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The August 1 edition of the New York Times has an article on the numerous fake editions of Harry Potter in China. The sales figures are fearsome.

The July 31 edition had an article called "Who's Minding the Mind?" with the subheadline, "The subconscious brain is more active, independent and purposeful than once thought. Sometimes it takes charge." All I can say to that is that I woke up this morning from a dream in which, when Severus Snape knocked on my dorm room door, I hurled a live Berenstain bear at him.

I like to joke that my subconscious is often smarter than I am, but sometimes it just bewilders me.

On page D3 of the science section, there's a photo of a jumbo squid on a dissection table. The headline is "In Monterey Bay, a Mollusk Strays and Stays for Dinner".

(Surely I'm not the only person who's sensing lurking plot-crustaceans...)

On page A9, the opening paragraphs to an article titled "In Basra, Tales of Scary Badgers and Spy Squirrels" in my print copy and "From Iraq’s Rumor Mill, a Conspiracy of Badgers" in the online version:

Nazariet al-Muwamara, they call it in Arabic: the conspiracy theory. As they go, this one is a gem.

Alarm was heightened by circulation of a cellphone video showing one fearsomely clawed and apparently dead animal, thought to be a badger.

Take a Western army wearing out its welcome in the ancient land of Mesopotamia. Add a sharp-toothed creature with the claws of a bear and a reputation here to rival the Hound of the Baskervilles. Simmer in the 120-degree temperatures of summer and sprinkle with provincial Iraqi newspapers eager to fill newsprint gaps left by vacationing officials.

The result? Many residents of the city of Basra in southern Iraq have convinced themselves that the British Army has loosed savage cattle-eating badgers onto its unsuspecting populace as a final gesture of ill intent before it departs this summer.