(e:Paul) said he thought it was pointless to duplicate Google's planned video blog features (http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=1236), and I can understand not wanting to "compete" with Google -- I'm a Google lover of sorts. I mean, I use Yahoo for my home page, but... (and that's another thing -- why can't I do the basic homepage things with Google that I can do with Yahoo!? Shouldn't that rank higher priority than getting videos online? Whatever; Yahoo! works well...)

Anyway, I think pretty much everything I get at (e:strip) is available all over the place. I could build it myself (not as well as Paul has) or I could just use any number of open source or free solutions to pretty much get the same features as (e:strip). In fact, I used to participate more heavily in a blogger blog. But (e:strip) has pulled me away? Why? Because I read (e:strip). This site is a different place. It's not the whole world. It's a village, becoming a town, and one day it might grow into a full-fledged city, but it will never be the whole world (I hope not, at least). It will always (hopefully) be a cool little corner, a place where I can niche.

So who cares what Google is doing? Whether or not video is "right" for (e:strip) is an issue on its own, and definitely not one to be taken lightly (all kinds of concerns on that one -- space, bandwidth, tech issues, etc.). I am not really arguing for or against that here. All I'm saying is that we got something Google ain't got, no matter what.

Wow, I'm not the biggest Hunter S. Thompson geek, but I'm all for people digging him and his stuff. I just found this through BoingBoing that talks about his wife's commitment to fulfill his wishes to have his ashes shot from a giant cannon. The cannon will be a part of a giant sculpture in the form of his fist/knife "Gonzo" logo. The logo is cool, and the illustration on BoingBoing features one of his great quotes, which seems really suitable for a headstone, "it never got weird enough for me."

What a cool idea. I applaud Anita Thompson for having such devotion. What a cool wife. I hope my wife blows some shit up (in a fun way, not a scary way) when I die...

I just came across this, via the ultiBlog, BoingBoing (www.boingboing.net).

It looks like awhile back there was a flare-up of the blogosphere regarding a topic called "Toothing." Toothing is(was?ever?) the practice of broadcasting bluetooth "hook-up" messages to everyone around you, and eventually, the idea was, somebody would take you up on your offer after receiving your message via their bluetooth enabled mobile phone.

The story trades on the hysteria surrounding blue-jacking, which is a real phenomenon (http://www.bluejackq.com/), but not nearly as dangerous or threatening as one might think.

It looks like the creators of this MEME have come clean about it -- it was all a hoax. They set up a fictional forum and filled it with fictional posts. Once they felt like they had a good history of a budding internet phenomenon represented, they submitted it to Gizmodo (http://www.gizmodo.com). Then it took off. Real people joined the fictional forum. People set up toothing forums for their own areas. It was mayhem.

Now, one of the original creators of Toothing has posted an article discussing it here:


worth a read...

My friend Dave Logan (http://www.dave-logan.com/blog) made this rad video for They Might Be Giants' song, Bloodmobile. Here's the link . It's a great animation. He has been teaching himself Maya in his senior year of high school. You might remember Dave's work from the thoroughly excellent Futurology video he made for DJ Funken Wagnalls feat. Cottonmouth MC, which is linked from our new site at FunkMouth.com (http://www.funkmouth.com/).

Have fun!

Incredible story on Indy Online here ( ). It looks like a 20 year old guy from Taiwan (Taipei) committed suicide after his girlfriend dumped him for his online alter ego, which he had secretly used to hit on her. Wow. I'm not sure what's more shocking, that he killed himself, or that he got his girlfriend to dump him for his online self. I mean, that's a weird thing to do, right? Right?


Woman dumps man for his online alter ego
Published on the Web by IOL on 2003-07-17 09:45:02

Taipei - A Taiwanese man who used a different identity through the Internet to double-date his girlfriend, has committed suicide after the girl fell for his email-based alter ego, a Taiwanese newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Huang Tzu-heng, 20, a shop clerk in Taipei County, began dating his high school class mate Hsiao Lan in the Spring, the Apple Daily reported.

Hoping to find out if Hsiao Lan really loved him, Huang dated Hsiao Lan on the Internet, posing as "Mr J" while continuing to date her in real life.

As Hsiao Lao did not tell Huang she was dating Mr J on the Internet, Huang became frustrated because he believed lovers should share all their secrets, the report stated.

Then one day Hsiao Lan told Huang that she had fallen in love with "Mr J" and wanted to break up with Huang.

Huang killed himself by burning charcoal in his bedroom on Monday night, leaving two suicide notes, one to his parents and one to Hsiao Lan.

In his letter to Hsiao Lan, Huang wrote: "Do you remember your Internet friend? That is me. But I never thought our love would have such an ending." - Sapa-DPA