Ba Humbug!

Sending large files (anything over 2mb) over the net is not recommended in an internet retarded area, not even if it's work related. I've got 40+MB worth of work needed to be sent over the net and it's not working the way I wanted. In hindsight maybe I should have finished it earlier so I don't have to send it over, Bleargh. And christmas in Jakarta sucks, it doesn't feel like Christmas.

Office space

Bahaha first time I've got a fast connection in the office and it's really early in the morning, I don't know what to do now since I can't hijack the connection to my notebook.

On a side note.......gotta rush gotta rush I've got until friday to finish fix and adjust my translations, why am I even blogging now? GAAAA!!! Rush! rush!

ZZZZzzzz

That's my 1st week week as a fully employed person out of the way. Nothing too eventful in fact nothing really happened, it's so uneventfull I'm just filling this space because I haven't blogged since 9 days ago.

On the 9th day he blogs again!

Whoa 8 days? has it been that long? that's like a week plus one or 6 days less until it's a full half a month. Well I can't help it, I got a job some time ago, 8 days ago to be exact doing translation for comic books (all you self proclaimed otaku can kiss my ass, it is a comic book by meaning), the pay isn't that good but the free comic is makes it somewhat ok, well free for a time since I have to give the book back.

Since then I've finished 1 book, yep one whole book, translating from one language you're somewhat familiar to another that you're unsure of can be a pretty daunting task, but at least I get to use my dictionaries again. Indonesian is such a hard language to use, it makes things sound, well, corny for a lack of other descriptive words.

One book down 2 to go, until they give me me another one...or two... or three....

Well there I was translating the books when someone else offered me a job, well more like telling me there's an opening, so like the poor semi employed jackass I was I took it, now I'm doing two jobs, one's a casual free flowing fun translating one and the other's your regular 9-5 Monday to Friday and it starts next Monday. I'm screwed.

Now I'm on my first step to being a multi-thousandaire, and I'm not talking in US$.

Façade

It's one of those French words that pops into the English language because the English couldn't make up it's own words and then cry havoc when some non native English speaker mis-pronounce a word in English. It's a noun meaning "the face of a building, esp. the principal front that looks onto a street or open space", when use in the figurative sense as most people do it means "an outward appearance that is maintained to conceal a less pleasant or creditable reality".

They say it takes a great mental capacity to maintain this, by this I meant the English language.




and yes I can see the irony in this post, I am so adapt in irony I should be the king of Ironforge.

Staying in shape

During the second world war and sometime after some people stayed in shape in fact some people hardly go out of shape, but there are only several people who stayed in shape and not everyone can get in shape.




*Supreme Headquatres Allied Powers Europe

Plugged in

I am currently sitting in a restaurant for the last 6 hours browsing online through a WiFi connection for the same amount of time, this by far is my longest time being online in one sitting with very little break, and I'm not finished.

Grand Mario Cafe

The Grand Mario is located on the ground floor of Ratu Plaza in Jakarta. Located in the center of the new electronic hub of Jakarta means it is connected to 3 WiFi connection Indosatnet, iBox, and estore, unless you can figure out the passwords for iBox or estore your best bet for wireless connection here is Indosatnet and it is accessible through subscription.

The place is quite comfortable for people to come and have a break at whether it's for a short lunch break, short informal meetings or to relax after a long day. Located just under the atrium it gives the place a somewhat outdoor feeling, the tall green umbrellas, rattan chairs surrounding trees and the occasional fly also helps the feeling despite it being located indoors and right in the middle of everything electronic. The waiters here seems to know when you want to be served or left alone even when you're not doing anything. The cafe also has a grand piano located inside so I can only assume that it is used in some occasion.

Now on to the food. While it promotes itself as a cafe and lounge it serves the usual coffee and cakes along with main dishes such as beef bulgogi, which makes it the quintessential Indonesian cafe. The y have a good selection of cakes coffees and other cold and hot drink, but I did not come here for the main dish, I came here for the cakes and coffee. I ordered a slice of tiramisu and a glass of irish coffee. I have to say the tiramisu here is nothing for them to be proud of but better than most tiramisu I've had in this city, considering the taste and the size the price is not very well adjusted. The irish coffee I have to say is a little too strong for my taste but it helps make the tiramisu taste better, I can't be sure of it's because of the bitterness or the liqueur they have in it.

The Grand Mario is probably one of the better cafes in Jakarta for people to come and wind down before going back to the busy world, the unique outdoor feel definitely helps to relax the mind and escape from the concrete feel that is common in Jakarta.

Encounter with the dumb kind

Sometime ago in an undisclosed apple store I was hanging around and tinkering with some stuff when I saw some guys asking about the difference bewteen an eMac and an iMac G5, the first thing the customer asked was the difference between the two, I walked closer to hear how the store guy is going to handle this.

I expected to hear an informed explanation about it but what I heard was "It's just different", as an avid mac user I just couldn't let this one slide so I went in and explained to the customer the general difference between the eMac and the iMac G5. I asked the guy what he was going to use it for, what type of machine was he looking for (Power, portability, space, etc) and what sort of price range he was looking for.

It all ended with the guy purchasing an iMac G5 and a really red faced clerk.

major posatage

OMG NO POST IN A WEEK OMG OMG!!!

*POSTS*

YAAAY POST!!!

yeah, slow week.

FRACK YOU!

marathon |ˈmarəˌθän|
[noun] a long-distance running race, strictly one of 26 miles and 385 yards (42.195 km).
[usu. with adj. ] a long-lasting or difficult task or operation of a specified kind
[as adj. ] of great duration or distance; very long

The key words here are very long, so when they announced a Battlestar Gallactica marathon I was expecting the whole season plus the first two pilots in a row, but what I got was the first 2 pilots in a day, followed by 3 episodes each day for the next 4 days.

Personally I don't consider this a marathon, especially if each episode is about 45 minutes long each (sans ads). So when you say you're going to run a marathon show you better mean it, I sat through a whole MASH series marathon from start to finish I can sit though one season of BSG.

Cashing in on tango

These guys really need to look around before they urinate

The first day of month nine

on this day

-The Sistine Chapel ceiling became a public exhibit for the first time (1512)
-New York is subdivided into 12 counties by the British (1683)
-The British enacted the Stamp act on its American colonies(1765)
-US President John Adams became the first president to live in the White House (1800)
-The US successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb (1952)
-George Lucas went on a Sabbatical and began writing Star wars prequels (1994)
-It's the world vegan day

source wikipedia

"NHK amateur singing contest"

Yes, I shamelessly watch this show regularly, it's much more fun to watch than that American idol show, less glamor and more music variety that is if you can get through the bizarre fashion sense of the hosts and some of the contestants.

As for the the singing quality it's like going to a karaoke bar, bizarre yet fun, at times I feel like changing the channel but out of some masochistic sense I kept listening (what can be more fun than listening to a 75 year old lady singing a new pop number with more gusto than a 20 year old?), good thing they usually stop them before it goes too far, on the other hand you do get some really good ones once in a while.

eh...wha?

No, Cinco de Mayo doesn't mean a sink filled with mayonnaise

Goodbye, so long, adieu

Three cheers for courage

Three cheers for progressive change

Three cheers for the woman who said "no"

Rest in peace Mrs Rosa Lee Parks, may your spirit lives on.

Busy busy busy

Dual core powermacs, upgraded powerbook, price drops on HD cinema displays, Aperture and iTMS Australia...oh my! all this in a day? and less then a week since the new iPod and upgraded iMacs?! Hurry, somebody stop Steve Jobs before he ascends into Godhood!

I KNEW IT!

STUPID PC!! first I tried to install Dune: Emperor, the installation was fine but when I tried to play it the system didn't recognize the CD, it said the CD wasn't there, WTF? I just friggin' installed it with that flipin' CD damnit! Then I installed C&C: tiberian sun, guess what? same damn thing happened! now the only thing I can play is starcraft, I hate this piece of shit junk box!

Food for thought

Today I found myself stuck in front of the TV for 2 hours straight looking at the 2 best things created in this sad little planet, choclate, and ice cream. One show is called the history of ice cream I watched in a few times before but it's still fun to watch, and the other was some documentary about choclate (I can't remember the name), it just shows all the various types of chocolate and choclate based food. I have to say it was the best 2 hours I spend in front of the tube, just when I thought it couldn't get any better the next hour I spent watching a show about restaurants around the world, life is good

I WANT ONE!

I usually don't get worked up on prototypes, especially if its a car or motorcycle but this bike really caught my eye. It's stylishly sleek, has power (600cc) and more importantly more eco-friendly than most bikes.Too bad hybrid vehicles usually cost more than an arm and leg, they should make eco-friendly technologies more accesible to the public.

And one more thing...

it plays your music, it shows your photo and now it plays your video's too! not to mention now it comes in black....Apple announced it's new product line up, including the new iPod, just several hours ago in its "One more thing event". The new iPod is less than 1/2 an inch thin, as I said before plays videos and 20 hours of battery life, that's 5 more hours than the previous iPod model and about 12 hours more than mine and did I mention it comes in black?. The new iPod comes in two models, 30GB (US$299) and 60GB ($399).

The other thing Apple announced was the new iMac G5. The new iMac comes with a built in iSight, bluetooth and Airport extreme, Apple's mighty mouse now comes as a standard with the new remote control for your multimedia pleasure and all the regular hardware upgrades.

Now only of they'd put those built in iSight on the next note book lineups...

It's a prisacopier!

I went out to buy a printer and scanner and instead I bought an HP 1410 printer/scanner/photocopier today. So far it's been really impressive but it took me almost an hour to actually buy it I asked the guy at the store to test it, to see if it's faulty or not, it took the guy 45 minutes try and get it running before they guy finally said "I haven't used this before, I don't know how to use it". Bastard should've told me before wasting my damn time. Anyway I'm happy with it so far, I got my printer, my scanner and a free photocopy machine! not that I need a photocopy machine but it was a nice extra.

"They got my toes!"

You know I really don't get Japanese news. I was watching NHK news on TV the other day when I saw something funny, the news line up went something like this; Chinese pipeline dispute, Avian flu outbreak, New York subway upgrades terror alert, (Japanese)Parents unsatisfifed with school education, a drive by shooting with a BB gun in an Osakan expressway, elderly women gets her toes bitten off by a cat"and finally White sox beats yankees.

How did a toe stealing cat made into the news I have no idea but they sure cover the whole news spectrum here.

coming to a close

Now, at the end of the second great console war most people say Sony won this war with the PS2 being the highest selling console, I wonder where this console wars will take us in terms of gaming. I've played more games than I went to the cinema, my total gaming time is probably about 6-7 years. looking back at my 17 years as a gamer I saw many innovations and improvements in games and its consoles along with many failed concepts and ideas, nerds became millionaires and gaming became mainstream. As I sit here playing alleyway on my gameboy I wonder if it's time for me to move on to other things, although I hear Nintendo's coming up with something interesting....

For most gamers this war never ends, the second great portable game console war is already under way with Nintendo Dual screen (DS) and the Sony PSP. In the coming months the third great console war will begin with Microsoft opening it's first salvo with the release of the Xbox 360, it won't be long until Sony's PS3 and Nintendo's Revolution move in, preparations are already at it's finishing stage, console fans have taken their positions. In A.D 2006, "war was beginning..."

as the story goes...

As I finished junior high I saw the downfall of the once great Nintendo in the home console wars while still holding strong in portable game consoles, Sega still held with their Dreamcast against the new power that is Sony with its playstation. I moved away from the generic games as I found "dating sims" games, I found games such as Tokimeki memorial more appealing than most, it didn't take me long to become a fan of the series. By this time I mostly play dating sims, flight sims, and RPG. I was in the Sony block and saw the demise of Sega as a console power in 2001 as they lost their OS support. Games were still fun but much more complex and still a geek thing.

While I was in University I saw the beginning of the second great console war. Sony launched it's Playstation 2 (PS2) as it effectively put the playstation into retirement, It didn't take long for me to own one, sadly the console was an Australian one, it really limited my game option and I was not willing to shell a few hundred bucks for a dodgy mod chip. Being in Australia for me meant limited game options and long waits. It was about a year after its release that I bought the Nintendo gamecube, good games were even lesser for this console yet I managed to scrounge up a few. Despite the raising popularity of the Xbox I never seriously considered buying it primarily because I have an aversion towards the company that released it, that and the controllers were big, bulky and really sucked. In a different front Nintendo's Gameboy reign is seen coming to a close after so many years with different variations, it has successfully fended off many of its competitors, even the ones deemed more advanced. 3D was standard, gaming became mainstream and is integrated into popular culture.

Time to find something new

I was born in 1982 in a relatively affluent family, statistically I am a part of the early video game generation and a new breed of people later to be called gamers. I can't remember when I started playing games video games, all I remember was my first home console was an atari 2600 and my first portable was game and watch it was a much simpler days.

As I grew older (around 1st grade) I was introduced to Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and not long after came the Sega Megadrive (Sega MD) and the super NES (SNES) I had more options in games and things were better, I only enjoyed RPG after I played breath of fire 2, I began to define my game stream with SNES and the Sega MD, I was still a bipartisan gamer caught in the midst of the great console war and gaming was a geek thing.

I was in Junior high when the first great console war came to a close, I was introduced to the Sony Playstation before I saw the N64 and Sega's Dreamcast , but I still held my Gameboy, things were mostly 3D and I became an RPG fan, I saw many consoles die in the war including Jaguar, Virtual boy, Sega CD, Sega Saturn and Gamegear. The coming of sony into the video game world marked the end of the "old reigns", gaming was still a geek thing and I've been a gamer for more than 10 years.

(TBC)

In- jokes

After years of study that causes my insomnia I finally graduated from my university but in the graduation cermony I was in absentia I couldn't go because I was practically in esse since the previous night I was in vino to a point where I was in extremis, despite the amount I drank I didn't do anything in flagrante delicto with some one who's in loco parentis, I couldn't even walk in-line going home. When I woke up the next day I was not in situ, I assure you that I was not insane but thought I woke up in Seine,

And so the battle rages on...

Take that you greedy record companies!, don't like the consumer friendly pricing system? go ahead go back into selling music on CDs again , lets see how much money you'll make then.

on another note, Sony's new (and frist non Japanese) CEO, Howard Stinger decided to slim down, this move suggests that Sony is loosing on several fronts in the electronics department, particularly the portable music players and struggling in the home media/entertainment department, looks like the 3rd major console war is finally taking it's toll on this old company. The robotics department is one of the few departments that's getting the axe because it wasn't making any real money so bye bye aibo been nice knowing you. Although I have to say this is probably one of the better moves Sony made since the release of the original Playstation, "when you're confused go back to basics" in this case home electronics.

Complacency and complimentary

I can't believe I had to miss my "talk like a pirate day" post because the I couldn't go online, stupid connection was down for the day, on top of that animax was being a pain again with the Japanese audio out as I was watching Da! Da! Da! goddamn can't they just leave that alone and let us watch rather than tinkering with it, I called the customer "service" again and they said it will be fixed within a month, what the fuck? I guess I'll harass these people and call them everyday until they'll fix the problem, maintenance problem my ass.

lighter on a note is kind of pointless, but on a lighter note I went to a friend's restaurants grand opening, the place looked nice with most of his old action figures up on display and the interior wasn't that bad either it felt like a cross between "The Incredibles" and "Dr.No". The inside is nice and cozy with cushioned chairs and a sofa at the end with a short glass table, which is strange since it's a fast food joint yet it felt more like a café than a crummy ol' fast food joint, the bar was a strange touch though. The place itself wasn't so big though the kitchen took most of it and some of the seating areas are a little cramped to the wall especially with people walking up and down the isle. Come to think of it it felt more lake a family restaurant/diner than a fast food joint. ooh forgot about the food, since I was an invited guest the food and drinks were free so I tried whatever free food was available to me I had a choice of a beef patty on in a bun, a frankfurter in a bun and a chicken wiener on a bun, tough choice eh? the taste was ok for all 3 of them not too sharp and not too bland, another strange thing was the knives and forks I thought they used the buns in hot dogs and hammies was so you don't have to use utensils eating it, I swear some people ares strange. I have to say though one serving wouldn't curb your hunger, well not mine anyway.

Someone's got to tell me the difference between frankfurter and a wiener aside from one's from Frankfurt and the other's from Vienna

As the wheel turns

As I was reading the article about Nintendo Revolution's controller I remembered what Nintendo said about where it's going with the company, aiming to keep to a niche and loyal market (sound familiar?) then I realized (with the European gaming market in mind) considering the limits of a niche market in terms of consumers Nintendo may have to open it's console for all regions without any sort of region coding in its console and games. By eliminating the traditional regional barricade to home console gaming Nintendo will open a wider market for it's home console and perhaps for the gaming industry, that is if Nintendo dares to make this bold move.

As for the Nintendo revolution, I have doubts about this console even if its targeted to a niche market, the radical and unconventional design of the recently unveiled controller may have a good potential but it may fall short to those who are not yet prepared for a major change in the gaming experience, including 3rd party game makers.

To prove my point, the eye toy while considered by most as a gimmick to me it was a breakthrough in home console, it allows users to break away from the controller and take a more active role in playing yet it was not used to it's maximum potential, not many 3rd party game companies used this opportunity to break away from the traditional home gaming so people opted to stick to using the traditional controller thus putting it in a state of coma.

Gridlocked!

I went to land of the tree store (きのくにや/木の国屋) today to look at some books and to see whether they've updated the 漫画 section, it seemed like I picked the wrong day to go out today, the streets were packed, I mean really packed, it's so packed you can't fit a nother car in, and none of them moved much I never thought that moving 100m can take 10 minutes. Anyway, after a few hours I finally arrived at my intended destination, bought a book (something about islamic fundamnetalism), waited for about an hour before I went home to avoid heavy traffic, the bad thing about having this idea is you're not the only one, good thing the traffic wasn't as bad as it was before.

Ghost Wacom (A.K.A Experiment 01)

Result:
After spending some time trying to get used to the mouse movement, aiming and shooting with my wacom I havefound that due to certain aspect of the tablet (small) I find it slightly more limiting to move as freely as I could with a mouse or a trackpad and since the pen does not have to touch the tablet to operate as a mouse it is slightly frustrating to aim and shoot since whenever I click to fire the pen move.

On the other hand, despite the size factor I find the fluidity of the movement is much better compared to using a trackpad but not compared to a mouse. In conclusion, I find that it is possible to play shooter games with a pen tablet comfortably but it is highly dependant on certain variables such as the size and sensitivity of the pen and tablet also the stability of your hands and fingers as you play is an important factor. It is not recomended to attempt this if you are inexperienced with the game and using a pen tablet.


My next experiment will be attempting to play an RTS (real time strategy) game with a pen tablet, that is if I can find an RTS game playable with my iBook.

Hypothesis: Since a real time strategy game does not require the same accuracy of a "point and shoot" as much as a first person shooter game it is safe to assume that with the fluidity of a pen tablet it is highly possible to play an RTS game comfortably with a pen tablet.

Compulsory attendance

I went to one of those things some people prefer to avoid, a family gathering....my dad's side. As always I feel out of place, you know when you see sitcoms with "quirky" family members and you think "that's funny" well let me tell you, it ain't funny, not remotely. I think I have an "uncle bob" from this side of the family, if you don't know who "uncle bob" is it's the uncle you never want to have or if you do have one you wish you never know him and if you do know him you wish you never had one and if he's in front of you you'll want to get rid of him.

I had to try to avoid the more "quirky" members of my family, so I ended up talking to some of my dad's nephews, they make more sense then the rest of them, I found out that my cousine who's living in Canada is 4 subjects away from graduating, I'm not sure what sort of system they use there in CND. There was food though, it was ok, not exactly my taste but they didn't have anything else.


After several hours in my dad's older brother's house we finally went home, on the way home I realized a perfect insult to some of the people I saw there, it only works of the understand English though.

"You're head is so dense it's bullet proof"

Experiment 01

Playing Ghost Recon with a wacom

Status: Under way

I've had my wacom for quite a while now yet I only thought of this a few hours ago. The idea is to use a use my wacom graphire to play Ghost Recon instead of using the conventional mouse/touchpad. Before I begin I will have to re-assign the buttons on the pen so it would suit me more.

I may have some problems in adapting to the change but with the flexibility of the pen the whole gaming experience may change.

Result: pending

and again...

I was starring at this guy for more than 4 seconds for some reason I felt like taking a picture of this guy before finally pulling the trigger....poor bastard didn't even see it coming.

Nano bites the competition

OK...now they're just showing off, really why else would they make the iPod any smaller? first they made it thinner, then it was the iPod mini with all it's wonderfull colors and has about the same dimension of a credit card, then not too long ago came the iPod shuffle with it's size comparable to a pack of Wrigley chewing gum, now it's they released theiPod Nano to replace the mini line, with it's size comparable to....you know what? I can't think of a thing, my point is it's small, really small, it's so small I can probably fit it in my wallet, The next thing you'll know you'll be injecting mp3 players into your bloodstream.

In a more serious note, the iPod nano is a pretty good gadget it comes in 2GB and 4GB model and the standard color screen, it looks exactly the same as the 4G iPods except it's much smaller (Only 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27 inches and 1.5 ounces) and it comes with 2 colors, standard white and jet black, even the clicky wheel is black. Like the iPod shuffle it doubles as a USB flash drives, the only difference is you need the USB cable. But aside from that it's really just a size change and color screen upgrade from the mini, and a n increased 14 hour battery life.....wait, that's what they do to every iPod anyway.

I like how they promote it in their webiste
"Up to 4GB(2) of skip-free storage on a featherweight iPod means you can wear almost three days’ worth of music around your neck. Or jog with 1,000 songs on your arm"

They should put this instead
"Up to 4GB of skip free storage on a featherweight iPod means you can jog for more than half a day without skipping a beat"

Did I mention that this thing is small?


"Oh and one more thing" Motorola (with partnership with Apple) also released the first iTunes compatible phone called the motorola ROKR , I'm not much of phone fan so you can click on the link and read it yourself, all I know is that this phone ROKRS! OK maybe not quite but I can't help myself.

Katyusha

Rastsvetali yabloni i grushi,
Poplyli tumani nad rekoy
Vyhodila na bereg Katyusha
Na vysokij bereg, na krutoy
Vyhodila, pesnyu zavodila
Pro stepnovo sizovo orla
Pro tovo kotorovo lyubila
Pro tovo ch'i pis'ma beregla.
Oy, ty pesnya, pesenka devich'ya,
Ty leti za yasnym solntsem vslyed
I boytsu na dal'nem pogranich'e
Ot Katyushi pyereday privyet
Pust' on vspomnit devushku prostuyu
Pust' uslyshit' kak ona poyot.
Pust' on zemlyu berezhyot rodnuyu
A lyubov' Katyusha sbyerezhyot.
Rastsvetali yabloni i grushi,
Poplyli tumani nad rekoy
Vyhodila na bereg Katyusha
Na vysokij bereg, na krutoy.

A Cute Observation

Linguistic rules and regulation

Most known languages have rules and regulation, these rules usually covers grammar, pronunciation, spelling, punctuation's and intonations yet these are seen by most as flexible guidelines instead. When a language learner mispronounce a word it's called a mistake but when a native speaker does the same thing it's called a dialect, the fact is they are both the same, the inability to pronounce words correctly is a mistake either way the only difference is the 'native' speaker has been mispronouncing it much longer than the learner.

These mistakes can be seen clearly, for example, in the English language, the word nuclear is pronounced ˈn(y)oōklēər; -kli(ə)r any other variant of this is WRONG, the same thing with the word jaguar, it is pronounced "ˈjagˌwär", it has no 'wire' in it, yet people accept pronunciation mistakes when it comes out from a native speaker.

This sorts of mistakes are not limited to the English. Languages that suffers this sort of perversion are usually the ones widely used in a large scale, such as Chinese and English or the ones that are used in a large yet limited community that already has it's own local language such as Malay, Hispanic Latin and Germanic.

Playing the devil's advocate

Imagine a world where everyone can purchase more than their basic needs, a world where everyone lives in a decent home, a world without poverty, sounds nice doesn't it? Now let's take a look at the other side of this brightly polished coin with 6 billion people currently living in this godforsaken planet everyone will need energy and with what limited energy resource we have left this will run out in 30 years if poverty is completely eradicated within the next 5 years because these people will then be able to buy more than they need not to mention food and living space, education didn't stop population increase or decrease the use of limited resources, nobody can stop this mass pillage of the planet it's human nature to use up whatever resources we have and move on. Now the question is, do you really want to eliminate poverty?

What really happpened

We all make this kind of mistake sometimes

I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

Down at the county fair
One evening I was there
I heard a barker shouting
Underneath the flair...

"Oh, I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts.
There they are all standing in a row.
Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head.
Give 'em a twist, a flick of the wrist."
That's what the showman said.

Oi! I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts.
Every ball you throw will make me rich.
There stands me wife,
The idol of me life,
Singing roll a bowl, a ball, a penny a pitch.

Singing, roll a bowl a ball a penny a pitch.
Roll a bowl a ball a penny a pitch.
Roll a bowl a ball.
Roll a bowl a ball.
Singing, roll a bowl a ball a penny a pitch.

"Tango goes down the hole..."

Here I am again in back Tblisi, Georgia heading to Moscow looking for people to shoot as I immersed myself in another session of Ghost Recon, the original! yep I decided to take a break from my fun filled photoshop activities and switch to Ghost Recon for the day, I can just hear people yelling "You camping fag!" or "You sniping bitch!" inside my head as I was playing, I miss camping out with marshmallow, hot coca and an M24.

Computer chip

Visual frustration

I never imagined designing an OS interface can be so hard, and I'm only trying to do the appearance, you know the window, task bar, menu just the basic stuff. It took me more than 3 hours to come up with an interface just for the menu, I didn't want to copy apple's OS 10 dock or the start menu MS Windows has, the task bar and window wasn't so difficult, but it wasn't as original, I took a lot from OS 10s window and gave it some cosmetic change but essentialy it's the same, with a collapsable task bar.

Now that I had a good look at it, I'm gonna have to redesign it, it looks crap now.

XP stands for BLECH!

I finally found my old copy of starcraft (windows ver.). It's quite fun playing it again after a long time, but I can see pretty well my RTS skills are dropping. Anyway, I woke up this morning decided to play again, the only thing I did before was just exit the program, take the cd out and turn off the box now it refuses to even let me play again, it said some program wasn't running as it should and I have to re-install it again, so I did, I gave up after the 3rd time.

Don't you just love windows OS? everytime I try to do something more complex than move the mouse it reminded me to why I stopped using it in the first place.

"Lok'tar Ogar"

I'm looking for some of my old games to play on my old PC, I wish there's a command-F in real life, then I can at least know where to find it, I can't beleive I left my Warcraft 2 back in melbourne. Now, where is that copy of sim city 2000?

Swarmbots

As I was watching the Discovery channel today I saw a feature about swarmbots, they are small (not more than 5 inches square approximately) independent (no direct human control) robotic objects operating in groups to perform certain tasks, like ants, as I was watching this I remembered the "smart-vacuum cleaner", you know the one that operates automatically. Now, can someone combine these two so I can get this?,

"speech problem"

In my futile attempt in trying to use my hands less in using my computer (and to look somewhat more science fictiony) I decided to turn on the speech command option on my iBook and do a bit of scripting (which doesn't help much if you have no clue what to do). After some minor scripting (a simple open app, close app, next track, play and teaching my computer several response to swearwords) I decided to try it out, several script re-writes, hair pulling and "switch to iTunes" later I'm still trying to make it work.

I guess for now I have to settle with using my hands to operate my computer, saying "switch to safari" repeatedly sounds dumb after a while.

iPod thief caught

As I was reading this article I wondered how did the store manager recognized his own iPod, the article didn't mention how he recognized it before the iPod was plugged to the computer, maybe it's the model, maybe there's distinct markings on it. Personally I wouldn't notice the difference between my 3g iPod and someone elses 3g iPod just from appearance.

I see dead fishes

I see dead fish in the morning, afternoon and evening, I'm getting tired of seeing dead fish raw, burnt, fried, grilled I don't care keep them away from me, they used to taste good then they keep on coming and still coming like zombies, one after another, big ones small ones. I don't like how I often I have to eat fish, in fact I think there's something fishy behind all this fishy business.

"The leg of the table"

I'm surprised to find that there is no specific name for the leg of the table or chair. Carpentry is an old profession, older than Jesus even, shouldn't they at least come up with a word for it? I have yet to a word to describe the leg of a table maybe if I can find the latin words for table and foot/leg/hold/holdder, combine the two words then anglicize it then I can come up with a word.

Moving to a stop

Computer, modem, fax, telephone, cars, airplanes.......Things that made what seemed impossible possible, these technological advances has created a much smaller world then it was before, these technologies allow us to go to other places quicker and relay our messages faster, we are now able to talk face to face with someone across the globe and even beyond the globe, we can get our food without even going outside the house and your home (or your favorite hangout place) can also be your office, now we can even see a mute and deaf person using a phone.

The above is probably what you hear in the opening of a technological convention or on TV when someone is explaining how great technology is what we are missing out is how far will technology takes us none of us really know where we are going with it. From my amateur observations and personal experiences with technology we will be going nowhere with technology,literally, the more technology advances the less people have to move, you may interact with the person in your living room or next to you without opening your mouth through instant message services, eat a box of pizza you ordered through e-mail, order a new set of clothing and work from the same computer you use to 'talk', order food and shop from at the same time. While it may seem farfetched personal transport may become obsolete in time since the amount of traveling may be significantly reduced overtime.

Indonesian forest fires

Well it's been a few days and it's still going, Malaysians said they are 'fed up' with this , I'm not justifying Indonesia for letting this happen annualy or their inability to stop this but the fact is these forest fires are partly caused by illegal loggings that occurs in Indonesia by Malaysians which the Malayasian government are unable to prevent, so if you're a Malaysian blaming Indonesia for your smog the fault, as always, lies on both sides, Malaysia doesn't exactly have a perfect squeaky clean government either, especially when it comes to acquiring wood.

bread crusts

"2/3 children in Britain says they don't like crust", as reported by CNN (11/07/2005), does anyone else see something wrong with this research? What the bread companies do with their money is really non of my business but I swear some researchers need to find something else to do. Anyway, they claimed that "crustless" bread are common in Germany, I'm guessing it's a significant thing in the bread business but an extensive research about this? if you or your kids don't like bread crusts just cut it off and make bread crumbs or croutons out of it.


if anyone's interested here's an article about it

I need a digi-kame

Well either a digital turtle or a camera is good but I prefer a digital camera. I've been seeing things around here that's probably blogworthy but I have no way get the pictures and regular camera's too much of a hassle.

Something else to make you cringe

Something I did out off boredom

Heh heh heh

Book review

This book is a must read for anyone who are interested in politics and want to understand more about American style democracy. It gives you an in-depth look to how America is run as a state, its inside information about the US government and its workings will blow your mind, it also gives you an inside look to why it's great to be an American living in Jesusland, with a forward by Thomas Jefferson America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction has got to be the most authorative book when it comes to American politics. Why are you still reading this? go and read the book already!

Did I tell you it's from the people who brought you The Daily show?

Nothing here

As I was browsing around doing nothing I foundnothing, according this nothing is something and somethings are nothing and if you found something it's probably nothing in which case it may be something but if you did find nothing it may be nothing but the fact remains that you did found something but it's nothing.

Guess what's in my head?

Busted wacom

Great, just when I decided to get creative my wacom's busted, more like invaild driver but it still means I can't use it properly, now how am I supposed to draw without my tablet....oh well time to update the driver.

a word of warning, if you have OS 10.4.x go here and update your driver since driver 4.78 doesn't work with Tiger.

I LOL'ed

I was never a fan of Fox news, the sight of O'Reily on TV makes me hurl, hearing Coulter's blabber about what she think is politics makes me cringe but this made my day. I know it's a cheap shot but I still find it funny.

IT'S OUT!!

IT'S OUT!!! IT'S OUT!!, well it's been out for a while but IT'S OUT!!

The house of mouse

Looking at apples new mouse one can only imagine what's the next step in the mouse industry, we started with a simple single button and a wheel now apple managed to rid of the button (partialy) and the wheel, the only thing mighty mouse hasn't rid off is the tail but we all know a mouse dying while we're working or playing is a real pain so I still prefer a mouse with a tail.

The only question I have is does this mouse do midichlorine count? as apple claimed it is force sensing so I assume it's a force sensitive mouse.

Ulcers

I'm telling you I have Ulcers more like an ulcer, I do! a single ulcer bacteria. I bought an ulcer plushie in manifest (melbourne anime festival) last year, it's really cute too it's got two black eyes and the tail looks more like the hair, it's got a nice little fact card about ulcers too.

Health update

I feel like the walls of Minas Tirith and my stomach feels like Cirith Ungol and looks like I have tumor....oh wait I mean two more things to worry about, the two things I love most are playing with peoples mind and screwing around with fate.

I started of with a fever, a migraine and lower back pain, that went on for about 3 days, then my fever settled down along with my back pain about 2 days ago (I think), now my migraine is fleeting away slowly I have a stomach ache and some gastronomic problem, I think the two are somehow related, every time I eat or drink the food or drink takes longer to go down to my stomach because of a massive gas build up somewhere around the solar plexus area, I've been trying to put pressure on my stomach and solar plexus so the gas would flow out the only problem is with so much gas build up if released instantaneously I may be classified as a biological weapon, now if only I can get to an elevator.....

with so many health issues I had to deal with in less than a week some of you may think it's a made up story but I kid you not.

Hey hey it's Sunday!

and I still have that throbbing migraine, damn I swear it's annoying, now I can't even speak a sentence without moaning, groaning and screaming, best case scenario is probably some minor problems with the nervous system, worst case scenario is, well you can sort of guess now can you?

Your medicine is silly!

Looks like I won't be having a saturday night fever.....now it's just my headache which will probably go away tomorrow morning, having a migraine for 3 damn days is a pain, then again having a migraine is a pain no matter how long it is. Fast acting medicine my butt those stupid medicine have no effect in me, stick to ice, water, orange, lots of sleep and a walking stick/wheelchair I say.

3rd day

Against my better judgment I decided to take two extra strong panadols to reduce the pain in my head.
Two extra strong panadols, a number of ice packs and a few gallons of water and countless moans, groans and grunts later I can finally pinpoint where my migraine is exactly, apparently it's on the back of my head on the left side just between my ear and cerebellum. Despite the two extra strong panadols it still hurts like hell every time there's a pulse.

Oh just so you know, I haven't slept at all, my back still hurts and my fever isn't going down either.

GAH!

Warm room temperature, my body's warming up yet I'm freezing, my back still hurts I can't sleep and I still have that stupid migraine, I drank enough water up to a point have to pee every 5 minutes and I thought I was getting better by the end of the day yesterday, this is ridiculous, I hardly get sick but when I do I get sick it feels like death is knocking on my door, but that's al it does, knock, bastard.

*溜め息*

What a day, fever, migraine and lower back pain all at once, since I can't take any medicine I just have to endure it for the entire day with lots of rest and lots of water, I think I went to the toilet more in one day than I have in the last 3 days. I can't even think straight right now, in fact I'm not even sure what I'm typing right now, I think I should stop before this turns into one incoherent babble.

My grain and CSI

I woke up this morning, about 08:45, with a massive migraine I'm still not sure why, I didn't sleep late surprisingly which in turn made me miss the CSI series final )a bit late eh?) but it was no biggie I just have to catch the afternoon re-run, in any case, I thought it was one of those big but short lived migraine but 4 hours later I still got it, the thing is aside from my head it seems like my entire nervous system is slowing down while being extra sensitive at the same time which is really annoying when you're trying to have lunch but your hands have to move slower so it doesn't hurt much. I feel like damn cow eating slowly. As for the CSI series final I thought it was ok, nothing spectacular then again with series like this it's really hard to find a good way to end it.

Talk shows

Whether you like it or not it's there and everyone has an opinion about it

But have you ever paid any details to how the desks in talk shows are arranged? when you look at the big name shows (Carson, Letterman, Leno, the hosts almost always faces the left side of the screen, is it something to do the way the eye works? or is something else? like maybe a case of copying the successful format.

"Green with ENV"

For those people who have been reading tech new for a while you might have heard of the Energy Neutral Vehicle or ENV fuel cell motorcycle, for those who doesn't it's basically an energy saving motorbike, while the fastest it can go is only about 50 mph (80 km/h)then again speed doesn't really matter in a place with chronic traffic jam. The only catch is going green will still cost you a lot of money at an expected market price of US$6000.

for more detail info go here: http://news.com.com/2061-11128_3-5803239.html

The gaming debate

sex and violence in games? WOW that's new.......NOT!

Ah yes, the unending debate in game content, should game have sexual content, should violent content be allowed? how much violence should be allowed in games? I've heard all the questions, arguments yet it only comes up when there's a big furor in the news about some game having explicit content, blegh.

Despite my academic background and my urge as a social critique to write something long and academic about this again I won't, because I'm sick of it, I'm sick of all this for and against arguments, so therefore I will write like an idiot, only because this debate is stupid, like the eject button on a remote control.

Firstly, let me run down some facts

1. Interactive entertainment (including video game) is a medium
2. It is a product being sold
3. Selling product needs marketing
4. Sex and violence sells (especially in Western markets)
5. The media is not only for children, so there's no reason for video games to be different

Yet this debate will never have occurred if these violent games are not popular, people only buy games that have good gameplay and fun, the only two key factors that really matter in video game industry, graphics, sound and the rest only make up for the gameplay, nobody plays a game because they don't enjoy it (at gunpoint is a different story). Since most of the non violent games sold in the western market are not fun, hardly anyone plays it and most western gamers like violence, why you ask? because it's what's been promoted to the general public through movies, news and television for years.

You don't like my view WELL SCREW YOU!! now go away so I can play Tokimeki Memorial 2 and Nintendogz, what? it's not fun? WELL SCREW YOU!!

I'm melting!!

The lack of information flow and brain stimulating discussion really puts a hamper to my intelligence I can't come up with witty comebacks or snarky comments as fast I used to, I think parts of my brain leaked out of my head while I was asleep. I guess I'll have to read all the books I have again, maybe Marx, Foucault, Plato, Hitler and my other old friendly advisors can help me have a semi-inteligent discussion with myself.

Blackouts

Don't you just love blackout? it always happens when you don't want it to happen and yes there are times which you wish it would happen, like when your neighbor decides to "share" their oh so lovely music.

Good thing I'm using a notebook computer, this way I don't have to worry about being bored, at least before the battery runs out.

........

This blog is still barren, I'll add and change stuff when I have the time or when I give a pie hole

コヒー禁止！

Extra sweet coffee, 2 apple teas and a jug of Chinese tea in one night can have quite an effect to people, I can't even relax until about 4am this morning and slept an hour later. I really have to keep track of my caffein consumption.

In other news, I really have to find something to do, my brain is turning into mush by the day.

The halfpint beer

The feeling when you're not sure you can go for that extra bit. Like that half pint of beer you want to drink but you know you shouldn't, you know it's not much but not sure if you can do that much more. Whether like it or not you will get into this predicament, the question is should you take that extra half pint or call it a day and go home?


and just so you know, a wether is a castrated ram, now that's more information than you need to know.

test

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