Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

I managed to get my groceries (so I won't starve; ignore the rest of the story), and after that I shot down to see if NY Subs (Indian burrito joint near my old place that I'm sure some of you know) was still open… It had literally closed just before I got there, so I drove past a couple other places I like but they were all closed too. Screw food, who needs it! I live off code!

I did gas up Rachel's car so at least I got a good deed in while I was doing my selfish stuff — I don't like the idea of her having to stand in the cold, especially since she's got an overflowing schedule as well now that she's going to pilot school (if it's a matter of me losing sleep versus her losing sleep, I'd rather it was me). I think I had an insane work ethic ingrained in me in my youth, so it's easier for me to pick up slack like that more than most people I think.

It's funny the things you remember from when you're a kid. The very first story I can remember reading is one about John Henry (versus the steam drill), and it's stuck with me. Maybe part of me wants to die with a hammer in my hand — it feels noble. Of course, maybe it's just that perverse workaholic sickness — I really do “get off” on that feeling you get when you've pushed your brain to it's breaking point and you can feel your neurons ripping themselves apart and restructuring your consciousness just to survive another minute. It's more fun than it sounds, honest.

Oh, and since a lot of people are sending me this link I'll just mention it briefly and give my take on it. I'm not sold on the climate shift — that's really a wild card that could go either way. I do think however it is very safe to assume that we will see water wars soon (which means you can bet on the US invading Canada).

I have to tell you, there really is a good chance society goes down the drain from that type of catastrophe. I also have to admit that there's a growing part of me that wants to just say FUCKIT, start converting my assets to apocalypse mode (guns, gold, and land), become a rich American, vote Bush, and play out the scorched earth scenario…

Of course, there's an equally large part that says “get the hell out while you still can” and is kicking the crap out myself for not being properly self-sufficient yet. All that said, the intelligent bet is still on “business as usual”. But it wouldn't be the first time humans have knocked themselves back a few thousand years.

Online community & messaging engines
in the application of sigil magic

Abstract

Software engines providing access to community websites and other social networking tools often are aware of location-based information on their users. US zipcodes can locate a user typically within a twenty mile radius, and Canadian postal codes are often accurate to within a two hundred foot radius in larger cities. Cell phones, GPS aware automobiles, and other navigation devices are all capable of providing even more accurate telemetry, often with elevation, motion, and other data as well.

For the purposes of planetary- or continent-scale magic, distributed sigils placed as vector endpoints have been the traditional method of creating singular sigils which span hundreds or thousands of miles. Historically this involved the physical construction of temples to house the sigils, but with location-aware networking tools sigils can be placed instantly and in any configuration.

At any given moment a piece of networking software has a mesh of users which may be located in both two dimensional and three dimensional projections. Simple pattern matching can take a given macro-sigil and find users who are located at the vector endpoints; the larger the userbase, the more accurate (and powerful) the sigil can be. By inserting micro-sigils into their online experience (and thus their consciousness), the macro-sigil becomes activated. Sub-sigils for the purposes of targetting and energy direction, as well as glyph orientation and psychic sharpening may be inserted into the consciousness of users inside and outside the main glyph as well. Synchornized transmission of digitized sigils may be used as an activator.

Location-aware cellphones coupled with instant messaging technologies as well as automobiles with navigation systems are also able to orchestrate this type of large-scale magic on a more localized and precise level, including the realtime targeting of specific individuals and locations.