Calling it Quits

Dear readers,

You've probably noticed it's been awfully quiet around here since the tail end of last year. In the interim, I've moved to Manhattan, found a tiny room in Harlem, and been looking once again for work. I've realized a few things in the last few months, and there's a reason I haven't posted here during that time.

Long story short, I've finally come to terms with the fact money is more important than pretty much anything else. Trying to live in this crazy city has shown me the few good things in life must be bought, and aside from dumb luck there's no other way to be happy.

For a long time I clung to the quaint notion true happiness had something to do with self-actualization through worthy pursuits, but I've come to the conclusion that old nag is just a ploy to throw off undesirables from figuring out where happiness really lies: in high society, surrounded by luxury. Sure, not everybody can have that, and those who do only get it by breaking the backs of the poor chumps they climb up on, but that's the world we live in.

All this prattling about religion and trying to understand the crazy stuff people to do comfort themselves isn't really worth the pixels it's displayed on. I've got better things to do now that it's clear making a big score is what really counts. So long, suckers.

Cult of the Green Fairy, Part IV

At last we come to the fourth level of Rappaport's hierarchy: the arena of on-the-ground adaptive pressures, where religious ideas meet the real world in practice and must respond like any other organic system in order to survive. This last part of our look at an imagined absinthe religion will be a piecemeal conclusion, addressing a smattering of issues the Green Goddess may encounter on her journey from spiritual obscurity to deific stardom.

Cult of the Green Fairy, Part III

Having firmly established that the absinthe ritual is indeed a ritual properly so-called, let us continue with our consideration of the third tier of Rappaport's hierarchy: rules of conduct.

The Absinthe Ritual

At the conclusion of our discussion of absinthe cosmology, I declared we could turn our attention to the third tier of Rappaport's hierarchy of religious ideas. However, before we consider that third level generally, let us take a detour to examine its most prominent and significant feature exclusively.


Here we will consider the ritual preparation of absinthe in terms of Rappaport's definition of ritual before returning to our hypothetical survey of religious absinthism.

Things Bloggers Should Never Do, Episode 3

It's that time again. Bloggers should never...

• Tell readers they have to read so-and-so's book, or that such-and-such a blog should be on their blogrolls right now.
• Bury substantial posts under piles of announcements about conferences, bubbling reviews of how inspirational so-and-so's keynote was, and shout-outs to people met at conferences.
• Use three verbs separated by periods as a blog title or subtitle.
• Pretentiously refer to their sites as 'weblogs'.
• Write posts in which almost every single sentence is a separate paragraph.
• Grammatically treat the words 'social media' as singular.

It's likely this will be the last installment of this serial tirade, as my regular work had me wading through relatively fewer blogs than over the summer, and came to a sudden and unexpected end last week. In any case by now I'm fairly confident I've seen most of the worst the blogosphere has commonly to offer. Nevertheless, feel free to suggest anything I've missed in these three cautionary articles. As the Interwebs continue to develop, no doubt the vulgar errors perpetrated most frequently will as well, and time may oblige me to revisit this painful subject once again.

Cult of the Green Fairy, Part II

Previously, we set out to define the ultimate sacred postulate of a hypothetical religion of absinthe. Now we turn to the second tier of Rappaport's theoretical hierarchy.

Cult of the Green Fairy, Part I

When I actually stir myself to gather my thoughts and outline one of the ideas that occasionally flits through my head, I can still manage to come up with some decent direction for something to write about. At first I thought this would be a solid single post, but by the time I finished outlining it I realized we're in for another small series. At least that'll give you something to look forward to, right?

As those of you who keep in touch or are connected with me on the Google+ are likely aware, my latent interest in absinthe has lately blossomed into full-fledged devotion. As I learned more about the enigmatic aperitif, I naturally grew more deeply fascinated with the ritualistic behaviors associated with its preparation, and with the figure of the Green Fairy herself, embodiment of all the mystique of the drink and the culture surrounding it.

In absinthe's heyday, enemies of the Green Fairy promoted the notion of absinthism, an addiction distinct in severity and symptoms from common alcoholism. Of course, the scientific evidence adduced to prove the existence of this condition was flawed and insubstantial, and despite its infamy absinthe is in fact no more (or less) capable of harm than any other libation. However, as a modern absintheur I think it appealing and apropos to reclaim the term 'absinthism' for the peculiar fascination, devotion, and adoration that distinguishes absinthe connoisseurship.

Perhaps you can see already where this led me.

Things Bloggers Should Never Do, Episode 2

Figured I should publish at least a couple of actually topical posts before loosing the second installment of this judgmental nitpicking. This second round has actually been ready to go since early in June, and perhaps you won't be surprised that the third is already underway.

In any case, bloggers should never...

• Title their blogs "My [Subject] Blog" or "[So-and-So's] [Subject] Blog" or, perhaps worst of all, simply "[So-and-So's] Blog".
• Incorrectly use commas to reflect non-grammatical pauses that might be made in speech.
• Use capitalized words run together without spaces as a blog title, like "LameAssTitleBlog".
• Title their blogs with a clever-looking combination of one word in capitals and the other all lower case, like "BULLSHITblog".
• Use images completely unrelated to their posts (or related only by the most pathetically tenuous acts of imaginative stretching) simply for the sake of having an image in the post.
• Describe themselves with a series of unconnected and unrelated nouns separated by periods.

Once again, I invite your suggestions for bad blogging habits in the comments, though frankly I imagine it'll be something of a challenge for you to come up with something I haven't encountered. Surprise me.

From the Agora

I quite unexpectedly found myself engaged in a refreshing theory and method conversation the other day on the Google+ of all places. My interlocutor was Charlie Peirson, the first person I met during my orientation at Reed College in days of yore, incidentally a fellow student of my teacher Professor Brashier, and a jolly good fellow. Charlie's own blog may be found here.

Our exchange, reproduced below, was spurred by this little talk from Sam Harris.