{"id":804,"date":"2011-12-31T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T15:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=804"},"modified":"2011-12-31T07:26:26","modified_gmt":"2011-12-31T14:26:26","slug":"christmas-story-how-to-slay-dragons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/804\/christmas-story-how-to-slay-dragons\/","title":{"rendered":"How to slay dragons"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story<\/i><\/p>\n

And now I am a man-killer.<\/p>\n

We live with the consequences of our choices, and we cannot fail to live with all the consequences of all our choices. Sic semper nobis, sic etiam mihi.<\/em> Thus always to us, thus even to me.<\/p>\n

Your money? Or your life? Your mind – the means of your life? Or your life – the end of your mind’s devising? Lie or die? Can any such choice be made? And if it can’t – what then?<\/p>\n

What if you choose neither?<\/p>\n

What then?<\/p>\n

I got mugged, that’s what happened. Or almost mugged, anyway. On New Year’s Eve of all days, the very last day of the bloodiest century in human history.<\/p>\n

I live on the edge of a world you barely know about, that place you read about in the newspaper, that fetid cavern that seems to house everything that is vicious and venomous and vile. I’m not interested in vice except as the object of derision, which is why I’m on the edge of that world. But I know the price of living where you do instead, and I choose not to pay it.<\/p>\n

So I was out on New Year’s Eve. Not out partying, not out driving drunk, not out shooting off fireworks or shooting off my mouth. I was out because that’s where I am almost all of the time, out walking the empty streets.<\/p>\n

Since before Thanksgiving I had been wandering within a mile or so of a big-city shopping mall. Not for any reason, but simply because I lacked the reason to go somewhere else. I see your story in what you do, in how you behave. If your story interests me I will stick around to watch you. Until I understand you. Or until I think I do. Or until I get bored.<\/p>\n

This is a fact, and it might be news to you: Stray dogs don’t stray far. The population of vagrants who infest the neighborhood around a big-city shopping mall is pretty stable. Homeless people, winos, addicts, runaways – you think they come and go. But in fact mostly they come and stay. Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story And now I am a man-killer. We live with the consequences of our choices, and we cannot fail to live with all the consequences of all our choices. Sic semper nobis, sic etiam mihi. Thus always to us, thus even to me. Your money? Or your life? Your mind – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-casual-friday","7":"category-egoism-in-action","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16941,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16941\/are-big-cities-hostile-to-middle-class-values-not-to-worry-big-data-will-make-it-all-worthwhile\/","url_meta":{"origin":804,"position":0},"title":"Are big cities hostile to middle class values? Not to worry! Big Data will make it all worthwhile.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Forbes today, and I shouldn't pick on them. Some of their writers are interesting. Not here, though, I'm afraid. Start wrong, stay wrong: What value has the big city provided, until now: it has provided urban citizens with access to technology In fact: Access to cheaper transportation of people, information\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/alice-pasqual-evvaSEv1QIE-unsplash-319x480.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6117,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6117\/if-the-question-is-what-should-a-bloodhound-do-if-awarded-the-pulitzer-prize-the-answer-is-drool\/","url_meta":{"origin":804,"position":1},"title":"If the question is, “What should a Bloodhound do if awarded the Pulitzer Prize?” — the answer is, “Drool…”","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Fanmail from some flounder:BloodhoundBlog: Will Pulitzer Come Calling? The BloodhoundBlog is a phenomenon; read it and you\u2019ll become addicted to the prose, the passion, and the gem-like jewels of news. It now has a cult following and it has achieved pinnacles of success in online media. But will Pulitzer\u2019s new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":890,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/890\/russ-russell-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":804,"position":2},"title":"Russ & Russell?","author":"Russell Shaw","date":"January 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to this post, Russ Cofano (of Rain City Guide fame) wrote: \"For a division of the United States government to allege some sort of Realtor price fixing in an industry that is so overloaded (sic) with competition that it almost defies belief IS breading hate and contempt.\" In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19278,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/19278\/bloodhoundbrag-fanniemae-and-freddiemac-are-finally-deploying-a-plan-we-proposed-in-2007\/","url_meta":{"origin":804,"position":3},"title":"BloodhoundBrag: FannieMae and FreddieMac are FINALLY deploying a plan we proposed in 2007…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"You know how it is. The NAR had to get itself sued to death first. Inasmuch as nothing is actually changing \u2013 adamantly, nothing \u2013 that works out to be a decent deal. Rotting giants fall hard, but sic semper tyrannosauris, as we have said all along.Here's what's what: Starting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/DivorceCommissionChart.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2694,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2694\/day-of-the-long-tail-how-broadcasting-lost-its-chokepoint\/","url_meta":{"origin":804,"position":4},"title":"Day of the Long Tail: How broadcasting lost its chokepoint","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Continuing, briefly with the idea of chokepoints and the economics of abundance: Broadcasting -- radio and television -- offers us a perfect example of how much bigger the economics of abundance is than mere data processing. Broadcast outlets, at their beginning, were both natural and man-made chokepoints: There were a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2710,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2710\/do-you-want-some-earth-shaking-news-in-showing-us-a-first-tentative-glimpse-of-its-new-mortgage-lending-product-zillowcom-may-in-fact-be-reinventing-and-perfecting-capitalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":804,"position":5},"title":"Do you want some earth-shaking news? 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