Randomness (with straight margins)

Before heading to the gas station, an embarrassing number of Americans are now heading first to the pawn shop. For a roundup of depressing articles, click here.
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Brobdingnagian -- that’s the word that finally convinced me that Maureen Dowd does, indeed, recycle old NYT crossword puzzle clues and answers in her columns. For textual explication of Dowd‘s latest, check out Bob Somerby’s Lady Seuss Howls at the Moon and Mo MoDo’s The Perfect Column.
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A gentle joke about a rabbi and a blind man, courtesy of Ms Manitoba at Culture Vultures.
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And this is the only thing that’s been saving my sanity lately: the YouTube collection of Drunk Cats. (No, they’re not really drunk, just pharmacologically impaired for various reasons.)