jmc's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=jmc2004-03-27T07:36:53ZOld Fashioned (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/jmc/writeups/Old+Fashionedjmchttp://m.everything2.com/user/jmc2004-03-27T07:36:53Z2004-03-27T07:36:53Z<p><strong>THE DEAN OF COCKTAILS</strong></p>
<p><a href="/title/The+Supper+of+the+Lamb">Let me begin with ceremony</a>:</p>
<p>The celebrants:</p>
<ul>
<li>Water, a splash;</li>
<li><a href="/title/Bitters">Bitters</a>, to match;</li>
<li>Sugar, such that you would fit in the hollow of a palm bent ninety degrees from the fingers;</li>
<li>Bourbon, two fingers’ worth, or enough to kindle the wood that waits behind the plate of bone which protects your chest;</li>
<li>Enough ice to make mountains in your glass;</li>
<li>One cherry, <a href="/title/maraschino+cherry">Maraschino</a>, with absolutely no accompanying syrup;</li>
<li>Two half moons from an orange;</li>
<li>Absolutely no <a href="/title/soda+water">soda water</a>. We will have no ablutions.</li>
</ul>
<p>And something to receive them: a cup not much higher than your hand is wide, and with a very heavy bottom, at least one half inch of glass. <a href="/title/The+Anchor+Song">An anchor</a>.</p>
<p>Though I am at heart a scientist I have no tolerance for exact measurements in food or drink. Variance and approximation are the core of the culinary<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Two States, Five Senses: The Michigan and New York Apple Gathering (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/jmc/writeups/Two+States%252C+Five+Senses%253A+The+Michigan+and+New+York+Apple+Gatheringjmchttp://m.everything2.com/user/jmc2002-09-27T23:19:04Z2002-09-27T23:19:04Z<p><strong>Tech Information for the <a href="/title/Michigan">Michigan</a> Contingent, and Photo Information for Everybody</strong></p>
<p><strong>Update Update:</strong> Everyone who came, whether they be Michigan or New York folk, is welcome (nay, encouraged) to put their pictures up on the gallery (http://pie.pirateship.org/assets/gallery). To do so you'll need a username and password, so /msg me. I'm happy to host, but please cut the filesize down as much as you can -- my connection doesn't rock nearly as much as I want it to. Once you've got the username 'n' password, you'll be able to add photos, delete photos, edit captions, etc. etc. etc., so have a good time.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> http://pie.pirateship org is up, though currently sparse and slow as hell. Go to.</p>
<p><strong>Q.</strong> Will there be internet connectivity?</p>
<p><strong>A.</strong> Yes. We've got <a href="/title/ADSL">ADSL</a> up and running, so for alls y'all who start shaking if you're away from a <a href="/title/terminal">terminal</a> for more than half an hour, we've got you covered. We're<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…commodity fetishism (idea)http://m.everything2.com/user/jmc/writeups/commodity+fetishismjmchttp://m.everything2.com/user/jmc2002-09-25T14:34:43Z2002-09-25T14:34:43Z<p><em>The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret Thereof</em> is the fourth section of the first chapter of the first volume of that huge freaking book, <em><a href="/title/Das+Kapital">Das Kapital</a></em>. Written by <a href="/title/Karl+Marx">Karl Marx</a> and edited by <a href="/title/Friedrich+Engels">Friedrich Engels</a>, <em><a href="/title/Fetishism">Fetishism</a></em> is one of the more accessible bits of Marx, and remains compelling even for many <a href="/title/capitalism">capitalist</a> critics of Marx's work. It is also a favorite section of <a href="/title/literary+theory">literary theorists</a>, and helped inspire the social criticism of <a href="/title/Theodor+Adorno">Theodor Adorno</a>, <a href="/title/Walter+Benjamin">Walter Benjamin</a>, <a href="/title/Pierre+Bourdieu">Pierre Bourdieu</a>, and <a href="/title/Louis+Althusser">Louis Althusser</a>.<p>
<p>Before delving into Marx's arguments, it's important to get some terms straight. <a href="/title/Semantics">Semantics</a> might be boring, but without it we might as well be speaking different languages. So, according to Marx:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Product:</strong></p>
<p>An <a href="/title/object">object</a> becomes a <em><a href="/title/product">product</a></em> when human labor is applied to it. For example, a tree is simply a raw resource, but if a person cuts it down, splits it into planks, and makes a<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></li><!-- close unclosed tag --></ul><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Caedmon's Hymn (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/jmc/writeups/Caedmon%2527s+Hymnjmchttp://m.everything2.com/user/jmc2002-09-16T15:53:26Z2002-09-16T15:53:26Z<p><strong>Why We Care: The Origins of <a href="/title/English">English</a> <a href="/title/poetry">Verse</a></strong></p>
<p>Composed somewhere between <a href="/title/658">658</a> and <a href="/title/680">680</a> <a href="/title/A.D.">A.D.</a>, Cædmon's Hymn is the earliest known <a href="/title/English">English</a> poem. Yes, true, it's not in a <a href="/title/language">language</a> that most English-speaking people can read, and yes, true, its poetic conventions seem very strange in an age where poetry is largely structured by complex <a href="/title/meter">meter</a> and <a href="/title/rhyme">rhyme</a>, but it is, nonetheless, a start to the written record of English poetry.</p>
<p><a href="/title/Old+English">Old English</a> is a <a href="/title/Saxon">Saxon</a> language, much closer to <a href="/title/German">German</a> than any of its modern descendents. What we think of today as English is a melding of this Saxon tongue with the language of the <a href="/title/Norman">Norman</a> <a href="/title/French">French</a>, who crossed the channel in <a href="/title/1066">1066</a> to rape, pillage, and change English forever. (Two of these were more intentional than the third.) It is only after the influence of French -- and, through it, <a href="/title/Greek">Greek</a> and <a href="/title/Latin">Latin</a> -- that we get an English that begins to resemble what you're looking at.</p>
<p>All the conventions of pre-1066 English<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…My Life had stood -- a Loaded Gun -- (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/jmc/writeups/My+Life+had+stood+--+a+Loaded+Gun+--jmchttp://m.everything2.com/user/jmc2002-09-12T11:41:58Z2002-09-12T11:41:58Z<p><em><a href="/title/754">754</a> (at least in the Johnson 1955 collection)</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
My Life had stood -- a <a href="/title/Loaded+Gun">Loaded Gun</a> --<br />
In Corners -- till a Day<br />
The <a href="/title/Owner">Owner</a> passed -- identified --<br />
And <a href="/title/carried+Me+away">carried Me away</a> --
</p>
<p>
<a href="/title/And+now+We+roam+in+Sovereign+Woods">And now We roam in Sovereign Woods</a> --<br />
<a href="/title/And+now+We+hunt+the+Doe">And now We hunt the Doe</a> --<br />
And every time <a href="/title/I+speak+for+Him">I speak for Him</a> --<br />
The Mountains straight reply --
</p>
<p>
And do I smile, such cordial light<br />
Upon <a href="/title/the+Valley">the Valley</a> glow --<br />
It is as a <a href="/title/Vesuvius">Vesuvian</a> face<br />
Had let its pleasure through --
</p>
<p>
And when at Night -- Our good Day done --<br />
I guard My <a href="/title/Master">Master's</a> Head --<br />
'Tis better than the <a href="/title/Eiderdown">Eider-Duck's</a><br />
Deep Pillow -- to have shared --
</p>
<p>
To foe of His -- I'm deadly foe --<br />
None stir the second time --<br />
On whom I lay a Yellow <a href="/title/Eye">Eye</a> --<br />
Or an emphatic Thumb --
</p>
<p>
Though I than He -- may longer live<br />
He longer must -- than I --<br />
For<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…July 15, 2002 (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/jmc/writeups/July+15%252C+2002jmchttp://m.everything2.com/user/jmc2002-07-16T16:00:50Z2002-07-16T16:00:50Z<p><a href="/title/Oh%252C+shit">Smoke poured out the seam between the hood and the sidepanel as my Volvo crested up the slight incline of the Sunoco parking lot and, friction getting the best of the last burst of speed I could coax from it, stopped</a>. <a href="/title/That%2527s+when+I+turned+the+music+off">That's when I turned the music off</a>. Full disclosure: it was not my Volvo, and I was in deep shit.</p>
<p>Luckily the car had made it off the freeway and chugged out in a fairly out-of-the-way swatch of parking lot. That way I didn't have to feel bad about being in anyone's way. When I popped the hood a huge gout of white, oil-smelling air blinded me briefly, and the heat radiating off the engine was enough to tell even someone who doesn't know cars, someone like me, that this particular vehicle was staying put, <a href="/title/thank+you+very+much">thank you very much</a>.</p>
<p>Hanging off the concrete poles of the station was a paper towel dispenser and a small reservoir of filthy water, the handle of a <a href="/title/squeegee">squeegee</a> protruding jauntily to one side. I grabbed a mess of towels, soaked them, and used the wet lump of<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…