Moneyfire

Some quick thoughts that could probably be tweets but I only want to hit “post” once:

1. People you love dying is a huge downer. Also total conversation killer. Basically

“My [insert deceased] died”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry”

“It’s alright”

And then the conversation ends more or less as neither party wants to get too deep in an effort to keep the other party from feeling awkward. I don’t mean that as a judgment on either end (although maybe I am just doing it wrong) but it does seem like death is one of those shitty marriages of intense personal pain and awkward social perfunctory functionality (also one of my weak points). 

2. With the introduction of chocolate squares at level 51 I am finally ready to say enough with Candy Crush.

3. Maybe not. Stay tuned. 

4. After more or less 10 days of eating like crap and being off the regular exercise regime due to travel my older self should not jumped into two hard workouts in a row. I am on day 2 of letting crippling lower back pain subside. 

5. I wish Garfield’s Monday strips involved more outward violence or self-immolation. Motherfucker monopolized the Monday griping without hitting any of the true depression and anguish. 

Someone you love is dead. Here is a platitude. Now fuck off.

andrewpauldost:

i want dogs to be allowed at more places and i want children under 6 to not be

Lets play a game: a friend says to you “oh I know that bar, people bring their (a. Dogs b. infants) there often. Which of those answers is most likely to make you visit that bar?

Thanks for all the kind words post-crash. My bike and body are slowly getting back to alright (the bike more so) and all will be well. Thanks again. 

Dave Jordan Memorial Race, on the run in the finish, had really shitty positioning and should’ve gotten out of the “way.” Didn’t heed my better advice something went down on the right side, bodies came across to the left and I went down pretty hard. Lots of road rash and I caught a wheel to the face so broken nose. Provided I can get the bike back together and I can breathe, FBF tomorrow.

Also, this so why you don’t wear white jersey, they’re asking you to wreck.

Picking up a thread of this stellar Daft Punk article (arguably much more about EDM and the limitations/potential of the genre) the growth of SEO coupled with the need to “brand” is flattening the ever living shit out of culture.

I suppose this alarmist concern-trolling is easy to refute and certainly has been by those invested in the SEO revolution. The thinking goes that by creating an easy taxonomy people are better able to find the “new” thing they are looking for. However the simplicity of search negates depth. This is twofold. First, the are the technological limitations of searching for music via linguistic terms is frustratingly limiting. I mean seriously, part of the pitchforkification of music reviews is an acknowledgment that describing music is a verbose process that is inherently frustrating. This is especially true in the search engine context (and only more so when you start digging deeper to “game” the algorithm). Second, the incentive structure of SEO creates top heavy results that are oppressively homogenous. The obvious counter is that by providing an easy entry point it allows the individual to then provide the depth themselves. This is giving a man a fish and telling them they have now learned how to fish. 

Indeed, in the SEO mindset, knowledge itself becomes a commodity. The terms and descriptors of every day life (you know, words, how we communicate meaning) that are the means of two party conversation have been co-opted for a third party benefit. Further this third party benefit is most cost effective when it catches as much as possible as simply/quickly as possible. Therefore in a SEO driven mindset the nuances of culture only detract from the financial reward and therefore every effort is made to sand down these little bumps of difference. In an increasingly intermediated world this impulse, left unchecked, is destructive to the art “we” love.