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"Borderline witchcraft." You remember Mark Rober, right? He's the former NASA engineer and very popular science and engineering explainer on YouTube who'll be enshrined forever for his backyard squirrel mazes. But these days he's on to other things, including, back in June, spending some quality time being tracked by a scent-trailing German Shepherd named Zinka and her handler, Shay. He tries every dodge he can think of, including a crowded college campus. Let's just sum it up by saying that if a trained Shepherd is on your scent, you might as well just give it up. But you'll really enjoy learning why.Bright yellow blob with 720 sexual configurations IPSO (in passionate search of) oatmeal. That would be Physarum polycephalum, a slime mold you can find on exhibit at the Paris Zoo. In "What Slime Knows," a remarkable piece of nature writing in Orion Magazine, Lacy M. Johnson delves into slime mold—for most of its life "a single cell that can grow as large as a bath mat, has no brain, no sense of sight or smell, but can solve mazes, learn patterns, keep time, and pass down the wisdom of generations." Not quick, but so worth it.SPONSORED: Disability Justice Day Celebration! On July 24th from 4-6 PM, Visions for Creative Housing Solutions and the City of Lebanon are celebrating the one-year anniversary of the City’s Disability Justice Day Proclamation and 35th Anniversary of the ADA in Colburn Park. Everyone is invited to join the celebration! There will be lawn games, information tables, visits with Road to Independence donkeys, a Disability Pride parade, a reading of the Proclamation, and the ever-popular Lebanon Farmer’s Market. Sponsored by Visions for Creative Housing Solutions.Couldn’t have said it better myself. No, really, you’ll want to save this for your next letter of complaint, or affection, or apology. Shaun Usher, who publishes Letters of Note and knows a thing or two about great letters, asked ChatGPT to come up with signoffs for a range of correspondence: 50 ways to leave your lover, to sign a job-seeking cover letter, to close a note of apology. He's now got 500 of them, including the positive ("Yours in wanderlust") and the romantic ("With a sultry whisper"). For an angry letter, you probably won’t choose “stewing in my own juices,” but “fuming and frustrated” might be just the ticket. Today's Wordbreak. With a word from the regional news.The title says it all. Mavis Staples and Levon Helm, recorded sometime while Helm was still alive, with "You Got to Move." Their joint album, Carry Me Home, came out in 2022.Daybreak is written and published by Rob Gurwitt About Rob
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