SILICON SOAPWARE wafting your way along the slipstreams of the Info Highway from Bubbles = Tom Digby = bubbles@well.com http://www.well.com/~bubbles/ Issue #157 New Moon of October 10, 2007 Contents copyright 2007 by Thomas G. Digby, with a liberal definition of "fair use". In other words, feel free to quote excerpts elsewhere (with proper attribution), post the entire zine (verbatim, including this notice) on other boards that don't charge specifically for reading the zine, link my Web page, and so on, but if something from here forms a substantial part of something you make money from, it's only fair that I get a cut of the profits. Silicon Soapware is available via email with or without reader feedback. Details of how to sign up are at the end. ********************* Fall has definitely started falling. We're getting into what may be the first real rainy spell of the season, after a false start (or maybe a preview) back in September. That was just one rainy day preceded and followed by sunshine, while this time there are several storms lined up, set to arrive a couple of days apart over the next week or so. What was interesting about the earlier rain was that it came on the day of our group's Fall Equinox celebration. I was kind of annoyed at first, what with having to move our ritual from the host's back yard to their covered patio, but it all worked out. And it may have been for the best, as a sort of sample of the coming season. ********************* Halloween is just three weeks away, and people are starting to put up their seasonal decorations. One common item is fake tombstones. That led me to think of possible epitaphs to put on them. While there may not be room for anything much beyond "R.I.P." if you want it to be readable from cars on the street, they might still work in situations where the audience can get closer, as in a "haunted house" or the like. So here are some I've come up with: ----------------- 1970 Russian Roulette Champion 1971 Russian Roulette Champion 1972 Russian Roulette Second Place ----------------- Your Name Here ----------------- Jumped onto the tracks to make the train swerve. ----------------- If you were dead, you'd be home now. ----------------- Winner of the prestigious Darwin Award ----------------- I thought, therefore I was. ********************* About a year ago I wrote of finding the line "All thought is anthropomorphic" written on a pillar under a freeway overpass. I also mentioned that I added a comment of my own. See http://www.well.com/~bubbles/SS0145.txt We recently had another convention at that same hotel, so I walked that same route to breakfast. The line, along with my comment on it, was still there. Apparently no one had tried to clean it off, and no one had seen fit to comment further. What may have saved it is the fact that it was written in small letters, not much bigger than when you write a note on paper, and is thus easy to overlook even if you're on foot. It's pretty much impossible to see if you're in a car. Also, since it's under an overpass, it's protected from the elements. The next convention that I am likely to attend at that hotel will be in February. Will the line still be there? ********************* As some of you may know, I sometimes blow soap bubbles at random people on the street or wherever. Reactions generally range from no apparent reaction to some expression of pleasure, with negative reactions being relatively rare. I do recall one mixed reaction: A man pushing a baby stroller expressed pleasure, but the kid in the stroller was definitely frowning (although I don't think the kid was frowning at the bubbles). The man didn't seem to be aware of the kid's mood. It later occurred to me that the way many (most?) strollers are designed, the person pushing it can't see the kid's face. Would it be better if they could? If so, it should be possible to do it with either mirrors or a video hookup. I think mirrors would be cheaper, but what with computer stuff getting less and less expensive as technology advances, video might be the way to go. And with video, you could also have a second camera and screen so the kid sees the adult's face. Is this being done already? I don't have enough dealings with parents of young children to know. If it isn't, would it be worthwhile to develop such a system? ********************* In a tropical part of Cartoonland is a house straddling the Equator. The line painted on the floor runs right through the toilet in one of the bathrooms. So when anybody flushes that toilet, the water in the south half of the bowl tries to go clockwise while the water in the north half of the bowl tries to go counter-clockwise. The two opposing currents collide in the west, and water sloshes out over the western edge of the bowl. So the residents effectively can't use that bathroom, although they do make a bit of money showing it off to tourists. ********************* They're redoing the back parking area for this building. It occurred to me to wonder what if the people tearing out the old paving were to stumble across buried treasure or something? What if they find a half-dozen chests full of gold and jewels? They probably wouldn't have any legal claim to it, but would whoever does get legal title give them a reward finding it? Or what if they find a bunch of dead bodies? Perhaps the land once belonged to some Prohibition-era gang leader, who buried his enemies there and then arranged to have the building built to cover up the evidence. I don't think this building is that old, but maybe the gangsters were time travelers or something. Or maybe that back parking area is an old Indian burial ground with some kind of curse on it. The curse had been blocked by some special magical ingredients in the pavement, and is now about to be unleashed. And since the new pavement probably won't contain that special ingredient, the curse will continue to operate long after the work is completed. Taking this further, what if some old Indian burial ground with a curse on it gets occupied by a junkyard? Then all the old cars and appliances and such that were junked there might start coming back to life as zombies. Or maybe it's just one junk car up on blocks in somebody's back yard. The owner thinks it somehow got stolen, but it's actually driving around inflicting random mayhem, just like in some low-budget horror movie. If it's driving around on its own with no driver or passengers, it's probably not eligible to drive in the carpool lane. So what happens when a cop tries to pull it over? Even if the car is occupied, do zombies count toward being legal in the carpool lane? If they don't, and some cop writes them a ticket, and they decide to fight it, what happens when the case gets to court and the zombie defendants start devouring the judge and prosecutor, along with random spectators? Would the court reporter flee early on, or would he or she stay, recording the proceedings until the bitter end, with the transcript breaking off in mid-sentence? That would be especially dramatic in a movie, with some character finding the aborted transcript as their first inkling that they have a Problem. Maybe the zombies will plea-bargain and settle for community service. Would you trust them? I would have doubts, even if the community service consisted of going around devouring other criminals. This is getting rather silly, but it might do for some kind of comedy movie. Anybody interested in doing it? ********************* The phone just rang, and as usual I let the machine take it. The "message" was a few seconds of the sound of someone typing on a computer keyboard. Then whoever it was hung up. This does not strike me as a very productive use of people's time. ********************* Since we're now forty years past the Summer of Love, and it's coming up on Halloween, I'm reminded of this: Going to Seed On a mild October evening I browse the Halloween store, A place of gore and gravestones, spiderwebs and skeletons, costumes and cauldrons. A packet catches my eye, Stirring up memories of days almost forty years gone. It is a "HIPPIE KIT": A headband with the word "PEACE" on it, A large peace-sign neck pendant, And a pair of rose-colored glasses, All marked "Made in China". The tie-dyed T-shirt and longhaired wig are not included, But no doubt await me down another nearby aisle. As a plastic skull blares a tinny rendition of the well-known Funeral March Part of me dreams of taking a time machine back to those days of overwhelming optimism in the face of overwhelming adversity. Would those I would show it to laugh or cry to see all their grand world-changing dreams summed up in a pack of trinkets in a costume shop? To those who would cry I have words of consolation: While the bloom of the Flower Children has faded, their seeds continue to grow and spread, flowering anew into a rainbow of colors beyond what they could have ever imagined. -- Tom Digby written Tue Oct 5 20:54:34 PDT 2004 ********************* HOW TO GET SILICON SOAPWARE EMAILED TO YOU If you're getting it via email and the Reply-to in the headers is ss_talk@bubbles.best.vwh.net you're getting the list version, and anything you send to that address will be posted. That's the one you want if you like conversation. There's usually a burst of activity after each issue, often dying down to almost nothing in between. Any post can spark a new flurry at any time. If there's no mention of "bubbles.best.vwh.net" in the headers, you're getting the BCC version. That's the one for those who want just Silicon Soapware with no banter. The zine content is the same for both. To get on the conversation-list version point your browser to http://bubbles.best.vwh.net/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi and select the ss_talk list. Enter your email address in the space provided and hit Signup. When you receive an email confirmation request go to the URL it will give you. (If you're already on the list and want to get off there will be an Unsubscribe URL at the bottom of each list posting you receive.) To get on or off the BCC list email me (bubbles@well.com or bubbles@well.sf.ca.us). I currently do that one manually. -- END --