If you have no idea what I'm about to write on, then you are more out of touch then even I am, and that's saying something. On June 7th, 2005, London was blighted, by the worst attack on it's very streets since World War II. 37 people were killed, and at least 700 wounded when four bombs in various subway carriages, and bus trolleys went off near simultaneously. The resulting explosions, at first thought to be a massive gas leaks, wrecked havoc on the London mass transit system. Not to long afterward, a little known Jihadist website Al-Qal'ah, made a claim to this atrocity and further warned all those who support the Iraq invansion are under threat now to, unless they pull their troops out, to paraphrase.
Being one least likely to jump on a global bandwagon, I debated briefly, whether to post a story about this at all. But then while reading BoingBoing, and RangelMD, I was struck with the above quote. The quote itself is a slight ripoff of something that was said after the Trade Center attack in New York, but in itself, is truth. When tragedy strikes, often as not, human beings find themselves even at incredible divide, suddenly united under one roof. They are reminded, ever so briefly, that all people, no matter their stature, no matter their wealth, race, descent, sex, or religion, can be killed by the slightest of whims, of people who really have no concern for life, no matter what their rhetoric.
And for the briefest of instances, we realize that this is one world, warts and all.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Friday, June 24, 2005
[TB] Work vs Blogging
One of the topics I bring up occasionaly is on the various interactions between work, and blogging. Basically in this day and age it has become so very easy to expound in a semi-public forum on such a wide ranging set of topics, that some blogs have become all about what we have to put up with everyday. That is, blogging has become the 21st century water cooler, where we can at no expense to ourselves gossip about the latest going on's of our officemates, our co-workers, and the successes and failures of our umbrella that is the company whom employs us. The downside to having such a marvelous new land to gossip and gripe in, is that it may be a little to public.
Like the old joke about the coworker whose very good at impersonating the boss, in a funny, and not so good way, who one day gets caught by said boss, writing in a blog can inherently be a dangerous medium for even the most average of grippers to easily get caught in. And unfortunately when you are displaying in such an open space the problems of a company and the people in it, it's almost inevitable that when discovered, the usual reward is to be fired. But when the news is dish, and your friends not quite as sympathetic, what are you going to do?
One early trend that seems to be most popular is to learn how to be both anonymous, and amphorous about what you are writing. You hide the details, bury the real names of everyone involved and try to keep the story intact while not giving away to those home-brewed detectives the who, what, and where that could get you spotted and exiled. This method of course has it's own drawbacks, as you have to bend backwards daily and you are constantly looking of your shoulder to make sure no one is watching you, watching them.
On the other hand you can do like me. Avoid the problem by not mentioning friends problems, company gossip, or even your neighbor's actions. Instead if you have to comment, make it insightful, not backstabbing, put out both sides, even if one is extreme, and is moderate. Above all, learn to have fun with it and not worry, because you know what? In the end life is like a box of choclates, sweet, messy, and fatening, but horribly delicous once you get done.
Like the old joke about the coworker whose very good at impersonating the boss, in a funny, and not so good way, who one day gets caught by said boss, writing in a blog can inherently be a dangerous medium for even the most average of grippers to easily get caught in. And unfortunately when you are displaying in such an open space the problems of a company and the people in it, it's almost inevitable that when discovered, the usual reward is to be fired. But when the news is dish, and your friends not quite as sympathetic, what are you going to do?
One early trend that seems to be most popular is to learn how to be both anonymous, and amphorous about what you are writing. You hide the details, bury the real names of everyone involved and try to keep the story intact while not giving away to those home-brewed detectives the who, what, and where that could get you spotted and exiled. This method of course has it's own drawbacks, as you have to bend backwards daily and you are constantly looking of your shoulder to make sure no one is watching you, watching them.
On the other hand you can do like me. Avoid the problem by not mentioning friends problems, company gossip, or even your neighbor's actions. Instead if you have to comment, make it insightful, not backstabbing, put out both sides, even if one is extreme, and is moderate. Above all, learn to have fun with it and not worry, because you know what? In the end life is like a box of choclates, sweet, messy, and fatening, but horribly delicous once you get done.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
[TB] I was gently reminded today,...
I was gently reminded today, that I hadn't posted in awhile. Awhile of course being two months. I don't have any really cool or good excuse for this, other then to say, I just didn't feel like it. Not in the, I'm lazy and couldn't think of anything to say, there is always something going on, even as something as inane as which movie sucked more "Bad(der) Santa", or "The Manchurian Candiate" (2004). More it was the didn't feel like it as in I just couldn't write.
My soul was willing, my brain was not. Or is that the reverse?
Basically I had slipped into this visual input/output mode where I couldn't write or express myself in cognitive ways. I could communicate, but I couldn't expound. I could see, taste, and smell, but I couldn't hear or speak right. I gobbled up seasons worth of TV shows for the first time in six months, cause they were short, flashy, and all visual. But I couldn't stand to get through 2 minutes of Cary Grant's "Bringing Up Baby".
My imagination had shut down, and in it's place was this vacant life-vamping thing. I didn't do anything important. I didn't do anything utterly exciting unless it was by accident or outside force. I did work on some sutff around the house, but there was no umph behind it. I had stopped being hyper, and I did not know, or really care why. I wasn't depressed, but I wasn't exuberant either. I was just. Unless you've been there, you wouldn't understand.
Then one day, about a week ago, it snapped. Something, even I don't know what, changed. Maybe it was the walking with 20,000 other people on a hot day, to support a cause that hadn't directly touched my life, but was important. Maybe it was the sudden snap from having trouble sleeping, to getting sleep when I wanted without problem. Or maybe something else entirely.
Whatever it was, the pilot light was lit, and I started thinking again. I started reading all my websites, heck I picked up a book and read it front to back in two days again, and I started communicating. So when I saw a new blog out there that really stoked the fires of creativity I realized, I had forgotten my own creation. Thus I'm writing here again today, and hopefully many days to come.
My soul was willing, my brain was not. Or is that the reverse?
Basically I had slipped into this visual input/output mode where I couldn't write or express myself in cognitive ways. I could communicate, but I couldn't expound. I could see, taste, and smell, but I couldn't hear or speak right. I gobbled up seasons worth of TV shows for the first time in six months, cause they were short, flashy, and all visual. But I couldn't stand to get through 2 minutes of Cary Grant's "Bringing Up Baby".
My imagination had shut down, and in it's place was this vacant life-vamping thing. I didn't do anything important. I didn't do anything utterly exciting unless it was by accident or outside force. I did work on some sutff around the house, but there was no umph behind it. I had stopped being hyper, and I did not know, or really care why. I wasn't depressed, but I wasn't exuberant either. I was just. Unless you've been there, you wouldn't understand.
Then one day, about a week ago, it snapped. Something, even I don't know what, changed. Maybe it was the walking with 20,000 other people on a hot day, to support a cause that hadn't directly touched my life, but was important. Maybe it was the sudden snap from having trouble sleeping, to getting sleep when I wanted without problem. Or maybe something else entirely.
Whatever it was, the pilot light was lit, and I started thinking again. I started reading all my websites, heck I picked up a book and read it front to back in two days again, and I started communicating. So when I saw a new blog out there that really stoked the fires of creativity I realized, I had forgotten my own creation. Thus I'm writing here again today, and hopefully many days to come.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
[TB] Reboot
Due to various stuff going on, I'm trying to consolidate my blogs a little. I'm going to eliminate the one at Mindspring.com , keep the one at whtedrgn.blogs.com active as my main, while keeping this one at whtedrgn.blogspot.com as my backup and play toy for the time being. In the coming days hopefully I'll be able to rassle this blog around to look more like my main blog. From there it's an "I have no clue" as to which I'll stay with.
Ya'll cool with that?
Ya'll cool with that?
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