forgive me dan for just copying this <a href="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog/2003_01_12_theyblinked_archive.html#87519822">straight out of your site</a>, but it is something i have thought about a lot, not so much lately, but plenty overall; and this provided a lot of cul clarity which i don't want to lose: the "revelatory" as a jarring memetic master gene, a Pax-6 of the spirit, speaking out of and into the human conscience as a certain justice, sympathy and convivial expectation--a certain way of co-living that allows for an opening to the peripheral aporia at the heart of the living and telling of higher stories. as Pax-6 controls the development of eyes in all creatures that have them so Meme-6 controls the development of that capacity for humankind to hear something otherwise than they have known. {obviously, this is no biochemical or, even, categorical reality. though, in concert with the chain of neurological events in the superior parietal lobe, the Meme-6 centers and drives us through the you/non-you dichotomy to otherness.} 152ElsewheredanielThu, January 16, 2003publishabout page<img alt="me" src="images/dwm.gif" height="87" width="83" border="1" hspace="10" align="left"> What to put in a bio/about/whatever? Hmmm... full name: daniel wayne miller DOB: 03-25-75 too lazy for math? 27 yrs old married to: miriam lacho miller children: none yet. not opposed to the idea. currently residing: Arlington, Virginia soon to be: Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina occupation: ok, now you've asked the tough one. do you mean, by what do i earn money? if so, then <a href="/design">web designer</a>. but i would hardly call it a living. mostly i alternate between the following: musician, photographer, software developer, technologist, information theorist and architect, installation artist, activist, writer (fiction and non), volunteer, and armchair sociologist. someday "they" will create a job for me of utmost importance and unfathomable pay. in the meantime i do the housework (not all of it though). past life: software consultant and trainer, physical trainer, church music director, drum/guitar instructor, bicycle racer, psychology student, parking lot security guard. hobbies: no. since i don't have a "real" job, i got to put all those under "occupation." oh, except for... travel abroad: germany, slovakia, czech republic, austria, netherlands, italy, slovenia, england, australia, israel. beer or liquor: definately better off with beer. days when i'm feeling fat: water. other dinner guest issues: both miriam and i are pescatarians, which means for meat we only eat fish (but boy do we) and we don't eat dairy. but if you put it in front of me and it looks good, i'll eat it. hopefully you don't give me seconds or i'll be sick later. why would i know you? most people come across this site through links off of pseudo-christian blogs, even though i no longer consider myself a "christian" and most people who do run away crying when they spend more than 5 minutes here. i work a lot in technology but am not really ever linked to from the tech blogosphere. my tech writing is mostly translation work for non-techies (sortof like my former job in training). mostly i am an art advocate and cultural pointer. i try to find new things in art and point them out with some intelligence. my goal is to have all cultural consumers getting their goods from independent or low-overhead distribution channels. education is a key piece in that process, and i hope my site, beyond being an obvious platform for my own art, helps to contribute to that education. what was that word you just used? yeah, i've semi-coined some stuff. not coined so much as adopted into my writing with frequency: cultural consumers, cultural producers, cultivating organic cultural distribution networks, flattening existing cultural distribution hierarchies. these are all terms you'll find... what is all this talk about a nonprofit and a web content management system? uh, yeah, that's what i was about to say; i'm in the process of planning and forming a nonprofit art organization that will help fund, promote, and otherwise enable what you might consider "non-market-oriented" cultural producers (artists), as well as educate cultural consumers (you), in order to take on the man (major media conglomerates, record labels, publishing houses). i'm not about toppling what's already there, just about providing an alternative for both the producers and consumers of this thing we call art, and hopefully allowing the spread of some love and spiritual goodness around as a result. The mCMS (micro Content Management System) is a piece of software I'm slowly building with the aim to both help fund the nonprofit, enable artists to take advantage of the World Wide Web, and also have a humble pseudo-business which develops technology, namely software, that helps make the world a better place. ...thanks for visiting and i hope you find something worthwhile enough to come back sometime! why didn't you ever capitalize the letter "i" in this thing? dunno, but it sure as hell wasn't humility. must be some kind of lame attempt at cynical irony, whatever that is.151AboutdanielThu, January 16, 2003publishDJ SpookyLast night I went to see <a href=http://www.djspooky.com/index2.html>Dj Spooky that Subliminal Kid</a> at the <a href=http://www.blackcatdc.com/>Black Cat</a> in DC. Oh yeah. He is on a short tour supporting his <a href=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/d/dj-spooky/optometry.shtml>Optometry</a> project (<a href=http://fluke.student.utwente.nl/chilledbeats/show_album.php?album_id=1488>also</a>, <a href=http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/d/djspooky-optometry.shtml>also</a>, <a href=http://www.theonionavclub.com/reviews/music/music_d/djspooky02.html title=the onion>also</a>, <a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000069B12/qid=1042728339/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-0133524-5768152?v=glance&s=music&n=507846>amazon</a>), which is a concept of samples-as-jazz with some major jazz player as collaborators. He's on tour with a live drummer, Mike Clark, who is just amazing (and you know I know, having played now for 17 years). This the kind of experimentation with electronic music that I have had in my head for a long time. He also used video well. What I have in mind is a little more straightforward, but to see him up there spinning three records at once and playing different video off his iBook was truly inspiring. I'm ready to go get some turntables right now. :) Being the highly experimental music that it is, I would have really liked some discussion of it either during or afterward. This isn't radio music, or even dancehall music. It is intellectual music, and deserves to be discussed and understood. I think he asked too much of his audience last night; out of 2.5 hours of music, there was maybe 5 whole minutes with a consistent beat you could dance to; and often there were layers of polyrhythm going on, with one rhythm from a record, another from scratching, and another from the drumkit. I'm a fairly well trained drummer, and I can handle polyrhythms, but this often become too much for even me. <img src=http://www.duke.edu/web/isis/paris.jpg align=right>Still DJ Spooky is an important artist for what he is doing as an artistic person, not just for what kind of electronic music he creates. Check him out <a href=http://www.djspooky.com/photos/PaulLawrenceLes.html>here, with Lessig</a>; check out <a href=http://www.21cmagazine.com/home.html>his magazine</a>; he's <a href=http://www.egs.edu/faculty/djspooky.html>on the faculty at EGS</a>. And if you just want a more straightforward sample of his musical work, check out <a href=http://www.djspooky.com/real/hiphopmix.ram>this RAM file</a>. 150MusicdanielThu, January 16, 2003publishDemonstrations in DC Jan 18th<a href="http://www.internationalanswer.org/">http://www.internationalanswer.org/</a> If any of you are travelling distance to DC this Saturday, I'll be there... 149ActivismdanielMarch for Peace!publishSupreme Court Keeps Copyright Protections 7-2It has often been said that movements gain by losing in the Supreme Court. Some feminists say it would have been better to lose Roe, because that would have built a movement in response. I have often wondered whether it would ever be possible to lose a case and yet smell victory in the defeat. I'm not yet convinced it's possible. But if there is any good that might come from my loss, let it be the anger and passion that now gets to swell against the unchecked power that the Supreme Court has said Congress has. When the Free Software Foundation, Intel, Phillis Schlafly, Milton Friedman, Ronald Coase, Kenneth Arrow, Brewster Kahle, and hundreds of creators and innovators all stand on one side saying, "this makes no sense," then it makes no sense. Let that be enough to move people to do something about it. Our courts will not. Lessig himself <a href="http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/blog/archives/2003_01.shtml#000862">responds to the verdict</a>. <a href="http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/blog/archives/2003_01.shtml#000861">Links to the Court opinions</a> just below that post. <a href="http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SCOTUS_COPYRIGHTS?SITE=COFOR&SECTION=HOME">story</a> <a href="http://boingboing.net/#90187333">boing boing responds</a> <a href="http://www.corante.com/copyfight/20030101.shtml#18051">links to more responses</a> U: mpt responds well: Larry Lessig: "What the Framers of our constitution did is not enough. We must do more." ...Bingo. The Eldred v. Ashcroft case was relying on a fluke, namely that the Framers of the US Constitution might have dictated clearly what would best serve people, rather than relying on Congress to do that themselves. With a Congress which has become systemically biased to favor corporations rather than people, there are relatively few things which the Constitution will prevent them from doing. And extending copyright in a practically unlimited fashion, the US Supreme Court has decided, is not one of those things. In the meantime, that part of the world's culture which was created in the US will slowly decay. 148ElsewheredanielWed, January 15, 2003publishForeign Service Real WorldGot this email from a friend who is already overseas. Our best glimpses into Foreign Service life are from those people who recently went to their first post (as we do in May): * is a pretty small post and because of lack of many outside social events it sort of feels like the whole community is stuck up at summer camp. We all work together and socialize together and argue together, its kind of like "the Real World" or something, but with less sex... ...that reminds me to mention <a href="http://serialtext.com/display.cgi/0tvtv">TV!TV!</a> ...that also reminds me M wanted the Bosnia countdown clock back up here. 147MinutiadanielWed, January 15, 2003publishSWM updates...fixed a few things that had been broken or that I broke yesterday. If you noticed these and didn't email me, next time just drop me a quick line, eh? 01. old: "view all" under categories did not work in archives (appeared but linked to only "current" blog's categories) 02. yesterday: permalinks broken 03. yesterday: multi-category "support" broken (only effected a few older posts) ...hopefully NOW it runs both a tad faster and works 2boot... U: 04. and yesterday and for a split minute longer today, "...more words" broken 146DesignDanielWed, January 15, 2003publishM health updateI haven't talked much (or at all) about M's health here because, well, frankly, talking about it here doesn't help any... ...but it has been bad this whole time. We tried all that we knew to try, have become irrevocably disillusioned with the western medical system/field, and just try to cope day-to-day. It is as bad as <a href="index.php?archive=$file&id_pass=01">when we went to the hospital</a>, never really got better but for a week whe was on tons of steroids, and that obviously isn't a long-term answer. So we still just wait, hopeless, a faith not out of faith but out of lack-of-options, wills broken, mostly just clinging to what life is left, dreaming, fantasizing about how perfect life would be without It. And of course it wouldn't be perfect, but it would sure seem like it.145MinutiadanielWed, January 15, 2003publishCMS and metadataMostly a note-to-self: Three articles on CMS and metadata: <a href="http://simon.incutio.com/archive/2003/01/15/#contentManagementGems">Simon Willison's Weblog</a> ...funny thing was I was reading this in OE (via <a href="http://methodize.org">nntp//rss</a>) and the whole time I thought I was still in <a href="http://scripting.com">scripting news</a>. I was "hearing" Dave talk (even though I've never actually heard him), then was like "doh!" it wasn't him. :) 144DesignDanielWed, January 15, 2003publishduh!<a href="http://radio.weblogs.com/0103807/2003/01/14.html#a1208">blogs as internet "agents"</a> my word is "filter." "<a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=meme">meme</a>" is also a similar word-concept. integration is also a similar word-concept. 143DesignDanielWed, January 15, 2003publishtopo mapsI've always liked maps, especially topographical maps, so I'm undoubtedly more excited about this than you; but maybe you'll humor me for a few sentences. I think it is living closer to my hometown than I have in 10 years that has been making me so nostalgic as of late (I'm sure later this year, living closer to Miriam's hometown than she has in 10 years may do the same to her), but this made those feelings kick in again. <a href="http://historical.maptech.com/getImage.asp?fname=hmml56sw.jpg&state=PA">Somewhere left-center of this map</a> is where I grew up. Somewhere near Hanoverdale. It took me a while to figure out if this was the right map, but I'm pretty sure now. When I was 15 I got my first job at Hersheypark, bottom-center, that map is from the 50's so the only thing there are the words "Stadium." Somewhere on that map is where I was in (as a passenger) my first and worst car accident, getting a ride home from that very job. I also rode my bicycle all over that and all adjoining maps, to work and back, through Manada Gap (left-top) for a quick not-too-hard hill workout (the hard ones are on said adjoining maps), or to that little bump just under the word "Derry" on the bottom...that one was a lot harder than it looks. The house I grew up in isn't a little black square on that map; there was only a tiny shed on the property until my parents built the house in '82 (or thereabouts). <img src="http://www.craphound.com/images/oldtopo.jpg" align="right"><a href="http://historical.maptech.com/quad.cfm?quadname=Hummelstown&state=PA&series=15">Hummelstown, PA Quadrangle</a> <a href="http://historical.maptech.com/">historical.maptech.com</a> via <a href="http://boingboing.net/#90185925">boing boing</a> Update!! Major meme action here: <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2003/01/15.html#a573">this post</a> from today, which mentions this <a href="http://thisamericanlife.org/ra/110.ram">This American Life program (RA file)</a>, <a href="http://thisamericanlife.org/">This American Life</a> being something I (yes, listen to, but) read about last night in the *excellent* <a href="http://pastemusic.com/artist/10125">Paste Magazine Issue #2</a>. 142ElsewheredanielWed, January 15, 2003publishworld wide christwebChristCENTRAL's web robot, ChristCrawler, utilizes one custom META tag. name="ChristCrawler" takes the values noarchive, nofollow, and noindex, treating them exactly the same as if they were used in the robots META tag. Using the ChristCrawler tag allows web authors to give ChristCrawler one set of instructions, and all the other engines a different set. (from <a href="http://www.bauser.com/websnob/meta/proprietary.html">here</a> via <a href="http://www.dashes.com/anil/">anil</a>) Maybe if I make a mCCMS (micro ChristContent Management System) I can capitalize on the ChristWeb and take the bank just like CCM (Contemporary ChristMusic) or FCB (Family ChristBooks). In fact, maybe I'll have a bigger audience here if I do danielsChristjourney and Integration ChristResearch. Any and all use of faith in marketing, and the entire "christian" publishing industry, is peeve 13. 141ElsewheredanielWed, January 15, 2003publishtheyblinked on .NETMicrosoft's .Net initiative is a CPU, transport and OS independent framework designed to be language agnostic. the original R&D vision for MS .Net was as platform. this was near heresy for many leading the Windows franchise--though i doubt the drama ever neared the fevered pitch of the raging battles between Allchin and Silverberg in the "Internet Platform" vs. Windows days. i sat in a closed doors briefing in Redmond many years back where i was given the framework code and told that .Net was already available in-house on flavors of Unix and NT. after my trip i wrote an internal white paper in which i described how .Net could fail. the key failure point, as i remember it now, was for MS to monetize .Net to death. that is, that they would endeavor to so tightly couple .Net the architecture with MS products that it would lose all credibility and value. .Net may yet remain the meta-operating system that it was designed to be. <a href="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog/2003_01_12_theyblinked_archive.html#87401588">dan's original post</a> <a href="http://www.looselycoupled.com/blog/2003_01_05_lc.htm#90166356">his reference</a> 140DesignDanielTue, January 14, 2003publishdaily art roundup...this isn't really a daily feature, but i didn't feel like making each of these a seperate post: <a href="http://www.wellspring.com/russianark/home.html">Russian Ark</a>: A film about time travel cut in one continuous shot. Oh yeah. Coming to the DC area the 31st. ... Stopped by the used record store today and the sale bin was busting with interesting titles. I got <u title="for those interested, they were: matthew sweet, girlfriend; the innocence mission, glow; luscious jackson, natural ingredients; bruce springsteen, the ghost of tom joad; depeche mode, violator; wild colonials, fruits of life; phil collins, face value">a few. Maybe it's a sign of getting older, that my music tastes lean towards the chilled, but I am really digging the <a href="http://www.theinnocencemission.com/">Innocence Mission</a>. You can <a href="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/105/innocence_mission.html">stream their stuff from mp3.com</a>. Really into this band, but I'm afraid they won't be playing out before we leave country. <img src="http://www.theinnocencemission.com/images/enter_here.jpg"> 139ElsewheredanielTue, January 14, 2003publishah yes this silly silly townBitter brew? For the past couple of weeks, those wags at Kramerbooks n Afterwords Cafe in Dupont Circle have been marketing a beverage called the "Trent Lotte." The menu describes the 3.25 item as "separate but equal parts of coffee and milk" - a not too veiled reference to Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott's career-damaging 100th-birthday praise of fellow Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond's segregationist 1948 presidential campaign. Yesterday bartender Mark Kutcher told us that the coffee and steamed milk are served in two different containers, and it's up to customers to integrate them. "We think it's really funny," Kutcher said. "That's why we do it." But we seriously doubt if Lott is laughing. Our call to the deposed Senate Republican leader's press office yesterday was greeted by grim silence. [from <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26997-2003Jan8.html">washingtonpost</a> via <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/">boing boing</a>] 138ElsewheredanielMon, January 13, 2003publishrevolution pollutionnow is the time choose your revolution be careful how you pick 'em one is caused by the other's solution now is the time when you don't call we'll understand it's hard to find a moment to spare living day to day in this dry land constitution prostitution institution evolution execution restitution revolution pollution update (figured you might like this one): now is the time it's all about might doesn't matter who's right we need to feel in control we need to save everybody else's soul now now now now now is the time buy push pull steal borrow lend stand kneel listen loosen moisten glisten slower faster blow the pistons update: i was going to say that i want to record this tune and American Dream Town together. they go together musically and lyrically (oh and since i first posted i've worked out all the music to this tune). so i rooted around the archives and realized i never put those lyrics here before! well, here we go: would you believe i don't have them on this computer! ha ha! well, i'll type the second verse and chorus: Don't hate me cuz I'm beautiful / Don't go lookin' for my long lost soul / Some time and money is all you need / They'll give you a shot and start to kneed / Yer face like dough there's no need to know / Yer true light within just *spin spin spin* / Slap a logo on yer chest / Don't worry about the rest In this town / This American town / This dream town / This American Dream Town... also: regarding Revolution Pollution's chorus--this was originally just a stream of words but then I started putting them together (I have masturbation education stored away for live shows :) in ways that kinda made sense, except if you do take them to be meaningful, then the lines are badthing-goodthing-goodthing-badthing, respectively. ?? 137MusicdanielMon, January 13, 2003publishgood music for times like these<a href="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/430/doves.html">The Doves--Caught from the River (on mp3.com)</a> <a href="http://www.jeansandatshirt.com/music/disc02/track05.mp3">The Doves--Pounding (5.5M mp3)</a> update: figured out these songs tonight--they are remarkably simple, chord structure-wise. just goes to show that that is not what's important! (aside: I notice messed up things in the English language now that I've compared it favorably to Bosnian on a few occations--so "...is not what is..."?? good knight. someone tell me there is a better way.) For nonmusical types: there are numbered chords in each key, 6 I think, you can throw other chords in there for good measure if you want, but basically you work around those six a vast majority of the time. SO, the two Dove's songs are both in the same key (commmon--most of my songs are too, in fact, G--1/2 step higher than these, if memory serves), and their chord structures are as follows: Caught is 5-4-1-5. Pounding is 1-5-4-1 and 4-5-6-4. have fun. <a href="http://www.jeansandatshirt.com/music/disc01/track06.mp3">Michael Miller--When We Come To (5.4M mp3)</a> up: i am slowly coming to, thank god. 136ElsewheredanielMon, January 13, 2003publishwebstuff<a href="http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/01/13.html#semantic_obsolescence">Mark Pilgrim: Semantic Obsolescence</a>: Standards are bullshit. XHTML is a crock. The W3C is irrelevant. I always wondered about Mark; he's a huge webstar, super smart; but it seemed (from his blog anyway) that he spent all his time conforming to the newest standards and accessibility (what an inaccessible word--3 each of c, s, and i--jeesh) reqs. Well now it has come around and bit him in the ass. I haven't seen it yet, but I've heard DJDC displays well in Safari (<a href="http://diveintomark.org/">DIMDC</a> doesn't). I've also heard Safari is fast-fast. update: But it once again proves who has the power--the software makers, not the W3C (which is partly a consortium of the software makers!). I personally didn't think we needed YET ANOTHER browser, but apparently the gen public did (.5mil downloads of the beta). Also there's <a href="http://newsobserver.com/24hour/technology/story/712974p-5244591c.html">another one in Ireland made by a 16 year old</a>! I take this all as a note of caution. I'm sold on the Semantic Web as much as <a href="http://ftrain.com">anyone</a>, and I'm building <a href="http://swm.danielsjourney.com">SWM</a> around <a href="http://xml.com">XML</a>, even though it is some-ok-most of the time a pain in the ass, because I feel that XML is the most simply executed semantic markup around. I hope that as the SW matures, it and its applications will be able to deal with my raw XML quite easily. I could of course use a database and later dump out XML files at will. Will have to think about that one. Still, XML are just files, no database required, and you can use any system you want with a SWM front-end (yes, even blogger; and yes, the SWM front-end will be free) because all you need to do is write files to your webserver. Another reason for my observance of SW standards is my belief, and my soon-to-be-need, for not just a microcontent publisher, but for the content I consume to be microcontent (like <a href="rss.php">RSS</a>). Bandwidth will be lacking, and "pre-parsing" semantically-markedup content (for example, by category or keywords) for what I'm interested would be oh-so-sweet. (Did I just coin both "pre-parsing" and "semantically-markedup content"? Surely not, but still cool tech-BS words.) 135DesignDanielMon, January 13, 2003publishI'm on day three of a longest-ever self-destructive, depressed slump. I should get up and go take a handful of St. John's Wort, but I can't even muster the motivation to do that. 134MinutiadanielMon, January 13, 2003publishsorry Kazaa fans<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1023-980274.html?tag=fd_top">Kazaa can get sued</a>. Blech. Lawsuits are the result of a culture of fear, be in individuals, corporations, or organzations (in this case the RIAA). 133ElsewheredanielSun, January 12, 2003publishBosnia: Nationalists Alarm WestThe resurgence of parties that thrust Bosnia-Hercegovina into war a decade ago is causing disquiet in western diplomatic circles. By Sead Numanovic in Sarajevo and Gordana Katana in Banja Luka (BCR No 396, 9-Jan-03) Three months of post-election maneuvering have confirmed western fears that Bosnia-Herzegovina, BiH, will now be led by nationalist parties which plunged the country into war a decade ago. Intensive coalition-making and secret deals following the October 5 general election have put the three parties into a ruling position at nearly all levels of the complex BiH administration. The Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, look set to run the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Croat parts of the Federation, respectively. The Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska, RS, will be led by the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS. All three parties have a hard-line pedigree that sends shivers through foreign diplomats. <a href="http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200301_396_3_eng.txt">...more the institute for war and peace reporting...</a> 132BalkansdanielSat, January 11, 2003publishChina blocking blogspot with Cisco helpYou've probably read that China has blocked all of blogspot with their nationwide firewall. (Who knows what else you can't get from inside there, too, but I think we can assume it's alot, although this is particularly bad, methinks, since it is a very large number of personal sites that have been blocked...so it is definately just "all thinking" that is not allowed. Also if you think only China has a nationwide firewall, guess again. Saudi has one too. Who knows who else. Anyway, <a href="http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/index.jsp?date=20030111#172232">Mr. Beattie has an interesting post</a> about the fact that those firewalls are Cisco. You think only the Gap is guilty or violating human rights? Guess again. Update: <a href="http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2003/01/11#blogspaceShutdownInChina">scripting news</a> has the meta linkage; check it out. 131ElsewheredanielSat, January 11, 2003publish<img src="http://www.3bp.com/clipping/h10.gif"> ahh, this kind of capitalist enginuity you can only find in the USA... [<a href="http://www.3bp.com/">3bp.com</a>] 130ElsewheredanielSat, January 11, 2003publishsara hepola definately another one of my fav writers on the web"Nothing rattles you like condescension...." Since dating is already a game, it may be unwise to found a relationship on a shared passion for Sorry. Sarah Hepola ignores the meta-implications and tries to play by the rules. <a href="http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/stories/a_game_of_skill_strategy_chance.shtml">a game of skill, strategy, chance.</a> 129ElsewheredanielSat, January 11, 2003publish<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/nat/newsnat-11jan2003-30.htm">Historic vote for Bosnian Parliament</a> 128BalkansdanielFri, January 10, 2003publishlots of good frei mp3sI had run across <a href="http://www.jeansandatshirt.com">this site</a> a few weeks ago (via <a href=" http://www.themorningnews.org">morningnews</a>) but today i ran across it again (via <a href="http://www.soubriquet.net/">soubriquet</a> via <a href="http://www.boboroshi.com/log/">boboroshi</a>), this time straight into their <a href="http://www.jeansandatshirt.com/monthlymix.html">monthly mix</a> page, which has 35 well-picked tunes for you downloading enjoyment. So far I can vouch for all but the last song on the 1st record (but that's just me). The second record has many better-known artists, but that's cul too. Hey, I appreciate what jeansandateeshirt are doing. The artists represented there (and their management and labels) should appreciate it, too, because my chances of buying some of these records has gone up dramatically. 127ElsewheredanielFri, January 10, 2003publishthe problem with metadata<a href="http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/001055.html">joho the blog: the problem with metadata</a> 126ElsewheredanielFri, January 10, 2003publishpeeve 1212. Powerpoint. Not powerpoint as much as bad powerpoint. But the entire application points you straight down that road. Better to just have a folder open with text/outliner, and all the images and multimedia, and traverse that material...culest would be to have the outliner open in one half of the screen and an image viewer open in the other half. This way, you could also easily traverse your material nonlinearly. Update: don't even start with <a href="http://www.apple.com/keynote/">alternatives</a>. it's the method that's wrong, not just the software. 125MinutiadanielFri, January 10, 2003publishbono latteJust noticed that <a href="http://www.commongroundsarlington.com">Common Grounds</a> has a "Bono Latte." May have to check that out next time I'm there (tomorrow?). <img src="http://www.commongroundsarlington.com/images/drinkmenu.gif"> 124ElsewheredanielFri, January 10, 2003publish2 apps that someone needs to create for windowsThere are 2 apps that are so obvious, and have been very poorly made so many times; and someone needs to create simple versions of them that work: a download manager and an xml editor. If you know of any, contact me. Remember, must: simple, work. For some reason these two, in specific, tend not to go together!? 123DesignDanielFri, January 10, 2003publishBill Carter .. Miss SarajevoI need a little thermometer for posts' importance. Like most stuff would rate right around light-blue to yellow. This one would be off-the-charts red-hot. Yesterday we saw film clips from various sources. One of which was Miss Sarajevo, the film U2 was somewhat involved with; the song by the same name is on their latest greatest hits record. Yesterday after the <a href="?archive=blog_2003_01_06.xml&id_pass=111">3 hour presentation on the war</a>, after we walked outside and got in the car, I of course immediately started to decompress using music. Coincidentally, we had said U2 greatest hits CD in the car, and I put it in and clicked forward to track 6, Miss Sarajevo. Miriam and I continued talking about everything we'd seen, and eventually I started driving home. About half way home (it is only a 5-10 minute drive) the next song, Stay, came on. I was thinking, "Damn it, U2, why do you have write songs like this. God bless you so damn much." By the time we were pulling off the highway into our neighborhood I was in uncontrollable <a href="?archive=blog_2002_12_15.xml&id_pass=93">sobs</a>. I could barely drive. I thought I was going to have to pull over, maybe I wish I had, so I could have just lived only in the moment of tears, the emotions pouring out of tiny tear ducts like so many prisoners from the crashed gates of their jails. But I made it home, the tears already drying as we pulled into the garage. Anyway, today I found the site for <a href="http://www.billcarter.cc/index.html">Bill Carter</a>, who made the film, who got U2 involved in the first place. Now, I am as guilty as anyone of having just tons of ignorance about what was happing over there, when it was happening. I was graduating high school, going to university across the country. I was lost in freshman english, psych 101. So this is no judgement. But I know U2 is the only reason many of us even find out about world events, the only reason we would care. So I admit that is part of the draw of this story. And for me, even beyond that mega-stardom, there is Bill, who has done all kinds of crazy shit all over the world, written and filmed and seen hope and artistry through it all, has been an artist in the truest sense, been a person in the truest sense. I may have found another personal role-model. Most of what follows is basically just an annotated tour of the site, so if you just want to go to the site and check it all out yourself, just go ahead. If you still need/want convincing, comments, or filtering, continue... (Anything indented in the following text is direct quote from Bill...I've forgone the usual italics for readability.) First, <a href="http://www.billcarter.cc/film.html">THE FILM</a> ... Second, the book, <a href="http://www.billcarter.cc/where_water_comes_together.html">WHERE WATER COMES TOGETHER</a> by Bill Carter A record of the events in Sarajevo, particularly those of Bill's getting U2 involved in what was going on in Bosnia. Online segments already available, and more coming. I just want to know when this thing is going to get published! Amazing storytelling! <div style="margin-left:20px;">It was late one winter night in 1993 and I was standing on the side of the road in Split, Croatia when a caravan of trucks painted in giant sized cartoon characters stopped and invited me to join them on their way to Sarajevo, the besieged capital city of Bosnia. At that time the war was in full swing. I had 200 in my boot, a duffel bag of winter clothes, some toilet paper, a few books and a bottle of whiskey. Going elsewhere was not an option. The people in the truck, a collection of misfits from all over the world, called themselves The Serious Road Trip. They were a rogue humanitarian outfit who filled their trucks with food and medical supplies that other, more cash rich organizations were either too afraid to take into the war or they didn't have the trucks that could drive the rough roads. That night, after I jumped in, I was given the rules of conduct: Eat off the back of the truck. No whining. Sleep where we can. Shower when possible. Give all you got, while you can. Why were they there? Perhaps it was best put by one of its leaders, Graeme Bint, who, when I asked him, said, "well I didn't just want to be a cunt my whole life." ... "Hello," said a voice. It was a barely audible Irish voice. It wasn't the same one from the last time, but I wasn't picky. "Hello," I said. "You have to talk very loud," said Wally. "Hello. This is Bill Carter calling from Sarajevo. Did you receive our fax?" "Yes. We did," she said. She sounded startled. "Well what is the answer?" I yelled. "I wouldn't know that," she said. "Listen. I can't talk forever. Can you find out? We really need to know what's happening." "It has been forwarded by fax to the band out on the tour. Someone will get back to you as soon as we know." "You understand how difficult it is to get a phone line out?" "I understand." "Okay. Well tell them to hurry up." [<a href="http://www.billcarter.cc/Nov02.html">more</a>] ... There were 24-hour news shows dedicated to showing blood and guts in wide screen. Or split screen. And they could even accommodate the deaf viewer with subtitles: "This man was shot in the head as he walked toward the center of town." There would be books, photographs, films, speeches, plays and college courses all dealing with death in the Balkans. I wanted to talk about the music in the disco, Don Guido and the Missionaries, Ciba the painter, the soccer games. I wanted to talk about Shibe and the surrealists and the beautiful women who still wore high heels and fancy bras. Straight talk of death without humor only invites pity, or in the worst of cases utter confusion. People want to do something but become confused by the overwhelming sense of hopelessness and in the end do the only thing they possibly can: nothing. As I saw it my job this one evening was to be a catalyst between the outside cultural world and Sarajevo, a culturally forgotten world. The interview lasted around twenty minutes. Bono sat in a dark green chair wearing all black leather. I was dressed in the same soiled clothes I had been wearing for 4 months. I held the microphone wrapped in baby diapers and Jason, who wasn't used to operating a video camera, zoomed in and out and did a few funky fade and cuts along the way. [<a href="http://www.billcarter.cc/Dec202.html">more</a>] ... As we talked our waitress served us tea. It was always the same waitress. Thankfully. Her name was Elma and she was a gorgeous redhead. She was tall and had thin calves. Her breasts were full and firm. And her shy smile was seductive at the same time. I sat here many afternoons just to order tea and watch her smile. "Do you know her story?" I asked Ciba. "She's from Szrebenica," said Branko. "No!" said Ciba, with great surprise. To urban Sarajevians Szrebenica was considered a hick town. "Yes." "She looks so Sarajevian. So beautiful," he said. We all looked at her as she took a few empty cups inside the bar. "She and her father were taken by Serbs. They raped her many times while her father was tied up. Watching. After she got pregnant they kept her prisoner for eight months. Then they told her to leave, go back to her people," said Branko. Ciba took a sip of coffee. "But before she left they killed her father in front of her. She ended up here." Ciba nervously ran his hands through his hair and made a few grunting sounds. "You see. You see. This place. I hate it," he said under his breath. [<a href="http://www.billcarter.cc/Dec902.html">more</a>] ... She adjusted her glasses, pushing them up the bridge of her nose. "I'm only going to do this for one reason. One reason only," she said with quiet conviction. "Okay," I said. Maybe I had been too harsh. Maybe this was the jagged edge we always hear about; the survival shield journalists have to have to live and work in places like Bosnia. Maybe she couldn't afford to let her guard down. It would hurt too much. I felt like an ass for misunderstanding her. A reluctant smile inched up from the corners of my mouth. I owed her an apology. "I will do this as a personal favor to Bono," she said. And with that she carefully placed a piece of hair behind her ear and strutted back into the EBU office. I stood in awe. The person who controlled the portal for the world's news on Sarajevo was a genuine wanna-be star fucker. [<a href="http://www.billcarter.cc/Dec2102.html">more</a>] ...</div> Third, <a href="http://www.billcarter.cc/photo.html">THE PHOTOS</a> <div style="margin-left:20px;"><a href="http://www.billcarter.cc/b04.html"><img border="0" src="http://www.billcarter.cc/images/bosnia/thumb/b04.jpg" width="144" height="99" align="left"></a>What it does takes is that the photographer is first and foremost a traveler- which simply means you are willing to trust your fate, your memories, and sometimes your life with strangers. <a href="http://www.billcarter.cc/b07.html"><img border="0" src="http://www.billcarter.cc/images/bosnia/thumb/b07.jpg" width="114" height="144" align="right"></a>The selection of photo's shown here are from seven years of journeys. So far...so good. So far...still alive. So far...and yet all these people and all their lives, their joys, their fears, their religions, their deaths are not so different than many of us. They are so far and yet so very close.</div> <a href="http://www.billcarter.cc/bosnia.html">Bosnia photos</a> ... I am newly inspired after seeing this. That everything will come together the way it was intended, that life's connections have meaning, that there are integrations of soul and sand ahead worth moving forward for. Bill has yet again achieved his purpose: he has inspired hope.122BalkansdanielIf you read nothing else this month...publishearthshipsNow that I created this new category, I'll probly shove more things into it than appropriate (kinda like "minutia," and yes I like that spelling better). via <a href="http://www.ftrain.com/santafe_earthship.html">this ftrain article</a> I found <a href="http://www.earthship.org/">earthship.org</a>. Really amazing things in sustainable living. I of course head straight for the pictures and there are some really cul things done with houses made of tires and stuff. :) Anyway, of course I love anyone doing anything "sustainable," perhaps after we all figure out how to create this "sustainable information economy" (<a href="http://integration.danielsjourney.com">ref</a>) we can all move into our sustainable earthship homes and live happily ever after. 121ActivismdanielThu, January 09, 2003publishINS Detainee Protest Website<a href="http://lisarein.com/peace/summary.html">Lisa Rein's INS Detainee Protest Website</a>. More info as well at <a href="http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/">onlisareinsradar.com</a>. <a href="http://ftp.archive.org/movies/lisarein/jan6-10sf/lisarein-jan8sf.mp3">This mp3</a> is interesting. Maybe a random thought but it seems that 9-11 reversed innocent-until-proven-guilty. (via <a href="http://consumptive.org/weblog/blog.html">consumptive</a>) 120ActivismdanielThu, January 09, 2003publish"Ever since we changed from being 'customers' to 'consumers' the focus is not about what the users need or want but what the companies can shove down our throats. When we choose to use Software Libre we take back the focus and become 'customers' again." --Anon, in the comments to <a href="http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=478" title="One Coder's Opinion of the Microsoft Opinion">this article</a>. 119QuotabledanielThu, January 09, 2003publish"It comes down to fighting the battles you can fight. First and foremost is to create a story that really excites and entertains you. Don't think beyond that. You just cannot think beyond that, because then you're fucked. You've completely unnerved yourself." --Chuck Palahniuk 118QuotabledanielThu, January 09, 2003publishHow widespread is anti-Americanism?<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2635419.stm">BBC News: How widespread is anti-Americanism?</a> 117ElsewheredanielThu, January 09, 2003publishquiet American<a href="http://www.quietamerican.org/index.html">quiet American</a>. on that site: <a href="http://www.quietamerican.org/vacation.html">one minute vacation<a/>. check out <a href="http://www.quietamerican.org/download/other/ice_booming.mp3">ice booming in MN (1.3M mp3)</a>, for example. 116ElsewheredanielWed, January 08, 2003publishWillian Gibson blogging<a href="http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/blog.asp">William Gibson's blog</a>. Also: <a href="http://www.nomaps.com">film documentary on Gibson</a>. 115ElsewheredanielWed, January 08, 2003publish28th annual List of Banished Words<a href="http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current/default.html">Link</a>. Lake Superior State University is Michigan's smallest public university. 114ElsewheredanielWed, January 08, 2003publishAnd You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead show review<a href="http://www.monoki.com/articles_log/archive/001234.shtml#001234">And You Will Know Us By Our Designer Dress Shirts</a> by alex rainert <a href="http://www.monoki.com/index.shtml">monoki.com</a> <div style="margin-left:20px;">"Visiting their website and looking at pictures from years ago depicts a group of kids from Austin playing rock and roll. Last night, they looked like an ad for Banana Republic. Apparently the Mod look is really in (hats off to the Strokes for bringing that one mainstream again) but the band looked like they got ready for the show by combing each other's hair forward..."</div> 113ElsewheredanielWed, January 08, 2003publishthe new theologian(s)I just finished reading Dan Hughes' authority, identity, and the other kingdom. You can maybe get a copy by 1. asking <a href="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog/">him</a>, 2. getting on his <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theotherkingdom/">yahoo group</a> (altho it is maybe invite only), or 3. buying the <a href="http://www.theooze.com/soularize/resources.cfm">CD from ooze</a> which should contain the talk (ooo I don't see it mentioned there, that is a problem!) for which this document was the notes. As I told Dan...2 words: pub lish. He hits the nail on the head so many times...I'll try to share just a couple... <div style="margin-left: 20px;">"Because we recognize that all that is emerges from all that was--that our very spiritual authorities themselves have genealogies--we stand in a position of having to make decisions with regard to authority that have no unambiguous answer, not unlike Abraham hearing voices and choosing to raise his knife. ...We must decide...'Is this authoritative?' If we do not decide, rest assured, someone will decide for us...Authority and truth are both decisions to submit...Our defining texts and practices were all created, redacted and canonized by agreement. The agreement of some--generally, those in power... "In a community centered on belief--that is, cognitive assent to a collection of sentences--the smartest or most articulate are considered the most spiritual and those that naturally lead. Out of this comes such abortions as 2-week discipleship classes or the monstrosities of systemized small groups that are declared to be community... "The Kingdom is a movement of revolution that is enacted; of passion that is a total reordering of life along a logic of transformative human encounters that create sacred space in which the impossible is embodied. There is no labyrinth of ideologically correct doctrine; no priviledged interpretive stance. There is the compelling and the less than compelling."</div> I'm quite sure if this man puts forth any formal publication of his thoughts on this matter, it will by far excel all.112CommentdanielWed, January 08, 2003publishoh too many things to properly process on such a blogThis afternoon we had a very humbling and sobering 3 hour presentation on Bosnia and the effects of the war. I was going to decompress here, writing about it, but it's honestly just too much. I talked with Miriam about it over dinner and now I've just had to take a break from processing it. Suffice it to say it becomes hard to believe some of the things that go on in this country, some of the things that come out of people's mouths in this country, some of the "problems" people have in this country, after seeing some of the things we saw today. This blog is going to change dramatically after we move, I will change and it will be reflective of that. That I even spent the time to read such self-obsessed drivelling shit such as Eggers seems such a waste, as does such a life as he was lothe to share with so many. It got me thinking about God, of course, as these things are apt to do. I don't really think about providence or lack thereof like I do when I think about M's health, because war is a thing of man on man, where M's health issue has no cause, nothing in this world accounts for it. So in war I instead think about how it is possible for men to be so darkened, their consciences so dulled, so influenced by such meaningless things as politics and power, to kill others, rape women...both in ways so brutal that it boggles even a violent mind. And then I think about how America may become an agressor in war for the first time in its history. For the first time ever, this country may cross a border in war before it was crossed from the other side. I was quite a student of history as a teen, and I remember seeing the middle of the 19th century as such a dark time for our nation, stealing land violently from both Native peoples and those of Spanish decent. Perhaps we are entering another such period, and we too will have to harden our hearts, turn our religions into politigogies, our churches into slave-whorehouses, kill the man whose hand we shook the day before, rape his wife who poured our drinks late into the night.111MinutiadanielWed, January 08, 2003publishPlease go do thisDo your one thing against the RIAA and mass music distribution and consumption: <a href="http://www.musiccdsettlement.com/">get your free money, you qualify and it takes 2 minutes</a>!! 110ElsewheredanielWed, January 08, 2003publishthe Ship gets Boing Boinged<a href="http://ship-of-fools.com/">ship of fools</a> is mentioned today on <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/">boing boing</a>, a pretty darn big site -- <a href="http://boingboing.net/2003_01_01_archive.html#90159124">link</a> 109ElsewheredanielWed, January 08, 2003publishtech catch up(...etc...) Great PHP editor, SWM update, another new blogging tool, and an Integration Research update: I got to the point with my SWM PHP development where I couldn't just use the PHP error messages to track down my bugs. I was getting overwhelmed. I needed a <a href="http://google.com/?q="PHP+IDE">PHP IDE</a>. I found <a href="http://ozu.arecom-sa.com/~marms/phpedit.net/">PHPEdit</a>, created, apparently, by a bunch of Russians. Man those guys can code. Anyway, for a pre-1.0 release it works pretty good. Highlights code very nicely and lets me step through my code, which is all I needed. Also has a nice outline view of your project, listing files, then classes, then functions, allowing you to navigate easily through complicated applications (which, I guess, SWM just became, in my eyes). It's also decent for HTML and JS editing. Couple things I can't figure out how to customize, but they're minor. I am in the process of re-writing SWM in OO (object-oriented {programming}). Right now it is only semi-OO. Monday I went to add yet another feature and broke some stuff and said to myself, "Self, you need to back up and re-do some of this." So that is what I've been doing since yesterday. Today I realized it's going to be a couple more days, so I went and fixed the "old" SWM, and now I'm continuing to update with that. It is great motivation to be running the app on danielsjourney, since if I break it or stop mid-feature-add, I can't update. Yesterday I had a major brain dump concerning SWM, and have updated <a href="?archive=blog_2002_11_18_new.xml&id_pass=3">my notes about the SWM release schedule and features</a> appropriately. V1.0 of SWM will run locally on your desktop, as a desktop application, and you will publish to your server from there (very much like Radio, if you are familar with that product). The brunt of the work will be done by PHP in a browser-interface, but that interface will be integrated into the desktop app. Considering all this I have a new beta release date of just before our move to Bosnia. (That way my beta testers will have a couple weeks to break it, and by the time we're settled in Sarajevo I can get started on a full release.) *Might* be able to push up a beta release, work out bugs (I'm hoping for not many, considering I use it already), and do a full release by that date as well, we'll see. Also yesterday I saw a new blogging tool that is about to come out that is the closest thing to SWM I've seen yet. It runs on your webserver off of a database (I can only assume mySQL), but otherwise looks like a similar interface simplicity, up to two categories, *comments* (something I haven't worked into the architecture yet, although I have it in the back of my mind), etc. It is also written in PHP, as far as I can tell. Check it out--<a href="http://www.textism.com/article/661/">Textpattern</a> from <a href="http://textism.com">Textism</a>. I'm also almost completely decided to put SWM under <a href="./integration">IR</a>, making the whole project non-profit and for the purpose of the greater good. It will be provided free of charge to artists in the "IR network" (basically just means you've filled out a form on the IR website, something I plan on getting up there soon), and any profits from sales to other individuals (btw, the price is going to be low-low-low) and organizations will (obviously) go to IR. IR will contract with developers and support techs. Pure technology development was always going to be a part of what IR did, now we're just bringing it up to equal with the art production and consumer education pieces. SWM wasn't going to be a bank for anybody, anyway. :) Towards these goals, I tweaked the <a href="/integration/">IR section of this site</a> yesterday as well. To be ready to "be official," both with the IRS and the general public (and nonprofit community), you need to have everything pretty much laid out, and in my mind that includes graphics, etc. So I very quickly created an IR graphic. I like it a lot, but right away thought, "This could have already been done." So I'm sending out a request, <a href="mailto:spam@danielsjourney.com?subject=IR logo">email</a> me on three extremes: 1. if you've seen this logo, or something very similar, somewhere else before. 2. if you really hate it. or 3. if you really like it. Anyway: <img src="./integration/IR-logo-1.gif">108DesignDanielWed, January 08, 2003publishpeeves 07-11almost all regarding M$: 07. Microsoft. What else do I have to say? I tolerated them when they showed tolerance. That slowed with slimy OEM deals and stopped with XP's licencing schemes. 08. OEM versions of operating systems. Nowadays, the only OS CD you get with a new computer is the "reinstall everything" system restore CD, which includes a boatload of crap from the manufacturer that I do not want on my machine, and none of the many, many apps that I use everyday. Not to mention it is impossible to install that version of the OS on another machine. But that's piracy you say? Not if I've already installed another fully licenced OS on the first machine. But I am still unable to reuse that OEM OS for another machine. 09. Windows Media Player. Again, just sucks. Big, ugly and has no features. 10. Proprietary media software and autorun on CD's with bonus material. Who thought this one up? Every bonus CD has a different "player" they want you to install to see the content? Most of the time that content is in standard types--WAV, MP3, AVI, RAM, SWF--that I can just view on my computer. Just stick them in a folder on the CD and I'll happily go look at them without having the 1000's bogus program installed on my machine. 11. All HTML tags for creating lists. OL, UL, LI. They all suck. You'll notice I don't use them. It's enough to where, if I get the time, I'm going to create some little JS or PHP function that writes my own DIV tags to create my own indented outlines and lists.107MinutiadanielWed, January 08, 2003publishpeeves 01-06...first in a series not to exceed 99... ...in no particular order... 01. Hold music. It all sucks. It all sucks REALLY BAD playing out of my CRAPPY SPEAKERPHONE! A little reminder that we're still on every few seconds is all we need, people! 02. Flash, in any form besides behind a link along the lines of "Flash animation/cartoon thingie if you click here." Flash sucks DIRT for *normal* web sites, navigation, and PARTICULARLY for ANNOYING ADVERTS. 03. Popups. Put an add across the top of your page, along either side, at the bottom, in the middle, fine, do that, that's just fine. BUT DO NOT OPEN ANOTHER WINDOW DAMMIT! 04. Opening a new window from a link. Give me the option to do this, fine. But don't do it automatically. What, are you insecure or something? Afraid I won't come back to your precious website? Awww, you poor baby, I'm clicking away from your site, better keep your site up in an annoying extra window somewhere... 05. Music on websites. I AM ALREADY LISTENING TO MUSIC, ASSMUNCH. Your contribution to my auditory space creates a nasty cacophony. I cannot hear your crap, and you've pissed me off. 06. All "customer service" (<a href="http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20030106.me.06.ram">NPR bit from this morning in RAM format</a>) 106MinutiadanielMon, January 06, 2003publishof course! why did i not think of that!...once again I am beaten to the intellectual punch by one David Hopkins, esq.: <a href="http://monkhouse.blogspot.com/2003_01_01_monkhouse_archive.html#87006960">Akerirya</a> 105ElsewheredanielMon, January 06, 2003publishmore re: Badlees -- lyricsluther's sitting by himself on the sofa with his head bowed down but his eyes are open wide having a one man revival with an electronic bible -<a href="http://www.badlees.com/main.html">the Badlees</a>, Luther's Windows, from 1999's Up There Down Here 104QuotabledanielMon, January 06, 2003publishalmost unbelievably, more EggersFinished <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375725784/qid=1041882543/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-7399107-1844829?v=glance&s=books&n=507846">Heartbreaking Work...</a> by <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=dave+eggers">Eggers</a> today. Pretty disappointing, although I've never been a fan of stream-of-consciousness writing, at least by strangers. I'm also not a big fan of self-importance, of which Eggers does not lack, apparent from the book, yet alone his press clippings. Still, there are three short sections worth sharing. The first relates to the <a href="http://www.danielsjourney.com/index.php?archive=blog_2002_12_15.xml&id_pass=92">last one I shared here</a>, as it relates, again, to our visit to Florida over the holidays: The idea, I suppose, is the emotional equivalent of a drug binge, the tossing together of as much disparate and presumably incompatible stimuli as possible, in a short span, five days, together constituting a sort of socio-familial archaeological bender, to see what comes of it, how much can be dredged up, brought back, remembered, exploited, excused, pitied, made known, made permanent. The second bit is in relation to his first magazine, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=might+magazine">Might</a>. I liked it because it touches on how we (collective) can never enjoy, in the end, what we've dreamed about all along, and how selling something, the asking for money, sucks, because it subverts the dream: ...we would talk, explaining our plans, vaguely conveying our hopes, doing the best we could to articulate the fact that we wanted to be successful without being seen as successful-successful, wanted to keep doing what we were doing, with the option of opting out if we ever got bored, wanted to conquer the world in a way that no one would be able to tell that that's what we wanted, trying not to let on how tired we all were, how unsure we were that we really wanted to do any of this anymore... The last bit, it is obvious, it is so obvious and not really even mentioned well, but is possibly the crux of the work, the kind of ha-ha I'm mocking myself; I'm sharing it so that all of you but the insanely curious can read, say ok, and move on to something a tad less presumptuous... You know what it is? It's entertainment. If you back up far enough, it all becomes a sort of show. You grew up with comforts, without danger, and now you have to seek it out, manufacture it, or worse, use the misfortunes of friends and acquaintances to add drama to your own life. But see, you cannot move real people around like this, twist their arms and legs, position them, dress them, make them talk...103CommentdanielMon, January 06, 2003publishOppressed elude gung-ho journo in Albanian barsAnother day I sneaked away to visit the Museum of Atheism - in those days, Albania was officially atheist. I made it inside long enough to glimpse a life-size poster of a leering mullah forcing a tearful Albanian girl to cover herself up in a burqa before I was hustled out by security guards and the curator. An English tour group had been so scandalised a few years earlier it was ordained that no English would be allowed in again. ...Our bus drove past throngs of young men and women lined up outside our hotel. They stared silent and uninterested. A few moments later, a shout went up. The Germans had arrived. The crowd surged forward, shouting welcome. "What the hell's going on," the Macclesfield Young Journalist of the Year and I asked the hotel barman, as people banged on the windows of the hotel to attract the Germans. "Condoms," he replied. Albanian contraceptives, it turned out, were rudimentary. Its ageing factories produced condoms of thick, cheap rubber, about the width of a banana skin. They looked unpleasant. They must have felt worse. So crowds of east Germans would finance their beach holiday to Albania by arriving with suitcases of contraceptives. Later the hotel rocked as the Germans and Albanians partied, the Germans plied with free drinks, the Albanians slipping into the night with their precious supplies. [<a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3049961&thesection=news&thesubsection=general">more</a>] We might make a trip into Albania while we're in Bosnia. M already has a couple contacts there. We have heard it is a very beautiful country, bunkers and all; I'm just curious to see what the country most frozen in time looks like (although it has changed a lot since the period this article talks about). 102BalkansdanielMon, January 06, 2003publishbest blog definition (...etc...) Lost deep within the archives of my weblog lives the odd piece of web psuedo-philosophy and faux-observational schmaltz.[<a href="http://www.garyturner.net/index.htm">link</a>] This is also home to <a href="http://www.garyturner.net/unfamous/">unfamous</a>, where a couple of people in my blogspace have submitted, as well as the recent Computer games don't affect kids. I mean, if Pacman affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music... --<a href="http://www.jagers.be/">Wouter Jagers</a>. When I was a kid, I played a <a href="http://flburns.members.atlantic.net/omega/BOXCOVER.JPG">game</a> where you programed (<a href="http://flburns.members.atlantic.net/omega/OMEGA-CMDS.TXT">in a plain-english, proprietary language</a>!) A.I. tanks and then watched them battle each other, based on your coding prowess. Cul, huh? [<a href="http://www.imaginarylife.com/games/1199505">more info</a>] 101ElsewheredanielMon, January 06, 2003publish