mercedo by weierstrass

mercedo
[ #136523 ] 2006.05.31 8:16

A man would make money if he felt like eating steaks, and would hang in there if he felt like drinking Johnnie Walker Black Label. I live as I like. I am really afraid of adjusting in society, let alone in company.mercedo
Fellow slashdotter Mercedo archives his journals and comments from Slashdot and elsewhere on the web in several concurrent volumes, sorted by forum and nature of posting, on blogspot. You can reach every volume from his Blogger profile. These used to be numbered as I - X, but recently the classification has changed and there are now 12 named sections. Most volumes are subtitled 'A record of an Age'. Each seems to begin with an extract/translation/interpolation of mercedo's novel 'The Eve'. Many of them have the statement of mercedo's quest and dedication of his journal from his Slashdot profile (This 'Journal of mercedo' is totally dedicated to one woman whom I met with in Trecca, Kyoto, Japan on the 23rd of December, 1986 for the first time and probably the last time in our life[...]My trek continues...)
Trecca
'Early and late selection of Slashdot journals & archives'. One of several archives of mercedo's journal on slashdot.org. Trecca is the name of the coffee shop in Kyoto where mercedo saw the woman his journals are dedicated to.
Kokura
Kokura is mercedo's birthplace. These are further mirrors of slashdot journal entries. It's not obvious how these are divided into their several volumes..
Eiko [vicissitudes, ups & downs]
'This volume includes all comments made in the journals of other users and in mine' The archive of mercedo's comments, as opposed to journal entries, on slashdot.org
Sakura [cherry blossom]
A few extracts from slashdot journals. Starts with an exploration of the japanese word 'sakura' and the coincidence with the latin word 'sacra', root of 'sacred' and 'sacrament'.
Slado
Slado is the nickname of slashdot.jp - the japanese slashdot. This contains archived postings from that site. I am not sure if it also includes posts from other places - or if mercedo at one point stopped writing on slado (?) but in november 2005 the comment "I used to post all comments made in Slashdot Jp site here. Now this site is reserved to be used in future for writing or storing journals & comments" appears.
Eve
Two long pieces from 'The Eve' (?) and links to other journals. As stated most volumes start with what seems to be a piece from this novel. I don't know whether they are translations, summaries, retellings or direct extracts. I have not been able to find information about this novel that mercedo mentions in his profile text. The title nicely refers to either the first woman on earth, or the end of the day.
Onoda
This very useful volume gives links to mercedo's homepages on many of the different sites and communities where he has posted, including deviantArt, theDailyKos, groupehudson and of course slashdot, slashdot.jp and technocrat.net. Onoda is the name of a famous Japanese soldier who continued fighting guerrilla war on a Pacific island for decades after Japan's surrender, paranoid to the last that information about the war's end was a psychological trick by the enemy.
Mer Cedo
More archived journal entries from slashdot. These often are about mercedo personally, in particular including the hours he works each week. Some include the complete discussion.
Aristo
Mirror of journal entries from technocrat.net. As ever though there seems to be overlap - some comments from slashdot.org, also slashcode.com, perl.org [!] are included here? The play on words between aristo- and techno-crat is clear, but the does the word also refer to Aristotle? Remembering mercedo's sig ("--Ancient Greek Philosophers -18c Enlightenment Thinkers -Slashdotters") I interpret this as suggesting that mercedo identifies himself both in the tradition of Aristotle, and as the "raised up as a most prosperous guy" aristo.
Harbour
'Journals other than Slashdot &Technocrat.net'. Mercedo comments on multiple forum sites. Although as mentioned there is a lot of confusion between different categories here on the blogspot mirrors/archives, it seems that in general posts are not repeated or crossposted between different sites. Some of these sites, such as perl.org or slashcode.com are in general for discussion of a specific topic. My guess is that mercedo explores different sites as a way of getting perspective or a fresh start, and then often returns to slashdot.org for the bulk of his entries. Then each volume of the archive ends up getting these slashdot posts added to it.
Rose
Subtitled 'Corrosion Journals'. Includes a copy of a story submitted to kuro5hin. The most recent entry is a list of mercedo's fans from slashdot
Eikoon
A seemingly very recent volume containing only a couple of entries about working hours.
I have found mercedo to be one of the most interesting journallers on slashdot. Finding his own mirrors of his work gave me a new chance to appreciate and explore it. In particular, I think someone's classification of their own work can sometimes be as revealing as the words themselves, especially when they take this as seriously as mercedo seems to. I hope that if anyone else is interested they find this summary useful.
I have learned a lot about humanities, but not about technology. I must say I am not a technocrat. That doesn't matter, I want to write a journal so I am.mercedo