Why everything sucks.

Record Store Day: TODAY!

Today is Record Store Day. Your local shop should be selling dozens of limited edition singles, LPs and the like as well as running sales and various in-store events. Personally I'm hoping to pick up that Beck/Sonic Youth split and the funk/soul label compilation This LP Crashes Hard Drives (aka This Album Crashes Hard Drives). Vinyl Fever, one of my local shops, seems to be making the most out of today.

Damnit!

So EDGE (the iPhone's network connection) had some sort of dead zone in the crowd at the rally. Took me more than 30 minutes before that last liveblog post actually went out. I took copious notes though and I'll post stuff tomorrow. Also I found out I had internal memory on my Nikon so even though I forgot my SD card I was able to snap a few better quality pics. Picked up a hat (like this but with an Obama logo and the pre-worn effect you might see on douchey jeans), a shirt and my Obama/Biden yard signs ordered LAST MONTH finally arrived. Merchandising +1.

Somebody bought the Construct of the Universe

What a lucky duck! Someone on eBay bought the Construct of the Universe (more specifically "electromagnetic energy supply-gravitational dynamics") for a measly $21,000,000. That might sound like a lot but keep in mind the shipping is free, and that's all the way from Australia.

It offers the real and plausible potential to change the evolutionary progress of humanity through the understanding, interaction and manipulation capabilities of gravitational dynamics and the Transverse Magnetic Poling principle system utilizing both the direct effects and indirect effects of electro magnetic radiation mass energy release and gravitational disruption. The G-ion theorem implicates the long sought after answer to the puzzle of the cosmic 'makeup of everything' which opens the door to unmeasured potentials.

And with a seller rating of zero you know you can trust him... her... it. Beats those "you are bidding on a picture of" a Wii/PS3/PS2 etc. by far.

Death Cookies

The Journal of Consumer Research recently reported on a study by two social psychologists showing people with low self-esteem shop more and eat more cookies after mulling over death. Volunteers were given the task of writing about either death or going to the dentist, those with high self-esteem were only marginally effected.

"When you indulge in shopping or eating, it helps you forget yourself. One would hope that companies do not exploit this by putting food ads straight after the news," says Dirk Smeesters at Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

That seems to be the modus for most compulsion, fear and anxiety. Addiction means doing something to the point of interference with one's life including self regard, so the experiment would probably work with sex, gambling, drugs and alcohol, though I wouldn't want to test it.

(via New Scientist)