9gag:

Just a fact

went to professor arnold’s office hours today, not necessarily to ask a question/complain. i just wanted to chat. he’s done so much random shit in his lifetime. and since he’s not going to be at smg anymore, i figured i’d better take any advice he can give me while i can.

i asked him why he likes to collect stamps. the question seemed to catch him off guard. which was almost unsettling considering parnold always seems to have an answer for everything and is usually the one catching other people off guard. he told me about how every saturday as a kid, he’d make his way to this store downtown (where a macy’s now stands) and buy several stamps with his allowance of thirty cents. but there were other stamps. rare ones. expensive ones. he’d admire them and tell himself that one day, he’d have enough money to buy those stamps.

granted, he made thousands buying collectibles in bulk and strategically reselling them. and there’s a fascinating historical component in the valuation of a stamp. but there was something so innocent about his collection. about collections in general that i’m jealous of. there’s something about quietly collecting something, quietly admiring the collection, and quietly tucking them away in a special corner of a shelf or desk that is so admirable to me. i thought about what i would most likely want to collect. christian louboutin shoes. vintage roadsters. etc. but they all seemed to lack that innocence, functioning more as status symbols and ego feeders than sources of simple accomplishment. 

the only things people collect these days are facebook friends and linkedin connections. but really you’re not collecting much of anything. you’re increasing a number. a number that’s really just an artificial representation of the worth of your so-called network. and you can’t tuck that digital number away in a special corner of a shelf. 

deadpresidents:

Anonymous asked: Do you think Bush dumbed himself down to try to relate to the middle class?

Yes. So did Clinton, Bush 41, Reagan, and Carter — and those are just the modern Presidents; anti-intellectualism has been a campaign strategy for two centuries.

Carter is one of…

the amount of mediocrity in this world is practically overwhelming. really though.