<eyebeam><blast> Localization

[lhutton@ucsd.edu (Lisa Hutton)]

Localization -- Wind Water And Electricity

I write from my 7500/100/64/1gig in ms word and will send this /
localization using the university ethernet.  It is raining.  I am in San
Diego California in what is promoted / / in slogan at least / / as
America's finest city.  I am bullish on the location but i don't think
this slogan has been empirically proven.  I came here to my studio at
university to write this because the electricity is off at my house.  It
is the fourth time in two weeks that the electricity has gone off at my
house.  No electricity messes with my roommate's reality because he
can't watch TV or use microwave and so is at loose ends.

It is raining.  My location in the El Niņo condition is cozy.  San Diego
enjoys some of the best weather on the planet and because it is
California things are well organized.  My house is about 7 blocks from
the ocean and so I don't have to worry about high surf.  I saw the ocean
come 3 blocks inland in my neighborhood in the winter of '82-83. 
Locally weather has a certain spectacle about it because it happens
infrequently.  Two Saturdays ago there was a traffic jam in my
neighborhood when a lot of inland people came to see the high surf.  I
didn't think the surf was that big because I have lived here a long
time.  People who come to the beach to watch the high surf don't always
understand water.  Sometimes a very large set or big wave will come and
scoop up people who aren't paying attention.  So far this season 6
people have been taken this way.  3 survived, 2 are dead, and one is
still missing.

How can I address the localized privledges in my life?  <I cannot>  In
the city to the south | in Mexico | there is Tijuana | where nothing is
very organized.  El Niņo in Mexico is 17 miles from my house | 30 miles
from my studio | and a world away in electrical, water, and building
codes.  In this location El Niņo takes it's toll on the poorest
communities and washes plywood housing west with raw sewage into the
concrete drainage canal which is the Tijuana river.  Someone should ask
toshiba.gm.nike.et.al.com why things aren't improving for the average
Mexican who comes to Tijuana for work.  I am fairly certain they don't
have cable modems in Tijuana.

If I wanted I could call the cable company and have cable modem internet
access for $39 a month.  The cable company charges $29 a month for
television--and in 60 channels--there is still nothing to watch.  I do
not pay for cable television but I have seen it.  I have seen the cable
internet service in other people's homes and it is indeed very fast | |
| at least as fast as my ethernet connection here on campus for which I
pay $20 a month.  But if the electricity goes off it really makes no
difference.  Like the rest of us the cable company is trying to figure
out how to do the internet.  They are very polite because we live in a
service economy.  The answers they give as they try to figure out how to
do the internet are amusing.  I'm told they have ethernet cards for my
home machine--a 25 Mhz ci--for $49 dollars and in the next breath they
tell me the home machine has to run > 66 Mhz to work with the system.  I
notice all costs in a service economy end with the number nine.

In the winter of '82-83 the rain began before Christmas.  I remember
because I was baking cookies during an electrical storm.  We didn't have
the internet then.  The rain continued into May and hindered pedestrian
travel because the storm drains couldn't move the water fast enough.  I
walk up a half block to cross the street to avoid the flood at each
intersection.  The winter of '82-83 had many electrical storms.  It is a
rare year when San Diego has an atmosphere more native to Kowloon.  As a
result that year had the best desert flowers I have ever seen.

The cable company gives people who pay $39 other things in addition to
the internet.  Subscribers get an email address which for me would look
like lisa@home.com.  I am informed that I also get 3 web pages.  We
discuss what exactly 3 web pages means in terms of the internet.  I
learn that it means / three / 5 meg spaces / which I surmise must mean a
total broadcast space of 15 megs.  A person could do a lot of net art
with 15 megs.  I think what the cable company has in mind is that mommy
gets a home page and daddy gets a home page and their F1s get a home
page.

I think now and for the time being I will make net art in my studio.  My
studio has better electricity.  My studio has 6 electrical outlets and
each one is a 20 amp service.  Half of my house is on a 20 amp service
because the house was built in 1939 and electricity was different then. 
The reason the electricity goes off at my house is because of the wind. 
The palm trees in my neighborhood are very tall and in the wind they
drop large dead leaves onto the electrical lines.  When the leaves reach
the street they are reduced to a harmless state by passing cars.  Some
thoughts.
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