Happy birthday to Philip Glass, 66 today.

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This just in, via the Ari National News Service: “Attention American Citizens! You stand hereby directed to prove your patriotism by printing out hundreds of the wartime morale posters below, and distributing them widely throughout your community!” (God bless John Wooden.)

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Ever heard of a chachalaca? I hadn’t until about 5 minutes ago. I’m sitting here cataloging a Texas Parks & Wildlife document on small game research. The title of this project: Chachalaca Management. Here’s a picture of one. Kind of a plain-looking bird, really, but I sure do like typing the name: chachalaca. Try it […]

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There’s a ribbon of dark blue morning trying to invade underneath the blinds, electric like neon drawn across the window sill. Another dreary day. And to accompany the gloom outside, news has been spreading that state agencies are being ordered to cut budgets by seven percent. They do not rule out a reduction in workforce, […]

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Our Daily Beard. In case you forget, I’m still growing my beard. It’s coming in nicely so far. I fully expect it to be this long in no time.

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Dawn. Apricot smeared on the fluttering eyelid of night. I used to witness this miracle from the other side, back when I was brimming with the ecstasy of youth, back when it wasn’t so much a miracle as it was a curse. Back then, midnight was my noon and morning my curfew. As I amble […]

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The bad: volkswagen is running like crap and I can’t locate the problem (clogged jet? seal leak?? water in the line??? aargh!); eldest boy is on some sort of authority annihilation blitzkrieg and insists on “explaining” why he has the inalienable right to talk back (precocious little …); I haven’t said two non-utilitarian words to […]

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I just received this email: “During the Inaugural Day Celebration, there will be a cannon fired between 12:15 - 12:30 p.m. Please do not be alarmed. Thank you.”

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I’ve just found the best ever Metafilter link: Strange Artifacts, The Voynich Manuscript. I’d never heard of this thing until now and I’m giddy. It’s a book written in a script that has never been deciphered. The pages are mesmerizing. The World Mysteries page contains links to the manuscript online, a brief history of the […]

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Sorry, I didn’t mean to harsh yall’s mellow with that last post. To lighten things up a bit, I invite you to try some good old fashioned navel gazing [via boinGboinG ]. And so for future reference: Bellybuttons … good; infanticide … bad.

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