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“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.”
Walt Whitman

how now portland winters?

They’re really not all that bad, far better than the Seattle ones imho. I feel lucky to be here and a little un-nerved by how at home I feel. Odd, isn’t it?

Reznikoff on revision

The Method of Revision
1. Write all seemingly good lines
2. Examine every word to remove all possible latinisms and
unnecessary words
3. Examine the meaning of the sentences in their order
4. Examine the rhythm of the lines
5. Examine the rhythm of the whole
6. Then revision by contemplation

why do we say “the fact that” as a verbal tick?

It’s annoying. Very annoying. And almost entirely meaningless.

why there’s no word for the inverse of an orphan

Historical Births, Birth Rates, & Infant Mortality, 1920 – 2003
Los Angeles County

year: 1940 births: 42,856 birthrate: 15.1 deaths: 1,482 rate: 34.6
year:1930 births: 33,008 birthrate:14.8 deaths:1,738 rate: 52.7
year:1920 births: 18,009 birthrate:18.0 deaths:1,326 rate: 73.6

here’s another:

In the upper-class areas Liverpool England, 1899, 136 newborns out of 1000 would die before they reached the age of one. Working class districts maintained a rate of 274 infant deaths per 1000 births, and impoverished slums had a horrifying 509 infant deaths per 1000.

So the reason there’s no word for it is that it was not that long ago that it was by and large assumed that everyone had lost a child.

that time you told him
he could have a gallery show
and all he did for it
was lodge an axe in the wall
kick out your front window
and tag his name on the floor
I can’t think of anything
you could have deserved more
but in ten years only i will laugh
and you’ll just say that
it never mattered what we did at all
because it’s the most cruel way
you can think of to be.

still still still, i can’t stop listening to this in my head, even after 15 years.

empty empty

who is the why is the _why?

I love that _why vanished. I also love this and that Zed Shaw is Twitter in on it. I guess I don’t think Whys name was Jonathan Gillette. I also don’t really care. I just remember talking to him for a little bit at the Art && Code conference and he seemed nice. I also remember that he also got kicked out of the bar for not having ID which is interesting. Who doesn’t carry an ID around with them? I know a few people who don’t and they’re all pretty punk rock. By which I mean they don’t have IDs bank accounts or anything else that ties them to anything. I’m sure Why had all the things “responsible” people are expected to have, that’s not what I mean to suggest. I’m just enjoying that the one time I actually met him in person he was wearing sunglasses at night and got kicked out of a bar for not being to prove who he was :)

“After the first photograph has been in a magazine, the famous men do not enjoy their photographs in magazines so much as they fear that their photographs will cease to appear in magazines. They are trapped, just as you are.’ ‘Is this supposed to be good news? This is awful news.’ ‘LaMont, are you willing to listen to a Remark about what is true?’ ‘Okey-dokey.’ ‘The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.’” [note - this is quote from Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace]

The conversation between LaMont Chu and Lyle–and the highlighted passage, specifically–was eerily familiar. About a month ago I read an article entitled Creating the Illusion of Accomplishment, in which a video game developer pointed out how easy it is to design titles that are addictive without being especially fun. “There’s a vital question that is rarely asked,” he said. “Does our game make players happy when they play, or just make them sad when they stop? This is a subtle distinction, and irrelevant to sales, but I think it’s very important. Medicine and heroin both sell for a high price, but I would sleep better at night selling one than the other.” [note - this is quote from Infinite Summer a blog about reading Infinite Jest which also include the above quote]