This post is from the JMBzine Blog Vault, which means it is a very old blog post that I wrote at a very different time of my life. My views on religion (I’m now a Humanistic Jew), politics (today I’m a democratic socialist), and many other subjects (LGBTQ+ inclusion, abortion rights, etc.) have drastically changed over the years, so please bear this in mind when reading this post. – Tags: #
August 9, 2001
11:24 pm
If you’re ever in Oklahoma, be sure and visit Newcastle. It’s a swell town.
Editor’s Note (2023): Newcastle.nu was a website I had been running a few years. (the link above is to an archived version) I think I let it die maybe a year or so after this, but for a few pre-social media years, it was the big internet hub of my hometown of Newcastle, Oklahoma.
11:01 pm
Theendofree.com – chronicles a sad phenomenum (shoot me, I don’t have time to spell check) where once free services are becoming fee-based. I’m sure all of my Libertarian readers will see this as a good or at least inevitable thing, but I frankly think it sucks.
7:45 pm
I was a big far of Bear Share for mp3 sharing, but lately I have had less and less success actually being able to use it. Today though, on the recommendation of a friend I tried out Audio Galaxy and man oh man, I like this. Of course, it will get taken down like Napster, but until we have to use the gnutella programs (i.e. Limeware, Bearshare, File Navigator, etc.) I would recommend Audio Galaxy. It’s very tight.
5:25 pm
2:06 pm
ok, now I have that stupid timezone thing fixed. So, if you’re reading anything before this post, the times were Pacific time. Starting with this post though, they should be good ol Central time.
Also, if you’re bored check out the new JMBzine.com public blog
2:07 am
Gore Inspired Spacecraft to be stored – This seems sad to me. For all of the fun folks poked at Gore on this, I thought it was a good idea. Especially now that the thing is built, I don’t understand why they don’t launch it.
1:43 am
I came across a very amazing discovery on another blog Life in Two Languages. Follow the link and scroll down to where the author talks about a man in her class who was in a paramilitary death squad in El Salvador that was trained by the School of the Americas. Reading that post reminds me of two things…
First, that the horrors that went on were real. I’ve read about what the US School of the Americas did in training assasins and masters of torture in Latin America from School of the Americas Watch, but somehow coming across this account of a man who bore the scars from this military days who was actually trained there, puts a very real face on things.
But, secondly and maybe more importantly, I am reminded that it is ALWAYS wrong to dehumanize our enemies. In reading the account, the blog author says, “…Whichever was the truth, he’s here now trying to make a better life for himself and his family. Whether he’s finally escaped a cycle of poverty and violence, or whether his new life is an attempt at redemption for his sins, he’s sitting across the table looking at me and hoping I’ll help. ” Reading this reminds me that even those we tend to revile our human beings, just like you and me. They may have done bad things, but so have we all.
Enough late night thoughts. Read the blog. It’s very compelling.