darw1n.net

This article became much more relevant after reading the prior post about novel writing month. It talks about how aspiring bohemian writers can’t live out their dream in the easy way an aspiring football coach can play Madden. It claims the closest thing to Madden for an aspiring writer is to move overseas and live it up like Hemminway and others. Darwin pretty far from ex-pat oblivion-seeking stereotype that the article highlights. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to bring up the cliche even though it’s not a close fit.

Article

So the 24-hour comic was cool, but how about a whole novel by the end of November? As of November 1st I will be starting my first novel as part of the Nation Novel Writing Month. That means I will hopefully have 50,000 words (hopefully) written by the end of November. If there is any confusion, this is really an exercise in output (or quantity) over quality, though rest assured, I will have a quality novel done by the end of November. Unlike the comics-fest, I know more people (ahem, Shaun?) might actually take up this challenge (ahem Losure, Jay, Shaun, everyone I know).

C’mon, 50,000 words isn’t that much. darw1n.net team anyone?

At least check out the site if you have any interest in finding out more about the quantity over quality National Novel Writing Month.

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update: yes, check out Filthy’s writeup on the NaNoWriMo especially for reasons why you should participate. You can also check out my profile which will have fun stuff like current word counts, etc. Fun!

I feel compelled to bring some decent scholarship to the table after Jay pointed out the attraction to crap research. In his 1987 article,“The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race,” Jared Diamond, of Guns, Germs, and Steel among other works, contradicts the progressivist notion that that move from hunting and gathering to agriculture was beneficial to the human race.

Diamond finds equal merits between some hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies and dispels some myths surrounding the aforementioned groups. His observations of the Kalahari bushmen and their superior nutritional intake is especially relevant in comparison to the fate of the Irish in the mid-19th century.

The article is worth a read on many levels, especially if you have never had an opportunity to experience Diamond’s thought process and skill in writing. It is a bit disappointing that Diamond does not allude to any future Goblinism of the human race…

::article here::

Here are some leftovers that never made it on to Doodlesheep.

Another Portrait:

Big Hand:

Cthulu and the face machine:

p.s. Anyone want to buy me a scanner so I can put more shit online?

Amazon is listing Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow ILLUSTRATED for presale. Weighing in at 760 pages it is clear that this does not contain the text for the book but should nevertheless be interesting as well. I am a bit confused about how this isn’t some clever marketing technique. C’mon, “interpretive” drawings for GR? Sounds like a good way to sell extra copies of pictures you drew while on acid.

To my disadvantagecredit I have not read Gravity’s Rainbow, but will likely complete my illustrative interpretation of the Bible in about five years, or whenever I finish enough pictures.

Apparently, North Korea’s recent nuclear bomb test has lead to an exteme rise in sex among South Koreans, as evidenced by explosive condom sales.

An Austrian businessman is being pressured to remove the sexist urinals that mark his establishment. Apparently if he does not he’ll be sued. I don’t particularly feel that they are sexist, myself, but hey.

Iron Horse, a bluegrass band, recorded a Metallica tribute album. And it’s not actualy all that bad.

Fred pointed me to a short news blurb about the evolution of man. The blurb sites an Economics prof, lists his expectations for the future. The prof says that we will evolve into two species, one brutish, one graceful. H. G. Wells said this too, and even had great names for the two: Eloi and Morlocks. The two articles I looked at provided no motivation for the prof’s predicitons. I don’t know how an econ prof would come up with this anyway. Game Theory? Who knows. Without motivation Wells’ predictions are just as valid as the prof.

I looked around on the much-touted google news and found a headline I prefer: Human Race to Evolve Goblin Underclass

I’m a pretty big whore for anything related to Google, so it is no surprise that I enjoy Google news. Alright, I REALLY like Google news and hold it in higher esteem than at least one of my parents. I think I get a pretty big kick from the fact that it is all gathered by the Google robots without any human intervention. Needless to say, sometimes the robots snag some interesting headlines, such as the one to your left (my right). Click for larger screenshot.