May 24, 2007

fodroy · Post by **fodroy** » Wed May 23, 2007 9:41 pm

I'm in a computer lab at Prince of Songkla University in Phuket. It's almost noon. I taught English to my students this morning. Last night (and the last three nights) I explored Phuket with a friend. We always have Tiger beer when we explore. The stray dogs are mostly nice. We ran into one with a muzzle that wanted to kill us. We also checked out an Irish pub in Phuket where a bunch of Brits, Australians, Canadians, Americans, etc. hang out. It was trivia night...This morning I taught my students the phrase "dragging ass." Then we had a break and bought a coke for 11 baht. That's the day so far.

Just thought I'd drop in and give a quick update. I go back to America next Tuesday.

Many things have happened here.

anti-m · Post by **anti-m** » Wed May 23, 2007 10:40 pm

I'm off to visit Chicago today, where I hope to encounter BROOD XIII! (among other things.) I grew up in Evanston, and my parents are still there. It'll be nice to see them, since I usually only get to see them over the holidays.

I have a QOTD for y'all, (If I'm not stealing Heather's thunder)(Pfff... like that's possible!)

What was your first experience talking to strangers on the internet?

I was considering this issue yesterday, what with all the current histrionics over "the dangers of the internet"...and "is the internet safe for kids?"

For me, my first experience was chatting on UNIX alt.news groups back in the days before there was proper "web" per se.

I was on a quest to find the full "lyrics" to the mumbled soliloquy at the beginning of Jane's Addiction's "Three Days." I never did find a definitive transcription, but I met some fun weirdos in the process.

Good times!

Mike Lamb · Post by **Mike Lamb** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:48 am

anti-m wrote: What was your first experience talking to strangers on the internet?

Today I'm working on getting a blog thing happening. I talked to Heuristics, Inc. on IRC earlier, and he turned me on to the song-a-day vibe, which I think is really cool. I am definitely going to do that.

Regarding strangers on the Internet, I never actually had that experience really. My first "online" experiences were back in the 80s on BBSes. I was introduced to a BBS crowd in real life before I joined the BBS, so by the time I got there, they weren't strangers.

This translated to the internet - when I finally got on "the net" (fidonet UUCP gateway) I knew most of the people I was talking to. Eventually I got on IRC ('92) with people I knew from the various BBS "scenes" I was into.

The one "stranger danger" I did run into was joining Song Fight! I had no idea what to expect, and although I was introduced to it via a friend, I still felt quite intimidated by the main crowd. After getting my balls busted on a few songs though, I toughened up and now quite enjoy the antics of the crowd.

-Mike Lamb

Denyer · Post by **Denyer** » Thu May 24, 2007 1:25 am

Mike Lamb wrote:-Mike Lamb

I am about to eat some lamb.

Mike Lamb · Post by **Mike Lamb** » Thu May 24, 2007 1:36 am

Denyer wrote:
Mike Lamb wrote:-Mike Lamb
I am about to eat some lamb.

I can only hope that it's been properly seasoned. Perhaps a leg, studded with garlic cloves, rubbed with olive oil and coated in kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, then roasted at 350F for 3-4 hours?

Or maybe a frenched rack, seared and then slathered with mustard, coated with a mix of panko crumbs, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, garlic and shallots, then roasted for 45 minutes at 425F?

OR .. maybe stewed, Hungarian style, seared in olive oil with sweet paprika, then simmered with onions and potatoes..

So hungry..

-Mike Lamb

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Thu May 24, 2007 7:13 am

Odd day already. The girls of the house are still in lament mode over the sick cavy. My MP3 player is back to life so I'm happy. First thing I listened to: Glenn Case's Whammie Wednesday. It was a good show and it has inspired me to do some fake radio myself. I have a night to myself and instead watching wrestling and finding porn that my friends have posted on the internet; I will be making the return of the X-tokyo-radio-show. But since I will actually do the DJing, I've changed the name to "The Other Night I Dreamt of Knives". The show should be very different from Glenn's. I enjoyed Glenn's including finding out that Huey Lewis once had cojones. But mine will be a heavier, more ecclectic mix because my rock is much bigger than yours.

QotD: I used to be a part of the IUMA. I used to do a lot of reviews there. You can still find a bunch of theme online, if you can get the IUMA to work correctly. Sigh, what a shame. The IUMA used to be a wonderful place to grab up new music.

Heather. Redmon. · Post by **Heather. Redmon.** » Thu May 24, 2007 7:36 am

Good morning every one! Thank you for starting the Roll Call all the way from Thailand Fodroy!

Anti-M, my thunder is still perfectly in tact

I appreciate you coming up with the QotD, I'm running low on ideas lately!

As for my first experience with internet strangers... I think it would have to have been when Phil and some other friends used to play Quake (Quake I) online. I'd say this was late '96 or sometime in '97. The other online players would make comments while playing and I used to think they were so jerky.

I remember one time Phil and I decided to try a "chat room", '97?, and we were trying very hard to provoke people! We also pretended we were a young attractive female to see if any old sleeze bags would take the bait. There were plenty who did. It was gross and weird, so we stopped that really quick!

Back when Phil, Len and I were in the band Vlad Smut and the Swanks, we had our songs up on mp3.com. We used to get comments from strangers and I once went on a campaign to get people to add us to their radio list (or whatever it was called).

My first real experience with internet strangers would be here on SongFight! I made quite a few faux pas when I first started posting here (actually on the old Dumbrella board). I think I'm better at it now, but I do still open mouth, insert foot, every once in a while.

As for my day: It's raining. I'm tired, but more awake than usual. I still have to finish up my resume, but my cover letter is done. I got my hair cut yesterday and Nichol did a good job. I have a few meetings today, one being Women in Leadership (although I'm technically not in a leadership position yet). We'll see how it goes!

jimtyrrell · Post by **jimtyrrell** » Thu May 24, 2007 7:57 am

It is a gorgeous day here in NH. Gonna hit 80 easy today. I'm at work.
At lunch I'm going to drive out to my house and grab my digital 4-track. I want to get the basic tracks for the upcoming Nur Ein song done, so I can recruit a guest vocalist or two. If I can work out the logistics, I'd like to do the entire recording outdoors. Fun!

My first interaction with strangers on the internet was probably in a Yahoo chat room or something. When I first got my Yahoo email account I got a series of messages from some dude who thought I was a different Jim Tyrrell. It took a long time to convince him that I was someone else.

Bjam · Post by **Bjam** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:29 am

My first internet experience? I dunno, other than kiddy sites when I was little, probably a forum that my brother was on when I was 9ish. First time I met online people in "real life" was some geeky convention thing when I was 12 or so. I pretty much only talk to "online" people online, very rarely do I talk with my school/local friends online(except for a very select few). Personally, I think it's kinda nice to keep the two separate.

I'm off sick from school, so I'm writing papers for US and watching bad tv shows. At the moment it's a Star Trek wedding on A Wedding Story on TLC. It's awesome. My parents were going to have a Disney vow renewal, but I'm starting to think that Star Trek may be better fitting for our family. Tonight, if I feel better, is Pirates of the Caribbean 3, woo.

king_arthur · Post by **king_arthur** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:49 am

First internet experience was on rec.music.gdead, talking about Dead shows, songs, setlists, etc. A friend and I organized several "tape trees" where tapes of a recent show would be distributed to lots of people (this was well before the .mp3 revolution). I got to meet a few of the people from the newsgroup at shows here and there.

It reminded me of a hobby I was into in my 20s, listening to far away radio stations on the AM dial. At night, you can pick up stations from all over the country, the world, even. There were a couple of radio clubs dedicated to the hobby, and both published weekly or monthly newsletters (there was a definite season when it was easier to hear new stations, and they'd be weekly at that time), and occasional "get togethers" where I got to meet a few of the people whose names I was familiary with. I thought about mentioning this in the "favorite radio station" discussion; probably my best catch was that, in Castro Valley, California, I heard WFEA in Manchester NH signing on early one Monday morning. In order for that to happen, two or three stations across the country had to be down for maintenance at the time - we had a local station on that frequency that hardly ever shut down. Anyway, except for a week or two propagation delay on "postings," there was that same sense of having discussions with people you'd never met and didn't really know anything about...

Back to court this afternoon for more jury duty questions: if I do get on the case I'm being questioned about, it's expected to last until the middle of JULY.

Charles

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:54 am

My first experience with a stranger on the internet was before the internet, high school, perhaps 1990?... I had dialed into a BBS and wanted to download some game or another (shareware days) but I didn't understand what the .ZIP extension meant, so this dude helped me get a copy of PKZIP from his site. That was nice.

The next must have been first year of college... probably a predecessor of IRC... or did they have IRC in 1991? Some friend of mine at school was having an "online relationship" with a girl that lived in Maine and got me talking to a friend of hers... I knew the online relationship part was nonsense though, so I didn't get involved.
-bill

anti-m · Post by **anti-m** » Thu May 24, 2007 9:43 am

BLARRRGHH! Plane to Chicago canceled due to "mechanical failure." Hmm. Not exactly confidence inspiring. Now we're flying the only available next flight, which is a red eye, or, as I like to call it, "the screaming infant express." I think I'll actually go back to work for a bit. Might as well be productive until I have to go BACK to the stoopid airport at 10:00. This all reminds me -- I didn't register my vote in the other thread, but I DEFINITELY choose flight over invisibility. (I do love that TAL episode!)

bwell · Post by **bwell** » Thu May 24, 2007 9:53 am

anti-m wrote:I'm off to visit Chicago today... I grew up in Evanston...
What was your first experience talking to strangers on the internet?

Ah, I love Chicago. My parents grew up there and then relocated to southern California before I was born. Almost all of the other relatives still live in Illinois, so it is a frequent vacation spot. I lived in Chicago briefly in 74-75 and then 92.

One of my uncles lives in Evanston and he worked at ETHS for years in various teaching and administrative positions. Two of my cousins graduated from there in the early 90's and one of them is now teaching there. My grandmother also lived in Evanston on Central for several years before she died. I have lots of great memories from all those visits over the years.

My first experience talking to strangers on the internet did not actually come until my first post here (January 1, 2005). I've been online since about 92 (my college did not really have a connection before then), but never bothered posting anything. I was on a bluegrass mailing list (and others for guitar and mandolin) on and off from about 95, but never did move beyond lurking mode. It was kind of strange going to some festivals in 1998 and 1999 and recognizing people based on their online commentary. But, this forum has been my only real public online interactive experience.

boltoph · Post by **boltoph** » Thu May 24, 2007 10:47 am

anti-m wrote:What was your first experience talking to strangers on the internet?

Mine was here, at Songfight. January, 2005. I'd never even seen a "messageboard", before then, and all my IM and Email had been with people I'd already known in person. I'd never even really used a computer until 1998...and now I manage a media production department for a large college textbook publisher...the world is a strange place, I guess.

Hoblit · Post by **Hoblit** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:14 pm

First experience with strangers was a chat room I found when I first moved to Florida. Honed my unexercised typing skills after 8 years.

First time I met folks I had first met online was the second year of Songfight Live in Lancaster, PA. Was not disapointed.

anti-m · Post by **anti-m** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:32 pm

bwell wrote:One of my uncles lives in Evanston and he worked at ETHS for years in various teaching and administrative positions. Two of my cousins graduated from there in the early 90's and one of them is now teaching there. My grandmother also lived in Evanston on Central for several years before she died. I have lots of great memories from all those visits over the years.

Wild! I graduated from ETHS in '91! Perhaps your uncle taught me a thing or two! I grew up one block North of Central street on Hartzell St. It was a great place to grow up. <br><br>In other news, I managed to procure a scrip' to knock me out on the red eye out of here...so there's at least some hope that I'll be able to sleep on the plane. Whee!

anti-m · Post by **anti-m** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:33 pm

...Hmmm just as I suspected, almost everyone's encounters with "strangers on the internet" has been overwhelmingly positive. Go figure.

Smalltown Mike · Post by **Smalltown Mike** » Thu May 24, 2007 1:26 pm

anti-m wrote:... almost everyone's encounters with "strangers on the internet" has been overwhelmingly positive...

I met Des on the internet, and he's got wandering hands in person.

So yea, overwhelmingly positive.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Thu May 24, 2007 3:33 pm

It's a beautiful, but slow moving day
Just ate lunch
Reading posts here
almost fell asleep
Not because you guys are boring
I'm just extra tired today
Well, you're a little boring
But that's ok
I need to get back to a job site
Finishing up a pool to start filling it today
They have a huge party Friday night
I hate close deadlines
But my guys are kicking ass
I think we'll be the only company finished on time
The other workers are just standing around
That's what happens with no supervision

My first Internet interaction was a strange one. I was doing the Napster thing and enjoying the new world like most people. Then I was talking to this girl (in the meat world) that I've known for years. She's a bass player and had an all girl power trio and did a lot of main stream punk. She was in our music circle and we played with them often. One night after their show we were talking about our day jobs. She seemed to make really good money and she had a new big van for their equipment and great equipment. Then she told me about her "naked" chat site. I never heard of such a thing, but she gave me a guest pass to check her out. Everyone was talking about stupid stuff and guys asking her to get naked. But you have to pay to see her lady business, lol. I chatted with her for a bit, and she told me she could get me access if I wanted to watch her next strip show. I'm no dummy, I said sure. She was hot, but I felt weird, like a peeping Tom or something. Although I never watched her strip again, I did pop in to say hi to her (with her clothes on) and talk about up coming shows and such.
She has since finished school and is happily married with two kids. I heard from one of the other girls from her band, that the guy she married was one of her customers, lol. I ran into her about a year ago, and she is still hot. Her perv hubby is a lucky man.

Live, Love, Rock
Chris

jack · Post by **jack** » Thu May 24, 2007 4:17 pm

Heather. Redmon. wrote: My first real experience with internet strangers would be here on SongFight! I made quite a few faux pas when I first started posting here (actually on the old Dumbrella board). I think I'm better at it now, but I do still open mouth, insert foot, every once in a while.

well, it goes without saying that i probably instigated you.

but we have come around full circle pretty nicely i might add.

Heather. Redmon. · Post by **Heather. Redmon.** » Thu May 24, 2007 4:36 pm

Agreed! We certainly are the best of friends now! I think it had something to do with the Santa Cruz conncection! I still think it's weird that we don't know each other! I mean, I call you Jack, but I know that's not your real name... If I met you would I still call you Jack?

Damn my stupid back problems and lack of money last year, I sure wanted to meet you!

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Thu May 24, 2007 4:38 pm

I still called him Jack.

I had a hard time calling "Puce" puce though... in person, it just didn't roll of the tongue properly.

So I called him "pucifer". Much nicer.