The year 2000 saw the rebirth of a very old web idea, repackaged in some new technology, and unleashed as the weblog (or “blog” for short). The recipe for a weblog is simple: make a web page, a single page, and put microcontent (short blurbs and blips) on it. Then update it again and again, all day, every day, with the newest stuff always at the top.  (SynEARTH is a weblog) … I don’t believe that there is one cohesive weblog community. Instead, there are many communities, groups, cliques, and clubs in the weblog space. Any weblog with comments can quickly turn into a community of one, attracting a small group of people who are interested enough to follow along and participate. And if each of those readers then starts a weblog of their own, with comments that the others take part in, you wind up with a giant, interconnected, ever-evolving community. Or, better, a hazy cloud of overlapping communities, each with its own feel, and sharing a few members. (02/19/02)
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Jivan Vatayan has explained elsewhere that we humans are often (always) distracted from what is important by what is urgent. “The busy-ness of this world allows very little available energy left (in most people) to consider a complete change in the way the entire species views, lives and behaves on Earth.” This “busy-ness” prevents us from viewing reality clearly. In this morning’s article he offers us an approach that might be helpful.  (02/19/02)

It is an attempt to give a conservative measure of the degree of overshoot occurring in a particular society or bioregion, under the conditions of present technology and social organization. The amount of land that would be required to support the civilization in a sustainable manner is calculated and compared to the amount of land that is available. When the required amount is greater than the total area where the people live, the carrying capacity has been exceeded. When this occurs on a global scale, it means that either miracles such as changing water into gasoline will have to happen, or that people will have to learn to use much less or become fewer in numbers. It is just a matter of past actions catching up to the present. Most adults with their absolute faith in technological human cleverness are making the not-in-my-lifetime bet, which makes it all the more probable that it will be a rougher yes-in-your-lifetime-buddy — cause you got in at the end of the line leading to the hog trough. (02/19/02)
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The truth is especially hard to believe if it requires that we take action — if it requires that we change. If humanity is to have a future, we must take action — we must change. If humanity is to have a future, we must believe the truth. Jay Hanson chose the name DIEOFF for his website. That term is not a political term, it comes from science. (02/19/02)
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