Famous among dozens
From Esquire, Jan. 2008
“What are you really doing? At the core? My answer is—and this is what I’ve learned—you’re basically getting people to trust you.” Steve Wynn, Hotelier
“The most powerful tool of all is the word no.” Andy Grove, Former chairman of Intel
I just finished reading “The Atrocity Files: Deciphering the Archives of Guatemala’s Dirty War” (subscriber-only link), an amazing article in Dec. 2007 Harpers. It’s about how investigators in Guatemala stumbled across five buildings of decaying records about people who were “disappeared” by the government during Guatemala’s civil war.
Here’s the original posting from the National Security Archive’s Guatemala Documentation Project. Please go look at the photos, they’ll make your brain swim. You can see the scope of the project to preserve these documents, and to get information to families of those who were murdered by police. Many of the records were left lying in heaps exposed to the weather and vermin.
All those people inside the files remind me of the fictional house in Everything is Illuminated that contains the belongings of a town decimated by the Nazis. Dusty boxes full of keys, and pocket squares, and baby teeth. It must be a peculiar sensation to begin preservation work, to feel so much loss and possibility in the same room.
When you want to have the president arrested for war crimes, just maybe skip the beret. You know, just that day.
I just wrote a Gift Subscriptions guide for The Morning News that could help out if you’re still searching for gifts. While you’re there, I had a couple of tips in the Hangover Cures feature as well.
First lines from a sampling of flyers selected from the window ledge to my left:
-“Gibson Pearl’s unique fusion bellydance roots from her extensive background in tribal, as well as the influence of both traditional folkloric and contemporary modern dance.”
-“LE NOIR ET ROUGE, A sexy black and red festivity where scarlet matches the energy and passion of the females and the black color of the night compliments the men of fashionable character.”
-“International CLITORIS DAY CELEBRATION, A celebration of female sexuality that is appealing to all!”
I can’t believe we’re not gonna be home this weekend.
Me: One of my hairs is trapped under tiles.
Bryan: A criminologist would be interested.
Me: What are you saying there?
Bryan: Things could get ugly if I lose.
And the award for gadget least likely to get you laid goes to…
From CNN:
“Why Bad Kissers Don’t Get to Second Base”
Next week, we’ll read the second and third parts of this enlightening series:
“Why He Lowered His Standards for the Smokin’ Hot Chick” and
“Why That Girl Who Won’t Stop Talking About Her Daddy is Still Single”
New Mighty Goods Finds items for today:
In Kalamazoo, Melissa and I score an upgrade to a suite at the Radisson. It’s enormous.
Melissa: This room is the first time I’ve ever wished I was a teenager again, so we could throw a raging party.
Me: And have hot teenage sex.
Melissa: There’s no such thing as hot teenage sex.
Me: What!? You’re forgetting all about the hot teenage boys.
Melissa: I guess you could have like twenty seconds of hot teenage sex.
Me: Hot teenage hotel room sex with someone in the bed next to you who has to pretend to be asleep.
Melissa: Haaaaaaahhht.
Mighty Girl 