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aaaahhhhhhhh....

By jp 04 Mar 2001

so I made the jump again today. this time to Opera 5.02.

and thank god. gives most of the speed of IE5 without overwriting my entire OS, and blows the fucking doors off netscape 6. not to mention how tweakable it is.

ah…. that’s better. thraxil is back in living color. and loads faster too. I’m enjoying turning off those ad banners for good.

facelift

By jp 26 Feb 2001

I gave my corner of the school server a makeover. I’ve taken it as far as I could before the creative juices dried up.

Suggestions?

true enlightenment

By jp 11 Feb 2001

“It’s a myth that bats do not have eyes. Bats do have eyes. It’s just that they don’t use them for navigational purposes. Instead, they send and receive high frequency waves to detect obstacles and to guide them along.

That’s why I like to shoot them.”

I have no idea where this came from. but I wanted to share.

I am poor. QED.

By jp 07 Feb 2001

graduate student stipend paid to MCB grad students: $17,000
published average annual cost of living in lebanon / hanover: $17,033

boy are they mean.

being poor is punishment in itself

By jp 25 Jan 2001

I’ve been in a phone battle with these turds at the student loan collectors all day. and they have the gall to expect me to
pay long distance so I can try to have them NOT mess up my credit rating.

example:

(after on hold for 10 mins, my dime)
them: evil corp, can I help you?
me: you have an 800 number?
them: yes, but it’s not for regular use
me: what is it please?
them: it’s not for regular use
me: i see, what is it please?
them: it’s not for…
me: WHAT IS IT.
them: 800-something
me:

(a minute later)

same operator: hello?
me: me again. now let’s talk about my account.
them: are you calling on the 800 number?
me: yes I am. do you need my account number?
them: it’s not for regular use.
me: I’m going to shit on your face. why the fuck do you have one then?

(a minute later)

a different operator: evil corp
me: hi. help.

and so it went. turns out I have to send them a form like every week reminding them I’m still a student. or they’ll take my kids before they’re born.

they can really do that y’know.

capital shubbery

By jp 21 Jan 2001

NPR has had this running habit of waking me up with our new president, “Dubyah” Bush in the mornings. it’s thrown a seriously depressing shadow over an already depressing weekend of drizzle and exam cramming. but it’s lead to a few thoughts.

so now our proud (?) nation unites behind the man with the mouth where english goes to die. I don’t know which is worse — imagining the copious amounts of strenuous backtracking he’s going to take as far as social programs and civil freedoms are concerned, or KNOWING that it’s been headed by someone with the same literacy as what I pulled out of my navel pre-shower this morning. seeing the shining prodigal son of the old boy network ™ finally back at the helm is downright silly. soon we’ll all live the american dream of a prayer in every classroom, a gun in every hand, an oil rig in every backyard, and a war so cold it’ll make even new hampsire look warm (or maine, for those of you with a different point of reference).

seriously, I’ll take any and all bets anyone wants to place — we’re going to war with Iraq sometime in the next six months. count on it. and while it’s nice that our nepitism-endorsing dance-shy leader with a ferocius coke twitch is probably going to be all for national security and miliary revival rather than globalization and disarmament, c’mon now… is this REALLY a game we want to be playing with China? I didn’t think so. I think we ought to be sure we’re on their christmas list.

I think what bugs me the most is (anders, you’ll be able to relate) that all in all, he’s nothing but a worthless private school shit. his dad bought him a yale education where he did naught but establish a firm reputation as the campus washout, came home to start a few businesses with borrowed money which ALL tanked, and only got on his feet when dad gave him a job. and now he’s leader of the free world or something. sound familiar? Bates? Columbia? Dartmouth? the unworthy shall inherit? I think the meek are still in line.

so now we have our proud muppet in the public orifice, bless his soul by whatever god he talks about so much. and may his strings be pulled by only the kindest of the many that control our fearless peon.

but, amidst all this horror, at least we know that we’re going to see some of the best sketch comedy we’ve seen in decades during the next four years. talk about a uranium mine of material. hell, even saturday night live might get funny again.

they never forget...

By jp 03 Jan 2001

this taken from the asahi evening shinbun on my return flight from tokyo:

“GUWAHATI, India — A wild elephant pulled a man down from a tree, trampled him to death and for two weeks has refused to part with the corpse, police in northeast India said Sunday.

The man climed a tree to escape a herd of wild elephants rampaging through his village about 140 kilometers from Guwahti, the largest city in Assam.

One elephant grabbed him, pulled him to the ground and broke his legs.

“The elephant must have got even more irritated as the villagers were trying to free the man,” a forgest ranger said. “It trampled him to death and took the body along with him.”

That was two weeks ago, and the it been carrying the body around ever since, police said.”

wowee.