fractalnavel

bored ?  want to celebrate spring with new growth and the spread of entropy ?  try this: go to Urban Myths and Legends, click on a link at random, and send the story you've chosen to everyone in your address book, instructing recipients to do the same, breaking the chain at peril of their immortal soul, or ephemeral pocketbook, or whatever bothers them most.

this is a research effort that everyone can participate in.  get moving !

NOT.

;-)

there was a brief email thread again today having to do with the haves and have-nots, and it reminded me of a couple of much earlier postings, one on a related topic, and another one which half merged with it in memory, even though it was unrelated.  so i started a “flashbacks” category for the out-of-band articles.  i've actually been wanting to dig through old email and post things for quite a while.  one hell of an undertaking, due to sheer volume (especially if one includes in the project compilation of related threads and subsequent editing for coherency).  it would also be nice to put materials from other sources online as well (like old poetry, journals, etc.) but a lot of it is just plain missing now due to various forms of destruction and theft.  aren't you people the lucky ones ? ;-)  oh, come on, some of it was very well received.  the best compliment i've ever received on my writings, oddly enough, is when people think i stole them from somewhere else.  it happens every now and then.  or are those backhanded insults ?

eh, whatever.  here are the two new postings:

• flashbacks: 2002.08.15 - global attitude towards americans: some commentary in reaction to a usa today article.  interesting to note this is pre-iraq war.  how much have my opinions changed since then ?  a little.  but there was some clarity at this point that has stayed with me...
• flashbacks: 2002.10.22 - the financial divide: this rich vs. poor topic just keeps coming up.  in this particular case, the article that started it has stayed with me.  my commentary isn't very lucid here; more to the point is highlighting the article itself.  it's also interesting (to me) to notice that there are some early hints as to my developing thoughts on mechanism etc., which weren't to find explicit (though still incomplete) expression until the following spring.

yeah, these are mostly “notes to self”, but then, so is most of this weblog.  that last story also had associated with it a long, nearly undifferentiated narration of personal history that seemed pertinent at the time to the development of political perspectives, etc., in response to a craig jab about me being a socialist coming out of the closet.  that's psychodrivel for sure that you don't want to see ;-)

anyway, this is just a notice of posting to maintain linkage / accessibility.