A picture of a loved one might remain somewhere. No one may know who that is, but there they are. A letter written may someday be read by a complete stranger. No one ma know who that is, but there are their words for all to read. The body may die, but the spirit lives on - in some manner or other. Peace to you, mimi.

be forgotten. The tragedy to me, not to worry to you, is that so much is written every day that eventually we are just needles in a haystack. No one will see unless they persistently go searching.

So write kindly knowing your words last forever, as you always do Mimi, you never know what ripples you will make in the pond. But while you may be immortal, you will be one of billions, hidden in the ocean, difficult to find.

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?". All we're doing is leaving a whole bunch of 1s and 0s on a magnetic storage device. Even if we do manage to have a future with actual archaeologists, they're never going to find any of our 1s and 0s. Maybe some aliens will find your 1s and 0s. I would find that kind of cool myself.

The words on the Internet are vast ocean; there are millions of people babbling trillions of words. Your words here are just a few tiny drops in that ocean, as are mine.

One day, perhaps before too long, civilization as we know it is going to collapse. Electricity will stop flowing and computers will be useless blocks of metal and plastic. One day, no humans will live who can read any of these words. One day, our sun will expand into a red giant and nothing will live upon this rock. Eventually the sun will supernova and earth itself will be demolished into space dust, back to where it started.

Writing does not make any of us immortal.

The most brilliant words ever written by anyone will disappear, although with all the useless drivel, and the harmless daily chatter that makes life here more bearable in the meantime.

Humans need to communicate. It is vital to our wellbeing. Being able to do so in this way is a gift. We are some of the most fortunate domesticated primates who have ever lived, to be here at this moment in time when global communication is at our fingertips. Try to appreciate that, if you can.

I enjoy your words here a lot Mimi, and I know that others feel that way too. You sparkle and shine. I can't think of anything you've said that would hurt your loved ones. If they love you, they would be proud of the smiles and thoughtfulness you bring to the world, for the brief time we have to enjoy it.

I keep unplugging the computer in fits of despair and anger and the I go and do something real. I come back to my office studio and the first thing I do is hit the on button on my PC. Then I remember that I unplugged the damn thing. At least I get some exercise twisting myself under the desk to plug it in again. When I'm not half crazy with the politics I look at commenting and writing in a Zen kind of way. I'm just creating words and putting them out there which will or will not be read and understood. Like the performers in Franny and Zoe I'm doing it for the fat lady or nonexistent skinny man.

Sunday I got so riled up here I threw a tantrum in the 'progressive' grocery store because they did not have whole wheat toritta's and have now started offering god damn Wonder Bread. Then I bought some 'medicine' which further riled me up and yelled at Shah till 1:30 in the morning. Yesterday I left it off all day. This morning I'm back. It's an addiction and allows me to be a anti-social, introvert because it gives me the illusion of community. Or is it an illusion?

I don't think you can die on the internet, although look at jobu did the internet kill him? He once said that dkos burned your time. Life seems to me to burn your time regardless of which way you fire it up. As for your words hurting people I don't believe that for one minute. Your words are not painful or damaging. They are interesting, honest and very human.

Immorality is not available even to Michelangelo or the Beatles. Their works may live on but they are dead. Once as a kid in a moment of enlightenment I looked at a drawing by Michelangelo and realized that centuries later I could feel his life force. The internet is a fast moving stream and it's not a media that remains for a day let alone for eternity. Sure I can bookmark some brilliant writing or pictures but then my computer melts down and where are they? Gone into the ether of debris that humans deposit all kinds of their brilliance and garbage into. I find that thrilling in a strange way.

I just may up and throw the machine out my upstairs window one of these days. This would require me to get a real not virtual life and that's a scary proposition. Meanwhile you mimi transcend the pixels as do many people I have met and love on the internet. So while this is not reality and it is often filled with garbage it also is a stream that carries love, life, creativity. It offers if nothing else at least away to communicate, hear see and read what people globally are up to and maybe get some truth.

perpetual. Don't know if that is reassuring or not.