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I love widgets. Ever since I first tried out a weather widget I have been going widget mad. Before I went widget mad I didn't even know what a widget was. Heck, a year ago I didn't even know what a blog was!!! (strange but true) But I digress.
Box.net Widget is a flash player that you can use to stream files. You choose which files to upload from your hard drive (up to 1GB) - these can include podcasts, photographs, videos, whatever you like. I tried it out myself and it's pretty easy to use - took me all of 2 seconds to figure it out!

I saw a girl wearing the best T-shirt today...It will be mine....












Oh yeah! The Empire Strikes Back. I'd probably rather have a "Star Wars - A New Hope" T-shirt because otherwise people might think I'm evil.

Speaking of evil empires...now I'm going all Empire Strikes Back mad on Ebay.













Stormtrooper Figurine. I had heaps of these. Don't know what happened to them. I know that I lost one or two on a beach in Santa Monica when Mum took me and my brother on holiday. It was probably my fault because I was playing at burying them in the sand and pretending the beach was the ice planet Hoth. I had the supreme confidence that I would remember where I buried them but it turned out that all of the beach looked the same and Han Solo in antarctic gear and Luke Skywalker with his lightsaber were gone forever.









Comics. What more need I say? Brilliant. Oh, dang, I said something.













I love these 'books of the movie' type things. At the moment there aren't enough of these around. Maybe they will make a comeback. When the "Return of the Jedi" books and tape sets came out, I listened to them so many times I can recite the bulk of the entire movie. Oh my God. I just wrote that down. I am such a geek. I might as well accept that and be comfortable with it.

(say the first line while holding your nose)
DEATH STAR CONTROLLER: "The security deflector shield will be deactivated when we have confirmation of your code transmission. Stand by... You are clear to proceed."

SHUTTLE CAPTAIN: "We're starting our approach."

OFFICER: "Inform the commander that Lord Vader's shuttle has arrived"

OPERATOR: "Yes sir"

MOFF JERJERROD: "Lord Vader, this is an unexpected pleasure, we are honoured by your presence..."

VADER: "You may dispense with the pleasantries, Commander, I'm here to put you back on schedule..."

That's it. I'm getting a trenchcoat and growing a beard. Hang on, I'm not a guy. Um....
20GB hard drive? 1GB ram? Maybe I'm already on my way to using my powers. I must.... complete.... my training......

Technorati Tags:
star wars, empire strikes back, t-shirt, comics, collectables

Re: People bidding over $1 million dollars for Britney Spears hair on Ebay

Okay. I've had it. I don't know if this is FOAD Monday, Tuesday or whatever. For me, today is FOAD day. So there.

Please, fellow humans, do not be a sheep and follow the megalomaniacal (is that a word?) media in their bloodthirsty and vulturous (I think I made up another word - being angry does that to a person!) quest for sensationalism out of complete triviality.

If aliens came to our planet and found out that various members of humanity had decided to spend $1M upwards (yes, that's right, 1 million dollars or more) on a pile of human hair, they would decide we are either insane, very simple or that humans in general possessed the same intellectual and spiritual capacity of pond scum and single-celled amoeba.

It's HAIR. I don't care whose hair it is. It's HAIR. You know? The stuff that gets clogged in the drain when you are having a shower. The stuff you clean off your hairbrush. The bits you sweep off the floor and vaccum off the carpet.

Ooo but it's Britney's Spears' hair! Britney! Britney! Britney! WGAF (hey wow, I think I made up a new nerdism. Try and work it out...)

I don't care if it's the Czar, the Queen, Britney Spears or hair from someone's dog. It's hair and a can of Red Bull you can get for $2.40 from a vending machine.

People who have $1 million dollars to spend and want to spend it on such trivial rubbish should be tied up with string and made to donate the money to Oxfam or something.

In fact, dammit, if you are one of these incredibly stupid, incredibly rich people with a penchant for sweepings from the floor of a hair salon (and by the way, how do people this stupid get this rich? Clearly wealth is not a measure of intellectual capacity) then why don't you do the following:

1. Go to local hair salon, ask very nicely for sweepings off floor (I'm sure they will oblige!!)
2. Go to a vending machine, buy a Red Bull for $2.40, put on some lipstick, take a few sips and make a clear lipstick mark on the can.
3. Donate $1M to Oxfam or the Red Cross.
4. Put stupid hairy stuff and Red Bull in a cabinet. Okay it didn't belong to Britney Spears, but are you beginning to see how ridiculous this is?
5. Stop watching sillly entertainment shows promoting insignificant garbage.

You will feel better knowing that an entire village can build a well, build a school, get vaccinated against disease and grow crops.

Or you can say, "stuff the rest of the world, I want my hair and Red Bull from Britney"

The choice is yours. Choose wisely.

Technorati Tags:
britney spears, hair, ebay, $1m, Red Bull

I'm not sure if it's my phone - if it's everyone else's phone, if it's Optus or if it's Nokia 2600s in general. I've checked with other people using Optus and they don't
seem to have the same problem so it is probably a problem with the phone itself.

This strange phenomenon seems to happen every time I make an important call...

I call, get talking, then there is a drop out around the most important words in the conversation.
The words you can't hear when talking on the Nokia 2600 are shown in red.
...A completely fictional example:

Person A: What time is this dinner party?
Person B: It's at six-thirty
Person A: Ok, what do I need to bring?
Person B: Bring cheese, wine, nothing with wheat in it because Jenny is allergic...and dessert
Person A: What do I need to wear? Is it still fancy dress?
Person B: No Jenny and Mark decided against fancy dress - that's the latest.
Person A: And that speech I had made up. What did you think? Should I speak about the war?
Person B: It might be a sensitive subject to have you speak about the war.
Person A: Ok, I'll see you at six-thirty then.

You can see just from this brief example the endless possibilities for misunderstandings, mixups, and in this case, flat-out disaster!

The problem seems to get even worse if you put the phone on loudspeaker - it cuts out both what you are saying and what the other person is saying. And if you both say a word at the same time, you can't hear anything.

I'm either going to get a new phone or I'm going to go back to basics.



Verdict - What good is a phone if you can't use it to communicate? I ask you!!

Tech Tags: drawings nokia 2600 verdict crap

I love postcards. I have a small collection on my fridge - the more colourful, the better.
I particularly like the old / antique / vintage postcards that can be found by scouring the internet on sites such as Ebay, Amazon and the like. These cards can be tourist cards, art deco cards (my personal favourites!), military and propaganda, and various other subjects.

I read up on how to care for antique postcards, as little is known on this topic in the general population. According to Vintage Postcards it is easy to damage a postcard by keeping it in an album sleeve that is identical in size to the postcard itself. Inserting and removing the card from such an album can in itself damage the card. The album sleeve / holder should be larger than the postcard itself. Some storage holders can also contain damaging chemicals that break down and form acidic oil which damages the cards. The albums / holders that are free from these compounds are triacetate, polyethylene, polyester or Mylar, polypropylene or uPVC (unplasticized polyvinylchloride). For more information, visit Vintage Postcards - they have the care instructions covered.

I love postcards of landmarks - especially of my town, Melbourne.













It has been a long time since Flinders Street Station looked like this. For one, it didn't have that monstrosity Federation Square clashing styles hideously on the opposite corner. Don't get me started...grrrrrrrrrrr. Okay, I'm fine now.




















I especially liked this one of Benny Leonard, lightweight champion of the world (1920s). It reminds me of the picture of Rocky Marciano (who of course was the world heavyweight champion 1952-1956) in the movie Rocky I.

My favourite cards would have to be the Art Deco postcards.













There is something about this style that makes everything seem kind of magical. And it always makes me want to travel. Especially on planes and trains. Not so easy to travel on ships these days, unless you want to be caught with a bunch of B&S Ball weirdos who are into wife-swapping!

Damn. I brought the tone down again. Where was I? Ah, yes, the magical, wonderful world of antique postcards. *sigh*.