And the links to other complaints about Shamrock Shakes just keep pouring in! Here's an oldie but goodie from The Onion:

Sinn Fein Leaders Demand Year-Round Shamrock Shake Availability

Come hear me read tonight, Chicago! I'll be one of several writers reading in the new Essay Fiesta series at The Book Cellar in Lincoln Square.

Essay Fiesta features writers reading humorous personal essays, and is hosted by Keith Ecker and Alyson Lyon. The event itself is free, but proceeds from a raffle afterward go to benefit the Howard Brown Health Center. Besides me, tonight's readers include Cameron Esposito, Mike O'Connell, John Loos, and John Newton. Should be a lot of fun.

The reading starts at 7:00 pm, but since seating is limited I'd suggest arriving before 6:30. Besides its great selection of books (including a small but smart SF section), The Book Cellar offers coffee, wine, beer, cheese, sandwiches, and other goodies. They're also great about special-ordering anything you can't find in the store. The Book Cellar is near the Western stop on the Brown Line, at:

The Book Cellar
4736-38 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
773-293-2665

Still the best-ever vandalism of my Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Shunn&oldid=53906941

Who can outdo it?

My good friend Michael Harrison has produced a very funny critique of the Iraq Algebra Study Group:

We think that direct talks with these math brains might lead to insights and opportunities for joint studying and maybe even structured tutoring. We know Timmy has differences with these two, accusing them, at times, of busting the curve and intentionally being know-it-all math weenies, but it’s time to focus on the goals and tasks at hand.  [full piece]

From the ever irrepressible Walter Becker:

http://walterbecker.com/escape.html

This tune is narrated by a clerk at a 7-Eleven, selling generic cigarettes to lowlifes in the wee hours:

It's not that I don't like them And I feel all right to sell it But I'm scared when 20 guys are buying GPC's And not one of them can spell it

Insatiable is a ska band I used to go see at the Dead Goat Saloon in Salt Lake City, way back in the early '90s. (My friend Mike and I went thirsty through those shows because we were too embarrassed to ask the bartender for a pitcher of root beer.) I'm not aware of any album Insatiable has cut, but I was delighted to find two tracks by them on the second volume of Ska: The Third Wave, which I picked up a few years back on eBay.

Remember those heady days of yesteryear, when the Web was young and a shout-out as Cool Site of the Day could make your day for a year? (And why not? You got to put that cool little Cool badge on your site! How cool was that?!)

Those days are long past, but still I could not help but feel a frisson of pride when I realized that the sudden rise in visitors to Says God that started a few weeks back and still has not trailed off entirely was due to a front-page link from, no, not Cool Site of the Day, but National Lampoon! (Scroll about two thirds of the way down and look under "Best of the Web." No, the other "Best of the Web," further down.)

Yes, I can hardly believe it myself. The same comedic geniuses who brought you Vegas Vacation, Loaded Weapon 1, and Van Wilder think that my unassuming little site is one of the funniest things on the Web. Is that a lump I feel in my throat? And if so, a lump of what?