I seem to be involved in a bit of a rhyme contest , writing sonnets
for the Evolving Ode blog. Well , if I'm gonna go to all the effort
of such a contest, I'm gonna at least plant them in my blog as well,
so everyone can suffer through my bad poetry. :)
The contest starts with the author of the blog asking to think up
line 12 of the sonnet , an a critic deriding my attempts to answer.
Actually , you're right. I suck. I was paying attention to the cadence, not the rhyme structure.
Too many japanese Haiku's going on in my head I guess. (they don't rhyme)
"xx. loves affection, for which it doth long"
There. That rhymes with the line ten's ending word of "on".
-----------------
My love, I see her as a budding rose
Full of shining light, she to me is warm
And when on her winter’s harsh winds blow
She feels no chill, for her there is no harm.
And if she chose to sleep a day away
‘Till sunset cascades brilliance in her bloom
I shouldn’t think the sun would smile today
Or lend her light upon her sister moon
To her true essence, no sonnet is just
For she shakes the ground I merely walk on
In my heart, no room for anyone but
*loves affection, for which it doth long
But, writing sonnets to her all the while
She must think of me no more than a child
* = the inserted line
--------------------
There. That conforms to the style of The Shakespearean Sonnet #73 which is typically used as an example of this style.
As for suggestions that I can't write my own original sonnets to save my life ...
--------------------
My love is my pen , an instrument fair
My life is my pain , as all artists say
my love is my art , a mistress of air
And so I must paint, it is just this way
I walk through my days , computers my trade
And seek out the fault, repair whats astray
I stride through my nights , my dreams not to fade
My pen doth lie quiet, quite put away
Computers you see, both master and slave
A task I can Hate, a servant to love
A boss I despise, but a canvas to save
Versitility, I hate as I wove
The electronic pen , sonnets anew
just another canvas , on which we hew
-----------------------
Monday, November 29, 2004
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Postal Strike Time
http://story.canadastandard.com/p.x/ct/9/id/544e87728fd72777/cid/71df8d33cd2a30df/
Wow, it's christmas again. I can tell because the posties are threatenning to go on strike again , like they do every year.
Canada's Union of Postal Communications Employees has said 2,600 members will go on strike Dec. 8, the Toronto Sun reported Saturday.
The date was set amid the members' struggle to guarantee job benefits, said UPCE president Luc Guevrement.
Umm... is this a bad time to mention that the only thing that comes in the mail for me is bills ? Let them go on strike ! I don't care ! Lol !
Guevrement said Canada Post tabled proposals that contain rollbacks on health and dental benefits, severance pay, and various leaves.
I got some sympathy for yah , man. But unfortunately , in this age of email and chat programs, the postal service has become largely irrelevant. I mean lets face it. You can't trust the posties with anything but letters, and email has taken over that. Physical objects are always getting damaged / stolen in our post office, so you can't even be used as a slow-polk fed ex system.
Exactly what mission was it Canada Post is full filling again ? And why shouldn't we just shut the whole thing down ? I forgot.
Wow, it's christmas again. I can tell because the posties are threatenning to go on strike again , like they do every year.
Canada's Union of Postal Communications Employees has said 2,600 members will go on strike Dec. 8, the Toronto Sun reported Saturday.
The date was set amid the members' struggle to guarantee job benefits, said UPCE president Luc Guevrement.
Umm... is this a bad time to mention that the only thing that comes in the mail for me is bills ? Let them go on strike ! I don't care ! Lol !
Guevrement said Canada Post tabled proposals that contain rollbacks on health and dental benefits, severance pay, and various leaves.
I got some sympathy for yah , man. But unfortunately , in this age of email and chat programs, the postal service has become largely irrelevant. I mean lets face it. You can't trust the posties with anything but letters, and email has taken over that. Physical objects are always getting damaged / stolen in our post office, so you can't even be used as a slow-polk fed ex system.
Exactly what mission was it Canada Post is full filling again ? And why shouldn't we just shut the whole thing down ? I forgot.
Friday, November 26, 2004
Forced TiVo Ads
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/11/26/tivo.surrender.ap/index.html
"TiVo officials say that starting in March users will begin to see static images, such as a company logo, appear on their television screens as they fast-forward through commercials"
Why does this matter ? Because one of the selling points of TiVo was that you could skip commercials. Now it apears that you cannot. Naughty naughty cable providers.
"For some ads, viewers could choose to provide advertisers with their contact data so they can get more direct marketing"
And you think people are actually going to do that in this day and age ? Yeah , right.
"Macrovision has developed a feature that will allow content providers -- the people who produce television shows -- to place restrictions on how long a digital video recorder such as TiVo can save certain kinds of programming. For instance, movies could disappear after seven days."
Oh oh , wasn't TiVo advertising that you can record your movies any time ? And keep them permanently ? ho ho ho !
"TiVo officials say that starting in March users will begin to see static images, such as a company logo, appear on their television screens as they fast-forward through commercials"
Why does this matter ? Because one of the selling points of TiVo was that you could skip commercials. Now it apears that you cannot. Naughty naughty cable providers.
"For some ads, viewers could choose to provide advertisers with their contact data so they can get more direct marketing"
And you think people are actually going to do that in this day and age ? Yeah , right.
"Macrovision has developed a feature that will allow content providers -- the people who produce television shows -- to place restrictions on how long a digital video recorder such as TiVo can save certain kinds of programming. For instance, movies could disappear after seven days."
Oh oh , wasn't TiVo advertising that you can record your movies any time ? And keep them permanently ? ho ho ho !
"TiVo has to become more advertising-friendly because, at the end of the day, TV runs on advertising dollars and companies that are part of that food chain have to acknowledge that, said Tim Maleeny, director of strategy at Publicis & Hal Riney, a San Francisco-based advertising firm.
Josh Bernoff, analyst at Forrester Research, said, Any product that's part of a cable and satellite world has to obey some of the restrictions that go with it."
Excuse me buddy. Cable TV isn't free. I you pay for it. Tossing in commercials on top of that is just plain extortion. That would be why I stopped watching cable a long time ago. :)
"Hollywood studios sued TiVo's rival, DVR pioneer ReplayTV, over its automatic commercial-skipping recording feature -- a function TiVo and other DVR makers could have adopted but didn't."
Don't you love big business ? I don't. These people are just plain rip off artists.
To all the wonderful people out there in blogger reader land, I gotta tell you what I do. I don't watch cable tv. Instead I buy DVD's. I have a nice collection. Over 120 now. All first run movies, and I'm constantly hitting the video store to buy new ones when they come out. The ones I like only cost 20$-25$ each , and if I'm lucky they come out twice a month. If I"m not lucky , I go a month or two with no new ones, simply because the ones that do come out just plain suck.
This is cheaper than the 100$ / month they're charging for cable television up here in beautiful ottawa. And it really does have that anywhere, any time , no comercials , fast forward or pause any time you like. You can't record the movies, but who cares ? You have the copy in hand already ! And you paid for it legit so no one gonna harrass you about any kind of digital rights nonsense.
And there is one more thing you have to deal with. This Hour Has 22 minutes. It's a comedy show up here on the TV , who's title is a complaint that on television , you really only see 22 minutes of show in an hour. The other 38 are all advertising.
People who dance around with the cable tv companies ... just don't know how to add up the costs. It's really just that simple.
Not So Wowed
World of Warcraft came out Nov 23rd this month. I got up early , treked to the computer store.
"Do you have a pre-order ?"
oh oh.
Trek to the next store.
"Sold out. "
Hmmm... I"ve seen this before. When Hordes of the Underdark came out it was actually four or five days before this silly little backwater of Ottawa actually got any copies. The pre-order stuff is nonsense of course, just to hint that you should have pre-ordered, but of course if you did you'd be told "not in stock" anywyas.
Sigh.
Two days later, phone in.
"Maybe next week. "
Check the web site.
massive complaints about the servers down, long line ups to play a game , things like that. Some even started a "what to do while you're waiting in queue to play wow" thread. It was amazingly long, going on for at least 50 pages. :) I'm sure Blizzard entertainment was impressed with that showing up on their own forums promoting the game.
Official statement comes out.
The game requires you to log on to their serves to play , and the servers are overloaded. They're putting more servers up , but until they do so , they are not going to distribute more copies of the game. They hope that in the coming weeks ... blah blah blah ...
The phrase "coming weeks" is about where I stopped reading.
I'm not hanging on with baited breath for a couple of weeks for one stupid game. I'll find somethign else to do with my time and come back later when I'm not busy.
"Do you have a pre-order ?"
oh oh.
Trek to the next store.
"Sold out. "
Hmmm... I"ve seen this before. When Hordes of the Underdark came out it was actually four or five days before this silly little backwater of Ottawa actually got any copies. The pre-order stuff is nonsense of course, just to hint that you should have pre-ordered, but of course if you did you'd be told "not in stock" anywyas.
Sigh.
Two days later, phone in.
"Maybe next week. "
Check the web site.
massive complaints about the servers down, long line ups to play a game , things like that. Some even started a "what to do while you're waiting in queue to play wow" thread. It was amazingly long, going on for at least 50 pages. :) I'm sure Blizzard entertainment was impressed with that showing up on their own forums promoting the game.
Official statement comes out.
The game requires you to log on to their serves to play , and the servers are overloaded. They're putting more servers up , but until they do so , they are not going to distribute more copies of the game. They hope that in the coming weeks ... blah blah blah ...
The phrase "coming weeks" is about where I stopped reading.
I'm not hanging on with baited breath for a couple of weeks for one stupid game. I'll find somethign else to do with my time and come back later when I'm not busy.
The Maddest of Cows
What is it with this whole mad cow disease thing ?
These people are comparing dollars to people's lives, as if they were trying to say if something is too expensive to do, it's ok to let it kill people then. Where did this logic come from ? And why does every newspaper article not hesitate to quote some over blown estimate as to how much money people are losing ?
These people deserve to go bank rupt if you ask me, they're doing it to themselves. I mean come on ! I work in a call center, answering the phones and providing technical support for computers. The place is a cess pool of disease. You can't even put a hundred humans together in one call center without them constantly getting sick , and you think running massive herds of chattle isn't going to cause problems ?
They're idiots and their problems are self inflicted, and I have no sympathy for them.
What the heck are you doing deciding that refridgeration is too expensive, so you're going to load up a train with 10 000 cows and send it off on a three day trip to the slaughter house. And you think they're not going to get sick and pass it along to each other ?
what the heck are you doing buying and selling bulls as if they were a precious commodedy, as if half the cows born weren't bulls, but oh I'm sorry bulls are a pain to deal with and they don't produce milk so we don't bother with that we just slaughter them quick and only keep the minimum number of required bulls. So that you're forced to trade them. so that if one bull winds up in an infected herd he can pass it around to the next dozen herds you trade him to as well.
I swear the ranchers here are madder than the cows. I have no sympathy for them at all. High school biology lets you know better. But it's too pricy , so they think they can ignore simple science and roll the dice , over and over and over, and hope they never roll snake eyes. And go yelling to the government for help when they do.
These people are comparing dollars to people's lives, as if they were trying to say if something is too expensive to do, it's ok to let it kill people then. Where did this logic come from ? And why does every newspaper article not hesitate to quote some over blown estimate as to how much money people are losing ?
These people deserve to go bank rupt if you ask me, they're doing it to themselves. I mean come on ! I work in a call center, answering the phones and providing technical support for computers. The place is a cess pool of disease. You can't even put a hundred humans together in one call center without them constantly getting sick , and you think running massive herds of chattle isn't going to cause problems ?
They're idiots and their problems are self inflicted, and I have no sympathy for them.
What the heck are you doing deciding that refridgeration is too expensive, so you're going to load up a train with 10 000 cows and send it off on a three day trip to the slaughter house. And you think they're not going to get sick and pass it along to each other ?
what the heck are you doing buying and selling bulls as if they were a precious commodedy, as if half the cows born weren't bulls, but oh I'm sorry bulls are a pain to deal with and they don't produce milk so we don't bother with that we just slaughter them quick and only keep the minimum number of required bulls. So that you're forced to trade them. so that if one bull winds up in an infected herd he can pass it around to the next dozen herds you trade him to as well.
I swear the ranchers here are madder than the cows. I have no sympathy for them at all. High school biology lets you know better. But it's too pricy , so they think they can ignore simple science and roll the dice , over and over and over, and hope they never roll snake eyes. And go yelling to the government for help when they do.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Whats in Bulk Email Today (20 Nov 2004)
Lets see what we have in the bulk mail folder today...
>Dear Friend,
Never heard of you before , buddy
>I am Barrister Ian Rankin,an attorney at law. A deceased client of
>mine, by name Mr.Bill Owen, who here
>in after shall be referred to as my client,died as a result of an auto
>car accident here in England.
Sad tale. Why is your email address "@indiatimes.com" ?
Did you know that if you type in www.indiatimes.com in your web bar you get
this really cool web site, ,from india, that gives away free emails ?
Examining a few stories confirms that this site is dedicated to the comings
and goings of the people of india.
>I am contacting you to assist me in ensuring that the funds lodged by
>my client with a bank in the United
>States Of America (New York) his bank,is not decleared unclaimed hence
Missed the capital in "His".
>my reason for this contact to
>you.
"my reason for this contact to you" ... klugey english. Not quite
gramatically incorrect , but certainly no native english speaker
would say it like that.
>This bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin, or the
>account will be confiscated.
First off, only in canada can you do that. US Law makes the banks keep
all those little accounts with even 10 cents on them a permanent burden
on the books.
>My proposition to you is to seek your consent to present you as the
>next-of-kin and beneficiary of my late
>client,so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you,Then we
>can share the amount on a
>mutually agreed-upon percentage.
You want me to lie my ass off and accept money. No , this is too easy.
Somewhere along the line you're gonna want me to front some cash to
you and then you'll run with it.
>All legal documents to back up your claim as my client's next-of-kin
>will be provided. All I require is your
>honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through.
Honest cooperation in this dishonest endeavour. Ha ha ha.
>This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect
>you from any breach of the law. If
Yer a lawyer, not a judge , buddy. You don't execute anythign. Judges do
that. Plus there is no "legitimate arrangement" to do something
"illegitimate". I don't know how it is in india , but the law in America
does not work that way. You cannot bring the force of law to an unlawful
arrangement sort of thing.
>this business proposition offends your moral values,do accept my
>apology. Please contact me at once to
>indicate your interest.
At least you kind of sort of admit you're doing something naughty.
>However if you are willing to assist me in this venture i will
>establish a verbal telephone communication
>with you and bring you into a much better picture of the
>situation.Please contact me with email address
>below:
>ianrankin30@zwallet.com
>ianrankin@indiatimes.com
Shall we go for the zwallet address as well ? Why not.
www.zwallet.com shows up as another free email address. This guy
doesn't have a legit email to begin with.
>Best Regards,
>Barrister Ian Rankin,
>Morley House,
>26-30 Holborn Viaduct,
>London EC1A 2BP,
>U.K
Wow, when I put that address in google (plus "london england" ) I get a totally different thing.
More information
CICA
Morley House
26-30 Holborn Viaduct
LONDON
EC1A 2JQ
Official CICA website: http://www.cica.gov.uk/
In fact, it seems to be some kind of crime stoppers crime fighting
web site.
Say , you don't think they'd be interested in the scam this guy is
running , do you ? Maybe I should forward a copy of this email to them,
what with that he's using their address and all ...
that would be evil.
What the hey. I'm in a bad mood. I'll do it.
Bah ! Dang web site is down. Cops don't even know how to run a web site,
it seems.
eventually tracked down an email and mailed them, took a while though.
British bobbies need to be brought up to speed on this whole internet
thing...
>Dear Friend,
Never heard of you before , buddy
>I am Barrister Ian Rankin,an attorney at law. A deceased client of
>mine, by name Mr.Bill Owen, who here
>in after shall be referred to as my client,died as a result of an auto
>car accident here in England.
Sad tale. Why is your email address "@indiatimes.com" ?
Did you know that if you type in www.indiatimes.com in your web bar you get
this really cool web site, ,from india, that gives away free emails ?
Examining a few stories confirms that this site is dedicated to the comings
and goings of the people of india.
>I am contacting you to assist me in ensuring that the funds lodged by
>my client with a bank in the United
>States Of America (New York) his bank,is not decleared unclaimed hence
Missed the capital in "His".
>my reason for this contact to
>you.
"my reason for this contact to you" ... klugey english. Not quite
gramatically incorrect , but certainly no native english speaker
would say it like that.
>This bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin, or the
>account will be confiscated.
First off, only in canada can you do that. US Law makes the banks keep
all those little accounts with even 10 cents on them a permanent burden
on the books.
>My proposition to you is to seek your consent to present you as the
>next-of-kin and beneficiary of my late
>client,so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you,Then we
>can share the amount on a
>mutually agreed-upon percentage.
You want me to lie my ass off and accept money. No , this is too easy.
Somewhere along the line you're gonna want me to front some cash to
you and then you'll run with it.
>All legal documents to back up your claim as my client's next-of-kin
>will be provided. All I require is your
>honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through.
Honest cooperation in this dishonest endeavour. Ha ha ha.
>This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect
>you from any breach of the law. If
Yer a lawyer, not a judge , buddy. You don't execute anythign. Judges do
that. Plus there is no "legitimate arrangement" to do something
"illegitimate". I don't know how it is in india , but the law in America
does not work that way. You cannot bring the force of law to an unlawful
arrangement sort of thing.
>this business proposition offends your moral values,do accept my
>apology. Please contact me at once to
>indicate your interest.
At least you kind of sort of admit you're doing something naughty.
>However if you are willing to assist me in this venture i will
>establish a verbal telephone communication
>with you and bring you into a much better picture of the
>situation.Please contact me with email address
>below:
>ianrankin30@zwallet.com
>ianrankin@indiatimes.com
Shall we go for the zwallet address as well ? Why not.
www.zwallet.com shows up as another free email address. This guy
doesn't have a legit email to begin with.
>Best Regards,
>Barrister Ian Rankin,
>Morley House,
>26-30 Holborn Viaduct,
>London EC1A 2BP,
>U.K
Wow, when I put that address in google (plus "london england" ) I get a totally different thing.
More information
CICA
Morley House
26-30 Holborn Viaduct
LONDON
EC1A 2JQ
Official CICA website: http://www.cica.gov.uk/
In fact, it seems to be some kind of crime stoppers crime fighting
web site.
Say , you don't think they'd be interested in the scam this guy is
running , do you ? Maybe I should forward a copy of this email to them,
what with that he's using their address and all ...
that would be evil.
What the hey. I'm in a bad mood. I'll do it.
Bah ! Dang web site is down. Cops don't even know how to run a web site,
it seems.
eventually tracked down an email and mailed them, took a while though.
British bobbies need to be brought up to speed on this whole internet
thing...
Friday, November 19, 2004
This day in Ottawa (Nov 19 2004)
Member of Parliment Carolyn Parrish was booted from the government caucus today by the prime minister. It seems that telling your boss to "go to hell" and "I hope you lose the next election" didn't go over too well , and so it was time for her to leave.
Hey dudette. We love you. After our PM pocketted a hundred mil from that ad scam before the election , I'd like to tell him to go to hell too !
The very same day , our beloved PM must now deal with a differentMember of Parliment , Gagliano, who is a central member of his party. Apparently he showed up in a New York Paper's article accused of being the member of some kind of crime family.
I really don't understand the problem. We already know our politco's are criminals to the core. A hundred million bucks doesn't just evaporate , now does it ? I really think we should put a jail up right beside parliment hill just to make the MP's feel more at home. And that way when one of them gets caught it's a real short trip to go visit their friends.
Introducing the Amazing Chicoutimi , Canada's newest submarine. And this one is extra special in that it is a self sinking sub ! Yes , thats right. On it's maiden voyage from Scottland to Canada it caught on fire and killed one of the crew. The crew is blamed for this little incident by the way. But recent investigations indicate that ...
1) It had a rusty hull that might collapse , so it cannot go below certain depths..
2) It could not snorkle (get fresh air) when it's just below the surface. Has to actually surface.
3) Caught fire and had to be rescued on it's maiden voyage.
I'm not sure who to blame here. The Brits for selling such lemons to us or the prime minister for going for it. Especially since these flaws were already known before purchase. A desiel sub that cannot go very deep , and cannot snorkle ? what the heck was the point of even purchasing such things. And then we find out the enemey doesn't even have to so much as give them a dirty look before they sink ?
If nothing else we should get our money back , but some how I'm pretty sure that's not gonna happen. And that's the part where I place full responsibility on the PM's shoulders.
Blaming the crew for your own screw ups doesn't impress me much either. got to be bad for moral to know that you're nothing but a scape goat for other peoples problem.s
Hey dudette. We love you. After our PM pocketted a hundred mil from that ad scam before the election , I'd like to tell him to go to hell too !
The very same day , our beloved PM must now deal with a differentMember of Parliment , Gagliano, who is a central member of his party. Apparently he showed up in a New York Paper's article accused of being the member of some kind of crime family.
I really don't understand the problem. We already know our politco's are criminals to the core. A hundred million bucks doesn't just evaporate , now does it ? I really think we should put a jail up right beside parliment hill just to make the MP's feel more at home. And that way when one of them gets caught it's a real short trip to go visit their friends.
Introducing the Amazing Chicoutimi , Canada's newest submarine. And this one is extra special in that it is a self sinking sub ! Yes , thats right. On it's maiden voyage from Scottland to Canada it caught on fire and killed one of the crew. The crew is blamed for this little incident by the way. But recent investigations indicate that ...
1) It had a rusty hull that might collapse , so it cannot go below certain depths..
2) It could not snorkle (get fresh air) when it's just below the surface. Has to actually surface.
3) Caught fire and had to be rescued on it's maiden voyage.
I'm not sure who to blame here. The Brits for selling such lemons to us or the prime minister for going for it. Especially since these flaws were already known before purchase. A desiel sub that cannot go very deep , and cannot snorkle ? what the heck was the point of even purchasing such things. And then we find out the enemey doesn't even have to so much as give them a dirty look before they sink ?
If nothing else we should get our money back , but some how I'm pretty sure that's not gonna happen. And that's the part where I place full responsibility on the PM's shoulders.
Blaming the crew for your own screw ups doesn't impress me much either. got to be bad for moral to know that you're nothing but a scape goat for other peoples problem.s
The Ubiquious Internet Explorer
Just tried to run MSN chat program.
It refused to run because Internet Explorer was not my default browser.
Now that's just outragous. The program is on my computer, and it knows where it is (it's part of the operating system) why can't it just crank it up itself ? No, Bill Gates has to push it on you and make you use it all the time, make it your default or this chat program will not work !
Probably a good marketting scheme, but when IE is the number one target of virii in the world, I'm sorry but I'm not biting. I'm switching to ICQ now.
I read somewhere that last october there were 1000 new virus's for the IE. And this october there were 5000. A five fold increase in one year. It's time to get off that security harlot of a browser and onto a real one, if you want my opinion.
And hey , this is my blog isn't it ? My opinion is what you get. :)
It refused to run because Internet Explorer was not my default browser.
Now that's just outragous. The program is on my computer, and it knows where it is (it's part of the operating system) why can't it just crank it up itself ? No, Bill Gates has to push it on you and make you use it all the time, make it your default or this chat program will not work !
Probably a good marketting scheme, but when IE is the number one target of virii in the world, I'm sorry but I'm not biting. I'm switching to ICQ now.
I read somewhere that last october there were 1000 new virus's for the IE. And this october there were 5000. A five fold increase in one year. It's time to get off that security harlot of a browser and onto a real one, if you want my opinion.
And hey , this is my blog isn't it ? My opinion is what you get. :)
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Movie Time : Lord of the Rings
I don't watch Tv. I don't even have cable. But I do go out and buy dvd's and add them to my collection. Got over a hundred, so I guess I'll do my own little review thing here when I'm bored and there's really not much else going on in the world to comment upon.
Lord of the Rings marks a turning point in movie history.
The turning point is that of special effects.
The special effects hav become so cheap , and so common , in movies now adays, that the "gee wiz" factor is dead and buried. And the producers of this movie know it. And so , while this movie does use those effects where it needs it , and does not shirk on it, on the other hand it doesn't go hog wild on them either. No one expects the special effects to carry the movies. Everything pulls their load. The actors can actually act. The sets are beautiful works of art unto themselves. Ditto the costumes. And special effects are now officially religated to merely equil status as any other part , rather than blow your socks off with all the explosions kind of thing.
The story :
Fantasy - low magic setting , ,a hobbit (half sized humanoid) finds a ring of even power , and the ring must be taken on a mighty quest to dangerous lands to be finally and utterly destroyed forever.
The original story was written by JRR Tolkien during world war II and was probably intended to escape the dreary war life. So while the battle for Middle Earth bears little reflection upon the events of world war II , the impact is there none the less.
The Orcs and the Germans.
The germans have this whole fantasy thing going where they believe in magic and stuff ,even to this day. The Orcs , obvious reference to the germans of ww2, reflect this in their ancestory as "elves who were corrupted by evil". I suppose it might count as a kind of propaganda , but every story needs their villians , and the germans of that day were running amok conquering all and claiming they were the master race, so tough luck for them , guess they get the honor of the orcs after all.
Fantasy land vs the machine
Lord of the Rings marks a turning point in movie history.
The turning point is that of special effects.
The special effects hav become so cheap , and so common , in movies now adays, that the "gee wiz" factor is dead and buried. And the producers of this movie know it. And so , while this movie does use those effects where it needs it , and does not shirk on it, on the other hand it doesn't go hog wild on them either. No one expects the special effects to carry the movies. Everything pulls their load. The actors can actually act. The sets are beautiful works of art unto themselves. Ditto the costumes. And special effects are now officially religated to merely equil status as any other part , rather than blow your socks off with all the explosions kind of thing.
The story :
Fantasy - low magic setting , ,a hobbit (half sized humanoid) finds a ring of even power , and the ring must be taken on a mighty quest to dangerous lands to be finally and utterly destroyed forever.
The original story was written by JRR Tolkien during world war II and was probably intended to escape the dreary war life. So while the battle for Middle Earth bears little reflection upon the events of world war II , the impact is there none the less.
The Orcs and the Germans.
The germans have this whole fantasy thing going where they believe in magic and stuff ,even to this day. The Orcs , obvious reference to the germans of ww2, reflect this in their ancestory as "elves who were corrupted by evil". I suppose it might count as a kind of propaganda , but every story needs their villians , and the germans of that day were running amok conquering all and claiming they were the master race, so tough luck for them , guess they get the honor of the orcs after all.
Fantasy land vs the machine
Sauraman the white tears up the landscape in the "fires of industry", an obvious reference to turn of the century (oops , a whole other century has turned now hasn't it ? Turn of the 19th century) industrialization overtaking the previous rural life. One might gather that Industry , the coal mines, etc , may be required, but were not well liked by the population of that day. And embodying this dislike as a struggle between "the fires of industry" and the Ents of the Forests (in the Two Towers) is an intersting sub plot.
Communism / Capitalism also make their apearance here in an unusual way, that of "The Common Man". While it is now common for the action hero's of today to come from humble beginnigns, back when this was written it wasn't . It was knights in their glory rescuing the fair maiden and all that.
The common man , represented by the hobbits who have basically no strength , magical powers, etc , at all, is at the center of the story. While on the outskirts the heroic knights (Aragon, the ranger who becomes King) and their princesses (That elven princess that marries him) and the affairs of other magical beings (tree-ents , wizards like gandolf, giant spiders .. the list goes on) which are the staple of such tales before JRR Tolkien , almost take a back seat to the trials and tribulations of our common man with no special abilities.
I should explain that both communisim and capitalism were considered viable organizations at that time , and both toted "the common man" as the center piece of their organization (in communism the people owned everythign , captitalistic economies were all democracies where the common man would vote for the next leader ... ) so any reference to the common man could be interperted as a hero of either of those systems. And it's hard to see a "hobbit" a half sized man with no skills at all save smoking the long grass , standing next to full sized knights in shining armor , could be viewed as anything but.
special effects
Hey ! I said special effects didn't blow you over in this movie !
Well... the balrog was awesome. So was the long fall and fight between gandolf and the balrog at the beginning of the second movie. And the major battle scenes in two and three were pretty awesome as well. No lightning bolts or such flying back and forth , this isn't star wars, but it was one heck of an impressive seige they had at Helms Deep. And again at the White City.
All in all. These three movies were pretty impressive, and I've watched them several times and consider it time well wasted.
IDENT port 113
Data travels across the internet in packets of information. One of the interesting things about these packets is that they all a port number on them. The idea is that your computer is running three programs at once , (a browser, a chat program , oh and your mail is being checked every 5 min because you're running a small business so you keep it running all the time.)
Basically your browser(usually the Internet Explorer) only pays attention to info coming down on it's port (8080 I think) , email only on it's port , the chat program only on it's , ,and even though the stuff is all coming down the same wire in a random mish mash mess , nothing gets confused and everythign goes to the right program.
Stay with me on this. I'm getting there.
The idea is that you're pretending that you're plugging a wire into your email program to the email server , and none of the other wires going to other programs get mixed up with it. At least that's what it looks like. So we say "it's coming down on port 25" , instead of things like " the data is tagged with port 25" or something confusing like that.
Yeah yeah , I'm getting there.
Just got a linksys router off a friend. Works great on one computer. Crashes on two computers a lot. Not too useful, but playing with it I did learn a very interesting thing. (aside from the obvious ... buy new computer stuff, second hand give aways are usually given away for a very good reason)
By default, all routers (of this make and model) have the same password. Until you change it.
They also have "remote administration" turned on. That is to say , you can plug into the router on it's administrator port , if you know the password, and control it from remote. From outside the house, from the internet at large. (port 113, often called the ident port)
While this makes great business sense if you're selling to an office , because these are the setting perfect for a network administrator to just plug the things in and go , this is a disaster for anyone else.
You're brand new router has a known password. And a known port. and anyone who knows these two items can simply start scanning the internet for such routers and take them over by remote control.
What was that you said ? You bought that router to act as a fire wall to make you feel more secure ? Ha ha ha. Have I got news for you !!!
Basically your browser(usually the Internet Explorer) only pays attention to info coming down on it's port (8080 I think) , email only on it's port , the chat program only on it's , ,and even though the stuff is all coming down the same wire in a random mish mash mess , nothing gets confused and everythign goes to the right program.
Stay with me on this. I'm getting there.
The idea is that you're pretending that you're plugging a wire into your email program to the email server , and none of the other wires going to other programs get mixed up with it. At least that's what it looks like. So we say "it's coming down on port 25" , instead of things like " the data is tagged with port 25" or something confusing like that.
Yeah yeah , I'm getting there.
Just got a linksys router off a friend. Works great on one computer. Crashes on two computers a lot. Not too useful, but playing with it I did learn a very interesting thing. (aside from the obvious ... buy new computer stuff, second hand give aways are usually given away for a very good reason)
By default, all routers (of this make and model) have the same password. Until you change it.
They also have "remote administration" turned on. That is to say , you can plug into the router on it's administrator port , if you know the password, and control it from remote. From outside the house, from the internet at large. (port 113, often called the ident port)
While this makes great business sense if you're selling to an office , because these are the setting perfect for a network administrator to just plug the things in and go , this is a disaster for anyone else.
You're brand new router has a known password. And a known port. and anyone who knows these two items can simply start scanning the internet for such routers and take them over by remote control.
What was that you said ? You bought that router to act as a fire wall to make you feel more secure ? Ha ha ha. Have I got news for you !!!
Deals Direct
5370 Conotek Road.
Bought a computer off of them. 500 bucks.
It just died. Hard drive is giving issues. DVD player ... well , never did get to watch a complete movie on it. works well enough you can crank it up and see it play for a few seconds and show people see ! It works !
Check the warrenty. Right at the top it says "Used Items (7 Days Warrenty) 1 computer system"
Kiss my $500 bucks goodbye.
The old computer that I built myself (admittedly , entirely out of brand new parts) still works fine. So much for trying to run a game server.
Note to self : No more second hand parts. That cheap $100 dollar computer I gave to my wife is still going and going , but this $500 one rolled over and died barely 3 weeks after I bought it. Just too risky.
Bought a computer off of them. 500 bucks.
It just died. Hard drive is giving issues. DVD player ... well , never did get to watch a complete movie on it. works well enough you can crank it up and see it play for a few seconds and show people see ! It works !
Check the warrenty. Right at the top it says "Used Items (7 Days Warrenty) 1 computer system"
Kiss my $500 bucks goodbye.
The old computer that I built myself (admittedly , entirely out of brand new parts) still works fine. So much for trying to run a game server.
Note to self : No more second hand parts. That cheap $100 dollar computer I gave to my wife is still going and going , but this $500 one rolled over and died barely 3 weeks after I bought it. Just too risky.
Fire Fox
Ok. Fire fox browser is out. Trying it now. Looks pretty good actually. No active x components but thats life.
I suppose I should mention that I'm a computer techie, and that Active - X , a copy writed feature of the internet explorer, is the *WORST* security hole ever in the internet explorer. Here we are , now what , two years, three years ? After Billy Boy Gates reports "security is our number one priority" with the internet explorer. Has he done anythign about it ?
Nope.
But his security patches are really good at suddenly making the competing products stop working .
:)
I suppose I should mention that I'm a computer techie, and that Active - X , a copy writed feature of the internet explorer, is the *WORST* security hole ever in the internet explorer. Here we are , now what , two years, three years ? After Billy Boy Gates reports "security is our number one priority" with the internet explorer. Has he done anythign about it ?
Nope.
But his security patches are really good at suddenly making the competing products stop working .
:)
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