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Underworld (***)

Monday, September 29, 2003 10:48

We have the makings of a new cult franchise.

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The Great Gathering is Underway!

Friday, September 26, 2003 23:12

This is BNN correspondent Bitscape, peporting LIVE from Lincoln, NE!

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The cool keyboard is toasted; Off to Lincoln NE tomorrow

Thursday, September 25, 2003 22:07

My keyboard adventures were already documented in the content collective, so I won't bother writing about the whole thing again here. The spare cheapo keyboard I am using now sucks, but it beats nothing. One of these days, I'll have to try to find another good one.

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Cell phones, routing, etc.

Thursday, September 25, 2003 03:05

While millions of clueless Windows users spread their viruses and worms, I mostly stand around on the sidelines and yawn. Except when one of them throws a bunch of crap at (or through, as the case may be with mail servers) at a box I have root on. Then I... Well, actually I yawn at that too. Ho hum.

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Complete Slacker's Guide to Content in the Digital Age

Friday, September 19, 2003 00:14

Bitscape's 523rd Free Time Hypothesis: Regardless of how much free time one actually has, the average amount of time available to do "stuff I've been meaning to get around to" approaches an asymptote of 0.

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Crank up the paranoia!

Saturday, September 13, 2003 03:12

Oh dear. I've been doing nothing but watching Alias episodes for the past... 8+ hours? This is craziness.

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Jinxed

Friday, September 12, 2003 02:55

Visited $mentor[0] today. We hiked a good hike. I brought some of my bean dip, and we ate it. (I seem to be on a continuing quest to spread my bean dip to everyone I come into contact with. Bean dip for all!)

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Nothing to see here, move along

Thursday, September 11, 2003 00:34

Today, I made another giant pot of bean dip. Spiced to perfection.

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The RIAA sends Bitscape a message, loud and clear

Sunday, September 7, 2003 23:22

Readers with long memories and sharp attention spans might recall that a couple of weeks ago, Bitscape was so impressed with some of the music he had downloaded from a P2P network, after hearing a few samples of the artist on a now defunct radio station, he decided to purchase a complete high quality legal copy of the music online.

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This Week's Update

Sunday, September 7, 2003 22:26

Hmmmm... Since the last rambling....

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Tortured Heroes with Dark Pasts

Tuesday, September 2, 2003 17:59

Circa 20 minutes ago, I went to Best Buy thinking I'd probably just get the Xena set, since I am on a very limited budget these days, and spending more than $100 in a single week on dvds would psychologically qualify as "excessive".

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Zoom Zoom Burn

Tuesday, September 2, 2003 02:21

Lo, ye content, how have I forsaken thee?

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Shoutouts

Jäger: Librarians to the rescue! [www.npr.org]
2003-09-01 17:32:24

Bitscape: Can I get a Giles action figure?
2003-09-01 22:49:16

bouncing purchased a copy of Al Franken's new book today.
2003-09-01 23:37:30

Bitscape: bouncing, is your website fair and balanced? If you say yes, Fox will sue you.
2003-09-02 01:54:25

Linknoid: That Janto Keyboard does not appear that it would be any easier to play than a normal keyboard
2003-09-02 06:41:30

Linknoid: It appears to line up every other semitone on each row, therefore removing any natural disposition towards a given scale
2003-09-02 06:43:25

Linknoid: I will admit, though, once you learned it, it would make transposition trivial
2003-09-02 06:44:02

Linknoid: But for the same reason, it would make playing by feel much more difficult.
2003-09-02 06:45:53

bouncing: bitscape, neither is my website fair, nor is it balanced.
2003-09-02 10:17:17

Bitscape: From the incredulous quotes department. Tom DeLay says, " John Ashcroft loves America...John Ashcroft has sacrificed for his country, and devoted his life to serving it. He is as kind, generous, and patriotic a man as I've ever met." Can it get any more ridiculous? [releases.usnewswire.com]
2003-09-02 13:41:20

Zan Lynx: What's ridiculous about those statements?
2003-09-03 08:18:15

Jäger: One man's patriot is another man's tyrrant. (Or terrorist.)
2003-09-03 14:46:20

Bitscape: What's ridiculous is using those words to describe John Ashcroft, the same man who wants to turn America into a police state.
2003-09-03 16:03:59

Bitscape: Although... I suppose it could be said that Ashcroft "loves" America the same way Hitler "loved" Germany. *shrug*
2003-09-03 17:35:25

Jungland: it could be worse....like dean....
2003-09-03 20:42:36

Jäger: And the flamewar begins!
2003-09-03 21:20:38

Bitscape: Whatever. Show me 1 instance where Dean has advocated the Patriot Act, or anything with similarly heinous implications for civil liberties, and I'll retract my support for him.
2003-09-04 13:03:43

Bitscape: Sweet. Democracy Now has ogg vorbis downloads of their daily shows. Now I don't have to be up at 7am to listen to it on KGNU! ;)
2003-09-04 16:38:21

Bitscape: [www.democracynow.org]
2003-09-04 16:38:35

Jungland: [rutlandherald.nybor.com]
2003-09-04 20:26:41

Bitscape: That article does sound bad, although it also says, "Dean said he had not taken a position on these questions." If he was merely predicting that a debate would take place, he was right. If he was taking an anti-civil liberties position in that debate, I would have a problem.
2003-09-04 21:15:07

Bitscape: Since then, he has taken a clear position on the side of protecting and restoring civil liberties, while Ashcroft continues to campaign for further restriction of freedoms. [www.deanforamerica.com]
2003-09-04 21:21:22

Jungland: [www.dissidentvoice.org]
2003-09-05 06:42:15

bouncing: Although it seems to me that John Ashcroft loves America like a wife-beater loves his family, I think it is indeed unfair to critisize John Ashcroft's patriotism or love of America. Indeed, not long ago, it was Ashcroft himself who was accusing people who didn't support his war on liberty as "unpatriotic" -- remember when anti-war wasn't patriotic?
2003-09-05 14:22:08

bouncing: My point is, stick to the issues. John Ashcroft's POLICIES are anti-Democracy. And because _I_ love America, I want Democracy for it.
2003-09-05 14:23:22

bouncing: One link which includes not footnotes that makes some vague critisisms of Dean hardly seems like a credible source to me. I recall a quote from when Dean spoke in San Antonio: "Do you want an Attorney General you're not afraid of?"
2003-09-05 14:27:47

bouncing: Also, I think in the next 14 months, we can expact a total character assasination of Dean. Be ready.
2003-09-05 14:29:51

Zan Lynx: Every politician gets that. In Bush's case I don't think it ever stopped.
2003-09-05 20:27:36

bouncing has acquired a bumper sticker from a fellow Deaner that reads: "Clinton lied about sex. Bush lied about war. I'll take sex over war anyday."
2003-09-05 23:11:47

Jäger: Bitscape! [www.sky.com]
2003-09-07 09:32:54

Bitscape: Good for them.
2003-09-07 19:37:21

bouncing: Clearly, the RIAA wants you to download music. Otherwise, they wouldn't be selling defective CDs.
2003-09-09 17:59:23

Bitscape: They certainly haven't grasped this whole "customer satisfaction" concept.
2003-09-10 00:02:15

Bitscape: I'm curious how many 12-year-old girls they'll have to sue before their sales plummet to new yet-unheard-of lows.
2003-09-10 00:03:01

bouncing: Such drops in sales would certainly be attributed to file trading.
2003-09-10 22:24:09

bouncing: Ah yes. Good old Faux News Network.
2003-09-11 10:02:53

Yanthor: I agree with your comments regarding Fox. I have also noticed that all the news channels seem to use strong active words like "attack" for sensationalistic reasons. I am heartened that it is coming out in the open that the White House is not pleased with Rumsfeld. Bush has a history of being really supportive of the people he puts in positions, so for this to get out in the open, I think the friction is pretty strong. I would just LOVE for Bush to fire Rumsfeld.
2003-09-11 13:12:51

bouncing: Al Franken's book, "Lies" has many documented examples of flat-ass lies from Fox News. And, I found one myself today, all by myself! [www.foxnews.com] -- Fox News did NOT sponsor the debate, the CBC simply chose to air the debate. If Fox had sponsored the debate, that would be a good point that NYT only pointed out the CBC: [www.nytimes.com]
2003-09-11 15:00:50

bouncing: Of course, since Fox News Staff Nutcase O'Reilly was lying, his point is a lot less compelling. That's the thing about Fox News. It would be really compelling, innovative news, as I thought it was when I started watching. Then, I noticed that all they do is lie. Which, as I said, makes their coverage less useful.
2003-09-11 15:01:54

bouncing: BTW, Bitscape, I've got a copy of Liars I'm almost done reading. Wanna borrow it?
2003-09-11 15:03:57

Jäger: I should trademark the term "unfair and unbalanced" for my own news channel and sue Fox News for infringing on my trademark.
2003-09-11 16:30:29

Yanthor: lol
2003-09-11 22:12:44

Bitscape: bouncing, yeah, I think I would enjoy reading it.
2003-09-12 01:31:56

Bitscape: A scant few years ago, a parody such as this would have been likely only to be published by a "fringe" group such as FSF. But now, next on msnbc. [www.msnbc.com]
2003-09-12 15:39:33

Jäger: Bitscape, this has come in handy for me determining the existance of memory problems: [www.memtest86.com]
2003-09-12 17:38:12

Jäger engages in a little useful karma whoring: [slashdot.org]
2003-09-12 20:41:22

Jäger: Welcome to the Alias addict family, Bitscape. :)
2003-09-13 10:46:48

Bitscape: Dance junkies and 102.1x refugees unite! [euroadrenaline.com]
2003-09-14 23:24:45

bouncing: Scott will be there: [j-walk.com]
2003-09-15 09:28:36

Jäger: Just when I thought the world couldn't get any stranger: [www.usatoday.com]
2003-09-15 18:52:10

Bitscape: Where fiction meets reality. The CIA needs you! [www.salon.com]
2003-09-16 02:20:15

bouncing: I guess it could be argued that a latte tax is a "luxary" tax.
2003-09-16 15:25:16

Zan Lynx: If the tax was being proposed by conservative politicans and was applied equally to everyone, it could be known as the "latte fair" tax. :-)
2003-09-16 22:33:24

scott: with bouncing's help, i got some tickets, and attended the "The 3rd Annual Nigerian Email Conference" it was great, oyu should've been there. keep an eye out for my latest email that promises to help you lose weight while watching fox.
2003-09-17 14:44:05

Yanthor: Hah! That's funny that Alias is a big hit at the CIA.
2003-09-19 00:42:25

bouncing couldn't find a cordless non-MS ergonomic keyboard at CompUSA, so he settled the other day for a cordless Microsoft natural. Little did he know that it doesn't work as a simple keyborad without special drivers. Returned to store it was.
2003-09-26 10:38:49

bouncing: BTW, when you get back from the superfest, "Lies" should have arrived -- it's supposed to be there on Monday.
2003-09-26 10:48:59

bouncing: Bush vs Bush (Real Player req): [www.comedycentral.com]
2003-09-26 23:06:28

Bitscape tests the lounge's revised database schema.
2003-09-30 13:36:44

Jäger: The Lounge returns!
2003-09-30 17:39:00

Poll

Content Collective Etiquette. Which is best?

Few super-long rambling-length tiles.1 (14%)
Lots of teensy tiny 1 sentence tiles.1 (14%)
1 or 2 paragraphs per tile.3 (42%)
Whatever suits your mood.2 (28%)
Huh? I don't see any borg around here.0 (0%)

Web pages these days should use:

HTML 3.2; no css, all presentation controlled in html tag attributes0 (0%)
HTML 4.0 transitional; presentation using both css and html tag attributes2 (28%)
HTML 4.0 strict; all presentation controlled with css1 (14%)
XHTML 1.0; all presentation controlled with css3 (42%)
XML, custom DTD; use XSLT for optional output to multiple target formats0 (0%)
M$ ActiveCrap of the month1 (14%)