HELLO. HELLO. CAN YOU HEAR ME I AM CALLING LONG DISTANCE. CAN YOU HEAR
ME.

A message in two parts.

Part one. EFF -- Thanks, truly, for everything. Mitch, John, Rita, the
two hardcore techie nerds I ate dinner with (flattery not an insult! :-)
(I are one too). John Berman too, even though he wears a suit and lives
in DC. (Another joke; see part2.)

And thanks for the award. I really am awed by it all, in spite of
appearing to some to not take it seriously (see part 2).


Part two. John (Barlow) -- I hope you didn't think I was baiting you or
whatever that night in Tenney's room. I wasn't. Really. I was sincere.
Chalk it up to culture-clash. YOU EAT LIVE BUGS OUT OF THE AIR?? YUCK!!
That sort of thing. I noticed an interesting thing when I started to
think about it. Here 'tis for your enjoyment:

I had a number of subtle and really quite minor reality-jarring
experiences at CFP2 also. Nothing serious -- just things that I/they
said that they/I took wrong. ("Was s/he kidding? Was I just insulted?
Was that a joke? Hmm..." etc) 

A specific example, at HACKERS 3.0? The one in the jewish retreat in
Santa Clara or wherever. I was in some variation of punk drag, and Rudy
Rucker says, with a flourish, "Great look." I was insulted! Not great
hair, great jacket, whatever (flattery) but I took it instinctively to
mean, what a great costume/disguise/whatever, ie. I dressed up for the
occasion ie. this isn't really me. Maybe I can't describe the sensation
now, because it was so long ago.

Most likely he wasn't privvy to the tensions ever-present in various
other-cultures, which are always under attack and under explicit or
implied pressure. And I was certainly far too touchy. The specific
information is lost (Hawking tells us time == entropy). Obviously I took
it far too seriously, but that was my state at the time. I know Rudy is
a cool person. Oh well. I believe I would have a very different response
to the same event today.

I offer this (CFP2, Rudy at Hackers, etc) as: an example of social
symbol misinterpretation. This is how it happens. And this is within a
fairly homogenous bunch of smart people! These are obviously very minor,
otherwise-unimportant events of course.

Imagine what can happen when people are *truly* different. 

I know you know about this. I thought you'd find it interesting, like a
found object. And, in some ways it's the flip-side to my frustration in
trying to describe to netpeople (amongst others) my difficulty with
access related issues (ie. affordability, specific social symbols and
images being moved about, "cultural imperialism" (can you think of a
better phrase), etc).

No reply necessary. I realize this is a long message. 



PS: Q: What's the opposite of entropy? A: Consciousness.

END OF MESSAGE

CARRIER LOST
#$$($_)_~~i~i~~
