Yes it's true. The Transportation Security Administration, those people who xray your suitcase and make you take your shoes off at the airport, has started a blog called Evolution of Security with the blog description "Terrorists Evolve. Threats Evolve. Security Must Stay Ahead. You Play A Part.

And it's (gasp) clever! Take for example the opening sentence of a Feb. 1 post:  "Throughout the ages, there have been many unanswered questions that continue to baffle the human race. Who built Stonehenge? Is there life on other planets? Why does the TSA make me place my liquids in a clear sealable baggie?" There are even a couple of videos about why they do what they do, and they promise more. Transparency and humor from the government. Thank you. I'm so pleased that I won't even ask about the mascara they stole appropriated from my toiletry bag last year.

I have a bunch of tabs open of boingboing posts that I want to share, but it's been such a hectic day (I invited Rick Falkvinge of the Swedish Pirate party to give a talk today at my library!) so I think I'll just list them and let you all sort them out.

• Peer to Patent: keeping the Patent Office honest with community review
• Amazon will distribute the US National Archive on DVD
• NY Public Library giving away free public domain books-on-demand
• Pirate Party founder at Stanford (I'll post the video soon. W00t!)
• Bruce Schneier interviews TSA head Kip Hawley
• Data mining prompted fight over NSA domestic spying program (here's a login-free link to the NYT article)

Now if THIS doesn't convince you that a) blogs are incredibly useful tools for disseminating information and b) boingboing should be read several times a day as a matter of course then I don't know what will convince you. Happy reading :-)