Ever since I saw The Spy Who Loved Me I've wanted an early-model Lotus Esprit, in white. Never had any interest in the newer ones. They're dirt cheap when they come up for sale, but there aren't that many of them in Canada… But this one (1985) just came up around the corner.
Another image update (1,457 images) has been posted, along with another super-silly cartoon cover. Enjoy!
And I know it's rather childish of me to laugh at this terrorism article, but you know it makes you giggle too:
The camp is run by the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or MILF, which is fighting for an independent Muslim homeland in Mindanao … “There are several MILFs, all using the same name,” Jones said, adding that these factions were not the same as the group now conducting peace negotiations with Manila.
Why do I think this is actually a secret plan by the US recruitment office to get more teen boys signing up for the military? (“MILFs? I can meet MILFs if I sign up you say?”). They may tell you that “God has hardon for Marines, because they kill everything they see”, but being realistic, “God has a hardon for MILFs, because, well… duh!” might be an easier sell to the cannon fodder of tomorrow?
Of course, everything I know about the world is learned from movies, primarily pornographic ones (which have a bit of a “make love not war” bias), so really, you probably shouldn't put too much stock in my MILF theories. But still, I'm fairly certain that the pursuit of MILFs is ethically preferable to killing.
I watched Harry Bergeron this morning. Even though it's a 1995 film, and written much earlier, it just feels so relevant, in that Claire Wolfe sort of way:
“America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.”
I think a lot of us know (or at least believe) that's where the world is at right now… Too far gone to save, but not far enough along yet in its collapse to convince the average mundane it's time to have another revolution. So what do we do?
There are a lot of little things happening that people aren't paying attention to that are very important — I'll mention the three single largest things that people need to be wary of (to my mind anyway). I mention these as someone who has worked on some of these technologies for the past fifteen years:
It's no secret that all of these are happening in bulk. Not only are these all happening, but the government is putting in laws to speed up the process and veto any attempts to stop it. Remember one thing:
A corporation has all of the rights of a human being (and then some), but can not effectively be criminally charged, has sometimes millions of times the financial power of a human being, and has an infinite lifespan. In addition, a corporation is legally obliged to put profit above all else, including ethics and the law.
A lot of people on the edges of politics (left or right) make the mistake of blaming the US or the US government, and decrying Bush et al as “the enemy”. This of course ignores the real foe — the US government is largely a bunch of greedy old men. They don't control the system at all. Not one bit. They simply got lucky and are siphoning off of it.
The terrifying truth is that there is no leader. No one is “controlling” this process. There is no Illuminati. There is no conspiracy of Jewish bankers. There is no Bavarian ultra-rich secret society that decides where the world is going:
It's terrifying because you realize that eventually it really will be The Corporation. “The” as in singular. Eventually, after massive financial battles, a single corporation will buy out all of the assets of all other corporations combined. With only the smallest exceptions, we will have a single employer in the entire world, which will control every single aspect of life.
This corporation will of course have a board of directors, which will be directed by intelligent computer systems which map their markets and optimize profit. The board of directors answers to the stockholders, who have no real voice, and, in a cycle of ambiguity, no one is the leader and the machine rolls on. What kind of world will we get?
I went out for supper (Ethiopian) with Phil and Badur… Definitely one of the nicer things about living in the city is having easy access not just to decent African food, but more importantly having decent access to the company of friends! We also talked about one of my crazier business ideas yet… One that is I think brilliant, but will go even further to stratify my love-hate relationship with the world (ie. people either really like what I'm about or totally despise it, without much in the middle).
As you can see, my desk setup is continuing to grow. There's still one computer to add, two more monitors, eight external drive enclosures to attach, and a few VCRs, mixers, and assorted devices. As a point of trivia, I can heat up frozen food faster by putting it between all the monitors than I can by using a microwave. Or something like that…
Yet another reason that I can't go back to Germany without facing arrest…
I just want to say that I have enormous personal respect for the piercers who are sending me BME/Risks photos (and explanations), including the photos of their own work when it goes wrong. One of the biggest problems in this industry is that too many cutting edge practitioners go to lengths to actually hide the things that go wrong from the public, and those few people that have come out about it tend to get ostracised and even threatened. It's bizarre, and, I believe ultimately self-desctructive.
But anyway, thank you to those piercers and body artists who are sending in their mistakes as well as their successes (and other people's mistakes too). It's because of you that we're able to learn, and ensure that we do as little repeating mistakes as possible. We're not alchemists working in secret. We have an ethical responsibility to share knowledge with each other. Anyway, thank you to those of you who are doing so (you know who you are). It may not seem like a big deal, but every gross-out picture goes a long way to helping someone live a happier life with their modifications.
My network is now up and running, at least in some sort of fetal state right now… I have to get one more desk before I can set up the rest of the computers — which I'm really looking forward to… When the other gear is in there will be approximately three terabytes of active drives in this room! And when you add up all the archived storage there is about double that.
For those trying to get in touch, I'm back online of course, and my old cellphone still works (but I'll be switching the number). Those of you who want/need it, send me an IM about the new land line number (don't assume I'll remember, it's not my strong point). I've just got to have my mail relay opened up to my new IP here, so my email is currently receiving but not sending.
And, wow, does Rogers digital cable television quality ever suck bad in comparison to Bell's satellite service… It's really overcompressed. Plus not having a PVR kind of blows once you've been psychologically “trained” to use one. So building some kind of PVR-PC unit is on my high to-do list… It'll be cool having all of my DVDs, music, TV shows, everything all transmitting across and archived on the network.
