Update IV: It's a Lazy Sunday Afternoon

The spam situation has gotten better. This is all I got today.

How cute!

We're rolling into May, which is going to be a busy month for me. I'll be happy when it's all over and we get to June (and holidays - and Final Year Project Part II.)

My drawing spree has come to end, but I was thinking of setting a personal challenge. Set a theme, and draw something related to that theme every week. Of course, I can only get into that after I'm done with the two comic books I'm working on.

Lately I've been browsing the Computer Stupidities website. Not only is it a great location to learn more about computers, but it also warns about the hazards of working in Tech Support.

It's actually amazing how far computers have come. I remember playing Alley Cat on an old Commodore 64 and my brother using Edlin to write a school report (the exclamation mark looked like an ice-cream cone - we thought that was funny), then there was another computer which I can't remember very well except that the logo was green and the name started with "S". The next one was a Aries 386 loaded with Windows 95 and hooked up to our very first inkjet printer and scanner. It was a Pentium in the age where they didn't have to number them, but it was amazing all the same. The games on that machine were - wow. Nothing we had ever seen before. It took us ages to figure out how to play Descent, because we weren't familiar with a 3D game. The scanner was also a revolution of sorts, since we no longer had to vandalise magazines for material for our school scrapbooks, and that printer amazed me. I'd always heard that colour printers were illegal because they could be used to print money, so it looked like a wonderful thing to me.

We also got a new joystick for that machine. It never worked as well as the old one.

Then time went on, the monitor blew up after water dripped onto it, the printer got stuck through disuse, was repaired accidentally by me, and then failed for a last time (I still have a piece of the outer panel and the paper tray), and then we moved to a new house. At about this time, my father got a IBM ThinkPad with a huge mouse which is still cool even now, and as a Pentium III was the most advanced computer we had at the time. I really discovered the Internet on that machine (admittedly dial-up). I played Robohunter 2 and the game would slow every time someone tried to call on the phone.

We kept the computer table (I'm sitting at it now, as it happens), but the CPU eventually failed and had to be replaced. We got a lovely new Compaq Presario where you couldn't jack up the headphones to the speakers (they had to be connected directly to the back of the CPU). This was the age when USBs were becoming popular, and Zip disks had fallen out of favour. And of course, this computer had Windows XP.

Then I came to RP, and got a new laptop, an Acer Travelmate, which was the first computer which really belonged to me. Then it started having errors and hardware failures so much so that I had to use the old IBM as a backup laptop almost constantly, and then died. And now I have this computer, also an Acer, and still going strong. My father has two laptops for work, and when the old Compaq conked out my brother got a nice new Hewlett-Packard PC with a huge flat screen. And that brings us to the present.

The funny thing is, in the early days we had the most advanced computers, thanks to my father's line of work. Now, we're probably among the more conservative when it comes to buying new computers. People have become richer, gadgets have become more affordable, and waves of new jargon have entered the language of the computer-literate. It's no longer about the modest computer on which you have to trim your programs to avoid running out of memory. Now everything is huge. The Commodore 64 had 64 kB of RAM. Fifteen years on and we reach my current computer, with a magnificent 1.0 GB of RAM. It's phenomenal.

... I was supposed to be talking about random stuff in my life, but it appears nostalgia took over the keyboard.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Eggs, Sausages and Spam

29 spam messages in my e-mail today.

Admittedly Gmail had done a good job of quarantining them in the Spam folder, but still...

29 FREAKING PIECES OF SPAM! WHERE IN THE NINE LEVELS OF THE UNDERWORLD DID THEY GET THE IDEA THAT I WANTED SPAM? AND IT'S ALL WRITTEN IN MANDARIN CHARACTERS! I CAN'T EVEN READ MY SPAM!

In other news, one of my classmates cross-dressed today.

What the- in the two minutes it took me to type this up, I got another two spam messages!

Death - from Above!

I link to Order of the Stick more often than is healthy or sane. This is established fact and we shall not debate the point further.

Today's strip was thirteen kinds of awesome, and then some. Mr Burlew, you blow my mind.

In other news, is Largo really attempting to build a computer using a giant ice-cream cone? Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion!

State of Mind II: Phase Uncertainty

Remember that friend I was talking about who disappeared off the internets? I tried to contact them using the ever-reliable private messaging system.

Well, not that reliable, but they input directly into the e-mail inbox, so as long as the individual in question is online and checking e-mail they should get the message. This person used to respond quite rapidly to such messages, and they've consistently kept their e-mail address hidden, so private messaging was my best chance of getting through to them.

I pinged them exactly fourteen days ago. No response. Board records show they haven't been online at either of their two common haunts since two months ago. There's absolutely no sign of them anywhere.

I don't know what to do.

Exhausted

That's what I am. Eight hours of PBL (which, by the way, uses about five times more energy than conventional learning methods) followed by two hours of measuring pH in a lab.

Obviously I glossed over the part where we cut up bacteria-laden agar and melted it in a steaming-hot water bath.

I want to sleeeeeep.

What, you were expecting a blog post with a point? Dude, oxymoron!

Conflicting Stereotypes

The popular idea is that men, as a general rule, are poor cooks, yet when you say the word "chef," the immediate mental image is usually male.

I'm just sayin'.

I'm a Sinimmortal!

Oh - my - goodness.

I just topped the hi-score list of the Sinistar arcade game (online java applet version).

See for yourself. (I'm "←XX".)

This is so completely awesome because I usually suck at this sort of game. (I used to hate that Asteroids game - I could never do anything with the little ship.) Of course not many play Sinistar with any level of seriousness now, meaning that I have little competition, but... dude.

I'm going to remember this day forever.

School Days

I link to Order of the Stick more often that is healthy...

But this was just too funny.

"Ooooo, you are SO gonna get detention!"

Art Theft

The latest controvery in webcomic-land is over some apparent art theft. I'll let Scott Kurtz, Fleen and Uncle Wiki do all the explaining.

I've had my art stolen before. Twice. It bites.

However, this is far more serious. This is a high-profile artist involved in the stealing. (Makes you wonder why he'd want to steal anything in the first place.) There's money and public reputation involved.

Let's hope that this resolves the way it should.

EDIT: The wikipedia article has been sanitised for impartiality, so over to Juxtapoz for an explanation as well as an important clarification of what constitutes art theft.

The Old Days are Gone

A long time ago, there was only one page in the entire newspaper I would read: the comics page. On Sunday it was even better, because there were three pages of full-colour comics plus the KidSpot and Ripley's Believe it or Not.

At first I read them all equally, but after a while I started to develop a preference. Life's Like This! was an early favourite, due to its Singaporean flavour and consistent humour. (I never liked the name change to Chew On It. To me, the Chew On It strip was the little one-panel gag accompanying the front page column, not the big five-panel comic in the last page of the Life! section. Ah, well.) I liked Sherman's Lagoon, because it was silly and funny and, come on, it had sharks stealing pants. I started reading too late to miss Alley Oop, but there was Beetle Bailey and Peanuts and then there was On the FastTrack which, as I later found, was by Kevin & Kell creator Bill Holbrook.

And there was B.C., and there was Wizard of Id.

B.C. I don't remember very well, thanks to the whoever up there in the press office who decided to overhaul the funny pages and cut a lot of the old favourites. I remember there were cavemen, and there were funny statements which nevertheless made you think. I distinctly remember that one strip - one of the characters, the one with one leg, tells the others that what is defined as Truth is decided by the majority. The others unanimously disagree with him, declare that their opinion is the truth since they are in the majority, and unknowingly prove his point.

Wizard of Id is still fresh in my memory because, well, it still runs today. (Just as well - I think I would boycott the papers if they cut it out.) This one was set in a medieval world, but not without anachronisms. It was the origin for such lovable characters as the King (a.k.a. the fink), Spook, Bung, Sir Rodney and, of course, the Wizard. The one strip I remember best is when someone asks the Wizard if he is "a good wizard." The Wizard responds in the affirmative and, to prove it, turns the questioner into a frog. After all, "No one else can do this!"

Both those strips were funny and set in a past age, but also dealt with real and contemporary issues. They also had another commonality - Johnny Hart drew B.C., and was the writer for Wizard of Id.

Hart died on Saturday, April 7, while working at his drawing table.

Rest in peace, Mr Hart.

State of Mind

I am ruled by emotions, I know that. Depressed in the morning, cheerful by night, that would describe today.

I sometimes wish I could be ruled by the brain like my father. There's one of my online friends who's MIA and while I worry away, my father decides that the abovementioned friend is deceased and proceeds to describe the hypothetical funeral in cheerful detail.

So long as my father teases, I am secure that it is not true. If he were to stop...

O, to stare into Death and not be afraid.

Hoj-Os!

It's Mako-licious!

Bet it causes horrible mutations too. Ahahaha... ahaha... ha.

Not All Holidays are Celebrations

I never intended to make any posts even remotely related to religion. I find it is a topic people get riled about easily.

But I'm not letting this pass.

Happy Good Friday?

Good Friday is not the start of a three-day weekend! It is an observance! A day meant to remember a potent sacrifice! What's next, Happy Memorial Day? Happy Bombing of Pearl Harbor Anniversary? Happy September 11th?

Many people are commonly confused by the "good" designation, which incidentally is used only in English and Dutch translations of the term. In other languages and countries, the day is referred to as "Holy Friday", "Great Friday" and even "Mourning Friday." In some countries the radio stations shut off as a mark of respect, and liquor is not allowed to be sold. The bottom line is, Good Friday is an inherently serious day.

I'm not Christian. But I cried when I read about The Passion. And I believe that on a sombre day such as this, the least you can do, no matter what your religion, is offer some proper respect.

Happy Easter, if you like. But not Good Friday. Today is a day for reflection and remembrance.

Alphabet Soup

The label was quite clear - Campbell's Vegetarian Vegetable Soup, supported by an image of beans, peas, potato chunks and carrot cubes nestled in a spoonful of reddish stock. It was only once the soup had been prepared, and poured out, that it was clear the soup was an alphabet soup, concealed behind the thin veneer of sophistication of a vegetarian preparation.

The first time I ever had alphabet soup is one of those memories not worth retaining. There was a birthday party at McDonald's - that was popular then, so I got to know the King Albert Park outlet only too well. There was the typical lunch, either burger or nuggets, there was the ice-cream which would be drawn up from the kitchens by a mysterious-looking food elevator, and after the games there was the cake, intense with a chocolate flavour and covered in stiff, colourful icing. And at the end of it all there was the bag of party favours. I've had several items from those - a green plastic straw bent into a knot, a little car which could be transformed into a train, a cup with a transparent chamber wrapped around the sides containing glitter and little shapes which flitted whenever the cup was shaken. And once, there was a package of alphabet soup.

It was a very ordinary soup. A thin tomato base, and not much of that either, packed with little alphabet-shaped pasta. That was a true alphabet soup, nothing like the alphanumeric vegetarian version Campbell's favoured. It was alphabets, and it was soup, and I was disappointed that the shaped pasta didn't taste particularly different.

The Campbell's alphabet soup was far richer than that memory from long ago. There were vegetables, for one thing, and the distinct flavourful saltiness of MSG, and then there were numbers. The pasta was dense, so dense that they did not float and could not be made to form sentences on the surface of the fluid.

Ever considered the alphabets in alphabet soup? They are far from haphazard, and are indeed carefully crafted. Even under the influence of boiling soup base, the L never softens into a J, and even when bent inwards lacks the slight kink present in the 7. C looks nothing like U. Q, even when damaged, is never mistaken for O. Most surprisingly, 6 is clearly distinct from 9; the tail of the 9 slants out like that of the 7, while the 6's tail curves protectively around it. If alphabet soup is meant only for children, then clearly we take our children very seriously.

Then consider who came up with alphabet soup. Is it obvious to you to shape pasta into currency signs and form a soup with them? How about the basic shapes? Flags of countries? Mathematical operators? Why alphabets, and why soup? Are letters so important, and is soup so accessible? Is that why there is also alphabet cereal? Why are numbers only an afterthought to the alphabet? Are they not more important, since they are far more universal than Latin characters?

It is neither childish nor simple, is alphabet soup.

Stress-Aid

I'd just like to amend that some people actually did believe Black Six yesterday, and he apparently received hate mail as a result. Gee, there're always a few who can't see through even the most transparent of April Fool's gags.

Also, there was one more part to the BAG gag - the "Add Reply", "New Topic" and "New Poll" buttons had creepy mouse-over effects which apparently didn't load in time for me to catch them. Subtle, but nice.

Anyway, I'm here to talk about my chocolates. Or more specifically, the lack thereof. As of this morning there was only one Belgian heart left in the box, and there's no spare box.

And this morning, I got yet another e-mail from one of my project supervisors, which clearly shows they have no idea what my team has been trying to do all along, and which lead to instant rage on my part.

Gentlemen, this is what is known as a dire situation.

Thank goodness for brewer's yeast. It cut the stress in under five minutes. Of course, that may have been the work of the milk, honey and cinnamon which I mixed with the yeast, but whatever.

Other non-chocolate methods which I use to combat stress:

• Talk about it.
• Clean the toilet. (Do not judge me!)
• Play a random game I know I can win easily.
• Draaaaw.
• Cuddle my woolly triceratops. (I've cried into its fur before. I think it needs a wash.)
• Down some F&N cherryade. Though lately I've been into fruitade (I blame Mariem).
• Take apart my Bionicle sets and put them back again. (Apparently the new sets are a little fragile, so this may no longer be a good idea.)
• Listen to music. Especially piano music.

Have your own methods? Post them in the comments section!

The April Fool's Update

I forgot to prank anyone. Sorry, but I didn't have time like last year, in which I spent half an hour writing the first chapter of Illogic Island backwards.

This year's April Foolery:

• Kevin & Kell has massive (not to mention creepy) gender-swappage.
• No Need for Bushido is taken over by Lord Hiromoto.
• Applegeeks - I beg your pardon, Orangedorks, gets a makeover.
• Uncyclopedia posts factual articles on its front page. This comes as a complete shock.
• Mugglenet reviews Deathly Hallows. "Spoilers" abound!
• While we're on the subject of Harry Potter, NASA documents the very first Space Quidditch match.
• BBC unveils its all-new sniff-screen technology. Do you smell anything?
• Gmail announces a new Paper Archive service.
• BAG changes its default font colour from dark red to black, causing "widespread" "panic".
• Black Six reports that BZP is deleting the Completely Off Topic and Lego General Discussion forums to save bandwidth. Nobody believes him.
• Sluggy Freelance does nothing at all.

Urgo and Wikipedia have nice long lists of the various tricks websites pulled off.
Another fun day, over. Next date to look out for - September 19th!