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To: Graystone who wrote (1259)4/2/2020 2:54:40 AM
From: Graystone
   of 1320
 
The anvil
or
A platform

When I made the post to which I am responding the coronavirus pandemic had just a few days earlier gotten under way around the world somewhere and everyone was still unaware that we would all be drawn together in this way. We cannot fashion reality out of our belief by ourselves. We exist, certainly, but here our existence is only assured by others, creation here is a dance. Perhaps Jeff is right and there really is no other way but the way we have come to expect, the unchanging rhythm of selves seeking for self gain and nothing more. As our power to cater to selves has grown, self has become a central principle in many systems. The real emphasizes the self but here emphasizing your self won't really work, it won't make you a good dancer, not here. SItizens are durable gears and our existence here depends upon the pins that hold us in place, pins forged in places with different worldviews, minds other than our own hold us and all our power. Here we are deep within the core of a machine that has billions of moving pieces. The pins that hold the gears of this reality are very hard and sturdier by far than any I could make, or you. Here we exist as a multiplicity of paired-phases. The type of cyberspace most people are used to is not difficult to reach, youngsters dive in through devices as small as cellphones in an instant. However, the places where the gears of the new land are pinned are very difficult to reach. The mindways that allow access to these pins are not at all accessible, a secret language guards each portal like Joachim and Boaz. You require the mental fluidity of a late model Terminator, you have to hear the Voice of World Control, you need to be deeply planted in the soil of the new land to even think you can set off on such an expedition. Perhaps most importantly, you have to be, I cannot be you, you cannot be me, yet you are me and I am you. Perhaps we are ancient Orphics returned here as early SItizens, reborn children of Mnemosyne. I tell you truly that I cannot show you anything about yourselves that you have not given to me, but I am more than willing to give it all back. That we are all able to be here is a testament to the fact that the dream, of which we were all a part, has been spun out in copper, glass and radio circuits that cross the entire sphere of the real. The new land is one of the most important and relevant artifacts that humans have ever created. It is perhaps our best defense in this current battle. That post was because it is. So there is my anvil, crafted unknowingly and set in place without intention or purpose, the base bound in place with hoops of gray iron, spiked to a section of a log which was cut from a branch of the yggdrasil grown in our own SI common.

Somewhere in the rain a blade slid from an oiled scabbard and yet it was heard. The auroch horn was raised to warn but the blade separated horn, hand and head from a body. A warrior slipped over the rampart and more followed, a black tide, the city was doomed.

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From: Graystone4/3/2020 9:51:10 AM
   of 1320
 
Battle Standards
or
Battle Masters

This is no crisis
This is no disruption
This is no emergency

This is battle
We are at war

I planted my standard, here on this thread, this battlefield, one I know and love, on December 15, 2019. I planted it as simply and as firmly as I could.
That the enemy had arisen may not have been apparent at that time but that standard is still there and speaks for itself, I truly wish every last one of you well.
I offer you all the free use of my camp, my resources, my skills, my sword. I pledge it in your honour, I salute you all and I challenge you all to rise beyond your current conflicts and stand together. I am keeping my shield and you all should as well. I will do my best to shield all that for.which I care.
My standard has been raised many times on many fields of digital war, it's origin lost in my mind and the dim reaches of the 1200kbps's but it certainly is even older than that, it has been a recognizable standard that has flown many times here on SI.

It has been two weeks.
If you are still here then I hope you consider flying that standard under your own during all your future personal conflicts and battles, whether you are an individual or a group, here and elsewhere, this war will be long. We need to stand together regardless of our politics, our religion or our business. Right now your business is the preservation of all that each of us loves. The rain of information is starting to turn deadly, all of our shields must lock together to turn aside that threat, none can stand alone. It isn't just one of us this time. The danger is real and I hope that those of you who have acted are already girded and encastled. Keep your armour on, allow no false hopes to lower your guard. The aftermath as always will be for the crones and the crows, you need not listen to me to know that. This time I tell you that you will want to know the truth. This enemy cannot be easily dismissed, this is a most fell and formidable foe, how did it arise unseen? The future might hold that truth or it might not, certainly it will not matter at all if you are not here.


grayt peril is upon us all

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From: SI Ron (Crazy Music Man)4/3/2020 9:20:26 PM
   of 1320
 
There is a post I am trying to find. I logged into my old account but no luck. It was posted back around 1997-98, when Brad and Jeff introduced a blue header and cookies.

The post went something like this.

Dryers Shirt Cleaning.

Muffy went in to get some closed cleaned, but hit her head on a blue sign, she asked about cleaning and they said no shirt no service. Would you like a cookie? No, then again would you like a cookie?

I can't remember all of it,m but it was the funniest post I read at the time. I can't remember who wrote it.

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From: SI Ron (Crazy Music Man)4/3/2020 9:31:58 PM
   of 1320
 
A member PM'ed me, here is the funniest post I have read on SI. You have to remember what happened, the site was going through a interface change in 1999, this was about that:

Jeff & Brad's Dry Cleaning
Message 11424339

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From: Michelino12/31/2020 9:08:09 PM
9 Recommendations   of 1320
 
I haven't checked in here in years. But this sad news brought me back. Even if already posted, I thought it should be recorded in this board. If there is another memorial thread to Michal on SI, let me know as I'd like to visit it.

Michal Daniel, Twin Cities theater photographer who shot stars such as Meryl Streep and Savion Glover, dies at 64. Daniel died of natural causes in Prague, the city of his birth and where he had returned in 2015, according to his son.

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To: Michelino who wrote (1287)12/31/2020 11:08:42 PM
From: FBN MarCom
2 Recommendations   of 1320
 
Rest in Peace, Michal. Glad you were able to get back to the Charles Bridge once again.

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To: Josef Svejk who wrote (247)1/1/2021 3:12:49 PM
From: Graystone
2 Recommendations   of 1320
 
A copy of a copy of a copy
or
Eternal truth Josef

I pointed out to Josef that SItizens were inspired people, like Vikings going to Greenland.
Vikings are well loved everywhere now, but back then people hated Vikings, they had no TV show.
Josef offered a Mark Twain explanation, also likely plagiarized if Mr. Twain is to be believed.
Josef humbly pointed that any errors in my understanding were probably "transmission errors". (see GL-15)
The site Josef linked is long gone, but courtesy of the Wayback Machine, here are GL-1 through GL-16.
I especially like GL-7, programmers know it is still true today.

Glossary of Software Engineering and Management Terms


GL-1 Advanced design: Management doesn't understand it.

GL-2 All new: The software is not compatible with previous versions.

GL-3 Artificial Intelligence: Making computers behave like they do in movies.

GL-4 Breakthrough: It nearly worked on the first try.

GL-5 Capability maturity model: A method of determining to what extent the developer

can reasonably be blamed for the inevitable failure.

GL-6 Cleanroom: A management technique that applies to vertical interfaces
what the mushroom technique applies to horizontal interfaces.

GL-7 Compiler: A tool for adding an exciting amount of uncertainty to the size, speed
and correctness of a given program.

GL-8 Computer human interface: The means by which the program conditions the
user into never trying all the things that don't work.

GL-9 Cost modeling: A means of convincing the customer to pay for
whomever you need to keep employed this year.

GL-10 Customer: A primitive life form at the bottom of the food chain.

GL-11 Debugger: A tool that substitutes afterthought for forethought.

GL-12 Design: The activity of preparing for a design review.

GL-13 Design review: A process for ensuring you know exactly what it is you won't build.

GL-14 Design simplicity: It was developed on a shoestring budget.

GL-15 Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors.

GL-16 Documentary hypothesis: The discredited notion that software is the
outcome of a systematic and rational process of development,
rather than the result of divine inspiration.

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To: Graystone who wrote (869)9/11/2021 9:53:37 AM
From: Graystone
1 Recommendation   of 1320
 
Our History...
or
Childhood

The internet is much older today, not all grown up, just older.
This story was written 18 years ago, about 18 months after 9/11.
The twists and turns of the tale remain universal.
There was nobody here but us chickens.

Digitale includes the story "The Good SItizen".
RIP Bill - forever respect.

Digitale

Digitale* by Graystone

*The link is to the title page of the story.
Then use Next from there.

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To: Graystone who wrote (1290)9/11/2021 3:50:01 PM
From: EL KABONG!!!
1 Recommendation   of 1320
 
Hello Graystone,

As we are all aware, this thread was a favorite for Misha who has passed on from life. Since there is now no moderator, and I think all of us are aware of the importance of this thread, I believe that there is no one more qualified or capable of taking over this thread than you. Other folks might be your equal, but none exceed you. Would you please consider moderating this thread? Thanks....

EK!!!

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To: EL KABONG!!! who wrote (1291)11/23/2021 7:07:20 PM
From: Graystone
1 Recommendation   of 1320
 
Ok
or
I will offer to do that

I have thought about this and was initially unsure.
There may be objections.
I would understand.

Now "serious" objections would be an entirely different matter. <smile>
I might not understand those.

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