Sad to hear they've finally closed down completely. I worked at the Telegraph location for about a year ('05-'06) when they were trying to make a go of three locations, including downtown SF. Cody's Telegraph was always a kooky place, with kooky and fun people, very Berkeley. If a general bookstore like Cody's can't make it in Berkeley (the most literate town I've ever known), where could any independent bookstore make it?

Powell's survived and throve because they had the foresight to jump on the internet bandwagon early and develop a topnotch site - not so much for sales per se, though I'm sure that's a focus. Cody's never did much with the internet and couldn't correct the mistake when the shit started coming down. I blame the river and corporate box stores and their patrons somewhat too.

I suppose in hard times plenty of readers will turn - as I most certainly do - to the libraries. Can't really fault anyone for that, but it's a shame nonetheless.

I live in an area with many Mennonites, and some Amish. I've never known any of them to proselytize AT ALL. This is the first instance of Mennonite missionaries I've ever heard of. I have to admit, I'm skeptical. I wonder if it isn't some lunatic fringe group of Mennonites, or some other group calling themselves Mennonites. The whole idea of devoting time and effort to trying to convert outsiders seems as odds with what I understand the core values of Amish and Mennonite communities to be, regardless of the gradations of worldliness they adhere to.

I'd put my money on some Minoan era Cycladic (Cretans, perhaps?) girls. They went around in cutaways that left their ta-tas out in the open air.

Not sure about Pashto, but in Persian (very closely related to Dari), the word for smoke (the noun) sounds exactly like the English word "dude."

Freaky, huh?

"It is quite a unique virus..."

Unique is an absolute term that takes no modifiers. If something is unique, it's unique, not quite unique, very unique, absolutely unique, or somewhat unique. One unique thing cannot be more or less unique than another unique thing. There is no most or least unique.

I'm done soapboxing now. Thanks for your indulgence.

If I'm not mistaken, it was Stamets who did much of the work breeding that oyster mushroom that could clean up oil. The mushroom wasn't genetically engineered. He just started breeding them by gradually adding more and more petrol to the growing media through subsequent generations. Several generations on, he had oyster mushrooms that thought petroleum was lunch.

Yes, Stamets rocks. And I agree there's no way he called them plants. Reporter error. His book Mycelium Running with blow your mind. Repeatedly. Every few pages in fact.

I'm pretty sure I saw something similar to what #21 describes in a French film years ago. A peasant is put in jail without food, and his wife keeps him alive by breast feeding him. Can't remember the name of the movie, but it was just a sort of aside to a totally separate plot.

Adult nursing is creepy enough, but husband-wife is definitely less creepy than FIL-DIL.

I've more frequently encountered vegans who were offended by meat and meat-eaters than the other way around. I'll take your word for it that vegans and vegetarians get bashed. If so, you might consider that some of that could be a reaction to the strident tone coming from *some* vegans.

Many vegans I've met seem to take the same attitude towards meat-eaters that they'd like for themselves: live and let live. But a small and disproportionately vocal number have been shrill, judgmental evangelicals for their "cause." I don't know too many people who appreciate being lectured on their dietary choices, no matter what they eat.

@Jeff: Fresh sage is not bitter. You may not like the taste of the herb, but it has plenty of fans. It's definitely my personal favorite. I eat whole leaves of sage quite frequently.

I'm a little non-plussed by the whole "vegan" bread idea here. Most breads are vegan. Or have the vegans decided that yeast is an animal?

Focaccia's an herb bread with no egg wash needed. Unless you're in Italy, where it's occasionally made with lard or prosciutto fat, focaccia's always vegan. A dimpled surface strewn with fresh herbs and a sheen of olive oil is much more attractive than the shellacked pressed-flower arrangement look that loaf has.

Here's what I'm talking about:

http://flickr.com/photos/86318801@N00/2020251468/

A couple of points:

Victory gardens. They're going to be necessary, including in *your* backyard.

I agree that the Farm Bill deserves close attention in the near future. Unfortunately, like so many other government creations, farm policy is pretty much fubar at this point. It subsidizes corporate farms, penalizes small family farms that want to do business locally, and it preferences the production of corn over any other crop. Thus the proliferation of HFCS, many other corn derivatives, feedlot meat, and ethanol. Only rarely is there enough awareness and concern about issues affecting the sources of our food. (Witness the recent defeat of a big ag agenda to outlaw milk labels that state the cows were *not* treated with hormones or antibiotics in Pennsylvania, the 6th most productive dairy state in the US. This was only averted through consumer outcry, and it barely made the local news.)

U.N. Special Reporter and leading food advocate, Jean Ziegler has called the production of biofuels a "crime against humanity." The EU is seriously reconsidering policies which have encouraged the production of fuel crops over food crops. While we enjoy our internet connections over a cup of joe and wring our hands about how expensive fresh vegetables flown in from the opposite hemisphere are getting, poor nations are going to starve. The extra demand on the corn markets created by ethanol has already driven up food prices on feedlot beef and pork in the US. If you're reading this, you will probably be able to survive when a gallon of non-organic milk costs $10. Sure you'll bitch about it, but you'll find the money somewhere. Others won't be so lucky. We'll blithely congratulate ourselves on filling our hummers with "green" fuel, unconcerned about who goes hungry for it.

I'm all for not subsidizing big ag, and a sensible farm policy. But I cringe whenever I hear someone rail against farm subsidies. I urge you to get involved by actually meeting some small farmers. Find out what their real struggles are. Look at how they live. Do they look rich to you? Are they being fairly compensated for the work they do and the product they supply to everyone who eats? How is the NAIS (another idiotic "national security" measure) going to affect them if it passes? Find out for yourself what's going on in your own area and ask yourself what the government should be encouraging or discouraging. Ask yourself where your food comes from.

Finally: No farms, no beer.