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The memeticians are on vacation.

Memetician EA Blair is currently visiting a friend in Alaska. I'd call him a lucky bastard, but he planned the entire trip well in advance, so he's not really lucky. He's just a smart. And he saw a moose yesterday while playing disc golf.

Memetician Joe is in Cape May, NJ. Not as exciting as Alaska, but probably more relaxing. On Friday he will then be heading to Brooklyn to see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals for free. He will not see a moose.

Memetician Tim is not on vacation, but is busy uncovering one of the greatest scandals in the history of our country. He did not or will see any moose, but saw plenty of jackasses.

Until next week...

Cincinnati, have no fear. Shadow Hare has your back. Armed with a taser, handcuffs, pepper spray, and nifty superhero outfit, Shadow Hare, a 21-year-old "crime fighter," is patrolling the streets and fighting crime.
From a local news write-up:

Shadow Hare is not alone in his quest to fight crime. He heads up a group of men -- and one woman -- called the "Allegiance of Heroes." The members communicate with each other in online forums. Among the members are Aclyptico in Pennsylvania, Wall Creeper in Colorado and Master Legend in Florida.

"I've even teamed up with Mr. Extreme in California -- San Diego -- and we were trying to track down a rapist," said Shadow Hare.

Check out the Heroes Network picture with tags. These guys need marketing help with their superhero names. Tothian? Nostrum? Are these crusaders or new brand-name drugs? (Thx Tricia).

The first volume of W.F.P. Napier's four-volume set, History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France, was returned to the shelves of Washington and Lee University's library, after an absence of 52,858 days.

A Union soldier named C.S. Gates took the book from Washington College, as it was then called, on June 11, 1864, when General David Hunter and his army of West Virginia raided the area and looted the college's buildings.

Gates, however, thought he was exacting revenge on Washington College's next-door neighbor, the Virginia Military Institute, which was set on fire by the raiding party.

A note signed by Gates and inscribed in the book reads: "This book was taken from the Military Institute at Lexington Virginia in June 1864 when General Hunter was on his Lynchburg raid. The Institution was burned by the order of Gen Hunter. The remains of Gen. Stonewall Jackson rest in the cemetery at this place."

The book was returned by Mike Dau, of Lake Forest, IL, who inherited it from the Lake Forest couple, Myron and Isabel Gates, ancestors of the aforementioned soldier.

If Washington and Lee would have hired Detective Bookman, this never would have been an issue.

Alex Wolf lives in Leeds. She has a list of 101 things she is trying to do within 1001 days. She's keeping track of it online of course. Check it out.

Every Wednesday, from 12:30 to 2:30, Purdue University sophomores Cameron Brown and Brett Westcott, better known as the "Compliment Guys, " stand outside the chemistry building with their "Free Compliments" sign, rain, snow or shine to cheer up the student body.

Along a central walkway on Purdue University's campus, two students are on a crusade to make people happy.

To a passing guy dressed in Purdue sweats they say, "Love your school spirit."

To the woman carrying the trendy black bag: "Very nice purse." "It's very large."

And for the student who ran past them in knee-high leather boots: "I like your hustle." "I like your boots, too."

NY Times columnist Paul Krugman lays out the right plan for solving two immense problems at once:
1. Economic depression
2. Environmental ruination

Let's today step out of the normal boundaries of analysis of our economic crisis and ask a radical question: What if the crisis of 2008 represents something much more fundamental than a deep recession? What if it's telling us that the whole growth model we created over the last 50 years is simply unsustainable economically and ecologically and that 2008 was when we hit the wall -- when Mother Nature and the market both said: "No more."

He says - surprise, surprise - that Americans need to "greenify" (my word) the marketplace. Or else.

"Just as a few lonely economists warned us we were living beyond our financial means and overdrawing our financial assets, scientists are warning us that we're living beyond our ecological means and overdrawing our natural assets," argues Glenn Prickett, senior vice president at Conservation International. But, he cautioned, as environmentalists have pointed out: "Mother Nature doesn't do bailouts."

Philly Beer Week, highlighted by the nation's largest beer festival, kicked off this past weekend. I wasn't able to make it to the festival, but will be hitting up my favorite local pub to sample some delicious brews!

This week's edition of TIME magazine gives the top 10 reasons why Facebook is for baby boomers.

9. We don't understand Twitter. Literally. It makes no sense to us.

10. We're not cool, and we don't care. There was a time when it was cool to be on Facebook. That time has passed. Facebook now has 150 million members, and its fastest-growing demographic is 30 and up. At this point, it's way cooler not to be on Facebook. We've ruined it for good, just like we ruined Twilight and skateboarding. So git! And while you're at it, you damn kids better get off our lawn too.

Ironically, the memeticians just had a discussion on Monday regarding the fact that I am the only person in my immediate and extended circle of friends that is not on Facebook. According to TIME magazine, that officially makes me the coolest person I know.

Tonight the TED Prize recipients will make their wish live from the annual, inspirational conference featuring the best and brightest future-shapers of the world.

What a wonderful book idea over at Snarkmarket. They're exploring emergent fields of the kottke-termed Liberal Arts 2.0.

I'd like to get more into this later but here is a totally unorganized synopsis from the ongoing discussion of what LA2.0 is.

Per Tim at Snark, LA2.0 is:

Art
Design
Photography
Music
*
Languages
Literature
Philosophy
*
History
Politics
Economics
*
Mathematical Sciences
Natural Sciences
Biological Sciences
*
Food

Per Jason in the comments section:

Here's the list I came up with shortly after concocting the term for a talk I did in early 2007:

Graphic design, freakonomics, photography, programming, film, remixing, video games, food, advertising, internet life skills, journalism, fashion.

To be sure the concept must be explored more, but the idea is that young people need a new skill set these days.

There is a new home economics to learn - as they discuss on the aforementioned pages - and video games are no longer the exception (now they are the rule).