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About This Author
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Complex Numbers
Complex Numbers
A complex number is expressed in the standard form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is defined by i^2 = -1 (that is, i is the square root of -1). For example, 3 + 2i is a complex number.
The bi term is often referred to as an imaginary number (though this may be misleading, as it is no more "imaginary" than the symbolic abstractions we know as the "real" numbers). Thus, every complex number has a real part, a, and an imaginary part, bi.
Complex numbers are often represented on a graph known as the "complex plane," where the horizontal axis represents the infinity of real numbers, and the vertical axis represents the infinity of imaginary numbers. Thus, each complex number has a unique representation on the complex plane: some closer to real; others, more imaginary. If a = b, the number is equal parts real and imaginary.
Very simple transformations applied to numbers in the complex plane can lead to fractal structures of enormous intricacy and astonishing beauty.
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Everyone knows that burgers and beer constitute a man's perfect meal. I mean, if I were about to be executed for my political beliefs and they offered me a last meal, I'd be like, "Burgers and beer, please."
But there IS a such thing as taking things too far, like these abominations of all that is right and good in the world:
http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2008/07/21/the_7_hamburgers_of_the_apocalypse....
Hamburgers, next to apple pie and statins they're the ambassadors of American cuisine--for better or for worse--and these harbingers of heart disease might be the baddest of all.
Here are 7 over the top hamburgers that are guaranteed to clog your arteries by just looking that them:
I mean, why don't you just slit your wrists and jam the burgers directly into your veins? It'd be quicker and less painful.
And I thought the Krispy-Kreme Bacon Double Cheeseburger was bad. Hell, even if I weren't severely curtailing my burger consumption in the process of overall weight loss, I wouldn't be able to come anywhere near such dread concoctions.
But the news is better on the Beer front. It seems that people are finally starting to catch on to the knowledge that Buttwiper isn't beer. Neither is Miller or Coors, and don't even get me started on the "Lite" versions.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1826878,00.html
High-alcohol brews like Black Butte XX and The Abyss, known in the trade as big or extreme beers, are among many craft beers that are grabbing a growing market share in the United States from their mass-produced and heavily advertised counterparts. Even at prices ranging from $4 to more than $100 for a single bottle.
Well, DUH.
Sales of premium beers, which include the household names of Budweiser, Coors Light and Miller High Life, have been nearly flat — up just 1.9% last year according to Information Resources Inc., a retail research firm.
Sucks if you've got stock in Buttwiper. Or whatever they call it now that it's a Belgian company. And what's up with that, anyway? Belgium makes the best beers. Delirium Tremens, for example. Holy shit, I'm getting drunk just thinking about DT.
Oh, yeah, I know beer isn't exactly helping with the aforementioned weight loss. But what's the point of being thinner if you can't drink beer? It just ain't worth it. |
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In the mid-80s, DC Comics released the groundbreaking comic mini-series, Watchmen. Written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons, it quickly achieved epic status among comics geeks, and even got some notice among normal people - and the semi-normals who give out the Hugo Award for science fiction, which Watchmen was the only graphic novel to ever receive.
Actually, an argument could be made that the publication of the 12-issue miniseries in one paperback volume was the birth of the "graphic novel" format, a distinction which, again, probably only matters to comic geeks like me.
Since it came out, there's been talk of doing a movie. At one point, Terry Gilliam (Brazil, The Fisher King and, well, anything Monty Python) was tapped to direct it. What with one thing and another, mostly having to do with budget issues, the movie was in limbo for twenty years.
But soon...
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/high.html
Honestly, I don't know what effect that trailer will have on normal people, and I know some of you read this blog. But I felt like I needed a cigarette after it was over.
The details aren't precise copies of the comic - they pretty much couldn't be - but the look and feel seems to be authentic.
Batman be damned - this is the comic-inspired movie I'm waiting for.
And I can hardly wait.
"Who watches the Watchmen?"
Me. |
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There can be no clearer evidence of the world-shattering power of rock & roll in general - and Bruce Springsteen in particular - than the following article.
Did the Boss help bring down the Berlin Wall?
BERLIN - When Bruce Springsteen spoke out against the Berlin Wall at the biggest concert in East German history in 1988, no one in the crowd of 160,000 had the faintest idea that the symbol of the Cold War would soon be history.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25696021/>1=43001
“Springsteen’s concert and speech certainly contributed in a larger sense to the events leading up to the fall of the Wall,” said Gerd Dietrich, a historian at Berlin’s Humboldt University.
Okay, giving credit where credit is due, I have to give Pink Floyd partial credit. Still:
Springsteen stopped halfway through the three-hour show for a short speech — in heavily accented German:
“I want to tell you I’m not here for or against any government,” Springsteen said, as he pointedly introduced his rendition of the Bob Dylan ballad “Chimes of Freedom.”
“I came to play rock ’n’ roll for you East Berliners in the hope that one day all the barriers will be torn down.”
Well, of course we can't point the finger of responsibility at any one person. Like any action in a Communist country, the fall of the Wall was a group effort. Still, sometimes these things take a catalyst, or at least a Last Straw.
I had a friend in the Army at the time stationed in Germany, and he was there when the Wall came down. Got me a piece of it, too. I haven't the slightest idea where it is now - most likely at some point, some well-meaning cohabitant thought it was trash. Women - you gotta watch 'em every second (hmm, that's not such a bad thing).
“People didn’t want to leave when it was over,” [Cherno Zobatey] said [of the concert]. “The police gave up after a while. I walked back across town for about two hours and everywhere everyone was happy and on a real high. But it didn’t feel like a revolution, just yet anyhow.”
I forget who said it, but I've heard that it's not poverty that causes revolutions - it's the knowledge of poverty.
Twenty years later, Bruce is still working for social justice. And East Berlin? It's history.
Thanks to Deelyte- Chillin'  for sending me the link! |
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Just using that title because it's also the title of a story I wrote. Or maybe it's more of a prologue, but I haven't written the rest yet.
I rarely remember my dreams, except maybe some snippets in the morning, and then later in the day something might remind me of more of the dream, but I've never mastered the technique of dream recall. That would involve me waking up earlier in order to write the dreams down before they slip away in the shower, and, well, that's part of the problem...
Another rare thing for me is to have recurring themes, when I do remember the dreams. Like one night it'll be a flying dream, the next night it might be the I-forgot-I-signed-up-for-this-class dream, and the next night something else entirely.
But I've noticed a trend, lately, in that whatever else I'm dreaming about (last night it was a building with uncertain flooring and a leaky roof), I'm always falling asleep in the dream.
So I fall asleep, I dream (and sometimes I know it's a dream), and within the dream, I lie down and fall asleep. I can't remember if I have dreams within the dreams, or further nesting of dream layers. But I can't help thinking that dreaming about going to sleep - repeatedly, night after night - might be something my subconscious is trying to tell me.
Let's see. Dreams are all about symbols. Sleep to me represents rest, peace and healing. It also represents dreams, if you want to get recursive about it, and even the dreams that are nightmares are entertaining, so there's an aspect of entertainment about it. Now, if my subconscious is trying to tell me I need all those things, there can be only one conclusion:
I am in dire, desperate need of a vacation.
Sadly, I'm not going to the beach until September.
Oh, the "Secrets" part of the title? Can't tell you, or it wouldn't be a secret anymore. |
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Speaking of journalism, as I might have mentioned before, my friend Pat works for the local newspaper. By "local newspaper," I mean the traditional daily paper with sections and legal notices and available for $0.50 in vending machines across the city.
The other newspapers in town are weeklies, and they're free, so those are the ones I actually read. Sometimes.
Thing is, like I said in yesterday's entry, I'm pretty sure journalism is dying, even as its domain is largely being transferred from print to online media. I threw out the "I blame bloggers" line as a self-deprecating joke, but I may be more serious than I thought.
See, there's an old saying to the effect of "Opinions are like assholes; everyone has one, and most of them stink." Back in the old days, if you wanted to express an opinion publicly, you had to send it to the aforementioned newspaper (or one of its ilk in a different town) along with your name and address and other identifying information, and they'd verify that it was you before they printed it - so you don't go impersonating someone you don't like, I guess.
Now, of course, we're pretty much all anonymous and we all have our own opinion pages where we can shout out any old thing. No one checks the facts, and if someone has an objection it's likely they'll just quit reading, and stick to sources they agree with - or, at worst, send a comment like "U SUCK!!!1!"
Anyway, Pat's paper just laid off its entire printing press staff. Seems rather than pay to fix the press, they're just going to send the pages over to the next town, and have it printed there. They'll cart the papers back here for distribution.
I don't know if subscription rates are dropping; I know I dropped mine as soon as I got an internet connection.
There's more to the death of news than just the impending death of print media, though. For starters, there's no longer any need to polish a story before it goes to print; you can just print what you have and post an update later. If something turns out to be offensive, you can delete it. And it pays to post a first draft; after all, they still want to scoop the other guys.
So we're left with three different, but interacting trends:
1) Everyone's a journalist, and there are fewer and fewer editors or ombudsmen.
2) Print media is dying, and
3) Internet sources are questionable.
Journalists have every reason to be lazy.
And as orangefiire commented on my last entry, I'd rather hear the raw truth on the news than a bunch of government entwined crap that's on there. I suppose for the individual journalist without any sense of morals, being aligned with the gov't makes their life easier - and makes us all more ignorant. Well, whether aligned with the government or not, everyone has an agenda. Hopefully that agenda is, "I will present the facts." But usually even that is affected by some bias. Conservatives are always whining that the media has a liberal bias, so they purposely lean right in their own spaces (like Faux News). It's hard to write objectively when all the facts run contrary to your predetermined point of view.
Well, I think reality has a liberal bias, but what does my opinion matter?
I have an agenda, too - it's to make myself utterly irresistible to all women and eventually take over the world. I think I'm succeeding.
Since my other agenda is also to be funny (actually, that works toward my main agenda), I'll link this relevant quote, found for me by my friend elleetwombly:
http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/000211.html
20-something Intellectual: Facts are such a distraction from the essence of what's really happening.
Pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?
By the way, hit "Random Quote" from that page - it's hours of funny. |
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http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article431...
Why do so many of us like kinky sex?
A few observations:
1. It's confession time. I am possibly the only journalist to have written simultaneously for the News of the World and the Journal of Molecular Biology (different features, you understand). Um, why would ANYONE start with that lede after a headline like the one above? I want a juicier confession, dammit! Saying you write for tabloids and science journals is as nothing compared to whether you like ball or ring gags.
2. Why is this in the "women" section? Men don't want to read about kinky sex? Please.
3. In his first report on sexual behaviour in 1948 Alfred Kinsey claimed that 50 per cent of respondents claimed to get erotic pleasure from being bitten, but the figure is probably nearer one in ten Okay, where is she getting the "one in ten" and how does that fit into the "common" thesis she's promoting? 10% participation doesn't make something "common," unless you're looking for its "vulgar" meaning. And being bitten does not translate to liking certain other practices...
4. Although some people might place S&M in the same category as abuse, the important point is that it should be consensual. Captain Obvious to the rescue!
In conclusion, the article seems to be designed to be provocative, but semantically null. It's more tabloid crap than science, and I'd expect that from the Daily Fail, but the Times?
What happened to investigative journalism? Hell, what happened to comprehensive news stories?. Why, just the other day, the New York Times quoted Fark as a source... which gives me an excuse to link the blog of a friend of mine, which in turn has a link to the NYT article: "Invalid Entry" 
Journalism may not be dead yet, but it's starting to wander and stink.
I blame bloggers. |
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Everybody, I think, has at least one person whose opinion actually matters. That is, someone - or ones - who, when he or she attacks a cherished belief or closely-held love, can't help but feel bad. Like when Kirstin says Meat Loaf sucks, for example - I find it hard to reconcile the esteem in which I hold her opinion with the fact that Meat Loaf rocks.
At least we agree on Bruce Springsteen.
Anyway, while I know whose opinions matter to me (far too many, actually, which may come as a surprise to anyone who thinks I don't care what other people think), it's often hard for me to know when it's my opinion that matters to someone else, like I don't know her feet are there and I'm wandering around in the dark and I step on toes. That hurts, and it's my own damn fault for not turning the fucking light on.
So anyway, just wanted to say publicly to you-know-who-you-are that I'm sorry, I should have turned on the light, and your opinion matters to me, too, so when it came on and I saw you grabbing your toes and stifling a scream and looking at me like I was the ultimate betrayer, I felt really bad.
Thus it is at some great risk to myself that I present:
13 Facts About Women…Men Forget
Women confuse men. That’s a given. But it’s not because we don’t learn from our past relationships; we just forget everything we learned in the time between one and the next. And we only remember how different the two genders are when a woman’s inherent eccentricities rear their wild head, once again.
http://www.coedmagazine.com/sex/10501
According to my stats, 80% of my readers are female, and that's been pretty constant over the years I've maintained a blog here. So that article is for the other 20%. Ladies, please don't...
Hey, guys, why are they all lighting torches and carrying pitchforks?
...guys? |
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After looking at yesterday's entry and viewing the godawfully long video linked therein, Silver is Back! had this to say:
"Metamythology"
Good analysis, Silver.
I just wanted to make clear that I in no way agree with what that movie is trying to promote. I do find it utterly fascinating that someone took the time to present such "proof" of a conspiracy trying to take over the world.
We all know no one really wants to take over the world, right?
And the movie's a whole lot better when you're drunk - which I'm not, today. |
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susanL sez: Okay okay, your links are educational and funny and outragious. I like em all right. Just write too, deal?!?
Be careful what you wish for.
I spent my evening thus:
 4:30-6:00 I went home and napped. I don't sleep well at night. I sleep better during the day. I prefer sleeping in the morning and waking up at the crack of noon. Since I work, however, I have to get up at around 7:30.
Well, actually, I have my alarm set for something like 7:00, and I hit the snooze button until I simply can't, anymore, and finally get my ass out of bed.
This is true no matter what time I went to bed the night before. It could be 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, or freaking 3 am. I just plain can't get up when the alarm goes off.
I never will understand the people who smugly get up at first light - or even before - and then treat it like it's some sort of moral superiority. Check this: It isn't. Not ever. It's simply a lifestyle choice, and my lifestyle choice is to get up between 9 am and noon.
So the early bird catches the worm? So what? I don't like worms, and the second mouse gets the cheese. MMMMMMMM. Cheese.
Where was I? Oh, yeah. This leaves me exhausted most of the day, and I usually want a nap when I get home.
6:00 - 8:00 There's this subdivision plan I did when I worked for someone else, as opposed to working directly for clients with my own company. It happens to be located within a mile of my office, about 2 miles from my house. It wasn't built according to plan - not the end of the world, but now the new homeowners are experiencing drainage problems. I don't like having my name on a set of plans where the homeowners have problems; it's rude. So I went out and met with one of the homeowners, a heart surgeon at UVA Hospital.
Now, I decided to be a civil engineer instead of a doctor because when I make mistakes, generally, people don't die. Except when there's water in their basements and they get that nasty black mold.
Well, nobody's died yet, but I know about water in your basement. I've lost a lot because of water problems, including a first-pressing Cold Spring Harbor album by Billy Joel, complete with Alvin and the Chipmunks voice. susanL knows what I'm talking about.
So I met with this guy for two freaking hours while trying to figure out how to make the drainage work so it doesn't get into this guy's basement - and being a heart surgeon, he probably has stuff even more valuable than mine. But he's not a civil engineer, so there I was.
8:00 - 10:00 I sat on my back deck, drank an entire bottle of Vouvray, and talked to a friend of mine on the phone who used to be on this site. She put up with this shit. A saint, she is. Hopefully, when my wife comes home, she'll put up with it, too.
See, like I said, most of the time when I do something professionally, if I make a mistake, no one dies. When it's made clear to me that this is not necessarily the case, I don't care to face the resulting responsibility. Now, the particular situation was more a matter of the contractor not following the plans - but still, my name's on the plans, and that's what people will see when digging into records.
The only rational solution is to drink, really.
10:00 - ? Nicely pickled, I sign on to find this in my gmail inbox:
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/main.htm
Which is currently playing in the background, and freaking me out, even though I can identify certain mythological and symbolic errors made by the narrators. But it includes a bit by George Carlin which I've always liked. The damn thing is over 2 hours long, and I'm just in the mood to watch - or at least listen to in another window - the whole thing.
And then I find the above comment to my last blog entry, and now, aren't you glad I actually wrote something and only included 3 links?
Oh yeah, the other two links.
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/07/tesla-motors-ha.html
Tesla Finally Hires Someone Who Knows What He's Doing
Tesla Motors has hired one of Detroit's sharpest engineers to spearhead development of the four-door electric sedan it says will be rolling off an assembly line by the end of 2010.
Long-time readers will recognize Tesla Motors as the architects of my dream car.
http://www.teslamotors.com/
It's electric, and there's no way for me to get one right now, but as a middle-aged man, I claim this as my mid-life crisis car.
Want.
Really, really want. |
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On my computer at work, I have a Favorites folder called "Blog Fodder." Into it I drop the random links people send me, some of which end up here. But there's usually more links than I want to blog about, or maybe some of them fit a theme while others don't.
But now, even after deleting the links I know I've already blogged about, I'm left with half a screenful of Web pages.
Like this one: a physician's reference to "Things I learned from my patients."
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=257985
#6 Never, ever leave flashlights, shampoo bottles, beer bottles or any long, circular object on the floor because someday you will fall on it and it will somehow, work its way up your rectum.
...
If you are a 70 year old man with COPD, and you want to clean the toilet really well, go ahead and mix the ammonia and bleach. Most of us learned not to do this before the onset of pubescence, but give it a try regardless!
Yeah, some of those are disturbing.
But not as disturbing as this, which actually came to my attention today and not last year like the doctor one.
6 Absurd Phobias (And The People Who Actually Have Them)
The savagery of nature can be chilling. Lepidopterophobes remind us that were it not for the advent of long sleeve shirts, we would all be completely exposed to the rabid butterfly hordes fluttering about.
http://www.cracked.com/article_16472_6-absurd-phobias-people-who-actually-have-t...
(And, yes, fear of clowns is in there, even though it's far from absurd. "Coulrophobia." Doesn't sound very "coul" to me.)
Lest we end this melange on a sour note (as in the sour stink of fear), I found this one amusing because, on a recent trip to NYC, I saw a bum in a subway with a sign that said, "Tell me off! $2"
12 Funniest Homeless signs
http://www.2spare.com/item_92528.aspx
Three down, 96 to go... |
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Somehow, in all the crap that's been going on this year, I've failed to notice the fail.
That is, it seems like this site's been up for half a year, and yet the first time I found it was last Thursday.
http://failblog.org/
I find the best way to experience the site is to go to the end (which is really the first post) and look at every one of them in order. Some of the pix aren't so funny on their own, but become keyboard-spray material when taken in context. (Others really aren't funny at all, but just give 'em a low vote and keep going).
Speaking of fail, I give you:
5 Summer Sex Positions That Could Get You Hospitalized. Or Arrested.
(slightly higher than 18+ content)
http://www.thebachelorguy.com/popular/5-summer-sex-positions-that-could-get-you-...
Someone sent me a link to the Sex Position of the Week posted on Cosmo's website, (which has links to their other positions as well.) Judging from the pictures and descriptions - and the fact that they are all water-based - I'm going to assume this is their Summer Collection. I'm also going to assume someone at Cosmo has a brother-in-law who is a personal injury attorney.
Bonus: Helpful pic of Emergency Room sign.
Extra Bonus: Exposes the big steaming pile of FAIL that is Cosmo. |
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So this morning I got up at 8:00, even though it was a Saturday, to prepare for a game.
I had breakfast, set up the game, and then my friends came over. Six of us played a board game called Advanced Civilization from about 9:45 until about 8:00 tonight, with a short break for lunch and a slightly longer one for pizza.
It's just a long game.
Anyone who sits and plays such a game on an otherwise nice (at least until it started raining around six) day is a complete nerd.
Guilty as charged.
The truly sad thing is, I only came in second. So I'm not even the biggest nerd. |
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Every year on the Fourth of July, there's a naturalization ceremony just up the road from me at Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, one of those whose ideals shaped the US, and who died on a Fourth of July.
This year, the current President came and spoke at the ceremony.
Now, I'm as pissed off at the current administration and its policies as any other patriotic American, but there are some things that are Just Plain Rude:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,376402,00.html
(Excuse me for a moment while I wash my hands after providing a link from Faux News.)
(Okay, I'm back.)
"That man is a fascist!" one protester yelled. Another swore at him.
The protesters later were removed from the ceremony by law enforcement officials.
"To my fellow citizens to be — we believe in free speech in the United States of America," Bush said when the protesters started shouting.
Okay, here's the civics lesson:
1) Yes, we believe in free speech. But this is also the South, and we're supposed to be courteous down here. That means that when someone is talking, you let him talk, even if he's full of shit. You'll get your chance for rebuttal afterwards. (This actually applies especially when he's full of shit, because that gives him an opportunity to metaphorically hang himself and us an opportunity to smile faintly and say, "Well, bless his heart.")
2) The naturalization ceremony isn't about G.W. Bush. It's about the people who want to become citizens. I don't care if Bush or Bozo the Clown is speaking; if you can't respect the speaker, at least respect the audience. They wanted to become citizens. Maybe you want to become a citizen of Canada, and I'd bet you don't want protesters to ruin your naturalization ceremony. Many of the wannabe citizens probably dislike Bush as much as you do, but they're here because they know that in 7 months, someone else will become president, and in 4 months, they'll get to help make that choice.
And, finally,
3) Stop giving my hometown a bad name.
That is all. |
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So tomorrow is the Fourth of July, that day we have set aside for commemorating the invention of fireworks.
For most of us, that means a long weekend.
Oh, wait, it's actually the anniversary of the birth of the US? Ok, cool.
To celebrate, here's a "Birthday Greetings" video of the famous Joe Cocker performance at Woodstock in 1969. Sometimes his voice gets a little... rough, so the video helpfully presents subtitles. Because, you know, if you were at Woodstock you probably don't remember it, and if you weren't, you still don't remember it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=T4_MsrsKzMM
(watch to at least 0:30 and you'll see why I posted this)
While we're talking about the Fourth and videos, here's a video of Darth Vader and some stormtroopers performing to... "Thriller."
http://13gb.com/videos/3549/
I'm betting that's Problematic Content under that mask. Yep.
So everyone have a great holiday weekend, and...
May the Fourth be with you! |
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Sandy, the angels have lost our desire for us
I spoke to 'em just last night and they said they won't set themselves on fire for us anymore
Every summer when the weather gets hot they ride that road down from heaven on their Harleys they come and they go
And you can see 'em dressed like stars in all the cheap little seashore bars parked making love with their babies out on the Kokomo
Well the cops finally busted Madam Marie for tellin' fortunes better than they do
This boardwalk life for me is through
You know you ought to quit this scene too
Sandy the aurora's rising behind us, the pier lights our carnival life forever
Oh love me tonight and I promise I'll love you forever
Well, it seems she couldn't wait for the actual 4th of July, but the famed Madam Marie died a few days ago, aged 93.
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080701/NEWS/80701031
Madam Marie bragged that she had told the fortunes of everyone from Judy Garland to Springsteen himself. Legend has it that she told Springsteen he was going to be a success. Springsteen later joked that she told all the musicians that.
And Springsteen never forgot Madam Marie.
"He always comes by to say hello," she told Press columnist Bill Handleman in May. "He knows where he came from."
The song - parenthetically titled "Sandy" - came out on Bruce's second album, a compilation largely ahead of its time in musical composition and lyrical athletics. But "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" itself is a straightforward tune about being young and then becoming disillusioned with the trappings of youth, of wanting to grow up and do something with real meaning.
Interestingly enough, the lyrics he sings today (quoted above) aren't the original lyrics on the album. They began:
Sandy, that waitress I was seeing lost her desire for me
I spoke with her last night, she said she won't set herself on fire for me anymore
She worked that joint under the boardwalk, she was always the girl you saw boppin' down on the beach with the radio
The kids say last night she was dressed like a star in one of them cheap little seaside bars, and I saw her parked with Loverboy out on the Kokomo...
I have no idea why he changed them. I liked the original better. But either way, I always thought the Madam Marie line (which was artistic license on his part; I understand she was never actually arrested) was one of the best in the song. To me, it described something so forlorn, so end-of-an-era - in the song, it's the straw that breaks the camel's back, the thing that finally makes the narrator go, "You know what? Forget it. I don't want this anymore. It's just not the same."
So what did Bruce have to say about the end of this era? From his website:
Back in the day when I was a fixture on the Asbury Park Boardwalk, I'd often stop and talk to Madam Marie as she sat on her folding chair outside the Temple of Knowledge.
I'd sit across from her on the metal guard rail bordering the beach, and watched as she led the day trippers into the small back room where she would unlock a few of the mysteries of their future. She always told me mine looked pretty good - she was right. The world has lost enough mystery as it is - we need our fortunetellers. We send our condolences out to her family who've carried on her tradition. Over here on E Street, we will miss her.
Kind of makes me want to take a road trip on Friday. I probably won't - but I've always wanted to walk the Boardwalk on the 4th of July. Kind of a holy pilgrimage.
And maybe one day I'll find out what in the hell the Kokomo is. |
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For those who've been living under a rock (or victims of the US public school system), schadenfreude means roughly "delight in another's suffering" and is a loan word from German, which is the only language in the world that could possibly have a special word for that. Except maybe Russian, which as far as I know, doesn't.
Today's schadenfreude is brought to you by Starbucks. You remember Starbucks, the folks who somehow built a business model out of selling $8.00 cups of coffee, thus invoking another loan word, this one from Yiddish.
Well, this amused me:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_starbucks_closings.html
SEATTLE -- Starbucks has announced it's closing 600 underperforming stores in the United States.
The Seattle premium coffee company also announced Tuesday it expects to open fewer than 200 new company operated stores in the United States in fiscal 2009.
You may recall my Starbucks rant from a few days ago: "Starbuck's" , with links to the eight (8) types of annoying people you'll find in Starbucks.
So, all I can say is: HAHA!
I mean, come on... The Onion wasn't far off a few years back when it ran an article about how Starbucks opened a new store on the way to the restroom at a Starbucks. You can't spit in NYC without hitting one of the pretentious coffeehouses. Sometimes they're on opposite corners of the same bloody intersection.
Okay, I hope the people working there can find work elsewhere, but I feel no sympathy for the management. Maybe instead of closing unprofitable stores, they could help profits by reducing prices to something you don't have to feel pretentious to pay, thus gathering potentially more customers, but apparently not...
Speaking of schadenfreude, I just had to post this pic of the train wreck that used to be a singer with a formidable voice:
http://wwtdd.com/post.phtml?pk=8621
Three days ago, Amy Winehouse left the hospital after being told that if she continued to do drugs and smoke and drink, she would die. Amy didn’t do any sort of rehab, then walked out of the hospital and onto the path to salvation. With a cigarette in her mouth.
You go, Amy. Don't let the bastards get you down.
Did I say trainwreck? Maybe "horsewreck" would be more appropriate.
Those tattoos on the Wino's arms reminded me of the Cracked contest involving what tattoos would be like if they actually told the truth.
http://www.cracked.com/article_16446_if-tattoos-actually-told-truth.html
When you look at someone's tattoo, all you really know about that person is that they have low self esteem and at least enough money to purchase a tattoo. That's pretty much it.
Well, we told you to show us what tattoos would look like if they were honest, and you did. If more people got tattoos like these, it'd be quite a time saver.
While we're looking at my favorite snark site, where the writers are even funnier than I am (try to imagine it), I found this synopsis of 6 Famous Songs That Don't Mean What You Think to be endlessly hilarious:
http://www.cracked.com/article_16442_6-famous-songs-that-dont-mean-what-you-thin...
Sometimes, the more you know about a song the less you enjoy it. You start out thinking the singer of some ballad totally identifies with your situation, then later find out most musicians are creepy sex maniacs, and boring at the same time.
...
It's a well known story that in 1984, Ronald Reagan's campaign for reelection tried to use Bruce Springsteen's blue collar protest anthem "Born in the USA" as a rallying cry. By now, most people understand that a song about a Vietnam Vet who ends up unemployed and in jail isn't exactly an endorsement of trickle-down economics. What you might not know is that you probably made the exact same mistake as Reagan about the admittedly less awesome John Mellencamp song "Our Country."
Okay, so I used an excuse to quote a part that, while not exactly endorsing Springsteen, at least doesn't mention him in a negative way.
So that's about it. Sometimes I just have to look elsewhere for material and, fortunately, the internet never fails to provide a plethora. It was either that or get drunk and listen to Brandi Carlile. |
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|
I'm more than happy with Carrion Luggage, however.
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