And when we come to think of it, goodness is uneventful. It does not flash, it grows. It is deep, quiet, and very simple. It passes not with oratory, it is commonly foreign to riches, nor does it often sit in the places of the mighty; but may be felt in the touch of a friendly hand or the look of a kindly eye.
–David Grayson
Month: September 2003 Page 1 of 2
Tuesday was certainly a mix of a day. On the whole, it was positive, but…
OK, this is too amusing not to share.
Radiohead Rorschach
An innocent fifth grader’s picture is worth a thousand-word critical analysis.
BY ROB HARVILLA
It is no longer possible to have an original opinion on Radiohead.
You’ve absorbed the deified albums, quarreled over the rock critic pontifications, frowned at the guarded, combative interviews. Thom Yorke’s ugly-stick-beaten mug has peered at you from the pages of every magazine known to man; his every word and every note has ignited its own individual Internet flame war. Mass media has bombarded us with Radiohead critique, rendering us unable to generate an unfiltered opinion of our own.
When you listen to Radiohead, you’re no longer actually listening to Radiohead — you’re listening to everyone’s opinion about Radiohead. It’s impossible to separate what you hear from what you’ve read. You are betrayed by what you know, and you know way too much.
Thus, in order to solicit an honest, undiluted opinion about Radiohead, you’d have to find the proverbial People Living Under Rocks. As People Living Under Rocks are unavailable, let’s use fifth graders.
(link found via John Scalzi)
I know kitanzi would murder me in my sleep if I started dragging junk like this into the house, but…
Steve Wozniak OK’s Apple I replicas
My first computer was an Apple ][, and I adored it. I used it up until it finally gave up the ghost sometime in 1991, and replaced it with an Amiga. I didn’t actually own a PC until 1994, when I began teaching computer applications and programming at a business school in Athens, GA, and found it useful to have the platform I was teaching at my home. And the whole history of computers is a fascination for me. Too cool!
(linked via lysana. Thanks!)
I don’t do politics very often, and maybe I should, but sometime in my late 20s I lost my stomach for it. On the other hand, this is important stuff. As Mike Peterson pointed out once, “To see people dismiss “politics” as a topic no more compelling than golf or the latest sitcom is very frightening. It’s like someone walking across a superhighway but casually saying that they aren’t interested in automobiles so they don’t bother to look.”
So take a moment of your time and read this interview with NY Times columnist Paul Krugman which appeared in Kevin Drum’s blog CalPundit.
Don’t skip it. Cause, y’know, this is important stuff.
You can live three days without bread–without poetry, never…you need
art.
Art is an infinitely precious good, a draught both refreshing and
cheering which restores the stomach and the mind to the natural
equilibrium of the ideal. You understand its function , you gentlemen of
the bourgeoisie–whether lawgivers or businessmen–when the seventh or
eighth hour strikes and you bend your tired head towards the embers of
your hearth or the cushions of your armchair. That is the time when a
keener desire and a more active reverie would refresh you after your
daily labors.
–Charles Baudelaire “To the Bourgeois” – The Salon of 1846 (1846)
I posted this this morning to a newsgroup that I read, but as I look over it, I realize that it’s applicable to all online communities, really, and thought it might be something worth putting here too. I’ve been a member of (and a builder of) many online communities in the 15 years that I’ve been on the Net, and these are some things that came out of my observations from those experiences.
Newsgroups are more than just asyncronous message boards. They become, ultimately, communities. And like all communities, they develop cultures.
Social newsgroups especially do this, but newsgroups that are primarily for information swapping do it as well. comp.lang.perl has a very distinct culture, as an example.
The other thing that communities do is develop a shared history. People who have lived in and been active in the community share experiences with one another, and this builds bonds between them.
And sure, this *can* be intimidating to the New Kid In Town. Here’s a group of people who have laughed together, cried together, shared each others pain, rejoiced in each others small daily triumphs. That creates a group of people who are, in many ways, fiercely loyal to one another. In the best of worlds, it becomes a kind of family. A noisy, sometimes disfunctional family that squabbles amongst itself as often as not. But a family, none the less.
You can’t just come and take what you need from here. You can’t demand to be a part of this. There’s a contract, unspoken, yet as binding as any blood oath. There’s a price for sharing this warmth.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t become a part of this community. Come, learn its ways, observe the paths we walk. See the simple love that grows between people just because they choose to share a piece of their life with others. You can be a part of this. It’s a simple choice. A choice, right now, between fear and love.
Come and join it. Give a bit of yourself to the group, unselfishly, unafraid. What you give to the group will be returned to you, and more.
It’s your choice.
So make sure you have the perfect gifts. How about a His ‘n Her Motion Activated Toilet Night Light
…found in bardling‘s journal:
In a comment sum up your thoughts about me in one word. Then put this on your journal to see what everyone else thinks of you.
A meme! A palpable meme! Taken from gridlore, who obviously has his finger on the pulse of the cool kids these days! (Slight addition to question six, to make it less “yes or no”).
1. How did you first find my journal?
2. Why did you originally decide to friend me?
3. What’s your favorite part of my journal?
4. What’s your least favorite part of my journal?
5. Ask me a question. Be as random as you want.
6. Have you ever met me in person? If you have, what’s your favourite memory involving me?