lazy icon quest

seamstrix's reply to my prior "icon, woo!" post found me some excellent quote posts (thank you!), which have whetted my appetite for more!

What I'm specifically looking for:

1) higher quality version of the icon on this post (Farscape: Aeryn meets Crichton, Aeryn kicks Crichtons' ass)

2) good quotes (House MD, Firefly, Rome, Buffy particularly welcome). Please something legible so my retinas won't bleed!

3) something political - no donkeys please as though I'm not in favor of Bush I'm not necesarily Democrat either.

Go forth, saucy minions.... :P

Edit 6:30 pm: Credit where credit is due - it was flummoxicated who left the groovy link.

PSA: the internet is made of people

Ok, perhaps not literally, but it is a social medium. Check out this episode (mp3) of Berkeley Groks where they interview Jerry Michalski about social networks and the future of the Internet.

I liked the interview because it points out what IMHO is one of the big, mostly ignored facets of the internet - for all it's value in commerce, advertising, file sharing/distribution etc. the internet started out primarily as a place for people to interact. As an introverted AND shy teenager with weird interests, Prodigy and the like were a godsend when I was looking for other people who liked (hell, had heard of) 808 State and the other very specific musical tastes I cultivated in high school. In college half my social life was built around a telnet-accessed chatroom called VRave (I first "met" D. there - details if interested), because even locally, I found it easier to express myself in text than face to face. I'm not as awkward as I used to be, but this medium still helps me enormously: I've made great friends through LJ and various mailing lists (you know who you are).

Despite all the legitimate worries about frauds and stalkers online, I think it's worth considering that some of us find the anonymity of the Internet as an opportunity to be more ourselves - speak up when in person we'd be awkward, about subjects we'd have trouble touching face to face, in a medium where you're judged not by how you look but by what you say and how well you say it. It's also useful if you have odd or specific interests and have difficulty finding people (local or not) who share them.

I think that these benefits are one of the reasons why "trolls" chap my hide so damn much. Instead of using mailing lists, chat rooms etc. to connect, they either 1) deliberately ignore the fact that the names on their screen are Real People, and view all their offenses as "not really mattering" because they weren't face to face, or 2) exploit the anonymity to be a shit to everyone because online there's no one physically there to punch them in the nose for being an asshole. In short, they use the medium to be less, rather than more, than they could be, I suspect because they're either cruel or cowards, or both.

So - is the internet a tool or a crutch? Are the people you "meet" online your friends, or just ciphers on a screen (or something in between)? Thoughts?