Sad Lifers

One more expose on the sadness of having a Second Life... by Reuters.

For REAL cheese lovers

NOT for the faint hearted... go to the link if you really must.


Somehow I do not think the wife will let me keep formaggio marcio in the fridge. It is enough that I have an aged Tete de Moine which has now built its own community school and is planning a Wal-Mart.

End of the week so take your medicine

Either this or ...

Notorius MSG

This just hit something for me....

And just in case, search for the post title in YouTube.

Or go here.

A Big Mac never look so enticing...

Or I might even go for a BK instead of this... Squirrel, you could have new line! Maybe someone near you already does.

Update - The Greyness that is the Netherlands

The sun is shining - hallelujah! Right into my office window. Not to worry though. The automated building management system will kick in soon.

Would it not have been easier...

... to have got on a plane to Oz?

Thanks Dim for this.

The Greyness that is the Netherlands

Some day the sun will be seen...

Oops! Sorry, that was the photo of some plastering I did. I meant to post this cheery one instead.

Canon 30D EOS Digital Camera

I had a problem with my Yahoo email account recently. I was sending emails but not receiving them from other Yahoo accounts. I ran through several standard checks to establish if there was a nasty lurking on my system. Nothing.

So I decided to look in my Bulk folder to see what was in there...

511 spam emails in a 24 hour period.

"money to shop", "laptop on us", "consumer research", "your credit score has arrived". Whatever happened to the Viagra ones? Mind you, the "four free bags of coffee on us" is rather tempting. I have 173 of this particular one.

Given that the average size of each email is 6k, that is a lot of internet bandwidth.

Product Test Panel - Your 'affiliates' are nothing but spammers who are clogging the internet with false hope offers. Now, I am NOT recommending that you do this yourself...

One of their 'affiliates' was advertising a "$1,400 Canon 30D EOS Digital Camera". Perhaps Canon could send them a nasty notice for bringing their name into disrepute or something like that. I thought I would notify Canon about this so went to their web site and clicked on 'Contact us' link. The only place I could find to 'contact' them was on their "Come and work for Canon" page. So I sent them this little rant:

This is NOT a job application but I can find no other way to get in contact with someone at Canon regarding the hundreds of emails I am receiving advertising one of your products.

These are spam emails which are clogging up my inbox and are bringing your good name into disrepute. Whenever I see your adverts/logo/products it reminds me of the painful process I go through every time I want to read a REAL email.

If someone would care to drop me an email at xyxyxyxyx@yahoo.com I can forward one to you.

I am getting very annoyed about this and I am sure I am not the only one who is receiving this negative impression of Canon.

Best regards,
===========

Clicking on "Post resume" brought up the link to their page above...

Which brings me to one thing. How many times have YOU tried to send an email to a company and clicked on the 'Contact Us' link (see what I mean?) only to be directed to a totally irrelevant page. BUT that is the subject of a future rant.

My response to the spam? As they were advertising a camera I thought they were perhaps the best people to ask why my photograph of the greyness that is the Netherlands recorded in such a large file 2.34mb. So I sent it off to them from one of my anti-spam email addresses... many, many, times. Now, as I said, I do not recommend that you do that but imagine if everyone did...

BTW the Canon 30D EOS Digital Camera looks very good. If only I could ask Canon some questions about it. Update on my spam for the next 24 hours soon...

Get a life, more like it

I have never understood Second Life.

This review seems to sum it up really.

Here's the six squid I owe you

An old English word play joke but this is certainly impressive. If you do not understand the joke let me assure you that there are finer things to be consuming your time with.

Hotter than a hot persons hot thing

This is the worlds hottest chili... apparently.

If you want to make chili sauce it really is easy. Just go look at the recipes on the internet and away you go. I have adapted many to suit my own taste and some will testify to this being an obscure way of me getting revenge for something or other.

I have an old ceramic mustard jar which is my 'fermentation tank' where I place fresh chilies in layers with salt and garlic. Then I leave it.... for many, many months. The resultant goop is then converted to a rich and sumptuous sauce to take your breath away.


And talking of taking your breath away, Mr. T from Germany has had personal experience of my special "Mexican Gas Chambers". Called this not because of their flatulent effects but because this literally takes your breath away. You end up with hiccups and cannot stop. The recipe is simple.

Take your favourite chili peppers. Stubby fat green and hot ones are good. Chop off the tops, remove the seeds and stand them in a whiskey tumbler or similar. Into each pepper pour a white spirit (tequila is best but anything suitable strong and evil is good. On top of this add double cream, yogurt, quark or similar - anything suitably creamy. Stick these in the fridge (or freezer for a short time - do not freeze!). When cold enough take them out and, just prior to eating, squeeze lemon juice over the top of them all. Take one, pop it straight in your mouth, and chew. Enjoy.

You do the above at your own risk and appropriate level of stupidity. I personally can cope with these. You may not. Your call.

Should you eat too much chili then THE simple solution is to drink milk or eat yogurt as the interaction between the dairy product breaks down capsaicin. Dried bread is good too.

Fluids (tea, beer, soda/pop) will just spread the capsaicin around even more and definitely make matters worse.

Incidentally, one of the commonest mistakes people make regarding chili peppers is that it is the seeds that are hot. The hot part of a chili is near the white placenta glands. Capsaicin, the "HOT" in chili, is an extremely powerful and stable alkaloid produced in a crystalline form by glands at the junction of the pepper's placenta and pod walls.

If I want to reduce the fire in a chili I split the chili with a sharp knife from bottom to top, fold it open and scrape from the bottom to the top in one single motion, removing the white internal ribs and cutting off the hanging top as the last action. I do this on a piece of toughened glass. Additionally I do this while wearing plastic sandwich bags over my hands. It prevents the forgetful rubbing of the eye/s later on which can result in significant pain and potential serious problems. There is also nothing quite like forgetting you have been chopping chili and then getting a call of nature. Guys, you really do not want to do this at home. Trust me. It burns and can last for hours.

My friend Oroko from Kenya brought me some chilies for me when he came back from there after a home visit. Standing in the UN Club in Islamabad he presented me with a big bag of the most delicious looking fresh chilies. I naturally dived straight in and ate a couple there and then. Thanks, Oroko.

If you are a chili officianado then you will know that the different varieties of chili have quite distinctive flavours that set them apart. It is not all about the level of hotness although there is an endorphin rush that you get from that.

The ones I had from Oroko were firey hot but with an incredible sweetness to them. There were two varieties and they have adapted to their new home in Spain wonderfully. An unsuspecting person in the bar dipped in and tried one. To say it spoiled their evening was an understatement as, in addition to chewing the chili they spat it out into their hand. At this point their eyes were watering so they wiped the tears from their eyes with the tissue ... they had wiped their hands with. Oh dear.

Old style helpdesk

This is truly wonderful.

Thanks to DaveF
SOUND

Nice quote from Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop says it's not as easy to feel good as it once was. "To feel good when I was 21, all I had to do was to smoke a joint," the 59-year-old rock dinosaur tells the March issue of Spin.

"Now I have to turn off my phones, do tai chi for an hour, drink a strong cup of coffee, and stay away from bad people, so I can feel good for an hour or two — knowing when it ends, I'm gonna feel like the miserable 59-year old prick that I actually am."

Thank you Wife.

Baghdad Burning

One of my personal favourites for on the spot information. What's going on in Baghdad.

Sad, sad, sad. Anna Nicole Smith

Not sure that this is 'the most hilarious thing ever' though. The 'talented' bit stretches the imagination too.

And.. an earlier even sadder video.

Anna Nicole Smith at her worst. Almost fatalistic Marylin Monroe parallels.

Bjork Diddy Talk

Gif animation done does good. Simple but clever.

Diddy done do dat done good two. Yo.

The rest can be found at milkfat.com

The iPod is waaaay behind the times.

This device was so far ahead of its time. One of the first downloading devices. A precursor to iTunes, it makes you wonder what the add-on devices for this might have been.

Stunning.

Is all I can say about these images.

Samorost2 - A good mental distraction

This is just a very nice distraction from your day to day activities.

Note: Music. It will grab you.

Time to pig out - Happy New Year

gung hay fat choy!

gong xi fa cai!

sun nin fy lok!

xin nein kuai le!

At least they speak the same language

One for my wife (American) who has adopted 'bloody hell' as her own.

I was once in America for a product launch. At the presentation reception I was talking to a guy and asked him if he minded that I smoked. He said 'No, go ahead. But don't you find it difficult being in a country that is so anti-smoking'. I said, 'Not really. I normally only relax with a fag or two after work'. Realising my linguistic faux pas at seeing the alarm on his face, I desperately searched for a common word to explain what I meant. 'I really meant to say butts. It is so difficult when you are using a different tongue'. He did not seem impressed.

And here is some interesting 'butt' information

From the 'Keep Taking the Meds' Department

Perhaps some people should take lessons in web design?

Perhaps my wife will appreciate a reverse version.

Whatever you might call it....

So that when I am talking a load of bull it will convert it into a more reasoned version... Men know the times they have said "I am only going for one beer".

This could prove useful. Whatever, it really is quite fun.

Remind me not to go to Columbia for a lads night out.

And after a 'few', what better thing to do than get philosophical about it all.

I make no comment about this item

Someone, somewhere, will think of something else I am sure. I am sure there will be interesting times at the out patient departments.

Oh! I said I would make no comment about this.

From the 'Why did I not think of that?' department

If you use external USB drive then this is a 'nice to have'.

Mummy, what's on TV?

This one from the 'caring neighbourhood' department.

FDA is out to lunch on this one...

Not to be mis-lead..

Here...

More than a price drop for Volkswagen...

Ah, the sensitive world of advertising... here.

Thanks Mr. T for that one.