The gay plague is running rampant in Italy. It's sort of like the tattoo plague that's rampant in South Korea right now… Other than that, it looks like our good buddies Iran were actually the ones with nukes, not Saddam… However, just as everyone's predicted since September 12, 2001, Osama will be caught just in time for election day.
You know, this “constitutional ammendment” thing in the US enshrining taking away the rights of gays as “the American way” is really weird. I understand that there are bigots in America; they're in every country. But what I don't understand is how they can actually do something like this without being fundamentally embarassed. To other Western countries I think these actions seem truly bizarre. It's one thing to not have laws supporting gays, it's a whole different matter to actually have specific anti-gay laws, and it's way out into wackyworld to actually make it a fundamental part of your country's definition.
Canada still doesn't have good universal protection of gays (although it's getting there), and we've had the same asshole politicians making these moronic “marriage is a union between a man and a woman” claims… But, at the same time, cool stuff keeps slipping in through the cracks, so now you can sponsor your gay lover (or polyamorous mistress, and any number of other kinky variations) for immigration into Canada. And of course there's PRIDEVISION which as far as I know is the first gay TV channel?
Along those lines, I hope people take that Divorce entry seriously. The world is a hateful place sometimes, and these things happen all too often. I just got this feedback on it (among others):
What an evil bitch! I really feel for you! I have a child that lives with her father and lets just say he really likes to play head games with me, and really gives me a lot of bull whenever I wish to see my child. At one point I had to turn her father into CPS for abuse and neglect — in which my child had to go to foster care because he would not sign a petition for me to temporarily have her, so we both had court orderd supervised visits. The CPS worker did not feel comfortable in my presense or my home. I am heavily tattooed/peirced/have implants and I like my home a little on the dark side. I'm not a satanist or anything like that. I like all things that bring a sense of shock value. The CPS worker had my child thinking that I was going to hell and would constantley push God and prayers on me knowing that I'm an atheist.
When it comes to divorce, even otherwise decent people seem to pull out all the dirty tricks…
PS. Just had a nice talk with the National Geographic team that was down at SusCon. I really think that's going to be a very positive project, and I'm looking forward to seeing it. They're tying implant work from South America into the story as well…
PPS. This is scary… I've been caught up in those threats before and they're not fun!
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.
FIRST: HOLY SHIRTS IN STOCK NOW!
So I shot down to CityTV/Bravo/Space/etc. to do my interview with Daniel Richler (which for anyone into Canadian literature, is a very cool thing). I was a bit early so Meg (who works across the street) kept me company for fifteen minutes or so before I went back to see what was up. My co-guests were Damien (which was nice, I haven't seen him in a while so he told me all about the exciting stuff that's happening with his convention — which is right before BMEfest) and an author who's name I've unfortunately already forgotten but was a real nice guy. I was a little out of my element — tattoos are far from my area of expertise — but it was fun. I think I threw Daniel for a bit of a loop talking about the utilization of tattoos in psychic posssession.
Anyway, it airs next Thursday on Book TV for those of you in Canada. I'll capture a few segments and post them here since it doesn't air outside of Canada except wite a few satellite broadcasters.
Now I'm going to go out and do some grocery shopping (distilled water and fruit basically — one of the problems with eating a different diet than Rachel is that I have to do my own food shopping) — I havne't had a full meal since a day or two before leaving for RI SusCon… And then it's a long, long night of work for me, which will be followed by a long day of work tomorrow.
PS. Thanks to Leo for letting me be near his knee suspension at SusCon. It meant a lot to me, it's always intense to feel a suspension where the person does the piercings themselves and really has to fight, to overcome something to get through it. In many ways it's a lot more intense than painpigs that aren't really phased by that element of the experience…
Abstract
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.
in the application of sigil magic
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.
