Phone upgrade

Well, it's about time for me to upgrade my phone again.

Perhaps I should get one of these cameraphones I've been hearing so much about...

Sunday...

Another Sunday has come around... the weeks are flying by... soon it will be Christmas.

I'm not usually big fan of Christmas but I'm looking forward to spending this one with my brother & my family in Germany. Which reminds me that I need to do Christmas shopping... ok, that got rid of my Christmas cheer. I hate shopping unless it's PC or Vespa related stuff and my grandmother doesn't have either. I'll have to get some tips on what to get her from my folks.

I still haven't finished HL2. I can't be that far off from the end though. I'm having a little difficulty with the level that I'm on at the moment and I don't think my slight hangover is helping matters much.

Sue your way out of trouble.

Woman blows $950k on Amex card
A New York woman who ran up debts of $951,000 on her Amex account is suing the company for $2m for allowing her to hammer the plastic, Newsday reports.

Antoinette Millard, 40, says American Express should have realised she was mentally incompetent when she opened the sky's-the-limit Centurion account. Her court filing states that American Express "knew or should have known that [Millard] was acting impulsively and irrationally at the time she entered into contract". She cites anorexia, depression, panic attacks and "head tumors" as contributory factors to her mental incompetence.

American Express has obtained a court order freezing $951,000 in assets belonging to the former vice president at the Brown Brothers Harriman investment bank. To add to Millard's woes, she is currently on $100,000 bail awaiting trial on grand larceny charges after attempting to relieve an insurance company of $262,000 for jewellery she claims was stolen, but allegedly sold. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years' jail.

I don't get it... it's as bad as people suing Mc Donalds for selling junkfood.

Cool

UK prof pioneers new LCD screen system
By Faultline

A Cambridge UK academic has come up with a completely new flat TV concept that relies on total internal reflection in a wedge shaped piece of clear plastic, fed by the same LCD video projectors that drive rear-projection televisions. The technique promises to cost about a fiftieth of the price of current plasma screens and yet deliver a similar quality picture.

Event at a 50^th I'm not sure if it will make it into my budget.

Sunday Evening

I've had a lazy weekend... didn't get up to much. Played CS & HL2, finished "Caves of Steel" and started "The Robots of Dawn".

I watched "Ichi, the Killer" on Friday...damn, that's a freaky movie... sort of like non-cartoon manga.

Caves of Steel

I started reading an actual book on Thrusday, something that I haven't done in many months. Despite my love of technology, I have to admit that ink on paper is still my favorite delivery medium for fiction.

Counter Strike

OK, my CS sucks.

Half Life 2

I received HL2 from Amazon this morning and I'm pretty impressed after a quick two and a half hour session (need food).

Roboroach

Boffins unleash robotic cockroach
By Lester Haines
Published Monday 15th November 2004 12:45 GMT
A tripartite alliance of scientists has developed what it claims will will be the solution to the perennial cockroach problem - a robotic Judas roach which will have the capability to seek, locate and betray its insect counterparts.

You know, I have one simple request... and that is to have cockroaches with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!

The end of another weekend.

I spent most of my weekend moving Kang onto MySQL from SQL Server Express and rewriting the ASP code to VB.Net... loads of fun.

A bit of functionality got lost in translation and it still needs a bit of tweaking on the MySQL side but at least he's back.

Human Clock

Another fun way to watch time go by...

Cool

Schoolboy sues mom for not buying him a PC

HONG KONG: An 11-year-old boy in central China took his mother to court for breaking a promise to buy him a computer if he did well at school, a news report said last Monday.

The woman told her son she would buy him a computer if he scored average marks of more than 94% for his school work, the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily reported.

However, she welshed on the deal when he achieved an average of 97%, telling him she could not afford to buy the computer, the newspaper said.

Firefox 1.0

It's arrived.

Get Firefox 1.0 here.

Art Vespa

They're at it again.

This time with submissions from Gavin Turk, Gary Hume, Simon Periton, Georgina Starr & Harland Miller.

I prefer this lot.

X-Ray Specs

Plane passengers shocked by their x-ray scans

Dipesh Gadher,Transport Correspondent
AN X-RAY machine that sees through air passengers’ clothes has been deployed by security staff at London’s Heathrow airport for the first time.

The device at Terminal 4 produces a “naked” image of passengers by bouncing X-rays off their skin, enabling staff instantly to spot any hidden weapons or explosives.

I guess it's better than a cavity search.

Happy Monday

I got to work this morning to find that the server which has both my current projects on it is down and doesn't look like it's going to be up again for a while.

I think I'll take the morning off.

Blue Gene

Supercomputer breaks speed record

By Jo Twist
BBC News technology and science reporter

The US is poised to push Japan off the top of the supercomputing chart with IBM's prototype Blue Gene/L machine.

It is being assembled for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, a US Department of Energy lab (DOE).

DOE test results show that Blue Gene/L has managed speeds of 70.72 teraflops. The current top machine, Japan's NEC Earth Simulator, clocks up 35.86.

Damn! I wonder how fast it will get through Seti workunits...

How's your parking?

Test your parking skills.

I don't think that I did to badly considering I only ever have to park my Vespa.

US Elections

I don't usually use computers as a scapegoat but...

Super-tough coating

Super-tough coating for cellphones and discs

10:15 30 October 04

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.


The colour LCD screens on cellphones and PDAs can get badly scratched in pockets stuffed with loose change and keys. And CDs and DVDs become unplayable in no time when children use them as indoor frisbees. Now a tough, transparent polymer coating developed by chemists in Japan is set to make scratched phone screens and scuffed discs a thing of the past.

I could use some of that stuff for the visor on my helmet. They always seem to scatch up really quickly for some reason...

Looking to invest in a little property?

How about an acre on Mars?

Election Odds

Ladbrokers is offering 2 to 1 odds on the Republicans and 4 to 11 on the Democrates at the moment.

Scam

I received this business opertunity in my mail today:

Dear Friend,

Having obtained your contact from the Internet that you have been doing
several transactions in good trust, coupled with my deep interest to invest
in your country, I decided to contact and solicit your mutual assistance
at all cost.

I am Michael Katz, Corporate Finance Manager, Commonwealth Bank London.On
January 6th 1999, one Mr. Eastman Brian Clark, an American National,a consultant
and contractor with Gardiner & Theobald, a leading firm of project and cost
management consultants, made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit,valued at Eight
Million Five Hundred Thousand British pounds sterling for twelve calendar
months in my Bank Branch.

Upon Maturity, we sent a routine notification to his forwarding address
but got no reply, after a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered
from his contract employers (Gardiner &Theobald) that Mr. Eastman Brian
Clark died from an automobile accident. On further investigation,it was
discovered that he died without making a Will and all attempts to trace
his next of kin was fruitless.

On further investigations, it was discovered that Late Eastman Brian Clark
did not declare any next of kin or relations in all his official documents,including
his Bank Deposit paper work here at the Bank. The total sums 8,500,000.00
pounds sterling is still in my bank and the interest is being rolled over
with the principal sum at the end of each year. No one will ever come forward
to claim it.

In accordance with the Banking Federal Laws and constitution,at the expiration
of 5(five) years, the money will revert to the ownership of the Government
if nobody applies as the next of Kin to claim the funds.

Consequently, I shall present you as a foreign partner to stand in as
the next of kin to late Mr.Eastman Brian Clark so that you and I can benefit
from the fruits of this old mans labour to enhance humanitarian Organisation
Worldwide.Upon acceptance of this proposal, I shall send to you by fax a
copy of the Commonwealth Bank London."Next of Kin Payment Application Form"as
well as detailed information on how this deal would be transacted.

We shall employ the services of a solicitor for the drafting of the LAST
WILL & TESTAMENT of Late Mr. Eastman Brian Clark and to obtain all other
relevant papers in your name for the necessary documentation for payment
approval in my bank headquarters in your favour.The money will be shared
in the ratio of Sixty percent for me, Forty percent for you.

I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that
will protect you from any breach of the law as I will use my position as
the Bank's corporate Finance Manager to secure approvals and guarantee the
successful execution of this transaction and it will take only 7-10 working
days to conclude this transaction.

Please be informed that your utmost confidentiality is required. If this
interest you, please reply me immediately via the private email address
michaelkatz@k.ro and please include your private phone number for voice
contact and fax number so I can provide you with more details and relevant
documents that will help you understand the transaction.

Awaiting your urgent reply.

Thanks.

Best regards,

Michael Katz

I can't believe that people still fall for this scam.