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The Eternity Articles Act 1 Scene 04
__________________________________________________
/ /
/ The Eternity Articles /
/ /
/ Act I, Scene iv -- June 1995 /
/_________________________________________________/
\ \
\ Who am I?: Sanjay Singh \
\ eternity@cyberspace.org \
\_________________________________________________\
"You can hide 'neath your covers / And study your pain /
Make crosses from your lovers / Throw roses in the rain
/ Waste your summer praying in vain / For a saviour to
rise from these streets." [Bruce Springsteen]
This is bad... I just realized that I didn't send last month's
issue through a spell checker. It could've been worse, but still
that's bad. Sorry. It's been corrected at the ftp site now, but
I kinda screwed up the file name... If you care, the file you want
to get should be WhyMe1-3.txt.gz. I'll try to get the name changed
to WhyMe1-3.gz when I upload this issue.
Oh, and read the "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" section, I'm thinking
about setting up a web page for this, that's where some of the
details are.
What's Going On?
================
"What makes the truth curl up and lie / Is it the fly-by-
night / If the counterfeit's the sham / How do we all
stand / The deeper we put in the probe -- the less we
know / What's going on? / I want to know / What's going
on?" [Adam Ant]
And don't complain about Adam Ant, it was either that or find
someone that knew what comes after "where do we go" in whatever
that Guns 'n Roses song is.
Alright. I've given this some thought. I'm not sure if this
will actually mean anything to you or not, but here we go, the
cards are coming out from under my sleeves...
As promised, here's my game plan for The Eternity Articles (or
at least what I've been able to figure out):
What am I trying to do? I'm not too sure. This started out
as my voice, but I think I'm turning it into something else. For
better, or for worse, that's what's happened. I won't lie, and say
that I have a higher purpose. Honestly, I still think that I'm
trying to work out some things personally, and airing my laundry
seems to be the 'safest' way to do it right now. But then again,
if I just got up and started blubbering, and going on about how
miserable my life is, then no one would (or should) want to read
it, and then this would all just be a waste of time. Besides, my
life isn't all that miserable (don't get me wrong, it's not great,
maybe not even good, but I can say I've been worse).
What do I want? Nothing, the only thing that I need is
forgiveness, but there's only one person that can give me that and
she won't let a conversation pass beyond the 'polite' stage
anymore, so this will just have to pass the time. Money is nice,
but just the means to an end, and nothing more. And as soon as
people learn that, things should start to change for the better.
What am I doing? I've never been able to answer that about
anything else, so why should I start now? With respect to this,
some of the things that I've done in the past three months that
I've really liked were the profiles of people that I just heard
about, but really respect (Kate Sawford and Sue Rodriguez), and
just grabbing peoples thoughts and stuffing them in here. I think
that just adds another dimension to this entire mess. I'll still
talk about myself, but if you're looking some real dirt, you'll
have to come to me to get it, some secrets just do not go public.
When will it all end? I don't know... I'd like it to go on
for, well, an eternity (pun intended), but realistically, when it
becomes more of a chore than an adventure to get out an issue, then
I'll stop. Otherwise, we're riding the wind. Buckle up kids, it's
going to be a bumpy ride...
The 4 Paths to Domination
=========================
"I don't want to die / I'm as innocent as anybody / I
don't even know how to spell revolutionary" [Frente]
For as long as I can remember, whenever I've heard all of
these 'revolutionaries' talking, one of the things you always hear
is that when you are taking over any city, country, world,
whatever, the first thing you need to do is to take over all
communication stations... Control the media, and you control the
people, the problem with that thought is that it leaves a lot to be
answered, like so now what? (which you might have noticed, is one
of my more popular questions to ask) So this is what I've come up
with so far. Granted this is all in theory because I haven't
gotten around to taking over the world yet, but I should be getting
around to it soon, since I promised a friend that I'd give it to
her as soon as I had it.
So how can you control the masses? Actually, from what I've
read, or learned from a friend of mine (who probably knows more
about human nature than the rest of us), or even just pieced
together on my own, this is what I've learned.
"Thought is a natural enemy to the Big Lie, but thought
can be effectively put to sleep if its life-blood, words,
are wholly redefined to subverse an ideology." [Dr.
Donald DeMarco]
LANGUAGE: This is critical, and pretty simplistic if you
think about it. People adopt language very quickly, think about
how many people have started saying "alllllll righty then" since
Ace Ventura came out? How many people are more than happy to start
spewing out "happy happy, joy joy" at you, and how many people have
adopted "DOH!" into their normal conversational language? My soon
to be infamous housemate actually told me that I was supposed to
say "DOH" instead of "DAH" when I said it. Here I was, after
spilling boiling water all over my arm trying to make a cup of tea,
and he was just sitting there on the chair, or something, and
telling me that it was "DOH" not "DAH". Like I'm actually supposed
to think this out or something, instead of just reacting, I have to
pick the 'funniest' thing to say to keep everyone entertained. No
thank you, I'd rather think about my arm.
Anyways, I think that's, at least, a reasonable example of how
easy it is to change the language... Just get a couple of good
writers, and a couple of cute and catchy coin-phrases, and soon
you'll control the language. In Orwell's 1984, we get to see what
happens when you take over the language... I'm not promising that
this will be easy or fast, but remember that the faster you climb
to power, the faster it'll slip away from you.
"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of
growth." [John F. Kennedy]
CONFORMITY: Now this one isn't too hard. I'm not too sure
how it all started, but all of a sudden people (mostly bored
teenagers) revolted, and all of a sudden calling somebody a
conformist was an insult. So what did we all do? We spiked our
hair (because we saw some guy with a huge spike sticking out of his
head on a street corner downtown), and we started smoking (because
James Dean did, and he was cool), and we started wearing nothing
but black (probably because it makes you look thinner), and we got
our ears pierced (to show how in touch we were with our feminity),
and we grew stupid little goatees (because Jack McDowell has one,
and he looks scary), and we started wearing trench coats (because
the FBI does), and we only wore Nike Air Jordans (because Mike
did), and then we got rid of those and started wearing Doc. Martins
(because they're boots, which are cool, but they won't chafe my
feet, at least not after I get them worked in). The list just goes
on and on, but the end result is the same... We all look the same,
and we all look like complete idiots. But we're all independent
now, right? Oh yeah, and the most important thing... our parents
don't like it.
The simple fact is that no one wants to be different.
Different is bad. People need to be accepted. But for some
reason, we're not allowed to let anyone know that we want to be
like anyone else. It's the chameleon within us all. We want to
blend in, we're all terrified of being left out in the cold and
dark night. Being alone is terrifying. Tell my sister that she
can't go out on a Friday night and her brain would probably seize
up, she can't even grasp the idea of spending a Friday night at
home, it's just not natural. And if her friends found out that she
didn't have plans for the evening... well, I wouldn't even want to
think about what would happen then. And for anyone out there that
has a kid sister that's just a couple of years younger then them,
try to see if you can spot the pattern... The only time that
they're really nice to you, is if they don't have any plans yet and
it's not a school night. It's strange, they'll walk into the room,
and try to talk to you, make polite conversation, ask if you want
to rent a movie... you know, real sibling bonding. It might be
nice if there wasn't a reason for it.
Anyways, about conformity... Just get the right people to
follow you, and you'll be set. People are terrified of change, so
once you get the rules set, then they'll be set for life. If
someone decides that your way isn't the best way, show them what
happened in Russia.
"The wide spread use of drugs is a symptom of a sick
society. The war on drugs is bullshit. Especially since
the CIA is one of the biggest dealers around. Drugs
raise money and keep young black males (mostly) docile."
[David Byrne]
CRIME or NATURAL SELECTION: I always thought that that
comment was a load of crap. Blatant paranoia at its best, wouldn't
want to blame yourself for a drug habit, so blame the CIA. But it
still does make some sense, and I think it may just be the last
piece of the puzzle. Somehow, what you have to do is to form two
(or three, but no more than that) gangs. Call them whatever you
want, the names aren't important. Then just convince them that
they need to be at war with each other. Now you've got about half
of your population trying to kill themselves, this is actually a
good thing. While the rebellious, angry half of your population
busy trying to kill each other, you can speak out against crime,
and do whatever you feel like, the population eventually will stop
caring, and start being afraid. But we'll talk about fear in a
moment. Why is it harder to get a cab if you're black? Because
people are afraid of them. It's nothing they did, if anything the
media is to blame for that one, but still, people are afraid. It's
a great cycle, and race doesn't even need to fit into the picture,
actually if it doesn't then you're already a step ahead of America.
Anyone who's taken an economics course knows that everything works
in cycles, so how's this one for you: Blacks are kept down by
racism -> blacks have to suffer and are second class citizens ->
left with no other option, blacks turn to crime -> the media takes
over, and starts telling everyone how crime has increased, and
coincidentally shows only black perps -> everyone gets the idea in
their head that all blacks are criminals -> no one gives a black
person a chance -> blacks have to suffer and are second class
citizens... It's not hard to do, people love having someone to
blame their problems on, too bad that the easiest targets are
either black or Jewish.
"Fear, it's the oldest tool of power. If you're
distracted by fear of those around you, it keeps you from
seeing the actions of those above." [from The X-Files]
FEAR: This is how you keep it all together. If you've gotten to
this point, then you should know this. Every politician knows
this. It's a great trick. If you want to know why MicroSoft runs
the software industry for the PC it's because they've given the
people exactly what they wanted and at scared them into believing
that they're the only people that can give it to you, remember,
change is bad, progress is bad. People want things to stay the
same, and if it ain't broke, then don't fix it.
Have a happy, and prosperous monopoly.
How To Run a Successful Cult
============================
Ok, this is an indulgence for me. This was an article
published in "Zen Anarchy" (another e-zine). Anyways,
this is the zine that really let me know what I could do
and get away with. If it wasn't for Zen then none of you
would be here in eternity with me, because it wouldn't
exist. Zen Anarchy is published in PostScript, so if you
have access to a viewer or a printer then I would have to
recommend it to you... Anyways, since this is relevant,
I thought I'd toss it in to let you know what's going on
over there.
by: Professor Zen [an118926@anon.penet.fi]
from: Zen Anarchy, Volume 1, Issue 2
[ftp.etext.org: /pub/Zines/ZenAnarchy]
You're probably asking yourself why would you even want to be
a cult leader in the first place, right? Well, think of all the
money you collect for doing nothing, all the people's lives you get
to run, all of the weapons you can stockpile. Wait a minute, it
sounds like I'm talking about the Catholic church doesn't it? Well
with a few simple rules you can be the next Catholic church
yourself.
Kids, don't try this at home. Leave it to the professionals.
PLEASE!
Hard copy has enough pseudo news stories as it is and Geraldo
never seems to run out of guests.
STEP 1. Take a self-help and management course.
This is fairly simple. Either watch two or three late night
Tom Vu infomercials or just go down to your local bookstore and buy
a few self-help books. At the very least you'll find some valuable
bullshit to relate as gospel. Remember, these people make money
undoing your valuable work. May they should be giving you a
percentage.
STEP 2. Find something so stupid that everyone believes you are
the sole expert on it.
How hard can that be? David Koresh managed to do it. Jim
Jones managed it. The Clintons manage to do it.
STEP 3. Find the flock to fleece.
Bus stations are probably not the best place to go looking for
your sheep. You'll run into stiff competition from the pimps and
movie producers, not to mention a few politicians and drunks. Not
that there is a whole hell of a lot of difference between a wino
and a pol, except that we willingly give the wino money for booze.
College campuses and trailer parks are probably your best bet.
College students for the most part have to be some of the stupidest
people on the face of the Earth. I mean putting a kid who has
never been away from home in a place where they can do pretty much
whatever they want is like giving the addicts the key to the
dispensary. Trailer parks should be self explanatory.
STEP 4. The Commune
Berkeley used to be prime feeding ground until they started
going conservative, so now your best bet is probably Oregon.
Housing is cheap, and the locals are about as strange as the people
that follow you anyways. Remember, Oregon is the trailer park of
the west coast. Nobody will suspect a thing until you have your
followers go down to the local gun store and purchase 500,000
shotgun shells and they inadvertently say that you're preparing for
the (insert your special prophecy here) and the next thing you know
the BATF decides to hold a weenie roast in your honour.
STEP 5. The movie deal after the raid.
Ok, now that the BATF has burned your commune to the ground,
the last step is to secure the media rights. This is assuming of
course that you had the foresight to pack yourself and Eva in a
bunker and not do yourself in before the authorities swooped in.
Now you're on your own, so hire a good attorney, get Hard Copy
to tell your side of the story (make it sound convincing), and when
you get out of prison in six months due to overcrowding, you're
ready to start all over again.
We're Talkin' Jerry
===================
"The failures of the press have contributed immensely to
the emergence of a talk-show nation, in which public
discourse is reduced to ranting and raving and posturing.
We now have a mainstream press whose news agenda is
increasingly influenced by this netherworld." [Carl
Bernstein]
I was watching The Jerry Springer Show yesterday, I try not to
miss it because personally I love it. It's my little peepshow,
while my friends tell me that it's crap, and trivial, and
sensationalism, and whatever else my friends usually go on about,
I just ignore them... after all one of them watches Melrose Place,
and one of the others watches Beverly Hills 90210. At least I have
my evenings free.
Anyways, on with the topic at hand... Why is Jerry the king?
How come not even Montel can hold a candle to him? Let's start
from the beginning. My sister is a notorious channel surfer, she's
got the attention span of... well, of my sister (that's about the
only comparison there is). It's probably TV's fault, but that's
alright, since all the cool kids are doing it, it must be right.
Anyways, one day over the Christmas holidays we were both home, and
she was sitting on the couch watching Ricki Lake (which I just
don't get... it's the same topic... every time!) and when the
commercial came on, she jumped to Jerry, who very coincidentally
had a catfight going right at that moment, between (from what I
found out later) an ex-hooker and a current hooker. So, naturally,
I made her keep the channel set on Jerry, and it was just a matter
of days until I was hooked. I was a slave to Jerry. Hell, if I
was in Chicago, I'd probably become one of those idiots that stand
there after the show grasping for their 15 minutes, but screaming
"we love you Jerry" or "we drove all the way from Texas to see you
Jerry" or "I want to have your baby, Jerry." Not even Geraldo has
that kind of status amongst his fans... Actually, most of his fans
probably have one of those 'love to hate you' relationship things.
I won't go as far as saying that his fans as a psychotically loyal
as Oprah's are, but this is nothing to just ignore... Them man is
good. He even used to be the mayor of Cincinnati.
Now, the question is why? I'm not going to pretend that I'm
above all of this, yes I watch Springer, yes I even watch bits and
pieces of the Simpson trial, and I'll admit it in public even. But
why do most people change the channel as soon as they see you walk
into the room and pretend that they weren't watching it, but
instead they try to convince you that they're really fascinated
with some guy attacking a piece of wood with a chisel on the
Learning Channel? Why was my housemate so surprised when I told
him that I had seen Ford Fairlane and thought it was a great movie?
And no I can't stand Dice's stand up, but the movie is a gem. Why
are people so ashamed of what they watch, if it's that much of a
hassle, then don't watch it. And how come just about every says
that they only watch 90210 because there's nothing else on... If
there's nothing on, then don't watch anything, read a book. Read
this. This leaves us with the big question: how did I get from
talking about Jerry, to trying to figure out denial? Oh well, "be
good to yourselves, and each other."
Hey, This is Good!
==================
I just found this while trying to free up some space on
my computer. Let's see, I wrote it about two and a half
years ago, for a grade 13 english assignment. I just
reread it, and liked it, I thought I'd share it with you.
The pale blue glow from the monitor lit the corner of the
room. The clicking of the keyboard was drowned out by the closing
theme to Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the constant clatter
from the kitchen. The desk is a visual exaggeration of the noise
around me. To my right is a hot cup of tea and a box of tissues,
to my left is a collection of yellows, oranges, and reds all
combined in boxes of throat drops, past the clutter of the boxes is
a garbage bin filled with discarded tissues. My sister has just
entered the room and is adding her voice to the clutter, "did you
know that they're Canadian", "do you like this group", "why are you
turning off the TV?" My mother has just taken my sister out for a
drive in an attempt to find a cure to whatever sickness I might
have contracted this time, my father is asleep upstairs, and
finally I can hear the keyboard. Click, click, click, click,
click.
A cassette tape has just been placed in my tape deck, and now
the soothing voice of Journey's Steve Perry singing a ballad of
life, love, and loss has entered my solitary realm. Soon the
others will return, changing my quiet and secluded corner of the
room into their noisy gathering area. I can sense their inevitable
return like a field mouse can sense a hawk's hungry stare on its
back.
The Greatest Game in the World
==============================
"The one constant through all the years, has been
baseball. America is ruled by it like an army of steam
rollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and
erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This
field, this game is a part of our past. It reminds us
all that once was good, and it could be again. People
will come. People will most definately come." [Field of
Dreams]
Last week me and a friend went out to the Dome (SkyDome, the
big artificial looking, bad excuse for a baseball park,
entertainment complex, that the Blue Jays play in) to watch the
Toronto vs. New York baseball game. And so there we were, two huge
baseball fans, with great seats arguing about who was the better
team (I'm a Yankee fan, he likes the Jays for some reason).
Anyways, we were watching the game (great game by the way) and we
noticed that people were leaving the game in the 7th inning, just
because the Yanks took a two run lead off of a three run hit. We
stayed, because like most sane people, we know that a baseball game
is supposed to be 9 innings. But this usually happens, people
leave the game a bit early to get out the parking lots with less
traffic, etc. And although the 7th inning is a little early, the
Jays were losing, so fine, time to jump off of the bandwagon, and
head home, right?
Now we go to the bottom of the 7th. Yanks leading by 2. Jays
up to bat, and BOOM, Carter hits a home run, the fireworks go off,
and everyone that stayed is happy. Next up is Maldonado, and BOOM,
another homer, again, the fireworks go off and now everyone that
stayed is ecstatic. Well except for the handful of Yankee fans
that were there. So now the game is tied.
Top of the 8th. Game tied at 7. Yanks score a run off of a
Dion James single. More people leave. Then Boggs triples and
James comes in. Now the park has lost at least a third of the
people that were there when the game started. Me and my friend
move up from row 40 to row 20, trying to hide from the security
guard that was sending people back to their original seats (why?
I don't know). By the way, the difference between row 20 and row
40 at the dome is just remarkable. This was my first time in the
100 level seats, and although 40 was nice, 20 was beautiful.
Bottom of the 8th. Yanks up by a pair. Basically, the Jays
score a couple of runs and White gets a triple. Very exciting.
Top of the 9th. Tied at 9. Tartabull singles in a run.
People are leaving like the plague has been dropped inside the
stadium. Why? I thought that by now they would have realized that
the Jays were keeping everything even. They've been matching the
Yankees blow for blow. This is great, this is baseball, this is
exciting. Neither team is giving up, they're fighting for every
run, but still, people leave. Now James doubles, scoring two runs.
Now it's pretty safe to say that over half of the 'fans' have fled
from the stadium. Maybe there was a gas leak, but no one told us.
Bottom of the 9th. Yanks ahead by 3. Alomar hits one out.
More fireworks, more people cheering, but not nearly as loud as it
was before. So now it's within 2. Huff doubles, and injures
himself trying to get to second. How's that for sacrificing
yourself for the team? The pinch runner moves to third on a passed
ball, and then scores on a sacrifice fly. Now it's down to one
run. And this is where it ended. We were hoping for extra
innings, but still, this is a great game. It's the second best
baseball game that I've ever seen live. Just a great game. Too
bad, so many people missed the best part. If they cared enough to
check the papers the next day they might have regretted it, but I
doubt they did.
Heeeeeee's Baaaaaaaaack...
==========================
"I envy paranoids; they actually feel people are paying
attention to them." [Susan Sontag]
by: Paul Sheen [ThePeach@cyberspace.org]
Ever wondered what your boss really thought of you? He always
seems nice to you in front of you, but then his actions defy that?
Well that's how my boss was while I was working in a government
establishment to remain nameless. Every time I went and asked him
a question he would be very cheerful and helpful, but that's the
thing, I had to go and ask him questions. Not once did he come
into the room and ask me how I was doing, or even really give me
anything to do.
I would just sit at work and play on the Internet all day,
waiting for him to give me some project to work on that was really
vapourware or so it seemed. For the first two months, he gave me
a project to work on that was a basic function of the application
I was working in. But never did he come in and ask me how I was
progressing. Instead, I just seethed, avoiding him at all costs,
figuring at one point he would actually ask.. And then one day he
came in and told me to forget about it. So I was supposed to wait
for some other piece of software to come in.
Back to the Internet...
This in itself is not a big deal. But then the fact that the
first day I started work there in the summer, he was not there and
did not tell me what I needed to do annoyed me. I had to call him
and ask him where to go and all he told me was to show up at a
certain floor and meet a certain woman. That woman happened to be
away that day too. So there I am, sitting at a desk that somebody
plopped me behind and told me to do what I wanted. So I sat there
the entire day pretty much not knowing where anything was, not
knowing when to have lunch, not knowing where the bathroom was.
What a horrible situation.
So then I go through the term, with him at work sporadically,
giving me little direction. In fact, I got more work from other
people than him. Then, with about a week to go in my term, my boss
tells me, "I won't be here tomorrow, nice working with you, later."
And that was that. But I was scheduled to come back to work the
next term, so i knew I'd be dealing with him again.
I get back the next term, and guess what? My boss isn't
there. He's got a day off for some reason or another, but that
doesn't really surprise me. So I sat around for the first day
getting accustomed to the surroundings once again. Luckily this
time I knew the drill. However, there was another girl that I
worked with who was in the same predicament as I. She was all
alone for the first week of work and did not know when to take
lunch or where the washrooms were or any of those important
details. It's as if you're just supposed to know it. Though I
suppose asking never hurt either, at least it worked for me.
Insert another boring work term here...
I'm getting towards the end of my second work term and nothing
eventful has happened, except my boss is there when he feels like
it, it seems. So I get to the end of the term, and on the day
before I leave, my boss tells me he won't be there the next day for
my last day of work. Big surprise there! So of course I said
goodbye to him and he had all these nice things to say about me on
my evaluation but I never heard them off paper. And in total, he
made it to neither the beginning nor end of my work term in either
term. That's 4 random days out of 240 and he just happened to miss
them. Perhaps he couldn't handle such a wide range of emotions.
(ie. The exhiliration of me arriving, and the agony of me leaving,
or vice versa.)
So I guess the moral of the story is absence makes the student
worker really confused.
This Space For Rent
===================
Earlier this month, I got a 4 page message from some guy
called Bob Williams. Anyways, what he sent was an economic
strategy for running the government. I read through it, and the
basic idea is pretty well thought out. Anyways, if anyone wants a
copy of it, feel free to send mail to him at
will1190@splava.cc.plattsburgh.edu or you can send mail to me. I
think I still have it on my account somewhere, but he'd probably be
happier if you asked him yourself.
People That Made This Possible
==============================
"I hope that just once in my life I can make a difference
like that in someone else's life. Thanks." [from E.R.]
I really haven't had that many people to thank since the first
issue, which is why I haven't thanked anyone since then, but here's
a list of people that at least deserved to get their names out for
helping me along with my own journey, from when it all started 5
years ago.
Paul, who should be helping me edit this, so you can blame any
problems on him, just kidding Paul. Actually, he's one of the few
people that I have to tell me when I start to go too far off the
deep end, and to tell me when it's time to eat. If only I could
get him to read it more than before I mail it out to everyone.
The original gang from alt.life.sucks. I haven't been around
there in a while, so I don't know what's going on there, but thanks
to Lillith, Kerstie, Andy, Matthew, Brian, Carrie, and Doc. I
don't think I forgot anyone. If your name wasn't on that list,
then there's probably a good reason for it.
The eternals (Lori, Jessie, and Kim), for holding onto the
wheel when my life started to veer off the road. They either made
me, or they helped to put another nail in the coffin, but for what
it's worth, I still owe them. Lori taught us that we weren't
invincible, and that even the strongest of us could fall to pieces.
Jessie taught me the rules of the game, and Kim taught me that even
after you lose you still have a chance in the second round.
Steve, what can I say? This is the guy that taught me
everything I ever needed to know about human nature. Smartest guy
I know, probably the most dangerous too, but that's another story.
Dirk, for asking me why I wanted to go back to her when just
thinking about her was tearing me up inside. He probably doesn't
even remember this, but it meant a lot to me.
I think that's about it. If I left anyone out, then I'll take
care of it when I remember who they are.
Thanks for reading everyone.
Stuff That's Here Every Month...
================================
"There's nothing to do anymore. Everything decent has
been done. All the great themes have been used up,
turned into theme parks." [from Pump Up The Volume]
Ok, I'm killing off this theme idea. There will still be
themes, but I don't like having my hands tied. That just leads to
stuff like that Woody Allen thing last month. Anyways, like I
said, there will still be a basic underlying theme to each issue
(probably), but nothing to get tied down to. If a special occasion
comes up, then I'll cover it, but for the most part, we've cast off
the shackles (unless, of course, you're into that sort of thing).
Also, I'm thinking about saving this as an enhanced text file,
so if you print it you can get all sorts of pretty things, like
bold and italics. Of course, this could really screw things up if
you read it on a screen (I'm not sure, right now this is still an
idea). If you have a preference, I'd like to know what it is.
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme!
====================
Well if you have this then you probably know how you got it,
but in case this was passed on to you, then I'll just let you know
where you can find it.
ftp: ftp.etext.org /pub/Zines/WhyMe/
gopher: gopher.etext.org follow the prompts
mail: if you want a copy sent by mail then just send a request
to me at the eternity address. If you ask for a copy
I'll send one to you.
subscriptions: Just send me mail, I'll add you to the list. All I
ask is that you let me know what you think about
this 'zine, and you can even mention how you found
out about it.
web: I'm trying to figure out how to do this web thing. I've
never really tried setting up a html page, so this may
take a little time, but I have the site pick out, and all
of the other minor details. If anyone is familiar with
this sort of thing, feel free to let me know, I'll take
all the help I can get.
As always, if you have a question, comment, statement, rant,
or anything, feel free to let me know. There's always room for me
to improve, and there's always room for an extra page of filler.
And the quote list that started it all can be found at the ftp
site... I think you can gopher it, but it's pretty big, so ftping
it would probably be the easiest thing to do. Or I could just mail
it to you. The one at etext has been there since the end of April.
Disclaimer
==========
I take full responsibility of the overall content here. There
might be other contributors (and what they say is their own
intellectual property), but what goes into this is my choice.
Truth is subjective (if you believe something then to you it is
fact, and if you don't then it is fiction, simple enough?) so I
won't make any claims about honesty... believe what you want. If
you're going to use something from here just make sure that you
cite whoever wrote the article. If it doesn't say who wrote it,
then it's probably me.
Still asking: If you know anything about ISSN numbers, like
where I can get one, or what I need them for, or even if I need
one, could you please let me know... Everyone else has one, and I
want one too. Thanks.
Sanjay Singh (5/20/95)
