January 18th, Anti-war day

Saturday, January 18, 2003

BME News Feed
Jan 18: ON: Extreme body art (fine art)
Jan 18: UK: Mexican culture with a grue…
Jan 18: NC: Mexican homicide victim is…
Jan 18: MA: Penile implant VS Vacuum…
Jan 17: IL: Pardoned tattoo artist may sti…
Jan 17: Sweden: Enhanced breasts fail t…
Jan 17: NY: Most tattooed show on TV t…
Jan 17: CA: 'Dateline' to Focus on Micha…
Jan 16: Ethiopia: Ethiopian couple defy…
Jan 10: ON: Toronto doctor charged for s…

Well, today I will try and do an image update using the new input engine. It's sort of an experiment, so I expect it won't be a full update since much of the time will be fine tuning those routines for efficiency.

I do have a funny correspondance with someone who'd written an “experience” called *~*My Cool Piercing*~*. I put experience in quotes because it was only a couple short paragraphs followed by “x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x” to trick the robots into thinking it was full length. Since it was effectively fake, it was of course denied.

PinkIzGr82311: u think i care wot u freaks think

FrankoDerb: Probably you do, yes, but you will pretend not to.

PinkIzGr82311: no, my story wiz good ur site is just crap, i mean male and female genital piercings r u perverts???

FrankoDerb: Yes, everyone here is a pervert. Best to stay away, or you may become a pervert too.

PinkIzGr82311: Your site is just disgusting, my story was better than nething u's could rite

FrankoDerb: Do I need to remind you that you didn't actually write a story, that you just went "x x x x x x x x x" to make 800 words?

Oh well.

In other news, the US Army is prepping for “block to block” urban combat. This type of combat would have a guaranteed outcome: heavy US casualties. The only “good” side to that is heavy US casualties might have the effect of ending the war early: the US population hates loosing troops. That said, it might well rally people behind the war too. Of course, to balance things out, the US is blocking aid to Iraq to help ensure high Iraqi civilian casualties.

Remember how Bush said that the war on Iraq could be avoided if Saddam let UN weapons inspectors in? Well, that didn't happen, did it? We've been told that UN inspectors finding no evidence is all the evidence they need for war. And remember how Bush said if Saddam stepped down and went into exile the war could be avoided? Not any more. The US has pretty much announced that short of surrendering its oil fields, nothing will stop this war. (Even the Vatican knows this is about theft of resources — international piracy).

The US public at this point does not support this war. Neither does much of the military, and pretty much every expert has decried it as a horrible idea… But still Bush plunges forward! And I thought democracy meant government by the people for the people. I guess we all got that one wrong.

As a final link, The Rise and Fall of Great Empires.

Comments (0)

Question

Friday, January 17, 2003

What is your mission?

Please note that I don't expect most people to be able to answer this fully — I know I can't. I began to understand pieces of my own when I was in my late teens, and only now in my late twenties is it starting to congeal (with an emphasis on “starting”).

In my case, I believe my “mission” is to set out tools for other people to achieve enlightenment*. Not to hand it to anyone — I'm utterly convinced that's impossible. Ignoring the fact that I'm as riddled with flaws as anyone and to “preach truths” would simply result in an equal amount of “preaching lies”, you can't force vision into a person. Vision finds you and from that point on, it's a done deal… But you can help people lay the foundation for it, and I hope I do that a little.

I'd really love to hear what other people perceive as their mission (via the Whatever forum). Even things like “I would like to be happy” are absolutely valid answers (although I'd love to hear people's definition of “happy”), as are things like “I have no idea, but my eyes are open”, or even “you're crazy, just try and be nice to the people around you, that's good enough”. What do you want to accomplish? What path do you want to walk?

Conan, what is best in life?

To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

* ie. To come to realizations regarding fundamental truths of the universe. I believe that through body modification and body rites one can (a) come to understand the barriers of the flesh, (b) come to understand how the flesh can be used as a conduit to talk to God, and (c) actualize oneself as a conscious part of the whole.

Comments (0)

Young Shannon: Funpix?

Friday, January 17, 2003

Now you know where the quote, “When a child is given a marker, its first impulse is not to draw on paper, but to draw on its skin”. I absolutely believe that body modification is natural and instinctual, and that it is profoundly unhealthy to ignore its drives. This is me, probably in the late 1970s. Not long after this picture was taken I would have started programming, first on a CPM based Superbrain, then a ZX-81 (that thing was cool), and then a IBM PC. I think this was 1983 or so, which means I was starting to release small video games and not long after would get into BBSing. And chainsawing wood of course for chores — our house was wood heated most of the time. Probably about the same time — that's my sister, so I'm guessing it would be fall of 1984. I'm standing in front of a greenhouse we'd built out of an old cistern (which then later became a billiards room.

Comments (0)

All over the place…

Thursday, January 16, 2003

Just got off the phone with Maximillion Cooper, the brains/brawn/etc behind the Gumball 3000 race. I think we've hammered out a filming agreement that'll work well both for me and for them, so at least that's starting to fall into place. I can't even begin to describe how stressed out I was late last night when I found out filming might be vetoed.

It really sucks that I'm stuck here today dealing with this, I had plans that were a lot more fun than legal contracts, experience updates, and fixing a downed network. Ah, the rich tapestry of life, right?

Comments (0)

Hmm….

Thursday, January 16, 2003

So I'm in negotiations right now with the Gumball folks, which sucks because it means I have to cancel my plans today to stay on top of this. On the entry form (which I haven't signed yet on account of this), you have to agree to hand over all your footage to them, and that you can't use anything commercially… So I have to get special filming permission rights before I can confirm totally. (Since I want to both broadcast live, and then distribute the footage as I see fit).

I'd assumed it was totally OK, since obviously MTV covered it, and so did Tekademics for Mischief 3000, although Tekademics apparently is in major legal hotwater for doing it without permission (which is about the last thing I need). So now I have to convince them that it's in their best interests to have me in the race. They seem excited in general about the concept I'm pitching them, but we'll see… Fingers crossed…

Comments (0)