Driving home last night into Bloomington, I was trying to imagine a town or city (since imagining a whole society seemed too hard) that was totally focused on education and development of it's youth, more so than industry or the economy. It's hard to imagine, but I think it's interesting to try.


Tuesday, August 29, 2000
Interesting Bookes theory....

"After Booth [sic] was killed, five photographs of female friends were found on his person. One of these pictures was of his betrothed Lucy Hale, the daughter of Senator John P. Hale. Ironically, Senator Hale was a prominent Republican abolitionist."

"And now the revelation. I think Lucy was to Booth [sic] what Jodie Foster was to John Hinckley -- and more. She was truly a woman of influence, part mother, part movie star, part lover. Despite, perhaps because of their opposing worlds, she cared for him. She needed him. She was his solace, his safe place, his status. He was insecure, driven to outstrip his famous father and brother. He was drunk with ego, maybe with liquor. When all the pieces of Booth's [sic] fragile life fell apart, he did what he did best -- he acted."


re: Monty Burns - from same episode as "I'm riding the bus!" - one of my favorite lines:

"Catsup ... Ketchup ...."

Okay, had to drop the beatbox background pic; just too colorful for my taste.

Hey Grasspig, who's playing those groovy drums on "Esper Guild"? Good stuff.

So, the countdown continues. I'm working up a boring little to-do list (Shari's much better at this than I) to get out of the way before we leave:

• rent
• phone calls
• Kitty litter
• clothes
• walking shoes?
• more....

Hey, I never said this would be interesting.


Monday, August 28, 2000
New co-worker website: Kevin. Check it out!


Curses, Monday, you've found me once more! Work looms large and unforgiving.

Boukes, no, not Boukes, you idiot, Booth! Other than that, how did you like the play Mrs. Lincoln? Beer betrayed me as well this weekend, stealing rational memory from me when I most needed it (durning a rousing game of Celebrity). Oh well. I had a good time, win or lose.

And so, now the countdown really begins. I'm sure this week will be filled with anticipation and anxiety as we prepare for the western tour. It goes without saying that I'm looking forward to it. Too bad the kitties can't come with us, but I doubt they'd like the travel.

"Vinculum quippe vinculorum amor est." Anyone know of a good Latin translator on the web?


Sunday, August 27, 2000
Speaking of making me grin....

"The President sent word to me, you know–ahh, he was thankful for my effort, and maybe after he left office we could break bread or something," Mr. Flynt told The Transom. "A lot of people say that he should be thanking me now in person. I say, look, the last thing Bill Clinton needs now is to be associated with me in any manner whatsoever."

Bathos (for no particular reason).


As a lesbian with a male brain, I... This made me grin.


Unused splash screen for Tanque.org/. One of these days, when I get to it, I'll use that image for the Tanque.org t-shirts. Don't you wish you had a tanque.org t-shirt? One day.

Okay, so I've resigned myself to the fact that Netscape doesn't understand the background-position property, so that diaper-man is off-center in Navigator. But I may need to change the image soon regardless. It's kinda hard to read over it, eh?


Friday, August 25, 2000
Villains or Anti-Heroes?

Nellie Olson is a great villian. But Roy Batty? I always thought of him as sort of a heroic figure. His creator gave him a dangerous, meaningless life of suffering and (to paraphrase Woody Allen in Annie Hall) made it much too short. I think most people in that situation would either resign themselves to their fate, or give up. Roy instead decides to take his qualms to the man himself.

Didn't Job do something similar? I'm not up on my bible stories. In any event, even though I didn't want him to kill off Harrison Ford's character, I could empathize with him. And I admired his moxy. God says, "I'm not gonna change things, deal with it" and he says "not good enough, God-man, I reject you and your stupid religion." Yeah, now that's cool. (I like to think that if I got to the pearly gates and it turns out that there is a god, and that he's as awful a homophobe as some of his followers, that I'd have the same message for him. But in reality I'd probably be shitting my flowing robes.)


Thursday, August 24, 2000
If you think I'm gonna post anything about Jim today, you're mistaken.

In fact, I don't have anything to post today at all.


Wednesday, August 23, 2000
a repeated feature:

Quicky Stolen Links

from Eatonweb, look at this cool LEGO desk! Wow! Now check out this "Life Simulator" - How cool! And how about K-Meleon? It's a cool little browser that's built on Mozilla code. Yeah, baby!

from Apathy, check out Oth Net; web-based Napster/file-sharing! No program to download! Fun!!

And, be sure to check out the Robot Wisdom poll: "How has your standard of living changed since 1992". I said "better, no thanks", but only because I couldn't enter "better, because my friends write such cool web pages!"


Tuesday, August 22, 2000
I don't have a bus-ride story to match Ben's, but maybe that's just as well. At least hes back online.

After reading JimA ("Jimmah!") and Chris, I almost feel a need to play devil's advocate (a first for me).

You're on an island with ten people, 4 cannibals, 4 fascists, a progressive secular humanist and yourself. A vote will be held to see who gets to decide how affairs will be governed on the island. The cannibals have a candidate, the fascists have one, and the progressive secular humanist decides to run as well. The progressive secular humanist is the one you relate to, but he won't win. The fascists are offensive, but at least they won't eat you if they win. The cannibals will eat you if they win. If you vote for the progressive secular humanist, you might wake somebody else up on the island, change their mind.

So, you sell out and vote fascist, under protest, and hope that you can work within the system to change the fascists. You recognize that the fascists are a-holes, but you also recognize that pragmatically it would be fool-hardy to vote for the progressive secular humanist since to do so would put the cannibals in power.

I don't want get ate.

I still hate the fascists.

I can see why you might put up with their shit to get rid of the cannibals.

'nuff said for now.

In other news, I met Esther tonight, Scott and Justine's new puppy. She's adorable. Really, ADORABLE. No, really, I can't even describe this little cutey; she's a doll-face. I think the mix is Lab and Husky; big paws, gentle manner. She followed Scott around closely, but let Shari and I pet her and scratch her head. Cute.

Also, and I'm not proud of this, I snapped at Shari tonight. I'm a hot-head. It's the cash flow situation, I'm getting edgy. I really need to get that novel finished so I can sell it to Hollywood and fund the HotWebInjection startup conglomerate. Jack's helping me to take the edge off.

I've been trying real hard to come up with some good villans, but so far I'm coming up short. The bad guy in Urban Cowboy, Scott Glen's character, now he was bad. But jeeze, how lame am I that that's the first one I think of? Okay, wait, I can do better. How about the Grinch? Hmm? Okay, that's still kinda lame.

The satanic neighbors in Rosemary's Baby? John Houston's character in Chinatown? That kid from next door in Toy Story? Urgh, these are all lame!

Why can't I come up with good examples of evil in fiction? What's wrong with me?!


What's up with Kritikal Mess? Looks like someone's redecoratin'.

Again with Nader v. Gore

Sonya made more good points on Monday re:Gore v. Nader. I don't necessarily agree with all her points, but I do empathise with them all. If I lived in Illinois I might find myself eventually voting for Gore too; who knows?

I guess I'm taking the easy way out, because when it comes down to it, I'm skeptical that voting does much good either way. I'd rather "spend" my vote getting some Green party action going this time around than vote for Gore, but will I feel bad if a Bush Supreme Court Nominee kills Roe v. Wade? You bet.

Will I feel like I caused it to happen? Probably not.

Gore talked the talk at the convention, at least as far as I saw (what little I watched this weekend in Chicago). Talk's cheap, but at least he's talking pro-choice.

When I picture Ralph Nader in the white house, I imagine the country spiralling into an economic mess that would make the Carter years seem like the late 90's. Of course Wall Street would have a conniption, of course big business would freak out, of course the economy and the stock market would tank. And, of course, Ralph would spend 4 years without any support in the congress. Total gridlock.

(Member how we were going to get national health care when Clinton was elected? Remember how the AMA and the insurance companies said "No"?)

And that's why I know it won't happen. The real powers in this nation won't ever let it.

But what if he gets his 5-10%? What if he gets into the debates? What if he continues to get on TV and tells it like it is? What if the Green Party can get some candidates elected in local offices, and build some political clout? Those are the questions that are getting me interested in voting this time around.

But enough of my yakin'.

Webster

It's a little sad that the week I come back from Chicago, my mind humming with web ideas, DeepLeap goes tits-up. I never used their service much, mainly because I couldn't ever seem to find a need to, but they were a fun company to watch, and they seemed pretty down-to-earth.

That doesn't mean I don't still want to play with the web. Has anyone ever seen an EP fansite? Doesn't it seem like they're due one?


Man, what a great weekend. Great people, great food, great tunes, great weather - Great! It's the sort of weekend that tricks you into thinking that living in Chicago means eating out and doing fun stuff all the time, instead of actually having to work. Ah, sweet, sweet weekend.

Now I'm tapped out, right before our big trip westward. Gotta recharge the financial engines somehow....

Mmmm, HotWebInjection....


Saturday, August 19, 2000
Ned: Sean and I are tag-team blogging tonight; so far this weekend's been great. Wouldn't you agree Sean?

Sean: Hey Ned, yeah the weekend has been really nice, seems that we've hit some good tourist spots in the city. What did you think of the drink we had on the 95th Floor of the Hancock Buidling?

Ned: I was more impressed with the view than with the drink, but the experience was well worth the trip. You guys rocked last night, I must say.

Sean: The show was great, I didn't ever think that I would be wearing a fake moustache with a plastic cape playing a rock medley of "Don't Fear the Reaper" (Blue Oyster Cult), "Escape (Pina Colada Song)" (Rupert Holmes), and "You Dropped the Bomb on Me" (Gap Band). I think the high point was Carl's friend Paul, doing human beat box in a diaper and shades playing with Emperor Penguin's new tune "Beatbox wore Tennis Shoes". Wow. I was blown.

Ned: Yeah, the beatbox diaper guy was way cool; I'd try to describe it adequately if I thought I could. Rocked, so hard. Hey, it sounds like Bill just walked in ...

Bill: Whazza? Yeh, Satiday nite in Chicago. The haps is crazee, way loco. Two separate friends was having birthday parties to-day, both of which I felt obliged to attend. Also, the Ned & Shari visitation, and also my friend Jim Hanas is in town. Plus the Penguin show. Crazee haps. mad loco haps, peeps. Need a drink.

Sean: This place is gettin' late night, funky freestyle. Wowzee, we're all sittin' around watchin' the boob-tube, and chillin'.

Ned: Peace out, folks. More later.


Friday, August 18, 2000
Heading soon to the Windy City to see EP rock the house; getting antsy. The plan for the weekend is to leave Oscar inside; we'll see how that goes over. So far he's been sleeping all afternoon after I assume staying up all night in the storm. I tried to get him to come inside last night, but there was lightning and rain and such, and I couldn't get him to come out from under a car. Oh well. Hope the cat's don't tear the place up while we're gone.

Leapnet really knows how to treat their employees. These fine facilities, located in the game room, are used on a weekly basis for catered employee beer meetings.

Krikey, Bill, this looks like an employee wonderland!!

Turns out someone is challenging Nader's presence on the Indiana ballot. The IEC is holding a hearing next week, and they'll decide whether he's eligible or not. I'm gonna be bummed if he's not allowed on the ballot. I mean, no matter whoever you're going to vote for, his friggin name should show up on the ballot (as should the Reform candidate, IMHO). If not, I'll still ask for the stack of papers you have to fill out when you say you want to write-in your vote, but it's a hassle. Hurm.

If you care, and you're registered to vote in Indiana, send an email to cmarendt@iec.state.in.us and let them know that you want Nader on the ballot. More info later as I get it.


Thursday, August 17, 2000
Nader's not the only one with a female running mate.

Teamsters President James P. Hoffa sent a message to Gore on Thursday with strong words of praise for Nader's candidacy, but he stopped short of offering an endorsement.

Nader may be missing an opportunity to appeal to the black community by assuming that he too can get it on the cheap.

Wednesday, August 16, 2000
Amy, (why am I posting what should just be email? I don't know), If you tell people you're not going to post, then they're less likely to check back. I'm guessing. See, I won't post for a month, see?


Chris, I doubt it will help, but if there's a school so messed up (as what you've described Sarah's school as being), then I'm glad that Sarah is there; It's where she's most needed.

Even though it sucks for her.

Teachers should make 2 to 3 times what they do right now; their work is the most important.


Liz, regarding your question, all I can say is I don't know. I don't know many people who aren't white and middle class. So I don't know what the inner city vote says about Nader; I don't know what the auto worker Union folk say about Nader (except that the party members flirted with supporting him), I don't know what the gay communities here have to say (because I've never been a part of them, and my gay buddies all moved away), and I don't know what even my next door neighbor is going to do on election day.

I guess I'd ask, what do you hear from everyone else? What do you hear from the people who aren't Nader backers? The people I talk to who aren't Naderites are Demos or Repubs; I don't get to talk to many other people. So you tell me, what do the non-"white middle class college educated" guys say?

Here's what I've heard from co-workers and relatives of friends (who aren't Naderites): Clinton's an asshole (I agree) and "fags" should hide their "nature" (don't agree). Oh yeah, and that Bush isn't a total friggin' moron (which, of course, he is).


can't ... stop ... posting ...

Sonya, I can't understand why you don't appreciate your job, especially when you can work with people who come up with silly advertising descriptions for a living. FOR A LIVING!! (Of course, I can understand, but I'm trying to make a point)

If my job was to come up with pithy descriptions of crap so that people would buy it, Sure, I'd be disappointed with myself, but I'd still do it. Let's see, TanqueLogue is pithy and inconsistant, but it drives home an important message that will warm your heart. But still, at times it calls into question the very premises of humankind that make us all human, dawgonnit.

No, that's not quite right. That's why I don't get to have that job, I'm sure.

Peace Love Dove :)


Once when I rode on a bus, a short trip from Indy to B-town, I sat in the front thinking no one would bother me there, and yet, I found that the driver himself was quite chatty. Actually, quite a nice guy, who told me that buses get something like one or two mile to the gallon. He was telling me this because there was something that gave buses like a one mpg boost in efficiency; he said (I'm quoting my memory) "Buses get awful mpg, so one mpg is a big boost." Anyhoo, I always think of buses as one of those "you have to deal with everybody, even the stinky folk" type of experiences. Good for the soul, even though it sucks. Know what I mean?


Peptide's link to Gore Vidal's Salon article gets me thinkin' yah-sir, it sure does. In contrast to JimA, I have no problem giving into "such hopelessness." Or rather, I can easily forget about the things that matter and instead play video games, safe in my nice home, paychecks coming in and cold beer in the fridge; I am Joe six-pack.

That said, I'll tell ya what reading Vidal did remind me of (if you'll pardon the dangling preposition). It reminded me that the big corporations are undemocratic, and ultimately would put any one of us through the ringer if it was profitable. When I hear "conservatives" talk about the intrusiveness of the government, I wonder what they really think is the alternative. I mean, come on!

And then the real Rant began

Let's say you're a landowner in the woods, with your own water well and generating whatever energy you need from the resources on your land, and you're resonably self-sufficient. Good for you. If you're that person, I can understand why it pisses you off when Johnny Law sez ya gotta register your guns, and pay for someone else's sewer, and gets in your business about where you bury your trash, and comes by every so often with the force of law (i.e., guns and the threat of imprisonment) to extract taxes from you. I can understand why you might resent the powers that be, even if you understand that for the most part the path of least resistance is to give Ceasar his due and get Johnny Law back out of your life. Okay.

That said, very few of us live like that. Very few of us here in the US, and very few of us (compared to the total number of people) anywhere on the globe. Most of us live close to other people, have to coexist, share resources, govern ourselves, trade amongst ourselves for goods, etc. In such a situation, does it make more sense to have some sort of organization through which everyone has a say in how community resources are used, or would it be better to just let whoever has the might control the resources?

I know that's a loaded question, and it doesn't describe the current state of affairs, but it's hard not to put it in those terms. One example: Should GE be able to "buy" the television spectrum and keep people from using it? That's whats happening in the deregulation of the airwaves. "Conservatives" argue that this is a free trade solution, and that governement should get out of the "business" of controlling the radio/TV spectrum, but that means that government gives up the airwaves to the highest bidder. Let's see, if GE wants to use the spectrum in a fashion that I don't like, can I vote them out of office? Can I participate in public hearings to debate my position? If a majority of my fellow citizens get fed up with GE, can we take away their spectrum rights?

Yes, government bureaucracy sucks. It's frustrating and dangerous sometimes. I agree that it needs to be watched. But think about it; compare the chances of changing something GE does verses something that the government does. One is a democratic institution, at least in theory; the other is only concerned with stock-holder value.

End rant, for now.


Oh, what a night.

There's a new log in Tanqueville, and it's name is Paddy O'Gressive. Still got some html cleanup, but the content is stellar. Yeah, good stuff.

Really cool link from Powazek. Check out P, check out the link. Good stuff. 'Ere's a sample:

"It is a fuckload of work to be open-minded and generous and understanding and forgiving and accepting, but Christ, that is what matters. What matters is saying yes."

I've never been given the chance to sell out, but I can say right now that one of the few plans that I've ever had for myself was to finish a novel - a brilliant novel, the brilliance of which would explain and justify my seeming sluggishness - and to get the movie rights sold off to Hollywood. See, once I become a multi-millionaire, I could then do all the really creative things of which I'm supposedly capable.

Yeah, once that novel gets written.


Tuesday, August 15, 2000
Drunkenfish is on a roll today. I'm holding out for one more post out of him tonight. :)


Well, it's been a long dry spell as far as web-stuff goes. I'm glad to hear that Jim and Dani are having a nice time so far, bad movie experiences not withstanding. And it's too bad that Amy's life is turning into a country and western song. I guess I can't really complain these days. Money seems to be getting tight right at the time Shari and I would like to be socking away some extra scratch for our upcoming excursions, but I'm sure it will all work out.

Hrothgar has moved out of Shangri-Li. I can hardly believe it. Jim and Dave might be gone occassionally, but H-Gar was always around. I hear that he's not adjusting quickly to his new digs, which doesn't surprise me. It took him a while to get used to this house as well, but I imagine he'll come around before too long (once the place starts to smell more familiar).

Dave was home for a little while yesterday evening, but when he left and it was just Shari and the b/w kitties and me, it did feel a little odd. Part of it's surely the change of decorations. We need some replacement posters up in the rec room to make it "homey" again. In any event, it was nice, but different. I think we both sort of sat around a little thinking, okay, now what?

This was after, of course, finding out that John is the father of Hope's baby. But you probably could have guessed that.


Monday, August 14, 2000
One more Haiku link.


Ben, you're a wise man.


Saturday, August 12, 2000
Chapter One: He adored Bloomington. He idealized it all out of proportion. Ah, no, make that He romantacized it all out of proportion.

(with apologies to Woody)

Slow, sleepy afternoon. But I'm online :)


The synopsis of the movie "Highball":

"An all-star cast shines in a hysterical comedy where tension is the prime mixer, served with a splash of laughs and a twist of mayhem!"

Who writes stuff like this, anyways?


When I first got online, I really dug stuff like Online Qabalah. I still find it interesting, but I think I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'm not interested enough in mysticism to study it enough to actually get anything out of it. But I still like the pictures.


Friday, August 11, 2000
Tom Tomorrow on Mallard Fillmore:

"... it's never ever ever funny. It's become this strident thing. He has his cast of straw men, like teachers, and he'll make some supposed joke like 'Gosh, they're not teaching kids, they're just giving them condoms,' and that's the punch line. What the fuck is that?"

Tell it, bro.


The latest "Get Paid to Surf" deal: Get paid to search (haven't signed up yet, so I can't comment on the scam-to-value ratio).

"his name is Timmah!"

From today's Metafilter:

The Surrealist Compliment Generator

Sick of Windows? Try MacOS.

the UNIX Reference Desk looks helpful.

All I have for now:

"If you want to utterly crush a man, just give him work of a completely senseless, irrational nature"
-Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Thursday, August 10, 2000
Here's another post.


Greg is over tonight and I'm showing him Blogger.


Wednesday, August 9, 2000
If you see me today, tell me to finish my resume and send it in.

Found Oscar laying in the middle of the street this morning, and rather than make me walk all the way down to where he was, he got up and met me half way. Okay, so he's not a cuddly little love muffin lap kitty, he's his own feline. That's okay. He craves his space, and I can respect that. I'm wondering what it will be like when Shari and I are traveling, though. WIll he come back to the house when there's not someone here every night and morning? Do I dare try to keep him indoors for a week while we're gone?


Tuesday, August 8, 2000
Cannibal: the Musical is making me grin.


Whew, I know I've been lame about posting lately, Chris. What can I say? My energy has been sapped as far as web stuff goes. Anyhoo, I'll try to get some stuff up today. We'll see how it goes.

It's true, this has been somewhat of an interesting Oscar weekend.

The Oscar Info

Where to begin? Well, sometime Saturday night, I headed down the street to see if the O-man was around. It was close to midnight, and I figured I could get down the street and back without becoming a bad host (Sean and Notorious Small were over). I get halfway down to the house he's always at, and I see the little kid picking him up from the sidewalk and going into the house with him. Hurm. I stroll down, and see that the front door is open, and they're in there playing video games on the TV, and I supress the urge to walk up and knock on the door to say: "Hey, I'm here for my cat."

Anyhoo, I return to my house, and generally have a grand time. Phil shows up later, and we all eat, drink, be merry, the whole nine yards, and much later, after S and NS have headed back for Bedford, Phil and Shari and I all go down the street again. Probably a pretty poor judgement call on my part, since we were all fairly loaded, and there's nothing to be resolved this late at night, but as fate would have it, Oscar was back outside. Phil picked him up (which I thought was overkill, since O always walks back on his own accord, but hey, who's complaining) and we returned home. Oh Oscar. What a saga.

Ben raises some good thoughts. Are you registered? Sean had a good link to an online voter registry recently, so that seems like the least you could do if you're not already registered. As for the problem of voting for Gore, well, what the heck. At least he's mostly pro-choice. Mostly. Anyhoo, another way to look at it (as we've discussed here off and on), is whether or not your state will be a Bush state anyways. If one or the other of the big guys is sure to win, then why not vote for Nader? But if it's a close race, well, you have to decide whether or not you'll want to take the risk with Nader or go for the "safe" vote with Gore. Personally, I'm all for Nader no matter what, but there's the question.

Radio Userland, this weekend's project, doesn't seem interesting to me anymore. It's not a way to serve up MP3's like I originally thought. Instead, it's a way to let people know what songs you're listening to, and publishing your song lists. Huh? That's a radio station? No, no it's not. If I photocopy lists of my CD collection as a playlist, that paper doesn't become a radiostation, anymore than a webpage with the same info, no matter how "dynamic" it is. Hurm. I'm still looking into it, but it's been somewhat of a disappointment. Oh well.

Your's in sluggishness.


Friday, August 4, 2000
This weekend's project? Radio UserLand. Well, okay, that will be one of this weekend's many projects. But I don't feel like making a list just yet.


Been in a webster-rut recently, haven't had anything to post. I'm sure it won't last. This morning's Oscar walk turned up no orange and white kitties (sigh). But I am looking forward to seeing Sean and Nortorious SmalL tomorrow night.

Huffman's posted a journal of his trip:

"... it appears from the amount of dung around the site that she has been here for some time, and likely, has no plans to move."

Very cool, even if I kept waiting for the Blair Witch to show up.


Wednesday, August 2, 2000
Fun from the Cryptonomicon:

"The question of whether or not she is a lesbian is rapidly becoming more than purely academic. He performs a quick mental review of all of the lesbians he has known. Usually they are mid-level, nine-to-five city dwellers with sensible haircuts. In other words, they are just like most of the other people Randy knows. Amy is too flagrantly exotic, too much like a horny film director's idea of what a lesbian would be. So maybe there is some hope here."

Nearly freaked this morning on my "Oscar" walk. At the end of the street, in the window of a small brown house the occupants of which I've never met, sat an orange and white cat, watching me. I had to get really close to see if whether or not it was him, and as I approached, he dashed off the ledge and into the darkness of the house. Was that him? Was he being held captive? I had to surpress Silence of the Lambs thoughts for about twenty paces as I walked back before I saw Oscar where I always find him, sitting on or near a particular neighbor's porch, where a little boy apparently loves to play with him. Sigh.

Is this too much cat information?


Tuesday, August 1, 2000
Okay, I gotta say that I'm really curious to see what JimA (Jimmah!) and Dani have to say about the final stage of the cleanse (as I've already enjoyed the progress reports so far). I think I've mentioned before that I was "underwhelmed" by the results of the project by the end, but I have to amend that impression now -- now that I've eaten poultry and drank alcohol again. I've noticed a difference since I've "returned to normal" eating habits. I feel bloated, and greasy, and, well, not very clean in a general sense. Without going into very much detail (since I doubt most are interested), my bowel movements have gone back to being, well, unsatisfying. It's weird, but I was really getting used to my digestive system shotgunning stuff out, as opposed to the much slower process of digesting stuff that's not as easy on the bod. I find myself wanting to get back on the cleanse, and wanting to fast again. I can totally see how some people could become cleanse junkies, wanting to hold onto the "flushed out" feeling. I don't want to discuss food too much, since Dani and Jim are foresaking it right now, but I do want to say that eating all the "forbidden" foods post cleanse wasn't the culinary orgy I thought it might be. Instead, I had to put up with feeling "full" again, not a pleasant feeling when you've felt "light" for over a week.

Anyhoo, thanks Jim for the compliment on the new tanque.org look. Unfortunately, the background image only works under IE right now. Oh, mozilla, can you be too far away? Whew. Tired.


What is this page?


This week's Fight the Devil isn't posted on The Nation's website, but the July 18 edition of CounterPunch has this:

In the end, Gore's crowd have one basic argument: a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. No, it's not. A vote for Nader is a vote for revitalizing the system and breaking the iron ceiling of the current one-party-with-two-heads.

Again, I don't see this as an easy decision. Despite his voting record on pro-choice issues, I do believe Gore will be a pro-choice president if elected. But so will Nader.


Ah, silly little icons. Is there anything more soothing? Well, maybe this fun webpage, courtesy of Dan at Electrobacon.com (home of Apathy, you know). Cool.