nothus_a_um

There's a man at the corner of Classon and Willoughby that I have to pass, every day, on my way to classes. I call him Shouting Man. He's your classic street-prophet: an ancient suit, optimized for outdoor living with new pockets made of various materials. Large, army surplus backpack with filthy sleeping bag. Huge, I-am-the-messiah beard.

At some point in my school career, he discovered...
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Walking through my purlieus, it's late, there are vultures out. These are friendly vultures, and know me - I see people who helped me seriate graffiti, learn the ropes of Myrtle St. 2:30a.m in Prospect Park never seems dangerous, though I know it is. Someone has stolen a skeleton from an innumerate front porch, late or lazy in removing Hallowe'en decorations. They placed it on...
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Learning is an intimate transaction. Our body language echoes, intertwines. We lean closer to each other, heads together, phalanges flexing. We grip, reflexively, the same (or similar) tools. When a person observes another person's action, his motor cortex becomes more excitable (Fadiga et al, 1995: 2608-2611). This excitability is measured in certain surges of action potential through ganglia in the neocortex. The energy that would...
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Groundhog Day is a nearly perfect movie because, in the end, it's a parable about how nihilism can save your life.

I have this bad habit of getting my coat, putting on some music, and just walking away. Even when it's probably the most awkward, or least productive thing to do. Maybe especially then. At least it's satisfying to walk around the city, on a foggy night.

Today, we hit the electronics stores. Why, you ask? Well, because. Because we're meeting Cory Doctorow next week. Because it's a cold day, or getting cold. Because soon you, and I, will be stuck inside with our gas masks or fire extinguishers (acid baths, maybe antimony) - locked in by the snow. Or maybe the snow is an excuse, but still it's cold outside, and...
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I can't believe I killed another 3 hours reading the user manuals for NONA and TNT tree-search parsimony-based cladistics utilities.

I can't believe I've killed 3 hours reading International Phylogenetic Nomenclature papers.

Remembrance Day always makes me think of my grandfather. U.S.E.C officer in WWII. Going to go to the parade in Brooklyn tomorrow wearing the boots and tie from his dress greens - can't decide whether that's morbidly inappropriate or not.

Some people spend afternoons indoors despite the sunshine outside. They are not listening to songs of lost love and grey skies. "Autumn blues" are not here again. Yet we're both so silent, staring at books. There's something going on outside, we should probably go see it. We won't. I don't know what to do or want to do it. Time's adrift, leaves fall, and reasons...
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I prefer running after dark, early in the morning. There's no one to crowd the streets, and the city seems more immediate. More personal. You can run harder when you're alone in the night city, there's no-one to see your face twisted up in concentration. You can fall sprawled, exhausted, in the grass at the entrance to High Park, without censure. You can sit on...
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