sat 03 nov 01
y'know, the world wide web is sorta like route 66/interstate 40. we've got new, faster byways. but boy, we sure have some wrecks by the side of the road. and check out the abandoned hotels with concrete teepees ... did people actually stay in those things? look at those 'first-generation' websites. did people actually take those seriously? why are they still around? think about it. scary thing is, noone would ever contemplate building a route 66-era attraction now, whereas on the 'net folks are still building sites with the BLINK tag ...
the trail of painted ponies. go through the gallery (watch for bad ui; there's a lot of pix here). the 'harley horse' had sound effects!
just a note, 911 was busy when the bystanders and helpers tried to call. took way too long to get through, according to those who helped the young lady get out of the wreckage.
based on the last 24 hours, i've made a pact to keep a good set of gloves and a few tools in the back of my car. and made a mental note to renew my cpr rating.
strange synchronicities lurk. last night, coming home from a bit of shopping, i saw cherrytops up ahead. turns out a pickup truck and house trailer had flipped. trailer was on it's side, truck was right-side up with it's tail suspended about six feet in the air. police were already there. just now, going into town to see the 'trail of painted ponies' exhibit (before they're auctioned off), there were about five cars pulled over to the side of i-25. as i began to pass, i saw the side of a sedan in the wide grassy median between north and south lanes, in a culvert. pulled over fast, got out of the car and ran down. everyone had things well in hand ... blankets for the victim, feet raised, people climbing into the car to turn off the engine. even a doctor was there already. but good lord ... the car must have flipped at least four times. couldn't tell if it was a blowout or what. what made it even more eerie was that this was almost the same exact spot as the flip the night before, except the opposite side of the road.
reuters: october 20 raid by delta force met heavy resistance. 12 injured, 3 seriously. this isn't iraq, and we aren't as invincible as we think.
i'll miss the old girl. ended up cranky as an old studebaker, but in her heyday, she was a looker ...
then again, weblogs.com is indirectly responsible for the birth of dangerousmeta!. brent, i believe, posted a link to that advisory about dangerous meta characters while i was trying to cobble up a banner for weblogs.com (june, july 2000?). i patched together a silly little graphic for 'dangerous meta characters' and posted it. over the next week or so, i became so enamored of the name and the graphic, i began the planning for this "new" weblog.
getting sentimental in my dotage, eh?
i still remember my trepidation at first signing up for the weblogs.com service. as with my very first weblog post, i felt i was exposing my inmost self to a wider audience, people 'in the know.' good lord, the entire internet's out there! what would they think of my writings? scared the hell out of me ... but i had to do it. like a moth to a flame. pressing the 'submit' button, i felt iced vodka being injected in my brain. "oh, yeah. it's for real now." ah ... "beginner's mind" ... i miss that feeling about weblogging. thank goodness that every so often, i can introduce a friend or a client to it, and relive it once again ...
i could suggest an irish wake for the demise of the old weblogs.com ... storytelling lends itself well to our medium, right?
yahoonews: the news media, the front line of the war. " ... 2-year-old lomesh ... is tumbling on the cushions of the sofa and uttering his first english words: 'finished,' 'died,' 'pentagon.'"
grottoes of skhinhousa: ide development studio.
itunes 2 released. cool new features. but it looks like the os x version has been pulled temporarily. installation problems ...
cnet: the microsoft settlement, the devil's in the details. "it is unclear whether pc makers can sell pc's without windows." big breakthrough. pffft.
pcworld: xp's copy protection cracked. also, 3 ghz pentium 4.
slate: how can i help? a role for artists and writers. "emerging from the cave, making an end to triviality and self-disgust ... that alone would be a reward."
the new york review of books: the future of science, and the universe. after reading this, i need to get out into the mountains for a walk in the clear air ...
guardian.uk: another article on the da vinci bridge, but with a pic this time.
irish times: taliban hangs three royalist supporters.
times of india: a saudi paper believes mossad was behind the september 11 attacks.
ny times letters to the editor: on the front lines of the anthrax war. prepare for flu season paranoia now, not later. or, be ready for the backlash.
ny times op-ed: what if cipro stopped working. we must discontinue use of high-level antibiotics in livestock.
ny times: experts on islam pointing fingers at each other.
ny times: from yesterday, blunt words to describe reality at the wtc site. the writer is being a little disingenuous; it *was* clear from the beginning that there would be few remains. but the mayor had a very fine line to tread, for the victims, for the country. i guess the mayoral race must be heating up in new york to engender this kind of article.
ny times: more and more, the war is viewed as america's.
reuters: attacks had a heavy economic toll. a bright spot? some think that given most recessions average about sixteen months, we may already be halfway through ...
cnn: new bin laden statement. note the obscuring backdrop this time ... the man has access to the news media of some kind. also, where'd he get that smashing camoflage jacket?
daily telegraph.uk: paul warnke has passed on. "the nuts have won."
wow, the land of strange dreams last night. maybe it was from editing all the photographs from the vacation. i remember riding a pearlescent indian motorcycle into the desert ...