Friday, April 30, 2004

I am getting the feeling you boys enjoys cars :)
but It is now 24 C in Charlottetown, anyone for tossing a football around :)
just for something new to do

By Sabrina - 5:35 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Small hands. Smells like cabbage.

By TVT - 1:46 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Here is Greg Palast's excellent documentary for the BBC revealing the extent of the fuckedupedness of the US 2000 election in Florida. Link. Very interesting, if chilling, to watch.

By al - 11:36 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Just to point out, The Easy Street WRX STi is a drag car. The Supercharged Celica prototype is a modifed Celica GT. . . the base model. The Supercharged Celica GT produces 180 bhp @6000 rpm. With the exception of the supercharger, the engine and drivetrain are the stock 1.8L and 5 speed transmission. The Easy Street WRX STi is much more heavily modified with a larger engine, NOS, custom transmission, intake, exhaust. . . . list goes on. The cost of all the mods on the WRX is greater than the price of the actual WRX itself. It produces 810 bhp @7000 rpm and costs twice as much. Comparing the two is like comparing a Viper to a Pinto.

By Ming - 11:23 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

My buddy Smitty, picked up the Boost mag, so being the curious monkey I am.

TRD Supercharged Celica GT 1/4 mile: 14.9sec @93mph
Easy Street WRX STi 1/4 mile: 9.6sec @ 144mph

Granted, the STi is much much more expensive. :)

By TVT - 10:30 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Thursday, April 29, 2004

Dear Auto Makers,

With regards to courting the youth market, one of your members has already tried this. Their fast and furious promotion landed them 8 billion in debt. Think about that for a second.

I'm still hip. I'm still with it. Right? Guys?... *cricket*

David freakin' Bowie?!? Are we really that out of touch?

Honda has the youth market in their pocket and they didn't even try. What are they worried about? Represent ya'll.

By TVT - 3:31 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

As expected, the Koreans are now following in the footsteps of the Japanese circa 1970s. Now if the domestic big three would stop chanting their mantra of "volume, volume, volume" maybe they'd get somewhere. *shrug*

By TVT - 12:54 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Astronomy factoid of the day

the Sun = G type dwarf = chibi-G

And knowledge is power.

Why do I get this internet survey vibe from this excerpt?
G dwarfs like the Sun live a long time, steadily burning hydrogen for about ten billion years, and, if they’ve got suitable planets they can provide happy environments for life to take hold and for technology to blossom.

It would make for a decent "What stellar object are you?" Like you are a neutron star, compact and dense, others inexoriably gravitate towards you. Or how bout you are a supernova - flaming and explosive, you are but a shell of your former self.

By TVT - 9:02 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

fast car conversations?! *swoon*

By TVT - 5:58 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I'm pretty miffed myself. What? No love for the slant eye?

By TVT - 3:00 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Binnie. You and anyone else can drop by. I don't have a problem with that. The problem comes when you drop by unexpectedly with the intension of taking over my house. I would like to have at least some prior warning beforehand. Also, it ensure that: A. I'm actually at home. B. I'm not asleep when you arrive and have to answer the door in my PJs.

By Ming - 2:50 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Today's the big day. I trade in my ninjitsu skills for samurai bushido. I can't wait to play as Jeno Reno. *swoon* Too freaking cool. And as an added treat for the North American version. They added in more violence, monsters, gore, and decapitations. I love you Capcom.

May it be as frustratingly difficult as Ninja Gaiden. ^_^

By TVT - 12:27 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

He surrounds himself with hot female bodybuards, but hasn't promoted himself to General yet. go figure.

By al - 10:31 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Yep.. gonna be an exciting year...

By al - 9:14 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

By TVT - 9:01 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

so ming does that mean the next time I am up west unexpectatly I should not stop over?

By Sabrina - 8:30 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

For Sale: One Slightly Used Size 12 Wedding Gown. Only worn twice: Once at the wedding and once for these pictures.

By al - 3:31 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

God I love this site. Always on the ball.

By TVT - 2:45 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Full House woulda been so much cooler with corporal punishment. Damn troll dolls, I don't think the games even grossed that much. Nuthin like a good ol temper tantrum.

By TVT - 2:35 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

The Duc, you are The People's Fucking Emporer. Put your foot down. The line must be drawn. This far - no further!!

P.S. I'll be over to watch hentai at 10.

By TVT - 11:38 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

From here:
"Now, the use of broadband has tripled since 2000 from 7 million subscriber lines to 24 million," Bush said. "That's good. But that's way short of the goal for 2007. And so - by the way, we rank 10th amongst the industrialized world in broadband technology and its availability. That's not good enough for America. Tenth is 10 spots too low as far as I'm concerned."

Don't worry, George. We'll hit zero before you know it.

By al - 10:32 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

3? 3 makes no sense. Who ever heard of 3, anyway? Aren't these things always supposed to be a power of 2? I thought there was a rule about that somewhere...

By al - 10:28 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Why you should buy stock in CostCo.

By al - 10:19 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I'm beginning to find this disturbing. People I know are starting to drop by my house without asking me. I'm okay with people dropping by unannounced and saying hello, dropping stuff off, picking something up. . . stuff like that, quick non-intrusive stuff. However, when someone drops by out of the blue and takes over your living room, I'd like to have prior warning. Even more disturbing, is when they call, they don't ask me, but ask my guests if they can drop by my house. If you call and ask, I'll do my best to find time for you. Dropping over unannounced at 11:30pm and expecting me to "entertain" when I have to go to work in the morning just isn't cool. I'm going to have to put a stop to this.

By Ming - 9:55 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

$60 US dollars max. *commence suck up* Oh, and have I mentioned lately that you are the anchor that gives my spirit license to soar? *end suck up* Thankies! Schmatar kawaii desu ne? *swoon* ^_^

By TVT - 8:39 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Monday, April 26, 2004

Schmatar, if during your daily travails you run across this little gem. Would you be a dear and inform me so? *big sad puppy dog eyes* Seems it's exclusive to Korea and Hong Kong. :o(

By TVT - 10:04 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Hey there
Ming I get the idea of never thinking you would own a red car, I am not a fan of red cars, but yet I own one now. Well the gods like to make fun of us.
The iraq flag?????? no opinion at the moment, but it does remind me of a symbol for a fantacy book or something....
My last bit of new (no one will really care to much about) I started yoga classes again, my sweet godess I let my body go, things that were easy and use to bend don't anymore.....I am getting old.....eek!
well all cheers

By Sabrina - 7:20 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Not a terribly big fan of iraq's new flag:



The old noe, for reference:



Which is basically a sad ripoff of Syria's flag.

The thigns that irritate me about the new flag are: (1) it's vertically asymetrical. The bottom part looks sewn on. The crescent moon is off balance. The colour palate is kind of soft, though this was probably deliberate. The blue in the crescent moon is slightly different from the blue stripe. The Sweden-esque colour scheme is bad enough as it is.

By al - 4:10 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Trivia question: Who is the oldest person listed in IMDB? (i.e., born longest ago, alive or dead) (can be an actor, director, whatever)

(yes, of course I know the answer)

By al - 10:10 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Knifing the baby.

By al - 9:53 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

On the topic of cars, I finally got around to doing a wash and wax on the People's Celica. The Legacy got a wash as well, though waxing won't be in her future at least until she gets fixed up. The People's Celica now has that nice showroom shine, the one that makes people's heads turn and drool inexplicably (I know, as I occasionally find myself in my garage staring at it for no particular reason). Once I get the new rims and tires on her, she will be one sexy beast.

If someone told me that I would own a red car when I was younger, I would have told them "your smoking crack" or something equally eloquent. Strange how things end up, I own not one, but two red cars. . . . Fate has a strange sense of humour.

As for crack. . . . Binnie! Can you hook me up? ;-p I'll give you an offer you can't refuse! How's a 50/50 arrangement sound? Crack that stays in the blood longer, sounds good eh?

By Ming - 1:40 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Sunday, April 25, 2004

Hey all! I know I am very space in my postings, starting a new job and buying a car takes you attention away from this.
ON to the news. I am currently making drugs at my new job. Well modifying known drugs so they last in the blood stream
longer. your neighbor hood dealer!!!!!!
I love the work, it is kind of fun, and exciting, much better than my thesis work:)

As for the new car, it a rav 4, red in color (most commonly asked question). two door, four cylinder engine, gets about 35 mile to the gallon on the highway. Not nearly as good in the city but still not bad. She drive very well, and because she is so short she can turn pretty sharp, oh and she is standart.
I have yet to name her (second most asked question), but some suggestion have been, bilbo wagon, and hobbit mobile open to some if any idea's come to your mind.

I hope all are well. I will catch you later.



By Sabrina - 11:22 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I currently have the following email addresses:

d1t7a -- unb.ca
al.oneill -- unb.ca
al_oneill -- canada.com
aloneill -- gmail.com
alexponeill -- hotmail.com
alexponeill -- yahoo.ca
aoneill -- nbnet.nb.ca

This is fucking ridiculous.

By al - 8:39 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I just timed it, and gmail's servers are so fast that it takes less time to send a message than it does using Outlook. Holy fucking shit. Also, if your 'spam' folder is empty, it says "Hooray, no spam here!"

By al - 8:32 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Saturday, April 24, 2004

Mmmm.., steamy. (QuickTime)

By al - 5:44 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

From my comment on this SportsFilter thread referring to major changes proposed by the Formula One governing body:
I'm torn on these changes. One one side is the perceived sexiness of F1 as the place where you go to prove you can build the best car in the world to go racing in.

On the other hand is the desire to actually see drivers do more just act as operators flying around single-file. I want to see someone lock the brakes going into a turn and lose a position now and then. (Traction control really sucks, and when CART got rid of it last year you could see a dramatic change in how the cars went around the track, being able to spot individual drivers' styles even better)

What the end product will look like is a lot like what CART Champ Cars have become, but since I'm already a Champ Car fan I don't really need to see that.

It's all moot anyway since the auto makers won't ever let it happen. Hell, look at the way Honda and Toyota came in and ruined the IRL (insert polish a turd statement here) by throwing money trying to out-do each other. In the end the biggest joke of a racing series in the US suddenly become the biggest joke of a horrendously expensive and unexciting racing series.

If the FIA gets more control over racing from the manufacturers it will almost certainly be a good thing bad thing for the sport. But I don't consider it likely.

By al - 3:16 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Page 23, Sentence 5

From Teach Yourself Go

"A highly analytical, structured approach to playing go might focus on the problem of scale; the 19x19 Go board has a large playing area."


It the thing to do:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

By al - 2:42 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Vitamin Q: More useless information than a four year English Literature degree.

By al - 11:11 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Friday, April 23, 2004

Lactal nipples? Huzzah!

You are a metabolic organism.
As such, you are basically a collection of replicative proteins that function according to metabolic chemical reactions and processes...

You are a eukaryote.
All remaining organic life is distinguished by structural differences at the cellular level between different groups of prokaryotes (which are essentially bacteria) and the eukaryotes (us)...

You are an animal.
...you are one of only about a half-dozen kingdoms of eukaryotic life forms. Unlike those of most other biological kingdoms, you are incapable of manufacturing your own food and must compensate for that by ingesting other organisms....

You are a chordate.
You have a spinal chord and every other minute physical distinction of that classification. You also have a skull, which classifies you as a craniate...

You are a vertebrate.
Like all mammals, birds, dinosaurs, reptiles, amphibians, and most fish, you have a spine...

You are a tetrapod.
You have only four limbs. So you are like all other terrestrial vertebrates including frogs...

You are synapsid.
Unlike turtles (which are anapsid) and "true" reptiles, dinosaurs and birds (which are all diapsid), your skull has only one temporal fenestra, a commonality between all of the vast collection of "mammal-like reptiles"...

You are a mammal.
You are homeothermic (warm-blooded), follicle-bearing and have lactal nipples...

You are eutherian.
Or more specifically, you are a placental mammal, like most other lactal animals from shrews to whales. All eutherians are mammals, but not all mammals are eutherian...

You are a primate.
You have five fully-developed fingers and five fully-developed toes. Your toes are still prehensile and your hands can grasp with dexterity. You have only two lactal nipples and they are on your chest as opposed to your abdomen. These are pointless in males, which also have a pendulous penis and a well-developed ceacum or appendix, unlike all other mammals. Although your fangs are reduced in size, you do still have them along with some varied dentition indicative of primates exclusively. Your fur is thin and relatively sparse over most of your body. And your claws have been reduced to flat chitinous fingernails. Your fingers themselves have distinctive print patterns... There is almost no other organism on Earth that matches any one of these descriptions separately, but absolutely all of the lemurs, tarsiers, monkeys, apes, you, and I match all of them at once perfectly, implying common descent.

You are an ape.
Your tail is merely a stub of bones that don't even protrude outside the skin. Your dentition includes not only vestigial canines, but incisors, cuspids, bicuspids, and distinctive molars that come to five points interrupted by a "Y" shaped crevasse. This in addition to all of your other traits, like the dramatically increased range of motion in your shoulder, as well as a profound increase in cranial capacity and disposition toward a bipedal gait, indicates that you are not merely a vertebrate cranial chordate and a tetrapoidal placental mammalian primate, but you are more specifically an ape, and so was your mother before you...

By TVT - 4:22 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

You UNB folk are waaaaay behind. They're already on Asimov's 2nd Law!

A good discussion on the 3 laws.

By TVT - 1:03 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Holy crap in a hat Batman! Mitsubishi Motors is screwed. Hopefully they can pull their ass outta the fire like Nissan did. *crosses fingers* A WRC competitor bites the dust... :o(

By TVT - 11:52 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Petition against Canadian US-like copyright law reform. You can edit the text and help shape the text of the petition to the government.

via boing boing.

By al - 11:32 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Do as I say, not as I do, John Connor. Maria, my mighty heart is breaking.

By TVT - 10:18 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Thursday, April 22, 2004

14 years old. Submissive. Huge tits. Legs up to there. There's a live action movie on the way. Not my bag though. :)

By TVT - 6:33 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Douchenozzle.

By al - 4:49 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Represent.

By TVT - 2:26 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Go to your blogger log in screen and snag your gmail account while they're hot.

By al - 1:04 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Genocide? Stop being so narrow minded. Relax, guy, you need to take a rest. Look over there.

By al - 10:49 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Chibi-G and myself bought mini terra cotta warriors for the Emporer last Communistmas. He now requires the real thing. Hint. Hint.


Oh, and I require a re-stock on asians of the smuggled variety. I need to turn them bitches out.

By TVT - 1:21 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Now he's done it. Emporer Duc, prep the warriors.

By TVT - 4:03 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Damn Jovian motorists.

By TVT - 2:55 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Ah Europe, where sex is ok, but violence isn't.

By TVT - 2:28 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

People are gullible.

By al - 12:54 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

ell oh ell.

By al - 12:23 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Go read the interview with science fiction writer Neal Stephenson at salon.com and the review of his latest book, Confusion. His most famous book, Snow Crash is excellent, and full of interesting trivia, as is, apparently, his latest book. Something he's famous for. Here's an excerpt from the interview, as pointed to at boing boing: (bet ya' didn't see that one coming)
Hooke, for example, when he figured out how arches work, published it as an anagram. He condensed the idea into this pithy statement: "The ideal form of an arch is the form of a chain hanging, flipped upside down." Then he scrambled the letters to make an anagram and published it. That way, he wasn't giving away the secret, but if somebody came along a few years later and claimed that they'd invented it, he could just unscramble what he'd published. He was establishing precedence.

Hooke squabbled with [Christiaan] Huygens over a bunch of clock-related inventions. This kind of thing was just rife. It came to a head in a grotesque way in the priority dispute over [who invented] the calculus. That was so embarrassing to the whole institution of science and people were so nauseated by it that it taught everyone a lesson. After that, no one would dream of doing what Newton did, which was to invent something really important and then sit on it for 30 years.

By al - 11:27 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

The Blog and Chairman Duc congratulate Binnie on her acquisition of a red 97 Toyota RAV4. Way to go Binnie. You do the Emporer proud. She needs a BINNIE vanity plate too.

By TVT - 9:50 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Must you people commercialize every facet of your religion? Hmmpph. Now honestly.

*rubs Buddha's belly*

By TVT - 9:24 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Schmatar, you are my new bootlegger. *flutters eyes*

I'll take Korean High School Hymen Part 4 and I'll get back to you on the other 2.

By TVT - 8:33 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Monday, April 19, 2004

I have built a terra cotta Celica to curry favour with the Emporer. Did you bring the spices and silks?


Ne? Ne? Ne? chibi-Greggu?

By TVT - 11:19 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I've been informed by Chairman Duc that the Emporer in Hero is none other than himself. All hail King Ming. And might I add, congratulations on winning the Best Actor at The People's Television Golden Eagle Awards.

I did some searching and I found a bootleg DVD for 7 bucks. Did I mention I love HK?

And now, a gratuitous pic of Zhang Ziyi. *swoon*

By TVT - 10:41 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

A few gems from the Fark photoshop thread about if dead celebrities were still alive:







By al - 10:03 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Just saw Bill and the killing thereof. Enjoyable, but not as much as the first installment. It delivers the western portion of his epic kung-fu western. Note to Tarantino: Love the action, love the exposition. Next time arrange the chapters so there's a nice balance of both. Sank you.

The scenes with The Bride's tutelage under Pei Mei were classic. I loves me chopsuey without the cheese. The trailer for Jet Li's 'Hero' is in that same vein. If it's anything like Crouching Tiger, color me fucking happy.

I just found out Zhang Ziyi is going to be in Hero. She's also of Crouching Tiger fame, and more importantly fucking hot.

By TVT - 9:42 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

E-Mail forward of the day:
From : Kayla Richardson
Sent : April 19, 2004 4:08:27 PM
To : Alexander O'Neill
Subject : FW: How to please a woman


Recently a "Husband Super Store" opened where women could go to choose a husband from among many men. It was laid out in five floors, with the men increasing in positive attributes as you ascended.

The only rule was, once you opened the door to any floor, you HAD to choose a man from that floor; if you went up a floor, you couldn't go back down except to leave the place, never to return.
A couple of girlfriends went to the shopping centre to find some husbands...

First floor
The door had a sign saying, "These men have jobs and love kids." The women read the sign and said, "Well, that's better than not having a job or not loving kids, but I wonder what's further up?" So up they went.

Second floor
The sign read, "These men have high paying jobs, love kids, and are extremely good looking." "Hmmm," said the ladies, "But, I wonder what's further up?"

Third floor
This sign read, "These men have high paying jobs, are extremely good looking, love kids and help with the housework." "Wow," said the women, "Very tempting." But there was another floor, so further up they went.

Fourth floor
This door had a sign saying "These men have high paying jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking, help with the housework and have a strong romantic streak." "Oh, mercy me," they cried, "Just think what must be awaiting us further on!

So up to the fifth floor they went.

Fifth floor
The sign on that door said, "This floor is empty and exists only to prove that women are fucking impossible to please. The exit is to your left, we hope you fall down the stairs."

By al - 4:25 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

The Vantu Diet™ really works. Bitchin.

By TVT - 11:33 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

You make a good fish! Preese send a foh moh to bus. Sank you.

By TVT - 9:11 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

We breeded too many for the restaurant this month. My bad.

By TVT - 8:48 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Sunday, April 18, 2004

Any reference to Bi-mon Sci-fi Con makes me happy. Awesome.

By TVT - 9:30 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I only bring this up because the incessant commercials annoy me so.


Might I add, leave a pretty corpse.

By TVT - 8:19 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

From NHL.com:

The Canadiens / The "Habs"
In 1924, Madison Square Garden owner Tex Rickard was falsely told by someone that the "H" stood for "habitant", a French word that in those days was used to denote the farmers of Quebec.
Rickard was told that the French players on the team came from the farms and that they were therefore "habitants" or "habs". At the time, the Canadiens were recognized as the French team of Montreal as opposed to the Montreal Maroons, the English team.

On a side note, the Montreal logo of the C wrapped around the H stands for Club de Hockey Canadien. In 1917, at the founding of the NHL, the Canadiens changed their name to that from the previous Club Athletique Canadien.


I am not going to get into an argument over semantics right now.

By al - 8:19 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I wish I had a laptop so I could warshit.

By TVT - 12:31 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Saturday, April 17, 2004

By TVT - 4:39 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

You can't be the richest if you don't own it.

By TVT - 2:19 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

By al - 12:45 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Interesting effect of currency valuation changes:

Ingvar Kamprad, the Swede who founded furniture retail chain IKEA, has overtaken Microsoft's Bill Gates as the world's richest man, Swedish TV news reported on Sunday.
...
SVT2 said the dollar's slide against other currencies is the main reason why Kamprad has now overtaken Gates

By al - 12:38 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

FaceWound. A new, good side-scroller? Pinch me.

By al - 11:40 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

A new post on Acts of Volition points out that the Green Party of Canada uses and endorses open source software. Very sensible policy. As well tehy advocate making any taxpayer-funded software available under an open licence, and reducing teh length of software patents.

Now what we need is proportional representation in Canada's electoral system. Because a person's vote should still count even if they live in a solid Liberal / Conservative / Bloc Quebecois / NDP riding and happens to think different.

I was just about to bitch out the NDP for using proprietary Microsoft software on their web server, which I remember from the last time I checked, but checking netcraft's results for ndp.ca it looks like they've switched over to Linux as well. Good for them, and they're a party that might win quite a few seats this time around, what with the other parties making it so easy for them.

Apparently those hippies at the Marijuana Party run on the Operating System of diviants and social misfits as well. Good for them.

By al - 9:54 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Friday, April 16, 2004

Regime Change Begins at Home: (from boing boing:)

Canadian government funding DRM with tax-dollars

The Canadian government is giving away tax-dollars to fund the creation of digital rights management software. I think I'm going to throw up. Or go on tax strike. The idea that the Canadian government is going to spend my arts-career-earned dollars on doomed techno-snake-oil whose only use is to frustrate posterity, steal the public's rights in copyright, and justify the existence of stunningly evil anti-circumvention laws -- Christ, it makes me want to spit.
To assist in the development and implementation of online, copyright management and licensing systems and mechanisms that facilitate access
to and the exploitation of one or all types of existing or copyrighted works, in particular Canadian, including works where multiple ownership arrangements exist, preferably through the development of a single-window model.
Link

By al - 6:19 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Now this is a fucking travesty.

*sharpens knives*

By al - 4:07 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

What, exactly, is the target demographic for this? (quicktime)

By al - 4:05 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

The Duc, Ming Junior, err I mean Peter, could you build this for me? Please? Ah screw it, I'll just use my Atari emulator for Gameboy Advance. ^_^

2nd person shooter? What the?

By TVT - 3:44 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Hot diggity. The advanced wing design of the YF-21 in Macross Plus is rooted in reality. Keen!

By TVT - 3:38 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I want a BMW built by efficient Chinese babies. Small hands. Smell like cabbage.

By TVT - 2:57 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Paul Martin is afraid of China.

Pussy.

By al - 11:07 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

My hometown made the news too!

By TVT - 9:37 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

oops (mp3). Radio prank call gone wrong, pay attention to the last line.

via MonkeyFilter.

By al - 9:29 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Thursday, April 15, 2004

Jouer au hockey 3000.

By TVT - 11:14 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

You do realize I can now search for Hillary Duff on bust size alone. Truly exciting times we live in.

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In case there was any lingering doubt, Base Wars was in fact the greatest sports video game of all time.

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My rivals are in trouble. Does this mean no EVO for Canada? :( I know! Let's market to the youths of the nation!

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CoffeeGeek - News, Reviews, Opinion and Community for Coffee and Espresso

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Wednesday, April 14, 2004

We are going to make sure that downloading stays illegal.

That comment made me sick. No mention of filesharing or copyrights is in that specific sentence. I know it has to be taken in context with her other statements, but the sheer thought that downloading is a criminal act disgusts me.

Anyone remember when music wasn't a commodity? A thing to be had on the media du jour?

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Lobby Now! Alan McLeod, Canadian Lawyer, writes "Make sure you are heard as Canada decides to revamp its Copyright Act." He goes on to encourage Canadians to contact the Heritage Minister and weigh in as the Copyright rules in Canada may be about to change.

via MetaFilter.

By al - 4:18 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Hey, it works for me.

By TVT - 12:16 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Professor John Komlos, a German expert, analysed data from the last 200 years for around 250,000 people. He found that while Europeans are getting increasingly taller, Americans have "stopped growing..."

via die puny humans.

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Too much Star Wars.

via BBspot.

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From MetaFilter
Sometimes it takes the great Dustbuster of fate to clear the room of bullies and bad habits. Among a troop of avanna baboons in Kenya, a terrible outbreak of tuberculosis 20 years ago selectively killed off the biggest, nastiest and most despotic males... With that change in demographics came a cultural swing toward pacifism, a relaxing of the usually parlous baboon hierarchy, and a willingness to use affection and mutual grooming rather than threats, swipes and bites to foster a patriotic spirit. "And if baboons can do it, why not us? The bad news is that you might have to first knock out all the most aggressive males to get there." Wishful thinking from nerdy academics, or a harbinger of our future?

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Tuesday, April 13, 2004

The blog congratulates Binnie on her newfound employment. May she not blow up the lab - too much... ^_^

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How to conduct a coin-toss on the phone (or online) when you don't trust the other party. (page 5)

By al - 8:18 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Also, let it be known that the Bridgestone RE92 is among the crappiest in the land. Long may she burn in hell. *does the Kumho dance*

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The blog presents, a very special Peter Anderson post.

By TVT - 4:28 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

It's that time to break out the People's Celica. But first, she needed a couple of new tires. A pair of Bridgestone RE92's to match the current gear would have cost me around $500 CAD. The guys at Toyota were asking $630 CAD for a set of 4 Michellin tires. The People's Celica needs good tires to maintain her image as the MOST ELETRICIFYING RIDE. So, I got her these: Falken Ziex ZE-512's (195/60R15-88H). Total price with shipping and taxes, $363.84 CAD. They are sweet looking tires and will lay the smackdown on any corner. Can you SMELL WHAT THE DUC IS COOKIN'?

As for 17s, I don't have money for new rims. I got too much stuff to do on the house this summer. I'll probably try again after the Falken's are worn out. Sorry, but the Barbeque takes a higher priority than 17" rims.

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Time to sway chibi-Greggu kun away from the Lotus. Is this not sexAy?

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I remember when long weekends used to mean something... way way back in the past somewhere..

I also remember 8 hour days, but vaguely.

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The Penny Arcade Remix Project. Hee.

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Monday, April 12, 2004

This is what I would be promoting if I took over the Martha Stewart show.

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Hopefully less than 10. My successor will be an unstoppable gaming machine. He/She must, nay, will carry on my legacy. And that dude who lost at Mario Kart is a fucking pussy.

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Tuan, 10 years from now.

By al - 5:20 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Some chick blogs the main reasons to love and hate PEI.

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There's going to be an anime prequel to Kill Bill. I just shit myself.

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Sunday, April 11, 2004

This was my contribution to the big dinner the roommates and I made tonight:

Ridiculously easy Mexican Fruit Cake recipe:

2 c flour
2 c sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 c sliced nuts (i.e., almonds)
1 19oz can of crushed pineapple

mix in 13"*10" pan and bake for 35 - 45 minutes at 350F

Icing:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c margarine
2 c icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together and spread on cake once it cools.

Really good, tastes like a slightly more interesting carrot cake. And I could eat the icing with a spoon it's so good.

By al - 9:39 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

What happens when you burst a water balloon in space?

via MonkeyFilter.

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Saturday, April 10, 2004

Chantal: He sounds really cute. I'm sure he's a purr-fect fit for you :-p Sorta reminds me of the time Pam and I were looking at beanie babies in the mall; after I pointed out a few of them she replied, "Why do you always pick out the sorriest looking ones?"

Woohoo! I don't like Martin that much. Now that Harper is the leader of the Conservatives, I didn't want to vote for them either. I never thought I would say this, but I think I'd vote for the NDP!

By Ming - 11:02 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Told ya' so. From boing boing:

Canada's NDP leader endorses P2P

Jack Layton is the leader of the NDP, Canada's left-wing New Democratic Party, and is in the running for Prime Minister of Canada in the next election. On the heels of Canada's landmark court decision that essentially legalized file sharing, Layton has turned P2P into an election issue, endorsing file-sharing as a beneficial activity, a gutsy move, considering the Party's close ties with the arts (the NDP has traditionally endorsed strong arts-spending):
"I'm a holder of a copyright myself. But it's a book on homelessness and I don't mind if anyone wants to copy it," he says with a grin. "I'm still not so sure how (file sharing) impacts sales -- some studies even say it enhances them. I don't think the dust has settled on this yet. When I was at university there was a great fear that photocopying was going to destroy the publishing industry and that hasn't happened. It's sometimes best to muddle along, take things one step at a time and see what happens. Society can have a way of sorting things out."
Link

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Friday, April 09, 2004

Another year of positive income and no exams. Bitchin. Though I do miss the McConnell blab-fest and the Hallway.

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Thursday, April 08, 2004

Gamers. When we're not maiming you online, we're saving lives.

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Way to go DUC!

With assistance from Corner Brook Pulp and Paper, DUC restored a dam on the river that creates 1,900 acres of wetland habitat making it DUC's largest project in Newfoundland.

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Yes. Wolverine is quite dreamy. *swoon*

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Demo-graphics.



Kick ass! I knew this day would come to pass. Ever since GT2 was encroaching on photo realism I had a feeling...
Well. Volvo's done it. Thanks guys. This more than makes up for your chick car. ^_^ Fuck I want Rallisport Challenge 2 - NOW!

YCC Update:

The exterior shouts boy racer, but the interior is tres chic(k). Dig the marketing spin. They seem to have removed all frou frou references from the car - clever.

By TVT - 12:44 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I remember Schmatar saying she watched Underworld like 3 times. Which is cool since Underworld is the shizzle. So I thought I'd turn her attention to Van Helsing. It's more uber cool monster slaying action, but most importantly, Kate Beckinsale in skin tight clothing. Yummy.

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The Thunderbirds trailer is up. They're going with the young hero angle. I was thinkin Spy Kids the whole time, but that's ok. The "kid gets to play with kickass machinery and save the world" plot has always been a favourite of mine. Probably cause I've always wanted to be that kid - unless you throw whine and angst into the mix (damn you Evangelion!).

F-A-B.

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Wednesday, April 07, 2004

I would be remiss in my nerdly duties if I did not mention this.

By TVT - 6:48 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Hmmm very interesting. I'm curious why Jobs settled the first two times. Could you please esplain' oh user of the Mac. :)

Let it be! Let it be!

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Apple Records aren't the Beatles' record company, haven't been for decades. They aren't anyone's record company, actually. They basically just now for the sole purpose of suing Apple.

At any rate, Apple still aren't a record labe, and are thus still not in the same industry. The iTunes music store, the cause of the latest litigation oppourtunity, is just a way to sell digital content, produced by someone else (i.e., record companies, but also audio books). Amazon.com isn't a record company either, but they do sell music and books, like Apple. I wonder when Amazon Records will claim infringement and sue as well.

By al - 5:38 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Yes I find it highly amusing that a company with a legitimate music downloading scheme, is still infringing on Lennon and company's rights. ^_^

Now give me money, That's what I want!

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Oops. We forgot to account for inflation. Gotta love PR and politics. Note to world: Buy a Civic.

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God bless the krauts.

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More movie goodness.

Must. Remember. To. Breathe. ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy!

By TVT - 12:03 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Of push rods and big blocks...

That sweet 15 minutes of fame. Mr. Reep is lapping it up. But it's coo' since the commercials are funny. Big trucks, big displacement, big titties.

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Patrick on the big screen. Calloo! Callay!

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Go see Hellboy. It is sweet sweet nerd porn.

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In the spirit of the Protege5: Dear Subaru, please name your upcoming minivan the Subaru Van2, so that I may be immortalized. w00t.

By TVT - 4:23 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

2nd nerdy observation of the day: Subaru 0WNZ J00!

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What Irrational Number Are You?

You are √2

You are in good company, many other square roots are also irrational numbers. Just by being a square root you have been branded a radical. You are considered very attractive, especially by Europeans (at least on paper.) You fear that a relationship with another √2 may somehow end up complex and ultimately imaginary. In reality, only another √2 will make you whole. Your lucky number is approximately 1.41421356

Shiny Lemur



Straif's Blog

By al - 2:57 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Nerdy observation of the day: The US military have their own designations for time zones, going from Alpha Time at UTC +1 through bravo, charlie, delta, etc up to zulu at UTC. However, the way it works, the code word for 'q', 'quebec', designates UTC - 4, or Atlantic Standard Time.

Dumbasses.

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More good news for the colonies. There's a live action Thunderbirds film coming out, and the Hitchhiker's Guide movie will begin shooting soon along with the new Dr. Who. Oh frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!

By TVT - 1:25 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I neglected to mention on the Zelda numbers game how fiercely competitive the industry is today compared to the 8 bit era. There's just so much more choice now. And if one judges a game by total sales alone, Grand Theft Auto 3 would be considered the pinnacle of gaming, which I hardly agree with.

By TVT - 10:34 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Although I sometimes am one, there's no denying that many apple users obsess over the least little detail to amazing extents. The rest of the site is pretty funny, too.

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Monday, April 05, 2004

I have to toot Penny Arcade's horn a moment. If government and media regard gaming as an unworthy, violent, time- wasting hobby then I direct you to some gamers who opened their wallets this past Christmas. Seems we're not that maladjusted, go figure.

By TVT - 10:21 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I'm afraid, he's more rim than man now...

I bought these golden 17 inch beauties today. I got them wrapped in some Kumho Ecsta 711s. Would've shelled out for the MX series but I'd rather have an all season than a pure summer tire. If I wrap my car around a tree from the ego empowering Superman-like grip, you'll know why.

Will Chairman Duc and chibi-Greggu be joining the 17 inch club this year? *cheeky grin*

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Lousy Managers are Next Outsourcing Trend.

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Boing Boing item of the day:
French-translation wash-care label apologises for Bush

Casey sez, "A photo of care instructions (in English and French) from a Seattle-made laptop bag. The last lines of the French instructions read 'We are sorry that our President is an idiot. We didn't vote for him.'"Link

(Thanks, Casey!)

By al - 7:32 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

You make a good fish misa man, preese send a foh moh to house. Sank you.

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This is me screaming like a little girl. Glee!

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I'm extra tired today. F'ing krauts.

By TVT - 11:45 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Sunday, April 04, 2004

Well that was short-lived: (from /.):
"In Canada, we can download Mp3's and their assorted goodness without too much of a hassle, recently the CRIA and their friends lost the court case. Well, it would appear that the new Federal Heritage Minister Helene Scherre, has spoken and those words were: 'As minister of Canadian Heritage, I will, as quickly as possible, make changes to our copyright law.'"
The NDP are the only party that has expressed a desire to bring balance to Canada's copyright laws between producers' and consumers' rights, rather than bending over backwards for the recording industry and the US' insistance that the world follow their silly copyright over-extensions. Not that I'm endorsing a political party, but the difference between their position and that of the other major parties is just rather blatant.

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Pointers to some great CBC recordings of concerts, including Sarah Harmer, Rufus Wainwright and a bunch of others.

By al - 7:07 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Kevin Drum has some interesting thoughts on the nature of suburban commercial development, especially with respect to how politicians feel it's almost life-or-death necessary to encourage as much commercial development as possible. link.

I would also suggest looking for any and all books by Jane Jacobs, especially The Death and Life of Great American Cities for some interesting solutions to what seems to be the brain-dead way in which cities tend to have developed over the last half-century.

By al - 4:27 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

The US is apparently now putting supervillain bio-terrorists on stamps. (from boing boing):
US stamp of Bucky Fuller

Bucky Fuller stampIn July, the US Post Office will issue a Buckminster Fuller stamp featuring an old Time magazine cover illustration by the late great Boris Artzybasheff. Link

By al - 4:00 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Just downloaded an NES emulator for the sole purpose of remembering which characters appear when you beat Tetris on level 9, height 5 in B mode.

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Saturday, April 03, 2004

Milk and Cereal now in new Asian flavour.

via Milk and Cookies.

By al - 3:00 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Apple Store Japan (quicktime)

Apparently there's so little to do in Tokyo that the entire city's population comes out to see a store opening.

By al - 1:17 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Tigger Arrested on Molestation Charges. Sooo... who the fuck didn't see this one coming? Tigger having that whole pooh-raping prediliction and all...

via MetaFilter.

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Friday, April 02, 2004

Super Mario: Reloaded (flash)

By al - 2:54 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

This game speaks to me.

By TVT - 12:54 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Man, why couldn't our parliament be this cool?

HOUSE OF COMMONS
London SW1A 1AA

25 March 2004

Dear Michael Grade,

Congratulations on making the shortlist for the next BBC Chairman. This role is of course traditionally a non-executive one, but we would like to ask you for a reassurance on one specific point.

In your memoirs and in several interviews you have confirmed that the suspension of production of "Doctor Who" in the mid-1980s was motivated, at least in part, by your strong personal dislike of the programme. For example, you have said "I hated it - I thought it was awful" (This Morning, ITV, 13 November 1999). Two years ago (15th April 2002) you called for it to be sent into oblivion when you appeared on the BBC's "Room 101" chat show.

As you will know, the BBC is currently committing substantial financial and creative resources to a major revival of "Doctor Who". Some of the UK's leading writing and acting talents are involved, and the export and merchandising potential is very significant. The programme's impending return was celebrated last autumn at a reception at the House of Commons, attended by a large number of MPs of all parties.

Some however are concerned that, were you to become BBC Chairman, the project would be derailed – potentially wasting significant sums of licence payers’ money.

Are you therefore prepared to guarantee that, should you be appointed to the post, you would not interfere in any way with decisions about “Doctor Who”?

Copies of this letter go to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and to the media.

Yours,

Tim Collins MP (Westmorland and Lonsdale - Con)
Don Foster MP (Bath – Lib Dem)
Stephen Pound MP (Ealing North - Lab)
Julie Kirkbride MP (Bromsgrove – Con)
Bob Russell MP (Colchester - Lib Dem)
Eric Pickles MP (Brentwood & Ongar – C)

By TVT - 12:22 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Thursday, April 01, 2004

C'mon, who's up for a game of blogchess? Bueller?

P-K4

Bring it.

By al - 8:02 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Just came across a really interesting paper on User Interface Prototyping (text/pdf) from ACM. A very good read.

By al - 7:45 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

New Beatallica song out today.

via Stevo.

By al - 5:25 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

I should just retire and leave a link to boing boing in my place...
Laxative makers are targetting their advertising at low-carb dieters, who are notoriously irregular:
GlaxoSmithKline's new ad campaign for Citrucel caplets offers a "zero-carb solution to a low-carb problem."

Proctor and Gamble fired back with ads that promise that Metamucil allows users to "Stay regular. The zero net carb way."

Link

By al - 4:10 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Some more nerdy Fool's Day.

By TVT - 1:42 p.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

Google wins nerdiest April Fool's ever.

By TVT - 9:18 a.m. | (0) comments | Post a Comment

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