He announces his arrival,
in a long black robe, with a noose to boot,
as I scramble on all fours,
hanging on to dear life, before I fall into the black shapeless cauldron.
The rag picker meticulously wreaks havoc,
picking faces and memories, that torment my waking soul,
and parades around his bounty, weaving a web of stories,
mockingly,
so I don’t forget the borrowed life,
that I so dearly claim mine.

As reality rudely interrupts,
pulling me out by the scruff of my neck,
he recedes to the shadows,
sparing me, leaving me floating in warm waters.
But my soul, with countless punctures,
gropes around in the darkness,
for the thread it was hanging to,
that promised a new sunrise at every step,
blissfully ignoring the milestones of my waking life.

I walk around, like a headless chicken,
painting the canvas of realities that never were,
of realities that I lost,
of realities that were never mine to have,
half awake in this netherworld,
half accepting the faces that pass me by,
finally resigning to wallow in my pathetic state,
on a day the big black shape enveloped my night.

On a day he let loose my wandering mind,
kicking my precious house of cards,
that I lovingly built leaving my past behind.

Bert Sugar on Frazier in the Fight of the Century

His head bobbing up and down to the metronomic movement of his body, his mouth pursed, sucking air much like a fish out of water, Frazier moved in relentlessly – no qualms, no hesitations, no questions, just straight in like a hurricane – his right a mere throat clearing for his devastating left. Time and again he rocked Ali, until at last Ali, hit so hard he couldn’t even limp, joined the ranks of the walking wounded.

Life in clips of the immortal left hook…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/nov/08/joe-frazier-life-video-clips

Earth (A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race) is a very disappointing affair, if you’ll expect so much as absolutely any substance out of it. The vantage point at which Stewart chooses to wage his war from might be potent when it comes to The Daily Show, but his latest book ends up being a hodge-podge of parodies and puns without any unifying purpose but cynicism. It reads much like Woody Allen’s attempts at literature, constantly throwing you off track with its tendency to not complete a single sentence without a humorous inclination or a punch line, lest the author be gravely misunderstood as the serious type! I mean, even Colbert betrayed his character for around 58 seconds during his recent pitch to the Congress. And this is Stewart for goodness’ sake!

Why he would choose to write a book like this is beyond me. It has no form, except looking like a college scrap book with an absurd amount of pictures, and fancy paper. Many pages could be read from every direction imaginable, none compromising the intended meaning, for there really might not be any. Obscenities are sprinkled generously, mostly where they fit the least.

Whether it was his intention or to his liking or not, a certain responsibility has been bestowed upon him by audiences hungry for even a shadow of a reliable news figure. So is it too harsh on him to expect an equally sincere attempt at a book, with some coherent purpose? What is this book but a narcissistic attempt to convey an opinion, albeit mostly cynical, about most things in the world?

Absolute hogwash. Most disappointing read in a long while.

Decoupling profits from jobs?

Interesting post about how GM profits might not lead to noticeable difference in the US job market. A few comments:

“We bailed out GM for GM jobs, remember?”

Yes. The paycheck doesn’t let us forget!

We’re witnessing a great decoupling of company profits from jobs.

Of course, he doesn’t clarify that the decoupling is localized to the US, and has nothing to with China, where the jobs are going up and are coupled with company profits.

Mechanical breakdown to be considered an act of God

Southwest decides to add mechanical breakdown as an act of God, along with wars, riots, storms, earthquakes and other acts of God. By doing this, it prevents it being liable during such incidents, meanwhile promising that they won’t slack off on the customer service (like putting you up in hotels).

I’m unsure as to what the other acts of God are; does a disgruntled atheist count? Or is this like what we say: “Oh god knows why it doesn’t work on production, works fine on my machine!”

Sad. Talk about an acute lack of accountability. Disappointing, especially considering this is coming from SouthWest.

Where will you be when the earth stops spinning?

A fascinating article about what would happen if the earth stops spinning. Essentially, an analysis of the effects a lack of centrifugal force will have on earth’s structure. Beautifully illustrated with results from the mechanism they used to model the earth. Beautiful stuff… :)