For all the rama-dama-ding-dongs

Sunday, April 22, 2001

Ok, I've just uploaded I think around four hundred new images to BME, so check it out! Also, it's not uploaded yet, but Shawn showed me a sneak preview of some of the things in his new update and there will be some damn cool stuff — including ear rim beading! Anyway, I'll let you know here as well when he updates.

Even though I've been running and building online communities for about 15 years now (starting with a one line BBS system), I've always been more into the building aspect than the interacting aspect. IAM is really changing that. It's true that I met a lot of interesting people on BME in the past, but on IAM I've met an incredible number of amazing people. I love that whenever I post something, no matter how obscure, someone will message me about it with something interesting to say.

Even though I've met Rookie IRL, I didn't know that he was born in the British Virgin Islands — When I mentioned that I was considering taking a break down there (also known as running away), he IM'd me to check out Anegada… Oh my god… It was a passing idea when I wrote it, but now I'm getting obsessed. If you try and reach me some weekend and I don't answer my phone, I may well be down there.

“For those who want to get close to the elemental aspects of life, Anegada, the sunken island, has been described as a most enchanting place with miles and miles of sandy beaches and total immersion into primeval seclusion.”

I read that high-speed two-way satellite links have dropped down to about $60 a month. What am I doing here? Although I do have a few friends who live in the Caribbean, and most of them have not been huge fans of it…

Anyway, to those of you that I've talked to about silk screening, U2 and SR-71 spy planes, server load balancing, trikes, Claude Shannon, and all sorts of other stuff — THANK YOU! I've never been this happy in an online community, and I hope to see lots of you in person on the July 1st BBQ.

Now back to work!

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Shuttle Launch

Thursday, April 19, 2001

As always, an incredibly moving sight.
There's an electric shock that runs through me the instant those engines ignite. A successful launch of course, and the new billion dollar Canadarm is on its way to the international space station. It's an incredibly diverse crew on this mission — American, Russian, Italian, and Canadian. Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut, will be installing the arm (and making the first Canadian spacewalk).

I've already mentioned the Canadian contribution on this mission. The Italians are installing a habitation module (thank god because NASA was running out of cash; maybe they lost their merchant account ;). It's good for Italy though too because it's sort of a bribe that lets them post more astronauts to the station.

Anyway, if you want to know more about this launch, click here or click here.

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Damn dirty apes

Thursday, April 19, 2001

aka From VERY GROSS to JUST GROSS.

To try and take my mind off the credit card stuff (and to be able to live here) I decided it was about time to clean the bathroom. Anyone that's been here knows that I live in filth. While I may have clean high-end cars, and tens of thousands of dollars of electronics, they are surrounded by garbage, mold, insects, and mice.

The three photos on the left are before. The two on the right are after. Yeah, I realize that the after photos are still way below what most people would find acceptable. At least my sink, toilet, and shower are clean. Anyway, if I'm to believe the movies, this is how mad scientists are supposed to live.

Well, I have to go work on a new search engine for BME, and then edit my user management tools to spit out some files for the new programs, whatever and whenever they may be. I don't even want to think about that.

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Substance Abuse Poll

Wednesday, April 18, 2001

How many dollars worth of any of the following drugs/pseudodrugs have you consumed over the period of your life, up until today. Now, I know you don't do these horrible things any more, but it's always interesting to figure out just how much has been wasted. If I've missed a drug, just rank it with its closest neighbor. If you do this poll, drop me an IM. I think that overall I've been fairly responsible:

Alcohol ....................... $3500.00
Coffee/Caffeine ............... $1000.00
Cigarettes ...................... $20.00
Marijuana ...................... $500.00
LSD/Shrooms/etc. .............. $1000.00
Ecstasy and other "Rave drugs" .. $20.00
Cocaine/etc. .................... $10.00
Morphine/Dilaudid/etc. ......... $200.00
Heroine/etc. ..................... $0.00
Speed/etc. ...................... $60.00
Steroids/Hormones/etc. ........... $0.00
Psychiatric Medication ......... $350.00

Total wasted .................. $6660.00

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Effity eff eff

Wednesday, April 18, 2001

So it's not going to be long before I move into a one-room isolated cabin and spend the next twenty years sending credit card companies mail bombs. They're driving me insane. BME has incredibly low chargeback numbers and a very high repeat customer rate. Yet there's something that has made merchant issuer after merchant issuer either slack off and make it clear our business isn't wanted, or turn us down absolutely.

I've sent so many damn faxes, and sent so many bank statements and processing records that I'm starting to know all the information off by heart. I still have no good information to tell you, but hopefully I'll know something good tomorrow.

But there's not much else I can do today. I do know that if I hadn't taken that vacation, I'd have had a nervous breakdown from the stress. And seeing BMEshop doing so well is nice as well, and all the generous people here on IAM that have chipped in via PayPal donations have been a real lifesaver…

I'm starving, so I'm going to find something to make for supper (Tacos!), drink a couple more of my exotic beers, listen to the Father Yod records, and maybe start implementing a “word of the moment” feature for the cover page.

Grrr.

I should have just gone to Quebec with Saira and thrown bombs at the world bank thugs.

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