continued... Centuries ago, sailors on long voyages used to leave a pair of pigs on every deserted island. Or they'd leave a pair of goats. Either way, on any future visit, the island would be a source of meat. These islands, they were pristine. These were home to breeds of birds with no natural predators. Breeds of birds that lived nowhere else on earth. The plants there, without enemies they evolved without thorns or poisons. Without predators and enemies, these islands, they were paradise. The sailors, the next time they visited these islands, the only things still there would be herds of goats or pigs. Oyster is telling this story. The sailors called this "seeding meat." "Does this remind you of anything? Maybe the ol' Adam and Eve story?" Looking out the car window, he says, "You ever wonder when God's coming back with a lot of barbecue sauce?" 82886360daniel millerSaturday, October 12, 2002publish<div style="background: url(http://www.christianpornmachine.com/chucksign.jpg);"> Imagining: Why you must pay attention <a href="http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/">Chuck Palahniuk</a> is my absolute favorite author and of so much cultural importance it is hard to tolerate anyone who dismisses his work. Will have to expand on this more tomorrow, I've already talked too much today. But let me just give you some taste, so that you know why you must run out and get his stuff (preferrably through the Amazon links on this site! :). The only biodiversity we're going to have left is Coke versus Pepsi. This is just me planting my seeds. ...It's just my generation trying to destroy the existing culture by spreading our own contagion." Sticks and stones might break my bones, but words can hurt like hell. The doorbell rings, and the next man drops his baggy shorts and peels off his T-shirt and tells us his name is Hedgehog. The details about Hedgehog include the empty skin shaking on his arms and chest and ass. His curly black pubic hair matches the couple of hairs stuck to my palm after we shake hands. I gave that last line out of context. Trust me, in context that is the funniest damn thing I've read in a very long time. I'm about half way through this book right now. It takes a lot for me to not be able to put a book down and be propelled through it like so many xrays through your chest, but I'm just about there with this one. Inspiring. Amazing. I'm jealous. </div> 82851080daniel millerFriday, October 11, 2002publishImagining: Greenbelt02 I was just emailing Over the Rhine's people to make sure I'll get to take pictures at their show next Thursday, or at least "hey this guy taking pictures isn't some shmo," and I was looking for this picture on the blog, and it wasn't up yet. So here we go. (<a href="http://www.danielsjourney.com/index.php?archive=2002_09_01_archive.xml&id_pass=82146728">You can also read my excuses for these images</a>. I was far away.) OtR, Greenbelt: <img src="images/gb02/OtRiii_sm.jpg"> 82846061daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/1V7HTA9IUHU7B/qid=1034350643/sr=5-3/ref=sr_5_3/002-7399107-1844829">Amazon.com Listmania Results</a> -- Someone made a list of Balkan war films... I've seen a couple of these...have owned Welcome to Sarajevo for a while, it is one of my top 5 films of all time and most likely instrumental in the calling I felt towards that city. I'm going to be checking out most of the rest of these (except for the cheesy hollywood Savior, which if it's biased at all I'm not interested in, and Tito and Me, which I've seen) (another hollywood but decent film not on this list is Behind Enemy Lines). <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140262636/qid=1034350905/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-7399107-1844829?v=glance">Death of a Nation</a> This is apparently *the* book to read about the whole situation in fmr Yugoslavia. I'm going to be reading it asap (within two months i hope). We're currently watching the BBC documentary of the same name in our Area Studies class. It's quite good and I'm sad it's not available on Amazon. I will continue to look for it elsewhere and post anything I find. 82845502daniel millerpublish<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20021011_858.html">ABCNEWS.com : Police Probe Another Va. Shooting</a> There have been two more shootings in the last three days. One was very close to us, a suburb west of Arlington. Woodbridge is south of DC a bit. One crazy demon possessed person, this one is. 82844087daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.johnheronproject.btinternet.co.uk/">john heron project</a> Dan, a tall, softly-spoken American with indie sideburns, is the first to speak. Man's got a point. I'm in. hmmm...could this be me? :) don't tell me, i like the idea and am just going to enjoy it quietly. 82842428daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.theonion.com/onion3836/temp_hides_fun.html">The Onion | Temp Hides Fun, Fulfilling Life From Rest Of Office</a> "At a job like this, where you're surrounded by angry, perpetually stressed-out lawyers who are working 80 hours a week, it's important to hide the fact that you're enjoying a normal, balanced, happy life," Braxton said Monday. "People get really pissed when they hear stuff like that." ...an absolutely brilliant article at The Onion...thanks dan and sotto! 82842247daniel millerpublishI am viscerally opposed to a prolonged occupation of a Muslim country at the heart of the Muslim world by Western nations who proclaim the right to re-educate that country. -Henry A. Kissinger, former USoA Secretary of State (via <a href="http://theyblinked.blogspot.com/">theyblinked</a>) (ps thanks dan i'm flattered u liked the gb grace pic) 82841983daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.rebeccadangelo.com/dangelo/main.htm"><img src="images/rebecca_protests.jpg" border=0></a> from rebecca d'angelo, from the DC protests 82810006daniel millerThursday, October 10, 2002publishImagining: Greenbelt02 Yes I still have pictures laying about! Grace's service (<a href="http://www.btinternet.com/~smallritual/smallfire/Dgracepage14.html">more info</a>): <img src="images/gb02/grace1_smlst.jpg"> <img src="images/gb02/grace2_smlst.jpg"> While the thing I like about <a href="http://www.vaux.net">Vaux</a> is <a href="http://www.danielsjourney.com/index.php?archive=2002_09_01_archive.xml&id_pass=81160232">their creative dealing with</a> <a href="http://www.danielsjourney.com/index.php?archive=2002_09_01_archive.xml&id_pass=80995080">the human condition of suffering</a>, the thing I like most about Grace (besides how nice they are all to me :) is their dealing with the human perplexity of identity. This entire service was called "Who do you think you are?" and dealt seriously with the issues of <a href="http://www.thehomelessguy.blogspot.com/2002_10_06_thehomelessguy_archive.html#82708487">how we affected by other people's comments</a>, how we think about ourselves, and how hard it is to accept unconditional love. I'm beginning to believe unconditional love to be the central message of Jesus' teachings, actually...<a href="http://gs_citizen.blogspot.com/2002_10_01_gs_citizen_archive.html#82600321">Redemption without healing</a> is only useful post-Earth, an area no-one can be entirely sure of anyway. And I've <a href="http://www.danielsjourney.com/index.php?archive=2002_09_01_archive.xml&id_pass=82228300">begun to explore music and art's role in that healing</a> in more depth as well. I feel an article coming on. <a href="http://web.ukonline.co.uk/paradigm/logo.swf"><embed src="http://web.ukonline.co.uk/paradigm/logo.swf" height=175 width=180 TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="autohigh" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></EMBED></a> But all that to say that the <a href="http://web.ukonline.co.uk/paradigm/index.htm">Labyrinth</a> also had a lot to do with identity; especially "inward journey," which i found to be the better half of the installation, if only for my own personal reasons. Identity, and specifically insecurity and rejection, have been major themes in my psychological life. The Labyrinth experience was no exception for me. Later <a href="http://www.smallritual.org">Steve</a> told me it was originally partially developed by someone with a background in counseling. <img src="images/gb02/laby1_sm.jpg"> An interesting integration that occurred during the Labyrinth was in the first station (pictured above). The "noise" movie loop shown on all those TV's had a split second of a sine wave in it. Sine was the theme from Vaux's service (pictured below), which I had attended the night before. There was also a Morse Code loop in the audio for that station. Almost as if the Divine were sending her signals through to us, in codes and signs, right in with <a href="http://gs_citizen.blogspot.com/2002_10_01_gs_citizen_archive.html#82791011">all the noise of our everyday lives</a>. Which is also a theme of Chuck's new book Lullaby. But more on that tomorrow. Until then... <img src="images/gb02/vaux_sm.jpg"> 82794557daniel millerpublishTech Human handshake opens data stream A system that automatically transfers electronic data when two PDA-carrying humans shake hands has been developed by two Japanese telecommunications firms, according to news reports. <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992891">more...</a> (from <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/">newscientist.com</a> via <a href="http://theyblinked.blogspot.com/">theyblinked</a>) 82742761daniel millerWednesday, October 09, 2002publishComment Providing you the public service of teaching you all the Bosnian I know Today I really did <a href="http://www.danielsjourney.com/index.php?archive=2002_10_01_archive.xml&id_pass=82417270">apsurdne posoriste</a> in my little 1.5hr class. I acted out each part in full drama... I'm calling this one the secret, part 2 in the cheese series: Momak Jeden: Gdje je to? Dude one: Where is it? Momak Dva: To je ovdje. Dude two: It's here. 1: Da li je to novo? Is it new? 2: Da, to je novo. Yeah, it's new. 1: To je lijepo. It's beautiful. 2: Da, to je vrlo lijepo. Yeah, it's really beautiful. 1: Zelim to. I want it. 2: Trebas to? Do you neeeed it? 1: Da, ja volim to. Yeah, I love it. 2: Vidim. I seeee 1: Oprostite? Excuse me? 2: Da? 1: Sta je to? What is it? Now I just have to pause to say three things real quick: 1) This whole thing started because I couldn't keep gdje (where?) and ovdje (here) straight in my head, so I had written the first two sentences in my book to help me. Then it just kinda ran. 2) I need to embed Bosnian fonts or something because it really needs the accent marks--not that you would know how to pronounce it anyway! :) and 3) I'm realizing how much this is like Jon's <a href="http://www.sevenmagazine.org/march02/lady.html">Lady in Red skit</a>. What a great influence! The trouper himself! :) ...and the uninvited point 4) The next part was written a day after the first part... 2: Prekjucer to je bila riba. The day before yesterday it was a fish. 1: Sta je bilo jucer? What was it yesterday? 2: Jucer je bilo pivo. Yesterday it was a beer. 1: Sta je to danas? What is it today? 2: To je tajna That's a secret. 1: Znam li tu tajnu? Do I know that secret? 2: Ne znas. You don't know. 1: Znam tajnu. I know the secret. 2: Da? Sta je tajna? Yeah? What's the secret? 1: To je orah. It's a walnut. 2: Ne, ti ne znas tajnu. Nope, you don't know the secret. 1: Zar nije to orah? Isn't that a walnut? 2: Ne, to nije orah. 1: To je sir. It's cheese. 2: Ne, to nije sir. 1: Ja mislim to je sir. I know that's cheese. 2: To nije sir. 1: To je sir! 2: Ne. 1: Ja cu to jesti! I'm going to eat it! 2: Ti ne zelis to jesti. You don't want to eat it. 1: Ja cu to jesti sada! I'm going to eat it right now! 2: Ja ne mislim da ti zelis to jesti... I don't think you want to eat it... (Momak to jede.) Dude eats it. 1: Fuj! To je strasno! Yuk! It's terrible! 2: Vidis? See? 1: Fuj! 2: Ja pjevam: "Ti ne zelis to jesti!" I sing: (sing) "You don't want to eat it!" 1: Sta je to? 2: Ti trebas vodu. You need water. (fetch water) 1: Sta je to bilo? What was that? 2: Popij malu vode. Drink a little water. 1: To je smece! That's trash! (read: shit; but I don't know that word yet) 2: Sada znas tajnu. Now you know the secret. 1: To je strasno smece! 2: Da li doruckujes dobro? Are you having a nice breakfast? (laugh mockingly) 1: Strasno! 2: Sada idem. Cau! Now I go. Ciao! ... Momak 3: Sta je to? 1: To je tajna.... 82741290daniel millerpublishTech The new look Noticed this site is loading slow today. Sorry 'bout that. Could be my location, tho. (I'm at the Foreign Service Institute all day today.) Update: <a href="http://www.sevenmagazine.org">seven</a>, which is on the same server farm, is also slow, so it's something in the pipe from Florida (these are hosted in Lake Worth, if memory serves). (Just realized that was a pun. I am losing my mind. Sorry again. Have I said sorry? Sorry.) Looking at the background colors through a CBT monitor, they are a little too dark. They look just how I want them (subtle), tho, on my Dell's LCD. So if you want to see the "right" look of DJDC, then come to Arlington. 82739539daniel millerpublishComment Politics: Awwww f******** I want to be posting a lot about everything that's going on, in East Europe and Slovakia, the Balkans and BiH, and here in the good ol' USA. But it's too depressing, all of it. I feel desperate and lost and powerless. Plus I'm not sure how much I can say about any of this anymore, being obtusely attached to our government. How about I talk somewhat obtusely?...I'll give you some links and let you work the rest out for yourself: <a href="http://www.slovakspectator.sk/clanok.asp?vyd=2002038&cl=10628">An overly positive article</a> (but hey we need one) on Slovakia's recent elections, where <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/not_in_website/syndication/monitoring/media_reports/2072385.stm">an old commie</a> was again elected as a MoP. He's running for president soon. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/2304653.stm">Bosnia elections</a> see nationalists prosper. As we say (in Slovak and Bosnian): Strasne! (With a little thingie ~ over the s which makes it sound like sh.) <s>And finally, here at home, perhaps the most disturbing thing I've seen in my lifetime. I'm still in shock that this is happening in my country. Here's one quick historical precedent. Here's one of the most horrible articles I've ever read, as featured on their homepage.</s><div style="margin-left: 20px;">Update: HSCB satire Sorry for the false alarms. That's pretty good satire when it fools pretty much everyone. But I guess that's the point. Personally I like to laugh when something is supposed to be funny, but hey, shocked, fooled, and pissed off is another way to go. I made the mistake of posting about it after reading only three pages of the site. A closer look begins to make it more obvious. Begins. This from the same list the link was originally posted on:<div style="margin-left: 20px;">> Just so concerned folks know, the website is satire. > > I hope. It is. Pretty well-done, too. Go to http://www.samspade.org/ and type in hscb.org and tap the Do Stuff button. It's a joke site, folks. Even SamSpade says it, with it being hosted by thing.net, registered with, of all places, Computer Services Langenbach GMBH dba joker.com. The owner's in NYC. Let's see the real Homeland Security people bring that down. They'll be parodied left and right rather savagely.</div>Go to <a href="http://www.landoverbaptist.org/">landoverbaptist.org</a> or <a href="http://www.whitehouse.org/">whitehouse.org</a> for what I would consider funny satire.</div> And, finally, yes, this is really close to us! <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2308255.stm">Some sick f*** shooting people</a> 82701966daniel millerTuesday, October 08, 2002publishImagining Why do all the good women and photographs come from East Europe? I had stopped "re-blogging" things from <a href="http://consumptive.org/weblog/blog.html">consumptive</a>, since I figured you were, by now, either a fan or not. But this one I have to post, because it is a Czech: <a href="http://janberan.com/index.html">Jan Beran</a> The images are amazing. Do check it out. And this reminds me that I want to get crackin' on scanning images from my father-in-law. He gave me a book of black and white photographs he took during his teens and twenties all over Slovakia (mostly Bratislava) that are really quite fantastic (this is me not trying to use the word amazing twice in one post). I've been meaning to scan them and get them on the web. Now I have more impetus. Be on the lookout for that as well. 82700733daniel millerpublishWow. Too much stuff to post today. Inspired by <a href="http://www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/index.html">amphetadesk</a>, I've realized how I'm going to do syndication. Look out for it soon. (It will become my homepage, in fact it will be a locally run (i.e. off of my hard drive) thing on my machine. It would take me a long time to document how to get PHP running on your computer so you could run it locally, but the advantages local vs. remote (i.e. on danielsjourney.com) will be negligible anyway.) Also, hows this for another reason to be waiting on the edge of your seat for my blogging tool?: You give an entry a heading and a title, say like this: Tech My blogging widget is going to rule all blogging widgets. And that entry automatically gets indexed (if you so choose, of course) by title in your menu, under that heading. You could also display only the last n items per heading, for example. The blogging tool will remember your past headings, allowing you to quickly pick the heading you want. You'll see me start to categorically headline entries more often now, as I prepare to implement my application. 82699268daniel millerpublishIf you don't see a new design, hit refresh. (Come to think of it, if you can't see a new design, then you can't see this text. Or you're blind and your computer is reading you this page; and I don't know how well that works.) Let me know what you think. Honestly. Oh, and if you had the yellow scheme set for yourself, you're back to blue. The yellow just didn't work with this new design. You can go to the (also redone for simplicity) "customize" page and pick a new scheme if you like. Oh, and only the homepage is redone. I have to give it a couple days myself. 82671288daniel millerMonday, October 07, 2002publish<a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/91002_saddam.html">Saddam's Tender Torture Side Revealed</a> CAIRO, Egypt September 10, 2002 � Saddam Hussein enjoys watching videos of his foes being tortured but also has a tender side, dancing to Frank Sinatra and dyeing his hair, a woman who claims she was his mistress over three decades said in an interview. Parisoula Lampsos, 54, told ABC's "Primetime Thursday" that she was Saddam's mistress on and off for 30 years. She said he was cruel _ allegedly ordering his son killed _ and vain, using herbal medicine to hide his wrinkles. The exclusive interview is to be broadcast this week. Among Lampsos' claims: Saddam's favorite movie is "The Godfather," he eats gazelle meat for dinner and is fond of scotch. He has taken Viagra and danced to Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night." Oh yeah. American media meets middle eastern extremism. Whoo hoo! Have I mentioned the circular continuum yet? 82649196daniel millerpublish<a href="http://oblivio.com/road/02100401.shtml">cul story</a> from a very well done <a href="http://oblivio.com/">weblog</a> (via the weblog i just mentioned, i think, i can't remember now) 82648991daniel millerpublish<a href="http://diveintomark.org/archives/2002/10/06.html#accessibility_watershed">Accessibility watershed?</a> ...Didn't you ever think about it before? There are airline ticket prices you can only get on the Web, but handicapped people cannnot even read the website. This is from a <a href="http://diveintomark.org/">tech blog</a> i frequent now. 82648575daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.whygodwhy.com/">whygodwhy</a> 82648425daniel millerpublish<a href="http://www.visibledarkness.com/images/artsaveslives.jpg">art saves lives</a> <a href="http://www.visibledarkness.com/catalogue/">found here</a> <a href="http://www.visibledarkness.com/gallery/">this is also cul</a> 82622914daniel millerpublishsaw Emily & Susan tonight at the open mic showcase at Whitlows. i've never seen a local act so awe-inspiring. i've seen good bands, yes; but no act where you are left wondering how they are possibly not signed to a major label. they held the entire room captive. no one spoke for the entire hour; i've only seen that before with, like, famous people. they've got that gift. i wish there were some songs i could point you to; i'm lucky enough to have the 2 song demo in mp3 on my computer. if you want a listen email me and i'll email u back a single. 82614170daniel millerSunday, October 06, 2002publish