I'm irritated. Clicking on one of Gabriel's damn links has totally erased the post I was writing. Fudgecakes.

Why would anyone want to convert a BAT to COM? I mean, who uses BAT files anymore? The only one I have left is a little thingamajig I whipped up a few years back to organise my mp3s, and nowadays there are heaps of freeware utilities that can carry out this function more effectively. But then again, I suppose as a genuflection to the technogeek aesthetic, we should be promoting such technical trivia....

For reasons too complicated to explain, I was scouring the web today for pics of straitjackets(specifically a Kansas gallows vest), or of medical orderlies in mental hospitals. It was surprisingly difficult to find one that was non-pornographic - I cannot begin to describe some of the degeneracy I had to wade through. This only goes to prove the Internet's power as a force for creating communities; even for freaks and perverts with the most outre of tastes. As a friend of mine once said: "These days you can not only find people who share your taste in sex with goats, but people who like the same *colour* of goat." Here's one of the more disturbing ones - disturbing precisely because it isn't so overtly depraved, but has more sinister overtones.

Well, I assure you most of the money raised in Islamic banking (at least in Malaysia) goes into very secular pockets:) But yes, there ARE a lot of rich Islamic merchants around using their money to fund terrorist activity. Sad, but true.

You know and I know money-lending isn't getting something for nothing - but we're approaching it from a modern, Econs-educated sensibility. As you pointed out, no one in the Dark Ages understood Economics. To them, it was witchcraft: money being used to generate more money without any form of concrete investment. To be frank, it does sometimes seem like witchcraft to me today:) You do know that in our society, after you make your first million, it's generally easier to make more millions. This was probably more true in the Middle Ages - the Black Death and internecine warfare notwithstanding

I was going to describe today's goings-on, but it was eliminated by Gabriel's evil link. Damn him. So I'll have to give the short version: went for a mid-afternoon karaoke session with some of my colleagues. Shall not depersonalise them but instead address them by name: Saravanan (aka Sara), Reza, Simon, and an ex-colleague, Ian, who was my predecessor at the department I work in. Now, this karaoke bar we went to is called the Red Box - it's this surreally techno-congested place with lots of perspex, blinking lights, transparent walls around a central area which contains the LD banks, their network server, as well as the automatic feeder arms, and a generally technosleazy motif. It reminds me oddly of the Cheap Hotel in William Gibson's Neuromancer - all the karaoke rooms are extremely small, yet comfortable coffins equipped with fake-leather seats, a 29" television set and a control panel for song selection. Nothing does the job of relieving a week of stress like belting out Queen's "We are the Champions" at 1:30 in the afternoon while still in afternoon garb. I think we were the loudest group there - when going to the toilet I could hear Simon screaming the lyrics to Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name". It's remarkably cheap too - 10RM per person for the room plus a meal, soup and soft drinks. However, the karaoke captions had more spelling mistakes than in the whole of Gabriel's "Improve Your English" section. I kid you not.

Beep. Neverwinter Night calls. And I *still* didn't get any work done today.

(note: I've just realised that I can't post from home again. And this is despite going into safe mode. So I guess from now on all posts, even late night ones, will have to be done from work the following morning. Nevermind; Internet access is my inalienable right as a constructive member of the workforce)