RANTISSIMO

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Redirecting.. in 20 seconds 12:07:17 AM    comment []

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Final Post! Well, the deed is done. I think I'll put this blog to sleep.. or just leave it around for a while and then can it. I moved everything to www.rantissimo.net Adios Radios! See you on the other side! P.S. The "exporter" didn't export comments.. that sucks!!! 11:57:21 PM    comment []

Friday, January 28, 2005

Leuser is a state of mind I'm starting the process to export this blog out to move it to rantissimo.net at some point. Looking at the design of Radio, it just seems contrived that you _have_ to have this thing on your desktop.. I mean if your server can host and manage the COMMENTs then certainly you can do the same thing with the post. A Post is nothing but the first Comment in a thread (Okay with a title).. but the logic is almost the same. Why the fuck would you want to put this on the desktop with shitloads of garbage, a scripting language blah blah blah.. I think DW has been beating the radio horse for so fucking long, its not even funny anymore.. but can't mess with someone's bread-n-butter.. ?? or is it more like a cash cow? now? There is a reason that Six Apart is a multi-million dollar company and Userlsand is just fruking withering away.. when you limit yourself and start thinking like a myopic loser, you don't get very far with the internet user crowd. Note to self: Try not to act like a TOTAL leuser! 2:15:38 PM    comment [] Lichtenstein I have a sneaking feeling that its actually Lichtenstan. Or maybe all the 'stans' are actually "steins" hmmm lets see.. Pakistein Hindustein Afghanistein Uzbekistein Turkumenstein Seraikistein etc. etc. 1:26:33 PM    comment []

Sunday, January 23, 2005

apparently Nova has been having similar ideas. But I think we may not need to do special things like move stars around in a special configuration such that the "outer" civilization that is running our universe simulation may notice us. Sometimes I think we (the humans) are too self deprecating. What if WE ARE the essence of everything? what if the whole universe DOES revolve around the earth and us? I mean we really haven't disproved this theory yet.. right? right. And if a civilization is so advance as to simulate our universe, then I think they may have sensors just in our backyards.. maybe the vibration of a single atom can be registered.. I mean why burden and shackle the potential of this advanced race with the limitation that the primitive humans have in this 20th century? maybe the idea is that they will watch us and see where it goes? maybe earth is being simulated by none other than earth beings themselves who are fidgeting with some variables to see what route evolution takes if some of the variables are different in "the beginning" ???? so maybe the "researchers" are already aware.. if there are some entities... What I didn't see on Nova's post was a reference to the inherent "hackability" of the universe. I believe that even if we find out that we are a simulation, there may not be any quick way out of this predicament (quite possibly not even death, because that could be a simulation as part of the "experience" too???? or a way of garbage collection? ) but small advances could be made.. for example, time travel, stellar travel, not by following the rules of physics, but by suspending the rules of "physics". Kind of how the ship in futurama travels.. by moving the universe around itself. For all we know, all motion, even the motion of a bug, could be this. the retranslation of the universe around us. And that happens because that's the way its supposed to be. Xeno's paradox sez that we shouldn't actully be able to move at all.. but we do. so something freaky maybe going on here.. I think I need to stop using the patch.. it makes me have weird ideas and makes me rant more. ciao. 12:52:41 AM    comment [] Vomito de Gato If Universe is indeed a simulation, then there arise interesting possibilities and questions. On what type of "hardware" does this simulation run? What is the nature of the "software" that simulates the universe? Is it possible to "hack" the universe? Can someone or something that exist within the simulation, change the code? Is that what magic is? Is this how "G*D" operates? What would be the "punishment" of "Breakin-the-law" ??? I think string or super-string theory maybe the answer. "One string to rule them all One string to find them, One string to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them..." The point is: The string is the software, and the hardware, the alpha, and the omega, it runs through everything, it simulates every object in the universe, its manifestations are the laws of physics, its congealed forms are matter, time, radiation, gravity... this is why we're all connected. alast-o be-rabbikum? Qaalu Balaa! The Unity. There can be no gender? can it? I mean can we say the string is male or female? Is it God? I don't know, does it have to be aware of itself? same thing with a CPU.. is a CPU aware of itself? who knows. 12:33:42 AM    comment []

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Lens I think Lens is pretty interesting, and it has the capability to use Tcl. But the idea of each neuron as a separate neuron on its own, sending asynchronous activator/inhibitor signals is still very seductive. 9:10:43 PM    comment [] Erlang why am I looking at ErLang? I'm wondering if it can be used to simulate "Neural Networks". I've always wondered about this since the days of the AI course back at CMU (no carnegie Mell., but Central Mich. U). I have an issue (as usual) with the rigid representations of the Neuronal networks. I always felt that most people doing the "research" in our department were using very crude mathematical models of "neurons" as they understood them in the early 90's. I just don't know how you can make a "matrix" (basically a 2 dim array of ints) of variables do everything that a living breathing network does? And you know what, for really stupid ass 1st time modelling its fine, but to keep getting money year after year after year after year and keep making extremely minor modifications to the 2 dimensional matrix (backpropagation and all that crap) is just lazy, incompetent and disingeneuous! Well, I'm the one to talk. But at least I can identify that there HAS to be at least a representative "imitation" of the biological counterparts. I don't think ANY of the "researchers" in our departments ever bother to read the latest in Neural research or any biology papers concerning information processing in biological systems (complex neuronal networks -- slugs etc) .. I suspect they kept re-reading the regurgitated info that someone else put in the computer journals (after taking the time to read it.). End result is, only the Japanese are doing any work whatsoever and the fad is past its popularity point in the american arena. how would I like to see it? Well, for starters, MODEL THE FUCKING NEURON! is that TOO MUCH TO ASK? model the basic block, ie; neuron (dendrites/axon/potential/K-channels, the works) classify the different TYPEs of Neurons. Modify the behaviour per each type keeping the base as same (kinda like inheritence in OOP??) figure out what the "pre-programmed" state of an organism is, set the to that state. determine a way to simulate "hormones" and their impact on this brain (short/long term) it could be simple but applied globally. (phase II ??) Set initial pathways from sensory receptors. this is pretty complicated, but I think if we start from the RIGHT basics, we can get to it, and the basics is that we need to simulate EACH neurona as a process. Let me repeat: We need to simulate each NEURON as a SEPARATE PROCESS. Then we set some basic guideline (when to fire, how many connection points, field of influence, virtual 3 dimensional space (where exactly does this neuron sit?) which would determine the extent of its "interconnections" with other neurons. And then just let things rip.. and see what comes out... I think if "neural networks" were constructed in this manner, it might be possible to construct a processing entity which would be closer to a biological information processing system (brain) rather than some dumb ass array filled with ints or floats and shit like that.. come the fuck on.. its been 20 years man.. you're still pissing with 2 dim. arrays?????? ugh.. anyhoo, ErLang, can be used I think for this purpose. Because it has the two key ingredients. process creation overhead is extremely low. all communication between processes happens via MESSAGES. So, basically, the idea is: create each Neuron as a low cost process, you can create thousands, and each encapsulates a reasonably complex (and representative) natural neuronal behaviour. Then these guys start sending signals to each other and based on that communication some pathways are strengthened and others are not and this is how the processing evolves.. yada yada yada... erlang... I'm just yapping here, much smarter people obviously have spent lots of time on this problem, but I think there is still room for looking at it in a totally different, yet very obvious way. Here is a list of Neural Network software hardware. 8:25:42 PM    comment [] Well, I was gonna wait for Tiger anyways. I'm not fucking paying 200 bucks for an upgrade to osx. Now only if the pirating cunts would start seeding iso images and NOT fucking DMG's we'd get along swimmingly. beatch!! 3:06:21 PM    comment [] He Cringley I used to read cringley's column in Inforworld long time ago (like in 96/97) and I think he used to do a "thinksecret" type column talking about new things yet to be unveiled. Or so I remember. He seems to have an interesting take on the new Mac Mini. I think he might be on to something here. But then again, after iTunes and selling mp3's at a reasonable price (albiet the fact that apple is a bitch when it comes to letting people use shit they paid for in any way they want, read: non iTunes and non apple uses) it was only a matter of time someone started doing the same shit with videos (and HD videos at that).. It'll all fizzle out. In due time. 2:39:01 PM    comment [] The Rape Over (Boogie man business) Listen All white men is runnin this rap shit Corporate force's runnin this rap shit Setae israli is runnin this rap shit We poke out the asses for a chance to cash in Cocaine, is runnin this rap shit 'Dro, 'yac and E-pills is runnin this rap shit The rape over, turn your face over nigga No god in disguise it's me, game over Hey lil souljahs you're ready for more? But don't ask what you're fighting for They thought that you sur--vived the gunfight, the drama, the stress You get in the line of fire we get the big ass cheques You gettin your choice to pimp Make your choice and fall in This is austral B I, take that cock in your behind, Beatch Hit the streets and perform for us Hold hard and bring it on to us, fucker I let you sip, comes an army, get a Mercedes And kick back and let you pay me, my Mack is crazy I leave the, knife and fist fight filled with glamour Yeah, take a picture what this platinum-plated the sledgehammer We over-do it add the fire and explosion to it We're so confused with one rap music Mtv, is runnin this rap shit Viacom is runnin this rap shit AOL and Time Warner runnin this rap shit We poke out the asses for a chance to cash in Cocaine, is runnin this rap shit Hennessey, is runnin this rap shit Quasi-homosexuals is runnin this rap shit Watch out we run the world That's it MosDef - The New Danger 11:28:18 AM    comment [] Simulating the Universe(s?) I wonder sometimes if it would be possible to simulate the universe on, lets say, a pentium class cpu? Would it be too slow? But then again, what is time? The only reason a process running on a cpu, knows about how much time has passed, is because there is a clock, independent of the cpu and the processes' "sense of time". If the universe was being simulated, and it had no way of checking with an "external" clock, it would have no way of knowing how much of a time had passed since the last time the state of the universe's simulation was loaded into the "cosmic registers" as it were. so, between every tick of the clock, the whole universe could go to sleep, another process, simulating another universe could be loaded and take some cpu time, and then yield to another process. And none of them would be the wiser. No one would know. Not even you. 11:17:32 AM    comment [] I wonder How it would be seen in the enlightened western world, like the wonderful liberal utopia like Canaduh or the States or whatever the fuck that the new president in Pakistan or some other Muslim country took its oath by placing his hand on the "family Koran". Somehow the same reactionary, irrational, ridiculously religious behaviour that gets the west all fucking hysterical about the "other" is completely normal when Paul Martin or Georg Dubya does it. Not only should the religious fundamentalist be CRUSSHED in the muslim countries. They should be booted out of power here in the west too. Religious extremism is not the domain of one religion. Even though every "liberal" and "enlightened" westerner would like to think so, as they look down on the inferior other. oh man.. "orientalism" is giving me such a bad attitude. 10:34:04 AM    comment [] The corporate Gouger, and the selfless consumer I'm thinking I'll wait out the mac-mini thing and see how far apple goes with this. Obviously, its just the same amount of internal space that an ibook has. So no real innovation there, except perhaps the conceptual leap that the dumbasses at apple had to make. I guess DELL was kicking ass afterall eh? Now, one thing that pisses me off, is the fact that even though "Blue Tooth" doesn't have any physical connections to speak of, you still have to have separate devices for different boxes. So lets say, you have one mac, one pc, one ibook, all setup with Blue Tooth enabling cards, dongles what have you. You still.. check this: You still need 3 keyboards, and 3 meeses. How FUCKING GODDAMMED STUPID is that? And you know what's even more god dammned stupid? the nauseating complacency of the all-consuming public. Not only have we become shameless consumers, we have become shameless consumers of the most despicable kind. The consumer who, like a docile and drugged RAT, does not question the corporate manipulator; an abuser who (obviously) is not willing to concede anything unless forced to do so. It should be so simple to have a jog dial on the blue tooth keyboard, register all 3 computers with the keyboard, and just flip through machines connect to it as you move up down the list with a small LCD screen. Nothing flashy, just functional. Same thing for monitor, okay, mabye montior would still need a physical A/B/C switch, but for KB and mouse Blue Tooth wireless peripherals????.. why do I need 3 separate keyboards for that????? Except that dickwads want to make more money, and jack-ass-drool-face consumers don't have the sense to ask for better value for their slavishly earned dollar. And ask for things that make obvious god-damned sense. What really sickens me is the "altruistic" consumer. The consumer who, being programmed to his/her core, would take the overpricing corp's side, and go to considerable lengths to tell you that somehow price gouging is good for you because the company has to survive. I don't have a problem with "dog eat dog" world of capitalism, but at least every actor should be equally selfish. And what these fuckwad "consumers" forget is that they are not mere passive recepticles for corporate cock, but that they are (or at lease CAN be, if they get their pulverized wits together) active participants in this extremely selfish world of capitalism. So being a capitalist comsumer means to resist the advance of your adversary. And to bring it down. To annihilate it. I guess that would anarchy, but what the fuck. We're on a roll here. What kind of ruthless capitalism is it, in which the corporation acts as an immoral/amoral sans-conscience entity while it gets to program its consumers to be altruistic to ITS profit making needs. And good for the corp. its winning the battle. But I must chide the FUCKHEAD docile consumer. what a god-dammed coup! Frikking Bravo! Interestingly enough, I hear these completely irrational, self-depriving corporate slogans emanating from assholes who watch too goddammend-much professional sports. And you tell me this shit is not programming the fuck out of my neurons. pheh! 10:14:11 AM    comment [] Of Fetishes Sometimes i wonder if I have a fetish for computer languages and books. I found myself looking at a couple of languages (and downloading some) last night. DRScheme ERLang Squeak (again, but then I checked myself before I pushed that DOWNLOAD button) obviously, I've been trying to learn and play with Ruby, an effort which has pretty much stalled in the last week as I try to recover from my ailment. cough. cough. I've been told at work that we maybe moving towards .NET from Peoplesoft.. w00000t????? WTF? I have to think about this seriously, maybe its time to look at other things. 9:57:58 AM    comment [] Barbara Boxer Vs. Cond. Rice This is a script, purportedly from the "Federeal News Service". I never heard of them. I got it from the pile. Here is the whole script (also found in the "stories section on the left. I don't know if this transcript is accurate. I am quoting the Federal News Service text, not the original conversation. some excerpts: "Dr. Rice, before I get to my formal remarks, you no doubt will be confirmed -- that's at least what we think. And if you're going to become the voice of diplomacy -- this is just a helpful point -- when Senator Voinovich mentioned the issue of tsunami relief, you said -- your first words were, "The tsunami was a wonderful opportunity for us." Now, the tsunami was one of the worst tragedies of our lifetime -- one of the worst -- and it's going to have a 10-year impact on rebuilding that area. I was very disappointed in your statement. I think you blew the opportunity." ... "Now, it took you to page three of your testimony to mention the word "Iraq." You said very little really about it, and only in the questioning have we been able to get into some areas. Perhaps you agree with President Bush, who said all that's been resolved. I'm quoting today's Post: "Bush said in an interview last week with the Washington Post that the '04 election was a moment of accountability for the decisions he made in Iraq." But today's Washington Post/ABC poll found that 58 percent disapprove of his handling of the situation, to 40 percent who approve -- and only 44 percent said the war was worth fighting." ... "So in your statement it takes you to page three to mention the word "Iraq." Then you mention it in the context of elections -- which is fine -- but you never even mention indirectly the 1,366 American troops that have died, or the 10,372 who have been wounded -- many mentally, as a report that I read over the weekend that maybe a third will come home and need help because of what they saw -- it's been so traumatic to them. And 25 percent of those dead are from my home state." ... etc. etc. read the rest if you want to in the link posted above the "quotes". 9:39:43 AM    comment []

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Orientalism I started reading orientalism. I have half a mind to get a new copy and send to the right winger-oh-so-pious-holier-than-thou-liberalissimo-pontificateur, Andy Barry, the host of the morning show "metro morning" here in toronto. 10:39:02 AM    comment []

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

fuckin pussies I wasn't gonna post anymore tonight.. but looking at the Democrats humiliating themselves at Rice's confirmation hearing. I was just thinking one thing: "Fuckin Pussies" The only one with any balls in that whole group was a woman. Barbara Boxter. I guess Kerry desrved to have his ass kicked in the most humiliating of ways. Bravo Senators! 11:09:33 PM    comment [] Orientalism Part Deux - Neocons in tights well no relation to the title once again. I meant to just register that I finally, a YEAR after I requested and then cancelled once (in disgust), recieved my dialapidated copy of Edward Said's "Orientalism". I am planning on taking the notes in my notebook, and then I'll just post a digital of it on frickr (or flickr if they have reset my account) . I just realised that the lexmark that i got sitting around is actually a 3 in 1 (printer, copier, scanner) with 3-flash-reader builtin. Now only if the fuckers at "WorstBuy" will give me the goddamed rebate. We'd be all set. And its been 6 months already!!! In any case, orientalism should be a good read. I had started reading Neal Stephonson's Baroque Cycle vol 1 (Quicksilver) But it became too frikkin PC, and preachy and turnd into a slog in the first 10 pages. So I promptly returned it. Right now, I got bigger fish to fry, and I'm not in a mood to slog through 950 pages just so I can check something off my 43things list. WhatEVA!! Back to Orientalism, hopefully I will have either the flickr account which I've been thinkin bout gittin, or maybe my new 300 mb space at textdrive.. which i'm lazing around about now. that way, me get to post pics. Time for The Daily Show! WURRRRD!! P.S. Ya Know, Chappelle's show's got some really good musical guests on it.. I like the way they jam. None of the manufactured-hip-hop shit here.. Right on brotha! I find that comedy central has some really cool stuff happening. A light in the sea of dark, dark, shit! The world is turning into a fucking one legged tyranny, and only clowns can tell the truth without getting their heads chopped off. pity! 11:01:17 PM    comment [] Odds and ends Radio is starting to piss me off again. It is probably THE worst way to run a blog. I won't enumerate it again, but if it wasn't for the free pycs space and the fact that I actually had a "PAID FOR" copy of a loser 8.0.8 version, I probably won't be typing this shit up. Most companies give you lifetime software upgrades for the error prone software, oh no! Not LoserLand. Alright, I'm going off on a tangential rant here. What I wanted to talk about was that I have been "modding" my Moleskine notebooks. I was looking for the "storyboard" version, but the Lomis and Toole in my 'hood didn't have it. In anycase, today I saw some knockoffs in the local bookystore. One thing that I noticed was that this notebook had a built-in pencil/pen holder. Well, that gave me idears (is it Ideas or "Idears"??? dunno) so jigged one up. It looks pretty cheesy, but it gives the ole graphite rod a home. Now if it wasn't like pulling teeth outta yer ass, I'd probably post some pictures, but Radio Loserland is too much of a bitch for me to even contemplate that. 10:38:59 PM    comment [] Shut the FIRK UP! One of the very few programs that I watch on the Discovery channel as I'm wasting time on the web and on various blogs is "American Chopper". And other chopper fabrication shows. Personally, I like the european custom bike designs better but I don't know enough about everybody in the bidness. In any case, I like this program, and I was watching the episode where they build the chopper for iRobot for Will Smith etc. And one thing that kind of pisses me off is the Paul Sr. yelling and screaming at his son Paul Jr. I think I stopped watching the show for a while, but I think most people like this exchange. I think these two obviously have some serious issues to resolve, and its just fucking tiring... I mean this guy (the father) is just walking around, or at least that's what I see in the program and yelling at everybody. I think this is the "shtick" that the producers are using but I think its getting just too much... So my message to Pauli Sr. And Jr. "Shut the fuck up!" Please, you guys make awesome bikes, but you fight like two bitches on permanent rags. P.S. My apologies to the "Society for equal rights for Rags" and other such organizations. I mean well. Trust me on this one. 9:36:42 PM    comment []

Monday, January 17, 2005

Well maybe not I mean, if you look at the odds of this thing getting there, its just awesome! What is also really cool is the fact that some of the signals emitted by Huygens probe were actually picked up directly by some radio telescopes right here on earth. John Robb has an entry on his blog "Global Guerillas" regarding the attacks on the Pakistan Gas Installations in Balochistan province. I don't quite understand this blogs (GG) thesis. On the one hand the GG are networked, on the other side they are doomed to just keep fighting for ever (actually that is a comment by a visiotr). I tend to agree with the reader who thinks that its payback from Iran re: the so called incursions that the americans have been making into the Iranian Territory. I think this would be a big deal for Iranians if they can capture the Americans and parade them around on TV. So I don't know what Seymore Hersh guy is talking about. But then again, he did kind of mentioned Abu Gharib. 7:29:02 PM    comment []

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Huygens came so close to a total fuck up ... and I had no idea! Here is a fascinating account of what happened in the last 7 years while cassini was floating around in space gradually heading towards Saturn. short version: there was a fatal flaw in the communications systems between Huygens and Cassini, and had they not found out and fixed it. We probably wouldn't have seen any data during the descent stage. Culprit? Doppler shift. Read the whole story here 5:52:30 PM    comment [] phunny One of the goebbles wannabe's somewhere commented that iraqi's in only 2 or 3 provinces may have issues voting. The rest should go fine. What this dickwad conveniently failed to mention was that the two provinces contain almost half the population of the contury. oh well, on with the phantasie! 4:24:13 PM    comment [] still watching "Crumb" Its amazing how ffucking ignorant I am. Of culture. Of things in general. But then again, you cannot possibly know everything. I sometimes wonder if God (if s/he exists) knows EVERYthing.. are there recessses of his mind that he wonders about? what challenge is it if you know everything? even yourself? Are there things that an omnipotent entity hasn't done yet? for example, does the god or diety or whatever, have the power to commit suicide? if so, has he already done it? if so then, is it really suicid if you can re-constitute yourself? crum make me crazeeeee!!!! back to Crumb the documentary. It seems the whole family was disturbed in one way or another. I also tend to think that the oldes brother, Charles (who kind of got robert crumb started into drawing comix etc.) was/is the real genius, but just too mad for his own good. But that is just my opinion. I saw some of the comix that he drew and I think there was something there.. very original, in a "Ryan Larkin" sort of way. 4:04:52 PM    comment [] How to have fun with a strong girl I'm watching a doc on the documentary channel regarding the life of Robert Crumb. A search on google came up with this. I find this somehow very animalistic, yet erotic. I guess I'm a bit of a "strong girl" admirer. Blogs are good for giving too much away about yourself. Kind of being on the couch as no-ones listening or giving a fuck. How would it be for Robert crumb to have a blog? Well, it would be such a big fucking waste of time, one, and two, he was blogging, he was bloggging all his life. Whats the diff between drawing clumsy words or drawing beautiful (to him, or some at least) pictures? Making a comment that way? Blogs are not written every day, they are not read every day, they are just recordings of our thoughts and a depiction of our beliefs. We've been doing it all along. We just didn't have the means to share it at such a wide level. If a blog tree falls in the woods, does it matter if anyone heard it fall? What is the sound of blogging to /dev/nul ? Oh and the link to some disturbing ass humpage And you know what? Good for him! In Yer Face America! 2:52:33 PM    comment [] Music to my ears I just find it ming boggling, fascinating and amazing that I can hear the sound of an event that transpired millions and millions of miles away, on an alien world: The sound of Huygens' descent. I wonder what those clinking sounds are towards the end of the recording. It was it a part of the parachute that was clanking against the body of the probe (a loose buckle?) or maybe some audio beep emitted by the probe for calibrating and giving a reference noice of certain decibles?? Radar echo converted to sound. its fucking un-believable! I can imagine how blind peopel could be taught to see through a radar to sound conversion thing-a-ma-jiggy. Fascinating stufff! can't wait for more info! 2:00:47 PM    comment []

Friday, January 14, 2005

Mac Mini I'm under the EEEEVILLLL spell of Apple.. I feel the urge to get a mac mini.. in Canada, the base unit is around 750+tax. But I was thinking it will get me iLife, a faster processor and some new Apple Software.. or maybe I should wait for the PowerbookG5?? what the HELL am I saying? I just resolved NEVER to buy apple shit again.. aaaaahhhhh!!! today I found myself looking at the dual G5 Xserver box. 5 frikking thousand dollars. I could get a honking dell server for that.. but would it be half as SEXXY??? I don't know... Okay.. this is just a dumbass comparison, but here is what is standard on the 750 buck mini: [apple] 256MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 DIMM [apple] 80GB Ultra ATA drive [apple] Combo Drive [apple] 56K v.92 Modem [apple] Mac OS X - U.S. English [apple] 1.42GHz PowerPC G4 Estimated Ship: 3-4 weeks Free Shipping Subtotal $749.00 and here is what is after I've added what I want: [apple] 512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 DIMM [apple] 80GB Ultra ATA drive [apple] SuperDrive [apple] AirPort Extreme Card [apple] Wired Keyboard & Mouse Set [apple] 56K v.92 Modem [apple] Mac OS X - U.S. English [apple] 1.42GHz PowerPC G4 Estimated Ship: 3-4 weeks Free Shipping Subtotal $1,157.00 add 15% govt extortion fees and you got a $1331.00 hit right there.. A total post tax difference of $470. hmmm... what to do.. what to doo???? 11:50:28 PM    comment [] frikker I ran out of my flickr bandwidth. I deleted the old photos thinking it would free up space, but looks like its the bandwidth and not the disk usage that they re worried about.. so ... no flickr set on the left.. FUCH!!!! oh and I just realized that this Huygens guy also invented the pendulum clock. Smart guy indeed! 11:42:22 PM    comment [] K.I.S.S One thing that I've wondered about: Why don't they put some frikkin whiskers on these probes.. (like Huygens etc.) it will easily give even a stationary probe an effective reach of a meter of so.. drag it on the surface.. try to see what it feels like. Its just my hunch, but I think that Russians would be more prone to use solutions like that.. I once heard this internet legend somewhere that Americans spent millions on a "space pen" with pressurized inner refill tube aand all, and the russians just kept using pencils. (some claim its just a myth), but I think it goes with the no non-sense attitude of the Russian Technologists. I think we're all a little poorer for the face that the USSR and especially its educational institutions have been decimated.. rant rant rant.. blah blah blah I would even like to see them in robots.. I mean the whiskers. I just don't understand the logic of putting visual perception systems in ridiculous robots that don't move more than a few cm/s. I've seen robots that use spiffy infrared doo-dah's to detech the vicintiy of a wall, but the kicker is, the sensor's range is not more than a few centimeters.. and I'm looking at this, and saying to my self.. why don't you save yourself all the firkin trouble and put a few whiskers around the dammned thing?? ugggh!!!! I hate over-engineering! 11:32:00 PM    comment [] interesting I'm amazed by the pictures sent back by the Huygens probe. I wonder if it has water on it, or if life evolved on that cold world. It would be really freaky if some bizzarre insect or other such living individual pokes its head at the probes camera.. yeah yeah.. I know its minus bazillion degrees over there.. but dammit!! wouldn't it be great? It would be cool if they mentioned in the broadcasts what type of computing technology these probes use? 11:20:57 PM    comment []

Thursday, January 13, 2005

No Title I am trying to learn the proper technique when it comes to drawing. I think drawing is like the Yoga of the mind. Very relaxing. We drew some lemons and some other objects.. some of the people are pretty good, some are just beginners. Sometimes I feel like I shoulda taken the next one, but I think the technique which I want to learn will come in the next few classes. We're just gettin warmed up. Well guess what? No WMD. Oh well.. I liked the "post september 11" equation that John Stewart just presented on the Daily Show: Sept. 11 + X = Shut The Fuck Up ---(1) where X= "Whatever We Say" LoL.. man.. bushies are gonna have to shut this guy down real soon.. I am using the "hipster" PDA these days, and boy.. it made my life soooooo simple. I do like the new Moleskine(s) that I got though! I am using a nice 2B pencil with it. I was afraid it was going to mark the opposite page, but I haven't seen my entries smudging the opposites. 11:24:45 PM    comment [] rantissimo worky! worky! 12:06:12 AM    comment []

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Annanaas I started taking my "Drawing for absolute beginners" class at the AGO. I wanted to because I just have to be able to draw properly. Plus it helps me focus on things and do a lot of processing in the background (not to mention that its a skill of sorts) So we learned to draw a pineapple. Whoopti doo! 10:10:34 PM    comment [] Mo-lah-skeen-ah I'm really into this "Hipster" PDA. (for at least this week). I don't know why the dude calls it "hipster". Its kinda cheezy. But I'm doing this with obsolete business cards, and I'm finding out that I have a LOT of things outstanding. I haven't bothered to finish any of them though. I heard the praises of the Moleskine notebook on one of those GTD (Getting Things Done")sites and was looking for a square ruled book anyways so I got one. I'm so reluctant to write in it though. Its so frikking expensivve. small 3.5x4.5 inch one is CAD $17+gst,pst. I mean, it better be a golden fuckin idea before I defile that notebook worth its weight in silver. but it has leather skin and an elastic band? yes, but the pages are still cheap as shit. I better do something earth-shattering or I shall defile a cheap reproduction of your works Van Gogh!!! I may not have the talent of these giants, but I sure got me a mo-lah-skeena. biotch!! 9:42:23 PM    comment [] Something Odd You know whats really pathetic? Go here. and then go over to any blogs of the scions of the "left" (or whatever's left of it). And you'd notice that not only there is NO interest, no comments and no activity on these blogs, but also the fact that most (at least the ones I checked) have not been updated since may/june 2004. What I find really pathetic is that the left these days would like to make the last fulching dime off of its potential readers before it would offer anything of substance. The reason lefties don't reach the people is NOT that they don't have access to media outlets, but the fact that they would rather get their freaking "donations" before they would allow anyone to post a comment. How freeking pathetic is that? I mean, not a single person was willing to be loyal enough to the "cause" to purchase a 10 dollar membership so they could post a comment? It really pisses me off. Is Noam Chomsky really hurting for money? or this GIANT on the left is so far left behind that he can't figure out how to start blogging on typepad.chomsky.com ?? When you put barriers between you and the people, then how the fuck will you counter the nit-wits who invoke the "liberal-elitist attitudes" in their cultural war against you? P.S. to Noam: Not only are they winning the war, they've got your collective pants down and are shafting the left doggie-style. drop it like its hot. Same thing with adbusters. These self-proclaimed, defeatest individuals think that a futile exercise in design is somehow related to the struggle for the soul of humanity. How the fuck does a magazine that proclaims (or at least pretends) to stand for the poor, the downtrodden and the opressed, manage to find the BALLS to print a 10 dollar magazine? Do these fuckers know that most poor people don't have more than 4-5 dollars a day to spend. That is of course assuming that they won't be kicked out of the high-end stores that these fuckers send theiry glossy ass magazine to? That magazine is for the we're so oppressed cuz "we didn't have a 50 foot pool while we was growin up" types. I guess I will exhale now. 9:29:28 PM    comment [] Boo ya!! Maybe I should mention something that is not on most pplz radar: "Million Mogadishu's" I wonder whatever happened to that guy? After some consideration, I think I will do a blog but perhaps with multiple authors or something.. a group blog of sorts. A place for the rant0rz.. Or maybe not. I mean what the fuck. I have already booked a domain www.rantissimo.net. If that click took you somewhere, then we're in business and your're reading something from the past. Greetings from the Future. Past.. Past I mean. I havent figured out what to use. I was thinking WordPress, but for a blog-nomad like me, I wish there was a way to save the state of my blog and comments etc and then move and not break the links that people already have. I looked at the http log and there are still some faithful robots looking for the old rantissimo archives. I guess they are following the links from other blogs and then falling off the bit-cliff.. I feel bad for those robots. 9:07:19 PM    comment []

Monday, January 10, 2005

On second thought why even bother..? I'll leave the ranting to this blog on pycs and get the rest of the stuff ie; more serious blogs on the new TextDrive Location. Now, writing a RADIO clone using Ruby on Rails would be interesting. But why the hell would I want to torture my feeble soul like that? and for what? or at least something that pycs would understand so at least you can do rudimentary entries directly from a web based "client" to the pycs site which will host the blog. Why the HELL would I want to do that when I already have a Wordpress blog out there is just beyond me. But no harm in mentioning a wonky idea now is there? 10:58:26 PM    comment [] Getting Closer I have moved my DNS entries to TextDrive. Soon I'll have to look at what I'll be using as my weblog software. I really like the wordpress blogs that I've seen and I took it for a spin (over at OpensourceCMS)and it seemed pretty good. Not to mention the fact that Textdrive seems to be well suited for hosting wordpress blogs. Maybe now I can break down my rants from serious stuff... let the proliferation begin! I'm thinking Rants Technology, Peoplesoft Politics (Democracy Issues in Pakistan and the subcontinent) Podcasting. In other news, the word is that the gigantic military minds that brought you the accomplished missions, abu gharib, massive civilian casualties and general chaos in the name of democratizing the barbarians are now thinking of using Death Squads. The idea has already been floated. Things must be getting real desperate. If prior experience is any guide, the "premise" for this one is probably extremely exaggerated. Just because it worked in South America, doesn't mean it will work in Iraq. Nevertheless, Negroponte is assigned to Iraq, and I'm sure he's itching to use the only sure thing he has to show for his pathetic career. I have a feeling this strategy will not achieve desired results. This reminds me, I should read John Robb's Global Gorrillas (banana banana) blog again. 6:51:40 PM    comment []

Sunday, January 9, 2005

Puta! Coulter: "We allow Canada to exist!" What a FUCKKING BITCH! Ann "CUNT" Coulter: Canada is "lucky we allow them to exist on the same continent"; Tucker "The Twit" Carlson: "Without the U.S., Canada is essentially Honduras" John Stewart trying to explain to the "crossfire" nitwits that just like WWE isn't about athletics, their show is not debating but mere theatrics!!.. John Stewart: This is Theatre..How old are you Tucky: 35 J.S: And you wear a Bowtie? Tucky Twit: Yah I do Audience erupts into laughter J.S: So this is theatre.. um.. and listen, I'm not suggesting that you're not a smart guy, because those are not easy to tie.. The thing is, you are doing theatre while you should be debating issues. . . . Tucky: I think you're more funny on your show John Stewart: And you're as big a DICK on your show as you are on any other show! Link here: John Stewart on Crossfire 1:31:11 AM    comment []

Friday, January 7, 2005

more links here 11:23:06 AM    comment [] Assclown is probably an appropriate term Americans, watch this and WEEP! (especially USA'ons) When you look back 100 years from now at your shattered republic, at least you would know who were the people who fucked you in the ass (and no its not the terr'ists.. Every empire falls from within. No punk ass terrorist can bring an empire down). And I'm sure FOX and Roopie will be on top of that list, not to mention certain shrubs from the southern climes of the country. A jack-ass caesar and his psychophants.. Now that is another ball of earwax altogether. 11:14:25 AM    comment [] Mindfuck Books that will induce a mindfcuk. this is not my list, but some of it I can shirley vouch for. ahem. Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" is there as well. I went through parts of it. Its actually painful to go through that. The amount of carnage that was affected to have this so calle "western civilization" is just fucking mind boggling. I guess that's what a MINDFUCK is. Howard Zinn was on the daily show last night (jan 05, 05). There is a marked difference beween the "thinkers" on the "right" and the thinkers on the Left. The current sound-bite ass-media favors the ass hole who can come up with a slogan or blurt out some 2 sentence crap in the 5 seconds that they got. The public gets their McWisdom, eat that shit and get more fat around their brains. The Lefty scholars (if you will) tend to hesitate, think a lot, try to compose a proper sentence. That comes across as awkward. The host is getting all ansy (even though I thought John Stewart gave him a lot more time than he would give) .. But Zinn seemed a little disappointed nevertheless. I guess he wanted to develop a point, but that is JUST NOT possible on a half hour show which is chock full of goodness for the A.D.D afflicted. Still it was good to see Howard Zinn on the Daily Show. 10:51:08 AM    comment []

Thursday, January 6, 2005

Maratib Al-'Ulum :: Ibn hazm I'm trying to finish Ibn-e-Hazm's "Maratib-al-uloom" english translation version. This is NOT a review. I picked it up at RIS, along with Avicenna's "Canon of Medicine". What the heck do I care about the canon of medicine, well I just wanted to see how these guys thought. I have never actually bothered to make an effort to read up some of the Muslim scholars. And now that I'm being dissed and presumed guilty due to my name and my skin color, might as well fucking read some shit that these guys were talking about. What I found was that RIS was a total lame-ass conference except for Imran Khan's speech and some books by the scholars which we seem to have totally frikking forgotten about. Only remembering and perpetuating at times the most violent of rhetoric from the pulpit. In any case, it might not be a bad idea to have the classic muslim litrature translated and put in a library somewhere so whoever bothers to read will see that its not all what the dickwads in cbc/nbc/ass-be-see would like you to think. I'm off on a tangent here. back to ibn'e Hazm's book and I intend to write a summary or review later, but this is just something or other, in the meantime that is. Interesting read. Its interesting to read something from a time period when Chemistry was taking off. He is not very happy about Alchemy , but is real sweet on astronomy, maths, trignometry, Language/Grammer, Lexicography, Logic and Medicine. He also proposes that an academic should partake a little from most sciences. Seems to stress the Interdisciplinary nature of knowledge I guess (or something). 10:58:46 AM    comment [] Creative Commies of the World Unite!! Here is a link to Neal Stephenson's In the beginning, was the Commandline. This is an annotated version. I heard a few ppl talking about Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle over at 43 things and seems like an interesting book to read. I just don't know if I have the time. I've got like 5 of them on the go at the same time. Its ridiculous. Ibn Hazm, Abu Sina, Price of Loyalty, Disarming Iraq, The God Gene (and of course Ruby Programming Language!) In any case, back to the title of this post. Apparently, Bill Gates called opensourcers and Creative Commoners "commies". Well.. FCUK BILL GATES! 10:41:50 AM    comment []

Wednesday, January 5, 2005

Lamosity Can I say something? "Myth Busters" is FUCKKING LAME!!! 10:40:16 PM    comment [] Radio Crappage Just in case I forget it and my drive dies. My Radio 8.0.8 userid is 0105907. I.O.N, my machine just hung up on me and won't boot back up (iBook). I thought it had kicked the bucket, but after a leaving it turned off for a little while, I was able to boot it back up. So I copied about 6.5 Gigs worth of stuff to my external disk. Hopefully the Lacie won't crap out while I try to get a replacement drive. I think Radio is the jinx. Every time I use it, the drive or my laptop dies. Not sure if its the Radio, but it crashed when I tried to wake radio up.. so there.. it prolly had something to do with it.. but then again my ibook is crapping out and I think its because of the "security" updates. I think its really asinine of Apple that we have to pay 179 for panther and another couple hundred for tiger. Apparently, there is not direct upgrade path. W.T.F ??? 10:29:35 PM    comment [] Top 25 Most Recently Played Name Artist Mosul Muslimgauze This Could be a Good Thing - Jan0505 LninYo The Boogie Man Song Mos Def Freaky Black Greetings Mos Def War Mos Def Grown Man Business (Fresh Vintage Bottles) Feat. Minnesota Mos Def Blue Black Jack Mos Def The Rape Over Mos Def Close Edge Mos Def The Panties Mos Def Sex, Love, And Money Mos Def Ghetto Rock Mos Def Intro Mos Def Pres. Medina Green Excellence Mos Def Pres. Medina Green Modern Marvel Mos Def The Easy Spell Mos Def Sunshine Mos Def Rock With You Michael Jackson Remember The Time Michael Jackson Pretty Young Thing (Demo) Michael Jackson On The Line Michael Jackson Off The Wall Michael Jackson Monkey Business Michael Jackson Man In The Mirror Michael Jackson Lovely One Michael Jackson 4:41:49 PM    comment [] This could be a GOOD thing I finished Richard Clarke's book Against All Enemies the other day. Very interesting read. Its just amazing and mind boggling. He calls Cheney an Asshole, but not in so many words. Apparently, on 9/11, Dickie, his wife, and rice and some aides were in some bunker and Richard Clarke kept calling the bunker, but someone would hang up on him as soon as he heard Richard's voice. so he called up the second time and an aide picked up. Richard asked "Who was that asshole who just hung up?" and the aide told him "It was Vice President Cheney". Long story short, I think its amazing that something as horrific as 911 has happened, but Dick was still playing some games pulling Rank or some shit like that. And it also sounds like Richard Clarke was actually running the show and coordinating the response from the situation room, as these pillars of the government saved their asses in a concrete bunker somewhere. What is ironic is that Richard Clarke is actually not such a "bleeding heart" liberal or anything, which is pretty much a term that most wrong wingers generally use to attack their even mildly liberal opponents. He's actually a regular hawk! ("No to Kyoto" type) But even he seems like a towering genius and a posterboy for moderation when compared to the idiocy and hubris of the PaleoCons surrounding (and insulating from reality) the idiot who they won't let alone even for a moment. Its almost as if an invalid had been made to take charge of the Caliphate while being controlled by the Pashas. The problem is that the Republicans have been hijacked by the NeoCons and are just in frikkin denial now. I just saw a book by Pat Buchanan which basically claims the same thing. How's that for Irony Mr. Buchanan? Finally to get out-maneuvered in the most humiliating of ways. Bravo Wolfowitz, Bravo Rumsfeld, Bravo Perle, (Bravo Wolf Blitzer? Bravo Rupert Murdoch?) I still tend to believe that these are the final days of the American Republic. Oh Well... The King is Dead. Long Live the Pashas! 10:53:25 AM    comment [] The trouble with.. ummm... wait a minute.. Alireza has a link to a very interesting sounding book. By Richard W. Bulliet titled The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization Due to the kind of Islamophobic monoculture of the books that is now the monopoly called Chindigo, I probably will NEVER find it in the local indigo. Even though Irshad Manji's fecalistic book still adorns their shelves (agenda? oh no.. how could Heather have an agenda?) Maybe the Toronto Reference Lib will get a copy. Until Heather Ricemann takes that over too (private library? we need market competition in libraries.. bring on the monoculture of ideas) for a very convenient price. Anyhoo, here are some exerpts: On "clash of civilizations" "Civilizations that are destined to clash cannot seek together a common future. Like Mathews´ Islam, Huntington´s Islam is beyond redemption. The strain of Protestant American thought that both men are heir to, pronounces against Islam the same self-righteous and unequivocal sentence of [OE]otherness´ that American Protestants once visited upon Catholics and Jews." On "what went wrong" "The idea that people in the Middle East once embraced the goal of becoming like Europe and hoped that by adopting European ideas and institutions they would someday experience all of the liberal values we recognize in the Europe of today is nonsense. It assumes a historical outcome for Europe itself that no one even in Europe could have predicted." On "why do they hate us" "Those who advanced the Japanese occupation as a model for postwar Iraq seem to have baseball, Hello Kitty, and Elvis impersonators in the back of their minds rather than headscarves and turbaned mullahs. . . . Like latter day missionaries, we want the Muslims to love us, not just for what we can offer in the way of a technological society but for who we are -for our values. But we refuse to countenance the thought of loving them for their values." On Islam´s ideological shortcomings "Jim Jones, David Koresh, and Meir Kahane do not typify Christianity and Judaism in the eyes of the civilized West but those same eyes are prone to see Osama bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar as typifying Islam." On Middle East studies "The founders of Middle East studies ignored recommendations that they focus on contemporary Islam and focused instead on Middle Easterners trying to act like westerners. There weren´t a lot of these, just as there hadn´t been a lot of converts, but the conviction was strong that those few would be pioneers in bringing western modernity to the region . . . The people we supported as agents of modernity became tyrants." In other news, I put another hold on Edward Said's book "Orientalism". they frikkin made me wait for 4 months and then called me up when I was out of town. Now the lady said that there were 4 ppl ahead of me, so I asked here to renew the hold. Lets see how this pans out. 10:30:05 AM    comment [] wow! If this doesn't blow your mind for at least a couple of minutes, I don't know what will. hint: A couple thousand year old animation on a clay jar. Actually its pretty amazing. And now that I've read about it, I wonder why more potters didn't do it? I mean you have the circular motion of the vessel, the design that can be animated right there, why did it take until a century or so ago to realize the animation principle? beats me. 1:28:51 AM    comment [] podcasting rant rant rant drift drift drift tangent tangent tangent Note: to see more of these gems, go to Podcast.Net. Some of the ones I listend to tonight are below (Winer's actually I listened to thru my radio aggregator) dave winer: doesn't really _sound_ like an asshole. I don't remember why I was so pissed off with him (oh yeah, his tyrannical and stingy behaviour towards paying customers) But he sounded nice enough? I listened to his Dec 30 Podcast. He kept drifting and bitching about iPod. Most of his gripes are actually quite true. iPod is a bit of a pain in the arse if you ask me. This is why my next media player is going to be an 80GB archos which I can also use as a PVR to go. You should check it out really. Jay and Bob : (or something like that). These two guys are canadian. I could listen to any asshole morning show from here to winnipeg and getter better value for my iPod hd: then these two. The format is basically "Two guys trying to act smart, and laughing out Lout (LOL?) at each other's lame-ass comments." Well. Well done guys. Now fuck off because I'm not comeing back to your lame-ass podcast. Tame Bear: This guy is in the philosophy section and pretends to be a bear (puts on a husky voice and all). I listened to his christmas story, bu had to stop when he started mentioning a log of people puking and shitting in a small hotel room (his family got diarrahea in N'Arlenz) I think the last sentence I heard was ".. and the bathroom became home for both vomit and diarrhea.." and I Just about ralphed myself. Good thing quicktime plugin allows you to shut-it-the-fuck-up. phew! Net Girl: Well, 2 minutes into the podcast, the self proclaimed net "girl" announced that her daughter was going to get married to some yonge man. And I'm thinking .. "Shouldn't you refer to yourself as the Net Lady?" or "Net Woman". Well, the Netgirl just finished her monotonous monolog. I was typing this entry so I didn't really pay a whole heck of a lot of attention. Okay, this whole podcasting thing is kind of weird and whacky. Very democatizing. I'm thinking of doing it myself. But mine will be anonymous because I intend to rant and rave and cuss A LOT! One thing is that everyone is trying to sound like a fucking Radio "personality". Enough with that Shit. We want to hear some food chewing, some real farting, some coke snorting and some fucking noises. Huh? how about that? Effin-Podcasters. YOU SUCK!! P.S. I don't think many people will like my podcast. I just wanna fit in.. why is it soooo hard! ?? 1:09:43 AM    comment []

Monday, January 3, 2005

potty mouth oh yea.. bring on the soap! The title of my novel: "Here and gone tomorrow! " current excuse: I don't have an alphasmart Neo :( maybe I'll write it for the next NaNoMo.. Destiny's Child has come up with a "I need a soldier" song. I guess they're trying to get the colored cannon-fodder ready for the next round of the slaughter. I've been listening to Mos-Def. Its practically amazing how the current "HipHop" culture has been perverted by the music giants. I really fail to see the difference between the manufactured "boy bands" and the manufactured "ghetto boys" that the mill is turning out.. 11:50:53 PM    comment [] How about a finger.. yeah.. the middle one? Apparently, NDP canada's idea of "Getting Involved" is one of the following 3 things: Make a contribution Join the NDP Stay Informed How about option 4: How about I flip you the bird, and you cancel my fucking membership? Fucking Asswipes! They have been deducting money from my credit card every month religiously, but despite me calling them on several occasions, have not bothered to contact me for any volunteer activities etc. No riding association jack asses called. Except of course during the election. When the called to ask for more money. So let me see. NDP wants my money, but NDP doesn't give two shits about what I have to say or contribute as a citizen. I don't think my race has anything to do with this passive aggressive behaviour either. So, let me repeat the options. Read some message from the layton guy, join (and donate), or just donate. And then they wonder why the fuck they don't have any more seats in the legislature! I think I'm going to cancel my membership and actually ask for a refund. If not, then I'm going to call a press conference in frong of layton's office and have a "card tearing ceremony" You wanna dance Nancy?? well Lets dance! P.S. I think NDP is just a placeholder from the establishment, just so the pissed off poor people don't join up with the immigrants and start up a real left wing party. Howzabout a Canadian Immigrant Party ?? Its gotta ring to it.. There's quite a few million of us out here, pretty much getting ass fucked and being told we're being done a favor. Well.. who's gonna wipe your rapidly aging asses? The Romanians? The British? You have to get the brownies to do the dirty jobs.. like it or not. So how about some respect and proper representation? 10:50:44 PM    comment []

Sunday, January 2, 2005

Apocalypse Then, D*** Sucking now! The history channel is playing the Redux version of "Apocalypse Now". I just got almost done with Richard Clarke's book, and watching this movie and thinking about the book, I'm thinking about two things. They've got some real dickwad jack-asses in the whitehouse, and they're really gonna fuck things up. And I mean Royally. I'm surprised more people are not making noises or violently throwing these people out of power. If these assholes keep it up, there ain't gonna be republicans or Dems. The structure could collapse on itself. Does anyone, in the US media (especially in Hollywood) have the talent and the BALLS that "Francis Ford Coppola" had to create Apocalypse Now? Now I remember why I forgave FFC for not disowning that silly daughter of his. 11:16:38 PM    comment []

Saturday, January 1, 2005

"Against all enemas" I'm reading Richard Clarke's book. Just finished the one about supercomputers. Fascinating how they saved information in tubes filled with mercury. The memory of my "IT" colleagues making fun of me in dis-belief is still fresh in my mind. I'm too busy to throw this particular one out there. Back to the Richard Clarke book. I think he had a ghostwriter. At times the book reads like an episode of the "West Wing". But still its exciting and interesting read. Interesting to realize that we all are human after all. Even the prez and the vp and the most powerful officials on the planet put their pants on one leg at a time and are human beings (evil or good whatever) just like the rest of us. I think the worst thing that happened on 911 was that the event punctured the baloon of a myth of America being the Unipolar Omnipotent superpower. A myth that every other network (BBC, Discovery, TLC, FOX, CNN.. Hollywood you name it) had worked so hard to ingrain in the feeble minds of their subjects in far-away lands. This book points it out. That was the worst thing that happened that day..(IMO) The psychological hit was much more than anything else. that is why I don't think that it was a conspiracy. Also, the folks who brought you the fiasco Iraq, could not have pulled this one. I think 911 would be for us what JFK assasination or moon landings were for the prev gen. As I was reading the begginning chapters, I started to remember what I was doing at that time. I was riding my bike on that morning in the Don Valley. It was a beautiful september morning.. and I was listening to "We all live in a yellow submarine". I think by the time I came out onto pottery road, it must have been after the first attack. I noticed an un-marked jeep cherokee. I remembered it because I always notice license plates. And this one said "324 SEE" call me paranoid, but doesn't it sound like "Three to Forsee?" I guess it was the candian intelligence or something. But I didn't think much of it. I had my iPod with me. And I went merrily along all the way to the lake and back. On my way back I got the call from Sabeeh. I couldn't believe it. He said one of the towers was already down. I was in shock. I don't think I could bike any more so I walked for a distance. Back to the book. this book is a good read. But I think he divulges too much information. I mean, why does the public need to know that there is a bunk in the east wing? or maybe because its already common knowledge due to shows like the West Wing that he doesn't mind mentioning these things. One thing is, that He is trying to make himself look like some kind of hero. But I guess I would do that too if I was writing a book. I mean. It sounds like it was Richard Clarke who was running the show. With Dick and Wifey in the bunker with Bitcholeeza Rice and Dubya on his plane and no one really incharge.. it was this guy who was running the show for the first few hours. I have only gotten to 12:00pm by now, but it is very interesting to read this first hand account. Kind of traumatic also I suppose. 8:07:34 PM    comment [] The Tidal Wave Wired has a fascinating article on the Topsite phenomenon. Learn something new every day! Excerpt: 1. THE INSIDER Industry and theater employees run their own straight-to-video operations. Hackers looking for prerelease videogames target company servers. And before that long-awaited CD hits Amazon.com, moles inside disc-stamping plants have already got a copy. 2. THE PACKAGER The pirated goods are passed on to a release group. These groups take multi-gigabyte movie files and squeeze them down for easy online trading. 3. THE DISTRIBUTOR Release groups are known to have exclusive relationships with certain so-called topsites. These are the highly secretive sites at the top of the distribution pyramid. When a topsite operator drops a file, the avalanche begins. 4. THE COURIERS Alerted by release groups, worker bees spring into action, copying and transferring files from the topsites to lower-level dump sites, and then from there to P2P networks like Kazaa and Morpheus. For the couriers, the payoff is props from their peers and credits redeemable for goods on upper levels of the pyramid. 5. THE PUBLIC After the file is copied thousands of times the P2P networks saturate, allowing casual file-traders easy access to the newest movies, music, and videogames. 5:53:42 PM    comment [] George Bush is a Son-of-a-Whore Hey the homeless guy in boston said it. More here at Persian Blogger Chronicles (if you know Farsi that is). I tried posting a comment but it won't let me. What gives Alireza? 1:09:32 PM    comment [] Sweet Sweet Internet! First transaction of the year. I just purchased "Programming Ruby". Shipping estimate for these items: Jan 5 2005 - Jan 5 2005 Delivery estimate: Jan 7 2005 - Jan 13 2005 1 "Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide" With Chad Fowler and Andy Hunt Dave Thomas; Paperback; CDN$ 46.17 Not bad. I have decided NEVER to shop at INDIGO. Chindi-Holes seem to think that VB and .NET and JAVA are the only languages we should be interested in. Or at least that's what the 5 shelves filled (wall to wall) with MS and JAVA stuff indicate to me. Chief book lover can love me anytime she wants. In other news, I went to Red Cross Canada yesterday to give them a check and they looked me right in the eye and told me they were closed. It was 4:05pm and I believe they closed at 4pm. The door was closed and I tried to open it and some hippy wanna be asshole showed up at the door frantically trying to tell me they were closed. There were 3 other people behind him, with a look of disappointment on their faces. It appeared I had crashed their little "scoot party". The guy babbled on non-stop for about 2 minutes, as I kept staring him in the face. Finally, he stopped, looked at me and asked, "what is the reason that you are here?" and I said, "I'm here to give you a check for the tsunami relief. I would like to do it today if possible as it is the last day of the year". He looked at me for a few seconds not knowing what to say. At this point, a "respectable" looking bearded middle aged man stepped in from behind and told me "If you can get the check into a mailbox before mail pickup today, you will be issued a reciept with today's date on it." I just stared at them in disbelief. I was there. I had the checkbook in my hand. I wanted to write them a check. All they had to do was take the check and cut me a reciept or at least say they would mail me the reciept. But they just didn't want to bother. I walked back to my car in utter disbelief. I just couldn't believe it! I mean, how FUCKING CALLOUS one has to be - especially when one claims to work for a "Humanitarian" organization - to turn down money in the face just so you can make it to your lousy new year's parties. Nevermind the 150 thousand that just took it up the arse not even 2 days ago. Shame on you Red Cross! Then I tried OxFam. They were reachable by phone, but apparently the "volunteer" they had online was high on some illegal substance. I tried to ask him their exact location and he wasn't too sure and had to ask someone else, which is understandable if you are new etc. I decided to donate by credit card. After he had taken all the information, the card number, name address etc, He just wished me a Happy New year and was about to hang up. I was like whoa! what about the transaction? did it go through? is there a confirmation number? He couldn't give me a reference number after I pledged a large sum of money on my credit card. He also didn't know when it would be applied to the card. Apparently, it was all okay because he was just a "volunteer" doing me and everyone else in the world a FUCKING FAVOR by answering the phone. So I told him to cancel the whole thing and that I would pay online because the computers (thank the Lord) haven't started getting high and booting up after that. That wouldn't be so nice.. an apache server, high on silicone fumes showing me titty pages when all I wanted was the weather report. How can I trust these asinine organizations to do anything efficiently on the other side of the world, when they can't even properly take CASH! I don't know if the OxFam guy every cancelled my transaction. End result being that I am still wondering how to donate to the tsunami victims. I have no doubt that these assholes here will fuck things up before it ever gets there, if it ever gets there. mother fuckers! Pity the fools. I. Keywords: GTA Blogger Red Cross Tsunami Toronto OxFam A$$Hole$ 11:34:50 AM    comment []

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