Journal Entries
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Musings on the Future of JD and H2G2
Posted Apr 6, 2005
This is going to be a long one. I'd advise getting an 
or 
or at least 
- you might prefer 
for that matter, just to stay awake. So here goes ...
Quite frankly, the concept of H2G2 was very engrossing for me back in 1999 through 2000, but in the past five years it's diminished in my eyes. This site seems to suffer from a lack of notoriety if not a lack of identity. Strong words, yes. Allow me to ramble on for a bit.
Being part of the BBC (and thus the British Government) must be responsible for a large part of the ... well, I feel a lot like Ford Prefect did in "Mostly Harmless" though the comparison is obviously metaphorical and I'm not at all angry with H2G2 or the italics. Even though there are so many wonderful innovations at H2G2 as far as formatting, the conversation forums, the myriad of skins, the actual people that tend to be really fun to read (I'm terminally shy about talking to people very much online after a particularly nasty thing happened to me in 1998-99, otherwise I'd probably have lots of people in my "friends" section), even though all of that good stuff is a part of H2G2 and my enjoyment of it, I think that my involvement has been necessarily limited by being unsure of how I should - could - contribute anymore.
I used to be of the crowd that thought this a duplicate of the Hitchhiker's Guide popularized by DNA himself in his books. Then, I became enamored with making a really decent encyclopedia for things not commonly found in ecyclopediae, written by those that actually knew what they were talking about. I've been torn between contributing technical stuff of which I am professionally cognizant (see the Industrial Safety and Measurement of Radiation articles I wrote - very dry stuff) and writing flowery prose bordering on new age meditation about fishing (see fishing article) or matter-of-fact articles about somewhat obscure guitarists (see the Dick Dale article), all of which have I am painfully aware are woefully inadequate attempts at exploring a more ... well, notorious and irreverent if not satirical style that I expected from the original vision. My short jottings as Mad Scientist were more along the lines of the late 90s fun-loving silliness that was my time on the net - I not only long-forgot the login information for that membership version, I also thought for a long while that I'd been deleted. As such, I left him there, untouched but ref'd as a "friend" in a place where I rarely talk to anyone or for very long - I blame myself, that ol' once-bitten-twice-shy introvert that I am. Lemme get back to what I was saying earlier.
Recently, I've become aware that my default-safe position of writing boring old pseudo-encyclopedic articles about risk analysis isn't very fulfilling or indeed interesting to most people. Well, maybe the disaster stuff was interesting to some people. But really, c'mon - it's downright boring 90% of the time! Hell, if I wanted to write about my work I'd be going to more conventions and professional society meetings and presenting papers like everyone else does. So, no ... that's not what I should get out my time here.
Most of what I am typing here sounds like a lament to my ears - virtually speaking - of the loss of the "fun" times of the net. In so doing, perhaps I am blaming the inevetable downward spiral of public internet forums (I'm very cynical about this, sorry) for H2G2's problems with the Beeb, let alone with me.
H2G2 on its own has experienced the same coming of age that every internet "thingummy" has - the progression from carefree childhood into moody adolescence, and from adolescence to apathetic early adulthood - but what happens now? From apathetic adulthood to ... what? Maturity? Middle age? Should H2G2 be going bald and/or menopause, buying an unnecessarily flashy sports car and take to hanging out with other sites half its age? Should it be concerned about its grandkids - or of not having any? Should it be trying to regain the sense of power it lost when other sites zoomed past, spritely shining happy faces taking the fickle whimsy of the netizens of the world by storm, and get into politics, maybe start a few wars and such, inevitably again dooming itself to hell for destroying so much all for the sake of the immortality of tyranny? Should I write shorter sentences that make more sense?
Okay, look, the bottom line here is what can I do, what should I do. You see, when thinking about the future of H2G2, I can't help but wonder how I can contribute when my writing style is either satirical (and suffers from comparison to Mr. Adams who was so much better at it than I'll ever be), rambling prose of a highly suspect and cynical nature, or just dry encyclopedic stuff. What I'm trying to say is that I like H2G2 a lot, especially the original concept by Douglas Adams. Coming here under another moniker back in 1999 as a result of an invitation from DNA himself on usenet, on alt.fan.douglas-adams if you're curious (that's my old ID linked to below, "Mad Scientist" by the way), I had expected something more like the lively fun of both usenet coupled with the concept of being a very Ford Prefect-ish researcher. By the way, my identity on afd-a is something I do not like to discuss much, since it was ... compromised for a time ... But suffice it to say, if you've ever seen a guy with an 11-letter palindrome for a name, starting with Pio, then you've seen - well, read - me there. Mostly. Up to about 1998-9 or so. Something like that.
Back to H2G2 - perhaps my own small disillusionment, which is so similar in nature to Ford's own ficitious one, was yet another inevitable occurrence of hanging around internet forums. Yet again, perhaps it's just a natural progression from one sort of netizen to another, and I should be asking myself more what can I do for my country than asking what my country can do for me. Who can tell? Perhaps I'd like a glass of whiskey ... yes, that seems more likely. 
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Latest reply: Apr 6, 2005
Not AFK anymore - been listening a lot
Posted Jun 29, 2004
Well, I'm kinda back around again. Just in case anyone was wondering what was up, it was just life - in every sense of the word. 
Been listening to the songcraft of some really notable artists from both sides of the pond: perhaps one of the best kept secrets of Texas is Guy Clark - and God only knows why or how that is. The man is an incredible talent, stark and weathered like the land he's from. From the UK I can't seem to get over the best songs Coldplay have put together - astounding! Other than that, I've been listening to a HUGE amount of post-rock instrumental and (to some extent) experimental music. This is all affecting my own musical explorations in very strange ways, and being unable to reconcile one polarity with the other, I've decided to let them compliment each other and work in either vein more or less as the mood suits me. Maybe I'll finally ... no, I can't jinx myself by saying that I actually might get some music completed and published.
Oh crap, I just did.
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Latest reply: Jun 29, 2004
Going Back To Lurky
Posted Apr 22, 2004
I'm going back to lurk mode. I'll be back in a while, when I get bored enough, probably.
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Latest reply: Apr 22, 2004
Technobabbling Doublespeak
Posted Mar 22, 2004
Life can be really confusing, and there is no need to make it any worse than it is. What really gets to me sometimes are those who think that speaking in or in sentences that no one understands they have some legitimate claim on being sceintific or even worse on being making a sound statement or arguement (aka, the "if you can't dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with bullshit" philosophy put in practice). I really, really hate those people. I think sometimes I should try to give them the benefit of the doubt and think that they mostly do not understand what they are saying either. Maybe, I think, maybe since such people apparantly find the necessarily complicated concepts behind some of the technical and scientific jargon they have read utterly baffling that they simply think that being utterly baffling equates to being scientific and reasonable. A mind-witheringly stupid assumption, but maybe that's what they think. This might not seem kind until one considers the alternative - that these people are intentionally speaking such balderdash for reasons of mocking those of us who have made the effort to learn what some of the terms mean. I don't like either assumption, I'm afraid, but one of them must be true - or, as Real Life(tm) is constantly reminding us time and again, both explanations probably have some amount of truth as well as there being something else entirely not understood at play.
A side affect of this trend of technobabbling doublespeak is that the trend is often carried forth (via the more dodgy of the philosophies and lifestyles bundled together under the "new age" heading) into art and music. What I refer to here are the sorts of people who suddenly feel that being incomprehensible is not only laudable but a necessary part of their chosen career path and is all the justification they need for claiming the title of "artist." As a wise person once said, "Just because no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist." (I don't know who said that first, but I love the quote and I express my feelings of solidarity).
This brings me to the last and worst offenders of technobabbling doublespeak - the politicians. Now these guys and gals *know* full well that they are talking outta their keisters when they spew this sort of tripe, but it doesn't stop them at all - after all, it can be a tool, a weapon even in the continuing pursuit of power and money. Ach, I'm forgetting my mantra of "if you look for the bad in manking you will surely find it." But sometimes one needs to look at the bad in order to tell it from the good. Perhaps that's why I'm compelled to rant into cyberspace about this sort of thing, apropos of nothing more than the umpteenth experience I've had dealing with not only those who actively technobabbling doublespeak (like those lambasted in my first two paragraphs above), but more to the point having to directly deal with the consequences of the political fallout from those who use technobabbling doublespeak to manipulate public opinion for their own political benefit, or at least for the benefit of their biggest contributing campaign contributors. This aggravation is independent of party lines, and exists on both "sides" of the so-called left and right wings.
I hate them all.
And yes, I said that just like Marvin would.
- JD 
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Latest reply: Mar 22, 2004
Ach, I'm bad at this!
Posted Dec 4, 2003
This part of my page was looking too empty, so here's a journal entry for the curious.
Boy, knocked ya down with all the emotion, didn't I? I guess I talk about real life better when there's someone to react to it. At any rate, I've got lots of music projects that I am happy to report I'm busily back to work on as well as the usual day job that manages to take up at least 13 hours out of every workday. With all that going on, there isn't much else to put into a journal entry, but watch this space - maybe I'll be talking about my music here, if for nothing else than just as a dumping ground.
- JD (shy, but opening up ... slowly)
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Latest reply: Dec 4, 2003
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JD
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