You down with OCD?

Yeah, you know me.

Am I OCD?

Here are some skittles on my desk:


I'm not saying I'm OCD, but they sure didn't come in separate packages ordered by color.

Weight Loss: Week Three

Another week, another weigh-in. Not much change this week. Of course, sustainable weight-loss is often pegged at 1-2 pounds per week, so I guess I'm on schedule.

Time so far: 3 weeks

Starting (avg) weight: 232.28 lbs
Previous (avg) weight: 231.56 lbs
Current (avg) weight: 229.08 lbs
Change this week: 2.48 lbs
Target weight: <180

Starting (avg) body-fat: 32.72%
Previous (avg) body-fat: 31.86%
Current (avg) body-fat: 31.1%
Change this week: 0.76%
Target body-fat: <25%

My all-fudge-brownie diet is paying dividends. ^_^

Looking back over the week, I see that, yet again, I didn't go to the gym very often, and didn't watch my food intake very much. But "not very much" is loads more than "not at all". I'm still surprised at how little effort is required, just as long as it's more than nothing. Although, the same exact thing happened when I lost all my weight a few years ago.

It's clear that strength-training (this week), as opposed to cardio-vascular workouts (last week), are more beneficial weight-wise. Now, if I could just get my ass to the gym every morning...

Weight Loss: Week Two

Another week, another weigh-in. As I mentioned last week, I'm using my previous averaged numbers as my new baseline from this point forward.

Time so far: 2 weeks

Starting (avg) weight: 232.28 lbs
Current (avg) weight: 231.56 lbs
Target weight: <180

Starting (avg) body-fat: 32.72%
Current (avg) body-fat: 31.86%
Target body-fat: <25%

So, no great change so far. I guess the all cookie-dough diet isn't any better than last week's all bacon diet.

Using the spreadsheet-method, it's interesting to look back and see how often I made it to the gym last week, and what junkfood in my diet made it into my notes. This past week, for example, I hardly made it to the gym at all, but I'm more conscious of the crap I eat, so I still managed to lose a little weight.

Weight Loss: Week One

I followed a link Thomas made to a guy who lost 30 pounds in three months, keeping a spreadsheet. So I started keeping one, too.

It's interesting to see the huge weight shifts. Yesterday I was 233.0, today I'm 230.4. Have I lost two and a half pounds overnight? Not really, it's just a weight shift.

So, for my weekly* updates, I'm going to put the most recent 5-day-moving-average, instead of the daily weigh.

(*well... last week it was on Tuesday, this week it's on Wednesday, next week... who knows?)

Time so far: 1 week

Starting weight: 231.4 lbs
Current (avg) weight: 232.28 lbs
Target weight: <180

Starting body-fat: 31.2%
Current (avg) body-fat: 32.72%**
Target body-fat: <25%

(**also, my fat scale seems to be nearly completely random, so I don't know how helpful this is)

So, according to this, I've gained some pounds and fat. Apparently my all-bacon diet is backfiring horribly. Or, I was on a low weight-shift that first day. So, maybe I'll start from this first averaged data instead. We shall see!

Cool Things

(that haven't made it to Popular on Digg yet)

See-thru laptops!

Bills bills bills

I found out how much my surgery cost.

$4,628.36

Because, you know, my paycheck is around $400. So this is totally affordable.

I haven't actually received the bill yet. I found out how much it's going to be, because my insurance isn't paying it and the hospital called me.

:-(

Weight Loss: Week Zero

Like some other people, I've decided to get a bit healthier and drop my weight down a bit. Publicly.

I even got up at quarter to 6am to go to the gym. Bear in mind, my first class today wasn't until 5PM. (I don't know if I can do this two days in a row, since it's now 2:21am and I haven't slept yet...)

Unfortunately, I hadn't used my digital scale for so long, I didn't realize that the batteries had gone. So. I couldn't weigh myself this morning, but it's taken care of now.

There is no deadline. This will continue until I reach my goal or goals, and these goals may change.

Time so far: 0 weeks

Starting weight: 231.4 lbs
Current weight: 231.4 lbs
Target weight: <180 lbs

Starting body-fat: 31.2%
Current body-fat: 31.2%
Target body-fat: <25%

Pounds this week: 0 lbs
Pounds total: 0 lbs
Pounds remaining: ~51

Things I wish I had known just a little bit sooner

Baldy's closed today at 6pm, instead of 7pm.

It was taco night!

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke Has Left The Party

If I have given you delight
By aught that I have done,
Let me lie quiet in that night
Which shall be yours anon:
And for that little, little span
The dead are borne in mind
Seek not to question other than
The books I leave behind.

            Rudyard Kipling,
            "The Appeal"

Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka at 1:30am local time. He was 90. Clarke had been battling debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s.

One hopes that he has found a home in Secular Heaven. He will certainly be missed.

Remembrances:
2007 December 90th Birthday Reflections

2007 September Arthur talks about the Cassini mission

2001 April Arthur greets attendees at ISDC 2001

1997 March Cybercast Hal's Birthday

1995 The Colours of Infinity about the Mandelbrot Set 1 2 3 4 5 6

1994 "Mysterious Universe" series clip 1 2 3

1988 God, The Universe, & Everything Else

What's my age again?

When I was getting my lunch at Baldy's today, the guy behind the counter asked me if I was visiting my kids here at the college.

WTF?

How old would I have to be to have college-age kids?

AFK, crying.

How much are you worth in bed?

Normally I avoid all things Internet-quizy, but this one's about sex. And like sex, I couldn't resist it.

Powered By Stimulators

Happy Birthday

Four years ago, I took an advanced graphics course from R. William Clark, a professor here at EWU.

Today is Dr. Clark's 15th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Bill. ^_^

Of course!

So, my laptop started breathing its last not too long ago, around the end of December. It had had a good three-year run, and I was going to miss it, but I was ready to move on to bigger and better things. Faster things. More Mac than then old girl.

My next laptop was going to be a Mac. Specifically, a Macbook Pro, a desktop replacement computer. Just my speed.

But, it was too close to the Macworld Expo, so I couldn't buy one. If I bought one, and then they announced a new, better, faster one (for the same price) a month later? I'd lost it.

So I decided to wait for Macworld. Which I did.

It came, and went, and no new Macbook Pro was announced. W.......what?

Maybe they would follow up a week later? Maybe some bugs needed to be worked out, and it was just near the door but not quite ready for prime-time, but almost, and on its way?

I waited.

No new Macbooks.

I waited.

My laptop finally gave up the ghost, and now I was without a home computer. I began spending even more time at work (with my working work computer). And I waited.

Well, eventually.... I just couldn't wait anymore. I bought a Lenovo T61p. It's not a Mac, but it has pretty good bang for the buck.

It arrived yesterday.

The new Macbooks came out today.

Of course.

HD DVD is dead, long live HD DVD

The HD wars are nearly over, and it appears that Blu-Ray is going to be the winner. That's too bad, as the HD-DVD format was, in my mind, the superior one. But what happens to it now? I ran across this interesting suggestion:

Don't throw it away... Recycle it...
by FellowConspirator (882908)

If it's a commercial failure, then why bury it. Just make the spec, tools, etc. free without license. There's a huge market for a low-cost high-capacity storage and video medium. Toshiba could make HD-DVD free to everyone. Blu-Ray can't beat that. Sure, the MPAA members will only ship Blu-Ray, but if it costs nothings to add to your drive, why wouldn't a vendor throw it on top just because. Home video and amateur cinematographers will have a reasonable format for producing, sharing, and storing footage, there'll be an HD replacement for VHS, and the cost for the blank media will plummet.

Then let's see who wins in the long run. Toshiba can still ship HD-DVD recorders, media, etc. Being fully open, the platform will reach every corner that Blu-Ray doesn't, by design. Blu-Ray is a very consumer-hostile format as-is; it's designed to limit the medium. Toshiba should give up not by burying it, but by becoming the antithesis of its competitor.

As a FOSS nerd (and all that implies), I find this idea incredibly intriguing.

As long as I'm here...

Since I'm re-uploading those pictures anyway, I thought I'd toss up my favorite commercial of all time.

Signs

(This is a free player I found on the innertubes, so if it's wonky, let me know)

Gone, baby, gone BACK, baby, back.

Just noticed that ALL OF MY OLD PICTURES ARE GONE FROM THE BLOG.

I used to use a port5.com host for pictures, back before Blogger hosted them. Port5 was bought out by Intrascape. Intrascape deleted all my pictures with no notice. UPDATE: Intrascape didn't delete anything; I was able to ftp in and retrieve them. Once I track down where each came from, I will restore them.

Since the originals were on a hard drive that crashed, I have no duplicates.

This makes me a sad panda.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I only recently realized that, because I'm back in America now, NO GIRLS ARE GOING TO BE GIVING ME CHOCOLATES ON VALENTINE'S DAY!

Sometimes I miss Japan more than others.

Phoenix and the Pizza Mystery

While I was recovering from my surgery, I didn't feel like going out much. So, last week, instead of getting up and going to the store, I ordered a pizza. I paid with a credit card, so I could save my precious precious cash for vending machines (Skittles!), and besides, credit cards are magic money!

Anyway, the delivery guy called me and told me to come down to the entrance. He'd be there in five minutes.

Now, there are TWO main entrances to my building. There is an entrance on the 1st floor, but it isn't often used for deliveries, because the delivery person has to come up a flight of stairs to get there, and very few people live on the 1st floor anyway.

The most commonly used entrance for deliveries is the 2nd floor entrance, from the back (it's a split-level building, so the 2nd floor entrance is also a ground floor). For this entrance, the delivery person can drive right up to the door (not that they often do, because then they'd have to drive BACKWARDS to get out, and most of the delivery people I've seen drive like Tommy Chong fleeing from imaginary racoons). But a delivery person might not know that it was

1. Technically the 2nd floor
2. NOT the main entrance to the building

And because my room is on the "second" floor, he might have meant to come down to the ground floor.

So I didn't make any assumptions. I took my phone with me, so that if he got lost or went to the wrong entrance, he could call me. But there is no reception on the 1st floor, so I stayed up on the main floor in the lounge, looking out the window at the 1st floor entrance.

15 or so minutes after he called, I saw him. I must have been turned away from the window when he came up, because I only saw him leaving. NO!

I panicked, and ran down to the 1st floor as fast as I could, shouting and waving my arms to get his attention. "Don't leave! I'm here, I'm here!"

He didn't stop.

The smell of pizza lingered in the air. I had been so close!

I figured that, not seeing anyone at the door, he left to finish his other deliveries before (hopefully) trying again.

(I should also probably mention at this point that I was getting anxious for the pizza to arrive, because I wanted to eat so I could take a Vicodin before I had to use the restroom. Hurry, pizza-man, hurry!)

I waited another 10 minutes before deciding that I should call and find out roughly how many other deliveries he had to make before he came back, because I was still standing by the window (bleeding from my penar) when I could be laying in bed. So I call them up again, and the conversation when something like this:

THEM: Pickup or delivery?
ME: Delivery, I hope. How many delivery guys do you have out tonight?
THEM: Uh, just me.
ME: Oh, OK, good. I --
THEM: So, an order for delivery?
ME: I already placed my order, I'm just wondering --
THEM: Who is this?
ME: I'm Phoenix. I ordered --
THEM: You gave me a bogus number.
ME: ...what?
THEM: I tried calling your phone, like, 20 times.
ME: (looking at my phone, and it's distinct lack of missed calls) Uh...
THEM: You can't give us fake numbers, dude. When we need to get a hold of you --
ME: What number did you call?
THEM: Your number dude. I even read it back to you when you placed your order.
ME: Um, no you didn't.
THEM: Yes I did, dude!
ME: No, you didn't take my order, Megan did. (Yay for remembering names!)
THEM: ...
ME: Listen, it doesn't matter. I was just wondering if I could find out how much longer it was going to be.
THEM: For what?
ME: My pizza. Like, how many more other deliveries --
THEM: I already delivered your pizza.
ME: ...!
THEM: Like, 15 minutes ago dude.

Dude. No way.

Apparently, he had come up to the door, saw a guy standing there, asked "Is this pizza for you?" and gave it to him. I had already paid by credit card, so the mystery guy didn't have to fork over any cash or anything.

Damn. It.

ME: So...
THEM: So...what?
ME: So, when can I get my pizza?!
THEM: ...I'll have to ask my manager. Let me call you back in a few minutes with what she says we can do.

Ask his manager? At the very least, I expected the pizza I ordered and paid for. He needs his managers permission for that? Throw another pie in the oven, pronto! I'm STARVING over here!

So I wait. And I wait. And I wait...

FORTY FIVE MINUTES LATER:

THEM: I've got your pizza, I'll be there in five minutes.

Finally! In addition to my pizza, they gave me a $20 credit on my account, and a description of the guy that stole my pizza.

Apparently he had had to sign my credit card slip to get my pizza. They were going to report it to the police the following day as credit card fraud. WHAT WHAT!! That's some serious shnikey right there. We have our suspicions as to who it was (he possibly signed his own name), but I haven't heard anything more about it since. I also tipped the delivery guy $5, because the mystery man didn't tip jack, and he did have to make TWO deliveries. And I was just happy to get my pizza.

...and now that I've finished typing this all up, it's after 1am, and they've stopped delivering for the evening. And now I'm hungry for pizza!

Phoenix and the Surgery

Apparently, I haven't told everyone about this yet. So if you haven't heard it before, here it is. And if you don't read this, then you probably don't care anyway, so I'm glad I didn't tell you.

I had an operation the other day. Two weeks go, in fact.

On my penis.*

It was my first time under general anesthetic. Pretty scary, considering all the horror stories I had grown up hearing. Apparently it's much safer now, though. One minute I was taking four deep breaths, and the next thing I knew, I was in the recovery room. I couldn't keep my eyes open for more than a second at a time though, and that went on for a long time. After I could wake up a bit more, they took me back to my room and tried to get me to use the restroom, at which point I noticed that there sure was a lot of bleeding going on.

From my penis.**

Also, at this point, I feel I should say a couple words about pain. It hurt.

Eventually I could pee enough that they didn't think I would die, and they sent me home. I spent the rest of the day at Doug's house, although there was a scary incident later in the day. Because I was lying down on my back, I bled into my bladder (as opposed to out onto the gauze), and when I used the bathroom later, all those hours of blood came out at once. NOT a calming sight.

I had a follow-up appointment for one week after the surgery. I was under the impression that the bleeding would stop by then, and we would mostly talk about my recovery. You can tell by the fact that I MENTION this that the bleeding did not stop by then. Seriously, ONE FULL WEEK LATER, and I was still bleeding.

From... well, you know.

I told my doctor that I was still bleeding and he kind of just laughed and said something like "Well, yeah, that's going to go on and on." Great. We made another follow-up appointment for six weeks in the future. Hopefully that implies that the bleeding with SURELY stop by then, right? Or am I just believing what I want desperately to be true?

In the meantime, I'm taking Vicodin so I can urinate without screaming too much, so all those who think I remind you of Gregory House, well, fuck you, it's just a coincidence. And the limp will go away after I heal. The cane is just temporary. TEMPORARY!


(*Yes, of course it was a reduction.***)

(**BTW, "Bleeding from my penis" is just about the best [and worst] all-around general-purpose excuse there is.

• "Take the garbage out!" "Can't, mom, I'm bleeding from my penis!"
• "Sorry I'm late for work boss, I was bleeding from my penis!"
• "I'm sorry I can't give you a better rate on your mortgage because of all the blood coming out of my penis!"

I'm telling you, it works for everything.)

(***Sort of. I had a urethral stricture. That was cut out of me, so that it didn't close up entirely, because if it DID, I would die slowly...painfully...from a burst bladder. Isn't science fun?!)

From the "Things I wish were not true about my psyche" department

Today, I was late to class because I overslept.

I overslept because, in my dream, the alarm clock was trying to TRICK me into waking up. I can't now remember what it was that I had to do before I woke up, I just remember that it was vitally important that I did so.

But, of course, the clock wasn't trying to trick me at all. It just wanted some attention.

My new favorite commercial

OK, not really. My favorite commercial will always be "Signs" for the PS2 (Made By TBWA Los Angeles, 2002; it's in the last block at the bottom before the BMW films).

Anyway, here's a close second:

I'm not even supposed to be here today.

I'm at the office now. I've been here since about 6am. I'm running some heavy-computing projects, and I need the data for class tomorrow. (If there _is_ class tomorrow, campus is closed today because of snow)

The data is only useful at the end of each iteration. The previous iteration had been running since 9:19am. It's now 11:47am. It was a little more than a quarter complete (6000 cycles out of 20,000). I need to wait for this iteration to complete, to make sure the rest will process correctly, before I can leave.

A few minutes ago, the CEB had a power failure. No worries though, because I picked up a UPS a couple weeks ago, after the previous power failure. It's all good, right?

Well, it turns out that there are two different sides to the UPS. One is a surge protector, and one is a surge protector PLUS UPS. One of those two sides was covered by a sticker. Can you guess which one?

So now I'm starting over.

Current mood: Frustrated.

MORE GOOD NEWS!
The power outage has reset the security system. My keycard won't open any doors anymore. Also, the magnetic door stops release during power outages (the doors close). So, if I leave the building, I can't come back. If I go to the bathroom, and there's another power outage (there already was another one since the original post), I won't be able to get back to my office.

Best day evar! :'-(

UPDATED: FSM/Cthulhu '08

Remember the FSM/Cthulhu shirt design from last Friday? Sure you do.

Well, I was inspired by that to make these:
I'm not sure how they're going to turn out. Usually Zazzle prints great stuff, but the graphic on this one...

Well, it's not my best work. Let's leave it at that.

...




OK, let's not leave it at that. Here are the things wrong with the graphic:

First, I'm using the following two source images:



Now, first off, I should have looked harder for a Cthulhu image. This one is ... kind of blurry. Which is not a good starting place. But I had FSM reaching out left and Cthulhu reaching out right (or perhaps dropping a guy?)... too good to pass up.




But then, I combined them into this image:

There are a number of problems with this image. Who can spot one of the major ones?

Here's a hint: Look at Cthulhu's head.
Hint #2: Look at the crack.

The crack stops at his head! What what what? If this is supposed to be a painting, HOW does the crack mysteriously stop right at his head?

Of course the answer is that I pasted Cthulhu over the original image. And I'm lazy. And I didn't notice. So there it is.

*UPDATE*

Well, of course, I couldn't let it stand at that, now could I? ^_^ I found a better Cthulhu image:

AND learned about color matching. And learned new tricks for transparent layers. So, the updated version is:

There are still problems (there always are). Look at the buildings/rocks in the bottom right. Yeah, that's all messed up. But overall, I think it looks much better now. ^_^

Now I just need a campaign slogan....

SADNESS! Terry Pratchett Diagnosed with Alzheimer's

"One of geekdom's most popular authors, Terry Pratchett, has announced that he has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. The OBE-winning author of the Discworld fantasy series made the original announcement on the website of Discworld illustrator Paul Kidby. Pratchett remains optimistic: 'I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think - it's too soon to tell.'"

I don't really have anything to add to this. :-(

ILotD: Bruce Schneier Facts

Essentially, Chuck Norris Facts, but about computer security expert Bruce Schneier.

I especially like the 3rd top fact:

Vs lbh nfxrq Oehpr Fpuarvre gb qrpelcg guvf, ur'q pehfu lbhe fxhyy jvgu uvf ynhtu.

GotD: Lost in the Static

Game of the Day:
Lost in the Static (Only for Windows, I'm afraid)
Now, this is not one of those magic-eye 3D images above. It's an actual screen-shot of a game. Everything in the game is represented by static, but different types of static move differently. It's hard to explain, unless you play it.

Also check out the Modding and Behind the Scenes pages for bonus insights. ^_^

This was made by Silver Spaceship Software, whom you may recall as the guys that made Chromatron.

Speaking of which, Chromatron is now entirely free, and available for both Windows and Mac. ^_^

ILotD: St. Gabriel Possenti Society

Interesting Link of the Day:

In 1860, a band of soldiers from the army of Garibaldi entered the mountain village of Isola, Italy. They began to burn and pillage the town, terrorizing its inhabitants.

Possenti, with his seminary rector's permission, walked into the center of town, unarmed, to face the terrorists. One of the soldiers was dragging off a young woman he intended to rape when he saw Possenti and made a snickering remark about such a young monk being all alone.

Possenti quickly grabbed the soldier's revolver from his belt and ordered the marauder to release the woman. The startled soldier complied, as Possenti grabbed the revolver of another soldier who came by. Hearing the commotion, the rest of the soldiers came running in Possenti's direction, determined to overcome the rebellious monk.

At that moment a small lizard ran across the road between Possenti and the soldiers. When the lizard briefly paused, Possenti took careful aim and struck the lizard with one shot. Turning his two handguns on the approaching soldiers, Possenti commanded them to drop their weapons. Having seen his handiwork with a pistol, the soldiers complied. Possenti ordered them to put out the fires they had set, and upon finishing, marched the whole lot out of town, ordering them never to return. The grateful townspeople escorted Possenti in triumphant procession back to the seminary, thereafter referring to him as "the Savior of Isola".

Hence, the Saint Gabriel Possenti Society, an organization dedicated to promoting St. Gabriel Possenti as the patron saint of handgunners.

Ah, religion and firearms. Is there any greater combination?

It's got what plants crave.

If for some reason you haven't heard yet, Brawndo the Thirst Mutilator, the drink from the movie Idiocracy (It's got electrolytes! It's got what plants crave), is now a real, actual drink. Here's the drink, here's a shop, and here's the commercial:

Random Links

First, 50 Answers from the Stereotypist. People asked a question in each comment, and he answered the first 50 of them. With a comic, each. Sounds like fun, eh? Someone here should do that. Not it!

Second, I found this FSM/Cthulhu '08 campaign design:

But then I lost it. While searching for it, I found a vanity plate on this page. Speaking of the old one, can I assume that everyone else has already seen the Calls for Cthulu series?


Finally, a music video: Here Comes Another Bubble - The Richter Scales (v1.1)


Where's my Friday Funday, Thomas? I needs it!

Tetris Jesus

#827006

ElGarlic: Spending your life waiting for the messiah to come save the world is like waiting around for the straight piece to come in Tetris.
ElGarlic: Even if it comes, by that time you've accumulated a mountain of shit so high that you're fucked no matter what you do.

On Ze Frank, Post-Show (UPDATE)

If you don't have an RSS feed for Ze Frank (and you might not, since it's limited to Best-Of episodes now), you may have missed his three new post-show updates.

Strike Day

Scared

Strike #2

Update:
Privacy

Update:
Un-inspired

(If you don't know who Ze Frank is, you can just get out now).

On the cake, and what a lie it is

Portal has been out for a while now, so if you haven't played it yet, you must not be a gamer.

And that's fine. But this post isn't for you, then.

If you don't have Portal (and why don't you?), you can always play Narbacular Drop for free.

Narbacular Drop was a Digipen project, and is the game Portal is based on. You can download it, as well as a number of add-on maps, for free at the Nuclear Monkey Software site. Made by the same developers, the gameplay is very very similar (but not identical) to Portal.

Of course, there is no Weighted Companion Cube, so you won't understand the poignancy of what Jesus would do for cake.

And although you may not realize it, that brings us to Portal's strongest selling point: it's pitch-black humor. People that haven't played it can't understand it, and people who have can't explain it, so I won't even try.

Portal is short. I played it all the way through twice, the first time took about three hours, and the second, about one and a half. The brevity is a good thing, because you really should play it through in a single sitting. It's like a movie. Also like a movie, there's a commentary option you can listen to. There will probably be a lot of details you miss the first time around, so while you're running around the second time catching up, you might as well get the inside scoop.

In fact, after the first play-through, I considered Portal a good, but not great, game. After the second.... well, now I have Weighted Companion Cube wallpaper on my desktop. Part of the reason I missed so much the first time was because I played in low res, and didn't realize how much graffiti on the walls I was missing until nearly the end. Thankfully the PUB computers (which have Portal on them, gratis) aren't as lame as my three year old laptop.

Also, as a bonus, the song played at the end during the credits is written (but not performed by) the excellent Jonathan Coulton. It's almost worth it just for that. The song can be found online, but I recommend not looking for it if you haven't played Portal yet, because it's spoilerific.

Finally, and because he can say it so much better than I, I'll leave you with the previously mentioned Yahtzee's review of The Orange Box (Portal review at the end).


wwwccd?

On The Awesomeness That Is Yahtzee

And I'm not talking about the deadly game of skill and chance.

I'm talking about Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw.

I first ran into Yahtzee's work with 5 Days A Stranger, a Home Of The Underdogs Top Dog. "One of the best freeware adventure games I have ever played," starts the review, and it's pretty spot-on. It has garnered a small cult following, and some fans are even remaking the game in 3D. All of Yahtzee's games, including 5DAS, are available on his website.

But if he just did games, he wouldn't be awesome enough for me to post about, would he?

He also did some webcomics, including "Yahtzee Takes On The World". Mad genius Yahtzee plots world domination from his hollowed out volcano (but laments that it's not a missile silo*).

He also did "Chris and Trilby", a comic about two guys that have adventures and aren't gay. Not my favorite, but it did have a nice comic where they meet God and talk about religious people.

Alright, enough beating around the bush, I'm really posting about Yahtzee because I want to talk about his phenomenal game reviews.

They're short, they're funny, and they're DENSE, if you know what I mean when I talk about density in entertainment. I recommend them highly, even if you're not a gamer.

Three YouTube videos on this page, start at the top and work your way down.

The rest are on The Escapist Magazine's site, here. Start at the bottom and work your way up.

Or you can go to this page with all the videos on it, if you want to crash your computer. Updated to play nicely

New videos are posted (almost) every Wednesday, and you can grab the RSS feed here if you're so inclined.

* Found here.

On The Weather, And How I'm Under It, Part 2

You know what sucks about having the flu on a major holiday?

EVERYTHING!

So, it turns out that I didn't have a cold. I have the flu. Which is much worse. Normally, I would go to my brother's house for Thanksgiving, but he has a kid, so that's out. So how am I celebrating this wonderful feast holiday?

I'm stuck in my room, sipping Sierra Mist. Mmmm....sparkly.

On Talking Cats

First, the cute cats talking to each other:


Second, the translation of what they were saying:


And a bonus:
I found these videos on the Internet. You don't know about the Internet? Perhaps you should order this 430-Part System. Fax them your e-mail address now!

The Weather, And How I'm Under It.

Hey, you know what sucks about being sick when you're at university?




Everything.

Orangina

Seriously, WTF?

(Wikipedia, which helps not at all)

The Front Fell Off

If you haven't seen it yet, you really should:



"A wave hit the ship."
"Is that unusual?"
"Oh yeah. At sea? [One] chance in a million."

John Clarke and Bryan Dawe

On being homeless in Japan

RSS subscribers, rejoice! There be updates...

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I find myself with a non-refundable ticket home to America dated August 24th, and an expiring apartment contract on August 1st with no backup place to stay for the intervening 3 weeks. How this came to be is another story. Today, I'm going to focus on what it's like to find oneself in Japan with no place to go.

That's right, I'm homeless! Again!

Also, I'd like to note that I'm very very tired as I write this. ^_^ I last slept in a bed on July 31st, from 7pm to 11pm. It's now August 2nd, 5am.

This all came down minutes before the welcome dinner for new ALTs (Group A). So I went to the dinner still processing the fact that, after the dinner, I would have no place to sleep. Of course, just about every JET who heard my plight offered me a spot on their tatami, because FJETs are cool like that, but I can't see myself imposing on others in that way. At least, not with most people. There are a few JETs with whom I am comfortable enough for something like that. Am I shy or something? News to me. Anyway, I digress.

So the party wears on, and Karl, who shall henceforth be known as Awesome Karl Whom I Love (In A Totally Heterosexual Man-Love Way), tells me about a new inn in Fukui. It's cheap and near the station. Problem solved!

I drive over (picture, if you will, me in my tiny k-car filled with my belongings. The seats don't recline, there's just too much stuff. Rear-view mirror? Who needs it?), pop in and ask for a room.

They're full. No vacancy.

Since the other hotels are too expensive, or don't have rooms after 11 or so (this was midnight or 1am, and checkout is usually 10am) I was in a bit of a spot. But this isn't my first dance; actually, this is the FOURTH time I've been sans home. So, I decide to rough it in my car.

But....where to park?

Parking in Japan is kind of strict. In America, land is cheap and plentiful. Here in Japan...not so much. Pretty much every parking space everywhere is accounted for. This goes to this apartment, this goes to this store, etc. So, where can I park my car?

My first instinct was to park in the spot for my old apartment. I know my successor isn't there yet, so it's empty. ^_^ Unfortunately, all of my old neighbors would see me and it would no doubt get back to my supervisor, and I'm not ready to bring him in on this. So that's out.

1st try: Combini
On my way down Route 8, I felt like I was falling asleep at the wheel, so I pulled into a combini for some coffee. After I made my purchase, I thought, why not just park myself here for now? Doze off for a bit...

Well, no sooner had the thought occurred than a semi-truck pulled up next to me. Was he makin deliveries to this combini? I don't know. I just know that he sat in his truck, staring at me. Creepiest thing ever. He basically didn't move until I gave up and drove away.

2nd try: Genki
Genki is a drugstore, and on Route 8, there's one with a HUGE parking lot. And since the store is closed (being 3am), it's completely empty.

Well, almost. The Genki parking lot is bordered on three sides by big bright lights from neighboring businesses. But there is the fourth side, the dark spot, away from the road noises. The ideal spot for a bit of shut-eye. That spot was of course occupied by another car. Doh!

I ended up near the road, and while I gave it a good try, the lights and sounds prevented me from sleeping much. So I decided to move on.

3rd try: Freaks
Freaks is a cyber-cafe. With reclining chairs. ^_^ Obviously, this is where I'm writing this. Internets!

It's also expensive. Roughly $5 for the first hour, and $1 for each 15 minutes after that. At that rate, I could have afforded a hotel.

And that's where the story catches up with reality. More news as it happens, later. Assuming I'm not shivved by a hobo.

Happy 4th of July.

(The following is from the excellent Questionable Content webcomic author, Jeph. He said it much better than I)

It is the Fourth of July! Today I am going to eat some hot dogs, drink some beers, and think about all the innocent civilians and armed forces personnel who have been killed due to the actions of the Bush administration. Granted, it takes a lot of fun out of the holiday, but I am certain that being alive is more fun than being dead so I guess I have it better than all of Dubya's victims.

Have a safe holiday, fellow Americans, and everyone else have as pleasant a day as possible.

PS: if you send me angry letters because I DARED to criticize our FEARLESS LEADER I will delete them, unread. Don't waste your time or mine.

Tax Day

After having been warned for the past 2.5 months that this day was coming, I felt pretty prepared when my Inhabitants Tax form came in the mail yesterday.  I was told in no uncertain terms that I had to pay it right away.  If even a SINGLE ALT didn't pay their taxes, NO ONE would get their reimbursement in the July pay period.

So during my lunch break today I went to the bank and paid it.  It was 176,000yen.

For those not up on the yen-dollar conversion, a yen is roughly a penny.

Now, I had been previously told that the amount would be between 1man and 9man (man = 10,000yen).  9man is pretty steep.  My tax bill was almost twice that.

But I paid it nonetheless, because if even a SINGLE ALT...yadda yadda.  But it still stung.  Payday is a week away.

So when I got back to the office, I sent an e-mail about the sticker shock to the head ALT.  I had heard from other ALTs that their bill was less than 2man, but they didn't live in Takefu, so...

Quite soon after I sent my message, my phone rang.  It was the head ALT.  "You didn't pay that tax bill yet, did you?"

Uh, oh.

Yeah.  Clerical error of some sort.  So I'm broke now, and they're trying to figure out how I can get my money back.

Today was not a good day.

Persistence

So, having been busy with life for a while, I finally get a chance to slow down and play some games. I break out my old PS2 and pick up a used copy of MGS3, which I have been dying to play forever.

I start with disc 2, Persistence, the online component.

That was about 30 minutes ago.

....

I think you can see where this is going. (If not, check out this informative link)

What the *$$@?

I finally finally finally get a chance to play Persistence, and...I don't. Why didn't I find out about this sooner? Sure, the Persistence - Coming Soon ads were plastered everywhere, but the Persistence - Say Goodbye To Your Purchase ads? Nowhere to be found.

Where's the emoticon for ::devestated:: ?

I understand why the game was so cheap now. If it seems too good to be true, it's probably Konami screwing you over.

Best part: "As the team now moves on to the next phase, we hope that you will continue to offer your kind support for future MGO titles."

Oh, OF COURSE. I'm going to rush right out and buy the next game you make, since your dedication to customer service is unmatched!

::cries::

(And yes, the irony of the name is lost on nobody)

The Simplest Ideas

The simplest ideas are often the best.

This thought occurs while I'm watching YouTube videos. Recently I watched the "I'm a Marvel, and I'm a DC" series. It is sort of a parody of the Mac/PC ads, but more of a commentary on the various comic books and their characters.

It's also just a guy playing with his action figures.

Here's a sample for those that haven't seen it:


These are consistently highly rated, and the premise is very simple. Simple to shoot, simple to edit, just mix in a little cleverness and Bob's your uncle.

The early Ask A Ninja videos were the same, just a guy in front of a camera. Again easy to shoot and edit, and highly popular.

So where is your simple idea?

Blogger Beta Blows pt 2

Remember when all that stuff you put in your profile had a purpose? You could click on an item and see all the other people that put that same item in that same question. It was pretty cool.

Well, that's gone. So WHAT'S THE FUCKING POINT of the questions?

The more I use the new system, the worse it gets. It was FINE when it was OPTIONAL. Now that it's mandatory, it sucks.

Ironically, my efforts to return to blogging (which forced the conversion to the new shitty system) may be what pushes me away permanently.

Way to go, Google.

Thomas' Meme

1. What is your official job title?
   Assistant Language Teacher Until the end of July anyway. Then I will be returning to EWU as a grad student and working as a systems administrator. Yay for me!
   
2. Do you wear a watch? If so, is it digital or analog? If not, why not?
   I wear a dual analog-digital Fossil. It's way old, but I love it. It has the time in Japan and the West Coast, so I know if it's a good time to call or not. Sadly, they don't make this model (or anything remotely like it) anymore.
   
3. What's a really great but fairly obscure website that you visit regularly?
   http://slumbering.lungfish.com/ is where Lore Sjöberg went to after he disappeared from the formerly-excellent Table of Malcontents. (Here is a small taste of what it used to be like) He also writes Alt Text.
   
4. How long can you hold your breath?
   I'm back up to 2:45. Not quite three minutes, but I'm almost there again. (I think it helps that I have basically no muscle mass to drain that precious precious oxygen from my blood ^_^)
   

Blogger Beta Blows

I logged in from an un-blocked computer last night, or at least I tried.  It turns out that you can NO LONGER user Blogger log-ins, you must now use Google log-ins.  And that converts all your blogs to the new blogger beta.  AND deletes your old profile.  UPDATE: AND changes the e-mail address to send new posts to.

This is ridiculously retarded.

Anyway, I redirected my blog to a different domain, so I could access it at work.  And it turns out that blogger.com is accessible from work, AS LONG AS you only use blogger beta and Japanese pages.  I can't change the language to English, so I don't know what most of the buttons do anymore, and I can't post from there (still only via e-mail).

So the stupid blogger beta and the stupid blocker at work, two great tastes that go great together.

Ah, technology.  What a bitch.

Late (update)

I went downstairs to take a picture of the "T.T." in question (not that I can send pictures to the blog ...yet), but it has already been changed to tomorrow's schedule.  Doh!  I hate missed opportunity.

However, *ALL* of tomorrow's Team Teaching lessons (regularly scheduled and otherwise) have BIG "T.T."s on them.  Someone may have been scolded for my tardiness this morning, and it wasn't me.

Late

I was late to my first class today.

Let me explain why: I had dropped by a convenience store to grab some breakfast, because I was too tired/lazy this morning to make it myself.  So, that put me a few minutes behind, and I was a bit late for work.

This is normal for me.  I'm always late.  Ask anyone.

Last school year, I was late so often that they stopped scheduling 1st-period classes for me.  I would be late up to an hour, but I'd stay after two or three (or often actually more) hours, so it MORE than balanced out.

This school year, however, I have many more classes, so my schedule is pretty full.  I can't afford to be late regularly anymore.  That's fine, I can make it on time if I try.  But today I didn't have any 1st period classes, so I was taking it easy.

This week, for some reason, we are on 45-minute lessons, and the schedule is pretty random, so when I got to the school, I checked the teacher's schedule board.  If classes are rearranged, it will be reflected here.  Last school year, this would even indicate whenever I had a Team Teaching class, because it was kind of a special class (each class would see me only once every two weeks).  Every Team Teaching lesson would have a big " T.T." written on it in yellow chalk (which stood out clearly against the normal white chalk).  This year, since I see every freshman class at the same time every week, my lessons aren't so special, so they are not indicated unless there is a change.

So anyway, I checked the schedule board, and there were no "T.T."s, so I knew my schedule hadn't been changed, and I wouldn't have class until 2nd period.  I went upstairs to my desk and sat down to enjoy my breakfast.  While I was eating, I noticed a note on my desk from the teacher I would be Team Teaching with 2nd period saying that the schedule was changed.

To 1st period.

I looked at my watch.  Class had started 10 minutes ago.  As I'm running through the halls with my stack of worksheets, I couldn't help wondering "WHY WASN'T THIS ON THE SCHEDULE BOARD?"  And, why didn't anyone call me?  My cell-phone number is on a piece of paper, taped to the bookshelf by my desk, in clear sight.  How could you miss that?

Anyway, I got to class (JUST as the teacher was about to start an alternate lesson, after having apparently waited for me for 10 minutes), apologized for my tardiness, and rushed the lesson.  It went OK (I plan flexibility into my lessons for a reason), but I was still upset at being late.

I was so mad at whomever wrote up the schedule today.  Immediately after class I went back to the schedule board to confirm that there was NO indication that I had a Team Teaching lesson 1st period.

And that's when I noticed that, next to the kanji for "English" for that class and that period, was a small " T.T." in white chalk.

In clear sight.  How could I miss that?

Unreadable

Recently, I was chastised by Thomas for not posting to my blog for a year.  He is not wrong.
Also recently, my school beefed up their computer security, so I can't bypass the block and at least read blogspot blogs anymore (farewell, Worthless Hack).  Not that I could post comments anyway, but at least before I could read the original posts sans pictures.

Well, this aggression will not stand, man.

I'm (hypothetically) going to actually start posting again, via e-mail.  This post, for example.  There are some drawbacks:

1. I won't be able to respond to comments, although I should have the comments e-mailed to me by the blogspot system, so I'll be able to read them.
2. I won't be able to edit my posts.  If I make a smistake, just live with it.  I won't even be able to see it.
   

There are lots of things I'd like to post about, but didn't have time to before.  Now I do.

What will I miss about Japan?  What will I NOT miss about Japan?  What am I looking forward to, back home?  How am I getting back home?

Look forward to it.  This is just a test post.  And a new post after a year of silence?  THIS is what RSS was invented for.  ^_^

Be seeing you.

[News] Weak!

This year's Leonids will peak in the middle of the day here in Japan.

[Me] Status Update

Haven't seen me online recently?  No blog updates?  Wondering if I fell of the face of the Earth?

Well, kind of, yeah.  My computers have died.  Both computers overheated and killed their hard drives (heat is bad, m'kay? [not that it's a problem right now]).  I should (hopefully) be back online within a week or so, but in the meantime my only Internet connection is at work, and most things are blocked.

For example, I won't be able to check to see if this gets posted correctly or not.  So maybe no one is reading this at all.  Testicles.

Anyway, it's winter now here in Japan, which really underscores the fact that my girlfriend and I broke up.

A cold room is even colder when you're in bed alone.

Sigh.

[Sad] ..||..

I remember that September.

..||..

[Link] (ZUG) Shakes on a Plane

No actual content today, but a link to the latest John Hargrave gold.

He felt the outline of the marital aid, looking at me strangely. "Is it supposed to be vibrating like that?"

"Yes," I said with authority, as if I was dying and vibrators were my medicine.

"Okay, I'm going to need to give you a private screening."

"Fine," I said, my heart pounding. I hated myself for starting this Web site.

I would try and explain, but ...

[Everything] Howdy

I am, as my GF would say, f$#^%!ng busy. But I have time for a brief rough-draft ramble.

Today is my last day of work at my base school. Tomorrow is my last day of work at my visiting school. It's difficult not to cry like the little girl I am when I think about how I'm not going to see these awesome students and teachers anymore. *sigh*

Over the past few weeks, I've managed to watch the entire "The Show" with Ze Frank archive. Considering that "The Show" only started a few months ago, and each episode is only a few minutes long, this is not a big accomplishment. Now that you know it exists, I will think less of you if you don't watch it (this will be on the test). I'm kind of an ass that way. I love his random songs; someone (not me) should rip them from the show and spread them around. Unless they're already on iTunes, in which case I should just re-install iTunes.

I love "The Show"; someone (still not me) should do one about stupid people. Because they don't know they're stupid, and that's a problem. I'm not talking about people who think the Internet is made of tubes; that is but one example of the underlying problem. The people that think Google is evil for following Chinese law on their servers located in China.... I think those people are incredibly stupid. I'm not going to go into the reasons why, because stupid people lack the capacity to comprehend them, (and it's not my job to do their thinking for them, that's Ze's job). I'm just going to say they're stupid, because they don't know.

I saw this in the comments for today's show:

So lemme get this straight. Bush executed more prisoners while governor of Texas than every other governer in the U.S. -- COMBINED -- and he's okay with that. He read that Osama bin Laden was "Determined to strike in the U.S., and he was okay with that, so he didn't do anything about it. When it happened he attacked the wrong country, killing over 2500 American soldiers and some say up to 100,000 Iraqi civilians, and he's okay with that... But take frozen masses of embryonic cells from fertility clinics that were going to be destroyed anyway and use them to find cures for diseases that could save millions of lives... no, he's not okay with that. You know, because he's so pro-life.

by The Idiot - 2:17p

I don't know of those facts are correct, but I enjoyed the contrast of ideology.

In less than a week I begin my big move from Echizen (town) to Echizen (city). I will be without Internet for a few weeks, so if you don't hear from me... it will be the same as always.

Someone (me) mentioned it elsewhere, but you all should really listen to Jonathan Coulton.

Time's up.

[Work] Placement

I'm changing schools after this contract year. There's nothing wrong with my current schools; quite the contrary, they're awesome. But I don't want to burn out in one place.

I just got the call. It went something like this (really):

Phoenix: Moshi moshi.
Nancy: Hello, Phoenix? This is Nancy. Am I interrupting anything?
Phoenix: No, what's up?
Nancy: I just wanted to call you and let you know your placement for next year.
Phoenix: Great!
Nancy: Your new school will be bzzrt.....
Phoenix: ...hello? You're breaking up.
Nancy: Can you hear me now?
Phoenix: Yes.
Nancy: Your new school is schchchchhc.....
Phoenix: ...is this a joke?
Nancy: Is that a "good" joke or a "bad" joke? Are you unhappy with your school?
Phoenix: No, I mean, my phone keeps breaking up RIGHT when you say the name of the school.
Nancy: The name of the school is ....zzzzzzzsh
Phoenix: *sigh*
Nancy: I know you were anxious to hear your placement as soon as possible.
Phoenix: Well, I still haven't heard, but I appreciate the effort.

Well, eventually it came through. My new school is

[Holiday] Today is the Glorious 25th of May

(image created by Jez)

...were you there?

As both a Terry Pratchett fan and a native of Spokane (the Lilac City), this day has a special meaning for me.

What is the Glorious 25th of May?

RIP John Keel, et al.

Misc random linkage:

• Excerpt
• Lyrics to All the Little Angels
• More art
  
• Blog
• Fanfic

Why do I care about a holiday commemorating a fictional battle? After all, how can any of us celebrate it? None of us were there.

The fight was not real, that is true, but the IDEAS are. That is enough for me.


Fittingly, today is also Towel Day, in honor of the late Douglas Adams.

RIP DNA.


Finally, today is *also* the anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars. I don't really care about that, but it is a coincidence worth mentioning.

RIP Anakin.


Today should be a catch-all holiday for all nerd-dom.

(Man, this was a link-heavy post!)

[Me] CHOsen One, Episode 3

Third CHOsen One is up. This time, because of my unfortunate accident, I didn't even have Word. Thankfully OpenOffice is a quick download.

[Me] Osashiburi

Well, it's Sunday, so of course I'm at work. :-/ Not that I can really spare much time between classes to say that I'm still not dead, but here I am.

I bet KEN ALTs have Sundays off. If I hear another KEN ALT complain about their lack of vacation time, I swear I'm going to [DELETED] their [DELETED] off.

Had an unfortunate computer problem (requiring completely reformatting the hard drive). Still recovering.

A friend of mine got a nice job offer from Amazon.com. He will be making 2x what I make. Good for him. ^_^ No one can say that I'm in JET for the money.

Don't know when I'll post again. There are so many things I want to do with my time (studying Japanese, programming, "exercising"). Hopefully, I'll have more time at my next job, wherever that is.

Talking of which, my time is up. See you next month (maybe).

[Me] The Inevitable Return

I'll be back when my typing speed returns to normal.

Well, THAT was clearly a damn, dirty lie. ^_^ Sorry about that.

I didn't say how I broke my finger? Playing basketball with my students. Two of us went for the ball at the same time ... and ... crunch. The student, who was apparently made of titanium-steel, was completely unfazed.

The good news is that I can mostly move it again. It still hurts when I bump it while I'm washing my hands though. And when I make a fist. And when I click the mouse. And when I type the letters y, u, h, j, n, and m (and I just typed them all out because: I'm retarded).

I wish I had taken a picture when it was all wrapped up but I didn't. I =did= take a picture when it was swollen and purple, but the lighting wasn't good so they didn't turn out. Plus, it was way-hard trying to focus the camera with only my left hand...

It's super-frustrating when one of your primary outlet's requires the use of a body part that is temporarily out of commission. I had so many things I wanted to write down...

The two too-long graduation ceremonies, farewell to some of my favorite students, how it SNOWED again, goodbye to the old teachers, hello to the new teachers, things my girlfriend and I argue about, the tiny tiny new students, how I cried real tears when I watched the episode of West Wing when Leo died...

I also saw many interesting posts on other sites that I didn't have a chance to respond to. I could almost touch-type with my middle finger acting as substitution, but the almost meant a LOT of mistyping and errors, which meant everything took almost twice as long to write.

Anyway. I'm semi-back now, but I likely won't be posting every day (or possibly even every week) for a while yet.

[Me] Broken Finger

Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious
Long work week + Broken finger^* = No updates
No TV and no beer makes Homer something something

I'll be back when my typing speed returns to normal.

^*Man, you don't know fun until you try to use hashi when your right-hand index finger isn't working. Boy howdy.

[Work] My School Is Cooler Than Your School

I go into the teacher's lounge, and the science teacher has a large beaker full of liquid nitrogen. He drops a piece of bread in, picks it up with a pair of glass hashi, and EATS it.

And then blew fog out of his nose.

There's no WAY your school is as cool as mine.

[Work] Az Quotes

Monday is a public holiday? Woo-hoo! Two-day weekend!

[Work] The Verdict Is In

Last week, I was sick, and actually missed a day of work (Tuesday) for the first time ever.

This was such a unique situation that by the time I went home on Wednesday, it still wasn't sorted out whether it was going to be nenkyu or byokyu. Nenkyu is limited, byokyu (in theory) isn't.

Well, it's Wednesday again and the verdict has been handed down. It's nenkyu. In fact, I just witnessed the OL being chewed out by the kyoto-sensei for trying to file it under byokyu.

There are a lot of things I'm going to miss about this place. Things like this aren't among them.

[Work] Okurete suimasen*

(^*Forgive me for being late)

I was late for work today. 20 minutes late. That's got to be a record for me.

Understand that I basically live right next to my school. I wasn't stuck in traffic, my car didn't break down, I didn't get a flat tire.

I don't even know what happened. I got up at my regular time and started getting ready and BAM! It was time to go to work and I wasn't ready yet.

It's like I walked through a time tunnel in my house and came out an hour in the future. I can't figure it out. So strange...

Someone (something?) out there owes me an hour and I want it back.

[News] Google in China

Oy, where to begin...

I initially had the same knee-jerk reaction as everyone else. "But, their motto is 'Don't Be Evil', how could they do this?" But after pondering it and considering the situation in the larger context, I believe Google made the right choice. The proper, moral, _Good_ choice. I further believe that refusing to do business in China at all would have, in fact, been evil.

And the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that people still in the "Google=evil" stage just haven't thought it all the way through yet. But that's just my opinion; we can agree to disagree. ^_^

But, how about a quick experiment?

Step one: Look around you. How many objects can you see just in the room you are in right now that were made in China? Unless the answer is ZERO, _you_ are doing business with China. You are supporting them.

Does that make you evil?

Step two: Ah, Slashdot. How I love thee.

Part A: Defeat the censorship.

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/08/1247244&mode=thread&tid=99
Use elgooG

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/30/technology/browser0130/index.htm?cnn=yes
Spell poorly

Part B: Relevant Results

http://www.google.cn/search?q=tiananmen+Square++massacre&btnG=%E6%90%9C%E7%B4%A2&hl=zh-CN
275 hits, that's WITH the censorship in place. If you thought there would be zero hits, you'd be mistaken.

Part C: Comments

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=175251&cid=14571530
I used to live in a totalitarian regime for the first half of my life and know the effects of government censorship. I have to tell you that if I should choose whether to have google with censorship or not have it at all, its clear what I would choose. I would indeed perceive it as a great evil if Google would withdraw their services from me because of someone's quite stupid elitist opinion.

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=175251&cid=14571126
It's by no means obvious to me that "provide nothing" is less evil than "provide partial."

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=178260&cid=14781024
The fascinating news for me is Google, a private company standing up to the fascist tyranny of the US government.
Aside from the fact that it should be the job of the US poulation to do this, and the profound irony of a corporation standing up for rights the ordinary individual is too apathetic and mentally lazy to deal with there is the hilarious spectre of Washington chastising Google and Yahoo over their censorship. Could the irony be any richer?

http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=175437&cid=14584735
Just because Google is an American company, it is not within reason for it to impose American ideology on another nation. While doing business within a market sponsored and regulated by another government, it is only fair that you play by their rules. Google is NOT a liberation army, they are not defenders of democracy or freedom; nor is it their right to assume such a role in a foreign land.

http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=175437&cid=14584913
Most of the comments here and the other articles on the subject follow the "everything or nothing" mentality. This is typical when asking for opinions of people not directly affected by the matter. Most of you being outside China, it is easy to claim that you would rather not use Google at all instead of use a reliable service with certain "sensitive" pages filtered.

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=175050&cid=14555266
For someone who is currently living in China and using it daily, I am very glad they made this particular decision. For those condemning Google for not sticking to "Don't Be Evil" or for selling out, consider this - which is the greater evil, to filter out some information (and let people know it _is_ being filtered), or to deny them access to information altogether?

[Me] Phoenix is Sick

Sick in bed.
Can barely move.
Will hopefully be better by tomorrow for work.
Blah.

[Warning] Valentine's Day

Warning signs:

1. Did you get a box of chocolates from your girlfriend?^*
   • No
2. Did you get a box of chocolates from your mom?
   • Yes

H'rmmm....

^{* In Japan, the girls give the boys chocolate on Valentine's Day.}

[Link] The Infamous Ghetto Indoor Pool

Manager: Sir, can you tell me why you’d like to return this pool?
Tynan : I was going to buy a penguin, but I was worried the pool was going to leak on my carpet. It doesn’t say anywhere not to use it inside, but I don’t think it’s sturdy enough.
Manager: Are you being serious?
Tynan: Yes.
Manager: Ok… I guess we’ll take it.

[Link] Trailers

We all remember the Shining trailer re-mix. Well, here are some new good ones:

Back to the Future (from http://chocolatecakecity.com/ )

Sleepless in Seattle (from http://tomatopatch.com/ )

I meant to post these before Sapporo, but, well, time is fleeting...

[Image] Best Valentines Day Card Ever

[Question] 19-hour Ferry Rides

The Sapporo Trip entails not one, but TWO 19-hour ferry rides.

My question is: What should I take with me to pass the time?

[Me] Adventures in Sapporo (soon)

I'm taking vacation time (!!!) this week in order to go to the Snow Festival in Sapporo.

I'll try to remember to take lots of pictures, but if I forget ... well, that'd be, you know, normal.

Of course, even if I DO take pictures, I might never get around to posting them here. I've still not put up the pictures of the palace I live in, and I've been here for a year and a half. And I'm changing houses in the Summer. So, time is ticking. AND, I never did finish the story of my adventures in Tokyo (and the related pictures).

I guess I'm just a Bad Person.

[Comic] The Adventures of Dr. McNinja

It's even more awesome than it sounds.

Great quotables, like:

"I'm a Doctor, OK. I know Science."

and

(context: he's thinking to himself, as he enters the cave)

"But if he wanted to enter the cave undetected," the coroner will ask, "why did he wear a bright white lab coat?"

"Because he was a Doctor. And he knew Science," someone will reply.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. He used to love to say that."

and

Chess is a little too... "Rooky, pawny" for my tastes.

[Fark] Light bulbs: Not such a bright idea

Ban the lightbulb and save the world?

[Comic] JETfool #2

[Slashdot] Off Kilter

"Some times I think I went to bed last night in one timeline. A timeline where normal, common sense prevails. Yet, somehow I've woken up in another timeline. One where everything is slightly off kilter. Not enough to be grossly disorienting, but just enough to be maddeningly noticeable."

[Comic] Dilbert Theory

An example of why I still love Scott Adams.



(Yesterday's "Sure, and while I do that you can be at my house cleaning the grout in my shower." was also good)

[Link] Fun Movie Quiz

How many of these can you answer correctly, given only a small, grainy, poor-quality screenshot of the movie? (enable javascript to play)

If you get stuck, here are the answers. You dirty, dirty cheater.