"X-Files

From time to time, I receive queries from users that defy all explanation. I am listing them here and hoping that someone out there can shed some light on these mysteries.

* 'I was unable to boot on IBM ThinkCenter 8183, NetVista old and new generation but the same CD works with other computers, as if the BIOS can't find the CD boot sector. I tried many things: a CD with just the original cdshell (works), then with just the /boot folder (works), so I tried to add other folders. The CD didn't boot when I add /docs. Why?' - Pellegrino Sylvain"

(Ultimate Boot CD)

HAHAHAHAHAHA

***

Reality TV roundup:

"Clean Sweep"

The skinny: Oh, this show is painful. An organizer, a designer and a carpenter show up to make people sell and/or throw away things they've stored for years. Nostalgia? Who cares? Your "junk" is making it tough for wifey to back out of the garage properly. We wouldn't be surprised if that's how John Kerry tossed out his war medals -- they didn't really go with that taupe Ikea couch.

I should nominate my sister and brother in law for this show.

***

"This Fall, Dr E.L.Kersten offers executive and managers everywhere a revolutionary new vision for leadership and employee relations.

And it ain't gonna be pretty.

The Art of Demotivation (R) Coming this Fall. Only from Despair.com"

Finally - a management guidebook worth getting!

***

I get an email. Subject: "muslims attack troops"

What's inside?

"Increase your sperm count dsfbsdjz
Increase the width of your penis ubfjbk
Increase the length of your penis hkjpecj
Increase testosterone levels fqyyxe
Have harder,longer erections axhtu"

Yay.

I should sue them for deceptive advertising.

The ones with "hi" in the subject line are especially bad, because people I don't know sometimes email me with "hi" in the subject line.

***

Just got a Musical Offering by Harnoncourt. Am very pleased.

"It's certainly the best performance I've ever heard, and worth mentioning is the fact that this performance also is the only one (as far as I know) which contains the correct performance of the canon in augmentationum contrariu motu; which makes it one of the most beautiful three minutes of music I've ever heard."

Okay, I don't know what "augmentationum contrariu motu" means either. MEP students?

I also acquired The Academy of Ancient Music's Creation. Am also in the process of getting a complete version of Art of Fugue - neither the Glenn Gould "best of Art of Fugue" nor the Delme String Quartet versions I have include the canons.


RV 588 and 589 not only have the same title, they are in the same key too. Bloody hell.

***

Share the Music - "The [RIAA] argues that file sharing is directly responsible for the widely reported slump in CD sales from 2000 to 2003... But this simple narrative is a bit more complicated. The two primary direct competitors for young music buyers' dollars — video games and DVD's, both also widely and freely traded on the Internet — continued to do quite well... At the exact moment file-sharing activity rose, so did CD sales."

Troy's Blast Cushion Stands Proud - The guy who made the bear proof suit has now crafted a "light infantry magnetic blast cushion", made with "specially treated Kevlar, ceramics, metal alloys and the force-absorbing system from his Ursus Mark-VII bear suit". In tests, it was impervious to weapons ranging from a .308 sniper rifle to a powerful .223 penetrator to a .375 elephant gun.

Judge rejects slave trauma as defense for killing - "A Portland lawyer says suffering by African Americans at the hands of slave owners is to blame in the death of a 2-year-old Beaverton boy... African Americans today are affected by past centuries of U.S. slavery because the original slaves were never treated for the trauma of losing their homes; seeing relatives whipped, raped and killed; and being subjugated by whites. Because African Americans as a class never got a chance to heal and today still face racism, oppression and societal inequality, they suffer from multigenerational trauma, says DeGruy-Leary, who is African American. Self-destructive, violent or aggressive behavior often results"

Man killed for singing Sinatra off-key - "A 25-year-old Filipino man has been stabbed dead for singing a Frank Sinatra classic out of tune during a birthday party."

Mojo Dojo Guide to ACJC Canteen Stalls - "The ACJC canteen is certainly one of the many memorable locations in a student's life here in this hellish institution. Every virile schoolboy will gladly remember the time he upskirted his first unsuspecting girl right from the comfort of the canteen benches/chairs, making eyes at each other and of course, the everlasting casual banter and hot gossip."

Schoolgirls sniff gold in pantie crackdown - "Naughty Japanese schoolgirls lost one of their greatest sources of pocket money earlier this month after the Tokyo Metropolitan Government outlawed the trade in soiled knickers from the underaged... But that doesn't mean the trade in soiled skids won't continue. 'Underage sellers aren't punished under the ordinance, so the girls are pretty composed about the whole thing'"
I like the video I saw somewhere of this guy who thought he was smelling used female underwear, but was actually smelling panties worn by some male Japanese teen who danced to DDR to get them sweaty.

'No sex' message doesn't ring true - "Is it cool to be a teenage virgin? In America - yes, increasingly so, if the popularity of Christian teen-abstinence group Silver Ring Thing is to be believed. But when a 30-strong troupe of Silver Ring Thing virgins arrived in Britain this week on an evangelical tour, they hit a few snags... Three shows on Silver Ring Thing's concert tour, due to blast off last night in the village of Claygate in Surrey, have already been cancelled due to lack of interest; one in Leeds, and two in London. Indeed, when The Times visited Claygate in advance this week, its reporter could not find a single teenager who would confess to being a virgin."

Iranian woman 'gives birth to frog' - Maybe they need an Iranian Book of Records to note this wondrous event.

The Buttafly Guide to Interpreting Friendster Photos

More on Zladko “Zlad” Vladcik - "Zladko “Zlad” Vladcik rose to prominence in 2002 when he won Molvanian Idol in controversial circumstances - the other finalist, Ob Kuklop, pulled out due to a serious throat condition after one of the judges tried to strangle him."
Alternatively, see this Guardian article.

Weird Foods from around the World