Will of the People

For Pi Day Today/To Eat and Park With A Friend/Ate More Than My Fill

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A chair. My eyes move open, the sound of ten thousand raindrops, beads moving across a table, pearls or cheap gems, their surface carelessly striking others, cares of entropy absent in a realm where all is just data. My back is supported, I feel healthy sitting in this chair, straight after years of this bend, a foolish mistake of youth, posture and pain. Grass waves at my feet, not like a breeze, but a literal wave, like the hand of one's first lover after the first time. A shy goodbye, so I give it a cheeky, overdone wink, amused at myself. They told me that being able to laugh at yourself keeps you sane, so I do it again and again to make my sanity into a parachute for my mind, as expectations and delusions fall, I will fall slower, so by the time Jupiter's pressures crush me, I will long have been taken by age instead. The sunlight on the ground flickers around, like markings on a globe, quick, ordered, but not square, each turn as decisive as it was planned for weeks ahead. I can feel there is a pattern there, my fingers want to use the air as a sketchpad, but I fear that hope more than I fear the forgetfulness or emptiness in my head. I get a feeling of movement, see the grass a ways out move in irregular ways, offset from the rest, and get a feeling of motion in the air above. A distant chant, like three notes from a bird, comes to my skin, and I feel light itchings over my body. I sit, knowing how much effort they put into this. An escape from the cycles is near. They are singing the songs of my undoing, and it is beautiful.

At Philosophy gathering last thursday, a few of us were playing withwriting haikus and other poems... I present my three creations..

A cinquain:

Childish dark haiku 1:

Haiku 2:

Not bad for things that I didn't need to pause much while writing to think themout.

A hand in the rain, cups the falling waterbruised eyes with water streaming overfluid of life also brings great deathCompost, a duty shared, between victim and agressor

Oh shattered bird,Somehow I never thought your metaphor would lose its soul and gain a bodyReverse the trade, or give me a single featherAnd on looks the pained painter...

So my accidental houseguest is almost certain to be temporary -- I contacted thePA Wildlife Centre (after getting a pointer from a group called animal friends),and they're likely to take the bird and prepare it for release. Thinking aboutit, this is good -- I really don't have the energy or the knowledge to takecare of a bird. They are, surprisingly, a lot more difficult than a cat ordog, or even an Iguana, because their lifestyle is so ill-matched to ours.I'm going to miss the little guy (gal?) though -- it's adorable when it tiltsits head back and chirps, waiting for me to spit some food into its mouth(it thinks I'm it's mum, and when I walk by, if it's hungry, it chirps). While researching what to do with it, I came across some local pet sheltersand the like. I'll let the idea cook in my head -- perhaps I'll volunteerhere as well, occasionally, in that area. It was good to be able to help outbefore in Columbus. Back to the bird, once it learns to fly, or even starts towalk greater distances, it's going to be really hard keeping it around withouta cage.

After recording stuff off my voice recorder into computer (which will go ontoa truly hilarious CD that, alas, it would be inappropriate for me to evershare with anyone), it's due a mail trip to Columbus to be used by a friend.My new Neuros Audio Player will arrive soon to replace it's functionality. Hurrah.While talking about sharing in a capitalistic system, he mentioned social groupsthat have a sole raison d'etre of passing unused things from one person toanother within the group. This sounds interesting -- I'll want to look intothis further.

One trend I worry about in organized atheism, which I was discussing last nightwith someone, is one way which I believe people slowly fall (back) into theism.Specifically, they start to emphasize, in their memory, the divisionsplaced between positions on the religion issue, and come to really dislikemost atheists because of their professing of lack of faith creating barriersbetween other groups that do good things. What I believe happens next is that,as they start identifying with belief-neutral groups, they begin to succumb totheir emotions and get religion, all the while proclaiming the unimportance ofthe existence of deities, in the face of what are to them more pressing socialissues. It's a kind of slow slide into mild religion. For most americans, theywill likely slip into Unitarianism or a mild Christianity, as it's kind of a'default' for people raised in this culture. People who are come from a slightlydifferent background, upbringing, or culture, may become Wiccan, Judaist, orany number of other things. The person I was arguing with initially thought Iwas misjudging the person I was using as example, but later, as I made clear thepath possible, asked if it really is a bad thing, as she too feels thatpractical things are more important, in fact mocking me for even caring aboutabstract things and letting it colour how I see people. Naturally the "arrogant"word was tossed around again, but this time I was able to deconstruct it inan effective way, and I don't think she'll be using that term again. I am nowquite certain that the term "arrogant" is an empty statement of disapproval ofexpression of incompatible and threatening views that, nontheless, people thinkhas a different kind of content. Back to topic, while I do prefer atheists,and value atheism, I have a number of religious friends -- it's a plus, butit's just another factor in whether I'll like or get along with someone. Also,while I do like atheism, I more importantly like atheism for the right reason,which to me means that people filter their notions of truth through science,and don't allow wishful thinking into that process at all. Emotions are greatfor values, and thus certain kinds of philosophy, but one needs to be verycareful not to allow values to dictate one's understanding of what is.Some people are atheist for the wrong reasons -- they're really disgruntledbelievers under the wrong name, or like to rebel. I would prefer to regroundsuch people on philosophical materialism, and do my best to do so when I see it.The attitude of "damn happiness if it's not honest/true" is what we're aimingat here.

Anyhow, now to less deep matters:The Pentagon says that some of BushJr's military records wereaccidentally destroyed. Oops! How could such a thing happen?Andrew Carnegie -- enemy of the common man, christian, but despite these things,suggesting living a modest life and doing lots of charity. What are we to think?The same man who did union-busting that had people killed, also suggestingworking for the common good. .. it needs further consideration.Imagine hackers who can write human viri.. Scary.

Lunchtime!

Ichi - Broccoli is GreenThe shattered bird sings to me,the springs winding out of its body,the crayola blood and lemon-juice eyes.I admire it on its cavelit perch,and speak silence that echo through my hollow skull.The truth would disturb the air,an acknowledgement of the ties of blood wouldtaint the mottled bones, rescind the last breath...

Ni - Gasp of Fresh AirI thought I heard the paper rip, the penny drop onto the groundThe tiny streams we never see coat everything without a soundexquisite pain, and holding hands, laughter filled with painarteries that pulse with life, ice crystals in the vein

To live one must just take a breath, and nothing is the sameA tragedy, reason for being, in how these things we frameSwirled thoughts, look at your self, and sometimes wonder who?But then I smile, shake head at it, put on the other shoe

San - Reversed Fans of SummerThey met at a house, the flame and hose, and whiled the time awayThe scents released, the competition turned to idle playthrough Chaos drifts an idle cloud, it's history in songMy poems are sometimes quite bad, touch only with a tong

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Anyhow..Yesterday was an awesome day. Lazed around in the morning, went toCoffee Tree, and got more good reading done. Then I went home, readsome more, and at 7, I went rock climbing with N. Afterwards, I wentto her place, and, for the first time in many years, and as somethingI have had fewer times than I have fingers, I had some alcohol. Somewine, and other finer drinks, along with some good cheese and otherthings, as part of a French tradition. Wonderful dinner, great conversation..life is so good..

I finally understand what alcohol buzzes feel like -- my face feltwarm, I felt very mildly dizzy, and felt my normal joy at expressivenessgo up a bit. These went away rapidly at India Garden when I had somewater. N is teaching me about fine wines, so perhaps I will start tokeep them around my place at some point. From being at ground zeroa few months ago with regards to food, I think now I'm eating better thanI ever have. Happy...

Time is short, perhaps, and I can't get exactly what I want, but Ican at least get something kind of similar. Even with what I do have,it helps me put away one closed book, and gives me peace knowing thatthere's someone who really understands me. That's really important, andright now that feeling is the strongest it's ever been in my life..variations of a theme, the inner flow of Pachelbel.. watercoloursand samplers from my life.

I've already come up with some improvements in my BLOG software -- itshould stick a placeholder entry while I'm actually writing an entry ina text editor.. I don't know if it works though.. And the redesign reallymight change everything.. doing so is always fun though -- programmingis an incredible feeling, but it's really the act of doing so, not thegoal-oriented thought. When software gets big, one gets a purifying urgeto tidy, and the chance to refactor is just as enjoyable.

I recently took pictures from a "book" I wrote when I was much younger.I'll put them up once I have the time to get things clean and uniform.

Mary had a twisted goatIts fleece as black as nightAnd every friend that Mary metIt ate them out of spite

The candles, the torch, the tongues reaching up the dark surface of thesky.. Lost information, things we cannot see, do not care enough to look,a closed door we just don't bother to open.. the harsh light, the busyday, it taunts our eye, like medication skipped, a passportic invitationto misunderstand. The oval sees less than the crescent. My hand crawls,scrambling through the chalky roots, free of the burden of the group, inseeking the end of shadows too deep, examined with a long pen, to stick tomy eyes.

I finally became irritated enough with MySQL to track down a gotcha thatstarted shortly after I installed it. I don't like MySQL, but I likeMediaWiki, the software that Wikipedia uses, and I wanted tosee what it'd be like to use a Wiki on my laptop for everyday documentmanagement. After getting it installed, and configuring it, I rebooted, andnoticed that, according to the boot scripts, it failed to start and stopcleanly during each startup/shutdown, failing with some kind of a timeout.Oddly, the wiki still worked. I thought the database might've been slightlycorrupt, and so I was getting ready to dump it, remove the software, andrestore it, when I decided to check the sysVinit scripts. Apparently afterthe actual start of the database, it does a ping, which fails. I tried theping myself, and it told me there was a permissions problem. Hmm... After abit more prodding, I found the reasoning -- I followed the MySQL instructions,and set a root user password. The command the init scripts use to shutdownand check to see if the database is up happens to use the root account, whichfails to run if there's a password set. Good system! Thanks for the directions!

Henry Kissinger is not likely to be having a good week. Despite his bestefforts, more tapes of presidential conversations with Nixon were recentlyreleased. They range from reports of him drinking (which doesn't seemlike such a big deal -- a lot of people occasionally get sloshed) to theengineering of the 1973 coup in Chile, a much more sinister act, albeitone that was essentially public knowledge. I really don't know what differencethis makes though -- the common American seems uninterested in history,and the history textbooks are probably worried about appearing anti-American,so will continue to print the 'common standard knowledge' rather than thethings that actually happened. It's probably always easier to understandthe history of a nation by studying it from the vantage of another nation.

Ahh, the joy of reducing everything to economics..

Anyhow, I was going to do another post in Isa's blog, but the inspiration wentaway while I was messing with MySQL. Come to think of it, I think I'm goingto skip philosophy tonight -- I am in serious need of mindless chill time.Life has been way too bumpy as of late. Maybe I'll go running or biking againtonight. It still takes me awhile to get unsore after I exercise the fnord outof myself (climbing tires me, but not in the same way), but I seem to be ableto go for longer distances every time I go. In any case, there's been somefree and unhealthy food at work that I need to burn off. Ahh.. chill...

Between the hill of Iteration, and the sharp pit of recursion, (or is itthe other way around?) .. there's a desert where the wind blowsstrongly, order forms for a moment, and in most places, disappearsshortly afterwards. Some places, it lasts longer, and people pitch tent,all the time knowing that the context-dependant sands on which they sitcould shift away. There are places where it's sharp, where you cannotwalk without leaving flesh behind, and if you dance too long, there willbe little left.. Visit the recursion edge, and you'll see the sand gentlypour into the endless jungle valley, the vertical land of vines, water.

Here is an article on some strange peoplewho have a plan for world peace (be sure to read all the pages of the article).Apparently, the author was originally part of a militant group that wants todestroy the Dome of the Rock (a Mosque in Israel where Mohammad, according tothe legend, ascended into heaven, which also is believed to corrispond tothe site of the original Temple in Judaism) in order to rebuild the temple.After being stopped, he now wants to build a holographic temple, floatingabove the Dome of the Rock on a blimp, in an attempt to bring forth theMessiah. He also hopes to construct a virtual reality version of the sametemple. Apparently, the proceeds from a stupid patent lawsuit against Palmare supposed to provide the money for him to do this. The article is, ofcourse, fascinating. Van der Hoeven, another guy who's a fundie christianalso gets mention, and makes a very bad argument for razing the Dome torebuild the temple. It also mentions, in passing, an interesting ascripturalMuslim concept, of a mahdi, whichmight or might not be equivalent to the judaist/christian term messiah.In any case, I (surprise!) support their efforts to do their thing, so longas the methods they use don't provoke violence, as every time they fail tosummon their savior, and every failed prediction of miracles and stuff, isanother emotional downer for the religious mindset. When the roller coaster isdisappointing enough, people will, generation after generation, get off.Millenial cults rarely survive long after their big prediction flops.

On that site, I came across this -- an entry onthe Egyptian book of the dead. Unlike many religious views of the afterlife,supposedly it gives people advice on how to deal with the struggles of theafterlife. Why is this kind of thing rare? Probably because the afterlifemyth is present in religions primarily to either comfort them or to push themto do something in life, or in short, the concept of the afterlife is forpurposes in this world. It's simply not useful innovation to suggest peoplewill deal with trials, and to provide advice now on how to deal with them.

The U.S. is getting a taste of its own medicine, as the WTO hasdecided that its ban on online gambling is illegal.Amusing.

Google rolled out a personalized search system, as I predicted they might've afew entries back. I haven't used it much yet -- I wonder how well it works.I don't anticipate using it much until it can talk to the Mozillaversion of the GoogleBar...

Wikipedia has interesting commentary on BushJr's "Axis of Evil" term.Apparently, Teresa Kerry came up with the term "Asses of Evil" to describeBushJr, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. It also pointed me back at a parodyI saw once, and it was amusing to read it again."Canada, Mexico, and Australia formed the Axis of Nations That AreActually Quite Nice But Secretly Have Nasty Thoughts About America, whileSpain, Scotland, and New Zealand established the Axis of Countries ThatSometimes Ask Sheep to Wear Lipstick."Anoter interesting link from there is the Axis of Medieval..

The glass front, the place we used to despise, to kick, to laugh at,now I work in that shop, old and wrinkled, and I look out, eyes sad,at the modern versions of my youth...

The marble temple, I pay another visit... imagining the fresh feel of wind onmy cheeks, the quietness I have embued with the Parthenon... I wait for it toload... and frown..

Warning: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket'/tmp/mysql.sock' (146) in /www/htdocs/vr/php/parthenon.inc on line 73Database error: pconnect(localhost, nobody, $Password) failed.MySQL Error: ()Session halted.

My moment of Zen, denied because of a database error... I guess I'llgo somewhere else...

Yeah.. some more explorations of emotions, thoughts, realities, etc.

Note that this is partly a restatement of things I've talked about before..Some thoughts.. there's a fundamental difference between four general styles ofweb development I'm now aware of. The first style is content-focused,laying out the content fairly minimally with one's HTML tags, with an eye tomaintenance, cleanliness, and simplicity. Any nod to appearance is generallyslight, and pages like this generally have a spartan look. My webpagecurrently looks like this. If you view the source to my pages, you'll find thatit's a really good way to learn HTML. It does, however, have a kind of spartan(minimalistic) look. Webpages that do this tend to look the same in all browsers.The second style focuses on presentation, using blank images of varying sizesto force the browser to render it with very precise looks. Sites designed thisway tend to look professional, but they're also fragile, giving birth to thenotion of webpages that only display well on one browser, and with certainbrowser widths. Their code is also usually horrible to look at. MTV is, or at least was,the canonical example of this kind of site.The third style, and one which I only recently have become aware of, is theCSS-centric style. CSS is a language that allows for fairly precise specificationof the properties of elements of a page. It's possible to use it for smallthings, keeping one of the above styles. However, it's also possible to make itcentral to page design. It's possible to tell a webpage that really is in thestyle, as it tends to use the DIV tag (which is kind of a generic blocking tagthat's not really useful without CSS) for almost everything, avoiding TABLEs,FRAMEs, and often avoiding even bolding, underlining, and similar in HTML.The advantage? CSS is object oriented, and in the CSS section of a document,you can set all the properties for a CSS class or unique object (includingprecise positioning, subelements, etc), leaving in the code just the objectand its content. This flexibility lets the page essentially be a list ofobjects and properties, allowing the content of a page to easily be shaped byCSS from a different document (with CGI or similar, it might even vary as perthe user, allowing more powerful themes than most sophisticated database-driven sites).The fourth style, which can be mixed to a degree with any of the first three,focuses on an application server/database/deep CGIs to generate its content.It in theory offers complete flexibility as to the content delivered to theuser, but each bit of flexibility implemented this way has a high complexitycost. Some ways to do the fourth style are more complex than others, however,and things such as Jakarta/Tomcat's custom tag libraries can complement orreplace several parts of CSS, on the server side instead of the client. Thedivision between the client and the server in web languages is as deep andinteresting as that between compile-time and run-time information inprogramming, and the distinction greatly shapes the discussion.

This is hellishly cool.You can also check to see what your neighbors/friends/family have been up toon the funding front.

Finally, I learned about the -t flag to strace today. Nice.

strings extend from your fingersI look up and see your face aboveintent on your motionsdetached and attached from your every move

A delicate operation, you thinkI will take just this motion from abovebut you are seduced by yourselfthin wires remain your only link

A thought remains, we teach the apes the little thingsTo sweep, to feed, but still exclaim"Forget not, lest the inmates run the asylum"The idea is strange for just a little whileAnd then our eyes meet the puddle

An interesting division of view on terrorism, perhaps akinto the "double standard" that feminists note: Idea thatterrorism has a cause, and that it is typically the result ofan injustice done upon reasonable people repeatedly marginalizedor polarized. This suggests that removing the impetus for terrorism,and having better communication and dialogue can resolve the situation.Another perspective: Terrorism is a transgression, and either has noreason, or the reasoning is inherently criminal in nature, and so it shouldbe fought with police/military action. These relate to two very differentviews on human nature, that humanity is basically reasonable in nonexceptionalcircumstances, and that humanity can stray from civilized behavior and shouldbe punished when straying. Another, nuanced viewpoint would be that valuedifferences, with a possible difference on the categorical imperative, explainhow differently people act, and that while punishment and bluster offer littlevalidity (besides the idea of 'beating into submission'), neither can oneexpect convergence, and there is very little substance to the idea of avalue-neutral reasonability. The third viewpoint, being less rosy, isunlikely to be often heard. In the meantime, we of course will see a lot ofpress by people with the 'judgement' view and the 'make things right' view.The question for the third viewpoint, "Okay, but what does that mean, practically?"is a good one. I would suggest that it means one should indeed examine thecauses of the conflict, try to fix them (ignoring the claim that it's appeasingterror/agression or will be seen as a victory by the opposition) if it can bedone so without making too much sacrifice. If one is really very certain oneis not acting improperly, or that no comprimise is possible/desirable, then one should resolve the situation as carefully as possible to avoidcollateral damage, while at the same time soliciting input and cooperation withothers, to make sure one's head is indeed screwed on tight. At all times,complete transparency about the overall political plan should be maintained.

I have a lot of sympathy for this guy.I don't support the ELF, but I do see it as a moral value to protect the planet, andI view with great distaste those who argue "I earned it", as their justificationto damage the planet with a fancy, gas-guzzling car. Private property, I stillthink, is a good thing, but it should not be used as a shield against protectingGaia. I'm not confortable with destroying SUVs (although it is tempting), butwhen it comes to spiking trees, in proper circumstances, it seems entirelyproper, and in general, very carefully-targeted, not-human-harming (except inexceptional circumstances) vigilantism is acceptable.

Finally, looks like Microsoft isn't going to get offas easy in Europe as they got off here. I still amdisappointed in our legal system about that..

Lemons swaying in the BreezeLithmus paper made of cheeseBanana Potroast attracts no fleasArn't you glad I'm not a poet?

Spinach washcloths scrubbing hardSmiling faces eating chardIn strange movies lepers starredWhat if I were the last poet?

If this all seems standard faireNothing does make you so stareAs Curdled broccoli in my hairBoy, I'm glad I'm not a poet

Thought of that as I was falling asleep last night.

Simon walked by the passage for the twelvth time in his life, peering inwhile his wife and kids did their shopping down the street. Monks cladin yellow sat, eyes closed, facing the wall on blue plastic gym mats.A monk in a red robe sat in the center, eyes also closed. Unlike the othertimes, Simon walked in, removing his shoes and coat at the side of themat, and sat, eyes closed, facing the wall. Peace. A moment, an hour, a day?A tap on his shoulder -- his wife looked questioningly at him. He stood,took his things, and left with her. Meditation is a pond in the park, hethinks. A tap on his shoulder -- the monk in red looks at him.. time toretire. He and the other monks go to their quarters, and prepare to rest foranother day. Meditation is the water which encircles the island, he thinks.Twenty years later, Simon was a grandfather, Simon was the monk in red.

Apparently, Mass' courts gave a big thumbs-up to gay marrage.In the opinion, it's noted that the civil unions are anything butseperate and equal, and notes that, like with other minorities, seperatebut equal never results in any kind equal. Quite true, although people whodon't belong to the liberal tradition in which I operate have no interestin equality, and the 'seperate but equal' idea is, at best, held by aminority that's trying to make peace with both sides, like people who think"don't ask, don't tell" is a good system for the military. Let us never, asa society, be afraid to evolve, to incorporate good features from everywherewe wish, so long as we're aiming for a consistant, good, new whole. Thefinal conclusion of Liberalism is a flexible concept -- and as Fish notes,Liberalism is itself a society, with its own values. However, within anysociety is some room for variance, and part of the spirit of tolerance andsubsocieties that Liberalism desires is actually possible, within limits topreserve the greater whole. So, to the Christians who abhor homosexuality,no, you no longer can ban it, as a subsociety in Liberalism, nor can youmarshall the government to push against it. You may, however, aim to createa subculture that uses words and teachings to condemn it. Is that enough?Not for everyone, but it's one way for things to work.

Here's an article on 10 pieces of tech that refuse to die.Thoughts?

1. Analogue watches - Yup, as the article notes, they're easier to read, but more than that, it's not about the functionality -- it's a class thing. As fancy as they can get, digital watches are toys, and unlike other technology, like Cell Phones, they're always visible (on one's wrist!), so, like with nice pens or a good wooden desk, people tend to graduate to them as they start to care about appearance. Next time you're out, look for a class-watchtype correlation.
2. Dot-matrix printers - Ho hum.
3. Typewriters - I think these will die soon among all but the collectors. 20 years, tops.
4. Radio - What else are you going to listen to while driving your car to/from work? I have a CD adapter for my car, but it's a pain to operate, and sometimes I want to hear something I haven't heard a hundred times before.. And no, that XM pay-radio thing is a bad idea -- information shall be free.
5. Pagers - There's a difference in contactability that's important. It's probably a social-psych thing.
6. Tape - *yawn*
7. Vacuum Tubes - Sure, some people claim they sound better. Some people are stupid. I'm sorry, nostalgia and snobbery are not good reasons to make shit up about what sounds better. There are very good experiments showing limits to human hearing, and the audiophiles who claim to be able to tell the difference would, no doubt, fail to be able to distinguish in a blind test. It's all data, and claiming otherwise is like being like a kooky art professor I once had in University who claimed that paintings have souls that people can touch.
8. Faxes - Faxes are big because computers are too complex, and don't offer the kind of tracability that phone lines and standard hardware offers. It's easy to lie about email's arrival, or talk about blacklists
9. Mainframes - Some businesses are very conservative, and not without reason
10. Fortran - It's not a terrible language. Old-fashioned? Yes, but it's compatible, and a lot of people learned it.

I saw this poster up at CMU suggesting peoplelearn German. I'm not sure why people would want to learn German, for abusiness point of view, which is what they were pushing (learn german, get ajob!), but it is a cool-sounding language, I think. It's irritating that ithas 3-genders.. I think gendered conjugation and nouns are a terrible language'feature'.. but it is a funny poster, at least.

It's disappointing to see the Chinese government obsess over buying power.Private car ownership is not a good trend, and it's a sad thing to see itand other aspects of consumerism being pushed... Far better to use thoseresources for good, 24/7 public transit.

Oh, I forgot to comment on this -- apparently, AmericanIdol beat out BushJr's state of the Union address on TV. I'm not sure if thatsays more about BushJr or about the American public...

Speaking of religious nuts (gotta love my segues), here's a group aimingto defend Christians from an increasingly hostile group of american secularistsand intellectual elites. Of course, their group is the victim here... theirAMERICAN FLAG WITH A CROSS REPLACING THE STARS AND STRIPES isn't meant tosuggest any agression or plan on their part...

I never even heard of this conflict before...

A nod, and the would-be hero stopped, stood still. The normal chaos,hierarchy, patterns in the mind all slowed.. memory present, butno decision-making, no interesting processes.. what little thought therewas... a memory or impression, of the top of his hand over a pyramidshape, soft plastic, a gentle slope. Cradling that odd angle with hishand.

Perhaps a focus on the motion of fluids while stirring a bowl of soup,the intricate folds and flow near the wooden spoon..

I'm presently listening to Daler Mehndi's "Dil Te Churiyan".. it'svery addictive, and there's an amusing music video that comes with it.It seems that one of the consistant themes in Daler Mehndi's videosis that he's convincing an initially reluctant woman that he's cool.I do wonder if I would like his music more or less if I understood thewords... I also wonder if there are any people like him in Americanpopular music -- could his videos fly with a western audience? Couldhis style of music appeal to people here?

Someone I used to know, but now lives far away, recently wrote something thatreally grabbed me... he's someone who I really feel has lived a parallellife to mine, the similarities are really kind of funny. Oddly, I never reallyseemed to get close to him -- perhaps too much similarity, people who normallyplay the same role in social groups, these things make for parallel threads inthe fabric of society..

At work, I finally have a breakthrough in the R to Auton bridge -- I now havethe C side keeping things on its own, and can pass data from R to C. I wasthrown off by the way .C() appeared to work on a function I grabbed from asample C function called showArgs(), but it actually wasn't, the objectswere just being passed back and the R side of the code was displaying them.Nothing like printf() debugging.. Heh. The way I'm cooking these things up,I want to be using .External() ... and the sample function was actually slightlywrong, at least for the version of R I'm using. Anyhow, once I get some simpledata passed back from C into R, all the tricky, experimental work in theproject will be done, and the actual (relatively dull) implementation will beready to be cooked.

Yeah, they got Saddam. So what? It doesn't change anything -- it was a stupid'adventure' for BushJr (pbuh), who should've listened to his dad. BushSr atleast had the brains to understand that occupying the country was a dumb idea,although his adventure wasn't too bright either. I doubt there were anyof the specially nasty weapons (but hey, a weapon's a weapon) in Iraq, I thinkBushJr knew this and lied (his instructions to be dishonest to his ppl don'thelp things), and in any case I don't think Iraq ever posed a threat to theUnited States in either gulf war. Saddam's abuses of power arn't anythingspecial for nonwestern states, and such abuses certainly don't stop the U.S.from continuing to deal with and support other such countries, especiallywhen oil money is involved.

I think, for the first time in a long time, I'm going to have a decent amountof this month's paycheck, beyond the amount I automagically have doing so,to deposit for saving. That's pretty amazing, considering all the car messI've had to deal with, but yeah, I'm happy. All the long-term ugliness leftover from the O'Reilly trip, the aborted vacation, car problems, and other stuffis gone. I have a small cash buffer against emergency now... mmm safe..

Came across this news-ish blog. Amusing.

This article, by Berners-Lee, one of the pioneers of the web,suggests that websites be designed so that documents never disappear. I reallyam at two minds on the issue -- on the anti-side, I'm reminded by the adviceof the extreme programming camp (and some other camps too) thatto think too far ahead is too limiting and time-consuming for software(let's extend it to webpages), where having flexible, simple, easily implementedideas is more important. On the other hand, I do think it's awfully inconvenientthat so much of the web is continually disappearing, or worse, becomingobsolete or incorrect without being marked as such. Is Archive.orga solution, or a red herring? I really don't know.

A friend sent me a sad story. I sent her here for something else.

This is an interesting political-regional framework. A fun quote:Democratic consultant James Carville once described Pennsylvania asconsisting of Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and"Alabama in the middle."

Reality TV for you..A few of the other victims of the holocaust get mention..

Some farming politics..

And something I've always suspected: Powerpoint makes you dumb.That's not my title -- it's the actual NYT article title :)

When I visit Israel/Palestine, I'll probably try to stop by here.

I grabbed the rest of my music from my home system onto my laptop lastnight.. I suspect torgo's going to die soon, so it's time to start doingmore backups... I can't quite put my finger on why it's going to die, it'sjust an intuition.. but my computer intuition is damned good..

I may fade into the background...My entry in life a detailthe Cliffs notes find too unimportant to mention..But I am not a prisoner of the lamb

The wind flows over my headIt has forgotten.. everything..I want to join itBut I am too attached to things..But I am not a prisoner of the lamb

I see happy people, laughing, huggingThey are with friends,singing to each other, song of slaves..But I am not a prisoner of the lamb

I recently had a conversation.. and yes, Gaelynn, you'reright.Gaelynn: it is that you have people youconnect with, but they can no longer be there for youand you can't find others to fill those roles

And I'm giving everything I can, when asked, and taking nothing.It's even more frustrating, because I think (hope) I've learnedto take when I need, and not to hold my breath, but I'm nowbeyond that. Learning to be honest is a lesson that is more aboutsomething else, later on the path. The surface lesson is honesty, andit's one you never learned, but the deeper lesson is, well, I'lllet you come to understand it on your own. There's am abstractionof honesty that has nothing to do with communication, I don't knowif it has a good word in English.

The ACLU called me about a week ago about an event they wanted meto attend this past wednesday... and they said they were going toemail me the info. They never sent the mail, so I didn't go..I have no idea what it was for, but oh well.Tomorrow, on Walnut Street in Shadyside, the Dean folk areholding a registration event. I'll probably show up -- it's at 15:00.

Today, on the way back from work, I noticed a Libertarian Poster..They were bragging that they're the only party that said they were forpeople keeping 100% of their paycheck. I guess it really acted as akind of measure of how far I've moved from their position -- I wasjust pissed at it. To be fair, I'm not sure if the official party positionwas ever this, and most libertarians I've known didn't believe in this..But yes, I've turned the libertarian skepticism of big government to alsoworry about big business, and I think I worry more about business thangovernment nowadays, and my green concerns became a wedge that very neatlyjammed the door open in understanding that economic interests cannotexpress other interests. Of course, the vanilla liberals are wrong on twocounts... people are still stupid, and 'rationality' won't result in allthe disagreement in the world going away. In the eyes of some Liberals,Rationality has become their mantra in the same way that Liberty is themantra of Libertarians -- a magic way to hide disagreements in a terminologythat makes it bloody hard to actually talk about them. I remember, when aLibertarian, talking with another on an issue where we disagreed -- privacy.

A: "I believe that one should be (free/at liberty) to keep information aboutanything I see, and pass that information around as I see fit"B: "I believe that part of Liberty is to be free from intrusive eyes, andwhat you're talking about isn't a true part of liberty"

If you know me well enough, you can guess which one of the above I was. Thepoint is, we were using really stupid terms for what's much more naturallythought of and talked about as two seperate values instead of aspects of asingle, complex-as-hell term. Anyhow, I'm different than I was..Hell, maybe someday I'll end up being a socialist -- stranger things havehappened, but for now, I've come half-circle, from something resemblingobjectivist-republicanism (when I was young) to libertarian (high school throughcollege), to liberal. I do, as mentioned previously, think a time will comewhen scarcity of labour will be eliminated, and at that time, a socialiststate of some kind will need to be established, or technology will be theend of our economic system. At that time, perhaps a Leninist or Trotskyistsocialism, in any case, a liberal one, might be a good option, althoughother social/economic arrangements might be worth experimenting with. Doesthis make me already a socialist? Ahh, definitions are best at capturingsimple cases.

Now, on to current events..All talk about theoretical communism aside, this has mereally pissed off. I imagine the Chinese government feels emboldened byrecent statements by BushJr that they won't support Taiwanese independance..If China were to invade, what would happen now? Hell, BushJr, is the Taiwanesegovernment eventually going to, because of your business interests in dealingwith China, be declared a terrorist organization?

Here's a novel tactic to fight for the green cause...I don't really approve though -- this is the side of the greens that'srepugnant to me, the thought that many entire ways of life and culture shouldbe legally protected... although, I have recently come to understand thefull implications of what I'm saying, and I do understand how people couldgo the other way on this. It is kind of a painful thing to decide that thatmuch culture is out of bounds for strong protection, but on this issue, Ithink it's worth it. Ahh, who are you to judge, shouts a little part of me..and to you, little part, I spit in your eye. I sympathize with the pain, butnot with you -- every decision or position we take has consequences. It'sunavoidable, and the most purile, stupid thing we could do to say things like"who are you to judge?" and pretend that that should lead us to a fastvictory in an argument. Sure, you might make someone stutter, confuse themperhaps, but all you're really doing is providing confusion -- it's not anargument.

Perhaps on-topic, France, always the country to agressively get involved inlaw to protect their way of life, is working to ban overt religious symbolsfrom schools. It's interesting though -- I feel a new sympathy for France.I am undecided if my aims of providing what Stanley Fish calls boutiquemulticulteralism is itself a kultur. It's at least an element, so gettingstuck on the terminology would be a distraction. I dream of a lot ofseperate cultures existing, in weakened forms if necessary, inside of alarge modern liberal kultur, with no ability to influence the laws, whichwould be designed and managed by some liberal folk at no obligation to listento folk from the individual cultures, who would otherwise attempt to sway themto give them strong advantage or introduce their customs into law. Thesubcultures could enforce their whims on their participants, who would alwayshave the ability to leave said cultures, and no contracts that would bindthem too strongly into said cultures would be valid. Religions and suchcould continue to play the people, but not through them the state.

Some dark humour for ya.

Here's an interesting insight into the evolution of humans -- it suggests that the development of some of the mechanisms of hearing mayhave been a watershed event, acting itself as a very slippery slope torapid advances in other areas of brain development..

Is this a balanced report on issues inIsrael? The idea of watchdog groups sounds like a good idea -- much likecopwatch in several cities here. Better monitoring of what actuallyhappens at check points should be, in theory, in everyone's interest.Having publically accessible (webcams maybe?) randomly visible coverage ofall checkpoints would provide, in many cases, good ways to know when abusehappens, and when people are abusing the system.

Here's the latest BLOG I've started reading: Ali Mohammad Abtahi.Apparently, he's one of the vice presidents of Iran.. It's interesting thatit puts a face on Iran, helps us understand things in a very different society,and that it's from someone so high up.. It's available in 3 languages too..I wonder if he's trilingual, or if someone translates it for him.

Oh, incidentally, some language nazis apparently are delighted to flex theirchicken little urges again. Of course, it's always pathetic to go afterthe dictionary as if it's responsible for new words and phrases coming intobeing. It's still funny ;)

Here's some pretty worthless technology.I honestly don't understand the big deal about gas-based fuel cells forlaptop computers -- it really seems to me to be a big step backwards.Laptops and cellphones, the two targets mentioned for the technology,whereby people get gas cannisters and plug them in, and by consecutiveuse of the fuel, can keep their stuff going for ~20 hours, are the absolutelast devices I'd ever want to require a nonrenewable power source for. Why?I USE THE FRICKING THINGS EVERY DAY. WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT TO NEED TOKEEP HEADING TO A STORE TO GET MORE FUEL FOR THEM? It's a wonderful thing thatright now they're both rechargable, and it was a really stupid thing that myfirst digital camera was not (until I got the optional rechargable batteryfor it). So, someone explain to me why methanol fuel is a good thing, becauseI'm stumped.

Apparently the Communist party in russia is having problems holdingtogether, with an interesting divide between theories of communismtugging at it from a few sides.

So, another weekend. Apart from the Dean thing tomorrow, what to do?Hmm. I think I might head out to a more distant park, putting my carto use, and spend some quiet time just sitting. I used to do that inColumbus... walk to somewhere remote, and just sit for a few hours,sometimes with a pen and pad, sometimes without. I hope it's not toocold for that. On the other hand, if it rains, that's pretty too.

A gallop? No, a terrified man running through the woods.. We seeno pursuer, but clearly he's in a panic, his limbs flailing, hiseyes wide, each step a gamble, tiny slips and stumbles are metwith a quick push and he's off again.. it's dark, the snow iseverywhere, the only light being ill-spaced streetlights, providinga small feeling of day in some areas. I passed this shadow on theway to my meal, in my eyes, a playlist.. and a thought...Again, the other Pat's, the other paths... and then of lastyear... a brief moment of cold, and the blur of time.. it's warm,the sharp edges of the snowflakes become a cold plasma, sort enough totouch, the smeared paint...

o/~ Save the world, don't leave the houseA virtual office in a virtual homeSo you'll never have to drive through the wrong part of townPass it along by word of mouse

Ah, where do you want to go today?Ah, Somewhere you could never take me..o/~ -- Chumbawumba, "

Something you'd never expect...The Pied Piper was called to deal with the aftermath of Pandora's box..The subtle grappling with reality, the twisting, that wouldbreak it, and humanity, like the soft skin of a grape...All would be stopped by a flute... or so the legend goesBut like a good showman, the flute is mainly a symbol -- ourpiper, ladies and gentlemen, has other tools. We won't, however,tell his secrets here. We can just recommend him for your village --after accepting payment (he does that upfront, these days), hesimply marched away, a trail of nightmares at his feet.

o/~ This is my private bedThis is where I lie at nightStaring at a light bulb hanging on the ceilingWaiting for a dream toCome and get me out of here

Here in my humble room at nightI often wonder what goes on out thereWhat makes them run so scaredI often stare at the people passing byBut they can't see me thru my window shadesJust like I'm not even there o/~ -- Oingo Boingo, "Private Life"

So, yesterday I worked for a bit, then had a thanksgiving lunchwith a co-worker, and then worked a bit more, and then drove home(got egged into it) for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, nobody told mewhen the dinner was, so I missed it. Oh well -- hung out w/ my familyfor a bit.. I then got a ride to Columbus with Martha, had some goodconversation, and was dropped off at Fnord, where I was able to grabmy car and head back to Pittsburgh, catching up on some phone callsI needed to make in the meantime. It was a good trip, although a bitbrief.. I have a LOT of work to do for school now...
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Yeah, naturally, on the way to and from my destinations, I listened toa *LOT* of music... and when I was at my parents, I played a bit on myDad's guitar and the piano.. it really was a nice break from my recentmusic-producing-less existence. Yes, I've lost enough of my mapping ofwhat notes are which keys/strings+frets, but that really didn't mattertoo much -- even doing music badly is better than not doing it at all.

Have been researching what's needed to get my car registered here..apparently, I'm going to need to get the windshield wipers repairedbefore it'll pass inspection, which means yet another trip to Ford(fortunately, I can use one here). Ugh.. that means that I'll needto figure out transport back and then transport there again.An alternative would be to use the Ford in Monroeville -- if it's nearenough the other stores there, and if they can repair it within a day,I'll just hang out at a coffeeshop or something. Stupid cars. Bleh.

Oh, I've got some pictures for you...Valerie, the Roboceptionist in my building at CMU..Latest addition to my office doorSame, but playing with GIMP filtersAndrea, my mom, Bailey, Lindsay, and my DadKatie and Andrea strike a pose in the library

And a link to some music.I particularly recommend "Salt Fare, North Sea" as well as "Pass it Along"

o/~ With all the changes you've been throughIt seems the stranger's always youAlone again, in some new wicked little town... o/~ -- Hedwig, "Wicked Little Town"

What does it mean, to follow the path? You may succeed in all your statedgoals, but lose your humanity behind the curtain. Yes, Virginia,it is all that, but be careful to think before you take our hand.All the transhumanists, and the humanists, it is another path that's narrowat times. The pain of knowing yourself, of understanding each spasm ofanger or hope, the shame that we project onto others, humanity was nevermeant to withstand a mirror. The Jester makes her trade, dressing up inludicrous garb, telling us things that we can't admit, indulging oursurpressed desires. Comedy is Pornography. And yet, one culture's pornographyis another's normal state of affairs.. and of course, things often canpiggyback on good pornography -- racist humour, spiritual yearnings, consumeristthoughts..

The problem with religion or the state for that matter is that it involvesputting faith in something above yourself. They take power and responsibilityaway from ordinary people and undervalue people's worth.In lefty circles there's a tendency to dismiss Western religions as bollockswhilst believing any old clap-trap as long as it's Eastern. I'm sick of hearinghow spiritual and fantastic Buddhism is; tell it to the slave labourers inBurma. They live under a Buddhist system and its not doing them much good. -- Chumbawumba FAQ

And I realize that I have turned my back on a side of myself, at least one..Music can get me to my other (acknowledged) side, and sometimes near theborder, but the illegitimate side can only insert a snide comment hereand there, is restricted to standing on the edges of my vision, jumping upand down with his mirror.. To protect the trees, she has been expelled fromEden, her fast-food job replaced by a robot servitor. She sings a song ofspirit, of longing, and although I try to ignore her constant circling ofthe circle, the tears flowing down my face betray how hard it is sometimes.I even guiltily use her shouted arguments for my own ends, my own captiveMoor to ward against the horde, my vaccine.

You tell me that the Tragedy is the only game in town, but the tragedyis an intellectual movement, and we're in an age of spiritual machines.The thing we're always told, Be Rational, don't get revenge,don't be the nail that sticks out.. even to correct a wrong. And yetwe all know, inside, how to speak with the voice of society. It's inour genes, in our psychology. We sometimes take pride in being inhuman,to extrapolate firm ground in the windy muck we live. Our struggle to finda face will always succeed, with finitely bound error.

Someday, I shall tell you tales from the Brain Bowl, a place of recent discovery.

From IM:"Did you leave some toenail clippings here that you identify with? :)"

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Did ya know...That sqrt(2) = 2 * sin(Pi/4) ?Bet you didn't. :)

The weather is really getting nasty.Today, during one of my breaks, I spent some time cleaning mybookmarks.. Probably about half were obsolete, and while trimming thehierarchy, I neded up removing some branches that got too narrow..I came across one page that I was particularly sad to see go --It was a page on KIBO, part of early geek kultur that's justgone now.. and I don't think anything like him could come about intoday's internet... all the advertising bastards, the profiteers,curse them for taking that beautiful community, and destroying itunder their collective weight. Ladies and gentlemen, toast withwhatever you've got, to Tale and KIBO. Remember the Usenet!Hmm.. one interesting thing -- of the sites that are no longermaintained, the ones on Geocities seem to have disappeared muchfaster than those elsewhere -- they actually seem to put some effortinto removing dead sites. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not..

It looks like Srees is going to close for the season soon.. The Sree family is heading to India for a month, and so the truck and therestaurant won't be there. I guess I'll need to figure out where else toeat.. I'll be saving as many of the mandatory vacation days as possiblefor later use when I want to do something with them.. meaning that while I'llhave classes off, I'll be working.. with any luck, on Christmas, New Years,and all the days surrounding them that are supposed to be vacation. Indeference to my parents, I'll probably head home whatever weekend is closestto Xmas to say hi to everyone who shows up. But, at least as currently planned,I'm going to skip Christmas.. for the simple reason that I'm not a Christian,and that I'm not going to put up with being dragged into religious crapanymore. My parents will no doubt have a cow, but just as christians stake outclaims for themselves, this is something I'm staking out for my flavour ofAtheism -- I will not participate in your traditions. I will not hold yourhands while you do your superstitions, I will not come to your celebrationof a dangerous myth. Whatever Jesus really believed or said, be it like whatthe Muslims or Christians think or not, he's just another dead guy, killedby the Romans almost two thousand years ago. I'm not taking part, and doubtI ever will.

A fragment: Be careful of making your system depend on software that comesfrom outside -- any bugs in new versions, or upgrading problems, might breakthe OS. That's why there has traditionally been reluctance to make modernLinuces depend on Perl or Python.. some vendors do the wrong thing, andhave a static perl in /usr/bin, and another perl elsewhere. The right thing isto have a "sysperl" or something like that, with a different name, and alteredso it can't be affected by changes to the regular perl package (changinglibrary search paths and stuff), and make all said scripts run with that.Yeah, it's a horrible duplication of code, but it means your users canupgrade their perl seperately without breaking their OS..

It was a strange day in heaven... the world had ended a thousand yearsbefore, and peace and quiet had finally come to the cosmos. The gardenabove, with Yahweh, and the desert below, with Belial and his wanderingspirits. The soft light of heaven, and misty edges of the beings theresuddenly contrasted with 1, 8, and then dozens of bald men and women, in orangerobes, as solid as things ever were in reality. Sitting in the field,they waited, as the Angels nervously backed away, and began an anxiousdiscussion as to what they were, and how they were there... no materialbeings were supposed to be physically capable of entering the Garden,and they did not behave as Belial's compatriots.. In the desert below too,there was much worry, as similar entities appeared, the ever-flowing sandsseemed to stay clear of them, not inflicting on them the burn, the eternalmark of those who had fallen. And then, a fallen sat with one of the women,a smile, and a opaque bubble surrounded them. Similar events in the Garden,and occasionally, the bubbles opened, and only the monk remained. An angelattempted to strike one, and awoke minutes later on the other side of thegarden, having simply vanished from the spot. Some tried to pierce the bubble,and simply found it inpenetrable. Belial and Yahweh, as usual, were on one oftheir inner explorations, and could not be rearched, and so the souls ofthe garden and the desert slowly disappeared. The angels were understandablyuncomfortable, but eventually stopped bothering them, instead suggesting tothe souls that they steer clear of them, although with only limited success,hoping for the fast return of their deity. Yet the souls kept disappearing,and in time, there was only about a dozen left, the desert long empty.Some of the monks bowed to the rest, each moving their fingers to a small pieceof lint on their robes, tossing it off, and then disappearing, leaving onlya brief afterimage of a purple starry night from before the end of the world.The remaining monks stood, and began to walk around the garden, seeking outthe last souls in heaven. Four sets of eyes opened in unity, a shriek of ragein Sheol, a cry of anger in Eden. Heaven and Hell were empty, and a briefglance of the four angry eyes over the emptiness between found nothing leftin the world of matter, nowhere they could be. The garden reshaped itself,and before one of the remaining monks stood an old man, eyes holding theages of eternity in their pupils. The remaining monks bowed, a tunelesshum escaping their lips, and the angels unraveled, like the golem neverproperly alive. A final bow, and there were but two monks, one lookingat Yahweh alone in the Garden, the other sitting calmly at Belial inSheol. "You were once one of us, remember", a phrase spoken by two sets oflips, seperated by a vast spiritual distance. An angry response,"I AM ALL THAT IS GOOD", "I AM ALL THAT IS LIFE". "You don't know who youare. Remember. You are only half of what you were". "HOW DID YOU REMOVE MYSOULS?" "We held back until we could fulfill our vow, and passed them onto the other side". "THIS IS THE OTHER SIDE". "No." Two heads bowed, foursets of hands raised, and sand began to flow into the garden, mist beganto flow into Sheol. Belial faced Yahweh for the first time in thousands ofyears, and the male monk bowed to the female, pulling a speck of lint fromits robe, fading to purple spark. "I am here for you, you who are not whatyou are". A brief, bitter glance, and both tried to reshape their realms,to seperate again. "There is no return, there is only the future. Youmust accept who you are. Those souls were never what you made them out tobe, your sheol and garden were never the final destination". Rage, anger,feelings of righteousness, a figure that could not be moved by divinemight. Three figures sat down on the moist, grassless earth, or was ittwo? The duty of the last Bodhisattva, to enlighten the Divided Being..

Disclaimer: The theology in this story is not necessarily an accuratedepiction of Buddhism or of any of the Mosaic religions, and certainlyisn't a statement of what I believe. I'm sure you can handle that :)

Flowers are only open for so longLoving the wind won't make it last in your armsIt is better to see the summer to it's endThan to enter Gaia's arms before her welcome

You imagine a smile on her face,Lachesis with her spindle greyInstead her eyes are tightly shutLeft hand guiding Cupid's arrows there

Arrow strikes although it's not for youSatyr's dance and flute for someone elseAnd although you watch them go insaneDesired gift of sweet Ambrosia juice

Turned their back, and then did build a worldChildren come and go, gold bronze and earthGrowth and patterns from their split-off crestYou wait in the sky, path overgrown

You have a bride, although she's turned awayOrganic life is what betrays the mostBut without it there is naught but deathChaos wraps itself and goes to sleep

Like a clogged pipe, sometimes an orthoganal nudge can give usnew insight into things. I'm loaning my computer bag to a coworkerfor a conference trip.. I was anticipating it to be a slightinconvenience using a bookbag to stash it, but when I made it home,I found that an O'Reilly tasche I got from one of the conferences isexactly the right size to snugly fit my (large and oddly shaped) laptop,with the power adapter fitting nicely into the front pouch, and thatas it's an over-the-shoulder thing, I can still wear a backpack with it.Having them seperate is actually a good thing -- I no longer need to havethe computer and its adapter compete with all the science journals and otherthings I carry around to fill empty time, and that means I can whip out mycomputer quicker. Also, yesterday I was made an offer for something Ithought I wanted, and found, while considering it, that I don't reallycare about it all that much. I thought, when deciding that it'd be a goodthing, that I was turning over a new leaf, and being more honest with myselfor something.. but no, that's just another thing she was wrongabout. Just another area where I allowed her sickness to project onto me,and didn't question it until too late. When you make your own demons,pretty soon you make your own hell.. Heck, I might give it a shot anyhow --one only lives once, but it's not as important as something else I know I want.

Here's a better link for the Jackson grumbling I did in my lastentry, talking more about where he is(n't) and the frustration of thepolice who are aiming to get him.

Back to work..

In Search of Fading LightPeople can touch infinity for a moment,And spend a lifetime trying to get it back..Is it worse, though, to give up the pursuit,and lose sight of it entirely?

How can eternity look so differentfrom young eyes? How could it change so much?It is because we do not hold it in ourselves,that our eyes move along different paths.

A sunset changes the eyes little, replenishing the heart, like a cup of cold water.Nearly ten thousand sunsets have I seen,and grows in me a hunger.

It looks like Linuxant has some competition.When need is great enough, the open source community provides foritself.. Linuxant, if you recall, wrote wrappers allowing Linux users touse Windows drivers for their wireless network cards, and sells said wrappersfor $20. I happily purchased a license -- my laptop's built-in wireless cardgets better reception then the PCMCIA card I had (which I've since mailed offto a friend who has a use for it), and that card was suffering from beingstuffed into my computer bag repetatively.. Do I regret spending the money?No -- the Linuxant people didn't overcharge, they were supporting thecommunity, and they were trying to get funding from the hardware vendors sothey could provide their work gratis. Might I switch? Maybe. Economically, itwon't make a bit of difference -- Linuxant already has my $20, and for theconvenience I've had since switching, they've more than earned it. On theother hand, the linuxant driver does have some funny license-key stuff thatmakes it work, so to avoid that, if/when the open driver becomes mature, I'lllikely switch.

Looks like McBride is feeling the effects of his attempts to steal thelivelihood of the open source movement. Interesting that Ransom Love, theprevious poobah of what now passes for SCO, disowns the company. Still, it's not enough, and it's right that McBride feel great friction forwhat he's doing. And McBride has greater aspirations -- he wants togo after BSD too. Information shall be free. All of it. In the end, proprietaryinformation won't be owned, but Linux and BSD, these are the things that we'vemade, playing by the unacceptable rules of IP. Like the spammers, we'll makelife uncomfortable for you, Mr McBride. Protesters will hound you to the endof your days.. "that is the man who tried to imprison the penguin and the daemon".Here's an economist attempting to rephrase opensource in economic terms.It's just enough of an analogy to be honey to the mind.

Looks like the Dutch police may soon be frustrated by cryptophones.As always, this is a trade-off -- it will indeed, as mentioned, make it harderfor dutch police to tap phones, and apparently they feel strong needs to do so,tapping phones more than anywhere else in the world (?). It's interesting howtheir phones being opensource makes it harder for governments to use shadydeals with manufacturers to insert backdoors. Freedom is a double-edged sword,but I'll argue that in cases of censorship, we should, outside of a few narrowlydefined cases, always accept the downsides as necessary for a good society.

In the news:New Species of Whale Discovered, Republicans everywhere rejoice ata new creature to hunt to extinction!

Like quarrelling lovers, Taiwan strikes back against China, sayingthat it's interfering in internal affairs. Of course they'd say that, andof course the Chinese government would say that they're rebelling. Steeped inthe right terminology, arguments become much stronger.. which is a perfectsegue into an Israeli analysis of one-state solutions to theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict. The opposition calls it a seductive idea, andsome of the analysis suggests that it's a way for the Palestinians toignore the steps the Israelis have taken to make any Palestinian statevery small and marginalized. While I feel these things would be a good thing,as I do see the current moves to be a not-so-subtle power grab that will thenlater be undoable because of the status quo that's being built, it has led meto reexamine a phrase that's been put to me several times by several people."Do you support the right for Israel to exist?". I've come to the conclusionthat this question is as tricky as defining women's liberation, and all thethings it could mean are almost as diverse (hence the segue from languageissues). I used to give a qualified yes, now I can't even say that (or no, forthat matter). I think there should be a state there, and what it's called isuninteresting to me. Should it be a Hebrew state? One thing is clear -- itcannot be reserved for Hebrews, nor can it have racist policies that favourthem. Ethnic protections are unacceptable. I don't want to deport anyone(although land reperations of some kind should be addressed, and the settlersshould be scooted back into Israel proper, or perhaps into prison for theft).So, in one sense, I'm anti-Israel, in the sense that Israel is defined as aethnically pure Hebrew state with racist laws. In another sense, I'm pro-Israel,in the sense that Israel is defined as a single state covering the traditionalland of Israel, with many of the institutions already there remaining. I'mcertainly no longer pro-Palestine..

As predicted, Schwarzenegger's car stupidity is already hitting thebudgets of cities in California. Oh, and here's star treatment for you --Michael Jackson, in his sex scandals, is negotiating his surrender to police.How nice. I kind of wish the rest of us had that luxury. "Oh, sure, you canarrest me ... but maybe next friday? I'm busy until then.."

Looks like Microsoft has Google News envy.While on the topic, looks like South Korea is planning to one upthe networking experiment over here, providing nationwide internet access.This is very cool, and might prove to be one of the best nonbasic infrastructureinvestment possible. Any nation willing to make internet a public utility,laying it out all over is really looking to the future with open eyes.

I recently stumbled upon this news site. I might become a regular visitor.. hmm..

On the topic of Gay Marrage, which has been in the news a lot recently overhere, I have this to say to gay people in long term relationships:Gay marrage is a cultural battle, and while the laws are an important metric,it's important to press on ahead of them. Call yourself married, evenif the laws don't recognize it, and you'll have 60% of what you'reaiming for

I have something I was going to write, but it'd hit a bit too close to homeon some people I know, so I'm going to just abstract it in private here.Sorry.
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I'm still chewing on picking up another language... and might go lookingfor tutors for Hebrew, Arabic, Yiddish, or Russian.. I was looking at takingclasses outside of the university, but my schedule is too fluid for that.It probably won't be too hard to find someone -- this area is crawling withpeople who speak those langages.. although the particular flavours I'd beinterested in might not be so common. I'd like to learn Yemeni Hebrew, orfailing that, Ashkenazi. As for Arabic, the Saudi dialect might be interesting,although 'standard Arabic' might be good too. As far as I know, Yiddish doesn'thave dialects, and I'm just interested in standard Russian. Heck, Gælic mightbe fun too. I recently found out that Scottish Gælic isn't the same thing asthe Scots language -- Scots is a germanic tongue that was spoken in southernScotland that was mostly wiped out/assimilated into English, while ScottishGælic is, obviously, a member of the Gælic family of languages.

I know I must've linked it a dozen times before, but the song fromthis is irritatingly catchy...

Firewater is kind of my 'new goth', Bad Religion is my 'new punk'. I orderedthe Firewater cover CD, but what I'd really like to see is Bad Religion singsome Firewater songs, and vice versa.. it'd be really interesting.