Today I got a kick out of an email I got from amazon.co.uk (the british amazon.com) which informed me that my order had been proccessed and shipped using the Royal Mail. I suppose citizens of the UK would think I’m dopey but there’s something to ‘The Royal Mail’ that tickles my funny bone. I’m expecting it to be hand delivered by a lavendar scented fellow outfitted in purple velvet 😉

the order was for a series of books by an obscure sci fi author. They’re not available in the US, so I used the UK amazon.com to get them

‘When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing – when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you- when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self- sacrifice- you may know that your society is doomed.’

The comparison to the RIAA is a little unfair, perhaps I should mention Enron and leave it at that ;-(

Today’s cool link of the day is The coolest clock I’ve seen yet. Note that you’ll need flash to check it out.

I have been slowly upgrading my stereo system the past 4 years or so. I bought my speakers from Cambridge Soundworks because they have an excellent upgrade policy – if you bring in speakers you buy from them within a year of the purchase date they will apply the full purchase price towards the purchase of a model of speaker higher up in quality. So I have gradually been upgrading the speakers as cashflow permits.

In December Cambridge sent me a sale flyer and they had their top of the line center channel speaker on sale for $250. It normally goes for $400, so I decided to go for it. I get to the store and they knock the price down to $220 for me, I’m feeling even better about the decision. But when they haul the box out of the back I realize the thing is bigger than my tv. By a lot, I mean a lot. Becky is now convinced I’m a mental reject and my tv looks ridiculous perched on top of this monstrosity, but damn does it sound good.

So I’m stuck lazing around the house today with a miserable cold and nothing to do. I discovered and excellent collection of paper buildings that you can download and build. Enjoy.

Check out Jorge Colombo’s collection of sketches of folks he observes in NYC.

Obviously if you’re reading this I’m back from vacation. More to follow soon, including pictures I hope since I’ve once again upgraded the Moveable Type install.

I keep forgetting to tell this story. When I went down to NY a couple of weeks ago the family was after me to give them a christmas list. I had already posted to this website a few weeks prior but of course no one aside from my sister had bothered to look at it, and I had turned the server off while I was out of town because of the ongoing hardware issue I’ve had with it. So I sat down in front of my mom’s computer and in about 2 minutes had found my christmas list in google’s cache, which surprised me a little, I mean it’s not like I get a ton of traffic or am linked to a lot of people or anything. Anyway, the lesson to take away from this is, embed a few unique phrases in your documents (like ‘fabo dolphin extract cumin’ for example) and you will be able to track that document down in google’s cache. It’s really quite handy, it’s like a free backup service from google.

Today’s laugh was spotted on slashdot

Three drinks for the Burger Kings under the sky,
Seven burgers for the Dwarves who are stoned,
Ninety million consumers doomed to buy,
One cut for the Dark Lord, the franchise he owns.
In the land of Mordor where the Whoppers lie.
Onion ring to rule them all, onion ring to dine them,
Onion ring to bring them all and in the deep-fryer bind them
In the land of Mordor where the Whoppers lie.

Ever wondered what that much derided ‘church’ of scientology business is all about? At the risk of invoking their wrath I’ll post a link to an L.A. Times piece by a reporter who gained access to scientology documents a judge temporarily made available to the public. Now you know why scientology is much derided. Xenu…thetans….my ass, what a crock of shit. Think of this the next time John Travolta is interviewed and tries to come across as erudite.