Category: Life

I don’t think I’m *that* difficult to buy presents for. Anyway, crass as it is, here’s a link to the latest FAQ: What do you want for your birthday, anyway?

After a conversation rich with references to The Simpsons, I observed to Ainslie that there are probably few situations in life in which you couldn’t quote a line or two from the show, if you knew it well enough. Her response: “Shakespeare did it first”.
Right, you’re on. Let’s put them in the ring together. Let’s see if William or Groening has more to say about the state of the planet.
This might just be a flash in the pan thing, but with Ainslie’s knowledge of all things Shakespearean, and my command of Springfieldian knowledge, we should be able to draw out some interesting parallels.
In fact, looking around, it seems a few people are already thinking that way: I’ve set up a few links here, and we’ll see if this warrants a page of its own.
This is like the time that Lisa sets out to compare her brother with a hamster….

Every now and then, I keep an eye out for references to BONWAG out there (so I can complete the circle and confirm what a self-serving, sometimes-pointless medium this internet thingy is. Or maybe I’m talking about myself there.) A gent called Kafkaesqui blogged us, with some nice comments, despite the use of the word ‘overblown’. Sounds like he’s had as much trouble understanding what BONWAG is as we have. I’d like to return the favour by calling his site ‘underblown’ (which is also a compliment).

Getting several of my plastic cards rejected recently froced me to look up this site for information. As informative as it is, it advises against putting the cards in my wallet and carrying them around in my pants. Silly me.

Nice to see that there’s life after Blue’s Clues.

I was *wondering* when this would get a hearing: i’d always thought that when the US started questioning stuff like why they mention ‘God’ in their Pledge of Allegiance, we’re on a slippery slope. Once they wake up and realise their MONEY has ‘God’ written all over it, not only are we headed for a national crisis, it’ll completely undermine the premise of ‘Miracle on 34th Street‘.

If you’ve ever messed up the chequebook or tax return, you’ll be heartened by this report: the beancounters at WorldCom are responsible for an accounting glitch worth 3.8 BILLION dollars. Oopsie.

When I first made the switch to the computer industry (from radio) in 1995, it was still a pretty arcane undertaking – but it had only just begun gathering steam for the big ‘dot-com’ boom in 2000, and boy, was that a fun wave to ride. Everyone knew that the techies finally got paid off for all the late night gaming and pizza, and programming was elevated from a Dark Art to a Respectable Profession. The programmers got their expensive cars and management jobs. People squeaked out an envious ‘ooh’ when you mentioned you ‘worked in computing’.
We’re now back to where we started: one of the original and best Australian web design shops is out of business, the computer companies are oozing ennui (look it up), Spike Networks is also belly-up, and Dilbert is looking pale and unfunny. Team that with the fact that I’m not able to squeeze an international business class flight out of my current employer, and it all adds up to a dull old time in computing at the moment.
You can stop envying me now.
(P.S.: I’m pleased to report that the late-night gaming and pizza continues.)

While strolling through the sordid tales about heavy handed lawyers, I came across a couple of cool installations which bring gaming to a new level. A while back, some nerds decided to take over the uni library as a tetris game arena, and has documented the results. Talk about your ‘high scores’. La Bastille at Brown Universityhas photos (but the biggest was at Delft University in 1995)

I’m sure they thought it was a cute idea, but the idea of naming a consultancy company after a day of the week is just insane. And of all they days, they had to pick the most dreaded and loathed one: Monday. Whuh?