June 2007
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We've named our GPS navigatrix, who gives instruction with a schoolmarmish London accent, Dorcas (which is, along with Prunella, one of my very favorite English given — or as they call them,"Christian"– names). Dorcas has proved to be, on the whole, a reliable friend. She had a little trouble in Cincinnati, where, it turns out,…
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Today In Cawker City, Kansas, we made a pilgrimage to the world's largest ball of twine. It's enormous: 40 feet in circumference and 14,000 pounds (when last measured and weighed in 1986). And still growing. We were offered some twine to add our bit, but declined. It would be desecration — like adding a stone…
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Today's contribution is the work of resident Shakespearean Pauline Harlem, the internationally-acclaimed author of Anagrams for Fun and Profit (2005) and The Naked Anagrammatist (2007). William Shakespeare, culture hero and playwright, is so often idolized for the great iconic moments and the big megaphonic speeches that quieter but equally luminous effects may go unnoticed. A…
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At our local farmer's market last Saturday, an enthusiastic young man was bragging to his out-of-town guests about the various vegetable and food stands. "Here's where you buy the best bread in town," I heard him say. "It's the penultimate bakery." "Penultimate?" There's no doubt in my mind that the young feller meant to say…
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Regular readers of this blague will remember that Dr. M. has long ago confessed that he suffers from a serious case of "directional disability," or as some call it, "geographical dyslexia" — which means that he regularly loses his way, is subject to travel-based panic attacks, and is consequently abused by friends and family who…