1436 lines
65 KiB
Plaintext
1436 lines
65 KiB
Plaintext
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From sokay@cyclone.mitre.org Sat May 1 01:27:14 1993
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Date: Fri, 16 Apr 93 10:49:53 EDT
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From: "Stephen J. Okay" <sokay@cyclone.mitre.org>
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To: pauls@css.itd.umich.edu
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Subject: Armadillo Culture #5
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## ##### # # ## ##### # # # ####
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# # # # ## ## # # # # # # # # #
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# # # # # ## # # # # # # # # # #
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###### ##### # # ###### # # # # # # #
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# # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
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# # # # # # # # ##### # ###### ###### ####
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#### # # # ##### # # ##### ######
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# # # # # # # # # # #
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# # # # # # # # # #####
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# # # # # # # ##### #
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# # # # # # # # # # #
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#### #### ###### # #### # # ######
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Virtual Surreality
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No. 5
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"Armadillos....those are the meanest suckers you're ever gonna wanna see...
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But you gotta kill 'em the first time, otherwise they get this revenge thing
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in their heads and they come lookin' for ya......."
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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In this issue:
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------------------------
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Editorial:
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Control Freaks ---a guest essay
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------------------------------
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Short Fiction/Humor/Prose/Poetry
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And the CURVE CD survived...
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Art vs. Therapy
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The PC Creed
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Zen Topology
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------------------------
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Music
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Simple Machines Inclined Plane
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Hoover
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Thumper
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Superchunk
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Pietasters
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Pop Licks!
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FAPS
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Fine Day
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Seaweed
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Speeding
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------------------------
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Geek Culture
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The Sitterson VR Lab @ UNC
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Pop Tarts: A user's guide
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------------------------
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.....Newsfroups:
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alt.suicide.holiday
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alt.music.hardcore
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alt.housing.nontrad
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Indie-L indie rock mailing list
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Unplastic News
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Scream Baby
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Leri-L
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SOAE
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Black Leather Times
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...and more than I have time to type in here
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------------------------
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-------------------------A brief word from your sponsor--------------------
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Well, I managed to slog through YetAnotherWinterInVirginia, mostly
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because I slept most of the time, and on the occasion or two that I
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did open my eyes, I was usually out skiing or working on this.
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Winter around here is damn,damn depressing. All it ever does is rain,
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and stay dark. Its not cold enough for the rain to turn into snow, of
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course, so it just stays wet and cold and it sucks and I hate it.
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IMHO this whole weather thing is just debugging code that God forgot to
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take out when he did the build on the planet a couple of billion years
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ago. He probably bet somebody you could affect climate by twiddling with
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axial tilt and won, but then forgot to comment out the part of things that
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perform that function and so -DWINTER got left in the makefile just like
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-DPLATYPUS and a couple other things that weren't supposed to go into
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the final release. I guess it just goes to show that even Omnipotent deities
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have project deadlines...
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So, anyways, I think I'll stop blathering here and go back planning my
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terrorist strike against the '70s preservation society and turn this over
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to the people who did stuff for me...
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--------------------------Guest Editorial----------------------------------
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Control Freaks by Debbie Martinson/Sine Nominae
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(llama@pooh.ccwf.utexas.edu)
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how do you write about control without getting stuck in a morass of
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self-reference? the act of writing, especially for me, is an exercise
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in control, of control. all these abstract thoughts float around until
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i snatch them from the air, put them in order, align them in rows on a
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screen. then they're *mine*. i own them. are all writers the same?
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people have been talking about personal angst versus universal angst
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as if the two concepts had no overlap at all, as if one were somehow
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"purer" than the other. i think looking at control issues is a way to
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reconcile the two. the debate on here seems to ignore that both are
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rooted in the same feelings of alienation and fear, of anxiety at
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living in a world beyond control, beyond comprehension. the metaphor
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of rules comes up a lot here, interestingly. as humans, in the face of
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what looks like noise, we try to find ways to *make* things make sense,
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to see a gestalt in what looks like random chaos.
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the lack of any objective reality throws us off-balance. even if an
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absolute exists, the myriad filters that stand between us and it make
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approaching it in a meaningful way impossible. we have no way to tell
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if what we think we see really exists and no real way to be sure how
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much those perceptions are distorted by the glass of individual
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belief, predilection, desire. we mutate situations until they resemble
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what we want to see and read our own meanings into the words and
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actions of those around us. but eventually we find ourselves at
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decision-points and fervently hope our data is accurate and when it
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isn't we fall down again, then get up and circle warily around
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reality; it's become an adversary and, in a strange way, a rival.
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so we live our lives as attempts to impose control and order on a
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world that won't give up any. our lives are a search for edges; we
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want boundaries and handles. if we can figure out where we stop and
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reality starts, we'll have a lever with which we can move at least our
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part of the world. finding boundaries gives us the power to expand or
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contract them at will. rules, hierarchies, governments -- all these
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artificial layers of definition give us edges we can rearrange. and as
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we play with them, we can forget about the basic wildness and chaos
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that surrounds us. most people engross themselves in the game and
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devote lifetimes to piling up counters, fiddling with obscure
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regulations, or making up good reasons why they're not succeeding.
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it's a pleasant distraction, and who's to say it's not a superior way
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of life? they get rewards pleasing to them, live with a sense of
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purpose and die with a sense of accomplishment.
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people who see beyond the surface aren't so lucky. rejecting
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conventional notions of boundaries leaves one wondering who does have
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control of reality, which leads to the problem at the core of angst:
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no evidence exists that anyone does. all the interactions of all the
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people who've ever existed have created this chemical reaction and
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we're all helpless as we watch it proceed to equilibrium. and people
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keep throwing new things into the mix and trying to change the lab
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conditions, but it's just inexorably going onward and no one knows if
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we'll have a miracle potion or a high explosive when it's done. but
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it's not the uncertainty that tears at our souls, it's the drifting
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helplessness and the realization that all we can do is wait.
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so the reconciliation between personal and universal angst. the
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personal is merely a reflection of the global. the situation-specific
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fear and pain and anxiety expressed here so often are merely
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reports of individual battles in a larger war.
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--
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sine | deb
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or we're all just insane.
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-------------------Short Fiction/Humor/Prose-------------------------------
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------------------------And the Curve CD survived-------------------------------
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Alpha
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I listened to the new cd "DOPPELGANGER" by Curve. Softly at first,
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and then increasingly louder until the air volume in my car was
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vibrating with the same frequency as my quantized heart beat.
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I pulled off the road and drove into an all night convenience store.
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As I backed my ruined car out of the glass and spilled milk, I yelled at
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the clerk through my broken window, "Give me a pack of filterless Gaulois
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you swine!"
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Back on the road, with Curve blasting through my increasingly inadequate
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speakers, I realized that highway signs, lane dividers, and speed limits
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were a source of slavery and oppresion. For the first time in my life I was
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driving as a free man.
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I was pulled over by a cop, a pig, a fuzzball, daddy-g, johnny law, a
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g-man, a narc, a fed, an enforcer. I refused to turn down the music. He
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attempted to wrest my key from the ignition but it was bent and wouldn't
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come out. I bit him on the arm, drawing blood, and I started screaming
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at him in a generalized european accent, "Revel in your maskenfreiheit
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you overstuffed blood sausage, you wannabe brown shirt, you
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nomenklatura, you swine, you vampire, you loch ness slimeball, you KGB
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reject, you death monger, you badge toting murderous crook!"
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He left quickly and I resumed my sonic voyage.
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I decided to race to the airport and buy a one way ticket to Berlin. I
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suddenly felt compelled to find the connection between beauty and dogma
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by running naked on a winter's night along KarlMarxStrasse singing arias
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from Wagner. My spirtual quest would be answered in a strip joint near
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the Brandenburg gate that was frequented by former nuns and Stasi
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informers.
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Curve was blasting an aural mine shaft through my head.
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The next few songs are a blur. I woke up in a cold sweat.
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I had been dreaming that my mother, who I've always hated for having
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been sedated at my birth, was dancing with Josef Stalin at a reception for
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Idi Amin. She was radient as I'd never seen her. My father, who I've
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always hated for having been responsible for my birth, was doing vodka
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slammers with Yuri Andropov's haberdasher. My younger sister, who I've
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always hated for having been absent at my birth, was singing "Lili Marlene"
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with a Eric Hoeneker's honor guard, while my brother, who I've always
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hated for his indifference to my birth, was strangely absent.
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I was in my garage. The cd player was silent and the air was foul. the
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gas guage was on empty and my left turn signal was clicking
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senselessly.I stumbled choking, spitting, cursing, and crying out into
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the night, tripping over an opposum who had fallen asleep in the carbon
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monoxide warmth by the door.
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I stared up into the cosmos and became full of self loathing when I realized
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that I was matter when the majority of the universe was nothingness. I
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became convinced that the edge of the void was wall-to-wall carpeted with
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the constant volume sonic barrage of Curve.
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I was out of filterless Gaulois. I was ashamed of my whiteness.
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I ran into my bathroom hoping to splash some cold water onto my face in a
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desperate attempt to recover my former simple life when I looked into the
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mirror and realized that I had no face. All I could see was the pure vapor
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of my own angst and mal-du-siecle.
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At that moment I realized that I had to either join the foreign legion and
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kill other people, or face the ultimate truth and kill myself. Instead, I
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decided to shave off my eyebrows and dress in black for the rest of my
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life. I jammed the disposable plastic handle of my razor into the electric
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socket and started a chain of events that left my home in ash and cinders.
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Fortunately, the Curve cd survived.
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---------------------------The PC Creed-----------------------------------------
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The Hejirah Society
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The New Age Apostle's Creed of the year 10 (New Era)
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1. I recognize two categories of people: A) Oppressors: all white, male
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heterosexuals who are able-bodied and of sound mind, with some partial,
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concessionary exceptions for white, able-bodied, sound-minded, male
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heterosexuals of Marxist leanings; and B) Victims: all those, human or
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otherwise, who do not fit into category A, with the exclusion of unborn
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potential human victims.
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2. If am of category B, in order to promote a diverse and pluralistic society,
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I will devote my life to expressing my indignation at being a victim and to
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pressuring those of category A to confess their guilt.
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If I am of category A, I will confess my guilt, grovel on the ground and be
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constantly sensitive to those of category B, all of whom I have oppressed.
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3. I will use inclusive language at all times, and I shall moan and express my
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indignation at all the linguistic noninclusiveness and insensitivity that I
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hear or read without regard of the age or culture in which a text has been
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written.
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4. I will be careful not to use any insensitive, ethnocentric or phallocentric
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imagery or metaphors in my language that may offend the sensitivities of any
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member of category B, such as the use of the generic 'he, black and white
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imagery, male, patriarchal metaphors, female metaphors that are not suitable
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for New Age ideals, or the use of ethnic terms such as 'American Indian',
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'black', etc., which have been expired for more than 24 hours.
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5. While maintaining the sensitivity and inclusiveness, which are described in
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points three and four, I will construct my language, arguments and thoughts
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entirely with euphemisms, buzzwords, cliches, emotive interjections, and
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ejaculations of discontent that adhere to the thought guidelines of the
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consensus of category B.
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6. If I am a member of category B, I will not do or say anything that might
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brand me a sexist, racist, homophobe, ablist or a category A sympathizer (i.e.
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anything that two or more members of the consensus of category B deem as
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thought crimes).
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If I am a member of category A, I will confess my sexism, racism and
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homophobia and do penitence for these sins until I die or change my sexual
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orientation.
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7. If I should involuntarily think any thoughts that the consensus of category
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B have not approved, I will not express them and I will look forward to the day
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when the consensus acquires the technological ability to rescue me from the
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evil thoughts that I am too weak to control.
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8. I will be completely critical of the entire history of Western civilization
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and all Judeo-Christian values, morals, and traditions, and replace them with
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________________ (fill in anything that is a deviation from Old Era values that
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fits the guidelines of this creed).
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9. I will persecute, censor and shun any member of category A who fails to
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comply with the benevolent dictates of this creed, if evidence - i.e. any
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accusation by a member of category B - is presented against him, or any member
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of category B who conspires with a member of category A in any manner that may
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be perceived as insensitive, sexist, racist, ablist or homophobic.
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10. I will submit all my thoughts, words and deeds to the scrutiny of the
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consensus of category B, without questioning or qualification, and accept any
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reprimands that I may warrant in the event that the consensus should find me
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guilty of any infraction of the forgoing points of this creed - real or
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imagined - of which I cannot prove my innocence.
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SO HELP ME DEITY OF UNSPECIFIED GENDER THAT IS PROBABLY A FEMALE
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--------------------------------Zen Topology-----------------------------------
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bena@dec21.cs.monash.edu.au
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There have been multiple discussions as to the nature of the teapot!
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It was stated that a teapot is the topoligical equivalent of a
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donut with a handle (or two donuts kind mashed together).
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Much debate ensued. Finally it was agreed that, truly, a teapot is the
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topological equivalent of a donut with a handle EXCEPT!!!
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There was doubt!
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There was uncertainty!
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For, it was stated, some teapots have a little mesh on the inside of the
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spout to catch the tealeaves!
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Further, there have been indefinable mutterings about suits.
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We are Bemused!
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And, it has been suggested, confused!
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the teapot with a nice blue floral pattern. What should we do? The
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very existence of the teapot and the basis of the universe has been
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called into question!
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Lin Dar Pen spoke to Con Wei: "Master does the teapot have a buddha nature?"
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Con Wei turned and pointed to the mountain, replying, "Devi-sen met the
|
||
|
|
seventy-seven sages on the road to Vo Li-Bal and challenged them to debate the
|
||
|
|
teachings of Gautama with him. They argued for eight days and eight nights
|
||
|
|
without cease. Finally the least of the sages, Ro-Dee, took a whip and beat
|
||
|
|
Devi-sen, crying "You're a teapot! You're a teapot!"
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
An passing priest took the the wounded Devi-sen to an inn and tended his
|
||
|
|
wounds. The next morning Devi-sen went to wash in a nearby pool. As he gazed
|
||
|
|
into the still waters, he noticed that his bruises had taken the appearance of
|
||
|
|
a garland of flowers. At this he was enlightened."
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
"But, master," persisted the puzzled Lin Dar Pen, "what does this tell us about
|
||
|
|
the nature of a teapot?"
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
"Consider the taunts of Ro-Dee." replied the teacher enigmatically, "Devi-sen
|
||
|
|
had a nice blue floral pattern, but he had no mesh! Yet was he not still a
|
||
|
|
teapot?"
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
...............................................................................
|
||
|
|
This post comes without warantee, either implict or explict.
|
||
|
|
...............................................................................
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
------------------------Re:Art vs. Therapy-------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
Debbie Martinson|Sine Nomine
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
oh baby look i'm so hip listening to bands no one's ever heard of on
|
||
|
|
my digital walkman and the book in my hand is sufficiently obscure so
|
||
|
|
why do you even bother, you're doomed to fail, i'm too hip for you.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
it's only 4.10 and i can't believe it's not later but that's okay
|
||
|
|
because there are things here, things around and the music pounds into
|
||
|
|
my brain, being part of me and i crawl inside it and the rhythms rock
|
||
|
|
me to sleep and i'm safe, for a while anyway.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
i'm walking down the street and it occurs to me that every man i pass
|
||
|
|
has a cock and i wonder what they all look like hard, velvet over
|
||
|
|
steel, wonder what it would feel like to writhe above, grind into,
|
||
|
|
slide down, and what if they knew what i was thinking?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
everything is processed, i feed the cheese, blended words, making them
|
||
|
|
shredded and safe for consumption. liquefied prose, babyfood-bland.
|
||
|
|
safety-check my buffer, make sure nothing offends, nothing too
|
||
|
|
strange, nothing to let them see, make them wonder.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
giant shadow cast by tiny woman hiding behind a tree.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
i brush these words on paper in acid. eat my story, hold it under your
|
||
|
|
tongue, wait for it to hit, everything will become very clear, edges
|
||
|
|
all around before they all fall away. then you'll know and understand.
|
||
|
|
eat my story, eat my life, consume my soul as you peer into myworld,
|
||
|
|
make judgments, then saunter away smugly, not knowing that you're
|
||
|
|
carrying seeds now, thought eggs, that i'm inside your skull like a
|
||
|
|
snake, tracing paths as neurons spark around. soft gray mush that
|
||
|
|
decides who you are feeds me, processed brain, processed soul, but
|
||
|
|
inescapably mine for at least now. you cannibalize me but i'm using you
|
||
|
|
to reproduce. i win.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
and halftime comes, we rush the field, carry off the drum major on our
|
||
|
|
shoulders only to dump him in a puddle, squish. their skirts are
|
||
|
|
short, bare blue legs in gray november wind by choice. the smell of
|
||
|
|
wet leathermudsweatbloodpopcornbeer. we drink them, eat them, satiate
|
||
|
|
your lust, have another coughdrop.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
----------------------------Geek Culture----------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
-------------------------UNC Sitterson VR Lab--------------------------------
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Guanine oozed out from the can in his hand, splurting and wobbling in
|
||
|
|
a vaguely straight line(well, straight in at least two dimensions) for
|
||
|
|
the opposite rail, where it finally connected. Then the same with
|
||
|
|
adenosine, C? , another adenosine, another, and....shit what was
|
||
|
|
supposed to go at this turn?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
He looked around in the cube, and turned off to the left and walked
|
||
|
|
over to the list that was hanging there in the air and began to go
|
||
|
|
down it. Sequence 1316286179301-A5E4, base pair 17:".....GGTAGCA, no
|
||
|
|
that wasn't it. He looked up and saw the immense helix spread above
|
||
|
|
him, twisty,knotty, foamy features, rickety, pretzel stick-like rungs
|
||
|
|
joining the ladder in their simple multi-colored repetitions. Far
|
||
|
|
above, the helix itself twisted and coiled over and through itself in
|
||
|
|
up to infinity.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
ACACAAGAGCT....ACAAAAGAGCT, there it was, right above him, hidden in
|
||
|
|
the last spiral, an extra cytosine that had thrown off his sequence,
|
||
|
|
putting him 4 base pair off track.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
He reached blindly off to the side and pulled. The tool menu landed in
|
||
|
|
front of him, a small twist so it was facing him straight on instead
|
||
|
|
of nearly edge-on, a positional artifact from his last bit of work.
|
||
|
|
Grabbed the select, grabbed the plane and hopped on.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
He kicked the plane upwards and hit the fire button on the control
|
||
|
|
stick, the menu bar existed in his axis system, so didn't speed
|
||
|
|
away as the rest of the world did -- so it stayed at his elbow within
|
||
|
|
easy reach when he needed it, following him up and he climbed towards
|
||
|
|
his error. He raced through the helix, kicked up harder on the plane
|
||
|
|
so he was almost ballistic now, the helix
|
||
|
|
turning into this long coily rainbow tunnel that was racing up to him
|
||
|
|
ahead, falling and gyrating away below. He zipped past the exact
|
||
|
|
point, kicked the plane down and to the right little bit, and then
|
||
|
|
kicked up and back to the left almost immediately again, riding it
|
||
|
|
like some airborne skateboard. The plane traveled at a constant fast
|
||
|
|
acceleration, which made it great for getting across entire sequences,
|
||
|
|
but was way too fast for base-pair travel. He settled for ending up
|
||
|
|
right next to the guanine at the start of the sequence and figured
|
||
|
|
he'd walk the rest of the way. 'Nother blind grab brought the
|
||
|
|
ever-attendant menu around to the front, pulled the selector, dropped
|
||
|
|
the plane,and touched the offending rung. It gridded obediently, and
|
||
|
|
he went back to the menu, grabbed the scissors and
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
*Click*, blackout,
|
||
|
|
"Damn..."
|
||
|
|
"hey Cyn, do you think you could reset it for me?" I begged, popping
|
||
|
|
up the HMD, dropping back into the real world for a minute, startled
|
||
|
|
by how bright things were even in the low track lighting of the
|
||
|
|
Sitterson VR lab at UNC, Chapel Hill. This was the first time I'd
|
||
|
|
spent more than just a few minutes with a headmount on, save for a few
|
||
|
|
brief furtive $$ blown on Virtuality a few months back when my wallet
|
||
|
|
finally talked some sense into my head, so jacking out, as it were,
|
||
|
|
was a bit of a shock.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
After an hour, the preset timer the headtracker was hooked to expired
|
||
|
|
and shut off the output to the twin monitors embedded in the helmet,
|
||
|
|
leaving me in the dark. So, I pulled the visor that had the screens in
|
||
|
|
them up, and was confronted with reality again.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Damn!..a total change in perspective, environment and object location.
|
||
|
|
Your eye instantly starts sending you back spatial data, but your
|
||
|
|
brain is still inside whats being projected off to the side on the
|
||
|
|
huge 24+" monitor, still using the sockets of the world it just
|
||
|
|
exited, not yet ready to handle the whole new series of file
|
||
|
|
descriptors its being handed. It catches up fully in about 10-20
|
||
|
|
seconds, but there's some lag between when your eyes start feeding you
|
||
|
|
a new datastream and your brain decides to deal with it....
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
So there I was, staring at the huge DNA helix I'd spent the afternoon
|
||
|
|
creating with the Pixel Planes 3D paint package. Think of a color
|
||
|
|
MacPaint with your usual tools, but applied to VR and everything
|
||
|
|
translated into 3D. Stuff the software inside one of the most
|
||
|
|
screamingist, bitchin' massively parallel processors I've ever seen
|
||
|
|
and you've got it. Instead of a spray paint tool that spits out
|
||
|
|
little dots on the screen, this one burbles out chunky spheroids that
|
||
|
|
bubble out from the can icon like shaving cream out of a can. When
|
||
|
|
you go to draw a polygon, make sure you do the back side first, 'cause
|
||
|
|
otherwise you'll block your viewpoint for the other 6 sides you have
|
||
|
|
to do. And if you do, you can always turn the world around. Just reach
|
||
|
|
off to the side and grab the menu bar that always follows you and grab
|
||
|
|
the world icon, a 3D icon of an arrow curved downward and give it a twist
|
||
|
|
'till things line up with your point of view. The whole virtual space rotates
|
||
|
|
around your control, using the stick in your hand as the gimbal to rotate
|
||
|
|
around.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
I came down here at the invite of Cynthia Pettit, a really cool geek
|
||
|
|
friend I met on alt.geek only a month before my visit. We started
|
||
|
|
talking on the net and pretty soon she's gushing about the lab and
|
||
|
|
constantly nudging me "You've gotta come down here!!!, You'll be
|
||
|
|
totally hooked!, it's just so cool".
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
So I split work early one Friday and took the 5 hr jaunt from DC down
|
||
|
|
to Chapel Hill, NC to check out the place. She was right. I was, I
|
||
|
|
am. If they'd been recruiting for for some geek army, I'd have
|
||
|
|
enlisted on the spot...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
So I got down there and she buzzes me in and I sit there waiting, and
|
||
|
|
she comes down the hallway,tie-dyed shirt, black skirt, black hat
|
||
|
|
set rakishly back against her head. We share greets and typical
|
||
|
|
net.friend stuff that you do when you first meet somebody in the
|
||
|
|
flesh and we head straight off to the lab.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
We get there and she goes right away to the Pixel Planes system. and
|
||
|
|
tries to set up the headmount w/Polhemus Tracker. Its not responding,
|
||
|
|
so she gives up and goes over to set up another demo, a linked,
|
||
|
|
effective Madelbrot/Julia Set demo, all the while chatting amiably
|
||
|
|
about her work, school, the lab, generic geekisms, clearly a woman who
|
||
|
|
loves her work. And how couldn't you?---God, the Pixel Planes machine
|
||
|
|
was totally awesome!
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The Mandelbrot set appears on the screen and Cyn slides at the top
|
||
|
|
of a two handled joystick -- one handle for Mandelbrot zoom,
|
||
|
|
one for Julia set. The Mandelbrot set shrinks to rest about a fifth
|
||
|
|
of it's size in the corner of the screen to reveal the Julia set below it.
|
||
|
|
She steers one of the joysticks around on the Mandelbrot set, explaining
|
||
|
|
that for every point on the Mandelbrot set there's a corresponding Julia
|
||
|
|
set -- and as she steers across the Mandelbrot set, sure enough,
|
||
|
|
the Julia set, deforms and blobs into another shape. She races on at
|
||
|
|
a dizzying pace, talking calmly. I'm standing there waiting for
|
||
|
|
it to start showing update lag, and its not. We've gone through 64
|
||
|
|
iterations, and its still an almost instaneous update, even
|
||
|
|
though the 'brots and the Julia set are being recomputed for every new
|
||
|
|
magnification. 128 iterations, 256, 512,1024, and still not a blink.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
"Can you just keep zooming continuously?" I ask, figuring this
|
||
|
|
would get her. "Sure", she replies, touches a button and we're
|
||
|
|
falling, falling at the rate of GodKnowsHowManyIterations per second
|
||
|
|
through the WHOLE Mandelbrot set, until finally after about a minute I
|
||
|
|
am just totally cracking up in disbelief and the Julia set window is
|
||
|
|
updating too and she's just about ready to burst from the expression
|
||
|
|
on my face..And its all just so cool. I could live here, really. I
|
||
|
|
notice there's some space over in a back corner that looks like it
|
||
|
|
could hold a sleeping bag and later on discover showers down the hall
|
||
|
|
and I'm set to just squat here with what few meager belongings I
|
||
|
|
brought with me... And she knows it and just laughs, 'cause its what
|
||
|
|
she said would happen and what she wanted to happen, mission
|
||
|
|
accomplished, another mind brought into the geek sphere of influence.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The lab itself is one of those weird places thats stuck somewhere in
|
||
|
|
between a real computer lab--- wires, cables, machines,
|
||
|
|
experimental board level stuff all over the place--- and a really
|
||
|
|
slick, green-marble edged conference room.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Most graphics labs are like this, an accomodation between the need to get
|
||
|
|
work done and to make the place look slick for the execudroids and university
|
||
|
|
brass that probably poured a couple meg into the place.
|
||
|
|
There's the low-intensity track lighting and the stereo system, and then
|
||
|
|
there 's the pair of biker's cutoffs with the RJ-11s and microswitches
|
||
|
|
sewn into the palms, a kind of DIY dataglove. I try it on and find that
|
||
|
|
it would work quite well. Its a hack, but its a comfortable hack.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Next to this is a fishtank and a couple Mac Quadras on a long table,
|
||
|
|
which goes about 10 ft over to another fish tank, except this one
|
||
|
|
isn't occupied by fish, but by a submerged doll and various other
|
||
|
|
items. A thing that looks like a hand-scanner hangs in a mouse holster
|
||
|
|
off to the side of the tank. Its a sonogram imager...And next to this
|
||
|
|
is the Pixel planes display and the timer and the HMD grid, probably
|
||
|
|
about 5x5, maybe a little bigger, masking tape marking off the area
|
||
|
|
controlled by the Polhemus tracker mounted on the HMD....
|
||
|
|
Space is not wasted here, there are as many experiments as there are
|
||
|
|
boxes crammed into a roughly 30x30 room, with several areas cordoned
|
||
|
|
off for maneuvering room for HMD or manipulator experiments, so things
|
||
|
|
appear to be a little tight, but work out to be not too bad after all
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
[Ed. note, Cyn wrote me recently and said that they're converting a
|
||
|
|
whole ROOM to be HMD space instead of just the little floor square
|
||
|
|
they had when I was there..]
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
So after a while we're both checking our mail, and I talk her and managed
|
||
|
|
between then and a couple weeks ago to snag the following interview:
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Armadillo Culture:Why graphics?
|
||
|
|
Cynthia Pettit:-Well, I've been an artist most of my life -- drawing in class,
|
||
|
|
as usual...
|
||
|
|
I took to computers when I was around 13 and the graphics just seemed
|
||
|
|
to be the thing for me.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:yeah....I did that kind of stuff a lot too. Got into major trouble
|
||
|
|
in a lot of my classes....
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP: ;) CP:Also, when I worked for this little graphics firm in
|
||
|
|
Greenville SC, I did a lot of graphics programming, and really loved
|
||
|
|
it! I like the hard, low-level stuff, and also the graphics, and
|
||
|
|
making pictures. It's the same as drawing -- trying to translate
|
||
|
|
what you see into something else.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:Cool!...so are ...Programming, like on what kind of machines?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:We programmed on IBMs [286 & 386's) both with "Targa" boards, a
|
||
|
|
very large 16 bit graphics board. Nice stuff! It had 16 bits per
|
||
|
|
pixel -- not color mapped! It was loads of fun! :) [we just got a
|
||
|
|
color scanner for the glab -- and I can't *wait* to scan some cool
|
||
|
|
stuff in!!!]
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:Yeah, I know those; I worked with them when I was at Mason. (GMU).
|
||
|
|
A bunch of us in the lab brought in model planes and used GIF
|
||
|
|
backdrops to make digitized dogfight pictures and stuff..it was pretty
|
||
|
|
cool.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:So, are you there for the graphics, as in like algorithms or
|
||
|
|
the VR or because its all just so cool and neat to play around with?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:Welllllll, actually, I'm sorta just *here* you know? I was lucky
|
||
|
|
that this school was such a hot-spot for graphics... Otherwise, I
|
||
|
|
might as well just have gone somewhere else. I'm not much into
|
||
|
|
school. Kinda a bum... :) I had no idea what I was getting myself
|
||
|
|
into when I came back to UNC... [My mom was the one who originally
|
||
|
|
filled out my admissions form... I wasn't into school at all when I
|
||
|
|
graduated... as you know -- I took 5 years off!] :)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:Yeah...I can deal with that...I was extremely burned out when I
|
||
|
|
graduated I'm not even sure I want to go back now, but its either that
|
||
|
|
or up the corproat e ladder, which I'm DEFINITELY not into, so.......
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:Yeah, after programmer, then what?! MANAGER?? I think not...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:you just kind of fell into it then?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:yeah. Total luck! :)
|
||
|
|
And it really is, because I doubt I'd've gotten to be at a place where
|
||
|
|
I could work on research and have a login and play with the graduate
|
||
|
|
stuff and take graduate classes and make friends with faculty and
|
||
|
|
generally have a great environment for someone who is an undergrad
|
||
|
|
*and* who's a woman too boot. The people here are unequalled of all
|
||
|
|
people I know... *sigh*
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:You said you work there..Is it work, I mean really work? It seems
|
||
|
|
to me that there is just so much cool stuff and so many neat toys,
|
||
|
|
that even if its something you HAVE to get done or its a REQUIREMENT,
|
||
|
|
it'd be hard to call work...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP: :) I would agree with that! Though there's *so* much stuff I want
|
||
|
|
to do that stopping something, anything, is a hard thing to do... As
|
||
|
|
the old saying goes, there's just not enough hours in the day... :)
|
||
|
|
Remember, I'm learning about X and UNIX and all sorts of other cool
|
||
|
|
stuff besides the Pixel Planes stuff! I have yet to learn "P-PHIGS",
|
||
|
|
the Pixel Planes graphics library...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:Lets talk about the Pixel Planes machine for a minute if you don't
|
||
|
|
mind, 'cause I had a hard time desc.'ing it 'cause its so custom. What
|
||
|
|
kind of hardware is it ? Speed, OS?--the usual geek measurements?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:Pixel Planes was designed here at UNC. No other machines exist in
|
||
|
|
the world like it. The basic idea of how it runs is semi-parallel --
|
||
|
|
it has two main parts in a pipeline. The Graphics renderers are
|
||
|
|
responsible for doing the matrix algebra -- the translations of the
|
||
|
|
points to the "world coords". Since eveything is described by
|
||
|
|
polygons, or more specifically triangles, this is easier than
|
||
|
|
transferring a mess of points, or voxels. Next is the renderers.
|
||
|
|
They basically trasfer the points to a flat screen, check them against
|
||
|
|
a Z-buffer [to see who's in front] and color the pixels in the frame
|
||
|
|
buffer. Pixel Planes, the way it's built, has a hard time doing
|
||
|
|
bitmaps, but can do procedural textures extremely fast... so we would
|
||
|
|
have a hard time putting up a photograph, but we can tile an enitre
|
||
|
|
room with Julia sets or woodgrain... The front end to the system is a
|
||
|
|
Sun [don't remember what kind]. It holds the display list -- and
|
||
|
|
becasue Pixel Planes is so fast, deleting things and adding things to
|
||
|
|
the display list is slow... [Note: in 3DM, the 3D paint program, Drew
|
||
|
|
Davidson, one of the writers of the program told me, that any polygons
|
||
|
|
"removed" from 3DM, are really shrunk down small and moved to about 10
|
||
|
|
km away! He said if you "fly" for those 10 km in the right direction
|
||
|
|
you'd find a big pool of "dead" polygons! <giggle> *** [(I forgot to
|
||
|
|
say this...) This was easier than removing them!]
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:Heheheh!!!....sounds like a real programmers approach to things :)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP: Programming on Pixel Planes is still quite low-level. You kinda
|
||
|
|
need to know what's going on -- but as I said, there is a library
|
||
|
|
built for it so it's not *so* hard.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:So, its really not a very user-friendly system? Its not a true
|
||
|
|
user system in the normal sense of the word but a large rendering and
|
||
|
|
reality engine?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:(garbled)
|
||
|
|
AC:I guess what I meant to say ask was, could it be considered a solitary,
|
||
|
|
can-stand-on-its-own-feet-and-be-logged-into type machine, or is it a very
|
||
|
|
specialized algorithmic engine?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
.Oh, no, not at all. it's just a device -- you would log into hugin
|
||
|
|
or jason, our two suns, if you want to run anything on it.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:Okay.....thats what I was getting at...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:So, is there a VR program at UNC? Can you get a degree in visualization or
|
||
|
|
is it all attached to the CS deptr and its a CS degree?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:It's all attached to the CS department -- we do lots of other things here
|
||
|
|
besides VR! There's a strong Neural Nets groups here, and of course the
|
||
|
|
hardware guys who design Pixel Planes, plus the Medical Imagery people
|
||
|
|
the vision people [who are studying the human eye and finding ways to correct
|
||
|
|
vision and have computers calculate laser surgery...] etc... This department
|
||
|
|
is quite big. Stefan said once over a hundred people more or less... [and
|
||
|
|
he's on the HMD group, finding better head mounted displays...]
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC: Lets get a little more philosphical:
|
||
|
|
What do you consider yourself more of?
|
||
|
|
Citizen of the US
|
||
|
|
Citizen of the world
|
||
|
|
Citizen of the net
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:Hmmm... that's an interesting question. I would say I feel most like
|
||
|
|
a citizen of the world. Next a citizen of the Net. Only last do I
|
||
|
|
feel a citizen of the US. So much bad stuff is going on in this
|
||
|
|
country, it's over-load. It's like you're mom saying "Clean up your
|
||
|
|
room by this evening because we have people coming over..." and
|
||
|
|
there's NO WAY to get it done -- it's so far gone there's no place to
|
||
|
|
start... So I lock my room door and log in...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC: In "Ender's Game", there was a global net which was woven into the
|
||
|
|
story's society as a public forum and method of gov't by the people
|
||
|
|
as well as just a communications medium, how much of that do you see the net becoming?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:I had a hard time after reading that book to not looking for a public
|
||
|
|
"desk" to log in on... and I really want to "answer the table" when
|
||
|
|
someone rings... :) [PS, they had public terminals at SIGgraph! It
|
||
|
|
was WONDERFUL!!]
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC: One thing Clinton says he really wants to do is put in place the
|
||
|
|
equipment and technology to make such a thing possible, i.e., hve
|
||
|
|
net access as available to the common person as a phone is now.
|
||
|
|
Do you think this would help or hurt the net?
|
||
|
|
As in, should such a thing come to pass, do you think that it would
|
||
|
|
do more as a way of linking everybody on the planet together, or would
|
||
|
|
it simply be another thing that the gov't is regulating and controlling.
|
||
|
|
Will it open communication or hinder it?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:This is something I've been thinking about for a while now and I still
|
||
|
|
have no ultimate answer for that one...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
I want the world to be connected. I think it will be easier to have
|
||
|
|
peace when it will be this easy to make friends from all over the world
|
||
|
|
-- and we'll have *nothing* to tell races, nationalities, and
|
||
|
|
sometimes even sex to prejudge a person for. We will be clean and
|
||
|
|
human again...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
On the other hand, the people on the Net have an ethic about them
|
||
|
|
[contrary to popular belief... :) ] You wouldn't see harsh words in,
|
||
|
|
say, alt.bonsai, and except for flames, people seem to be quite
|
||
|
|
harmless. I feel comfortable putting my address in my .plan file...
|
||
|
|
What will happen when the "rest of the world" gets in? Will that
|
||
|
|
ethic fall down? The smaller the community, the more an individual is
|
||
|
|
an individual. If this thing gets big, what will happen? We'll lose
|
||
|
|
our individuality...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Closer yet farther apart...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Who's to say what will happen? We're just going to have to find out
|
||
|
|
because it's coming... I guess my ultimate feeling is I *want* it to
|
||
|
|
happen, it *will* happen even if I didn't want it, and it won't be the
|
||
|
|
same when it does...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:I guess I'm trying to come up with a sense of how much you or
|
||
|
|
others there have integrated the net into your lives...Is it a tool?
|
||
|
|
Is it just a toy, or is it a whole different life/lifestyle?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
I definitely think the Net is a world in itself -- it's more than
|
||
|
|
phones, it's more than TV it's more than newspapers... It's a way to
|
||
|
|
socialize, which shapes your environment.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The world will change drastically when the Net comes on line for all.
|
||
|
|
I await that day with anxious anticipation! :)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC: So what else is going on in the lab, aside from Pixel Planes and
|
||
|
|
VR and stuff?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Quite a number of projects are going on in this department, but I can
|
||
|
|
hardly keep up with the VR stuff! Like Neural Nets, hyper text and so
|
||
|
|
many other things... I wish I could tell you more, but I hang out
|
||
|
|
with the graphics types...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
4. Could you give me a little more info on the ARM...that was the one
|
||
|
|
thing I didn't get to play around with down there...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The ARM is the "other half" to the Argon Remote Manipulator system
|
||
|
|
that was used in a hazardous radioactive environment. The first half
|
||
|
|
is buried in the desert somewhere out west... It is a force feedback
|
||
|
|
ARM, which means it can "press back" so you feel forces as if
|
||
|
|
something were there. It's used right now for the molecule docking
|
||
|
|
project to simulate molecule bonds, and also with the scanning
|
||
|
|
tunneling microscope to keep the tip away from the surface.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:people have been making an awfully big deal about VR and graphics
|
||
|
|
and how virtual sex and all that crap is just around the corner...How
|
||
|
|
much of that is Mondo hyping itself and how much of it is really going
|
||
|
|
to happen, in say, 5 years. And how much of it is really going to be
|
||
|
|
helpful and or useful stuff and how much of it is going to let the
|
||
|
|
entertainment line their pockets even more?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:For one thing, the whole VR-sex thing is total hype. We're so far
|
||
|
|
from having a total environment immersion, that I can't see "Virtual
|
||
|
|
sex" in our lifetimes...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
At the same time, the entertainment industry got us a lot of the
|
||
|
|
computer industry. People pay a lot for entertainment. Already
|
||
|
|
there's a VR game that has come to some of the bars down here and if
|
||
|
|
anything is going to be the driving force to getting VR in our homes,
|
||
|
|
it will be the entertainment industry. Notice that "PowerGloves" came
|
||
|
|
out before video phones...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Video came out strictly for entertainment, but now it serves many
|
||
|
|
useful purposes -- like filming drunk drivers, saving a medical scan,
|
||
|
|
making peace negotiations across the world... But video or computers
|
||
|
|
would not have been pushed so hard if it hadn't been for their
|
||
|
|
entertainment value.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
So I think it will be the entertainment industry that will get VR into
|
||
|
|
homes [and yes, I think they will be in the home one day -- at the
|
||
|
|
vary least the office place.]
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
One thing that seems pretty apparent is that total immersion is way
|
||
|
|
beyond our capabilities at this point, since force feedback is a very
|
||
|
|
difficult problem. Perhaps we'll hook directly up to our nerves so we
|
||
|
|
"think" we're feeling something, but for now the skin is a big surface
|
||
|
|
to try to control.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC: These all probably seem kind of strange, just picking a student
|
||
|
|
such as yourself out, but I figured that somebody in the labs would
|
||
|
|
know a lot more about whats going on that the so-called "experts" that
|
||
|
|
seem to pop up on this subject. Like if you ask me how long it will be
|
||
|
|
before you can just telnet somewhere from your seat on a plane, I'd
|
||
|
|
say probably about another 7-10 years.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Definitely. Most of us scoff at a lot of the hype around VR. There
|
||
|
|
are still a lot of difficult problems with VR -- like display devices.
|
||
|
|
If you put your eyeball two or three inches from the screen -- even a
|
||
|
|
hi-res screen, you can *see* the pixels. One system I've heard of
|
||
|
|
uses fiber optics -- one fiber per pixel -- and this system is
|
||
|
|
$million per *foot* of cable... Getting high enough resolution for 2"
|
||
|
|
away from your eye is a hard problem.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC: Now for a geek question:Can you ever have too many toys? :)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
:) I feel lucky that computer programming is a well paying field! :)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
AC:I guess I'm trying to come up with a sense of how much
|
||
|
|
you or others there have integrated the net into your lives...Is it a tool?
|
||
|
|
Is it just a toy, or is it a whole different life/lifestyle?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
CP:I definitely think the Net is a world in itself -- it's more than
|
||
|
|
phones, it's more than TV it's more than newspapers... It's a way to
|
||
|
|
socialize, which shapes your environment.
|
||
|
|
The world will change drastically when the Net comes on line for all.
|
||
|
|
I await that day with anxious anticipation! :)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
-----------------------Pop Tarts:A user's guide--------------------------------
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
After months of extensive study and intense research by member faculty
|
||
|
|
around the country, we, the Center for Advanced Breakfast Technology
|
||
|
|
Research are proud to present:
|
||
|
|
The Pop Tart Reference
|
||
|
|
Compiled by yours truly and the staff of the CABTR, we have downed more than
|
||
|
|
our share of the little slabs to come up with a guide to Pop Tart consumption.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Flavor Raw Taste Cooked Taste Comments:
|
||
|
|
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Good Excellent An armadillo favorite
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Blueberry Okay Good The new sprinkles
|
||
|
|
on top are a nice
|
||
|
|
added feature, but
|
||
|
|
non-veterans tend
|
||
|
|
to confuse them
|
||
|
|
with the strawberry
|
||
|
|
ones, which were the
|
||
|
|
only ones with sprinkles
|
||
|
|
on them until now.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Strawberry okay Good The classic!
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Raspberry ehhhh okay taste can be
|
||
|
|
confused with
|
||
|
|
cherry..somebody
|
||
|
|
needs to do some
|
||
|
|
work here.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Cherry poor okay no real distinct
|
||
|
|
flavor, boring.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Dutch Apple yuck! bleah Have they discontinued
|
||
|
|
this one?--they should
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
S'mores poor okay-to-good Weird..marshmallows
|
||
|
|
in PopTarts is a
|
||
|
|
concept I'm still
|
||
|
|
trying to deal with.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Apple-Cinnamon Good Excellent Cool!, a green-apple
|
||
|
|
like taste and a
|
||
|
|
cinnamon topping
|
||
|
|
makes for a great
|
||
|
|
2nd stab at the
|
||
|
|
Apple flavor....
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Chocolate/Chocolate okay okay Zoom!...major sugar
|
||
|
|
rush
|
||
|
|
Cooking methods:
|
||
|
|
When employed, varied from the traditional toaster, to microwave, to leaving
|
||
|
|
on top of a Metheus disk unit's ventilation slats for a few minutes to open
|
||
|
|
fire cooking.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Toaster:
|
||
|
|
Pros:
|
||
|
|
The traditional heating implement. Provides good overall cooking in and out
|
||
|
|
of the unit via convection. Parallel capacities of most toasters allows for
|
||
|
|
quick prep of several at a time.
|
||
|
|
Cons:
|
||
|
|
Analog, mechanical nature of the beast leads to wide variances among units
|
||
|
|
as to what light/vs. dark means and can require multiple iterations of the
|
||
|
|
the toast() process.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Microwave:
|
||
|
|
Pros:
|
||
|
|
Heats them a lot quicker than other methods. Unlike most microwaved foods,
|
||
|
|
they tend to be heated evenly throughout. Nice, soft texture when wrapped
|
||
|
|
in paper/cloth napkins. Favored method of experienced users.
|
||
|
|
Cons:
|
||
|
|
Easy to burn beyond recognition, esp. for novices who aren't used to
|
||
|
|
this method and its timing constraints. Like most bread/pastry foodstuffs,
|
||
|
|
tends to collect moisture when heated unless wrapped in paper towels or napkins.
|
||
|
|
Overheating can lead to napalm effect.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Disk/CPU:
|
||
|
|
Pros:
|
||
|
|
Your food's ready right there in the machine room. None of this having to
|
||
|
|
'BRB' on your MUD/IRC channel or phone or whatever to step outside the
|
||
|
|
room. Convection from heat vents warms them thoroughly and evenly.
|
||
|
|
Cons:
|
||
|
|
Net heat produced by even a really fast,active system doesn't quite get
|
||
|
|
you there. Takes much too long to heat to a suitable temperature.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Open flame:
|
||
|
|
Pros:
|
||
|
|
Flames imbue them with that natural rustic, smoky flavor that only natural
|
||
|
|
combustants can.
|
||
|
|
Cons:
|
||
|
|
Burn too easily...frosting carmelizes too quickly.
|
||
|
|
That natural rustic flavor isn't too good with green apple, strawberry, etc.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
----------------------------Music-----------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Thumper
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Boston ska-metal with definite Bosstones influences. Ska continues to impress
|
||
|
|
me with the number of different styles of music you can blend into it and
|
||
|
|
still have it sound good. I usually hate metal, but I like these guys.
|
||
|
|
Their latest is called "Rabbit Wreaking Havoc" and has a couple pretty
|
||
|
|
cool tracks like the opening "Life Slips Away" and closing "All you can be".
|
||
|
|
In between they jam out some pretty cool skankin' tunes with songs like
|
||
|
|
"Do it" and "Show Up You". Lyrics range from talk about suicide to the
|
||
|
|
usual anti-racism topics as well as slackers, alcoholism and general
|
||
|
|
life stuff. I like it!
|
||
|
|
On Thumper Tunes on CD.
|
||
|
|
Thumper Tunes:
|
||
|
|
62 Powder House Blvd. #1
|
||
|
|
Somerville MA. 02144
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Hoover
|
||
|
|
"Side Car Freddie" "Cable"
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
I first saw these guys at St. Stephens back in November along with Smooch
|
||
|
|
and Circus Lupus and they were great!!----just the best, most energetic,
|
||
|
|
coolest band there..
|
||
|
|
So, I jumped at their new single(Their first I think...they didn't have
|
||
|
|
anything out @ the time of the show according to the guy I talked to there)
|
||
|
|
and was not disappointed. Hoover is like getting caught in a thunderstorm
|
||
|
|
outside and getting wrapped up in all the power and ease and loudness and
|
||
|
|
violence and beauty of it all. "Side Car Freddie" is the best of the two
|
||
|
|
cuts, starting out acoustic and slow, peaceful, cool and working up into
|
||
|
|
faster, much more powerful and loud.
|
||
|
|
Get it, get it, get it...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Slant 6
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Good, driving, kind of hyperactive female powercore. Grrly, but with some
|
||
|
|
talent for once. They definitely have some stuff out, but I don't have
|
||
|
|
any of it, 'cause there wasn't any of it there when I was at the Fugazi
|
||
|
|
show a couple weeks ago that they played at. I'd pick it up though if I
|
||
|
|
saw it.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Inclined Plane
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The 6th and final "Simple Machine" from the SM label, concluding the
|
||
|
|
project they started a couple years back with Screw, Wedge, Wheel, etc.
|
||
|
|
This one has cuts from Tsunami("Beauty pt. II"), Superchunk("Baxter"),
|
||
|
|
Rodan("Darjeeling") and Unrest("Winona Ryder"). A quick look: Tsunami
|
||
|
|
is their usual punk-fading-to-folk selves, pretty good, but not their
|
||
|
|
best. "Baxter", by Superchunk is the most energetic and IMHO the best
|
||
|
|
of the four. The Unrest trib to Winona rounds things out pretty well.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
A word problem on the back cover involving Kristen and Jenny's attempt to get
|
||
|
|
to a Nothing Painted Blue show at Khyber in Philly makes for an amusing way to
|
||
|
|
eat up some processor time, with a promise to award something to those who can
|
||
|
|
come up with the answer("...we will award extra points for creativity"
|
||
|
|
says the jacket blurb on the inside)
|
||
|
|
Info:
|
||
|
|
Simple Machines
|
||
|
|
N. 8th St.
|
||
|
|
Arlington, Va.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Superchunk
|
||
|
|
"The question is how fast"
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Neat single thats been out for a while now, but I finally got around to
|
||
|
|
snagging a copy recently. The title track is pretty cool, but my absolute
|
||
|
|
total favorite on this one is their cover of "100,000 Fireflies", originally
|
||
|
|
done by The Magnetic Fields as a neat, mockingly cheerful emopop song, which
|
||
|
|
the 'chunk has turned into a really cool grunge track while not just noise-
|
||
|
|
ifying and destroying the impact of the original.They really sound like they
|
||
|
|
enjoyed the original as much as I did. Defintely an identity song
|
||
|
|
for my whole psycho-depressive suicidalness last winter.. Cute bird/penguin/
|
||
|
|
whatever on the cover too.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Magnetic Fields
|
||
|
|
"Lonesome Vermont Roads"
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
And speaking of whom, I got this one in the same buying spree that I got the
|
||
|
|
Superchunk single above,although I like it less I have to say. Meandering,
|
||
|
|
semi-depressive, angstful, and served up in a light sauce of ennui and pathos,
|
||
|
|
these tracks remind me kind of a cross between Franklin Bruno and The Pastels.
|
||
|
|
Which isn't really that bad, at least for me, I just have to be in the mood
|
||
|
|
for it.
|
||
|
|
The last track "At The Beach" is a kind of neat, catchy, '50s style poke at
|
||
|
|
beach movie culture that still persists today. "I'm gonna get me a beautiful
|
||
|
|
tan....so's I can get me a beautiful man" sums it up pretty well IMHO.
|
||
|
|
Sticker too..
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Pop Licks!
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
If anybody tries to tell me the indie-pop scene ISN'T incestuous, I'll
|
||
|
|
just show them this, and then a copy of the Simple Machine's Neopolitan
|
||
|
|
Metropolitan...The cover of this 6-disc 45 package is a series of 6
|
||
|
|
popsicles with the band names on it and happy, dimpled 1950's "Log"
|
||
|
|
-like faces looking hungrily at the dripping confections..
|
||
|
|
When you pull the wrapper off you find 6 different 45s featuring the likes
|
||
|
|
of Whorl, Helicopter, Veronica Lake, Fudge and a couple others.
|
||
|
|
I probably would have picked it up if it hadn't been for the fact that it
|
||
|
|
was $23 and the Neo-Metro was only $10. Somehow I just couldn't rationalize
|
||
|
|
another $15 once you throw in tax for just a few more songs, so I passed.
|
||
|
|
Sorry Spin Art...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Fucking Asshole Pieces of Shit(FAPS)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
"Little Man/Human Being" and "Bambulance"
|
||
|
|
Local Negativland-type abstract anarcho-collage-rock group whose work consists
|
||
|
|
of NL-like samples, clips and bastardizations of pirate radio broadcasts
|
||
|
|
, FBI wiretaps, policeband and 911 traffic among other things as well as
|
||
|
|
the seemingly ubiquitous semi-late Raymond and Peter set to appropriate,
|
||
|
|
yet fairly standard keyboard work. I was falling out of my seat listening to
|
||
|
|
this. It wasn't clear if any of these had actually been released yet, but if you
|
||
|
|
bug them enough or fling money their way, they'd probably oblige you 'cause
|
||
|
|
then they'd have $ to buy more beer.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Info:
|
||
|
|
Zingin' Records:
|
||
|
|
PO Box 3547
|
||
|
|
Fairfax, Va. 22038-3547
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Pietasters
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
"All You Can Eat"
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
First tape out by this local ska group who used to be the Slugs isn't a bad
|
||
|
|
effort, but it didn't really psych me. Songs are typically bouncy and
|
||
|
|
catchy but more toned down than I like for my ska. Maybe I've just gotten
|
||
|
|
spoiled on the The Pickles or Operation Ivy, 'cause there are some cool
|
||
|
|
club-like Specials-esque tracks on here.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Info:
|
||
|
|
Slugtone! Records
|
||
|
|
3323 Wessynton Way
|
||
|
|
Alexandria, Va. 1309
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Nation of Ulysses
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Nothing much here to report except that recent zine blurbs and talk in the
|
||
|
|
halls at various shows has put them in the pseudo-spotlight of beings
|
||
|
|
Washington's Favorite Dead Band, unseating AutoClave, who'd previously
|
||
|
|
held the title for almost several years...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Other stuff to pick up if you get the chance:
|
||
|
|
Some new, some old, either way, its two claws up!
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Fine Day--Extinct single
|
||
|
|
on Sunspot
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Seaweed--Don't know the name of it, but its a sepia-colored cover, with
|
||
|
|
this kid on the front of it.
|
||
|
|
on Sub-Pop
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Operation Ivy --Hectic Skank yer ass off to this! Definitely not for the
|
||
|
|
pale and decaffeinated.
|
||
|
|
on Lookout!
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Skankin' Pickle --Pickle Fever single
|
||
|
|
More Punk Pickle energy and on green vinyl too! Cool!
|
||
|
|
Has 'I missed the bus', 'Ice Cube, Korea wants a word
|
||
|
|
with you', 'David Duke is running for president' and more.
|
||
|
|
on Dill
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Speeding
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
No, its not a band, but rather a simple request to the bands and/or their
|
||
|
|
labels. And it is: Could you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEEEEEASE speed label your
|
||
|
|
damn singles!
|
||
|
|
I am getting REALLY tired of grabbing something in the middle of a radio
|
||
|
|
show and starting up a 45 at 33 or vice versa and then having to switch it
|
||
|
|
to the proper speed ON AIR, just 'cause nobody took
|
||
|
|
the extra 30 seconds to put the speed into the label artwork,
|
||
|
|
Its not like you have to illuminate it or anything, just two little
|
||
|
|
chicken scratches that say '45' or '33' would do quite nicely..
|
||
|
|
It makes me look stupid and wary of playing anything or (HINT) buying
|
||
|
|
anything that doesn't say what it is. end_soapbox();
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Shows:The number of shows I've been to has dropped down to next to 0
|
||
|
|
since I started back into school.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
But I did catch Hoover a couple times and they were very cool. I also
|
||
|
|
saw Circus Lupus a couple times too and it was weird...how can a group
|
||
|
|
who is so cool live suck so much on their vinyl?---I dunno
|
||
|
|
Also caught Tsunami @ 15 minutes in January...they still put out some
|
||
|
|
pretty cool music, although they've raised aloofness and detachment to
|
||
|
|
an artform.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Eric and I harassed Archie Moore and the rest of the Velocity Girl gang
|
||
|
|
at a couple shows at the 9:30 club and elsewhere. There have been varying
|
||
|
|
reactions to the show back in Dec. which saw VGs first pit form in the
|
||
|
|
middle of "My Forgotten Favorite" but the way I look at is like this,
|
||
|
|
when a cat brings you a dead smelly thing, its an expression of love.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
I wanted really bad to see Lilys and Small Factory and Pitchblende but I
|
||
|
|
wasn't here when the show happened, so I missed out.
|
||
|
|
Oh yeah, and Rain Like the Sound of Trains is cool too, I saw them at St.
|
||
|
|
Stephens a while back with smooch and Hoover and some others..
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
And I also went to this really lame Toasters show a couple months back too.
|
||
|
|
I've had fun at their previous ones, and it certainly wasn't for any lack of
|
||
|
|
their trying, but people at 9:30 just have no concept of space or capacity
|
||
|
|
or anything and it was totally totally totally way too crowded and people
|
||
|
|
were trying to skank and mosh when you couldn't even move for all the people
|
||
|
|
around you and I spent the whole show trying to keep from being knocked
|
||
|
|
down that I couldn't even concentrate on the music, which, as anyone who
|
||
|
|
knows me will tell you makes the whole thing a total wash, I don't care
|
||
|
|
WHO'S playing.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Superchunk/Tsunami/Betty Serveert Show
|
||
|
|
by Steve Runge (stever@starbase.mitre.org)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
I went to the Superchunk show last night. I was feeling pretty sick,
|
||
|
|
but I didn't want to waste the $ we spent on the tickets. Tsunami was
|
||
|
|
very good and pretty personable. They talked alot onstage and seemed
|
||
|
|
pretty comfortable. I picked up the "Inclined Plane" single while I
|
||
|
|
was there, but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Bettie Serveert(sp?) were great. Good melodic power-pop. They
|
||
|
|
reminded me of a New Zealand(I think) band called the Bats. This was
|
||
|
|
their first show of a six week tour of America and if they come back
|
||
|
|
and hopefully headline, it's a must see. They played most songs from
|
||
|
|
the "Palomine" album and sound much better live than they do on
|
||
|
|
record.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
I don't know if you've seen Superchunk before, but every time I have
|
||
|
|
seen them they have been great. Last night was no exception. They
|
||
|
|
were very energetic and tight. I think they are one of the best live
|
||
|
|
bands I have ever seen. If they could capture half of the energy of
|
||
|
|
one of their live shows on record, it would be an incredible record.
|
||
|
|
So far I don't think they have been able to capture that energy and
|
||
|
|
their records have been good, but not great. They played alot of
|
||
|
|
songs from the new album. People kept yelling for different songs and
|
||
|
|
Mac commented that everyone seemed to have their own set list. Of
|
||
|
|
course people were yelling for "Slack Motherfucker" and "Skip Steps 1
|
||
|
|
and 3", but alot of people were yelling for "100,000 Fireflies". The
|
||
|
|
people didn't get "Slack Motherfucker", but the encore consisted of
|
||
|
|
the latter two. After the show I looked for "The Question is How
|
||
|
|
Fast" single but didn't see it. I definitely want to pick that up
|
||
|
|
now. I have the new album which has "The Question is How Fast" but
|
||
|
|
not "100,000 Fireflies". It really is a good song and I want to get
|
||
|
|
it before it becomes impossible to find.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Oh yeah, the crowd was very cool too. Mostly D.C. type "scenesters"
|
||
|
|
and alot of area luminaries like some guys from Fugazi, Mark Robinson
|
||
|
|
of Unrest, a few Nation of Ulysses members(or make that ex-members),
|
||
|
|
etc. The last time I saw Superchunk, it was on a Saturday night, and
|
||
|
|
alot of beer-guzzling, frat-jock neanderthals were there. I suppose
|
||
|
|
since this show was during the week and close to spring break, they
|
||
|
|
couldn't make it. Oh well, I'm definitely not complaining.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
See Ya,
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
---Steve
|
||
|
|
--------------------Newsfroups--------------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Alt.suicide.holiday
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
*sigh* This one, one of my faves, has really gone down hill. A bunch
|
||
|
|
of the more twisted regulars(yours truly included) got sick of constantly
|
||
|
|
having to beat back the warm fuzzies and gave up and since then the
|
||
|
|
whole group has really gone to seed. A lurker offed himself a couple
|
||
|
|
months back and of course this threw the current residents and they've
|
||
|
|
just been mumbling to themselves about how much the group will miss him
|
||
|
|
and sounding a lot like the guidance counselor in Heathers...
|
||
|
|
Ollie, Andrea and I have left the Obsidian Palace for Darker climes...
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
alt.music.hardcore
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Newgrouped a couple months ago, its already well above the 2K mark for
|
||
|
|
articles. Initial opening traffic had piled up over 400 messages in
|
||
|
|
the first week and a half but has since tapered off down to about 30
|
||
|
|
or so a week. Mixture of hardcore music reviews, scene reports and
|
||
|
|
the usual holy wars. I'm actually kind of disappointed. With the
|
||
|
|
{cheap|free}ness of net.connections and a good number of them from
|
||
|
|
nonexplotive sources, I'd have thought more people really
|
||
|
|
in the scene would be on here, but I guess not. A healthy bleedover of
|
||
|
|
ska and other punk forms lacking their own group show up here too.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
alt.housing.nontrad
|
||
|
|
Brand new group(they hadn't cleared 100 last I checked, but are no doubt
|
||
|
|
well over it now) for discussing alternative housing methods, such as
|
||
|
|
group housing, group marriages,car living and other communal/semi-communal
|
||
|
|
living arrangements.Ideas ranging from '60s-sounding communes to
|
||
|
|
more conservative group-buys of large estates abound here.
|
||
|
|
Some pretty cool ideas, esp. when $300K+ for a 'burbial stake is sounding
|
||
|
|
more and more ridiculous all the time for just 2-3 people.
|
||
|
|
I remember the semi-group sitch I was in a couple years back and it
|
||
|
|
was pretty cool, so this has proved to be interesting as well as
|
||
|
|
semi-nostalgic.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Indie-L Indie Rock Mailing List
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Run by three people from various parts of the country, Indie-L is basically
|
||
|
|
a review-zine a lot like what I'd like the music section of AC to be if I
|
||
|
|
had more people writing doing stuff for it(HINT!!).
|
||
|
|
No's 10 & 11 are stuffed with reviews of various things like the reviews of
|
||
|
|
the latest issuances from the IPUC folks, Lilys, Swirlies "Error", some
|
||
|
|
Simple Machines stuff, Pop Llama releases, plus other news and rumors from
|
||
|
|
about and around the indie-rock scene. It comes out on a semi-regular
|
||
|
|
basis.(Meaning whenever their classes will let them tear away from them to
|
||
|
|
do it). No word as to hardcopy, although I'm sure its crossed their minds.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Format:Net
|
||
|
|
Info:
|
||
|
|
mcornick@delphi.com
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Screams of Abel
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
ChristianDeathMetalThrashCore 'zine posted frequently to alt.zines and
|
||
|
|
covering the Christian metal scene, which I could never really understand.
|
||
|
|
Paul, the editor, sounds more than just a little twisted, being devoted to
|
||
|
|
violence and mayhem in the name of The Lord. Surprisingly little or
|
||
|
|
no proseltyizing/sermons despite the stated content/audience though makes
|
||
|
|
it palatable to those who aren't faith-shopping but just want to hear about
|
||
|
|
music. 1st issue in hardcopy due out soon.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Format:Net and Hardcopy
|
||
|
|
Info: Phil.Powell@launchpad.unc.edu
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
ScreamBaby
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Cyberpunk-oriented wrap-your-mind-around-a-telephone pole type 'zine
|
||
|
|
full of all sorts of cybertech shenanigans, stories, pranks, etc. as well
|
||
|
|
as commentary on cyberspace, living and working in, etc. Weird
|
||
|
|
application of a text-removal/overwrite program applied to the text
|
||
|
|
breaks into and slashes across the copy sometimes deleting letters, whole
|
||
|
|
words or part of sentences, leaving you to do the mental gymnastics to
|
||
|
|
fill in the spaces. Its all subjective, right?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Format: Net, possibly hardcopy
|
||
|
|
Info : redspread.css.itd.umich.edu look in /zines
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
USnail:
|
||
|
|
Cyberlicious
|
||
|
|
PO Box 4510
|
||
|
|
Austin, TX. 78765
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Leri-L
|
||
|
|
*WARNING* High Volume (+100)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
When the acid heads found out about the net and computers, they started
|
||
|
|
Leri-L. Hangout for those into pyschedelic and genuinely mind-warping
|
||
|
|
experiences both chemically and net-facilitated. Fave activity is the
|
||
|
|
'net-trip' where users trip and report back what they see to the list,
|
||
|
|
or go out into the world and do stuff and come back and dump it to the
|
||
|
|
list with the object being to relate ones experiences to the rest of the
|
||
|
|
list as quickly as they are happening. Very experentially oriented with
|
||
|
|
an eye to cataloging experiences and seeing what happens when you let the
|
||
|
|
net in on your trip or when you stuff a bunch of people from around the
|
||
|
|
world in your pocket and take them with you on your daily rounds...
|
||
|
|
As with their namesake, there's also a fair amount of real science
|
||
|
|
stuff going on here.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Format:Net
|
||
|
|
Info: moore7004@iscsvax.uni.edu
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Black Leather Times
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Goth/Industrial mischief 'zine. The couple issues I've seen have had stuff
|
||
|
|
in them covering suicide, skullfucking, drugs, moshing, knives,notices of
|
||
|
|
upcoming shows, music reviews, gothic & general shockart and more ways
|
||
|
|
to permanently alienate yourself from your family than you can shake a
|
||
|
|
studded riding crop at.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Format: hardcopy
|
||
|
|
Info: 3 Calabar Ct.
|
||
|
|
Gaithersburg, MD. 20877
|
||
|
|
$2 per issue
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Unplastic News
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Interesting, bizarre high-weirdness type quotezine with quotes, sketches,
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vignettes, blurbs and and other excremeditations organized around a
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theme in each issue. The spring one is said to be about pranks, tricks
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and practical jokes. Very fertile ground for quoteheads or others who
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happen to live a sort of performative, referential existence like I do.
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Format: Net
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Info: tibbetts@saturn.hsi.com
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Vermont
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(The state, not a 'zine or newsgroup)
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Except for the skiing, I can't really think of a plus for this
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place. Endless mountains of bare trees and cloudy, overcast weather
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makes you wonder why they don't call it the "Nuclear wasteland state"
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'cause thats what it looks like. I can understand a few cloudy days, but
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a whole solid weeks worth, with a whole solid week before and even more
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expected after I left, jeez! Oh yeah, seems to be the flannel capital of
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the world. Alternateens take note....
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---------------------------Roll Credits!----------------------------------
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Once again, I thank you, I thank you and I......thank you for all you
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below who agreed to participate in this little endeavour, I hope it at
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least wasn't to your detriment if nothing else...
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In particular, here's who did what:
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some guy named Alpha did the Curve insanity
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Debbie(Sine Nomine) llama@pooh.ccwf.utexas.edu, one of the coolest and
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most lucid net.goddesses I've met so far, did the thing on Control Freaks
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and the art. vs. therapy thingy. Thanks Deb!
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I did the music reviews, Newsfroups column and this bit right here.
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The Hejirah Society beamed me the PC Creed from their guerilla annoyance
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base somewhere in America.
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Oh yeah, the cover is mine too, although I do admit to stealing the
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'dillo from the Dover Pictorial, a collection of 19th woodcuts. Hey, If its
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good enough for Nutshell, its good enough for me....
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------------------Submissions,Dominations, and other family fun-------------
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Submissions: yes, have some. Send me stuff, pretty much anything really.
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reviews, letters, opinion stuff, high-weirdness-by-mail type stuff, art,
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shows you saw, scene reports, etc. I'll send you back a copy of the past
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couple ones I've done including the one I put yours in.
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Send to:
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USnail:
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Armadillo Culture
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2857 Foxmill Rd. Herndon, Va. 22071
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Net:
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sokay@cyclone.mitre.org
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If you're at a show in DC or thereabouts and you see a guy with long
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brown hair wearing a photographer's vest(has about 20 pockets on it)
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glasses(and possibly an AC t-shirt), thats probably me. Come up
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and say hi, I don't bite.
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GIFS and FTP sites:
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The FTP site has changed. Paul at the redspread political archives
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has been kind enough to offer me space. The new address is:
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redspread.css.itd.umich.edu.
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I would especially like GIFS of some bands. If you are in a band or
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know somebody who is, send me a uuencoded GIF to my net address or
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mail me something that I could scan in.
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Shirts:
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Its true!...now you can have your very own AC T-shirt,
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lovingly silkscreened onto a 100% cotton shirt.
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$8 covers the cost of the shirt and my getting it back to you.
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Oh yeah, they're white..and don't forget to send me your size..
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Logo is an armadillo surrounded by various 'zines, flyers,
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CDs, 45s, empty caffeine units etc. hacking on his terminal
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and the words "Armadillo Culture" across the bottom.
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I also still have a few of the 'Cool Tunes, Fast Compilers, Cheap Caffeine'
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ones left...same deal.
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Wing your cash or checks(made out to Steve Okay)
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to:
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Armadillo Headquarters
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2857 Foxmill Rd. Herndon, Va. 22071
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Attn:The Toiling Masses in our sweatshop
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