Hmm... having my own blog lets me use it as a handy bookmark for articles that I've researched, and might want to refer back later...
Such as:
Pound Pilfering Pirates
Ultracrepidarian Musings
Where is the ETF's gold?
Behold Gold's ETF
Bull in Bear's Skin by Antal E Fekete
The Greatest Scam On Earth by Douglas Gnazzo
Not Worth The Paper It Was Written On
Foreign Trade and International Debt Report
Gold and Stock Cream Out by Christopher Laird
.
Sunday, May 03, 2020
Monday, July 30, 2007
Migration
Many had noticed that I've not updated in a while... and my limited fan-base had called me on it.
Anyways, been a little bit more preoccupied at work the past two weeks. And found better things to do at home too.
Also, I had been migrating my blogspot stuff over to another server.
Came across Blogsentral, a server being maintained by the guys who do the Low Yat forums, Malaysia's finest forum for tech geeks. I managed to get an account there...
So I've moved my blog here, and been trying it out.
It's much more responsive than Blogspot, on account of it being local, and not as congested. And I have the option to organise the posts into categories, which I find very useful. It kinda makes sense to organise my reviews.
Although, there are disadvantages that might not be apparent yet... Who knows how long it'll last... Or what to do about censure... Especially with the Malaysian government shouting "Bloggers Beware!" in large headlines in our major paper last Wednesday.
But I think I should be able to obscure my anarchisitic leanings, and everyone hates the SOBs in the government anyway, so I don't think I will draw a lot of notice. Besides, I'm not interested in filling a niche that is already crowded with more eloquent bloggers with more suitable vocabulary.
So, for future rantings from the Insane Squirrel, catch me henceforth at http://insanesquirrel.blogsentral.com
(Edited July 2007)
But after a while, the blogsite became somewhat unreliable. So I migrated yet again. Before migrating, I also purchased my own domain name. So, this name should be wherever I go from now on. So, let's go to:
http://insanesquirrel.com
Anyways, been a little bit more preoccupied at work the past two weeks. And found better things to do at home too.
Also, I had been migrating my blogspot stuff over to another server.
Came across Blogsentral, a server being maintained by the guys who do the Low Yat forums, Malaysia's finest forum for tech geeks. I managed to get an account there...
So I've moved my blog here, and been trying it out.
It's much more responsive than Blogspot, on account of it being local, and not as congested. And I have the option to organise the posts into categories, which I find very useful. It kinda makes sense to organise my reviews.
Although, there are disadvantages that might not be apparent yet... Who knows how long it'll last... Or what to do about censure... Especially with the Malaysian government shouting "Bloggers Beware!" in large headlines in our major paper last Wednesday.
But I think I should be able to obscure my anarchisitic leanings, and everyone hates the SOBs in the government anyway, so I don't think I will draw a lot of notice. Besides, I'm not interested in filling a niche that is already crowded with more eloquent bloggers with more suitable vocabulary.
So, for future rantings from the Insane Squirrel, catch me henceforth at http://insanesquirrel.blogsentral.com
(Edited July 2007)
But after a while, the blogsite became somewhat unreliable. So I migrated yet again. Before migrating, I also purchased my own domain name. So, this name should be wherever I go from now on. So, let's go to:
http://insanesquirrel.com
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Endings
Most of the good TV series have ended. There'll be a drought on Bit Torrent till September.
Lost
They've finally been FOUND! Jack and Kate made it off the island, but regrets doing so, cos they were "not meant to leave." Walt, the boy whose puberty resulted in him and Michael to be written out of the story, suddenly re-appeared. A ghost asks John to help him. Pippin, sorry -- Charlie, finally died. Danielle meets her daughter at last.
Please just finish the story already. It's hard to remain emotionally invested in any of the characters. We just want to see how everything ends, so that there's some closure.
House
A rather lame End-Of-Season cliffhanger, when you compare it to the previous two seasons.
Season 1 ended with House's almost-wife coming back. Season 2 ends with House dying from lead poisoning (delivered with a hand-gun).
Season 3 ended with his entire team fired or resigning. Ya. Like THAT will stick. They'll be back. Those three actors are small time and have nowhere better to be, they wouldn't leave the show willingly.
Jericho
Jake loses his dad, and he now leads the town of Jericho in a desperate defence against an invasion force. But the US army is on its way to break up the war. An army flying a new American flag, and led by the mysterious figure who may have engineered the nuclear attacks in the first place.
We're finally getting somewhere in understanding who launched the nukes that destroyed the US Federal Government. There's a fascinating conspiracy.
But this won't matter cos CBS is axing the show.
TV Executives hate sci-fi. Star Trek. Firefly. Futurama. But shows like American Idiot and Squirm Factor will keep going.
Scrubs
J.D. is about to become a father. Blonde doctor is about to marry Keith.
And they screw everything up by screwing each other. Saw that coming from a mile away.
But the whole season is redeemed merely for the Broadway musical episode.
Gilmore Girls
Series finale. Finally. Followed this chick show for years cos the witty dialogue and kooky characters were brilliant. But the last few seasons were pretty dumb and uninspiring. Kept following it for the sake of closure.
Lorelai almost marries Luke. Lorelai marries Christopher. Lorelai divorces Christopher. Rory gets a marriage proposal. Rory rejects marriage proposal. The whole town loves Rory. Rory leaves.
Bah.
I could have written a better ending. Like in that episode when the mayor turned the whole town into a hay-wall maze... Somebody smoked carelessly around the hay. Fire spreads uncontrollably across the entire town. Fire rescue got lost in the maze and can't reach their fire engines. Everybody in Star's Hollow succumbs to the smoke, the town burns to the ground, leaving nothing behind but charred corpses.
Fin.
Heroes
Started off as an uninspiring X-Men knock-off, and was unimpressed. Kept watching only cos Hiro Nakamura is adorable to watch.
But the character development was alright, and it started to grow on me. A couple of plot points felt rather clumsy, but it eventually got the job done. The twists were suspenseful and ultimately, a pretty cool story.
Sylar is defeated, but did not completely perish. Everyone risked their lives to defeat him, fully aware of the threat and danger he poses. And when they 'killed' him, nobody took the trouble to verify his vitals, or decapitate him. He had 'returned' from the dead before, and at least one guy there should have known better! Instead, the season ends with a blood trail leading into the sewers, and Hiro teleported back to feudal Japan.
How I Met Your Mother
Marshall and Lily marries. Robin and Ted breaks up, and Barney gets Ted back.
This sitcom remains fun just because of Barney, played by Doogie Howser.
The Simpsons
They did a spoof of World of Warcraft, and one on 24. Nothing particularly inspiring anymore. But have been watching this for more than half my life. May as well keep going.
Family Guy
A gutsier knock-off of the Simpsons family. Funnier jokes. It's constantly in danger of getting cut from the air, so the show is forever pushing the envelope of decency, determined to go out in a blaze of glory. But somehow the show manages to cling on. "Son of a bitch", "God damnit" and "asshole" etc are common fare. And in this season, for the first time, "F*ck" escaped the notice of the censors, where it had always been bleeped the last 5 seasons.
24
Didn't bother to watch this season. There's a mole inside CTU. A hostile takeover in CTU leadership happens. Bad guys have Jack's loved-one hostage. Jack acts on his own against the instructions of his superiors and ends up fighting everybody. Jack makes a bunch of phonecalls, some of which gets cut-off at critical moments. Jack tortures some bad guys.
It's the same thing every season! ENOUGH ALREADY!
Prison Break
END THE STORY ALREADY!! The conspiracy is finally exposed. Michael's brother is free. But Michael gets arrested and dumped into a Panama prison. No one likes the show after they escaped the prison! Enough already. END IT!
Lost
They've finally been FOUND! Jack and Kate made it off the island, but regrets doing so, cos they were "not meant to leave." Walt, the boy whose puberty resulted in him and Michael to be written out of the story, suddenly re-appeared. A ghost asks John to help him. Pippin, sorry -- Charlie, finally died. Danielle meets her daughter at last.
Please just finish the story already. It's hard to remain emotionally invested in any of the characters. We just want to see how everything ends, so that there's some closure.
House
A rather lame End-Of-Season cliffhanger, when you compare it to the previous two seasons.
Season 1 ended with House's almost-wife coming back. Season 2 ends with House dying from lead poisoning (delivered with a hand-gun).
Season 3 ended with his entire team fired or resigning. Ya. Like THAT will stick. They'll be back. Those three actors are small time and have nowhere better to be, they wouldn't leave the show willingly.
Jericho
Jake loses his dad, and he now leads the town of Jericho in a desperate defence against an invasion force. But the US army is on its way to break up the war. An army flying a new American flag, and led by the mysterious figure who may have engineered the nuclear attacks in the first place.
We're finally getting somewhere in understanding who launched the nukes that destroyed the US Federal Government. There's a fascinating conspiracy.
But this won't matter cos CBS is axing the show.
TV Executives hate sci-fi. Star Trek. Firefly. Futurama. But shows like American Idiot and Squirm Factor will keep going.
Scrubs
J.D. is about to become a father. Blonde doctor is about to marry Keith.
And they screw everything up by screwing each other. Saw that coming from a mile away.
But the whole season is redeemed merely for the Broadway musical episode.
Gilmore Girls
Series finale. Finally. Followed this chick show for years cos the witty dialogue and kooky characters were brilliant. But the last few seasons were pretty dumb and uninspiring. Kept following it for the sake of closure.
Lorelai almost marries Luke. Lorelai marries Christopher. Lorelai divorces Christopher. Rory gets a marriage proposal. Rory rejects marriage proposal. The whole town loves Rory. Rory leaves.
Bah.
I could have written a better ending. Like in that episode when the mayor turned the whole town into a hay-wall maze... Somebody smoked carelessly around the hay. Fire spreads uncontrollably across the entire town. Fire rescue got lost in the maze and can't reach their fire engines. Everybody in Star's Hollow succumbs to the smoke, the town burns to the ground, leaving nothing behind but charred corpses.
Fin.
Heroes
Started off as an uninspiring X-Men knock-off, and was unimpressed. Kept watching only cos Hiro Nakamura is adorable to watch.
But the character development was alright, and it started to grow on me. A couple of plot points felt rather clumsy, but it eventually got the job done. The twists were suspenseful and ultimately, a pretty cool story.
Sylar is defeated, but did not completely perish. Everyone risked their lives to defeat him, fully aware of the threat and danger he poses. And when they 'killed' him, nobody took the trouble to verify his vitals, or decapitate him. He had 'returned' from the dead before, and at least one guy there should have known better! Instead, the season ends with a blood trail leading into the sewers, and Hiro teleported back to feudal Japan.
How I Met Your Mother
Marshall and Lily marries. Robin and Ted breaks up, and Barney gets Ted back.
This sitcom remains fun just because of Barney, played by Doogie Howser.
The Simpsons
They did a spoof of World of Warcraft, and one on 24. Nothing particularly inspiring anymore. But have been watching this for more than half my life. May as well keep going.
Family Guy
A gutsier knock-off of the Simpsons family. Funnier jokes. It's constantly in danger of getting cut from the air, so the show is forever pushing the envelope of decency, determined to go out in a blaze of glory. But somehow the show manages to cling on. "Son of a bitch", "God damnit" and "asshole" etc are common fare. And in this season, for the first time, "F*ck" escaped the notice of the censors, where it had always been bleeped the last 5 seasons.
24
Didn't bother to watch this season. There's a mole inside CTU. A hostile takeover in CTU leadership happens. Bad guys have Jack's loved-one hostage. Jack acts on his own against the instructions of his superiors and ends up fighting everybody. Jack makes a bunch of phonecalls, some of which gets cut-off at critical moments. Jack tortures some bad guys.
It's the same thing every season! ENOUGH ALREADY!
Prison Break
END THE STORY ALREADY!! The conspiracy is finally exposed. Michael's brother is free. But Michael gets arrested and dumped into a Panama prison. No one likes the show after they escaped the prison! Enough already. END IT!
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Flash Hulk
I still remember Trix, the Illusions of Grandeur - Donate deck that dominated the Magic scene almost 10yrs ago.
It was able to 'go off' consistently at around the 4th turn and win, and there's very little that the opponent can do about it. And it doesn't help that the deck uses a lot of old, hard to get rares that only veterans had access to.
A few years ago, a standard deck was able to do a 3rd turn kill. With Goblins, no less.
And if anyone needed further evidence of how horrible M:tG is right now, you can just look at this deck. Which boasts an average win at turn 1.5. One and a half turns, and it's game over. On average.
It needs TWO cards, and TWO mana, goes off, and game over.
Hell, with the right cards in hand, you can even go off at turn 0.5, and win before your opponent even gets to draw a single card. EVEN IF YOUR OPPONENT WAS GOING FIRST! You can win on HIS FIRST TURN!!
Turn 0: Put Gemstone Caverns in play.
Turn 0.5: Just before your opponent reaches out to draw his first card...
You know what? I believe I still have a copy of Flash in my collection somewhere. Wonder if that card can fetch me a couple of bucks now.
It was able to 'go off' consistently at around the 4th turn and win, and there's very little that the opponent can do about it. And it doesn't help that the deck uses a lot of old, hard to get rares that only veterans had access to.
A few years ago, a standard deck was able to do a 3rd turn kill. With Goblins, no less.
- Mountain; play Goblin Prospector
- Mountain; sac Prospector for Red mana; Goblin Chief (All goblins get Haste and cost 1 mana less to cast.)
- Mountain; play 3 Goblin Piledriver (1R: Whenever Goblin Piledriver attacks, it gets +2/+0 until end of turn for each other attacking Goblin. 1/2); attacks with 4 goblins for 23 points of damage. Game Over.
And if anyone needed further evidence of how horrible M:tG is right now, you can just look at this deck. Which boasts an average win at turn 1.5. One and a half turns, and it's game over. On average.
It needs TWO cards, and TWO mana, goes off, and game over.
Hell, with the right cards in hand, you can even go off at turn 0.5, and win before your opponent even gets to draw a single card. EVEN IF YOUR OPPONENT WAS GOING FIRST! You can win on HIS FIRST TURN!!
Turn 0: Put Gemstone Caverns in play.
Turn 0.5: Just before your opponent reaches out to draw his first card...
- Discard Elvish Spirit Guide for 1 Green mana.
- Tap Gemstone Caverns for 1 Blue mana.
- Cast Flash, drop a Protean Hulk.
- The Hulk dies, and you dig through your library for 4 Disciple of the Vault, 4 Phyrexian Marauder, 4 Shifting Wall, and drop them all into play.
- The Marauders and Walls are 0/0 artifact creatures, thus they die immediately.
- For each artifact going to the graveyard, Disciple of the Vault's ability triggers, and your opponent loses one life.
- 4 Disciple of the Vault x 8 artifacts dying = Opponent loses 32 life.
- Pick up trophy, you're the new champion.
You know what? I believe I still have a copy of Flash in my collection somewhere. Wonder if that card can fetch me a couple of bucks now.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
DM Of The Rings
Re-live the magic of Lord of the Rings here.
Basically, this guy has taken screen-caps (captures) of scenes from the amazing trilogy, and made a comic out of it.
In this comic, the Dungeon Master (the voice in the narrative), has created a game campaign for a bunch of players, who are role-playing the characters of the Fellowship. And he's frequently frustrated by his players in ways only a DM can relate. All the time and effort to create a rich campaign setting, and writing dialogues, but the only thing the players want is killing Orcs and getting XP.
It might take some RPG-ing experience before you can appreciate some of the humor. But the strips are still funny even if you've never gone geek. And the author has a real knack for finding just the right screen-cap for the punchlines.
Basically, this guy has taken screen-caps (captures) of scenes from the amazing trilogy, and made a comic out of it.
In this comic, the Dungeon Master (the voice in the narrative), has created a game campaign for a bunch of players, who are role-playing the characters of the Fellowship. And he's frequently frustrated by his players in ways only a DM can relate. All the time and effort to create a rich campaign setting, and writing dialogues, but the only thing the players want is killing Orcs and getting XP.
It might take some RPG-ing experience before you can appreciate some of the humor. But the strips are still funny even if you've never gone geek. And the author has a real knack for finding just the right screen-cap for the punchlines.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Monday, December 04, 2006
Zanussi
Been agonizing for more than a year how to fix up my cooking area.
Didn't want the stove in my house, cos I didn't want a cooking hood. So it has to be in the washing area.
As a temporary solution, I used a crappy table a tenant left behind, lay out the top with ceramic tiles left over from bathroom repair jobs the building engineers did, and tossed a hob on top of it.
Been that way for more than two years. Always had the intention of building up a proper platform and popping a hob in. There's just the question of whether I *CAN* figure out how to work with cement to do up a mini counter top in an alcove in the washing balcony.
Then recently, in a casual perusal of the forums, I came across a garage sale notice.
A Zanussi 4-hob cooker with electric oven.
Very nice condition. And the oven has hardly even been used!
RM550.
Just a pity that the seller realised at the last moment that he had left a gas tank inside. Else it would have been a steal.
Had to get Moses to use his Atoz to help me transport this back. The stove just barely slipped in his boot with half a cm to spare.
This should finally complete my kitchen... After I'm able to toss out the old hob. If I'm able to find the time to clean it up and polish the careless grime on it, I should still be able to fetch a decent price on it.
I'm harbouring no delusions of baking. But I can offer the use of the oven to friends. And exact a tax from whatever they're baking... Ha ha!
And there's a turn-spit for the oven too. So I could ohways woast a wabbit or swomething.
Didn't want the stove in my house, cos I didn't want a cooking hood. So it has to be in the washing area.
As a temporary solution, I used a crappy table a tenant left behind, lay out the top with ceramic tiles left over from bathroom repair jobs the building engineers did, and tossed a hob on top of it.
Been that way for more than two years. Always had the intention of building up a proper platform and popping a hob in. There's just the question of whether I *CAN* figure out how to work with cement to do up a mini counter top in an alcove in the washing balcony.
Then recently, in a casual perusal of the forums, I came across a garage sale notice.
A Zanussi 4-hob cooker with electric oven.
Very nice condition. And the oven has hardly even been used!
RM550.
Just a pity that the seller realised at the last moment that he had left a gas tank inside. Else it would have been a steal.
Had to get Moses to use his Atoz to help me transport this back. The stove just barely slipped in his boot with half a cm to spare.
This should finally complete my kitchen... After I'm able to toss out the old hob. If I'm able to find the time to clean it up and polish the careless grime on it, I should still be able to fetch a decent price on it.
I'm harbouring no delusions of baking. But I can offer the use of the oven to friends. And exact a tax from whatever they're baking... Ha ha!
And there's a turn-spit for the oven too. So I could ohways woast a wabbit or swomething.
Lich Lord Terminus
Starting the most visually stunning of Privateer Press' miniatures.
The idea is to turn it into :
But in a cheerier colour maybe... The effect on the sword is very nice, but I'm afraid I'm no where near the artistic level to replicate that...
Lich Lord Terminus, favoured lieutenant of the DragonFather Turok of the Nightmare Isles. Disfigured and empowered by centuries of immortal service.
Came across an interesting technique using air-brush and glazes to paint and highlight the wings quickly. Will see if it works...
The idea is to turn it into :
But in a cheerier colour maybe... The effect on the sword is very nice, but I'm afraid I'm no where near the artistic level to replicate that...
Lich Lord Terminus, favoured lieutenant of the DragonFather Turok of the Nightmare Isles. Disfigured and empowered by centuries of immortal service.
Came across an interesting technique using air-brush and glazes to paint and highlight the wings quickly. Will see if it works...
Barnyard
Nickleodeon movie. 3-D animation.
A farm where animals walk on two legs and talks when no one is watching.
The protagonist is a cow who protects the farm from coyotes. It could be just me, but there's something obscene about 3-D rendered udders.
The creators of this cartoon is most certainly a Gary Larson fan. Many familiar gags.
Quite a fun watch. Just a funny cartoon with no delusions of grandeur.
Easily accessible visual gags and a moral for the kids.
Yakuza gophers.
A fat possum-like creature wearing lots of bling, singing Shaggy's Boombastic.
That's just too cute.
A farm where animals walk on two legs and talks when no one is watching.
The protagonist is a cow who protects the farm from coyotes. It could be just me, but there's something obscene about 3-D rendered udders.
The creators of this cartoon is most certainly a Gary Larson fan. Many familiar gags.
Quite a fun watch. Just a funny cartoon with no delusions of grandeur.
Easily accessible visual gags and a moral for the kids.
Yakuza gophers.
A fat possum-like creature wearing lots of bling, singing Shaggy's Boombastic.
That's just too cute.
Invisible Tenors
Happened to be in the area around PJ South last week. Lots of workshops there, so I took my car to a random one that does aircon servicing. And also to have the passenger window replaced at the same time.
Aircon died a few months ago. The Daihatsu service centre quoted me 1.2k to repair. Hmm... 1.2k to repair a 7k car. Didn't sound right. So I bore with till I could get a second opinion. These guys, I think a pair of twins with prematurely greying hair, actually took things apart to look for leaks etc.
The compressor was leaking. I needed a new one. And that's that.
Got a reconditioned compressor. Looked shiny.
But after the compressor went on, the car handles like I'm driving the 3 tenors up Genting.
This is crap.
Thought maybe I could re-tune the engine a bit... Took out the kit I bought in Melbourne and spent a few hours on my car.
Think there may be something wrong with my vacuum advancer. Doesn't seem to do anything to the engine timing... According to the manual, the timing should advance a few degrees when I suck on it.
Sheesh...
For all the tuning... The car still feels like there are 3 fat men sitting in the back.
But at least they're quiet.
Aircon died a few months ago. The Daihatsu service centre quoted me 1.2k to repair. Hmm... 1.2k to repair a 7k car. Didn't sound right. So I bore with till I could get a second opinion. These guys, I think a pair of twins with prematurely greying hair, actually took things apart to look for leaks etc.
The compressor was leaking. I needed a new one. And that's that.
Got a reconditioned compressor. Looked shiny.
But after the compressor went on, the car handles like I'm driving the 3 tenors up Genting.
This is crap.
Thought maybe I could re-tune the engine a bit... Took out the kit I bought in Melbourne and spent a few hours on my car.
Think there may be something wrong with my vacuum advancer. Doesn't seem to do anything to the engine timing... According to the manual, the timing should advance a few degrees when I suck on it.
Sheesh...
For all the tuning... The car still feels like there are 3 fat men sitting in the back.
But at least they're quiet.
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