So this is it. The first online log. Jill claims making her very own log makes her feel more efficient, and structures her day - I wish! We'll see how this works out.

Today's topic - Deleuze and Guittari. No, I don't understand this quite yet, but reading about capitalism and schizophrenia, I found this quote in a book on Deleuze and Guittari. The author qoutes Kafka: "Josephine the singer, or the mouse folk" in Collected short stories of Franz Kafka, London 1988, p 437-8

"Our laws are not generally known; they are kept secret by a small group of nobles who rule us. We are convinced that these ancient laws are scrupulously administered; nevertheless it is an extremely painful thing to be ruled by laws one does not know... Perhaps these laws that we are trying to unravel do not exist at all. There is a small party who are actually of this opinion, and who try to show that, if any law exists, it can only be this: The law is whatever the nobles do."

Why did I like this quote? It fits perfectly with the rules of one of the courts in the online roleplay game I play. When my brain doesn't work (in periods, too much of the time), I log on to the MUD Aarinfel, and slip into the body of a male gay elf (IRL I am a female, fairly straight and not elfish looking at all). The link to Aarinfel and a lot of information about the place can be found here: http://aarinfel.mudservices.com/

Roleplay to several of the players at Aarinfel, is a way to think about social structures and relationships, and to learn about assumptions. In a fantasy world, assumptions drawn from flesh-world habits can have unexpected consequences, and this is one of the most interesting aspects of playing, particularly online. On the Aarinfel discussion board, among the more-or-less posts of juvenile banter, there are discussions of the development of societies, the logic of racial interaction or the importance of climate to agriculture and trade - all in the fantastic realm of the Empire Erenai.