The Slice: Hot or loud? See for yourself

You can tell that someone who is either inappropriately loud or destabilizingly good-looking is visiting a workplace if people across the room are whipping off their weak computer glasses and putting on their full-strength specs.

Let’s move on.

Slice reader Jeri Hershberger on the Friday night swoon: “Maybe that’s why we’re called baby boomers,” she wrote. “We land on the couch and – boom! – fall asleep.”

That “happy endings” steakhouse commercial: Several Slice readers said they don’t care for it. “Stupid,” “repulsive” and “demeaning” were among the terms used.

But that doesn’t mean it fails on every level as advertising. We’re talking about it, after all.

And the mother of the featured actress found the storyline “refreshing.”

Speaking of meat and social dynamics: I’m told Thanksgiving can be a challenge for vegetarians. That’s especially true if some nimrod at the table is threatened by that choice.

Still, in the interest of temporary harmony, it’s probably best to resist resorting to graphic descriptions of factory farming/slaughterhouse reality. You don’t want to upset young children or force your hostess to try to change the subject to politics or religion.

All it takes to be a nonconformist in Spokane is to … : Not watch “Dancing With the Stars,” wrote Vicki Barnes.

Slice answers: Quite a few people said their vehicles had been broken into while parked at trailheads. No surprise. But Bob Hammerstad told of his car getting stolen from outside his home and later being found at a trailhead.

And, borrowing an image that has been used by a few sociologists, one reader suggested that racist sports fans aren’t troubled by the makeup of their favorite teams because their perspective on the players is a bit like that of an antebellum plantation overseer.

Today’s Slice question: With how much gusto do you rip up those personalized blank checks that credit card companies mail you?