DaveWorld

I Miss Nonie!

rat — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 03:32:51 GMT

There once was a woman, who, from her domed-hut,
Forced us to think of every body--but...
Ourselves, as it were,
Because, she was sure...
We were brighter and stronger, and stuff.

I miss Nonie's words, and her ways.
She made me feel better about others, always.
God Bless her family,
God bless her friends.
Let each of us live on, as she always said.

I Miss Nonie!

Beth You are Special

rat — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 03:25:27 GMT

I loved this piece enough to say Thank You.
Understand, oh, boy, oh boy! YOU, and your son, made my day.

Thanx.

Egad!

All Animals Lie...in something, or on something...

magnanimous — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 00:47:25 GMT

Ok. First, let me say that on a very glum day this particular post put a smile on my face. Thanks for even approaching the subject.
Fact is, the bipedal human is most notorious for being such liars.The difference between Cheney-like stupidity and survival-of-the-fittest in the animal kingdom is, I believe, motive.

Humans lie for more than just survival. We are the most despicable critters on the planet, don'tchaknow,
and ergo, greed, lust, and just plain boredom alone is all it takes to motivate people to lie.

"The world's a stage...
a good analogy.

drippy phone calls and not-so-old souls

Beth — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 19:25:00 GMT

So last night I called my brother to tell him something about the laptop computer he'd loaned me, and he spoke about that for a second or two, then without introduction, launched into, "...so we're at the hospital now, and Dad drove himself here straight from work because he was having pains in his gut, and the doctors think it could be gallbladder, an ulcer, or a heart attack, but they're not sure yet, so he's going to have a treadmill test in the morning..."

Um, what?

I was worried, even though my mom sounded very calm when I talked to her, because, well, I'm not there to see what's really going on, and my dad and I have been having a really good relationship lately, with all the crap going on with R., and I'd just talked with my dad that morning, and what if something were to happen, and it's my dad, after all, and...

So I got off the phone and started crying a bit with worry. Grant was watching me intently, so I told him, "Mommy's a little bit sad because Grandpa's sick, but he's going to be fine." My son put his head on my lap and said, "It's okay to have all your feelings, Mommy." I was sitting there thinking I have the coolest kid in the world, he understands, he's perceptive beyond his years, he's an old soul...then he looked at me and asked, "Is that a DRIP coming out of your eye??"

LOL I gotta love that.

I told him it was indeed a drip, and asked if he wanted to touch it, so he touched it gently with his finger and stood there, looking at it on his fingertip, then looking at me. Normally when he cries, he says his eyes are "leaking," and thinks tears are plain water. I told him it was a tear and said he could taste it if he wanted to, and he did...and was delighted that it had a taste. I mean, he thought that was *hilarious.*

What a good reality check...and it gave me and my sister a belly laugh when I called her to say I'd talked to Dad and he must've been tired, because he'd told everyone else he was okay, but he started getting philosophical with me, saying no one knows what the future holds, and that he loves me and would do anything for me...

Geez, kind of a weird night.

Anyway, think good thoughts for my dad. I'm going to go about my previously scheduled day, but I'll check in with him later to see how the treadmill test went. Man, one of these days I'm going to get a call that's not as easy. As my sister said, "Well, today's not that day."

Onward...

- Beth

Alrighty then...

mld — Thu, 12 Feb 2004 02:22:54 GMT

So now we're looking for some pics from you, iKat. :-)

thanks for the lesson

skaterina — Thu, 12 Feb 2004 01:44:07 GMT

i printed out the instructions you sent via e-mail

craniac's picture

skaterina — Thu, 12 Feb 2004 01:42:10 GMT

lovely / what a nice surprise

Yes

craniac — Wed, 11 Feb 2004 16:18:36 GMT

I took it.

Veddy Nice, Steve

mld — Wed, 11 Feb 2004 14:49:20 GMT

That's a handsome pic. Did you take it?

Cape Town at dusk

craniac — Wed, 11 Feb 2004 07:28:00 GMT

Marcus' posting of the intructions for posting images prompted me to post this one. It is a view of Cape Town at dusk, taken from Signal Hill, at 19h58 on Friday, 6 February 2004.

Pic Posting Instructions

mld — Wed, 11 Feb 2004 04:21:00 GMT

iKat wants to know...

> one more time / how does one post a picture at the dwblog ?

First you have to have contributor status.

You already do, iKat.

(Almost all the active dubbers have contributor status. If I missed you, and you wanna post there, email me. )

Second, login to the site.

You must already know how to do this, as you posted there.

Third, click on the link on the right sidebar entitled, "images."

Next, click on the link titled "add a new image."

The resulting form is fairly self-explanatory. You will browse to the file - on your local drive, most likely, but you can point to a pic anywhere on the web by using the full URL.

Pick a name for the pic if you like, or let antville choose one for you based on the file name.

If it is a large pic, the antville code will automagically resize the pic to be 400 pixels in the longest axis, UNLESS you over-ride the pic size in the submission form to keep it larger. It will, in any case, automagically generate a thumbnail to use as a link to the full size pic if you like.

This procedure uploads the pic to the antville server, for use in any story.

To insert the pic, using a macro to do so is the easiest way, though it can be done with standard html code.

Say that you uploaded a pic called "DSC00092.JPG" Antville will have named that pic "DSC00092"

Use the following code...

<% image name="DSC0009" %>

That will insert the pic.

If you choose to rename the pic as you upload it to the blog, say, to "pizza", use ...

<% image name="pizza" %>

If you wanna use the thumbnail, the macro changes slightly to...

<% thumb name="DSC0009" %> or <% thumb name="pizza" %>

You can use standard HTML tags, or stylesheets, on the image. As an example, you can insert and center a pic called MyPic with the following
code...

< center>
<% image name="MyPic" %>
</center %>

Ok, that's Antville Images 101. Email me iffn anything is unclear or I've left out something.

SeaJay — Wed, 11 Feb 2004 01:30:59 GMT

Katherine - I am so pumped that you have the F717! What a great camera, huh?

I got picked today as one of Forbes best photoblogs with that camera! I'm pretty jazzed about that.

www.forbes.com

This camera takes the best macros ever. You can get so close up you can take photos of things your eye can't even see.

Well, apparently even ones NO ONE'S eye can see :)

I am not sure how to upload a photo in this environment. Kate or Marcus should be able to help.

Catherine

Catherine

skaterina — Sun, 08 Feb 2004 19:21:52 GMT

ooops / dont know how to post a picture

welcome to the petcafe

skaterina — Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:30:00 GMT

we are having a pazza pazza pizza today

perhaps like this one :

DSC00092.JPG

the survey

skaterina — Mon, 19 Jan 2004 01:51:00 GMT

the dw list has a survey

some answers ensue

Shoes / when i was younger i wore hussy shoes / high heels and strippy strippy straps / fm shoes / but now i am old lady and i wear sandals or laced up bootish kind of shoes deapending on the season / i favor Clarks of England and Easy Spirit for sensible more or less well made and comfortable shoes / and i always have a pair or two of Steger moccasins for wearing out in the beWilderness

okay that takes care of Shoes

jewelry / small bear token earring in left lobe / the heart attack lobe

beaded / turquoise chain thing to hang my glasses around my neck / five turquoise bears keep me in bounds

my best feature : i have no boundaries / i have know boundaries

okay what else is on the survey ?

meanwhile i had a very good day / being an old lady may possibly have its merits

i made ghee

vegetable broth

a perfect pizza with leeks and gruyere

my body type is harmoniously coordinated / light but strong skeletal structure / capable of impressive upper and lower body strength / id est / like how much weight can you pick up / carry / / and how far can you run / walk / etc / fast or slow

my coffee mug is from the first trip to ocean city maryland since i was in college and the first trip without murphy ally beloved companion protector / all round good dog

it is the Ocean City Mug and only I use it

my hair is silver / cut short in back / and Did I Mention i cut it myself / so it is always cut as cut can

i have brown eyes and the kind of skin that tans easily

oh if i had unlimited funds as in winning the lottery i woud fancy having a private railway car

and of course / tracks / to all the favorite playgrounds

scenic vistas

cool places to eat

say / where is the rink ?

~~~~~~~kickglidesmile~~~~~~~~~~

KC's Vision

mld — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 03:30:00 GMT

KC posted this to the list, and I thought the vision she had described us well, so, with her permission, her it is...

Couldn’t sleep last night. It was the first night this
week I’ve tried to sleep without Nyquil. D was on my
right, snoring, and Mittens had stretched himself out
against my left with his head on my pillow. I lay
awake for a while. Wondering if I shouldn’t get up for
a bit and read, but it was too cold. Finally I rolled
over and dozed off.

Here’s what I saw.

I had the world in my hand. Half dark/half light and I
could see little points of light. Not city lights mind
you. Dubber lights. There was my light in VT and
Genee’s in NC and a bunch in CA, Poughkeepsie and
Richmond, Washington DC, South Africa (Hi Steve) and
Australia and everywhere all the dubbers had a little
white light to represent them. Then I saw the web. It
connects us. Tiny silver strands reaching across the
empty spaces in between us. Some of them are soft and cobwebby. Perhaps the one between my self and Beau would look like this. But some are strong as steel,
silvery chains that you couldn’t break. Like the one
between Genee and me.

It was amazing and so real and so true. And I looked
at this world in my hand and I saw the web get bigger
and it added all the people in our individual webs.
And so on, and so on, until you couldn’t even see the
Earth under this web of light.

I woke up with tears on my face.

If we just acted like we could see the web…..well,
that would be a beautiful thing, now wouldn’t it.

More Blogroll Changes

mld — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 02:50:00 GMT

Added gina and genee to the list.

Changes...

mld — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 02:48:00 GMT

Added kc to the list of dubber blogs.

Three Mice and A Nail...

mld — Sun, 14 Dec 2003 00:29:00 GMT

Get 'em while they're hot!

As advertised, here are the pics of the Three Blind Mice, and the Rusty Nail.

Sounds Like Us. :-)

mld — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 22:04:00 GMT

"All kinds of things rejoiced my soul in the company of my friends -- to talk and laugh and to do each other kindnesses; read pleasant books together, pass from lightest jesting to talk of the deepest things and back again; differ without rancour, as a man might differ with himself, and when most rarely dissension arose, find our normal agreement all the sweeter for it; teach
each other or learn from each other; be impatient for the return of the absent, and welcome them with joy and their homecoming; these and such like things, proceeding from our hearts as we gave affection and received it back, and shown by face, by voice, by the eyes, and a thousand other pleasing ways, kindled a flame which infused our very souls and of many made us one. This is what men value in friends."

--St. Augustine

All animals lie

jane95 — Thu, 17 Jul 2003 17:15:00 GMT

> i wonder... just something i am wondering... if this is more
> prevalent in capitalistic societies? or is this a universal? i
> realize that lots of different govt do this -- communist,
> dictators, etc etc... but does it reach so far down?
> m.

Interesting question. The first thing I thought of was crested lizards. I saw an episode of the Crocodile Hunter where he explained that, when threatened, the lizard puts up the crest and opens his mouth as if to say, <aussie accent>"Look how big and scary I am. I am no good to eat. Stay away from me. I'm bad news.</aussie accent> This is, essentially, a lie. The animal is promoting his agenda - you don't want to take me on, I am not interesting as food - when, actually, they are probably quite a nice bite. Tastes like chicken?

Then I got to thinking about other examples of animal propaganda. A male peacock's tail. Chameleons. Stick bugs. Human pheromone cologne.

I am not sure where or how this developed into political propagandizing, but I am sure there must be some connection. Survival instinct. Intellectual survival.

I am reminded of a book I read where the world was evolved as if lizards remained at the top of the food chain. The lizards thought of humans the way we might think of lemurs. They take a human captive and he cleverly learns some of their language. So instead of killing him they keep him as a pet.

Now, the thing about these lizards is, their communication is a complete combination of spoken and physical - their bodies give away the real meaning of what they are saying - with a flush. So the best they can hope for if trying to appear nonplussed is total stillness and control to prevent detection of disapproval. Outright lying is not possible for the lizards. Then one day, the Dick Cheney lizard figures out that the human is capable of saying untrue things without any indication that he is lying.

Dick has the human pull a classic "Hey, look over there." maneuver during a hunting trip and Dick shoots George with an arrow while all the other lizards are looking over there. Then the human says he saw a human hunter shoot George. The coup is achieved. Except, of course, that the lizards are matriarchal so it is more like Denise and Georgia.

Too Many Daves

jane95 — Thu, 01 May 2003 21:54:00 GMT

Which is the CKate with cats in cows asses
And which is the KCatherine who weaves, which wears glasses

I know at least one of them gardens, or two
And one of them's married to Snoball? or Hoo?

I know at least one takes photos, one cooks
At least one scribbles writings worth entry in books

But they are more clever than Mrs. McCaves
They've self assigned nicknames, our tracking this saves

We've iKat and seajay and twoshoes and Krynn
Though Krynn concedes Cathy could be on the in

And Catherine abdicates Catherine at all
While Kate stays du Nord should Cate come to call

And iKat , good heavens, katerina della cucina
she's names 'nuff for many our dear skaterina

Come in, the Door's Open

Kate — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 15:46:00 GMT

In the early weeks of my love affair with the internet, I visited the web site of Dave Siegel, the guru of web design, and on his site discovered a link to his journal. He was opinionated and he had readers who corresponded with him on his soapbox.

He started a discussion list where people who wrote to him about his journal entries could also write to each other. You could join this list if you wanted, and participate (or not) in the conversation. It was not to be a list about technical web design stuff; that was strictly forbidden. It was to be for the layperson who just wanted to talk about any subject. Another list would eventually be created for those who wanted to exchange technical information; the Daveworld list was to be a community parlour, where everyone could participate if they chose.

Meanwhile, Dave carried on with his journal.

A list member who had an online journal of her own wrote a guest entry in Dave's journal. I responded with an email, and she suggested I think about joining the Daveworld mailing list.

Eventually, Dave decided to stop writing his journal.

The Daveworld list carried on under its own steam. At the moment there is not the high number of active members there have been at various times. It's cyclical and traffic depends on what topic of conversation comes up, and what's happening in people's lives, of course. But Daveworld has taken on a life of its own and, while the banter can be funny or sweet or serious or just goofy, I have come to care for these people and consider them my friends.

Spring is still on the list, of course. She's a Daveworld staple, now living down in Florida with Sean, another DW oldtimer. Marcus is in the humid southern U.S. too. There's Katherine, writing whimsically and yet so earthily from her Moab dome. She's been with the list since its inception. Jeanne is in Mexico City, busily building her house which is her personal work of art. There's Derek, one of the few Canadians (all very nice--ahem--naturally) currently active onlist; there are two Scotts, whom I interchange regularly in my mind and will until ScottR supplies a photo; Marya's our punny California Girl in her house of constant cameraderie.

Beth had her first baby, and it's been a lovely ride she's shared with us on the list. It's such a pleasure to see her with this joy. I don't think it's been easy, but she wouldn't trade her little treasure for anything. Ceridwen's been awfully quiet lately, but with a passle of kids and a new paper route, we know she's busy and probably didn't remember to re-subscribe after our last round of technical difficulties. Hopefully she's back among us soon. Sasha is the maestro who keeps the list running smoothly -- and usually it does. But when upon occasion it goes down, Sasha takes care of the problem in record time.

They've been visiting each other all over the place, too. Judy, an unsubscribed dubber (dw'er) (once a dubber, always a dubber?) who lives in Chicago, took a trip to see Jeanne in Mexico and then went to visit Katherine and stayed half a year. They've met for cheesecake/carrotcake/Isaychocolatecakeorbust. They've met for a vegetarian feast or an ice cream cone at the beach.

There have been several romances, and mini-reunions, mostly stateside. Sometimes Canada seems a million miles away from all the action.

Over in South Africa, Steve has been with us from early days. So has Stephen, who hails from Australia. The list once had another Steve too, and with all three of them posting regularly and Dave himself never participating onlist, there was some joking about whether the list name should be changed to Steveworld. Now it tends to be dubbed Davelessworld.

Pat is an American, now a translator living in Norway. Timothy is in Virginia, a painter of the colours of the spirit. Darius is your consummate California Boy, from whom we are still expecting photos of the neverending kitchen-remodelling.

I'll be sitting here all day if I try to mention everybody, and I'm sure to miss many. Suffice it to say, I've mentioned some of our lifers. We haven't heard much from deAnna or Stacia lately -- both newlyweds, donchaknow. We happily welcome all newcomers, and prodigal sons -- like Macker, our resident Church Guy, who took a little hiatus and is back in full force, and recently Amy, a new mom who's popped in again after a long absence.

We lost Nonie in 2001. She posted regularly and heavily for years and died suddenly from pancreatic cancer. In a way, she died the way she said she'd choose to -- quickly, not long-drawn-out -- so we couldn't begrudge her leaving us the way she did. But it hurt to lose her. She was loved, and to us she is still a part of the list -- just uncharacteristically quiet.

This is a sketchy little background about the group of people I call the Denizens of Daveworld; it doesn't do the list dynamics justice. It can't. You have to come and see for yourself. It is a community rich in character and intelligence, heart and humour. We are friends as well as online acquaintances. I go to them to share goings-on of my life and to hear about theirs; when I need any kind of information, I can post my question to the list and someone will invariably know the answer or point me to it; they give me much to think about, help me look at life from a different perspective than my own, and pretty much endlessly entertain me. They make me laugh all the time.

I have found friends among these people, and I would like to introduce you to them. Would you care to join us for a cup of coffee or a beer (you need to be drinking something you can spew on your monitor when someone makes you laugh), and see if you find yourself jumping into the conversation?

If so, please send an email to majordomo@3sheep.com, with

subscribe daveworld

in the body of the message.

Give yourself a couple days to pick up the conversational threads so things start making sense. It might take a day or so to hook you -- it took less than one day, for me. I thought I'd lurk for a while and get a feel for the atmosphere, but someone's question about movies stimulated me to jump in and I've been a dubber ever since.

I wouldn't be without it to savour with my morning cups of coffee. And my late-night glasses of wine. And my wee-hours-of-the-morning, quiet-in-my-housecoat insomnias.

It's a wonderful list, with wonderful people, and I think you'll like it. So whenever you're ready -- your teeth don't have to be brushed, your hair doesn't have to be combed, and you don't have to put on clothes or deodorant -- come 'set a spell.'

Kate

mld — Fri, 03 Jan 2003 04:44:00 GMT

SeaJay had a funny adventure on NYE, and posted it to the DW list. With her permission, I repost it here...

How do you know you're "getting older"?
This way:

2:00 AM - New Year's Eve/Day

"Ma'am, can I see your lisence and registration please?"

"Um, yeah. It's here. I think. Ah shit, spilled my coffee... I don't maybe I left it... no wait, I think it's under the seat ... shit....no.... um ... maybe I don't have it."

"Ma'am, have you been drinking?"

"Just a thousand cups of coffee so I could stay awake this late."

"Would you step out of the car, please?"

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"Just step out of the car."

"Um, I'm in my pyjamas."

"Pardon me?"

"Pyjamas."

"Um..."

"See, I'm picking up my kid from the New Year's festivities and I had to get out of bed and, you know, take an extra geritol and put my teeth in and try and remember where I put the keys and keep the cat from running out the door and then the garage door got stuck and I was running late and I was, you know, getting kind of pissy, so I said, you know, fuck it, and left the pyjamas on. And now, AND NOW, I will have to sleep until next Sunday just to catch up and, believe me, if you make me get out of this car I will cry. Just because it's so unfair to get old, ya know?"

Now he's laughing. Not with me, I might add.

"Okay, okay. Is this your car?"

"Jesus H. Christ, man, who the hell would lend ME their car?"

Now he's wishing he had one of those hidden cameras.
By now the plates are run on his little computer and he asks me some questions about where I live and FOR THE LIFE OF ME I could not think of my street name. - Not as bizarre as it sounds - often autistics lose chunks of well known data if stressed.

"Um, cripes! Over there. Just over there. You know, past Polo Park. Okay, from my bathroom I can see Rae and Jerry's. OVER THERE! The one with the brand new roof - which is why I am in my pyjamas instead of an evening gown."

He's not sure now what to do.

"AH, I remember ... Strathcona Street." I said finally out the window to him while he was conferring with someone. And then I rattled off my DL number and the first 10 digits of my car serial number and my SIN and started in on my Health Number when he waved me away. AND I mean WAVED me away - with his whole body. You know -"Go! Get the hell out of here!"

You do not want to know about the next part where I get to the pick up point and have to go inside a crowded place to track down the kid who is not in the appointed place. The upside is that she was so embarrassed that she will never fail to meet when she says she will again.

Oi.

Re: Is DW dying?

Kate — Tue, 19 Nov 2002 15:05:21 GMT

Steve, you wrote:
"I care very much about the way other DWers see me and find myself witholding things that others might see as trivial and not worthy of discussion. Sometimes I go through agonies, when, having posted something I think will prove interesting, there are no responses."

What a heartfelt post, and I can so relate to your feelings. I, too, often think what I have to say is less interesting than other offerings, and wonder, like Marya does, if my very-personal posts are dull to others and narcissistic.

I always love to see you post, and wish you *would* share more personal things... it was great to read about your new hobby of bike-riding, for example. I'd find them interesting and I'm sure others would too.

I probably couldn't count on both hands how many times I have hit the Send button and wished I could bring a post back, feeling embarrassed that I have said too much.

Or how many times I have been irritated when I felt something I said was misunderstood.

But isn't it just like any other relationship? People misunderstand each other way too much, and we often think people aren't really interested in our lives when really, they feel honoured when we do trust them enough to open up and be vulnerable.

There are a lot of wonderful people on this list, and you are one of them. There are good friends here. I don't fear the death of DW anymore. Too many of us are addicted.

- Kate