Saturday, September 23, 2006
So I have three major modifications that I've been wanting consistently for five years or more (which I think for modifications so extreme is a reasonable period of time to think about it) but haven't got around to doing yet. You can see two of them in this (not very well mocked up, just woke up) photo.
First I want to colour the whites of my eyes a blue-green colour to match my irises, completely covering the white. All of my research in both the popular press that documented it when it was popular in the past, and the medical literature (because tattooing can be done to correct defects in the eye) suggests it's safe. I've even had doctors tell me they believe it's safe. Now it's a matter of finding one willing to take on the liability issues and try it. So if you're an eye doctor reading this, and would be willing to try it, I'm willing to travel anywhere in the world to have this done. Please contact me!
The second visible modification that I've wanted for a long, long time is the removal of my anti-tragus and part of the inner conch. I don't wear jewelry in my lobes anyway (I don't think it would be comfortable to wear jewelry after such a cut), and I prefer the look… I have no idea if anyone else on this continent agrees, but to me a removed anti-tragus and big lobes looks very “distinguished” and feels right as I age.
(Original forum unavailable, sorry)*
Friday, September 22, 2006
I just went for a brief walk down the railroad tracks and I noticed some sunflowers up between the tracks. A woman who was walking from the other direction seemed to notice them as well and reached them before me. I saw her fiddling with them — for a moment I thought she might be foraging, but I didn't think that would be healthy. I watched her picking up the flowers, but couldn't really tell what she was doing…
I walked over and commented how nice the flowers were, and asked her if she knew if they were wild or if she'd planted them. She didn't know, but said she was going to help them spread, and showed me the handful of sunflower seeds she'd been picking. Then she walked on down the tracks, leaving a trail of next summer's flowers behind her.
(Original forum unavailable, sorry)*
Friday, September 22, 2006
So as I'm driving home this morning, I'm stopped behind a cab (the left car in the picture below), which was stopped next to the station wagon (on the right). A rather large woman flagged the cab and walked over to get in. I could already see she wasn't going to fit, and the guy in the station wagon was watching her nervously as she squeezed between the cars. She opened the door hard, right into him (denting or chipping his door) and he glared at her shaking his head angrily as the cab took off… It was pretty funny.
Other than that, I should hear back from the printer today and find out whether a
ModCon reprint is an option or not (I still want to do a low res free release of the book as a download — my singular goal here is to make sure as many people have access to the book in whatever form they want as possible), and I'm transferring all of my interviews from the main BME computer (which is always in use) to my laptop so I can actually start prepping them in final form for the new book.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
So there was a giant fire last night or this morning just up the street from me. I didn't know about it until I drove past it and snapped this looky-loo picture out the car window. They'd blocked off tons of streets and there were fire engines and police everywhere.
I am very worried about the way that Canada has been doing its logging over the last while. We've been doing some very disturbing large scale clear-cutting, and “thinning”. I'm not sure which is worse, but both of them leave a forest that is hugely more flammable than an old-growth forest (which burns slowly — slowly enough that animals just walk away from it — rarely kills the larger trees, and usually burns less than a hundred acres).
If global warming is real (and who knows, it's also possible that we snap back into an ice age after a brief warmup), and the temperature in Canada climbs just a few degrees on average, and we're going to see this country burn to the ground border to border. Sheesh, I've been writing about the apocalypse too much… I think I need to focus on editing interviews instead.
(Original forum unavailable, sorry)*
Thursday, September 21, 2006
So as you may know, the ModCon book was originally printed in a small run of 2,500 copies and is completely sold out. Used copies go for up to $200! Now, I could reprint it I suppose, put it up for sale, and make some easy money, but honestly, I'd rather spend my publishing efforts on the new book and I don't tend to make my decisions based on their financial value. That said, there's still a lot of interest in this old book and I think it should be available to more readers.
I'm thinking about releasing it either as a free (or low-charge download or CD-based file on
BMEshop) PDF file, or even posting a page a day to
ModBlog or something. However, before I do that, I'd appreciate some feedback from people both (because it will get bulk linked I am guessing, sometimes from quite non-friendly sites) in the book and people who own copies of the book (would you feel “ripped off” if I put it up for free?).
My primary goal with this book (and project in general) was never to make money (I'm pretty sure I lost significant money). My goal was simply to have some fun, and put a bunch of information out to help the world understand “us”. So from my point of view, I'd like to release it free so the whole world can read it. But what do you think? Good idea or bad idea?
EDIT: I just talked to the original printer of the book, and they think they may have the films in their archives still… If they do, I can print the book super cheap and will re-issue it in a hardcover so it's a bit more durable.
(Original forum unavailable, sorry)*
