Kimputer's Weblog

I just removed my man, ol’ geezer Bill Gates from my speed dial. Not that I don’t like him anymore, after all, he’s the man predicting hardware will become practically free. But let’s face it, he’s not the richest man in the world anymore.
Nope, right now on my number one speed dial button is Ingvar Kamprad. It’s the man who founded IKEA. And as my house is filled with this Swedish ingenuity, it’s a no-brainer he’s come that far because of me.
So, my main man Ingvar has a cash deposit of no less than 400 billion crowns, that translates to $53 billion. Ex-my-main-man Bill has only an estimated $47 billion.

You’ve probably seen the ad campaign by now. Ola’s new range of icecream cones.

It promises you a girlfriend in no time, and for the already committed people, it says it will improve your lovelife.

So, just to be clear on this matter, and not to let any confusion get in the way, I’m throwing the following announcement in the open: I have a TRUCKLOAD of these in my freezer. Don’t be shy now.

It’s Kelly’s turn now. She’s off to rehab, after brother Jack passed his father’s frequent rehab visitor’s pass to her, who got it from daddy Ozzy Osbourne himself last year when he also need it. The ultimate family tradition, don’t you think ?

Finally, the migraine is gone. Took some 36 hours. And that when you always lived with the knowledge it always gone after a good night’s sleep. Then it is VERY scary.

2 Things are good:
Me as a cook.
And outlets. You know, the big megastores that are open till 18.00.
And how do those two facts combine into a story ? Well, last night my microwave/oven/grill combo died a bit more (it already was showing clear signs of breakdown), all the way to zero usefulness. Ten years ago, you’d have to either take a day off, or wait till the weekend to buy a new one. Nowadays, you have big malls just a few steps away, so after work you pop in, and you pop out. You don’t even have to pay your parking ticket if you keep it under 15 minutes. So, that’s why I didn’t miss a day’s worth of cookin’. While a microwave/oven/grill combo is not a necessity, it certainly is handydandy.
So, for all of you who haven’t been to electronics store lately, guess how much my new LG (MC7683D) was.

Not a day has gone by, without anybody saying _something_ about Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, and it makes the headlines. As I’m not bound by news-worthiness, I’m doing the same thing. Here’s the tally so far:

Cons:

– Germany’s Roman Catholic and Protestant as well as the Jewish community (they rarely pair up, let alone threesome) saying it’s pure anti-Semitism.
– Paula Fredriksen, one of the professors asked to review an incomplete script for the news hungry New York Times.
– Paul Schrader, screenwriter for “The Last Temptation of Christ” (directed by Martin Scorsese in 1985) says it’s disturbing. Said by the guy, of all people, who showed Jesus having sex with Lady Magdelane.
-Gerald Kaufman, a member of Britain’s governing Labour Party and chair of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport committee.
– French film leading independent cinema groups (small)

Pros:

+ Yasser Arafat says it’s not Anti-Semitic, hailed the film as “moving and historical”.
+ Several Polish bishops and priests
+ Catholic leaders in Brazil, the world’s biggest Roman Catholic country, saying it was “accurate and deeply emotional and its violence showed Jesus’ strength”
+ Polish bishops and priests
+ Thomas Nelson Inc. The world’s largest publisher of religious material (sales of repackaged bibles and current themed magazines have surged through the roof, almost all the way up to heaven)
+ French film leading distributor (big)

And last but not least, the smart guys:

o The Pope, saying very contentless, after a prive screening, “It is, as it is”
o Steven Spielberg, acknowledging his own smartness with being “too smart to answer a question like that” when asked for comment on this matter

Note that I’m not under one of those headings, as I’m trying to avoid the savagery during the premiere here (religion can invoke some pretty high emotions y’know), and chose for a quieter spot the week after.

Looking around on this windy day, I cannot keep my mouth shut anymore, when the truth should be out there.
But first, check these links for a history lesson. Link 1 | Link 2
So, since the early 17th century, they’ve been used eh ? So what happened after some 300 years ? THIS:

(These pictures aren’t gathered over the years. No, these were taken in one day, just strolling around the block, doin’ groceries.)

Yupz, a gush of wind, even as low as windforce 4 on the scale of Beaufort, and it’s over. You have to buy yourself a new one again. So here’s the theory. They (the manufacturers) make them so weak, you have to keep buying them.
Let’s be honest, how many have you bought in the last year (no, you lazy car drivers, don’t answer. This question is only for the hard working pedestrian) ?
Then the next question is, what can we do about this horible conspiracy ?

Having to sift through just about a thousand of my filtered messages in my spam mailbox (Yeah, a spam filter isn’t all that. While it has not happened till now, you still have to go through it to pick out false positives. Just to be sure), these were the funniest subject lines:

INC*R_EASE YOUR D`I-C*K WEIGHT …

What function would that have, I wonder ?

WinXP, Office, Autodesk, Adobe OEM Cristmas sale

Yeah well, just because Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Crist is hitting the movie theatres, doesn’t make it Cristmas just yet, y’know !

Happy birthday to the two cats there. Those brothers just turned NINE !! In cat years, they’re kinda old. But trust me when I use this Dutch saying, very inappropiately. They’re still fit as a fish.

It took her a few years, but she’s finally there. Because, when she didn’t cancel a concert, the front row could enjoy a snowy show, white powder twirling downwards. From her nose.
Yeah, Whitney Houston is going to rehab. Hopefully she’ll get her life back together. Her lil’ daughter already has dad, Bobby Brown, constantly in jail. Guess having celebrity parents isn’t that much fun after all.

Nokia will be releasing software for blogging on their mobile phones somewhere this summer. The first phone to get a cut down version of LifeBlog 1.0 is the 6620. Other series will follow soon. The cut down version will have some limits that can be removed with a 30 bucks upgrade. And of course, even more money has to be spend, as you have to have a phone connected to your computer now.
So, as if I didn’t put enough nonsense here already, let me simulate my new 6620 with LifeBlog 1.0 :

22-06-04 @ 07:40:58 – Testing testing 1 2 3 …

22-06-04 @ 07:41:34 – Testing again. Does this work ?

22-06-04 @ 07:42:13 – Oh my god, I just missed my FR#(%*#)(*% BUS !! I’ll have to wait another 30 minutes now. And I was SO intent on being on time at work today.

22-06-04 @ 08:21:08 – Holy goodness, I was just pushed off the sidewalk a few seconds ago. The rudeness ! (I really should learn how to stand up for myself, that girl was only 1.60m tall)

22-06-04 @ 09:53:39 – My phone at work is crackling a bit. I wonder if it’s the circuitry, or just the cable from the phone to the handset, or the cable from the phone to the outlet, or the cable from the outlet to the main PBX.

22-06-04 @ 13:03:27 – Man, the lunch at the cafeteria was fantastic. For once. In a long time. Though I’m sure they microwaved the chicken sate, which made the peanut sauce somewhat dry.

22-06-04 @ 13:04:58 – Where the HELL is my Snickers (or Twix, for that matter) ? I’m sure I threw one in my backpack this morning, as I’ll die from hunger without an after-lunch snack. I think I’ll steal a chocolate bar from my colleague.

22-06-04 @ 14:50:03 – Dang, I’m tired, I’m gonna take a nap in the back of the warehouse. I hope nobody notices.

22-06-04 @ 16:59:59 – My boss left an hour ago. Give me a good reason why I should stay, when I’ve worked my ass off today already. Besides, he’s never gonna find out anywayz. Laterzall.

No, don’t worry, I’m not planning on buying a new Nokia, nor am I planning on buying expensive software. Relieved ?

How many DVD’s do ya own ? Apparently not enough. It’s the UK winning with a whopping 3 billion euros spent in 2003. Netherlands has a lousy 450 million euros, far behind other foreign languages like France (1.7 billion) and Germany (960 million). What the poor VHS tried so hard for in 20 years, the DVD will do it in 10 (in 2007, 2 out of 3 household). I pity the fool working in a video replication plant.

Sometimes, somehow, Google is still a mystery. Ever tried the related command ? Well, this link will do that with this page. (Either use the search key related:your_homepage_url, or use the advanced options, fill in second to last line)
First hit is iSketch. What in heaven’s name ? That page is flash based, so it doesn’t even share the tiniest bit of source code. Are you mystified, or am I ? Why don’t you try yours.

You’ve heard me laugh my ass off with the current batch of worms distributed within zip files, as it requieres four clicks to be infected. But now, the Bagle.J worm goes even further. It has a password protected zip file, which flies past the mail server/gateway anti-virus scanners (by default, any virusscanner will ignore password protected zip files, most because it doesn’t even know the password). As it’s already spreading at a fast pace, I can conclude that stupidty is unlimited. Next up…I’m gonna write a virus/worm that will get you infected if you follow the following instructions: Jump up and down 7 times, then do a breakdance while drinking a hot cup of tea. If only everybody had a webcam connected and stream ready, I could really have a good time.

Just like the .dot com bubble burst, so is the blogger scene fading. Or so this CNN article says. Guess my kind (blog entries every day-ish) is dying out (as the survey says, it’s 2%, and then %10, which leaves only 0.02%).
But trust me on this one. Search engines would better use the rss feed when available (or some other kind of blog specific routine), it’s still the blogs out there that interrupt the usefulness of their engine.