Bruce Campbell on Spice

First he wanted sugar, now he wants spice! Do you have it?

Quote of the Day - January 12, 2007

(when robots trash talk)
Cyber Leader: Daleks, be warned. You have declared war upon the Cybermen.
Dalek Leader: This is not war - this is pest control!
Cyber Leader: We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?
Dalek Leader: Four.
Cyber Leader: You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?
Dalek Leader: We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek! You are superior in only one respect.
Cyber Leader: What is that?
Dalek Leader: You are better at dying.

- Dr. Who, "Doomsday"

The Spambot Wars

Okay, now the Spambots are actually begging me not to delete their messages. Those two spam comments at the end are the only ones left after I deleted about ten that had be festering there. The one that says "I need lots of money urgent" is the one that convinced me to finally clean that post, which is one of three that seems to get most of my spam comments. While I was deleting the other spamments, the second one begging me not to delete it was posted.

I have one word for the Spambots : EX-TER-MIN-ATE!

Sulu in Congress, Klingons in the White House!

Aaaaaaaaaah!

Spies, Eh?

Some Canadian coins found on American contractors while visiting our neighbors to the north were actually "radio frequency transmitters" (MSNBC's words). The Canadians, of course, were all "Really? That's news to us." I have to wonder what was really in the coin - a passive RFID (which is more likely to be small enough to fit in a coin, but does not have its own power source and must be very close to a reader to be tracked) or an active RFID (which still wouldn't be able to transmit over long distances). Either one would have difficulty working when embedded in a metal coin. Maybe the spy coins were plastic, and that's how they were discovered.

Of course, there's always the possibility that the Canadian government is actually spying on its citizens and these coins are merely standard issue. Canadian citizens beware! The loonies are watching you!

Quote of the Day - January 9, 2007

Train Conductor: Any more bright ideas?
Spiderman: I got a few, yeah.

- Spiderman 2

Sick and Rambling

It turns out that working up a sweat at the gym, allowing your body to cool down while going grocery shopping, then spending twenty minutes in the cold night air unloading said grocies while wearing little more than a t-shirt and a light jacket is not good for your health. Who knew? The day after this exercise in testing my immune system's limits, I was tired and had a sore throat. I figured I had over done it the night before, but I'd just need to drink something before leaving for work and cut back on my workout that night to give my body a chance to recover. At work, I quickly devoured my Cheerios and ate my lunch early. The urge to eat everything within reach has become a sign of impending illness for me. Then my coworker commented that, impossible as it may seem, I looked even paler than usual. It was becoming apparent that this was not just a work-out hangover. Finally, I took some medicine and went home, hoping to sleep off the illness and come in the next day.

When I got home, I grabbed the sick blanket, sat down on the couch, and entered a state of unconciousness known as "sleep". Three hours later, I had the energy to fix an early dinner. And by early, I mean the sun was still up. Weird. Then I slept some more.

You'd think all this sleeping would have been enough for my body to repair the damage that single-celled organisms were doing to my sinuses. Day 1 is tricky that way. Do not be fooled by Day 1. Day 1 lets you sleep through the misery. Day 2 makes you feel like someone dumped saw dust into your lungs and syphoned your energy into a black hole. You can't go into a deep, restful sleep because your throat demands constant hydration, threatening to eject your lungs if you don't comply. The pile of tissues grows to cover every available surface, and your nose encourages your eyes to help it empty the sinuses. Your voice turns into that of a robotic demon, and your boss does not doubt that your are ill, ill, ill. On Day 1, you hoped to be better by Day 2. On Day 2, you just hope you're not worse on Day 3.

On Day 3, I went to work despite still being sick (though not Day 2 sick) because I'd just worry over the weekend if I didn't address issues I saw building over e-mail. My voice was still questionable, but I ended up spending the entire day on the phone with various people who I'm sure were very glad I was not speaking to them in person.

A friend at work suggested that I watch Batman and Avatar to help me recover. I was kind of curious what strange dreams my tired mind would come up with if I were able to have my DVD/VCR player switch back and forth between the two, since I knew I would fall in and out of consciousness during and between episodes. Alfred and Iroh share a cup of tea. Harley and Ty Lee bond over being the super-cheerful, seemingly brainwashed underlings of a sociopath. Azula and Ra's Al Ghul play mind games with each other while the Joker and Fire Lord Ozai each wonder why the other sounds so familiar.

Over the weekend, I ended up watching some Futurama DVDs and some Batman: The Animated Series DVDs. I usually watch Futurama with the commentary on, but it had been long enough since I saw the episodes that I watched with the commentary off. I love the commentary if for no other reason than it makes it that much more obvious that the show was constructed for geeks by geeks. David X. Cohen, the executive producer and co-creator of the show, has a perfectly geeky voice and seems to be a huge fanboy of his own show, in an endearing way.

When I was watching my Batman DVDs, it became apparent that things explode very easily in Gotham City. There seems to be a rule that there must be at least one explosion per episode, not counting the intro. In one episode, Bruce Wayne hit a computer with a fire extinguisher and it burst into flames. Anyone who's ever deigned to emulate the duck knows that computers do not give you the satisfaction of exploding when you hit them unless they are rigged with nitro first. I have to wonder if the Batcave explodes every time Alfred accidentally spills tea on the Bat Computer. Good thing Bruce is a billionare.

The Sick Blanket

I'm currently in possession of what I have referred to as "the sick blanket" since I was a child. It looks like a quilt, but it is closed at the bottom like a sleeping bag. A zipper goes about 2/3 of the way up the front. The top corners can then be snapped into place at the top of the zipper, creating two "sleeves". To secure the blanket around the top, there are two more snaps in the front. It's perfect for resting on the couch or a recliner when you're sick because it keeps your feet warm and the blanket secured around your shoulders while leaving your hands free to grab tissues and nibble on crackers. Plus, my cat could sleep in the bottom of it, lending his warmth to the blanket and my feet but leaving me free to get up without disturbing him (so he could keep it warm while I was gone). Whenever I was sick that blanket would come out of the closet and I'd sit in my dad's recliner and fall asleep in front of the TV. Ah, memories.

I tried to find another one like it. The closest I've been able to find is a cuddle wrap, but it's not closed at the bottom, an important feature if you plan to utilize the feline foot-warmer option. So when I moved out of my parents house, my mom ended up giving it to me. Now it sits in my closet until I get sick. Or a particularly cold weekend with no particular plans encourages me to stay in and watch movies.