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Silly quiz time!

What Video Game Character Are You? I am a Defender-ship.

I am a Defender-ship. I am fiercely protective of my friends and loved ones, and unforgiving of any who would hurt them. Speed and foresight are my strengths, at the cost of a little clumsiness. I'm most comfortable with a few friends, but sometimes particularly enjoy spending time in larger groups.

What Video Game Character Are You?

Robots digitizing libraries - New technology helps turn books into images. Now more than ever, we could share every bit of knowledge with the world. As this article says, imagine being able to make the entire contents of major libraries available - free, via the web - to even the smallest school in remote areas of Africa. Really, imagine what would be possible if distance, cost and even politics no longer prevented all people from accessing large bodies of knowledge? We have the technology. It's just copyright laws that hold it back. The seemingly eternal problem of how to appropriately compensate the original author/artist without preventing great deeds.

Jakob Nielsen Declares the Letter C Unusable. Some experts have theorized that because of Nielsen's loyal following of web developers, that the internet may be the first place the new alphabetical changes will be seen. Others discount this theory by pointing out that no one really follows any of Nielsen's rules anyway, so '...why would they start now?' Others suggest that the idea would first have to be adopted by the internet's standardization body, the W3C, which may be unwilling to become the W3K until the idea is adopted elsewhere.

heheheheheh. funny.

Hmm, I think I can see why Google is thinking of separating blogs from their general index. I occasionally poke through this page's referrer information, mostly for the amusement value. All the best to the person who was looking for "futurama porn pictures", or the one who wanted to download 1984 the movie, for free. They are pretty specific searches and, well, I can see how the search results weren't useful in this case :)

Now I'll just mention porn again, to up the traffic on this site. Or perhaps you're after cracks, serials, warez and other stuff that's not here. Hah! I will cause the downfall of web searching. All things will come to this blog! ahahah!!! haaahahah!!! pr0n! porn! hahahah! etc.

Does Gaming Reduce Productivity? Depends on how it's managed. I've worked in a situation where there was a playstation set up with a choice of multiplayer games. The short sharp games throughout the working day keep you from getting bored; provide fun time with workmates; and definitely allow you to release stress when your blood pressure is creeping up. The trick is to use a game with short rounds; where you get a quick blast and then it's all over after a few minutes. Many games provide a "quick game" option which is perfect - four people can pick up controllers, be playing in less than a minute and back at their desk five or ten minutes later. Compare that with smokers, who take breaks similar length to go have a cigarette.

Just got my copy of the Megatokyo graphic novel. Very nicely turned out; although the small format surprised me, I'm getting used to it. Perfect for throwing in your bag to read when things get boring. Go buy it.

What Kind of Goth Are You? quiz. apparently i'm "Goth - you are simply goth. You absolutely shriek elegance and you are very comfortable with who you are." Which is of course bullshit. Particularly when paired with the photo. Depending on the answer to some marginal questions; I also come out as Angry Goth or Graver. On another note - most of these fucking quizzes do two things which piss me off: 1) they only have answers written for females, and 2) they don't include a method of seeing all possible outcomes. Bah, I guess it's hard to write balanced answer sets anyway.

Teflon could be killing us: SMH | Secrets of the saucepan - Washington: An environmental group today asked the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to require that cookware coated with Teflon and similar chemicals carry a label describing potential health risks of the non-stick coating. The Environmental Working Group said in a study released today that cookware coated with Teflon-like coatings could reach 370 Centigrade in three to five minutes, releasing 15 toxic gases and chemicals, including two carcinogens.

The Register | Internet is dying - Prof. Lessig - What's dying here isn't The Internet - it remains as open as ever to new software and new ideas. Remarkably, the consensus that upholds the technical infrastructure survives, in the form of the IETF, despite self-interested parties trying to overturn it. What's dying is the idea that the Internet would be a tool of universal liberation, and the argument that "freedom" in itself is a justification for this information pollution. It's probably reached a tipping point: the signal to noise ratio is now too low.

Can't....stop....laughing...... The Future of Industrial. July 12-Tesco announces a new Genocide Organ/Les Joyaux de la Princesse collaboration 7" that will be pressed on 50000 kg vinyl, and be packaged wrapped completely in wheat stalks and sealed in metal barrel drums covered in barbed wire. The 7" is so hardcore ELITE that it can't even be released to the public.

A little vitriol with your coffee? The Venom Pen. Do drop by the Space Shuttle post - You value human life too much. ... You, the average citizen who swills down Biggy Macs and Friends episodes, you have no fucking right to tell those who are brave and adventurous that they cannot go into space. ... Unless you're an astronaut in training, shut up. .

It's true - the people who demanded an end to the space program have missed the point. I see a shuttle disaster, I see a tragedy and think NASA should have better funding and support. They're firing humans into space on a shoestring budget. What do you fucking expect? If we ever want to get off this rock and live the science fiction fantasies that will save us when we've choked this planet to death; then we have to accept that lives will be lost. You accept the massive yearly road toll so you can drive to the shops; why is it so unpalatable that some astronauts die doing what they chose to do - in full knowledge of the dangers?

For the record, I acknowledge the irony of wanting fantastic sound gear to listen to music which has samples of chainsaws and heavy machinery.

The Gospel according to Neo - Theologians and pop-culture experts see 'The Matrix' as a phenomenon shaping public opinion about religion.. Reading through this article - particularly the glossary at the end - reminds me why I think Christianity should be classified as a narcotic. The crap they can find in a science fiction hollywood blockbuster is just nuts.

The Jedi grow stronger: Slashdot | Canadian Census: 20,000 Jedi Worshippers. What annoyed me about the Australian case was the $1000 "false information" threat. Do they threaten people with a fine if they put down "Christian" yet haven't attended church since Grandma dragged them to Christmas mass when they were five? It's bullshit to name a recognised religion when you don't actually practice it; so why not make it some amusing bullshit and say Jedi? Anyway it doesn't really matter; since I'm sure they have better things to do than ever try to enforce the $1000 fine. At least, for their sake I sure hope they've got better things to do.

Oh joy. Oh rapture. Budget 2003. Uni cash teaches unions a lesson - don't be fooled by the injection of funds, this does not look good for higher education. It's doomsday for students, say critics of tertiary roadmap - education is getting seriously expensive, plus we'll have students taking on debt before they've even attended a class. No poll joy from this princely $4 - tax cuts... $10/week for the rich; $4/week for the rest of us. I must be strange, since that seems arse-about to me.

Hey wow! I found some of the posts that got lost the other day. They were either getting lost or piping into the wrong blog. No idea how/why. Anyways. here are the ones I could retrieve from the other blog...

posts from 2003.05.07

The Sun | Secret copy of fifth Harry Potter book found in field. Hmm, was that the sound of my bullshit radar exploding from the overload? :)

The Register | Doing The Right Thing: Apple UI history - "If you do this kind of work," says interaction designer Gitta Salomon, "everything bugs you. Your car, your cordless phone, your home entertainment system - you hate everything."

Show this guy the Lotus Notes client interface and watch his head explode.

garfieldfans: one for brisbane goths.

Another Jackass copycat injured. Sheriff's Office spokesman Steve Burns said the teens were trying imitate the movie and now-defunct MTV show Jackass, which featured crude stunts and gross-out antics. "He's an 18-year-old and can make his own decisions," Burns told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. To put it more succinctly: what a jackass. Those warnings on the show were there for a reason, moron.

Governor-General stands aside. OK Johnny, repeat after me: Church and State should be kept separate. I won't even go into what Hollingworth should be saying at the moment. What he has said is infuriating: In a short statement issued last night, Dr Hollingworth said in deciding to stand aside he was "mindful of maintaining the integrity and dignity of the office of the Governor-General of Australia". It's a bit late to start worrying about that now, asshole... and stop calling yourself "Doctor", it was only a fucking honorary doctorate.

It's not enough, they cried across the land - smh.com.au.

"It is a profoundly disappointing outcome," said the Premier, Bob Carr. "Sadly, there is only one solution and that is the resignation of the Governor-General. That is not required by the outcome of the current court case but by the events in Queensland."

The rape allegations against Dr Hollingworth were not the point, according to Mr Carr.

Rather, he should have stood down because of his handling of sex abuse allegations against the clergy while he was the archbishop of Brisbane.

The federal Labor leader, Simon Crean, agreed. He said the Prime Minister had got it wrong and his decision to simply allow Dr Hollingworth to stand aside was totally unacceptable. Dr Hollingworth should step down, not because he had been accused of rape, but because he had protected a known pedophile.

Zeldman posts that pattern backgrounds are back. He doesn't point out that you still shouldn't put text on top of a patterend background. On the quoted examples it's more like an extended patterned margin than a background. Please take note, web building newbies.

AlterNet: Getting Ashcrofted. A friend of mine says I've been Ashcrofted – forced to give up my privacy for pretty much no reason at all. Maybe as more of us are Ashcrofted, we'll ask how we can balance liberty and safety instead of giving up rights for no return.

AlterNet: Patriot Raid. It's a bad time to be in America if you're not white. Well, shit, like there was ever a particularly good time...

When I asked to speak to a lawyer, the INS official informed me that I do have the right to a lawyer but I would have to be brought down to the station and await security clearance before being granted one. When I asked how long that would take, he replied with a coy smile: "Maybe a day, maybe a week, maybe a month."

...

As I continued to press for legal counsel, a female officer who had been busy typing on her laptop in the front of the restaurant, walked over and put her finger in my face. "We are at war, we are at war and this is for your safety," she exclaimed. As she walked away from the table, she continued to repeat it to herself? "We are at war, we are at war. How can they not understand this."

What's worse is this was done under America's "PATRIOT Act"; and there are plans to extend the boundaries of that act. Meaning the US will have given its agents every power to abuse the citizens that Saddam's regime gave to its agents. For example, to detain a person without reason.