Thursday, February 20, 2014

...Then Stardust


An Owl Morpho found on the Kauffman Garden blog.

Above is a photo of an Owl Morpho, an exotic moth-like butterfly found at Kauffman Garden. That is, the same Kauffman Memorial Garden where Mac's ashes were scattered to the winds four years ago. I suppose if one has to have a final resting place, Kauffman Gardens would be an excellent choice - prime real estate, for sure - but then, I imagine human ashes only rest for awhile... before spiraling off into space, the home of their ancestors.

Kind of like the stones which were intended to guide you here, to Post-Mac Blues' official new home.

Which didn't happen.

PMB hasn't budged, and, as of this writing, is unlikely to. Not only is too much entailed, but it appears there are, to my knowledge, two mirror "araqinta" blogs that (seemingly) appeared overnight. Each has "araqinta" in the URL, but they originate from different countries.*

About those stones... my latest graphic image (and parting shot) "Stones in Space" (below), was inspired by an old Jewish custom of leaving "visitation stones" at the burial sites of those who were once cherished in life. As per usual, I just ran with it, re-envisoning the strange corrugated fragment floating in the background image of this blog as a type of cyberspace monument... and the perfect place for a collection of visitation and/or "memory" stones (Note: not to be confused with the "smarter" variety, and/or robot pebbles Mac may have preferred!) When I started imagining them spiraling off into the stars, however, the metaphor for moving this blog didn't even occur to me. Incidentally, the image (below the jump) was to appear on the redirection page. Well, it was a nice idea anyway.

Friday, February 14, 2014

V-Day







"That's right -- I didn't blog at all yesterday. That's because Valentine's Day is a time of mourning."

- Mac Tonnies, Posthuman Blues, February, 2007



Ah, that Mac... always a man after my own, uh, heart... appropriately, I'm wearing black for the festivities.

And, somewhat like a Failed Romantic's "hopes" for a Happy Valentine's Day, my hopes for changing the URL on PMB (anytime too soon) were dashed upon the rocky shores of reality. (Or, in this case, drowned within the virtual quagmire of depressingly undecipherable geek-speak that constitutes the Blogger "Help" section.)

So, I had this rather tantalizing "Welcome to our new home" scenario all cooked up, only to have to shift gears at the zero hour - or, more to the point, "ground zero" hour - and head for plan B. Only there wasn't a plan B.

That being said, in preparation for the memorial's move - and my extended absence - I've been busily restructuring the sidebar and closing down comment sections. As I want to keep a few comment sections open, however, this entailed going through all 300 posts, one at a time (!). Really.

(BTW, pardon that "comments are not allowed" line. It was not my choice. My choice would've been the less matriarchal: "Comment section closed.").

Meanwhile, you'll note a lot of new stuff on the sidebar. I figured out how to get tiny videos up using the HTML gadget: the first is a music video featuring Mac's last "Blip" - Byrne and Eno's "Everything that Happens" (uploaded on his last corporeal day) - and a clip of Mac's hero, George Carlin. These may be changed periodically. I've also restructured two old posts into two new areas which are open to "comments"... (though not necessarily comments directed to me). These posts, or, rather rooms, have new doors on the sidebar. If you're familiar with PMB, you've probably already found them. I'm also considering adding a third room. We'll see. As of now, the comment sections in the designated "rooms" are open, as is the comment section of this post. I will always keep the last post's comment section open... and, I'm going to assume whatever arrives there is intended for me.

Anyway, I've added some new quotes, new links, and I'm trying to get a small gallery of Aliens - those appearing elsewhere on PMB, for the most part - at the bottom of the sidebar. (Blogger is not cooperating with this last effort. The colors of my images are looking positively contaminated.)

So, you are now reading what is not the last post. This is surely progress.

And, it's Valentine's Day (heretofore known as V-Day for us fringe-dwellers) and it's snowing again... for the third time this week.

I don't know which is worse.

(Posthuman Blues "Valentines" from 2004 & 2005.)

***

Note: despite the fact that this post - "V-Day" - is appearing as the last post on external blog-rolls, the most recent, and actual final post is "...Then Stardust". So, if you've reached this post from an external source, consider yourself informed. :-)