Because, really, we need more things that are meant to be disposable.

Aug 03, 2001

Another interesting article today (all three of you faithful readers out there should be getting the idea now that I’m a ZDNet junkie.) It’s interesting to read that these pitchable phones will only make calls, not receive them. Finally, a cell phone that people can take into theatres without earning laser glares of death from the entire audience. On the other hand, people will still rudely *make* calls in the middle of shows. It’s like a baby that doesn’t cry, but still soils its diapers and needs to be changed in the middle of the show. I also loved the line about your phone being your friend. What?!?? My phone is a convenience, not a buddy. For one thing, phone can’t help you move bodies — it can’t even help you move. [Well…not directly.]

And isn’t it time that we reversed a manufacturing trend? The “disposables” manufacturing has been going on for a while (paper plates and cups), but it’s starting to get ridiculous. Things aren’t built to stay in the economy any more, they’re built to be thrown away after a few days or weeks (or a single use). The First World is generating more and more garbage, and all the Third World can conceivably be getting out of it is $.16 an hour (and that’s only for the workers in the Wellco Factory, which manufactures Nike products.)

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Cynics are secretly raging idealists. Don't tell anyone, though...

Aug 02, 2001

When reading my web site, you may think that I’m misanthropic - that is to say, that I hate people in general. Why do you always complain, you say. Why do you run a collab project like Slouching Toward Bethlehem when you seem to believe that no one can make a difference, you wonder. Wonder no more - you’ve hit on the secret of the Cynics.

Misanthropy is different from cynicism, but they are often confused. Basic definitions of the words don’t clear things up much:

Misanthropy /mis-AN-thro-pi/ n. hatred or mistrust of humankind
Cynicism /SIN-i-sis-m/ n. An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others

Those two definitions seem to convey the same idea, but the key word is in the definition of cynicism. It’s defined as "an attitude". Cynicism is a defensive coping mechanism, not a bone-deep belief.

The Despising versus The Disgusted

Misanthropists, well, hate people. They dislike how people act, they dislike what people say, they dislike just about everything about people - both individuals and societies.  They don’t necessarily want to see everyone dead and societies washed away, but they’d rather not interact with them at all. Misanthropists don’t really believe that humankind is of much value. They don’t believe in anything like the redeemability of humankind. I can’t tell you much more about misanthropists because I amn’t one. (I don’t think that even the misanthropic bitch is a true misanthrope - what misanthrope would bother writing a web page as vituperatively entertaining as this one for a bunch of wastes of skin?) Cynics - true Cynics in the grand old tradition of Antisthenes, Diogenes, and Epictetus - are idealists who are rather disappointed in the world around them. We get mad, we rant and rave, we mutter unnice things about the oxygen thieves with whom we share the planet, but we still believe that people can change for the better - and tend to become . When we consciously stop and think about a situation, we will admit that we expect the worst behaviour of other people. But deep down, we really honestly believe that other people are noble and good, and will do the right thing almost reflexively. No matter how often we meet new people, go to new places, or encounter new situations, we believe that this time things will be better. You can almost see the cartoon bubbles coming out of our ears that read, "Oh, boy, this is going to be great! I’ll be with other people who want to do things right and want to make things better!" If you actually act in a highly honourable fashion and work with us, we cynics will respond with an almost puppylike enthusiasm. Like Agent Fox Mulder, we want to believe. Problem is, everyone is so busy living down to expectations that we…well…become rather embittered. This gets us into a boatload of trouble.

Oops, I did it again

When I started my contract with a chip manufacturing company headquartered in Burnaby BC Canada, I saw lots of areas where I could contribute toward making their human resources intranet run better-stronger-faster. I was anxious to work on their learning intranet, which they were just launching. I envisioned cleaning up their directory structure, making the sites easier to use and easier to maintain, and helping the folks in the cubicles learn the basics of editing the content pieces themselves so that they wouldn’t be dependent on a developer to make little spelling changes or minor text tweaks. Instead I ran headlong into a passive-aggressive wall of department director and the underlings who feared her. My advice was ignored time and again, and sure enough, they got feedback from the corporate IT group saying "This needs changed and this isn’t usable and this causes problems." You’d think that after being an IT contractor for just under a decade, I would have learned by now. But no. This is another of the hallmarks of a true Cynic. We don’t stop hoping and believing, no matter how many times we get schmakked in the face.

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Then again, conversion-by-the-sword always was popular...maybe this is just a variant.

Jul 18, 2001

Not a week after my good friend Clint sent me Ken’s Guide to the Bible, this happens. (VERY timely send, BTW. You’ll understand why in a minute.)

This morning I took my cab to work, as usual. The driver, as it turns out, was a very religious man. An evangelical-type religious man. He mentioned Dubya wanting to talk to Jean Chretien about piping water down from Canada for the Southwest, and said, about the droughts and suchwhich, “Armageddon’s here.” This was my first hint of trouble. I just kept quiet, and as he pressed, I finally said in a start-an-ice-age tone of voice, “I’m an atheist.” Never mind that I’m not, this usually gives folks the gentle hint that I’m not receptive to talking faith.

Mistake. BIG mistake. HUGE.

The guy was a Jehovah’s Witness.

He nattered merrily on, reaching into his carry-all to bring out little books and quote to me from them. I tried keeping mum. I tried mentioning that I’d read the bible in its original Greek. I tried using the “But Adam and Eve weren’t thrown out of the garden for eating from the tree of knowledge. God didn’t want them eating from the tree of life.” to show him that I could play the game better. He still tried to convert me. A few times, he was late off the starting block when the light changed because he was reading to me from his books. Twice, we nearly hit other cars. The ride was scary, and I’m calling the cab company to report his not-so-safe driving, but I can just see the cartoon in my head.

“But God DOES exist. Here - let me show you!!!” —-screeeeeee—- ::CRASH:: -=*SLAMMMMM*=-

Now, of course, the local Witness group thinks that I’m an atheist, and knows where I live.

Oh what fun…

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Could be a good thing...perhaps.

Jun 27, 2001

This past Tuesday (19 June, for you historians out there), the internet privacy organization announced symbols for online privacy. There will be icons for things like “opt-in”, “opt-out”, “no financial information collected”, and so forth. They’re working within the P3P (Platform for Personal Privacy) technology framework.

This is kind of cool. So far, I’m the only person I know who actually reads a web site’s privacy statement or terms of use. I can’t help but wonder if that’s because privacy documents and other admin content are often written by lawyers with a bad case of perissology. The documents don’t scan well. They’re hideous to read. And they seem designed to induce a mind-numbing state of boredom in the readers. I’m reminded of the movie “Running Man” where, as Arnold Schwartzenegger’s character is being led to his colourful and televised entry into the execution zone, he is forced to listen to a network lawyer pother on about the network getting the rights, for now and in perpetuity, to all footage of the colourful execution-game thing.

I do find it minorly annoying that in order to be trusted, I have to pay somebody money. WTF is this??? I could understand if there were some software you’d have to install that would enforce adherence to the privacy policies; or if your company was fined bigtime if it was displaying the various privacy endorsement symbols illegally. As it stands, though, the fee is basically provided to let a bunch of people sit in an office and fill out forms (oh yes, and maintain the web site.) It’s like ISO certification: your company pays a boatload of money, you put a lot of paper in place, and afterward they just check to make sure that you have the policy in place — not if you actually adhere to the policy.

Who audits the auditors?

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