Thoughts From Eric Archive

I was going to slow down posting anyway, and then my Linksys router got fried (thanks to a firmware update I got from Linksys, no less) so going online has been a lot more difficult of late.  Nonetheless, I had to put this link up for you: Freedoms Curtailed in the Defense of Liberty (The Onion).  The truly scary part is that the article isn’t much of an exaggeration over what I’ve been hearing both on the news and on the street.  As an example, someone said on a newsgroup recently about some peace protestors, “Now THOSE people scare me.  Really.”  American citizens peacefully exercising their freedom of speech to oppose violence in the world and support nonmilitary solutions is scary?

Scary.

• Wednesday, 11 October 2001 was published on Thursday, October 11th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Politics category.
• There have been no replies.

I found this to be deeply thought-provoking, if sometimes clumsily written: There Is No Alternative to War (Salon.com).  From the same site, one of my favorite cartoons: This Modern World.  I’d tell you to enjoy them, but somehow that seems wholly inappropriate…

• Tuesday, 2 October 2001 was published on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Politics category.
• There have been no replies.

A new month, a new beginning: I’ve launched css/edge, a place for some personal (yet public) CSS-based design experimentation.  The basic goal: to push CSS as far as I can, and to do things with HTML and CSS that nobody has ever seen before.  The first installment was the complexspiral demo; now, with the launch of css/edge, I’ve added pure CSS popups.  Investigate, share, and enjoy!

In the meantime, Kat and I are giving serious thought to renaming our guest room “Heartbreak Hotel”—not out of any love for Elvis, but because several people we know are suddenly leaving long-time partners, and some of them have dropped by/will be dropping by for a few days’ retreat.  Part of me wonders if it’s post-traumatic stress left over from last month, or if perhaps 9/11 shocked a lot of people into realizing (as one person put it) that life is both too long and too short to be unhappy.

• Monday, 1 October 2001 was published on Monday, October 1st, 2001.
• It was assigned to the CSS category.
• There have been no replies.

Another two links to pass along to the (very) few people who will ever see this.  First: Roots of Rage (Time).  Understanding these things is very important, because in the months to come, we have a choice: our actions in the “war on terrorism” will make our position in the world better, or worse; we will either reduce the dangers we face, or multiply them.  I know which one I’d prefer.  Second: A Pure, High Note of Anguish (L.A. Times) by Barbara Kingsolver.  It’s deeply, almost distressingly human.

• Friday, 28 September 2001 was published on Friday, September 28th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Politics category.
• There have been no replies.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but The Onion is one funny group of people.  They took last week off, but they’re back with a venegance, covering the 9/11 events in their own special way.  Funny they are, yes, but one can tell they’re more than a bit angry (and rightly so!) this week.  If you’re squeamish, you might want to skip the article about surprised hijackers.  Just a fair warning.

• Wednesday, 26 September 2001 was published on Wednesday, September 26th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Humor category.
• There have been no replies.

Ever felt like you were teetering on a precipice?  You should after reading the following: Ashcroft faces congressional worries over proposed law changes (CNN) and Hackers face life imprisonment under ‘Anti-Terrorism’ Act (SecurityFocus), not to mention Terror attacks revive crypto debate (also SecurityFocus; scroll down to get to the frightening parts).  Apparently, the Bush administration has so fallen for its own assertion that these terrorists hate us solely because of who we are and what we stand for, they’ve decided the best way to ward off future attacks is to change America to resemble the types of repressive regimes that spawn said terrorists.  Civil liberties?  Who needs ’em?

• Tuesday, 25 September 2001 was published on Tuesday, September 25th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Politics category.
• There have been no replies.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, my comments on Saturday touched off a spirited debate within my own household.  Kat wants to make it clear that she can’t understand how anyone, anywhere, could celebrate the death of several thousand people under any circumstance.  I actually agree with her, and didn’t mean to imply that I supported the celebration (much less the practice) of mass murder.  I don’t.  I’d like to think that nobody does, but a few lines from a song keep coming to mind: “Folks are basically decent / Conventional wisdom would say / Well, we read about the exceptions / In the paper every day.”

A thought experiment: consider the massive outpouring of charitable giving for the victims of 9/11, and then suppose that there had been a similarly massive outpouring of charitable aid ten years earlier for the people of Afghanistan, whose country was shattered by Soviet occupation.

• Monday, 24 September 2001 was published on Monday, September 24th, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Politics category.
• There have been no replies.

From the Wall Street Journal’s editorial pages: Whooping It Up.  Note that I don’t condone any of the actions described, and I certainly don’t condone terrorist activity.  The piece itself may well be totally biased and not representative of the general world.  It is still an important piece to read—not to inflame yourself to greater heights of patriotism and paranoia, but to think hard about why the people described in that piece feel the way they do.  It didn’t happen overnight, or for no reason.  You will probably be angered by what you read, but ask yourself this: what are all the roots of my anger?  What about the anger of the people in the story; what are its roots? Does it have any legitimacy at all, even in part?

As I said to a colleague recently, “I’m afraid that [an attack] will happen again, and even worse, I’m afraid it will happen because we missed the moment, in our pain and grief, to really listen to the world around us.”  While he agreed with me, I think this is probably the worst possible time to ask (most of) my countrymen to think, let alone listen to anything except “God Bless America” for the ninetieth time.

Anyway, if this posting offends you, I feel very sorry for that, but again I urge you to ask this question of yourself, so long as you resolve to honestly answer yourself:  for what reason(s) do I feel offended?

• Saturday, 22 September 2001 was published on Saturday, September 22nd, 2001.
• It was assigned to the Politics category.
• There have been no replies.