Month: February 2002

I just found out from my friend Dave that at 8:02 PM on Wednesday, (that’s Feb. 20th, this Wednesday) the time will read, if you’re British, 20:02, 20/02, 2002, one of only two times in history that the time and date will be in perfect symmetry.

What’s the significance? None whatsoever. I just love crap like this

I had my old friend Barry in from out of town this weekend. The laptop stayed dark. What will follow is a breathless roundup of thoughts of the last three days.

You’ve been warned.

I’m really curious about this Creative Commons project that Standford Law professor Lawrence Lessig has begun. The venture will offer customizable ways for artists, software developers, anyone with intellectual property in their pocket to decree how said property is to be used. Aimed at creating a middle ground between proprietary fiefdoms (ala Microsoft) and a free-for-all (Napster), creators will now be able to change the licensing of their song/movie/asparagus-shaped mouse icon with a few clicks of a mouse instead of thousands in fees to a lawyer. The Creative Commons site (not up yet) will also create a searchable database of what content is available for what purposes when, again without going to a lawyer or dealing with the Copyright Office.

Behold the power of the Internet (via the SXSW Blog).

Best. Picture. Ever. Even Kit seems to be smiling (thanks to my friend Amy)

Happy birthday to my buddy Kristin. On Valentine’s day, no less. I can’t imagine having a birthday on another holiday since mine is on an innocuous day in August. But that meant I never got cupcakes in school.

My former employer AlterNet has published a book on level-headed responses to the threat of terrorism and the aftermath of September 11th. It’s called Solutions for a Saner World, which is a lot of what we need right now.

I know nothing about snowboarding but I have been completely won over by Kelly Clark, the 18-year old from Vermont who was the first American to win the gold metal in this year’s Olympics. She won the Women’s Half Pipe a scant 48 hours after the games began.

I do not anticipate her showing up on Letterman or a bunch of commercials for unrelated products because A) She’s a snowboarder and B) She’s not conventially mediagenic. I don’t care. I think she’s adorable: real, quiet, and a world class athlete whose proof is out there on the snow, not in an add campeign for Mountain Dew. Athlete’s like her are the only, rapidly diminishing reason I pay attention to the Olympics at all.

Remember “Soviet Snow?”, a haunting six minute diddy about Chernobyl? My mp3’s do.

After 6 long months, My old computer’s hard drive is now residing comfortably in secondary bay of my new system. All 491 of my old mp3’s have come back to me along with a pile of old data.

In the words of the Velveteen Rabbit, “At last! At last!”

So the Alternative Press Expo was a bit less than expected–about 90% underground comics and maybe one or two zine booths. Not how it was advertized but let the buyer beware, I suppose. Didn’t stop me from picking up an armload of wild stuff including “Mac Afro” which looks like Shaft crossed with Battlestar Galatica, a hand-drawn pamphlet on the history of amusement parks and a very cheap copy of So I Married an Earthling a hilarious novel about a futuristic love story between a scienist and an intergalactic hairdresser. I saw the author Alvin Orloff read some months ago at Dog Eared Books and laughed myself weak.

Also I saw a flyer for something called the Portland Zine Symposium in July which I think is a bit more what I had in mind. And I’ve never been to Portland…