Funny Guy
Sometimes I make stupid analogies that make me laugh. Here's a recent example:
dracoling: let me put it this way
dracoling: it's like building a car out of blenders
dracoling: sure, I guess if you add enough duct tape and chop the blenders into the right shape you might be able to get it to pretend to be a car... sorta
dracoling: but it's never going to be a good car
A Taste of Home
Last year at WildFire Retreat I had the good fortune to be able to record the DJs on the burn field all three nights. I had originally hoped to release these immediately following the event but for many reasons (ooh! shiney!) I didn't.
Finally, only weeks before we head back into the wonderful world of WildFire, I have them to share. These files are posted on dropbox at the moment. If anyone knows of a better (preferably free) way to share them, please let me know.
- friday.mp3 (4h 15m - 439.2MB)
- saturday.mp3 (5h 36m - 562.7MB)
- sunday.mp3 (5h 17m - 514.8MB)
Please keep in mind that these are unedited live mixes. Enjoy them as the moments of history that they are 
Hope to see you soon.
- dracoling
EDIT: I just noticed that sadly the friday track had some recording issues. From about 5m into the recording until about the 30m mark there's some problems. It clears up after that. The other two days went well.
EDIT 2: Fixed the link for sunday. oops!
Poi beginnings
A coworker asked me about poi spinning today, what it is and why I do it and where I learned. After a brief discussion he asked if I could send him some videos of it. Here's what I shared with him.
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Here's a video of a friend of mine spinning fire at that Connecticut retreat (WildFire Retreat, mentioned last month):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLE658Da6rQ
Nathaniel Everist from Australia is one of the folks I learned the most from when I was starting out:
http://www.youtube.com/user/NathanielEverist#p/c/A0C299DC8A312068
Another great group I learn from is Nick Woolsey (from Canada) and playpoi.com
http://www.playpoi.com/poi-basics
Free is good, but…
Many people think of the internet as the ultimate "Land of the Free". Free software; free services; free everything. Few people stop to consider, "what does that mean for those who take their time and skills to create that which I consume freely?"
When I was younger, I simply took. And signed up. And downloaded. And got everything I possibly could. For free. Every site; every program. The free one was always the one I wanted. At the time this was the rule; if only because I didn't have any money, so I couldn't buy anything.
Now that I'm older and slightly more experienced, with a greater income line matched only by a greater expense line (and only more wealthy in that more money runs away from me every month, so I guess that at least one line of the spreadsheet suggests I have more than I used to) I have begun making efforts to support those who make the free stuff that I enjoy most.
I appreciate their effort and can releate to the non-monetary expenses required to create something and allow others take it, use it, view it, share it with others, and even make parts or all of it their own. In addition to helping with the bottom line where I can, I would like to highlight the efforts of some of my favorite developers, artists, and writers, here on these pages. My hope is that I can share their work with our readers, so that maybe they all can enjoy and one day help to support these creators, themselves.
"I will give you my sword, and together we may fight and die. Or I can raise, for you, an army. And together we may all fight and live." - Anonymous