Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Friday, December 12, 2008

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Friday, November 14, 2008

Watchmen Official Trailer


It's a good time for super-hero movies...

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Motivational Poster


A sample from a rather large collection of motivational posters I've gathered over the past year. I thought it might be best to let my players know what they can expect for tomorrow's session.

Source: I forgot...

Gem Wars World Map


Since my players kept losing it, I've uploaded the map of my DnD campaign to this blog. I hope this makes it clear where this blog got it's name.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Serenity: The Other Half

Firefly isn't completely over yet, with two published comics (Those Left Behind & Better Days) and another one in the works (The Shepherd's Tale).
And that's not even counting the free online Serenity Comic: The Other Half!

PS Firefly was named to best TV show of all time by a recent poll... again.
Sounds about right...

Source

Sunday, November 2, 2008

The continuation of the campaign

When we last left our heroes, they had just secured the gem of elements. After the great whale guardian was slain, the small fishing village nearby threw a large party, fed and lit by whale. Most of the heroes joined in on the festivities, but not all. Using the festival as a distraction, John Fox annexed one of the small fishing boats to help continue their quest. Using their newly acquired boat, they traveled to Lightpoint where they hoped to find a larger boat (and steal it without the cleric noticing) to take them to the Three Cities of Katarna where another gem might reside.
So shortly after arriving, they left the cleric behind and snuck away to the harbor. There they encountered a crowd gathered around two people arguing. A captain of a merchant ship was refusing to set sail to the Three Cities because of the danger. The merchant who owns the ship, is demanding that the captain does what he is told and that the rumors have no basis of truth. The merchant then cries out that if the captain won't do his job, he'll just find a new one. It's at this point that our heroes stepped forward and offered to captain the ship to the Three Cities. The merchant agreed, and the old captain disagreed. The next day they set sail with the merchant ship, onward to the next gem. However on the way there, they planned to steal the ship away from the merchant by making the crew rise up against him. They hid the food, and claimed the merchant had given them insufficient supplies to make the trip. After which they graciously 'bought' new food in one of the villages on the route. Then they forged a letter from the merchant that because of their tardiness no one would be getting paid. After all this the crew had no problem that the heroes raised the pirate flag and set sail for the Isles of Bones, a known pirate hide-out and possible location of one of the Gems of Power. Our heroes where well under way when disaster struck.
Under the cover of a massive storm, two water drakes attacked the boat. Despite being quickly dispatched by the heroes, the drakes did manage to damage the boat enough so that it capsized under the force of the storm. Our heroes where thrown into the water, able to save only a handful of the crew. They gathered the driftwood remains of the ship and created a simple raft. After a few days of drifting, they stranded on the Isles of Bones.But the island seemed deserted, a few pirate ships remained half-sunk it the bay of the island. They then set out to explore the island in search of the Gem of Power.
A few hours travel later, they found a cave where they set up their camp for the night. During the night zombies sprang up from deep inside the cave but were quickly destroyed by the cleric on guard. The next day they set out to explore the cave, only to find their old cleric at the end of it. He called out to the heroes, claiming that they had abandoned and replaced him. The cleric had killed the guardian that had been there and was now wearing the gem. the heroes quickly killed him but had more trouble with the Bone Nagas which had been under his control. They now had the Gem of Life but were stranded on an island with no way to get back to the main land.

The Human Brain

A list of 9 Brain Habits you didn't know you had

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Friday, October 3, 2008

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The campaign continues further

When we last left our heroes they had just left Devalon after promising the Steward to find the gems he was looking for and kill him (not necessarily in that order). They headed towards Digger's Pass where the Red Tower guard was searching for a gem until they were stopped. The party quickly retraced their steps and discovered a secret passage way which now stood perched open. Inside the secret tunnel they heard a scream coming from a nearby cave. They drew their weapons and charged ahead, only to be confronted by a conflagration ooze chasing after a girl. While they were fighting the ooze, two other humans showed up in their aid. Supposedly these two men had wandered into the caves from Underbridge, one of the towns which guards the entrance to Digger's Pass. With their help the ooze quickly died. The girl thanked our heroes and explained that she was from Aeriola, a city nearby. As the party and the rest of the world was unfamiliar with this city, she explained that it was a city deep in the mountains governed by the emissary of Hevate, Kroc. It was also Kroc who had saved her life by giving her part of his soul when she had an accident a long time ago. The party continued on to Aeriola and discovered a transport ooze in the caves abandoned by giants who lived here long ago. After luring it down with food, they climbed aboard and the cube ferried them to Aeriola. The city of Aeriola turned out to be a ring-link structure hovering around the largest mountain and the cube had to climb across a cable to get there. After reaching the city they were greeted by its Bluespawn guards. As a thank you for saving the girl they were taken to Kroc instead of being killed on sight. Confronted with the large blue dragon, Kroc, the party soon figured out that he was the guardian of the gem and went on the offensive. Beating back the palace guards on one side and the dragon on the other, they eventually came out victorious and secured the gem. Unfortunately the girl they rescued went up in flames and the city that Kroc was powering started falling down. Some quick thinking by the party enabled them to survive the impending doom. Two gems down, three to go. From the prophecy of the Formian queen, they figured out that the gem of elements is located in the bay of the reflected moon. They commandeered a boat to take them there and along the way heard legends of a sea monster that lives in that area. Putting op base in a small fishing village, they headed out to find this creature. After confronting the 300m whale, their only solution was to get themselves swallowed and attack from the inside out. The poor creature never stood a chance as a half-dragon crocodile made its way through its gut. Inside the carcass they found the gem. Feeling confident they set out to find the remaining gems.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Quote

A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.

Source

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Watchmen Motion Comic

A series launched by Warner Bros to introduce people to the Watchmen universe. It's the narrated and animated frames of the first few novels.

Friday, September 12, 2008

LHC Results

Wow, the results of the Large Hardon Collider (LHC) are just amazing. They just blew my mind. On the same day (10 September) that it was activated, the people visiting this blog more than doubled. On the next day (11 September), I had a hundred visitors, more than I've had in some months... Most of them interested in this blog post.
Somehow switching on the LHC and accelerating protons, changed the internet in a sense that directed lowly internet users to my blog. Intercepting them from their normal routine and forcing them to end up here. I'm not sure I understand how this is possible but I can't wait untill the first scientific papers start being published about this.
Also just imagine what will happen when they start doing the first tests on the 21st of October.

PS
Yes, it works
No, it didn't destroy the Earth

ApocalypseMart

Another story from NotAlwaysRight (Possibly the best one yet)

(It’s Halloween, and I’m dressed up as a vampire and wearing a pentacle necklace. The crew is planning on going out after work for a party.)

Me: “Did you find everything you needed tonight?”

Customer: “Yes, thank you. Can I just say that I think it was very nice of them to let you all dress up for tonight? I really like what you have on.”

Me: “Thank you, ma’am.”

Customer: “But don’t you think you took it a little too far?”

Me: “Uh… took what too far?”

Customer: “Well I understand that you’re supposed to be some type of vampire, but don’t you think that necklace is taking it too far?”

Me: “Oh, that. That’s not part of my costume, I always wear that.”

Customer: *loudly* “Well if you want to risk burning in H*** for wearing that devil worshiping symbol, that’s just fine with me… but they shouldn’t be letting you wear that here in a public place!”

Me: *sarcastically* “Well, why shouldn’t they let me wear it? After all, we all practice together and I’m the high priestess. In fact as soon as you leave, we’re gonna close up the store, start a bonfire in the parking lot, and then dance naked around it until dawn.”

Customer, to one of my managers: “Aren’t you going to do anything about what she said to me?”

Manager #1: “Yes, ma’am. As soon as you leave, we’re going to close the store.”

Customer: “THAT’S IT?!”

Manager #2: “Of course not, ma’am. You heard the rest of our… plans.”

(And with the kind of timing that only happens once in a lifetime, a stock boy unwittingly walks out of the back room while taking his uniform shirt off at the same time. The customer practically runs out of the store.)


Source

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

D&D Made Simple

For Real?

Fan made perhaps? It does remind of the viral marketing for The Dark Knight...

Children vs Teachers

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.
The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah.
The teacher asked, What if Jonah went to hell?
The little girl replied, Then you ask him.

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray

Take only ONE. God is watching.

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.
A child had written a note,

Take all you want. God is watching the apples.


More

Mac Upgrade

Source: Unsure...

Thursday, August 28, 2008

In-flight entertainment

If you’re sitting next to someone on a plane who irritates you, try doing this:

  1. Quietly and calmly open up your laptop case.
  2. Remove your laptop.
  3. Start it up.
  4. Make sure the fellow traveller who is annoying you can see the screen.
  5. Close your eyes and tilt your head up to the sky and move your lips like you are praying.
  6. Then click here.
Source

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Warhammer 40k

And all of it's tropes... (which are a lot)
If you don't know 40k or tropes, this is a good a place as any to start.

One of them gives a good description of the universe and the associated tropes:
Trope Overdosed (We reiterate: 40k contains examples of damn near everything, most of it trying to kill you.)

Wikihistory

This is what will happen if we invent time travel...

Friday, July 25, 2008

Common misconceptions

The wikipedia artikel. There's some interesting stuff there and I think a lot of pointless discussions could be avoided if everyone would just read this.

Example:
French fries probably originated in Belgium. There are at least two etymologies. One says that the name comes from the cooking term "to french" which means to cut food into strips, hence they are "frenched and fried". The other and more probable explanation is connected with US soldiers in Belgium during the World War II. People in the southern part of the country speak French. French fries are something like a national dish in Belgium.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Cyborg name


Cybernetic Electronic Neohuman Trained for Rational Observation and Nullification



Fun application
which deciphers your cyborg name.

Monday, July 21, 2008

DnD Comic

This sounds like something our group would think of, leaving large number of plot lines kicking and screaming in their wake.

How many forum members does it takes to change a light bulb?

1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed
14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently
7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs
1 to move it to the Lighting section
2 to argue then move it to the Electricals section
7 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs
5 to flame the spell checkers
3 to correct spelling/grammar flames
6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb" ... another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid
2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is "lamp"
15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that "light bulb" is perfectly correct
19 to post that this forum is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb forum
11 to defend the posting to this forum saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this forum
36 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty
7 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs
4 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's
3 to post about links they found from the URL's that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group
13 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too"
5 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy
4 to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"
13 to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs"
1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again.


Source

Tenth Dimesion

A presentation of what it could be. Never has the term mind-boggling seemed more appropriate.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Dr. Horrible


The first Act is here!
Unfortunately at the time of posting, the server is down...

So to stem your appetites, here's the online comic for Captain Hammer

EDIT: It's up again

Monday, July 14, 2008

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Large Hardon Collider Results

Source: I Can't Draw Feet

Dating advice

A post describing 9 Reasons Not to Date a Tyrannosaurus rex. Some may come as a shock to you T-rex lovers out there.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Wheel of Time comic

Apparently the Dabel brothers have announced that they are going to make a comic out of the Wheel of Time series. Should be something to look forward to.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Top 150 msn names

I'm not a big fan of ever-changing msn names, it gets kind of confusing. But there's some funny and original things on this list, unlike some other people I know (yes, you know who you are...).

A short sample:

Life is like an analogy.

The Vending Machine Theory: "Stuff tastes better when it falls."

He who laughs last probably does not get the joke

How to destroy the Earth

A comprehensive guide, possibly interesting if you're looking into a carrier as super-villain

DidYouKnow

A very long list...

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Unforgotten Realms






See all of the episodes here

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Top 10 battle scenes

An attempt made by Askmen.com. And thanks to the miracle of youtube you can watch them all again...

Acapella

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

World of World of Warcraft


'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing 'Warcraft'

Monday, June 9, 2008

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Deer hunting

Gone horribly horribly wrong....

The Zombie Apocalypse?

Is it already here?

I don't really agree with the threat levels in this article, but it's fun to read.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Ron Hubbard

Ron Hubbard, for those of you who don't know, is the founder of Scientology. He's also done some other things in his life or so he claims...

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

5 improvements in Firefox 3

In a recent post, I talked about the launch of the new Mozilla browser Firefox 3 and Download day.
But why should you bother upgrading your Firefox?

Well here's five good reasons

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Deepest pool in the world...

... is apparently located in Brussels (Ukkkel), did not know that.

Disasters

Friday, May 30, 2008

Interplanetary travel

Even this has it's hick-ups

Download Day

Apparently Firefox 3 is going to try to set the record for most downloaded software in 24 hours.
You can pledge yourself here or just keep an eye out on the progress...

I'm definitely going to give a try. Firefox 2 has been great to me and some of the new features seem interesting (I already have some ideas for the full zooming options). But I think it will ultimately come down to if it starts up/loads pages faster than Firefox 2 or not, at least for me...

Every Damn Morning


Source: XKCD

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

When I'm gone... (Part 1/2)

A new Centron story at long last... This one deals with the disappearance of Centron during one of the game sessions (Centron is played by me in an ongoing Mutants and Mastermind campaign). For those not in my group reading this (I'd be surprised if there are any...), the campaign deals with a group of super heroes in your typical super hero filled world.


The reading were off the charts, so much for the South Pole being a safe and quiet location. The rest had gone out to investigate the source of the strange occurrence but I'd stayed behind to make sense of it all. There was something going on and I was going to get to the bottom of it. And just when things couldn't get any worse, an alarm sounded. A security breach. Then everything went dark...
The next thing I knew I was lying in a bed. Not just any bed but my bed. At least it used to be my bed a little over a year ago before I got trapped inside a robotic body and was thrown into the world of super heroics. But everything was different, I could feel, smell and hear just as I used to. No static, no scanning lines, nothing. And when I closed my eyes I could actually feel my heart beat. I was human again.

Is this a dream? Or could it be that the past few months were the dream? Then my cupboard growled and shook. I jumped out of the bed and took cover behind it. The cupboard doors shook widely clapping in and out, making a banging noise each time. Through the cracks in the door I saw the silhouette of a large beast, eyes glowing and steam rising. The growls grew more menacing and each time the cupboard seemed to grow until it took in most of the room. I closed my eyes and the entire room shook. Then it became quiet...
When I opened my eyes again I was alone in a ball room. I could see my reflection in one of the many mirrors. It was true, I was human again and I was in my old body. I was sharply dressed and a little younger then I should be. This would be a dream if it wasn't a nightmare in disguise. Then I heard a voice behind me.
'I've finally got you, you're mine now'

I turned around and saw a young guy sitting on the great steps into the ball room. He was pale and thin, had green hair and several piercings. But other than that he was dressed in a tuxedo, with a high hat and cane. The combination made it look like he had just stolen someone else's clothes.
'Who are you, what do you want with me?'
The man grinned at me, showing off a set of yellow teeth.
'Who I am is not important. But know that this is my domain and that I am God here'
He snapped his fingers and a hint of music started to play.
' You hacked in to my positronic matrix, you exploited my global link with the radio waves to gain a connection. If you know what's good for you then you stop this at once.'
The ill-dressed man laughed.
'Good, they told me you were smart. You were something else. I've never seen a human mind written down in code before. It was a challenge to get the algorithms right and now you are nothing more than any other computer system to me. I have control over everything, with a simple double click.'
And with that, the scene sprang to life. People started dancing around us and the music grew intenser. I recognized it now, I was here many years ago at the Sirianni company ball with Sarah. It was the night of the accident, in a few hours...
And then it all disappeared and I stood in a dark forest. Again I heard his voice, but saw him no where.
'I giveth and I taketh away'

'I've got friends and once they find out what you've done, they'll come after you'
'I wouldn't count on it. I parked your body in a corner somewhere and activated that little robot you had been working on to let your 'friends' know that you had to go somewhere and they shouldn't worry. If you don't mind I named it Crux, a fitting name for your substitute.'
'They'll figure it out what you did...' I wondered here who I meant by 'they'. Most of my present company wouldn't know to use a differential or an integral to calculate the surface under a curve if their mortal lives depended on them.
The forest grew darker and darker until the entire world was black.
'What are you going to do to me?'
'Oh, just some reprogramming'

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Marcus Brigstocke

Television Tropes

One of the best wiki sites I've ever seen, featuring articles such as:

Dis Continuity

Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense Of Scale

Monday, May 19, 2008

Saturday, May 17, 2008

DnD Character or Skin Disease



Being a bio-engineer kinda helped with this, but it was still surprisingly hard...

Friday, May 16, 2008

Galaxy Quest


Never give up, Never Surrender!
Apparently they're making a comic sequel of the movie Galaxy Quest.
Read more about it here

Thursday, May 15, 2008

New quote

With or without religion you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion.

- Steven Weinberg

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Thursday, May 8, 2008

How to survive your work day

Quote

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
Arthur Schopenhauer

Friday, May 2, 2008

Defense

Source: SMBC

Einstein’s chauffeur

When Albert Einstein was making the rounds of the speaker’s circuit, he usually found himself eagerly longing to get back to his laboratory work. One night as they were driving to yet another rubber-chicken dinner, Einstein mentioned to his chauffeur (a man who somewhat resembled Einstein in looks and manner) that he was tired of making speeches.

“I have and idea, boss,” his chauffeur said. “I’ve heard you
give this speech so many times. I’ll bet I could give it for you.”

Einstein laughed loudly and said, “Why not? Let’s do it!”

When they arrive at the dinner, Einstein donned the chauffeur’s cap and jacket and sat in the back of the room. The chauffeur gave a beautiful rendition of Einstein’s speech and even answered a few questions expertly.

Then a supremely pompous professor asked an extremely esoteric question about anti-matter formation, digressing here and there to let everyone in the audience know that he was nobody’s fool.

Without missing a beat, the chauffeur fixed the professor with a steely stare and said, “Sir, the answer to that question is so simple that I will let my chauffeur, who is sitting in the back, answer it for me.”

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Science behind Iron Man

Interesting read, especially if you just saw the movie...

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Friday, April 25, 2008

8 (Pointless) Laws All Comic Book Movies Follow

Read them here. But that movie is a sequel and that didn't have a ... No, wait it did...

Monday, April 21, 2008

Saturday, April 19, 2008

What if?

What goes on inside that computer of yours?

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

NS Evolution

A New Scientist special on misconceptions on Evolution.
Some interesting reads.
Especially this one.

Zombie Emergency Procedure

Monday, April 14, 2008

Should you?

Skynet?

Is this how it begins? Apparently some of the robots used in the Iraq war displayed strange behavior which I can only describe as 'turning on their makers' and have now been recalled. It wouldn't be a problem if these robots were those small anti-land mine things. No, these were the ones with the mounted machine guns...

Picture

Some cool photoshop work here. It's too big to fit the entire picture unto this blog...

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Greatest April Fool’s Hoaxes Of All Time

#10: Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity

In 1976 the British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth’s own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.


More here

Monday, April 7, 2008

Skippy's List

213 things he can no longer in the US army.

Great Truths

A site with some great truths, as learned by children.

Strange

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Coolest game never made

Command & Conquer: Continuum (Cancelled)

Command & Conquer: Continuum was to be Westwood's second MMORPG, developed on the "Westwood 3D" engine, set in the Tiberian Universe. It was canceled, due to the termination of Westwood Studios in 2003. As said by Adam 'Ishmael' Isgreen and Rade Stojsavljevic, it was supposed to be a non-stand-and-swing MMORPG, featuring:

  • Instanced "crisis zones" in it, hubbed flight routes, scripted boss battles, and a lot of other ideas that have shown up in all the MMORPG since.
  • GDI, Nod, Mutants and CABAL. Scrin to be added later. Los Angeles half underwater, Area 51, Dino island, Newark airport, a mutant city and lots more.
  • Fluid and movement-oriented combat, unlike most MMORPGs. Range was important for weapons use, and there were layers of counters for the weapon types.
  • Creatures that had many console-game-boss sensibilities, in that you could expose weaknesses on them and then hit those for extra damage.
  • A moving and evolving Tiberian world, where the players could play a great role in the entire story.
Source: Wikipedia

If you were a fan of the original CnC series you'd know why this sounds cool. Why, EA, why? And I thought Generals was to worst thing to happen to the CnC universe (don't even get me started), apparently I was wrong.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Theory vs Experiment

A theory is something nobody believes, except the person who made it.
An experiment is something everybody believes, except the person who made it.

Source

One Sentence

Site I stumbled upon. True stories in a single sentence. Some funny, some sad and some weird.

Creationism

Monday, March 31, 2008

This Land

I found this surfing the internet. If you don't understand this, shame on you!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Five surgeons

Five surgeons were taking a coffee break and discussing their work. "I think accountants are the easiest to operate on," said the first surgeon. "You open them up and everything inside is numbered."

"I think librarians are the easiest to operate on," said the second. "You open them up and everything inside is in alphabetical order."

"I like to operate on electricians," said the third. "You open them up and everything inside is color-coded."

"I like to operate on lawyers," said the fourth. "They're heartless, spineless, gutless, and their heads and their asses are interchangeable."

"I like engineers," said the fifth. "They always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end..."

Source : HumorArchives

Password

More from NotAlwaysRight

(We get a LOT of calls like this.)

Him: “I locked myself out of my computer, and I cant get in and I need to get in! My password doesn’t work!”

Me: “Okay, we can do a password reset for you.”

Him: “This is really important, I need to be able to log in!”

Me: “Okay, sir, no problem. Can you just verify your login ID for me?”

Him: *verifies*

Me: “Okay, great. Now can you verify that your Caps Lock is not on?”

Him: “What? That’s stupid, why would I…oh.” *silence*

Me: “Sir?”

Him: “…it just worked all of a sudden, thanks.”

Me: “…”


Source : NotAlwaysRight

A Sign


Source : Sinfest

Friday, March 28, 2008

More Stories

Been reading more of them on 365 tomorrows.

All quite short (less than 600 words) and some of them are quite decent.
Some of my favorites so far:
Birthday Boy
Take Me To Your Leader
A Mother's love
Turing Test (if you don't know what a turing test is, here's the wikipedia entry)

Go out with a Bang

Short story on a site filled with short stories.

New Words

Aquadextrous (adj.) Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off with your toes.

Arachnoleptic Fit (n.) The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

Beelzebug (n.) Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at 3 in the morning and cannot be cast out.


More here

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Celebrity comic book cameos

Sometimes a celebrity will appear in a comic book and it can be good if done well. But that isn't always the case. Some of these are just plain wrong...

If only... (Part 3/3)

The final part of this Centron story. If you haven't been following, here's the beginning.

I was glad when I want to get a few new transistors and I didn't find Chloe waiting for me. I'd have gone somewhere else, if I'd trusted another shop to have what I needed. But this was a special electronics store for a special clientel. The owner was a bit strange and looked as if he had been shocked one to many times. But that's okay, I'm not exactly normal and the guy is a genius when it comes to hardware. However, whenever I deal with him, he looks at me like he wants to take me apart. We also usually don't do small talk, which I like but this time he felt talkative.
"Your friend isn't here today. It's strange because she came here every other day"
She probably finally came to her senses and stopped chasing dreams. What is it with humans and their dreams? I can barely remember what they were like, but -
"Must have something to do with that guy yesterday." The shop keeper continued "Seemed like a big agrument and him then dragging her off like that."
My thought patrons stopped and suddenly my mind flooded with the electronic chatter. Radio waves are everywhere and it's gotten worse with the global WiFi project. And I can feel them all, like waves carrying botled messages that keep crashing into me. The police band shouted in my ear.
< ... female caucassian child found dead ... battered ... assualted ... identification Carpenter, ... father wanted for questioning ... whereabouts unknown ...>
If only I - Suddenly I could actually hear something clicking in my positronic brain. The presence that lingered called out for access. Within moments my very thoughts directed the central processing unit of the moon base to start the facial recognition software via three satelites and a local router. The police might not know where he is, but I had found my target and only one thought remained. It was as if I watched from a distance as the body that I currently possess flew out of the store and headed to the nearby motel.
It wasn't hard to find him. It's as if he wanted to be found, as if he was rubbing it in.
The door did not demonstrate to be an obstacle. And then I was face to face with a man, if you could even call it that. Within moments I had him pinned against the wall. He wasn't that though against some one his own size. "I didn't do it, whatever you think I did, I'm innocent" I let him ramble on a bit as my hand squeezed down on his neck. The presence cried out for blood, drained fresh from the fleshy creature. My hand shook as it desired to be bathed in the red substance. Every thought went out to the small girl who had asked for my autograph, the one person in the world maybe worth saving. But I was held back by a final memory. "They bring the bad guys to justice".
It didn't take long to drop him off at the nearest police station, and I waited long enough to see them cuff him and drag him in.

So here I am, standing on a tall appartement building. I've already contacted Shade and he's on his way so I just need to stall a bit. The van speeds around the corner, money bills fly out as the driver punches the gas once more. From here I can see that he's covered in scales, so this should prove to be interesting. Let's be a hero.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Metro messages

"To the gentleman wearing the long grey coat trying to get on the second carriage -- what part of 'stand clear of the doors' don't you understand?"

More here

Save me... (Part 2/3)

The continuation of the Centron story I posted yesterday

I honestly can't understand girls. I've found it more difficult to relate to humans since my recent accident but young girls are a completely seperate enigma. Especially this one. The self-proclamed biggest fan named Chloe just became quiet and stared for a while, as if she gathered up all her courage.
"Could I have your autograph?"
This sounded a bit too familair for my taste. All I wanted was a metagraph for my analysis...
"I'm sorry, I think you have me confused with some one else"
The small girl gave me a look indicating that there weren't a lot of cyborgs walking around New York these days.
"Nope, you're definitly the super hero; Centron"
"I'm no hero, small human"
"But you stopped a murdering robot and vanquished a terrible vampire"
This is one well-informed girl.
"It's more complex than that, there's more to being a hero than just killing bad guys"
Chloe seemed startled by what I said.
"Of course there is, heroes don't kill 'em, they bring the bad guys to justice"
This is where I gave in. I wasn't in the mood and had a space ship to repair. I tore off a piece of the receipt I got and cribble my name. Chloe beams with excitement as I give her the paper.
"Thank you very much. I'll treasure this. But I'd better get going before my dad gets angry at me for staying away for so long."
She runs away and I walk into an alley. I jump up and take flight. It takes me about two minutes to leave Earth's atmosphere and this usually gives me time to think. This time I thought up new and inventive ways for Shade to do these pick ups for me.

Unfortunatly a few days later I find myself in the city yet again. The thermal transducer broke which I needed for my infra red spectral analysis of the ship. I was quite suprised when I saw Chloe standing next to the electronics shop where I had met her a while ago. When she saw me, she jumped up and run towards me.
"I knew you'd be back. I've been coming here everyday after school in the hope of seeing you. No one believed me at school when I said I met you."
"What is it you want this time, child? You already have my autograph"
She suddenly looked down.
" ... I lost that ... but I have a better proposal"
"Which would be?"
"Well... could I be your sidekick?"
"Why would I need a sidekick?"
As I said this, the prospect of some one to pick up stuff did seem very appealing.
"Eeuhm... I'd always be by your side, helping you fight crime, delivering witty comments when the oppurtunity presented itself and you'd come and save me whenever I get kidnapped and stuff."
However the annoyance of coming down every few days to shop seemed less than that of having to babysit a child. I have enough of that with Shade.
"Sorry, not really interested"
With that I walked away but I had a feeling she wasn't going to give up just yet.

Monday, March 24, 2008

A strange creature indeed... (Part 1/3)

Part 1 of 3 of an extra story about Centron (The first of many if I have my way)

I rarely visit New York anymore. There's no need, nothing to do here, no evil corperations to bring down and no one for me here. I prefer it on the base anyway, away from humans who remind me of a forgotten past. And it's been very quiet these past few weeks. Not even the type of quiet that comes before the storm. It's the usual quiet where people go about their lives, stuff happens but nothing I really need to concern myself with.

But unfortunately if I want to get this alien ship analysed I need some supplies and since Shade isn't around on the count of it being so quiet, I need to go get them myself. Here I am, brain the size of a planet and I'm doing grocery shopping.
I've had to select my suppliers carefully and dress up in hat and long trench coat to go do these things. And then I still get strange looks walking down the street. People fear the things that they don't know and a human mind trapped inside an android body is right up there with spikey hair guy wagging his tail.

They all react the same. Suddenly crossing the street, whispering among themselves. But I don't mind or even care, not since I became this way or maybe even before.
As I walk away from a recent heavy duty metagraph purchase, I find my way suddenly blocked by a small creature gazing up at me. I look down to analyse the obstacle. A child, no more than twelve years of age, wide eyed, bewildered and with a tiny voice.
"It's is you, isn't it? You're part of that new super hero team that's been protecting the city recently."
This is a new reaction to people meeting me for the first time.
"What's it to you, small human?"
"I've been following your adventures in the papers since you guys formed. I've even saved all of the clippings. My father always tells me off about it, says you're no more than a bunch of renegades. But I know better. And out of all of them, I think you're the coolest."
With a large smile, the tiny girl adds
"My name is Chloe Carpenter and I'm your biggest fan"

V for Vendetta in Kinetic Typography

Iron Man New Trailer

Tropic Thunder Trailer

Error Messages

More here

Comic Urban Legens

Some good reads.
I like the one about Kevin Smith killing of a character which he wasn't supposed to.
Or how all the alliterationsin comic book character names was because Stan Lee couldn't remember them all...

A Strange Pain...

Christopher Cobb had a knack for dying and not staying dead.

When he was young, Christopher was the smartest kid in class. Everybody knew he was going to make it big some day, however it's these types of kids, like Christopher was, that make excellent targets for bullies and such. He would later look back on his childhood as being a very unhappy one, one with no friends and all time spent behind a computer or pulling apart some mechanical device. All of the therapists he would later frequent, would attribute this period of his life the fault for his lack of faith in humanity.

Of course, once he got out of high school and into a prestigious university that changed, a bit. He tried to spend as much time as he could alone but now he had a very social room mate, named Barry Bovinski. Barry was in the university's athletics team, had a sports scholarship and was determined to get Christopher away from his computer every second he could. He dragged him to every party he knew about and they soon became friends. It was at one of these parties that he met Sarah Sirianni and it wasn't long before he fell madly in love with her. Sarah was an arts major, ballet dancer and daughter of Mister Sirianni, founder and CEO of Sirianni Tech. Those few years were the happiest of Christopher's life. His therapist would later tell him to embrace this time and not shun it. Christopher would say that the only purpose those years served, were to give him false hope.

Things got bad in Christopher's third year. He accidentally found a strange bottle of medication in the room and confronted Barry about it. Barry told him that it were just some pills to give him the 'edge' that he had gotten from his trainer. Christopher pleaded with him to stop and Barry said he would. But after a bad run, Barry started taking them again and Christopher found out. He asked again if he would stop but Barry got angry with him and they got into a fight. Afraid of what the drugs were doing to Barry, Christopher went to tell the Dean. This was followed by a massive investigation and Barry among a few others were expelled.
If that wasn't bad enough, a few months later whilst driving back from visiting Sarah's parents, Christopher and Sarah got into an accident when they hit a tree that fell onto the road as their car was passing by. Luckily a passerby saw the crash and called an ambulance. Both of them were quickly rushed to hospital. Whilst in the ambulance, Christopher almost died when he went into cardiac arrest but was revived in time by the doctors. Unfortunately Sarah wasn't lucky, and upon arriving at the hospital she was declared dead.
It took several months for Christopher to fully recover and he was never the same again. He became more of a shut-in than he had ever been before and had developed a limp, even though the doctors could find nothing wrong with his knee. This is around the time he was forced on wave upon wave of therapists, who all described his limp as survivor's guilt.

Christopher soon found a way to vent his anger at world by writing computer viruses that tormented thousands of computers. He continued this until he was caught and banned from using any computer for three years, not to mention pay a serious fine. And this is where Urban Explorations came in. They offered to pick up his tab and at the end of the three years, offered him a job at their company. He was to work on a new kind of virtual interface. With his unfriendly attitude and general dislike of other people, he soon became loathed by his colleagues. When the time came to test the machine, they were all glad that he had gotten the short straw.
It was during this test that Christopher died again. While they were loading his mind into the computer a power drain knocked out all of the electricity in the Urban Explorations building. What happened to Christopher's mind was similar to what happens to your game if you shut of your game boy whilst saving. Without a mind, his body soon died and Christopher was trapped inside the Urban Exploration main frame. His mind sought a way out, a way to interact with the world. He found this in a forgotten corner in the basement. A long abandoned project where they tried to reverse engineer an android that had came from outer space to wreak havoc on the Earth a number of years back. The reason of the discontinued was a presence suddenly appearing in the body, a dark and vile presence. Efforts to remove it failed. And in the end it was deemed too dangerous and the project was scrapped.

In his new body, Christopher escaped the building but was soon captured by two super heroes, Copycat and Shade. Brought back to Urban Explorations, he was presented with a new job offer, help a newly formed super hero squad. Christopher reluctantly agreed.
With the loss of his own body and implantment inside a robotic body, he felt utterly disconnected from humanity and his world was a dark and cold place. In fact, as far as he was concerned Christopher Cobb was dead and he was something new. He called himself Centron and severed all of his ties with his former life. The only thing that still reminded him of his previous existence was a strange pain in his knee.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Rising Sun (pt 2)

Rising Sun Corp.
MEMO: 1789.2.29 (ARCHIVED)

As instructed I've kept a close eye on the crew currently occupying the Firefly-class formerly known as X-913.
One of my agents recently managed to board the ship under false pretenses and I now have a limited feed aboard the ship.

Since my last report the crew left Hera to head out to Greenleaf. They took on cargo and passengers both legally. From what I could tell, the first part of their journey was quiet. However a number of the passengers on board weren't who they say they were. But then who is nowadays? Because of a course miscalculation they had to stop at New Melbourne for additional fuel. It was in the second part of the journey that things became interesting. First they passed an Old Trans-U model, which I can only assume was a real Reaver ship, not one of ours. No incident occurred however. Later in the journey one of the passengers was murdered and the crew timely rounded up the suspects and made a quick investigation. They reached the conclusion that it was a suicide, I'm not inclined to agree with that fact but it's really of no concern. The reason their investigation came to an abrupt end was that they were intercepted by an Alliance ASREV, apparently the murdered passenger was carrying an emergency signal ring. The Allaince told them to stand down and prepare to be boarded. They let the ASREV dock but opened fire as he marshals boarded the ship. With use of grenades they made quick work of the Alliance officer and their ship. After this encounter they quickly returned on their journey to Greenleaf, abandoning the derelict ASREV in the hope that they wouldn't get caught by the Alliance.

Some interesting observations I've been able to make using the new feed.
The ship's pilot, Luz is continuing with his endeavor to check for listening devices of various sorts, he has yet to find ours but with his persistence I'm worried how long it will last. He also seems to have an innate distrust in people, even members of his own crew. We might be able to use this later.
The ship's captain, Nathaniel seems to handle well under pressure, making split decisions, taking quick control of a situation and coming up with complex plans in a moment's notice. He also seems to appose the Alliance and doesn't seem to have a problem with killing. His first priorities seem to be to his crew and not getting caught. I'm confident that he will also display these qualities on any missions we send him on and thus could be a valuable ally. We will of course at that time have to make it clear that it is in his best interest to help us.
The ship's engineer remains a mystery, my team still has not found any background about him. What worries me more now, is that he has shown himself to be more than capable in combat. I'm uncertain if he's a danger to our plans or his own intentions.
The ship's companion has taken permanent residence in one of the shuttles, using it to fly to one clients she might have. She has shown herself to be more than willing to help the crew, even on their more obscure jobs.

I'd also like to express concern that another corporation might be keeping an eye on the crew. I can't really say anything right now but I will let you know something when I know more.

Regards,

Black

May I take your order?

Chinese - English menu with very liberal translations.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

An Expensive Temper Tantrum

Great story that's definitely worth a read on Notalwaysright (which I recommend you also bookmark because there some really great stuff there updated regularly).

Monday, March 17, 2008

The White Lobster

An island where hardly anyone works and yet everyone is very rich. So what's their secret? The White Lobster.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Diverting course

Downright cruel

How can you be so harsh and yet so cool at the same time. A story of a man who finally got back at his neighbours.

Friday, March 14, 2008

E-Mail Travel Distance

I've been reading a lot of stories lately about tech support services and the funny things people ask, but this story tops it all. It's not really funny but it's a really head scratcher. Apparently the statistics department of a campus in the USA could no longer send emails further away than 500 miles...

My only trouble with it is that it's kinda technical at some points (although I can't really think of a better way to explain it).

Lego Death Star

Sometimes I wonder what target audience Lego has these days, because this thing is just gorram impressive

The Ring

This would be an interesting idea for a third movie (or fourth, how many are there?)

Source: xkcd

Monday, March 10, 2008

John Cleese’s “Letter to America”

He's finally fed up with it and takes the only remaining action.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Rising Sun (pt 1)

Rising Sun Corp.
MEMO: 1789.2.15 (ARCHIVED)

I've acquired the data core and have sent it along the agreed delivery route.

As I mentioned in my last report (index 1789.2.07), contact was made with Nathaniel Hawk and an agreement was reached for him and his crew to retrieve the data core from the Prometheus research station.
After a single meeting, I directed him towards Jim's Used Space Ship Lot where I had made agreements to have the Firefly-class ship X-913 delivered upon payment of 2100 credits. A point of interest on the character of Captain Hawk is that even though he was made aware of the arrangement, the proprietor of the ship yard managed to swindle the full 3000 credits that I had given Nathaniel for the ship and repairs.
After inspecting the ship, Nathaniel hired a crew to do the job.
The first he hired was a pilot by the name of Luz. I would like to note that I'm unsure at this point if this man is a danger to our operation. Outwardly he seems innocent, but he searched his own ship various times for listening devices, obstructing any attempts I would make to place them. My sources also tell me that he throughly investigates any abnormalities that might indicate tampering. I have put in a request for a more detailed background check on Luz.
Nathaniel also hired a mechanic. A second troublesome figure, who might be a problem. I tried my own background check on the mechanic but could not find a single record on the cortex. Thus far I have even been unable to confirm his name. The only thing I can report is that he attires himself in black garments with black sun glasses and never goes anywhere without a gun.
Nathaniel also has taken on a companion, Morena. At first she was a passenger but now she has permanently taken residence in one of the ships shuttles. I've been unable to find anything out of the ordinary about her but I'm going to get in touch with my contacts within the Guild.

Despite my original doubts, the crew performed admirably and efficiently in retrieving the data core. Morena and the mechanic swiftly acquired the location of the Prometheus station from Harker, who as I had reported had in turn learned the location from merchants who had stumbled across the station.

However it should be noted that Nathaniel showed some questionable behavior. While on the mission to retrieve the data core, he also took along some passengers and some cargo, namely a race horse bound for Beaumonde. My sources tell me that on route to Beaumonde the crew woke up to find the horse missing without a trace. One of the passengers by the name of Don was then discovered covered in blood and eating an unknown meat-like substance. He's also reported to have been very delusional. The response of Captain Hawk was to dump the horse container on Whitefall and abandon the passenger on Beaumonde.
I've sent a more detailed report to the psycho-analysts to determine if this kind of behavior can be used to our advantage.

Following the psychological report and background checks, I believe that this crew has potential and it would be in the best of the companies interest to keep an eye on them. I also strongly recommend them for any future mission that need to be run in this area.

Regards,

Black

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Night Sky

A tutorial about finding constellations in the night sky. Always nice to know where Jupiter is...

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

10 Disasters that could end it all at any given second.

Here you can find 10 causes which could obliterate the entire human race in a short amount of time. This includes thinking ourselves out of existence.

As to when this tragedy will happen, I refer to the blog of a friend of mine

Monday, March 3, 2008

4th edition review

A review for the newest version of dnd.
I'm not sure lyrical covers this....

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Sunday, February 24, 2008

The Ongoing Campaign

The third segment of my ongoing campaign (quite some time since the last time)

The heroes had just vanquished a bandit camp terrorizing Stonedelve. The only clue they had found was a letter with dates and times stamped with a seal featuring a Red Tower. They continue their march north until they encounter a pregnant woman being plagued by two bandits. Both bandits were wearing an armband with the same Red Tower symbol as the letter that was found. They killed the bandits and save the woman who says her name is Shari. She says she was visiting family nearby and was now on her way back to Underbridge. But our heroes think she's lying, and they will later turn out to be correct. She decides that she will accompany them on the journey north.
Eventually they arrive in Fourstones where people have been going missing. During their stay Mercurios, the elven cartographer disappears. After a frivolous search the heroes find nothing except that men have been seen around the village at night wearing armbands. They depart the now named Four Slightly Smaller Stones to search for clues in the area, leaving Shari waiting in the inn. They eventually end up in Underbridge, without the pregnant Shari.
There they discover a city in trouble. Digger's Pass, invaluable for trade with the rest of Devalon, has been flooded and an emergency city guard has been razed of mercenaries under the command of a merchant named Neil Grater. The baron of Underbridge has taken ill and is no longer leaving his mansion. The son and daughter-in-law of the baron are gone to visit relatives far away, this effectively leaves the city in the hands of the questionable Neil Grater and a small contingent of Red Tower guards sent by the Steward of Devalon. The heroes are convinced of Grater's roll in all of it but cannot prove anything. After they meet him and mention a local inn keeper who has spoken out against him, they find the man's inn burned to the ground. Grater offers them stay at his inn, and showers the female party members with gifts. Unable to enter Grater's mansion or pay a visit to the baron, they decide to explore Digger's Pass. They not only find it trapped but also find Red Tower guards and Grater's sorceror, Gardon running an operation out of an abondonned segment of the tunnel network. They attack Gardon and the guards, capturing Gardon. He confesses that they have been using slaves that they kidnapped from neighboring village to dig in the tunnel in search of a mysterious gem.
They take Gardon to Grater's manion along with all of the slaves they freed and demand he give up. Grater reluctantly agrees and is taken into custody by the real town guards. They reunite the baron with his son and they are handsomely rewarded. The son then leaves after learning that his wife, Shari, is in Fourstones.
Our heroes bid their farewells and set off through Digger's Pass towards Devalon and the insidious Steward. At a brisk pace they arrive quickly at the capital and use the armbands from the captured Red Tower guards to disguise themselves. They report in and convinces the local guards that the bring a message for the Steward. They confront him with all that they have learned and he thanks them for stopping the plot in Underbridge. The Steward reveals that he knows who the adventures are and has heard of their exploits. He know wishes to hire them for a dire mission. He explains that he only sent the Red Tower guard to Underbridge to secure the gem hidden in Digger's Pass and that they misinterpreted his orders. The gem he seeks is one of five gems of power. It is through these gems that the gods manifest their power on the world. These gems have suddenly started evil, corrupting everything around them, including their guardians. The Steward already has one gem, the emerald of Maitri which was secured from a temple near Smallbank. The guardian linked to the gem regenerates daily and to prevent this from happening the emerald is kept in a special box. His only intention is to find the gems and perform the purification ritual. And he asks the heroes if they would find them for him. They agree, but only if they take the emerald of Maitri and all copy's of the book detailing the cleansing ritual. Right before they leave, they promise that after they will come back within two weeks to kill the Steward.

Answered questions:

Why is part of the woods near Treeshine and Stonedelve evil?
What happened to the guardian of the temple of Maitri?
Why did the giant's youths turn into ogres?
What is the mysterious gem and how is it linked to the salamander and the rest of the plot?

New unanswered questions:

What do the new dreams that the party has been having mean?
Why are the gems of power turning evil?
Where are they all hidden?
What is the goal of the Steward, is it as he says or is there more?
How much more is there to the legend of the gems?
Why is it that no one has found the gem in Digger's Pass when the location is so obvious?
What other mysteries does the tunnel network of Digger's Pass hold?
What happened to Grater and his men, is it safe to assume that they are gone for good?

Fatboy Slim vs. The Matrix

Some one put the Fatboy Slim song - Right Here Right Now onto the matrix lobby scene. Without any editing it turns out there's almost a perfect synch. Especially near the end...

Sinfest

Friday, February 22, 2008

Space Pen

Fact or Fiction?: NASA Spent Millions to Develop a Pen that Would Write in Space, whereas the Soviet Cosmonauts Used a Pencil

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Darth Vader Balloon

The only reason I post this is because it's bearing a Belgian flag. I usually wonder whose insane enough to buy/make these kind of things and apparently some of them live no more than 200+ km of me.

Industorious Clock

Pretty Cool

The 15 Biggest Screw-ups in Internet History

Found here

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Time Travel in Fiction

One of the better articles I've read about this subject.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Did You Know How These Names Came About?

Adobe - came from name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of founder John Warnock.

Apache - It got its name because its founders got started by applying patches to code written for NCSA's httpd daemon. The result was 'A PAtCHy' server -- thus, the name Apache

Apple Computers - favourite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't suggest a better name by 5 o'clock.

C - Dennis Ritchie improved on the B programming language and called it 'New B'. He later called it C. Earlier B was created by Ken Thompson as a revision of the Bon programming language (named after his wife Bonnie)

CISCO - its not an acronymn but the short for San Francisco.

Compaq - using COMp, for computer, and PAQ to denote a small integral object.

GNU - a species of African antelope. Founder of the GNU project Richard Stallman liked the name because of the humour associated with its pronuniciation and was also influenced by the children's song 'The Gnu Song' which is a song sung by a gnu. Also it fitted into the recursive acronym culture with 'GNU's Not Unix'.

Google - the name started as a jokey boast about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named 'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. After founders - Stanford grad students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to 'Google'!

Hotmail - Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail via the web from a computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending in 'mail' and finally settled for hotmail as it included the letters "html" - the programming language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casing.

HP - Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.

Intel - Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore Noyce' but that was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.

Java - Originally called Oak by creator James Gosling, from the tree that stood outside his window, the programming team had to look for a substitute as there was another language with the same name. Java was selected from a list of suggestions. It came from the name of the coffee that the programmers drank.

Source

Friday, February 15, 2008

Quote

Ray Bradbury: "We are an impossibility in an impossible universe."

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Australia

21 Questions about Australia you probably never wanted an answer to.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Home Computers

They've come a long way...

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Monday, February 11, 2008

George W. Bush's Resume

George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Past Work Experience

  • Ran for congress and lost.
  • Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.
  • Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas; company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
  • Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox.
  • With father's help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas.

Accomplishments in Previous Positions

  • Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union.

  • Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog-ridden city in America. Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money.

  • Set record for most executions by any governor in American history.

  • Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of my father's appointments to the Supreme Court.

Accomplishments As President

  • Attacked and took over two countries.
  • Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
  • Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
  • Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
  • Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
  • First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
  • First president in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
  • First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in U.S. history.
  • After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
  • Set the record for most campaign fundraising trips than any other president in U.S. history.
  • In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.
  • Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in U.S. history.
  • Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
  • Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in U.S. history.
  • Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
  • Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in U.S. history.
  • Presided over the biggest energy crises in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
  • Presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
  • Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
  • Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
  • Dissolved more international treaties than any president in U.S. history.
  • My presidency is the most secretive and unaccountable of any in U.S. history.
  • Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history (the 'poorest' multimillionaire, Condoleezza Rice, has an Exxon oil tanker named after her).
  • First president in U.S. history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously go bankrupt.
  • Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
  • First president in U.S. history to order a U.S. attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation.
  • Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
  • Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in U.S. history.
  • First president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the human rights commission.
  • First president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the elections monitoring board.
  • Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in U.S. history.
  • Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
  • Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
  • Refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
  • First president in U.S. history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. elections).
  • All-time U.S. (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
  • My biggest lifetime campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
  • Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in U.S. history.
  • First president in U.S. history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
  • First president to run and hide when the U.S. came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
  • First U.S. president to establish a secret shadow government.
  • Took the biggest world sympathy for the U.S. after 9/11, and in less than a year made the U.S. the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in U.S. and world history).
  • With a policy of 'disengagement' created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.
  • Fist U.S. president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
  • First U.S. president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the U.S. than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
  • Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
  • Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated U.S. law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.
  • Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive.'
  • Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capital building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.
  • In the 18 months following the 9/11 attacks I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.
  • Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in U.S. history.
  • In a little over two years created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided the U.S. has ever been since the Civil War.
  • Entered office with the strongest economy in U.S. history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.

Records and References

  • At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available)
  • AWOL from National Guard and deserted the military during a time of war.
  • Refuse to take drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
  • All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my father's library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
  • All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
  • All minutes of meetings for any public corporation I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
  • Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
  • For personal references please speak to my daddy or uncle James Baker (they can be reached at their offices of the Carlyle Group for war-profiteering.)

Source: Kelley Kramer