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Standing in line at the passport office. The woman behind me is getting a passport for her six-year-old. She reminds him of a homework assignment he has to do by Monday. It's about advertising.

Later this month my Mom will be heading down to New Orleans with a group from her church to volunteer for reconstruction work under the auspices of the Mennonite Disaster Service. Reconstruction efforts in the city itself are much further behind than one might assume, and entire neighborhoods are still inundated in mud from the flooding of over a ( Read more... )

I have wok guilt ( Read more... )

While designing The Esoterrorists, I had no idea that a top-notch systemless sourcebook already exists for the game: Jon Ronson’s The Men Who Stare At Goats. It’s an alternately funny and scary journalistic inquiry into the influence of New Age and paranormal beliefs on US military intelligence in the age of terror. Ronson traces the ongoing impact ( Read more... )

Here’s an idea for a drinking game. You and your friends gather around the TV to watch CNN. Every time they further debase their once-proud heritage as a real news organization, slam a tequila shot. By evening’s end, you’ll all be legless ( Read more... )

So I reboot the computer and what should I hear issuing from my speakers but a lengthy audio ad for an acne treatment? Yegads! No browser, no player, no evident process running, ergo no way to stop the freaking thing, except to reboot yet again. It didn’t reappear after that, but needless to say I am thoroughly steamed. Time to update my ad-ware ( Read more... )