I don't have time even to mail it in this week

(Original title: Something with "fucking", from 11/9, give or take a day. I'm combining all the NFL stuff into two posts, as an anti-clutter move. Two rather than one, because 26 people seem to have stumbled onto the Buffett vs. Gladwell entry, so I will let that stand as is, for the benefit of all who ponder the great questions.)

While browsing the used book racks at the Strand, I noticed a book called "The Shadow Knows", by a Diane Johnson, on the chance that it was about the pulp and radio hero Kent Allard/Lamont Cranston (before my time admittedly but I'm into that sort of thing) and on the inside cover was the signature "Daphne Merkin". The name rang a bell, and I wondered if I should pay the two bucks for it (even though the book, as it turned out, had nothing to do with that Shadow),just for the sake of the autograph. The foolishness or sagacity of the decision, though, depended on who Daphne Merkin actually was, and I had a feeling that if in fact it was not just my imagination and that I had in fact heard of her before, she was probably someone of the reviews-books-in-the-Times-or-some-such-no-apologies-necessary-impressive-in-its-own-right-but-let's-face-it-who-cares? type of fame, and in that case I would think about the cup of coffee I could have bought instead, especially since at this point in my life, one more book that takes up space and that I will probably have to junk anyway if I am forced to move out within three days, which seems increasingly likely, seems even more dispensable than usually. Anyway, having looked her up, I would say my hunch was correct, although she was the subject of a Susie Bright piece titled "Daphne Merkin Needs to Get Spanked Again" a few years ago, which would certainly have made good scrapbook material back in the offline days, especially if you don't bother to read the article, which is rather unflattering.

I had actually planned to put a bit of thought into these picks but I'm tired now and it's very late, so I won't. Once again, this idea of picking all the times was inspired by Larry Merchant's book about the betting side of the game, written in 1973. I thought that to persist with it all season long would be a real demonstration of maturity, but I have decided now that it takes even more maturity to abort a project that your heart and brain were never really in. So I'll take the raiders, TITANS, eagles, bills, COLTS, seahawks bengal, BEARS, 49ers, CARDINALS, broncos, cowboys and dolphins +7, -12.5, +1 (major, major line shift from the PACK to the eagles. I wonder what that's about?)+3, -9.5, -5, -1.5, pick, 6, 2.5, 7, 6.5, and 2.5.

Best bet--Don't commit to things you're not into. Also, this is the end, at least until the post season, which I really should be seeded into. Really tired, time for bed. Also, I will condense, I think, all the NFL posts into one. I'd delete them all but I don't want to seem to be trying to change the past. Also, when I combine, I will not leave this obscene title up, but for now it just expresses my mood so well.

...so I am picking all teams whose nicknames ("Giants", "Vikings") precede those of their opponents alphabetically, as long as the alphabetically-firsts are not favored by more than 2.5, in which case I pick the other side. Even the time it cost me to post this is hard to justify, but I am just that diligent about this blog. Just for the record, I am passing on any games that may already have happened, even though I have no idea of the outcome.

I'll sleep on the title (10/20/13)

Just some random crap to fill space till I get down to business....

All the free rice I have earned for the world on "freerice", and I still have to pay for rice at the supermarket.

I wasn't feeling it with this week's New Yorker cartoon caption contest. Also, I expect to be nominated for last week's, so why waste any brain cells?

On a strictly local note, if Marble Hill is in Manhattan, then the World Trade Center is in the Hudson River. But after all, we're all Pangaeans.

Relatedly, I resent having to scroll down to "New York" on web registration pages. Why isn't New York at the top, the way USA is often atop the nations list? Also, scroll down to 1965? Sorry, I'm not as young as I used to be.

I used to exult in my maleness because I could do both the patrilineal and the matrilineal test on the Genographic project. But now that I can do the 2.0 test for 2.0 x the $, I am exulting 2.0 x as much.

I had a cold last week. It went like this: Day 1-- Sore throat. Day 2-- Sorer throat, nose running like a faucet by end day. Day 3-- Nose still running hard, sneezing some. Day 4--Throat not sore at all, not sneezing, but occasional cough. Days 5, 6, 7 (I think; losing track now)-- Just mucus, phlegm to expel from time to time. No feeling of sickness otherwise. I worked throughout. Had to. Might as well earn money while feeling miserable. To treat the cold, I drank tea with lemon instead of coffee. Coffee tastes bad when I am sick. Tea with lemon (and milk), great. Speaking of coffee, I make buy/don't buy decisions based on this consideration--would I rather have this book (say), or half a cup (say) of coffee? So I bought more books than usual last week.

In case you don't know (and why would you?), I work on top of one of those tour buses. So I am in touch with the streets. So here is the word on the street today: hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare.

The greatest invention of my life has been the autosave feature, such as the one on blogger.com .

When I cared about sports, my favorite sports columnist was Red Smith. Now that I don't, it's Phil Mushnick. Ok, on with business:

Seattle*, ne, sd (it takes more to impress me than beating a 28 point spread, Jags), DETROIT, buffalo, chicago, dallas, st. l, tb, tenn, KC (why only -6?), cleveland, baltimore, denver, minnesota (I could see pick 'em, maybe, but Giants favored?), -6.5, -3.5, -7.5, -2.5, +8, pick, +3, +6, +7, +4, -6, +10, +1.5, -6.5, +3.5.

Best bet: If you want to go out shoplifting, make sure you leave your dead baby at home.

* Ok, I see before posting that it has been played already, and Seattle won/covered, so I won't count it. But I would have been right.

P.S. I am right now fixing up the Sunday NY Times "KenKen", which I have screwed up, because I hate to leave it half-done, but this will be the last one I do in my life (solve, that is, not create. I have not and will not ever create one).