Subject:  Viridian Note 00038:  Viridian Aphorisms

Key concepts:  Viridian aphorisms, ranking, fiction

Attention Conservation Notice:  Mostly housekeeping.  Has 
some (shudder) fiction at the end of it.

Links:  http://www.bespoke.org/viridian

Entries in the Viridian "Fungal Typography" Contest:
http://members.aol.com/stjude/
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~jtlin/viridian/
http://www.wenet.net/~scoville/Viridian/viridiantext.html
http://www.erols.com/ljaurbach/

******************************
This contest ends in ten days.
******************************

Bruce S remarks:

We now have one year left until the launch of our first 
official, publicly declared Viridian product, "The 
Manifesto of January 3, 2000." In this manifesto, we 
Viridians must summarize our multifarious research 
activities in a single coherent ideological presentation, 
meant to enlighten the new millennium.  This task may well 
be impossible.  We may have no design movement at all: 
just a *prediction* of a design movement.  In many ways, 
utter failure is a rather attractive prospect.

Still, we do have a year.

******************
VIRIDIAN APHORISMS
******************

Send an apt Viridian aphorism and you will receive a 
chevron >^<

"Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul."  
Edward Abbey

"Courage, garrulousness and the mob are on our side. What 
more do we want?"   G. C. Lichtenberg

"Whilst it is as well to be free of messianic hopes, it is 
good to retain some sense of vertigo."   Ernest Gellner

"Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt 
from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves 
of some defunct economist."  John Maynard Keynes

"The goal of intelligent relativism would be to stop us 
daydreaming about a utopia of immaculate knowledge, and 
persuade us to settle for such partial certainties as the 
human condition allows."  Jonathan Ree

"Civilization advances by extending the number of 
important operations which we can perform without thinking 
about them."  Alfred North Whitehead

"The future struggles against being mastered."  Anonymous

***********************
VIRIDIAN RANKING SYSTEM
***********************

The Viridian Ranking System has been hand-created 
with a vintage fountain pen and fine art paper. 
Scars, flaws, and imperfections add character and 
are an inherent part of the product.

jon@lasser.org^^^^^^**
whiz@ricochet.net^^^^**
rsewell@cix.compulink.co.uk^^^**
ljaurbach@erols.com^^**

SeJ@aol.com^^^^^^^^^*
dhlight@mcs.net^^^^^^^^*
jim@smallworks.com^^^^^^^^*
wex@media.mit.edu^^^^^^*
steffen@eskimo.com^^^^^*

hinne@spaceways.de^^^^*
patmazza@teleport.com^^^^*
rinesi@espacio.com.ar^^^^*

cisler@pobox.com^^^*
mgoldh@well.com^^^*

dlandry@rohan.sdsu.edu^^*
me@karmanaut.com^^*
danny@spesh.com^*
eric@sac.net^*
infinite@beaming.com^*
LangiG@parl.gc.ca^*
pinknoiz@pinknoiz.com^*
r1ddl3r@bp13.u.washington.edu^*
StJude@aol.com^*
weasel@gothic.net^*

acotter@nonsensical.com*
eli@golden.net*
hoechst.forum@lrz.uni-muenchen.de*
jeffk@well.com*
jtlin@saunalahti.fi*
jzero@onramp.net*
MICHAEL.HARTLEY@one2one.co.uk*
morgana@netaxs.com*
richardd@reeseco.com*
scoville@hooked.net*
sethmc@turcotte.colorado.edu*
thallad@pcnet.com*
tux@powerbase-alpha.com*


tor@araneum.dk^^^^^^^

jonl@well.com^^^^^^
pjd@cne.gmu.edu^^^^^^

Ian.Griffin@Corp.Sun.COM^^^^^
rdm@test.legislate.com^^^^^
xiane@entech.com^^^^^

bobmorris@mediaone.net^^^^
mitch@thehub.com.au^^^^
shalizi@santafe.edu^^^^
TuckerV@frogdesign.com^^^^
WarrenE@aol.com^^^^

bperry@shore.net^^^
Cooper409@aol.com^^^
cthomas@10fold.com^^^
jrc@well.com^^^
lstinson@empathy.com^^^
rnedal@olimpo.com.br^^^
shassinger@dev.tivoli.com^^^
tbyfield@panix.com^^^

ab006@chebucto.ns.ca^^
alexander_schuth@yahoo.com^^
bonkydog@sirius.com^^
bsiano@cceb.med.upenn.edu^^
dave@va.com.au^^
geert@xs4all.nl^^
gordy@nytimes.com^^
kallen@physics.ucsd.edu^^
kamenr@river.org^^
kirk@mcelhearn.com^^
Matt@MediaServ.com^^
mheat@mha-net.org^^
nehrlich@sfis.com^^
pacoid@fringeware.com^^
richyoung@hotbot.com^^
robot@ultimax.com^^
roger@bayarea.net^^
rthieme@thiemeworks.com^^
thack@design-inst.nl^^
tick@sidehack.sat.gweep.net^^
yzl@ucdavis.edu^^

Adam@e-gad.com^
ankcorn@earthlink.net^
anubis@deming.com^
ASKornheiser@prodigy.net^
barlow@eff.org^
Basilisk@mcione.com^
bgm@well.com^
bigbrain@visi.com^
bini@ioc.net^
Bprips@aol.com^
brett@earthlight.co.nz^
ccraig@ucsd.edu^
Chris.Carroll@turner.com^
churchr@hurrah.com^
craymond@northweb.com^
c.ted.ballou@intel.com^
cybercop@sprynet.com^
Dan@DanTaylor.com^
dlowe@smtp.law.ua.edu^
dc@technomedia.com^
dsenft@bcj.com
ejorr@wam.umd.edu^
emhunt@willapabay.org^
figment@sirius.com^
fisaza@xinetix.com^
gagin@inter.net.ru^
gail@well.com^
garreau@well.com^
gfrost@sensaphone.com^
ggg@well.com^
jczemek@ouray.cudenver.edu^
jet@well.com^
jonny@way.nu^
jonwil@primenet.com^
jspragens@igc.apc.org^
kaiser@acm.org^
katie@wtp.net^
klilly@neog.com^
kosofsky@soback.kornet.nm.kr^
laudanum@entech.com^
louise@hotbot.com^
mann@cse.unsw.edu.au^
melcher@unix.nets.com^
merlan@visa.com^
micky.shirley@sfsierra.sierraclub.org^
mlbishop@juno.com^
mwiik@brysonweb.com^
nbodley@tiac.net^
paula_nibride@hotmail.com^
philg@martigny.ai.mit.edu^
pnh@panix.com^
quest@inetarena.com^
rafael@master.prossiga.br^
raze@zip.com.au^
rberger@ibd.com^
rkoster@origin.ea.com^
sblack@library.berkeley.edu^
sbweintraub@lbl.gov^
shalmanaeser@hotmail.com^
steven@iisl.co.uk^
strecker@sirius.com^
sdhurley@ican.net^
tdav@wam.umd.edu^
tenev@digbody.dux.ru^
udhay@pobox.com^
viridian@access.spring.net^
WEBrawer@greenmap.com^
whh@uclink4.berkeley.edu^
zooko@wildgoose.tandu.com^


(((We don't run much fiction in the Viridian List, and 
after this brief aberration, we won't be running much more 
of it, either.)))

====Cut here with obsidian sacrificial knife===

"He's Got Them Lemons"

by Steve Cisler  (cisler@pobox.com^^^*)

     I've got eight acres of "Corazon Amarillo" lemon (40' 
x 40' spacing), budded onto X25 rootstock. They are eight 
years old.  Planted on Class I soil here in Northern 
California. Surrounded by high tech tiltup office 
buildings. I'm holding out. This computer thing just ain't 
gonna last. When you're thirsty, are you gonna drink 
Pentium-ade? When you want a nice dessert, are you gonna 
make PowerPC Pie?  No, lemons are what you'll need. 

     And I've got 'em.

     I heard the cold weather prediction on an IRC chat, 
days before the weather bureau let the secret out. The 
meteorologists had invested heavily in citrus futures when 
they saw the indications of a massive cold front coming. 
Naturally, most of them kept the word to themselves.

     I went down to Salvation Army and told them I was 
helping the homeless. They gave me a stack of old blankets 
and sheets, and with my family and a handful of fellows 
from Oaxaca what I met outside of Home Depot, I covered 
our lemon crop (and a few oranges). We started  illegal 
smut pot fires a day early, to fight the frost.  The cold 
swept in, ravaging our hibiscus and pyracantha and the 
winter vegetable garden, but the lemons were saved!

    I sold all my Amazon, eBay, and Yahoo stocks. I don't 
need 'em now.  I got rare California citrus, and my 
roadside stand is doing a great business, except for the 
fights that break out when customers think someone cut the 
ration line.   The Y2K hoarders are squirreling away the 
late 98 crop of lemons for the big rollover in a year.  I 
tell them we have enough. I make sure little kids get one 
free lemon, and the local school cafeteria gets one free 
basket each week.

    Lemons are my life, and I'm doing great this year.