About ten years ago there was a Russian horror movie, Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor), which was premised on a 1000-year-old truce between the forces of Light and Dark. After assembling a few gifts my kids received for Christmas I am convinced that Legos are toys of Light and that PlayMobil is of the Dark. Either that or the people at PlayMobil enjoy long, drawn out practical jokes. “Hey, lets mix all 382 parts they need to build that toy together and then randomly pull out handfuls and seal them in bags so it looks like the parts belong together! Great idea! Hilarious! They’ll never suspect a thing!” Legos on the other hand: parts well organized and lucid assembly instructions. Three cheers for Legos. (Seriously though, the PlayMobil toys are fun once they’re assembled but they must have taken me 3x longer to put together than comparable Lego creations.)
Category Archives: Miscellaneous
Something to think about when you enter the Apple store on Black Friday
IT’S A TRAP
By J.K. Appleseed
Last month, I invited Apple employees to send me funny stories, and they did not disappoint. (The invitation still stands, so please drop me a line!) Here are three of my favorites so far, plus a review.
This is my favorite:
Happy New Year
submitted by Qwerty
Five minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve, a few blocks from Times Square, a homeless man with a dazed look in his eyes wandered into our Apple Store. The Geniuses on overnight duty eyed him warily as he zigzagged his way to the person checking-in customers. When a genius called out the next appointment’s name, that man stumbled toward the bar. Waves of odor washed over so hard that neighboring Geniuses had to hold their breath. You could smell a decade of the city on the man. He pulled out a brand new iPod touch and set it on the bar. We relaxed a bit. It all seemed legit. Then, he pulled out a jar of his own urine and set that on the bar beside the iPod.
Perspective
Lasch or Rorty?
If you had to pick one of the two who would you choose? Gut reaction. Don’t overthink it.
Ann Jones and Andrew Bacevich, How the Wounded Return from America’s Wars: The Untold Story
For those in the Boston area, Ann Jones and Andrew Bacevich are giving a talk on Tuesday evening, Nov. 12, at First Parish in Waltham. Click through for details.
UPDATE: Their talk will be recorded by C-SPAN and broadcast later this week.
Defining elitism down
Students
Recommended reading
Three pieces. All short:
- Eli Bishop, 10 Myths About Introverts
- Garret Keizer, Privacy: It’s not just about you
- Garret Keizer, Left, Right, & Wrong