living in new york city means we get to experience differents types of laws that keeps changing within short periods. some of them makes sense, some of them burdens the residents further more, some of them needs to abide to the extreme way. since bloomberg becomes the mayor, there are several of new regulations that we need to abide by. one of them is the anti-smoking campaign. i have discussed it several times in the past that bloomberg is doing this anti-smoking campaign to the extreme.. something that was never accomplished by any nyc mayors before.
in the late summer, he passed the law to raise the tax on cigarettes after doing a strong campaign against cigarette smoking in nyc. because of the tax-hike, the cost of a box of cigarette in nyc is almost 7 dollars per box while everywhere else in america is costing in average of $2.50-$3. i don't really get affected by this law, cuz i don't smoke and actually did a favor for my condition. but i guess this law wasn't good enough for him that he started to ban smoking inside the clubs and restaurants. see, many cities in california and some states in the west have done this a while ago, but new york was always known for its flexibility on the matter. bloomberg was trying to change this. and virtually since two weeks ago, this law has been practiced city wide. again.. it does a favor for me, cuz i always hate to go to clubs and restaurants that allow smoking.. it gives me allergy and headaches..
tragically, last weekend -- while enforcing the law -- a bouncer from a club in lower east side got stabbed. apparently someone was smoking inside the club and he asked her to put it out. while celebrating a birthday party with a bunch of friends, this group of people involved in a brawl with the bouncer and resulted him to get stabbed in the groin. he died 11 hours later in the hospital. the police couldn't find enough evidence to point to a suspect, until on tuesday an isaias umali got caught as the suspect of the murder. at the same day, me and ac heard the news that a friend of ours (well, it's actually ac's long time friend) was in police custody because he had stabbed someone. we didn't know this story until we saw this article today to put the two stories together that in fact it was isaias who did the crime. this is tragic.... this is the first crime happened while enforcing this new law..
i see isaias -- although do not know him very well -- as someone who is calm, sincere and a very nice person. he just had a birthday last january and we were there to celebrate it with him. what had happened just doesn't sound like him to do this, i never see him as a violent person. but apparently, he did have something to do with it cuz he tried to kill himself by slashing his throat and wrist while in the police custody. although he is still alive, he is facing a second-degree murder which means 25 to life jail time, if i'm not mistaken. oh man.. that is so unfortunate..
although my heart goes to the victim... it is still a tragic news to hear someone i know is being charged for a murder... it just leaves me speechless. if indeed isaias stabbed the victim, there's no doubt in my mind that he should pay for the crime he did, it's just too upsetting that a "good" guy like him had thrown his life away over a cigarette.. tragic!!
we all hear that smoking is dangerous for our body, that it will kill you ... and indeed, cigarette did kill...
:: sLesTa
>> posted on 4/26/2003 07:43:00 AM | [
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:: Thursday, April 24 ::
>> LAS MARIPOSAS
note from sLesTa:
sebenernya gue pengen banget posting tulisan kali ini pas hari kartini. sebagai wanita indonesia, gue merasakan kalau perjuangan kartini lah yang bisa bikin gue berada di posisi gue sekarang. perjuangan kartini telat membuat kaum wanita indonesia bisa berkarir, bersekolah tinggi, dan sejajar dengan kaum pria. tapi sayang, akhir² ini gue lagi amat teramat sibuk dengan kerjaan² gue yang gak ada habisnya. so, maaf sekali kalo telat, tapi yang penting gue bisa berbagi cerita.
apa sih las mariposas itu? dalam bahasa inggris las mariposas berarti "butterflies" atau "kupu-kupu" dalam bahasa ibu kita. las mariposas adalah julukan yang ditujukan buat 3 sodara cewek dari dominika republik. nama mereka adalah patria, minerva dan maria teresa mirabal. kenapa gue pengen ngebahas mereka, yang jelas² jauh dari indonesia, baik dari lokasi, bahasa maupun kulturnya? jawabannya karena perjuangan kaum wanita itu tidak hanya ada di negara kita. kita semua tau itu. tapi yang bikin menarik adalah melihat perjuangan kaum wanita dari negara lain. walopun kita berbeda dalam berbagai hal dan tidak saling berhubungan, ternyata semua kaum wanita memiliki keinginan yang sama. keinginan untuk hidup side-by-side dengan kaum pria dan dihargai sebagai manusia tanpa ada diskriminasi. sebagai bangsa indonesia, kita boleh bangga karena ibu kartini sudah menyadari perbedaan ini dan sudah memperjuangkannya sejak awal tahun 1900, sementara kaum wanita di negara² lain masih banyak yang hidup dengan diskriminasi kaum pria nya.
las mariposas muncul di dominika di tahun 1950-1960 *lumayan baru kan?*. julukan ini sebenernya nama underground yang dipakai oleh minerva mirabal sebagai pendahulu di antara sodara²nya untuk menjatuhkan tirani tangan besi presiden rafael trujillo yang sudah berkuasa sejak tahun 1930. dalam kekuasaannya, trujillo sangat lah kejam dan sangat mendiskriminasikan wanita. salah satu contohnya, trujillo tidak membolehkan wanita untuk belajar hukum di universitas. minerva adalah wanita pertama yang akhirnya masuk ke universitas untuk belajar hukum walaupun trujillo melarangnya mengikuti ujian untuk menjadi pengacara. di kehidupan universitas inilah, minerva bertemu dengan manolo yang kemudian menjadi suaminya dan juga pemimpin perjuangan bawah tanah melawan trujillo.
kepopuleran mirabal sisters membuat trujillo semakin yakin bahwa mereka adalah ancaman, dan mereka pun dimasukkan ke penjara, juga suami² mereka. di tahun 1960, organisasi dari american states mengecam kepemerintahan trujillo dan mengirim utusan untuk mengobservasi situasi di dominika. akibatnya, trujillo terpaksa membebaskan minerva dan mate yang saat itu sedang dipenjara, tapi tetap membiarkan suami mereka mendekam di penjara.
pada tanggal 25 november, 1960, patria, minerva, dan mate diperbolehkan untuk datang menjenguk suami mereka. tapi yang mereka tidak ketahui bahwa trujillo telah mengutuskan kaki tangannya untuk menjegat mereka dalam perjalanan pulang. mereka dipukuli dengan brutal menggunakan stik bambu sampai mereka meninggal. mobil mereka dibuang ke jurang seakan² mereka meninggal akibat kecelakaan. tapi tentu saja, semua orang tau kalo semua itu adalah perbuatan jahat trujillo untuk melenyapkan ancaman bagi kepemimpinannya. and that was the beginning of the end of the trujillo regime.
sampai sekarang mirabal sisters adalah pahlawan bagi warga dominika sebagaimana halnya kartini buat orang indonesia. mungkin perjuangan mereka berbeda, tapi pada akhirnya, perjuangan mereka diingat sebagai perjuangan untuk kaum wanita. kartini memperjuangan kaum wanita indonesia supaya bisa sekolah ke jenjang yang lebih tinggi, sementara mirabal sisters dijadikan simbol perjuangan kaum wanita melawan kekerasan. november 25 is now remembered as the international day for women against violence.
sebagai wanita indonesia, gue bangga pada kartini. sebagai wanita, gue sadar akan perjuangan yang musti dilalui oleh wanita² sebelom gue. sebagai generasi muda, gue bersukur telah diberikan kebebasan dalam berpikir, bertindak, berilmu dan berkarir. jadikanlah kebebasan yang telah diperjuangkan ini sebagai candu untuk berprestasi, berjuang, dan memetik hasil dengan kerja keras. jangan hanya mengulurkan tangan untuk dikasihani, dan menjadikan diri kita sebagai korban tanpa perjuangan.
:: sLesTa
>> posted on 4/24/2003 04:18:00 AM | [
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:: Saturday, April 19 ::
>> THE FART-MACHINE
isn't that an eye catching title? hihihiii... akhir² ini di kantor gue ada maenan baru. my buddy, shawn, bought this toy called "the fart machine". iseng? iya emang. dia emang orang paling iseng sedunia. so this machine has a remote control and different sounds of fart. it looks like a baby monitor or a small speaker. biasanya shawn suka iseng naro maenan ini di meja atau di bawah kursinya seseorang, trus dia sok² nyamperin mau nanya sesuatu sambil mencetin remote-nya. so usually in the middle of their conversation the "preet.. preeet.. preett" sound will stop the conversation, trus dia pura² kaget and said.. "excuse you!!" sambil ngeliatin orang yang dikerjain with the "shame on you" look. hhahaha.. biasanya berhasil setelah kita² pada ketawa ngakak di ruang sebelah. he even does it with our boss in between his "crazy" mode.
seru sih, cuz it creates a friendly atmosphere in the office. tapi kadang² gue suka penasaran with how people fascinate themselves with fart. maybe not the smell.. heheh.. more like the sound. think about it.. there are different kinds of fart-sound and i know.. you know how yours sound. ngomongin ttg kentut biasanya suka diikuti dengan kata "maaf" karena di beberapa culture sepertinya taboo kalo ngomongin ttg kebiasaan manusia yang satu ini. padahal semua manusia pasti mengalami, bahkan ini merupakan salah satu aktivitas tubuh kita yang lumayan wajar & sehat. bayangkan aja kalo misalnya kita gak kentut², pastinya kan bakal dapet banyak penyakit, dari sakit perut, constipation, and so on and so forth.
menurut ilmu biologi yang gue pelajari -- walopun nilai biologi gue gak pernah bagus *i suck at biology* -- we have a small chemical factory in the lower part of the digestive system. it contains millions of bacteria who digest some of the material that you have not already digested and absorbed. bacteria ini paling suka ama makanan² yang mengandung tri and tetrasugars, yang biasanya ada di bawang bombay, bawang putih, kacang merah, dan jenis sayuran laennya. eating these vegetables will stimulate the intestinal bacteria which metabolize these sugars, to produce gas. this gas escape through the anus either as a whisper or as a gun explosion *lol*. hihihi.. see i can't stop laughing while writing this. ok, let's continue.. this is interesting...
as the gas farted, it usually contains methane. people sometime do stupid things like trying to lit the gas emerging, to produce flames coming from their backside. hehhe.. now if you're a big fan of south park like i am, you'd probably remember when cartman was trying to lit his fart and ended up killing kenny from the burning. hueahahah.. that was a hillarious episode. now, so you know the basic on how gas is produced.
fart-fascination goes to all people in all ages. emang sih gak sampe obsessed gitu, but i know people who always tell fart jokes and just so amazed with fart that they just can't stop farting.. oops, i mean, telling the jokes. dan emang gak ada salahnya kok *selama gak bau.. hihi..*. besides as far as i know, when the gas is out, it usually cracks a smile on people, particularly the doers. emang sih bikin seneng soalnya bebas dengan pressure dari gas yang sembelit di perut. tapi masalahnya when someone farts it usually follows by the awful smell. makanya biasanya kalo mau kentut, orang biasanya sembunyi² supaya gak kecium orang laen. lagian gak sopan kalo kentut di depan orang². although a friend of mine told me once that you can measure the comfort level of your relationship with someone when you are able to fart, burp, and do all that grossy stuff in front of your other half. although not entirely true and among other things, i kinda agree with that.
and here, with shawn's fart machine, people make money out of it. it's a toy that make people laugh, and yet no smell. since shawn brought it to work, everybody at work wanna get one so now we start calling him fart boy *lol*. my other co-worker bought one and use it to wake up his son in the morning, cuz apparently his son is so annoyed by that sound. for 10 bux a pop, it sure hell make the maker rich. ada² aja deh....
and just last night, we had this conversation about fart. while ac was doing something in front of the computer, my bro was watching tv and i was on "iseng" mode ngegangguin ac...
me: *to ac* "hey, did you just fart?"
ac: "no, maybe you did!"
me: "so what's this smell... come on just admit it.. hihihi"
bro: "maybe because because your mouth is too close to your nose.."
:: sLesTa
>> posted on 4/19/2003 01:51:00 AM | [
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:: Thursday, April 17 ::
>> IF YOU CAN MAKE IT HERE, YOU CAN MAKE IT ANYWHERE
we all know that there are only 24 hours in a day. when i was young, this number seems large. hell, when we were young, any two digits numbers seem large. but 24 hours in a day does not seem enough these days, does it? it is known that united states is the most productive country. workers in this country is highly competitive and expected to generate high productivity. being a resident of new york city, i know that new yorkers take this competition and expectancy even higher.
since i was young, i always dreamed of holding a job and live in new york city. now that i have somewhat has fulfilled my dreams, there are times that i feel incomplete because of how little time i spend for my personal use. living in new york city is tough. it requires hard work. just as frank sinatra's "new york, new york".. if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.. and it is so true. and that's the beauty of it. and just like any metropolitan city, this city is very hectic. it opens for business 24 hours a day, the city that never sleeps. but the problem is, the city may be open for 24 hours, but humans run the city and we are all humans. new yorkers may be a very 'determined' human beings, but we're definitely not robots who can run our body for the whole 24 hours.
let's see... to increase our productivity, it's not uncommon to see new yorkers worker for more than 8 hours a day. most of us work between 10-12 hours a day, i know some people do more. as the home of the largest volume of stock exchanges, financial goals took priority over all other business considerations. in pursuing this single-minded strategy, it has gradually transformed the paternalistic workplace familiar to white-collar workers into our present darwinian arena, which characterizes as a sweatshop, according to fraser. my average stay at work is 10 hrs. plus 2 hours for commuting back and forth. that leaves me 12 hours for my personal things. if i hold a class after work, it usually takes 3 hours of my time. i leave home around 8, got to work around 9, stay at work until 6 if i have school, 7 or 8 if i don't have school. school usually starts at 6, got out at 9, home by 10. sometimes i'd spend another hour to cook, eat dinner and clean up. another hour or two relaxing in front of the tv. another hour to read or go browsing on the net. by the time i go to bed, it's already 1 o'clock in the morning. sleep for 6 hours, got up around 7, do my morning things for an hour and on my way to work again by 8. don't i sound like a robot already? everyday in the subway i'd try to steal some catnaps in between the rides. but most of the times i'm so tired that i couldn't let my eyes closed and did some readings instead.
after doing this for years *at least for the past 3 years that i've been in school*, although i still have the energy to go on, my body is wearing down. i'm tired most of the time, stressing out with workload, and the only time i have left for myself is during the weekend when i suppose to go out and socialize, but rarely got to do. sometimes weekend means catching up on my school work. living in america is hard, particularly in new york city when work hours are long and holidays are short. unlike most of the european countries who has 4 weeks vacation and got some period of time off during the summer, we can only take 2 weeks vacation in all entire year. sometimes when the workload is unbelievable, we even take them home and delay our vacation. so why are we busting our chops so much? well, personally it's because i believe that while i'm still young, when i have all the energy to carry the full day, why not use it to the fullest. when i can test how far i can go until i can no longer able to. besides i love the city and i know this city can offer so much. work hard, play hard as they said and it's true, IF you have the time to even play.
i just got an email from a friend of mine today:
..as most of you know I've been traveling out to my regional offices in the US. i just did my time sheet from 4/1-4/15. i worked 220 hours w/no days off or no lunch. sux to be me cuz i get no O/T. =( thank god i love what i do....
yeah, for some of us who are lucky to do the job that we love, it 'may' be just a walk in the park, but for others who stay in the job just because they have to.. it's like a 'torture' to go to work every morning. and yet, ironically.. there are no shortages on people who wanna come to america.
:: sLesTa
>> posted on 4/17/2003 12:08:00 AM | [
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:: Wednesday, April 16 ::
>> NEW HOUSE
gue pindahan neeh... so please update yer link to www.slesta.com..
i'm still in the process of moving and i'm not nearly done. so, just to make it easier for everyone, please just enter from the main page first. more news on slesta.com soon. stay tuned, people! *wink wink*
thanks..
:: sLesTa
>> posted on 4/16/2003 06:06:00 AM | [
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:: Friday, April 11 ::
>> HOMELESS TO HARVARD
hari gini di new york banyak banget orang² 'homeless' berkeliaran. with the higher unemployment rate and the slowdown in the economy, i really do feel the difference in this city. before, only a few would pop up in the subway car and mostly they would have something to show before raising their hands. but these days.. i would see a couple of them on every ride and they would blatantly just said that they're hungry, they do not have home and just trying to pass by another day. nobody would tell them to 'get a job' because we all know how hard it is finding a job these days. homeless shelters are full and they could no longer take anymore people.. the results.. i'd see more homeless people on the streets, on the subway car, stinking up the whole place, or in the subway station. they'd make one of the benches as if it were their home.
kasian sih sama mereka ini. kadang² gue suka ngasih recehan yang ada di kantong gue, kadang² gue cuman bisa bilang "sorry". .. how hard life must be for them .. but sometimes i think that most of them do this to themselves. dikasih duit bukannya diusahain buat makan yang bener, tapi malah dipake buat beli 'drugs' or 'drinks'. ya.. most of these homeless people are either drug addicts or alcoholics. i feel they are throwing their lives away when they can do something about it and make a change.
so, would you believe it if a homeles person makes it to harvard? yeah, believe it. this is a true story of a new york girl, liz murray, who was homeless since she was 15 years old. she was born with parents who couldn't care less about their children. her mom was legally blind, a drug addict, an alcoholic, a schizophrenic, and had aids. her dad, although very smart, was also a drug addict and had infected by aids like her mom. there were many times that her mom would use the food money to buy drugs and left her and her sister starved that she'd ended up looking for food in the neighborhood garbage cans. but out of all those miseries her parents had made her through, she kept on sticking by her mom cuz she knows that she loves her, no matter what, because she was her mom.
after finding out that she got aids, her mom moved back to her father's house who is abusive. liz couldn't stand living with her pops because of the beating, so she decided that she would live on the streets. seperti halnya orang² homeless yang gue liat di jalanan & di subway station, that was how she lived her life. she'd be begging for money in the corner of the street, searching for food in the garbage cans, or sleeping in a subway car. but something was different about her. she was a smart girl. walopun dia jarang masuk sekolah, when it was time for a test, she'd aced the test easily. although her teachers always insist on her to stay in school, she saw that everyone else around her never made her to go, so she never did. until she realized that was her only way out when she lost the only person she loved, her mom.
i love my mom, and i never forgot that she loved me too. although she did. all the time... all the time.. all.. the.. time..
she finished 4 years of high school within 2 years and managed to graduate on top of her class. she took 10 classes in one semester, while she has no place to live and working as a dishwasher at night. she was so dedicated to prove that she's not just some 'homeless' person but someone who can look forward to better life. when she graduated, she applied for scholarship from the new york times and got accepted to harvard.
this was a true story of liz murray. an amazing story. her life was featured in lifetime tv originals and her character was played by thora birch who was known from her role in american beauty. liz murray shows that you can change your life if you put your heart and mind to. she shows that anything is possible. she gives inspiration and motivation that if someone who had so little can receive so much.. it only make sense if those who has enough should be able to receive much more. if you don't try what you can do best.. it'd be just a waste of talent.
her story is not just about going to harvard alone. the message she has to share with others is that regardless of your background or your circumstances, YOU can set goals and succeed at them. when she was on the streets after her mom died and she evaluated where her life was headed, she KNEW she needed to make a change. her goal was to finish high school and she did. when she got the scholarship and admitted to harvard, she proved to herself that she can do it. although now she had left harvard because she felt that the school wasn't a good match while all her 'families' are in the bronx and her dad is sick, she is still thinking to continue her school in her hometown and maybe enroll to nyu. she is also preparing to publish her autobiography and she is an inspiration to all of us. she had overcome the major obstacles throughout her life to be a decent human being that can contribute to the society.. from homeless to harvard
:: sLesTa
>> posted on 4/11/2003 04:55:00 AM | [
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:: Wednesday, April 9 ::
>> HOOVER ON WAR
"older men declare war, but it is youth that must fight and die. and it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow and the triumphs that are aftermath of war"
- Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the USA (1929-1933)
{i found this quote on my quote collection book i've had for years and i thought .. it's amazing that we humans somehow failed to learn from our 'mistakes'.. i may exaggerate.. but i just can't believe in this day and age, war is still to be the answer of a political 'discrepancy'}
:: sLesTa
>> posted on 4/09/2003 10:22:00 AM | [
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:: Monday, April 7 ::
>> SEVERE WEATHER ALERT
"...winter storm warning for monday through monday night continues...
snow is expected to develop between 8 am and 11 am bursts of heavy snow.. falling at rates from 1 to 3 inches per hour.. will occur in narrow bands through afternoon. snow will mix with sleet and may change to sleet briefly along the immediate atlantic ocean shores by late afternoon. snowfall of 5 to 10 inches is expected during the day. total snowfall of 6 to 12 inches is possitble by the time the snow ends at night.
northeast winds averaging 20 to 30mph... gusint 35 to 40mph...and combined with heavy snow during the afternoon into the early evening...will create near blizzard conditions...making travel quite hazardous.
although snow will linger past midnight...the accumulating snow is forecast to end before midnight...stay tuned to weather.com for updates..."
damn.. this is freakin' april already.. i thought the winter has already over and spring has begun. what happen with the warm weather? did we pass by summer and went back to fall within a month period? *sigh* in any case, i hope my school is closed tomorrow cuz i'm still cramping with this paper.. it's due tomorrow and i'm stuck in front of the computer, fighting my headache i'm having all weekend and trying to get this paper nailed.
i don't feel like writing today.. i've come down with flu over the weekend, i just hope it's not SARS. this severe weather warning really caught my attention.. see what's gonna happen tomorrow.. you'll never know.. sometimes this weather forecast doesn't necessarily happen. just like two years ago when everybody was ready for a heavy snow storm and it was only flurries.. *cross my fingers my school's closed tomorrow night* huhuuu...
UPDATE: it's confirmed!! my school has cancelled all classes on all campusses as of 2.30pm today. woohooo... i got such a big break cuz i haven't even finished with my paper, and my head is bloody heavy as a jug of water. i know they'd have a make-up class for tonite's class, but at least it's better than handing out my half-done paper.. and no! not because i'm too lazy.. i'm usually good with having my homework done on time.. and guess what guys? the snow is falling hard outside, i can't even see anything down from my 20th floor office... stay warm!! *i wonder if i should go for another snowboarding trip this weekend? hmm...*
:: sLesTa
>> posted on 4/07/2003 12:20:00 PM | [
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:: Friday, April 4 ::
>> OUR LITERARY HERITAGE
facts there are approximately a quarter of a million books published in the united states alone every year. in the same year, about sixty-thousand titles are no longer published and not available to everyone
if.. hypothetically..., a person reads a book a day, that means he/she reads about 365 books/year. let's say that out of a year, he/she takes 15 days off from reading. so he/she would only read 350 books a year.
so, imagine.. if.. a person spends 10 years just reading books, nonstop, except for those 15 days in a year.. he/she can only catch up to 3500 books at the end of the tenth year. if he/she spends 50 years, with the same discipline, he/she'd read 17500 books after 50 years. if he/she spends 100 years, only 35000 books will be read.
the irony.. thus the advances in the technology, there are still no solution in bringing back those 60 thousand a year no-longer-published books to be available to everyone. *note that these numbers are only for books published in the united states, so imagine how humangous the number could be counting for all the books published around the globe, in every language* although someone in the world might have a copy somewhere, those books are rare to find if they are no longer published. not to mention that the material may not survive for years, especially of it was passed to several different people for several amount of time. the materials may deteriorate. the cover may fall off, the pages aren't so clear cuz it was touched so many times, or marked here and there.
things that aren't alive online are bound to be gone. yes, there is this technology called e-books now, but it's still not advance enough to have every title available online to everyone and accessible with any program. and even we try to keep up with those books every year.. even if we read a book a day for 100 years, we still can't keep up to get that 'no-longer-published' numbers, let alone for every book being published, not even close!!
i know that not every book is worth to read, but this fact and figures just show that we're losing our literary heritage everytime a book is no longer available to us. books are the source of our culture, our education, our knowledge. it's fascinating how books can show us ideas, stories, theories, about anything by someone who live at different times and places.
imagine, if all the books that are published are available online. online does not mean on the internet, but online as in digital, not in piece of paper, tapes, etc... that may deteriorate with the age of time. online means something that's out there, that you can access anytime with any program without missing anything important. so imagine.. how much smarter we can be.. imagine 2000 years from now, our great great great great grand kids would be able to read our blog? they'd be able to read what's going on with our lives 2000 years in the past.. about something as big as the war or as little as my thought of the day..
imagine that whatever crap you're writing in your blog.. someone somewhere sometime would read it.. would you write otherwise?
just.. imagine....
