Random Playlist Song: Edvard Grieg - Erotik (Poeme Erotic) Op. 43, No. 5

Okay. I confess: I cheated. But can someone tell me wth this is?!

I found this on the playlist of this nice Turkish guy who is sending me the 1915 recording, by Kreisler and Zimbalist, of BWV 1043 (the Double Violin Concerto in D Minor) - one of the last files from my late, great, 24gb playlist that I still want. Yay!

Turkish Guy: I dont like prokofiev much
Me: then why do you have so many of his tunes? ;)
Turkish Guy: prokofiev its like a very rare chemical I sometimes want to feel like
a need like wanting to listen heavymetal music

***

Bloody hell. I got a call from this Indian lady from the NKF (and on a Sunday too), who was trying to hoodwink me into accepting a donation card to con people into donating to their fund for "sick little children" who are "the future of our nation". Her accent was so thick, I couldn't understand what she was saying half the time, and she recited her lines so smoothly that I almost thought that I was "talking" to a machine which was spewing a series of pre-recorded messages and responses at me.

Hell, maybe it *was* a machine, since the cost of hiring temps for Sunday afternoon tele-marketing must be astronomical. Then again, they have money to burn; now we know where the money donated to the NKF goes to besides commissioning more and more Channel 8 tear-jerkers, distributing VCDs and card holders (both of which will reap them even more money, which they will plough back into fund-raising efforts, resulting in a vicious circle until they are the only charity left in Singapore), and suing people who question their activities. Oh, and let's not forget getting an unlisted number - I checked my handphone later and I got a missed call from "(no number)" just before they called my home line. Now, why a charity would need to get an unlisted number is beyond me. Maybe they don't want people calling them up and harassing them on Sunday afternoons *cough*

Apparently they'd gotten my number from the time when 42SAR had forced us to go for the NKF "free" health screening (at the end of which, of course, they'd tried to coerce us into signing up for a monthly donation, which many people sadly did, even those who dislike the NKF, which tells you something about their marketing skills). I should just have put my name as "Jeffery Aw" and my phone number as "63266354". Then again, I don't think I *gave* them my number. They must have gotten it from 42.

***

A little bird landed on my shoulder and whispered to me: "hello. take out your knives and sharpen them...the ccc is showing a debate between creationist science and evolutionist science next thursday 6pm-8pm...no doubt another darwin-bashing session...or if you choose to be like me, just let them self-delude themselves and spend the evening doing something else."

More exercises in intellectual tennis without a net. Shall I be there to help return a volley in the name of Science (and we're not even talking FreeThought here), I wonder?

My little bird: "i wonder why you'd bother turning up for things like these. i wouldn't waste my time playing tennis with people who can't differentiate between a tennis ball and a racquet string."

***

Friend: haha.. i format when i get mad at slow connections.
Me: wth does formatting have to do with a slow connection
Friend: nothing but it gives me smth to do while the connection gets better

... women.

***

"One female visitor complained about “mankind,” but attempts at “non-sexist” writing ignore etymology: man was Old English for “any person.” Man as gender-specific is unique to Modern English."

Political correctness falls flat, and reveals that the person who thinks that the word "man", when used to refer to men of all genders, is sexist, is herself (for inevitably it is a female, isn't it?) sexist :)

***

Me: so what do you live for? what is your meaning of life?
Friend: bluntly put, nothing.
Friend 2: to enjoy myself :D
Friend 3: sian (as always)

We can all form an existential nihilism club!

Someone once suggested to me that most people find some goal to life as they go along. To get a stable job, to provide for their kids et cetera, but frankly, that's not very fulfilling. Not to mention that it's dull and kills the spirit.

***

Great tip for when the Send To Extensions Powertoy screws up Send To Desktop (Create Shortucut):

Type REGSVR32 SENDMAIL.DLL in the RUN box. Restart Windows (mandatory step)

http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/desktopshortcut.htm)


I tried Dreamweaver MX 2004 but immediately scurried back because they tried to force their new interface on me. At least Dreamweaver MX gives me a choice between the "Dreamweaver 4 Workspace" and the "Dreamweaver MX Workspace (with optional HomeSite/Coder-Style)". Dreamweaver MX 2004 forces me to use the Dreamweaver MX Workspace in HomeSite/Coder-Style, where all the panels are crammed into one window, and more importantly the site window listing the site files has been demoted to a panel and there's no way to display it as a window as in Dreamweaver 4. Damnit. Gah.

mirabiliz.com's "ICQ Users Allocation By Country Research" shows that Singapore is 27th in the rankings for number of users. I blame this, of course, both on people defecting to M$N and thinking that it would be cool to live in "Ascension Island" (8,468 ICQ users live there? You gotta be kidding me. Do they even have Internet access there?)

***

"You can pretend to be straight, but you can't pretend not to be black. Unless you're Michael Jackson." - Me. Quoted on request.