Monthly Archives: February 2004

Like tears in rain

Thursday, February 12, 2004



BME Swirl Shirts In Stock
(CLICK THE PICTURE)

You know what the coolest thing about the internet is? It really is the “nobody knows you're a dog” theory. I don't mean that in the “hidden” sense, but more in the “irrelevant” sense. If a dog is smart enough to use the internet, then they're not hiding that they're a dog — they're making irrelevant the fact that they're a dog.

One of the things that makes me really happy about IAM is seeing people talk across generations… Seeing an advanced science or politics (or whatever) topic being debated between a fourteen year old and a forty year old, with the younger debater having sometimes a stronger grasp and a sharper mind for the subject is really inspiring. Open access to knowledge and discussion is probably the internet's greatest side-effect — because it allows people to progress at their own maximum potential if they have the drive, rather than the potential of their parents and teachers.

One of the reasons that I like the Internet, and blogging especially, is for memory. It's extremely difficult for me to insert most things into my long term memory, and I don't remember most of my day to day life (although what I do remember I remember fairly clearly, although I usually can't place it in time). One of the ways I remember is by repetition (so software is easy to remember), and I find that by writing down my thoughts it reinforces them and helps record them.

At some point I'd like to build a memory augmentation device that's integrated into IAM… So I could download my IAM page and using a hiptop computer and eye-interface it would do the following:

  • Analyze what I'm saying (speech recognition) and scan my diary (and other databases) for related information.
  • Try and figure out who I'm talking to (face recognition, etc.) and scan for related information.
  • Analyze what I'm saying and display relevant google and google news information.

And so on. It's not a very difficult project, it's just a matter of someone taking the time to do it. Variations on it have been proposed endlessly…

Let me tell you the worst thing about repetition being the trigger to memorization: If I'm out, and something beautiful and unique happens to me, if I'm not recording it with a camera or other device, it's absolutely heartbreaking to know that a few hours later that moment will be lost. And what's even more heartbreaking is that because I've had that experience over and over (the sadness in the realization that the experience is transient), I can remember thinking how sad I am to forget with crystal clarity.

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"Transforming America"

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

The next eight (is that right? or is it nine?) months will go a long way to determining whether America collapses as a nation or not. Now, when I say “collapse” I'm not talking about descent into anarchy. I'm talking about America becoming as meaningless a nation as Britain (Britain of course is still very powerful as a nation, but it's nothing in comparison to where it was in the past).

I've been obsessively reading the history of the collapse of Britain, as it applies to the corporation. Look at the business relations that existed between British companies and Germany, Chile, and other “out-sourcing” countries at the turn of the 19th century and you see a lot of scary parallels to modern day America…

I really think to turn around Americans have to wake up and do something brave, something they haven't done in over 200 years, and that's yell out WE CAN SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND WE DON'T LIKE IT AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE!

Personally I think the only candidate offering this is Kucinich. I know he seems like a crazy long shot, but that's what America needs to survive. Put in Kerry and you've just got more of the same and this ship keeps sinking. Everyone knows this — they're just afraid to say it, and that's how the Bush-Kerry alliance will be beat America. Yeah, beat America. I've said this before and I'll say it again: Bush and Kerry do not represent Americans. They represent that tiny ultra-wealthy percentage (about 4% of Americans) that donate to the campaigns, and the corporations that donate the remaining three hundred million dollars to the campaign.

Don't take my word for it.

Don't take anyone's word for it.

Educate yourself. Research the politicians platforms, and, just like researching a scarification artist, look for healed photos. That is, do they do what they say? Bush has done the opposite. Most politicians do… Kucinich on the other hand has shown he's willing to axe his own career to do what he said he'd do.

CLICK HERE (4.5 meg) for an MP3 file of a Kucinich speech so you can get a better idea of what he's about, and here's his site if you'd like to check it out…

But please, don't vote how I tell you. Kucinich is my ideal candidate and I believe in his vision for America — but you may not. Educate yourself about the issues, it is your duty to do so. An American who doesn't vote is fundamentally betraying what it is to be American, in my opinion as a foreign devil that is.

And whatever you do, don't fool yourself into thinking “we just need to defeat Bush”. If the neo-cons really succeed in putting in Kerry as the “Democratic” candidate, they've manipulated the system so severely that you're basically choosing between Bush and Bush's old drinking buddy from Yale, Kerry, who have mutually sworn oaths of allegience to that supercede the nation. If Kerry wins, then Americans can finally say with certainty that they really do no longer live in a democracy.

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There used to be a laptop here

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Yes, this is becoming a recurring theme.

I don't believe it's permanently damaged though. Certainly the drive should be fine and that's what I care about. It instantly powered down when the liquid hit it, but as far as I can tell nothing made it past the keyboard barrier, and the drive is in perfect condition. It doesn't turn on right now so I'm just going to let it sit for a little and try again in a few hours. If it doesn't power up, I'll plug the drive into an enclosure tomorrow and move the stuff to the machine I'm using right now. But I don't expect to have to do that.

Anyway, if it powers up in a few hours, expect a Great Fredini interview to be posted not too long from now. If not, I'll plug the drive (BME's data wasn't on the laptop, just in an external drive) into this box and finish it for midnight or so.

Remember the moral to the story: Don't fuck with gypsies.

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Now that's funny

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

From the description to the item on the right:

“George W. Bush has been labeled many things: a family man, a shrewd politician, an astute business man, an honest citizen, an environmental deterrent and much more.”

I'd say there's a strong emphasis on the “much more” aspect. Bush continues to block the 9/11 investigation (more), and he's assigned a longtime neocon (more) and yes-man McCain as well to head up his “independent” Iraq-intelligence panel — not surprising, giving that Bush (even though his own intelligence people say the opposite - more) continues to maintain that Saddam was going to launch a nuclear strike on the US. So please add “war criminal” to that label-list.

And with less than 50% of Americans voting, all it takes for Bush to be re-elected is that one in four Americans are stupid enough to believe his lies.

Oh, and this has been mentioned in the Whatever forum, but keep an eye on how this progresses: “An Antiwar Forum in Iowa Brings Federal Subpoenas“. Basically, anti-war polticial groups are having their records subpoena'd; who donates money to them, who goes to the meetings, and so on. Didn't you know? Pacifism is the new communist menace! Not only are subpoenas being issued, but because they're bing issued in the new no-rights America, the schools and others being subpoena'd are extremely limited on what they can discuss because of nondisclosure orders.

Yay for freedom and liberty our benevolent corporate overlords.

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I for one welcome our…

Monday, February 9, 2004

This note is from a conversation with my friend Saira. I'm reposting it here because I thought that others would find the idea interesting:

Check this out: one of my volunteers is in comp sci here, and was telling me that a prof he has in some evolution-type biology course was making a claim that “couch potato” (ie. TV or computer monitor) is a behaviour pattern modelled after early human behaviour that found certain individuals maintaining their gene lines by keeping out of danger (by having others hunt/gather) and remaining by the fire… The monitor/tv flickering is paralleled with the flames/fire.

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The answer to life's problems

Monday, February 9, 2004

You know being asked to do the layout for this made some graphic designer's day.

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They suffer from the same insanity

Sunday, February 8, 2004

Microsoft Thailand. And yes, I know it's not nice to make fun.


  
The BBC's Mr. Bean    Microsoft's Mr. McBean

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