1. <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>