some damn fool accused you of being the best

Words that should retire, pt. 1

Dongle

Herman Melville Likes Your Beard

towirr:

Or as he calls them, in order, in two chapters of White Jacket:

• beards
• the crop
• suburbs of the chin
• homeward-bounders
• fly-brushes
• long, trailing moss hanging from the bough of some aged oak
• love-curls
• Winnebago locks
• carroty bunches
• rebellious bristles
• redundant mops
• yellow bamboos
• long whiskers
• thrice-noble beards
• plantations of hair
• whiskerandoes
• nodding harvests
• viny locks
• the fleece
• fine tassels
• goatees
• imperials
• sacred things
• admiral’s pennant
• manhood
• muzzle-lashings

Vatican 2.0

Vatican 2 was a big deal and all, I guess, but 1965 was like a hundred years ago. Everyone wants him to come out in favor of birth control and allowing priests to marry, but I’ve been saying for awhile now that the Pope really needs to do something for the Millennials. I guess he was listening:

Pope Benedict gave a qualified blessing to social networking Monday, praising its potential but warning that online friendships are no substitute for real human contact.

Remember this day.