happy anniversary
Whoops, forgot my own anniversary. As of last week, I have been blogging for 10 years. Whatever. I’m over it.
Author Archive
Daytime birthday parties means you are either very young or very old.
Human rubble, part two
According to The Pierley /Redford Dissociative Affect Diagnostic (via waxy):
You reach out to the world and pull in experiences of all forms and kinds. Spontaneous, immediate and active, you have a natural tendency to win, whether this is in the business world or on the freeway. In the right context this can be a positive encouragement to those around you. In the wrong context it can lead to a pathetic display of ego and misplaced pride. You are always on the prowl for clues as to how to win. Usually this behavior is unconscious or playful but the sense of play can rapidly disappear if you are found to be losing in the aforementioned contest. Only those who don’t compete are met with derision. You love to be the center of attention. The moment at hand is always of prime concern. Worries about the future or the past, or abstract discussions of philosophical matters are something for others to concern themselves with. Emotions are fleeting and often used as tactics.
Which shape can read your mind?
Things I Learned 2011-03
- Steve Jobs is Arab-American. See, photo. [source]
- expectorate – v. to spit pleghem [source]
- Patent of the Month: “Method and apparatus for detection of reciprocal interests or feelings and subsequent notification“. Now subject to patent litigation of JDate vs OKCupid, 2Red Beans [source]
- Greg Giraldo, the late comedian and Comedy Central regular, was a Columbia University graduate (although a CU Alum Network search does not pan out). And a Harvard Law graduate that quit Skadden Arps to do comedy. [source, source]
- The British equivalent of our Farrah Fawcett poster: Tennis Girl [source]
- Texts From Last Night was started by a law student, who then, obviously, dropped out. [source]
- When James Murphy, of the now-late LCD Soundsystem, was 22, he turned down a chance to be a script-writer for Seinfeld. [source]
- Wikipedia Article of the Month: Execution by Elephant
prod
I have finally found that elusive beast, productivity. Apparently it stalks in the ungodly hours.
bust
Well, at least I still have my physical health, and the love and admiration of my peers.
Things I Learned: 2011-02
In which I failed.
- littoral – adj. pertaining to the shore area [source]
- The following directors have never won a Oscar for Best Director: Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Sidney Lumet, Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick, Spike Lee. [source]
- chundering – n. UK slang for vomiting [source]
- The Green Bay Packers are a non-profit, community owner organization– the only one in American pro sports. [source] [more info]
- Wikipedia article of the month: Toilet paper orientation. Complete with 127 footnotes.
- President Lincoln suffered from clinical depression for most of his adult life, and it was widely known to his contemporaries. Sad Abe day? [source]
New diversion: Steak of the Month Club.
NY Times: The Dirty Little Secrets of Search
Mr. Stevens agreed to meet in mid-January for a dinner paid for by The Times. Asked to pick a “fine restaurant” in his neighborhood, he rather cheekily selected a modern French bistro in Palo Alto offering an eight-course prix fixe meal for $118. Liquid nitrogen and “fairy tale pumpkin” were two of the featured ingredients.
God, what snippy reporting.
New York Times: After Ban, Groups Say Earmarks Aren’t So Bad:
Many citizens, even those who sympathize with cuts in spending, insist that not all pork is cured with the same untoward salt. “I do agree we have to cut from somewhere,” said Steve Tribble, the county judge executive of Christian County in Kentucky, where a planned road project is now imperiled. “I am against some earmarks,” he said. “Not the good ones. I can promise you this is not a road to nowhere.” (emphasis added)
Doozy of a sentence. Someone’s got pent-up writing energies…
Superbowl XLV commercial recap
My thoughts after skipping almost the entirety of the game, and watching all the commercials afterwards on Hulu.
Sell-out of the year? Tie between Eminem for Lipton Ice Tea. or Black Eyed Peas for SalesForce.com. You could argue that Eminem’s commercial was at least self-referential with regards to his endorsement, while there is now a site called thebabypeas.com.
Every PepsiMax commercial was awful.
Best commercial, hands-down, was Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit“. Statement piece. Shifts the conversation about their company. Takes their disadvantage (decrepit Detroit) and turns it to their strength. Some is serious Don Draper Wheel of Life shit. Even the Eminem (active day for him, eh?) cameo was dead-on because does anyone else represent Detroit and rebirth better than him?
Imported from Detroit
Apparently, cut-throat coupon competitors GroupOn and LivingSocial both had commercials. GroupOn wins. LivingSocial’s makes me scratch my head as to what I just watched or what the take-away was supposed to be.
GroupOn.
LivingSocial.
The beer commercials keep getting weaker and weaker. At least nothing was overtly sexist or degrading this year. Stella Artois’ “Crying Jean” is the only one that stirred anything in me.
Creepiest commercial: there are a number of incredibly creepy commercials this year. Which makes you shudder more: “Doritos the Best Part” or this Android commercial?
The Best Part
Sony Ericcson’s PLAY android commercial
Which commercials stuck out with you?
200 hours
200 hours this month, or bust. And by bust, I mean, bust.
People define success by many means. I will know I have made it when I have one of these in my place.
Things I Learned 2011-01
I like putting the via’s because it shows how new knowledge is everywhere if you just goddamn pay attention to what you do not know.
- The kiwifruit used to be known as the Chinese gooseberry, until an international importer got their mitts on it. [via]
- roustabout – n. a labourer typically performing temporary, unskilled work. The term has traditionally been used to refer to traveling-circus workers or oil rig workers. [via]
- Aztec priests used to choose a man to represent one of their gods, Tezcatlipoca. The man would be worshiped as a god for a year, wearing expensive jewellery and having eight attendants. He would marry four young women, and spent his last week singing, feasting and dancing. But at a preordained date during on a festival, he climbed the stairs to the top of the temple on his own where the priests seized him and sacrificed him, his body being eaten later. Immediately after he died a new victim for the next year’s ceremony was chosen. [via]
- Possums are formally known as opossums. Oh, and they involuntarily excrete a foul-smelling liquid from their anal glands when they play dead. Convincing bastards. [via]
- Patent of the month: Garment Device Convertible to One or More Facemasks [via]
I think I am finally over World War II.
The Opium Wars, I’m still working on.
I post in spurts.
camera gone
I sold my camera the other day. I decided that since I was not traveling anymore, and since I spent most of my free time avoiding happiness (ha ha, that is a lawyer joke) , that there was no point to owning a device hurtling towards obsolescence. So I sold it on Craigslist. I took that camera through India, China, Bali, Argentina, Cambodia, and lugged its 1.15 lb ass all the way through the Swiss Alps, and now it’s gone. Whatever. I am trying to learn to be less sentimental about my material possessions. Saving my emotional energy for that which truly matters, like the warm, asphyxiating embrace of inter-human relationships.
When you do a web search for “python“, you realize, by god, the nerds have won.