Chi-town
Last stop on the wedding circuit. Joannie's birthday. A trip backhome to Chicago for the weekend. I haven't been back in ages. Tickets to some Cubs games, but they're pretty much out of it. Is anything in the world more hopeless and ridiculous than being a Cubs fan? The Cubs compete with women as the primary source of heartbreak in my life. Someday I'll have to buy them and turn them into a winner.
Interesting article about power laws and how decentralized, distributed systems will always lead to very uneven distributions. Thus, we will always have some big cities, a few big websites, hit songs, etc. The idea that the Internet would destroy the idea of a bestseller, or that digital distribution will destroy the concept of a blockbuster movie? Just myths.
On a separate note, the weather in Seattle is truly depressing me, and I feel this sudden draw to New York. After all, if it really sucked there, it wouldn't be the most populous city in the world, would it? More people moved there than moved out over the years, so something must be keeping them there. Still, why is everyone there so rude?
Michael Jordan is coming back. A lot of folks have asked me what I think, since I'm from Chicago and I'm a big Jordan fan. I would love to see him succeed. I wouldn't say that of too many sports stars that have left Chicago. We all want heroes to believe in, and for many years he was the closest thing to it. He just never really failed. When he came back the first time and the Bulls lost to Orlando in the playoffs, it felt like that scene in Superman II when Clark Kent confronts a bully in a diner and gets beat up because he has given up his powers to be human (to be with Lois; this brings up an interesting discussion of how movies always portray women as emasculating influences, but it's one for another day). Happily, as in Superman II, Jordan worked out like a fiend and came back to win the next 3 NBA Championships and scoring titles.
I just watched 3 Days of the Condor last night, and there they were, the World Trade Center towers, in a closeup shot. A strange coincidence. Good movie by the way. All this work to go back and edit movies to remove World Trade Center shots strikes me as a bit odd. Supposedly it's to avoid the subject, but is anyone really going to forget? Canceling movies related to terrorism makes more sense to me. I can't imagine many terroristmovies being more unbelievable than what just happened.
In times of crisis, we revert to our laziest judgments. Thus we distrust anyone who looks like an Arab American, or we cry out for greater government surveillance. The sign of a lousy security system is having to watch over everyone in it. Perhaps it will make us all feel better. Sure, we may not see another plane hijacked by box cutters. That's the least of my concern now. Sure, we can plug the holes that have been gushing water. Where's the next hole? The hijackings in the old days were, it is strange to say it, much more palatable than those after we established x-ray machines and their like. It is a sad truth, that over time, as security and countermeasures rise, so does the severity of the violence it counters. War in the old days was men fighting with swords, and today it is nuclear weapons. Terrorism is following the same path. The 21st century may be a dark one. What can we do to head off biological warfare, or something even more horrendous? The world is not as happy a place as it used to be.
Strange how the presence of commercials on TV reassures me that things are okay.
I'm tired. I'm speaking and thinking at a very shallow level right now.
Interesting article about power laws and how decentralized, distributed systems will always lead to very uneven distributions. Thus, we will always have some big cities, a few big websites, hit songs, etc. The idea that the Internet would destroy the idea of a bestseller, or that digital distribution will destroy the concept of a blockbuster movie? Just myths.
On a separate note, the weather in Seattle is truly depressing me, and I feel this sudden draw to New York. After all, if it really sucked there, it wouldn't be the most populous city in the world, would it? More people moved there than moved out over the years, so something must be keeping them there. Still, why is everyone there so rude?
Michael Jordan is coming back. A lot of folks have asked me what I think, since I'm from Chicago and I'm a big Jordan fan. I would love to see him succeed. I wouldn't say that of too many sports stars that have left Chicago. We all want heroes to believe in, and for many years he was the closest thing to it. He just never really failed. When he came back the first time and the Bulls lost to Orlando in the playoffs, it felt like that scene in Superman II when Clark Kent confronts a bully in a diner and gets beat up because he has given up his powers to be human (to be with Lois; this brings up an interesting discussion of how movies always portray women as emasculating influences, but it's one for another day). Happily, as in Superman II, Jordan worked out like a fiend and came back to win the next 3 NBA Championships and scoring titles.
I just watched 3 Days of the Condor last night, and there they were, the World Trade Center towers, in a closeup shot. A strange coincidence. Good movie by the way. All this work to go back and edit movies to remove World Trade Center shots strikes me as a bit odd. Supposedly it's to avoid the subject, but is anyone really going to forget? Canceling movies related to terrorism makes more sense to me. I can't imagine many terroristmovies being more unbelievable than what just happened.
In times of crisis, we revert to our laziest judgments. Thus we distrust anyone who looks like an Arab American, or we cry out for greater government surveillance. The sign of a lousy security system is having to watch over everyone in it. Perhaps it will make us all feel better. Sure, we may not see another plane hijacked by box cutters. That's the least of my concern now. Sure, we can plug the holes that have been gushing water. Where's the next hole? The hijackings in the old days were, it is strange to say it, much more palatable than those after we established x-ray machines and their like. It is a sad truth, that over time, as security and countermeasures rise, so does the severity of the violence it counters. War in the old days was men fighting with swords, and today it is nuclear weapons. Terrorism is following the same path. The 21st century may be a dark one. What can we do to head off biological warfare, or something even more horrendous? The world is not as happy a place as it used to be.
Strange how the presence of commercials on TV reassures me that things are okay.
I'm tired. I'm speaking and thinking at a very shallow level right now.