never one to be outdone

My reading list

psssst...how do you turn word documents into pdfs?

Randomness

• Apple's next iPod incarnation: the mp3 toilet
  
  
• No sex please, we're professors

  In a recent preliminary and unpublished study, "Money, Sex, and Happiness," researchers from Dartmouth College and Warwick University (UK) found that people who consider themselves happiest are those who are having the most sex. The study does not claim that having sex causes happiness or vice versa. But of the 16,000 people in the research sample, happiness was associated with sex for both women and men and people under and over the age of 40. And despite the notion that money can buy happiness, researchers found little — if any — connection between increased wealth and long-term happiness.

  
  
  
• 51% of Americans haven't evolved. Ever.
  
  
• Mel Gibson unveils plans for his next movie.

  The film's stars will be unrecognizable to most moviegoers, and they will speak in the Mayan tongue of Yucateco, Gibson said. It will be light on dialogue and heavy on images and action. It's set 600 years ago, prior to the 16th-century Spanish conquest of Mexico and Central America.

  So, despite the fact that it's set in Mexico, no Gael Garcia Bernal, but there probably will be a lot more hot flogging scenes for you Victor.
  

I've decided

That I'd like to change my relationship status on facebook

from: Single

to: Faithfully Monogamous Narcissist.

Unfortunately, they don't have a category like that.

Maureen Dowd and the New Modern Woman

Let me preface this by saying that I have a sort of hypothetical crush on Maureen-Dowd-as-she-probably-was-10-to-20-years-ago.

Here's why: "I longed for style and wit. I loved the Art Deco glamour of 30's movies. I wanted to dance the Continental like Fred and Ginger in white hotel suites; drink martinis like Myrna Loy and William Powell; live the life of a screwball heroine like Katharine Hepburn, wearing a gold lamé gown cut on the bias, cavorting with Cary Grant, strolling along Fifth Avenue with my pet leopard." [basically the inverse of me] Dowd is the kind of gal who sneers at this advice her mother gives her--"Sarcasm is dangerous. Avoid it altogether."

The rest of the article explores the 'predicament of the modern woman' post-first (and second) wave feminism. It's pretty good, but very long.

Dowd's point is this: "the aroma of male power is an aphrodisiac for women, but the perfume of female power is a turnoff for men. It took women a few decades to realize that everything they were doing to advance themselves in the boardroom could be sabotaging their chances in the bedroom, that evolution was lagging behind equality."

She quotes a disturbing statistic: "A 2005 report by researchers at four British universities indicated that a high I.Q. hampers a woman's chance to marry, while it is a plus for men. The prospect for marriage increased by 35 percent for guys for each 16-point increase in I.Q.; for women, there is a 40 percent drop for each 16-point rise."

She ends with this: Having boomeranged once, will women do it again in a couple of decades? If we flash forward to 2030, will we see all those young women who thought trying to Have It All was a pointless slog, now middle-aged and stranded in suburbia, popping Ativan, struggling with rebellious teenagers, deserted by husbands for younger babes, unable to get back into a work force they never tried to be part of?
It's easy to picture a surreally familiar scene when women realize they bought into a raw deal and old trap. With no power or money or independence, they'll be mere domestic robots, lasering their legs and waxing their floors - or vice versa - and desperately seeking a new Betty Friedan.

Maybe because I'm at the, well losing end of the game women are playing again, I'd like to stick up and say, no. I don't think women should have to revert to the mind games of playing hard to get if they don't want to. I'd like to think there are enough guys like me who honestly would rather be chased than chaser, who hate girls playing hard to get, and who never go for playing dumb or unsure. Aren't there any guys beside me who think coquettishness is the female equivalent of an octopus spraying ink in your face? [Note: Coquettishness is different from coyness. Coy is cool. With me]

I'd like to think that there are actually some guys out there that are confident enough in their mental faculties that they actually enjoy being shown up by a woman, that they may actually like being intimidated a little. Yeah. Intimidated. Because the struggle to earn someone's interest and respect can be exhilirating too. Or at least I would imagine. I don't seem to be earning much interest or respect these days.

Maybe this is one of the reasons I didn't join a frat. The bastards have it too easy. They have built a system that is essentially a Golden Corral meat market. I prefer something with a bit more even footing than a walk to a buffet table. Isn't there something wrong with a culture that finds capable women revolting?

Ok, this is getting embarrassing, but I would appreciate any thoughts. Maybe all this means is that if I wait ten years, I'll have my pick of the creme de la creme. But then, having my pick is exactly what I don't want any way.

Great site--economics

link.

Also, this guy, who contributes to that site, also has a list of all his columns, which of the few I've read, are terrific. The guy, Arnold Kling, writes well and is damn convincing.

Arnold Kling

well

since you all don't post anymore, do you at least read my (real) blogs:

Little Green Blog

and

Vox in Sox

?

Blogger word verification

Ok, game's over. I got this one, and it's the best ever.

dizifnzy

Actually, the game kinda died awhile back, but so has this blog.

Do you all even read?

if you're bored,

you ought to read this

and then this.

[what it is: some old fart talks about the end of courtship and all the evils that have followed women on their way into male "civilization" and then some sharp-tongued blogger rips him to shreds]

The Death of the Yankees

I really fucking hope this happens:

ESPN baseball analyst Larry Bowa was contacted Thursday by GM Brian Cashman and manager Joe Torre about the possibility of Bowa joining the Yankees staff as one of the team coaches next season.

Larry Bowa is an albatross around the neck of any team he's near. If he is hired, the Yankees will never win a World Series while he's there, hopefully ever.

Also, more Yankee-hating--play this game.

Fuck New York.

My kind of woman

Danica Patrick slugs other race car driver

Cross-posting from Livejournal

I think I ended up in the wrong city.

Edinburgh >> Glasgow.

Or it is for two days, at least. I'm not sure about living there. It seems a wee bit touristy. But I would much rather visit Edinburgh than Glasgow.

Took a bus Saturday morning (9:00) and slept the hour over after briefly trying to read some of Robinson Crusoe. [I find I have much in common with Robinson--we both put the idea that "no man is an island" to the test repeatedly]

Dropped our bags off at the hostel, and walked around the Royal Mile and made our way to Edinburgh Castle, which is very impressive, but walking around and standing in awe of the size of the battlements is about all there is to do. You can check out the Scottish crown jewels (thoroughly unimpressive) and Mary, Queen of Scots' birthchamber, where she gave birth to James VI/I.

Much better, though at the entirely opposite end of High Street, is Holyrood House, which is the royal family's little Scottish palace. They still go there every July, and it really is pretty impressive. I thought the audio tour was very good and absorbing, but the people I was with didn't seem to care much.

Right next to Holyrood House is the new Scottish Parliament building. It is approximattely the ugliest edifice I have ever personally seen. Here's a pic:



Actually, the facade is so ugly, they don't even have a picture of it on the official Parliament website. It's ghastly, the bastard child of art-deco and neo-africanism. Or something like that. It may not be art-deco, precisely, but it sounds cool.

I think at this point, we did something else, but I can't remember what it was.

We then ate dinner at a vegetarian restaurant, which was a challenge for me because I not only am a committed carnivore, but absolutely hate most of the vegetables that vegetarian plates are based off of--sweet potatoes, eggplant, carrot burgers. I had mashed potatoes and a salad. And a decent white wine. Yay.

After that, I hung out with two 07s who are in Edinburgh on the Philosophy program. We went to a few clubs, they talked about various parts of women's anatomies, I went back to the hostel.

This morning, we hiked up to the top of Arthur's seat, which is this enormous hill overlooking Glasgow and which affords a breathtaking view. The romantic concept of the sublime might have been born here. I let the wind blow through my hair for about 20 minutes, then we walked down. Here's a pic of the Arthur's Seat, with Edinburgh before it.



We went to the National Galleries, where I saw some darling Raphaels, a dazzling (though small) El Greco, some nice Monets, and a few lesser Van Goghs. I then rode the bus back, sleeping to avoid Robinson Crusoe once more.

Cheers.

I like cartoons

especially when they're good.

AIM Conversation

[in the context of: Sri wants to come and visit me in Glasgow. While up here, he suggests jetting over to Northern Ireland]

sbatchu731: is there stuff to see in Northern Ireland...
the se7enth seal: yeah, like widespread hatred and fear
sbatchu731: oh...
sbatchu731: nm then?
the se7enth seal: no, seriously, we can go
the se7enth seal: it's better now
sbatchu731: okay...cool....is there famous stuff to see?
the se7enth seal: people have stopped sniping each other after breakfast
sbatchu731: haha okay
the se7enth seal: a lot of Protestants' graves
sbatchu731: meh
sbatchu731: more interesting stuff?

This

is from my home town paper.

My new blog

Don't worry guys, i'll still blog here, but i've gotten a new blog that will be a site for commentary, etc.

i haven't posted anything serious yet, but tell me how this looks.

You've all heard about this, right?

Ron Howard purchased the rights to The Shining and has re-edited it substantially.

You can see the results here.

Wowsers

Yes, that's an SnS officer holding up a stick to scare a moose off the Dartmouth Campus (photo was taken behind East Wheelock)

This will mean nothing to any of you

but i am now eighth in the state of new hampshire in picking the winners of the top 25 football games for the season.

A History of Violence

See it if you haven't already. Just don't eat much beforehand if you have a weak stomach.

but it's damn good.