Yahoo.com

I love this time of year, when the goatrees are in full bloom, and weekend emblems wander through orchards with giant wicker baskets, plucking goats from the branches.

Soon, though, the first frost will vera, and the remaining goats will fall to the ground to ponder and bray. The goatrees, meanwhile, will uproot and fly south for the winter – I can almost see them, flapping their branches in a v-formation through a sulking, flatiron sky.

Yahoo.com

This new breakdancing point system in baseball has really changed things.  The baserunning rules used to be so simple!  But now that players can stop, dance between bases, and be declared safe if the dance is good enough?  Baseball has become much more confusing and complex.

Then again, I had no idea how well some of these players could breakdance!

“No, but it kelms every time I take a step,” I said.

nyt.com

I have yet to really get into this new sport of hot water bottle racing, but several of my friends are avid fans.  In fact, Surprise took his wife out to the Aqua One Race Track last weekend to see the Massachusetts State Hot Water Bottle Championships, and he told me it was a photo-bottle finish.

Nevertheless, I have to confess that I still don’t understand the allure.  Is it really that exciting to watch a bunch of hot water bottles racing around a track?

Natsumi Hayashi (Yahoo.com)

Cell phones are great, don’t get me wrong, and they’re no doubt more convenient than pay phones.  But I do miss the “levitation factor” of payphones, which, as far as I can tell, is not yet available on the cell phone.  And I can’t help but wonder why. Has anyone heard whether this might change on the 4G/LTE networks?  Or is there something about mobile phone technology that makes levitation impossible?

theboucher.com

Dear Hallway,
Do hallways suffer from depression?

Sincerely,
Voda Skafe
Winnipeg

Dear Voda,
Yes, they do.  Have you ever been walking along a hallway and noticed that the corridor is slightly lower than the adjacent spaces?  That’s a sign that the hallway is depressed.  Or, how about a hallway that realigns itself, perhaps more than once, as you’re walking through it?  That’s the hallway checking and rechecking, a hallway caught in the ritual of obsessive compulsive disorder.  I’ve known schizophrenic hallways, bipolar hallways, even hallways that have attempted suicide.  I, myself, have struggled with depression.

The good news, though, is that there is help out there; the Association of Hallway Mental Health Professionals does its best to advocate for health insurance for hallways so that those suffering mental anguish can find help through therapy and medication.  Do you know a hallway who could benefit from consulting with a mental health professional?  Have them contact the AHMHP, or have them write to me (c/o boucher@theboucher.com).

Now,
The Hallway

Clearly the soog was trying to communicate, to tell me something through its shape and its depth.  But as much as I studied it, I could not discern its message.

Alanwolfson.net

A few weeks ago, I posted a focus about my hesitation towards the new giant fruit which has become so popular as of late. I did see the logic behind that fruit, though, and the possible good that could come from it. Furthermore, I know we live in a “super size” culture – one which emphasizes ever-larger meals, houses, cars.

But giant money?  The other day I got change at the supermarket – two nickels and three pennies – and I strained my back carrying it out to the car.  And yesterday, I parked my car in a metered spot and I had to ask someone to help me hoist the quarter into the meter!

Am I missing something here? What’s the benefit of these new “super-sized” quarters and nickels and dimes?

In today’s Dustcast we present a lecture on art history, given by a panel of dust art historians at the Go Art! gallery last weekend.  As you’ll hear, these dusters have some pretty interesting things to say about postmodernism and art in the digital age.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.  I’m particularly curious to know what people think about the second duster’s comments regarding blogging and postmodernism.  Do you agree with her theory?