Recovered from Weekend.

Conditions: Sunny and warm. 'Bout time!

Buying Software.

It used to be simple. You'd go to a store in town, pick the box off the shelf and pay for it. But something's changed. Now if I want to buy or upgrade to something made by Microsoft, I have to go online and send an email via a website (to who, I don't know) asking for information about upgrading. Is this the future of purchasing? No more counters, no more friendly staff, no more stores, just websites and feedback forms. I weep for the future consumers of our fledging little civilisation. And Kevin help you if you don't have an email address, I guess.


Pre-empting.

When a television station prints out their schedule in a newspaper or TV guide, you'd think they'd make logical decisions based on the commitments they've made. So (for instance) if they've decided to carry a live sporting event which therefore has to start at a certain time and place, then one should expect them to stick to that deal. So imagine my surprise when settling in recently to catch a live sporting event (quite the exciting one, too), I find another live sporting event, of a differ3ent nature, on instead. It seems the powers that be decided that overwriting the scheduled one with this one was the way to go. I beg to differ. A commitment is a commitment and (as is the case here) a live sporting event has gone past it's deadline and intrudes into the timeslot of another live sporting event, then the first one should be moved to another channel and the second one should start as scheduled. So shall it be written. So should it be done.


Documentation.

I hear a lot of people talking about how great a technical resource the internet is. That is true for simple things, but pursuing more complicated problems onto the interweb can get you even more confused. Recently looking for information regarding com+ objects, I've up and downloaded a great swathe of information, but it wasn't until I visited the local library that I finally found the answers I sought. Let that be a lesson. That, and always check version numbers.


North Korea.

Oh noes! Nuclear Weapons in the hands of eeevil foreigners! Whatever shall we do? Oh, grow up. NK are as likely to shoot missiles at anybody as The U.S of A is to conduct an illegal invasion of another sovereign country without U.N approval. Oh. I guess we're all screwed. It's nothing we don't deserve.


Temporary Tattoos.

How long are these things supposed to last? I got a dragon put across my right wrist and arm, and five days later it's still there, intimidating anyone I roll my sleeve up at. That sign did say 'temporary', right? Not bad for six bucks. Oh well, maybe I should just take the hint.


Motorsport Round-up.

Damn, that sucked. Bad crashes, people dying, engines blowing up, championships ruined. Enzo Ferrari named his autobiography 'My Terrible Joys'. It's weekends like this that I heartily agree with that.


Box Office.

From BoxOfficeMojo.com, the latest American box office figures. The Departed (a remake of the pretty good Asian film Internal Affairs) took in 26 mill on opening with a 90 mill budget (how'd they keep it that low with so many great actors?). The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake makes 18 in its first week, and is immediately profitable. Sigh. Open Season comes in third, and Employee of the Month debuts with 11 mill, it's also profitable. The Guardian chugs to 32 mill in its second week. Not sure what its budget is but I'd say it'd be nowhere near profitable yet and it's dropping fast. The sequel to the end of civilisation as we know it has raked in 62 mill so far. It's insanely profitable, and also insane. Heavy Sigh. And Jet Li's last martial arts movie ever has made 21 mill so far. That's a little surprising, it's a very good film.


What Sports Car are you?

http://www.tomorrowland.us/sportscar/

I'm a Honda S2000. I find that insulting. Modern cars, bah.




Peace out.