that garage-sale laxative high that only de-accessioning and purging can bring (simon says)
"As reported last month in The New York Times, a bunch of American artists (Trong Nguyen, John Freyer and Michael Mandiberg, to be precise) are selling all their possessions online. The lofty purpose: They claim they are exploring issues about how one’s personality is defined by one’s possessions. Which makes perfect sense… oh, wait–no, it doesn’t! The current generation of artists–the post-skill movement–seem to love nothing more than to 'explore issues' without ever reaching any conclusions. Small wonder they all take to drink! But I digress."
(Wednesday, March 28, 2001)

dubya learns something? (nyt)
In discussing lessons Dubya may have learned from his dad's presidency (you know, the one with the broken promise and the slaughter of Iraqis for oil), it is brought up as a positive that Dubya is pursuing a more Clintonian campaign style in his early days.

"Thus far, Mr. Bush has been on the road nearly a third of his time in office, far more than his father, Mr. Clinton, Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Carter in their first two months in office. In all, the president has traveled to 25 states and spent nearly 30 days away from the White House. (His father had spent about 17 days on the road by now; Mr. Clinton, roughly a dozen.)"

Which means that Dubya has been on the road for half of his time in office. One might spin this as a willingness to give the White House, and the majority of power, over to a heart-attack-prone Vice President. Though at least, as a friend of Dubya's is quoted as saying, "Clearly, Dick Cheney is no Dan Quayle." (Dubya is another story.)
(Wednesday, March 28, 2001)

eu forces sweden to relax alcohol controls (nyt)
"While southern Europeans tend to incorporate drinking with eating and find outward signs of intoxication embarrassing, the tradition in Sweden, and other Scandinavian countries, is to drink less often but with the intention of getting drunk.

"While their southern counterparts have more long-term health problems that are associated with drinking, the Swedish drinking pattern leads to high rates of violence, accidents, suicide, homicide and addiction, experts say."

This is so interesting. The cultural differences are one thing, but the (effective) attempts to regulate behavior through legislation are the real meat here. Americans and guns as a possibility for a similar attempt, maybe?
(Wednesday, March 28, 2001)

knicks win, 89-87 (nyt)
this game was pretty amazing. mike and i sat in the more-or-less knicks section. they blew a 20 point lead but somehow managed to pull out a win despite their turnover-laden play. it was a cogent illustration of the knicks' main problem: they suck against teams that suck.

sometimes i think the knicks are the manifestation of my insecurity with my ability.
(Monday, March 26, 2001)

sf changes, quickly (nyt)
"The city was like one big party, but only a chosen few could fit in the door. The rental vacancy rate was nearly zero, with about 50 people applying for each available unit. Trying to buy a house was even harder, with the sticker price on fixer-upper two-bedroom bungalows in so-so neighborhoods rarely less than half a million dollars. People wondered if the boom that was changing the face of San Francisco would ever let up.

"But no one is asking that anymore."

It's been six weeks. A new job may require me to move, which is what I'd been wanting, but now that this city is calming down (a lot) I want to stay. Funny how that works.
(Monday, March 26, 2001)

mau backlash
"It's so heavy that only athletes can hold it in their hands; it causes discomfort if it sits on your lap for more than 15 minutes; and you wouldn't dream of reading it on a subway or a plane. It requires total commitment: You put it on a desk, lean over and pick your way through it. In other words, treat it like a precious medieval manuscript in a library. A note on the back describes it as 'a singular album of playful and critical statements.' Playful? A book this heavy-handed is about as playful as a rhinoceros. Whatever Mau's message, it's overwhelmed by his medium. Life Style may be the most pretentious piece of book-making since Yousuf Karsh's last search-for-greatness collection of portrait photos."
(Thursday, March 22, 2001)

opencola cola
i want some. actually, this seems like a very carl-esque product.
(Tuesday, March 20, 2001)

bush's tax cut balloons (nyt)
"So the 'trillion-dollar tax cut' has become $2.5 trillion and counting — which means that Mr. Bush can pay for initiatives like missile defense and prescription drug coverage only by raiding Social Security and Medicare.

"Last week Tommy Thompson, secretary of health and human services, tried to allay suspicions about such a raid by offering his personal assurance that the money Medicare has been accumulating to care for the baby boomers will not be diverted into other uses — even though Mr. Bush includes that money in his 'contingency fund.' But Mr. Thompson admitted that it isn't really up to him — and the administration's allies in the Senate blocked a measure that would have made Mr. Thompson's promise binding. Somehow I'm not reassured."

Somehow, the man who didn't even win the popular vote is acting as though he has Reagan's mandate to make changes in government. And it's only been two months. Grrrr.
(Sunday, March 18, 2001)

G94B@aol.com (nyt)
No comment about this email address.
(Saturday, March 17, 2001)

w: why have clean air? (nyt)
"Some moderate Republicans who had been preparing to introduce legislation later this week supporting a power plant cleanup including carbon dioxide also expressed frustration with the sudden shift. They and some owners of coal-fired plants had supported the idea of regulating all four emissions from power plants at once, to avoid uncertainty and confusion in years to come."

But these moderates are losing out. Conveniently for Dubya, he can use the California energy crisis as an excuse not to reduce pollutants anywhere. Even if it means letting the air in the northeast and Texas get worse, which leads to increased asthma rates (and therefore increased medical costs).
(Wednesday, March 14, 2001)

the economy turns billboards into minimalist masterpieces (nyt)
Personally, I've always liked blank billboards, especially at night. The bright expanses of white take on the formal qualities of Rauchenberg's white paintings, while their sudden lack of a consumerist pitch acts as a wake-up call. It's only in the absence of the usual imploring one to buy things that one realizes how often one is implored to buy things. Advetrtising is everywhere, but you might not realize it until it's gone.
(Wednesday, March 14, 2001)

bankruptcy tilts away from fresh starts (nyt)
Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) says, "All of us end up paying for the unscrupulous who abuse our system. People with high incomes can run up massive debts, and then use bankruptcy to get out of honoring them."

But the Times goes on to mention this, many paragraphs later: "Economic researchers say that nearly two-thirds of the people who file for bankruptcy report significant periods of unemployment before their filings. According to a 1999 study by federal bankruptcy judges, the median income for Americans filing for bankruptcy the year before was $22,000 a year."

So once again we have the Republicans in power saying that they're going after high income deadbeats, but in reality they are attacking those who are the least fortunate. Prepare yourself for another four years of vilifying the poor.
(Wednesday, March 14, 2001)

this is why people smoke
i mean, just think of how cool you'd look pulling your cigarettes out of this thing.
(Tuesday, March 13, 2001)

philosophers in vegas (nyt)
"And getting the philosophers to justify the choice of venue for their annual mass ruminations was not much of a stretch, either. For Las Vegas, they say, is a provocative place in which to examine the human condition — especially since it has veered from its Sin City image toward spotless, almost paradisiacal evocations of Venice and Paris, Egypt and Mandalay. And New York, New York?

"'Las Vegas is a realization of the kingdom of God on earth,' said Mark C. Taylor, who teaches philosophy and religion at Williams College, in Massachusetts, and is both a plenary speaker here and the creator of a philosophical video game set in Las Vegas. 'The culture of simulacra has become both all-encompassing and inescapable.'"

This makes me think both of a friend who got her masters in history at UNLV, and of Jean Baudrillard.
(Tuesday, March 13, 2001)

marchfirst marches into oblivion (standard)
"They've got to make some pretty clean decisions and get them done soon," Dougherty said. "What's gone on there since last September has just about demolished any confidence they might have ever had with investors, employees and potential clients."

All I can ask is this: How does one company manage to lose $6.8 BILLION in ONE QUARTER?
(Monday, March 12, 2001)

revolt over liq prefs (sfgate)
"According to employees, most of Livemind's staff of 35 to 40 stayed home yesterday, jarred by the firing of Chief Executive Officer Karen Wilson on Friday. Wilson's supporters say her ouster is related to controversial loan terms proposed by the VC firm.

"Livemind's primary investor, Palo Alto's Technology Crossover Ventures, is demanding a 'liquidation preference' of four times its money back -- an extremely high multiple -- for a proposed $3 million bridge loan that Livemind desperately needs, according to sources who have seen TCV's term sheet."

It reminds me of this comic strip.
(Wednesday, March 7, 2001)

carl's last column (standard)
contains what denise caruso, quoted on carl's page, calls "possibly my favorite phrase i _ever_ read about business."
(Wednesday, March 7, 2001)

a creative solution to a common problem
my mom sent me this. i think it's pretty smart.
(Tuesday, March 6, 2001)

more evidence that dubya stole the election (salon)
"Among those watching 'Meet the Press' Sunday morning was Herron, who was stunned to see Joe Lieberman sell him down the river. All his memo did was detail Florida law. He had written it, for God's sake, at the direction of the Gore-Lieberman team! He'd already lost his job so he could help the effort, and here was the vice presidential nominee distancing himself from the memo when all it did was explain Florida law!

Gore politico Nick Baldick's reaction was a little less measured. 'Fuck Joe Lieberman!' he yelled to several colleagues. He swore that should Lieberman ever run for president he would do everything he could to defeat him in the states in which he had worked so hard on behalf of Gore: New Hampshire and Florida."

If even half of the arm-twisting and illegal maneuvering outlined in this article is true, then it's time to stage a palace coup. Even though the Republicans already have, and they got the media to buy into their spin.

The newspaper racks all over town have had the word "LIES" written on the plastic covering the front pages. Which is the only truth that people should keep in mind.
(Monday, March 5, 2001)