Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda by Flip-Floppers from Bibliotechnophobe

There is such a thing as too much... The Romans and their incendiary orgies, the Mayans and their jungle destruction for the gleaming white glory of their temples, the black gold hidden under the dunes, the smog and haze of modernity. Even in the face of better plans, the try and fail still gets its due, wisdom being gained or lost a matter for the beholders and beheld.


Alright, so here's my obligatory posting on my thoughts of this class so far. First, I really wish the online section would have been kept separate from the on-campus section. I don't really understand why this wasn't done, other than to experiment with Skype-cast whatever technology, and to experiment with a crash course in confusion for most of the students involved. Having 150 people posting on the discussion boards just gets out of hand, not letting a professor make their own curriculum for a class is always a bad idea, clarity on assignments and just what is expected of you in general gets drowned in the mud or everyone posting trying to figure it out. Things aren't as bad as they initally were; I stick to my group discussion board for postings (but even that is unfortunate because the opinions of the other half of the on-campus students won't get heard unless in class), this blog is manageable, the assignments seem to be clear now. I guess I and my classmates just have to grin and bear the fact that we're the guinnea pigs for whatever kind of distance education program they're experimenting with.

One thing I kind of don't appreciate is Prof. Wilson's blog. If you're going to be with the rest of the class in having to make one, then make one. Blowing it off with some silly language/gibberish generator is juvenile and really unprofessional. I understand keeping a "diary" isn't his "thing." But if you're planning on blowing it off/flat out don't want to do it, then at least invoke the "executive privelege" of the instructor to not have to do the same assignments as students. Simply put, if my teacher doesn't give a shit about it, why should I? Smooth move, exlax (as Weird Al might say. Alligator t-shirts, anyone?).

And as far as the discussion board postings, I think Prf. Wilson makes a point about people avoiding antagonizing one another with discussions. I went ahead and played devil's advocate with my discussion board posting this week (RSS feeds/libraries) to see how people would respond. But I'm going to have to side with the person who mentioned in class that being middle-of-the-road with ideas/opinions and being a librarian go hand in hand. Information, in the truest sense, isn't one-sided. I frankly enjoy my status as a flip-flopper; I like to think I see more of the totality of situations than the hero who sees it in black and white. Granted, it might not make for lively discussions/lead to things getting done immediately, or, more appropriately, it might not mean we're challenging our own thoughts enough, so making the class aware of this was ultimately a good point- after all, it gives me yet another idea to flop on, right? So I guess expect more devil's advocate from yours truly on ye olde CourseWeb. Over and out.


The heat has returned, and tempers flare like the prominences of distant stars, witnessed by the ruthlessly uncouth soothsayers riding comets to atmospheres far from the ones their lungs call familiar. Walking the sprites of heat lightning in the stratosphere the world over is the preferred term of service to the animating spirit than this life of action for the sake of results irreversible.

The No Longer Missing Link(s)

here is a link to the del.icio.us account I have going as well:

http://del.icio.us/KFJP

Evermore Jewels of Thought

Haste, urgency; one thought takes over all others, and purposes and reasons become overlooked. Many times in my long life have I tried to consider the all, the everything, the universe surrounding, only to discover what my mind's light was illuminating was but one grain of sand out of a thousand unmarked beaches, familiar to many, obscure to many more, yet available to all...

Hmm. So, the more I think about my last entry, the more misguided it feels. Mainly the idea of people using blogs for fame of some sort. Realizing that it can be a truly interactive and new from of media/communication, geared towards people working in said environments, probably makes more sense for viewing the cultural significance of blogs. If anything, I just prove my ignorance with this medium with such ideas against it.

This class makes me want to get a computer at home. It's awfully tempting. Too bad money doesn't grow on trees.

The humble servant of the school of the world exists the reflecting pool mirrored on the wall. A cavalcade of leftovers, delicious perhaps, sustaining more likely, calls his name. Oh, to have the glasses with lenses of red and blue, to see the waves regenerate the fire in his nourishment! Some day, some day...

Blogging: Your 15 Minutes of Fame?

I have seen the world in my dreams. From the spires of Angkor Wat, across oceans of color and sound to the waterfalls of Palenque- each place I see has been seen before, by eyes that may or may not be my own. The pilgrimage to stone and star, the chases pursued up stairs of vines and skulls, the glory of creation, the pity of ruin, beheld by the dream breather, weaving the lost with the found. How does one find? How does one make known? What does one make known? In whose name does the remembrance of an anonymous monument become known? The believed or the believer (are they not one themselves)? All the centuries of my life, the answer eldues me; yet for many years I have acquiesced not to ask, and instead dream of travel, and travel to remember the dream...


So, blogging. Who cares? Really, whats the point? For all I know, no one will ever read this, unless maybe I tell them to. For this reason alone the thought never occured to me to make one, even though you hear about them all the time now. So then what does this mean, I only do things for attention/affirmation? Maybe since I don't really read anyone else's blogs, I'm just not in the loop.

Why are they (seemingly) so popular these days? Opinions in general seem like the hott ticket in media- what with the O'Reillys and Hannitys and whoever else having bestsellers in addition to their cable "talk" shows. But even people who aren't all the way in the limelight have them- perhaps in the hopes that it could lead to their celebrity, their chance for syndication? Or maybe people just need things to make them look busy at their computers while they're supposed to be working in their cubicles.

Perhaps with the Internet, as with many other things, the unprecedented access to lives other than our own turns surfing into a search, for people or ideas we have share something in common with (so as to not feel alone), or those we would otherwise not come in contact with. What I find funny/ironic is that the more informative information becomes, the more abstract it also becomes (I guess its not that ironic since whats at issue is ideas). A power outage occurs, and all this "living" disappears.

I just wonder who blogging really serves- the blogger's ego, or people's need to be in touch w/opinions and ideas that otherwise would not be readily available? Is it that on both ends of this communication, there is an active participation in the creation myth of one's persona (real or imagined), the way they would like the rest of the world to see them/seeing them as such? Or is it that just collectively sharing these ideas is a proper vent and creative outlet for both teller and listener, such that it keeps them coming back, and searching for more? Do people take it this seriously?

I'll admit, when I made mine, I couldn't stop looking at it, clicking on the link I had posted to see my stupid little cookie cutter creation come to life. Regardless of whether anyone ever sees it, just making something like a blog can have an empowering effect on people. Is this an example of technology and information becoming truly democratized? Is this the kind of democratization of tech. and info the world really needs, a blog?

What it all comes down to, I think, is the value one places on disclosures of thoughts/feelings/ opinions/observations/whatever for oneself, and the value of the consumption of this sort of communication by society. Juding by a few of the blogs I've perused from this class (and even Prof. Wilson's opinion), that value is kinda low. Sweet. Grocery lists and summaries of last night's class, here I come! Oh, the mask picture above is an Andy Warhol print, from whom I get this title for this little entry, further proving how friggin clever I am, which should be evidently clear if you've made it this far.


And so another sun sets, with the gentle drops from rivers and streams a thousand miles away redistributed to their final resting place on the tongues, brows and bones of weary souls tired from the journey to the edge of the universal mind, all to remember the last time, and prepare for the future nostalgia of lives borrowed and never returned, lives leased and paid with never enough dreams, lives bought and forgotten. Green is the bed of the transcendental sleeper on this first day of the rest of days. May he never wake again to the sound of before.

Mind Writers, Mind Readers.

So, it has come to the attention of I, King Fiery Jaguar Paw, that a system of wires and cables, screens and keys now exists whereby mere mortals interact with one another without ever having to see, hear or feel one another. While the secrets of such communication have long been familiar to my ancient, telepathic wave brain, it appears the invisible enabling forces that I and other elder scribes have practiced for eons has been harnessed into a new power, practiced by millions throughout the universe. Curious as to the inner workings of this new lightning magic, I have capitulated to join my fellow mind warriors in this destiny manifest of psychic thoughtshare, and herein promise to commit to electricity the inner synapse flash of my third eye, whilst meditating upon the words revealed by others. A mysterious overseer, known only as LIS 2600, has brought us all together. Let us hope it does not tear us apart.







(Translation- This is my first blog posting as required by my Intro to Info Technologies class. To keep things interesting, I have adopted the persona of an ancient elder scribe and musician known as King Fiery Jaguar Paw. So expect more posts such as this.)