Bermuda

Two more years...

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:26:42 GMT

...and yet another drive-by posting.

When did SixApart buy out LJ? Is the codebase still opensource? Is "DeadJournal" still around?

Two Years, Too Many Years

Fri, 09 Jul 2004 20:04:51 GMT

I can't believe two years have past. Three and a half since it all started, even. And yet, here I am back at the beginning. Still tinkering around with an exhausted psuedonym. Still peeking around at exhausted acquaintaces.

I poked into uNFiction today. ozy_y2k had said something that led me back to LJ, indirectly (by way of entelein's non-LJ site).

So, here I am. Clearing away a few cobwebs. Touching up a few things here and there. Maybe I'll be back for a while.

(More likely, this is just a drive-by posting.)

This is not what you thought it was.

Wed, 06 Jun 2001 23:21:00 GMT

Hey! All you peeps kickin' it Majestic style!

It's come to my attention that we've been spot lighted. Well, they lied to you!

No, they didn't really lie. It's just a bit of misinformation. The part I'm referring to is that this page is no longer carrying Majestic related thoughts... that particular phenomenon has moved directly to my home page. The geocities page cited over there on the left. That's where you'll find [MUDACOM]. An in-character examination of the goings on in the multiverse of Majestic The Game.

Also, don't forget to cruise the web ring...

Majestic Webring
[-5|-1|??|+1|+5]

Updated: I guess this really doesn't have to remain on top anymore. Majestic is long gone, and the Majestic Webring is, too. And, there's a possibility I can use this space for something else, so it's time to clean house.

Wed, 23 May 2001 20:38:19 GMT

Majestic News 5/23
Congratulations to Bermuda653 - the winner of our latest Majestic Message Board Story Contest! Read his highly amusing piece of fiction based on the theme "The Day I Discovered My Phone Was Bugged." For a job well done, 'Muda wins an Official Majestic Team Fleece Pullover. Excellent work!

Fri, 18 May 2001 17:27:58 GMT

Towel Day: A Tribute to Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams will be missed by his fans worldwide. So that all his fans everywhere can pay tribute to this genius, I propose that two weeks after his passing (May 25, 2001) be marked as "Towel Day". All Douglas Adams fans are encouraged to carry a towel with them for the day.

Literacy Abuse?

Fri, 18 May 2001 15:15:51 GMT

Take this test and find out! How many of these apply to you?

I have read fiction when I was depressed, or to cheer myself up.

I have gone on reading binges of an entire book or more in a day.

I read rapidly, often 'gulping' chapters.

I have sometimes read early in the morning or before work.

I have hidden books in different places to sneak a chapter without being seen.

Sometimes I avoid friends or family obligations in order to read novels.

Sometimes I re-write film or television dialog as the characters speak.

I am unable to enjoy myself with others unless there is a book nearby.

At a party, I will often slip off unnoticed to read.

Reading has made me seek haunts and companions which I would otherwise avoid.

I have neglected personal hygiene or household chores until I have finished a novel.

I have spent money meant for necessities on books instead.

I have attempted to check out more library books than permitted.

Most of my friends are heavy fiction readers.

I have sometimes passed out from a night of heavy reading.

I have suffered 'blackouts' or memory loss from a bout of reading.

I have wept, become angry or irrational because of something I read.

I have sometimes wished I did not read so much.

Sometimes I think my reading is out of control.

If you answered 'yes' to four or more of these questions, you may be a literature abuser. Affirmative responses to seven or more indicates a serious problem.

Once a relatively rare disorder, Literature Abuse, or LA, has risen to new levels due to the accessibility of higher education and increased college enrollment since the end of the Second World War. The number of literature abusers is currently at record levels.

SOCIAL COSTS OF LITERARY ABUSE
Abusers become withdrawn, uninterested in society or normal relationships. They fantasize, creating alternative worlds to occupy, to the neglect of friends and family. In severe cases they
develop bad posture from reading in awkward positions or carrying heavy book bags. In the worst instances, they become cranky reference librarians in small towns.

Excessive reading during pregnancy is perhaps the number one cause of moral deformity among the children of English professors, teachers of English and creative writing. Known as Fetal Fiction Syndrome, this disease also leaves its victims prone to a lifetime of nearsightedness, daydreaming and emotional instability.

HEREDITY
Recent Harvard studies have established that heredity plays a considerable role in determining whether a person will become an abuser of literature. Most abusers have at least one parent who abused literature, often beginning at an early age and progressing into adulthood. Many spouses of an abuser become abusers themselves.

OTHER PREDISPOSING FACTORS
Fathers or mothers who are English teachers, professors, or heavy fiction readers; parents who do not encourage children to play games, participate in healthy sports, or watch television in the evening.

PREVENTION
Pre-marital screening and counseling, referral to adoption agencies in order to break the chain of abuse. English teachers in particular should seek partners active in other fields. Children should be encouraged to seek physical activity and to avoid isolation and morbid introspection.

DECLINE AND FALL: THE ENGLISH MAJOR
Within the sordid world of literature abuse, the lowest circle belongs to those sufferers who have thrown their lives and hopes away to study literature in our colleges. Parents should look for signs that their children are taking the wrong path--don't expect your teenager to approach you and say, "I can't stop reading Spenser." By the time you visit her dorm room and find the secret stash of the Paris Review, it may already be too late.

What to do if you suspect your child is becoming an English major:

Talk to your child in a loving way. Show your concern. Let her know you won't abandon her--but that you aren't spending a hundred grand to put her through Stanford so she can clerk at Waldenbooks, either. But remember that she may not be able to make a decision without help; perhaps she has just finished Madame Bovary and is dying of arsenic poisoning.

Face the issue: Tell her what you know, and how: "I found this book in your purse. How long has this been going on?" Ask the hard question--Who is this Count Vronsky?

Show her another way. Move the television set into her room. Introduce her to frat boys.

Do what you have to do. Tear up her library card. Make her stop signing her letters as 'Emma.' Force her to take a math class, or minor in Spanish. Transfer her to a Florida college.

You may be dealing with a life-threatening problem if one or more of the following applies:

She can tell you how and when Thomas Chatterton died.

She names one or more of her cats after a Romantic poet.

Next to her bed is a picture of: Lord Byron, Virginia Woolf, Faulkner or any scene from the Lake District.

Most important, remember, you are not alone. To seek help for yourself or someone you love, contact the nearest chapter of the American Literature Abuse Society, or look under ALAS in your telephone directory.

Warriarr your majestic ignorance is hanging out all over the place

Thu, 17 May 2001 16:33:11 GMT

MonkeyClownBot (11:13:58 PM): dont ever trust a monkey
Warriarr (11:14:17 PM): Especially not one that's a bot, right?

Never trust a bot... now where have I heard that before?

First Annual Conspiracy Con

Thu, 17 May 2001 12:29:22 GMT

" **name** will be presenting at the First Annual Conspiracy Con in the San Francisco - Bay Area on May 26th and 27th. For more information click this banner!"

Don't look for me to be attending, I'll be on my way to Milwaukee to watch the USAV Open National Championships. But I thought I'd pass along the link.

'Muda
(thanks to Project Aquarius for the heads up)

Sorry, Jaya.

Wed, 16 May 2001 23:16:04 GMT

I didn't mean to overlook it. I really was distracted this morning. You mentioned it might come down soon, so I'm noting it for my own sake...

Project Aquarius (surf's up)
For Sale (clue)
Parker Brothers (mrs. peacock)
All About the Benjamins (money)
Everyday is like Tuesday (tuesday)
[!-- Yes Col. Mustard, the Clue has changed. --]
----------
For those others who care, the significance of these little tidbits came out of a chat Jaya and I had yesterday. Something along the lines of "Majestic is one big game of Clue - Col. Mustard did it (for the money) with Mrs. Peacock in the Library."

I'd be honored if you'd keep it live (the pages if not the link), at least until you find you need the MBs back. Maybe you could move the link to the interview page? Anyway, even if it comes down right away, you've still been added to my hall of fame. Eventually, I'll get you back along with the artists behind the muda_trib.jpg and the mudabot.gif sketch.

Here's a link for you, the next time someone needs to buy a clue

Yeah, you're time will come. :-)
'Muda

JohnLittle wants to hear from me.

Fri, 11 May 2001 21:55:23 GMT

Where do we start? RenegadeVal blogs a chat with MataHariMajestic, who in turn drops a hint that Majestic-Intel knows secrets. I don't normally read Val's Renegade Alliance blog, but he accidentally posted this to the wrong one, maj/web/dev, which I was working on at the time.

----------
Page 1, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/
A picture of an alien being with a caption and a string of file data.
Standard Analysis: Links List = no links, Select All = no hidden text, View Source = no comments, but the meta keywords are ridiculously numerous. Capitalized keywords yield the phrase "I Love Muffins" which corresponds to a running gag in the chat room. Nothing new there, but the words are spaced out every-other. Focusing on every-other, the keywords read "the lifeform holds the key"
----------
Page 2, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/lifeformx-57a.html
An essay on gravity.
Analysis: LL=nada SA=yes! VS=same metas, but noted to be 2nd page. The hidden text reveals "He knew everything about gravity and nothing about html. But if you put the two together interesting things happen." gravity.html is a strikeout, but the "he" is not.
----------
Page 3, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/newton.html
Newton pic/quote, with an alt="I MOC you."
Analysis: LL=nada SA=nada VS=same metas, now 3rd page. I do not see the significance of MOC vs. mock, but I do see the filename of the image, craftdothtml.jpg
----------
Page 4, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/craft.html
Roswell tale, with pic: alt="Who Am I?" filename="thismanholdsthekey.jpg"
Analysis: LL=nada SA=nada VS=same metas, now 4th page. The text of the article, in plain site even, includes the phrase: "...Major Jesse Marcel, shown kneeling here..."
----------
Page 5, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/jessemarcel.html
The Cover Up by Steven Austin, no pics this time
Analysis: LL=nada SA=nada VS=same metas, now 5th page. The text of the article includes a single emphasized word: "truth"
----------
Page 6, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/truth.html
Grey Type Aliens, with pic: alt="Our craft have been tested by the U.S. Government at this famous base."
Analysis: LL=nada SA=nada VS=same metas, now 6th page. "This famous base" is a blatantly obvious reference.
----------
Page 7, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/area51.html
Press release, no pic.
Analysis: LL=nada SA=nada VS=same metas, now 7th page. What's different here? This page, unlike the others, has a title: "Do You Believe?" There are two probable answers, yes.html and no.html, which will you choose? Assuming it to be a dead end, let's first try "no".
----------
Ha ha ha ha, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/no.html ...no1.html ...no2.html ...no3.html ...no4.html ...no5.html
FOOL is a series of rapidly refreshing pages with no content that eventually dump you at Fischer-Price.com
It was a dead end, let's go back and say "yes".
----------
Page 8, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/yes.html
Press release, 2 days later, no pic (and no title).
Analysis: LL=nada SA=nada VS=same metas, now 8th page. Well, there's no title, but there is a new meta: description="The most important number" Given my current reading material, I went for 23.html first; no good. Given the prevailing theme, I followed that with 12.html; bingo.
----------
Page 9, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/12.html
Lee Harvey Oswald pic, alt="She was a patsy in another era. The French killed her"
Analysis: LL=nada SA=nada VS=same metas, now 9th page. Well, what do you know? This makes a second reference to Mata Hari in this exercise.
----------
Page 10, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/matahari.html
Mata Hari pic, alt="Can I trust her?"
Analysis: LL=nada SA=nada VS=same metas, now 10th page. This can't be a yes/no answer, or we'll be going in circles. What's different? A-ha! The metas are not the same, there's an extra keyword: "the truth can be quite a shock". We've seen the truth, so what is the shock?
----------
Page 11, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/shock.html
Eye's Now Open, poem or song lyrics, no pic
Analysis: LL=yes! SA=nada VS=same metas, now 11th page. I'll be damned, actual links. But now another choice to be made, angels or demons?
----------
Page 12a, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/angels.html
Majestic12 Memo, pic only
Analysis: LL=nada SA=nada VS=same metas, now 12a-th page. Nothing, nada, not here. Try the other one.
----------
Page 12b, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/demons.html
Majestic12 Memo, pic only (same pic)
Analysis: LL=nada SA=nada VS=addtional metas, now 12b-th page. Took less time to see the different metas on this page. I may soon call Majestic-Intel, "Pavlov". Food makes me drool, but CrackMakesMeWoot.
----------
Page13, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/woot.html
This is where it gets funky. This page has undergone at least 3 revisions in the last 48 hours. The general gist of it is that this page is the payoff of an extended chat room in joke, showcasing a particular Agent of the alliance. First was art taken from her site... turns out it wasn't her work and the artist had a fit about it. Then it was cropped down to just her. Then her site got hacked and defaced, and she was accused of being a double-agent. Currently, it's a new picture of just her. Expect that to change...
Dusty, pic only.
Analysis: LL=yes! SA=nada VS=addtional metas, now 13th page. What do we have, Houston? And what's the link: send an IM to the Agent with the text, "You Bring Out The Retard In Me"
----------
Page 14, www.majestic-intel.net/misecrets/problem.html
Blank?
Analysis: LL=nada SA=yes! VS= metas, now 14th page. Hidden text: "xxxxxxxxxx@johnlittle.org wants to hear from you. Include your xxxxxxxxxx ID or you will miss out."
----------
Now we kick back and wait...

My new goal...

Fri, 11 May 2001 17:24:27 GMT

... is to become a Majestic character.

EAcomGlitterGirl (6:33:07 PM): fescado - are you asking if maybe we'll let the community participate in the development of the game?
fescado (6:33:17 PM): ya
EAcomGlitterGirl (6:33:19 PM): influence the plot and stuff?
EAcomGlitterGirl (6:33:31 PM): No guarantees, but it could happen.

My understanding is that the game is presented in seasons. A new player will always start at Ep.0 of the current season, but they will have available to them "histories" of what happened in prior seasons. I will make my mark, I will be referenced in those histories.

Sometimes I'm glad...

Fri, 11 May 2001 17:12:01 GMT

...that I'm only reading a chat log later, and not part of the actual conversation.

EAcomGlitterGirl (6:04:32 PM): Sorry folks, the game is rated mature, but I don't think you can expect any porn in Majestic.
fescado (6:04:31 PM): ...how do we get majestic shirts?
asmyth82 (6:04:57 PM): bribery Fes...big time
RoleModelForever (6:05:18 PM): yeah, you gotta give the EA crew illicit drugs.
EAcomGlitterGirl (6:06:08 PM): whoo-hoo!
RoleModelForever (6:07:37 PM): you did realize "glitter" is the street name for heroin, didn't you, Fes?
asmyth82 (6:06:25 PM): uh-oh
RoleModelForever (6:06:44 PM): uh-oh?
asmyth82 (6:07:27 PM): now the EA folks will be expecting drugs in the mail and won't be working...congrats RMF..you've pushed back the release date at least a month

Why for?

Mon, 07 May 2001 15:08:00 GMT

Well, I came up with another good plot for the Majestic creative writing contest. But once again, I ran out of time. However, this time I went ahead and posted it anyway because GlitterGirl said she wanted to see some of my stuff.

The idea for this one came in two pieces, really. The first part, I was anticipating that all the other stories would be focused on Mind Control or Implants... a generic "Total Recall" type of story. I wanted to do something unique and came up with the concept of "What if the amnesia was self-inflicted?"

So I wrote out a story where a gamer creates a character and let's it get into his head so that he can't distinguish between real and game. Not too far fetched, as it's something that's been in the media consciousness at least since the introduction of Dungeons & Dragons back in the 70s. And I've seen people play in LARPs that are so immersive they keep their characters alive around the clock.

Then I was at the pier on Sunday, people watching and playing around with my sketchbook. I started sketching a caricature artist who was in turn sketching a customer. And it hit me... what if the real person behind the character, was in fact a character himself?

Well, unfortunately I didn't act on it. Not timely anyway. The first story lost all significance for me as soon as I conceptualized the second one, so I trashed it without submitting it. And the second one didn't fully materialize until this morning, after the deadline.

So, it won't win any prizes... but I liked the concept so I published it anyway. Enjoy.

"I do not know who I am or where I came from."

Mon, 07 May 2001 14:53:35 GMT

It's been a long, confuisng and frustrating ordeal but finally it's over. He is going home.
*****
It started as a game. Cabbage the Game. It was an absurb and surreal game, but it was a game none-the-less. In light of the subject matter, he had thought to create an alias -- no, an entire character -- from which to play. This was in order to keep his privacy, to keep the other players from finding him. Little did he dream what it would lead to.

The ordeal started in Seattle. He had made the trip to meet some of the other players socially, and in character of course. It had gone over famously. No one had a clue that he was not who he appeared to be. Well, at least no one called him on his bluff.

He'd gone all out for the occassion, of course. He had a fake ID he'd picked up from a local head shop back home, just in case anyone wanted proof of who he was. He had a school ID and video cards and other easily faked stuff just for atmosphere. He had even gone so far as to pick up one of those anonymous internet debit cards so he could get cash or pay for drinks and what-not without having to sign away his real name. The weekend was a success. The parties ended and he escorted his fellow players to their various conveyances. At last he was the final player in Seattle, and he was ready to head home himself.

Then the earthquake, and the subsequent chaos it caused. He'd been involved in an accident on his way out of town. Knocked unconscious, rescued, taken to a hospital. The only ID they'd found was the fake stuff. He would've been better off if they had logged him in as a John Doe. When he came to several days later, he was disoriented. They called him by his psuedonym and with the painkiller cocktails running through his system, he wasn't sober enough to correct them. In fact, in his haze, they had accidentally convinced him that he actually was Mr. Macchiato for a short time.

He had no relatives and he had no friends, for he wasn't really from Seattle. They made him a ward of the state under the protection of the hospital. He had doctors repairing physical damage, he had psychiatrists repairing the gaps and inconsistencies in his memories. It went on for months. In spite of the shrinks' best efforts, through out it all he continued to see flashes of surf and images of the pier at sunset. The doctors couldn't reconcile the scenes to any local lifestyle. Eventually the images got stronger and stronger, and his real life began to reemerge. He was not Mr. Macchiato of Seattle, Washington. He was, in fact, Mr. Schwartz of Malibu, California.

As soon as he recalled the name, it all came flooding back. Friends, faces, names, places. Everything crashed upon him like a giant wave, a tsunami of recollection. There were no more holes. There were no more gaps. He was complete. And he was ready to go home.
*****
The greyhound rambles southbound along Pacific Coast Highway. Dave Scwartz looks out the window and watches the surf crash against beaches and cliff walls. He's ticking away the cities and towns as he rolls through; Monterey, San Luis Obisbo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and finally Malibu.

The bus passes the monolithic blue and white sign of the Malibu Beach RV Park that Dave calls home. The driver won't stop for him here, regardless of how much Dave protests. Instead they arrive at the Malibu pier. It is sunset, and Dave watches the golden globe sizzle and hiss as it dives into the pacific horizon. Dave cannot help but linger, for it is this image that he had held onto. It is this scene which had saved his life as he knows it.

During the long walk back to the RV park, Dave pauses before one of those bookshop/coffe house/internet cafes. Something in the window he cannot place, and it nags at him. He enters the cafe and logs into one of the many empty terminals. He checks his mail accounts, his web accounts, his filespaces, his mailing lists and newsgroups. Everything is as it should be and the accounts and passwords roll from his fingertips without hesitation, but they all have one frightening fact in common:

None of the accounts existed prior to November 7, 2000. The day he had first read about Majestic the Game, and had created the character of Dave 'Bermuda' Schwartz...

So I did it...

Fri, 04 May 2001 18:08:24 GMT

I was consumed by the power of peers and I moved myself into bloggerspace. And as soon as I did, I got 'team'ed onto another handful of blogs. You know what, though? It's a different mentality.

At first I figured, a journal is a journal and it doesn't really matter whether it's here, or there, or frickin' notepad on my desktop. But it does make a difference. It's like... urhm... I don't know what it's like.
It's a frame of mind thing.
It's a mood thing.
It's a style thing.
It's a wild thing.
(...wild thing, I think I love you....)

Different tools yield different results.

So, even though I'm blogging [MUDACOM], I'm still here. I'm running in parallel. It's almost like there's two of me. Well, there are two of me but that's another story for another time.

'Muda

btw- thanks for hanging around, M.

AltaVista - Web Results for: "apocalypse"

Thu, 03 May 2001 18:21:30 GMT

Featured Sites:
* Find and Bid on the Apocalypse at eBay
Are you tired of rude salespeople and busy stores that don't have what you want? With over 4300 categories to search in and over 5 millions items being auctioned, eBay has what you want.

Oh, this is just too much... :lol

ELFIS Journal of Possible Paradigms: Majestic Art of Mind Kontrol

Wed, 02 May 2001 14:56:53 GMT

ELFIS Journal of Possible Paradigms: Majestic Art of Mind Kontrol

"Among the many ethical ambiguities implied by the very premise of the game is its use of real and fake web sites to promote real and hoax news stories. The game designers have gone so far as to create front companies for several of these web sites. They are actively urging fans of the game to create web sites to act as fronts for the game."

"The disinformation is already spreading... I'm already receiving emails from experiencers and researchers who are forwarding links to web pages which turn out to be among the growing list of hoax sites. One experiencer sent me a link to an online image of a supposed reptoid alien. The link was to one of the top two Majestic related fan sites, Above Top Secret."

I'm still not sure what I think about this. Apparently, ELFis is a legitimate journal documenting extra-terrestrial life form phenomena. One of the first concerns I had when I heard of Majestic The Game, was: "What about MUFON and the realCT's? What do they think about a game appropriating their real experiences?" Looks like they are starting to notice... let the fall-out begin.

(Thanks to Jaya & Project Aquarius for the link ~Muda)

More RFC...

Mon, 30 Apr 2001 13:59:19 GMT

Need help with the proposed transition to Blogger...

How do you delete a blogger post you no longer wish to see?

How do you edit the date & time of a post?

Assuming you can't edit date and time, how do you resequence the posts on a different sort methodology?

(Sorry, M, but so far you're the only vote in favor of my staying put here at LJ...)

Thanks,
'Muda

Request for Comments

Mon, 30 Apr 2001 13:33:26 GMT

Two things:

1) I am looking for a stream provider. Someone or someplace with a shoutcast or equivalent server where I can set up a play list. I'd do it myself, but I don't have sufficient bandwidth or disk quota anymore.

2) NOW TAKING REQUESTS for said stream. My intentions are to provide a "Paranoia Set" for fellow Majicians. Theming will run the eclectic spectrum from atmosphere stuff (a la Majestic CDs, plus I have some Cirque du Soleil soundtracks that will fit right in) to Pop Rocks with delusions of paranoia ("Who Can It Be Now?", "Somebody's Watching Me", etc.) to Classics ("Secret Agent Man" & "Peter Gunn theme") to novelty tracks ("Purple People Eater", "Earth Girls Are Easy", "Slime Creatures From Outer Space", "Midnight Star", etc.)... whatever feels appropriate to you.

Title, Artist, reason for inclusion (if it's not obvious)... please use the "comment on this" link.

My PERL skills are rusty (read that as "non-existant")

Mon, 30 Apr 2001 13:18:52 GMT

Can someone please translate this code-byte into English?

#!/usr/bin/perl
open CAN, "excitedly";
join ($can, $mouth);
while ($colaRemaining > 0)
{if ($reallyThirsty) {$chug;} else {$sip};}
dumpIN_RECYCLING_BOX;IN_RECYCLING_BOX;

In case you need it, the context of the code-byte can be found here:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/things/37f3.html

Thanks,
'Muda

Majestic Chat (or, "Hooray for the Bewbies!")

Fri, 27 Apr 2001 00:00:12 GMT

Well, I've been working on some more HTML for kicks. This is much more intricate than the other pages I've done, but at the same time I had a bunch of code to start with and I just tailored it to my needs.

http://www.geocities.com/bermuda653/mjchat.htm

I think you'll like it. Well, those of you who are in the know anyway. The reasons behind the project come from the fact that as Majestic comes closer to final release, there has come to be sort of a comingling of players that really isn't appropriate. This page is to try and stem the tide of Bewbies. ("Bewbies" is a contraction of "Beta Newbies" and refers to the 500 people in the current User Test 5 of Majestic.)

Now that the page is up, of course, AOL is having network problems and there's no way to test the chat room links. Ugh. But, I'm sure it'll be back soon enough.

The really difficult part will be getting all the Alliance web masters to change their code from the old direct link to this new hub. The older link propogated faster than rabbits, hopefully this one will do the same. Viral marketing I think they call it?

'Muda

Another illuminating excerpt

Thu, 26 Apr 2001 23:49:14 GMT

So, yesterday somebody asks me, "What kind of books you been reading, Muda?" Nevermind the fact that I was careful to cite exactly what book I was reading. I guess the question (assuming it wasn't rhetoric, which it most probably was) really relates to the genre. Coincidentally, when I went back to reading the book I came across this passage mere pages later...

ibid, page 238

"It's a dreadfully long monster of a book," Wildeblood says pettishly, "and I certainly won't have time to read it, but I'm giving it a thorough skimming. The authors are utterly incompetent -- no sense of style or structure at all. It starts out as a detective story, switches into science-fiction, then goes off into the supernatural, and is full of the most detailed information of dozens of ghastly boring subjects. And the time sequence is all out of order in a very pretentious imitation of Faulkner and Joyce. Worst yet, it has the most raunchy sex scenes, thrown in just to make it sell, I'm sure, and the authors -- whom I've never heard of -- have the supreme bad taste to introduce real political figures into this mishmash and pretend to be exposing a real conspiracy. You can be sure I won't waste time reading such rubbish, but I'll have a perfectly devastating review ready for you by tomorrow noon."
"Well, we don't expect you to read every book you review," Peter says mollifyingly, "just so long as you can be entertaining about them."

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have "the most raunchy sex scenes" to get back to.

'Muda

The Illuminatus Trilogy! (an excerpt)

Wed, 25 Apr 2001 14:29:45 GMT

DELL TRADE PAPERBACK, published 11/88, copyright 1975, page 206

     "This is a most sacred and a most serious hour for Discordians. It is the hour when the great, palpitating heart of Discordia throbs and swells, when She What Began It All prepares to ingest into her heaving, chaotic bosom another Legionnaire of the Legion of Dynamic Discord. O minerval are ye willing to make a commitment to Discordia?"
     Embarrassed at being addressed directly, George let go of his wang. "Yes," he said, in a voice that sounded muffled to him.
     "Are ye a human being, and not a cabbage or something?"
     George giggled. "Yes."
     "That's too bad," the voice boomed. "Do ye wish to better yourself?"
     "Yes."
     "How stupid. Are ye willing to become philosophically illuminated?"
     Why that word, George wondered briefly. Why illuminated? But he said, "I suppose so."
     "Very funny. Will ye dedicate yourself to the holy Discordian movement?"
     George shrugged, "As long as it suits me."

No, I am not making this up. Cabbage has been a part of the conspiracy all along.

'Muda

Whoa.

Wed, 25 Apr 2001 00:29:31 GMT

Content changes at www.majestic.ea.com
Could this mean that a release date doth approach?

'Muda

If you're gone...

Mon, 23 Apr 2001 14:17:38 GMT

I think I've already lost you
I think you're already gone
I think I'm finally scared now
You think I'm weak - but I think you're wrong
I think you're already leaving
Feels like your hand is on the door
I thought this place was an empire
But now I'm relaxed - I can't be sure

My winamp broke while upgrading
My music streams have all run dry
There is no soundtrack to life now
If I can't fix it soon - I think I might cry
The radio sucks to high heaven
And all my discs are at home
I deal with people through music
But now it's gone quiet - I feel so alone