WickerNipple's New Writeups

Getting an apartment in New York City versus getting an apartment elsewhere (idea)

2002-01-23T17:02:52Z

Getting an apartment in New York City can be an exceptionally difficult practice that involves much foot work, guile, street savvy and generally understanding how things work in NYC. And while horror stories do abound, they're not always the case. The most important thing to keep in mind when dealing with brokers and the entire system is patience.

In order to give you, the gentle reader, some feeling that things sometimes turn out all right in the end I'm going to tell the story of how The Compound found its home - which wasn't painless and wasn't easy, also wasn't a nightmare.

...And since Purvis' step-by-step format is so right on that I can't improve on it, I'm just going to use it myself for ease of reference.

The apartment we live in was listed in the paper. Right there in the back of the Voice... "2,500 sq ft loft space in Williamsburg, near trains, no broker fee, $2000/m

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Trouble on Triton (thing)

2002-01-02T04:41:03Z

A conversational future, narrated by a fool.

Samuel R. Delany is a master of Utopia. His constructions never fail to impose their beliefs and social cosmologies on the reader. Utopian literature exists for one purpose alone - to expose the failings of a present society within the failings of a supposedly perfect one. Trouble on Triton does so, but not by illustrating the failure of his own creation, but rather the failures of those who inhabit it.

Delany's tale is one of a land where there is no poverty, no issues of race or gender, no suffering and infinite creative freedom. No one has to work, and yet most do - not because the society demands it, but rather because it gives those who toil a sense of fulfillment or a sense of advancement within social ranks. Social ranks which are acknowledged by the narrator (Bron) as useless - and yet still desired.

Still more desired by…

The Limited Edition "Participate in Your Own Manipulation" Poster (thing)

2001-11-09T02:47:51Z

Looks like I've nominated myself to take care of this list... feel free to /msg me to be added to the big ole long one.

Interested users thus far:

IainB (1) pd
Lost and Found (1) pd
AndieX (3) pd
knifegirl (1)
ocelotbob (1) pd
jet poop (1) pd
Epyon (1) pd
KillerPenguin (1)
Demeter (2)
simonc (1) pd
azzer (1)
Templeton (1)
bozon (1) pd
panamaus (1) pd
SabbatAngel (2) pd
jaubertmoniker (1)
mr100percent (1)
elluzion (3)
GangstaFeelsGood (1) pd
jethro bodine (1) pd
McWhizzleteeth (1)
QXZ (1) pd
yossarian (1) pd
The New York City Noder Compound (2) pd
Toxick (1)
Chattering Magpie (1)
killermonkeys (1) pd
Roninspoon (3) pd
glyph (1)
Reverend Raven (1) pd
brassmule (2) pd
senso (1)
Geekachu (1)
bis (1) pd
Modnar (1) pd

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liquid nicotine (thing)

2001-07-26T16:23:23Z

A very toxic poison that is virtually tasteless and without color.

Prior to the last ten years, liquid nicotine has seen very little use outside of the lab and the occasional pesticide. More recently, with anti-smoking products that use liquid nicotine to replace the inhaled variety, acute cases of nicotine poisoning both intentional and unintentional have arrisen.

Those who know their Truman Capote will remember that liquid nicotine plays the role of murder weapon in his nonfiction novella Handcarved Coffins. But that was an exceptional rarity then, since it has become a common household product these days numerous instances of the substance being utilized to that end have cropped up - including the suicide of a Phillip Morris researcher on June 6, 2000.

The first decision to use liquid nicotine in a market fashion came from Dr. Frank Etscorn who invented and patented the nicotine patch which hit stores in 1992. Follow-up products that also utilized liquid…

Letter to the Editor of WomenCentral@microsoft.com (thing)

2001-07-25T21:43:22Z

Ya know... I've never written a letter to the editor before - but some things I simply can't abide...

To Whom It May Concern,

...when on April 9th msn.com made the incredibly poor decision to post the article "Is Anorexia Genetic?" right next to an article about the best way for women to lose weight quickly just in time for the summer bathing months I was a little shocked. I decided that either your web designers have a healthy grasp of irony and don't mind making msn look a little bad, or your layout staff lacks a certain amount of understanding of the world. Passing off a social issue as a scientific problem that can't be helped while simultaneously rubbing in the exact same patriarchy-driven image consciousness that someone in your position as an editor of a woman's magazine should fully understand is reprehensible.

But not not nearly as reprehensible as your most recent article titled "Friends: Keeping them after you

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Walking in NYC (idea)

2001-07-24T14:47:28Z

Over and above all other considerations - if you wish to learn how to walk in NYC the best possible advice that can be given is walk like you know where you're going.

See, for the most part unless you've done something to deserve it, the less savory elements of NYC life tend to target outsiders. Whether that be outsiders to a given neighborhood or tourists makes little difference.

If you look like you don't belong in a given place your likelihood of being fucked with by someone you don't want to be fucked with by increases significantly.

Walk with confidence, don't dawdle, keep your eyes in front of you or down and you can walk relatively at ease in any neighborhood in the entire city and never be hassled for all your days...