Last night I met Leia,

Last night I met Leia, Amanda, Karen and Dave at an impromptu DFWblogger hoedown at the T.G.I Fridays in the Arlington Ballpark. I wonder if blogpeople are just better people because I found myself immediately at ease. Over the summer I met lots of new people back in Huntsville. I was not comfortable around them. I had little desire to see them again. They didn’t blog. (Although, back then neither did I.)

After we ate we went outside to sit in the stands of the stadium. We lit candles to stand in solidarity with the rest of the nation, if not the world. I’ve got to give props to Leia for having the forethought to bring candles for everyone. Even though we were out there because of the terrorist attacks the attacks became background noise to me. I was caught up in the camraderie of the moment. In a way I felt like I had found people like me. They seem free from affectation. They are sincere. They seem to have a more developed ontology than most people I meet. They are curious and playful. They made all the chaos and destruction go away, for at least a little while.

The recent acts of terrorism

The recent acts of terrorism have cause me to reflect on my own fanatical causes and idealism as a youth. I hope my levity is not ill-timed.

As a pup in Huntsville, Alabama I was a founding member of the Pylon Liberation Organization (PLO). Membership consisted of me and Klaus. (I’m using code names to protect the innocent.) Our fanaticism was of a different ilk than most fanatical groups. Most fanatics actually belong to the group that they feel so passionately about. Neither Klaus, nor I was a pylon (some of you may know them as traffic cones). Our fanaticism was more idealistic as our ideas of “brotherhood” transcended race, creed, color even organic life. We traveled to and fro about the city witnessing first-hand the suffering of pylons. (In my old age I regret that our fanaticism was so focused we couldn’t see the plight of the barrels or barricades.) We decided it was time to do something about it.

I am still shocked by

I am still shocked by the hideous attacks from this morning. I went to give blood today in the hopes that I could contribute in whatever small way to helping those in need. I was dissapointed to learn that I was deferred indefinitely.

I hope time will provide some insight as to why this attack had to happen. I want someone to say just the right things to me to make this better. I want to get back to the point I was this morning, before I knew about this, when the most troublesome thought I had was where to eat lunch. I want to worry about silly things like washing my clothes and playing with my blog. I want to be able to think about other things. But you know, more than anything else, I want to know that the thousands of people who died today will be the impetus for a new vigor in bringing about compassion and understanding for all mankind.

More proof that humanity is

More proof that humanity is nothing more than the latest product from the Tyrell Corporation. Researchers implanted memories into people using advertising. “Memories. You’re talking about memories.”

The article also wins for biggest understatement of the year: “This brings forth ethical considerations. Is it OK for marketers to knowingly manipulate consumers’ past?”

4-6-01 (Shoshone-Bannock Museum, southeast Idaho)

4-6-01 (Shoshone-Bannock Museum, southeast Idaho)

I asked the lady at the museum for examples of Shoshone writing and she said they didn’t have any. She proceeded to explain why.

“Writing is about preservation, speaking is about what is happening right now. The Shoshone didn’t worry about the past or the future. They were focused on the very immediate problems of the day.”

The fascinating ramification has been that they could not prove legal claims. When the Shoshone told the US Government that they had been on the land for hundreds of years they had no way to legally prove this. They had no documentation to back it up. The woman I spoke with was still bitter about this. I think this incident, and hundreds like it, typify the power of “Manifest Destiny.” It’s amazing what you can do if you know you are right.

Tonight I met Pink and

Tonight I met Pink and Gianni at the Honchie/Gobos show down at the Boar’s Nest. Unfortunately as it was a bar affair with loud music about I didn’t get to really learn much about either of them. Honchie seemed to lag a bit in the middle of their set tonight. I think I prefer seeing them at Club Dada. They had a couple of good improv songs tonight, one about college football and one about Entertainment Tonight’s “Where are they now?” TV show. Both shows were on the obnoxious TV sets that Boar’s Nest had on.

One thing we postulated about

One thing we postulated about a lot at my old job was communities. The connections people make with other people is a dynamo that never stops running. It’s not without its flaws though. Steven Johnson, a founder of FEED Magazine, has a new book out. It’s called Emergence. It’s about self-organizing systems and how they scale. It borrows from a number of different scientific disciplines to describe how communities work in the online world. An excerpt is available that focuses primarily on Slashdot’s moderation system. This looks like a good book.

I reworked the blogchecker after

I reworked the blogchecker after having some new ideas last night. As usual Mark added the little bits I needed to finish the idea, the color decay was his idea. Here is how it works now. The bars decay in 12 hour intervals. Once the bars have decayed the color of the link lightens a shade every 24 hours over the next five days. Basically after 180 hours have passed the link is pulled from the listing. Of course, once the page is updated it pops back into the list and the decay begins again. Also now that livejournal has new servers and is actually viewable I’ve started blogchecking them.

Well last night I met

Well last night I met Erica. She came over to Dave’s place to help Mark dye his hair purple. She now has the unique distinction of being the first person I’ve ever met through the blog community. As always, whenever I meet new people, I was slightly aloof while I sized her up. Even though I had been reading her blog for a few weeks and had heard things from Mark about her I still really knew nothing about what kind of person she is in person.

Okay, I've got a real

Okay, I’ve got a real conundrum and not some dull mind fantasy about my role, or lack thereof, in the univese. Being among the dotcom summer breakers I’ve been enjoying the fruits of my unemployment insurance since about May. Well, it’s going to run out soon. In a surprising coincidence I got an email from an ex-coworker of mine at Bellsouth. Apparently my old boss was happy to hear about me and said to get in touch with him if I needed a job. It would be employment but I imagine it would mean getting a job in Birmingham, Alabama again. That is certainly something that is at the bottom of my things to do list.