Things are calm but changing here in Rob-land.

Apologies to my regular front page readers (both of you) for not posting since almost around election day. No I haven't been in a state of depressive catatonia over the first apparently legitimate term of George W. Bush or packing my things together for a trip to Canada. I have been reading a lot of material that has changed a lot of my views on the world in general and goals of life. Most of this happened after my General Design 25 post, but for what I hold to be a very interesting coincidence.

For about a week now I've had a serious aversion to any sort of negativity. The optimism bouncing around in my head seems to react poorly to any sort of talk of revenge, or people getting their just deserts, or the sight of anyone I care about in a less than upbeat mood. Seeing any of that just sets my mind spinning into a flurry of ways to repair the situation. So far the results have been positive, although I can't really say I've been living up to my own recent expectations, I've managed to improve other people's perceptions of me enough that at least three people have mentioned it to others who have passed it along to me.

I don't say this to be boastful, just to share my recent outlook.

I'm hoping that a vector of this new outlook on life will be a renewal of my geek ethic. By that I mean not so much a moral geek compass but the same thing people mean when they describe a Protestant work ethic, only with more electronics. I've stumbled on a new set of reasons to expand my horizons and enhance my understanding of the world that the world of computers and information exchange wasn't really able to stimulate in me anymore. It has a spiritual background, but it is remarkably practical.

I've written a lot more than this lately but deep in my heart I know that "information yearns to be free" is more than a hacker catch-phrase, and anything I write on a computer has the potential to appear in the strangest places. I think a lot of my exploration will be done online, but my comprehension will be a bit more behind the scenes.

I know I'm not usually so opaque and I apologize, but I promise to write more in the near future.

Like I said, change is afoot.

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