With that in mind, I present to you: The San Diablos Chronicles -- an arc of numerous inter-related stories which take advantage of the internet as a communications medium. The increasing use of multiple columns and all-out non-linear writing may pose something of a challenge to the reader. But this is, in fact, one of the numerous goals in creating these stories -- to challenge the concept of literature as it applies to the web, to challenge the reader to think about what literature is.

Hrm. I found this, linked from Penny Arcade. Naturally, that means lots and lots of people have found it. I remember running across it before (it's been ongoing since '99) but I don't remember much about it.

It's peculliar. Those of you from early Majestic might remember a site called "A Growing Insanity" (now dead) which was a hella-large series of interlocking image maps that presented the illusion of zooming in and out and around and about a cityscape. This is simillar, though textual. And it's something I'll probably take a longer look at when I get the chance. In the mean time, I'm just noting it for the rest of you.

of course it's pink

It's supposed to be pink. Baskin-Robbins is pink.
And brown. And I've got the brown, too.

Do you want the color blocks back? I can put the color blocks back.

floyd's follies [pbem]

[DM] 1/31/2002

“Well, what do you think?” asks Mercy.

Mercy looks at each man, searching for some sign. Elistan looks pale and confused while Floyd looks as if he’s waiting for the punch line of a joke.

“Umm… excuse me… I… ah… need to step out for a minute,” says Elistan as he stands up and goes to the door. “I’ll see you all later.”

Both watch Elistan leave and then turn back towards each other.

“I still don’t believe you,” says Floyd. He winces in pain as he goes to stand. “I guess I’ll wash up a bit, eat and then rest. I really
need to find a healer tomorrow." He shakes his head again in disbelief. "A vampire, huh?”

Floyd moves slowly to the door, trying not to jar any of his injuries too much.

“Stay in your room,” Mercy says, “I’ll get them to bring your dinner there and go see if I can find a healer.”

“What about you?” Floyd says, “You’re pretty beat up too.”

“I’ll take care of that myself.”

i love mornings
[09:31] *** Error logging into AIM: Error code 29: We think this means the AIM/ICQ servers are sick of seeing connections from your IP address. Wait a few minutes and try again.

it always comes down to the same [thing]
I kill a green, rest, go after another, start fighting it, it's buddy runs over, starts attacking me, then a wood imp joins in because wood imps are bitches. The area I've been hunting in goes from a pack of greens with two blues thrown in, to a large pack of yellows. Occasionally my grave will be surrounded by all of them at which point I sit on the top of the hill on the other side of the road and cry.

Who needs to actually play that Nordic-Celtic thing when I've got Smytty to tell me exactly what my experience will be? Osmosis, baby. Yeah. That's two Jacksons that don't have to come out of my mocha budget.

it's such a lovely day, I feel like singing

When I was a lad, I was gloomy and sad
    and I was from the day I was born!
When other babes giggled and gurgled and wiggled
    I proudly was loudly forlorn!
My friends and my family looked at me clammily
    and thought there was something amiss!
When others found various antics hilarious,
    all I could manage was this! :-(
       Or this! :-/
          Or this! :-[
             Or this! :'-(

         ...is nobody's fool!

[current music: Soundtrack - The Court Jester]

wouldn't you like to [know]?
Obsessing. I dunno who is worse, me or Brian. You know how/where/when to find me. I'm still here too.

Oh, I'm definitely worse. But I'm of the same mind these days. I miss her, but there's nothing I can do about. There's no burnt bridges in my fantasy world. I've been at the same address in the aether for 10+ years, phydeaux(a)bigfoot.com is always open. She knows where to find me, too.

If/when she's ready, the door's open.

kerisoovery:<--beams uncontrollably [lines]
Congratulations, Cari. Stand your ground, girl.

[jody] is such a trip
I'm procrastinating writing up a grant. Maybe I'll go shave my legs. Retrieve my best bra from the ex. How I've missed my cleavage while its laid beneath her piles of clothes.

Where's my copy of the book, Dusty? ;-)

homage

n. Special honor or respect shown or expressed publicly.

okay, it's gone now [snapshot]

I'm not sure how I feel about it; about the parody itself or about the lack of reaction it generated. I painstakingly replicated her hockey links with volleyball substitutes (afterall, I know nothing about hockey). I underwent self-evaluation in order answer the who/what/where/when/why/how questions; to provide answers both relevant to me and aping of her. In short, this was not a cheap mock-off but a carefully executed caricature.

Oh well. Even though the response was less than enthusiastic, at least there was some. I guess I can't argue with that.

interplay and bioware reach settlement [pr]

Faerun Evenings to be published worldwide by Infogrames

And here I was sure it was gonna be screwed for good by Interplay.

learning .css

I've got a picture of what to do
I code with tables and colums too
I sit here pecking at the keys without a clue
Oh where's my color? The text is brown?
The frames are bevelled? Tag Not Allowed?
I want to kick myself and hide beneath the ground

I've got an image, I've got an image
I'd like the background centered all by itself
I asked a mentor about the image
She said it's like a big watermark from Hell

My font's Helvetica, or Verdana, or Geneva, or Arial...

I'm learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
Learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
I'm learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
Learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so

I've got an image, I've got an image
I'd like the background centered all by itself
I asked a mentor about the image
She said it's like a big watermark from Hell

My font's Helvetica, or Verdana, or Geneva, or Arial...

I'm learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
Learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
I'm learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
Learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so

No text, no breaks, no lines, no windows
No 'B', no 'I', no 'U', no wonder I'm lost
Everyone has told me that my content's wild
But everyone complains about my lack of style
Everyone

That's why I'm learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
Learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
I'm learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
Learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so...

Learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
Learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
Learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so
Learning .css, I think I'm learning .css, I really think so

[current music: Turning Japanese - The Vapors]
"...no sex, no drugs, no wine, no women, no fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark..."

so: who likes it? who hates? who doesn't [get it]?

you know it's going to be a bad day when...

• Your alarm clock doesn't sound and you awake to find one of your cats sitting on the 'off' button.
• You take a shower and discover that you're out of shampoo.
• Your daily Starbuck's ritual is interrupted because your local shop had a power outage and has no milk.
• Your morning commute takes you onto the highway, and you discover the local traffic helicopter hovering just above you.
• The only visible reason for the delay is a new traffic pattern, and construction vehicles that look better suited to building an orange plastic Hot Wheels™ loop than laying asphalt.
• You arrive at work a half an hour late and discover you're scheduled for a 3-hour training session that they forgot to tell you about...
• ...and it started fifteen minutes ago...
• ...and it's in another building...
• ...twenty minutes away.
• All three of the break room carafes of industrial strength office coffee are empty.
• It's only 9:45 a.m.

ring police schming police [rant]
You know what, Dusty? I don't care anymore. I don't care where y'all put your ring code. I don't care if it even works. You see, I had this thought in my head that the ring was for convenience. It's certainly not for drawing traffic, or we'd be promoting it to others outside the ring. And, we'd be joining other rings as well. So, it must be for convenience.

Well, it's not convenient if it's broken. It's not convenient if you have to go looking for it. It's not convenient if it spawns new windows. But like I said, I don't care any more. I've done one better; I've gone one farther. I wrote a remote control script. I framed y'all and set up a slide show. Now, that's convenience! I don't even have to click the mouse.

So, nyahh! :-P

And no, clicking the mouse is not a reference to Neko's sex book project.

[current music: I Touch Myself - Divinyls]
"...I don't want | anybody else | when I think about you | I dust my shelves..."

once more into the bleach
Bah. So the code to strip the ad square didn't last very long. The server recognized it and started pasting the javascript in the header instead of the footer. Bastiches. Well, I'll keep looking for a fail safe. I hate that thing over there. I wouldn't mind it so much if it were a consistent size that I could design around (like I had done with [mudacom]) but they keep changing the standards.

[current music: One Way or Another - Blondie]

happy birthday, dayna
It's not fair. Even as a dead site, she gets more traffic and better search referrals than I do:

• "s/m mistress riding"
  
• "tNCt bargle nawdle zouss" many, many times over
  
• the ever popular, "js.exception.expolit virus"
  
• ageless project, 75-79
  
• another classic, "melissa sue anderson" and "melissa sue anderson naked"
  
• "flashing hockey puck" (you just know that her flashing had nothing to do w/ hockey)
  
• "poor bobo"
  
• a couple of direct hits on "puck you" and one for "hockey jaya puck" no less
  
• three distinct hits on "don mclean starry starry night mp3" (since when was Dayna hosting .mp3s?)
  
• and finally, a DayPop hit for "reinstall windows"

great pianos, great performers [review]

Tonight marks the second of three shows at the MCI Centre. Three performances by Mr. John & Mr. Joel as this article so eloquently names them. This is not an easy show to attend. The Face to Face tour routinely sells out within moments of going on sale. It sold out on me, too.

Fortunately for me, however, this time around TicketBastard's monopolistic practices actually worked in my favor. Despite having an excruciatingly painful ordeal with their online ordering system, the fact that they regularly withhold information of "additional dates" (thereby manipulating the laws of supply and demand) made it possible for me to sneak into an unannounced pool of tickets.

For my first attempt, I waited patiently all week long for the 10am Saturday cattle call. I dialed-up and logged in and intitiated the trademark Rapid-Reclick-Refresh method of getting into the TM system in the first place. I requested my 2 "just get me in the door and sit me anywhere" tickets for the one and only time these two virtuosos would be in Washington. TM said "you can sit on the floor for $165 each (plus the customary sell us your first born service charges)". I said, "Um, no," and made my way back into the queue.

Eventually, I got a second selection of tickets. Nosebleeds straight across the arena for $85+ each. TicketBastard gives you that disclaimer that says "we'll hold these tickets for 5 minutes while you make up your mind, then we'll release them and you'll have to kiss our holy rings again..." It took me less than 30 seconds to accept these tickets. Of course, committing to purchasing is not good enough for them. Apparently, you have to make up your mind, fill out the credit card questionairre, pass the credit rating, contact your bank, arrange for wire transfer, and have the pony express carry gold boullion to their door... all in this five minute window.

My tickets dissolved into an audible collage of clattering keystrokes. Kersploosh, back into the pool. Once more I wandered into RRR mode, but soon the messages of Server Too Busy, please try again changed into There are no selections available which meet your criteria. At least they said "please".

Here's where I got the goods on them. Six hours later I was fortunate enough to hear on the radio: "Oh, by the way, there's a second show". I rushed home and started the whole thing over again, almost verbatim, and this time I was one smart cookie. Literally. While the RRR went down in one window, I was simulatenously signing away my soul to their convenient "let us keep your credit cards in our wallet" browser cookie. By the time I was close enough to grasp a pair of tickets the pony express was already on it's way, and (Voila!) my wife got a nice Christmas present.

The first show sold out in less than half an hour, the second in about an hour. Show number three was announced the next morning. A simillar practice occurred at Madison Square (NY) and First Union (Philly), except that they got strung along for five or six shows. Does anyone believe these extra apprearances were not scheduled from the start? Was a booking agent really sitting around on that fateful morn, scrambling and screaming, "Oh my gosh, there's a lot of people who want to see this show! What ever will we do? We better see if the venues can give us a few extra nights!"

Bah.

congratulations to visitor number [2000]
splitrock.net @ 1/17/2002 11:09:11 PM

You win a NoPrize™.

is she or isn't she? []

request for comments: name change
I respectfully submit that Private Pain be renamed, "Sex w/ Yer Mom".

twisted tributes by queen_of_spades [live365]
Devo! - Head Like A Hole - "Supercop" soundtrack

<now playing> is definitely something that I've been missing for a while. I'm considering investing in non-free server space, maybe I'll host an open source instance of livejournal so that I can have that groovy functionality returned to me.

i should get me a button
"Don't Ask Me About Enron"

I'm an accountant, not an auditor. Never worked for Big 8 (um, 6... no 5... soon to be 4...) and never had any desire to. I took the CPA exam only because I didn't have time for a Masters degree. I don't know how this could happen, I don't know how it could get this far, and I currently have no informed opinion on the matter.

say it!

an off-the-cuff gut reaction [jiggachick]
(Sabs, you don't have feedback but I know you surf here so here is where I shall stick my nose where it doesn't belong.)

One of my co-workers surprised me today. He's a military type, yet also a quasi-sensitive male...which I can't really fathom, but it's all good...

...I didn't persue the subject with him, because I felt it would be useless. Beliefs like that are deep-seated, and I know how to handle being offended calmly. I'm just glad someone GLBT didn't have to listen to his comments, because it would've hurt to hear someone he/she works with say or imply such a thing.

First thoughts: He's confused and uncomfortable with his own gender preferences. What you describe of him is stereotypical to the point of being cliche, most notably the aggressive/defensive denial of all things not straight.

Second thoughts: Gay or otherwise, how could anyone possibly not like Tim Curry?

apparently it's been that kinda day
[16:59] Basterd: Jin, what kinda animal do Californians like to have sex with?
[16:59] Peachy: shamanHomi?

I am so not going to repeat what ShamanHomi said to kick off the topic.

renegade agent 27
[14:46] 27: story of my life: As a queer black woman feminist...
[14:47] 27: ...I have an understanding of the links between gender oppression and homophobia.

There's just so little I know about you, isn't there?

oh dear, i have a reputation [jiggachick]
[Someone will take *that* out of context, I'm sure. BD, first guess.]

Actually, Sabs, it's the next line that's more fun to slice and dice:

In other news... goals for myself to do during my lunch... break-up... date search... and program my vcr...

I guess the VCR is necessary in case the first goal happens and the second doesn't?

nothing to say
Well, not exactly nothing. I do want to say 'Sorry' for missing a DnD chat last night, I forgot. Nobody talked about it last week, and I forgot. Oops. I'll be out this coming weekend, too. I've got my infrequent but long-term live game session scheduled. This is the tiny group I've been playing with for 10+ years now. We get together maybe every six weeks or so, and this weekend is it.

In other news, it looks like I missed a happenin' shin dig on Saturday night. Not that there's been any mind boggling tales passed around yet, but Z put up some photos already and the cast of characters looks like an ecclectic bit of fun. I regret not being able to attend, but there were extenuating circumstances (the least of which was "not being invited"). Yeah, yeah, I know... Danza made a general invite on Friday, but that was under duress from Jin's brow-beating. It's not as if there was already an evite in muda's inbox just waiting to be picked up. In fact, there wasn't an evite even after Jin's brow-beating (though Dusty got one just so she could RSVP to the negative). But I'm not above crashing a party if there are friends in attendance I can hide behind.

Like I said, I regret not being there. It was very likely the first, last, and only occassion where Majestic community would be congregating. On the other hand, that doesn't necessarily mean I've lost my one and only shot at live introductions. Both sides of my family still hail from SoCal, and my father-in-law's relations are in Sacremento. The next time I make it out to LA or the Bay, I'll be sure to make it known. Pay attention folks, there may be lunch or a margarita in it for you.

That's enough for now. I'm under the gun to get things done, and this debilitating habit of perpetual procrastination has got to stop.

it's a small world after all [hoshq]
hoshq - a southerner in the far north
A Canadian twenty-something with a camera, a passport and really itchy feet. Join him on his adventures to southeast asia, the Yukon and other strange and distant places.

Why do I tell you this? Because I was tinkering with BlogHop today. I decided to add myself to one of those rate me pages, not so much to promote this site (of which I acknowledge it's stellar suckage) but to draw reciprocal links. In other words, if someone finds me of interest through a search at this index wouldn't it go to reason that I may find their site interesting in return? Of course, I'm too apathetic to seek out others so I'll let them do the work and I'll peek at their pages from my comments and sitelogs.

But that doesn't yet explain why I'm mentioning Hoshkiw. When I was at bloghop, looking around, I found a peculiar looking icon. Color blocks. These colors. I said to myself: "Look, Self. Someone else is using this blogger template." So I went there to confirm my supposition. Lo and behold, Hoshkiw is the designer behind the template! (Which I would have known had I remembered my own META tags.)

The moral of the story is: metablogs and indicies - they're not just for vanity. You can actually uncover some trivial tidbits.

speaking of conjesteddruler [googol]
5 Year Complete AOL Instant Messenger Logs
In November of 2001 AOL Time Warner, responding to a subpoena from Attorney General John Ashcroft, made available to the Justice Department a complete archive of all private conversations held over AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). Through the power of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Googol was able to obtain a copy of this entire logfile, totaling over 2 terabytes of conversations previously thought to be private. This unique resource provides insight into the minds of potential anti-American terrorists, cheating spouses, and countless computer neophytes.

Conversations like this one...

section viii. death [mmmm]
VIII. 3. b. 3. If the scenario calls for resurrection, report to your assigned dead pile and stay there until resurrected. Otherwise, get off the battlefield.

spiny norman university bbs [snubbs]
From early 1985 through the end of 1989, when I moved back to California, I operated SNUBBS in the Washington, DC area. Although it was never the busiest BBS in the area, it was always one of the most interesting.

In the SNUBBS lecture hall, each student could claim a desk and give it a name or slogan. Then he or she and the other students could write, one line at a time, grafitti on the desk, which would keep the most recent fifteen lines. As the grafitti scrolled, different idioms appeared on different desks. Some would evolve into collective story-writing, others into poetry, and (quite commonly) into pun wars.

old skool - the golden years - one of my earliest haunts

well, it beats the [other] choices hands down
[17:05] *** conjestedDruler has joined the chat.
[17:05] conjestedDruler: Ahhhh..
[17:05] conjestedDruler: much better
[17:05] conjestedDruler: *sniff* Sorry
[17:06] conjestedDruler: its not contagious
[17:09] conjestedDruler: Oh well... off to the Hindu singles chat room.
[17:09] conjestedDruler: take care you freakers
[17:09] *** conjestedDruler has left the chat.

sorry, publishing is temporarily unavailable [why?]

This is an extremely ironic circumstance. The entry I was attempting to publish, was a comment on the lack of recent entries from my fellows linked to the left. Harrumph.

Once again, it all comes down to "you get what you pay for." Fortunately, blogging is not mission-critical and I can stand to do without it.

welcome back, dementites and dementoids, it's time to wind up your [browser]
The Dr. Demento Show #01-52 - December 30, 2001
Special Topic: The Funny 25

#25 Livin' La Vida Broka - The Dan Orr Project
#24 Werecow - Flippy T. Fishead & The Mighty Ground Beeves
#23 Fish Heads - Barnes & Barnes
#22 Reinstalling Windows - Les Barker
#21 Harry Potter, Harry Potter (Lord Voldemort's Letter) - Stan Williamson
#20 The Night Santa Went Crazy (extra gory version) - "Weird Al" Yankovic
#19 Have A Peanut Butter Sandwich - Art Paul Schlosser
#18 Tonight Is The Night - Lorne Elliott
#17 Another One Rides the Bus - "Weird Al" Yankovic
#16 Dead Puppies - Ogden Edsl Wahalia Blues Ensemble Mondo Bizzario Band
#15 The Scotsman - Bryan Bowers
#14 Cows With Guns - Dana Lyons
#13 The Chainsaw Juggler (Hit Record version) (edit) - The Four Postmen
#12 Kick Ass USA - Milo Tremley
#11 Ti Kwan Leep/Boot to the Head - The Frantics
#10 The Smoke-Off - Shel Silverstein
#9 They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! - Napoleon XIV
#8 Stoned People - Eric Schwartz
#7 Viagra In The Waters - Camille West
#6 Bulbous Bouffant - Radio Free Vestibule
#5 First House - Tom Tuerff
#4 The Devil Went To Jamaica - Travis Meyer
#3 Suicide Hotline - Mr. X's Briefcase
#2 Charliesomething - Eric Schwartz
... (you'll have to listen yourself) ...

selective editing [jiggachick]
26 -- really good sex after abstaining due to… not much else... and I had to walk home in the 20 degree weather dripping and sticky

Geez, Neko. At least get her a cab.

ah, the good ol' days [rasp]
Now, I can see a lot of you who weren't into the 'net back in the day asking, "What the fuck is ChaosMUCK?" I'll start by answering the question, "What the fuck is a MUCK?"

I pulled a hell of a lot more 'all-nighters' in college by traipsing around MUDs than I ever did cramming for exams.

brokensoul

Moving up the start time for Sunday's session: 7pm eastern (6 central 5 mountain 4 pacific). Nick & I got permission from Matt to lobby for an earlier start, and so far we've got approval from Munin & 27, too. The rest of you we'll ask when we see you... or you can RSVP...

[pro•ject]
an undertaking requiring concerted effort.

[gu•ten•berg]
German printer who is traditionally considered the inventor of movable type.

[pro•ject gu•ten•berg]
the brainchild of Michael Hart, who in 1971 decided that it would be a really good idea if lots of famous and important texts were freely available to everyone in the world. Since then, he has been joined by hundreds of volunteers who share his vision. Now, almost thirty years later, Project Gutenberg publishes an average of one Etext every day!

Over the holidays I re-read R.A.Heinlein's Number of the Beast which holds the premise that fiction is glimpses into innumerable alternate universes which co-exist in 6th dimensional geometry (three durational vectors, as well as three spacial vectors). But accelerated mathematics is not the point; my point is that in referencing these alternaties, Bob pays hommage to many works of science fiction and fantasy which for one reason or another have eluded me.

For example, I have never read Oz. I've never needed to. I've grown up with Judy Garland and her rainbow gateway. I've never read Wonderland. Disney animators beat me to it. The list goes on.

Yesterday, I decided to do some digging at Amazon and see what I could find in terms of the classics. In many cases I was presented with volumes and volumes of pulp series, with no clear chronology. (Oz is 9+ books in the 1st series? There's a second series?) I broadened my search to include literary bibliographies, and my result was astonishing.

I've heard of Project Gutenberg before. But it wasn't until yesterday that I discovered it's vastness and variety. This weekend, I'm starting with Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars. I hear Barsoom is beautiful this time of year...

'should be', not 'is'

Yeah, I too took the Resolution quiz making the rounds.
I scored the same as [Pam].

metafilter comments on [13431]
Band names are out; blog names are in.

back to work

The holiday vacation is over and it's time to pay the piper for the time off. I'll be busybusybusy for the rest of the week at least (I packed a change of clothes when I got ready for work this morning, I expect to be at my desk until Saturday). If you don't see me, you know why.

In the meantime, here's a couple of notes to tide you over:
1) Dusty & Val - I'm sure you're aware that surrealmedium is offline again. In the off chance that you're not; there, I've told you. Please to fix? I miss.
2) Matt (and Peachy, Smytty, & Moony) - Thanks for the game Sunday, I enjoyed myself. We've already talked about the duration of the session, so I won't dwell on it. I plan on playing again this Sunday, but under one stipulation: at 12 midnight (my time, eastern) I turn into a pumpkin and cut the modem. Mid-sentence, even. If that's not cool, let me know. Maybe we start earlier? Maybe I'll just lurk and handle NPCs for you instead of play a regular character?
3) There is no number three.
4) Dayna - Get your phat ass back online. I know you aren't reading this (how could you be?) but I trust that you're picking up the vibe anyway.
5) Apparently, there is no number five, either. I had one, but lost my train of thought. Must mean that this is a good time to say good bye.

Good bye.