There are still ways of saving on food bills in America today. I don't know if these stores exist everywhere, but in central Pennsylvania, there are several local grocery liquidators, with names like "Surplus Outlet". You can buy slightly out-of-date groceries, dented cans, closeouts, last year's model of whatever gadget, etc... all at significantly reduced prices, from 50% to 90% or more off! Many of these stored have cheap lunchmeat, almost-out-of-date bread, local milk, and other staples, at lower prices than the grocery chains.

Normally, this stuff is probably thrown away or at most donated to charities. Local liquidation stores buy it for pennies on the dollar, and sell it cheap. You can walk away with a full grocery cart for around $60. I've yet to run into any problems with food being spoiled or bad. It's probably the best way people in this economically-depressed area can get more for their grocery money.

There's no way anyone with a lower-to-middle class income can buy groceries, clothing, or other items at retail prices anymore. That's why we watch for sales and shop at the discount, surplus, and thrift stores such as Salvation Army, Goodwill, Big Lots, etc. There's always Farmers' Markets as well.

You are missing one of the most underrated cartoons ever on Adult Swim: Perfect Hair Forever. A surrealist spoof on traditional anime stereotypes, it's not to be missed., though I don't think it's on anymore.

What? No Ambrose Bierce or Judge Crater?

There's an accountant firm in a nearby town called "Moist, Herring, and Roll." Not a law firm, but just as amusing.

In April, a boy was born at the hospital I work at named Rex Octane

A sciopod is also featured in another book, 'Baudolino', by Umberto Eco, a historical fiction novel based partly on early stories of the kingdom of Prester John in the 13th century. Not quite reading material for adolescents, though I remember reading "The Name of the Rose" in high school. For anyone interested in medieval history, Umberto Eco's novels are great reads.

You have to remember that back in the 20's, the Klan were not only popular, but socially acceptable. I scanned 1920s newspaper articles for a nearby central Pennsylvania town's library. The articles all were about this city's sesquicentennial. In the descriptions of the parades, I was somewhat shocked to hear that the Klu Klux Klan had an entry in the parade, along with other social clubs and fraternal societies. This is in the North, not the deep South. The times were indeed different. If the Klan could be prominently featured in a formal parade back then, this picture isn't that exceptional.

Part of the reason I check Neatorama regularly is because it is very non-partisan, and doesn't sink down to the mudslinging level in politics. When a political article is posted, it's about something that is issue-related that is of interest to the tech-savvy, well educated geeks like me. If I wanted to hear Rush Limbaugh dittoheads duke it out with Michael Moore clones, I'd check out Fark discussions.

Can we please keep the partisan politics out of this blog? It's an excellent daily blog that I read on a regular basis. Do you have any clue how hard it is to find something like Neatorama? Don't spoil it for us, please!