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Why is it that if I went to a restaurant and they said, "yo! we're serving yesterday's leftovers today," I'd be grossed out, but I'll happily eat my own leftovers?

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For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us. We are here to read these words from all these wise men and women who will tell us that we are here for different reasons and the same reason.

Charles Bukowski

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“My brother asked me once, ”Are you a misanthrope?” And I said, ”No, I just find people irritating.” I think mankind is overly sensitive, very needy, greedy, and flawed.”

Craig Kilborn

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Release, rotation, splash!

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/28/entertainment/la-et-craig-kilborn-20100628

Craig Kilborn was always a favorite. As a youngster he was my favorite Sportscenter anchor. The original Daily Show with him was great. And The Late Late Show was solid. (I was in the studio audience - and on TV haha - back in 2000.)

After reading that LA Times interview I'm even more impressed. 

On leaving The Late Late Show: "I didn't leave to do anything else, I left to leave."

Referring to a new show (The Kilborn File) at the time: "If the show doesn't work, Kilborn says he won't lose sleep over it. He has sitcom ideas and fantasies of returning to Northern California and becoming a disc jockey. Although he has a nice house in the hills, the Hollywood scene holds little appeal.

"I lived in a studio apartment until my mid-30s, I don't have an extravagant lifestyle," he said. "All I ever wanted to be was an old man with a dog.""

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Youtube internal traffic

This is a youtube channel I created 70 days ago and post ~30 second videos to daily. Have not mentioned it anywhere and have done no promotion. As you can see views are on a slow upward curve. This is pretty fascinating to me. Now averaging ~100 views per day (2,749 in last 30 days; 650 in last 6 days). 

No plans to make money from this. It is a personal "quantified self" project.

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huaraches + vibrams

wore both at varying times all day yesterday and my legs are very sore today. So weird how that happens.

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I'm typing this using Colemak . It is slow going right now but my speed will improve with time. Much less finger movement = less stress and strain.

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the economics of Louis CK

This weekend HBO ran a new hour of Louis CK standup. This is in stark contrast to Louis' last hour which he sold DRM-free online for $5 a pop and made $1MM in short order. So, I'm wondering, how much did HBO have to pay for Louis to go this particular route? Instead of getting my $5 they got my $0 because I torrented the special. (I don't have HBO and the special is not available for download.) I'm sure it was worth it for Louis, but I really wonder if it was worth it for HBO. Or maybe Louis didn't think he could repeat his previous sales performance and thought going the "safe" route was the best route. I find that hard to believe, but it's a possibility.

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"The key to a good life? Excess in moderation."

Doug Stanhope

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weird guitar stuff

Sometimes, out of nowhere, I will know how to play a song I’d never played before. Often simple songs, but it’s weird when it happens.

Today it was Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam (by the Vaselines; made popular by Nirvana). I was listening to Nirvana yesterday and today. When I was younger I didn’t really spend time figuring out the Nirvana cover songs. Not because I didn’t like them, but they didn’t interest me on that level for whatever reason.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I learned Where Did You Sleep Last Night, probably the best of the covers. Of the songs Kurt Cobain actually wrote, I think I learned how to play 95% of them. No great feat since most of the songs are simple power chords, but Kurt’s sense of rhythm is stronger than people probably give him credit for. And from a pure pop songwriting standpoint not many people have come close. Dude could write a hook.

Nirvana and Black Sabbath were the reason I started playing and I learned pretty much their entire catalogues when I was 13, 14, 15. Sabbath was often more difficult to learn due to more intricate (and faster) rhythm parts, but they also relied heavily on straight power chords. (Which, if we’re being honest, most bands do.)

Anyway, Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam just came to me (including the little accordian melody). Again, it’s very simple, but still weird to me. Good campfire song.

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best country record I've heard in a long time

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another reason policy in the US is misguided

It's fairly easy to get a student visa to study in the US. The US will happily educate smart young people. But once the degree is earned? Get the fuck out. Go use your talents elsewhere! We don't need or want you. I have a friend who delayed getting his degree for 3 years (by taking additional classes) so he could keep extending his student visa. Finally, a few years ago he got his degree and immediately left the US. Now lives in Spain. If a company wants to hire a foreign worker the hoops it has to jump through (along with the cost, upwards of $10k) is extraordinarily offputting. I don't think this will change any time soon, but it's just another glaring misstep in US domestic and foreign policy.

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where in the world is karol gajda?

Poland. Even though I've been here for 10+ months (and it says my location on twitter, facebook, everywhere) people still ask me that question. Does not compute.

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appppssssss

just submitted my 4th app to the app store ... will be live in 7+ days (their app review time) and a few days ago I submitted free versions of two of my apps as well so those should be live early next week ... these will have ads and an in app purchase to remove the ads. If those go well I'll make free versions of the other apps.

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Posterous shutting down

who didn't see this coming after they were acquired by Twitter? 

Former Posterous CEO is starting an interesting sounding new paid blogging service as well: https://posthaven.com/

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Guitar Thumb. Whenever I see/hear a great guitarist or songwriter I check their thumb. The joint makes an obtuse (sometimes almost 90 degree) angle while playing and the top of the thumb bends way back, almost to a 90 degree angle as well. I don't have this. As noted by this photo, Taylor Swift does.