Another “Hearts” has materialized — this one from Oriental Trading.  This time the fox is the jinx.  And if I were young, I would be a bit spooked by those eyes. (Posted by Doug Skinner) 

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You must not shred that pretty poster And jam the pieces in the toaster. a film in which the camera operator falls asleep Summer is often called journalism’s “silly season,” because there are more stories about animals or forteana, rather than serious subjects like politics. a musical pangram: a piece that uses every note of […]

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“Mixies” — an Ed-u-Cards creation from 1956 — touted itself as the “card game of 1001 funny figures.”  Each card showed 1/3 of a person or animal, each from the circus; players could mix them up and admire the comical results; or collect sets of figures in a more conventional card game.  And, in either case, enjoy […]

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a crossword puzzle in which each word is in a different language I’ve often, when it comes to art, felt You bore me with your mawkish “heart-felt.” I’d rather hear the thoughts your mind thought: Forget your “feelings”; get behind thought. Dammit, Jesus; now I have to wash my hair in zinfandel. a neglected form: […]

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Our eighth event, “Remembering Keel,” took place on a sunny Sunday afternoon.  We had somewhat of a small crowd, thanks to the World Cup (which we certainly didn’t anticipate when we reserved the space months ago). Doug opened the ceremonial ullage: for this occasion, we chose John’s favorite drink, a diabetic protein shake.  Lisa read a piece John […]

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I’m happy to inform you that you can now savor that notorious lipogrammatical curiosity, Gadsby, simply by following this link.  Gadsby has long had an almost mythological status among linguistic buffs (and Oulipo fans); most of its original printing was lost long ago, but luckily a microfilm proof copy still sits in a public library (in California, I […]

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Yet another fish game has come our way; this one, “Go Fish,” was published by Oriental Trading — no date, but it looks like a recent addition to the canon.  The sea bass is joined in this version by the octopus, marlin, shark, dolphin, angel fish, sea horse, manta ray, and clown fish. (Posted by […]

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Do you want the hostile hospital or the hospitable hospital? the non-simile: the glass is as clear as glass The Devil’s tail is so prehensile That it can wield both pen and pencil. I was in Rome during a Scotland-Italy soccer match; the city swarmed with stocky Scots in kilts and singlets. One commandeered the Spanish Steps […]

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What better way to mark our 100th graphic lagniappe here than with “Piggy Bank” (Ed-U-Cards, 1965)?  The graphics for this game consisted of pennies and nickels — and, of course, the Silver Pig that you put them in. Children learned an important lesson here.  If you saved 100 pennies, you would have a dollar.  But an Ed-U-Card […]

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We seldom find unfettered science: It takes instructions from its clients. Make a Gideon Bible with a flipbook on the bottom of some of its pages. Today I faced a bottleneck on a crowded sidewalk, because one of my fellow citizens refused to walk to the right. “I always pass on the left,” he snarled, […]

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