MO DOGS
Let me tell you, mama, what that black dog done done to me
Let me tell you, mama, what that black dog done done to me
He cheated me from my regular, now he's after my used-to-be
– Blind Blake

But the good news is...
"If a man shall meet the Black Dog once, it shall be for joy; and if twice, it shall be for sorrow; and the third time, he shall die." – Folklore (NW USA)
(all courtesy of HC Beck)

But enough of my Hellhound/Black Dog fixation. A whole lotta stuff has piled up while I’ve been flirting with the supernatural, and I must post some of it.

BITS AND PIECES
PAY ATTENTION IN SCHOOL AND MAKE THE UK TABLOIDS
A 10-year-old girl who learnt about tsunamis in a geography class saved her family and hundreds of tourists from death. Tilly Smith noticed the tide rush out on Maikhao beach in Phuket, Thailand, where she was on holiday with her mother Penny, father Colin and seven-year-old sister Holly. The schoolgirl remembered her geography teacher's lesson about the bubbling water only weeks earlier and told her family they had to leave the beach. According to The Sun she said she had just finished a school project on tsunamis and thought one was minutes away. Tilly, from Oxshott, in Surrey, told The Sun: "I was on the beach and the water started to go funny. There were bubbles and the tide went out all of a sudden. "I recognised what was happening and had a feeling there was going to be a tsunami. I told mummy." Her parents warned hotel staff and holidaymakers who fled the beach and escaped without serious injury when the tsunami struck. Andrew Kearney, geography teacher at Oxshott Danes Hill Prep School, said he told his students that after the sea was sucked backwards, the next five to 10 minutes were crucial for people to survive. He said: "Nothing illustrates Tilly's character more than her brave actions in a terrifying situation." Tilly's mother said she was "very proud" of her daughter and headteacher Robin Parfitt said she had "wisdom beyond her years".
Also elephants seemed to know what know what was happening, and some folks know as the Sea Gypsies.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/01/01/sea.gypsies.ap/index.html

THE BUSH AGENDA
From the fatuous David Brooks in the NY Times (on Social Security)
Europe may find itself locked into a vicious circle: an aging population means more public spending, which means higher taxes, which means lower growth, which means higher unemployment, which means more public spending, which means more taxes and even lower growth.
Which would essentially mean that the aged poor should fuck off and die.

ALSO
From PDB
Torture? Permanent imprisonment without charges? Fundamental violations of the law. How can we continue to ignore the gravity of this situation? –
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=19358&mode=nested&order=0

KELLY FREAS RIP
WILL EISNER RIP

The secret word is Endless