February 28, 2003
Wonder what Neil makes of this?
Microsoft, EA may make bid for Sega
And more updates to the above on the possible buyout : Sega Stock Jumps on Reported Microsoft, EA Bids
Mech Warrior film
Ooh, the guy who did Stargate is doing the Mech Warrior film - Devlin leads 'Mech' into movie battle
What threat level are you?
Hmm, don't think I want to visit US anymore. I don't want to be labelled what threat level I am if they bring this in. U.S. plan: Threat level for every flyer (from cnn.com)
McDonalds selling fresh fruit!
Yup... apparently, the profits are falling that McDonalds are willing to sell fresh fruit for healthier eating. What are their motifs? Will this be worldwide? Who knows... First it was McCafe on Grafton street, what a load of rubbish, now this. Can't blame them for trying though.
McDonald's to sell fresh fruit (from ananova.com)
February 26, 2003
Funny movie posters
Got this from friend today. Movie posters that contains title and descriptions are translated to Japanese and back again. Quite amusing.... :)
[WARNING: To people with dial-ups, lots of pictures to load up!]
The Matrix phone
My BF was talking about this this morning, thing was I kept on thinking that he was talking about The Matrix Movie instead of The Matrix Phone!
Here is an article about it - Samsung Crafts 'Matrix' Phone from pcworld.com
Here is the actual teaser site - thematrixphone.com
Chat about it - The Matrix Reloaded on my message board
Dublin Spire
Everyone is talking about it now, I am getting use to it. And I love the way it catches the sunlight in the morning. Check out the nice pictures yourself at spireofdublin.com
Human Shield
Um, ok... I support peace and don't like war (who does!), but this is quite Darwinistic thing to do. US warning for human shields in Iraq (from ananova.com)
It's only a game!
Generals computer game outrages China from ananova.com. It could have been worse...
Up...and down...
Argh! My site is up and down like a yo-yo the past month! Hope my host resolves any issues that remain and/or prevent any major site outages in the future.
Their tech guys are prob buzzing full of coffee (like I am now! :) ) But nothing could be as worse than what is happening in the following comic strip from Angst Technology :
February 25, 2003
Got paid today
I feel great! Got paid today. Did the month go by so slowly... Just put up a bubble gum piccie just to show you how I feel right now!!! [WARNING: Cuteness involved...]
Saddam Vs Bush (for real?)
Saddam was interviewed by Dan Rathar from CBS news (first in a decade), and it would be shown on CBS 60 Minutes. And excerpt from the CBS news article - Saddam Defiant On Missiles
On another front, Saddam had a surprising proposal for President Bush. He's challenging the president of the United States to join him in a live radio and television satellite linkup and debate the need for war before the entire world.
"I am ready," said the Iraqi president, "to conduct a direct dialogue with your president. I will say what I want and he will say what he wants."
"This will be an opportunity for him, if he's committed to war, this will be an opportunity to convince the world."
I would like to see this debate between Saddam and Bush. :-P
Coffee
I still have a piccie of a solution in preventing a coffee crisis...
...and that is having a UPS especially for the coffee machine. The idea came along when my flatmate got a coffeemaker from UK, but it blew our appartment's fuse when he tried to use it. So, that is how the idea came along. Here is a strip from Angst Technology for now. But watch this space...
February 24, 2003
I told you so!
I have been complaining about the length of ads shown before a movie. OThers have complained about the ads shown before movies. So why wouldn't there be a reason to sue? Well, some lucky folks did - Pre-movie ads rip off theatergoers, suits claim (from Chicago Sun-Times)
Highest Internet Café?
An internet café in the Mount Everest, and money from the café will be used to clean up the rubbish in the mountains. Good idea!
Sherpa Plans World's Highest Cyber Cafe at Everest (From reuters.com)
Star Wars: Clone Wars animation shorts
Seems like Lucas Films and Cartoon Network got together to make 20 animated short for Clone Wars.
February 23, 2003
February 22, 2003
Nasty, simply nasty
Hmm, many bitter comments directed at $un.... I mean Sun. Laughing at Sun's attempt to support intel again... "open-source", "cheap", "trusted" are some of "the" words used to describe how they feel about $un (I mean Sun) and their OS (can anyone guess what OS?) (teehee)
Man, people out there don't want expensive machines, they just want cheap machines with Solaris even (and importantly more support for intel drivers,hah!)...
Hmm, a comment mentioned near the end commenting on how slow the service was, well, what more can I say... (Why am I dissing them so much???)
Need I say more? Go read comments yourself - OSNews: Sun's Schwartz: 'We're Back in Force'
The Irish "Octopus" Card
Heard from my flatmate that the Integrated smart cards will be here in Ireland sooner than we thought. They want to gather information, but I need to get this site from my flatmate. I can give lots of feedback of my experience using these smart cards in HK. I see that the governent eproject planned delivery date for this is end of 2003 - Scroll down to number 43
More information on the integrated ticketing system:
o Finanacial part from Department of Transport
o Executive summary from Department of Transport
o From Dublin Bus
My previous blogs about integrated smart cards:
o Irish Transport should learn from HK
o Integrated Smartcards for public transport
Fritz Lang's Metropolis on the big
Wow, this film was breathtaking (considering when it was made!). I rather enjoyed the movie, and it was my first time watching this film. I never expected what I saw and what they have acheived with regards to special effects in this film. Although it is restored, it was as close to the film (of what is left, 1/4 was destroyed) and it was fun to watch. What was really spectacular were the backgrounds used, showing the expanse of the city, Metroplis. The Art Deco style really brought it all out. I especially love the pipes that issue the change of shifts for the workers. Although in B+W and no sound, it was definately worth seeing. I would like to see the colour version of it was well, heard from my BF that there are several versions out. My fav character has to be the "evil" Maria with the evil eye. All that partying and dancing seducing men, and causing mayhem and uprising, it was brilliant acting by the actress.
I found an official site - Fritz Lang's Metroplis
February 20, 2003
Ireland's slipped in ranks in ICT survey
Yup, we are now rank 21st (slipped by 2 places) in the ICT survey on countries on how technology ready we are. - Global Information Technology Report 2002-2003 - Readiness for the Networked World (from World Economic Forum Official site)
You can read the article, Ireland slips to twenty-first position in global ICT survey from The Irish Independant (Free subscription to read).
Is nothing sacred anymore? (Part II)
Now M$ is looking int blogging tools. Just read the following article - Microsoft Tests the Blogging-Tool Waters
February 19, 2003
Won't they ever learn?
I say, after a spate of buses and car transporters etc getting stuck under the bridge, you would have thought that something as big as a digger would not get itself stuck under a bridge. Read the height sign of the bridge, it is only common sense! -
Rush-hour bridge accident snarls traffic in city (From the Irish Independant - free subscription)
February 18, 2003
The word "twee"
I have been obsessed with the word "twee"! Why? Why, you ask???
I hear my mates say... "She is twee." "Yeah, she is twee." Ok, so I sort of get the idea of what twee means when describing a female from a male perspective, but then the type of girl I thought they would think is twee, is not what I thought! (If you get what I mean.) What is it with this word that is driving me absolute bonkers. Here are the following definitions of the word "twee":
From Cambridge dictionary - http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=twee*1+0:
adjective
ESPECIALLY BRITISH INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
artificially attractive or too perfect
The village has escaped all modern developments, yet without becoming twee or 'preserved'.
Oxford paperback - http://www.askoxford.com/dictionary/twee
twee
adjective (tweer /"twi:/, tweest /"twi:st/) derogatory affectedly dainty or quaint.
Argh! Twee...! This adjective was used recently to describe a painting, which does not have a single female in it. Has the definition changed in the course of time? But this infuriating word comes back every so often, so I can bang my head against the tabletop everytime I hear it.
With laughter I bear with the current meaning I was falsely led to believe it was, and then a dramatic changes when I am comfortable with the meaning.
And guest what I found the Chinese translation for twee from - http://www.tigernt.com
And here it is : 形 矯飾的;可愛的
Twee, hah... yeah, that is twee. You are twee... I am twee? We are twee!!!
February 17, 2003
Has Neil being telling us about this?
Or have my filters kicked in, and I also kind of forget what he says sometimes... :) - Peter Hook to play bass on upcoming Hybrid album
My new headphones
They are phat! Man, they are so cool, they are Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones. And they were way better than my last pair, which was not bad either, but it just got a bit dodgy in the right hand side, no sound matter of fact.
And they were my Valentine's pressie. Not the usual gift you would get, but I love gadgets, and I was aiming to get these for last couple of months now... He is so sweet.. ;)
February 16, 2003
Ach!
Just getting better after a wee bit of motion sickness... was reading on a bus (which was totally covered in a dark guinness ad. So when I wanted to look at the distance to stop my motion sickenss, low and behold, all I saw was black windows. Anyhoo, just to say I have updated my photos page for both personal and work piccies.
This is how duct tape should be used...
Preivous blogs show the ridiculous use of duct tape, and how useless it is. But the following would work so much better from my opinion - Duct and cover (from thismodernworld.com)
Google purchased Pyra
Yeah, seems like big news at the moment. Wonder what plans Google has for Pyra, one of the earliest blogging tools, and have over a million users. Artical - Google Buys Pyra: Blogging Goes Big-Time
Ok, this is just plain lunacy
No, no... this is forging its way to just plain sad - http://www.ducttapefashion.com.
Found this from the popular hits index page : popdex.com
Bork M$ pages
Right, nuff of this Swedish muppet takes swipe at M$ headlining all the RSS news feeds , so I decided to see what was going on, and what I read just makes me wanna download opera bork just to see the results! From Opera's press release - Opera releases "Bork" edition : The Swedish Chef Goes After Microsoft.
And from forbes.com : Opera swipes at Microsoft with Muppet browser
February 15, 2003
Strong Bad as a Japanese Cartoon
Strong Bad is this character from http://www.homestarrunner.com/, which has pleny of cool flash cartoons. This particular one is Strong Bad as a Japanese Cartoon.
All it takes is simple technology
.. and some geeks with free time to come out with a picture that tops others - Columbia Photo Taken with Simple Telescope and Computer (from http://www.space.com)
A safer America
(ROTFL)Look at what I found. Check out this little pkg you can get to feel safe from terrorism (it's no duct tape) - High Rise Kit for 1 Adult. And this site does exist : http://www.saferamerica.com
Web stuff
A colour blender form meyerweb.com - Color Blender
And a handy "Web Safe Colors Chart(the 216 Color Palette).
February 14, 2003
Jeidi - the new faith
Yes, the census came back and said that it would become a "fully recognised and legal religion". - Census returns of the Jedi (from BBC News)
Symantec knew about Slammer hours before
And they warned their "select customers" first. And not devulging the information publicly. Well, at least it will teach people not to use Outlook Express - What Symantec Knew But Didn't Say (from wired.com)
Def Con Alerts
You can see what state of alert Stateside is in.. (seriously!) - Def Con Alerts, collect them all
Happy V-day!
'kay! A bit late to post this piccie up. Back from dinner at an Italian restaurant in Temple Bar called Trastevere. That was a great dinner. Half happy from the chardonnay, and I really enjoyed it. I am ok now, or else I would not be able to blog!!! Anyhoo, to everyone, happy v-day! This piccie is dedicated to my BF, the cutest in the whole wide world... 
MICK!
February 13, 2003
AOL now offering blogging!
Yup, that's the rumours! They might be offering it as one of their services now. Is nothing safe now? -
Blogging for dollars (from smh.com.au)
computerbits.ie
An Irish site to get your bits and bob fro your machine - http://www.computerbits.ie/
Gulf War - What might happen
This is one of the most popular links for the past few days - Gulf War 2 (aka World War 2.5) (from idleworm.com)
Duct tape sold out in US
Terrorism alert has got many Americans buying up duct tape to seal up windows and doors. (Hmm, I wonder if those folks who are bunked down for Y2K are still in their bunkers?) Anyhoo, here is the article - Duct tape sales rise amid terror fears (from cnn.com)
February 12, 2003
Pretty nice titles
'kay, some funky stuff you can do just for fun. The following site shows you how to bring up pretty titles when you have a mouseover a link. It's transparent and everything. Just a bit of CSS and some javascripting - http://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/nicetitle/
This is freaky!
Try this out... It is a flash animated mind-reader. And it works, I have done it dozens of times - http://www.cyberglass.co.uk/assets/Flash/psychic.swf
This is hilarious!
Just a MMRPG, but a funny reference, check it out in Tech Observer's Blog on "The Game Neverending Prototype Item: marshmallow dagger".
Moving house
Steve Wozniak, Apple's co-founder, is moving house cos he can't get GSM signal. But it is no ordinary house - Inside the House That Woz Built (from wired.com)
February 11, 2003
Asian Online Journal
Look at what I found! And asian online journal called The Rice Bowl Journals. They have people/bloggers from all over, but not one from Ireland! Maybe I will join, but not now...
Oscar's Nominations
I don't care about the main Hollywood films/actors/actresses etc... But I would rather talk about the nomination for the Best Foreign Language Movie, and guess what? Hero is one of the nominations. It's one of the best and beautifully film this year.
And for the nominations for Animated Feature Film are Ice Age, Lilo and Stich and Spirited Away. Out of the three, I hope Sprited Away wins. There were others as well, but I did not watch them,, and I don't really care! The rest of the nominations if you want can be found here - http://www.oscar.com/nominees/nomineelist.html
Konfabulator
My BF showed me the Konfabulator this morning. It is basically lets you grab widgets and put them on you desktop. And they look spanking cool as well. Although it is only available for MacOS X. Here is the site anyway - http://www.konfabulator.com
I an sooo Hungee!
Just out of 2 meetings in a row. Missed my lunch break. I am so hungry.... At least I have a jarful of coffee and a Chinese pear to munch on.
February 10, 2003
BlogAmp
You can list what songs you were last playing on winamp with this pluging - BlogAmp Homepage
#5 in Popdex
Yes it is the Sun's Java memo from http://internalmemos.com. Check out the citations at http://www.popdex.com/c/1228946
New web page indexers
Daypop and Popdex from webspiffy.com
I really like the way daypop shows the rankings of the top web pages - http://www.daypop.com/top/
Funny stuff from bash.org
Yeah, some brill quotes from people who chat online. (WARNING: Some of it maybe offensive! )
http://bash.org/?72206
http://bash.org/?71913
http://bash.org/?71890
(All from http://bash.org)
Me, disgruntled employee? Never... (Part deux)
Here is fortune.com's top 100 US companies to work in - 100 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR. And the 10 Great Companies in Europe.
A cool Gaming Industry site
And it is European as well - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/
Latest news in Game develeopment, games, jobs etc...
Salary increase for Irish s/w engineers
Um, my salary is nowhere near this! Irish software engineers see wages rise (from electricnews.net)
Braodband for all saga continues
Yup, saw this in electricnews.net that "The government on Monday officially launches its EUR65 million plan for broadband metropolitan area networks in 19 Irish towns, from Cork to Donegal." - Irish government gets behind broadband
Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Cards
They are getting v. popular in Ireland. Sold out in Limerick and Dublin last week. But both comic stores are getting more stock in today. My BF just got the last packet (import from the States) for my bro's B-day pressie. I wonder if I should get them online? - Yu-Gi-Oh stuff on sale from Forbidden Planet's website
Pixar switches from Sun to Intel
This is going to be a blow to Sun Microsystems. Well, think of it this way, not everyone waits till the end of the credits to see the Sun Logo. - Pixar switches from Sun to Intel (From news.com.com)
And if that is not enough, the penguins are taking over - Penguins Take On Titans (from fortune.com)
And they are getting a wee bit desperate - Sun seeks self-reliance with new gear (From news.com.com)
Oh, my BF saw this in http://www.internalmemos.com, read his blog on Sun's Java
February 07, 2003
US threat level - yellow to orange?
A funny comment from You made Monkey cry's blog on his view of Dub-u-yah.
Google to come to Ireland
Rumours and speculations finally coming to light - IDA looks to bring Google to Ireland (from http://www.electricnews.net) Everyone in a rush to get CVs up-to-date...? :)
Me, disgruntled employee? Never....
Found this special from 2002 - The 100 Best Places to Work in IT Worldwide (from http://www.computerworld.com)
February 06, 2003
Pretty cool and fun site
You will need Flash for this... - Levitated. Really cool designs and some are interactive as well. Had me clicking like there was no tomorrow! :)
Outside opinion on Shannon airport incident...
Irish parliament receives security advice from A-Team. (from ananova.com)
February 05, 2003
I did not say this now...
All those who knew I was dragged in to test this heap of.... anyway, check this comment out - Comments from " Sun's Own Engineers Find Java "Impractical" on Solaris". Phew... I feel much better now. (From osnews.com)
Brewing Beer in the wash
Yup, a washing machine can brew beer according to this German priest. News from ananova.com.
Irish Bloggers
Yup, finally found a site that shows other Irish bloggers. (I knew some existed somewhere here in the emerald isle!) iLoggers : The definitive guide to Irish sites and weblogs. (And yup, I am listed at the bottom, wierdly sorted)
Some news about Battle Royale 2
From Ain't It Cool which also has a link to its official site, plus you can see some teaser trailers.
Wonderful Days - Korean Anime
Found this from Ain't it Cool News The screen captures looks brilliant.
Can't get through to the official site though - http://wonderfuldays.co.kr/. Must check back as the trailers are there as well... (oh, by the way, the site is in Korean)
February 04, 2003
February 03, 2003
Rate my pooch
Follow-on from the complete cuteness of ratemykitty.com, I have found a http://www.ratemypooch.com... All the cute puppies!!!!
What a CUUUUTTTTIIIIEEEE!!! Really cute Puppy. AWWWwwwww.... Oh, and another - Black Labrador, I think...
February 02, 2003
Airline Food
Which airline to pick for your inflight "meal". - http://www.airlinemeals.net/
Wonder what rankings B.A. inflight meal is?
Homer mails back!
Yup, the email address from The Simpsons that Homer used is actaully real - From Ramblings of a Code Monkey's blog
Bombing Mr. Johnson
My BF's blog linking to Terry Jones little article summing up how silly the way dubuyah Bush is handling this Iraq incident - Bombing Mr. Johnson
February 01, 2003
VW Beetle with Spoiler! Ugh!
Was in town today, heading to the city centre car park and what do I see parked on the side of the strret. A VW Beetle, not only am I not a big fan of these awful looking cars, but it also has a spoiler at the back! Yup, a blue beetle with a spoiler! You cannot imagine it? Well here is a picture I found in Google - The Beetle RSi with the spoiler picture. It just looks utterly absurd. Why does it need a spoiler? By the way, as I found out from the VW site, the spoiler is retractable. Um, my initial question, is it necessary? Well, I suppose if someone can afford this car, then they are probably going the whole hog. I would rather have a VW Golf instead...
