Before we start making f1f0's contribution bigger than it is, I would
like to point out that I didn't see any compassion with the fate of the
Kosovo Albanians in his message.  At times he has had interesting and
mind-provoking thoughts, but I was disappointed this time.

There are all kinds of things going on all the time that are not right,
inside as well as outside the U.S.  And everyone has the choice, but not
the obligation to do something with that in his or her art, music, work
and/or life.  As far as Yugoslavia goes, it's sad, but there isn't
really a simple solution.  Europe (and I suppose other parts of the
world) have many old conflicts.  Western Europe has been "lucky" in the
sense that most of these were resolved by the time World War II was
over.  But it took hundreds of years (and many wars) to get to that
point.  We can only hope that things won't take that long for the
Balkan.   The really sobering thought I think is that although we are
used to a fast-paced environment (with faster and faster Pentium and
other processors), history doesn't have a fast forward button, and
things take time. 

Job van Zuijlen

Bob Douglas wrote:
>  
> I'd have to agree. The issue comes down to this. How socially and politically
> convulsive do events like the current crisis in Serbia/Kosovo/Albania have to
> be, before we bring such topics in out of the cold (namely OT) and acknowledge
> the way they influence our current  music-making.
> 
> It's sobering to remember that we wouldn't be making ANY computer music
> without, some might say, the aesthetically pyrrhic "advances" that occurred
> during WW 2, and thereafter. Alan Turing's work on decrypting the German
> Enigma machine is one of the more benign examples that comes to mind. I'm sure
> most of us could easily call forth many of the more malignant variety.
> 
> The point is that it takes less than six degrees of separation to connect
> Computer Music, per  se, to the DoD. The current forced migration from Kosovo,
> euphemistically called "ethnic cleansing" (try "ethic cleansing"), is the
> largest such movement of people in Europe since WW2. It is not some
> streetcorner tiff on the other side of the world. If you are an American, this
> isgoing to have far reaching repercussions on US foreign policy, and perhaps
> even the way the military does its thing.
> 
> f1f0 (@m9ndfukc.com) may just be there to remind us that one day, the DoD
> could come knocking on your door with an offer difficult to refuse - "...that
> opcode you got there, we could use it .....". If you think that's
> funny/improbable, look into the development of submarine screw-silencing
> during the last ten years. If  f1f0's style irks you, persist. Has anyone, for
> example, thought of taking the trouble to respond to f1f0's postings in the
> same dialect ?
>