January 2010
28 posts
denis johnson: master stoner
—Sooner or later the mind grasps at a thought and follows it into the labyrinth, one thought branching into another. Then the labyrinth caves in on itself and you find yourself outside. You were never inside—it was a dream.
He returned his attention to his breath.
(Tree of Smoke, p. 32)
more = more
“More insecurity equals more product need, equals more opportunity for marketers,” said Kit Yarrow, a professor of psychology and marketing at Golden Gate University.
all I really need to know, I learned from my...
Try to keep busy. Plan your day in advance. Do not stay by yourself.
Try to take walks. Exercise within your ability.
Try to eat with others. Try not to eat more than one meal a day alone.
Share your feelings when upset.
Keep your appointments faithfully.
this man is a coward
Eventually, it became clear that the plan was unrealistic. “You know that idea that true love conquers all?” he said. “It can conquer a hell of a lot, but it can’t conquer everything.”
no regrets
She expressed no regrets about moving to the tiny, lonely village: “Even when I lived fully in the city, I didn’t like it: going to bars, going to concerts, getting drunk.”
i'm almost certain that wittgenstein is wrong...
1.21 Each item [the facts that constitute the world] can be the case or not the case while everything else remains the same.
ten seconds in he was texting his management.
Then Germanotta sang for him. “I’m telling you, it was, like, 10 seconds in and I’m texting my management. I’m like, I need a contract — immediately.”
Here’s where the myths and the realities begin to meld.
http://www.wardruz.blogspot.com →
This is the personal blog of Heath Druzin, a Stars and Stripes reporter who was barred from embedding with an army unit in Iraq for failing to report enough “good news.”
film review: the winter soldier
It’s been a least ten years since the last time that I sat in front of a screen and watched a sincere person speak into a microphone. I’d almost forgotten what it looks like.
never have to type
“People should never have to type in their ZIP code again.” — a technologist
carl sagan: master stoner
There is a myth about such highs: the user has an illusion of great insight, but it does not survive scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that this is an error, and that the devastating insights achieved when high are real insights; the main problem is putting these insights in a form acceptable to the quite different self that we are when we’re down the next day. Some of the hardest work...
broken & severed
“We’re in a world of contracts being broken, relationships being severed, of things we thought we believed not really being true.” — a financier
he wants students to get in the mind set.
“Anyone who wants to break in should read Variety and Hollywood Reporter and see which assistants have just been promoted to agents…anyone can teach a three-act structure. What I want students to get in the mind set of is ‘How do we write something with the purpose of monetizing it?’” — Ryan Saul
"cars" by gary numan
Here in my car I feel safest of all I can lock all my doors It’s the only way to live In cars Here in my car I can only receive I can listen to you It keeps me stable for days In cars Here in my car Where the image breaks down Will you visit me please? If I open my door In cars Here in my car I know I’ve started to think About leaving tonight Although nothing seems right In cars
the way we fight now
…three analysts watch the live feed from a drone.
One never takes his eyes off the monitor, calling out possible threats to his partners, who immediately pass alerts to the field via computer chat rooms and snap screenshots of the most valuable images.
“It’s mostly through the chat rooms — that’s how we’re fighting these days,” said Colonel Daniel R. Johnson, who runs the intelligence...
nice title
“Discussion of the spatial characteristics of police anti-riot tactics from the perspective of the rioter.”
he insisted.
He agreed that the rug looked terrible and should be removed, but he insisted that Mr. Logozzo adjust his attitude.
“If you want me to come back,” Mr. Mishaan said, “you’re going to have to lighten up.”
if fixing something made me happy
There were other problems, too.
“I couldn’t walk to anything,” said Mr. Berks, 37, who lived in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood, south of downtown Minneapolis. And routine maintenance distracted him from writing. “Why would I have any interest in fixing the bathroom sink?” he said. “I’m in my 30s. If fixing something made me happy, I would have learned how to do it.”
2010
The wide latitude human societies have for deterioration is the inevitable counterpart of man’s increasing productivity and control over his environment. Occasional decline as well as prolonged mediocrity—in relation to achievable performance levels—must be counted among the many penalties of progress.
— Hirschman
