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Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
My mother is standing in front of the bathroom mirror smelling polished and ready; like Jean Nate, Dippity Do and the waxy sweetness of lipstick.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Salinas Valley is in Northern California.

The Straw Men by Michael Marshall
Palmerston is not a big town, nor one that can convincingly be said to be at the top of its game.

Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
Later than usual one summer morning in 1984, Zoyd Wheeler drifted awake in sunlight through a creeping fig that hung in the window, with a squadron of blue jays stomping around on the roof.

Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
In 1517, Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, feeling great pity for the Indians who grew worn and lean in the drudging infernos of the Antillean gold mines, proposed to Emperor Charles V that Negroes be brought to the isles of the Caribbean, so that they might grow worn and lean in the drudging infernos of the Antillean gold mines.

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posted Tuesday, February 5, 2002

Universal Client or Parasite?

My friend Michelle forwarded me this article by David Coursey, in which he defends AOL's repeated attempts to deny Trillian users access to its network. His arguments aren't very solid. Coursey's main defense is that AOL can do what it wants with its network and if AOL wants to keep out non-AOL users, then that right is sacrosanct.

What I want to know is how AOL members feel about this. I doubt America Online has queried its subscribers to find out whether they are okay with being isolated from non-AOL contacts who eschew the internet giant for another. An AOL spokesman called the problem a "security breach," but does anyone really believe that? The simple fact is that Trillian users erode AOL's advertising audience, which causes AOL to lose money.

Does the media giant truly need these proceeds to operate? Will they crash and burn if AIM/AOL users choose Trillian to access their network? It's doubtful. Their main revenue seems to stem from regular membership fees (that's not mentioning the Time/Warner revenues). I would say to AOL: Stand up for a higher ideal for once. Do what you claim to do and connect those 20 million+ members to the rest of the world. You will profit more from that in the long run than any meager advertising campaign ever will.

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