Caleb Crain, who wrote the terrific Mass-Observation movement piece last week, not only has some fab links and photos and suchlike so we can keep making observations of our own, but reports that the blogger who does Drunken Volcano has been writing a haiku summarizing every piece in The New Yorker. I love everyone involved, instantly. (Caleb, I already had great affection for you, but now have still more.) Said blogger (“inmichigan”) writes at the start of the project:

Welcome to the haiku synopsis of The New Yorker. Like many people, I enjoy reading The New Yorker on a weekly basis, but often feel like it could be more concise. For example, Seymour Hersh’s piece “Watching Lebanon” in the Aug. 21 issue was brilliant, original reporting on the thinking behind Israel’s bombing campaign in Lebanon. I think we can all agree that it does no disservice to the importance of the article to observe that, at 5077 words, it was roughly 5060 words too long. I hope to post these regularly. I’m still fiddling with formatting, and welcome suggestions. Preferably in haiku form.

I like this one about the magazine’s recent celebration of conducting:

Onward And Upward With The Arts: Measure for Measure
By Justin Davidson

Conducting’s first rule:
Win hearts, earn respect, or else
Players will play you.

Later: Even more Mass-Observation, as reported in The Global Game:

Bolton, England | A New Yorker article by Caleb Crain has peaked our interest in the Mass-Observation phenomenon and its relationship to football in Britain. Near the top of Crain’s treatment (see “Surveillance Society,” 11 Sept 06), “Anthropology of football pools” appears, tucked between “The aspidistra cult” and “Bathroom behaviour,” as one of the potential objects of study….

Finally, because I get to do whatever I want, happy birth, Noah Lennox Baker! I’m sure, given your mum and dad, it was a dramatic entrance.