Hacking the Marvel Universe

The Redhead recently requested the following: "I would like a blog about how to hack into alternate universes. (You can write it in 4@xx0r if you like.)" So, in the style of Touching the Paperboy's Melnet posts, I have answered the call of the hero.

run C:..4@xx0r.exe
loading
4@xx0r: whackjob//
4@xx0r-->whackjob//^dud@34s: ******
4@xx0r-->d!d: 200605280318d^@s)dkd
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: !6dfd@er4(4@xx0r,engusa)
4@xx0r-->Rput: USA English loaded
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: load(comicHacks,'C:..support4xx0r..')
4@xx0r-->Rput: loading...
4@xx0r-->Rput: comicHacks loaded
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: hackUverse(Marvel)
4@xx0r-->Rput: Err(13)|Missing parameter(1,universeNo)|
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: selUverse(Marvel,0)
4@xx0r-->Rput: Universe=Marvel.0
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: selCharacter(Magneto)
4@xx0r-->Rput: Character=Marvel.0.Magneto
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: displayGenitalia
4@xx0r-->Rput: Magneto
version=0
testicles=2
penis=1
vagina=0
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: hackGenitalia('Marvel.0.Magneto',testicles )
4@xx0r-->Rput: Marvel.0.Magneto updated
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: displayGenitalia
4@xx0r-->Rput: Magneto
version=0
testicles=3
penis=1
vagina=0
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: Ha ha ha! Ive changed the Marvel universe!
4@xx0r-->Rput: Err(2)|Misspelled command()|
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: Yer stupid!!!
4@xx0r-->Rput: Err(2)|Misspelled command()|
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: deSelCharacter(Magneto)
4@xx0r-->Rput: Magneto deselected
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: deSelUverse(Marvel,0)
4@xx0r-->Rput: Marvel.0 deselected
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: saveUverse(Marvel,0)
4@xx0r-->Rput: Marvel.0 updated
4@xx0r-->whackjob//: logout
4@xx0r-->d!d: 200605280327d^@s(dkd
End

Roadnotes: Eugene 2

Trapper shows me around some more, to places that are sacred because of the company he held. I also get a chance to catch up with two friends from way back, though only for a brief time.

However, I do make visiting the Eugene Public Library a priority because of their famous "sorter" machine. It's a machine with treadmills and levers and arms (sort of) that returns library items and sorts them onto carts. A staffmember willingly takes me through the area without too much coercion on my part.

I'm standing there, looking at this thing in awe, when the staffmember says, "Very Goldberg, isn't it?"

"Yes," I answer.

She seems somewhat suspicious of me as I have openly admitted that I am no longer working for libraries.

"So," I say, "what does it use to sort the items? Is it a media code?"

She answers affirmatively and explains further, no longer suspicious.

The Da Vinci Code: A Striking Portrait of Misogyny

For a movie based on a book that was all about popularizing the concept of the sacred feminine, the Da Vinci Code left too much to the men.

Admittedly, the book itself is somewhat sexist. It's written by a man who described the resurgence of the "sacred feminine" as being led by men, controlled by men and even only understood by men. But at least there was a female character who knew a little about cryptology.

The movie makes one mention of the heroine's occupation, then lets the men figure out every single puzzle while Audrey Tatou (who plays the heroine) focuses on her specialty: looking overwhelmed and befuddled.

Don't get me wrong, she's cute when she does this, but it would be nice if they'd have let her do something that furthered the plot somehow.

Oh well. Also, the movie was boring.

Roadnotes: Eugene 1

It's good to hang out with Trapper again. I meet several friends of his, among them a reknowned bibliographer of Neal Cassady.

I get an excellent Animal House walking tour of the campus. Yes, the movie was filmed here and many of the environments are quite recognizable.

We hang out on a couple campus benches to talk and watch trees. Trapper and I finish slices of Sys Pizza. It is at this moment that I get a call from Victoria - she tells me she may have concocted a plan to get me my bottle of Scotch (thanks, Adam, and all those involved, in case I should ever see this bottle).

Update: The plan failed. I still do not have the gift from the Englishman.

Roadnotes: Portland

I'm headed to Eugene.

Fortunately, I get a free ride as far as Portland from the two Tauruses (well, not REALLY free I now owe them a reading of In Me Own Words, an autobiography of Bigfoot, in character and everything).

That gave me time to eat Thai food with a Portlandian friend before I caught a bus to Eugene.

While taking me to the Greyhound station, my friend and I start talking about my blogs and also (it logically follows) about kaka.

"You should use kaka in a blog," she says.

"Oh, the poop joke thing is played out. I should know."

"No, just use the word, kaka, somehow."

I get indignant. "Oh, so you think thats how it works? You can just tell me what to write and Ill put it in a blog?"

But that is totally how it works.

Yes, U.S. Citizens, Your Freedom is at Stake

I have no good news. Communications companies are spending millions lobbying Congress to turn the Internet into a private enterprise.

Our civil liberties are already in dubious standing without this heinous nuisance. The Internet is the only venue that we can count on for sharing vital civil rights information. Without Internet neutrality, companies will be able to decide what Web sites you can visit just like they decide which cable channels you can buy.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the video on this page.

If you want to sign the petition that will help put a stop to this nonsense, go here.

A Blogger's resource list is here, where you can get links for your own blog (on the right) and register your blog once you've written about it.

If you don't know your history....

If you don't know your history, you are doomed to repeat it.

But that's okay, because you'll never know you're repeating it, since you don't know it in the first place.

So it's all good.