they're aesthetically pleasing in coordinating designs of marble. The escalator leads not into the mean, cold streets of Boston, but instead to the luxurious lobby of one of the city's finest office buildings. ...

Just follow the signs.

Borderline says stay away from Shaw's one day over the next month for ratting out Whole Foods Markets over its proposed Thanksgiving opening (surprise: We still have some Blue Laws):

... Never mind that the Blue Laws are a relic from a different age, and that there thousands of ancient laws on the books that are never enforced, either through official ignorance or deliberate inaction. Whole Foods wanted to stay open, was willing to pay its staff extra to come in on that day, and many consumers in Newton and Waltham may have wanted to go there to buy a last-minute something for Thanksgiving dinner. ...

One suspects Dan will not be joining in, since he finds Whole Foods trying to force employees to work on Thanksgiving pretty obnoxious.

Steve discusses a meeting last week on how to improve Centre Street and posts photos from the idea lists that people at the meeting came up with.

Murray Chass declares: Lucchino: Just a Soul Who's Misunderstood.

Bruce wonders why a Times columnist would devote so much space to defending Larry. Part ownership of the Sox, perhaps? Bruce is willing to cut Chass a tiny bit of slack, but still, he asks you to imagine Gordon Edes writing a similar hagiography of George Steinbrenner. Hard to picture, no?

For the past few weeks, Sarah has had something of an empty spot in her soul:

... On Thursday was gay night and that was OUR night. Me, my girls and my gays would meet up at Jill's get ready to Christina Aguilera en espanol dance remixes, and trek off into Cambridge wearing anything from boas to pleather skirts. And we OWNED that club. Michael (the front door man) would see us coming and usher us to the front of the line. We would enter, dump our coats, and descend into the "80s room" to shimmy and jump and DANCE to old school Madonna ... or into the Big Room where Amber and Ultra Nate would be pumping and you could watch yourself dance in the mirror lined walls or grab a bench along the side and people watch.

In short: it was fabulous. And I miss it. ...

It's not even Thanksgiving, and already WODS has gone over to its all-Christmas playlist (including the Village People singing some Christmas song to the music of "YMCA").

Jody: It's too soon!

Michael: We're not nearly ready for this. Still, he says he's grateful, because it reminds him he'll be spending Christmas far away:

... They don't play The Little Drummer Boy or White Christmas or the Chipmunk Song up in the Peruvian Andes. ...

If you want the WODS of old, and you're south of JP and aren't driving on 128, you should be able to pick up B 101 (actually, more like B 101.5) out of Providence. Meanwhile, could somebody tell our neighbors that Nov. 16 is really just a tad early to be turning on their Christmas lights?

Mats doesn't think much of the city's plans to install video cameras in high-crime neighborhoods as a crime deterrent:

... Instead of putting cameras everywhere, as if Boston were some dadgum post-industrial wasteland in northern England, or its American equivavlent, how about some more freaking cops? ...

Apparently, the Happy Hour, Roslindale Square's finest no-food, bottles-only bar, has been sold to somebody who plans on turning it into a sports bar and grill. Hopefully, they'll keep the pool tables.

Meanwhile, down the street, another hole in the wall bar, the Parkway Gardens, is in the midst of being converted into some sort of restaurant as well. It's now owned by the same people who own the Spring Street Cafe in West Roxbury, so if they keep the same sort of food, you'll finally be able to get quiche for breakfast in the Square.

And that's what I learned while getting my hair cut at the Rialto this morning.

A Woburn resident claims she owns a chip off Plymouth Rock and is, of course, auctioning it off on eBay (and just in time for Thanksgiving, how thoughtful!). One argument in favor of the thing being real: It is incredibly boring, just like the actual Rock.

Via Ken, who files it under Scams.

Jen discusses a lawsuit that would require Massachusetts schools that teach about genocide to include the Turkish viewpoint on the Armenian genocide (basically, that it didn't happen):

... [S]hould the neo-Nazi point of view of the Holocaust be taught, as well?

Cut up all your credit cards and try to live just on your dwindling checking account and maybe something good will happen.