It’s a good question, a basic one that you have to think about. Of course, wikipedia has an answer, though I’m not sure I’d agree with the definition “the activity of making information available for public view”. I’ve always considered it the business of making multiple copies of information. But it doesn’t HAVE to be a business does it? But with electronic publishing, it’s not so much a matter of making copies and isn’t making copies more along the lines of printing? Huh, that just might be a good definition, must think more.

5510 as of NOW.

oops, 5512.

I use to think I lived on the technological edge and for a while I probably did.

Latley though, I realized I’m actually out in the suburbs. And that’s ok. Reading through all the many ways that people use the web (we won’t even get into phone tech) to try to relay or collect info is like going through quicksand, there’s so much and you get bogged down with it all. There’s RSS and newsreaders, flickr, bloglines, icerocket, comments, tracks, im, my space, livejournal, feedburner, technorati. If you recognize most of those names, you’ll realize that there’s a lot of crossover, but I have to wonder, is it really necessary. Sure it’s great to see so much neat stuff being done, but it’s overkill, really. Email still works if you need to reach someone, you know?


But all of it is a whole new way of interacting with people you never could have met before, so whole ways of communicating are being invented and not all of them will be around forever , let alone 2 years from now. As others have noted, a lot of it is based on networking, ie meeting people with similar likes and/or goals. Wouldn’t you like to meet all the other people who like that wierd little movie you love that no one else you know has heard of it? or least know where they are and what they’re into, so you can find more media?

Heh, this thing started off as bitching session, but it’s turning into a two minute love. Mostly because as overwhelming as it can seem sometimes, it can all be turned off, you know. Nobody said you HAD to leave on the edge, just visit when you feel like it. ‘Cause a lot of it is great.

What fascinates me about it is the speed of it all how it keeps getting faster. It’s never too much for the edge, things STILL seem slow. Reminds me of a regular test I do with any new, superfast computer that I can get my hands. I immediately open up Photoshop, set the dpi to something insane and try to do something simple, like draw a brush stroke. If that goes quickly enough ie as fast as I’m thinking, then I try something more complex and see how quickly I do that. and so and so until Photoshop begins to bog dow and I see that little progress bar, meaning I have to wait, meaning my mind is having to slow down for the world.

That’s where we’re moving with all this, even if we don’t realize it, even if there’s no set goal in mind. We want everything to go as fast as we can think it, from email, to voice, to searching for info, to creating new things, we want the outer world to go as fast as the inner world. Yeah, we may have been prey for lions and huddling in caves waiting for winter to pass, but screw all that, we’re going to make the world act on our terms.

That’s the question bouncing around my head this evening: Why write? The short answer is “Why not?”. Maybe that and “Because” are the only real answers to that question. I’ve seen lots of various answers, such as to entertain, or to tell the truth or a story or somesuch. But why do biochemists do whatever the hell it is they do? Why do runners run? There’s no real definite answer, no mystery or secret. People do what they do because that’s who they are. I’m tempted to say write for fun, but it isn’t always fun. Sometimes it’s pulling teeth, sometimes it’s work, sometimes it’s the last damn thing you want to do.

But there is a compulsion, almost a physiological need to write, at least for me. If I don’t do it, the world doesn’t seem right, I don’t feel right, an anchor takes root in my head and starts weighing me down. I do it because I can’t NOT do it, that’s all.

Sometimes the problem isn’t writing, but keeping up with all the things in my head. You see, typing, speech, all that is poor excuse for relaying the original thoughts. As I write this sentence I’m several sentences ahead, at least in my brain, while I’m pondering a few other things in the back of mind. No big deal, lots of people, probably everyone, does that to some extent.


I read somewhere that nothing is actually written, it’s only rewritten, even if it’s the first and only draft. Event he act of writing thoughts is just another draft and of course the act of writing them down changes them, like schrodinger’s cat.

I don’t fully understand it. Sometimes it seems like magic.

Googling the phrase “Why write?”, I come up with a few gems from Daniel Boorstin & Thomas Berger

Just spent the last few minutes deleting comments from this blog. What comments you say, I don’t see no stinkin’ comments button? Well exactly, comments aren’t even activated and I got spammers worming their way in like it’s an office party with an open bar.

But it’s not just the spammer fault is it? Someone has to be clicking on those links, some sad sack of humanity whose fingers start quivering every time they see a link for video poker or “Hot Girls Live!” You’d think people would learn that the only real link to video poker is vpd.com and that the best porn on the net is lonelylibrarians.net.

Hi, I’m a liberal democrat.


This means that I’m for a balanced budget, a strong military that is wisely used, thinking before going to war, government staying the hell outta people’s bedrooms and bodies, a strong education system that teaches critical thinking as opposed to push button job skills, widespread access to health care, reasonable taxes, government over-site (not legal control) of drugs and welfare, controlled immigration, straight answers even when people don’t want to hear them, that it’s the Bill of Rights, not suggestions, hard time and labor for white collar criminals, small business ownership, an understanding that our standard of living will get better, rebuilding our space program, death sentences for pedophiles, practicing democracy here and abroad, zero support for dictators, working hard and playing harder, no more wars on nebulous terms like terror or drugs, being smart enough so that 19 people with box cutters don’t bring America to a standstill, helping those who can help themselves, realizing government can’t fix a person, no more paid lobbyists, a six week election season, term limits, and some government support for the arts.


This means that most of the current Democratic leaders will have to go.

Rachel Papo’s photographs have been festering in my brain the past few days, espcially serialno3817131. The images are intimate and haunting and beautiful for the slice of lives they capture. Yes, the girls are soliders, but in they are also girls, still coming to terms with themselves.

and sometimes I don’t, espeically when there are stories of “penises (peni?? disappearing”. It’s a bit much to risk when going on vacation.

Went to a comic book store last night to pick up #4 of Fell. It wasn’t
my usual shop, Home Run Video, but I was close to this other store and
said what the hell, I’ll give it try despite the terrible memories of
it.

Shoulda keep on going.

It was a stereotypical store, buncha dungeons and dragons geeks playing
in the back, while a few regulars milled around the checkout counter at
the front, talking. When I entered they looked up, said nothing and went
back to talking. One of them was the manager. It felt a bit humid in the
air and there a faint smell of sweat and bo that smelled to grow
stronger as I moved to the back. So I turned on my heels and left. NEVER
AGAIN in that store.

Went back to Home Run, where the people behind the counter were at least
somewhat friendly, no D&D geeks in sight and there was also a great
movie collection.

What is the approximate bandwidth of the human brain ?