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McSweeney’s Vol. 26 (comes in two parts!), themed after war-time, pocket-sized books made for troops. Neat. Actually, quite nice, the packaging.

As for content, mixed, per usual. The quality is always great, but I find I like about 50% of the stories and glaze over and skim the rest.

My favorites:

How Jesus Comes, by Michael Gills
Black Shaman, by Dana Mazur
Arkansas, by John Brandon
Sleep, by Amanda Davis
Charity, by Wayne Harrison

The Invisibles, Vol. 7, by Grant Morrison.

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China’s Three Gorges Dam: An Environmental Catastrophe? Chinese officials staged a sudden about-face, acknowledging for the first time that the massive hydroelectric dam, sandwiched between breathtaking cliffs on the Yangtze River in central China, may be triggering landslides, altering entire ecosystems and causing other serious environmental problems—and, by extension, endangering the millions who live in its shadow. >>Link

How Squishy Squid Handle Sharp Beaks: They found that it consists of a changing mix of chitin, water and proteins. When the base is dry, it is about as stiff as the tip. But moisture softens the base up to 100-fold. Advances in tailor-made “functionally graded” materials could allow two different materials to become bonded together by a third, smoothly varying substance, obviating the need of a rivet or an adhesive. >>Link

The Graveyard is a very short computer game where you play an old lady who visits a graveyard. Buying the full version of The Graveyard adds only one feature, the possibility of death. The full version of the game is exactly the same as the trial, except, every time you play she may die. >Link

Mural by Kevin Taylor (135 6th st. at Minna Alley, SF). Love animal heads on people, love bandanas as masks (now appearing in “Elbina Rides Again”, a short story in-progress).