Pretty neat: open source energy policy and message from Kossacks. This is one of those issues that is going to only get more prescient, both in terms of everyday realities and politics, but I'm pessimistic about anyone seizing the day on it in the next few years. Grassroots organization and peer-to-peer consciousness-raising can help prime the pump and get maybe elected officials moving.

How many women do you have in your IM buddy list? I have none that are not family or work contacts.

That's indicitive of something.

For clarity, I felt it was indicative of something about me, not the democraphics of the IMing population. Clearly the technology is in wide use by all sorts. I just don't happen to use it to talk to girls, which may or may not be a good thing.

Look. For the record, I think this "war on Christmas" stuff is complete bullshit. No one cares, except O'Reilly who uses it to grandstand, and extreme right-wing religious groups who use it to fundraise. I think it's a non-issue for the vast majority of US citizens, and I think it's a damn shame that these right-wing republican jerk-asses are politicizing this time of the year, which is about family and kindness and community and reflection. Fuck them.

So I'm excited that Sam Seder brings a little smack down on CNN. Fuckin-a, Sam. Don't you never back down.

One of the drawbacks of not having an office or consistant workspace is a lack of project organization. I don't have a lot of stuff (papers, materials, etc) to keep track of, but I do usually have four or five projects going on at once.

Anyone have tips? I feel like I need a whiteboard. My kingdom for a coffeeshop with really good internet, a printer, a fax, some private little booths for phone calls and a lot of whiteboard space. I'd pay a monthly membership fee for that.

One of the drawbacks of not having an office or consistant workspace is a lack of project organization. I don't have a lot of stuff (papers, materials, etc) to keep track of, but I do usually have four or five projects going on at once.

Anyone have tips? I feel like I need a whiteboard. My kingdom for a coffeeshop with really good internet, a printer, a fax, some private little booths for phone calls and a lot of whiteboard space. I'd pay a monthly membership fee for that.

If you're not doing anything, vote for folkbum. It would be cool if he won.

If you're not doing anything, vote for folkbum. It would be cool if he won.

From time to time I pay tribute to my Irish nature, get savagely drunk. Last night was such an instance. It's a kind of ritual for me, as I awake with a few blurry memories of how I got home -- hazy end-of-night at the Palace, a fall off my bike in the slush, quesadilla -- clean myself up and face the world. Its related to that feeling that makes me want to take crazy wild mind-bending drugs, that witch-doctor feeling. It's not the same ritual, but it serves a similar end.

I enjoy a good hangover. I don't enjoy the headache, but the overall feeling brings a kind of clarity to my existence. It feels good, getting distilled, getting slowed down and opened up. Not every drunk produces this feeling, not by a long shot, and this is far from the only reason I drink, but it's one of the better ones I can think of.

Eugene McCarthy and Richard Pryor died, so the air last night must have been thick with spirits. Annual holiday party at A-Stock and Laura's. Good times, great party, fantastic spread. I committed a faux pas with my joint -- I sort of thought that might be pushing it -- but we worked it out. I got to meet S-Stock's fiance, who I liked (and who I liked liking since I always liked Sarah). Julia gave me this awesome shirt. On the front it says "One Wild And Crazy Guy" in kind of tacky glitter lettering, maybe iron-on. On the back is screen-printed "Coach Koenig." Found it that way at Bacons, she did. People seem good overall. The friends are happy.

The distilation, the clarity, the end of the year, the holidays. Lots to write, potentially. My attention flickers. Great ambitions; great revelations slither over the top of my brain and then dip back down. Yeah. I think the first thing that needs doing is getting myself some way to carry my tunes around. I feel like walking and listening, letting the muses pool.

Talking Narnia to Your Neighbors

I wasn't aware until someone (think it was Julia) told me that the Narnia books were somehow Christian. I loved 'em as a kid, just like I loved the Redwall books (which in hindsight probably also have a nominally "Christian" message) and the works of Tolken (who actually converted C.S. Lewis, so there you go). It seems to me that all these are moral and spiritual allegories -- no doubt written by Christian people who wanted in some part to share their vision of the universe in a fictionalized context -- which have broadly applicable lessons about responsibility, honesty, courage, friendship, etc. In short, they're good mytic tales.

It's interesting though because some people sort of seem to shy away from that once they learn they might have a Christian subtext. In understand people don't want to be preached at, especially subliminally, but it's not as though Harry Potter is going to make you into a Wiccan, and it's not as though watching a frickin' movie about a talking Lion is going to convert anyone.

On the other hand, the investment money behind the film reportely may have a missionary edge, so there's that to consider. Seems to me though that people on the right may have taken their own dire, and in my thinking innacurate, predictions about "the power of the culture" to control people's minds to heart, and are trying to fight fire with fire, so to speak.

I dunno; it seems strange and sort of unfortunate how touchy people are about faith, how hard it is to actually talk about. My experience of being brought up agnistically is pretty un-ordinary, so maybe I'm missing out on the power that religion can have when you're raised within its context. Maybe its easy for me to take my own value from these stories because they can't hook or touch me in certain ways.

Religion is a strange thing. I don't practice in an organized fashion, but I have my own set of beliefs and ways of making peace with the unknown, with telling right from wrong. But I've lived a very lucky life; not much tragidy or hardship to tell about. I'm priviledged in a whole lot of ways.

Yeah, anyway, I don't know what the point is here, but I'm curious what other people might think.

Hey y'all.

So I'm pleased and gratified by the increased commentary of late. I'm all about community and shit.

Something I've been threatening to do for ages is convert this old website to Drupal. It's a system I'm professionaly conversant with (so I can hack it to high heck), and it's got much nicer features for users/visitors, starting with threaded conversations.

I'm going to be staying in NYC for the holidays with a little free time on my hands, and I think I might take the plunge there. I'm trying to think how I can do this and offer y'all something more out of it too...

Suppose I were to set that up, and put it under a more generic name (not outlandishjosh.com, which would remain a part of it, but not be the main thing) and let people set up their own blogs and so forth. Like, way cooler than blogger. Would that be interesting to anyone?