Where does it go? It was only Wednesday and I put up that nice picture of Buena Vista Park and here it is Wednesday again. A same sort of different one.

It will be Thanksgiving tomorrow. We're having folks over for a carcass free vegetarian slash vegan feast. That's good.

Yesterday it was work from home for meetings and happy hour with AP People, Jane, Chris and Erika. The city is not like an island. That's good too.

Our new office hums like a spaceship in desperate need of duct tape. That's not so good... But it could be worse.

...of current events.

Courtesy of Jeremy at Antipixel:
Autumn in Gotokuji | Omote-sando, Late Afternoon

The Momiji tree is stunningly beautiful. ...I wonder if I could grow one in my window sill.

PoliticalWeb has a fascinating competative analysis of the offical web preference of all the presidental canidates. (via Mr. Veen)

What's it mean? As far as stances and policy and such, not much really. ...But the shear variety in types of sites canidates have and the information they offer certainly shows how serious the internet is being taken this time around.

Friday Goldman, Ev, and myself headed out to the Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason to see Brian Eno give a short talk about The Big Here and the Long Now. It was fascinating. While nothing more than an overview of the idea, it provided an excellent frame for some things kicking around in my head for the last I don't know how long.

Saturday night Themselves played a show at Slims. They keep touring and keep on getting better. Every time I think they're as good as it gets and every time they show me something new.

It was a very stimulating weekend. Now if only I can find the time to use this new found inspiration......

iPods seal clubbing fame - Macworld UK

"American officials want a virtual three-day shutdown of central London in a bid to foil disruption of the visit by anti-war protestors. They are demanding that police ban all marches and seal off the city centre."

This is London - Patrick Sawer (via Boing-Boing)

"CNN planted a question about computer preferences at last week's debate of the Democratic presidential candidates at Faneuil Hall in Boston, according to the student who posed the query and wrote about it yesterday in an online forum of the Brown (University) Daily Herald. During the debate, cosponsored by the nonprofit Rock the Vote organization, Alexandra Trustman asked the candidates whether they preferred the PC or Mac format for their computers."

CNN planted question at debate, student says

Matrix Revolutions was eh. Matt pretty much nails it... Compared to the first two movies, it's horribly conventional (there's even a seen where the villain steals a page from Megatron, and gloats about his victory before he's obtained it... Leaving Trinity enough time to save the day). Yet, when compared to most Anime/Sci-Fi it's a pretty good flick. There's more creativity in the third one than in the last two Star Wars movies combined (with absolutely no mid 90's cd-rom game acting and sets).

I also finished Big Sur recently. It left me a little eh, too. It's the sort of book that tells you where it's going right away. Kerouac is going to have a fit of madness, the book ends, and there's a poem about the sounds of the ocean written during the peaceful time he was afraid to return to. Sounds right up my alley.... Sounds can be deceiving. His madness is one long nightmare filled night. Reading it is a lot like listening to someone describe a dream. It's interesting in it's surealness..... But it lacks any emotional attachment. I couldn't finish the poem. The language wasn't doing it for me. I started skipping around.... Then just gave up.

All was not lost, however. In the very back of the book, in a little sales pitch for Some of the Dharma, I noticed this:

[...] the book evolved into a vast and all-encompassing work of experimental no-fiction into which Kerouac poured his life, incorporating poems, haiku, prayers, journal entries, meditations, fragments of letters, ideas about writing, overheard conversations, sketches, blues, and more. [...] Each page is unique, filled with patterns and interlocking pieces of text.

Like I was saying, blogs owe a lot to Mr. Kerouac.

"At first, a military spokesman in Iraq told journalists that American soldiers had exchanged fire with Iraqis during the rescue, without adding that resistance was minimal. Then the military released a dramatic, green-tinted, night-vision video of the mission. Soon news organizations were repeating reports, attributed to anonymous American officials, that Ms. Lynch had heroically resisted her capture, emptying her weapon at her attackers.

But subsequent investigations determined that Ms. Lynch was injured by the crash of her vehicle, her weapon jammed before she could fire, the Iraqi doctors treated her kindly, and the hospital was already in friendly hands when her rescuers arrived"

Jessica Lynch Criticizes U.S. Accounts of Her Ordeal in the New York Times.

With unemployment, war, superstar celebrity governers, and a mayorial race where the canidates were worth discussing (a first for me), politics have been heavy around my way. Most of these conversations eventually lead to the fact that a majority of people don't vote. This is often regulated to a voter segment. "If we can give the people who don't vote a reason too, we can beat xxxx." That may be true... but it rarely works. Even when it does, it doesn't stick. Life long voters are becoming a very rare bread. Talking with Goldman about it on our commute today went something like:

• Voter's are apathetic
• This isn't the same as lazy
• Registration to vote doesn't mean much (see Rock the Vote)
• Apathy is the result of a deeper fundamental problem
• Politics have a perception of removal from everyday life
• In many cases, this is not just perception, but true
• History of world politics show constant contradictions (see US Foreign Policy)
• Government stumbles along
• Same can be said of large companies
• Too many people involved without the proper information/perspective
• It only appears to work if the perspective is narrow enough
• Current heavily Capitalist Democracy often seen as the best of the best (see USA). The end of History
• Not true
• Maybe it's time for something next?

We were short on answers... but now i'm curious. I think this weekend I'll read Douglas Rushkoff's Open Source Democracy.

You know you've done something wrong when USA 8th grade reading level milk toast Today calls you out:

"CBS insists 'this is a solution that benefits everyone involved' - a statement that is true only if you limit the people involved to CBS executives. It doesn't benefit the network as a whole, which now has a mark of creative cowardice to live down. It doesn't much benefit those who accuse the movie [The Reagans] of being historically inaccurate and defamatory - they wouldn't want it to air in its present form anywhere. And it certainly doesn't benefit viewers (other than the small minority who subscribe to Showtime), who have been robbed of a chance to decide the movie's merits for themselves."

While I applaude their willingness to shame another media company, USA Today managed to miss the really juicey part. CNN Didn't:

"Showtime and CBS are both owned by Viacom, which is anxiously awaiting federal action on rules to restrict ownership of local TV stations. Failure to enact such changes could cost Viacom millions of dollars, said Jeff Chester, head of the Center for Digital Democracy, a communications lobbying group."

"Viacom needs help from Republicans in the White House and Congress who might not like seeing Reagan portrayed negatively, Chester said."

Content controlled by the monetary gains of political policy is scary. Maybe not as scary as Reagan the politician, though. I don't know how accurate the movie is.... but there sure are tomes upon tomes of direct quotes and policy which firmly seat Mr. Reagan among the worst leaders this country has ever had. Not true you say? ...Tony Pierce has the links and quotes to back that sort of statement up.

"I round the bend coming off of the bridge and there is the better half, ready for the Krispy Kreme handoff. She has picked up a Boston Creme and a Chocolate Frosted, whose job it is to give me enough sugar to reach mile 26. I kiss the better half and wave the bag triumphantly at the crowd, yelling 'Krispy Kreme!', but they don't seem impressed. It will take me three miles to eat the chocolate donut, in between trying to breathe. The Boston Creme will be abandoned in the Bronx."

Maciej's description of running the NYC Marathon makes me want to run it too. I don't run for the bus. I think I did once... but I'm not proud of it. Anyway, the New York City Marathon is beautiful. Congratulations Maciej!

Some mornings the sun comes through our bedroom bay window, then reflects off of the Apple LCD Monitors out the doorway and onto the much darker livingroom wall. The clear curved plastic in the monitors makes for wonderful patterns.

I used to draw quite a bit. It's something I really enjoy.... but have somewhat lost track of in the midst of my recent super busy lifestyle. In an effort to start doing it more often, I picked up some fancy Prismacolor markers. I love um. They glide on smooth and wet and delicious. ...Although in a decidedly more complicated manor than my trusty old Sharpie. Learning about line widths, puddling, and color mixing is great fun.

Click any of the thumbnails below to see some initial experimenting:

"You will love some people deeply. Others will receive lesser kinds of love. Some will get a handshake and a kind word. Their journeys are their own, and they may have to get what they need from someone else."

Real Live Preacher