Sunrise

The sun is coming up under the horizon, I can feel it. It is dawn for mankind and the universe.
- Stobblehouse

The Law of Jante

Expanding on the ego posting:
It is pretty OK to have a big ego in the USA. People with huge egos are often admired, at least if they are also high achievers, just look at Bill Gates, Muhamad Ali, and Donald Trump.
It is much less OK in the UK.
And it is even less OK in Scandinavia (I am from Denmark), which is a very civilized, egalitarian, and socialistic society. This was actually a contributing reason to me moving out from Denmark, which I otherwise love dearly. (That and the taxes which go up to almost 70% for high earners, something which is obviously just another aspect of the same mentality.)
The Danes themselves recognize this as The Law Of Jante. Don't poke your head above the crowd! Read a great little essay about it.

Modesty

Be modest if you want, going around claiming that you're really not all that great.

But don't be surprised if others (and yourself) one day start to believe you.

---
It seems that some people consider it a serious flaw for somebody to not be modest. I don't get that.
Seriously: if Joe Blow thinks Joe Blow is great, and he really is great, then it is just an accurate assesment, no? And if Joe Blow thinks Joe Blow is great, and he really is nothing special, then it is a charming conceipt which does nobody any harm.

I believe a low self esteem is one of the most common and most damaging social disorders we have in the modern world.

Perceptions

If you can't trust your own perceptions, what can you trust?
Any evidence you will ever get of anything comes through your perceptions.

Pink Lady

The Pink Lady, a 60-foot tall drawing of a nude woman which mysteriously appeared overnight on a sheer rock cliff above a tunnel on Malibu Canyon Road.
A story of human folly if I ever heard one.
And sadness, such a delightful work of art it was.

Space Glass

Thanks to Zeppelina for pointing out the article on the awesome properties of... (drumroll) SPACE GLASS!

Little Lost Kid

I am watching yet another of those movies where somebody who was adopted as a baby is desperate to find his birth parents, to feel "whole".
Am I am the only one who is always thinking "who cares?!"
I had no more in common with my parents than with so many people, despite growing up with them. So what makes anybody think that finding your "real" parents who you haven't seen your whole life will be any different than meeting two total strangers? I don't get it.

Despotism?

Interesting old educational film about the indicators of democracy and despotism.
Thanks to William Gibson.

About glass

I broke a glass jar on my kitchen floor, and while I was trying to locate and neutralize the hundreds of small, invisible, razor-sharp fragments, I wondered: why is it that we still use glass? It is so friggin' dangerous! It breaks very easily indeed, and the resulting fragments have some of the sharpest edges found anywhere.
Show me anybody who has not been cut by glass at least a couple times, including most children.
I realize it may not be practical to get rid of all glass objects, but surely most of them. In most countries they don't recycle glass bottles and jars, so why not use plastic? It is cheaper, less bulky, weighs a lot less, and does not cut anybody.

Anansi Boys

I have just finished Neil Gaiman's very new and really nice book Anansi Boys, and I'll quote him from the postscript:

"... I'd like to go on record grumbling about the current complexities of the copyright system, which means that you're quoting four words of a song and you have the publishers suddenly saying, 'OK, we'd like two thousand dollars for that, please.'
And you're going, 'You must be joking,' and have to rewrite a line or two in the book instead."

... I couldn't agree more. Although I don't think it is so much "complexities" in the copyright system as probably simply big corporations these days being very, very greedy and over-possesive and super-protectionist.
I've noticed it happens in films too. Film producers wants a character to sing a verse from a song, and it can't happen because the copyright owners of the song wants a lot of money for it! I am sure it happens also with art work seen in the background of films and all kinds of things.
It is ridiculous, people, OK? If we don't let the other kids play with our toys, just a little bit, then all of us will be stuck with only our own toys and we will all be poorer for it.

... Oh, and the book is good too. Although I think Neil Gaiman is not the strongest in the world regarding creating suspense/plot in a book (he usually fakes it by hinting at a great conflict ahead which never really appears*), he is great at quirky humor and equally quirky characters, and lots of, uh, quirky ideas and concepts kicking about. I recommend his books American Gods, Anansi Boys, and Coraline, as well as his comics, not the least Sandman.

*This may get challenged, so I better support it:
1) the storyline in the The Sandman where Morpheus went to hell to confront Lucifer. It was made very clear that there would be a frightful battle... which never happened.
2) The predicted apocopalyptic war in American Gods, which also failed to materialize in the end.
3) It is hinted a few times in Anansi Boys that things would become really bad in the end. Also never happened, except briefly.

I am not complaining, I don't need battles. It is just an observation.
I think though that Anansi boys (the first half only) needs something to make you read the story, like what is the essential problem the character has to solve... it is not at all clear. Suspense, in the classic definition: you don't know what will happen, but you do care.

Smile

A smile lifts your mood. Even a fake smile. Try plastering a big fake smile on your face for two minutes straight, and see what happens. (Maybe you should be alone, so nobody calls the police.)

Friends

I am having a relaxed month in October. In a good way.
(Most of the time. Actually on Sunday I had some ideas and produced some stuff which will be great for my business. Very cool.)
Right now I am rewatching Friends on DVD. I love that show. I suspect that many of the intelligentsia looks down their nose on it because it was the most popular show ever. But they are missing out, for it really was brilliant as well. Very damn funny, and very warm, and actually had tons of subtleties too.
I am waiting with baited breath for what will replace Friends and Frasier. Will and Grace can't carry the burden alone.