Church Youth Rush to Eat Their Veggies -- <a href="http://www.reuters.com/">Reuters</a> -- Chicago -- October 4, 2002 -- Churches all across the United States have made extensive preparations for the opening of the Veggie Tales movie, <a href="http://www.jonahmovie.com/">Jonah</a>, tonight. In addition to the large number of white middle-class families expected at the premier, there is also a very large teen and pre-teen contingent to watch out for, says national youth worker and English teacher <a href="http://monkhouse.blogspot.com/">David Hopkins</a>. "These 'youth group kids,' as those of us in the industry call them, can not only cause social pandemonium in public spaces," Hopkins said in an interview earlier today, "but their acceptance or rejection of the Jonah movie will most certainly single-handedly spell the financial rise or ruin of BigIdea." <a href="http://www.bigidea.com/">BigIdea</a>, the Lombard, IL, based media company responsible for veggie-mania, is indeed banking on the success of Jonah. "I haven't felt this much stress and pressure to succeed since I worked for the Southern Baptist Convention," said Phil Vischer, founder of BigIdea and originator of all BigIdea's big ideas. <img src="http://www.oklahoma.net/~silvrdal/boblarry.gif" align="left" hspace="10px">However, if the ramp up of church youth groups throughout the 48 continental states is any indication, Vischer will be able to sleep tight this weekend. "There's never been an event this big, ever�in my experience, at least," said <a href="mailto:father_cum_mings@christianpornmachine.com">Father Cummings</a>, a youth worker in the Catholic church in Boston, MA. In more than 5,000 churches, youth pastors and volunteers (mostly community college students and retirees) set up tables, tea, and tracks in their church facilities and in front of movie theaters. One church in suburban Oklahoma City, OK, actually printed "Veggies for your mind and soul" tracks to hand out during the premier tonight. Church leaders, who preferred to remain nameless, reported that they originally planned on using "Jonah got his warning, here's yours" tracks, tying in with the theme of the movie, but upon consultation with <a href="http://www.leonardsweet.com/">Leonard Sweet</a>, a famous church writer and coffee shop commenter, they decided against it with a 5-4 elder board vote. <img src="http://pentwaterbaptist.org/library/veggie.jpg"> children of all ages clamor over Veggie merchandise Across the border in Canada, even though the total population is only 350, church leaders have realized both the spiritual and financial implications of Jonah. "With so many church-going teenagers amassing in one place (the Jonah premier tonight --Ed.), this is a tremendous opportunity for the church to save these kids--some of them for the third or fourth time," said <a href="http://www.jordoncooper.sk.ca/">Jordon Cooper</a>, a pastor at <a href="http://www.lakeviewchurch.com/">Lakeview Church</a> in <a href="http://www.mapquest.com/maps/print.adp?mapdata=hP0urGiog%2be1PIOjKvDnODG%2f7Emb2XEjJz1%2f%2fZ0hFrgJX%2bsS%2f%2f6YzWIIpuFOHJ%2b%2fP6ToLHQkdk65wpBt0gx4bRMtiIX9%2fnByHEREkOsWsdz4vPP8wte5Ca5ZdrYd%2be%2f7HO%2bjfZipkOIFQPcyZS81vFZtgJkbWe9hrCrFJnA0XQQIgTalVysW89hNODxNXfbg1SGZdGdlYa7YnO6zcGunN%2bKu7id4FHzzQdwhfyyCElnf25xnLdCoi9RXQSJT5BRJMPlm6ZJrOixaIZulXoSICaqWUjQ89nFWZFn199pJ6%2f0%3d">Saskatoon</a>, Saskatchewan. "Besides, if these youth group kids don't make it out and BigIdea goes under, we'll be back to <a href="http://www.bibleman.com/">BibleMan</a>, and no one wants that, really." 82534607daniel millerFriday, October 04, 2002publish<img src="images/ch911004.gif"> <img src="images/ch911004ii.jpg"> i get daily calvin and hobbes via email from <a href="http://www.ucomics.com/a2z_list.phtml">ucomics</a>. 82520609daniel millerpublishfinally, someone does <a href="http://www.rathergood.com/punk_kittens/">something appropriate with White Stripes music</a>. 82515832daniel millerpublish<img src="images/storm_troopers_at_baby_gap.jpg" height="533" width="400"> photo by kris rosenblatt from <a href="http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=33484&group=webcast">here</a> 82477329daniel millerThursday, October 03, 2002publishI've fearfully updated the syndication area of this page/site. The main reason for the fear is that loading all these RSS feeds off of other sites means a few more split-seconds of load time per feed; and a dead feed will really bog things down. SO, please do let me know how goes it. <a href="mailto:spam@danielsjourney.com">email</a> One thing I do like about my syndication feeds is their diversity. <s>No offense, but somebody's going to have to be pretty damn interesting to get in there (altho u already have to be pretty interesting to get into the links).</s> Update: That's all really relevant, isn't it? But at current I have 1 web writer/semantic theorist, 1 straight forward news feed from my fav city's paper (but not directly from them, mind you, filtered a tad), 1 (fav) webzine, and 1 fellow technologist/info. architect blogger... I did take Paul (ftrain) Ford's advice and stuck a thing in my parsing script that takes just the most recent 3 entries from each feed. I do wish people would publish feeds in, say, 5, 10, and 15 last entry versions. It takes just that much longer to load the feed when there are 15 entries in it; quite a waste when I only want the first three. This is something that the Lightweight Widget Moving System will definately need to have, eventually! 82473448daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/notablesites/2002-10-02-homeless_x.htm">USATODAY.com - A homeless guy finds a refuge on the Internet</a> 82470804daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24910-2002Sep30.html">Music Firms Settle Lawsuit (washingtonpost.com)</a> 82467080daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.adbusters.org"><img src="http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/43/img/cover.gif" align="left" hspace="10" border="0"></a>so i know i said i have no time, but i've been meaning to share this stuff for a while and i don't think i'll do it if i don't do it now. my latest copy of adbusters. read this this morning: Manifesto (in progress): When we talk about "the system," it sounds like warmed-over Marx. But then, who can deny that there is "a system"? Am I right? So, the system. The system can absorb almost every act of protest. Violence, for example. The system absorbs violence quite nicely, thank you. Almost without a bump. Still. The system is very poorly equipped to handle certain changes. Such as: it doesn't cope well with less. That is, people who ask less, not more, of the system. People who do not contribute to "growth." Who don't go to the doctor that often, or take in a lot of movies, or consider a three-blade razor an improvement on a two-blade. The act of asking for less, not more, is a radical act--far more radical than it's ever given credit for. If you don't believe me, ask yourself why, after modern history's most appalling act of terrorism, the President of the United States of America would tell his people to keep on shopping or the terrorists win. Here's why: consumption keeps the system standing. Take away consumption, and you need to come up with a radically different system. That said, dropping out and joining a commune is volunteering to put your ideas in quarantine. And besides, communes tend to be a bit heavy on the rules. A tad monolithic. We do not live in communes because we refuse to cede the culture. We prefer to be within the culture, a disturbance. We are in the process of imagining the next civilization while living within the existing one... by James MacKinnon. You'll have to buy the mag to read the rest of it (that article is not online)... <a href="http://www.barcodeart.com/art/portrait/bar_code_jesus_02_01.html">and this is the back cover</a> 82418226daniel millerWednesday, October 02, 2002publishTonight I see my fav author, <a href="http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net">Chuck P</a>, at a book signing downtown. Cul. 82417481daniel millerpublishso i really don't have any time for blogging today, honestly, but I just got done with my bosnian lesson for today and needed a little mental break. i'm so tired i feel like my face is made out of rubber. i can take my cheeks and move them all around my face and i feel nothing. no blood. no nervous sensation. i don't know where all my blood is, but it's not in my brain or face (and no, not down there, either). i feel like i just gave a few pints of blood, and i've never given any blood (i know, shame on me). so i leave you with a little bosnian, for your education and edification. I call these exercises "apsurdne posoriste" (try to imagine the accent marks), absurd theatre: Momak jeden: Mozes li ici u Slovacku? Dude one: Are you going to Slovakia? Momak dva: Da, mogu ici u Slovacku. Dude two: Yeah, I'm going to Slovakia. 1: Ne mogu ici u Slovacku. :( I'm not going to Slovakia. (frowny face) 2: Zasto ne mozes ici u Slovacku? Why aren't you going to Slovakia? 1: Ne mogu dobiti visu. I can't get visa. 2: Zasto ne mozes dobiti visu? Why can't you get visa? 1: Ne mogu jesti sir. I can't eat cheese. 2: Zar ne mozes jesti sir? {:\ You can't eat cheese? (crinkly forehead confused look) 1: Ne mogu. Mogu jesti sir od soye. I can't. I can eat soy cheese. (...blah blah blah etc etc...) 2: Ne mozes dobiti visu u Slovackoj zatosto ne mozes jesti normalni sir? You can't get visa to Slovakia because you can't eat normal cheese? 1: Da. To je stvarno tako. Yep. That's a fact! (lit. "That's really so.") 82417270daniel millerpublish<a href="http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/10/01#When:8:32:07AM">from scriptingnews</a>, Athens GA is installing WiFi all over downtown. yet another reason to move. (just in case you are lost, previous two reasons being REM and Bill Mallonee). 82416098daniel millerpublishthis is mostly for me, but who knows... <a href="http://www.aaronsw.com/">http://www.aaronsw.com/</a> 82415909daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.mrmann.com/">chrismann photography</a> I actually didn't get this from consumptive, I got it from <a href="http://www.lightinoctober.com/">light in october</a>, which I got from a flyer at CG last night. 82383878daniel millerTuesday, October 01, 2002publishBelieve those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. :: Andre Gide The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent that autocracy, more selfish that bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. :: Abraham Lincoln No truly sophisticated proponent of repression would be stupid enough to shatter the facade of democratic institutions. :: Murray B. Levin The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on occasion that I wish it to be always kept alive...What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that its people preserve the spirit of resistance. :: Thomas Jefferson If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito. :: Anita Roddick When people have lost their authentic personal taste, they lose their personality and become the instruments of other people's wills. :: Robert Graves Every minute in front of a TV camera doing an interview is a minute wasted. :: Paul Ford Hype is the glittering rhinestone on the jumpsuit of mediocrity that catches our eye and makes us think, "Hey maybe the Spice Girls don't suck." It's the triumph of substance over style, predicated on the sad truth that most of us, if the gift-wrapping on the outside of the box is fancy enough, we won't notice that inside there's nothing but a big pile of dung. :: Dennis Miller 82382660daniel millerpublish<img src="images/Homedebw_SM.jpg"> went to home depot today and when i got home i had to make this, if only for the art therapy... 82367386daniel millerpublish<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1863391264">wanna buy a bike??</a> 82332002daniel millerMonday, September 30, 2002publishYou know, living in a hi-rise SO close to Ronald Regan Int'l Airport is a little frightening sometimes when the sliding glass door is wide open and they're making their northerly approach... 82314335daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.pinhole.com/exhibits/Roth/">Marian Roth, pinhole shack</a> 82314074daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.pinholevisions.org/">Pinhole Visions, The Art of Pinhole Photography</a> 82314065daniel millerpublish<img src="http://www.wirtzgallery.com/works/rovner/images/mr9997_thumb.jpg" align="left" hspace="10" vspace="10"><a href="http://www.wirtzgallery.com/works/rovner/works_rovner.html">Michal Rovner</a> (i get mostly all my photo links from my co-University-of-Arizona-graduates-marrying-foreigners-and-moving-abroad <a href="http://consumptive.org/weblog/blog.html">consumptive</a>) 82272940daniel millerSunday, September 29, 2002publish<a href="http://www.gameneverending.com/">also interesting</a> (and also <a href="http://www.sotto.org/">from sotto</a>) 82272177daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www-bcs.mit.edu/people/adelson/checkershadow_illusion.html">this is a cul illusion</a> (from <a href="http://www.sotto.org/">sotto</a>) 82272033daniel millerpublishGB02 <img src="images/gb02/graces_shrine.jpg"> graces shrine. friday. there were "shrines" (also known as "white birdhouses") all over the venue, which were given to different groups (mostly alt.worship groups) to do something with. graces ended up being the only one i checked out. you took a "kiss" stamp and stamped/kissed the shrine itself. (by the end of the festival the whole thing was covered in bright red kisses.) then u took some perfume and sprayed yourself. this was undoubtably a more popular part of the installation later on in the festival! <img src="images/gb02/Scan10002.jpg"> alt worship venue. thursday night/maybe friday day i forget. Steve and i popped by the alt.worship venue ("new forms") while they were still setting it up. <a href="http://www.flickerweb.co.uk/">Adam</a> was doing a lot of work with the TVs and video projectors (he does this for a living for the BBC by the way--for work and charity--wow what commitment! :) and i got this shot while they were still getting everything going. something inherently cool about test patterns. didn't quite frame it the way i intended, tho. 2 bad. <img src="images/gb02/teatent_pianoii.jpg"> tiny tea tent. friday. took this at the same time i took the <a href="http://danielsjourney.com/index.php?archive=2002_09_01_archive.xml&id_pass=82108186">first GB image i posted</a>. this piano was in tune. no idea how they pull that off moving it every week and having people bang on it all the time. must have a piano tuner travelling with them! <img src="images/gb02/teatent2.jpg"> <img src="images/gb02/teatent3.jpg"> tiny tea tent. friday. 82271201daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.billmallonee.net/photos.asp?id=178">some of my bill mallonee pictures are featured on his site</a> 82270578daniel millerpublish