• 06:34, 29 December 2006 Spang huffed "Family GAY" (content was: 'a pun on family guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! duh!' (and the only contributor was '69.142.201.104'))
• 22:59, 28 December 2006 Hinoa huffed "Hard gay" (content was: 'HARD GAY HOOOOooOOOooooOOOOOOO is teh best' (and the only contributor was '24.28.234.107')(I'd just as soon not know about your sex life, thanks.))

And reprints from the old Uncyc page where I was collecting these excerpts.

• 11:15, 15 July 2006 Mhaille huffed "Huffer" (content was: 'How can you huff a non-page?' Like this)
• (Deletion log); 04:02 . . Splaka (Talk) (deleted "FUCK HOW DO YOU MAKE LINKS WITH THIS SHIT": I am not gwax - content was: '''See here.''{{NRV|18:34, 10 March 2006 (UTC)}}{{noGwax}}')
• (Deletion log); 16:55 . . MoneySign (Talk) (deleted "About:blank": You can guess what the content was...)
• 10:43, 6 March 2006 MoneySign deleted "You are dieing" (This is not the Game: namespace! Waaaaaah!!)
• 08:26, 6 March 2006 Splaka deleted "Redirect Bug Page" (content was: '#REDIRECT Redirect Bug' (and the only contributor was 'Ka'))
• 08:26, 6 March 2006 Splaka deleted "Redirect Bug" (content was: '#REDIRECT Redirect Bug Page' (and the only contributor was 'Ka'))
• 08:26, 6 March 2006 Splaka deleted "Redirect bug" (content was: '#REDIRECT Redirect Bug Page' (and the only contributor was 'Ka'))
• 14:14, 5 March 2006 Keitei deleted "Diaper change" (content was: 'See: underwear change.' (and the only contributor was '65.31.236.52'))
• 14:14, 5 March 2006 Keitei deleted "Nappie changing" (content was: 'See: diaper change.' (and the only contributor was '65.31.236.52'))
• 14:14, 5 March 2006 Keitei deleted "Underwear change" (content was: 'See: Skidmarks.' (and the only contributor was '65.31.236.52'))

A long road, with a 90 degree turn that is above the surrounding ground. In today’s dream, I was in a car on the backseat. The car must have been Japanese, as the wheel’s on the right — not surprising given my parents’ car is a Toyota. I won’t elaborate on who the driver was, though. Let’s just say he was a fictional character.

In fact, I’m sure the road stretches farther; while that particular segment with the turn is based on a real road near my home, but the dream one goes all the way through the city and out. The two dreams with this road involved me and other passengers getting out on the edge of the city and then entering a shop to buy something.

This time, the shop was weird, though… With a lot of hidden and not-so-hidden rooms; there was also a corridor going by one of the building’s outside walls, and at least one shower.

The whole scenery resembled my old school’s gymnasium a bit; it tends to pop in my dreams quite often.

In fact, there was one dream where just after leaving a seaside beach with unknown dangers in the sea itself — also a recurring setting, and also based on a real one — I went skiing with the French Girl (who’s not French in real life, just a dream codename), and, after several turns in an outdoor-turning-indoor setting, we ended up in a room with lots of lockers and closets, somewhat resembling the scenery from the current dream; back then, she was skiing in the red outfit that she wears on the best photo of her I still have left. And she hid in one of them, which was supposedly her dressing room.

Yet another setting is the channel that runs through my microdistrict, with a dock on one end, hence the microdistrict’s colloquial name, “The Dock”. Often, I try to move from one bank to the other (in both directions), which often involves either bizarre and seemingly endless bridges, or trying to avoid the dock’s even more bizarre machinery.

(Dream keyword: exhaustion)

Oh, how I hate false awakenings.

Sure, they’re good to brag about, but incredibly disturbing after you wake up for real. Not to mention that you usually accept everything for granted, even more easily than in a normal dream.

Last time I had one, I got stuck in the large room and realized something that seemed very stupid when I woke up: “I shouldn’t move, otherwise I will be teleported back to bed!”

This time, after a false awakening, I was dressing in my bedroom, and decided to test if I can make myself look completely different by putting on different clothes and a different pair of glasses. I do have a second pair of glasses, but they’re for backup only, and they look nothing like the thin gold-plated oval glasses I used in the dream. Not to mention that I seemingly took them out of nowhere: they just appeared in my hand.

And I know where this delusion was from. It’s from the Mythbusters episode with the chicken gun, where Adam broke his glasses and put on a different pair, similar to the one I used.

Damn. I don’t watch TV, and on those rare occasions when I watch something on DVDs, that “something” always intrudes my dreams.

CDs protected by the RIAA may not be:

1. Copied, for only the RIAA may copy them.
2. Listened to, for this violates the authors' right to listen.
3. Looked at, for this violates the cover artists' right to show the cover.
4. Bought, for this violates the sellers' right to own them.
5. Sworn at, for the RIAA patented swearing long ago.
6. Spat at, for spitting is patented and spitting without a license is prohibited.
7. Rolled a barrel over, for the wheel is patented, and the process of rolling is an integral part of that patent.
8. Approached, for this violates the CD's right to be alone.

© TransMatrix, securitylab.ru

Edit: Looks like BlogsNowBot and Technoratibot arrive immediately after I write a post including the words "RIAA" or "DRM". Interesting.

"When someone tries to step in a position of authority without knowing how to enforce it, it's pretty embarassing."

— Sheneequa

What is IRC?

Consensus reality.

Somebody, somewhere may or may not have an article about me, although when they did, it was shown in the referer list. Being non-notable as I am, I can deduce that they allow vanity articles. Not that anybody cares, but since that site, to be unnamed, has been known to engage in legal quarrel before, I figured it would be best to eliminate the site's name from the statistics from now on. So the referer is now shown as "somebody".

Looks like just crossing ways with them in any way, shape or form™ is enough for the unwanted vanity article to be filled with HATE HATE HAT, yet they claim they're infinitely better than Uncyclopedia. So be it. There are surprisingly mild-mannered exceptions, as with nearly everything, but they only confirm the rule.

I swear, if that guy ever dares to say "Grow more fur" again, I will ban the crap out of him.

Yesterday I felt ill, so not only did I have to skip the mandatory lecture, but I also didn't feel like sitting in the Internet all the day. Instead, I watched six Mythbusters episodes in a row, my temperature rose from 37.2 on Wednesday evening to 37.8 on Thursday morning to >38 on Thursday evening. Needless to say, I had to postpone everything (again), didn't have dinner and the Mandatory Midnight Tea™, only breakfast and supper. (Skittles, an apple, and bread with garlic don't count. I didn't even feel like eating mandarin oranges, our customary New Year's Eve fruits.)

I went to bed at 20:00, as opposed to the usual 2:00. I woke up in sweat twice, each time having to change my shirt and underwear, and went to toilet at least four times this night.

In other words, Thursday really sucked.

Now I'm feeling better, thankfully, to the point that I can actually type something without my head exploding. Thankfully, waking up several times, coupled with a prolonged sleep period (20:00 - 12:00 instead of the usual 2:00 - 10:00, or, on Tuesdays and Fridays, 2:00 - 6:30 plus an hour-long nap in a car), improved my dream recall, and I remember five dreams — my absolute record so far. I'm used to writing dream keywords on used Internet payment cards, and this time was no exception. Interestingly, it seems that it's easier for me to think in English now, and the language used in the dreams is sometimes a bizarre mix of Russian and English, but more often pure Russian.

Anyway, to the new dream signs:

1. Routed taxicabs taking unusual stops.
2. Planes.

A "routed taxicab", better known by the transliterated Russian name marshrutka, is essentially a mini-bus. They have almost completely replaced conventional buses where I live. In my dreams, they often stop where they aren't supposed to — for example, in front of the Akademgorodok (Academy Town) Trade Center, where no established route exists. In addition, I tend to confuse the numbers and take the wrong route, forget to pay, or feel confused while inside, for no reason.

So far, I've only had two dreams with planes, and in both, the plane failed to take off. Or rather, it did take off, but immediately landed and the flight was cancelled. Both times, the plane was either bound to Turkey or leaving it, and in the first dream, it landed in the northwest United States for some reason (I think it was Alaska), even though the Novosibirsk-Antalya route quite obviously only passes over the eastern hemisphere.

And as usual, the weirdest part™: Mythbusters trying to reproduce Jesus' crucifixion, the very first dream. Of course, it was influenced by the actual Mythbusters episodes I watched yesterday, but I still have no idea what they were trying to prove in the dream. That Jesus wasn't resurrected?

(Additional dream keywords for myself: cityblock/forest road; stop; on foot; ruined bridge; underground railway station; meadow border)

Niyazov is dead.

Hooray!

I want to conduct an experiment: install WordPress at a secret location and see how soon it will take for 5 different bots to come.

Mr. Unpaid Internet Analyst says:

• Political Compass: Economic Left/Right: -3.50 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.26
• Belief-O-Matic: Secular Humanism

I have no idea what this means, but I can comment that I identify myself as an atheist, materialist and absurdist. I believe that no supernatural forces exist, including deities of any kind, and I believe there's no higher meaning in life and any attempts to find them are futile — although life, by itself, is not futile, and worth living.

Unfortunately, not pure enough for the Church of Emacs. (I have Windows, although I plan to get rid of it after New Year. In fact, the New Year celebration may just as well go with me typing "mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sda1" just as the carefully synchronized clock turns 00:00 and I drink a ceremonial glass of Coca-Cola, followed by the traditional (for me, at least) fried potatoes and mandarin oranges.)

Those who still haven't updated to Firefox 2.0.0.1, it's about time. Those who like to experiment would probably like to check out Thunderbird 2.0b1 instead of the stable version, 1.5.0.9. I've found no problems with 2.0b1 so far.

In other news, I have opened a Gaia repository for Ubuntu Edgy. Gaia, written by a Russian developer known as AMDmi3 (I can't remember that name, so I just copy-paste), is a cross-platform free/open source (GPL) client for NASA World Wind. Previously, it used Google Earth data, until Google got angry; the news even made it to Slashdot. Right now it's unstable, but I used the opportunity to learn the basics of Debian packaging. So there, a line for sources.list:

deb http://lucidfox.org/gaia-deb edgy all

I'll try to add Ubuntu Dapper and Debian Etch builds in the near future.

In still other news, looks like the FSF's campaign to googlebomb DRM is showing progress — DBD.org is on the first page now, while previously I couldn't even find it within the first five pages. Good job, FSF!

I noticed that many of my dreams take place in similar settings.

I can remember six:

1. The street with a bus stop, two shops and a car service center, not far from my home
2. Another street in my microdistrict
3. My home (obviously)
4. My paternal grandparents’ home
5. My maternal grandfather’s home in a village far away

1. And Turkey.

Today I had a dream that included settings 1, 2 and 5, and it allowed me to remember, at least partially, at least three other dreams.

A personal dream sign appears to be the presence of that girl, my ex-classmate, who went to France this summer. Interestingly, before she went, the dreams involving her revolved around a single scenario: I tried to make her hug or kiss me, and she always refused. Now, she’s less reluctant, and I even had sex with her in a dream once, let alone kisses. Strangely, I always question her how and why she returned from France, and she always mumbles something unintelligible, and I accept it. Of course, it never works as a way to attain lucidity, which is somewhat frustrating.

Another dream sign: controlling myself as a video game character. Really weird and hard to describe. It switches from first-person to third-person view at random, or often I don’t even know what view it is. The HUD also appears and disappears at random.

Also, I seem prone to repeating the same scene several times, with different circumstances each time. I retain some knowledge from the previous iteration (although not the full memories), which I use to my advantage to “do things right this time”. Somewhat similar to the effects of the Chalk of Fate from the Russian movie Day Watch.

Twice, including this dream, I was running through a Soviet-style city, only to encounter the street (setting 1) and make some realization, which usually had nothing to do with dreaming. For example, this time, after running through the same scene twice, I thought: “Wow! This must be a Half-Life 2 sequel taking place in my neighborhood!” Not quite what I was hoping for – when awake, anyway.

Also, stairs and elevators. I have mild acrophobia, you see: I’m afraid to look down when crossing bridges, when taking off and landing while onboard a plane, I’m afraid to use elevators with any floor higher than 4 (I live on the 4th floor, using the American notation in which the ground floor is the 1st, and which is also used in Russia; also, I twice got stuck in an elevator in my childhood), so I use stairs. And even then I’m somewhat afraid of staying for long on floors > 4. So in dreams, I often experience unreasonable fear when the stairs end abruptly, and I often get stuck in elevators. In this dream, I nearly fell down stairs, but managed to avoid it when, hanging from the fence on the highest floor, I was simply teleported to a safer location.

The weirdest, and most out of context part of the dream was the belief that a human can fold themself in such a way that they will fit into a ball only slightly bigger than their head, somewhat resembling a bowling ball, without experiencing any discomfort. I saw a living example in the dream and attempted to do it myself, although I only partially managed it (only the lower half of my body fit in). I have some ideas about where it originates from, but this dates all the way to my childhood and is better left out of a public blog.

(Earlier dream keywords for self: GF home; 9; long trip; desolace. 1000th floor)

I like WordPress. Still playing with its features. It's intuitive and easy to manage, yet sufficiently flexible on its own right - not to mention there are a plethora of plugins.

For exactly zero people who care, rel="nofollow" has been disabled for external links. Also, public stats are now available (see sidebar).

In other news, here's my Ubuntu 6.10 frankendesktop, as Simbab puts it.

(From now on, premoderation is disabled. Comments, if any, should appear instantly.)

I never imagined I would ever use a stupid 4chan meme in a dream, but it sort of happened.

The dream was essentially a scene from Heroes of Might and Magic V, or at least it pretended to. After all, there was no scene in the game or the expansion where a bunch of heroes storm a Haven town with Markal inside – defended by Red Haven units, no less.

And how a laser cannon ended up just outside the town walls is beyond me. But in the dream, I didn’t bother. I ran to the cannon (I was in the assault force) and, charging it, barely breathing, shouted as loudly as I could (but it was still not that loud):

Imma… chargin… mah… lazer!!!

When the assault began, the cannon somehow transformed into an ordinary cannon. I shot some enemy troops out of it (swordsmen and archers). We made it past the Red Haven units, but then a horde of undead appeared. Realizing that defeat was imminent, I screamed… then our angels, having defeated the red angels, came and started pwning them, and I was teleported to safety.

In the end, I had a touching philosophical discussion with Markal, who was without his necromancer robe. Walking through a white hallway, hand in hand with me, he explained that he wasn’t that bad a guy after all, and that he had his own reasons for taking over the Griffin Empire. In the end, he departed, and I was left to look after the castle, alone, albeit with loyal angels waiting outside.

(Born out of a lengthy IRC conversation on #wookieepedia. I'm sort of trying to sort out things in my own head. See, I need everything I write to be technically accessible by somebody else. Otherwise, I just can't write a sentence.)

Whoever is reading this, look in a mirror now.

Don't have a mirror nearby? Stand up and find one. Or look at a photo of yourself. It should preferrably be something mundane, not forced, not one where you're posing or otherwise trying to create an impression.

Is this the real you? The way you imagine yourself, the image that encompasses your thoughts and desires? Would you expect this person to think like you, to have dreams like the ones you do, to have your interests - including those you don't tell anybody, sometimes not even the closest friends? The interests whose existence you sometimes refuse to acknowledge even to yourself, but which manifest themselves through dreams nonetheless?

If you really had a choice, and access to unlikely technology, and there were nobody but you... you would probably change into something else for those private moments. Something you envision yourself as. But there's the society, with its standards and demands, and sometimes outward intolerance and bigotry.

Before you exclaim "No, I'm not anything like that", think twice. We all are. In a sense, we're "roleplaying" in real life - assuming the role assigned to us by the society. I don't say if if it's a good or bad thing, but it's a fact.

And I'm afraid that the whole "struggle for Internet anonymity" may be an indication of a deeper problem. You see, if I were Clark Kent, I would probably oppose a law requiring all superheroes to reveal their secret identities.

Then there's the online identity. Some have multiple, but not really the point. It is not something you have to assume from birth. It is constructed. You define what you want to be online. There's still a society here, but it's a more tolerant society. You can afford be more open, and open in other topics than in real life.

That's probably why RPGs are so addictive. (That includes IRC as well, and even more so because the rules are more vague.) They allow you to be someone you want to be, as opposed to someone you have to be because of the circumstances of your birth.

There's obviously a "dark side" of your personality that only you dare to explore. Or sometimes even you dare not to. But when combined, these two (or more) identities are all that can be known about you by an outsider. Whether or not you want your real-life friend to know about your online identity, or vice versa, depends on you.

I, for one, while making the information publicly available (I have to. Domain whois. Duh.), prefer if people don't really dig into the issue, because, you know... LucidFox is LucidFox, and the guy whose name is written in the whois entry for lucidfox.org is not LucidFox. He's someone else. Both are me in a sense, and both are not me - also in a sense.

You see, I never really got the Superman hype. A walking indestructible deus ex machina whose only weakness is unobtainium... Try selling that to a Star Wars fan, and they'll mock both you and the guys at LFL who thought approving this as canon would be good idea. From what I've heard, though, the whole Clark Kent premise is written rather differently to most superhero secret identities. Usually, there's the real person, and there's the mask. Think Bruce Wayne and Batman, arguably the most famous disguise of that kind.

Here, we have Clark Kent, who is a disguise, and we have Superman, who's also a disguise. To quote Wikipedia:

Many fans and Superman scholars believe there to actually be three interpretations. There is firstly Kal-El (otherwise known to fans as 'Smallville Clark'). Kal-El reveals himself only around trusted friends and family, particularly whilst on the farm with Martha, or in moments alone with Lois. He is a regular guy, brave, and moral. Kal-El then wears two other masks: that of the heroic Superman, and that of the bumbling and goofy Clark Kent (otherwise known as 'Metropolis Clark'). It should be noted that "bumbling" Clark is an act - it is not the real Kal-El. Therefore, there are basically three interpretations of the same person.

See, that's my argument against those accusing role-players of "denying their real self", because the observable self is also not the real self.

Or maybe I'm just bored and trying to find excuses while plain not making any sense.

After the article on Firefox, which was featured, why am I even writing this? What's the point? What is it doing on Uncyc, except relieving me of the necessity to keep it all in my memory?