Categories
Connecting

I beg to disagree

One last thing, on the subject of online discussions and disagreements.

People will disagree. And that is what makes the world interesting. And people will sometimes be very vehement in their disagreement. This makes things even more interesting. Occasionally this may result in Person A not talking to Person B. Hopefully not often, but this is going to happen.

And if people feel strongly about an issue, regardless of what we say, we are not going to change their mind unless we somehow take on the appearance of Divine Truth.

No, no. Just looked in the mirror. No Divine Truth here.

Unless the issue is one that you feel can’t be ignored, state your opinion, listen to theirs, and agree to disagree. If you can’t ignore their opinion, write the person off and move on. Such is life.

It is okay to agree to disagree. And it’s also okay to write a person off and move on. However, we should use the latter sparingly — if we surround ourselves by people who only agree with us, our lives will be deadly dull.

Categories
People

RIP Chuck Jones

I didn’t hear about Chuck Jones dying until I started going out on the weblogs, such as at Flutterby, this morning.

If you’re a regular to this weblog then you know I’m a big Looney Tunes fan, especially Marvin the Martian. I have an original Chuck Jones inked cell featuring Marvin and Bugs. When I move, this is the first picture I hang, and never fails to cheer me.

People who spend their lives bringing laughter to others must die very peacefully, counting their life as one long good work.

Good-bye, Chuck — we’ll miss you.

That’s all folks.

Categories
Weblogging

Weblogging Feb 24 2002

I think that Mike Golby has some real mixed feelings about Australia beating South Africa at Cricket:


Good cricket is always a pleasure to watch. Great cricket is a delight and the Aussies continue to deliver in spectacular fashion. Cricket worldwide will have to step up a gear or five if any team is to play on the same park as the Mean Machine from Down Under.

Good on yer, you bastards

Being a yank, with little or no idea about what cricket is other than it seems to have something to do with ball and a bat and rather prissy uniforms, it’s rather fun to see reactions to sports such as these from a dispassioned “Well, I’m sure it’s all very good, but it isn’t American Baseball, now is it?” point of view.

Do they really say “out for a duck”?

-earlier-

Well, this is bad news for his weblogging fans: Allan has said that he’s closing down his weblog for a time due to “…circumstances beyond his control”.

Allan, if there’s anything any of us can do to help, holler! If it’s something we can’t help with, then all I can say is you will be missed every day that you’re not posting!

Damn.

-earlier-

“My grandmother is dying. The doctor says she only has about two or three weeks to live”.

Victor shares a difficult time for him, the upcoming death of a beloved Grandmother.

Saying good-bye — it seems to be a coming together of all the best times of a shared life; glad memories that fill the moment with love and foreseen loss until a peace and grace that transcends all things settles in, and looks back at you from eyes you’ve come to know so well.

-earlier-

Well, trying to adapt the weblog ring code to work within a weblog was an interesting exercise. I’m all tired out.

Due to a combination of antibiotics, altitude change, bad food, heavy stress, and overwhelming moments of lightness of being, I find that I’m not feeling good at all today. Bad, bad headache, very tired, in a very reflective mood.

It does not help to come home and find that the Argentinian ants are back, have found a new entrance into my place, and have set out trails. Time for a bleach wash again, as well as more yelling at management (“They’re in your place, they’re your responsibility.” “Well, they didn’t fly through the window to get to my place, they’re in your infrastructure!”).

If you think living on the 4th floor of a concrete condo would save you from pests of this nature, think again. These little critters will actually climb around the rings of a screw top lid in order to get to the contents.

The smell of bleach is not going to go with my headache.

See below. Join now. The Bird that Burns Wants You!

-earlier-

interesting because a while back, Sharon also had trouble with weblog ring membership, in this case Blogsnobs.

There are few things I dislike more in the world than restricted memberships. The only restriction that should occur within a community is the one where a person opens the door, listens a bit, and decides that this particular place isn’t the place for them and continues on. Every community may not appeal to every person, but the person should make the decision, not the group.

So, I did something about the weblog ring thing. I created a new weblog ring I call Bloggers with Attitude. Anyone who loves to weblog and has a sense of humor — or at least a sense of perspective — can join. There are no restrictions. No criteria. No geographical limitation. No restriction on language used. No limitation of topic. This is a ring for a community of people who drift on by one day and take a peek and say to themselves “Well, hey. There’s some interesting people here. I think I’ll float in and join hands with the party, see how it goes”.

All I need to get this going is three other weblogs to join. So here’s my invite:

Shelley Powers, otherwise known as The Burning Bird hereby invites you to a new weblog ring. The only criteria for this ring is a desire to laugh, cry, chuckle, snarl, get pissed, get sad, love life, like people, discover new things, explore new territories, open your minds, open your hearts, and above all, have fun — at least once a day.

Bloggers with Attitude Ring Hub

Categories
Just Shelley

Returning Home

Spent the day getting unpacked from the trip, taking care of two weeks worth of mail and bills, as well as getting caught up with my weblog reading and writing. Also had to take a closer look at my financial situation, which isn’t healthy. I must write very consistently and very heavily the next few weeks or I’m going to be in serious financial trouble. I shouldn’t have taken the trip — but I had to get out of my apartment and out of the city. I needed a break.

Speaking of the weblog ring, through it I found and read Elaine of kalilily time, who wrote a wonderful follow up to the posting I did about Bush and the Axis of Evil, as well as a similar posting of Waeguk — Wonder Chicken — Chris wrote. With her posting, Elaine also printed a poem she wrote some time ago, part of which reads:


Someone�s daughter,
leather jacketed, baseball capped,
takes her place in U.N. Square,
lights a candle against the wind, and
joins her voice to the hymn
that pulses like blood
through the streets, through the night,
through the weary dreams of men
reduced to war.

Beautiful.

Time to add new weblogs to my favorites.

Still very tired tonight, very out of it. I looked in the mirror and thought that I couldn’t possibly look more awful than I do now. I tried to go for a little walk for fresh air, but foot is still infected, still not healed. Time to stop ignoring it, and take care of it.

Well, aren’t I Miss Bitchy tonight?

And what’s with the evil blue and salmon colors ? I’ll have you know that these are Arizona Red Rock, soft Sunset Orange, and Desert Spring Blue. Behave yourselves or I’ll hurt you — I’ll bring back the Hot Orange! And force my page to load re-e-e-e-e-a-a-a-a-l slow.

Categories
Technology

De-centralization

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Julian talks about a rant at the de-centralization mailing list at Yahoo. What he says is right on — specifically:

There’s another couple of truisms here that “standards are useless without implementations” and so “There are only de-facto standards”. Everything else is just academic (mutual) mind games.

If a standard isn’t implemented in the real world, it’s nothing more than a theoretical wanna be wrapped up in pretty white paper, tied with a standards group approval bow.

BTW, I used to go out to the de-centralization group and read the postings regularly, until I found one day that the whole exercise irritated me…badly. As much as I admire some people in the P2P community, there is no one in the field who is either God or the Ultimate Answer Person.

I took a look at the group after Julian’s posting. You know what? I found myself getting irritated all over again. And discouraged.