Today I’m proud to announce the formation of a new and patently silly organization.

The International Society of Clever Sleuths

The organization is hereby established to forward the ideals of looking into things, and of being creative, curious, and clever.

Who is Welcome?

Are you a web sleuth? A scientific sleuth? Do you like to investigate new foods, or are you hot on the trail of a crooked politician? Domains of interest are wide open. Sleuthing is useful just about everywhere.

Motto: “We Look Into It, Because You Never Know”

Secret Handshake: Member 1 extends two fists, palm down. They extend the invitation—“pick one.” Member 2 points two index fingers, one pointing at the top of each fist, and says, “both.” Members making the fist are invited, but not required, to place a piece of candy in both hands. At the end of this short ritual, they may both share the candy as a simple nod to the benefits of being Clever Sleuths.

Secret Verbal Exchange: Member 1 asks, “Do you like rainy days, or sunny days?” (R in Rainy comes before S in Sunny) Member 2 replies with a question: “Can I like both?” Member 1 then closes the exchange by saying, “Clever,” “Creative,” or “Curious.”

Fraternal Song: With Cat-Like Tread, Upon Our Prey We Steal from The Pirates of Penzeance (This is a nod to the detective’s clever mental approach, more than a nod to piracy)

Mascot: A victorious cat sits upright, happily licking its paw, all squinty-eyed.

Founding Principles: Creativity, Curiosity, Cleverness, followed by Kindness and Pleasant Recreation.

The acronym ISCS is what I’m calling a Xenogram. The C can stand for Creative, Curious, or Clever. You can write it out differently every time, if you like.

As the Founder of this Society, I invite you to join me. We’ll make it fun.

How to Join

To join now, please assign yourself a temporary membership ID number:

ID-YYYYMMDDHHmmSS-FF-Codename

Your temporary membership ID number is the Year, Month, Day, Hour (24-hour format), Minute, and Second (two-digit format, 00 through 59), at which you finished reading the Society Motto aloud, followed by a dash, followed by your lucky two-digit number of choice, and your self-appointed Clever Sleuth code name. The code name in this case should be kept to one word, if possible.

If you’d like to register your membership, send me your temporary membership ID number, and we’ll make it formal.

(The title of this post is a reference to an aging Groucho Marx quote. I invite you to be a part of fun stuff, blog readers!)

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