Something Emporium

Archived News for November 2005

• Yes please thank you very much

  Just bought a projector. Freakin' sweet.

  Sam

  Tue, 1/11/05 – 11:58am

• Haha

  Haha i bet the dam schools firewall and am now able to come on Something Emporium hahahahahahahahahahahahaha Go the free concert after the Marathon on Sunday ....

  Don't you just love being 18 i mean i do yay yay yaaaaaaaaaay

  heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh

  love you all

  Alicia

  XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

  Alicia

  Tue, 1/11/05 – 12:16pm

• I've done it.

  I have found the two funniest websites on the internet. I'm serious; they're funny.
  
  Anyone remember the Burger King Kids Club?

  The token black guy with a Kid 'n Play haircut to match, Jaws was never seen without his trusty compass & binoculars, but that doesn't help explain why he was named after a freaking shark. You could make the really obscure connection to his fondness of nature & the environment, but I'm pretty sure that sharks aren't an endangered species.
  
  Hang on a second... token black guy? Kid 'n Play haircut? Fondness of nature & the environment? There's something very familiar about all that. Now where have I seen someone fitting that description before?
  
  Why, it's Kwame of the Planeteers! Holy crap, look at that. Kwame & Jaws even dress similarly. They're both wearing shirts with the planet Earth on them, & matching green tube socks! GREEN FREAKING TUBE SOCKS!

  And if that's a little low brow for you, here's (Boing :-() Quentin Tarantino's Republic Dogs. For those of you who don't know your classical philosophy, the following excerpt references the cave allegory, mixed in with The Symposium (starring Socrates, Alcibiades and Aristophanes). Also, Alcibiades really was a pussy.

  Socrates: Bingo. So you'd say this gimp, you'd say this gimp motherfucker would be unable to perceive true perfection -- but that don't mean it don't exist. Now if you brought him out of the cave, into the light, things would be less dark, and his eyes might heal a little, he might begin to see a glimmer of light, thereby gaining the idea of true perfection --
  
  Aristotle: What kind of argument is that? Your theory of the forms rests on an arbitrary and vicious act of violence.
  
  Socrates: [Draws his gun.] Aristotle, you're Plato's student, I respect you, but I will put fucking bullets through your heart if you don't take back what you said about me being violent now!
  
  Aristotle: [Also drawing gun] You shoot, you'll be dining with Lord Hades tonight. I repeat. You kill me, your ass is eating pomegranite fucking casserole for the rest of eternity.
  
  Alcibiades: Shit, man, you're acting like a bunch of fuckin' Spartans. Am I the only philosopher around here?
  
  Socrates and Aristotle: [To Alcibiades] Shut up!
  
  Alcibiades: Guys, guys, calm down. Look, I've got it. Let's have a symposium -- we can all drink wine and make speeches in praise of love.
  
  Aristotle: What are you, some kind of pansy?
  
  Socrates: Shoot that dipshit.
  
  [Socrates and Aristotle turn in unison and shoot Alcibiades, then turn back and again aim at each other.]

  Dominic

  Tue, 1/11/05 – 11:20pm

• Clippy, the bush paperclip.

  Still using Microsoft Internet Explorer? Want to see something scary? IE allows web developers full read access to your clipboard while you're surfing the net. Have you ever copied and pasted user account details between two windows? Have you ever used a password manager such as Password Safe to keep track of your user accounts on websites? Well, check this sucker out:
  
  

  If you're seeing this, you're not using IE. Good job!

  
  
  If you're using IE and you've got something in the clipboard you should be able to see the contents printed in that box. Hit refresh to update it. It's a single line of Javascript code that does that:

  var text = clipboardData.getData("Text");

  So what? It's not as if this data is going anywhere, right? Well, wrong. Thanks to XMLHttpRequest (the basis of AJAX) your clipboard contents could have been sitting in my email inbox by the time you started reading this news item. Luckily for you it's not ('View', 'Source' if you want to check), but not all websites will be that nice. So, what can you do? Well, you could make the change to Firefox, Opera or Safari. I have, and haven't looked back. Or you could disable Javascript - it'll break some sites, but it's pretty much the safest way to use IE. Or you could follow these steps to disable this particular 'feature':

  1. Open up Tools, Internet Options
  2. Go to the 'Security' tab
  3. Click the 'Custom Level' button
  4. Scroll to 'Scripting'
  5. Set 'Allow paste operations via script' to 'Disable'

  Dominic

  Thu, 3/11/05 – 3:19pm

• Waaa

  I've just finished university for the year. All that's left is to work my butt of until Christmas, and then spend all my hard earned cash. It's going to be great!
  
  So, I finished sorting through my Beatles mp3s tonight, and renaming them from the goddamn stupid American album naming system, and I decided to go through as much as I have (only about 75 songs) chronologically in order of release (not composition where they vary - like the whole Let It Be/Abbey Road thing). Anyway, I pretty much got as far as Strawberry Fields Forever before I had to keep going back and replaying. And replaying. And replaying. Kept getting caught by the lyric:

  It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out.
  It doesn't matter much to me.

  Also, have utter respect for:

  Always[,] no [know] sometimes[,] think it's me,
  but you know [no] I know [no] when it's a dream.
  I think I [a?] know [no][,] I mean a 'yes', but it's all wrong.
  That is, I think[,] I disagree.

  One of those songs you appreciate so much more after a few listens. And yes, I did hear the speed change one minute into the song. And the weird almost mispitching in John's voice. George Martin just makes me want to grab a four-track and start playing around with it.
  
  Enough stream-of-consciousness. Before I finish up I'd like to draw your attention to a little thing Trav's got going:

  This is still a website. I'm still here. I think we need a new poem. If there's anyone out there who is even remotely aware of this website and even more remotely poetic (really only first prerequisite matters, really, really) then e-mail me something to post up there. All submissions will be posted. That's right, anything, anonymity guaranteed, (if requested) and sure, if it's crap then it may happen to be posted and immediately purged, but it will be posted.

  There's also the issue of the other domain to be taken care of. I'm in such dire need of attention that I'll give you it as long as you're prepared to make some use of it. My suggestion is that you simply ruthlessly parody Trav. Right, time to celebrate. Justin, post about Sustainability Engineering - it's worth getting worked up about.
  
  craven

  Dominic

  Tue, 8/11/05 – 11:47pm

• .plan

  Something I'm going to start working on now that my Javascript skills have gotten a little better: an AJAX IRC client. From what I can tell, nobody's done one of these yet, but with raw sockets from PHP and an RFC to work from it should be fairly achievable.
  
  The problem I'm likely to come up against first is how I can minimise the number of round trips to the server and back. And because a reload can only be initiated from the client side, not from the server when content comes in, I'll have to set the reload frequency pretty carefully (the maximum lag will be the reload frequency plus the latency of the connection).
  
  Something like this shows a possible interface - it's not tied into IRC though, which would be the killer feature.
  
  

  Dominic

  Thu, 10/11/05 – 2:49pm

• Right...

  Here's the plan. I'm going to be at Hoyts, Wairau Park at 4:00 pm, 6:40 pm, Sunday 13 November, which is TODAY. I have 4 or 5 free tickets to contribute if you're there - we'll be watching Serenity which is awesome; Orson Scott Card says so. I can offer a ride if you text me on 027 6360282 by about 3.
  
  All welcome.
  
  Edit: Haha. Serenity was good. All you who missed out should feel ashamed. Very very ashamed.

  Dominic

  Sun, 13/11/05 – 10:24am

• Dom is a tard.

  I did this whole elaborate thing with that Internet Explorer security hole with the contents of the clipboard to have secret text for Firefox users. But obviously that didn't work due to Dom "accidentally" deleting it.
  
  I'm too lazy to do all the hyperlinking a second time, so you'll just have to do your own research or copy & paste. Honest, I was a good boy in hyperlinking everything in my original submission.
  
  Get the Firefox extension StumbleUpon. It's the ultimate cure for boredom. It's certainly a lot more extensive than bored.com. I'm not going to bother how to explain how it works, but it's a toolbar for Firefox. Get it.
  
  With that, I've found such awesome sites as:
  http://www.stupidcollege.com/Animation/Beat_Boxing.swf (can't believe I didn't think of this one before... wait, I did try it once, but I didn't quite do it as well as this guy)
  http://www.nata2.info/humor/flash/bowman.swf is pretty cool too.
  So is http://uploads.ungrounded.net/221000/221483_Play.swf
  

  robbie

  Mon, 14/11/05 – 12:54am

• I wanna be the guy from the Energizer ads

  So, my ASUS motherboard crapped out last night, eight months after I bought it. It did a hard shutdown, accompanied by a bang (because it was plugged into my stereo) and now it refuses to start up. It even refuses to turn the power LED on!

  I went and got my original invoice - remembering that there's a one year warranty on all the parts I bought. I was intrigued to find the following at the bottom of the invoice:

  1. Computer Company Ltd's computer systems, computer parts, upgrade kits, and peripherals come with ONE year RETURN-TO-BASE warranty from the date of purchase, unless otherwise specified.
  2. Laptops and Name Branded Computers are covered by their original manufacturers' warranties.
  3. Some manufactures provide their own warranties direct to the customer. This means that you simply phone the manufacture directly, and they will arrange for your product to be returned to them for warranty service or replacement rather than Computer Company Ltd This provides you faster, cheaper service than if you were to return it to us, as we would simply have to return it to the manufacture by the same means.
  4. Computer Company Ltd is not responsible for any delay for the repair or replacement. However, should there be a significant delay for any reason, Computer Company Ltd will endevour to assist customer in having your system up and running again as soon as possible. This may be done by loaning you a part, or offering you an upgrade; this will be done at our discretion only.
  5. In some cases freight charges may be passed onto the customer. For example, when a product is returned for a warranty repair that you wish us to deliver back to you, or if you return a product to us that should have been returned to the manufacturer.
  6. Warranties do not cover incorrect configuration of the computer by the purchaser, erasure of any software, or physical damage to the computer or components.
  7. Computer Company Ltd reserves the right to reject warranty for any goods returned in unacceptable condition, such as, the identification tag or serial no. tag of the good has been damaged or removed.
  8. Due to Copyright issues we are unable to accept returns of any SOFTWAREs.

  Now, I'm pretty interested by many of these clauses because of a little piece of law called the Consumer Guarantees Act, 1993. Basically, that's the Act which sets out 'the guarantees given ... to consumers upon the supply of goods or services; and the rights of redress against suppliers and manufacturers in respect of any failure of goods or services to comply with any such guarantees'. The really great thing about this Act is that if you're not buying for a business 'the provisions of [it] shall have effect notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in any agreement.'

  It doesn't really matter what terms a retailer sets out in their warranty terms - you still have the rights of the Act behind you; the only thing a warranty can do is increase those rights.

  So, my specific concerns with the warranty terms? First up, a retailer is not allowed to get you to take up concerns with a manufacturer. It's almost always up to your own discretion whether you wish to take up a claim with the retailer or directly with the manufacturer. The only time when this isn't the case is when the manufacturer has made claims that were false, and those claims didn't appear on the packaging (where the retailer would be aware of them).

  Next, a retailer is responsible for a delay in providing a remedy. If your problem is serious (as mine is), or if there's an unreasonable delay you can ask for your money back directly (which the warranty terms don't mention), insist on a replacement not a repair, or even take your goods somewhere else to be repaired and charge the retailer.

  Under no circumstances can the retailer charge you for freight if you've returned it to them instead of the manufacturer. As soon as you've got it to the retailer it's up to them to deal with the problem. If you pay them freight to get the good to the manufacturer you're actually getting them to provide a service!

  The company above may be able to get out of their warranty if your part has lost its serial number or identification tag, but they can't get out of their obligations to the Act. The Act makes it clear that if you haven't used the goods incorrectly and they've proven themselves to be of unacceptable quality, you have the right to a remedy. It doesn't matter that you can't read the serial number any more.

  From the 8th April 2003, the Act also covers the sale of software. The unspecified 'copyright issues' specified in the warranty have absolutely no bearing on your right to a remedy if your software is not of acceptable quality. This is something Dick Smith Electronics are also guilty of - while it's not something their legal team would endorse, I'm sure, you often see signs proclaiming software cannot be returned. Even if the Act didn't exist, there would be something really, really, really stupid behind this: it's not detrimental to the stores interest if someone might have done something illegal with (copied) some software and then returned it to the store. What they're really doing is using the spectre of copyright infringement to try to prevent fraud. And all this while there's other people using the spectre of terrorism to try to prevent copyright infringement. The world really sucks sometimes.

  So, to wrap up, don't look at your warranty statement - look at the Consumer Guarantees Act. Finally, in some cases traders may actually be much more liable if they write stupid warranty statements like this; the Ministry of Consumer Affairs says they may be breaching the Fair Trading Act by misleading you about your legal rights. Shop smart y'all.

  Dominic

  Tue, 15/11/05 – 3:23pm

• This just in

  V's 'Berry Invigoration' flavour (shouldn't that be 'Invigouration' anyway?) contains less caffine than V Black. I haven't compared it with the standard flavour yet, but there you go. I knew there was a reason I didn't like it.
  
  Also, as far as American spellings creeping into NZ usage: what the hell is with spell checkers pulling me up on 'spectre' below? Apparently some barbarians spell it 'specter'! That's just stupid. The game for the Mac, which was American, I think, was called 'Spectre Challenger'. The James Bond villain was spelt that way too. Specter doesn't look nearly as scary as spectre.

  Dominic

  Wed, 16/11/05 – 2:35pm

• Domains

  Just got a new domain: www.dubdot.com. Can't really believe it was still available. And yes, I'll link to slashdot: it's the least I can do after being oh-so-original and ripping off their idea. Also, I noticed that 'pissinboots.com' is still available. I think that'd be a great one, but I don't have the required photoshop skills.
  
  Edit: I'm watching the new music TV station 'Alt' (that isn't supposed to open until the 18th, well, no, they put it forward to the 14th) at the moment. It's somewhere around 800Mhz (UHF 62, whatever that means) if you're looking to tune in. They play way better music than C4 (goddam 'Hollar Hour') and Juice (pop, pop, pop), with no ads. In the short while I've been watching I've heard Muse and a couple of good indie tracks, but they don't have the names of the songs on the bottom of the screen (yet?) so I don't know who most of the bands are. At the moment the presenters are doing live segments from a deck in what looks like Grey Lynn (just found out it's up from Verona on K Rd) from the orientation of the Sky Tower. They are pretending to be Eastern European. "Who is you? Adam? Oh, that sounds like atom which is a basic part of all matter. Like most humans, he took winning with gratefulness. Is our show super-uber? Yes it is!" See, I'll even forgive them the scientific error in that bit, and the fact that they're associated with George.
  
  Oh, and Weezer is well within their definition of alternative - just saw Island in the Sun and they use Hash Pipe for one of their promos.

  Dominic

  Wed, 16/11/05 – 5:39pm

• Here We Go

  well, dom told me about this a while ago and told me he was thinking of trying it out in february after our cycle trip. it's a schedule of sleep consisting of 6 half hour naps evenly spaced throughout the day. polyphasic or Uberman sleep it's called. there are heaps of horrible blogs (ugh, that word...) about it but i guess I'll keep one too. It's eleven thirty p.m. and i had a quick starter nap before dinner then my first scheduled one at eight. after the midnight one i'll post up the first report on my humble website.
  
  
  whish me luck, trav

  aymar

  Mon, 21/11/05 – 11:38pm

• A strict phonological definition:

  Two words rhyme iff:
  a) They are (last) stressed on the same syllable, counting from the end of the words.
  and
  b) They are pronounced identically from the vowel in their last stressed syllable to their end (using whatever pronounciation you're comfortable with).
  
  So it is that undid and liquid are not rhyming words – I don't think anyone can make a good case for liˈquid or ˈundid. This is a complicating factor that makes English (and Spanish, etc.) poetry loads of fun: think of the difference between reˈcord and ˈrecord. In French, Finnish, Hungarian and Polish, by contrast, you can simply ignore the first rule and in other languages (Latin, anyone?) the stress can be pretty well predicted (once you know the rules) or inferred from the orthography.
  
  Note: if you see boxes above, your browser doesn't properly support the IPA.

  Dominic

  Wed, 23/11/05 – 1:14pm

• I'm leaving, on a jet plane..

  Don't know when I'll be back again. OK, that's a lie. I do know when I'll be back. 29th of January 2006! But right now it's only 5 sleeps until I fly over the hills and far away to Kocherstetten (via Stuttgart (via Frankfurt (via San Francisco))).
  
  If anybody feels like seeing what I'm up to, I've set up a blog, mainly for letting people know what I'm up to without the terrors of group emails. http://www.alyxingermany.blog.com
  
  I'm in one of those fancy-shmancy Air NZ planes with the on-demand-movies, so that'll be fun. I reckon I can get roughly 5 or 6 movies in, from here to 'Frisco.
  
  I will also be getting a VodafoneDeutschland sim card, so I'll post the number or something if anybody misses me *that* much.
  
  If I don't see you before I go, have a good Christmas, New Year's etc etc. Get drunk a lot. Don't miss me too much.
  
  Auf Wiedersehn
  Alyx
  

  Alyx

  Tue, 29/11/05 – 3:25pm

• Snore

  Here is a page I just put together just now.

  Dominic

  Tue, 29/11/05 – 3:35pm

• 

  robbie

  Wed, 30/11/05 – 1:04pm

• Linkage:

  goobers.co.nz

  
  I get paid to do stuff like this :-). I've told some of you what this is. Otherwise, have fun working it out.

  Dominic

  Wed, 30/11/05 – 1:33pm

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