Gavin’s Digital Diner

Naming an epoch using the superlative prefix of “post” — as in post-industrial, or post-modern, or the particularly unsatisfying post-millennial — is the one true indicator that we haven’t a clue. When I hear it, I tend to silently grumble the opening lines from A Tale of Two Cities:
It was the best of times, it [...]

I learned of the game the hard way. Sometimes it’s called “Follow the Lady” — you probably know it as “Three-card Monte.” It depends on the art of misdirection, distraction and illusion, and just a little sleight of hand. And now it seems, it’s played every night on the evening news. Even “The Daily Show” [...]

Her name was Jane. We met, quite unexpectedly, at Zaventem Airport in Brussels. At the Avis counter. It was such a random thing, but when I saw her I knew — no hesitation — whatever the cost, I just knew. Some things are just meant to be. With Jane, it was meant to be. Jane. I [...]

The grass is always greener. We all wish we were something we’re not. I wish I were younger, perhaps better looking and less of a romantic, too. Mail room clerks dream of being CEO’s and CEO’s dream of working in the mail room. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on.”*
I often hear that [...]

One of the unanticipated side effects of trying to steep myself in Web 2.0 technology — my experiential dive into the world of digital media, of social networking, of Tags, and Blogs, and other fun stuff — is that I accidently rediscovered music. Rest assured, I’m not ready, yet, to turn myself into a Glyph, [...]

So, with all this talk about logic puzzles, the voice of the people, and the value of various types of communications, I decided to do a little homework. After all, I publicly committed heresy. And, while several people (privately) agreed with me, and others suggested that we get to make our voice heard every election [...]

This is a copy of a reply I posted on the NTEN-Discuss listserv. The original post was a call to action about Congress implemeting an "anti-spam" feature on constituant email. The plan called for implementing a system that would:
…“require human interaction (by answering a question or retyping displayed letters/numbers) before the email could be submitted [...]