You might have read over Thanksgiving weekend a piece by friend-of-the-blogger Martha Irvine of The Associated Press, who wrote about the continually recession-proof industry of youth sports, an economic engine that shows no sign of burning out thanks to ever-more parents throwing bigger and bigger piles of money into stove to stoke its fire.

FORBES: Youth Sports Arms Race Reflects Successful Exploitation Of Reasonable Parental Anxiety

When excitement was hard to come by aboard a nuclear submarine in the early stretches of "Crimson Tide, " he turned a fat fire on a stove in the sub's galley into something just short of a nuclear explosion.

WSJ: Denzel Does Malice

It wasn't a fancy piece of wood, just a regular woodpile log, the kind you might put in your stove or fireplace to stoke a fire and heat your room.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Pinocchio'

The first time I went backpacking, I feasted on semi-raw hot dogs cooked over a driftwood fire (we'd forgotten to bring the stove) and sipped tea laced with ashes as chilly Northern California winds blew the fog in.

NPR: Forget The Granola: Camp Cooking Goes Gourmet