Poltics:
The Department of Justice "aquired" the web address of a site which sells mod chips.
IsoNews.com. Mod chips can be installed
into an console game system like an XBox or a Play Station 2 and will bypass
the security therein. This can allow the owner or the game system to do things
that the hardware designers tried to prevent, such as buying games cheaping from
overseas and playing them in America. It also makes it possible to play pirated
games on the system.
The DEA had a court "restrain" several websites which sold bongs and other drug
paraphenalia. (article on CannabisNews.com) Basically the same as above, the government now controls
these channels for information passing too. All of the sites listed in the article
fail to return a webpage.
It's one thing to charge the owners with a crime, or to issue a restraining order
that says they have to stop selling things on the web. But it's completely wrong
to steal their place to talk.
The War must go on. The public won't behave without a war on. I gotta look for
a quote from
1984 about how they need to be at war with someone at all times.
You may be interested to know that it is theorically possible to alter a DVD player
so that the outputs from it can work when fed through a VCR. This makes it possible
to use the DVD player on an old TV without having to spend
$24
on a modulator. Circuit City's employees tell me that a buying a modulator is
the only way to connect a DVD player to an old TV. This modification may be
ridiculously easy and you can learn about it online by searching google for
dvd hacks or your dvd players exact model number and the word hack.
I sat in on an hour of the Amber roleplaying game. It's strange. I wasn't able
to come up with a character that could add something to the game. Imagination
Deficit Disorder brought on by excess amounts of mundane living.
Not much going on lately.
The Michigan Daily has this
article
about a bake sale at "The Univeristy" which was held to point out the admission
policy there. Bagels were $1 for whites and 80 cents for blacks. Profits were donated to
the United Negro College Fund.
FlyLady.net seems like it might be interesting.
My friend, Jessie, says it's helping her get her house together.
Apparently the world is willing to sell me a chair with a headrest OR lumbar support
but not both. grrr.
The other day, I bought some speakers (Altec Lansing AVS200). They've got decent
sound if you don't listen to any bagpipe music. Joe hooked them up to his machine
and installed this
remote
control for
Winamp2
which lets me change the volume and skip tracks. :)
Long John Silvers sure can torture a shrimp. ick.
CompUSA continues to suck. I got some mediocre telephone run-around from them
with the same end result. I can't spend my money (gift card) on what I want because
that item isn't in the store, it's only available on their website. Weee... I
now officially hate gift certificates. There's just something Really wrong about
giving some corporation money in the trust that they'll give your friend something.
Just give your friend the money and say "Go buy something cool for your computer."
Another couple feet of snow *shrug* Subaru's are fun. :) I lucked out and didn't
have to shovel out this morning. I was out getting dinner when the plow came through
the first time.
The Troy SCA group held a Midwinter Melee Muster this weekend. I had a bunch of
fun and didn't take any good pictures.
While waiting
for things to get started, these guys did some pick up fights. Gabe and his wife
are having a little armored cuddle in the background.
Jeff grabbed
this picture of us talking. We're still waiting for the fighting to start.
This event drew almost exactly 50 fighters (49 when we counted) and we did some
open field battles where I got to practice my sword and shield. Aggression earns
kills and makes your side win. :) I understand why Jeff enjoys flanking so much
now. It's much more fun to be in the back field with a sword and shield. Things
are just so much more personal then with the 7.5 foot polearm.
During my fun in the enemy (well opposing team) backfield, I got into a great
position against a darn good fighter and threw a really weak shot. Since he
recognized me as a "pretty hard hitter" he thought I was being nice. :) I actually
just have no ability to throw a decent wrap. Jeff helped me practice it a bit,
I need to drill that more.
Later, during the bridge battle, I got in some serious spear work. I'm not up
to my old stamina, but I had a lot of fun. I should make some time to drill
spear shots too. (Drilling would be throwing 150-200 spear thrusts in a row.) When
you're on a bridge, you have a plethora of targets who can't flank you and ya
need to be able to keep throwing shots until your side wins.
Of course, since it's a bridge, when you throw someone over the line (edge) that's
as good as killing them. I got a fair number of kills when people try to charge
inside my spear range. They got to close to stab, so I just shove them off the
bridge. :) After trying shoving teams of heavy guys off the bridge, I applied
a bit too much force to one woman. (Sorry Shiro) She's okay, we talked about it.
Seems she was taken off guard by the force and landed hard.
After I got home I got my wierd fighting headache that no-one can explain. Nausea,
vomitting. grrr. I didn't get it at the last fighting event I went to and I didn't
work particularly hard at this one. I had all the water I could manage when I
was done. I drank 2 big cokes with dinner so it wasn't caffine withdrawal. I Did
take an enthusiastic shot or two to the head this time. Maybe it's that. It went
away by the time I woke up.
Dare Devil was disappointing. It has way too many computer graphics and not
enough people doing stunts or fighting. At one point, someone throws a rose from
the rooftops. The camera follows it down. And the rose is a computer graphic.
It just seemed like they weren't even trying to use real things.
The fights in the second half were annoying. The setting was bad for Dare Devil
and he didn't take the fight somewhere else. Jenny complained about Hollywood's
belief that back handsprings are an effective way to dodge projectiles. :)
Bull's Eye, the chief thug (working for Kingpin) was a rather interesting
character. I kinda wish they told more of his story.
Dare Devil's sonar seemed to change rules on a regular basis. Sometimes he could
see through walls and other times he couldn't see through sheets hung up to dry.
Looks like if I roll a towel up, I can make my chair at home have some lumbar
support. My back likes that a lot better. :)
I've got no good ideas for Valentine's Day. Not that I have a reason to celebrate
the actions of St. Valentine, but women dig Feb 14. The movies and fancy
restaurants are all going to be mobbed.
We did the kneeling punches that Sifu wanted us to do Wednesday. My quadriceps Hurt!
I think my desk chair at home is giving me a backache. grrrr. That wasn't a cheap
chair. Well, it was cheap for a leather office chair but ... grrr.
Went past a 6 car (or so) accident on the Thruway this morning. Lots of drifting snow.
Looks like someone was going really slow and got rear-ended by like 4 or 5 other
vehicles. A semi was involved as a rear ender. I saw an ambulance on the scene
and one in route. It didn't look That serious as accidents go. Thankfully. There
was a lot of fender damage, but no crumpled cars.
Sifu isn't going to be at class tonight either, so I'll be teaching Kung Fu with
my brother to up to seven new folk. Wierd.
Lion Cut A way to trim
a cat's fur that should just never happen.
Office-Ergo.com They agree with me, they must be right. :)
Someone took some pictures
of pieces of the shuttle that he/she saw.
Added
Missy's webpage to my
links page.
Also added a link to Mike's wife's page.
Alanis Morissette - You Owe Me Nothing
from Under Rug Swept
I'll give you countless amounts of outright acceptance if you want it
I will give you encouragement to choose the path that you want if you need it
You can speak of anger and doubts, your fears and freakouts and I'll hold it
You can share your so called shame filled accounts of times in your life and I won't judge it
And there are no strings attached.
You owe me nothing for giving the love that I give
You owe me nothing for caring the way that I have
I give you thanks for receiving it's my priviledge
and you owe me nothing in return
You can ask for space for yourself and only yourself and I will grant it
You can ask for freedom as well or time to travel and you'll have it
You can ask to live by yourself or love someone else and I'll support it
You can ask for anything you can. Anything at all and I'll understand it
And there are no strings attached.
You owe me nothing for giving the love that I give
You owe me nothing for caring the way that I have
I give you thanks for receiving it's my priviledge
and you owe me nothing in return
I bet you're wondering when the next payback shoe will eventually drop
I bet you're wondering when my conditional police will force you to cough up
I bet you're wondering how far you have now danced your way backed into debt (huh?)
This is the only kind of love, as I understand it, that there really is
You can express your deepest of truths even if it means I lose you and I'll hear it
You can fall into the abyss on the way to your bliss I'll empathize with
You can say you have to skip town to chase your passion and I'll hear it
You can even hit rock bottom have a mid-life crisis and I'll hold it.
And there are no strings attached.
You owe me nothing for giving the love that I give
You owe me nothing for caring the way that I have
I give you thanks for receiving it's my priviledge
and you owe me nothing in return
"Yet it was for me, not you, I came to write this song"-Rush
Motivation is internal.
Germany believes America is a nation of warmongers Not that polls are really
that trustworthy. Still it's almost ironic.
Not much going on lately. Getting a yahoo account is kinda like privacy rape.
It's critically important to them that they have all my demographics info before
I be allowed to read a tech support forum they host. And the best part is: I can't
trust them! They're going to sell all the info I give them! What Fun! Birthday,
zip code, job, weeee. [sarcasm] And if I'm lucky I'll get a bunch of emails
about how to make my . . . parts . bigger! [/sarcasm] So lie. If they don't
need to know it, don't let them have the truth.
Three Dead Trolls in a Baggy
is a strange Canadian band who can offend anyone who is offendable. Lot's of
their stuff is funny though. (If you go there and get offended, that's your bad.)
They've written one called "The Privacy Song".
Sifu had to work late this week and I found myself helping to teach Wing Chun Kung
Fu to the newer students. It was a lot of fun and really wierd. It's one thing
to teach someone how to swing a stick in the SCA but it lacks the formallity of
teaching a form. It was much less like teaching a friend and much more like
holding a class. Still wierd.
I'm reading some of the BattleTech series. Thurston is aweful. Just a bad author.
Stackpole was interesting enough that I dug out my copy of Mech Warrior 3 and gave
that a go. I still can't play that very well with a joystick.
Half-life has
made the keys wasd and the mouse my de facto standard for game control now.
Jenny and I went to Market Day at Birka. 3 or 4 hours each way and we day tripped
it. :( We got home at 4AM sunday. Naturally we got to the site too late for me
to fight at all.
Until they get sued or something, Newsmax has a
page of jokes
of the late shows from the last several nights.
Drop me a line if part of my site was useful. Or write a note in
the guestbook.
If you are linking to my site and you have more then 50 readers per
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Tom.Cerul@NOPE.gmail.com (remove a word and a period)
Copyright Tom Cerul 2003-2006
9 Man's Morris made inside the bag to carry it's stones.
Korobushka
I'm actually in the back there.
Me
Jenny
Millie and her self portrait. One of the activities was to decorate a stuffed fox.
This dance is an old version of twister.