David Mamet.

He has an article in the Grauniad today, on the subject of film scripts. A brief excerpt:

A statistician friend told me she had determined this : that the odds of winning the lottery are so small, it does not significantly lower the odds not to have bought a ticket [ . . . ] one might, with equal chance of success, hope to find the winning lottery ticket on the sidewalk

Meanwhile, here at work, very little is working. I shall leave this place in a couple of hours, and return to my wider life, in which very little is working. At least I have consistency on my side.

I realised while watching Near Dark last night that I don't have a copy of the Cramps' version of Fever. This is a serious omission. Also, Jenny Wright, while very pretty, also looks distinctly odd in a way I can't quite put my finger on.

Reading matter.

Firstly, this article from the Black Commentator, nominally on "Why Black Americans should oppose the war" - but fascinating reading for anyone, I'd say, because of its take on the possible impact on the global oil trade. Thanks to oakdryad for pointing it out.

Heavy demand makes winter fuel prices the highest of the year, and prices spike when an oil producer like Iraq is attacked. Best to fight in the spring and summer when prices are low. That's just the first lesson in the nexus between oil, money, time and the taking of other people's property by force.

On a darker and stranger note, mr_tom pointed out this article from the Miami New Times about a somewhat intense oral mythos that has grown up among homeless children. I read this at one in the morning, which I'm not sure is to be recommended. It was quite unsettling.

Another article about terrorism.

This one, in fact, from today's Guardian, entitled "I'm not going to respond to terrorism by becoming a terrorist", which is a series of interviews with people who've lost relatives to terror attacks or policies (by various definitions).


A couple of my longer-standing friends in particular may find this interesting in other ways than just for the content.