September, 8, 2005 archives

tyler cowen questions the economics of seduction, continuing the publicity snowball for the game: penetrating the secret society of pickup artists by neil strauss.

from an interview with neil strauss: “i learned that the more unavailable you make yourself, the more people would want you.” either there’s a point where that trend reverses, or there’s a whole lot of people out there who want me.

i’ll pretend it is the latter.

tonight there is a discussion with william mcdonough about “the ‘cradle to cradle’ design protocol” at the central library, a party to celebrate lavoice.org’s 1000th post at cole’s, and it’s the monthly downtown art walk.

right now, i’ll count myself lucky if i make it to the talk at the library instead of being knocked out by allergy medication again.

jay mohr on why fantasy football is good for the nfl: “due to the intense study and preparation for a fantasy draft, i can meet anyone from anywhere in the country and talk knowledgeable, intelligent football with them. unless they’re from cleveland.”

you can vote for what nfc games you want to see on the los angeles fox affiliate this sunday. i’m not holding out much hope that the vikings v. bucs will be one of them. i suspect the first game i’ll get to see will be their home game against the saints, because i will be in minnesota that weekend.

kevin roderick reports that calvin and hobbes is reappearing in papers as a promotion for the new collection of all of the strips: the complete calvin and hobbes by bill watterson. awesome.

happy day — vikes v. bucs was selected for broadcast this sunday. it’s the early game, at the unholy time of 10am. there’s not much risk i won’t be awake by then, but watching football before noon still feels wrong to me.

businessweek’s blogspotting noticed in a wall street journal article that technorati is making deals to get ping data first, or at least that’s the claim in the article. it would be interesting to know who those deals are with. i can’t imagine it’s with either blogger (google) or six apart.

of course, i’m not sure it helps for technorati to have the data first if nobody can ever actually get at it because of their persistent inability to handle their search load.

i hurt myself today
to see if i still feel
i focus on the pain
the only thing that’s real
the needle tears a hole
the old familiar sting
try to kill it all away
but I remember everything

what have i become?
my sweetest friend
everyone i know
goes away in the end
you could have it all
my empire of dirt
i will let you down
i will make you hurt

i wear this crown of shit
upon my liar’s chair
full of broken thoughts
i cannot repair
beneath the stains of time
the feeling disappear
you are someone else
i am still right here

what have i become?
my sweetest friend
everyone i know
goes away in the end

you could have it all
my empire of dirt
i will let you down
i will make you hurt
if i could start again
a million miles away
i would keep myself
i would find a way

— “hurt,” by nine inch nails, from downward spiral

but the definitive version of this song is by johnny cash, from american iv: the man comes around. it’s right up there in contention for my favorite song ever.

not exactly a mood-lifter, though.

michelle gubay of the los angeles downtown news writes about various fountains downtown. i guess it’s kind of a companion piece to my photos of various fountains in downtown. the photo here is of the bank of america garden pool area she writes about.

looking back at my photo set, the place i wish i spent more time is by the reflecting pools and fountain near moca.