Saturday, February 2, 02002
An excellent idea from the New York Psychogeographical Association at NOT BORED !:
The New York Psychogeographical Association sees only one viable option: turn the site into a huge community garden that would be open to the public twenty-four hours a day and year-round. All kinds of flowers, fruits and vegetables would be cultivated. (The produce could be divided among the gardeners, sold to pay for expenses and/or donated to soup kitchens.) Unlike memorials or parks, which do not change after their creation, gardens are living, growing things. A garden at the old WTC would provide a unique opportunity for mourners, tourists and city residents -- some of whom who might never have cultivated a garden -- to roll up their sleeves and get to work, pulling up weeds, planting seeds, doing anything that might need to be done. There would be no contemplation, nor separation from the land: just collective action towards a common goal. Not only would such a garden be good for the bodies and spirits of the people who visit and/or work it, but it would also be good for the ecology of Manhattan. The birds would return and sing once again.
Posted at 08:08 AM EST [Link][Comment]
Friday, February 1, 02002
I've had sort of a strange problem recently. Recruiters have been cold calling me asking if I want to be a CVISN architect out in Arizona. Eh ? I did some CVISN work back about four years ago, putting together some IFTA fuel tax and IRP applications, and one hazmat registration system, but that was a pretty long time ago. How in the world were they getting my name ?
Then I figured it out.
Posted at 02:10 PM EST [Link][Comment]
Thursday, January 31, 02002
While driving home today, I came up with some wishful thinking as to why Veep Dick is willing to get sued over some silly meeting records.
It's obvious it has nothing to do with an outraged public learning that political contributions buy influence. We know who rules, and apparently we don't give a toot After all we put up with way worse than croonie capitalism, say boiling fish, rivers full of chicken shit, frankenforests. Whatever. Unless there's an intern involved somehow, no ordinary citizen is going to remember these records for more than a couple days.
My guess is it's the energy companies he may be worried about. Suppose the companies met Dick one on one, instead of all at once at some central meeting. Suppose at each meeting Dick told the company how lucky it was he could fit the meeting into his schedule, and how much the administration appreciated their support, and how, but perhaps, if they'ld thrown in a few more million he might have been able to allocate more time. He then listens patiently to the requests for deregulation, looking interested, nodding at all the right places, taking notes occasional
ly. Eventually the phone rings, the meeting ends, but not before another request for additional donations is thrown out.
But let's suppose eveyone's meeting ended up be a constant thirty minutes long, regardless of what their actual donations were. Or worse yet, the meeting lengths actually had some correlation to the individuals work experience or knowledge of energy policy. Let's assume Dick did absolutely nothing wrong, and that he based his plans on a fair assesment of all the data he had available, regardless of donation amount. And that the energy policy was actually what he really thought was best for the country. And, hey, as long as the records stayed hidden, the companies would be none the wiser. Everyone got their meeting, made their pitch for government handouts, and left with a warm fuzzy glow.
Now imagine the meeting records come to light, and the donors get to see the full picture of everyone who had access.... Wouldn't you as a corporate donor be pissed to find out that your investment didn't buy the influence you thought they had; that your meeting was the same length as someone who gave a fraction of your donation, that some wacky environmentalist may have had the same amount of influence you had and that your chief competitor had a meeting just an hour before you ? That, in fact, the main reason for your meeting was just to hit you up for more money ? Just how big a check would you be writing when the next election came around ....
Like I said, wishful thinking, but it would still be a pretty interesting turn of events.
Posted at 11:06 PM EST [Link][Comment]
Song of the month: Superchunk's Ribbon from Incidental Music.
when will everything be quiet again?
It's just been that type of year so far...Posted at 06:36 PM EST [Link][Comment]
Wednesday, January 30, 02002
International A.N.S.W.E.R is the group the sharp-tack students were promoting on their t-shirts from a few posts back. Looks interesting, though I'm surprised high school kids would be into this level of activism.
Posted at 07:17 PM EST [Link][Comment]
Tuesday, January 29, 02002
Jesus is not oil.
(warning: not granny-friendly)
Posted at 02:13 PM EST [Link][Comment]
Monday, January 28, 02002
Great, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is warning against efforts to find rational explanations for the actions of the terrorists.
"In seeking rational explanations for irrational acts, an explanation becomes the excuse."
This is some pretty scary shit. I'd figure the Justices would be last to abandon reason.
Update: The post covered the Justice's visit to the School Without Walls. The tykes who called him a propagandist are pretty sharp tacks.
Still, it should be fun to hear what spews forth from the Justice after he sees Independence Day. I assume it will look something like a certain scene from the Excorcist, another movie I assume he's never seen.
Posted at 05:05 PM EST [Link][Comment]
If you're using a current version of Mozilla, you should be able to see a pretty lame icon I setup on the site's main page.
It's supposed to be a "Pw". The "w" is particualrly hideous, and the "P" should plan on going bowling the night of her prom. Eventually it will be cleaned up and added to the rest of the site. Here it is for you slow adapters: 
.
My classes start tonight. I'm taking Computer Graphics. It's looks pretty boring, but I didn't register until the last minute, and nothing else was open, so I'm stuck with it. Perhaps I'll learn how to make a decent icon :-)
