I accidentally sliced the joint of my thumb on the palm facing side. Not so deep that it bleeds, but every time I bend my left thumb I get a jolt of pain. %$#@! I doubt the Hulk struggles with these sort of issues.
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Today would be perfect for crocs.
Check out this highlight clip from ESPN of a Devil Rays and Rangers major league baseball game where a heavyweight fan sitting alongside the third baseline dives overboard chasing after a foul ball and instead landing on top of the cute ball girl. Ah, I could watch candid videos of people falling onto others all day. [Thanks Paul! You're batting 2 fer 2 today!]
Previously. One of the benefits of a true free market system is that it allows for and rewards creativity, ingenuity, and risk-taking. In this framework as outlined by Adam Smith, the process of "creative destruction," a term popularized by economist Joseph Schumpeter, is inevitable and the permanence of the status quo (e.g. corporate monopolies, outdated skills, etc ) ultimately unsustainable.
If you make a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door; if you make the old mousetrap, it is time to start firing people.
Creative destruction rewards the nimble, adaptable and the innovative. Of course, in the short term creative destruction may result in growing pains that arise from situations for instance where workers with skills that are now obsolete find themselves unemployed or marginalized. No one volunteers to be the proverbial dinosaur, so this advancement is fought and resisted by many (e.g. The Luddites) with various mechanisms (e.g. Burning down mechanized looms). Those that stand in the way can seek shelter and protection from the government via a variety of means, such as "trade protection, government bailout, favorable tax considerations, limitations on competing technology, or some other special treatment." Propagandistic or xenophobic rhetoric, wrapped up in nationalistic mythos ("Made in America"), is also often employed to gain sympathy and exclude the emerging competitor. Thus creative destruction can be impeded, obstructed, and delayed. However, the conclusion is not only inevitable, but a good thing. As Werner Sombart famously wrote in Krieg und Kapitalismus (War and Capitalism): "...again out of destruction a new spirit of creativity arises." That said, Sombart was also a Nazi kook. So...
And you probably just finished reading this and thought, "What the fuck is MRod talking about?!? Post more YouTube videos of things like this!" My only answer is that it's amazing how you can apply lessons from one discipline to a seemingly unrelated one.
[Quotes and inspiration for this entry from Charles Wheelan's amazing book "Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science."]
Thanks to Adam Smith for knocking a bit of sense into my head.
I look at this skeletal New York Times building in Manhattan every day from my desk, which French stuntman Alain Robert scaled today sans any safety equipment.
A security guard remarked, “Apparently, he’s a professional climber,” and a police officer replied: “To be honest, looking at this building, you don’t have to be a professional. This building is like a ladder.” (Designed to be environmentally sensitive, the tower is sheathed in distinctive horizontal ceramic rods that are intended to diffuse sunlight, allowing natural light to enter the building while keeping out heat and increasing the building’s energy efficiency.)
Read more here.
This will probably ONLY interest Soho-ites, but I received a letter from my gym, the Soho location of Crunch informing its members that on June 30, they "will be turning off the last treadmill" and will cease operations because they weren't able to come to terms on extending their lease with the building on Houston and Broadway. Rumor has it that ever real estate hungry NYU will be taking over the space. But as compensation, Crunch is offering me and my fellow Soho Crunch gym rats the following:
- Reduced monthly $10 off current agreement; and
- Complimentary upgrade to an All Crunch membership.
All in all, this is actually an UPGRADE for Mrod!
I'm hesitant to discuss this, because I kind of don't want the secret to get out. But selfishness is not a good trait, so I'm sharing. I've been sporting a certain style of sunglasses for years made by a small company called BluBlocker, in particular their thick framed aviator style or as I like to call them, "They look good on everyone."
It's true.
People find them very fashionable, whatever that means. "Fashionable" and "Douche" share the same etymology I believe. Either way, while people focus on the BluBlockers that I have for its styling, I actually prefer it over any other sunglasses for purely practical utilitarian reasons rather than aesthetic ones. It's sturdy, comfortable, and just the perfect coverage and shade of darkness. That's what she said. Ba-bam! And it only costs 15 bucks. That's what I said. Ba-bam!
If you still aren't convinced than maybe this will help persuade you:
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=AHM-hWYuVS4]
You can find them at your friendly Woolworth's or online at the BluBlocker website. You can thank me later or in the case of Lauren, you can gank my swagger.
This is the most random collection of photos from the long three day weekend.
A chair in the lobby of my friend's apartment.
Went to a dope place near my apartment for brunch on Saturday morning. Anyway, I wanted a side of eggs. I didn't realize a $3 would get me ONE egg. It was tasty, but still....
Walking through Union Square, which ALWAYS seems to have a farmers market taking place every day of the summer, I spotted a juxtaposition of McDonalds and uber-organic fruit and vegetables.
My friend's friend (forgot your name, sorry!) taking a nap at a rooftop BBQ.
Super fast motion beer drinking!
Anyone know what was up with the four F-15s tailing close behind a commercial jetliner this afternoon in NYC? I spotted this while around Columbia University.
An estimated 75,000 Oregonians, including "people in kayaks and small pleasure craft on the river," gathered on Sunday to hear and see Obama speak. Lets keep in mind this crowd is for simply the primaries. What are the crowds going to be like if and when he wins the nomination? GARGANTUAN. That is the answer.
Despite pouring rain I made it out my door for the 5th Avenue annual street fair and consumed the following items of deliciousness.
- Empanadas
- Sausage and broccoli
- Taquitos
- Corn
- Chili
- Cupcakes
It's kind of funny that this big street fair in Park Slope occurred in the same weekend that the New York Times published an inflammatory article about the hostility directed towards my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Many neighborhoods in New York City have a reputation or stereotype, fair or unfair, regarding its denizens--Williamsburg is known for its hipsters, Murray Hill for its cookie cutter doormen apartments occupied by privileged recent Penn graduates, Upper West Side for...well, just watch You Got Mail, and so on--and Park Slope is popularly (or unpopularly) categorized as a neighborhood of "limousine-liberal yuppies" and "Stroller Nazis."
“There’s the feeling that yuppies in Park Slope are washing away Brooklyn’s grittiness and making it more like Manhattan,” said Jose Sanchez, chairman of urban studies at Long Island University, Brooklyn. “Brooklyn was supposed to be different. Park Slope, to some, now represents everything that Brooklyn was not supposed to be.”
That’s why our feelings about Park Slope are linked to our feelings about our entire city: our overpriced, chain-store city run by bankers, socialites and, it seems, mommies. The artists are fleeing and your friends, it seems, have become Park Slope pod people. (And they’re coming for you, too.) It’s starting to feel as if there’s nowhere left to hide. And that if we lose Brooklyn, we lose everything.
Of course as James Bernard, "a union organizer and a member of the local Community Board 6" points out all this inflammatory dialogue occurs in a vacuum--a vacuum of essentially white people talking about other white people: while it may appear Park Slope is a focus of many conversations, Bernard says "I don’t hear anyone talking about Park Slope over there [in Brownsville]."
Read more here.
Rainbow sherbet and chocolate chip cookie dough is not a good ice cream mix to get at Baskin Robbins.
DC: Must discuss later. Going back to strip club behind my apartment.
Cleveland Indians infielder Asdrubal Cabrera turned a triple play last night against Toronto. His is only "the 14th unassisted triple play in major-league history." Kudos. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOYKQe6qQSU]
Dear Claritin, Is it so necessary for you to omit that one last additional pill? Sheesh.
I try to stay busy.I take out the trash, I sweep the floor. Try to keep myself occupied. Cause I know you don't live here anymore.
- Wilco, Hate It Here
Jake Adelstein writes a fascinating article in the Washington Post about organized crime and the mafia in Japan.
Most Americans think of Japan as a law-abiding and peaceful place, as well as our staunch ally, but reporting on the underworld gave me a different perspective. Mobs are legal entities here. Their fan magazines and comic books are sold in convenience stores, and bosses socialize with prime ministers and politicians. And as far as the United States is concerned, Japan may be refueling U.S. warships at sea, but it's not helping us fight our own battles against organized crime -- a realization that led to my biggest scoop.
He was the first US citizen to join the regular staff of a native Japanese newspaper and covered the local crime beat (!) which inevitably included the mafia whose fingers and muscle reach far and wide in Japanese society--a place Adelstein calls his "adopted homeland." It's a fascinating read that highlights the frustrating lack of communication and cooperation from the Japanese law enforcement community as well as revealing the darker sides of the mafia: In addition to numerous front companies, many publicly traded companies also have strong mafia ties. However, worse still: child pornography which is legal to "own" in Japan, continues to play a significant role in their criminal enterprise portfolio.
Adelstein also discusses his pursuit of a big scoop about top mafia boss "Tadamasa Goto" which eventually led to threats against him and his family leading to the present situation where "the FBI and local law enforcement are watching over my family in the States, while the Tokyo police and the [Japanese National Police Agency]" are currently protecting Adelstein.
Read rest here.