1. <p>i've been reading a lot at the global guerrillas blog. and i'm just floored by this guy's thought processes. the connection of disparate models is just amazing. here he compares the opensource software model to that of the global guerrilla warfare model.</p>
    
    <blockquote>
      <a href="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2004/09/bazaar_dynamics.html">Global Guerrillas: THE BAZAAR'S OPEN SOURCE PLATFORM</a>
      <p><strong>Release early and often.</strong> Try new forms of attacks against different types of targets early and often. Don’t wait for a perfect plan.</p>
    
      <p><strong>Given a large enough pool of co-developers, any difficult problem will be seen as obvious by someone, and solved.</strong> Eventually some participant of the bazaar will find a way to disrupt a particularly difficult target. All you need to do is copy the process they used.</p>
    
      <p><strong>Your co-developers (beta-testers) are your most valuable resource.</strong> The other guerrilla networks in the bazaar are your most valuable allies. They will innovate on your plans, swarm on weaknesses you identify, and protect you by creating system noise.</p>
    
      <p><strong>Recognize good ideas from your co-developers.</strong> Simple attacks that have immediate and far-reaching impact should be adopted.</p>
    
      <p><strong>Perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away (simplicity).</strong> The easier the attack is, the more easily it will be adopted. Complexity prevents swarming that both amplifies and protects.</p>
    
      <p><strong>Tools are often used in unexpected ways.</strong> An attack method can often find reuse in unexpected ways.</p>
    </blockquote>
    
    <p>really mind blowing ideas. it's got me thinking a lot about how these kinds of ideas can be applied activism [though, i do hate that word].</p>
    
    <blockquote>
      <p><a href="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/">Global Guerrillas</a></p>
      <p><strong>Scale improvements.</strong> Bigger attacks, better results.</p>
    
      <p><strong>Symbol selection.</strong> The more dear the symbol attacked, the greater the impact.</p>
    
      <p><strong>Extended reach.</strong> The deeper inside a society's comfort zone a strike is made, the better the results.</p>
    </blockquote>
    
    <p><a href="http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com">global guerrillas blog</a> on the three metrics of terrorist attacks.</p>
    
    <p>back in like 1999 or 2000, i was hanging out in <a href="http://www.idsnews.com/features/books/index.html">secret sailor books</a> (R.I.P.). it was in the summer and there was some 'high school kids come to big college campus for a week' photo camp happening. they each had to a photo essay or something. so this kid needed a subject to follow around for a few minutes to do a slice of life series. so i volunteered. she later sent me these three photos as laser prints. i figured i should scan them before they get beat up too much more.</p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153383145/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/72/153383145_3cdc48e0e0_t.jpg" alt="me-in-secret-sailor-counting-on-my-fingers.jpg"></a></p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153383096/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/69/153383096_5e1115515d_t.jpg" alt="me-in-btown-on-kirkwood-hat-side-of-face.jpg"></a></p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153383214/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/50/153383214_8b8aa35067_t.jpg" alt="me-on-bike-in-front-of-btown-library.jpg"></a></p>
    
    <p>ps. the buttons on my hat are a no smoking button. and one that says "capitalism is organized crime."</p>
    
    <blockquote>
      <p><a href="http://www.drunkenblog.com/drunkenblog-archives/000345.html">ThumbScrew</a>: "I'm about to head out the door to watch the election coverage with friends, but Zach was kind enough to send me the latest beta of his first Mac OS X app that normal users can use, ThumbScrew..."</p>
    
      <p>(Via <a href="http://www.drunkenblog.com/">DrunkenBlog</a>.)</p>
    </blockquote>
    
    <p>a rad thumb nailer program called <a href="http://www.urbanape.com/software/Say_Hello.html">ThumbScrew</a>. it's nice. i like it a lot. here's a test with some images i had already posted here. it's late. and i'm tired. more photo galleries in near future.</p>
    
    <div class="document">
      <p>
        <a class="reference" href="http://flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153383804/">
          <img alt="ian-critical-mass-arrest" src="/blog/images/uploads/criticalMass/ian-critical-mass-arrest_thumbnail.png">
        </a>
        <a class="reference" href="http://flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153384678/">
          <img alt="superhero-dramatic-light" src="/blog/images/uploads/halloween2k4/superhero-dramatic-light_thumbnail.png">
        </a>
        <a class="reference" href="http://flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153381634/">
          <img alt="desk-closeup" src="/blog/images/uploads/bedroom/desk-closeup_thumbnail.png">
        </a>
        <a class="reference" href="http://flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153383774/">
          <img alt="critical-mass-arrest-paper" src="/blog/images/uploads/criticalMass/critical-mass-arrest-paper_thumbnail.png">
        </a>
        <a class="reference" href="http://flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153384637/">
          <img alt="superhero-belt" src="/blog/images/uploads/halloween2k4/superhero-belt_thumbnail.png">
        </a>
      </p>
    </div>
    
    <p>i dressed as an 8 year old's version of a super hero.</p>
    
    <p>a bigger write up of the night to come soon.</p>
    
    <p>
      <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153384678/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/74/153384678_504620babd_m.jpg" alt="me as 8 yr old's version of a superhero with dramatic lighting"></a>
    </p>
    
    <p>dramatic close up of my ... utility belt.</p>
    
    <p>
      <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153384637/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/45/153384637_1eda65dfa7_m.jpg" alt="superhero-belt"></a>
    </p>
    
    <p>well, actually, a <a href="http://forests.org/archive/america/laintree.htm">hand full</a> <a href="http://www.meltonforcongress.org/speeches_essays/local_battleofstonysprings.html">of times for</a> <a href="http://idsnews.com/print.php?id=5112">miscellaneous activist stuff</a>. the arrest in question, though, was at a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass">critical mass</a> that we had in bloomington, IN. it was the first event in our <a href="http://www.ainfos.ca/01/mar/ainfos00325.html">"week of resistance"</a> to show our support for a fellow resistance figher, <a href="http://www.mindfully.org/Heritage/Frank-Ambrose-Charges-Dismissed.htm">frank ambrose</a>, who had been bogusly charged with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treespiking">tree-spiking (</a><a href="http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display/2251/index.php">charges later dropped for lack of evidence</a>) and to show the feds that we wouldn't back down in the face of repression <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cointelpro">COINTELPRO</a> tactics.</p>
    

    so everything was going fine. in a smallish college town of around 70,000 we had a critical mass of about 250-300 people. which is really really awesome. then tension between the swarm of cops and the hundreds of traffic blocking bicyclists hit a point of no return. cops starting pulling people off their bikes in the back of the ride. all hell breaks loose. and a bunch of us end of getting beat up and arrested. this picture was take of me being carried away by three cops. which i think is funny, because i weigh, like, 120. take note of the asshole on right of the picture. between the red and black flag and the cop. he's the undercover cop that tackled me leading to my arrest. there was at least one other undercover in the ride. fortunately, the cops didn't get there grubby paws on my bike. friends were able to smuggle it away.

    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153383774/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/48/153383774_41cab5c7ef.jpg" alt="critical mass arrest"></a></p>
    
    <p>this also happened that day.  my long time friend and bandmate, ian phillips, was pulled off his bike, thrown to the ground, got a knee in the back and THEN got pepper sprayed. that pool of liquid coming from his face is pepper spray. </p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153383804/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/51/153383804_cfe80613cf.jpg" alt="ian's critical mass arrest"></a></p>
    
    <p>anyhow, i found these two photos tonight while going through a box of old papers and arrest related stuff. thought i'd post them.</p>
    
    <p>i made this panorama of sorts for the girl today. it's alright.</p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153381821/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/64/153381821_af9bea6158.jpg" alt="bedroom pano"></a></p>
    
    <p>other highlights include: my desk. yes, those are milk crates.</p>
    

    milkcrate desk

    <p>Song playing in iTunes while i made this post: <em>Turn A Square</em> by The Shins.</p>
    
    <p>last time i was down in the cruz i had to pee real bad on my way out of town. so i stopped at McDonald's. used theirs. it was real generic white box made of cinder blocks. real sterile. then i noticed this little [about 1 foot square] metal door. and i think its a circuit breaker box. immediately i think of the hilarity that would ensue if the power was cut. open it and ... bubkiss. it was just one water knob thingy. but inside this little box was the bright and fun and exciting graffiti. it was really struck me so much i went back out to my van and got the ol' cam-damera and took these four pictures. it was like this little secret box of colour in a very, very sterile white box. shhh... it's a secret.</p>
    <p>
      <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153385686/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/64/153385686_42f4e0a791_m.jpg" alt="McDsGraf1.jpg"></a><br>
    
      <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153385697/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/77/153385697_ac60896caa_m.jpg" alt="McDsGraf2.jpg"></a><br>
    
      <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153385725/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/78/153385725_4db2c2015f_m.jpg" alt="McDsGraf3.jpg"></a><br>
    
      <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153385765/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/62/153385765_0244d01e0f_m.jpg" alt="McDsGraf4.jpg"></a><br>
    </p>
    
    <p>Song playing in iTunes while i made this post: <em>The Future, Wouldn't That Be Nice?</em> by The Books.</p>
    
    <p>kids call it the ten con. or at least, THIS kid does.</p>
    
    <p><img src="http://conferences.oreillynet.com/images/macosx2003/macosxcon_logo.gif" alt="tencon logo"></p>
    
    <p>i went on tuesday. sat in on a few talks.</p>
    
    <p><a href="http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/macosx2004/view/e_sess/5685">how to run your own software business</a>, [which was covered in a <a href="http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/archives/2004/10/how_to_run_your.html">good write up here</a> and even an <a href="http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/audio/osxbusinesspanel.mp3">audio version here</a> (44.1mb mp3)]
    
    </p>
    

    xgrid, [presentation files downloadable from oreilly's site] [it's fun to think about building superclusters so easily...].

    <p>lunch was good [and good for vegans like me] : burrito fixins. they separated the meat-stuffs from the veg-stuffs. thanks, oreilly. you're the best!</p>
    
    <p>did lots of hanging out with / meeting other geeks. met <a href="http://www.markokarppinen.com/">marko</a> from finland, he's a good guy. <a href="http://inessential.com/">brent</a> <a href="http://ranchero.com/">simmons</a> whose two products (<a href="http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/beta.php">NetNewsWire</a> and <a href="http://ranchero.com/marsedit/">MarsEdit</a>) i use everyday and i love them both. <a href="http://bignerdranch.com/classes/instructors.shtml#ahillegass">aaron</a> whose <a href="http://bignerdranch.com/products/cocoa1.shtml">book i'm reading</a> and really digging. and, yes, he was wearing the cowboy hat. i would love to be able to take <a href="http://bignerdranch.com/classes/cocoa1.shtml">his class</a> at <a href="http://bignerdranch.com/">the ranch</a>, but, alas, it's $3500 that i don't have. so i'll stick with the book. he was so nice and empathetic. i think he would make for a good teacher. i'm disappointed that i wasn't able to make it today to see his talk on <a href="http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/macosx2004/view/e_sess/5828">Best Practices for Cocoa Programmers</a>. also, i missed out on brent's talk about <a href="http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/macosx2004/view/e_sess/5721">using webkit : user interface challenges</a>. i'd also liked to see <a href="http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/macosx2004/view/e_sess/5719">Test Driven Objective-C Development</a>, too.</p>
    
    <p>but the real star of the show, i think, was <a href="http://delicious-monster.com/">Delicious Library</a> made by Delicious Monster, a small company recently formed by <a href="http://delicious-monster.com/company.php">Will Shipley (founder of the OmniGroup) and Mike Mata</a> (18 year old designer who worked for OMNI since he was 15 - not bad). there's enough buzz about this app already. i don't need to recap it all. but it's hott. with two T's. this thing is gonna blow the F up. just you wait and see. <a href="http://weblog.karelia.com/MacOSX/DeliciousLibrary.html">i'm not the only who thinks so either.</a></p>
    
    <p><img src="http://delicious-monster.com/downloads/LibraryHighRes.png" alt="delicious library icon" width="400"></p>
    
    <p>on the <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0162346/">ghost world</a> dvd in the special features there is clip from an old Bollywood movie from the 1965 called <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0247394/">Gumnaam</a>. it's 5 minute version of a song called "Jaan Pehechaan Ho" as performed by Ted Lyons &amp; His Cubs. i'm officially on the prowl for music / videos by them or by bands that sound this this. a. maze. zine.</p>
    
    <p>i recently <a href="http://veganstraightedge.com/articles/2004/10/19/1/spirited-away/">blogged here</a> about a clever little app for mac os x called <a href="http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/productivity_tools/spiritedaway.html">SpiritedAway</a>. well, it's been updated to version 0.3.  it added a few features that are pretty handy. the ability to exclude certain apps being hidden. it also changes the icon in the menu bar if its active or inactive. he changed the icon from the cute full colour green ghostie to a black monochromatic ghost with big eyes open when active, little beady eyes when inactive.</p>
    
    <p>i can't sing enough  praises for this app. a really great example of keeping it simple. designing for one thing and doing that thing really well. i'm glad the trend has moved back away from the <a href="http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/default.jsp">monolithic-do-everything-really</a>-<a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx">poorly-including-crap-i-will-never-EVER-use-suite</a> back toward <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/">the-small-stay</a>-<a href="http://www.apple.com/ichat/">focused-on-one-task</a>-<a href="http://ranchero.com/marsedit/">but-still-play-</a><a href="http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/">nice-with-others</a> series of apps.</p>
    
    <p><a href="http://drikin.com/">the developer's blog</a> is in a language i don't know. so i can't really tell what is being said about it there, but you can download it from the <a href="http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/productivity_tools/spiritedaway.html">apple mac os x downloads site.</a></p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153387492/" title="icon.jpg by veganstraightedge, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/78/153387492_037cbb727c_o.jpg" alt="icon.jpg"></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153387463/" title="Spirited_Away_16.png by veganstraightedge, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/75/153387463_d20293a0f7_o.png" alt="Spirited_Away_16.png"></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153387501/" title="prefs.jpg by veganstraightedge, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/65/153387501_c70076d146_o.jpg" alt="prefs.jpg"></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153387507/" title="Spirited Away 0.3 Menu by veganstraightedge, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/52/153387507_56248f3026_o.jpg" alt="Spirited Away 0.3 Menu"></a></p>
    
    <p>election time is coming up just right around the corner and everyone seems to care a lot. ok, whatever. i think people should vote or not vote. but regardless everyone, all of us, should do more than just casting a ballot every 2 or 4 years. <a href="http://earthliberationfront.com/">direct action gets the goods</a>. </p>
    
    <p>there's a lot of energy being spent by what seems like everyone [the corporate media, the independent media, water coolers, pop culture icons, activists of all flavours, families, friends, et al] talking about and preparing for the election. all discussion of the merits of either candidate or how well n/either one represents you or me. it just seems like there's a lot of inertia caught up in this big spectacle. again, i don't care how you, or anyone votes, i care more that you, and everyone else, does something more than that. voting alone never changed anything. neither did not voting.</p>
    
    <p>so here's the pitch: go to <a href="http://www.dontjustvote.com/">dontjustvote.com</a> read the intro page and more if you like what you hear. there's a <a href="http://www.foodnotbombs.net/2_feet_to_the%20_fire_rally.pdf">small half-sized little paper/pamphlet</a> you can download and read/distribute, too. (which was produced in conjunction with the folks over at <a href="http://crimethinc.com/">crimethinc fareast</a>.)</p>
    
    <p>and then on election day, we show the fuckers that mean business. no, not THAT kind of business. both the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=Republocrats">Republicrats</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=Demopublicans">Demopublicans</a></p>
    
    <p>i don't think we a special occasion to come out and party in the streets, (just like i don't think we need a special day to give presents to people we care about) but it certainly presents an interesting opportunity for us to show our force in large numbers.</p>
    
    <p>cast your vote or not, then hit the streets. neither one of those bastards represent our needs and desires. nor could anyone in that position. the very system itself will always misrepresent people in its protection of the system itself. george w. bush is not our target. if/when he falls, the institution that gives power over our lives to other people will still exist. until we dismantle it.</p>
    
    <p>no matter what happens that day in those polls, take to the streets.</p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.crimethinc.com/library/english/join.html">keep loving</a>. <a href="http://crimethinc.com/a/fighting/">keep fighting</a>.</p>
    
    <p>so i have a few tattoos. puzzle pieces on my wrists that say "we go together" [on right] "just like puzzle pieces" [on left]. and <a href="http://www.starwars.com/databank/organization/rebelalliance/">the rebel-alliance</a> <a href="http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Rebel_Alliance">symbol</a> on my upper middle back. and i'll admit i have plans for other pretty nerdy/geeky tattoos whose plans are not public yet.</p>
    
    <p>today i got thinking about what kind of other geek tattoos do people get which led me to find <a href="http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/geek001.html">this site</a>.</p>
    
    <p>and lemme tell you, there are some bad, some good, some AWESOME, but most are all geeky. here are some of my favourites: <a href="http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A40824/high/untitled-10.jpg">CMYK</a>, <a href="http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A40622/high/img3608.jpg">atari + pacman</a>, <a href="http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A40323/high/heartbig.jpg">heart emoticon [ &lt;3 ]</a>, <a href="http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A40316/high/iam00018804.jpg">his name in braile</a>, <a href="http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A40305/high/dsc010660.jpg">PHP tags</a>, <a href="http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A40217/high/img1739.jpg">NPN Transistor schematic symbol, and </a><a href="http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A40218/high/chrisappletattoo.jpg">the apple logo with power symbol inside of it.</a></p>
    
    <p>Song playing in iTunes while i made this post: <em>In Concert</em> by The Faint.</p>
    
    <p>but i never was that impressed by <a href="http://www.bobanddavid.com/mrshow.asp">mr. show</a>. the roomies watched a bunch of the fourth season tonight and i gave it another try, but still no dice. i think about 1/8th of the time it's funny.</p>
    
    <p>Song playing in iTunes while i made this post: <em>desert storm, nyc</em> by harper's ferry arsneal.</p>
    
    <p>Spirited Away. no, not <a href="http://www.spiritedaway.com.au/#">THAT</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005JLEU/102-5917840-1447346?v=glance">spirited</a><a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0245429/">away</a></p>
    

    awesome awesome awesome little utility. does one thing really really well. based on your setting in its preferences [by default it's set at 60 seconds] it will hide any app that is inactive for that period of time. i love it.

    you can download it here. Apple - Downloads - Productivity Tools - Spirited Away 0.2

    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153387492/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/78/153387492_037cbb727c_o.jpg" alt="spirited away icon"></a></p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153387501/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/65/153387501_c70076d146_o.jpg" alt="spirited away"></a></p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153387497/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/56/153387497_7999c51f9e_o.jpg" alt="spirited away"></a></p>
    
    <p>today i got the girl a surprise present. it might rhyme with "sync. lye clod. penny."</p>
    

    it works with a previous gift i gave. she's slowly becoming one of us.

    <p>oh, and by the way, i used <a href="http://www.rhymezone.com/">rhymezone.com/</a> for coming up with the rhymes.</p>
    
    <p>UPDATE: she guessed what <a href="http://apple.com/ipodmini/">the gift is</a>. then squealed. but i don't wanna send it thru canadian custom and have to pay duty on it. stupid duty.</p>
    
    <p><img src="http://static.flickr.com/56/153384752_b2e736f1a6_o.gif" alt="pink ipod min"></p>
    
    <p>This reminds me of the very fist experience I had with the web.</p>
    
    <blockquote>
      <p><a href="http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/18/0022244">Telescope Will Have Images 10X Sharper Than Hubble</a>: "jangobongo writes "After a 20 year struggle, the University of Arizona's $120 million Large Binocular Telescope was dedicated last week. This unique telescope will have twin 8.4-meter (27.6 foot) mirrors that sit on a single mount. Using methods similar to a medical CAT scan, a technique of "tomographic" image reconstruction will be used to produce pictures 10 times sharper (example) than the Hubble Space Telescope for a fraction of its $2 billion dollar cost."</p>
    </blockquote>
    
    <p>It was at the headquarters for a HUGE pharmaceutical company called <a href="http://lilly.com" title="Eli Lilly and Company">Eli Lilly</a>. I had been going to a sort of computer club that was nearly as cool as the <a href="http://www.silicon-valley-story.de/sv/pc_homebrew.html">Homebrew</a> <a href="http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/h/ho/homebrew_computer_club.html">Computer Club</a> was in the 70's, but seriously how could you ever really expect it to be.</p>
    
    <p>Sometimes, though, we were exposed to coolish things. Like, I saw the <a href="http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/messagepad/stats/newton_mp_omp.html">Apple Newton</a> right after it came out and waaay before most of the world was exposed to PDAs. So there was some good that came out of it. But the most important moment was when us kids were basically listing our complaints about the way it was ran one night to the adults who worked at Lilly and kind of supervised. I said I didn't feel like I was learning anything new. I wasn't being challenged. Or whatever.</p>
    
    <p>Afterward, one of the supervisor / sponsor type guys came up to me and told me he was sorry about my frustration and wanted to do something about. He offered to come in on a night that wasn't our normal meeting night and show me some other things. Man, was I drooling.</p>
    
    <p>That night was a real turning point in my life. I saw things I had never seen before. Some of which I wouldn't realize for years to come that they were important. Some immediately resonated with me. For the first time I saw the web. Web sites. A web browser. Mosaic. An SGI. Far away astronomical sites. 3D modeling / animation. Unix. C. Molecular models. High speed data connections. (I thought 2400bps was fast.)</p>
    
    <p>The two things that stood out to me right away were 3D modeling (I decided right then and there that I was gonna go to school to study computer animation and I did just that until I discovered Flash, but that's different story for a different day) and the web.</p>
    
    <p>Jesus h christ, I spent hours looking at stuff on the web. There were only like a 100 servers or something then. Most of which were very niche focused, not very interesting to a freshman in high school in Indiana. But, I did see NASA's Before and After pictures from the Hubble telescope. Remember, the hubble was flawed or damaged right after it went up and all the photos were coming back fucked up. One of the mirrors in the satellite was slightly off. Goddamn! Go into photoshop and do a Gaussian blur of 100px on a 4x6 photo of 72dpi and that would pale compared to these Before photos.</p>
    
    <p>If you're out there somewhere (or if anyone knows him) David Crumbacher, Thank you, dearly. That night changed my life. Seriously.</p>
    
    <p><strong>Update:</strong> some time after writing this post David found and we traded a couple emails. It was good.</p>
    
    <strong>This is no longer valid</strong>
    
    <p>so i finally made the plunge. i don't know what the hold up has been. i thought it would be a whole lot more complicated and not worth the hassle. so, i'm in now. i've got GnuPG (gpg) all up and running on my machine and public key sent off to a key server (wwwkeys.pgp.net). here's the key.</p>
    
    <p>shaners becker [gyromx@mindspring.com] //tofu.equals.love</p>
    
    <code>
      -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----<br>
      Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (Darwin)<br>
      <br>
      mQGiBEGWBooRBACCAyGVHOmw5aw0TSuUW+aNJ8XaslBOvdobWFeTCdtdxTHbVgb7
      yAkQej/6XeXy/N2dhbpjtLJ7Rg8Lc2KFOe044SFRX7B5or6AEbG7FkdWg0R7xbLu
      Qh5uTut8rKl7ztAHolHJDdiY7YW+f2HjmioHcr03Z48e8P/L2rNT0g11GwCg7WIQ
      4tnqKb8I3uDGzcoovta8uX8D/1zv5MKhxl2QfDo6cle6IqhkcqdM6mblQbtswWp3
      LR5uZvPajw9fTmQtylP52ub3dViuxvD6bkhKHyUyS6U5n7tn+p1/x+UO7xuNlmAd
      1c0h0EBw7yAlVf8zlmIupxgPZ4s5qqNUGyaKDhOrvBKOaFTDMezBnLhqZhatxxVT
      LXE9A/4jSGfNjAdtrg4dBil/Sqcb+c1AFynM5PuaEQXkps1mGhZtFrD362Ns4k/y
      pper2ldoVFmBvc4NVPIda4sPLCxnmSMX8r2ERRYDr0PNI3vEkHkgcN2cj5hKZCY7
      Ti92xpQ9XrCteBzwrBdTNnBdi0j6loxuJJaMbJIFEvrv3j/8HLQ5c2hhbmVycyBi
      ZWNrZXIgKHRvZnUuZXF1YWxzLmxvdmUpIDxneXJvbXhAbWluZHNwcmluZy5jb20+
      iF4EExECAB4FAkGWBooCGwMGCwkIBwMCAxUCAwMWAgECHgECF4AACgkQZEqQXMdP
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      uQINBEGWBqEQCACoXu7g6zOGuN0NEsFl8s6QZjUQJDNL4BgpOF1SEY2e9Uf4JBDP
      tSNSaTWtxrGa8PUU22GR2FGoaos7yeH30gfDHiCNK9kEqIGdS3F81uvKQ6H/wj41
      LLkn5KCnR63BP4jSOKDw6ixpNznOlQllyvVQx5pR7iNpaxoQFM9ZNp13VCwQTnyQ
      F1AYjavPugRQGDRYSGvKN7Lo+gpD5OY6VzCLigLI2yLXrgie9kwRpS+Fjt7UM0bD
      yjSLhPmqoyXKKSgPqQxPuXTVGqs2W6BsMZtzRZQqpO3QWNnpls8t7GIs9M9lK4Wa
      G5Ih6Uvwb4/EDRSuN+hmkrdh9gTAY9xI3lq/AAMFB/9E3CJuj3sMTfkKjzwk5iZ2
      rkwvG/L/0q97CLxL6JVayfprbmKtmUDLbznI46UAO5YTvnOxYE+0JfrNitdQD8BR
      2tYxiZXIwBQaFmfcAgRraJK/mQeoqONQLXvmwWI0gIdPOb75d5efAtPfs8DOsX9P
      vI6iaQga0qEolVfy0QgPipBAej4yOc+qZ67Kw2AzFSH/6MLY6DkuLNUiK73jzEko
      37VnaUc5TgzCd460fvqQbT0lh0c10m/nR6+ACGNuEE3kSP0uXIWXAww0TU+ltLmh
      wFidSj6oRsqgtriF1FDY/bR/iw37tIC+3NklUpFHzOGP8tPOAyY8mM4o8bk8Zqje
      iEkEGBECAAkFAkGWBqECGwwACgkQZEqQXMdPA1LyRwCbBzWSbOq46KYe0rWREo+L
      X6gu7YAAn0F68IKftb5R/dFuQsxCx6xQe19o
      =8jB9<br>
      -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
    </code>
    
    <p>Fingerprint:</p>
    
    <p>F01F E344 A998 3F61 B6DA FEFD 644A 905C C74F 0352</p>
    
    <p>it is also available here as ASCII-armored PGP key</p>
    
    <p>anyone interested in PGPing their mac and needs a little help, <a href="http://fiatlux.zeitform.info/en/instructions/pgp_macosx.html">go here.</a> it sure helped me.</p>
    
    <p>i just saw on <a href="http://cnn.com">cnn</a> on tv that a U.S. plane or helicopter dropped a bomb in a street where about 50 iraqi people were running out of a building. the score is you can't really tell who these people are from the craptastic quality of the video of the bomb drop.</p>
    

    i haven't been able to finding anything about this in the webspere yet. the closest i came was on the bbc site, but its not specifically about this one controversial bomb.

    <p>it's times like this that i am surprised [again and again] by how glibly we can stomach such killing. i'm reminded of a magnificent photo book called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0714838152/qid=1098049547/sr=2-2/ref=pd_ka_b_2_2/103-1436959-0423017">Inferno</a> by james nachtwey. "Though he is probably the world's most honored recent war photographer, James Nachtwey calls himself an 'antiwar photographer...'" He tries to show the true face of war. starving millions. famine. aids epidemics. children victims of land mines. Not the vague abstract far away emotional disconnected images of despots and military men and 'strategic targets' and 'smart bombs.' [if there was ever an oxymoron, it is 'smart bomb.']</p>
    
    <p>Song playing in iTunes while i made this post: <em>headlines</em> by the devil is electric.</p>
    
    <p>there's this show up at the <a href="http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/exhibitions_massive.cfm">Vancouver Art Gallery</a> called <a href="http://massivechange.com/">massive change</a> that i sooo wanna see. the girl has gone a couple few times now and raves about it.</p>
    
    <blockquote>
      <p>"Massive Change:The Future of Global Design is an exhibition that will change the way you think about  design just as contemporary design is changing the way we live in the world." (from the <a href="http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/exhibitions_massive.cfm">gallery site</a>.)</p>
    </blockquote>
    
    <p>as i understand it, it's about the design of the world. not the world of design. unfortunately, it's not coming here to SF.</p>
    
    <blockquote> <a href="http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/17/152218">Judge's Ruling Spares 1-Click</a>: "theodp writes "Agreeing with Amazon’s characterization of its 1-Click feature as a feature of an electronic product ordering system and not an electronic fund transfer or transaction system, a Judge has tossed out a $50M lawsuit that threatened Amazon's 1-Click patent. But outside of Court, Amazon touts its patent-pending Amazon Honor System as a way for Web sites to use 1-Click shopping technology for voluntary payment transactions - most notably for 9-11 donations and campaign contributions - that do not involve consumer goods or Amazon-specified prices, which the Judge argues are essential 1-Click ingredients."" (Via <a href="http://slashdot.org/">Slashdot</a>.)</blockquote>