Calhouns Can(n)ons

Sunday, February 24, 2008

A Sunday Poem, for a cold, blustry, beautiful, wet February day that's coming and going in and out like lions and lambs chasing down the warm sun of April, ready for the flower-burst.

The Kitten

More amazed than anything
I took the perfectly black
stillborn kitten
with the one large eye
in the center of its small forehead
from the house cat's bed
and buried it in a field
behind the house.

I suppose I could have given it
to a museum,
I could have called the local
newspaper.

But instead I took it out into the field
and opened the earth
and put it back
saying, it was real,
saying, life is infinitely inventive,
saying, what other amazements
lie in the dark seed of the earth, yes,

I think I did right to go out alone
and give it back peacefully, and cover the place
with the reckless blossoms of weeds.

Mary Oliver

15 comments:

Watershed Mark said...: Found this while working on something else. If the shoe fits, 13, it's yours...;-Q

Anonymity and social situations
Anonymity may reduce the accountability one perceives to have for their actions, and removes the impact these actions might otherwise have on their reputation. This can have dramatic effects, both useful and harmful.

In conversational settings, anonymity may allow people to reveal personal history and feelings without fear of later embarrassment. Electronic conversational media can provide physical isolation, in addition to anonymity. This prevents physical retaliation for remarks, and prevents negative or taboo behavior or discussion from tarnishing the reputation of the speaker. This can be beneficial when discussing very private matters, or taboo subjects or expressing views or revealing facts which may put someone in physical, financial, or legal danger (such as illegal activity, or unpopular or outlawed political views).

With few perceived negative consequences, anonymous or semi-anonymous forums often provide a soapbox for disruptive conversational behavior. Some people[attribution needed] label those who do this online as Internet trolls.

Relative anonymity is often enjoyed in large crowds. Different people have different psychological and philosophical reactions to this development, especially as a modern phenomenon. This anonymity is an important factor in crowd psychology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymity

internet troll;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll; 2:30 PM, February 25, 2008
Mike Green said...: Another Sunday poem for certain bloggers:
Cloony The Clown by Shel Silverstein
I'll tell you the story of Cloony the Clown
Who worked in a circus that came through town.
His shoes were too big and his hat was too small,
But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.
He had a trombone to play loud silly tunes,
He had a green dog and a thousand balloons.
He was floppy and sloppy and skinny and tall,
But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.
And every time he did a trick,
Everyone felt a little sick.
And every time he told a joke,
Folks sighed as if their hearts were broke.
And every time he lost a shoe,
Everyone looked awfully blue.
And every time he stood on his head,
Everyone screamed, "Go back to bed!"
And every time he made a leap,
Everybody fell asleep.
And every time he ate his tie,
Everyone began to cry.
And Cloony could not make any money
Simply because he was not funny.
One day he said, "I'll tell this town
How it feels to be an unfunny clown."
And he told them all why he looked so sad,
And he told them all why he felt so bad.
He told of Pain and Rain and Cold,
He told of Darkness in his soul,
And after he finished his tale of woe,
Did everyone cry? Oh no, no, no,
They laughed until they shook the trees
With "Hah-Hah-Hahs" and "Hee-Hee-Hees."
They laughed with howls and yowls and shrieks,
They laughed all day, they laughed all week,
They laughed until they had a fit,
They laughed until their jackets split.
The laughter spread for miles around
To every city, every town,
Over mountains, 'cross the sea,
From Saint Tropez to Mun San Nee.
And soon the whole world rang with laughter,
Lasting till forever after,
While Cloony stood in the circus tent,
With his head drooped low and his shoulders bent.
And he said,"THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT -
I'M FUNNY JUST BY ACCIDENT."
And while the world laughed outside.
Cloony the Clown sat down and cried.; 5:06 PM, February 25, 2008
Watershed Mark said...: Speaking of Clowns;

-the TAC is part of the process that "belongs" to us all, even you.

Gags, bits and business
"Business" is the individual motions the clown uses, often used to express the clown's character. A "gag" is a very short piece of clown comedy which when repeated within a bit or routine may become a "running gag". Gags may be loosely defined as "the jokes clowns play on each other". Bits are the clown's sketches or routines made up of one or more gags either worked out and timed before going on stage or impromptu bits composed of familiar improvisational material. A gag may have a beginning, a middle and an end to them, or they may not. Gags can also refer to the prop stunts/tricks or the stunts that clowns use, such as a squirting flower.; 7:48 PM, February 25, 2008
Watershed Mark said...: CMC gets fined $40,000 in raw sewage spill
In January, sewage flowed into Chorro Creek after a backup generator failed
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/287479.html

The prison could have been fined a maximum of $200,000, but the fine was reduced to $40,000 because of a variety of factors

The prison has a long history of sewage spills and recently completed a multimillion-dollar upgrade of its sewage treatment system in an effort to prevent further spills. Despite the bay closures, water officials graded the toxicity of the spill low because high stream flows at the time diluted the sewage.

One factor that is different with this spill is that Morro Bay is now a state-designated marine protected area. However, the existence of the marine protected area was not a factor in deciding the fine, said Harvey Packard, enforcement coordinator for the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Question: How does a taxpayer funded agency (WaterBoard) fining another taxpayer entity (the prison) for the failure of a WaterBoard approved system help to prevent from future failure?

Question: Where is the incentive if those responsible (WaterBoard & Prison) never run out of taxpayer money?

Questions: How recent was the the up-grade? Who engineered it? Who built it? What about the warranty? Where is the accountabilty?

Question: Who are the "water officials" by agency and by name?

Question: How does Harvey Packard determine the size of the fine?

Of course there are many more parts to this story that may never be known, but should be. The Public's health and saftey are count on it.; 6:41 AM, February 26, 2008
Anonymous said...: To watershed:

How about a comment on one eyed cats born dead?; 6:25 AM, February 27, 2008
Unknown said...: Do you mean this isn't the WRECKLAMATOR Website...???; 7:02 AM, February 27, 2008
Watershed Mark said...: How about a comment on one eyed cats born dead? Not enough meat on "dem bones" for my liking.;-)

Do you mean this isn't the WRECKLAMATOR Website...???
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
William Shakespeare; 9:58 AM, February 27, 2008
*PG-13 said...: (sigh)

Sorry Spectator. Sorry Mike.

Remember the Gong Show? Where's the gong?; 11:43 AM, February 27, 2008
Watershed Mark said...: 13: Just think of me as Chuck Barris. Remember his "grin"?; 1:07 PM, February 27, 2008
Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...: mark, we are thinking of you as a boor who doesn't know when to exit.; 6:44 PM, February 27, 2008
Watershed Mark said...: Relative anonymity is often enjoyed in large crowds. Different people have different psychological and philosophical reactions to this development, especially as a modern phenomenon. This anonymity is an important factor in crowd psychology.

Anyway, Tom is scheduled to move into his house around the middle of March and the RECLAMATOR should be in service by then.
So we will soon have something really exciting actually happening in regards to the LOSTDEP, to converse about.

It amazes me how much time and money the county is wasting while it "studies" sewerage and ignores technology and the law which supports its promulgation and use.
Bits are the clown's sketches or routines made up of one or more gags either worked out and timed before going on stage or impromptu bits composed of familiar improvisational material. A gag may have a beginning, a middle and an end to them, or they may not. Gags can also refer to the prop stunts/tricks or the stunts that clowns use, such as a squirting flower. (This bears repeating); 7:22 PM, February 27, 2008
*PG-13 said...: This thread began with .....

ShedHead said > Found this while working on something else. If the shoe fits, 13, it's yours...;-Q
> Anonymity and social situations: Anonymity may reduce the accountability one perceives to have for their actions,....
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymity
>
> internet troll;
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll

Mark, once again you post a comment that is curiously mystifying. Do you even read what you write? Or rather, do you understand what you are writing? In this case you seem to be making a correlation between anonymity and trolling. Two things you seem to know little about. They are not related. In this context they are internet terms with specific and unique definitions. Definitions which do not match the way you want to use them. Anonymity has nothing to do with trolling. And trolling, if you bothered to read the citation you provided, has nothing to do with anonymity. Rather, it is quite the opposite. As noted in your Wikipedia citation trolling is a term of identification not anonymity. It is an act of deceit based upon character identity. I suggest you read what you post. Perhaps the term you were looking for is Lurking, not Trolling. But even lurking doesn't apply in the case you are trying to make as I am clearly not anonymous and I am an active commentator. As noted in a previous comment none of us commenting on Ann's blog are anonymous. Ann has turned off anonymous posting on her blog.

However I want to thank you for submitting the wikiepedia citation on Trolling. It was fascinating to take a peek back on some early internet history. I learned things I never knew before. I especially appreciated this:

> Trolling in the 1990's
> The most likely derivation of the word troll can be found in the phrase "trolling for newbies," popularized in the early 1990s in the Usenet group, alt.folklore.urban (AFU). Commonly, what is meant is a relatively gentle inside joke by veteran users, presenting questions or topics that had been so overdone that only a new user would respond to them earnestly. For example, a veteran of the group might make a post on the common misconception that glass flows over time. Long-time readers would both recognize the poster's name and know that the topic had been done to death already, but new subscribers to the group would not realise, and would thus respond. These types of trolls served as a Shibboleth to identify group insiders. This definition of trolling, considerably narrower than the modern understanding of the term, was considered a positive contribution. One of the most notorious AFU trollers, Snopes, went on to create his eponymous urban folklore website.

I often use the Snopes database but I never realized this is how it got started. Very cool.

I also found the description of Trolling for Trolls to be particularly pertinent:

> Identity trolling:
> In academic literature, the practice was first documented by Judith Donath (1999), who used several anecdotal examples from various Usenet newsgroups in her discussion. Donath's paper outlines the ambiguity of identity in a disembodied "virtual community":
>
> In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity. ... The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter.
>
> Donath provides a concise overview of identity deception games which trade on the confusion between physical and epistemic community:
>
> Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they - and the troll - understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group.
>
> Trolls can be costly in several ways. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the newsgroup community.

Wow, deja vu all over again; 9:18 AM, February 28, 2008
Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...: *pg-13, thank you for so thoroughly describing what has happened here. Now, if mark would only understand… I guess we have failed as a group to dampen the troll's enjoyment to a sufficient level. Maybe he is the exception, or in this case aberration, that proves the rule. He really should have been gone by now.; 2:31 PM, February 28, 2008
Anonymous said...: That PG-13 is great! Documentation! Snappy patter!

Too smart for me, but I am the most ignorant man in the world.; 2:42 PM, February 28, 2008
Watershed Mark said...: 13: For "internet troll" please see 1915 picture located @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll
It is how I imagine those "annoymice" posters...like you. You know First Amendment Rights and all...

I am glad you had a good time!

It is a free country. Sorry toons. I LOVE L.O.; 4:21 PM, February 28, 2008

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Sunday, February 24, 2008

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