Kimputer's Weblog

…that’s always the question. Every night. So when there’s a new brand of ice cream out there, I’m the first to try.
The new entry this time, is from Mona, branded as scoop-ready right out of the freezer. The 650 ml (almost 3 euros for this tiny bucket) has a few flavors, and mine was peach. Just like justice, this review can be swift and hence, short. The scoop-ready part is true. The taste however, is like the most cheap brands. Somewhat synthetic. There is some milky-ness and creamy-ness, but it’s definitely not ice cream. And the texture is a bit slimey and thick-ish. The only thing positive I can think about, is that it may be suitable for people on a diet, as only a small cup will already be heavy on the stomach. Then again, people on a diet shouldn’t eat ice cream.
So, if you love your taste buds dearly, steer clear of this one. Better put in a bit of energy into the scooping, and have the real deal.4-.

You know the saying, a day not counter-striked, is a day not lived. And I had a light migraine yesterday. Go figure.

I suggest y’all take a trip to this test page, from Secunia (a well respected security firm), to test you Internet Explorer’s vulnarability (which has not been patched yet by Microsoft). Lucky users using Computer Assiociates virus products will be denied access, unlucky users will know for sure they’re pretty much surfing naked.
And the smart users, wouldn’t have bothered checking, because they surf with Opera or FireFox anyways. Which are you ?

This year ended on a bitter note, again. I’m not sure if I should mention it, because it’s probably too hard to imagine, but I still urge you to try hard. My lottery ticket didn’t win the 20 million jackpot. AGAIN !!!
It probably means this new year can’t get any worse. But I’m not totally sure. So with that, I still wish you all a Happy New Year, even if I don’t really mean it. Off to kill some 20 million terrorists in Counter-Strike: Source then, to make up for the emotional loss.

Well what do you know, a white fourth Christmas day, finally, albeit only for a short time. So, what have I been doing with those free days till know ? Not really much. Mostly play Counterstrike: Source online, ridding the world of terrorist, and hence keeping the peacedom alive. Yeah, why keep the spirit alive only on those first two days. 4 down, 361 to go. (Though, for variety, I do plant a bomb now and then)

Did you know I run my own mail server ? Actually, only 2 domains are configured right now. Point is, I’m ready to be spammed. And I’d rather have 10 million messages than 1 million.
Just so you know. I could use the cash y’know. Explanation here.

Like pulling a 7 o’clocker isn’t bad enough, on the late ride home I encountered:

– A tough guy, smoking and all, pulling out an ALL PINK MOBILE PHONE !!

– A lady, either on purpose or not (possibly, her pants were one size off), showing the crack of her ass for all people behind her to see. Big turn off.

So trying to find some lighter side to this, I only found one joke, and a lame one at that:

A man turns up at his doctor’s office, with a black eye and a fat lip.

“What happened to you?” asked the doctor.

“Well, I was at church on Sunday and sitting in front of me was this great big lady. When we stood up to sing the hymn, I noticed that her dress was caught in the crack of her behind, so I figured this must be uncomfortable, and I….”

“Oh, you didn’t!” exclaimed the doctor.

“Yes, I removed her dress from the crack of her behind and she turned around and belted me!”

“What an incredibly stupid thing to do!” said the doctor, as he patched him up and sent him away. “I hope you’ve learnt your lesson…”

But the next week, who should turn up again at the doctor’s office, with a second black eye and fat lip, but the very same guy.

“What happened to you this time?” asked the doctor.

“Well, I was at church and the same big lady was sitting in front of me. When we stood up to sing the hymn, AGAIN I noticed that her dress was caught in the crack of her behind. Well! After what happened last time, I knew she wouldn’t want me to fix it, so, ever so gently, I poked her dress even further into the crack of her ***. After all, I’m not stupid – I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice!!”

Yeah, this is no laughing matter.

Yupz, that’s the little one’s age right now. It’s not easy to forget, as she was born was on a movie day, a Thursday, on which James Bond’s Tomorrow Never Dies opened here, one day before it did in the States. And as such, I got to see her after the matinee, logically. Easy enough to remember, right ?
But since this is my blog, I’ll continue to focus on just me. And the fact is, that I just received “The best uncle for the past 7 years” award of 2004 ! Howzdat ? Anyways, the (anonymous, but totally impartial) committee has disbanded already (they voted unanimously, by the way), so all you can do is react either at complaintsonthebestuncleofthepast7yearsaward@kimputer.is-a-geek.com or congratzwiththebestuncleofthepast7yearsaward@kimputer.is-a-geek.com

Oh, and before you want to send a complaint, read this first.

Yeah, it might not make any sense to most of ya. But I’m gonna say it anyways.

A WHOPPING 12.000 3DMARKS03 !!!!

Yeah, it’s that time again. Time for a new PC. As you can see, I brought all the stuff home. Picture 1 is everything unpacked. Picture 2 is work in progress. In picture 3 you can say hi to the new big bro in the room (albeit lying on its side having open heart surgery, coz I needed to pump 200 GB of data from the old hard disk to the new one) . And in picture 4, say hi to an even bigger bro flashing its screen.

Off to the specs:
Asus P5GD1, using Intel’s new 915P chipset
P4 3.2GHz socket 775
2 x 512 MB DDR400
Maxtor 300 GB sATA hard disk
Samsung DVD-/+ R/RW writer 16x speed
Asus AX800XT/TD 256 MB PCI-Express VGA card
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Retail sound card
Coolermaster 450W power supply
IIYama E511S-B 20.1″ TFT

That’s about it. Worth 22 days not spend burning my ass of in a southern country or freezing my ass off up north. Pretty nice deal, if I’m gonna enjoy this for at least 2 years, wouldn’t you say ?

It’s nice of Bill to mention his Windows XP is soooo complete. Users couldn’t play DVD movies with their Windows XP Home and Windows XP Pro, out of the box. Even though they paid a premium price for the computer with DVD-ROM player and the Windows XP package. Luckily, any DVD program will do. It’s either on the DVD movie disc itself, or sometimes it’s included in the DVD-ROM retail package.
Then comes the new complete home entertainment (direct quote from microsoft.com) system from Microsoft. Windows Media Center Edition 2005. Essentially it’s XP Pro with a new skin and frontpage to interact better with a TV screen and remote control. So you can have a multimedia center in your room using your computer linked to a TV screen. Sounds reasonably nice, right ? Record TV, get the TV listing from the internet, timeshift watching, music, pictures etc etc.
So, here I am, finishing the first Windows MCE PC, hardware and software installs without a hitch. Then comes the TV testing. Decoder error. And I have to deliver this system tomorrow. And it’s 17.38.
Solution ? Well, a closer look at the Hauppage website (for the TV card) already mentioned this, though it’s not of much help. Digging further reveals what we’ve lived through earlier. Except this time, not any DVD program will do. A whole arsenal of programs have already been installed to no avail (WinDVD 4 & 5 & 6, PowerDVD 4 & 5) (everytime followed by a reboot, an uninstall and another reboot), and finally, I came across PowerDVD 6. And it works. (I’m talking demo versions of course, I wouldn’t dare downloading illegal Deluxe versions).
Moral of this story ? Complete is a dangerous word. Not only did you buy an expensive incomplete Windows MCE version, you’re in a whole lot of danger of buying the wrong extra DVD program.

The FDA (US’ Food and Drug Administration) is not willing to approve the sex patch (based on testosterone) from Proctor & Gamble just yet. This supposedly “female Viagra” boosts sexual desire in woman and hence, should produce more satisfying sexual experiences.
Well, maybe it’s for the better. What if you’d have had a year of great sex, but you now have a wife or girlfriend with a mustache ?

Betreft: Groot Charlois distiributie

Geachte Wegener Huis-aan-huiskranten B.V.,
graag wilde ik via deze weg mijn ongenoegen uiten. Heden vind ik, wederom een krant. U zult zich afvragen waarom die zin zo kort is. Weldra wordt het allemaal duidelijk, deze brief heeft als onderwerp combinatie.

Ten eerste, de anti-reclame sticker die op mijn brievenbus is geplakt heeft de combinatie NEE/NEE.

Ten tweede, de krant wordt onder deze combinatie van omstandigheden bezorgd (en zonder enig benul van tijd, het kan er ‘s ochtends vroeg liggen, of ‘s avonds laat):

a. In de brievenbus (deze hangt onderaan het trappenhuis). Moet ik weer hebben, een bezorger die lijdt aan de volgende combinatie: een kleurenblinde analfabeet die niet kan tellen (aangezien dat de drie kenmerken zijn om de oranjegekleurde 3 letterig-tellende NEE van de groene 2 letterig-tellende JA te kunnen onderscheiden).

b. Op de deurmat net voor mijn deur. Moet ik weer hebben, een overijverige bezorger die perse toch de krant wilt afleveren en daarvoor de trap helemaal naar boven neemt.

c. De krant ligt onderaan de trap. Moet ik weer hebben, een superluie bezorger die de straat doorrent en het zomaar ergens neerkwakt, zonder zich te realiseren dat met een stevige wind alles op straat komt te liggen (en de bewoners hebben ook geen tijd om het weg te halen, omdat het op tijdstippen wordt afgeleverd waar geen normaal mens meer naar buiten gaat).

Zoals u ziet, genoeg overtredingen die leiden tot een berg reclame en kranten (zie bijgevoegde foto van een stapel verzameld in slechts anderhalve week). Dit doet mij wensen naar de tijd dat bezorgers nog de weg wisten naar het dumpslootje hier drie straten verder. Of toen fikkie steken nog geen verloren kunstvorm was.
Graag ga ik nu over tot mijn combinatie van conclusies:

a en c leiden mij tot het denken dat bezorgers niet meer worden opgeleid. Noch worden ze verteld aan welke simpele regels ze moeten houden.
a en b leiden mij tot het denken dat bezorgers worden verzocht de kranten ten alle tijden af te leveren zodat de oplage hoog blijft (is dus meer reclame-inkomsten) ongeacht hoe dit de milieu aantast en overlast aan de bewoners bezorgt.

Hoe u het ook bekijkt, ik ben er niet blij mee. Via deze weg wilde ik dan toch ook uw kant van dit verhaal horen, voordat er een goed overwogen klacht richting de Reclame Code Commissie gaat.
Een financiele tegemoetkoming zou ook niet misstaan, aangezien ik slecht ter been ben en dus maandelijks de zoon van de overburen moet raadplegen om de berg aan kranten en reclame richting de oud-papier-bak te kunnen sturen. Elke keer 5 euro is toch 60 euro op jaarbasis !

Hopend uw reactie ooit uit een bijna lege brievenbus te kunnen halen,

K.N. Ung

Or so we hope. Spam should be canned. But how ? Law isn’t going to help, since the internet falls into a limbo of international mess. So now Lycos decides maybe we could drive the cost up for the spammers, by designing a screensaver that graciously visits a few of these “Get your Viagra here !” and “Rolex for cheap !” sites every day, in the background while you’re not using your PC. This way, if enough people join the fight, traffic of those sites should reach Terabytes, making the bill for the spammers somewhere between a pain in the ass and unbearable.
So, ya gonna join the fight or what ? Head over to http://makelovenotspam.com and well, the site is rather slow. Maybe it’s under attack by furious spammers.
Fire with fire ?

How’d ya like the logo anyways ? It’s in front of every post in the category General. The K is of course, too obvious. The circle is to denote special Kopyright. As in, the (C), but then especially for me, which means, you can’t Kopy anything from this site, without at least paying a considerable amount of cash.
And second, you have these people who always start a sentence with ‘k (as in, short for okay. As in, “”K, it went sumding like this”). I don’t do that, but the appearance that I do, won’t hurt either.