My Travels

2005-11-08T10:53:00.000-08:00

Whoa! Productivity on a grand scale. I jammed through a bunch of those religious blogs in the comments, skipping the audio blog from the satanist because I have more sense than to burn for enternity over a blog.

http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-journal.php

www.twoplustwo.com

http://www.thecasinodealer.blogspot.com/

Here are links for a look at the poker world. Clicking around will give you a perspective of what is going on here meme-wise. If you do spend any time at these, make sure to hit the first link and also the poker theory forum in the left column on the twoplustwo forum. Check out the ads on the right in the context of the unit of thought that anyone can be a profitable poker player.

2005-11-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

Our Impish dude from MinnesOta was a good read. I especially appreciated his comments about the "postmodern speculative" that argue his hairdo did not qualify him for such a distinction.

Doxology held me for maybe three paragraphs - right up to the time he told us what tomorrow's subject would be. That is just too contrived for my taste and lacks the sponaneity that I feel must exist in the blogoshpere.

Clicked around to a few others before I head to today's class post and comments for more. The prevailing thought and attitude I see in the blogosphere differs little from the brick and mortal world - I AM RIGHT AND YOU ARE WRONG! It's everywhere.

Where are the "my god loves me" or "my god hates me" blogs? Those would appeal to this reader. Even an "I have no idea why I believe what I believe blog" might do it. I am sick of rightness and absolutes in any debate. If discourse is not your thing, teach arithmetic or start a cult.

2005-11-07T10:34:00.000-08:00

Bad Christian says, "Sometimes, negativity is holy." Rock on buddy. Are you a Buddhist in disguise?

2005-11-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

Mr. Rush of Anvil and Fire is way too serious for me. In being honest with myself, my prof and my classmates, I could only read three entries. After finding the editorialized transcript of a Larry King discussion about evolution and intelligent design that almost bordered on humor, I have decided to move on and consider that find a victory for the non-serious.

Rush seems to be strenuously fighting a unit of thought that fanatical Christians like himself are illiterate, unintelligent fools, whose dogmatic beliefs render them impervious to reason. He does a decent job of this, but his persistence detracts from his aim.

Science and scientists (athiests) are driven by discovery, exploration, etc in this debate. Fanatical Christians are driven by being right and proving the other side wrong (or at least proving the other side can't prove their theories). John Rush shows us this side of the debate over and over. Doesn't this need to win and the assumption of high ground in the argument (since Christianity outdates evolutionary theory) refect dogmatic beliefs which are impervious to reason? On to something a little lighter I hope. I have filled my serious quota.

Fun story for today. While casually discussing the Big Bang theory and atheism with my freshmen last year, I was flatly told that I did not have a soul by a 13 year old.

2005-11-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

For anyone tuning in, my hiatus from academics and life in general is over. I did not have the chance to play any of the foxwoods tourneys I wanted to, my apologies to anyone who was looking forward to results and stories.

2005-10-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

Anyone else catch our Ctweblogs.com buddy and Coffee in NorthEast? Blogging is much hotter a topic than I assumed when the semester began.

I want to relate what playing in a poker tourney is like here on the blog so that others might understand how very different the experience is compared to what we are lead to believe. My notes are overly detailed and boring, so a summary is probably best and easier to understand.

First object of note, this was the worst tourney I have ever played. The cards that I was dealt were horrendous. To make matters worse, the three tables I played at were raise-happy. Part of winning at poker is "stealing," or making raises from a late acting position in order to force the players who have forced, blind bets to fold and acquire their chips. With constant raising in front of me, this play was not possible.

I won a total of two hands, both bluffs. The remainder of my chips were expended on one fairly sizable bluff and paying the blind bets.

time at the table 1 hour 49 minutes

hands dealt 38

flops seen 8

hands showndown 1

dollars won - ZERO

2005-10-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

I have been a bad blogger. Blogging, for some strange reason, requires internet access and the Great Flood of 2005 left my west end pad without that privilege. While spam piled up in my Inbox for 4 days, I went out into the world to do the only thing better than blogging - played some cards and caught yet another cold. This one is the best I've had in a while, the Cadillac of colds.

For Colin, I am spending my afternoon bopping around and will be prepared for class.

For fun, Tuesday night I blew my nose and the fluids in my head "popped." I took three steps at best before realizing I no longer had even thimblefull of balance and crashed to the floor laughing maniacally. Moments later, balance restored, white noise filled the room. I assumed that head slightly cocked pose trying to pinpoint the origin of the sound, which appeared to the rest of room as if I was staring at something on the floor because I was the only one who could hear it.

2005-10-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

Two more stops in the blogoshpere worth noting. I somehow made my way back to the New Haven Independent but at the personal page of a staff member. Her blog was a great read, Dooce-like in a few ways.

I also jammed over to CT History of the Natural World. My quick response:

Dinosaurs are neat, Dinosaurs are RAD. But, Dinosaurs are dead and there is no need for a 9 foot high 21 foot long bronze statue of one that took 5 years to make and probably 4 teachers salaries over that same time. It is also ridiculous to condone or encourage this behavior by writing a news article about it.

The part about the Meriden Cliffs was pretty cool. I used to rock climb there before my most strenous physical activity turned into playing Tiger Woods golf on the Xbox and doing 100 reps with the 12 ounce Coors Light dumbell.

2005-10-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

In roughly one month of blogging, my claim to fame is that I am huge in Europe. Oh, And I Need More Nudie Pics.

I am off to disprove the Meme that anyone can be a profitable poker player.

2005-10-11T06:42:00.000-07:00

I believe I am being productive. I like that. I am inclined to think that my professor also likes that.

Blogs visited this AM: Coffee chick who wrote from the gut, Westportnow.com, Colin's link to the NYTimes writeup on CT blogs and some random clicking around when I had the opportunity.

I had two strange blog moments this morning and think I will write about those because they at least loosely relate to our class. Both comments relate to the initial entry from Coffee Rhetoric. Can someone teach me how to link come thursday?

My first moment involved our author's declaration that there were certain people who would read her blog - a friend. I got the impression that the creation of this blog was an event, publicized within a small circle of friends/family/co-workers/etc. Then my craziness got a grasp on that idea, look out. The NY Times mentioned the short life-span of blogs - they last for weeks or months in most cases. So why publicize the creation of one to even your immediate intended audience? I am clearly undercaffeinated and overtired to be thinking this way. Back to the "good" stuff though.

Here is my circuitous conclusion. Smokers often tell everyone they know that they are trying to quit. These are the people who are serious about quitting. They notify their world as motivation, the thinking is that if other people know you are quitting you will not only get support from those individuals but will also feel guilty for falling back into the addiction and thus are more likely to actually quit.

Do bloggers publicize the creation of their space so that they won't quit? If they already have an audience, how can they really stop the show? I wonder if it is possible to determine the page views for blogs that don't make it.

Moment number two: A reference to place.

Reading Coffe Rhetoric I had a unique experience relating to Place but it is difficult to convey or explain. The author told the story of her birthday night on the town in her first post. She went to Agave Grill, Pastis and Peppercorn's. These are places I frequent frequently. She drank with my friends. People I know and see regularly. I was most likely there. I was definitely there. And that is just weird.

2005-10-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

I linked over to the New Haven Independent from the Local Politics sites. Glad I did. Is this a newpaper local to New Haven? Or just a site layed out as one? Either way, I my time their was well worth it. The headline piece about the artist's collective and the dude who renovates huge dormant spaces was interesting and fun. I read articles as varied as the Metric Olympics and Block Watch Block Parties, not bad.

2005-10-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

My unintentional hiatus from both blogging and life is thankfully over. Time to get to work. I spent most of the morning jamming on the CT Local Politics blog and the blogging dude's site "Orient Lodge." My favorite moment from the local politics site:

Stories will start trickling out about newly united couples, and perhaps we'll see some of those on the news. In reality, though, the ban on cell phones while driving has raised much more of a ruckus, and has inspired greater passions in us than civil unions.

CT drivers are the worst - a rare combination of NYC drivers and suburbanites who are oil and water on the roads and a hazard with or without a cell phone attatched to their faces. Boston is a safer place to drive.

The Local Politics blog I found and enjoyable read. Another highlight was the author's choice to criticize Dems for failing to support campaign finance reform. The post about Enfield elections and the excitement conveyed in those words was worth admiring and made this writer feel more than a little guilty.

I was impressed with the author of Orient Lodge. He came through as a genuinely nice guy.

2005-10-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

Reactions to Wolcott -

As requested, I started looking at the pros's blogs with Wolcott. I appreciated the polish of his writing. The variety of topics and choice to criticise both sides of the political arena are appealing when compared to DailyKos.

Now for something bordering original thought - and if this subject came up after my departure last week and is now unoriginal please drop me a note so I can remove it. I see a connection between blogging and television. After my last post I was thinking about how the author strove to express his disinterest in both television and movies - wondering what his motivation was. He was not trying intentionally discredit himself for sure. So it is important for the author and the audience to separate themselves from what about movies and television? The producers? No. We would not be reading the review of Serenity on a political blog if that were true. With a little faith and some reasoning the Consumers of film and television are what Power Line want to distance themselves from. But why? Yes, I have regular contact with a 7 year old. I would speculate that the way these media are dumbed down to appeal to a mass audience counteracts the intended authorial voice/perception of conservative political bloggers. That as a freakin mouthful. Hope it made sense to anyone other than this guy.

But really, I was going to write about Wolcott - who coincidentally embraces both film and television media. I get Wolcott is a Lefty and that might be the difference in polarity in a nutshell. Let's face it, Dem's are more hip than their GOP rivals. Dick Cheney was never cool. Al Sharpton still is. Part of being hip is a connection to what IS hip. Crime shows are hip and Wolcott taps that. Crime shows are enteraining as well. You can also reference the David Mamet piece using my passion, poker, as a metaphor for the current state of the Dems.

On to something that might be worth reading. I am getting a feeling here that blogging is the new TV. For the political media addict this is even more true. During class sessions the idea of the blogosphere as a place where the consumer can find a network of like-minded bloggers presenting material that is interesting, entertaining, educational, mind-numbing, etc. This dynamic world is so similar to television.

Cruising the blogs is, for the consumer, nearly identical to watching television as I envision it. We even have blogs that contain music and video links. Want to put an economic slant on this comparison? Think of the volume of ads we stumble across in the blogosphere. The blog-ad is even more effective than the basic TV commercial because it endorsed by the star entertainer - much like airing a Rightguard commercial starring Terrell Owens during an Eagles game. We and the advertisers use the blogoshere in the same way we use television - please forgive a moment of redundancy. I am unable to envision a form of entertainment that is unique to either world.

I think i will wrap up with what I think is a fun question and a possible opportunity for us to create a Meme that does not get Colin fired. Colin introduced the concept of Time Porn, using the forbidden time of our daily lives to think about popular sitcoms of a decade or so ago. Can we come up with a unit of thought to express how consumers of the blogosphere are nibbling on a forbidden fruit? Is that fruit somehow related to the bland vanilla of television? If you read all of this and think me insane, my apologies.

2005-10-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

Hi class, Colin, anyone wacky enough to be reading this. A quick note about the "Serenity" post and the Power Line blog before I get into the meat of this week's reading.

What a confusing situation here. One of our three authors wrote a review of a movie? This author admits that he has little experience writing about or even watching movies. The review is vanilla with vanilla jimmies. It is chock full of "like" and "good" - boring language.

So this "review" is audience based in its aim? We have touched on the sophistication of marketing, but is this a viable way to market? I actually think it is. I am going to assume when you are selling shit, the best way to sell it is to get it in front of as many people as possible and pray someone enjoys the aroma.

2005-09-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

Is Craigslist a Mega-blog? Is it even a blog? I would argue that in its early stages, Craigslist was neither but must be considered a blog in its current form. If dailyKos could generate the same kind of discourse it might approach the goals described in our last class. For those of us that might be unfamiliar with the site, go to www.Craigslist.org to check it out.

For those of us who are interested in Memes, the Rants and Raves section of the site offers plenty of opportunities to dissect Meme generation and even track the proliferation of a Meme regionally across cyberspace.

Also, check out this ad: http://hartford.craigslist.org/mar/100342734.html. Why is this employer looking for a "blogger" to write down the action? What special skills do bloggers have that any other writers lack to satisfy this employers needs? I am not sure.

Another point before I wrap up this post. Did anyone else notice the terms of compensation? Free meals are conspicuously highlighted as well as a chance to be a "part of the action." Doesn't this play into the stereotype of the blogger sitting in their parents basement living off frozen burritos and wearing the same stained pajamas every day?

2005-09-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

The details of my latest DailyKos adventure:

I will always find this blog dizzying - so dizzying that I have trouble gleaning the most out of the content. Although people of conservative politics are usually associated with witch-hunts, the DailyKos has a little of that feel to me. Every post contained an almost rabid, frenzied attack on some element of GOP policy or character. I should mention that on the rare occasion I do have a political thought, it is usually on the left. DailyKos could use a good dose of ultra rabid rightwingers to spice up the discourse and steer away from what looks to me like a bunch of bashing. Just a thought.

Another point. September of '05 is a little early to being to obsess about the Democratic primaries. A poll? Come on, that is just ridiculous. I am aware that the 2008 presidential race began as soon or sooner than Mr. Bush's victory in '04, but polling for an election so far down the road in these "end times" of natural disasters, Diddy videos and designer diaper bags is outrageous. Send a letter to your loved ones using that time.

I took a great liking to the David Mamet piece "Poker Party." In addition to being a sucker for circular tales, I am a HUGE sucker for puns and metaphors. I play poker everyday. I do not spend much time in the political realm. So Mamet helped me understand in language I could comprehend. Poker, the ubiquitous fad of the now is definitely Meme. Though I do not see it in most of the protoblogs we are looking at this week. More on this from me as we approach specialized blogs.

Dave's meme of the week - G.W. Bush as the petulant, incompetent, maniacal historical figures.

Sally from Beaumont gives us a Nero comparison, which I chose to expand upon in my previous post.

An article from DailyKos that I can't find anymore, it drives me insane is it so hard to navigate, compared our George to George III the monarch and madman.

I expect that the pressures, lack of intelligence or skill and outright greed/corruption will garauntee that our George will not only continue to be compared to these scandalous historical figures but will ultimately be cast in bronze as one.

2005-09-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

Nero was a better man than BushAt least Nero stayed in town and provided entertainment while Rome burned. George Bush went to California to raise funds for the Republican Party while human beings in New Orleans drowned. Which do you think was worse?

Here is our friend Sally from Beaumont comparing our president to Nero. With the scathing commentary she is writing about the man, I wish she chose to expand this idea or do some research to draw a more complete picture. Maybe I will before I wrap up my afternoon post.

I hate to use such bland language, but I like this blog. My appreciation is half content based and half situational. Sally begins writing in response to Katrina, the devastation of New Orleans and its aftermath. She has some harsh words for the current administration. Less than a month after beginning the diatribe, she finds that she will need to evacuate in response to hurricane Rita and that her neighbors may choose to ride out the storm in their homes. I am a sucker for tales that have a circular structure.

I am running out of things to say so I guess I will take a stab at finishing her Nero post:

Although I cannot go so far as to say that Bush is responsible for a Hurricane in the way that Nero was responsible for the fire in Rome, I can compare his fund raising trip to Nero watching the city burn from a palace balcony playing the harp. Rome's greatest arson burned the city to clear an older, slumlike section of the city for construction of the most lavish empirial palace in Roman history. Is it outrageous to prophesize that New Orleans will be rebuilt with the sensibilities of the president and his ultra-rich cohorts in the foreground? When the devastation of New Orleans is cleaned up, the city will not look the same physically or demographically. Trust me.

Bush's reign will end much like Nero's - hunted down, egoist until the end, too proud to be retired by any hand other than his own, insisting the masses are unable to understand his genius and artistry with his dying breath.

I am off to DailyKos.

2005-09-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

I stumbled through the archives of jason kottke this morning. Here are two posts that I enjoyed:

A list of statements
posted May 28, 1998 at 03:40 pm
Not everyone wearing a Tommy Hilfiger tshirt is selling out.
Men and women are not equal.
Ethnic group A and ethnic group b are not equal.
Big business is not always a bad thing.
There are good television shows.
Not everyone with long, nappy hair smokes pot.
Stereotypes work.
Stereotypes suck.

Two ways to go about your business
posted May 26, 1998 at 10:48 am
The way I see it, there's two ways to go about your business. Well, there's significant mixing between these two ways, but one or the other is usually dominant.
The first way is to offer a product/service (usually shitty) that people buy and they don't ever come back for seconds. How do you make money this way? You nickel and dime the customer to death until they leave screaming. Makes you lots of money fast, but no customer loyalty.
The other way is to offer a product/service that everyone likes. Your customers are happy because you're not continually jerking them around and they come back for more. And your reputation grows and you get more customers. They're getting what they want and you're having lots of fun giving it to them. And you're proud of what you're doing. Everyone is happy.
I'm currently in the midst of the first scenario, trying to get to the second. The problem with that is the first scenario is easy to achieve while the second is not.

Any significance that the "statements" post follows "two ways to go about your business?" So many of kottke's post are not diary-like accounts of thoughts or emotions but snap-shots of his day. These are different. He wrestles with giving his audience a product that "everyone likes" in hopes of building a reputation. Then we get a post that can be read one way or another. "A list of statements" is a better product than most of what jason posts. At the same time, this is not a product that "everyone" is going to like. The opinions expressed in the post are offensive, though not to all. My thoughts - it IS an move toward a product that will keep us checking in, if only to see what offensive statement or idea will surface next.

2005-09-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

A good starting point is my addiction to Dooce. Much of my writing, and my scholarly interest in writing is personal essays. Her voice and honesty impress me and make me laugh out loud. A brief example:

How to Charm Me
Wednesday, 07 September 2005
Crawl all over the living room like a raccoon foraging through trash, and when the dog gets in your way just reach up, poke him in the butthole, and exclaim, "Wowee!"

Dooce makes me feel a bit guilty because I can only see it as entertainment at this point. I am am convinced there is a scholarly topic here relating to psychology and annonymity. My brief experience in the blogoshpere tells me there are two types of proto-bloggers, those who use the medium to create a persona and those who use it to be completely honest in a way that grown-ups are not allowed to.

An aside that you may find humorous...serious online poker players often use dual screens so that they can play as many as 8 tables simultaneously. I am more of a brick and mortar person, but am considering this move to facilitate my blogging. I have no experience with heavily linked blogs and find myself overwhelmed by the variety and volume of information presented. Playing four games of poker is much easier than reading 12 articles at once. I may approach the counseling center for a Ritalin prescription so that I maintain my focus while blogging for scholarly purposes. This is HARD!
My last little tidbit references the idea of blogging creating a media-market controlled increasingly by content. Have you stumbled accross associatedcontent.com? I am unsure whether we can stretch the defniition of what a blog is to really consider associatedcontent one, but it is worth trying. As a content provider, you are paid according to the marketability of your work and the site maintains a feedback and page view record to determine the value of future pieces. In some ways, that site is the essence of a media blog as I interpet what I have read. The "packaging" is identical for every contributor so content is paramount unlike the rest of the blogosphere. The possibilities are endless here. As a consumer, I am capable of finding local, national and world news, sporting information (including editorial pieces from outside of my region), a recipe for my dinner and directions on how to repair my broken toilet all in one place with some certainty about the quality of all the content provided. I think that is probably a good place to call it quits before I begin to think myself intelligent and start rambling.