onfocus

watching people walk by my window today, some have Halloween costumes. Some don't. I can't always tell who is dressing up and who isn't.

This whole daylight savings time thing is throwing me off. I find myself wide awake at 6:30, trying to do math. The groggy internal dialogue goes something like this: now is it really 5:30 or 7:30? should I be more tired than I am? why am I awake if it's really 5:30? it must be 7:30. should I sleep for a while to try to acclimate to this time? should I just get up? Then I lay around, awake. Not being productive at waking life. Not being productive at sleeping. In a hazy purgatory of hours rolling forward and backward.

Here's a timely poem I read this morning by Gary Snyder:

The Politicians

Running around here & there
stirring up trouble and bothering people
a bunch of lushes –
            fern leaves and cloud:
the world was so chilly and dark –

Before long that sort
will up and rot all by themselves
and be washed away by the rain
and afterwards, only green fern.

And when humanity is laid out like coal
somewhere some earnest geologist
will note them in his notebook.

- Gary Snyder from The Back Country

that krazy kat keats was kuoted kwipping: "The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing--to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." I haven't decided if I agree.

it was time for another cat picture here.

What a depressing day. The rain seems to make the traffic more congested, the vehicles louder, and the chemical accidents more dangerous.

the hip show was good. here's the set list from last night's show. one of the highlights for me was hearing the last of the unplucked gems:

When the mystique varies thus
You can send a man to bury us
It's hard to say, it's sad but true
I'm kinda dumb and so are you

There's something great about a room full of people singing that lyric. It reminds me seeing Beck, with everyone singing: I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me. I hadn't heard them sing this one live since that first show. Nautical Disaster was great, as usual. It was another great moment listening to the lyrics while people threw their hands in the air and jumped up and down. He was singing:

One afternoon, four thousand men died in the water, here. And five hundred more were thrashing madly, as parasites might in your blood.

I could imagine the people in the audience as if they were in water. I wish Gord's mike would have been louder so everyone could hear his stream of consciousness words + singing at quiet moments of the song or in between songs. And I think my friends and I were the only non-Canadians there.

test via email.

I'm going to see the tragically hip at the fillmore tonight. The first time I saw them was in Austin, TX at South by Southwest '95 (at the no longer existent, sadly, Liberty Lunch). They were supporting Day for Night. It was one of the most amazing live music experiences. I was instantly a hardcore fan. I've seen them several times since and I've never been disappointed. My friend jake was at that show in Texas, too, and I'm going with him and matt tonight. There's nothing like a poetic rock show.

the (brand new!) Blogger sticker

and they walked on down the hall

Al Gore and the Internet: "...Gore meaning, obvious to anyone who knew the record, was that he did the political work and articulated the public vision that made the Internet possible. No reasonable person could conclude that Gore was claiming to have invented the Internet in any technical sense." [via rc3] And here's an article in Salon on the subject.

Fairvue Central >> We Didn't Start the Weblogs:

We didn't start the weblogs
No, we didn't incite 'em
But we're trying to write 'em

michael moore: "One month from today, I am hoping against hope that the Non-Voting Majority in this country will decide that they've had enough of the b.s. and go behind that curtain for just a few minutes and rock the nation. It is the only day every four years when the average schlump has more power in his or her hands than all of media, all the oil companies, all of Congress combined. With the flick of a switch or the stroke of a pencil, we outnumber the bastards by 99 to 1 on that single solitary day in November. Nothing, literally nothing, is stopping us -- other than ourselves and our belief that it can't happen."

megnut pic. "gourds" is such an ugly word. And they aren't really that bad...especially in a colorful bunch like this. ;)

For Sale $75 Both

in my backyard

song of the day: midnight train to georgia by Gladys Knight and the Pips.

my drinking game didn't work out too well. I was working as I listened to the debates, so I couldn't play. And I forgot to add the 4 drink "bush slams self for mispronouncing". There is some good discussion at metafilter about the debate. as usual.

With these robot candidates, it should be easy to come up with a debate drinking game. (It might be the only way to make the debate interesting.)

• "prescription drugs" - 1 drink
• "social security" - 1 drink
• "mandatory" - 1 drink
• "no child behind" - 1 drink
• "lock box" - 1 drink
• "promise kept" - 1 drink
• "tax cut" - 1 drink
• "dignity" - 1 drink
• "campaign finance reform" - 1 drink
• "racial profiling" - 1 drink
• sighing and/or whining - 1 drink
• gore exaggerates - 2 drinks
• bush mispronounces - 2 drinks
• bush slams gore for exaggerating - 3 drinks
• gore slams bush for mispronouncing - 3 drinks
• gore kisses someone - 1 drink
• bush smirks - 1 drink

If either one ever says "decriminalization", "solar", or "Taft-Hartley" finish your drink. (it ain't gonna happen.)

I was feeling sluggish this morning so I walked over to Grateful Bagel to get a coffee product. When I opened the door, the guy behind the side counter yelled, "POW!" My heart rate jumped up about 100 beats per minute. I think that was all I needed. I ordered the mocha anyway.

Today's date sounds like a telephone long distance prefix thingy: 10-10-2000.

Another Dylan song is song of the day: Hurricane. To see him obviously framed, couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land where justice is a game.

jack is back! (omg.) I love the new design. I think he proves red is the new orange.

This whole digital revolution needs some songs. We need some folk songs that tell the story of the early days of the Internet. We need some folk songs that tell stories about web people. I have some ideas for titles:

• Bobby Kahn at BBN
• Packet Switch Blues
• Ballad of the RFC
• Ode to Berners-Lee
• Wars and Standards
• 10,000 Coders in Soma
• Broken IPO
• We Blog

You might think that computers and coders and the web are nothing to sing about. But every cultural revolution has songs. Why shouldn't we?

song of the day: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band. You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat.

song of the day: Ode to Billy Joe by Bobbie Gentry. And now you tell me Billy Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

I'm speaking to you live from my new office in Sebastopol. I'm sharing some space with the generous folks at Via Pacifica Imports - Importers of Fine New Zealand Wine. And one of the perks should be obvious.

matt created this cool graphic:

I think it's great. If you like it too, throw it on your site (if you have one). You might also want to learn more about Ralph Nader and his platform. I registered with the green party this year. I did it in part to register my disgust with the two major parties.

remember that sunset I mentioned a while back? this was it.