One of my favorite passages in Cormac McCarthy’s All The Pretty Horses comes about three quarters of the way through…
The Negative Confessions
From the Book of the Dead, the Ancient Egyptian funerary text. Read more…
The List App Archive
The List App, later rebranded li.st, was a short-lived social media app from, of all people, B.J. Novak of The Office fame. A friend of mine who’s way more looped in to this kind of thing than I am sent me an invitation during the pre-release beta period, when The List App was tiny and finding its footing.
The app was something like twitter for lists of things. There were lists, likes, re-lists, and trends. But the content of a post was always a list—bulleted, numbered, reverse-numbers, but always a list of things. I think Novak envisioned things like “My favorite restaurants in LA” and “Best albums of the year” or whatever, but TLA pretty quickly turned in to a weird sometimes beautiful place where a core of likeminded and somewhat bookish people shared things that made them happy, gave encouragement, and evolved a subculture. It was fun while it lasted (and it did not last long).
When the app shut down I archived all my posts because I’m a digital hoarder. You can find them all here.
My Lists
A question for literature nerds...
The hero has been through hell and he’s about to find out if it was all worth it. In some sense everything in the book has been pointing to what is about to happen.
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The Five Senses
The one where you know someone is behind you.
The one where you know a friend has had a bad day.
- Read more…
Dehumanizing Etymology
Source for all: etymonline.com Read more…
Things I Miss
@MaiaLS
[that’s all]
- Read more…
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the Filibuster
You will read a lot over the next few weeks about how the filibuster is an essential part of our checks and balances installed by the founders to protect us from the mob. That Republicans have unilaterally undermined that protection. This is baloney.
(My primary source is: Link ) Read more…
Things I've Buttered but Probably Shouldn't Have
Pita Chip
Just now. Yum.
Bacon.
Don’t judge me. I only did it once.
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Reasons Trump Doesn't Like You
You’re too fat.
You’re too ugly.
- Read more…
Trepidatious is apparently not a word*
I love language. Learned this the other day. Follow the steps… (* in the prescriptivist sense. It is obviously a word by usage.) Read more…
What to do when someone includes you on an email that obviously has too many people on the CC list
Professional advice from a computer professional. Read more…
Recipe for Destruction
Spitballing here. There’s definitely a speculative conspiratorial undercurrent here for which I apologize.
“Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”
Steve Bannon
“What joins men together is not the sharing of bread but the sharing of enemies.”
The Judge from Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian”
1. Foment muslim extremism and terrorist recruiting and financing efforts through targeted anti-Islamic rhetoric.
2. Act to ban immigration in a way that agrees with anti-Islam rhetoric while maintaining an air of legality.
3. In so doing, establish an adversarial relationship with congress and the courts on the issue of immigration.
4. Undermine the Central Intelligence Agency by casting doubt on their efficacy.
5. Undermine the Department of Homeland Security by breaking down lines of communication.
6. Undermine the Department of State by disrupting leadership and diplomatic missions.
7. Undermine anti-terrorist efforts by breaking down lines of communication and cooperation through the above actions.
(Recall that this poor interdepartmental coordination was the primary failing of our intelligence systems pre-9/11 resulting in the establishment of DHS in the first place.)
- Undermine trust in the media, fact-based reporting, and the “political establishment”.
9. Wait.
10. When a major terrorist attack happens, pin it on lax immigration policy.
11. Consolidate executive power with a new political mandate fueled by the above.
Ways to Teach Your Children Respect, Ranked
Demand respect from them.
Respect them.
- Read more…
American Federal Offices Ranked by Power
Remember remember… Read more…
I Found a Wallet
For years I carried a normal wallet like this.
But I always hated sitting on it
I tried extra thin wallets.
And I was militant about getting rid of cards I didn’t need to carry. I was never satisfied.
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Presidential Regrets
Cueing this up in case it needs any additions. Read more…
Parts of the Rogue One trailer that weren't in the movie
I liked the move and I’ve only seen it once so I may be wrong on one or two of these but what gives? The previews were assembled mostly from scenes and lines that weren’t in the movie. Read more…
Vonnegut, Ranked
Sentimentally skewed by the order/age in which I read them. Featuring the covers I owned. Limiting myself to major works I read cover to cover here. Read more…
Biographies I've listened to recently
I told you all how I get in a little groove sometimes right? Read more…
Quest for Claus
This is the latest play @sophster is in.
An original play written by local playwrights and premiering now!
This is the stage.
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I don't know. I just don't know.
I’ve always had the sense that maybe my perception is broken.
Like sometimes people talk about how beautiful some instrumental music is…
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Signs You Are Amazing
You’re reading this list.
…
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Recurring Dreams
Brakes don’t work.
Usually when backing up.
Driving across an irrationally rickety bridge.
Like two 2x4s stretched across an enormous chasm.
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Thanksgiving
Turkey
With discreet lemon half because it kept leaning to the right.
Sausage cornbread dressing.
My personal favorite.
- Read more…
A Message to Privileged Progressives
I wrote this last night on Facebook (where I go to be close to the people I know personally). I’m still processing but I thought it probably had a place here too. Read more…
My Fold
I don’t have a fold.
Or perhaps I am my fold.
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Muse
From Rabindranath Tagore’s immeasurably beautiful Gitanjali. Read more…
You really should have thought of that before you became peasants.
@sophster’s latest costume took her a lot of time and engineering to execute. Yzma the evil witch (?) from Emperor’s New Groove. Read more…
Seven Sins of Writing
This is my attempt to classify the things I think usually make a book worse. Read more…
Ways My Republican Friends Explain Trump's Nomination
Liberals rigging the republican primaries.
The media rigging the republican primaries.
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My Cat Waits for Me to Pee
My cat waits for me to pee.
He waits very patiently.
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Reasons This Election is Rigged
They let WOMEN vote.
They let POC vote.
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The Three Phases of Mary Poppins
Watched this insufferable movie again a few years ago for the first time since I was a little kid. Read more…
Lesser of Two Evils
Look.
There’s a lot of talk about the Trump/Clinton equivalency.
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Should Sleeping Beauty marry what's his name: pros and cons
Fair warning: I’ve never seen sleeping beauty.
But I’m going to do this list for you anyway mon ami…
- Read more…
Should Belle Marry Beast: Pros and Cons
CON: Total jerk.
CON: Imprisoned her for life for no reason.
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Trump's Son
One of these is true. All of them are equally relevant. Read more…
Female Singers Who've Got Something Ranked by How Much of it They Have
They’ve all got at least a little of it, whatever you call it. Note: Not ranked by how good they are, just ranked by how much of it they have from most to least. Read more…
Saying David Bowie Five Times Fast
Documenting @sophster here. Read more…
I would rather you read my diary than...
See my YouTube history.
Ask me about a book when I’ve just finished.
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My 5 Favorite Things About Myself
Inspired by @brimattia Read more…
Things I Would Gladly Trade My Headphone Jack For
A combination washer-dryer so I don’t have to swap loads.
Uber + Self Driving Cars + Food Trucks
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The Most 80s Thing in Stranger Things
Calling your teacher to find out about sensory deprivation tanks instead of just googling it.
- Read more…
