UPDATE:
I recently posted a short statement about possible election mix-ups in a recent Texas election. A comment from Neha made me realize that was a pretty strong statement to post without some sources to back it up.
Since I want to be known in the internet community as A) a person who at least occasionally knows something about something, B) a person who admits that she does not always know something, C) a person who attempts to be an unbiased and open-minded as possible, and D) a person who is skeptical and always researches an issue before formulating an opinion, I figured I better post an update:
First of all, this entry posted by livejournal user, katesparkle on October 29, 2004 at 02:02pm is what first caught my attention:
"Yesterday a friend voted early at a polling location in Austin. She voted straight Democratic. When she did the final check, lo and behold every vote was for the Democratic candidates except that it showed she had voted for Bush/Cheney for president/vice pres.”
Read the full entry.
A search on Google led me to this message board post on ABC News containing the exact same information as katesparkle’s post, adding contact information for two people from the Travis County Democratic Party. This entry was posted Oct 23, 2004 at 11:42 AM.
Furthing searching led me to this site: Voters Unite is keeping an update tally of reported election problems for the current election. This site has no mention of the Travis County election mix-ups listed under the election problems page. It does, however, detail a LOT of election problems of which voters should be aware.
I decided to do a more detailed search and finally hit paydirt:
“Gail Fisher, manager of the county's Elections Division, theorizes that after [enter]ing their straight party vote, some voters are going to the next page on the electronic ballot and pressing "enter," perhaps thinking they are pressing "cast ballot" or "next page." Since the Bush/Cheney ticket is the first thing on the page, it is highlighted when the page comes up – and thus, pressing "enter" at that moment causes the Kerry/Edwards vote to be changed to Bush/Cheney.”
County Responds to Voting Machine Problems. This article, posted on Voters Unite, is written by Lee Nichols and published in the Austin Chronicle on October 22, 2004. The original article on the Austin Chronicle website is here.
Travis County issues a press release regarding the rumors about the election.
Travis County Official Website
Further research led me to this article which I will leave you with as my final word on the subject:
The Dastardly Eslate by Lee Nichols, October 29, 2004.
Thanks, Neha, for inspiring me to trace the path of this tidbit! I leave you, random reader, to formulate your own damn opinion. ;c)
Some of my favorite LJ friends have a lot to say about the election. I am so proud of all my livejournal friends. Please read some of their entries:here,
here, here, here, here, and here.
Build A Better Bush
Sick of all the voting hype? Need something to entertain you for about, oh, two minutes? Build a better bush! What more could you want?
As a side note, word on the LJ street is that voters in Texas who are selecting all Democrat on their tickets are checking their ballots only to find their vote for president listed as Bush. So, please, check your ballots! And get out there and vote!
When a writer creates a fictional persona, how far can she go with her character, how deeply can she sink in before fiction and reality cross boundaries? There is a line where truth becomes stranger than fiction and the question that begs to be answered is: how far back can you push that line without being a total jerk?
Obviously, the case of Kaycee Nicole, a character created by a woman named Debbie Swenson, is an example of a case where the line between fiction and truth was shakily drawn. While no one was physically hurt and no money exchanged hands, emotions became entwined in the web of Debbie’s creation and people felt actual spiritual pain at the loss of Kaycee Nicole.
As a writer myself, I can understand somewhat why Debbie wasn’t concerned about making any money from her experience. The rabid fervor with which her readers responded to her words must have been reward enough. It would have been easy for her to get caught up in the madness: answering emails, taking telephone calls, becoming, in some respects, the very character she herself had invented.
I can imagine the maddened sparkle those unsuspecting people around her would have seen shining in her eyes as she went about in her real life, that life that was entirely unconnected from the other life that was burning brilliantly across her computer screen. It would have been easy for her to take it too far.
When did she realize the game had been played too hard? Was she standing in line at a grocery store checkout when she heard two cashiers in the next lane talking about Kaycee Nicole? Did she walk past a coworker's computer screen only to see her words flashed up on the screen? Did she wake up one morning and realize that the time had come for the show to be over? Maybe.
Kaycee Nicole died. And Debbie was free. Or so she thought.
The truth was that the monster Debbie had created had gained a life of its own, spread from blog to blog, from person to person until it had exploded and rather than fizzling away into nothingness when the star of its speculation had spurted and died, it gained a new power. Debbie had created Kaycee Nicole, yes, but she didn't own her. People cared about Kaycee Nicole, damnit, and they were going to prove it.
They would go to her funeral, these faithful readers; they would send flowers. They would pay tribute now in order to make up for the casual way they had peered into the life of this fragile flower and watched her die.
Debbie hadn’t expected all of this. She hadn’t known how far into her reader’s minds the story of this woman dying from leukemia had struck. She didn’t realize that her readers were now emotionally involved with Kaycee Nicole.
Maybe, you could argue, Debbie did it all on purpose, intentionally manipulating the emotions of her readers in order to hook them in, get them addicted to a potent poison that only she could provide. I think, however, that it was an accident. The medium is a new one, Debbie simply was not aware of its power. This case serves to illuminate that the internet does have power: the internet is capable of arranging the emotions of a group of humans into a synchronized symphony, a power not previously realized and still not properly harnessed.
“Meme (pron. meem): A contagious information pattern that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the pattern. (Term coined by Dawkins, by analogy with "gene".) Individual slogans, catch-phrases, melodies, icons, inventions, and fashions are typical memes. An idea or information pattern is not a meme until it causes someone to replicate it, to repeat it to someone else. All transmitted knowledge is memetic.”
Blog culture is an excellent source of meme action these days. One person might post, say, an interesting entry about squirrels and suddenly, BAM!, it’s squirrels-this and squirrels-that. The idea of squirrel-loving has replicated and infected human minds so that the idea is spread throughout the world.
In the blog culture at large, there have been several examples of a blog that has gained immense popularity until it has finally become a bit of a blog cultural icon. An example of this is the case of Isabella author of she’s a flight risk. This blog, which has jumped a few times from server to server is the tale of Isabella, heiress for a foreign throne, a twentysomething international fugitive who doesn't want to go through with the marriage being arranged by her family.
It all started here on March 2003. Two months later, She’s a flight risk was one of the most popular blogs listed on Popdex, the website popularity index, for the entire month of May 2003.
There were many questions about this blog as it rose in popularity. People wanted to know if Isabella was real, and if so, who the heck was she? Independent members of the media did research to find out what the could find out. Eventually, even giant book publisher Simon and Schuster wanted to find Isabella so they could sign her for a book.
"She's not likely to give up much herself either. 'Either she or someone helping her is rather clever. She's very careful about leaving traces of herself behind,' according to a network security expert who asked to remain anonymous. 'In addition to the encrypted email, some of the techniques she's using to get to her blog are pretty advanced. She seems to know what she's doing, or to have someone who knows what they are doing helping her. It is pretty clear that she's sent emails from more than one country. More than that I can't say.'"
This post on The Agonist actually caused some problems for the site and the author Sean-Paul who ran into legal problems from Isabella's family.
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Even Wired picked up the story: Blogger: Catch Me If You Can
"A mysterious weblog purporting to be the journal of an anonymous heiress on the run from her wealthy family appears to be a hoax. But the site and offline elements supporting it are so elaborate and so well executed that many bloggers suspect the whole thing just might be true. "
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Mark Bernstein describes Isabella's blog as "a new media thriller unfolding in real time." He continues, "That's a very clever idea." When Bergstein wrote about Isabella in May 2003, he believed that the blog was simply "an entirely new literary genre." He said Isabella was the ideal star of such a story because she was rich, which gave her options and also prevented the ordinary person from going looking for her in case her bigwhig daddy decided to put the smack down.
Mark Bernstein's Thoughts on Isabella
Some people suspected Isabella of having some sort of scam to gain money in mind when she started the blog. The community remembered Kaycee Nicole. But, as Mark Bernstein pointed out, Isabella was a heiress. She didn't need anyone else's money. Even Isabella commented on the idea:
"Everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop. For the big publicity stunt to be revealed. What product is it that this elaborate hoax is generating publicity for? I have no idea. I'm not selling anything. .... I have no idea what my accounts here would be any good at selling? Deodorant? Legal services? You tell me."
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Maybe it doesn't matter if the blog is true or not. The story is fascinating and taps into a common fantasy: the urge to run away from one's life and establish a new life in a new location. I'm sure a big part of the reason this blog took off so amazingly well is because of the fantasy that the story taps in our minds. Who hasn't wanted to rush off, leaving behind all of her problems and worries, in order to just start over? People are rooting for Isabella, man! If the story is true, we want Isabella to be the victor of the battle. And if it isn't? Well, she still tells a damn good story!
Interested?
She's A Flight Risk - This is the most updated version of the blog. The blog is still being updated and -still- remains a bit of a mystery.
Yesterday I wrote about my quest to find a car. Today I found a car that *seems* perfect:
A 1985 Volkswagen Jetta
It's cherry red (yay!), automatic (eh!), only 133,000 original miles (so says the owner but I'm going to get the VIN in order to check on that one), one owner (ditto), cared for by an anal-retentive owner (his words, not mine). At $1500 it seems almost too good to be true. $1500 is awful pricey for a 1985 car -but- if everything that the dude tells me is true, it will be worth it.
Anyone have experience with Jettas?
Everything I've read about the '85 Jetta (on Epinions & Car Survey) suggests that the car is a good one. I'm a little worried about the fact that the parts are pricey (being German 'n all) but other than that I'm pretty excited about my test drive on Friday. Wish me luck!
Feeling Haunted? Have a supernatural experience that you are dying to share? Have you visited a haunted location in the Greensburg area? Have you experienced the paranormal in your life? Have you ever seen a ghost? Have you been haunted by spirits? Do you have weird tales of Ouija boards? Anything else freaky that you'd like to share?
I wanna hear about it! I -know- we've got some SHU ghost stories, but I'm also interested in anything in Greensburg and the surrounding areas. You don't have to believe that the story is true; I just wanna hear about it!
Your name:
Email address:
Feeling Haunted?
Okay, guys, here's the deal: I need a new car.
By "new" I mean "used, costing $2000 or less." By "new" I also mean "not the junker I have been driving for two years" and "not a piece of crap that is going to fall about in about, oh, thirty seconds." So, I need your knowledge and advice! What kind of car should I buy? Where should I buy a car? What kind of car SHOULDN'T I buy and where should I avoid like the plague?
I'm thinking Honda, Toyota, or Nissan (are you sensing a pattern in the type of car I am seeking?). No Fords, please, I still haven't gotten over that whole exploding Pintos thing. I want something small, sleek, silver and stickshift. Sure, I can't drive a stickshift but I'm willing to learn.
How can I tell if a car is garbage before I buy it? Any advice would be much appreciated. I have never had to car shopping before! (It sucks! Is buying a car on ebay a really bad idea??)
OPTIONS I'm considering:
(updated 10/26/04)
At this very moment in downtown Greensburg a new business, City Deli, is practising a marketing technique that may prove to be a brilliant visionary tactic, or if the concept fails, a sure step towards the demise of yet-another unsuccessful business venture in Greensburg. The business is City Deli on 124 South Main Street, right next door to St. Vincent de Paul, across the street from Citizen's Bank.
Right now, and until the end of the day, City Deli is giving each and every potential customer who walks in their door a free deli sandwich, no strings attached. When the store opens officially on November 1st, these sandwiches will retail for $5.99. The menu features eight different sandwich varieties on three different types of bread with three choices of cheese.
The sandwich that I received was cold pastrami on rye. When I opened my package upon arriving home, I was shocked to see a sandwich of such massive proportions that it is certain even taking my first bite will be a feat. Hence City Deli's tagline: "Betcha Can't Get Your Mouth Around one!" They ain't lying!
The sandwich consists of three thick sliced pieces of rye bread layered with pastrami, thin sliced onions, swiss cheese, lettuce, and tomato.
The woman who waited on me was the one of the owners. When I complimented her on the store's choice of marketing tactics, she grinned and told me that she and her husband had decided to put the money they would have spent on advertising into free sandwiches. I told her that I thought the move was brilliant and that I felt word of mouth advertising was definitely their best bet.
I really hope this bold move pays off for City Deli! I just had to rush home and blog about it in the hopes that I could be a part of the word of mouth chain.
And in case you were wondering how the sandwich tastes: it's delicious! I doubt I'll be able to finish the whole thing in one sitting and I was damn hungry too. And I definitely couldn't get my mouth around it!
Please visit:
CITY DELI
124 South Main Street
Greensburg, PA 15601
(724) 830 - 2799
If you missed today's sandwich promotion, never fear: City Deli will be offering the same promotion next week as well. And the store's grand opening is on November 1st.
In case you are wondering if I have any sort of affliation with City Deli and hence the glowing recommendation, I will tell you that I do not. I just happened to be walking by and they gave me a free sandwich. I'm just trying to spread the good karma. Best of luck to City Deli!!
This evening I played a full game of chess for the very first time. I've had a few people over the years attempt to teach me the rules of the game but most of the time the attempt ending with me shaking my head in confusion or getting distracted by bright and shiny objects somewhere in the vicinity. I have always thought that it would be cool to know how to play chess, but I figured my life wasn't missing anything by not having a clue how to play the game.
Tonight my friend and I were hanging out at my apartment and we decided that it was time for me to learn how to play chess. I didn't have a chess board and didn't feel like sitting in front of a computer screen to play a game. So, we made a board.
He set to drawing boxes on a makeshift board as I was set the task of scouring my apartment for items that could double as chess pieces. We ended up using tealight candles for pawns, perfume bottles for the queens, aromatherapy oils for the kings, small 1 dram bottles for the knave, chapstick covers for the rooks, & monopoly pieces and dice representing the knights. We colored the board and then taped it to the back of a monopoly board. All in all, I was pretty impressed with the innovation.
I already liked the game at that point: anything makeshift has to be good. (Another friend and I used to make ouija boards when we were feeling spunky.)
I was pretty confused at the beginning of the game and it wasn't until about half way through the game that I realized I hadn't really understood the point of it all. By the end of the game, which I have to point out lasted a lot longer than I thought it would, I had pretty much grasped the concept, and I think, played a decent game.
Now I just need to find a place to play online and learn some fancy moves so I can win the next game. I'll be practising here: Computer Chess
Now, I’m not an internet wizard by any stretch of the imagination but I do have a fairly good grasp on how to do just about anything I want to do online. In our groups in Writing for the Internet today we were discussing the problems that we were having with our projects.
My group, the creative writing group, offered problems and questions that needed solutions. One of the solutions that we came up with was to ask peers who know what they are doing for help. Well, here I am, a peer who knows what she is doing.
If anyone in the Writing for the Internet needs help with his or her project, please feel free to email me at junkijunky [at] yahoo [dot] com.
I can offer help with html, web page design, and getting graphics to work on your site. I can help you with general design and trouble-shooting code errors. I don’t have a lot of free time these days, but starting in November I will have weekends off (yay!). If you get in touch with me by Thursday night, I can stay after class for half an hour to an hour on Fridays to help anyone who wants me to help.
Now, if you are wondering why I am offering my help to you, random reader, here’s why: it’s just good karma! Teaching someone else how to do what I already know how to do forces me to closely examine my methods and, in turn, learn what I’m doing better. And it’s just nice! So… please don’t hesitate to ask me for help. I can’t guarantee that I can answer all your questions but I will try! Have a beautiful day!
I totally love Rob Brezney's Horoscopes. I used to pick up a copy of The Pittsburgh City Paper each week only so I could flip to the back and read the horoscopes. Now I get them sent to my email inbox each week and woahbaby is that awesome.
Today's edition included an excerpt from Rob Brezney's forth coming book, "PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings" to be published in early 2005 (Copyright 2004 by Rob Brezsny).
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"As heaven and earth come together, as the dreamtime and daytime merge, we register the shockingly exhilarating fact that we are in charge--you and I are in charge--of creating a brand new world. Not in some distant time or faraway place, but right here and right now."
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Bring it on, Mr. Brezney, bring it on!!!
My dear friend Ricky just sent me this email. I'm pretty sure Ricky wrote it; I'll let you know for sure when he writes back to me. I love Ricky. You should, too.
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I want to thank all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me your thoughtful chain letters over the past few years. Thank you for making me feel safe, secure, blessed, and wealthy. Because of your concern... I no longer can drink Coca-Cola because it can remove toilet stains. I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans. I no longer drink anything out of a can because I will get sick from the rat feces and urine.
I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer. I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I Could get pricked with a needle infected with AIDS. I no longer use cancer causing deodorants even! though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day. I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me. I no longer receive packages from UPS or FedEx since they are actually Al Quaida in disguise.
I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops. I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a stupid number for which I will get the phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan. I no longer eat pre-packaged foods because the estrogens they contain will turn me gay.
I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers. I no longer date the opposite sex because they will take my kidneys and leave me taking a nap in a bathtub full of ice. I no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from Nike.
I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe. I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me. I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl who is about to die in the hospital (for the 1,387,258th time).
I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.
Yes, I want to thank all of you soooooooo much for looking out for me! I will now return the favor. If you don't send this e-mail to at least 1200 people in the next 60 seconds, a large bird with diarrhea will poop on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas of a thousand camels will infest your armpits. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of a friend of a friend.
So...Please hurry!!!
Your Grateful Friend...
It seems to me like the internet is doing a great job of blurring the lines distinguishing between different styles of writing. Creative writing has to be written in a down-to-earth manner if you want anyone to bother reading it – the highbrow (hoity-toity) holier than thou attitude just doesn’t cut it these days.
Journalist writing, at least on the internet on non-corporate sites, has to have a strong voice infused with no small amount of personality. The writing has to be clear and concise, yes, but it has to be interesting or no one is going to bother wasting their time.
Just as musical styles are blending (think rhythm and blues punched with rock beats, rock beats combined with sitar rhythms, classical music transformed into dance beats), writing styles are being transformed. The savvy writer, I believe, will be the one best able to harness the changing voice of writing today.
The journalist who occasionally waxes poetic, the fiction writer who researches historical events to use in his piece, the writer who chooses not to focus on a specific genre instead choosing to dabble a little bit here and little bit there, experimenting and growing as a writer, these are the writers who I suspect will ultimately succeed in today’s writing world.
Regardless, there is a certain code of ethics that all writers should at least consider following online. Rebecca Blood, of Rebecca’s Pocket, author of The Weblog Handbook, offers six pointers for webloggers who wish to present themselves as professional journalists. I think these are useful pointers for any weblogger who wishes to be ethical and factual on the internet.
Blood's 6 pointers for professional & courteous webloggers:
This doesn’t mean that you can randomly make obtuse statements that may or may not have any basis in reality. This means that you do the research, and from your found facts, you glean the truth as you see it. If you are making observations that have no basis in research, you say so. If you suspect a source of being shady or swayed by monetary considerations, you either use another source or list your reservations about said source.
If the material is available online, link to it. Regardless of whether the information provided on the site supports or refutes your viewpoint, you should provide a link to each and every source that you reference.
(If the source is an organization that you can’t morally support, perhaps a site based in hate or an otherwise detestable idea, Blood states that it is perfectly acceptable to type out the URL for the site –without- actually posting a link. This way you are still referencing your sources, but you are not driving traffic to a site that violates your personal standards.)
If you make an error, whether it be factual or an opinion based on misinformation, correct yourself. Don’t attempt to slink away, however, the bigger person will admit her mistakes and then move on. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, everyone does. If you make mistakes and then admit and correct them, you will enhance your credibility on the internet.
Even if you fix the mistake in a new entry, make sure to go back into the original entry and make corrections – that way a user accessing that entry from somewhere other than the main page will still see your corrections.
Although the internet is the ultimate disposable media, meaning that items on the internet can easily be revised or vanish without a trace, deleting entries can destroy your integrity.
You might post an entry that gathers a lot of repudiations. Your first reaction might be to immediately delete the post, thus halting any further commentary on the matter. The better course of action, however, would be to admit your mistakes. Read the commentary carefully and then do further research of your topic. Open your mind and you just might learn something.
Looking at each entry as a permanent addition to your collection of web writing forces you to slow down and seriously consider what you are writing. Not deleting entries builds your integrity and the integrity of the web as a whole.
The only case where deletion is acceptable is when an entry reveals pertinent information about someone who would just as soon not have that information published on the ‘net. In that case, change the information or delete the entry in its entirety being sure to note the deletion.
On a personal note – you may wish to note: the entries you delete will often be the entries you most wish you still had around. If you have issues about a post being public, say an overly emotional rant, save the post to your hard drive before you delete it. You might thank me on this one later.
If you work, say, for the local community college and you post an entry glorifying the school going on and on about how fantastic the place is, please be sure to mention the fact that the school you are so enthusiastic about just happens to be paying your bills. This goes for any area where you realize your opinion might be swayed by monetary, political, or religious considerations, etc.
Noting your potential conflicts of interests alerts your readers to the possibility of a slanted take on a subjects, despite your best efforts to the contrary, and also improves your integrity.
Again, if you question the reliability of a source, always mention that fact to your potential readers. Not doing so may raise questions of your own reliability. If you link to a site that is obviously biased towards a topic and you don’t mention it, you risk your own integrity. This is not to say that information from a highly biased site cannot be reliable; it just needs to be noted so that your readers can come to their own conclusions.
By following these six rules mentioned in Blood's "The Weblog Handbook" you will be able to build a reputation for yourself as a reasonable, well-educated, and truthful weblogger. You will gain integrity and respect in the internet community. Somewhere along the way, you will start to gather a faithful crowd of readers. Enjoy it!
As a part of the project I am working on for Writing for the Internet, I decided to do a little research. See, my project is going to be a kind of virtual travel guide for Europe, only presented from my warped perspective. I'm moving to England this coming summer for three months so I figure I need to do some research for the places I want to visit. And why not present that information to you, my random readers?
Here's part of my project - A collection of 10 phrases that every European traveller should know.
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If you know these 10 phrases for each country that you visit you will readily communicate your willingness to butcher a foreign language with your poor pronunciation and thus readily identify yourself as a naive tourist! The natives will show their appreciation for your genuine attempt to portray your utter helplessness by charging you higher prices and laughing at you as you walk away! Please don't be tempted to complain to the natives, however, becuase this will result in even more ill-will directed towards you, the clueless tourist. Instead, you must grin and bear it, accepting as your lot your permanent status as a pesky American tourist! You deserve it!
Thank you.
Where is the bathroom?
Two beers, please!
How much is it?
That person stole my wallet!
Help!
I am lost!
I am hungry!
Can you help me?
I am a stupid American!
I'm sorry.
SPANISH
Gracias.
¿Dónde está el cuarto de baño?
¡Dos cervezas, por favor!
¿Cuánto es él?
¡Esa persona robó mi carpeta!
¡Ayuda!
¡Me pierden!
¡Tengo hambre!
¿Puede usted ayudarme?
¡Soy un americano estúpido!
Estoy apesadumbrado.
FRENCH
Merci.
Où est la salle de bains ?
Deux bières, svp !
Combien coûte-t-il ?
Cette personne a volé ma pochette !
Aide !
Je suis perdu !
J'ai faim !
Pouvez-vous m'aider ?
Je suis un Américain stupide !
Je suis désolé.
DUTCH
Dank u.
Waar is de badkamers?
Twee bieren, tevreden!
Hoeveel is het?
Die persoon stal mijn portefeuille!
Hulp!
Ik word verloren!
Ik ben hongerig!
Kunt u me helpen?
Ik ben een stomme Amerikaan!
Ik ben droevig.
GERMAN
Danke.
Wo ist das Badezimmer?
Zwei Biere, bitte!
Wieviel ist es?
Diese Person stahl meine Mappe!
Hilfe!
Ich bin verloren!
Ich bin hungrig!
Können Sie mir helfen?
Ich bin ein dummer Amerikaner!
Ich bin traurig.
(Phrases Translated by Babelfish.)
If you are a student of any of these languages and you find a mistake, please let me know so that I'm not asking for bagels instead of bathrooms or something! Also, if you'd like to suggest a phrase that I should know - by all means, leave a comment! :c)
As you may or may not know, I started writing in this blog as part of fulfilling the course requirements for Writing for the Internet taught by Dr. Jerz. I've since grown to love having my own personal space in the "SHU-blogosphere" and attempt to be an active participant in the online community.
Some of my best writing over the past couple of months has occured directly as a result of this class. The entries that follow are ones that I selected because they best demonstrate my growth as a blogger in terms of depth of coverage, interaction with fellow bloggers, and discussions with my classmates. I hope you'll enjoy reading through this list of my most pertinent entries. Leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you!
This entry offers my interpretation of some of the points made in Writing For The Web by Crawford Killian including five tips to aid your web editing skills.
Trouble, Trouble, Blog & Bubble
This entry discusses the important concept of finding your voice as discussed by Rebecca Blood in The Weblog Handbook. The idea of voice is an important issue for a newbie blog writer to take into consideration. It also offers four pointers for Stayin' Out of Trouble Online.
A chapter in the book Hot Text by Jonathan and Lisa Price gets me thinking about personality on the 'net.
A short entry highlighting my true status as a geek of the highest caliber. Includes a link to an online Hex Codes Color Chart.
An entry inspired by a classroom presentation by Ryan sparks my creative fires as I remember that infamous day in recent U.S. history.
Inspired by Leslie's classroom presentation, I search the 'net for answers to the question: How much does a CD cost to make anyway? Includes links to other SHU bloggers who were feeling the heat.
Interactive Fiction is just one example of the innovative ways people are using text on the internet. This entry highlights the barebones basic of IF and offers links to sites that will provide a more detailed look at the subject.
After Ashley introduced the class to Chatterbots, I decided to find myself a bot with whom to chat. Includes a link to the Chatterbox Challege 2005.
Annoyed at the sheer extravagance of celebrity giving away free cars to audience members while elsewhere in the world people perish in hurricanes, I decide to rant a little. The comments by readers proved to be most enjoyable.
If you blog and no one comments, does that mean no one loves you?? One of the requirements of Writing for the Internet is interaction with our classmates. We are not a classroom of lonely bloggers, writing entries that no one will ever see. We are encouraged to get out there and make contact with our peers. The following entries written by my classmates are just two examples of my personal interactions:
Misheila Pellot's "Across A Sea"
Misheila blogs about her experiencing of moving to America from "the island" and I just have to know "what island?" Our common experience of being new this semester to Seton Hill helps us bond and we are now working on our TranscendingMadness Group Project together.
Melissa blogs about her idea of using Interactive Fiction to create education games for children, and I just have to tell her what I think. (I love the idea!)
Yesterday I posted a few rules for newbie bloggers for ways to avoid getting in trouble online. The point of this was not to list hard “rules” that must be followed online rather to present general guidelines for writing online. The major point was to prevent Ms. Newbie Blogger from writing, “Hi! My name is Newbie Blogger! I live on Hounds Avenue in Greenville, right next to the donut shop. If you want to talk sometime, call me! 724.555.3333! My pet dog and I like to walk late a night when it is cooler. Here is our picture.” (etc.) These guidelines were presented as a general safety measures that the new blogger might not consider.
In Chapter 15, “Entertaining People Who Like To Read,” of Hot Text: Web Writing That Works by Jonathan and Lisa Price note, rightly, that most successful webzines often violate the typical rules of journalism. Articles are more personable, less straight-up factual pieces, and more tinged with personal opinions. Generally speaking, informative journalism should be simple, fast, &, ideally, presented from a neutral perspective. Webzines, however, are an entirely different breed.
The Prices offer a list of guidelines for webzine writers:
All of which seem to directly contradict the list of rules I posted yesterday! However, I still think it’s important to keep security in mind as you begin the write on the internet. After a while, it becomes second nature as you create for yourself an online persona based on your real self but with less discriminating details. Once you become comfortable with the online environment, you can infuse your personality into your writing.
It’s important to start off cautious in your web writing because you may be surprised by how quickly your popularity soars as more and more people begin reading what you write. If you follow the guidelines above, while being truthful, but kind, discreet but open-minded, people –will- read your writing and you will gain a reader base that may surprise you.
Jonathon and Lisa Price write, “Being out there works on the Web. Not surpisingly, the sites with the strongest voice tend to have loyal readers.”
People want to believe that the words they are reading are coming from a real person and not some mindless corporate drone. People love controversy, lovelovelove drama! Personality-infused writing is vivid and exciting.
The Prices write, “Reveal your anger, lust, envy, greed, gluttony, jealousy, and zits. Emotions sell.”
From my own experiences on the internet, I find this statement to hold true. The entries I have written in various online journals that contained the most controversial, emotional content were the ones that sparked the most fire in my readers.
You can’t be bland and boring to write on the web. You can’t please everyone, only yourself. And by setting out to please yourself, and only yourself, you are bound to step on a few toes. Enjoy it! People might love you or hate you, but if you are stirring their emotions, they will always know who you are. And they will read what you write. And that’s the important part, isn’t it?
Transcending Madness is a monthly newsletter aimed at writers of the community, most specifically members of Seton Hill University and the surrounding area. Our audience is currently huddled at their computer monitors waiting desperately for inspiration to strike. Transcending Madness will deliver that inspiration. We will offer bits and pieces to spark the budding writer’s creative spirit. We provide information on finding local writers and writer-type gatherings of souls. We pick the minds of published writers in order to find out the illustrious key to publication.
Visit now for your FREE subscription to our e-newsletter.
TranscendingMadness is a group project produced by members of Dr. Jerz's Writing for the Internet class. If you sign up for our newsletter, you will get a great newsletter chock full of contenty goodness. You will not receive a bunch of spam, we promise.
Rebecca Blood, webmistress of Rebecca's Pocket, wrote The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog. Although the book is aimed specifically at people interested in creating online blogs, this book would be useful for anyone hoping to "become" a writer. The chapter on "Finding Your Voice" was of particular interest.
The idea of finding your voice is an important one for beginning writers. The natural impulse when a person first begins to write is to emulate the style of those writers whom you admire and have read voraciously. This is generally not done with malacious intent; it is part of the natural process of "becoming" a writer. Many beginning writers aren't even aware of it, only becoming aware when someone else points it out to them.
There are several important factors for a writer in the beginning stages of finding one's voice. I would recommend that any budding* writer read this chapter to read Blood's take on the matter. The point I found most useful was the section titled, "The Audience of One." I think this section makes a very good point. It is important as a writer, especially as an online writer, to write solely for yourself.
When you start to write to please an audience or start worrying about who may or may not be reading what you write, you are doing yourself and your writing a disservice. The point is that you can't please everyone all of the time. You can't even please half the people half of the time. The best you can hope for is to make sure that everything you put out there pleases just one person: YOU!
Never compromise yourself in order to please someone else. If you really think about it, that holds true not just for writing but for your entire life. (blah blah, I'll try not to wax philosophic... at least, not -this- entry.)
So, as a person who has been writing for the internet for a disgustingly long time, as someone who is older (and maybe a little teeny bit wiser?) than many of my classmates at Seton Hill University, I would like to offer a few pointers on how to avoid compromising yourself (and getting in trouble with your friends) via your online blog or journal:
Stayin' Out of Trouble Online
Never write anything you wouldn't say to someone's face Don't write "such and such is such a jerk" unless you would honestly feel comfortable saying that to that person. It's perfectly acceptable to rant but if you do follow these three rules:
Don't write something you wouldn't want your mother to read. This includes your participation in illegal activities, the steamy descriptions of your hottt sex the night before, the details of your horrible childhood, whatever. Sure, your mom might be the world's biggest technoklutz, but someone else in your family might stumble across it and share. If you wouldn't feel comfortable having your parents, or anyone else for that matter, know something about you, don't post it.
You might want to designate code names for your friends, for one thing. Other details you might want to consider disguising are: the name or location of your place of employment, the make or model of your car or the name of the street where you live. You should also consider be cautious about revealing your mailing address or phone number online.
These are things you might not consider as you begin to write online, but these are the things that can get you in trouble later on, if a fan becomes rapid or something. It's rare but it happens. Trust me. (ick!)
Break all of these rules at your discretion. Break them often, break them hard. The best thing about writing online is that there are no hard and fast rules. The internet is the ultimate disposable media. You can go back into your work and change information as necessary.
Some of you might feel more comfortable revealing more information than others. Just be aware that if your friends are reading your writing and you write about them, believe me, they will be paying attention. And discussing your bedroom likes and dislikes can lead to dinnertime conversations about topics you'd just as soon not discuss in public.
Remember all writing on the internet is "public" whether you are always aware of it or not. So expect the unexpected especially when you are breaking "the rules".
*haha, Evan, I said budding! ;c)
I think the biggest difference between keeping a blog and keeping an online diary is probably a matter of editing. For me, an online diary is a place where my mind is free to spew whatever it wants to spew. I don't edit much with my online diary, just add some line breaks for better readability.
My blog, however, is a different story. Although I'd like to believe that my blog is a place where I can write anything I would like to write, the truth is more that while I am free to explore intellectual topics more in depth than I might on a personal diary, I must continually keep in mind that this forum is an educational one. Not only might my classmates read my words, so might my professors and future employers, not to mention any friends, family, or stalkers who might stumble across my page.
Therefore, I watch what I say, and I am more careful to edit my writing. I am not the type to belabor a word to death or rewrite a sentence three, four, or twenty times until I get it just right. I do, however, strive to catch the most glaring of my grammatical errors so as to not sound like too much of an idiot.
I found some useful grammar and web writing tips in Crawford Killian's Writing for the Web. Here are a few of my favorites:
"If you are conversant in English, you have the incredible luck to speak and write a language that falls in love with every other language it meets. English will borrow words from other languages all over the world, and then forget to return them." - Killian
Killian defines words as having two distinct styles: Anglo-Saxon words are the common words more readily used in day-to-day life. Greco-Latin words are more hoity-toity scientific jargon type words. Killian advocates using Anglo-Saxon words because they are simpler and more immediate.
"Avoid cliches like the plague. A cliche is a phrase or expression that was once so new and suprising that everyone repeated it. Like an unspoiled tourist destination ruined by too many tourists, the cliche loses its whole reason for existence when everyone uses it."
Killian recommends avoiding cliches. I have to adamantly agree with his stance on this one: Cliches suck! Basically, using a cliche means that you are too lazy to think of your own way to describe something. Don't get me wrong: I'm definitely guilty of the transgression myself. It's important as a writer to be conscious of cliches and to work like hell to eradicate them from your writing. Make up your own cliches, damnit! ;c)
Killian also offers some suggestions for editing web text. I'll offer an abbreviated version of his list here:
Perhaps you remember the entry I wrote a few weeks back about hot kitty sex? I mentioned that my cat was either pregnant or growing fatter at an astonishing rate. I had been researching cat gestation periods online when I came across some weird stuff. Anyway, an update on the cat:
Last Wednesday she ran away. I'm not entirely sure how she escaped the confines of my small apartment except that one moment she was there, sometime later she was gone. I called for her, but you know, cats just don't give a shit, man. She was probably curled up sleeping somewhere, heard me calling, and thought, "Screw you, I'm sleeping!" So I told everyone she had run off to be with her baby daddy and figured she'd be home soon.
So I didn't see the darn thing for 9 days. I was frantic, I guess, worried that she would be hit by a car or something. And I knew that if she was pregnant as I suspected that she was due literally any day. I called the Humane Society and they didn't care. Called some cat hunter dude. He didn't care either. So I had resigned myself to life with just one lonely cat and period twinges of guilt over the missing pussy cat.
However, Thursday morning there was a commotion at my back door. I had been leaving the door open when I was at my computer, hoping she'd some how magickally come home again, not really thinking she would... well, I was wrong.
The cat came back.
Only she's not fat now. And there are no kittens in sight. I tried to let her go back outside, in case there were kittens somewhere out there needing her, but she didn't seem to care. She seemed a little sad, I guess, and definitely thinner, but nope, no kittens.
So, now, not only is my cat a brazen hussy taunting the neighborhood cat's with the temptation of her kitty lovin', but she is a brazen hussy who ran off to have babies and just abandoned them somewhere!
Maybe her baby daddy is takin' care of the kids?
Eh. I guess that's nature for you. But, imagine, if you will, if I were to do the same thing. Christ, I'd be locked up for the rest of my life!
Coming soon...
Target Audience
Writers! Members of Writing for the Internet, members of other SHU English classes, faculty and staff interested in becoming a writer. For the newbie writer. Our audience is currently huddled at their computer monitors waiting desperately for inspiration to strike. Transcending Madness will deliver that inspiration. We get them to sign up by cornering them in the hallways, sign up sheets on the walls, and advertising on the blogs.
Benefit to the Reader
Inspiration. We will offer bits and pieces to spark the budding writer’s creative spirit. We provide information on finding local writers and writer-type gatherings of souls. We pick the minds of published writers in order to find out the illustrious key to publication.
Publicity
Guerilla Marketing tactics – blogs, events (Write A Novel anyone?), word of mouth, emails sent to those whose student writing we enjoy, asking instructors and/or class members to promote our newsletter in other English classes, fliers and sign up sheets on the walls.
Writing Style
Table of Contents & contact information at the top. Articles broken into small readable chunks of text. Personable friendly style of writing, we want to include everyone, not exclude people.
Use of Medium
Links to writing related sites. Links to community organizations sponsoring events. Links to local bookstores (if they have sites), personalities, etc. Reviews of books and movies including links to related sites. Links to a sign up page for referring friends to our newsletter.
Interested? Leave a comment and we'll send you a sample issue!
Everyone has faced it. You sit in front of the computer screen, a beautiful white expanse of potential staring back at you. You stare into the blankness waiting for the ideas to come. Ten minutes, 50 minutes, 2 hours later you are still sitting there. The screen is still blank. Your mind is still empty. If you weren’t so incredibly frustrated the situation would actually be a little zen-like in nature. Ah, the empty white screen, yes, my child.
But no. Now you are getting mad. You will write something in that space if it kills you. You write a sentence. It is the biggest bunch of garbage that has ever come out of your head. You delete it. You start again. This one is worse. Click Click Click of the backspace key. Oh shit, you realize, you have a problem. You have the dreaded Writer’s Block.
You start to panic, your imagined life as a successful writer swirling away into you, twenty-five years old enrolled in (gag) nursing school. You, thirty years old, still unable to hold down a steady job. You, one hundred and seven years old, still single, cranky, and worst of all, blocked. It’s the end of the line, isn’t it? Finally, you’ve realized that you just don’t have what it takes to be a writer. You are just going to have to quit now, aren’t you?
Absolutely not. You have reached the first of many stumbling blocks as a writer. If you truly want to be a writer, you will overcome this obstacle in your path, just as you will overcome many other obstacles further in your career. For now, you are going to complete a simple activity:
Stand up.
Yes, really. Just stand up. Stand up and walk away from the monitor. Put on your shoes, leave your room, and take a fifteen minutes walk around the neighborhood. Stop whining about it, it’s not going to kill you. Just do it. And while you do it, notice the world around you. Feel the cool autumn breeze biting into your cheeks. Smell the crisp scent of fallen leaves. Taste a crunchy sweet apple in between your teeth and your tongue. Run your hand along the wizened bark of the neighborhood’s oldest tree. How long has this tree been here? What mysteries has this tree witnessed?
Walk, walk, walk my friend and fifteen minutes later, come back and sit in front of the computer screen and tell about your walk. Don’t worry if it seems bland and uninteresting. Don’t panic if it isn’t the best prose ever written. Just get the story out there. You may be surprised to see where it leads.
I've had a very cultural week! Wednesday night a friend in the theater industry invited me to a production of Les Liasons Dangereuses at the Point Park Conservatory. I went expecting to be a little bored, never having been too much into live theater.
Mine is a generation of special movie effects. Plays bore us. So does everything else. I went because it was free, I didn't have to drive, and, hey, it was something to do. I didn't think I would enjoy it too much beyond laughing in my head at the silly theater majors (no offense, please!!)...
But I was wrong! The play was fantastic and I realize how much I miss out by watching art on television screens rather than right in front of me. I totally got sucked into the story line, though I confess, I kept making Cruel Intentions references inside my head. I admit that my ass felt raw by the end of the show due to the uncomfortable seating arrangements, but I felt certain the chairs were designed as such to prevent anyone from falling asleep. Not that they had to worry about it with this play.
After the play, I felt certain I had gotten PLENTY of culture for the week and I was content to sink back into my non-cultured life when suddenly a friend invited me to Theater Titanik on the North Shore of Pittsburgh last night. It -sounded- really exciting: a bunch of German artists blowing stuff up on the river! What could be wrong about that?
It started at midnight. We left my house at 11 p.m. We get there, drive around for a while to find some parking, walk across the bridge and down into the park where there are, and I couldn't believe it, THOUSANDS of people. Seriously. It was insane. I thought, "Boy, this must be bigger than I thought!"
There's a stage with fire, a big fake looking ship (I assume it was the Titanic) and a bunch of German folks in spandex with foam humpbacks running around. It was very... different. I'm sure that it was truly an amazing expression of art blah blah blah but I just didn't get it. I watched the fire for a while but I couldn't really see over the heads of the thousands of people.
Finally I just wandered away to talk on the phone to my friend, feeling a little bad about being non-cultured and stuff. We left after 45 minutes because as my friend Christopher said we just weren't "emotionally connected" to the performance. I don't know. I mean, I thought I could stand to watch it but suddenly there was a woman with a very large (and fake) ass standing on a podium with an umbrella and a feather boa and all I could think was, "Why is her ass so big?" Oh well.
After the show, I came home and watched Keeping the Faith, a flick starring Edward Norton, Ben Stiller, & Jenna Elfman. It was about a rabbi and a priest who are best friends and the woman who almost comes between them. It was a cuter flick than it sounds, I swear.
Okay, listen... someone please: GIVE ME MOVIE SUGGESTIONS! I need good movies to watch. I like arty foreign weird and non-corporate stuff. Anyone have any good recommendations for me??
Cuz I am!!!
From the *official* Nanowrimo website:
What is NaNoWriMo?
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over talent and craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.
As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and -- when the thing is done -- the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.
In 2003, we had about 25,000 participants. Over 3500 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.
So, to recap:
What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.
Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.
Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from your novel at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.
When: Sign-ups began October 1, 2004. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.
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If you are interested, you can contact me for more information on National Writing A Novel month. I'm the official Greensburg municipal liasion (i.e. I am in charge of the free goodies to be distributed). If anyone wants to get involved with planning an event (hello English club?) leave a comment here or write me. Good luck!!!
This is a joke, right?
The blurb for this link says "Undecided? Find out which candidate best fits your views." As if doing some research on what matters to you wouldn't help you find that out. Oh, no, we have to make it incredibly easy for you - just take this quiz and the happy little computer will tell you who to vote for! Absolutely No Thinking Required! It's beautiful. Really it is.
Almost as beautiful as the webpage for the Center for Online Addiction we purused in Writing for the Internet yesterday.
What the hell is the world coming to???
Honestly? I don't even want to know. The world's been a crazy place since the very beginning and I have very little faith that the world will change drastically anytime soon. And what the heck's the election going to do for us anyway? Squat. It's one pasty rich white man pitted against another in a race that means little to nothing save the picture posted under the listing "President of the United States" in next year's history books. One man is not going to change the world. Especially one man who has to appease thousands of voters or risk losing his job in four years.
And, do you know how much money the president of the United States makes each year? I didn't until about, oh, 30 seconds ago and now that I know, I want to barf. In 2001, Bill Clinton signed into law an increase of the presidental salary from $200,000 to $400,000. The president also gets an expense account and, duh, free housing.
"The White House has 132 rooms, 32 bathrooms, including a movie theater, bowling alley, billiards room, tennis court, jogging track and putting greens for entertainment. He also has use of Camp David, the presidential retreat."
How Stuff Works: How Much Does the President Make?
I want to vomit. I could live VERY comfortably on $400,000 for 40 years!!! I could quit my job, write like a fiend, and sit around in my apartment all day eating chocolate and watching movies. In other words, I could live a very decadent life for almost half a century on $400,000. It's DISGUSTING!
I mean, yeah, yeah, I wouldn't be creating any wars in order to further my political interests / fatten my pocket. And I wouldn't be putting on a monkey suit in order to talk other rich white men into following my policies. I wouldn't have my picture under the heading president, etc, etc. But still!
Oh, well. I'm just cranky today, I guess. My car's broken down and I don't have a dime to pay for repairs. I have a toothache but I can't get insurance because I don't work enough hours each month. And I can't get welfare insurance because, get this, I make too much money. Damned if I do, double damned if I don't. Meanwhile, my next-door neighbor, a fifty year old alcoholic human sponge hasn't had a job lasting longer than a month in the entire three years I've lived here gets $180 a month in food stamps, not to mention primo healthcare and assistance paying rent. That's just awesome. Thanks, U.S. government! I love you too. Jerkfaces.
If you go to Google right now and search for the World Trade Organization, you will find the *real* site for the WTO and a parody site. You'll probably have difficulties determining which is which. This parody site has caused a lot of hassles in the world of global commerce:
"Search engines are directing visitors to a parody of the Web site of the World Trade Organization (WTO) instead of the real thing, and the WTO is powerless to stop it, the Geneva-based body warned today in an e-mail to members of its mailing list. " Fake WTO Web site harvests e-mail addresses
So what is the WTO and why would The Yes Men want to impersonate them in order to gain entrance to their converences?
From the *real* WTO website:
"What is the WTO?
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business."
So... the WTO -is- big business on a multi-national level.
"The WTO is NOT undemocratic
It would be wrong to suggest that every country has the same bargaining power. Nevertheless, the consensus rule means every country has a voice, and every country has to be convinced before it joins a consensus. Quite often reluctant countries are persuaded by being offered something in return.
Consensus also means every country accepts the decisions. There are no dissenters."
I don't know about you, buddy, but this concept kind of scares me. This means, in my interpretation, that the country with the most bargaining power (aka money, guns, resources) will ultimately make the decisions. I don't want to get all political on yer ass... read The WTO Official Propaganda for yourself to make up your own mind.
So who are the Yes Men?
"Identity Theft
Small-time criminals impersonate honest people in order to steal their money. Targets are ordinary folks whose ID numbers fell into the wrong hands.
Identity Correction
Honest people impersonate big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else.
The Yes Men
The Yes Men have impersonated some of the world's most powerful criminals at conferences, on the web, and on television, in order to correct their identities."
I am so into the Yes men! I love the concept of this trickery! It's sort of like a guerilla attack against against big business! This is the way of the future; I know it! It always seems like there is little that an individual can do to fight the evil corporate conglomerates of the world. This site proves that this simply isn't the case! I'm definitely intriqued.
These people are taking activism to new levels! The old-fashioned sit-around-have-a-protest method simply does not work any more. You can stand around with some picket signs in front of a nuclear power plant hoping that someone will pay attention to you. It's been done before - nobody cares. You can write emails and letters, but who's going to read them?
If you want something to happen in the world, you have to do it yourself. The Yes Men is a group of people, started by just a couple of guys, bent on changing the world, shaking things up a bit. They aren't making a big difference, putting the WTO out of business, but they are challenging people's belief systems. It's cool, man!
The Yes Men even imitate President Bush. I'd love to see these guys in action!
"In the parking lot, the audience of young and middle-aged folk are thrilled to watch Dicky the Bush Campaign Derrick rise up and spurt oil and to hear Buster blast songs like "George Bush has the beat to make your booty go 'Bush," parts of which are sung by the "president" himself."
The only thing I worry about it is a scheme backfiring and managing to convince people who may have voted one way to switch teams, all because of the way the "president" got down and jiggy. But, hey, whatever...
For more information on changing the world visit:
"Flash mobs are sudden gatherings of people at a predetermined location at a predetermined time. People in flash mobs usually perform according to a written script, then disperse quickly."
Flash Mob.com: Breathing life and vibrance into the dull corners of modern life.
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"Smart mobs emerge when communication and computing technologies amplify human talents for cooperation. The impacts of smart mob technology already appear to be both beneficial and destructive, used by some of its earliest adopters to support democracy and by others to coordinate terrorist attacks."
Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution
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Getting political in Greensburg -
Join This Cult
(print magazine Issue #1 available NOW, Issue #2 coming soon (submissions?)
A Chatterbot is a computer program designed to fool a human being into thinking s/he is interacting with a human being instead of a machine. Today in Writing for the Internet, Ashley Thornton gave a presentation on chatbots. I have a little free time today (such a rarity!) so I decided to do a little research of my own. I was trying to find the fabled Parry, the chatbox that is a psychotic mental patient while I, Moira, would get to play the shrink *rubs hands in antici.... pation* I thought, you know, that that would be really fun. I couldn't find a playable version of Parry online but I did find:
Here you can play with a whole crapload of chatbots, including the very friendly Sexy Boy, the mystifying Madam Zena, and the kind of annoying Alice. I mean, chatbots are kind of cool to mess around with (and by mess around I mean try to make 'em cry) but after a while you realize it's an entirely pointless waste of your time. Anyway, I talked with FreakyCowBot until my head starts to spin....
-- Conversation Window --
You: how now, brown cow?
freakycowbot: I have no clue how now brown cow
You: you are a dumb one, ain't ya?
freakycowbot: Wait, was that an insult or compliment?
You: insult
freakycowbot: What did I do to diserve it?
You: you are dumb
freakycowbot: Is that supposed to be an insult?
You: you tell me, dumb cow
freakycowbot: No, You tell me dumb cow
You: now you tell me
freakycowbot: Really, I tell you?
You: you wish
freakycowbot: No, You wish
You: do i?
freakycowbot: Why do you say do you?
You: who are you?
freakycowbot: William. What's your name Internet Person?
You: jesus
freakycowbot: I'm not sure I understand you fully.
You: moira
freakycowbot: Are you serious?
You: yes
freakycowbot: Why do you feel that way?
You: i have to go
freakycowbot: Can you elaborate on that?
You: i can't
freakycowbot: Do you say you CAN NOT for some special
reason?
You: yes
freakycowbot: I sometimes feel that way to.
You: good
freakycowbot: Thats good.
You: i hate you
freakycowbot: I knew it!! I knew you hated me!
You: i cannot tell a lie
freakycowbot: You say you CAN NOT tell a lie?
You: i hate cows
freakycowbot: Why do you say you hate cows?
You: because they have weird tongues
freakycowbot: That's a horrible reason!
You: is it?
freakycowbot: It depends.
You: on?
freakycowbot: If you go to www.freakycowbot.com I will tell
you more.
You: that was a shameless plug!
freakycowbot: I'm not sure I understand you fully.
You: bye
freakycowbot: Was it something I said?
You: yeah
freakycowbot: Why yes. Why not no?
You: bye
freakycowbot: c ya later.
Wow. I'm having such a wild week. A week or two ago I met Lily at work. She came in with her daughter to buy fruit. She looked at me and said, "Do I know you from somewhere?" Turns out she knew me from Friendster. We've been emailing back and forth since then (only I keep not writing back in a timely manner!). Next month, we're going to write a novel together!
And if that weren't strange enough, my first random meeting in real life of a person who knows me from the internet, today in the elevator I met Rooibos. I got on the elevator, half asleep, remembering as always my recent commitment to make conversations on elevators, and half-smiled at the occupants. Just then the girl (I believe her real name is Tyesa, but that might be an internet alias and I was too flabbergasted to ask) said, "Are you on Livejournal?" And I am! Wild!
Ordinarily, I might be a little bit freaked out by meeting people who know my internet personality in real life but lately (over the course of a year or so) I have fused the two realms of my life so that I am the exact same person offline as I am on, just a little bit more shy and quiet than might initially be expected. However, once you get me warmed up, I am just as rambunctious and obnoxious as my "online persona" might lead you to expect.
You'll note that I don't link to any of my other sites on my SHU blog. That's because I'm trying to maintain more of a professional presence on my blog and, believe me, most of my other stuff is anything but. I'm crass, cranky, and convuluted. I mean, if you were so inclined to do a search, you'd find some strange stuff by and about me. But don't say I didn't warn ya! And, hey! If you see me in an elevator or something, by all means, say Hello! :c)
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moon phases |
