Oh, it’s so true.

(These are, by the way, strips from Foxtrot from this past Friday and Saturday.)

Since the start of spring this year, my wife and I have taken to walking in Riverside Park on weekend days. We get to chat with the volunteers who keep up the flower gardens south of 96th Street, stroll along the Hudson River, and visit the greenmarkets for fresh vegetables and baked goods.

This was today’s walk, at the gloomy onset of fall.

After this week’s viral video, let it never be said that YouTube has never contributed anything to our understanding of the universe.

Tuber = Main Entry: tu·ber
Pronunciation: ‘tü-b&r, ‘tyü-
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, swelling, truffle; perhaps akin to Latin tumEre to swell — more at THUMB
1 a : a short fleshy usually underground stem bearing minute scale leaves each of which bears a bud in its axil and is potentially able to produce a new plant — compare BULB, CORM b : a fleshy root or rhizome resembling a tuber

YouTuber = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXwarrIYLJ4

Big speculation on potential big money deals today — not one, but two, of the web’s personal media icons are being talked about as potential targets of buyouts.

First on the list is Facebook; a little while back, they were rumored to have turned down an offer of $800 million, and industry experts were guffawing at their over-inflated sense of self. Turns out they may have been right: the Wall Street Journal reports today that Facebook is in talks with Yahoo, and the number being floated is an astounding $1 billion.

And the New York Post is talking about YouTube — seems they won’t sell out for anything less than $1.5 billion, and they’d like to see more. Never afraid to be un-objective, the Post’s report has more than a hint of skepticism about YouTube’s desires, and a couple industry executives are quoted anonymously as saying the number is way too high, but, again, that’s what they were saying about Facebook.

The photo you don’t want to be in? The mugshot. That’s the story of Least Wanted: A Century of American Mugshots at the Steven Kasher Gallery in NYC. They say: “The selection demonstrates that mugshots, taken under duress, can be as full of truth and beauty as more cooperative masterpieces of studio portraiture.” You’ve got till mid-October to make your to the gallery to see these 200 uneasy pieces of the American story.

A banner day for SMITH bloggers offering insight, humor and courage (always) about their writing, their projects, their passions.

Douglas Rushkoff talks to the always excellent interrogators, the SuicideGirls, about his new comic book series for DC/Vertigo, Testament, a modern reinterpretation of the Bible. (Note: Testament sits on my coffee table and is an endless source of fascination for anyone — from the hip lit crowd to the guy who fixed my roof — who picks it up. And they all pick it up.)

Jeff Yamaguchi is a featured blogger on TypePad interviews about his excellent project site 52 Projects.

Click at your own risk: both SuicideGirls and TypePad have a huge inventory of interviews that are an excellent way to lose a morning.

Bonus interview: James Frey speaks.

Sometimes, you just need to fess up. Sometimes, you just need to spill. Sometimes, you just need to talk it out. And most times, your inner circle is way too precarious for any of that.

For exactly those times, you need RandomChat.

Think of it as a way to talk things out in public and in private at the same time. In Dansk, Deutsch, Polski, and a slew of other languages. Including English.

Friend of SMITH and creator of the for-now-frozen storytelling site the Fray Derek Powazek and his Flickr’y wife, Heather Champ (she of the legendary The Mirror Project), have launched 8020 Publishing.

The first project of 8020 is JPG magazine, where amateur shutterbugs post their shots, the community votes on the best ones (organized by theme), and the kids with the most cake get $100 and their work in the print version of JPG (pubbed six times a year). Groovy stuff. Read more deets here, via a report from GigaOM.

In other photo news…SMITH editor John House says: SMITH + Flickr = Tabblo, a new words + images storytelling, photo-sharing site in the unstoppable spirit of Web 2.0. (Note: The term Web 2.0 is precariously close to being banned during dinner in my house.)

Nothing makes me want to sing Kumbaya more than when I see people of all backgrounds coming together for a good cause — especially when that cause involves coming up with a list of the ten most hated celebrities and faux celebrities alike.Attention Brandon Davis: DUDE! You are a not a celebrity. Get over yourself.

While I thought there were some good names on the list — Paris, Tara, K-Fed — I was a little annoyed that Tom Cruise was number three. I mean, come on, the man actually works for his money. Admit it. You love Top Gun, Jerry Maguire, and all of the Mission Impossible movies. Look, I’ll even be the first to say it: “I love Tom, Top Gun and most of his filcks — just not Vanilla Sky.”

You can check out the names and faces of those who made the cut here.