The LIST of magical ILLUSIONS performed by a man claiming to be the ILLUSTRIOUS Professor Phillippe, as reproduced by the FANTASTICAL illusioner and historian RICKY JAY in his volume Extraordinary Exhibitions which, while in fact originating in 1858, seems very much like a LIST or PIECE of HUMOR as written by the TREMENDOUS John Hodgeman in his MASTERPIECE of HILARITY, The Areas of My Expertise:
1. The Rivington Pike Filtration Trick
Or a Magical Illustration of how Dirty Water may be made Clean.
2. The Borough Bank Trick!
Or how to Extract Money from Vanity, or cause it to come through closed doors at will.
3. The Magical Municipal Election
or how to find the right man in the right position.
4. The Universal Happiness Trick
Of how to make Everyone contented, all things pleasant, and good fortune to be the lot of all.
5. Ladies’ Secrets Discovered
Yes, & Gentlemen’s Also.

“Apart from the Eucharist and liturgies in Coptic, the most sacred symbol in the Coptic Church is the cross, including a tattooed cross on the right wrist. Originally the tattoo was an identification mark so that Coptic children would not be mistaken for Muslims in times of upheaval. In modern times the cross has become a powerful mark of Christian identity in Egypt.”

Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices, v. 1 p. 163

Merlin’s thoughts on mindfulness are particularly well-timed for me.

Released test questions and sample tests for some WASL subjects.

I learned that there is a Humanitarian Device Exemption to FDA regulations, and that sometimes twins’ blood supply can get all mixed up before they are born, but now science may be able to help, thanks to the HDE!

The world is a wide, strange, and wonderful place.

Dagoba recalls chocolate bars containing lead (!!), perhaps indicating production problems in swamp-planet-based factories.

More peripheral brain dump: crocheted hyperbolic models, How to Draw a Radish.

I’m reading Accelerando right now, and our hero keeps much of his memory and less-used brain functions in computer storage rather than in his noggin. I keep it on little scraps of paper, my thumb drive, and my blog. Yet again it is proven that I am not writing for others, but for myself. Even so, I was unable to find that one appliance store web site that I saw that one time, or that place that sold exotic soap…

So here are some things that have been living on a scrap of paper, with (I hope) links and more info to be added later. This set came from a back issue of Fortean Times.

9/11 Commission final report
1967, USS Liberty, off the Egyptian coast
The Air Loom Gang, Mike Jay
Sac Nar Man, coconut-oil tattoo
British Library’s National Sound Archive

A brief article out of Charlotte about a scheduled appearance by W this Thursday got caught in my news watch, though it doesn’t contain the key word. It’s the second bit of evidence I’ve gotten in the last few days that details about his scheduled whereabouts are being treated with great sensitivity, even in the US. No idea if that’s just SOP, or if they’re being extra cagey lately.