* Margo Jefferson has unwittingly set out the Blogger's Creed: "I used to wish I could live through the words of other writers. Unpleasant questions would be parried with crisp couplets and song lyrics; strong feelings and opinions would be given third-person protection. I wouldn't have to censor myself because my own prose wasn't up to the mark. Unreliable or omniscient, I would be the narrator in control." She kept notebooks of quotations; I link. (Which is just as well, because at present the only wisdom the Babu has to offer the world is the observation that nothing takes the joy out of murdering a mosquito as much as the discovery that you now have your own blood on your hands. Also, the reason why posts are uploading at such weirdly sporadic intervals today is because I'm busy playing TextTwist) and chatting online with friends who are thinner than me, make more money than me, and lead more interesting lives than I do, which leads me to wonder why I'm friends with them at all.)