Archive for September, 2007
Iraq’s “only” heavy metal band
September 11th, 2007 • chatter, metal, movies
Now, I’m doubting the fact that they’re the only metal band in the entire country but this movie looks pretty sweet: Heavy Metal In Baghdad. Spike Jonze is an executive producer? I do not expect suckage.
How does a USPS package manage to get delivered on a Sunday?
September 10th, 2007 • 2 comments chatter, coffee
I wish I knew because according to usps.com, I had a packaged delivered to me yesterday at 9AM. I was tricked and fooled by an evil postmaster! However, I got the package today and it’s my latest shipment of coffee from The Coffee Fool. This is the first order I’ve made since mid July even though I’ve had an average of about 32 oz. of coffee 6 days a week of Coffee Fool coffee.
Today, I got my standard shipment of Velvet Hammer (wet roasted, silky aroma, kick-in-the-teeth taste) and my first order of Nicaraguan Matagalpa which is supposed to be full bodied yet somewhat chocolate-y and smooth. We’ll see! I’m about to grind up the bag and put it through its paces.
Yum!
Interesting posts, part 9
September 7th, 2007 • interesting posts
I think some of these may be from last week but that’s OK, this week has been rather devoid of interesting news not about Apple’s new products.
Who really cares, why must this be a competition? Bloglines is a singular entity while Google Reader is a part of the Google Empire and frankly, is the better product for me. But this does not mean they’re in some RSS reader domination race, there’s hundreds of readers out there, some better some worse.
I know I certainly need more than 5 tips but these are an awesome start.
While I’m no longer a full time student, I would love to go for this scholarship opportunity because I think it’s pretty awesome to get that much money for writing about things you love.
Well, I’d definitely pay $15/mo for some cool tech gear, especially startup t-shirts since I need more of those!
First up, Google’s not totally entering, they’re just expanding Google Books quite a bit…for now. Amazon, on the other hand, is setting out to topple Sony’s ill-fated eReader (which looks nice but is ultimately useless, like most Sony wares) and might be just the company to do it. They’re going to be releasing a device that will most likely be wifi-enabled and connected directly to their books catalog for quick searching and purchasing. And using an e-Ink reader device will certainly sweeten the deal over Sony’s reader.
It’s a poignant flip side to TechCrunch’s gung-ho post.
They want to rebadge anti-net neutrality as something else, good luck with that. The Justice Department guys think that an ISP should charge you more if you use your connection more. Well, some people already do (users in the UK have download/upload limits, some US telcos do too) and last time I checked, people didn’t like getting charged extra to use an already absurdly expensive, moderately slow service. If an ISP is like USPS, why don’t our packets come back beaten up, late, and possibly wet? My packets getting beaten up and lost would be more appropriate than charging me more.
Obligatory Apple news:
And finally, there’s no link for this last bit of news that’s been “released” this week.
Woohoo!
September 7th, 2007 • chatter
Apparently, I was on StumbleUpon’s Buzz SU yesterday given the massive amount of hits I got referred from there: Buzz. It was a post two days ago for a witty icon/picture. I didn’t think it’d get many hits but according to WordPress.com Stats, I was way wrong: 4315 total for that one post (but over 166,600 hits in two days).
I’m working on IP9 now but there’s little news this week that wasn’t about Apple 
.
So long are those words on our paper
September 5th, 2007 • chatter
Well, I can’t do it any more. At least not right now. I’ve pretty much given up on reading Jeffrey Burton Russell’s Satan: The Early Christian Tradition right now. I can’t trudge through more of his inundating writing. Don’t get me wrong, I like how he presents everything in a fairly no-nonsense fashion but I’ve grown extremely tired of him having to reaffirm every little detail more than two times. Not to mention his laborious use of footnotes and how this takes up far too much reading real estate for me. Mr. Russell, you really could have put scant footnotes with more expanded explanations in the Appendix, I really do not feel like reading four footnotes that take up over 3/4 of my page. I don’t like sacrificing content over background information. I’ve heard the later volumes in his set on The Devil get better but it’s hard to plow through 700 pages of footnotes to get to the one good book. Looks like it’s time to pick up something a bit less “heavy” for reading. Perhaps I can finally get to some more metal oriented books or perhaps my books on Freemasonry.
In other news, I’ve been moderately busy at work. I bust my ass some days — such as yesterday — but others I sit around and play video games or watch a movie because there’s literally nothing I can get done. I’ve taken up smoking hookah just about everyday in place of smoking a cigarette…or 10. I’d much prefer to sit and smoke something herbal and sweet (not marijuana, yuck) than suck on a cigarette that’s going to last 5 minutes. My second hookah should arrive tomorrow afternoon from Hookah-Hookah which is awesome because it’s coming with 10 more flavours of tobacco and I love HH’s tobacco. I also frequent a local hookah cafe about 2-3 times a week, typically at least twice. The proprietors of said establishment are some pretty cool people and they make awesome Turkish coffee. I need to ask one of the owners if she’ll show me how so I can try and mess it up make it at home.
I’ve gotten three new CDs in the last week, all from bands on Myspace. Two are from a guy by the name of Brandon who’s proved himself a terrific multi-instrument musician. One CD is from his black metal band Satanic Dirge (now In Staid Grace) (my review is here) and the other is from his progressive metal outfit Rainwound which I’ll be reviewing shortly. Both are far above expectations for a one-man band. I just received the CD from Subject to Thoughts yesterday but have not yet had a chance to listen to it. Apparently, Brandon also lends guitar duties to this CD so he’s a very busy man. Somehow, he’s managing to write and produce his next album while in the throes of college right now. That’s time management.
My girlfriend started classes last week however, I was “denied” acceptance this semester. I say “denied” because I was applying for a second degree but after my transcripts came through, FAU decided they didn’t want to accept 2/3 of my credits and instead enrolled me as a transfer freshman. I wasn’t happy about this but I tried to work with it. Then I find out that I can’t even be accepted for this semester since the freshman registration had ended in June. Thanks, Admissions Department, I didn’t want to go to school anyway.
As a closer, I just picked up the new CD from Russian band The Morningside and boy, I’m impressed. It’s their label debut that’s a mix of black metal and doom however, I haven’t heard anything black metal-esque yet and I’m 4 tracks deep. I’m surprised at the fact that they’re singing in English instead of Russian which is most common for any album from Russia or the Eastern Bloc (or their respective language). It’s an impressive first disc, I must say.
CoTG 74′s out
September 5th, 2007 • atheism, carnival
#74 of the Carnival of The Godless is up at Atheist FAQ.
Worth a thousand words?
September 5th, 2007 • 20 comments beliefs, chatter
Quite possibly but undeniably worth a good chortle.
Are the Yakuza waning?
September 4th, 2007 • chatter
I’m not sure but this article from Reuters doesn’t make me think so. The article is about the daughter of a yakuza mob boss whose book was recently translated into English for our reading pleasure. I don’t like to read fiction or bio pieces but I may pick the book up as I’ve always been fascinated by the life behind the yakuza mask.
