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Free Skate
by anna at 07:14 PM on June 15, 2005
This site has some great history. It started from nothing with basically MG and Snaggle churning out posts with no comment feature. Through the Ezy/Linz golden era the author pool grew to 45, mostly inactive. There have been 2500 entries, generating 17,500 comments. Ah, the comments. Something sorely lacking of late. As far as I know MG eliminated the users on line feature, but I am sure he knows. And I bet it is the usual 25-35 at any given time. Yet we write posts for ya'll, basically like performing seals at rehearsals for the circus, to a deafening silence. It gets a tad old. Particularly with MG's snazzy new design, we want the site to remain vibrant. But for that to happen, we need comments.
Everyone must pull their weight. For my part I have tried different approaches to posting but to little avail. I've also tried to comment myself but unless I can get on my kid's computer I can only type one letter at a time and then I have to click off an error message. D'oh!
So here is one more stab at it---a free skate. If you are here, then comment. If you don't, MG will know who you are. He will use a combination of your IPO and other info he has to track you down and infect your PC with some awful worm or virus. Or maybe he'll just run off with your identity, who knows? Just kidding, he'd never do that unless you pissed him off.
But seriously folks. Below you will find some of the nebulous quotes I used at the beginning of my book. These are things that could mean just about anything to anyone, that's why I chose them. Pick one or all and take a moment to share your thoughts about it with us. Agree? Disagree? Simply nonsense? Don't even worry if you're at work, it won't go on your permanent record. And if it does, who cares, really? Hey, it's free. So here goes:
The spectacle originates in the loss of unity of the world, and the gigantic
expansion of the modern spectacle expresses the totality of this loss.
-Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle.
It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
-Gore Vidal
You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quite stiff and ordinary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked.
-Franz Kafka
The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to
look things in the face and know them for what they are.
-Marcus Aurelius
As in a blizzard, simple but fundamental verities will emerge. These are the familiar elements of legend and myth that have endured over time simply because they are required in times of peril. Classic virtues that didn’t necessarily pay off in an Unraveling (like loyalty, reliability, patience, perseverance, thrift and selflessness) will become hard currency in Crisis.
-from William Strauss and Neil Howe’s remarkably prescient
1997 tome The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy.
These people came to do a mission, and completed it brilliantly. Most of us would not choose such a mission, but we each have our own mission and path to follow, and perhaps as a result of the Heaven’s Gate suicides, people who have been floundering will find their way and be guided to fulfill their own unique roles in the Divine Plan. I honor you, people of Heaven’s Gate, and I wish you well on your journey through the stars.
-self-professed Wiccan Lora Lumara Lee, as culled from the Witch’s Voice website
What if Do IS from the Kingdom of God? What if He IS the same mind, the same soul, who was here 2000 years ago in the body of the one called Jesus?... No one seems to be asking if maybe these individuals went exactly where they said they were going, to the Next Level.
-Heaven’s Gate survivor Rkkody, formerly Charles
Humphrey, on his dearly departed comrades
Always we hope someone else has the answer. Some other place will be better. Some other time, it will all turn out. This is it: No one else has the answer. No other place will be better. And it has already turned
out. At the center of your being you have the answer. Search your heart and see the way to do is to be.
-Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu
Do not weep, do not wax indignant. Understand.
-Baruch Spinoza
Well?
comments (30)
Book? You wrote a book?
Oh, and I haven't gone IPO yet, so mg can't track me that way. Though that might be a good idea to raise funds..... what do you think, $10/share to start with?
by snaggle at June 16, 2005 12:45 AM
Yeah, it is a satiical take on events of the nineties/early 00s from the O-Jay Fiasco to Heaven's Gate to the Battle in Seattle to 9/11. How it all came unraveled.
What did I mean to say, ISP? I can't keep it all straight.
by anna at June 16, 2005 7:56 AM
I don't know about anyone else, but it sure seems time to finally shut this old girl down.
by mg at June 16, 2005 12:25 PM
No... you can't shut it down... not yet...
...it's funny... some of the most trying times of my life were encapsulated within the BadSamaritan era... 2001-2005... Badsamaritan is associated with trauma and loss, with scattered bits of joy in Lockheed's life...
...I'd like it to be around for a little while more... just one last pathetic gasp at a good life...
by LOCKHEED at June 17, 2005 11:45 AM
An MG, it's going to cool down this weekend, so make sure your daughter is snug and doesn't catch a cold...
by LOckheed at June 17, 2005 11:46 AM
Shut...it...down? Perish the thought. Then again, look at the response to this pathetic groveling post. Hmmm.
Again, comments are free and it won't show up on your permanent record. Besides, IT sorts have a lot more to worry about than your secret blog-surfing habits.
by anna at June 17, 2005 12:51 PM
If it shuts down, Anna, we'll have to merger www.tradinganddrugs.blogspot.com with Puddle of Muddle...
we'll go public...
...we'll be comfortable...
by LOCKHHEEED at June 17, 2005 1:11 PM
What are you guys doing badsam for? Do you want to see how many people are actually commenting? Or do you just have shit on your mind that needs to get out before it devours you? If it's the first one then you need to shut down badsam and go on to something else. I have been lurking at badsam for a good part of a year or more. Sometimes the posts are great and I have to laugh, other posts need no comment because they are no worth the time to respond. But that's the nature of the blog world. But whatever happens to badsam I will always remember the crazy stuff I have read here.
I must say that badsam is one of the better blogs I read daily. I also peruse boingboing and eye of the goof but badsam I read daily.
So from one lurker, decide why you are here and go from there.
by Long Time Lurker at June 17, 2005 2:17 PM
Oh Yeah,
I was also promised an Ass whoopin'. So who's gonna give it to me?
by Long Time Lurker at June 17, 2005 2:25 PM
Well now, closing down an institution like BadSam seems somewhat like a crime to me. Being that it's partially my fault, seeing as how I haven't been around, I apologize. Actually, I received a promotion at work that has taken almost all of my free time to this point. I have just gotten things organized to the point that I can screw off a bit again. I'll have something posted soon about what has been going on in my life. Amy and I will be married one year this Saturday and things are great. I'll tell more later. Peace!! By the way, who IS left from the old guard?
by Ezy at June 17, 2005 4:22 PM
I see "I eat poo, you eat poo" is still bringing in the comments ;-)
by Ezy at June 17, 2005 4:25 PM
To be honest, with me at least, its not something y'all are/arent doing. Its just good old fashioned english reservation;p I've not noticed anyone on this site being treating us lurkers any differently than frequent posters, so thats not the problem.
As for new visitors, perhaps a short profile of the main authors which is readily available via the front page would be a good idea. Nothing fancy, just to fill people in without having to read the entire back catalogues..
Re firefox:I'm on 1024x786, WinXP2. I'm sure its proberly a plugin problem, and nothing for you to really worry about. I'll try uninstalling them one by one someday to see if I can resolve the issue. In any case, it only cuts out the last few words per line, and when I expand to see comments I can see the whole thing again:)
by flibble at June 17, 2005 4:27 PM
oh, and Anna, you possibly meant either the ISP (service provider) or IP (Internet Protocol) address, either of which would be helpful in tracking lurkers down and sending all manner of electronic elder ones after them:)
by flibble at June 17, 2005 4:30 PM
In RE comments I lurked @ work 4 months b4 uttering a peep, havent shut up since. maybe there's hope. Hey Ezy!
by anna at June 17, 2005 6:21 PM
Hmm.. how annoying. I'm sure I pressed post:/
I dont recall any time when long time posters have been anything less than friendly to new posters, so the problems not something in 'the culture'. Possibly having brief biogs of the main posters linked clearly to the main page would help people acclimatise without trawling through the archives. Maybe a little 'hi, stay, post' message pinned to the top?
Re firefox: I'm running FF1.04 on WinXP SP2. It maybe due to one of the extentions I've added; I'll try to try removing them one by one to see.
Hmm.. actually, its just me not putting the window into full screen. The main text doesnt wrap (understandably, as I guess it would mess up the formatting) so it full screen it fits well, but when the FF is slightly windowed (~90% of the screen) it loses the last word or so. Sorry about that, I should try things like this out before complaining about the layout.
by flibble at June 17, 2005 8:06 PM
Hmm.. how annoying. I'm sure I pressed post:/
I dont recall any time when long time posters have been anything less than friendly to new posters, so the problems not something in 'the culture'. Possibly having brief biogs of the main posters linked clearly to the main page would help people acclimatise without trawling through the archives. Maybe a little 'hi, stay, post' message pinned to the top?
Re firefox: I'm running FF1.04 on WinXP SP2 at 1024x786. It maybe due to one of the extentions I've added; I'll try to try removing them one by one to see.
Hmm.. actually, its just me not putting the window into full screen. The main text doesnt wrap (understandably, as I guess it would mess up the formatting) so in full screen it fits well, but when the FF is slightly windowed (~90% of the screen) the last word or so is lost. Sorry about that, I should try things like this out before complaining about the layout.
by flibble at June 17, 2005 8:09 PM
THE BSBOT... I've preached it's merits since 2001 c.e.
we'll turn this bitch into an exchange...
...remember, we almost had a real market going with Israeli Soldier deaths vs PLO deaths... effenheimer and I actually made the first trade for 1 dollar... the price went down to .90 , I bought another contract of of effenheimer at .90 and then the price went back up to 1.10, and effenheimer decided to cough up and buy back his short sells of two contracts at 1.10. So I made .30 cents and Eff lost .30 ....it was great.
by LOCKHHED at June 17, 2005 8:44 PM
what the...my post vanished
by lockheed at June 17, 2005 8:45 PM
OR just let's make it simple:
Straightforward fixed contract:
By the End of July Google (GOOG) will have traded at 307 or above.
by Lockheed at June 17, 2005 8:52 PM
I'd be sad to see Bad Sam shut down. It's still today the only group, personal blog I think is worth reading, but of course it's up to you, MG. You pay the bills! I guess several of us have our own blogs, so we'll still be publishing.
I wonder why there is so much less activity here now. Is it because we've all grown up and gotten busier and more boring? Is it because the 'net or blogging has changed? Who knows.
I'd go further than LTL and say that none of the big-time bloggers have anything on Bad Sam. Sure they win Webbys and Bloggies, but their writing always seems self-serving. Cultivating a hero image seems at least as important as getting across an idea. Bad Sam is opposite-- a round robin where we play off each other as equals, like we're telling stories around the campfire.
Whatever you do, I just want you to know there are a ton of sites I know full well about but never touch: boingboing, kuro5hin, Jason Kottke, Esther Dyson, Cory Doctorow, Anil Dash, Waxy, the list goes on. Forget them all. I read Metafilter, Robot Wisdom, Slashdot when I can take it, my Livejournal Friendslist, the London Review when it comes in the mail, and Bad Samaritan. I even let my five- or six-year old Salon membership lapse this year! I've felt this way for a while but I thought I'd say this in public at least once. :) Hope it makes sense, as I'm really tired right now.
by jean at June 17, 2005 9:27 PM
I used to rad Mellie's blog Ordinary Morning. But one day the comment feature just disapeeared, and she used to garner scads of responses. Now I've lost interest. But I must say, whenever I did comment there I felt ignored as if I were some kind of outsider. No so here.
by anna at June 18, 2005 1:00 AM
I've lurked off and on for a couple of years now, and whilst BadSam occasionally slips free from my favorates list between installs, it always makes it back in the end.
As for commenting, the encyclopediaesque site Everything2 has/had a motto: earn your bullshit. And I think theres some truth in that - if you've commented a few times a week for years, you can say drivel and not have people think badly of you. But in sites where you comment infrequently at best, everything you say should be compelling and mesmerising. You know, a tour de force. Or at least mildly interesting..
I for one would be sad to see this site go. But I can see how it must be frustrating to post in to an audience of tumbleweed. Its sad when for whatever reason more people have drifted away than are replaced by waylayed browsers. I blame google - wheres the fun in having web searches be easy?
On a side note, I have to say one barrier to coming here these days is that the new layout is broken on Firefox 1.04, causing the main post text to leak into the right hand sidebar. Not the end of the world, although it does force me to go back to IE *spits*
by flibble at June 18, 2005 1:59 AM
there are probably a number of poeple just like me (when the people on-line counter was still here there always seemed to be 15 - 20 people reading at any one time)...I love reading the posts here, but having been through the newsgroup flame-fests of 1996-98 I just don't have the heart to comment usually - and the times I do have the heart, it's cause I'm in attack mode. I don't wanna' do that. In addition, the few times I might have had something to say it wasn't related to anybody else's posts or comments, so it seemed a little odd to just dump it just anyplace. Kind of like crapping on a busy (or not so busy) sidewalk.
by anotherlongtimelurker at June 18, 2005 2:44 AM
What could we possibly do to make it to be more inviting/comfortable for new or infrequent visitors to comment? I'd be willing to try anything... offer money, sex?
Flibble: I'm using Firefox 1.0.4 and haven't noticed that particular problem. What is your screen resolution? The site was designed for resolutions above 800x600. I'm sure I could tweak to get it to work at 800 width, but it is such a small percentage of visitors these days.
by mg at June 18, 2005 3:28 AM
I thought I'd posted that reply. Something very strange has happened with the database I guess..
by flibble at June 18, 2005 3:08 PM
WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THE DATABASE... MIXED COMMENTS....
.... WWW.TRADINGANDDRUGS.BLOGSPOT.COM
...FUCKING GO THERE AND COMMENT ON MY LATEST POST
by LOCKHEED at June 19, 2005 2:01 AM
I go on vacation and when I get back I hear Bad Sam might end?? Wha? I was at a design conference and then went to see Sleater-Kinney, so I'm all inspired to do some creative shit. I had a grand idea for something on my blog, but maybe I'll try it out here.
by MrBlank at June 20, 2005 5:14 PM
As I recall the last serious brsh with death that MG had lead to my elevation to author status. Something that I have not kept up my end of (not compared to Anna, that's for sure)
It seems this site goes through constant death and rebirth, and probably always will. Probably a function of the lack of any theme per se. Those sites that have a definitive purpose, and that strike a cord in the net, often seem to be the ones that take off. perhaps it is due for another renewal of some type (not graphics wise, that's new and fresh).
The post about the police at your door in the early hours of the morning was interesting, but from the premable to that story, I gather that incidents of that type are few and far between.
Nice to see some people are around anyway. This is the only blog that I read on a recurring basis. read others here and there, but none have stuck...
As for the ordinary morning blog. I stopped reading it when the comment feature disappeared. never felt at home there either, not like here... Just lurked aroudn waiting for her to put up a picture of her nursing her kid. I guess he's a little old for a picture like that to surface now... ah, lost opportunities....
by chuck woolery at June 20, 2005 11:49 PM
You can tell that I haven't commented in awhile. That last comment has typos, poor and missed punctuation, and referred to a post by MG seemingly as a post by Anna.
Time to go to bed.
by chuck woolery at June 20, 2005 11:52 PM
Yeah I was wondering about that. It's been a long time since cops darkened my doorway. i'm now a law-abiding citizen.
by anna at June 21, 2005 7:30 AM