...more recent posts
my friend bowman just got back from a trip to spain and he was raving about this restaurant which was recommended to him by our (me and jim) old friend christopher(the actor turned chef).
jim is it me or is it it--when i open page etc it takes a while to pop up?? aapl??
NCC3 has been cancelled (as some might have thought:>(
we can have dinner and hang sunday a bit maybe on 6/10-6/11 this is beging confirmed--dougs great aunt has her 100th birthday party on 6/24 (which beets a NCC anyday)--we may have to try to plan a fall gathering eleswhere--maybe we should all buy a house somewhere together--4 bedrooms!!!
O.K. I think we are ready to test out the new format. I've tried to simplify a lot of things. The new post information is now greatly reduced (but hopefully just as useful.) The main page is now here. If you get an error (maybe something about a problem accessing the preferences) you need a new cookie - get it here (if the first link works, then don't worry about it.) And, just to be clear, this is not a big deal like the last switch, so there shouldn't be any bumps, but as usual, let me know if anything doesn't seem right.
In reference to mr. dratfink's Nike comments..."specious at best...," yeah you right. Nike has few equals in representing the worst of what this country is becoming in the sense of irrelevant consumerism, mismanaged energy, and hypocrisy. I haven't seen the ad but the mere description was enough to curdle the juices in my stomach.
And if I may combine two arguments here, let's not just throw away all our guns, let's throw them at our tv screens. Elvis lives.
I remember Dave linked to a story a long time ago about "number stations." These are shortwave broadcasts that have been on the air for decades. They feature only a single voice reading lists of seemingly random numbers. These number stations are widely believed to be a method for spy agencies to communicate with their agents in the field. NPR did a story on them recently. Slashdot had a story today about The Conent Project which is releasing a 4 CD set of these recordings, and sponsering a cryptograpic challenge to crack the code behind these numbers. Assuming they are not using a one time pad, which would be unbreakable, I can't wait to see what these numbers mean.
I'm still waiting for the first flash site to totally blow me away (like when I first saw Zaxxon and it's pseudo 3/4 view 3d effects,) but in the mean time there are lots of cool little flash gizmos out there to whet your appetite. Here's some. (Flash 4 required, 56k friendly.) [update: O.K., now I have almost seen everything. Can someone explain this site to me?]
I watched a little of the Hillary town hall meeting on PBS last night. Dave has the detailed report. I was impressed by her ability to field questions and speak off the top of her head. She did much better than I would have thought. I'm not suggesting she converted me, but I was impressed by her abilities. How far could she go? 2004? Say it ain't so.
This sounds interesting. A WABC nostalgiathon, with full length segments, not just the usual snippets. The Post article is more informative than the station's site. This is said to be the epitome of top 40 radio. Growing up in Detroit, we had top 30 radio from CKLW in Wisdsor, Ontario. They were big until Canada passed national content laws. After that, they played a lot of Anne Murray, and a little Neil Young.
I think the best discussions are the ones where both sides sound like reactionary idiots and with that in mind I must say that even from 1500 miles away, and that being in a city where murder is common as dirt, I am still deeply moved, and saddened, by the news of the Queens murders yesterday morning. Relating to a freedom discussion on another page it is my primary nature to agree with jimb about there being something amiss with the nature of internal freedom in the US but at the same time I want to start seeing a lot less than 30,000 gun related deaths each year (and of course I don't mean to suggest that jimb wishes that number to stay the same, or grow). While clearly not the overall solution to the problem I want to see more restrictions on guns, more buy back programs, more effort goddammit. And I want back that 40 million or more spent on the Clinton investigations and I want it spent on something useful. I want more restrictions in my world. I want my US government to quit whoring itself to the NRA and other lobbying groups that promote ill health, and death. I'm late for work. f Ted Nugent.
Today is for me like the last day of summer vacation and tomorrow is the first day of school, and I'm dreadfully excited. My temporary electric pole was installed last Thursday and tomorrow Entergy is promising to run the juice to it. Now there will be no excuses for short days at the renovation project on Rocheblave, although I would like to say that temps in the mid nineties is too hot to be doing all this work. No excuses though, you damn sissy, its time to get on with getting on. The building supply stores known as Home Depot are open 24 hours a day in this area. I can buy framing timber at 3 in the morning and I can run lights at the jobsite. I can swat mosquitoes under the glow of a halogen, or a florescent, or that ever popular incandescent. Tonite I'm drinking ice cold budweiser (watch the typos grow), and might paint the pages red. Look at that boy go.
Cam is organizing a blogbowl night of bowling for bloggers in NYC. The place: Bowlmor lanes (of course.) The date: Tomorrow (5/25) 9:00 - midnight. Here's the sign-up sheet (they have to make a reservation.)
My humble apologies. This page disappeared for a day or two while I was away. Actually, it was still here if you had it bookmarked, or knew the address, but the home (top 0:1:) page was not listing it. I had not set the time range (I guess you could call it 'decay') correctly for that page, and the group page and system news drifted out of range, so they were no longer shown. Whoops. Easy fix. Everything should be back working now.
jim mentioned this to me. congrats to wylie.
Looks like Rudy is out of the running.
this was listed on blogger. an npr story on blogs. listen to some of our friends in the bloggerati.
Bird-Man Pondering Convergence (nyt)
describe the dmtree in 10 words or less (haikus acceptable)
I'm pretty sure this guy is not serious:) He's got some hilarious business plans for the web that he tries out on a pretty funny audience, in a sort of mock open-source vapor web business way. Huh? Try this one, or this one (loved that first feedback comment), or I think this is the first (last) one. Or is it just time to for me to log off?
You can also use the location: field in your browser (where the URL is) to enter commands to the system. For instance, you can force the database to think you've read everything presently on the system. Just hack off everything after the dmt2/ and type clear.php3 (digitalmediatree.com/dmt2/clear.php3). It will ask for your name and password, and then clear the database so the system thinks you have read everything. Maybe that's useful? I'm not sure.
Still looking for a graphic to replace the tree in a bottle that I'm very sick of. Forward any suggestions my way, or post a url below. Winning entry wins big big prize.
Security Alert. Massive hole discovered in Microsoft's implementation of javascript for Internet Explorer running on Windows. This hole allows a hostile web site to see the contents of your cookie jar. This is very bad. Protect yourself by turning off javascript. More info on my page here.
Tip of the day: If you are just starting out, the new system thinks that you have not read any of the posts (even though you may have read them on the old system.) When you click down into, say, the main page, and then reload the home page, it will still show tons of messages unread on the main page. This is because when you clicked down to read the main page, it didn't print out all the posts on the page (it only prints out the last two weeks.) All of the earlier posts are still marked as unread. If you regularly read the site this kind of thing won't happen, but becasue we transfered everything over it is a little weird. The answer is to 'reset' the system, by actually printing out ALL of the posts in that section. The [nested] option does just that (although the main page is so large that it takes quite a while to download.) Just do this once, and those annoying red numbers will be gone (until somebody posts something really new.) (Thanks to Alex for pointing out the possible confusion.) If you really want to go crazy, go here which will give you a nested view of the home page (0:1:) and therefore of everything on the site (go get a cup of coffee while it downloads though.) [update: yeah, I had to try it. 354k so beware. Although it's not as big as I thought. The whole database is over 7 megs now - but a lot is duplicated between the old and new sites.)]
Here's the malathion release, er, the press release about malathion, complete with non-functional link. This is the official notice. Seems there's no problem at all, but feel free to comment. Nice to have these folks looking out for us.
Can’t seem to get much of a post together.
The NY Post says the EPA is about to declare the malathion we were dosed with last summer a carcinogen (now they tell us). The Post didn’t post it, though, and I have yet to find an online source. The EPA ain’t talking yet, but there should be something official tomorrow.
Then there’s the New Yorker’s Mother’s Day cover. Of course, they don’t have much of a site, losing enough money in print, I guess. Just a thumbnail of the cover (changing weekly, no doubt); no enlargement. Maybe you’ve got a copy, or saw it on the newsstand. It’s set in the Park, and depicts a scene that’s not unusual there; a mother with children in tow, seated next to a modern career girl type. The mother is morphing into a full blown Mother Nature, and the young woman gazes at the children with a mixture of solicitousness and envy. I’d like to believe that different faces of the Goddess are not incompatible, but this image gets into a side of Mother’s Day that Hallmark and the mainstream tend to shy from. Pretty good cover, I thought, but I noticed that it was drawn by a man. Wondered if we had any female feedback out there?
Absolutely amazing thunder going on right now in NYC. Here's a little rainy night academic reading from the MIT press (no not that one, I mean the infamous roof and tunnel hacking MIT press.)
Wow. Life on the sun? A little technical, but short, and very cool (or is that hot?) (via robotwisdom)
Because I don't expect anyone to read the instructions, I'm going to start posting a tip of the day here in the main section:
'post' in the left side menu always posts to the present page. [add a comment] always posts to the new page below the post.
I don't have anything to say, I just wanted to post on the new system. Pause. No, I guess I really don't have anything to say. Pause. Test, test, bifurcate.
This is from a couple of days ago, but Kottke had the link to the winners of the 5k web contest. If you missed it this was a design contest where the rules stipulated a 5k size limit for making a page. I'm not sure what to use as a metaphore for this, but 5k is very small. Sort of like trying to do something with 5 cents. Anyway, some nice clever designs if you're into that sort of thing. This was my favorite.
Presently, this thread and the main page from the old system are in sync, but probably they will not be resynced, so any posting to either will begin to diverge the two pages. Hopefully, if this new system works out, the old one will just fizzle out, but for the near future they will both be up.
I'm sure everyone has heard about this already (or it's probably too late) but if you use microsoft email products running on microsoft Windows DO NOT open an email with ILOVEYOU as the subject and love-letter-to-you.txt as the attachment. You will be seriously sorry if you do (and so will everyone else in your address book.) Just throw it away.
how about the seven daughters of eve?
Two more for Bill's Seven Sisters list:
Women's Magazines: (Better Homes &
Gardens, http://www.betterhomesandgardens.com; Family Circle; Good
Housekeeping, http://www.goodhousekeeping.com; Ladies’ Home
Journal, http://www.lhj.com; Woman’s Day, no web site; McCall’s; and
Redbook, http://www.homearts.com/rb/toc/00rbhpc1.htm)
Stalinist Architecture
May 3rd 2000, at 5.54am GMT, the last piece of an amazing cosmic jigsaw fell into place. The picture will remain intact till the evening, at 8.18pm GMT. During those historic 14 hours and 24 minutes, the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will ALL be passing through the same zodiac sign at the same time. Hardly ever does the sky produce such a potent portent. Astrologers, all over the globe, see this as awesomely auspicious. If you want to see why, think of the sky as a cosmic pond. The planets, as they travel in their orbits, usually cast small, symbolic "pebbles" into this pool. By aligning so closely together, they are creating one gigantic boulder. It is about to land with an almighty splash. The ripples will
reverberate for decades. And, for most of us, they will not so much be ripples as tidal waves of change.
First though, we must look at the way in which it will influence the world as a whole. We are talking here, about a conjunction with the power to unleash energies, options and possibilities which people have long dreamed of yet never been able to reach. During the next twenty years, the human race is going to journey further than it has done in the last 200 years. Science will continue to stretch our imagination. It has been doing so for a long time now. None of us are surprised any more when, thanks to technology, impossible things suddenly become possible. But so far, our stunning
advances in science have not been reflected socially. Seemingly impossible social changes
(such as eliminating poverty or ending war) remain as remote as ever. We say, half in jest and half in sorrow, that we may be able to put a person on the Moon but we can't feed all the hungry people in Ethiopia. And we accept that this is just a fact of life that will never alter. Yet it is THIS very attitude of hopeless resignation which is about to alter as a result of today's big cosmic conjunction. For finally, after countless
centuries, people are going to lose their pessimism and redefine their relationship with life itself.
The seven fold conjunction of 531AD caused both Christianity and Buddhism to spread like wildfire across the globe, causing millions to redefine that
same relationship. Both teachings invite reflection on an 'eternal spirit' and suggest that existence, here on earth, is but one of many possible
states. The seven fold conjunction of 1962 coincided with the famous Cuban missile
crisis. It placed millions in a state of fearful apprehension. In reaction, we started racing to the Moon and experimenting, en masse, with ways to
reach alternate states of consciousness. Once again, human beings became keenly aware that existence, here on earth, is but one of many possible states. Now, here comes the next seven fold conjunction and the last for many centuries. It has the same basic message for humanity. "Existence, here on earth, is but one of many possible states." But this time, because the
conjunction is taking place in a practical Earth sign, it carries a rider. "Do not, therefore, wait for another lifetime - or try to escape to another
world. Recognise that future existence, here on earth, does not HAVE to reflect the pattern of past existence. Anything is possible. Anything you
can imagine. Anything you can find the strength, wisdom and courage to reach for. The dream you are dreaming today will be the reality you find yourself living in tomorrow."
This, by and large, is how astrologers are interpreting the current message from the cosmos. Hence the reason why all our predictions must be about preparing for a time when things we once considered 'unimaginable' become perfectly feasible. And hence too, the reason why all our advice must encourage people to start reaching for the brightest, most hopeful dreams they can envisage.
The Future Starts Here
Historic cosmic events are rather like buses. You hang about for a thousand years or so and none take place. Then suddenly, two come along in less than
half a century. The world has been waiting a long time for a seven fold conjunction to reshape history. Since May 31, 531AD, to be precise. That
event set a religious revolution spinning across the globe. Buddhism came to Japan. Christianity came to Europe. We can hardly imagine how deeply moved people must have been by the intensity of their new spiritual discoveries. But it is clear that, around this time, something shook millions
of people into a new state of awareness. And that crucial values changed as a result. Since then, there has been a further sevenfold conjunction. It took place on Feb 4, 1962 - within hours of President Kennedy declaring a trade embargo
against Cuba. This was to take the earth to the terrifying brink of global, thermonuclear war. It shook millions of people into a new state of
awareness. And crucial values changed as a result.
During the next few years, all over the world, young people began to question conventional belief systems. The Swinging Sixties gave us The
Beatles, The Youth Revolution, The Permissive Society, The Hippy Dream - and the First Moon Landing. Spookily, if you trace back the social history of most modern attitudes, you can find a clear turning point just after that last seven fold conjunction of 1962. This though, was just a curtain raiser; part one of a two part sequence
which culminates, May 1st, with one further sevenfold conjunction. Against the backdrop of history, those last four decades have passed in the blink of an eye. Now, the cosmic eye is blinking once more. By the time it opens again, the world is not just going to be exploring a new belief system. It is going to be embracing a different set of more enlightened values. Values which will dominate global culture for a further fifteen hundred years.
Happy birthday to Jim!
Your flower is Lilly of the Valley.
Your stone is Emerald.
Your existence is a blessing.
Patti Smith with Joey Ramone and Ronnie Spector
HOBOKEN FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE UPDATE
Patti Smith & Ronnie Spector Headline Hoboken Festival Roster
The City of Hoboken and Cablevision present the Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival on Sunday, May 7, from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Washington St. (from Newark to 7th St.)
FIRST STREET STAGE
12:00 p.m. Scott E. Moore - acoustic
12:30 p.m. The Demolition String Band -
country/bluegrass
1:15 p.m. Bob Delevante - roots rock
2:15 p.m. Skanatra - Sinatra Ska
3:15 p.m. Ronnie Spector
4:45 p.m. Patti Smith (w/ Joey)