Use, delay, and obsolescence

Per this op-ed post, from Paul Krugman - this is not your dad's quickie-recession:

So let’s look at the NBER business cycle data. What we see is that some of those prewar slumps were really, really long: the Panic of 1873 was followed by a recession that lasted 5 1/2 years.

And Keynes explained why: in the absence of an effective monetary or fiscal policy, a recession would have to go on until

the shortage of capital through use, decay and obsolescence causes a sufficiently obvious scarcity to increase the marginal efficiency

So this could go on for a long, long, long, long time.

Oh. Shit.

Robophobia

Momus used this reference the other day that I love - The Uncanny Valley, which is the not-so-sweet spot of technology where robots and other facsimiles of humans look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. Of course, Momus uses this to discuss it in relation to cultural phenom's like Freak Folk and the culturati that raid thrift stores for source styles and inspiration. I on the other hand find this concept interesting for two reasons:
1) I've been in a "Blade Runner" meme of late, mostly because of the fact that we've exceeded our own humanity, but also because the future is always late (it'll be 2010 and we're not exactly battling our replicant doubles).
2) Likewise, it's Abraham Lincoln's birthday, and what better way to celebrate a great figure than to watch their robot double hit the "limits of technology".

Regime Change

So, unless you live in a remote tribe cut off from any form of mass media, today was a historic occasion. Obama took the Oath and kindly ushered the last 8 years out of the White House. While I won't go into my own hopes and misgivings (uhm - homophobic pastors, cough), I'll say that at least we're looking up at this point.
His speech, however, as powerful as his words - is marked by lot of "Storm und drang" weather metaphors: Dark Clouds, Horizons, Storms clouds, etc. This is a page from the romantics and leads me to believe that we're entering a phase from "Republican Neo-Classicism" (*Old methods, paradigms and values will keep the country going) to "Necessity Driven Romanticism", the progressive revolutionary kind we saw with Clinton, where service/self-sacrifice seems to empower the self and center. Or at least that's the hope. Revolutions have a life-span before they come full circle - that's the problem with them -- they're revolutions, meaning they can only go 180.

Dislikes #568: Edgy Pizza

People have pet peeves, I tend to have finely tuned prejudices but I'll put up with just about anything and keep my mouth shut. However, there are things in culture that drive me absolutely batshit, but again - I take it and silently scream inside. One of these things: High Concept Pizza.
I'm not a huge pizza afficiando and I don't get into which is better (Chicago, Sicillian, greasy New York street vendor) but - I will go on record and say that Tom Douglas' Serious Pie is one of the best places on the planet. He is a master. His Pizza is not so much concept, just amazingly good. However, there are a few of these new places that opened up (all in a few blocks on Capitol Hill, unsurprisingly) that annoy the hell out of me, simply for the fact that they over-thought the pie. Have I eaten at any of these places? No - and here's why:

Pizza Fusion: How can Pizza be fusion when it's fusion to begin with: Dough, Sauce, various combos? It's not physics. Nor should it be... Oh, and the millenial minimalism should not hide the fact that they're still essentially "Shakey's" with less furniture and video-games... But then again, this isn't quite a crime as the next place...


ZAW: Ok, this pisses me off to the extreme because they use the dated mid-90's hipster slang term "Za" and then combine it with "In the Raw". Since when are we eating dough? Oh - right - because it's a "Take and Bake" place (which also is annoying, especially since they've also employed this minimalist look to them and it's not really that far from a Domino's waiting area). I can't determine which is a bigger crime to humanity: the whimsical abbreviation or the fact they have to explain their business model on their sign?


I probably should again remind everyone that I've not set foot in either place (yet) and I am probably going to find myself pleasantly surprised (or out a good few bucks). However, pizza proprietors should take a page from either Naples or Chicago: it can be under a heat lamp for 2 hours and still be the best thing you've had all week.

Hirsuit Men in Gold Spandex, and other strange things that informed my childhood

Been thinking about strange 70's artifacts that kind of resonated and informed my youth, most of it bad science fiction. iTunes just uploaded a whole slew of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and I totally recall spending early wintery evenings watching Gil Gerard battle other futuristic bad guys and gals in similar glittery clothing that is now being sold in American Apparel. His middle American manliness next to disco excess seemed to be the kind of palatable in-between from campy 60's Star Trek to the 80's professional corporate hive of The Next Generation. His was Carter-Era utopia where they emerged from a bad place (recessionary burned out New York) and danced with rope lights. He taught them the hustle, they looked to him as a hero. I know that this is probably why I am drawn to shows with low production values and improbable story lines, mostly because this made more sense than Patrick Duffy in "Man from Atlantis". There were only so many places you could go underwater - but planetary exploration in ships that resembled huge shopping malls with 70's supergraphics, you were set for at least a few seasons...

Alpine Melancholy

So - the snow came down and covered the city in a blanket of hush. This is what I love about this weather. It's not dramatic, it just is matter of fact - cold, immobilizing and quiet. The city becomes slowed down and people just have to accept -- and/or work remotely. It's a pause button (not necessarily a stop button), long enough for us to realize that nature means business and maybe napping all day isn't a bad thing for us (like bears and other creatures do).

Last year - we didn't get quite the snow, but I had a Joseph Beuyes kind of thing going. Playing up an Ice and Apline rites aesthetic. Kind of a celebration of living along side the elements, embracing the cold, enduring it in a kind of Hegelian struggle, the kind I see the Fixie riders lately riding up snow covered streets with a perversity all their own.

This year, I feel more of a quiet revolution with the snow. More following it's direction which is "get indoors and out of our way". My queue is more "Jens Lekman swedish melancholia", looking out a window, admiring the beauty and watching the quiet death that I hear in Dylan songs (Girl from the North Country)... Things are quiet, and I am cut off from the rest of the world. There is little or no human contact. Ice, Ice baby...

Pushing 40

Well, it's official - I am now on the wrong side of 30. I can no longer claim mid-30's, but can still say '30-something'... I can also say pushing 40 and nearing middle age. It's strange tho - cos I don't feel it. Probably because i'm one of those 'grups' who refuses to grow up and yet, probably old beyond my years, i have no sense of what middle age should feel like (note - I am achy from the gym more and more - less energized, sigh)... In any case, here's a list of things I want to do before I turn the big 40 - so I only have one more year to complete this: 1) Travel to S. America 2) Refi my condo 3) Volunteer more 4) Engage in some team sport that I like 5) Break a few hearts and mend them.