April 2006

On the drive from Mount Pleasant to Kanab, we drove the 89 south. We passed several signs that mentioned “Zion” in one form or another. Zion National Park is not too far away, and many businesses are named for Zion in one name or another.

Tyler, sitting in the front seat, and recuperating from his earlier vomiting episode, asked me, “Joe, what’s Zion mean?” Ty is 12 years old.
I answered him, “it’s the national park around here, very pretty apparently.”

“No, I mean what is it, what’s it mean?”

“Ah, where’s the word come from? That’s a very good question, there are several uses of Zion around. The first one I can think of is that ‘Zionists’ are those who are in favor of returning the Jews to Isreal. In that sense I think it means something like “homeland” or “home.” This was my first answer. “Another sense is that Rastafarians refer to Zion as a kind of promised land, seeing themselves as a kind of lost tribe.” I believe that there are also uses of the word in The Book of Mormon sort of like this, but I don’t really know the details of that.”
We were both quiet for a while.

Then I added: “It’s a word that means a lot of different things to different people, but basically it’s a good place, home.”

He very quickly said, “and there’s the city of Zion in The Matrix.”

I replied “I hadn’t even thought of that, but yes, absolutely—there’s an example of the creators using a word with a lot ot meaning in their own work.”

I was pretty surprised by two things in this little “on the road” interchange. The first is that even without access to Wikipedia (Zion), I didn’t do too bad in my answer. The second is that Tyler’s question was a really good one. One which made me want to do further research for myself. Also, I had forgotten about the Matrix connection altogether, and the connection was quite germane, and it was Ty who brought it to the table here.

It’s moments like that that make a long drive fun. And do read that Zion article, it’s pretty interesting stuff. I was not precisely correct, but my Rasta comment was right on.
(See also: Posts that might be)

A fellow 3ones member, James Leland, photographer and artist, has been having some serious troubles this past year.

From his website, jamesleland.com:

The other day I got an e-mail from a friend about a rent party for a charity group he was affiliated with. My first inclination was to help him, but instantly it hit me that I am far past being broke. I have been unable to generate income for more than a year now due to an affliction I suffer called Crohn’s Disease. At this point my rent and other bills are far past due. For the past several weeks I have beeen recieving a new treatment in the hospital in hopes of turning my situation around. The result has been slight, but promising. In the meantime I have what seems to be insurmountable medical and other bills that frankly I need help with. I am trying to sell prints to pull me as far out of this quagmire as I can. If you are in a position to purchase a print and help I would appreciate it beyond words. Please have a look at the gallery of images I have posted online here. these framed images are for sale at $800 each. If nothing in this gallery appeals to you please do not hesitate to e-mail me to discuss other unframed image options. These are desperate times for me, and I pray that help will arrive soon. Each of my photos are unique. I do not print editions of anything. They are each one of a kind. I am far past the end of my rope and now have to count on the generosity of others to pull me from this steel door trap. I would appreciate it if you would forward this on to anyone you feel would possibly be interested. Thank you in advance.

He’s a brilliant photographer. Moody, analog, one-of-a-kind photography. Evocative, emotional, wonderful stuff. Some of the artwork contains nudity, but it’s not the sole subject matter of James’ work.
$800 is a fair price for truly unique works of art. If that is out of your particular price range, perhaps you would be interested in some of his other work, in the sale gallery
http://jamesleland.com/sale/ . All images in that gallery are $150. Well worth the price.
Please spread the word about James’ work, and these works on sale.

coming this week I hope:

Zion (a good question)

Hiding Eggs

The Extra Bone Bet

Carrying Dirt Is For The Young

Cherry Blossoms

Ingrown Toenail

Tyler’s Red Vomit

Back from our trip.

Tired.

Getting back in the swing of things.

Good morning y’all!

Dead tired, dude.

But not too dead tired to check some email and do some work.

Utah is lovely.

Wedding for Alison on Saturday.

Wotta day.

1. I’m terrifically busy right now work-wise.


2. Waiting on some answers on some big potential clients.


3. Money = tight


4. San Diego Blog is taking ads more directly now. Buy one!


5. Thanks to JeSais, you can buy San Diego Blog T-Shirts here, and you can also buy Mugs!


6. Palm Sunday mass 2 days ago was pretty awesome.


7. I bought a crucifix and am wearing it right now. Pondering the meaning of it.


8. Leah and I are rocking out.


9. Missed an important meeting last night. Bummed about it but There’ll be another one soon enough.


10. Got to see some video of the 22 year old me. Whoa. Trippy 14 year old video.


11. Rhonchi.com going intermittently strong. Lots of chatter on the nets about avian flu and mechanical ventilation.


12. Nice new essay from Joel on Software.


13. I’m feeling pretty good lately all around. Good feeling and good living.


14. My Life In The Bush of Ghosts has been re-released. That’s really cool.


15. You know I work for Crawberts and we do web design, right? Well, hire us already!


16. I also put stuff up over on my LiveJournal sometimes.


17. I’m feeling pretty good these days, though my hair feels long right now. With very short haircuts, 2 weeks can get you shaggy pretty fast.


18. Did I mention San Diego Blog? Well, it’s really going well these days. I love the content that folks come up with. I want it to also generate some revenue that exceeds the costs. I make more from my ads on various parts of artlung.com than I do from there. This suprises me, and I want SDB to pull its’ own weight a bit more. How do I do that? I’m open to suggestions!


19. I mention again that Leah and I are speaking at MacGathering. Registration is open for that now! See you there?


20. I really like green olives stuffed with jalapenos. Tasty!


21. I think that’s all I have for the moment.


22. Here’s the photo now, it’s of Devon and me watching Tony do the shotput:

This applies to HTML, JavaScript, and CSS equally well. Concerned about someone being able to see your code? Get over it.

Minification v Obfuscation » Yahoo! User Interface Blog
Then finally, there is that question of code privacy. This is a lost cause. There is no transformation that will keep a determined hacker from understanding your program. This turns out to be true for all programs in all languages, it is just more obviously true with JavaScript because it is delivered in source form. The privacy benefit provided by obfuscation is an illusion. If you don’t want people to see your programs, unplug your server.

Many sets of religious beliefs have a particular spirit, deity, demon or angel whose responsibility is to escort newly-deceased souls to the afterlife, such as Heaven or Hell. These creatures are called psychopomps, from the Greek word psuchopompos, literally meaning the “guide of souls”.

Psychopomp

This morning I went to an early Mass at a Church with which I was previously unfamiliar. It was held in a small chapel. Very nice. But at the end, there were several prayers with which I was unfamiliar. The one that stood out to me is this one:

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel:

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host – by the Divine Power of God – cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen.

I sort of like it, and I sort of am cowed by the intensity of the thing. But It got my attention and got me to look up Michael, who I sort of remember, sort of. Here’s more information on him on wikipedia: Michael (archangel) which says:

Michael is one of the principal angels in Abrahamic tradition; his name was said to have been the war-cry of the angels in the battle fought in heaven against Satan and his followers.

It also says:

The Catholic Church honors Michael with four main titles or offices. He is the Christian angel of death, carrying the souls of all the deceased to heaven, where they are weighed in his perfectly balanced scales (hence Michael is often depicted holding scales). At the hour of death, Michael descends and gives each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing, thus consternating the devil and his minions. Michael is the special patron of the Chosen People in the Old Testament and is guardian of the Church; it was thus not unusual for the angel to be revered by the military orders of knights during the Middle Ages. Last, he is the supreme enemy of Satan and the fallen angels.

This stuff fascinates me.

I suppose in some ways we all do battle. What do you do battle with?