And what a lovely write-up — 3-Blogs A Day: 1 part green + 2 parts ArtLung, add a dash of Dalton — stir and serve chilled over HTTP://:

“ArtLung:Blog: ArtLung, along with blogger Joe Crawford’s website, has to be one of the largest and most extensive personal websites I have ever been privy to. Boasting more than 250 pages of various topics you could spend days sifting through his site. However what we are talking about here is his blog. With posts ranging from various tech bits, to news stories (mostly California news as that is where he resides), to crazy stream of consciousness nonsense it makes for fairly interesting reading. Being a Web designer his layout is clean and crisp with sidebars containing the usual amount of links. Even more interesting is the story of how he went from being a respiratory care specialist to currently handling sales, marketing, & communications for a web hosting company. Not exactly an easy transition to make if you ask me. That’s like an actor trying to be a politician or someth–oh nevermind, bad joke. I really liked this site, and reading about how Joe got to wear he is. Quite the inspiration for a fella like myself, keep up the good work man. Powered By: Blogger

Thanks for writing, SmmFryGuy!

Thoughts From My Broken Brain: “I’m 37 years old and have just been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I started this blog to chronical my journey.”

“In the fight between you and the world, back the world.”

– Frank Zappa

(despite that, I am optimistic, says I)

The spacecraft has apparently been taken over – “conqured” if you will – by a master race of giant space ants. It’s difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.

– Kent Brockman, The Simpsons (via tvtome.com)

tonypierce.com: fourth of hollywood blvd: a photo essay

Frustratingly beautiful use of the web: fray: fireworks.

Careful where you type the word “bomb” — I write badly, therefore I am a would-be terrorist (HoustonChronicle.com).

Projects of Joe Crawford has been updated a little bit. Still tweaking.

Translator in eye of storm on retroactive classification (Boston.com):

“Sifting through old classified materials in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FBI translator Sibel Edmonds said, she made an alarming discovery: Intercepts relevant to the terrorist plot, including references to skyscrapers, had been overlooked because they were badly translated into English.”

How much more 1984 doublespeak can you get than “retroactive classification.”

What is the deal with this url: http://www.google.com/aol/ ?

I love that I started a page on Wikipedia about IPv9. It’s since grown and become quite useful.

Collective knowledge is power!

Power to the swarm!

Repurposing a message I sent to the “staff” of San Diego Blog.

Hi-De-Ho Neighbors.

You’re getting this because you’re registered on http://sandiegoblog.com/

For the past month, I’ve made it a goal to have *at least* one post a day on San Diego Blog. Something interesting, something cool, a photo — SOMETHING. I’d really love it if you all could take a peruse back through the archives: http://sandiegoblog.com/archives/2004/07/ and http://sandiegoblog.com/archives/2004/06/ and take a look and tell me what was cool, what was lame — and if you have any suggestions for stories. I’m doing this all for no money at this point — and I can see that maintaining a [newspaper|magazine|tv show] is real work. But it’s nice to know that with WordPress when I have a run of good ideas I can “post them forward” into the future. So, for example, for the next few days I already have posts ready to go.

I know it seems like I’m the only one posting — but that does not have to be the only state of affairs. You’re all welcome to post about San Diego here!

Actually, not everyone is welcome. There are many link spammers and idiots who would love to post, but really I want people who care about San Diego, and have something to say.

So — I guess I’m again begging your indulgence for feedback and stories that should be covered. Some stories bouncing around my noggin that are not really stories yet are:

• was there a plan to blow up the strand if the coronado bridge was blown up — to allow egress of navy ships?
• history of the giant dipper roller coaster (it was dormant for YEARS!)
• the san ysidro mcDonald’s shooting
• the dredging of “False Bay” to make “Mission Bay”
• famous San Diego Bands
• radio stations that used to exist (Mighty 690, for example) in San Diego
• Unarius Society — cable access nutballs for years
• history of the PSA skytower at sea world and the lights (they didn’t always keep those lights on) — maybe a history of sea world (like –what was it like on opening day?)
• great record stores in San Diego (Lou’s, Blue Meanie, Off The Record, etc)
• famous people who got their starts in San Diego (e.g.: Regis Philbin, Whoopi Goldberg, Racquel Welch, Tom Waits)
• ____________________________ <- insert your idea here!

If any of you would like to tackle any of these things, I’d really dig it. If you just have factlets or links that are like the germs of a story, I’d dig that too.

Thanks for listening to me brainstorm! I appreciate your time.

Best, Joe

Now, I intended this only to be for the writers — particularly the story ideas, and it’s probably not too bright to be sharing my “behind the curtain” thoughts. But really, why not? Anyone who wanted to write about San Diego could have all these ideas. And if someone local writes about them, I can just point to *them* from San Diego Blog.

When I look at pageviews for the site it’s not that impressive (under 300 pageviews a day) — still that’s 5 pageviews an hour. This measure of “pageviews” is analgous to “readership” or “circulation” — but it’s building. And as I build in more utility and interest by providing interesting stories, people will come back.

It’s late, and I am full of ideas, but now, I’m tired.

Offered without comment: Wonkette: We Had to Burn the Democracy in Order to Save It:

Last week, Homeland Security honcho Tom Ridge warned that al Qaeda may be planning to a large-scale attack ‘in an effort to disrupt the democratic process.’ So of course what should we do if one happens in early November? Well, Ridge’s number two has an idea: Delay the elections! So best.

Because the terrorists hate our freedom, you know. And if we allow the democratic process to move forward, the terrorists will have won! It all makes so much sense, I think my head might explode!

Actually, we’re sort of starting to get it. Like, if al Qaeda bombed all the voting places, that would make it hard to hold an election. Or if they somehow purged a bunch of law-abiding citizens off the voter rolls for no reason. Or maybe if they rigged up a black box electronic voting system. Or threw the whole thing to the Supreme Court. Those things would be a problem, democracy-wise.

Curious about some of the characters in the movie and how they appear in the comics? Marvel Directory has more: # # # # # # # # #

Two weeks ago Leah and I saw Spider Man 2. It was good.

Lincoln on the 1864 Presidential Election

We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.

So Francophile TomBickle.com mentions that it’s Bastille Day and refers to the Encarta entry for Bastille, which is to the point, but a little thin. As an experiment I checked out my personal favorite encyclopedia (yeah, I have a favorite encyclopedia) Wikipedia — and Wikipedia entry for Bastille is great — and it links to a page for Bastille, which then links to a cool Timeline of the French Revolution.

Wikipedia was built and maintained by amatuers. Encarta by professionals. It makes no sense that Encarta would be so much worse.

Some things about the web make no sense, and I love that.

I got this message about lab.artlung.com from someone named andy:

cant read links with all the background text, site would be good otherwise. can’t look at your site for more than one min without my eyes blurring

Andy is right. I need to rethink the look and organization of that site.

I promise to improve it before the month is out!

So I have been blogging for some time now.

And yet I have not blogged in some time now.

Leah points out that in writing over here, I’m writing much less here.

And that’s definitely true.

So what’s new?

It might be easier to ask — what is *not* new. What’s new is yes, I have been blogging up a storm on San Diego Blog. I really enjoy the discipline of having to get posts ready for each and every day. I set a post time of about 5am every day – and there’s something up. I really enjoy it. I have even had a teeny tiny less-than-one-could-live-on amount of advertising revenue (well, from that, from the lab, and from archives of this blog. It’s an experiment, really. If I could have my druthers professionally, I’d make my money by writing/editing websites, be working on my Bachelor’s and Master’s. Sadly, that’s not particularly in the cards right now, but I’m working on it.

On another note, Leah was looking for work toward L.A. — but it didn’t work out — still, the likelihood is that we’re moving towards L.A. in the future. For those of you wondering — “how can you be Mr. San Diego and move to L.A.?” — well, maybe I’m Mr. Southern California? Working out of my home, it matters less and less where I live. And there are a multitude of couches I can sleep in in San Diego so I can still keep my hand here in the ‘Dago.

On another note: my parents and sister are in town. It’s been really wonderful having them here, despite me and Leah mostly just working last week. This week should be more familial. I’m having a good time.

There’s more I suppose — I want to do some laundry and cleaning — we’re having my folks and sister and her boyfriend over this week — and the house is an absolute mess.

Also doing work in counseling on some things. Lots going on. I think this process of me becoming myself has been a long time developing. At some point after my ex left I was destroyed and remade myself. At some point I thought I was more or less done. But I’m finding that’s not the way it is at all.

How it is actually is that I’m in a continual process of destroying and remaking myself and aspects of myself. It reminds me of the movie Life as a House — a metaphor for life (well, obviously) — but whose theme is how we have to live in our life, and to live, sometimes we build things up that don’t last, and we must be willing to confront those things, rebuild, change, and modify ourselves to be healthy.

Yeah, this felt good. It’s been too long since I blogged personally. I’m more convinced than ever that blogging is good for me.

Hey! I almost forgot…. ONWARD.

You could do much worse than URM Cargo, which is a site I made several years ago. Seriously, URMCargo.

The plan today is maybe to hit La Jolla Cove with my family. It looks like it may be another beautiful day. Though it has been hot here in San Diego.

San Diegan’s don’t take well to unseasonable temperatures. We like our weather perfect, dagnabbit.

So what’s on my mind?

Actually, not much right now. Taking it easy. Comic-Con coming up soon. Not sure if I’m going to all 4 days or just one or two. But I’m pretty sure I need to go. Yeah. Need.

Client work is going well. Keeping busy on the work tip. That’s nice.

Hrm. Not much to say this morning. Okay. Take care.

Hilarity ensues.

Featuring the word “Don’t”:

1. Baby Please Don’t Go – Van Morrison
2. Boys Don’t Cry – The Cure
3. Brown Shoes Don’t Make It – Frank Zappa
4. Don’t – Jewel
5. Don’t Be Sad – Dwight Yoakam
6. Don’t Believe The Hype – Public Enemy
7. Don’t Break the Heart – Mono Puff
8. Don’t Bring Me Down – Paul Shaffer
9. Don’t Cha Stop – The Cars
10. Don’t Come Around Here No More – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
11. Don’t Cross The River – America
12. Don’t Cry No Tears (Live) – Matthew Sweet
13. Don’t Do Me Like That – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
14. Don’t Dream It’s Over – Paul Shaffer
15. Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow – Frank Zappa
16. Don’t Ever Dance With Maria – Brave Combo
17. Don’t Fade Away – Dead Can Dance
18. Don’t Fear the Reaper – Sifl & Olly
19. Don’t Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy) – Ween
20. Don’t Give Up (w/Kate Bush) – Peter Gabriel
21. Don’t Go – Matthew Sweet
22. Don’t I Have the Right? – Mono Puff
23. Don’t Know How To Party – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
24. Don’t Know Why – Kostars
25. Don’t Know Why – Norah Jones
26. Don’t Know Why (Live/Leno) – Norah Jones
27. Don’t Laugh (I Love You) – Ween
28. Don’t Let’s Start – They Might Be Giants
29. Don’t Let’s Start (Demo Version) – They Might Be Giants
30. Don’t Let’s Start (Single Mix) – They Might Be Giants
31. Don’t Look Back – Luscious Jackson
32. Don’t Lose Your Mind – Miles Davis
33. Don’t Make Me Love You – Christina Aguilera
34. Don’t Marry Her – The Beautiful South
35. Don’t Push Me Around – The Zeros
36. Don’t Ruin Our Happy Home – Randy Newman
37. Don’t Speak – No Doubt
38. Don’t Stand So Close To Me – The Police
39. Don’t Stand So Close To Me ’86 – The Police
40. Don’t Stop – Fleetwood Mac
41. Don’t Stop Swaying – Sophie B. Hawkins
42. Don’t Stop The Dance – Bryan Ferry
43. Don’t Stop The Rock – Chemical Brothers
44. Don’t Sweat It – Ween
45. Don’t Take Me Alive – Steely Dan
46. Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) – The Beach Boys
47. Don’t Tell Me – Blancmange
48. Don’t Think I’m Not – Kandi
49. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right – Bryan Ferry
50. Don’t Try To Explain – Keb’ Mo’
51. Don’t Want To Be A Part Of Your World – David Byrne
52. Don’t Want To Know – Bryan Ferry
53. Don’t Worry About The Government – Talking Heads
54. Don’t Worry Baby – Los Lobos
55. Don’t Worry Baby – The Beach Boys
56. Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing? – Frank Zappa
57. Girl Don’t Tell Me – The Beach Boys
58. God Don’t Make Lonely Girls – The Wallflowers
59. Honey, Don’t You Want a Man Like Me? – Frank Zappa
60. Hope I Don’T Fall In Love With You – Tom Waits
61. How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore – Prince
62. I Don’t Care If You Go – Velocity Girl
63. I Don’t Care If You Go (Acoustic) – Velocity Girl
64. I Don’t Even Care – Frank Zappa
65. I Don’t Know – The Beastie Boys
66. I Don’t Like Mondays – Tori Amos
67. I Don’t Mind – Jerry Harrison: Casual Gods
68. I Don’t Mind If You Forget Me – Morrissey
69. I Don’t Remember – Peter Gabriel
70. I Don’t Understand You – They Might Be Giants
71. I Don’t Wanna Get Drafted – Frank Zappa
72. I Don’t Wanna Grow Up – Tom Waits
73. I Don’t Want To (Live) – The Blasters
74. I Don’t Want To Go To Chelsea – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
75. I’m Dead ( But I Don’t Know it) – Randy Newman
76. It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) – Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington
77. Just Squeeze Me (But Don’t Tease Me) – Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington
78. Look But Don’t Touch – Kenny Neal
79. Now That I Don’t Have You – Jill Sobule
80. Now You See It – Now You Don’t – Frank Zappa
81. Oh Baby, Don’t You Loose Your Lip On Me – James Taylor
82. Please Don’t Tell Me (What I Did Last Night) – The Red Elvises
83. Please Don’t Worry About My Brain Change – Negro Problem
84. Rikki Don’t Lose That Number – Steely Dan
85. She Don’t Know Why I’m Here – The Last
86. They Don’t Like Me – Lyle Lovett
87. True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes – Red Hot Chili Peppers
88. Walk-Don’t Run – Ventures
89. What I Don’t Know – Dwight Yoakam
90. Where Your Eyes Don’t Go – They Might Be Giants
91. Why Don’t We Get Drunk – Jimmy Buffett
92. Why Don’t We Get Drunk And Screw – Jimmy Buffett
93. Why Don’t We Live Together – Pet Shop Boys
94. Why Don’t You Like Me? – Frank Zappa
95. You Don’t Exist Any More – Lil’ Ed And The Blues Imperials
96. You Don’t Know Like I Know – Sam & Dave
97. You Don’t Know What Love Is – Fenton Robinson
98. You Don’t Know What You Mean to Me – Sam & Dave
99. You Don’t Love Me – Matthew Sweet
100. You Don’t Mess Around With Jim – Jim Croce
101. Your Wife Don’t Understand You – The Simpsons

I like that list because it shows the depth and breadth (or lack thereof) of my music.

I made a new header this morning, the grainy photo was taken earlier this month — July 3rd — at Cajon Speedway. It was the first time I’d ever been.

Basically a whole lot of crazy guys drove as fast as they could for what they called an “Enduro Race.” Here’s the text wrap-up, and here are the photos.

I also took some shots with Leah’s camera. They are in the photo gallery.

The cars got beat to all hell on that race. It was really something to see.

Comic Con today was huge. Went with my sister and her boyfriend. It was awesome, and did I mention huge?

I have a crazy idea to take a picture of each and every booth, though as I think about it it sounds like an insane and foolhardy idea. Though that makes me want to do it more.

Oi. So tired. Not many purchases, but a good good time.

Too tired to write more.

More another time.

G’night.

Internet Explorer: IEBlog

Mozilla: MozillaZine

Safari: Surfin’ Safari

Tired: Browser Wars
Wired: Browser Weblog Wars

San Diego Blog: Comic Con Continues!

“My Beef With Big Media” by Ted Turner:

“Today, media companies are more concentrated than at any time over the past 40 years, thanks to a continual loosening of ownership rules by Washington. The media giants now own not only broadcast networks and local stations; they also own the cable companies that pipe in the signals of their competitors and the studios that produce most of the programming. To get a flavor of how consolidated the industry has become, consider this: In 1990, the major broadcast networks–ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox–fully or partially owned just 12.5 percent of the new series they aired. By 2000, it was 56.3 percent. Just two years later, it had surged to 77.5 percent.

In this environment, most independent media firms either get gobbled up by one of the big companies or driven out of business altogether. Yet instead of balancing the rules to give independent broadcasters a fair chance in the market, Washington continues to tilt the playing field to favor the biggest players. Last summer, the FCC passed another round of sweeping pro-consolidation rules that, among other things, further raised the cap on the number of TV stations a company can own.

In the media, as in any industry, big corporations play a vital role, but so do small, emerging ones. When you lose small businesses, you lose big ideas. People who own their own businesses are their own bosses. They are independent thinkers. They know they can’t compete by imitating the big guys–they have to innovate, so they’re less obsessed with earnings than they are with ideas. They are quicker to seize on new technologies and new product ideas. They steal market share from the big companies, spurring them to adopt new approaches. This process promotes competition, which leads to higher product and service quality, more jobs, and greater wealth. It’s called capitalism.

Read the whole thing. It’s awesome.

Elfur is linking to me with her new site.

I used to be an admin on evolt.org, and Elfur was a fellow admin. A few years ago I met her and many other evolters at SXSW. That was so cool. She’s from Iceland, lives in Iceland, and has a kid and does web design. And hey, she links to me.

Anyway. I think it’s cool. I wish her well in her blogging activities!

So I’m going over the crap I picked up at Comic-Con, and found a promo for Titan Magazines. You know, they have monthly and bimonthly magazines for fans of tv shows. The titles are: Alias, Angel, Bufffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Smallville, and Stargate SG-1, and a catchall magazine called Dreamwatch.

At first I was laughing at the prospect that people had that much of a need for news about the show Charmed, but then I realized that there is a magazine called CBS Soaps in Depth, dedicated only to the goings on of CBS soap operas.

So maybe people really need a magazine for Stargate SG-1.

One of the cool things about having family here last week and before was being exposed to their tastes and thoughts.

My sister’s boyfriend D. has some really cool tastes. Here are some of them:

James Kochalka’s American Elf is one. He has an interesting pitch for supporting his site:

American Elf: the Sketchbook Diaries of James Kochalka is a subscription-based website. That means you have to pay a little bit of money to access the archives (though the latest comic, on the homepage, is always free). The price for new readers is currently $1.95/month. That’s a lot less than a beer, or a movie — and it buys you thirty days’ worth of webcomics enjoyment (as well as access to the Internet-only MP3’s that James has been posting in the “goodies” section — he’s also a pretty well known rock star, you know). Most importantly, James himself pockets 70% of the money you send (the rest goes to maintain the site, and such stuff as that). You can think of this as modern-day patronage of the arts: your money insures that James can, among other things, pay his rent, buy art supplies, and continue to create new comics.

He’s also a fan of the excellent gadget blog Gizmodo — I get gizmodo news via places like Boing Boing and J-Walk.

He also likes The Inquirer, no, not that Inquirer. This one is a snarky tech news site.

And here’s a buddy of his Safe as Milk — I’ll be checking this one out again. In the future, you know, EVERYBODY will have a blog.

Same Difference is a comic by Derek Kirk Kim that looks promising.

D. fascinates me because if you met him — well, when I met him — I thought “here’s a guy who’s a classic indy rock type fellow” – likes everything to be super-underground and alternative. It would be easy to sterotype him — but you’d be wrong. The big curveball for me is he’s a giant football fan. Like rabid.

I really dig that he’s a good conversationalist – always with points of view that I would not expect.

That’s really all I have to say about that.

I keep updating this thread. So many tasty links! San Diego Blog — Con: More. More. More

I like Al’s latest gallery: upwards

For some time I’ve been making headers for this site. Tonight I redesigned that page to include thumbnails for the individual headers. I strive to make some kind of artistic something with these. I sometimes succeed. Looking back, there are some really nice ones.

I made these thumbnails with webkit2png – an awesome command line tool for taking screenshots with Safari. So here are some favorites: Here’s a dark one, based on some photos taken in Coronado by Leah – during a rainstorm:

Two of my favorites are holiday related:

And another one based on Leah‘s photography. Taken in front of the South Park sign, it’s probably the one the most people sent me mail on. People can be very complimentary.

Here’s one from when the fires were happening:

This one is very pretty, taken at the flower fields in Carlsbad:

Here’s a before/after from my haircut during the Summer of 2000:

This one is the largest, with a big old photo of me, again by Leah

In this one, my head GLOWS!

I like this one, kind of a “nude descending the staircase” / multiverse version of me – I took that one at the Gaslamp trolley stop:

In this one from 2001 I asked “I wonder if anyone is reading this” — a few people were.

And here’s where I got a little political about the War on Terror:

And in this one I say: “Onward”:

Onward.