Stupid Sub-Concious Tricks

March 19, 2005 - 11:31am

So I had a dream last night that I was back at my old elementry school. I was the same age as I was now, but everyone around me was in sixth grade. My teacher was Ms. Lowenthal -- who was the hottest damn teacher that I ever had (don't worry it wasn't one of those dreams). She asked me to hand out books. She then left the room and started loudly yelling obscenities in the halls. I took a look at the book cover, and it was Asimov's Chronology of the World , for whatever reason. I threw the copies at the students, and they perfectly landed on every students desk. I was very proud of this, for some reason.

As my teacher continued to yell obsenities in the halls, I started doing a skit for the class. It was a Mr. Show skit where a bunch of italian gangsters sit around and say, "24 is the highest number". If you've seen the skit, you'll know what I'm talking about. The class loved it; so like any rock star, I said, "and now I'm out". I got a bathroom pass, and headed to the dingy elementry school bathroom. In the stall, I noticed something dripping on me, I looked up and it was blood leeking from the ceiling. Then I woke up...

Now I'm wondering, what the hell my subconcious was trying to tell me?  

Dancing with Thorns

March 19, 2005 - 1:34am

Fields of smiles, laughter, and those perfect moments

Are sown with seeds of passion, love, and romance  

But if watered by ego, desire, and petty impulsiveness

The crops will grow into jealousy, regrets and laments

So be true to yourself, and your love

For the fate of lovers will not come from above

The canopy of stars; may it caress our tender souls

Reminding us of death, and our insignificant roles

Damn, here I am alone, writing an indulgent poem

Embrace this life, however it may be

For it is only in death do we see the price of being free

And so if it is in vain, I cannot give that life to the

 

My heart may be fragile, but my soul is a rock

And thus I sit watching my life's ticking clock

So I’m here for you now, but I think I best soon take off

Perhaps it is better, if you return to browsing that flock?

The American Cultural Revolution

March 17, 2005 - 8:08pm
gipper.jpg

If you want an example of blogging at its finest, go visit Billmon's absolutely stunning post on America's cultural revolution.

Why is the Media Obsessed with the Idea of Getting Fired for Blogging?

March 16, 2005 - 6:00pm

Tim Bray, Sun Microsystem's technology director asks a great question:

Uh, why is the mainstream press so incredibly interested in this people-fired-for-blogging story? Is this happening to a lot of people? No. Are a lot of people blogging? Yes. Has it happened to anyone senior enough to impact the company involved? No. Are senior people blogging? Yes. If I were cynical and paranoid, I’d suspect that the media running these stories were frightened of something.

It is a rather odd obsession... especially in light of Tim's list of 10 reasons why blogging is great for your career.

2005 SXSW Interactive's 10 Most Significant Ideas(incomplete)

March 16, 2005 - 5:36am

(Note: this is a work in progress that is likely to change dramatically over the next day)

1. "The actual is the new virtual"- Bruce Sterling [transcript of keynote speech]

2. Podcasts: Geeks have always liked pods. However, it wasn't until this year that we observed multiple geeks frequently arriving to SXSW events with pods fully ready to cast.(1) [picture on left:: two ubergeeks prepare their pod to be cast]

3. The Fabject. Bruce Sterling writes: "Scan a human hand into 3-D, shrink it in proportion, and print it out in a thinly layered pancake of solidifying plastic. The "Rapid prototype machine." The "3-D printer." Or just -- The Fab. Shake hands with a disruptive innovation in the means of production.

4. Blogging for Cash, Business & Political Power. My prediction for next years weblog focus: How to save blogs from the destructive influence of cash, business, and politics.

5.The tech economy will forever oscilate between boom and busts. This appears to still be a holy dogma.

I'm on the 6 o' Clock Train to Funville

March 16, 2005 - 4:26am
Ah, 6:30 in the morning. I'm hoping to finish a contract for Pinion software over the next 10 hours. SXSW was great, but unfortunately, the rest of the world apparently doesn't stop for it. I'm afraid, I'll have to miss some activist tech workshops, but hopefully I'll be able to make it some very interesting experiements on deliberative Democracy later this evening. It looks like I'll have some pretty interesting contract work: I'll be using civicspace as a platform for experiments for online social interaction. But now, I am going to eat many eggs.

SXSW: Epilogue

March 15, 2005 - 9:18pm
I decided to leave the party, and thus, said good bye to SXSW. But first, I wanted to make sure I said good bye to everyone. I went upstairs, and saw a bunch of grown men and women sitting around a table playing with toys, and giggling. It was then, that I realized that I had found the perfect ending for SXSW Interactive. There was something so poetic about all of these drunken CSS designers playing with plastic toys that were rated from age 8 and up. I wanted to get a final quote from them, but then I saw Bruce Sterling, the man who hosted the party... I said, "Hi, Bruce". Bruce replied, "How are you doing Nick?(sneaky bastard caught my name off of my badge.) I commented, while pointing to the table of SXSWi attendees playing with toys, "I couldn't think of a more beautiful way to end SXSWi". Bruce replied, "I love toys, I just love playing with them..." I mentioned that his talk had changed my ideas on the future. Then, in an attempt to be clever, I pointed out that China invented the steam engine in 1000 a.d. , but had not realized that the steam engine could have driven a raiulroad. But by that time, Bruce had run off to look at his mini-distilary, and was clearly at play.

Evolving the PBA Through Empowering Its Members

March 15, 2005 - 11:27am

Today has been one incredible panel after another. The last panel, Are Political Parties Obsolete? was very inspiring. Over the past few months, I've been unable to think of any realisitic ways to take the Progressive Blog Alliance to the next level. I've been talking with several people in the back channels; unfortunatly, the ideas discussed stalled, generally for two reasons:

1. Executing the idea would require us to dramatically increase the PBA leadership's level of control over the members.

2. The idea assumed that our 200+ bloggers would actually do what we told them to.

Now, there are a few Jacobians in the alliance who might disagree with my insistance on keeping the PBA as non-hierarchial as possible. I'm open to debate on that, however, I strongly feel that we should not respond to our growth by creating stronger power structures. Rather, I think we need to change the focus of our organization, and begin to expand upon our current function as a blogroll and a decentralized news/opinion collective. The PBA has always been about empowerment, community, and mutual benifit. Though we've made mistakes, deep down we've always strived to create an oasis of intelligence and humanity, in this bizarre and vulgar world we call the internet. Its time we take our legacy a step further. So here is what I propose:

Morning Preface

March 15, 2005 - 7:40am

I'm looking around. People are blogging. Small talk is everywhere in the halls. The sky is grey. The air is cold.

What? We're you expecting breaking news? I'm doing my best right now. 

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