I used to participate in a Usenet newsgroup called misc.writing, a group supposedly about writing in all of its forms but in reality about anything but. The people there were writers, though; most had never published, but quite a few had. These were the ones that kept themselves off topic the most; usually, the wannabes contributed actual writing-related posts.

There were also trolls. One I remember in particular called herself Chelsea and claimed to be a published writer; her merits consisted of about 800 Usenet posts. She also thought I was George Lucas. Really. I won’t tell that story now, but if you’re interested, do a Google groups search on “Ari+Chelsea+George+Lucas”.

The other night, after a three-year absence, I visited misc.writing again. The place hasn’t changed at all. Sure, there are some new names and many of the old ones are gone, but it’s scary how little the place has changed. The same trolls, the same endless political discussions, the same insults.

But the scariest thing of all is to realize that all of this time, I’ve thought of a Usenet newsgroup as a “place”. Virtual reality is here, folks.

…is a book by Karin Boye, an old Swedish TV series with Sven Wollter (based on the book, obviously), and now a blog by my old friend Henrik. Those of you interested in programming in Ruby, eXtreme Programming, or perhaps a quirky interest in software development methodologies in general, go have a look. But the blog’s not based on the book, not the way I remember it.

Henrik never does things half-heartedly, I can tell you that, but when I suggested him to write a blog, I never thought I’d help create a monster.

…is probably the most talented person in jazz right now.

17 days (and counting) left before Göteborg Film Festival. And about 18 days before I’ll again sip coffee in the projection booth, wondering why I’m putting myself through the whole thing again.

And, of course, 28 days (and counting) before it’s all over again.

Here’s an article you should read if you read and cared about my last two posts. If not, well, glance through this instead and get back to me.

Apparently I’m not the only one to see similarities between the autism clock and eugenics. www.autistics.org reacted pretty much the way I did, only they have graphics.

The good citizens of the US can now peruse an Autism Clock. Is it just me, or does this remind you of eugenics? When are they going to attack the crippled and the old?

I’m upgrading a friend’s laptop to Debian Sid, as I write this. It’s so much more fun to upgrade somebody else’s machine instead of your own.

I did check the bug reports first, though.

My pointing out Bobby Fischer’s home page, below, does not mean that I condone his views, especially those pertaining to his anti-semitic tirades that are, at best, tiring. Fischer is a tragic figure, more to be pitied than hated. His views may be offensive, but he is basically harmless and should be remembered for his chess rather than his outbursts in later years.

The same cannot be said of Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, who has publicly, and repeatedly, claimed that the Holocaust is a “myth”. The only thing tragic in his case is that he was elected in the first place. And, I suppose, that many innocent people could die if he is allowed to continue.

The travel lottery scam I wrote about is picking up speed here in Sweden. Another wave of phone calls from the Haifa area in Israel hit us and at least one lady was relieved from about 8,000 SEK in “travel taxes” from her VISA card, according to Swedish morning paper GP.

If you want to call Best US Promotions and tell them how you feel about travel scams, the number is +9724900000.