The Petting Zoo -- Links

The Petting Zoo warrants that none of these pages may be as they appear. Buyer Beware, wear your rubbers and get to it.

If we lived in Seattle, aside from the joy of paying sales tax, we would probably get no end of use from our Traffic Gauge Mobile Traffic Map. It's one of those sorts of things that if went back in time twenty years and wanted to convince me you're from the future, you could show me and I would believe you. I also happen to think it has one of the most brilliant interfaces ever designed -- completely simple, always on, always talking to the traffic. Plus, they're friends of ours. Did I mention that? Let's see, friends of ours making something that is inexpensive, effective, easy to use and available Right When You Need it the Most (ever tried twirling the dial for traffic reports when you're trying to decide into which lane to merge? I thought so...)? Yeah, that spells something cool fer sure.

Don Coffin. The name sends shivers down my spine. And damned if he ain't one of my favoritest creepy friends. Don is one of my favorite H. P. Lovecraft buds from ages ago, back when we mastered the art of bullshitting at the Evergreen State College (see "slacker"). We tried vainly to create a spooky 'zine on campus, but the damn thing didn't work. I guess we never really managed to get the right flavor of wolfsbane or something. Don also collects hate mail (the bastard -- I have hate-mail-envy) and actually publishes his secret agenda. Good! Don, please teach me to dance -- I'm awful!

Rachel and Matt and Aaron are just some of the nicest folks I've met in a long, long time. They laugh more than anyone else I know. They ride bikes. They don't own a car -- yet they don't mooch rides. Wow, money and mouth in the same place. How could I not like them? Now if only I could get to Seattle more often for visits...

Paul Henry was a cartoonist at the Evergreen State College, back when we received awards for being "eye-catching" (an award I'm sure would apply equally to a bucket of fish hooks hurled at one's face). In addition to his weekly cartoons and political cartoons, his aggressive political nature made him my natural competitor for the greatest number of nasty Letters-To-The-Editor. But that boy could tweak 'em better than I could. Not that tweaking liberal arts college students is that much of a challenge...

Leopoldo Marino's a Systems Administrator, animator, moviemaker, and tall dark menacing form which only comes out from The Lion's Den at night, when he needs to feed. Or play video games.

Nothing would excite you more than to visit the alt.polyamory home page, the place to go if you want to get your feet wet in the world of Multiple Partner Disorder. I met the folks who run this site once, but they don't remember me. It was the same way with William Shatner, too.

An awesome and mysterious photographer, may I present Debi Lyn, who while unassumingly quiet, nevertheless wields the power of destruction and intimidation over many. She rules a unique realm far east of Land o' Port and can maintain an inspirational supply line of kindness.

Beware Mark Bourne, for his energy level knows no bounds. He will consume you, overrun you, and deform your politics with his hideous, unspeakable evil. Or, if you prefer, you can purchase Hideous Unspeakable Evil for a very reasonable price, as he is a professional writer of some significant caliber. Mark is also a skilled improv performer, humbling your gentle narrator. Well, he uses tools, so it's not that difficult.

When you mix volatile chemicals, you can't get stranger results than with Sluggy Freelance, an online comic strip that will leave you breathless. I highly recommend taking the jump to the very first cartoon and working your way through everything. Even though it'll take a long time, that's what work computers are good for. How can you not fall in love with Kiki and Bun-Bun?!

Just when my cynicism has crept up to record high levels, I discover SETI at home. What especially pleases me about it is that it is the largest distributed application currently running on the planet -- and it deserves to be so! I can't imagine a better thing for your computer to be doing instead of some stupid brain-dead screensaver. Go there, get the screensaver, search for life outside of this mortal, muddy sphere. You might find benign generosity, you might plunge us into a Dark Era as slaves to aliens, but dammit, we've got to find out more! And now, The Petting Zoo has its own group!

When you have an opportunity, do check out Portland's very own H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, featuring a rare treat of films, often totally new. The Festival just gets bigger every year, with more interesting films and more interesting guests. Also, it shows just before Halloween, so before you take the kids out for that pumpkin and skeleton crap that wouldn't scare an omniphobe, check out the Festival for the things that really scare you.

Our dear friends have a wonderful little company, EMerchandise, here in Portland, specializing in things you didn't even know you needed until you saw the picture. Collectibles of all sorts are ready to be shipped to you and these people do it with such cheer and pizzazz that I can hardly control myself while looking through their catalog. Don't even ask what happened the day I visited their warehouse! Pant, pant!

Pontifex Productions is even now hot in the middle of creating their first feature film, Being In the Nik of Time. The talented team, led by Paul Grover and his delightful wife Judy, have been nursemaiding this critter along for a while and I am always surprised to see how much more is done each time I talk with them. Hell, maybe I better ask if I can still help while there's time to get in on the ground floor!

These people have got to be possibly my favorite band in the whole Known Universe. Land of the Blind is a weird and eclectic batch of music, something odd and entrancing and powerful and glorious and, well, there's no other way to describe them except listen! Their live shows are just awesome. Right now, they're based in San Francisco, but they often play in the Pacific Northwest. In SF, Cyoakha's group is called Azigza.

Our friend Lisa Boleyn has set up a page. I could say that she's forgotten more about birds than most people ever knew, but the fact of the matter is that she hasn't forgotten it at all. Scary. She also has photos from a trip up Dog Mountain which most of The Petting Zoo went on, too.

Oh, where would I be without my daily drugs?! These are my faves:

Links from the Petting Zoo!