Gno Schitt

I've been away from here for far too long (works just been insane).

Hey everyone. I know everyone has some take on what is going on with our government. Above is a link to Jon's take on our "crisis". I am sorry for the add before the clip, I couldn't find just the clip so had to go through comedy central.

It is about 8 min. long but worth it, so if you can't watch it now, come back.

Peace

This thing is amazing. Weighing in at just shy of $10 000, it's maybe a bit out of most budgets. But built in bookshelves, drawers specifically for dice, Acryllic covers, with grids already present. Wow. Just wow.

Oh! Free shipping until January 1st? You all better order fast! I wonder if it's too late to add it to my Christmas list.

I wonder if I could make something similar with a DIY approach. Hopefully remove some of the labour costs... Step 1: Move into a house big enough to support the table.

Wonderfully edited little video with the old Kirk seeing the new one (the younger version).


I'm looking forward to the new Trek!

I hate what these rhythm games have done to the joy of shopping. I used to just go and buy whatever I wanted, and plug it into my console and move along, but oh no... not anymore... now, I get the joy of assholes at Harmonix and Activision that have reduced the simple joy of shopping for periphs to an activity that is about as much fun as navigating a hoover vacuum salespersons convention schedule.

Wheee!!!

I should really shut my cake hole though, seriously, since it looks like my RB1 stuff will work with RB2 and GHWT on the PS3, and that's really enough for me. Not having the slider from the GHWT guitar is kinda weak, but it's whatevs.

I can't wait for DJ Hero... uhmm... shit, I can't even make a good joke about how sad that is :( I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that I'm crying a little bit inside.

Looks like South Korea is trying to lure gamers into its military by making a fabulous new battle suit that bears a striking similarity to the suit worn by the fictional Master Chief.

I can see it now, some angry still-pubescent South Korean soldier standing over his vanquished enemy screaming the Korean equivalent of, "I eat noobs for breakfast!"

Tripped over this list today of upcoming comic book based movies for the next few years. Most of them will likely be shit but I'm sure there will be some good ones mixed in.

As a side note, they are making a live action version in hollywood.

Oh, yeah, right... there IS NO JOE THE PLUBMER. What a pathetic excuse for a campaign they are running now. Palin... give me a break.


http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6147331

I put my phone number on the national Do-Not-Call list today.

https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/insnum-regnum-eng

I recommend that you all do the same. I'm praying to any god that will listen that Capital One / Mastercard will now have to get out of my life permanently (and to hell with those asses who want us to buy some to good to be true travel deal).

Here is the quick and dirty of how bioluminescence works. Now many of you are thinking ``Why would I want to know that``. Well watch the video and see, it is both cool and funny.



Yes I am a dork and proud of it... as should all of you... someone need`s to be the bio nerd around here.

Another notable one is the Atom Smasher

That's right; the national debt clock (setup in a magical time when nobody would have predicted the debt to surge into the 10's of trillions) has run out of digits. It would be funny if it wasn't so brutally tragic for our American brothers and sisters to the south.

And in spite of it, McPaliBush still has a sliver of hope in the election. What does THAT tell ya?

I'm just looking forward to Oct 15th.

Yeah, I can't believe they're still around either. They are a galactic plague of some kind that just won't die. To celebrate their resilience, I'm considering going to see them at the Odeon. Tickets are only $30 so that should be hella good fun.

Any takers?

C'mon, pansies!!!

I can't say enough about how much I've enjoyed reading this comic. The author is Canadian and he just quit his day job to start drawing full time. I highly recommend you start right at the beginning and read this fantastic adventure. (Note: The first few comics are in black and white but it becomes a full colour comic very quickly)

I just finished Little Brother and this article really twigged for me.

...and no-one was pushed of the edge of the world either!

Oh gawd, I hope not... hit the link for a quick video.

Google is about to release a new Browser. Take a look at the introductory comic.

My only concern is that everything I do on the net is being done through some Google service. If "they" decide to take a look at me, they've got a pretty big picture of my life and thoughts ....wait a minute, Blogger is Google property too....Damn you Google!

Google is like heroin for a privacy junkie/"conspiracy theorist" like myself...I know it's bad for me but I just can't help it...Google is just so good!

Anyways, I'm going to give Chrome a try. Anyone else?

I deleted that fucking Jib Jab clip that would intermittently auto-play.
Sorry about leaving that there for so long.

Worth a read.

I've completed a few new tracks (or versions) recently.
For those so inclined:

These are also going to be loaded into the integrated player shortly if you want to just preview them. Keep in mind that some of them have neat stuff in the middle and end, so if the first 8/16/32 bars are a bit repetitive, those are just for mixing ;)


Drumbeat Goes Like This

Bweoinwuinngh (I Get Live) Good2B Mix

No Tek Low Def (elektro trance)

Ghostheory

Frank Miller + Disney girls= FUN!

I swear you can find anything on Craigslist, Kijiji, eBay, et. al.

Parts I like the most:
* occasionally whisper in my ear, "Ahha, we meet again".
* Evil laugh/British Accent preferred

priceless...

I came across this post quite by accident on a real-estate media website, and thought I'd share. I don't think this is anything people here don't already know, but it was good for me to read this right now (Monday morning) as I set out to try and complete some stuff at work this week that is very challenging.

5 Things to Remember:
1. Let it go. Too many of us cling to negative events that happened 5, 10, 20 years ago. We paralyze ourselves when we can’t simply let it go, and begin living life now.

2. How we feel about ourselves-our esteem-affects every aspect of our lives. Crucial is trusting ourselves to create our own, best outcomes in any situation.

3. When facing great challenges, the immediate goal is to merely get through them. To do this: (1) Don’t become overwhelmed. (2) Do what you can, as much as you can. (3) Keep your focus on the now.

4. Optimism-the belief that things can get better-is the first step toward redemption when we are wallowing in misery.

5. "I believe that no matter how many mistakes we’ve made; how badly we’ve really, really screwed up; how old, worn out, or dejected we’ve become; as long as there is true, steadfast ambition, all of us have an opportunity for greatness."

I'm going to focus on 1, 2 and 4 today.

Things I wish:
1. That we could solve the energy problem.
2. That summer was longer.
3. That deadlines didn't have sharp razor blades on them. ;)

Earlier this year a fellow named Ryan Dancey suggested that d20 has four distinct quartiles of play:

Levels 1-5: Gritty fantasy
Levels 6-10: Heroic fantasy
Levels 11-15: Wuxia
Levels 16-20: Superheroes

There’s been some great discussion at EN World and elsewhere about how to define those quartiles, and how each group eventually finds the quartiles that suit them best.

You just gotta love Joss Whedon! It's quirky and funny and worth a look!

Because failure can be funny.

Tonight, Midnight at the Broadway: Dead Alive

(if you are into educational films, that is)

You know things are bad when there is a website about it. You should give this a read to be sure that you are safe, and perhaps even consider passing it on to those that you love so they too can be safe from DHMO.

I finally replaced my broken TV with a nice LCD. Not two days later I'm chatting with Kyro about PS3's and I spot one hell of a deal that I couldn't pass up. So now I have a PS3 to go with my new TV. For anyone that cares to add me to the friends list on their console my name is Technoplunk. Alternately if you hate my guts feel free to add me to your block list.

I was glad to see that real snail mail isn't dead. I've sent a message and we'll see how long it takes to get to it's destination.

I enjoy those technologies that don't really have a purpose, other than interest / entertainment. I'll let you know when I get the delivery.

Welcome to the future of web browsing.
Features vs. IE!

I'm going to download and check it out today. If anybody has any observations about it, good or bad, please post here.

Please come out to our place Friday July 4th for our multipurpose, multinational, festivities.
We're bundling together all kinds of reason to get a fresh slice of alright or open some new cans of whoop-ass, to wit:

• [late] Canada Day
• Independence Day (for our friends who have a little south of border going on)
• and at least one birthday
• the beginning of summer (okay, this is pushing it, but I'm looking forward to summer)
  

Cheered me up...! and then I remembered the Kermit videos... ;;

You have to check it out, I don't know what to say about it.

Hey, here is a neat little video of what happens when you put a cell phone in a microwave...

Not what you think.

I'm trying to decide whether to go with Shaw for internet and phone as apposed to Sasktel. I have been happy with Sasktel's service but find that my internet is a little slow for online gaming (though not bad) and my bill is a little excessive for phone. That being said, I haven't used Shaw in ages.

We require Canada wide long distance (anytime) and I use the internet both for gaming and torrents along with general use.

If anyone has had recent experience with Shaw's services, your advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers!

FeedTheDog and I were discussing this book at lunch today, and Kyro seemed interested. I said I would put it up here, as I think it's a book that more GnoSchitters would like. It is available in many formats at the link in the title for free, as it is distributed under one of the Creative Commons licenses. I very highly recommend it.

It's a book about a high school kid. He is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and ends up being accused as a terrorist. It discusses the loss of freedoms that the community goes through after a terrorist attack, and this technologically literate student rebelling against that. It's a very interesting read. All the technologies used in the book are accurate as well. There is a How-to (here) that explains how to create some of the homemade devices, or do a lot of the things done in the book. This includes things like discovering pinpoint cameras for extremely cheap, blocking/killing RFID chips, and removing camera specific noise from pictures. Very cool stuff for the people who want to secure their things to the extreme.

Some of the critics have compared it to Orwell's 1984. It is also classified as a Young Adult book, so the reading level is pretty easy. It's a book you can start, and finish, pretty easily in a week or two. Downside is it's all digital, so if you don't have a nice device to read on, you may need to pay for 200 pages of printing, or read off a computer monitor. Not a big deal for some (like me) but hopefully that doesn't scare you away from this great book.

Stop reading this post, and start reading the book.

I don't understand people anymore.

Nothing like combining data transfer and and automatic assault weapons. Cubicle warfare has been taken to the next level.

Make sure you watch the video.

Well, I guess CPM and me have been going round in circles for years now. How many? I can't possibly be expected to remember accurately.


Anyway...

We thought this year that it would be fun to have a big BBQ on the same day that our wedding actually was in 1997, specifically the 17th of May (and could somebody please double check that I got the year correct?).

So, if you could make it out that night, bring your own dead stuff to burn on the BBQ and something to drink, we'd love to see you. Hopefully the weather is warm and we can spend some of it outside (not like in '97 when it snowed on us).

Please email me to let me know that you can make it (or not). If coming, please feel free to bring a lawn chair or two so that we've got lots if we're outside. This night is kid friendly, so please, no weapons (or anything Metro would put in the trunk of his car).

Bonus points for anybody who gets the title of this post.

Kyro and I are planning to see Ironman on Sunday at noon. Anyone else interested in the hero in iron pants is welcome to come.

If you've ever read Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's Arkham Asylum graphic novel you know just how dark and intense Batman can be.

Now some fans have created a short film adaptation (English subtitles) of this dark and creepy world and it looks very good.

I hope you enjoy it.

New to me, and maybe you too? The Gashlycrumb Tinies
Buying the book now...

Because every trucker needs a spiritual rest-stop!!

Story Update - April 23

Yeah, I dunno what to tell you about this one.
I saw this show on First Choice / Superchannel in the early 80's, and at that time it must have been a re-hash/re-run already. Eerie to watch this sort of low budget stuff that is dripping out of my memory after 27 years.

Does anybody else as old as me remember this one?

(yikes)

On the plus side, you gotta love 50cm of snow predicted this late in April.
Wheeee!

This is no joke.
This is actually a coloring book promoting tolerance and understanding. It is designed for parents and educators to use.

To see some more of the book, which is strangely fascinating and slightly disturbing go here.

I'm all for understanding and tolerance so this is probably a good thing; yet whenever I read the title it makes me think of some clients that I do want to blow up. But that's a personal issue with corporate greed and bureaucratic stupidity, not race or religion, and they don't have a coloring book for that - yet...

UPDATE: This book brought to you by the same fine folks that produced It's Just A Plant: a children's story of marijuana.

"Dance in the streets, not in your room."

Silent Disco
Mobile Clubbing

It's a sad day for me, sorta... I've been using a sweet Tascam digital mixer (the TM-D1000) for at least 5 years now and it has served me well. So well, that I had no need to upgrade it... until... (wait for it)... well, now.

You see, the whole setup in my PC is based around these two M-Audio PCI cards. One of which connects to the digital mixer to provide 8in/8out. The second card is the dedicated hi power master outs (24bit/96khz for the geeks out there). I was able to piece the setup together for less than a grand (which made the wife super happy), and I got my 5 years out of it for sure.

But now I'm faced with this need to "go mobile" and my current hardware, PCI cards, big mixing desk, etc... just won't do the trick. So, I'm forced to sell, and switch over to dedicated external firewire hardware. This means the M-Audio/Tascam rig is up for sale.

• mixer has the FX-1000 Effects Board already installed providing 2 extra FX channels (adding another $100 value)
• all manuals still in good readable condition
• training Video included and quick reference card

• TDIF Link Cable (25') PCI card to Mixer
• MIDI Extension Cable (12') for external MIDI devices
• USB Device Cable (3') for keyboard or other USB recording peripheral
• burned CD with all the newest WinXP and Mac OS X drivers
• all the manuals and documentation,
• plus a training video on how to use the mixer

tascam_maudio_configs

Anybody come across anything noteworthy on April Fools Day?
Did you pull any fast ones that you want to report on? Do tell...

I just came across this information - a company out in BC has invented a virus-free laptop that costs less than $300 (virus-free because it does not have an internal hard drive - operating data is stored in a ROM chip). It seems that the target market is those who have not yet owned a computer. I'm curious about what your thoughts on this little machine are... how successful it might/might not be, good/bad idea, etc...


Specs
Freescale i.MX31 Processor
Supports 1024 X 768 True Color Video Output*
(RGB and LCD) Plus mpeg 2 hardware decoder
4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 USB 1.1 port (for keyboard)
2 SD slots
256 MB Ram
1 GB NAND Flash, containing read only file system (compressed)
128 MB Flash stick / mp3 player (external)
1 Stereo minipin audio out, stereo minipin line in, stereo minipin mic in
1 RGB out for VGA monitor
10/100 Ethernet jack, USB Wi-Fi
802.11 b/g WiFi
110-220 Volt input power supply
5-8 Hours of battery life
8.6" Diagonal SVGA display (4:3)
Supporting 800 x 600 True Color
*with internal LCD disabled

Suppose I could convince work to buy one of these with the social fund?

I really want to try one out, see how sensitive it is. Would a dog walking by wagging it's tail trigger a party? Maybe that's a good way to entertain your pets left home alone? I could see Buddy and Nina grooving out all day, in the fog.

Looks like we are one step closer to replacing the DJ with a robot. Enjoy your DJing days while you can.

Hopefully the Jazz Bass Playing Robot takes a little longer to get going.

I highly recommend you consider this play for a night of entertainment this weekend. I went to last year's version. It was awesome!

(As well, this year's version has a small cameo by yours truly.)

Worth your time, even if you don't like games.

So, killing the last few minutes of work today (OK, really more like 15.. OK OK! 20) I stumbled upon another game that made my laff my ass off. Pointless, random & hilarious. And so, I share with you :)
ENJOY

We have less than a 0.6 vacancy rate, and yet people are still clammering to get in... haven't they seen that we are the the 2nd least-desireable city to live in???

Hot, hot, hot.

You pick:

A) Brilliant
B) Psychic
C) Visionary
D) All of the above

I'm still flabbergasted by the media's belief that high def downloads (as a total replacement for physical media) are going to be realizable within the next 4 or 5 years, that's patent nonsense.

I missed Rambo, but I will NOT miss this schlock-fest.

I'm off work from Good Friday until the following Wednesday. I'll be trying to get into a matinée that week for sure.

In the words of evil Ash:
"Who's with me?"

Stumbled across this and enjoyed it greatly, hope you do too.

"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb."

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do--baby sit!

We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked, not any of that silly planning time.

That would be $19.50 a day (7:00 AM to 3:30 (or so) PM with
just 25 min. off for lunch).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to
baby-sit their children.


NOW...

How many do they teach in a class, 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.
However, remember they only work 180 day s a year!!! We're not going to pay them for any vacations.


LET'S SEE....

That's $585 x 180= $105,300 per year.

What about those special teachers and the ones with master's degrees? Well, I guess we could pay them minimum wage, and just to be fair, round it off to $7.00 an hour.

That would be $7 x 6 1/2 hours x 30 children x 180 days = $245,700 per year.


Wait a minute --there's something wrong here!


Average teacher salary:
$50,000/180 days
= $277/per day/30 students
= $9.23/6.5 hours
= $1.42 per hour per student.

A very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even try (with your help) to EDUCATE your kids!


WHAT A DEAL...

NOTE: Not suitable for work environments or for those who are offended by religious parody.

This is a fun little game that I stumbled upon and wanted to share - it's worth a play, just to unveil the boss :)

I guess it was inevitable...

Who is this guy? Maybe Colbert has it right:

The topic is ripe for ridicule: On The Colbert Report in January, host Stephen Colbert asked Levy, "Are these people who can't establish relationships with other human beings, are they by any chance people who write about love and sex with robots?"

Those bastards at Princeton are back to undermining north americas security again!

Hilarious!
A mother in Florida replaced the batteries in her son James' Elmo doll only to have it start uttering death threats.

"Kill James" it says, which the kid is now repeating. Fisher Price says they are looking into it, but to me it smells like angry employee revenge!

I bet sales for the item increase ten-fold as Goth kids buy them for their boyfriends and girlfriends with the hope of Elmo uttering some sweetly homicidal greeting.

Hit the link to view the news report.

Apparently, Southern Cal and Nevada have been experiencing quite a few earthquakes in the last week. I found this map interesting.

Maybe its time to start buying up land in eastern Nevada. 50 years from now, "Memorial Coast" will be the place to be. ;)

Really, what's stopping us?
What's going to be left here in North America if the US really falls? I'm a rat, and I will desert a sinking ship (every day of the week, and twice on Sunday).



If you can bear it:

The Fall of CRE

A real Tsunami that the world will feel

Breaking News: Series Of Concentric Circles Emanating From Glowing Red Dot

What can you all tell me about these people?

Everyone should be familiar with the name Bobby Fischer - a chess prodigy who dazzled the world with his prowess before going into reclusion.

Well apparently he died recently and in the wake of the announcement about the bio being made about him the video in the link was released. Somehow I don't think the material in the video will make it to the big screen, but if it does I may be forced to watch...

I'm not commenting one way or another. The interview segment in the short video took place mere hours after the 9/11 attacks.

Be warned the video has NSFW audio, so wear headphones if you're watching at work.

Lookin forward to this one already.

Stumbled upon this by accident, and couldn't believe the story.

Anybody else watch that pathetic excuse for a SoTU address last night? At least Obama's response was good. To bad he'll probably never be elected.

Why not supplement your diet?
Edit: Okay... list of events here.