STRANGE FINDINGS FROM THE INTERNET LXII

*with updated content*

I've posted many updates in the past with robots as the theme. Not once had I posted something about a robot with the potential to do some really naughty and nasty things. It's a great concept, it's a great design, but I wonder what would happen if it malfunctioned -- actually, I don't want to think about that.

I can't wake up on time often, which is why I have two alarm clocks that are set on a staggered time table to wake me up. There are some people who have the same problem but are inventive enough to do something about it. This just looks like a shag carpet and baby roller wheels. This looks like something I would place in my room.

In a stunning story out of Los Angeles, Sony Corporation is being ordered to pay for copyright infringement on Playstations and Playstation 2's. Check it out!
*ironically, the pop-up ads are for PSP's...

We have ours placed in a cut-up soap container hidden behind the commode and behind the shower curtain. This just brings more questions from your guests than one would feel comfortable talking about. The voice on the site is a little creepy, but its a good environmental idea -- strangely executed.

*UPDATE*
I am slowly turning into a Linux addict, but that doesn't mean I have turned my back on Windows entirely. While being bored at work right after I initially posted the SFFTI at 7am today, I saw this ubelievable flash which shows you that you can have fun with your computer if you are extremely fast at point and click.

Ciao voyeurs!

Hypochondriacs

There is one in the office that likes to run around the building and almost like clockwork, commences the now daily update in the declining health experienced that day. Today's symptoms are similar to hives, but ramlbed off symptoms more like a case of low blood sugar. By the time the hypochondriac walked to the end of the hallway, the symptoms changed to a fever and head cold. Yesterday was exhaustion coupled with a stomach ache and low blood pressure.

Why must these people parade themselves around to everyone, panhandling sympathies and wasting peoples valued work time? These are the people we hate the most because they leave work every chance they get to go home and recover from their imagined Disease of the Day and come back in the afternoon acting as if nothing has ever happened. These are the people that we have to waste our time trying to pick up the slack from these people because their productivity is in shambles because they are more pre-occupied cross referencing their symptoms to what they think they have and not doing their work.

People like this need to be locked up in a room with others like them and exposed to a different colored mist on an hourly basis while adjusting the room temperature just to fuck with their heads and make them think they are lab rats for corporate America and the drug czars who want to keep people medicated and oblivious just so they have something else to do other than bother the rest of us hard working people who are trying to get to the end of our day with our sanity in one piece.

LEAVE US ALONE. WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT. WE COULDN'T CARE LESS. JUST GET SOMEONE TO FILL IN FOR YOUR HALLUCINATING ASS SO WE DON'T HAVE TO BEAR YOUR WORKLOAD THE REST OF THE DAY.

Is it stealing?

Last night I was watching The Simpsons' 10pm airing when it finished. As is my usual, I grabbed the remote and changed the channels by using the down arrow to get to the Tonight Show, cause every once in a while I like to watch that Antiques Roadshow that comes on PBS broadcasting. Well, when I came across the PBS station and found it was the story of the Mamas and the Papas, so I stayed on and watched just in time to have the show go into an intermission & telethon workers pop on screen asking for your donations for such fine quality shows.

In his plea for cash, he reminded us over and over again about how PBS and public broadcasting are solely dependent on the private sector for support & blah blah blah blah blah, and then said that the history of PBS has always depended on support from the viewers of the past. Then I started to think about what he said until I hit the channel down button and hit the Tonight Show. While listening to what Jay Leno was joking about, I started thinking about the years my parents and myself had essentially been STEALING public broadcasting programs as we sat on weekends watching This Old House and Hometime, Motorweek, Yan Can Cook and that weird art guy with the afro. We stole those programs from people who paid for it!

Then I started thinking about it. The same people who paid for those programs also paid for those Masterpiece Theatre shows that no one watches, Dr. Who[cares], and ever-so-stimulating musings of local leaders. I figure, if they litter the PBS frequency with that crap, at least they went low-brow with the home improvement and car stuff. Suckers...

So, I go back to my original question, if you watch Antiques Roadshow (I am hooked), Motorweek or Nova (it's still on!) do you send your contributions in, or are you a dirty thief?

PS, Don't get me started on how Sesame Street needs to start funding PBS, they pull in millions of dollars a year in merchandising, you can't really believe that you have to pay to keep them on that station...

Allergies SUCK

Last week was an interesting one. I couldn't think of a good update worthy of noting. So I took the time off to play Gran Turismo 4 a lot. There were some problems though...

March is El Paso's windy month. The winds kick up to at least 35mph on average and unfortunately for this month, the windy season kicked in later than usual. I say this cause the trees are starting to blossom and with the winds, well, the pollen flying thru the air is absolutely murder. I stayed up sneezing one night and couldn't sleep the next night cause my nose was stuffed up. It was absolutely miserable.

On the plus side, I made some progress with my Linux dualboot. I had issues with hard drive allocation and not being able to incorporate a second partition to make one large partition. Things were fixed and now I know for future installations.

Will be back later.

So I am driving down the road going home...

When I see something ahead of me that just doesn't look right from first glance.



So, I race ahead and see that it just looks stranger the closer I get.



So imagine you are following this down the road, and all you see is each bear bouncing and moving in a slight delayed rhythm to another and its just not right.



I think they need to get off the main roads and go find a hotel, or a park, or a tree or something.

What's wrong with this picture?

1. I don't buy gas from Chevron.
2. I don't have the top down on the Mustang.
3. Advertised soda products are almost as expensive as a gallons worth of gas.

P.S. I filled up my tank at the Circle K down the road from this gas station for $2.01.

Some changes are being considered

Well, this weekend was another one of those 'sit-on-your-ass-all-weekend-and-do-nothing' sort of days that are starting to become more common with me. On the plus side, I spent some time with my friend John trying to get a modem to work with SuSE on the laptop. We also tried a great Japanese restaurant while we were at it, and I have to say I was impressed with that. I also had my first ride in a Mazda Miata, and all I have to say is its a street legal go-kart with bumpers.

An idea that I have been toying with involves Blank Media itself. I've been considering turning the websites updates to only once a week, but a good update that's well worth the wait. However, the more that I think about it, the more I realize people don't want to wait forever and a day to update their site. Take Apechild.com as an example. They have been online for something close to like 4 years, and they promised sometime in January they would be back with new content and a new look to the website. Well, for reasons unknown, there has been no update and so many people are quite bitter.

Not saying I will get the same sort of harsh flame mail from the readers of this blog, but I don't know if I want to take that chance. I might try it in a few weeks, but I might drop the idea all together when I have things I wanna get off my chest.

On a sad note, John DeLorean, automotive designer responsible for the Pontiac GTO and subsequent former Pontiac General Manager has died. You might remember his innovative stainless steel car with gull wing doors was immortalized by the movie Back to the Future as the time machine. His questionable business practices might have doomed his company, but what he leaves behind as an automotive creator far outweighs his business downfall.

RANT

It's been passed around the Legislative body of the FCC that cable TV, satellite TV and satellite radio should all be regulated and not allow questionable content and explicit lyrics to be aired. As a satellite radio owner, I say to you bunch of tight suited assholes GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY SATELLITE SIGNAL AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY OF LETTING A SECOND INDUSTRY BREAK THRU AND VENTURE FORTH AND BE WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS.

Cable & satellite TV and radio have been getting a lot of negative publicity lately and now some lawmakers want to step in and tone down television and radio broadcasts that we, the consumers, are willingly pay for. Television and radio is an industry that is solely based on serving the community first and foremost. This means bringing a means of quick communication in the event of an emergency. Its the whole reasoning behind the EAS tests (Emergency Alert System) that are conducted the first full week of each month.

I say, if we have to fucking shell out cash for programming, aren't we aware of the content that we are paying for? I personally hate the rap stations that are on the XM radio I own, but I am not calling for a ban on all hip-hop music. They have as much of a right to be occupying the satellite waves as my new rock & alternative music. All I want is for the government to get the hell away from my satellite radio. Can you just do that? Just once?

STRANGE FINDINGS FROM THE INTERNET XLI

It's an eBay special!

Ok, first off, its widely known that eBay has just about everything you can think of for sale at almost any given time. With that, it's always a good idea to check with them for all of the craziest crap you never knew you needed. Lets check some of them out:

For Sale: Haunted Nintendo Entertainment System. Current bid at posting time: $213.02
I love that they give no guarantee that the spirits will be there when you turn it on...

For Sale: Time Machine. Winning bid: $647.59
If it really worked, wouldn't the purchaser go back in time to hand the machine back to himself to save the money? Oh, wait, the whole time-space-continuum thing with the two objects occupying the same space and collapsing the whole universe...

For Sale: Fart in a Jar. Current bid: $0.00. Buy it now for $10,000.
No comment.

I've always had an appreciation for the iPod. I would love to own another one, and now that I think about it, I'd probably own an iPod Shuffle before I went all out on an iPod. Well, it looks like there is some competition but the competition is playing dirty by - well, compare the iPod Shuffle to the Super Shuffle. There has got to be some sort of lawsuit coming from this.

I love LEGO's, I remember stating that in a previous SFFTI post. I first saw Blockland while watching The Screen Savers on G4 TV a few weeks ago, and remembered it when I was going thru their show archives. It's fun cause when you play, you can destroy other people's work.
*note - needs a high speed connection & high powered PC to play properly.

This is like Stomp, only on your computer, and you aren't paying high prices to see it.

Finally, if you ever felt as if your life was a random series of unfortunate circumstances that cause failure at every turn, then you might draw some camaraderie with the little guy in this series. Maybe like us, we will see him achieve his goal.

Ides of March

Xena is back from the vet, she's hobbling around the back yard for now, but she is said to make a full recovery.

Man, getting to work this morning was some sort of adventure. I get on the main road to Ave. Americas and find the new entrance ramp to get on the new bridge is still closed, but more importantly, the access road to get across the interstate is blocked off and you must take a detour. This detour took me 2 miles out of my way and thru stop signs, the interstate access road (both east and west) and finally ended up back on the main stretch of road.

Returning back to get to work after picking up my co-worker, the only interstate on-ramp (without going the 2 miles out of my way detour) is blocked by some sort of police activity. By the time I get onto the freeway some 4 miles down the road, I am already some 15 minutes late. I did get to work on time, but I can't believe how many road blocks and detours I encountered just getting into work today. Maybe this is a sign I should be staying home or something...

So here I sit...

At work & bored. Yes, at work. Eddie is off work and on vacation for the next few weeks, so I am filling in for him.

Well, Xena had her surgery yesterday afternoon. My mom visited her today and sent a care package with her (my shirt I wore yesterday) and said she's doing good.

If I feel up to it, I might head out today and do some photography. I might also take the new film camera out for a test or two.

Here we go again

Xena is back in the veterinarians office undergoing surgery again. Back in January, she had knee surgery that apparently didn't take. Unfortunately, her other good leg also needs surgery, so she's in for both of them. The vet has great optimistic news for us in she will make a great recovery. I just hated waking up at 1am to hear her scream in pain, and to have her sleeping against my chest because she was in such pain. The look an animal gives when they are in pain just breaks me inside, especially when that animal is one of your own.

Karma

So, I get off work yesterday at my normal time, jump in the car and debate whether or not to put the top down on the car since the weather was pretty damn warm. I get to the edge of the entrance to the parking lot of the station and see that there's an opening in traffic to get onto Mesa street, and I take it. So, I think to myself "at the next traffic light I will put the top down". Well, that goes out the window when I get every light green until I hit the freeway. I get on the freeway and consider putting the top down at the side of the road, but remembering what happened to me when putting it up one evening, I decided not to.

I enjoy the sound of the car humming along at 2300rpm, the sound of the tires on the road and the feel of the wheel in my hands. I turned the radio down on the XM for a distance just to get the sounds of the road in my head. You'd think after some 8 thousand miles of vacation travel I've amassed I would get tired of that sort of thing, but I was enjoying it. Then, the XM chimed and a few good songs started playing. Halfway home, I gave up the ghost in thinking we (as a collective of cars) would be going faster than 65mph. I felt in no rush to get home, so I took it easy. At that same time, checking my huge blind spot (where the convertible top meets the body in the rear) I see a Texas State Trooper in the huge black Ford pickup.

Remembering what happened to me the last time, I thought to myself I shouldn't try and stick out more than I do. After all, IM a bright red sports car, who -- coincidentally -- is following a red 1999 Mustang GT, and is being followed by a laser red 2002 [Mustang] V6. So, its the three Mustangs and the State Trooper beside us all pounding down the freeway when [Trooper] decides to get ahead of the three of us. I don't particularly care, unless the lead Stang decides to drop in speed, which he doesn't. The part I love is when this pair of sport-tuned Ford Focus' get on the freeway. The lead Focus speeds up and drops back as soon as he sees the trooper in front of him.

It's at this point while driving that I personally, started thinking to myself that this would be so sweet to witness the utter lack of intelligence these inconsiderate sport-tuners have by watching this guy get popped. In my mind, all I kept saying was "go faster, go faster, go faster" and eventually, the guy does. Mind you, us three Mustangs are following the State Trooper at his speed (65mph) so, the Focus should have been going at least 70mph (on a posted 60mph) by the time he passed the front bumper of the trooper. Sure enough, the Focus was oblivious to the troopers truck and the overhead lights kicked on.

I liken the pulling over of someone to a child getting reprimanded at school, everyone around has to stop what they're doing and watch. I got around the lead Mustang and set cruise control at 70mph and started laughing, watching the flashing red & blue lights disappear in my mirrors. Getting home, I decided the other two Mustangs shamed me into washing the car, so I sat down and really got to work cleaning all the little nooks and crannies on the car, on the sides with the running horse emblems, the rear where the license plates recess, the bumper valances, you name it, I cleaned it. At night, I cleaned the windows free of water spots from the chamois and dressed the tires and called it a night with a nice hot shower. Then, it hit.

Lightning. I like to take a shower with the lights turned off, so when the entire bathroom lit up like the middle of the day, I got so pissed off thinking that my wash job was for nothing. Finishing my shower I went outside and closed the garage doors and prepped everything for a possible rain shower and little, if any rain actually hit the house.

Thinking about it, maybe this is the universe's way of showing karma can get you, even in the shower. Next time, I won't laugh when someone gets pulled over.

Back in the Saddle

So here I am at work. It feels good to be here. I had been out for so long, it felt good to be doing something productive.

Been playing Gran Turismo 4 pretty heavy lately. I think work is a nice break from the game. IM hungry as hell, I think I am gonna hit the Chinese buffet before I head home. Been wanting some Chinese food for a while. Ok, I've been wanting to eat with chopsticks for a while...

So I am back

Where was I? Sick. Sick as you wouldn't believe. I actually had to go to the hospital because of an ear ache. I never had one before, and this just killed me.

My birthday came and went, and I have to say, I enjoyed what I could. I really was sick for my birthday, and it was kinda sad. I wished I could have done more, I wish I could have been out and about more. I will make up for that later.

I want to say thank you to all my friends who called me and wished me well on Sunday, hopefully everyone was able to hear me correctly. Im barely getting my voice back.

Tomorrow will be back to normal routine. Back to work. Back to life.

Just 26 years old now.

IM home and it sucks

Well, not really. Being able to sleep in on a weekday is good, but being sick while you're home sucks. I have to admit one thing, over-the-counter products [Zicam nasal spray] works like a charm. The one thing I had counted on was Nyqil. I had forgotten how well that stuff works! I had taken a capfull sometime after 8pm and started to feel its effects around 8:30. I slept pretty well last night.

Right now, I am hacking up nasty things, gargling with salt water, and can't speak all that well. The crap has my vocal cords and isn't letting go. IM gonna be out the rest of the week from work, and I get Monday off as a bonus. The downside to that is I have to work for Eddie this Saturday.

Well, time to go gargle. Talk to you all - well, whenever I get my voice back.

I've got chills, they're multiplying

And IM loosing control. Well, not literally.

Before I get into that, I want to wish my best friend Joe a Happy Birthday you old dinosaur.

Now, onto my news. IM sick. I feel like 10 miles of bad road on the wrong side of the tracks. I am not even typing this update on the laptop. I don't have the energy to do much of anything right now, let alone put together the laptop. IM gonna go buy a nice tall bottle of Nyquil and medicate myself into oblivion when I leave for home today. This fucking sucks, I don't want to be sick for my birthday.