I'm a pretty big fan of McSweeney's and its various publications, especially The Believer (not to mention its dispatches from a public librarian, which are both funny and sad), although I am also occasionally pleasantly baffled by much of what they produce. I like to know that there are people who know more about these things than I do, and that those people have a means to publish their work, and I try to support them so they can continue to baffle me in the future. Now is a good time to give some of that support in money format, because they're having a huge sale precipitated by the bankruptcy of one of their distributors. Progressive fiction deeds (not to mention original artwork), done dirt cheap. If I hadn't already spent all my money at etsy, I would be so busy buying things I wouldn't even be here.

Earlier this week I saw a guy wearing a shirt that said, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the substrate," which made me laugh the laugh of someone who passed Chemistry 20. And the word "precipitate" reminded me of this chemistry shirt, so for all you know, I have dozens more chemistry terms in my mind, just waiting for me to have a chance to use them. TITRATE!

When I have kids, I'm going to sing them the Neil Young song "Helpless," and teach them all the words. And then their friends will be like, "why do you know the words to that song?" and they won't know. Much as I know the words to a number of Canadian folk songs--it's the circle of life. There is a town in North Ontario...