Kuria

2003-09-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

"Go Lie Down!"

2003-09-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

"Go lie down!" is the cry of all that's wrong around here-- the phrase that I never wanted used with the dog, since I wanted "down" to mean a specific other thing. (No, at this late date, it doesn't matter what.)

The Old Man says that our daughter will be happier if I "turn off the computer, get a job, and contribute" and allows that I'm employable but won't specify, even as an opinion, even one place where I might be so.

He then suggests that my keyboarding skills might come in handy; this despite the fact that I've never reached the point of typing at even 40 wpm, not after years of practice. Ironically, and with him delightfully oblivious to the irony, he can type far faster than 40wpm and has always refused to use these far superiour skills to better (more renumeratively) employ himself.

Fuck him. He's underemployed; I'm underemployed; I have more fun.

I'm not setting a foot farther into the job market than, say, any bright highschooler with hours of homework to do; and, I shan't do that until I do, in fact, have my further education in progress.

Supplement: The Old Man, it turns out, can't be trusted to say anything but what he wants; our daughter denies saying what he attributed to her, above. Based on years of experience with both of them, I believe her.

My Daughter

2003-09-23T00:26:00.000-07:00

One reason I want my daughter out, out, OUT of this house is so that there will be an end to the constant and steady stream of diversion and losses of my 'cooler' and more valuable personal possessions in her direction, either through outright theft or simply through the co-opting and hoarding of them so that I never see them again.

I don't even so much mind (though in its moments of worst impact it makes me grind my teeth until my fillings threaten to spit sparks) the idea that she will succeed through subtlety, emotional blackmail, and blatant physical threat in carrying off much of what she has already diverted from me, as I do so very much want to know that past a certain date she'll never be able to take from me again, while I live.

Prayer

2003-09-23T00:21:00.000-07:00

I, though an Atheist or (when in a superstitious or irrational mood) an Agnostic, will pray for the weather, and out loud at that; I feel my moving lips, my voice in the air, have at least the chance of a butterfly's wings in the middle of the Amazon of affecting the weather.

Books I Have Read, Starting 03.09.22

2003-09-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

The Boys' War by Jim Murphy (ISBN 0-590-45604-0, Scholastic)
This is the story of thousands of boys who fought in the Civil War. Based on diary entries and letters. This book tells all about their war: why they joined, what they wore, how they lived, what they ate, if they
survived, if they didn't. You'll go with them from the homestead to the training camps right into the heat of battle. And by the end, you'll know them.
**graphic pictures of war ˆ

Movies I Have Seen, Starting 03.09.22

2003-09-22T23:59:00.000-07:00

BAD BLOOD

2003-09-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, I do want the world with a ribbon wrapped around it. I also want to be not the only one going through the motions of tradition. I also want to not be only going through the motions. I want some heart and soul and some ATTENTION.

I pay ATTENTION.

I want to be happy.

I don't want to be given a ration of fecal material for being happy, nor for wanting to be. Not personally, and not philosophically, and last and least of all institutionally.

I shamelessly want to curl up my lip and sneer at you, at the nonsense you believe, at your requests, at your orders, at your tone of voice, at your eyebrows, anything. Everything. As I choose.

People who are able to curl up their lips and wrinkle their noses freely, to unself-consciously roll their eyes, have some of the cutest, prettiest, most mobile and 'alive' faces.

My intelligence always would have made me self-conscious enough. There was never any damned good reason for you to try to increase my self-consciousness.

Every expression on a child's face is sacred.

Every artistic expression of a child is sacred.

Everything sacred about a child is the parents' holy duty to revere-- even if it's no-one else's.

Any person's privacy is sacred. Privacy, and the sense of privacy, is necessary for self-confidence. Self-confidence (we are 'told') leads to achieving. He who violates my privacy keeps me from achieving.

Ish all about meeh:

I want a piano.

I want crayons.

People shouldn't be forced to live with bad smells, smoke, off-key singing and bad music. If you think music 'can't be bad', then you're tone-deaf, insensitive, and have no sense of rythym.

I AM AN EXTREMELY SENSITIVE PERSON. Deal with it. I have to, and don't give a shit if you have to (my one area of insensitivity, developed in self-defense after 43 years of yielding to those without perception and / or scruples.)

I deserve a dust & dust-mite, mold & dander-free environment.

I demand to be allowed to get rid of broken and nonfunctional things and relationships. People can stay, but not their claims on me and their power over me.

I am tired of spending my life surrounded by things that don't work, don't fit, can't be used, and all of which seem to exist only as and to be used as reasons and excuses why I can't have what would work, fit, and be useful.

I want a new computer. =)

The tree, my books and my shadow were my best friends for three years

2003-09-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

2003-07-24T01:23:00.000-07:00

Why Homer Died a Bachelor

Intelligence

2003-07-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that "intelligence doesn't necessarily mean something is true. I mean, that's not what intelligence is." (Source)

That's interesting, because I was told that intelligence had to be "readily accessible, timely, accurate and sufficiently detailed", or it wasn't intelligence.

How To Trap Cats

2003-07-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

Clean your trap, making sure it's washed with hot, soapy water and wiped down with a mild bleach and water mixture so there's no scent from previous trappings. This is essential if you've borrowed or rented a trap, and have no idea what kind of animal was trapped in it before. Even if it's your own trap, used only for trapping cats, the smell of another animal can drive your intended captive away.
Cover the mesh floor of the trap with newspaper or a clean towel, as some cats will not walk on the metal mesh. This also covers the trip plate (see diagram), so that the cat won't see it, and won't step over it, which would allow him to eat the food and exit the trap without being captured.
Place a paper plate behind the trip plate, and be sure it's not touching the plate or lying under it. You don't want the paper plate to interfere with the tripping action.
Serve up the bait -- some tuna packed in oil, or perhaps sardines. The pungent fish odor will be irresistible to the cat. You can also leave a trail of small bits of food leading up to the trap, across the paper or towel that covers the bottom of the trap (and the trip plate) and have that trail finish up at the plate. This can help draw the cat in. NOTE: If you've been feeding the cat you want to trap, you may want to withhold a meal or two prior to the time you intend to trap -- the hungrier the cat is, the more likely he is to step into the trap in pursuit of food, despite any fear or hesitation about the trap itself.
Position the trap, placing it against a wall, fence, a dumpster, or up against/slightly under a bush. If the trap must be placed on cement or concrete (or any cold, stone surface), place a blanket or several thicknesses of towel under the trap so that the cold stone doesn't draw the cat's body heat -- if the cat sits on a cold surface for a long period, this exposure to cold with no way to stay warm can be fatal. You don't want the trap sitting out in the open, as this will not be an inviting scenario for the cat. If you're setting multiple traps, try to place them so the cat being lured into one can't see the other trap -- if the untrapped cat sees another cat get captured, he'll be wary of the the trap set for him and may not take the bait.
Set the trap, with the trap door up, allowing the cat to enter the trap.
Move out of visual range, but don't go far away -- you never want to leave traps unattended, as unattended traps with cats (or another animal you might inadvertently capture) draw dogs or wild animals that might threaten the trapped cat, and of course, there are always nasty people who might steal the trap, with or without a cat in it.
Once the cat is trapped, leave the trap closed, and don't attempt to touch the cat through the mesh of the trap. The cat is likely to be scared and angry. Place a large towel or blanket over the trap -- this will keep the cat warm, and help calm it down, because it won't feel so "exposed", and will feel as though it can hide.
Carefully carry the trap to your vehicle, and place it on a level surface, preferably prepared with plastic bags or a sheet of some waterproof material under a blanket or newspapers. This will prevent damage to your upholstery if the cat relieves itself, and by placing a blanket or paper over the plastic, create a smooth, warm surface on which to place the trap.
By the way, I don't think feral cats should be neutered and released, unless perhaps in urban environments where all non-commensal wildlife is extinct. I think they should be humanely and expeditiously exterminated in most areas instead.

The Garfield Conspiracy

Mutilated Cats Draw World Attention
Crecente, Rocky Mountain News
7-2-3
The spiraling number of cats found eviscerated in and around Denver is attracting media attention from around the world.
"I've had inquires from the L.A. Times, The Star (tabloid), MSNBC, CNN, the Fox News Channel and I had a call from Moscow today," said Aurora police spokeswoman Kathleen Walsh. "There have been hundreds of calls."
Media outlets in the United Kingdom, Pakistan and South Africa have reported on the discovery of mutilated cats in the metro area with headlines such as: "Serial cat killer in Denver?"
The Aurora police department plans to discuss the investigation into the 39 cat deaths today in a news conference.
Meanwhile, another dead cat was discovered in Salt Lake City on Monday, bringing their total to 11.
In the cases in both Colorado and Utah, the cats were mutilated with what appeared to be surgical precision. In many cases, the cats were missing their organs and appeared to have been drained of blood.
Most of the Utah mutilations have turned up in the Salt Lake Avenues neighborhood. Utah investigators say all of their cases are similar, with the cats being taken from the neighborhood and killed elsewhere, then brought back.
Investigators have not yet determined if the Colorado and Utah cases are related.

2003-07-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

gulag (GOO-lahg) noun

The system of forced-labor camp in the former Soviet Union.
Any prison or forced-labor camp, especially one for political prisoners.
A place of great hardship.

[From Russian Gulag, acronym from Glavnoe Upravlenie ispravitel'no-trudovykh LAGere (Chief Administration for Corrective Labour Camps).]

When you download Mp3s, you're downloading Communism!

2003-07-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0004/propaganda/mp3.jpg

Yay, Earthlink!

2003-07-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

From the list of ISPs that have publicly declared that they will not allow the use of Carnivore on their networks, at StopCarnivore.Org :

Earthlink: Earthlink (which was forced to install Carnivore back in 1999 after fighting it in court, and which then removed it after having Carnivore-related problems with their network) has issued the following statement: "We do not allow the installation of Carnivore on our network because it has the potential to compromise the privacy of our legitimate users and the performance of our network. We have an internal solution which allows us to comply with court orders without the presence of government personnel or equipment in our buildings. The government accepts this solution since they still receive the requested information about the criminal suspect, and we sleep well knowing that our customers are safe from unauthorized surveillance." (This statement was confirmed by StopCarnivore.org via telephone call with Earthlink's Director of Investigations)

Today's Surfing

2003-07-11T15:16:00.000-07:00

First of all, I'd like to note that "Mike's Hard Lemonade" isn't my favorite style of lemonade at the base. I was listening to NPR the other day and heard some foodie going on about real ceviche, the kind you can only get in countries where they grow a particularly undomesticated & acidic little lemon, and thinking that my favorite lemonade is one that's made the same way and not too sweet. Mike's ain't it. The 5.2% alcohol isn't necessary, either, though it's nothing unpalatable. [Like I need more sugars, even incomplete ones like ethyl alcohol, in my diet.]

The name "Howard Bloom" was mentioned to me [in the context of an article about the Melbourne Underground Film Festival at 'Disinformation*'] and led to me Googling it... I ended up reading two excerpts from one of his books, The Lucifer Principle A Scientific Expedition Into The Forces of History, namely "Superorganism - How One And One Make Three" and "Isolation".

*I assume that pic on that page is Richard Metzger, and, boy, whoever he is, he's not one bit afraid or overly self-conscious about looking like 'Dieter' from the Saturday Night Live sketches by Martin Short. For reals.

Some Dieter quotes:

"Vhy is it that the truly brilliant are doomed to a life of obscurity, surrounded by a sea of mediocrity, only to end up covered in sores in a pool of their own filth? Oh vell, the beat goes on."
"Vould you like to touch my monkey? Touch him! Love him! Liebe meine abst-monkey."
"Gregor Was, your presence intimidates me to the point of humiliation. Would you care to strike me?"
"Genius! By seemingly embracing the cliches of the vest, he is underscoring its excruciating banality."
"In your film Irritant Number Four, the only images were that of a baby's head and a toilet. Did you mean for me to scream?"
"I'm happy as a little GIIIIIRL."

I glanced over some science 'news': Trouble with Lifshitz, Slyozov and Wagner, and mostly what I got out of it is one of the reasons 'why things fall apart' and that 'coarsening' could be a useful metaphor.

Black:
PEOPLE SUCK THE WORLD SUCKS EVERYBODY SHOULD BE
KILLED AND BLEED TO DEATH TILL THE COLD EARTH
SOAKS IN BLOOD. Well, you're angry at the world. For reasons who knows, but you definitely hate life.
Made by
Sara

What color do you see the world in?
brought to you by Quizilla

[I have no idea if the above will even paste into a blog like mine. Does this mean that I get to pass the whole silly thing off as a learning experience? And, NO, I don't think everybody should be killed. Notice I said "everybody". As one of my friends says, quoting Jane's Addiction, "Some people should die; that's just unconscious knowledge."]

I'm in the middle of reading this article from Harper's about 'The Family'. Now, I'm just old, but what comes to my mind when I hear that phrase is the Manson Family, first. This is something different.

Today I discovered the Liberal Slant site.

Oh, and by the way, I am [despite the privacy issues, and some question as to whether it should be boycotted entirely], trying out the Google Toolbar 2.0 (beta) with pop-up blocker and AutoFill. So far I like the pop-up blocker. I'm also pleased to report that a URL of mine which I asked to be removed from their database is, in fact, gone today. Thumbs up for actually making that possible, guys.

Because I game in MMORPGs, I have from time to time consulted the Mummer's Dance section of Skotos.Net. Today I was there and found a link to this; I was amused.

Speaking of amusement, Weeeeeeeeeeeee!. Still funny.

I wonder what Billy Idol's White Wedding was actually about, aside from the videological aspect of girls in tight vinyl shaking their asses at the camera in a way that seems, now, funny [if unintentionally]. Was it shocking at the time? I don't even remember. [Maybe that was an after-effect of the shock.] I do love and quote parts of the lyrics to this day:

There is nothin' fair in this world
There is nothin' safe in this world
And there's nothin' sure in this world
And there's nothin' pure in this world
Look for something left in this world
Start again

Deep enough for me.

Let's see, I also edited some of my webpages, and am switched away from some free counters [now, only worth what I paid for them - no more little sword graphics. Why? In God's Name, why?] that I had been getting from BraveNet to those supplied by Geocities. I need at least three real websites to park stuff on for various personas. I think I'll talk the Man into getting me at least one of my own. /grin Until then, I could so do with a cheap BoomSpeed.Com account, if it provides unbranded remote linking.

2003-07-10T22:56:00.000-07:00

apotemnophilia: sexual attraction to amputees or to the image of oneself as an amputee.

http://slate.msn.com/default.aspx?id=2085402

When Richard von Krafft-Ebing was writing about paraphilias in 19th-century Vienna, he described men who were sexually obsessed with handkerchiefs. That paraphilia has largely disappeared. Yet many others have emerged. What is it about our own time and place that has helped create an obsession with amputees?

2003-07-10T13:27:00.000-07:00

http://slate.msn.com/id/2085337/

British foreign secretary Jack Straw has been disparaging his government's prewar report on Iraqi WMDs, referring to the error-plagued document as "a complete Horlicks"—or "a total mess," as we Yanks might phrase it. What are the origins of this British put-down?

Horlicks is a brand of "malted food drink," similar in texture and taste to the more familiar Ovaltine. The beverage was first concocted in 1873 by James and William Horlick, English brothers who'd emigrated to Chicago. They hoped their invention would become the baby food of the future, but it proved more popular among adults—especially adults in England, where the product was eventually marketed as a sleep aid. (The brand never quite became an icon in the United States, although American explorer Richard Byrd did name an Antarctic mountain range after the drink, in appreciation for the nourishment it provided his crew.)

Ovaltine, take me away...
I used to have a craving for Ovaltine, and I wonder why.

2003-07-10T13:24:00.000-07:00

The Internet Grammar of English

Windows Shortcuts Crib Sheet

PSYCHIC ATTACK — FIRST DEFENSE
By Donald Michael Kraig

2003-07-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

The Incredible Shrinking Y

by Maureen Dowd

This editorial / opinion piece has some news in it that I hadn't heard about the Y chromosome, and also the distinction of having been singled out by MensActivism.Org as some kind of example of sexism in reporting.

I personally believe that my own relative 'promiscuity' (acquiring, basically, a second husband when my daughter was five) has been the only thing that's kept our family from drowning in insolvency, health crises, and homelessness-- even if I never managed to reproduce in numbers greater than one.

I really prefer to read and link to the printer-friendly versions of articles whenever they are available.

2003-07-10T05:40:00.000-07:00

http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/prose/SecondJungleBook/reddog.html

‘By whose leave do ye come here?’ said Mowgli.

‘All Jungles are our Jungle,’ was the reply, and the dhole that gave it bared his white teeth. Mowgli looked down with a smile, and imitated perfectly the sharp chitter-chatter of Chikai, the leaping rat of the Dekkan, meaning the dholes to understand that he considered them no better than Chikai. The Pack closed up round the tree-trunk and the leader bayed savagely, calling Mowgli a tree-ape. For an answer Mowgli stretched down one naked leg and wriggled his bare toes just above the leader’s head. That was enough, and more than enough, to wake the Pack to stupid rage. Those who have hair between their toes do not care to be reminded of it. Mowgli caught his foot away as the leader leaped up, and said sweetly: ‘Dog, red dog! Go back to the Dekkan and eat lizards. Go to Chikai thy brother—dog, dog—red, red dog! There is hair between every toe!’ He twiddled his toes a second time.

‘Come down ere we starve thee out, hairless ape!’ yelled the Pack, and this was exactly what Mowgli wanted. He laid himself down along the branch, his cheek to the bark, his right arm free, and there he told the Pack what he thought and knew about them, their manners, their customs, their mates, and their puppies. There is no speech in the world so rancorous and so stinging as the language the Jungle People use to show scorn and contempt. When you come to think of it you will see how this must be so. As Mowgli told Kaa, he had many little thorns under his tongue, and slowly and deliberately he drove the dholes from silence to growls, from growls to yells, and from yells to hoarse slavery ravings.

2003-07-10T05:25:00.000-07:00

Ideational apraxia is a condition in which an individual is unable to plan movement related to an object because he or she has lost the perception of the object's purpose.

2003-07-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

It occurs to me-- as I'm listening to someone on NPR go on, in thickly-accented English, with her statement as to how "very, very deefeecult" it is to keep a society repressed where it counts while simultaneously allowing Young People enough fun [sex, drugs, & music] that they don't revolt-- that if I'm able to remind myself that a person might sound much more fluent and slightly less like they were bullshitting me if I heard (and understood) them in their native language, I might not be as unevolved as I thought.

2003-07-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

http://binarybonsai.com/b2trackback.php/241

I'm deeply ashamed and unrepentant for any instance in which I have done anything which would have offended the sensibilities of the author of this essay on "Binary Bonsai". Oh, wait, I meant, repentant.

[I hate blue links and I hate underlined links.]

2003-07-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

http://generationjones.com/index_old.htm

Too young to be a Boomer, too old to more than an elderly Gen-Exer... I'm a Jones.

Someone only a year and a half older than me agrees that "we" are going to bloom late, politically, and that everything else will flow from that. I sure as hell hope so. I personally feel that some of my age peers represent some of the most wasted potential I've *ever* seen, moreso than those younger or older, and I feel I am a prime example.

2003-07-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

Facts:

I will voluntarily eat plain yogurt.
I have recently, and I do mean, recently, begun ejaculating during some of my orgasms. It does not
- shoot across the room, or even a few inches... like the ejaculation of a typical man my age, it more or less kind of 'blurps' out of me, without a lot of velocity... though, dayum it does feel good [I suspect it would feel even better if I were younger and therefore it came
  - with more force
  - out of a narrower urethral opening
  - I had more sensation down there, period.]
- come out of my pussy; it comes out of my urethra
- seem to be pee: it doesn't taste even one little bit like it, and isn't the same consistency of my vaginal lubrication (which ranges from 'spinny' thin-eggwhite to pearl jam that wouldn't soak into anything)
- seem to depend on vaginal stimulation (!) which, given my understanding of how female ejaculation is aroused, built to, and triggered, makes me wonder if (with the proper internal pressure on the right glands for long enough) I might not exhibit a truly copious, embarrassing, brag-worthy /blush response.

It's one of those things I

a) enjoy

b) regret not doing earlier (I always have felt like I 'had to pee', during a majority of the orgasms I've had since I was 12; in my ignorance (of the simple fact that one cannot piss while aroused-- or so I was recently told [**Thanks**, Cowboy, I love you to pieces]), I've always been sure 'not to pee' while about to cum, whereas what's necessary to let an ejaculation happen *for me at least* is to 'let it go', which not coincidentally seems to be also necessary to experience / to occur along with 'push-out contractions'. It's likely that I've been doing this 'retrograde' into my frigging bladder off and on for decades.) GodDAMN it; I could have been doing this for over 30 years, and back when I was, let's face it, more sensitive down there.

c) think in a larger sense is a good sign that my life, as in new things happening with my body and mind that aren't all degenerative changes (I've got perhaps another 60 years to live, most of it to be 'old age', and I'm keenly aware that I can look forward to lots more 'surprises' like not being able to lift my left arm past a certain point), isn't "over" yet. Pathetic, but when you're OLD you grasp at straws of happiness.

2003-07-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/psychology/persuasion.shtml

HAZING: get people to like their situation by
making them suffer to get there

Explanation

Cognitive dissonance > If you spend a lot of effort to get somewhere, and you don't like the end result, that's a contradiction. Why would you spend so much effort for something you don't even like? Contradictions make us feel uncomfortable and even stupid. Thus, we change our attitude about the situation, and say that we like it.

This is just the story of my life. I've never enjoyed most of it, it's been a hell of a lot of work and yet I've accomplished next to nothing that I wanted to accomplish, and I have to suspect that half or more of what passes for my 'satisfaction in life', 'self-esteem', 'self-confidence', and my locally-famous sense of optimism /grin is nothing more than me deciding I like being alive to keep from feeling even more uncomfortable and stupid than I normally do.

2003-06-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

what's your share?

Are you treading lightly on the Earth or stomping around in size 22 clodhoppers?
The answer is probably the latter, if you’re a North American.
Compared to a person living anywhere else in the world,
a North American consumes a far greater share of the Earth’sresources.
But what about you?
To measure the size of your own ecological footprint, take this test

2003-06-22T03:58:00.000-07:00

Boycott Amazon

Amazon has obtained a US patent (5,960,411) on an important and obvious idea for E-commerce: an idea sometimes known as one-click purchasing. The idea is that your command in a web browser to buy a certain item can carry along information about your identity. (It works by sending the server a "cookie", a kind of ID code that your browser received previously from the same server.)
Amazon has sued to block the use of this simple idea, showing that they truly intend to monopolize it. This is an attack against the World Wide Web and against E-commerce in general.

2003-06-22T03:50:00.000-07:00

How To Become A Hacker

Eric Steven Raymond

Simply too good not to re-read once in a while.

2003-06-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

The National Do Not Call Registry will soon be open for business, putting consumers in charge of the telemarketing calls they get at home. The Federal Government created the national registry to make it easier and more efficient for you to stop getting telemarketing sales calls you don't want. You will be able to register online or by calling toll-free from the number you wish to register. Registration is free.

You can start adding your numbers to the do not call registry in July!

Federal Trade Commission - The Do Not Call Registry

2003-06-20T04:14:00.000-07:00

This is Bono & De Bono Week!

Let's celebrate today with Civil Disobedience Protesting the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.

I've downloaded and am reading my copy of Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet (1923).

2003-06-18T03:48:00.000-07:00

Property is theft. -- P.J. Proudhon

Property is liberty. -- P.J. Proudhon

Property is impossible. -- P.J. Proudhon

Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Proudhon, by piling up his contradictions this way, was not merely being French; he was trying to indicate that the abstraction "property" covers a variety of phenomena, some pernicious and some beneficial. Let us borrow a device from the semanticists and examine his triad with the subscripts attached for maximum clarity.

"Property₁ is theft" means that property₁ created by the artificial laws of feudal, capitalist, and other authoritarian societies, is based on armed robbery. Land titles, for instance, are clear examples of property₁; swords and shot were the original coins of transaction.

"Property₂ is liberty" means that property₂, that which will be voluntarily honored in a voluntary (anarchist) society, is the foundation of the liberty in that society. The more people's interests are co-mingled and confused, as in collectivism, the more they will be stepping on each other's toes; only when the rules of the game declare clearly "This is mine and this is thine," and the game is voluntarily accepted as worthwhile by the parties to it, can true independence be achieved.

"Property₃ is impossible" means that property₃ (=property₁) creates so much conflict of interest that society is in perpetual undeclared civil war and must eventually devour itself (and properties 1 and 3 as well). In short, Proudhon, in his own way, foresaw the Snafu Principle. He also foresaw that communism would only perpetuate and aggravate the conflicts, and that anarchy is the only viable alternative to this chaos.

It is averred, of course, that property₂ will come into existence only in a totally voluntary society; many forms of it already exist. The error of most alleged libertarians -- especially the followers (!) of the egregious Ayn Rand -- is to assume that all property₁ is property₂. The distinction can be made by any IQ above 70 and is absurdly simple. The test is to ask, of any title of ownership you are asked to accept or which you ask others to accept, "Would this be honored in a free society of rationalists, or does it require the armed might of a State to force people to honor it?" If it be the former, it is property₂ and represents liberty; if it be the latter, it is property₁ and represents theft.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy

2003-06-18T03:16:00.000-07:00

EMIC REALITY
The unified field made up of thoughts, feelings and apparent sense impressions that organizes our inchoate experience into meaningful patterns; the paradigm or model that people create by talking to each other, or by communicating in any symbolism; the culture of a time and place; the semantic environment. Every emic reality has its own structure, which imposes structure upon raw experience.

ETIC REALITY
The hypothetical actuality that has not been filtered through the emic reality of a human nervous system or linguistic grid.

2003-06-18T03:07:00.000-07:00

The Magic Hats

By Lorna Santín

A long time ago, in a beautiful village with small straw houses, something happened which I'll tell you about.

About a hundred people lived in that place . There was a bread maker, a locksmith, several miners, a teacher and many more men with different jobs. Each of them lived with his family - his wife, his children ... There were younger, middle aged and older children.

Some of these children liked playing near a waterfall just outside the village. Of course their parents didn't like the idea at all because they thought this sort of fun was dangerous.

Near, very near that waterfall, there were some little bushes. And right beside the bushes there were some small mushrooms. And beneath these mushrooms, lived Adao.

Adao was a nice small gnome, who had a twin brother named Gabo.

Adao was short and stout; so was Gabo. Adao had red hair and freckles; so did Gabo. Adao used a hat; so did Gabo. And both made their own clothes. Yes, with a small sewing machine that their mother had given them as a present just when they told her of their idea of living on their own, far from their father's home.

Adao and Gabo were identical. So much so that anyone would be confused as to who was who. Well, they were identical on the outside, not on the inside. They had a very different heart. They behaved differently. They even behaved in almost opposite ways.

Adao, for instance, was always thinking about how to help other people. Gabo, in turn, lived to have fun, and was capable of doing anything that would make him laugh, even if that behaviour got others into trouble.

One night, Adao had gone to bed early, and Gabo thought of a plan to have some fun. He went to their small "thread and needle workshop", where he and his brother had that sewing machine that their mother had given them. And once there, he started making more and more hats. He made one for each person in the village. But he only used six different colours: some hats were green as plants, others white as paper; still others, red like fire; he also made some blue as the sky, others yellow as the sun and, to end with, others black as the night.

Apparently these were hats like any others, but the interesting thing about them was that they were invisible to the human eye.

Only the gnomes, the fairies, the wizards, the witches and other magic beings could see them. But that was not all: what made them more special is that, using any of these hats, something very strange happened to anyone who was wearing it ... And it was this happening that made Gabo enjoy himself so much.

Once he finished making all those hats and while everyone in the village was sleeping, Gabo paid a visit to each house, and placed a hat on each inhabitant's head. Each and every one of them was wearing a hat: the parents and the children, the grannies and also the babies. But as these hats were invisible, no one noticed.

The next morning, when the villagers woke up, something very strange happened. Fermín, an adventurous boy, all of a sudden didn't want to come out of his home. When his friends came to invite him to play, he replied: "I'm not going out; it's very dangerous, I can fall in the river ...". Fermin's mother didn't understand what happened to her son as he usually was too daring and he was frequently in trouble. The usual thing was for him to invite other children to go to the dangerous waterfall ...

The woman's attention turned to something else because right at that moment her neighbour, Doña Beatriz, came crying bitterly because she had burnt a cake that she was cooking for her husband. And she said: "I'm good for nothing; it'll be better if I'm left in the woods for bears to come and eat me".

"My neighbour crying?", thought Fermin's mother. "She who never worries about anything?" Beatriz was such a balanced person, it even looked, sometimes, as if she didn't have feelings. She was never seen in anguish, or sad, or happy either. It looked as if she lived with a motto: "Everything is as it should be". But today, what was happening to her? It looked as if her feelings of sadness were pouring out and overwhelming her.

That scene was also interrupted because an explosion was heard and Fermin, his mother, and Doña Beatriz ran to the place where they thought the noise had come from. Of course they found other villagers there. Many had come to that place, shocked, trying to find out what had happened. There they found Arturo.

Arturo was known to all as a quiet, shy and lonely boy. He didn't seem to take an interest in anything that was happening around him. But today there was no trace of that personality. All of a sudden he had felt a curiosity to learn about the world and had started experimenting up to the point of causing an explosion. Arturo was covered in ashes, to such an extent that some didn't recognise him at first. One thing was certain: he was seen to have an urge to go on investigating more and more ... He didn't look worried about the mess he had created.

Very near him was Rodrigo, his brother, a usually distracted and forgetful boy. Some said Rodrigo could even forget his own name. But not that day. There he was, near his brother, uttering the names of each and every one of the inhabitants of the village, and their birthdays, and then publicising the favourite dish of each one and also their favourite colour.

Nobody could explain what was happening. It was simply obvious that something was happening. If they had paid a little more attention, maybe they would have discovered Gabo, behind the bushes, trying not to show he was laughing.

Adao immediately knew what was happening. He could see the hats because they were not invisible to him. And he guessed at once that his brother was involved in the trouble.

Adao knew very well how to help people. If they only knew they were wearing hats! Then they would know they could take them off. But Adao knew it was not easy for people to notice this, as people seldom see themselves.

Adao thought he should act but didn't want to be seen by humans, so he decided to wait until nighttime. He stayed around in order to avoid further problems.

Close to six o'clock in the afternoon, some miners were heard returning home, after a long day at work in the mine. There were Fermin's father and Doña Beatriz's husband. They came along singing happily and chatting about how wonderful it was to work in the mine ... Their wives couldn't believe what they were hearing as they had always complained about how dangerous and unpleasant it was to work there.

Late at night, when everyone was sleeping, Adao went into each of the houses in the village. Whispering in each person's ear, he said to each: "You are wearing a hat - you must realise that". The next morning, when they woke up, before saying "Good morning", they were all repeating "you're wearing a hat - you must realise that". Even the babies - well, they couldn't speak, but they moved their little heads and half-sung a tune.

Several people joined together in the central square of the village and, instead of saluting each other, they said at the same time: "you're wearing a hat - you must realise that". Just then, they put their hands on their heads and, at that very instant, the hats took shape and colour.

People noticed each of the hats had something written on them: on the white hats the word "Information" was written. Rodrigo and many other villagers were wearing white hats. Arturo and other people were wearing a green hat with the word "Creativity" on it. The black hats said "Problems" and, for sure, Fermin had a hat of this colour. Fermin's mother had a blue hat with the name "Observer" on it. Her neighbour and other people were wearing a hat on which you could read "Emotion" and which was red. The miners and others had a yellow hat with the word "Optimistic" written on the front.

Fermin's mother suggested they could all swap hats among themselves, but she decided to keep the blue one, in order to observe the others. Straight away it became obvious that people changed their behaviour as if controlled by the word on each hat.

After making these changes several more times, they all decided on something important which changed their lives for ever.

Right there and then, they made a huge coloured hat of clay . Then, with a hammer and a chisel they wrote something on a stone, which they left at the foot of such a monumental sculpture.

On the stone you could read the following:

Since that day the villagers lived together happily, understanding each other and with the certainty that any situation can be understood if you look at it from different points of view.

The End
Translated from the Spanish by Dr Lucase Gonzalez, Santa Cruz

2003-06-18T02:41:00.000-07:00

BlackCrayon.com:
library:
RAW:
newInquisition

2003-06-18T02:35:00.000-07:00

Po Logic:

a way of thinking "invented" by psychologist Edward de Bono which allows for perceiving beyond the old Aristotelian either/or, true/false paradigm.

"...where linear Aristotelian logic works with familiar associations or generalizations (called "Laws of Thought," of course, by those who have made Aristotle their Idol), Po thinking moves laterally with unfamiliar associations. Dr. de Bono claims that Po thinking unleashes creativity and measurably improves students' ability to solve unfamiliar problems."This ability to free associate is one of the survival skills often noted as uniquely human. With this ability we are able to see connections where, in other linear forms of logic, we would otherwise have seen none. Po logic is a form of thinking similar to brain storming and has qualities of the intuitive flash of inspiration. Aha!

Here we see the roots of psychic association, meaning, and synchronicity, as well as schizophrenia, paranoia, and conspiracy theory. Wilson coined the term SynchroNet to describe the web of interconnections glimpsed by the mystic and ourselves when we experience oneness and/or synchronicity. For a brief moment we are reconnected to the OverMind, the implicate order, the holographic cosmic organism, the noosphere, totality reality. But only for an instant. Those who dwell there, whether by choice or not, are described as shaman or schizophrenic, depending upon which society they live within.

"Of course, some Po thinking may lead to poetry or great surrealist paintings, instead of science. There is no guarantee as to where Po will land you, which is part of the justification for thinking it relates to that mystery we call 'creativity.' "

2003-06-18T02:18:00.000-07:00

CARTOONS ARE, WELL, CARTOONIER IN LATIN

What's up, Doc?

Quid agis, Medice?
I'll get you, you wascally wabbit!
Te capiam, cunicule sceleste!
I tought I taw a puddy tat!
Credidi me felem vidisse!
Thuffering Thuccotash!
Farrago fatigans!
Beep-beep!
Cornu sono!
Ah-bee, ah-bee, ah-bee, that's all, folks!
Abeo, abeo, abeo, actum est, comites!

Made really, really easy to post by having IE Booster 2 installed.

2003-06-18T02:11:00.000-07:00

Wabbit Twacks!

2003-06-18T02:08:00.000-07:00

Fudd for Thought

2003-06-18T02:05:00.000-07:00

Erin
and the Dancing Hare.

2003-06-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

Rattle your dags!

2003-06-09T22:56:00.000-07:00

The Impact of the Roman Empire on Space Shuttle Design

2003-06-07T23:39:00.000-07:00

Wasn't Wisconsin the home of Ed Gein? Not that there's any connection...

The home where a state agency placed sexual predator Billy Lee Morford ["a four-time child molester and the first person classified as a sexual predator to receive supervised release in Milwaukee"] this week stands less than 100 feet from a shelter licensed by the same state agency to house children who have been sexually abused or battered.

The four preteen children in the shelter have been officially designated as children in need of protective services by the state, confirmed Dan Stier, legal counsel for the state Department of Health and Family Services.

The state agency chose a home at 6535 N. 51st St. to place Morford, and officials with the agency said this week a second man deemed a sexual predator might be placed there soon.

The agency also licenses the shelter housing the children.

... full story in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

[Note: "In 1997, Morford was committed to the Wisconsin Resource Center under the state's sexual predator law, which allows the confinement of some sex offenders in treatment facilities after their prison terms are served if there is a substantial risk of them committing new offenses.

A sexual predator is defined as a person who has "committed certain sexually violent offenses and has been diagnosed with a mental disorder that predisposes the person to engage in further acts of sexual violence," according to the state Department of Corrections."]

2003-06-05T04:11:00.000-07:00

Obviously he wasn't exaggerating when he said that he had absolutely no friends. It probably took him all of his free time to think this up and keep it going as long as he did. I doubt that he's any less lonely for all his trouble.

2003-06-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

Jan 28, 1960 to Feb 14, 1961

If ten people are deserted on a desert island, one of them will lead everyone to safety and that person will undoubtedly be the decisive clear-thinking Metal Rat. This is a natural born leader who inspires everyone through unparalleled leadership! Quite the visionary, the idealistic Rat will see cathedrals in the middle of the desert and make believers out of non-believers. He or she has all the traits necessary to win and keep friends, charm, sincerity, trustworthiness, as well as a sense of humor and grand adventure. The enormously capable Metal Rats are very successful in their career, with financial rewards keeping them forever in clover. When it comes to love, Metal Rats' hearts tend to be a bit brittle because they have been wounded by past love affairs. However, when the Rats finally find the right person, they will do all they can to pursue love, using every means at their disposal. Love becomes a high priority.

Feb 16, 1980 to Feb 4, 1981

When Metal Monkey says no, that's it! They are so strong, so individualistic, and yes, so stubborn, you can talk yourself into the ground trying to convince them to change their mind. They won't budge! But when all is said and done, you admire them for their value system, fortitude, soaring ambition, and tremendous success. Success, after all, is not wishy washy. And Monkeys know the meaning of hard work! What fun the metal monkey is to be around! You can talk about anything under the moon, but beware: they can be pretty persuasive, so stand your ground. Sometimes a Sense of Mischief can rear its head: Sometimes this habit of playing tricks on others leads to a fun round of belly laughter, but other times, too much! They can't always get along with some people because of this mischievous streak. But they don't care. You see, they are quite independent, relying solely on themselves. They have few friends, but great ones. And Grand Romance never takes a holiday with them: a life with Monkeys is Stars in Your Eyes, Romantic High Spirit, and Grand Passion indeed.

Jan 25, 1982 to Feb 12, 1983

Water Dogs are real charmers, easily attracting friends and colleagues into their inner circle. Handling the ins and outs of human relations is so easy for them! They know how to smooth over any personal situation with their kind, honest, easy-going nature. Always empathetic, always rational, their ability to play Devil's Advocate helps open up whole new ways of approaching problems and finding solutions. Their views on life are expansive because of an ingrained wanderlust which has taken and will continue to take them to exotic locales about the globe. They adapt like chameleons to new environments and new people and their lives are all-encompassing, full of rich adventure. Financial and career success comes to the Water Dogs later in life -- just watch these late bloomers burst open! Regarding their love life, when it comes to dating and romance, their temperature ranges from hot to cold, from one extreme to another. Sometimes they want a commitment, other times they run Geronimo. But, when true love finally comes, and it will, they have it made. Their relationships are filled with good honest communication and genuine kindness and total caring for their partner. Marriage will be as firm as the Rock of Gibraltar.

-- from Deeshan.Com's Chinese Horoscopes

2002-11-17T03:55:00.000-08:00

Notes from recently:

Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC):
All biological weapons are prohibited by the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which the United States is legally obliged to obey.

Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act:
a US law that makes solicitation of bioweaponeering a criminal act.

"[B]ecause the Special Forces are requesting US scientists to make them, the elite military group is flirting dangerously with the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act, a US law that makes solicitation of bioweaponeering a criminal act."
--
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/pr120802.html
"US Special Forces Seek Genetically Engineered Bioweapons"

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA):

US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL):

Scientists Helping America:
A cooperative effort between the Special Forces, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

"Playing heavily on the US reaction to the September 11th attacks, "Scientists Helping America" asked researchers to show their patriotism by turning their talents to weapons, including bioweapons, specifically, genetically engineered bugs that eat materials and stealthy modified organisms (called "taggants") that can be used to invisibly "paint" a target so that it can be destroyed with other weapons later."
--
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/pr120802.html
"US Special Forces Seek Genetically Engineered Bioweapons"

taggants:
Stealthy modified organisms that can be used to invisibly "paint" a target so that it can be destroyed with other weapons later.

"Taggant bioweapons have been discussed as a theoretical possibility for a number of years; but (to the Sunshine Project's knowledge) never actually developed. The concept is simple, although there are many possible variations. In essence, a microorganism modified to exhibit an unusual behavior (for example, "glowing" genes, although in practice the trait would be far less detectable). A building, vehicle, or other object to be tracked and/or identified is then (secretly) inoculated with the bioweapon. The organism, which may or may not be deliberately destructive, is allowed to grow undetected. Because the organism exhibits an unusual trait, it can (theoretically) be detected by remote means, even if the object moves or is small and/or difficult to identify from a distance. The object's precise location can thereby be secretly tracked, facilitating surveillance and/or the targeting of a weapon to destroy it. In the Special Forces conception, these taggant weapons might also be engineered to be destructive upon command, for example, by triggering an inducible promoter system (popularly known as "terminator technology") that stimulates production of a corrosive agent."
--
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/pr120802.html
"US Special Forces Seek Genetically Engineered Bioweapons"

"The Special Forces desire was initially identified in a short May 1999 document by its Future Technology Working Group. ... The... document sets out the uses of a 'bio-organism that can be placed on a building and then grow across that building to act as an illuminator for target identification, or precision attacks'...."
--
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/pr120802.html
"US Special Forces Seek Genetically Engineered Bioweapons"

genetically modified organisms (GMOs):

Cartagena Biosafety Protocol:
International safety system for transboundary movement of GMOs.

Anti-material bioweapons:
Those that degrade or destroy military materials or infrastructure, such as plastics, rubber, or petroleum products. Generally, they are microorganisms genetically modified to enhance digestion of targeted materials. Also known as genetically engineered anti-material agents (GAMAs).

"[M]an-made micro-organisms that eat things like concrete, metal, asphalt, paint and plastic. GAMAs could theoretically be used to slowly and stealthily destroy military airstrips -- or create World Trade Center-magnitude disasters. "
--
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55337-2,00.html
"Non-lethal Weapons Shoot To Hurt"
2:00 a.m. Sep. 30, 2002 PDT
Wired News

US Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD):
--
http://www.jnlwd.usmc.mil/default.asp
--
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55337-2,00.html
"Non-lethal Weapons Shoot To Hurt"
2:00 a.m. Sep. 30, 2002 PDT
Wired News
--
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/mcrucalmfacts.html

Active-denial weapons (ADWs):
"Active-denial weapons... fire wide-angle 95 gigahertz electromagnetic waves that heat water molecules in the outer skin and cause debilitating pain. Critics contend ADWs target innocent bystanders as well as enemies, and say the temptation to crank up the power to "kill" level may prove irresistible."
--
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55337-2,00.html
"Non-lethal Weapons Shoot To Hurt"
2:00 a.m. Sep. 30, 2002 PDT
Wired News

Marine Corps Research University (MCRU):
Pennsylvania State University.
--
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/mcrucalmfacts.html
"The MCRU Calmatives Study and JNLWD: A Summary of (Public) Facts"

Calmatives:
Psychotropic, central nervous system depressants and other "crowd-controlling" drug classes (e.g. fentanyls, benzodiazepines, alpha-2-adrenoreceptor agonists) and individual drugs diazepam, dexmeditomidine, rohypnol, GHB, Precedex.
--
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55337-2,00.html
"Non-lethal Weapons Shoot To Hurt"
2:00 a.m. Sep. 30, 2002 PDT
Wired News
and
--
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/mcrucalmfacts.html
"The MCRU Calmatives Study and JNLWD: A Summary of (Public) Facts"

1993 Chemical Weapons Convention:

Veiling-glare lasers: Hypothetically, wide-angle laser beams in the violet to ultraviolet spectrum will blind enemies by making their eyes fluoresce, that is, glow.
--
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55337-2,00.html
"Non-lethal Weapons Shoot To Hurt"
2:00 a.m. Sep. 30, 2002 PDT
Wired News

1996 Geneva Convention vision-weapon protocol:

Precedex:
--
http://www.abbotthosp.com/PROD/pdex/prodinfohm.htm
or
www.precedex.com

Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program Acronyms:
A list of 309 acronyms used at http://www.jnlwd.usmc.mil/
--
http://www.jnlwd.usmc.mil/library/acroys.asp

International Criminal Court (ICC):

"The entire point of the ICC was never to trust unverified national pledges to bring the worst human rights criminals to justice. A regime of unverified national pledges is what ensured that Augusto Pinochet, Idi Amin and Pol Pot were never properly tried. Without an ICC scrutinizing those pledges, there is nothing to prevent the use of political influence, intimidation or violence to compromise national efforts to prosecute.

Recognizing this fact would require Washington to accept ICC oversight whenever a government that has ratified the Rome treaty sends an ICC suspect to the United States."
--
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0930-02.htm
Published on Monday, September 30, 2002 in the International Herald Tribune
International Criminal Court
"Resist Washington's Arm-Twisting"
by Kenneth Roth

2002-08-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

This is True by Randy Cassingham - Weird but True News from Around the World is also the home of the "Get Out Of Hell Free Card".

This humorist (who lives in Colorado ~ must be the altitude ~ and has a syndicated weekly newspaper column) also has a brief but serious page about the Dvorak keyboard. I just spent about ten minutes rearranging the keys on my backup keyboard into the Dvorak configuration, and when and if I can find the W98 install CD for this Compaq, I'm going to try it out. I have always hated QWERTY.

2002-08-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

"Crank Dot Net is devoted to presenting Web sites by and about cranks, crankism, crankishness, and crankosity. All cranks, all the time. "

2002-08-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

autopoiesis:: the process whereby an organization produces itself;
literally, self-production (not to be confused with
allopoiesis, which is the process whereby an organ-
ization produces something other than itself)

An example of the former is a cell or an organism;
the latter is exemplified by an assembly line.

-from Klaus Krippendorff's Dictionary of Cybernetics

2002-08-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

One should profit by the historical errors of precursors, since they were kind enough to take the trouble of committing them.

-- Bruce Sterling (bruces@well.com)

in Note:4 Historical Awareness of the Viridian Project mailing list

2002-08-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

The Onion | Grad Student Deconstructs Take-Out Menu

pro·le·gom·e·non

A preliminary discussion, especially a formal essay introducing a work of considerable length or complexity.
prolegomena. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) Prefatory remarks or observations.

[Greek, from neuter present passive participle of prolegein, to say beforehand : pro-, before; see pro–2 + legein, to speak.]

pro'le·gom'e·nous adj.

That's my new word for the day. My brain is full, now; may I be excused?

2002-08-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

Shakespeare vs Britney Spears

2002-08-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

Just now working (out of "boredom, misplaced pity or Teutonic thoroughness") on a list of all my E-mail subscriptions. As of yet, I haven't found anything I'm too embarrassed to list nor too ashamed of (occasionally) throwing out only skimmed, or indeed entirely unread.

2002-08-21T03:03:00.000-07:00

I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees~
I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees~
Begged the Lord for mercy, "Save me if you please."

I went down to the crossroads, tried to flag a ride~
I went down to the crossroads, tried to flag a ride~
Nobody seemed to know me, everybody passed me by.

I'm going down to Rosedale, take my Rhetta by my side~
I'm going down to Rosedale, take my Rhetta by my side~
She can still barrelhouse, baby, by the riverside.

You can run, you can run, tell my friend-boy Willie Brown~
Run? You can't run. Tell my friend-boy Willie Brown~
And I'm standing at the crossroads, believe I'm sinking down.

2002-08-21T00:50:00.000-07:00

I'm now dealing with the process of setting up a website in which this shall find itself (and, more to the point, be found by others) framed. GeoCities is generous but cranky with me, kind of like an eccentric older relative. Bravenet is more like a relative who's helpful, but wants to sell you AmWay (Does anyone still sell Amway stuff? They had some useful products, if one could get past the MLM nonsense).

2002-08-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

To come up with "Kuria", I used the Fantasy Name Generator by Johan Danforth, who has a) too much free time (relative to me, anyhow) and b) some great pages. I came up with "Kthulha" (my new fake last name for HoTMaiL.CoM) under the inspiration of H.P. Lovecraft (after all this time, I just read a poem by him which I'd never even heard of before; I am not sure I even knew he'd ever tried writing poetry. The piece was pro-war. I'll post it here, sometime. S. had it printed out and laid on top of his monitor, and so I bet (as, increasingly, all things that will be shared are) it's on the 'Web, somewhere).

Thanks to HoTMaiL.CoM for my umpteenth "free" 2mb account with them, KuriaKDIESPAMMERS@HoTMaiL.CoM. Plain "Kuria@hotmail.com" was already taken... I can believe it, but it was still a surprise. I wonder how long it will take for the junk mail to start cramming the designated folder (even if, as planned, I don't post a un-spam-proofed version of this address anywhere)? But truly surprising was to find that http://kuria.blogspot.com was taken... like, today... a few hours earlier. By someone who subtitled it "Ish mai blog!", no less. /shrug I had no choice but to name this one Rhetta, (Crossroads, ;)) as in http://rhetta.blogspot.com