Feb 7 2010

All Tweets for Week Ending 2010-02-07

  • Stand by what I said: Allowing homosexuals to serve openly is the right thing to do. Comes down to integrity. (via @thejointstaff) #
  • Re: Lost…..it all ends up with Bobby Ewing stepping out of the shower pulling his giant lever. #
  • #fakelostspoilers Season Finale doubles as Pilot for Sequel: Found #
  • #fakelostspoilers The Island isn't an Island and actually moves through space and time. Oh, wait. -rolls eyes- #
  • I had this nightmare that Avatar was nominated for Best Screenplay. #
  • Yellow Submarine #1stdraftbeatles #
  • @ctp I switched to the smaller keyboards a long time ago for ergo reasons, not BT. Smaller keyboard means not reaching out so far to mouse. in reply to ctp #
  • @tewha I use the mouse a LOT more than the arrow keys. and I'm used to the MacBook Pro keyboard already anyway. in reply to tewha #
  • @tewha go with the wired one if you're going to be carrying it in a backpack. or, ironically, if you're not. in reply to tewha #
  • @tewha yep. i have the small wired keyboard and the magic mouse. tho prior to magic mouse I had the wired mighty mouse. in reply to tewha #
  • Bromance from Budweiser thru interspecies allusion. #superbowlads #sb64 #
  • Just tuned into the game. R00ting w00ting for Saints. Just cuz. #superbowl #sb64 #
  • Getting caught up on superbowl ads on youtube between realtime ads during the actual superbowl. #brandbowl Go Saints! #
  • Oh Cheap Trick, at least your fall is using regenerative braking… #superbowl #superbowlads #
  • it's all over it's all over it's all over it's all over it's all over it's all over it's all over it's all over it's all over it's all over #
  • and now the effects of 200 million toilets flushing all at once…. #
  • never. using. godaddy. again. EVAR. #brandbowl #superbowlads #sb64 #
  • Sure there are: FUCK YEAH, NOLA! ;) /// There are no words. (via @jonnodotcom) #
  • Is Phil Simms having NOLA Tourette's? #
  • I would have given Bill Cower beads to show his tits. Have I said too much? :) #sb64 #
  • @danielpunkass To start with, the advertising would treat women like human beings, treat men like adults and acknowledge that gay men exist. in reply to danielpunkass #
  • @danielpunkass i must have missed that one. but wow. naked woman in a bubble bath making gay men slap each other. that's PROGRESS. in reply to danielpunkass #
  • @danielpunkass I think I might drive over to the Castro to the 440 just to slap a man just at the idea of a naked woman in a bubble bath. :) in reply to danielpunkass #

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Jan 31 2010

All Tweets for Week Ending 2010-01-31

  • "Archer" on FX. How in the HELL do they get away with what they get away with? Jesus Christ is a funny-ass show. #
  • New Apple Tablet device: funnel for all (former-)print media, even though all content will be open format. #
  • I was just Dalai "Lama Lolled" /// Apple Tablet? http://dznr.org/9u0r (via @niclas) (via @SteveStreza) #
  • I don't follow /// (i'm talking to you @ACORN_Nat !) #TwitterSchadenfreude (via @jaketapper) #
  • The Apple Store is NOT down. That's telling. #
  • their iBooks application is STUNNING #
  • @johnhat only in the sense that a netbook is a mini notebook. which is only true along one vector. in reply to johnhat #
  • My price prediction, post-intro of iWork: $899 #
  • wow! bluetooth keyboard support! #
  • Keynote, Pages & Numbers are each going to be $9.99 on the App Store. Crazy. #
  • So iLife and iWork are effectively on the iPad. And then some. (Brushes + iBooks) #
  • $29 for unlimited 3G + at&t wifi, which means that at&t is only partially subsidizing the device. So i'm sticking to $899 #
  • drumroll…. #
  • $$$$$$$$$$$$$$…… #
  • HOLY FUCK. $499 #
  • ohhh, so a 64GB iPad with 3G is $829 #
  • Everyone with an iPhone should look at their bills and see exactly how much data they consume every month. #
  • So that looks like an iPad-specific keyboard. #
  • As both a developer and a user, i'm v.v.v.V. happy with today's announcments. My Next Big Idea can now move forward! #
  • They should have called it LCARS #
  • You're terrible, Muriel. 'Cept I'm watching the vid & thot same thing 2 secs ago /// Whao, Phil needs to see a dermatologist (via @gedeon) #
  • After not getting G-Wave, & FB being a UI nightmare, i just revisited tunein.com …Nifty! It looks like I built it. http://bit.ly/d57lFC #
  • Gonna set tunein.com as my home page after years of having Safari default to an empty page for all new windows. #
  • Sorry, @tunein is where it's all at. #
  • The f*cking Republicans can't even stand up for tax cuts? #
  • Ooh Ooh Ooh Me Me Me! /// One question. Who wants an iPad as badly as I do? (via @ebhanson) #
  • John Boehner is glowing! He needs to lay off the orange paint. #
  • Woo hoo! Obama calls for repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell! #
  • @mdhughes They usually post the videos to the Apple Keynotes Podcast on the iTunes Store in reply to mdhughes #
  • Apple Stores will save the day. /// Sounds like word on the street is most consumers won't buy an iPad at first blush. […](via @ryan) #
  • @bynkii @rlepage just my 2c as a software dev, 1 of the hardest things is the ∆ betw. giving users what they want & showing them what's poss in reply to bynkii #
  • @bynkii Yeah….and what was it that finally killed Active X as the dominant web technology? Everyone thought that was just going to be "It" in reply to bynkii #
  • @SteveStreza what size MBP are you using? in reply to SteveStreza #
  • Just watching the video of today's Apple announcement now. Steve Jobs looks wonderful and that makes me very, very happy. #
  • @SteveStreza yeah, the iPadSimulator took up a "sizeable" chunk of a 30" display. in reply to SteveStreza #
  • Yes. Perhaps a stream of ongoing contracts #
  • @eddieizzard Your "Dress to Kill" show was a watershed event for me. I hate sounding like a fanboy, but it's true. in reply to eddieizzard #
  • @Clarko "youse guys"? Are you from PA? in reply to Clarko #
  • RE: @michaelcarrano In the simplest form, a human body is a point moving through space. What's your point?

    Ask your… http://disq.us/a58fx #

  • My favorite iPad app so far is the hyperbole-hate generator. #
  • @danielpunkass wow. you're old. :) in reply to danielpunkass #
  • The Apple Event is up on the iTunes Store as a Podcast. Video Quality is much higher. #
  • And I'll say it again: It makes me SO happy that Steve Jobs looks like he's doing so well! Very happy for him and his family. #
  • @tewha I actually think he just sounds different. Probably meds, though I hate speculation like this. Definitely better tho, than before. in reply to tewha #
  • I'm still not sure how a backlit bookreader is gonna work. eInk is still far superior #iPad #

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Jan 24 2010

All Tweets for Week Ending 2010-01-24

  • @wilshipley typing with one hand while watching Christina Hendricks? in reply to wilshipley #
  • U R PURE EVIL :) /// Apple hasn't had a new "Get a Mac" ad since October 23, "Broken Promises"[…]THE EVENT IS FOR A NEW AD! via(@mdhughes) #
  • Blood, sweat, tears, App! http://bit.ly/6MFTbh #
  • Martha Coakley, yes, your supporters poured their hearts & souls into the campaign. Too bad YOU didn't. #
  • Martha Coakley CONCEDED THE ELECTION AND CALLED BROWN BEFORE THE ELECTION HAD BEEN OFFICIALLY CALLED. #
  • Is Scott Brown really whoring his daughters out right now? #
  • Naah, the beard should go. //// Mad about Mad Man Jon Hamm and his rugged beard looks. Grrr! http://twitpic.com/yvuvw (via @GarudaSky) #
  • From AppleInsider: As Apple tablet looms, Amazon Kindle adopts App Store revenue split http://bit.ly/6WQZq0 #
  • I just got up to 47,862 in #DoodleJump!!! Beat that! http://itunes.com/app/DoodleJump #
  • Dear Mr. President, With respects, you're a FUCKING executive now, not a legislator. ACT LIKE ONE. And in case your math is weak: 41 < 59. #
  • Amazon, afraid of new suitors, stops raping its girlfriends. #kindle #appletablet #
  • Apple sees tablet as shared household device? I don't see it, unless it's $3000. They sell MacBook Pros at $1700 and they're not "shareable" #
  • @chrisafer "Blink" was 1 of the best Dr Who's EVAR. Now the franchise is in charge of that (and so many other great) episode's writer. in reply to chrisafer #
  • As is "sartorial" /// Also, "pants" in the non-sartorial usage is a really under-appreciated word (via @bynkii) #
  • And businesses are not people! /// Money is not speech. (via @gideonse) #
  • When is @fivethirtyeight going to start building his own announcements of into his own models? Seriously, he's starting to game himself. #
  • Yay! Just found out that one of my very best friends from HS, Perri, will be in SF next month! I haven't seen her in almost 20 years! Yay! #
  • Finally! Gay softcore porn on mainstream TV: "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" OMG Becky! #

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Jan 17 2010

All Tweets for Week Ending 2010-01-17

  • In JFK Airport. 1st Class : no line at VirginAmerica, no $$ for overweight bag, no carrying my bag to conveyor, express line to security #
  • Harlem to JFK: Taxi to Penn Station, LIRR to Jamaica station, AirTrain to JFK. Elapsed time: < 90 min. $30 + tip #
  • There's always the chance that it will be my ex that's the flight attendant who's covering first class. Gay Russian roulette. ;) #
  • Tooooootally hot, tall muscly flight attendant in first class. All this for $150 upgrade. Who says the dollar isn't worth anything? #
  • Oh, he's workin' for me. :) /// make him work for you! (via @richdom) #
  • I'm like soooo hiiiiiigh, maaaaaan…. http://yfrog.com/33ui5p #
  • Like a 3rd party WebScript maybe. /// It's a framework for writing web apps in Cocoa and Obj-C. Like a 3rd party WebObjects? (via @gruber) #
  • Arrrrrrrrrrrrrmannnnndooooo. #
  • I wonder how much Comcast stock Jay Leno owns? #TeamConan #
  • Happy Birthday, Allen Howland. You would have been 52 today. #
  • In all this Prop8 Trial stuff: it's NOT "gay marriage", it's "same-sex marriage"! #prop8trial #
  • Same-sex marriage would be just as available to straight people—and just as applicable. #prop8trial #prop8 #samesexmarriage #
  • #prop8trial i get the concern for "chilling effect" on witnesses that televising court cases would have but then this isn't a criminal trial #
  • Come to SF and cook for me!! /// Whether it's Vaca Frita or Palomilla, Ropa Vieja or Croquetas, […]. http://bit.ly/57b0JO (via @GarudaSky) #
  • Today I am getting things done done done. Re-upped at Golds Gym! I finally have time, money and health enough to work out again! #
  • Squeeze-bottle Bacon! #bacon #wrong http://bit.ly/7yfdfl #
  • "Obscenity" is impossible to define, but you know it when you see it: http://bit.ly/6TQwbZ #
  • http://bit.ly/6TQwbZ Obama's own confidant proposes governmental "cognitive infiltration" of AMERICAN 'extremist' groups. (via @ggreenwald) #
  • @drwave isn't ctrl-cmd-D (while cursor is over a word) a reassignable key combo? in reply to drwave #
  • @drwave you can even release "D" while keeping the other keys down and move the cursor & popup window will show defs of words under cursor in reply to drwave #
  • Watching Olivia Wilde on Rachel Maddow. She's rocking my world #Haiti #
  • @drwave the dictionary keyboard magic only works in Cocoa text (CoreText)—including WebViews/Safari—but that's almost everywhere. in reply to drwave #
  • It all comes to down to this, Mr Krugman: what's good for the goose… http://bit.ly/7f7eE2 #paulkrugman #JohnathanGruber #GlennGreenwald #
  • @DrErnie Can Christians even agree on what it is? I grew up Catholic, where most "Christians" didn't think I qualified as a Christian. in reply to DrErnie #
  • I could watch Tyron Leitso http://bit.ly/6j5SYn http://yfrog.com/3gt5xp read the phonebook. He of Wonderfalls fame. Siiigh. #
  • Jon Hamm has is wearing a beard during the Golden Globes. Usually I'm facial-hair neutral, but in this case? Naaah, shave it. #
  • Julianna Margulies' husband is a f*cking DOLL #goldenglobes #

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Jan 15 2010

You’ve GOT To Be Fucking Kidding Me

There was a guy online that was nice looking. And his information said he was a physician and he relatively recently moved to the City.

Now, I have a rather long history—professional and social—with physicians, surgeons mostly, and I have found that I have a lot of rapport with them, at least intellectually. For awhile there when I was an undergrad at Carnegie Mellon in Biological Sciences, I gave serious thought to becoming a physician myself.

I would have been a surgeon, of course. People who know me, for better or worse, who both already knew and didn’t know I was considering Medicine as a career, would see the fit.

So anyway, there were very basic pleasantries exchanged in messages and I, wanting to get out more, wanting to meet new people, wanting to stir things up a bit but above all, carrying no specific personal agenda other than what I’ve already mentioned.

And certainly the little information exchanged so far was so generic as to be approaching total fungibility.

Then I asked if he might want to meet up for a coffee or a beer. Translation: “would you like to maneuver a scenario where your person and my person might both be in the same place at the same time where we might consume caffeinated or alcoholic beverages and say hello, like people have been doing for thousands of years?”

His response, which I got the next day, which I’ll paraphrase, included that he was quite busy, which physicians generally are, save for dermatologists and radiologists typically. But then he added, which I will quote, because I just have to

for the sake of being upfront, i have a partner in boston who i am trying to move here, and, with his permission, am kinda seeing a guy here, too. just wanted to put that out there..

and not because i thought you were interested in dating me or anything, just wanted to make sure you understood where i was coming from. hope that’s cool and didnt come across weird!

JesusFuckingSkateboardingMockApplePieMadeWithRitzCrackersChrist.

He thought I’d think he was weird because he was making the assumption that I was looking to date him.

So he wanted to make sure I knew he wasn’t available because he was already seeing someone out here, but he was already partnered to someone else back East but he had permission from the partner back East to date the guy here and heaven forbid he’d “cheat” on the guy he was dating here.

Or would he be cheating on the partner back East if he met someone new over a coffee without having put a ring of emotional-unavailability orange traffic hazard cones around the event first?

I fucking hate open relationships. There’s nothing good about them. They’re houses of cards propped up by the energy they steal from people outside those relationships. They’re dysfunctional. They’re not self-sustaining like real, healthy relationships. They don’t keep themselves alive by energy put into them by the two people involved in them.

No, they’re turned outward, scavenging for emotional energy from the rest of us by each the two in the open relationship, taking more free energy and good will and high quality emotional egress from the social/cultural system than they contribute to it.

Scratch the surface of any of them and you find emotional nebbishes and flibbertigibbets who hide behind sexual braggadocio or worse, that throbbingly ugly tedium they pour forth, one hypocritical platitude after another about being sexually “enlightened” and having moved past petty jealousies and that their openness is about a bigger “trust”.

Ugh.

When none of those tacks work, tantamount to clinquant cat-toys anyway, no substance and all distraction: shiny! shiny! meant to end scrutiny, more platitudes, this time on the offensive: Who Are You To Judge!

I’m Me, that’s who. And I need no other credential. (See? Surgeon material here!)

You’re welcome to your open relationship and I’m welcome to observe. I’m welcome to recount my own history. I’m welcome to think for myself. I’m welcome to follow the paths of friends and others.

I’m welcome to remember.

And I’m welcome to use my brain to put it all together for myself and draw conclusions when the conclusions are there to be had.

I’m also welcome to change my mind.

Why? Because I dare. And because I tired of all the glozing over that small men with small souls do. So many opportunities to learn ignored and so people go on being hurt over and over. In the same ways, often by the same people. New men getting hurt by the same men.

I could say that I’m tired of waiting for things like decency and candor and trust and honor and emotional investment to come back into vogue again, but that’s only true and nothing more.

It’s not as if saying it makes it any different, hastens making it so.

I follow the notes and the blogging of the Prop 8 trial and I read the testimonies of gay and lesbian couples and I find them heartbreaking all over again. And then doubly so, because, in moments of weakness—or, moments of candor—because at least these men and women giving testimony each have a true, if not legal, husband or wife to lean on in their suffering.

And I feel like I’m surrounded largely by men who are pissed off at the Yes on 8’ers and who want same-sex marriage for no reason other than it’s something that other people have that they don’t, a playground sandbox fight over a dime0-store pail and shovel set.

Where have all the good men gone? Never mind the gods.


Jan 12 2010

Happy Birthday, Yog

Time is never constant, as this past year will attest.

It seems like only a very short time ago that I was remembering Allen’s birthday and here I am again doing the same. He would have been 52 today. “Six years older than dirt” I called him one year, to which he replied absolutely without hesitation: “Hello, dirt!”

I’ll be 46 in less than three months.

Last year a fractional second of a glimpse of a tilted sidewalk in Charlotte Amalie on a travel show on television sent me reeling, bouncing off of long ago memories like so many walls in a mental maze I was just coming out of.

This year I soar above the confusion with a firm grasp on the whip of the kite and the maze is just a garden of hedges down below and the horizon is Over There and Over There and Over There and from here there is no behind me except to take this little bit of time to remember my Yog, my Allen.

The world is not how he left it. Some things are better and some are far worse. My world became less when he left it but I, merely in continuing on, have added so much, aiming for resplendence even as ugly, profligate smallness and intransigent immaturity found its way in from the outside threatening ruin.

But Jubilee is only for those who aren’t dragged down by the past, but it’s not for those who ignore or avoid it either.

We are who we were and who we are and grow to include who we’ll be and it’s that splendor that defies physics and makes us bigger on the inside than on the outside and allows us to accommodate the joyful sorrows of the past, put to rest the ignoble brutalities which victimized us and tried to steal our souls and keep us open to…well, exactly!

Birthdays bring gifts, but Allen was always a gift to me, even on his own birthday.

Even now.


Jan 10 2010

All Tweets for Week Ending 2010-01-10

  • But, you just did use it. ;) /// "Failure" isn't in my vocabulary…… Because it's a downer. (via @Clarko) #
  • Joe Scarborough doesn't NEED to talk out both sides of his mouth: he has 2 moving parts, his mouth & his asshole & they're interchangeable #
  • @bbum You went to CMU? What year/dept? in reply to bbum #
  • @bbum CMU 82-86 4 me. Started in EE but hated it. Switched to BioSci. Best thing I ever did. Parallels w/OO and dyn runtimes astounding. in reply to bbum #
  • "Strong on Domestic Policy" aka "Hell no, I ain't goin' to Uganda" #Ford4NYslogans #
  • Bill Tam quitting as Defendant-Intervenor in prop8 case cuz he's fearful, tired of discrimination, prejudice and being treated as 2nd class. #
  • Bill Tam shouldn't be vandalized or threatened, but if he doesn't gain empathy for gays from this experience, he gains no respect from me. #
  • But from God’s Infinite Certainty,
    He always Knows.

    That He is the Only One
    Who should ever be put on trial

    — The Prophet Hafez #

  • I just got up to 29,665 in #DoodleJump!!! Beat that! http://itunes.com/app/DoodleJump #
  • Unsaid prayers are unanswered prayers, mortal. /// My first attempt at biscuits from scratch: sub-McDonald's-quality. (via @DougMcBride) #
  • I just got up to 31,289 in #DoodleJump!!! Beat that! http://itunes.com/app/DoodleJump #
  • Snagged a first class seat on my flight from JFK to SFO tomorrow! Huzzah! Tonight enjoying company of 2 of my best friends, Bill & Edgar. #

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Jan 3 2010

All Tweets for Week Ending 2010-01-03

  • "good-bye decade of shit (except for the last year)" http://yfrog.com/1ddwfp #
  • @DrErnie Our conceitedness allows us to manufacture conceits like 'sin' out of ordinary behavior and thus pass judgement on others. in reply to DrErnie #
  • @DrErnie The idea that anyone else is presuming to own the right deem my behavior a sin or not is, frankly, galling. in reply to DrErnie #
  • I just got up to 14,175 in #DoodleJump!!! Beat that! http://itunes.com/app/DoodleJump #
  • Exactly like Titanic! ///…I saw all $300M+…in Avatar. I just wish a few thousand more could have been spent on the story.(via @siracusa) #
  • I am extending my stay in NE PA until Jan 09 or so! #
  • Granny the Tranny!!! /// Cheeky, @jsmjr http://flic.kr/p/7rtRFk (via @chrisafer) #
  • I just got up to 23,527 in #DoodleJump!!! Beat that! http://itunes.com/app/DoodleJump #
  • Watching Kennedy Ctr Awards. Sting with a big beard. Impressively handsome. Unexpected. #
  • @DrErnie 'Wrong' yes. 'Evil' smacks of absolutism, the bad seed of human spirituality. 'Sin'? Detestable idea & concept; it's a weapon word. in reply to DrErnie #
  • Today: 4th anniv of Vespa accident, when every aspect of my life sucked. Today, tho ribs still hurt, still have headaches, life is terrific! #
  • I just got up to 24,770 in #DoodleJump!!! Beat that! http://itunes.com/app/DoodleJump #
  • @DrErnie Are you saying Auschwitz was the worst thing that ever happened and that every single German was Evil because of it Absolutely? in reply to DrErnie #
  • @DrErnie and when i say "wrong", that's an opinion. With Absolutes like Evil and Sin and God, you're imposing that on everyone. De facto! in reply to DrErnie #
  • @DrErnie I'm pretty sure there's an accepted definition of 'de facto' that exists outside the scope of my own personal opinion. in reply to DrErnie #
  • @DrErnie evil is a quality that must be attributed-to something/someone. it comes with baggage, is accusatory. Who will you single out? in reply to DrErnie #
  • @DrErnie "objective morals". no such thing. that's my opinion. will you remove my right to one by insisting that morals are absolute? in reply to DrErnie #
  • Class act:When I hear douchey enviro..activists talk about"Earth Mother"..makes me wantto club babyseal w/can of hairspray.(via @MegaMuscle) #
  • epic post by @gruber: "The Tablet" http://daringfireball.net/2009/12/the_tablet (via @iTod) #
  • #10yearsago I was watching the "millenial" timefront on TV march across the globe with Stork & Felicia, Timezone after Timezone. Awesome. #
  • I just got up to 25,920 in #DoodleJump!!! Beat that! http://itunes.com/app/DoodleJump #
  • Gone already! /// Mini Refurbs back in stock at Apple Store from $429. Get 'em while they last. (via @ericasadun) #
  • #10yearsago I was unemployed for 3 days: had left my job at NuvoMedia (Rocket eBook…I wrote the Rocket Librarian for Macintosh…. #
  • #10yearsago and had yet to start work at convene.com, a disaster of an elearning corp. Put me within 10meters of Newt Gingrinch! -shudder- #
  • My New Year's Rez is to maintain the boundary between hoping for the best in people and giving them the best in me to make up for the diff. #
  • oh, & to be physically healthy, at whatever weight that ends up being….& to keep away from what Stephen King referred to as "the shitters" #
  • @jsnell DVDs have the advantage of including all the "Dr Who Confidential" episodes, which are *awesome*. Phil Collinson? *adorable*! :) in reply to jsnell #
  • I just got up to 28,794 in #DoodleJump!!! Beat that! http://itunes.com/app/DoodleJump #
  • F*cking insane: The Irish gov enacted a law that punishes "blasphemy" with fines of up to €25,000 http://blog.atheist.ie/?p=104 #
  • Check out my latest game of Star Struck! http://yfrog.com/aupyivj (http://rampchamp.com/) #
  • Give "Modern Family" a go…srsly /// It probably wouldn't be a very good sitcom, but what is, aside from 30 Rock? (via @rstevens) #

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Dec 30 2009

Twitter: Garden of the Wit’s Soul

If brevity is the soul of wit, then Twitter is good for the soul. Or at least for your own wit. Or your own wit’s soul.

It began with someone I follow posting:

Our conceit is that sin is a superficial blot that could be surgically excised, not a pervasive poison only ground out thru suffering.

It’s hard to get all worked up over an aphorism—by definition: a pithy observation that contains a general truth.

Pithy! General!

A General in a Pith Helmet! (sorry. wrong imagery)

Anyhoo. Aphoristic fluff rarely precipitates onto the arc of time to effect a new moment or affect an existing one, but there was something about this one that did.

And it was the one word: sin.

And as I travel along the arc of time, the more corroboration I get for the notion that genius requires the presence of Limits. What’s becoming more and more obvious to me is that the even more rarefied halls of genius are populated by individuals who not only create within existing limits, but open themselves up to the Infinite and to Infinite Regress by creating new Limits, limits which never existed before.

And for me, of all the acts of genius, simplifying complexity while losing none of the nuance may be the finest of them all.

Naturally this is impossible as it butts its head against the laws of physics and information theory, but creativity is about transcending limits, and art is not art if isn’t observed by other humans.

But back to Sin (which, with Art, by the way, has long been the one of the Horses upon which Humanity has ridden Roman throughout its tens of thousands of years of existence), the word that fell from the sky, ruinous.

I tweeted back:

Our conceitedness allows us to manufacture conceits like ‘sin’ out of ordinary behavior and thus pass judgement on others.

The “someone” who was tweeting these things is a good man, insofar as I know him, which is not all that well, certainly not personally. He is well known in my professional circles and well liked, a family man, and even without all those bits of information, I’d have no reason to think ill of him and so I’d think well of him out of the gate. Not tentative or neutral, but well. That’s just how I roll. Always have.

Until I have a reason not to. Even after the last few years of hell.

I am robuster than most. Eruditer, too.

The rest of the Twitter back and forth that formed the dialog:

HIM: Are you passing judgement on my desire to pass judgement? :-) Anyway, the context of that quote was my sin, not yours.

ME: The idea that anyone else is presuming to own the right deem my behavior a sin or not is, frankly, galling.

HIM: So is there truly nothing you would label as “sin” or “evil”? Auschwitz? Apartheid? Smug self-righteous Christians? :-)

ME: ‘Wrong’ yes. ‘Evil’ smacks of absolutism, the bad seed of human spirituality. ‘Sin’? Detestable idea & concept; it’s a weapon word.

So Shakespeare simply called brevity the soul of wit, which at this point you may consider I’ve just set up Shakespeare for a fall, but he was talking about brevity, not simplification or summarization. Not striking to the core of a thing and finding its essentials.

The true art is that the economy of words and expression of the words are one and the same thing. Multiple purposes, multiple goals, multiple paths collapse to a single point that radiates all the beauty of the notional original while exposing the ineffable, intangible, immeasurable humanity of the artist.

All that said, ironically I’ve already placed myself well out of this kind of art by word count alone, the point I’m out to make is my final Tweet above.

For all the essays I’ve written here, I do have my Moments, effecting them upon the arc of time or affecting the Now that’s already here, always just always moving into the Past, and from Twitter and its 140-character limit came something I wrote that pleased Me.

My Art ultimately borne of their Limit, the thing about his well-intentioned bumper-sticker wisdom that niggled at me, that drove me to refine and refine, iterate and iterate? My far, far, far less-than-140-character Distillation:

Sin: a weapon word.


Dec 28 2009

My Facebook Status Collage

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