You are a book for me to read
Line after line I read on and on
You are a film for me to see
A string of frames that just goes on and on and on


Christopher Merlyn, Clockwork, 2007

* From Harper's April 2013:

-- Portion of American gun deaths in 2011 that were suicides: 2/3

-- Number of reports of record-high temperatures by U.S. cities: 362

-- Number of reports of record lows: 0

-- Chances that a U.S. worker doesn't get paid sick leave: 2 in 5

-- Percentage change since 1992 in the portion of U.S. women who diet: -32

* Chickfactor interviews Thalia Zedeck.

* "What America is, to me, is a guy doesn't want to buy, you let him not buy, you respect his not buying. A guy has a crazy notion different from your crazy notion, you pat him on the back and say hey, pal, nice crazy notion, let's go have a beer. America to me should be shouting all the time, a bunch of shouting voices, most of them wrong, some of them nuts, but, please, not just one droning glamorous reasonable voice." -- George Saunders, from the short story My Flamboyant Grandson