Everyone's Favourite Chemical Element

Originally, I had intended to write about a different thing, but I didn't really think it over, so this is sort of a filler post.

I remember browsing Amazon a little while ago and found something pretty interesting (actually, it was my brother who brought it to my attention). Feast your eyes on this item (open the image in a new tab, to see it in its full glory):


Yes, that's a real item on Amazon (search for it, you may still be able to find it). Yes, that's uranium ore. And it's for sale. And it's that cheap. Now, you might start saying that it's dangerous or illegal, but it's not enriched uranium, it's just a lump of uranium ore. You'd probably want to buy some in order to calibrate/test your radiation measurement tools.

The funny thing, in my opinion, is actually the lower part of the screen. Let's check it out.

Customers Who Bought Items Like This Also Bought:
- Basic bulb Anal Douche easy to use Rectal Syringe for anal Hygiene
- Anal Douche Rectal Syringe Easy to Use and Clean
- Vulcanite Anal Douche Rectal Syringe bulb type
- Enema Syringe Anal Douche Rectal Syringe
- The Simpsons Movie (Widescreen Edition) DVD

There is no Idiot's Guide to Home-made Bombs, however, this list is pretty unsettling in its own way. My only explanation is that a large group of enema fetishist Simpsons fans all decided to calibrate their radiation measurement tools at the same time, and decided to order some uranium ore off Amazon, and in the process came over some items they just had to buy. Next time someone wants to test their Geiger-Müller counter or wants to watch The Simpson Movie in widescreen, think again before buying stuff from Amazon, you might get associated with the wrong kind of people.

Ban(ne)ds with Other Red Creatures

I've overshot the deadline with a couple of days, but I couldn't write, since I was too busy (that's a lie, I was actually too lazy), however I'll make it up to you all and I promise to write another post by the end of this week.

No, this post is not referring to Magic: the Gathering, but if you made that association, you're on the safe side of this article. If you didn't, then before you go on, I advise you to take an ordinary IQ test and come back only if you scored above average.

(In case you did go and perform the IQ test, you might actually turn up on the wrong side of this article, though that's not necessarily true. It only proves that you're extremely gullible and you should be careful when talking with door-to-door salesmen.)

But why have I asked you to do this? Well, let's start at the very beginning. About a week ago (when I first had the intention of writing this post), Pali and I ended up in a state of nostalgia and wanted to watch old cartoons (or at least their openings), so we ended up browsing YouTube until about four o'clock in the morning. We found two nice series of videos.

The first one, entitled Top 100 Cartoons Series, has 10 parts, and shows 100 cartoon openings. If you look at it as a hierarchical list, it's pathetic, but it sure brings back memories.

The second one, entitled 100 Greatest Cartoons, has 21 parts, and is a 3-hour show made by UK's Channel 4 based on the viewer's votes. Though I haven't finished watching it yet, it is quite interesting.

There were a lot of comments on both series of videos, in which people demanded (and harshly offended the uploaders of the videos) that Dragon Ball Z be declared as the No. 1 Cartoon of all time (I didn't watch it all through, but from what I understand, it didn't even make it on the list). Now, I never was a fan of Tom & Jerry, and I'm bringing this into discussion because it placed 2nd on the second series of videos I've mentioned, but I've always recognised its value and cultural impact. Of course, not every one of us is objective in his criticism. In fact, none of us are. Also, some of us don't even try to be objective in their criticism. And more so, some don't just give a fuck about reality. What to do about these people?

Instead of all those annoying captcha (if you don't know what these are, click here, and remember, Wikipedia is your friend), they should put IQ tests whenever the danger of a fuck-minded person commenting or posting may arise. And if they fail the test, they should be band... from the whole Internet... for life...

Anyway, now that I've dealt with the turd-brained people, I'll return to the videos a bit. Though the first one can't even be considered a top something list, the second one is pretty good, however, something doesn't seem right to me. Though I suppose Dragon Ball Z didn't make the list, a very La Blue Girl-ish anime, called Legend of the Overfiend (know of it, Szilard?) did make it onto the list. Though I have no problem with the idea of arranging cartoons and ordering them by which is the 'best' (e.g. the best, less best, worse than best), I somehow can't come to compare Legend of the Overfiend with Tom & Jerry, or Akira with The Simpsons. It's just not right. On this account, check out my brother's top 6 anime by genre and my own Anime-Planet profile, where I've rated the anime I've watched so far.

Well, there's not much more to say. I can't think of a way of finishing this post with a bang. Wait a minute... It just hit me! How about 10 points going to the person who can guess why I used this post title (or 100 points the the one who can give the weirdest explanation). That's all folks! Bye-bii!

Death from Above!

Yesterday I spent an enjoyable time with Andras. Since I took the effort to bring the Monster PC home from Cluj (the damn thing is heavier than it's worth), we decided to fire up the LAN and play some of the games you can't on a single PC (actually you can, but they're not as enjoyable).

We initially intended to play Higurashi Daybreak, and after making use of the appropriate wiki, we found out how to start a LAN game... technically. Of course, as all things go, we didn't manage to start the game, so we swiftly abandoned the idea, and headed off to some of the games we knew would work.

Our second choice was Starcraft, playing the Bunker Command stage. I remember Adi telling me about it back when Starcraft was still 'the rad'. I must say, it was interesting. I believe back then, 'use map settings' stages were considered awesome and defying the laws of the game.

After hastefully dispatching me, Andras suggested a different game, so I cast my vote for DotA. In the same spirit of 'use map settings', DotA really popularised Warcraft 3. I don't even remember, I think we played about 5 games. It was most pleasant. The good thing is, I finally got Andras to like the game. If all goes well, I might have gotten myself a stable DotA partner.

Our final choice for the evening was Unreal Tournament 2004. I can never get enough of this game. It was actually Andras who suggest we play it, and I didn't know he was this good at it (or maybe I was just too sloppy that night). Anyway, we started talking during the match, and tried to find out what is so special in UT2k4. Besides the fact that nothing can compare with a good InstaGib match, both Halo and Quake 3 lack the atmosphere of this awesome game. Even if we're talking about the classic Unreal Tournament, the maps were so amazing. They each had their own style and they were so well designed, that you never had to turn back because of a dead end. There was always another turn you could take. I've realised that the levels are highly asymmetrical, and that makes then really awesome. Hell, even capture the flag stages are asymmetrical, how cool is that? Some of the stages are so intricate, we ended up not being able to frag each other the necessary amount of times and the match ended with a time out. Here is the last image of the game, Andras willing to descend upon me with the fury of his enhanced shock rifle, but too late, as the timer reaches 0 and I am declared the winner.

Built-in OS

A little while ago, I had a little accident with my PDA, which resulted in a cracked LCD display (poor little liquid crystals...).

So, I ended up ordering a new LCD display + digitizer (that's the thing which recognises the stylus touches) from eBay. For all those people who haven't used eBay before and are reluctant either because they are afraid they may get swindled or because they complain since no one ships to Romania, I have to encourage you to use it. I am very satisfied with the service, and I have been using it for some time now.

Anyway, I received the LCD display + digitizer, and found that I had a lot of problems opening the damn cover of the PDA since none of the screws used are standard ones. Don't you just hate that? It took me 10 days to open the cover, and when I plugged in the new display, I was shocked to find a built-in OS! That's right, can you believe it?! Here is the image, in case you doubt it: