Random bits I've been mulling over the last couple of days, for your perusal...

Square America: a gallery of vintage snapshots and vernacular photography -- particularly rocking my socks are "The Party" and "Catch of the Day."

This is a brilliant treasure trove of the cultural landscape of the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries. This is also why I love poring through old boxes of photographs at the second-hand shop, and why I lament the fact that I don't have a handy little pocket dimension in a dusty box on my shelf where I can store all the things I love but don't have room for in my studio apartment, and thus do not collect.

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Aw, hell no, Facebook. I knew you were more evil than MySpace. Y'all can track my online surfing, sure, but publicize my ebay addiction to two-headed donkey porn to all 3,000 of my "friends?!" Is there no sanctity left in the internets?

I guess I'll just have to buy my Talking Head Vibrator at the local toy shop then. This is a vibe that you can load up with mp3 voice tracks -- with names like "French Boy," "Tony Gets Tough," and "Bergen the German Mountain Man" -- and then play while you do your thing. It also has a record function. Creeptastic.

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The Folgers intern who came up with this hopefully got a cubicle near the windows for it.

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Real vs fake: which tree is greener?

Suck the life out of my childhood memories vs. be a responsible consumer: which direction will my mind go after I read this article?

NP: Ministry vs. Lady Sovereign, 'Love Me or Hate Me Every Day'