Categories
Standards

Alt attributes

Mark Pilgrim’s tip for today Providing text equivalents for images is one of the few tips that I do follow, or at least attempt for follow.

All of the images in this weblog should have a text equivalent.

Categories
Connecting

Touching the Untouchable

At what level of discourse will I step over the boundary of comfort? I came close with the postings on anger, but thankfully, we were able to box these in with an objectively intellectual viewpoint that pushed the topic safely and correctly back into manageable bounds.

So now, let us up the ante on human emotions and see if words can truly strip away all context and feeling and pain until nothing else is left except a black and white description of an act.

In a posting today, Jonathon talks about attending a Japanese film festival and the increasing discomfort of the audience when the expert who introduces the film abruptly stops speaking about Japanese morals from an ‘intellectual’ perspective, and begins to speak of them from an experiential one.

This expert, Donald Ritchie broke the taboo’d boundaries of an intellectual discussion with a story based on humor, and real life, and actual sensuality. And the elite, the intelligencia, reacted in open and overt hostility. Jonathon writes:

But for the majority of his listeners he had already said far too much. The forced atmosphere seemed to choke off any further questions and soon the audience was filing out, a restrained silence replacing the excited chatter that followed most screenings.

I found Jonathon’s posting to be eerily timely and apropos for me because I had spent last night and this morning wrestling with whether to talk about Gene Kan.

I wanted to talk about Gene because if nothing else, we owe him that. And I didn’t, because I was brought up in a society where one doesn’t do certain things. Such as get angry. Such as admitting going to a Japanese brothel.

Such as talking about suicide.

Gene Kan killed himself. He was 25 and he took a gun and he killed himself. He did not have an “accident” as the Sun spokesperson described. And we can’t bury his final act with a recitation of all of the accomplishments of his very short life.

Gene’s final act is one few of us would contemplate; yet it is the one act – the only act – over which any of us could have ultimate control. To deny this act is, in many ways, to deny the actor.

I said earlier that I was angry that Gene had killed himself, and I am. Incredibly angry. But I’m also angry that we’ve euphemized his suicide, boxed it in with platitudes, and reduced it to a sound bite.

Kent (fishrush) found Gene’s last resume (thanks Kent), which I’ve copied to the bottom of this posting. Read it.

Gene Kan

Summary:

Sad example of a human being. Specialising in failure.

1990-current Failure specialist

Executed numerous technical, commercial and personal
projects, typically resulting in failure.

References available upon request.

And that’s all I have to say, now.

Categories
People Weblogging

Dorothea revealed

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Dorothea takes a moment and tells the world about herself, her husband, and her goth kitties in a new Frank Paynter interview, a blogging piece well worth the read.

Among the broad range of subjects covered in the interview was Dorothea’s experience with gaming and role playing, as well as her academic and musical experiences (hint – MP3 – hint). She also discusses an interesting time she’s had with a non-compete clause (the bane of technical/creative people everywhere), and her passion for text “artistry” – giving me an entirely different viewpoint of, and appreciation for, markup.

One item that surprised me was Dorothea stating that I remind her of herself. On further reflection, I would tend to agree. Neither of us is inherently maternal, and we both can be opinionated – at times. Additionally, I have this feeling that neither of us suffers fools gladly, which can cause trouble in the jobspace.

And we both like Ursula LeGuin and hate shopping for clothes.

In the interview, Dorothea also talks about her hubbie and his participation with the Tolkien movie, but I’ll leave her to tell this story.

From my reading, Dorothea struck me as being tenaciously strong, ultra-smart, as well as being artistically inclined and talented. And knowing Dorothea’s self-deprecating attitude (which we’re working on curing, BTW), I bet she hated that last sentence.

Categories
Political

How can we not be angry?

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Today was not supposed to be an ‘angry’ day. I thought we’d covered the subject and were ready to move on. But then I checked the news. I read that the “earth is dying” (mentioned in previous weblog posting).

And then I read:

Bush rejected comparisons between the transactions that masked losses at Harken Energy Corp. and those of executives and accountants at such companies as Enron and WorldCom that have resulted in billions of dollars in red ink.

 

His own case, Bush said, “was an honest disagreement about accounting procedures.”

And then I read:

“I actually didn’t read the whole story,” he said. “But people shouldn’t speculate about the desire of the government to have a regime change. And there’s different ways to do it.”

And I’m angry all over again. Tell me: how does one respond to reports such as these with love or compassion?

I am angry, and through this anger, I am determined to ensure by any legal means necessary that Bush is not re-elected and that he and his cohorts are kicked out of the White House. And through this anger, I plan on doing everything I can until that time to ensure that Bush’s hypocritical and idiotic acts are exposed for what they are.

I am mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore. And if my honest emotion is a reason for shaking your head in pity of my lack of control and inability to redirect said emotion into a more positive center, well then, you can just kiss my grits.

Categories
Environment

Will the last person leaving the Earth, please turn off the Sun

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

It’s difficult to shrug off stories that have the eye-catching title of Earth ‘will expire by 2050’. It’s also difficult to ignore statements such as the following:

The report, based on scientific data from across the world, reveals that more than a third of the natural world has been destroyed by humans over the past three decades.

We’ve known this was coming. We’ve known that we’re literally destroying the world. We see the evidence of global warming in drought and flood. We see the evidence of toxic pollution every time a city has to issue an air alert (something that happens with distressing regularity in St. Louis). We pile the garbage high, we sprawl into the forests, we overdevelop the land, cut down the trees, and overfish the seas.

And every day entire species die. Every day.

If you are planning for a family, currently expecting a baby, or have very small children, the earth they will be inheriting is one that’s dying. And for the most part, we in the US are killing it.

I have a hard time showing pride in being an US citizen when I read:

America, which sent 300 delegates to the conference, is accused of blocking many of the key initiatives on energy use, biodiversity and corporate responsibility.

Really, folks, where’s your priorities? What’s a little dead world when one is waging a War against Terror?