“Can I get a cup of water?”

“We don’t have water here.”

I was at a Pinkberry in LA earlier in the week overpaying for desert and I got thirsty and assumed they’d give me a drink for free. But they didn’t. And I guess I should have gotten mad–it’s pretty awful customer service–but I couldn’t. I respect the balls that that took. Somewhere along the line, someone made the conscious choice not to serve water. IKEA did it too. Someone said “Why do we pay to give everyone bags that they just throw away when they get home?” and they stopped doing it.

You can see countless examples of industries that have decided to die with whatever practices they were born with. The album, regardless of whatever musicians cry, is not a collective artistic statement. It’s just a packaging device designed to deal with fixed costs. Otherwise, iTunes would show that songs in “classic” albums were downloaded equally. Nope, 3 or 4 songs are almost always significantly more popular than others while others are almost actively disliked. But bands keep cranking out albums even though they could sell the songs online as they make them. Why isn’t the mail delivered on Sunday? Why do the newspapers still publish stock tables? Why do cars still have cigarette lighters instead of electrical outlets? And why does the penny even exist anymore?

Because no one has bothered to stop and questioned “the way things have always been.”

The United States Constitution of the isn’t a suicide-pact. Should anything else be? Things are changing at a phenomenal rate of speed. You cannot get in the habit of traditional or emulative thinking. If the data doesn’t support your position, you’re probably being generous when you call it a position. Business have at least some excuse: Bureaucracy. What excuse do we [people] have?

[*] I started taking Flaxseed oil (pills) everyday and a Vitamin Water. I feel more energetic and waking up in the morning hasn’t been the awful–I wish I was dead–experience that it always used to be.

[*]This Free Rice game is amazing. It’s like Puppy War but with an academic rationalization.

[*]Got this quote from someone.

“The first step — especially for young people with energy and drive and talent,

but not money — the first step to controlling your world is to control your

culture. To model and demonstrate the kind of world you demand to live in. To

write the books. Make the music. Shoot the films. Paint the art.” Chuck Palahniuk

[*]Have a TON of books I want to get into. This is the list.

[*] I mentioned the word “viral” in my in this post about marketing. I will never use the word again. I just heard someone use it to describe the paid distribution of fliers outside a concert. Officially, done.

People are liars. They just fucking lie all the time. “This is how much traffic I do.” “I’m actually went to high school with [insert celebrity]“ “I got in to this college, this college and this college, but I inexplicably decided to go to [lesser college]“ “I’ve been with [this many] chicks” Most of the time, when people tell me anything about themselves, I just assume they are exaggerating–if not flat-out lying.

John Boyd forced all his acolytes to underestimate numbers when they were in their favor and be generous when they weren’t. And then when they were challenged, the real math only proved them more correct and made the bluff-caller look like an idiot. I figure that’s not a bad way to live your life. It’s certainly more moral to be honest. For instance, I don’t count any book as read if I didn’t go from cover to cover. I can’t say I run 5 miles a day anymore because I’ve reduced it to about 4 and started eating better–so you won’t see me say 5 unless that’s what the number is again. And as a added benefit, it pushes you to match your actions with the standing declarations you have made.

I assume most of the people who matter as as skeptical as I am. Because really, it’s just not probable that every single athlete I’ve ever talked to “won State.” [Really? What was the score of the New Hampshire Bowl?] So by being totally honest, you’re already being underestimated. And being overestimated is a short-term, ego-driven strategy.