1997 Christmas Special

Wednesday, December 24, 1997 by Dave Winer.

Good morning and welcome to the 1997 DaveNet Christmas special.

Here's my contribution to sanity or as The Marx Brothers used to say, my Sanity Clause.

Ho ho ho!

Or, as Bart Simpson says (approximately) "This is the time of year when people of all faiths get together to worship Jesus."

The normal rules are tossed out this time of year. People are more cheerful? It's fun to watch. Oh honey, let's be cheerful today. Doh!

Let's practice good cheer 365 days a year. Hey that rhymes!

One smile a day keeps the doctor away. More? OK!

The year in review 

So what happened this year?

We cloned sheep and we drove around on Mars. This is cool stuff.

Did the software or Internet industries produce any really exciting stuff? Uhhh!

Oooops.

I could have gone sailing in Greece and not really missed anything.

I could have made pottery!

Or whatever.

Instead I got new glasses.

My new glasses 

Only one person asked why they should be interested in my new glasses.

That's progress!

Sax and Violins 

Listening to music today, Sax and Violins, by the Talking Heads.

What a beautiful song! As with most David Byrne lyrics, themes of outlawism and daddy trips and babies and little boys and girls. "He looks so cute in his little red suit!" OK, that's another song. But one lyric from Sax and Violins seems to be written for Bill Gates. "We are criminals who never broke no laws!"

Byrne imagines a post-industrial civilization, where the darkest and most basic of our rules thrive. It's a world where we work out our childhood frustrations without any inhibitions. No need to manipulate small symbols. Just take over a city and destroy it! You can do that in music, and Byrne does it really well.

My new glasses are real. They break up a lot of the trances. All of a sudden I'm aware of all my senses.

Lots of mail on the new glasses. One writer predicts more vivid dreams, and last night the dreams *were* sharper, the dialog more memorable, the personalities more clearly individuals instead of amalgams of lots of different people.

Do new glasses make you smarter?

A more serious question 

There were the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties.

What will we call the decade between 2000 and 2009?

Smells and sleep 

A fire in the fireplace, a turkey in the oven. Smells of the holiday.

Crisp winter weather. Freezing temperatures. My garden goes to sleep in whole new ways.

Hopes and deer 

One year ends, another begins.

What do I hope for in 1998?

Friendship, empowerment, self-acceptance and self-love.

Lots of new adventures, new growth, and no fear.

A happy garden with lots of beautiful roses and no friggin deer!

Most important of all -- happy friendships grounded in reality.

Lots of talking and listening and sharing.

Especially between software products from different companies.

Time is on our side 

To everyone, especially old friends, there's still a bunch more time. Let's have fun!

And keep looking for a bright future.

Here's to a great 1998!

Dave Winer