2008.10.08
Passage of the Moment
What you have to do, if you get caught in this gumption trap of value rigidity, is slow down--you're going to have to slow down anyway whether you want to or not--but slow down deliberately and go over ground that you've been over before to see if the things you thought were really important were really important and to...well...just stare at the machine. There's nothing wrong with that. Just live with it for a while. Watch it the way you watch a line when fishing and before long, as sure as you live, you'll get a little nibble, a little fact asking in a timid, humble way if you're interested in it. That's the way the world keeps on happening. Be interested in it. --Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - here a "gumption tramp" is something that straps your energy and willingness, and the "value rigidity" is when you assume you already know the answer or have ruled out a possibility.
Commercial of a Past Moment
This milk commercial always seemed weirdly Freudian. (2019 UPDATE - was https://youtu.be/4k6C-Yo362U with this as an "even worse" but I dunno)
Article of the Moment
5 1/2 years ago I touched on the similarities between "Red Dawn" and Iraq, except with the USA playing the role of the hamfisted and well-armed Russian invaders who are ignorant of the local culture and politics, and the Iraqis as the nationalist guerrillas, capable of great and foolish and bravery and taking out invaders with them. Anyway, Slate covers that same topic, but with more details and video clips.
<<by order of the prophet / We ban that boogie sound>>
my PC's CD drive is intermittently recalcitrant; took me way too long to realize it's fine if there's a disc in it, bad if not... but why?