Hulleye Comes By!

i’m gone to karachi for a bit so won’t be posting much around here. see you guys in the new year. have a nice life.

as we all know, the CIA and washington in general is pretty busy lately in trying to defend itself that they don’t spy on americans nor do they torture humans on US soil or abroad.

anyway, the CIA has done some wonderful things in the past nevertheless and one of the best things they were good at, was creating lots and lots of propaganda.

recently discovered, there was a comic book gem, GRENADA: Rescued from Rape and Slavery that was produced by the CIA and air-dropped over the island nation after the 1983 US-led invasion.

it’s a must read.

The Latvians first decorated a fir tree for Christmas, in 1510. The Christmas Tree was introduced to Britain in 1800 by Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III - and populised 40 years later by Queen Victoria’s German husband, Prince Albert.

Despite Rudolph’s macho name, his headgear give him away: female reindeer have antlers all year round, while male reindeer lose their antlers before winter sets in.

The original Father Christmas was St Nicholas of Lycia, now in Turkey, who was noted for his kindness to children. After the American War of Independence, New Yorkers adopted St Nicholas to displace St George, the English patron saint, and his Dutch name Sinter Klaas changed to Santa Claus.

When we abbreviate Christmas to ‘Xmas’, the first letter is not our ‘X’ but the similar-looking Greek ‘chi’, the first letter of ‘Christ’ in Greek.

The origin of the Christmas pudding was a soup made of mutton and beef boiled with prunes, currants, wine and spices.

The average American household sends out 28 Christmas cards - and receives the same number.

The English were forbidden from celebrating Christmas between 1647 and 1660 by Oliver Cromwell - who also had King Charles I beheaded.

There’s no evidence in the Bible about the number of Wise Men who visited the infant Jesus - all that’s reported is that they brought three gifts.

In medieval times, the main dish at Christmas dinner would be swan or peacock.

The popular carol Silent Night was written by Austrian priest Joseph Mohr, when his church organ broke down on Christmas Eve. He sat down and penned a carol that he could accompany on the guitar.

whoever attributed king kong as the best movie this year must not have actually seen the film but realized that since all the reviews are good, it must be good. it was the worst film i’ve seen in a long time. i wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. it’s two and a half hours too long. went with three other people. my wife and two other’s and the only reason we didn’t walk out was that i thought the they wanted to keep watching it and so i didnt say anything and they thought that i wanted to keep watching it and were being polite and so we didn’t walk out. my wife was just as bored. when coming down the huge paramount toronto elevators, a few guys overheard our “how bad was that movie” conversation and couldn’t agree more. its as if it was filmed in real time. peter jackson is a way overrated director. naomi watt’s was terrible. they even cg’d her juggling. it was horrible. most of the scenes were absolutely useless and the movie really had no relevance to them. jack black who i love as an actor was a sell out as well. this was probably the first bad movie ive seen him act in. it was a BAD movie. kher go watch it and form your own opinions.

someone asked recently what to do about someone who you can’t stand or hate but have to be in constant communication or contact with, for example, a roomate or a classfellow or a co-worker.

i responded with an old university habit of mine which i used endlessly on a rather innocent armenian….just because i could. heh.

one of my favourite things to do to people i didn’t like.

1) go to their computer. (assuming a windows machine).

2) click on start > find > find files and folders

3) search for *.exe

4) when search is finished, ctrl A will select all.

5) ctrl c will copy

6) ctrl v or paste into windows startup.

7) reboot computer.

cleaned up the blogroll. removed a bunch of dead or rarely updated links.

new additions: tost, flying cow, !nk, vleeptron.

i wonder why i don’t get any readers with names that sound like names anymore?

oh yeah, before i forget, an update on the poll.

the poll has now run for exactly 8 days. the results after this time are as follows:

After 97 votes,

FF leads with 60.8% of the votes (59 votes)

BB trails with 25.8% of the votes (25 votes)

FB got 6.2% of votes (6 votes)

BF got only got 4.1% of the votes (4 votes)

SF for some reason got 2.1% of the votes (2 votes)

and poor SB only got 1% (1 vote)

so basically BB’ers can suck it!

how many bands can you think of looking at this picture.

here is a closeup image.

example: band name - matchbox 20 with the “20″ made with matchboxes.
band name - queen, the queen holding the guns.
band name - the b-52’s, the airplanes in the sky.
band name - led zeppelin, the zeppelin in the sky
band name - deep purple, the deep purply thing in the background

and so on.

click here for answers.

i love magnets. seriously contemplating buying some when i came across these bad boys.

Beware - you must think ahead when moving these magnets.
If carrying one into another room, carefully plan the route you will be taking. Computers & monitors will be affected in an entire room. Loose metallic objects and other magnets may become airborne and fly considerable distances - and at great speed - to attach themselves to this magnet. If you get caught in between the two, you can get injured.
Two of these magnets close together can create an almost unbelievable magnetic field that can be very dangerous. Of all the unique items we offer for sale, we consider these two items the most dangerous of all. Our normal packing & shipping personnel refuse to package these magnets - our engineers have to do it. This is no joke and we cannot stress it strongly enough - that you must be extremely careful - and know what you’re doing with these magnets. Take Note: Two of the 3″ x 1″ disc magnets can very easily break your arm if they get out of control.

ever wonder why marijuana is illegal? it’s all the reasons that you don’t think are the real reasons.

believe it or not there is not a single recorded case of a marijuana related death EVER. compare that to the amount of people dying in relation with alcohol and tobbacco on a daily basis.

another list. this time it’s definitely a good read. the top 14 evildoer’s amongst corporations for the year 2005. all your favourites are among them including coca cola, ford, pfizer, wal-mart, chevron, halliburton, lockheed martin, and phillip morris. i’m sure this list could go on and on.

Corporations carry out some of the most horrific human rights abuses of modern times, but it is increasingly difficult to hold them to account. Economic globalization and the rise of transnational corporate power have created a favorable climate for corporate human rights abusers, which are governed principally by the codes of supply and demand and show genuine loyalty only to their stockholders.

Several of the companies below are being sued under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a law that allows citizens of any nationality to sue in US federal courts for violations of international rights or treaties. When corporations act like criminals, we have the right and the power to stop them, holding leaders and multinational corporations alike to the accords they have signed. Around the world–in Venezuela, Argentina, India, and right here in the United States–citizens are stepping up to create democracy and hold corporations accountable to international law.

the artsaypunk has finally made up with his blog. he won’t be neglecting it again. blog was rather upset.

this is a fascinating article about the economics of splitting a cab fare. how would you do it between three people who took one cab and got off at three different locations? some people would turn to game theory. others apparently looked up the talmud. check it out.

i’m gonna be buying this as soon as they hit north america. what a great novel idea. i love it. will fit well right along with my binary clock.

overheard in an old bookstore. one of the funniest things i’ve read in a long time.

Today in the store, a woman holding up a copy of “Ulysses” asked, “Is this his latest book?”

allright, i’ve had it with this fucking job opportunitya and plastic surgery spam comments. would anyone care if i started using CAPTCHA’s? i’m getting hit with about ten spam comments an hour. i was trying to stay away from them, but it really doesn’t seem to be working.

speaking of pooh, guess who’s getting a girlfriend? via the bbc.

After 80 years in Hundred Acre Wood Winnie the Pooh is to get a female friend, replacing Christopher Robin, according to reports.

The Walt Disney Company has decided to pair Pooh up with a red-haired six-year-old tomboy for its 2007 series, newspaper USA Today reported. Disney said My Friends Tigger and Pooh will keep the “trust, friendship and happiness” of AA Milne’s stories. Pooh is being re-branded as part of its 80th anniversary celebrations. We got raised eyebrows even in-house at first, but the feeling was these timeless characters really needed a breath of fresh air that only the introduction of someone new could provide,” Nancy Kanter of the Disney Channel told USA Today.

Disney said the new series will emphasise the active side of Pooh’s adventures as described in Milne’s original 1926 book to appeal to activity-loving children of pre-school age.

Preston Kevin Lewis, director of the Pooh franchise, told Reuters: “Trust, friendship and happiness - Pooh doesn’t lose any of those things, it just changes how we talk about him.”

But that is unlikely to please Pooh purists, who can point out that the original stories were written specifically for Milne’s son, Christopher Robin Milne.

Read on.

Okay so for the past few years, I’ve come across dozens of people who have become very good friends and i’ve made dozens more new acquaintances. Once you get to know me well, you will realize that one of my favourite things is bathroom humour. But in all honesty, all of it isn’t really humour, it’s serious talk, as you can tell from one of my previous posts here. I’m a curious guy. I like to know things about people and cultures and generally the world around me. And of course you can get to know everything about a person except for one area, his bathroom lifestyle.

A couple of years ago, some odd 20 friends or so had a very serious discussion for about three hours straight. And the results of that discussion were dumbfounding. I’m not exactly sure how the topic ever came up but I was glad it did. Because what we learnt from each other was something truly mind opening. Anyway, in the end, the options below in the survey were all the possible combinations people used.

I want to know what the majority use and if there are any other combinations that I am not aware of then please let me know. This is a serious poll and believe me the results will surprise you. All votes are anonymous. Comment freely.

Also please link to this site and tell everyone you know about it. The more people voting, the more accurate the results will be. Personally, I am a strong advocate of FF. All votes are anonymous.

There is no voting option for TP users unfortunately.

IE users will have to scroll all the way down to the bottom right as I haven’t been able to fix the sidebar to work with IE. Firefox users should see the poll on the right under the “Quotations of the Day”.

a visit down kottke’s links. hadn’t been to his site in a while.

found this crazy best of “best of” lists. covers everything from sex, books, music, words, film, dvd’s, media, toys, science, business, people, gadgets and much more.

stack as you type. go and figure it out yourself. won’t make sense otherwise.

also, any movie fan must go through this list. top 50 of the best indy films ever produced. i tend to agree with most entries.

another fun link is of this page describing ferrofluid. that’s a cool sounding liquid don’t you think? well the videos are even cooler. check it out.

so this made me remember my old days back on irc quite a bit. check out the irc bible. it’s a pretty funny read. an excerpt below.

 You must make me an ark, Noah
 You mean a boat, sir?
 made of gopher wood
 you mean the rodent sir?
 and bring aboard two pieces of each animal
 including gophers sir?
 and save a spot for your wife and kids...
 -o. sir yes sir
 eh, why sir?
 Noah, it's going to rain pretty bad
* Noah builds till he is 600 years old
 ready, sir
 ta
 get on board
* Humanity has left IRC (Excess Flood)
 o_O wtf
 is it dry yet?
 Jehovah?
 I'll send out a raven
* Raven was kicked by Noah
* Raven has joined #World
 mmm
 I'll send out a dove
* Dove was kicked by Noah
* Dove has joined #World
 ffs
* Dove was kicked by Noah
* Dove has joined #World
 I've got an oliveleave! w00t
* Dove was kicked by Noah
* Noah waits
 not coming back
 I think he drowned
 no! it means the world is drying up again.
 'bout bloody time
 now let's get rid of these animals
* Noah sets fire to ark
 woo, that smells good...
 you know what?
 I won't do it again!
 ron
* Jehova has left IRC (signed off)

via Adnan.

thanks to sash for this lil tid bit. most pakistani’s know of this poem that has been published in pakistani english textbooks titled simply, “The Leader” by an anonymous author. well it’s being removed now according to this bbc article. read vertically down the first letter of each line in the verses.

Patient and steady with all he must bear,

Ready to accept every challenge with care,

Easy in manner, yet solid as steel,

Strong in his faith, refreshingly real,

Isn’t afraid to propose what is bold,

Doesn’t conform to the usual mold,

Eyes that have foresight, for hindsight wont do,

Never back down when he sees what is true,

Tells it all straight, and means it all too,

Going forward and knowing he’s right,

Even when doubted for why he would fight,

Over and over he makes his case clear,

Reaching to touch the ones who won’t hear,

Growing in strength, he won’t be unnerved,

Ever assuring he’ll stand by his word,

Wanting the world to join his firm stand,

Bracing for war, but praying for peace,

Using his power so evil will cease:

So much a leader and worthy of trust,

Here stands a man who will do what he must.”

in case, anyone didn’t get it, that topic is reference from hackers the movie. so i just tried hacking the coke machine at my workplace. it’s quite fun to play around with. i guess the pakistani readers of this site won’t really be able to do it because from my recollection, i don’t know of any coke vending machines in pakistan. but times are changing so i could be wrong. anyway this is a long entry so go through it if you feel like….or not. by the way, this is all over the web so i’m not gonna source any particular site.

PREFACE
Coke vending machines are everywhere. They’re getting more and more like regular computers with LEDs that show little “ICE COLD” messages and whatnot. Well, there’s a lot more to those little built-in computers than you may think. Included in the low-level operating system that these babies run on is an actual debug menu that gives you access to all sorts of machine information and possibly gives you free cokes in older machines.

WHICH MACHINES WORK?
There’s a very strict list of vending machines that have the debug menu. First off, they’re all COCA-COLA product vending machines. This means the giant, un-missable picture on the front must show any of the following: Coke, Dasani (Water), Barq’s Root Beer, Vanilla Coke, Cherry Coke, Sprite, Evlan (water), Fanta, Fresca, Frutopia, Hi-C, Sprite Remix, Mad River, Mello Yello, Minute Maid, Nestea, Odwalla, Mr. Pibb/Pibb Xtra, Planet Java, Power Ade, Seagram’s Ginger Ale, Simply Orange, Sparkletts, or Tab. Of course anything Diet or Caffeine free works too.
The machine must have an LED screen. Some of the older ones just allow the LED to be set to a price amount and won’t have the debug menu. You’re safer if the little LED is telling you something. Usually it will scroll a little message like “Ice Cold Cokes”. Newer machines are more likely candidates.

ACCESSING THE MENU
To enter the menu, there’s a button combination. HERE’S THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE TO REALLY REMEMBER:

[4]-[2]-[3]-[1]

The buttons are numbered depending on how they are positioned. They will either be vertical (more likely), or in horizontal rows of 4 buttons per row. If it is vertical, the first button is #1, the one below it is #2, and so forth. If the buttons are in horizontal rows, the first button is #1, and the one to the right of it is #2. The numbers work like a type writer after that. In rows of 4, the first button of row 2 will be button #5. So, to review, getting in to the debug menu looks like this:

COKE MACHINE::::::
$1.00 ——-
————-
[ Coke ]

so someone beat me to it. now all we need is a desi trivial pursuit.

Desi Monopoly is a new special edition board-games celebrating Indians, Pakistanis and other Asians living in the UK; the properties are a mix of Indian icons (famous train stations, the Taj) and Asian neigbourhoods in Britain.

too bad you can’t get it in time for christmas.

via haseeb,

read the letter that got leaked and was from the US secretary of state, hers truly, condoleeza rice dealing with the issues of internet governance. someone got ticked off when the EU proposed that they should rule the internet. the letter is pretty stern but you should also read it bearing in mind that letters of this type are not only very rare but they are always written in very, very soft diplomatic language. this was not. the result of the letter was that the EU dropped its plan for an inter-governmental oversight body for the internet and we have ended up with the status quo (ICANN, US government control). the letter was never meant for publication.

so forbes is out with another list of the richest people there are. only this time, it’s fictional with people such as lex luthor, richie rich, bruce wayne and scrooge mcduck making it on there. interesting to go through. this is their methodology. along with a profile for each person, for example, this is montgomery burns’ profile. they also mention people who dropped off the list this year from the last time they did the survey three years ago of which examples include jay gatsby, auric goldfinger, and j. r. ewing. quite amusing to go through.

pakistan vs. england. 3rd test. 1st innings.

All i gotta say is HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!