That's not entirely true. It's the little animals that count. For example, conservationists have been protesting for years the disappearance of frogs and other small water creatures. It's the big biz that doesn't care - remember the little mudskipper and how they wanted to dam the river...if they can do this with leeches, they will eventually move on to bigger animals, so we should all be cautionary.
I for one am a veg and activist. Whenever it rains and I see worms drowning on the sidewalks, I flip them back into the grass or where they won't get washed out onto the sidewalk again. I care!
:-) I'm a big fan of Transmetropolitan and it pleased me that The Matrix was based on stories from writers like Poppy Z. Brite and Neil Geiman (oh man!!! I love his books).
Most of these are published by Vertigo, an imprint of DC. Fantastic graphic art.
But be sure to check out Transmet. Written with exra bitterness by Warren Ellis:-)
:-) that's a pretty cool article, thanks for the link:-)
I should also mention that herding budgies is quite easy. I trained both of mine to respond to a hand signal - they fly back to the cage when I wave my hand twice:-)
I've never been into mgmt systems. I took library mgmt courses and half of what you learn never works in real life. What's the line? Trying to manage people is like herding cats or something?
But....I gotta say I don't want to be marginalized. I'm a book geek and a computer geek. Where do I fit in? I can code or a page or catalog a book (in MARC and AACR2!!!)
I agree. Having a literary bent as well, it saddens me to see this bastion of new journalism trip over its own hubris.
It's defnitely not the same mag as it was when Norman Mailer was on it (he lasted 18 months, I think...)
Jon Katz is a new journalist. Whether or not you agree with him. The Geeks article in RS was a beautiful example of fly-on-the-wall journalism.
NJ is a lost art, it's really, really terrible to see it die out for sensationalism. (if you want to know more, try http://www.goldcoastdigital.com/gonzo/wsmith) Majorly under construction, but most links work!
>'jane dark has no clue what being different is like'
I agree. You don't have to be a white male to feel singled out either. I'm a girl for crying out loud. It's harder on girls to fit in. It's even harder when you speak computer languages half of them don't understand!
I was so picked on:( it was an OK time, but not the *happiest* time of my life. College was much better, because the people WANTED to be there and not there because the law required them to.
If high school isn't going your way, check out The Teenage Liberation Handbook. "how to quit school and get a real education". I wish I had read it back then.
>The storm troopers wouldn't stand a chance against an entire race of people so hardcore they have to fill their ships with smoke.
The storm troopers never had a chance against the Ewoks! hee hee:-) What was wrong with those guys anyway? Was their plastic armour a little too flimsy for rocks??
I like both. I prefer classic Trek over the new ones, simply because IMHO (no flames pliz, I know these things can get long) the characters seem so wishy washy. Esp. on TNG. Less action, more thought...oh well:-)
How come no one ever compares geeks to gonzo? Most of my friends are into HST and are all in the computer industry. Well, except one, he's a physiologist:-) Gonzo fans are as heavy into the "life" as Trekkers. Happily, all you need is a Tilley hat and a cheap Hawaiian shirt.
I dare go so far to call Katz a new journalist. The ending of the Rolling Stone story "Geeks" was a beautiful piece of NJ in the style of Joe Eszterhas (before he went Hollywood) or even Robert Christgau. The way he kept himself out of the story was great - the only hint came at the very end where the kids wonder if they have 3 plates:-)
Oh how sad. I live in Canada, and the CRTC regulates radio and TV. Maybe they don't want to keep our minds pure and clean, but they want to keep our culture that way from the influence of the yankees...Cdn shows (and film and music)have to have a certain amount of "cancon" to qualify for various things.
That's how SCTV made up Bob and Doug McKenzie. They needed something at least 5 minutes long that would qualify as "cancon".
But I would have to stop at net filtering. Until you live in a place where your information is regulated, you don't quite know what you're missing.
:-) couldn't resist. Automatic Banking Machines. I remember that from when I was a kid, now they're all ATMs. Or maybe it's just an American/Canadian thing?:-) I worry about the language barrier sometimes, eh?;-);-)
Exactly - say you were blind or had glass eyeballs! I've never met anyone with two glass eyeballs, they just had one, but still...yeah, something like thumbprint technology. What if you don't have thumbs?
hee hee, yeah. The USPS stopped delivering mail to Yugoslavia weeks ago, so I'm not surprised. Heck, don't forget Canada. We interned just about everybody - Ukranians, Japanese, even Italians, I think...
I know these little countries. My dad is Greek and comes from a small island. They have very long memories. It's no surprise to them. Their histories will always be written in blood (no optimism here!)
I agree too. I worked in a different kind of IT - I trained as a library technician and worked for the public library. It was not fun. People think of libraries as quiet places with gnarled old ladies with tiny glasses and buns.
Couldn't be further from the truth...screaming kids, stupid people who throw their fines in the chute and expect you to know who they are (or weirder, the people who throw things down the shoot), line ups at OPAC terminals...people who trash new books...
OK...
It was a physically demanding job as well, the average cart had 60 books on it...when the library was slow during holidays there was nothing to do but shelf read. Try sitting on the floor in the kids nonfiction section and putting all those thin flimsy books in order:P It hurt for a while because I had all this training in information management and here I was shelf-reading, a promotion to a LA 3 or 4 was at least five years away!
And I guess I have to admit there were crabby old ladies. Those with their MLS would look down on you like trash. They didn't understand how to the use the internet and I would steam, being in a lower position - nothing I said really made a difference.
Not to mention union dues, and only full timers getting to decide if the part timers could have benefits...
I'm not really complaining, but I love my new job:-) the people are my own age, friendly, have a sense of humor...sometimes it's stressful when something doesn't work...but the benefits are great and there's a breakfast every morning...
:-) I'm happy, I'm not stressed:-) and I'm passionate about my code just as I was about the books.
sigh is right. It worries me when I see some of our best writers die and no one to replace them. Barbara Kingsolver would be the only writer from the 80s and 90s that sticks out in my mind - where are the warrior wordsmiths? Writers can be heroes too.
I used to work for the public library and it always made me so happy to see his books circulate a lot. Sometimes they didn't, but now and then we wouldn't have a single copy in the whole place:-)
The Giving Tree should be required reading for everyone.
LOL I've noticed my handwriting go down the sink. I've been typing since...grade 7, perhaps more than the average person too, because I use a computer, a Smith Corona word processor (ancient, I know) and even more ancient, a manual typewriter (I have two in fact, can't part with them).
I find too that I get so absorbed in writing HTML that I can't "speak". hee hee, I've developed a habit of closing my eyes and pointing at my forehead to try and tell people what I'm doing.
On the other hand, it's good that they recognize it as a disorder. My mother has fibromylagia. After five years and nine doctors, we finally discovered what it was. Sadly, too many health professionals believe it's a "women's disease" and psychological as well. Men are affected by it too, it's just attributed to something else.
Oh man I know what you mean. Roger Ebert (he did the screenplay for Valley of the Dolls, I read that somewhere once) wrote a totally lame-o review of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which is almost as unfilmable as Naked Lunch...but Terry Gilliam and Johnny Depp did a fabulous job and the FX were groovy - it enhanced my enjoyment of the book.
Most reviewers live on some ego trip - and I suspect that these movie-goers were on a bigger trip since they went to an advance screening. Get offa yer high horse!
Hmmm...yeah...this reminds me of when China was going to take back Hong Kong...during the late 80s there were so many people paying mucho dineros to move elsewhere, even to non-existant countries in Africa. There's probably all sorts of Y2K scams going on, they're just not so high profile...
On the other hand, a person pointed me to http://www.realhamster.com I was just flabbergasted. I thought, this can't be real! And of course it isn't (it's still worth a look tho!!)
From what I understand, a lot of the original programmers didn't expect their stuff to be around this long:-) Like the nuclear utopias back in the thirties. I'm still waiting for my hover car;-)
No, that is true too. Until something goes wrong with the program I never worry.
>Would liscensing programmers really take care of the stupid PHBs
A Kinder Surprise toy chicken (named by co-workers as the manic depressive chicken, if you roll him slowly his head beats against the desk). I used to have my Kinder Eco-Bunnies, but some miscreant kept saying they were indecent and arranged them in sexual positions...hee hee, they just want to ski! What are Kinder Surprises...little toys that come in a chocolate egg. They're banned by the FDA in the US, but here in Canada you can buy them by the case at Costco for $14:-)
Hee hee, I forgot the s in abebooks.com and came up with a pornographic postcard site. It was quite a shock for me. I thought, what happened to ABE??? :-)
I think trademark protection is going a bit too far. LM give you an example. I subscribe to a model horse list and a woman made a sculpture of a new type of breed (a type, not a breed, remember)called a Gypsy Vanner Horse. Turns out the guy who came up with the type trademarked the name Gypsy Vanner Horse. He went after the sculptor, who is quite beloved in the MHE community. In the end, the trademark only applied to LIVING horses, and not resin sculptures. But you know, let's not get our panties in a bunch sort of thing...
It's the same with Barbie. They even trademarked a colour, Barbie Pink. What if you named your kid Barbie, are you infringing on a trademark? (or a dog say, or a horse...there is a horse called Malibu Barbie)
Heaven help the writer who uses Rollerblading [TM] instead of inline skating (Rollerblade says it has TM's on the words blading, rollerblade, etc, weird stuff) or Velcro [TM] instead of hook and loop fastner.
While I can understand how these companies don't want their trademarks become a common usage like xerox, it's inevitable...hee hee, my dad's word for any cartoon was Mickey Mouse...even when we were watching The Flintstones:-)
Sigh, this is going to ramble, but actually Disney was in a bit of trouble a year or so ago when the copyright or whatever on Mickey Mouse expired and he would suddenly be in the public domain, and anyone could make profits on him. I forget how they solved the issue, but what a frightening thought, that your popular culture doesn't even belong to you.
How true. A product can go through an amazing development cycle. A company that makes a product to give to the client and says "we hope this is what you wanted" is not going to be in business very long. Communication is the key - and I've never seen a product come into being without being approved on several levels.
I agree. I was in the same boat as a teenager (I'm 21 now). Shunned, teased, horrible, cruel people...I'll never forget all the times my computer log for classes were "borrowed" out of the teacher's filing cabinet because other kids wanted to copy off my notes...but high school doesn't last forever. It's just three years out of your life. I bit my tongue and waited for the day knowing that when everyone else was flipping burgers I'd be programming - and I am:-) It took time, but I found my place. You just have to be secure in the thought that you can always do better, and that eventually some day you'll show the people, in the real world, when things and time matter more than in high school, that you were always on the road that was right for you:-)
On the other hand, I hate to see people blame the internet. My own mother thinks I've been taken in by an internet cult - hee hee, I don't know if a model horse list counts as that...oh well. It's not the medium, it's something far deeper. My uncle has never been on the internet, he lives out in the woods somewhat like Hunter Thompson:-) and he can show you how to make a few righteous potato guns. Never blame the medium, only the objects that float in it.
Slashdot Mirror
I for one am a veg and activist. Whenever it rains and I see worms drowning on the sidewalks, I flip them back into the grass or where they won't get washed out onto the sidewalk again. I care!
Most of these are published by Vertigo, an imprint of DC. Fantastic graphic art.
But be sure to check out Transmet. Written with exra bitterness by Warren Ellis
I should also mention that herding budgies is quite easy. I trained both of mine to respond to a hand signal - they fly back to the cage when I wave my hand twice
But....I gotta say I don't want to be marginalized. I'm a book geek and a computer geek. Where do I fit in? I can code or a page or catalog a book (in MARC and AACR2!!!)
It's defnitely not the same mag as it was when Norman Mailer was on it (he lasted 18 months, I think...)
Jon Katz is a new journalist. Whether or not you agree with him. The Geeks article in RS was a beautiful example of fly-on-the-wall journalism.
NJ is a lost art, it's really, really terrible to see it die out for sensationalism.
(if you want to know more, try http://www.goldcoastdigital.com/gonzo/wsmith) Majorly under construction, but most links work!
I agree. You don't have to be a white male to feel singled out either. I'm a girl for crying out loud. It's harder on girls to fit in. It's even harder when you speak computer languages half of them don't understand!
I was so picked on
If high school isn't going your way, check out The Teenage Liberation Handbook. "how to quit school and get a real education". I wish I had read it back then.
The storm troopers never had a chance against the Ewoks! hee hee
I like both. I prefer classic Trek over the new ones, simply because IMHO (no flames pliz, I know these things can get long) the characters seem so wishy washy. Esp. on TNG. Less action, more thought...oh well
How come no one ever compares geeks to gonzo? Most of my friends are into HST and are all in the computer industry. Well, except one, he's a physiologist
I dare go so far to call Katz a new journalist. The ending of the Rolling Stone story "Geeks" was a beautiful piece of NJ in the style of Joe Eszterhas (before he went Hollywood) or even Robert Christgau. The way he kept himself out of the story was great - the only hint came at the very end where the kids wonder if they have 3 plates
hee hee...go to your nearest elementary school...or any school I guess...you'll find hideously ancient equipment still being used by the kids.
That's how SCTV made up Bob and Doug McKenzie. They needed something at least 5 minutes long that would qualify as "cancon".
But I would have to stop at net filtering. Until you live in a place where your information is regulated, you don't quite know what you're missing.
:-) couldn't resist. Automatic Banking Machines. I remember that from when I was a kid, now they're all ATMs. Or maybe it's just an American/Canadian thing? :-) I worry about the language barrier sometimes, eh? ;-) ;-)
Exactly - say you were blind or had glass eyeballs! I've never met anyone with two glass eyeballs, they just had one, but still...yeah, something like thumbprint technology. What if you don't have thumbs?
don't forget Canada. We interned just about everybody - Ukranians, Japanese, even Italians, I think...
I know these little countries. My dad is Greek and comes from a small island. They have very long memories. It's no surprise to them. Their histories will always be written in blood (no optimism here!)
Couldn't be further from the truth...screaming kids, stupid people who throw their fines in the chute and expect you to know who they are (or weirder, the people who throw things down the shoot), line ups at OPAC terminals...people who trash new books...
OK...
It was a physically demanding job as well, the average cart had 60 books on it...when the library was slow during holidays there was nothing to do but shelf read. Try sitting on the floor in the kids nonfiction section and putting all those thin flimsy books in order
And I guess I have to admit there were crabby old ladies. Those with their MLS would look down on you like trash. They didn't understand how to the use the internet and I would steam, being in a lower position - nothing I said really made a difference.
Not to mention union dues, and only full timers getting to decide if the part timers could have benefits...
I'm not really complaining, but I love my new job
:-) I'm happy, I'm not stressed
I used to work for the public library and it always made me so happy to see his books circulate a lot. Sometimes they didn't, but now and then we wouldn't have a single copy in the whole place
The Giving Tree should be required reading for everyone.
I find too that I get so absorbed in writing HTML that I can't "speak". hee hee, I've developed a habit of closing my eyes and pointing at my forehead to try and tell people what I'm doing.
On the other hand, it's good that they recognize it as a disorder. My mother has fibromylagia. After five years and nine doctors, we finally discovered what it was. Sadly, too many health professionals believe it's a "women's disease" and psychological as well. Men are affected by it too, it's just attributed to something else.
Most reviewers live on some ego trip - and I suspect that these movie-goers were on a bigger trip since they went to an advance screening.
Get offa yer high horse!
On the other hand, a person pointed me to http://www.realhamster.com I was just flabbergasted. I thought, this can't be real! And of course it isn't (it's still worth a look tho!!)
From what I understand, a lot of the original programmers didn't expect their stuff to be around this long
No, that is true too. Until something goes wrong with the program I never worry.
>Would liscensing programmers really take care of the stupid PHBs
Nope!
A Kinder Surprise toy chicken (named by co-workers as the manic depressive chicken, if you roll him slowly his head beats against the desk). I used to have my Kinder Eco-Bunnies, but some miscreant kept saying they were indecent and arranged them in sexual positions...hee hee, they just want to ski! What are Kinder Surprises...little toys that come in a chocolate egg. They're banned by the FDA :-)
in the US, but here in Canada you can buy them by the case at Costco for $14
:-)
I think trademark protection is going a bit too far. LM give you an example. I subscribe to a model horse list and a woman made a sculpture of a new type of breed (a type, not a breed, remember)called a Gypsy Vanner Horse. Turns out the guy who came up with the type trademarked the name Gypsy Vanner Horse. He went after the sculptor, who is quite beloved in the MHE community. In the end, the trademark only applied to LIVING horses, and not resin sculptures. But you know, let's not get our panties in a bunch sort of thing...
It's the same with Barbie. They even trademarked a colour, Barbie Pink. What if you named your kid Barbie, are you infringing on a trademark? (or a dog say, or a horse...there is a horse called Malibu Barbie)
Heaven help the writer who uses Rollerblading [TM] instead of inline skating (Rollerblade says it has TM's on the words blading, rollerblade, etc, weird stuff) or Velcro [TM] instead of hook and loop fastner.
While I can understand how these companies don't want their trademarks become a common usage like xerox, it's inevitable...hee hee, my dad's word for any cartoon was Mickey Mouse...even when we were watching The Flintstones
Sigh, this is going to ramble, but actually Disney was in a bit of trouble a year or so ago when the copyright or whatever on Mickey Mouse expired and he would suddenly be in the public domain, and anyone could make profits on him. I forget how they solved the issue, but what a frightening thought, that your popular culture doesn't even belong to you.
How true. A product can go through an amazing development cycle. A company that makes a product to give to the client and says "we hope this is what you wanted" is not going to be in business very long. Communication is the key - and I've never seen a product come into being without being approved on several levels.
On the other hand, I hate to see people blame the internet. My own mother thinks I've been taken in by an internet cult - hee hee, I don't know if a model horse list counts as that...oh well. It's not the medium, it's something far deeper. My uncle has never been on the internet, he lives out in the woods somewhat like Hunter Thompson