Congratulations to my ISP, TM Net, for being the one of the first ISPs in the world to offer phone sex to customers of its ADSL service. They don't market this service as such but it's effectively the same thing.
This is how it works: you have a problem with the company's ADSL service, Streamyx, and call the customer care hotline at which point the company's customer representatives will proceed to jerk you off over the telephone.
Okay, perhaps not literally.
I've been experiencing severely reduced upload rates for the past few weeks. I usually have a maximum upload rate of about 40KB/s but right now I'm restricted to between 3 to 6KB/s. Curiously, my download speeds have not been affected at all. However, downloading via Bittorrent is much slower than usual since download speeds generally commensurate with upload speeds.
My biggest problem, though, is I'm having tremendous trouble uploading to my sites. To update the Tripod mirror of my blog, I have to upload three simple HTML files. Thanks to the sluggish upload rate, this is taking me up to 18 minutes on average because I keep timing out during the FTP process.
I've been in contact with four other Streamyx users from Banting and they've confirmed they're experiencing the same thing. I would complain to the TM Net customer hotline but apparently the standard line being fed to customers is that the problem is on the customers' end. If you insist it isn't, they'll send over a technician who'll admit after a while that the problem is on TM Net's end -- they might even mumble it might have something to do with ports -- and then claim it will be resolved.
In two weeks.
Memo to myself: search eBay for needles and voodoo doll likenesses of TM Net personnel.
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FoundryDX.Lego mecha made from a collection of 30-35,000 Lego pieces. The First Gundam and Zaku are especially impressive.
About Iraq in 2005. [via]A sobering if not dispiriting roundup.
Takara's Ryukendo.The main line features simplified gimmicky designs suitable for a younger audience. The Microman versions of the designs will presumably be aimed at older collectors.
Mugenworld.Mugenbine's new official site features annoying Flash and pop-ups but there are some nice additions to compensate. I especially like the fact the product catalog now features some suggested custom combinations.
Electronic Kong Arm.Make your child look like a total dork for 4725 yen. Price excludes hospital fees resulting from severe beatdown by neighbourhood bullies.
Gransazer ver. Microman.A fan-creation by ankoku.
BrickJournal.E-mag for adults fans of Lego. The second issue (PDF, 5.89MB) has some very cool mecha designs.
CBOT 2000.Required materials for this robot: ginger, molasses, flour, sugar, icing, food colouring, love and inspiration.
Bad side.That is quite possibly the most demented expression I've seen on a senior citizen this year.
A photo of a Revell Robotech Robolinks figure.
Robolinks was the US-marketed version of Takara's Blockman, my favourite robot action figure construction line and about once a year I wistfully hope that Takara re-releases the line. It hasn't happened yet but who knows?
As I always say, these Blockman figures would be perfect as trading kit figures. Pack each 500 yen blind package with a single Blockman figure along with a few 5mm accessories with the promise that a full carton of 12 packages will contain enough Blockman figures and parts to build a cool-looking robot or vehicle. Since having more Blockman figures would provide greater construction options, this will give fans an incentive to purchase even more packages.
I've been trying out a new BitTorrent client, µTorrent, and I really like it a lot.
The first thing I noticed about the app is that it's tiny. The download is 114KB in size and that executable is the entire program. The memory requirements are similarly compact as it takes up less than 6MB of RAM on average. It's a phenomenal programming achievement considering µTorrent doesn't stint on features.
There's no installation per se but keep in mind that some data files are dumped into the user Application Data directory. I would have preferred it if the data files were stored in the same directory as the application.
In terms of features, here are the main advantages µTorrent has over BitTornado (my previous favourite):
There are other Bittorrent clients with those same features but they tend to be bloated resource-hoggers or dodgy in some way.
µTorrent does have a couple of shortcomings but nothing major. I find it exasperating µTorrent doesn't quite handle disk allocation elegantly. Apparently the option for compact allocation isn't quite working at the moment. A bit ironic considering how compact the rest of the app is but I'm confident the developers will fix it. Some users might also rue the lack of support for UDP trackers (e.g. BitComet's tracker) but the trackerless support feature ought to compensate for that in most cases.
All thing considered, µTorrent is a fantastic program and proof that good things do come in small packages.
Tips
If you need to add an external tracker or delete non-responsive trackers from a multi-tracker torrent, right-click on the torrent in µTorrent, select Properties then add or delete trackers as necessary.
µTorrent creates a copy of the torrent file in the user Application Data directory so you might want to right-click on the torrent and select the Remove And->Delete .torrent option once you've completed downloading and seeding a torrent.
Takara Pepsi Convoy press release.PDF file, 284KB. "Transformers are sold in more than 130 countries. Over 1000 varieties and more than 300 million units of Transformers have been sold to date ... With fans now spanning two generations, Transformers is no longer just for kids. In fact, Takara research shows they have 80% brand awareness among Japanese men in their 20s."
Magneforce Kamen Rider.Customs by kyoshirom.
BigBuild Gatling.An imposing Mugenbine gestalt by Gee. The crotch drill seems unnecessary, though.
Bruce Geryk on casual gaming."Casual games are that huge segment of the industry that hardcore gamers don't want to acknowledge - over-35 soccer moms and solitaire-playing old ladies, visiting big portals like Yahoo! Games and Pogo.com."
The art of Natascha Roeoesli.Stunning.
The human body is a truly extraordinary organism which, thanks to millions of years of evolution, comes equipped with numerous methods with which it can gross you out.
For instance, like this:
Guess who has chicken pox?
I spotted the first red blister ten days ago but I wasn't too sure it was chicken pox until three days later when a few more popped up. The blisters initially numbered less than a dozen but they've pretty much erupted all over the place since then.
There are a couple of things I found surprising about chicken pox. Did you know it's caused by one of the eight forms of herpes that affect humans? I think I can understand why the herpes connection is usually downplayed, though. Saying you caught the herpes virus instead of chicken pox is probably going to result in one of those long uncomfortable silences. Especially if you happen to be a kid.
"Li'l Timmy can't come out to play right now because he's got herpes."
So, yeah, "chicken pox" it is.
Another surprising thing is that chicken pox can be much more severe in adults than in children. It wasn't so bad in my case but I felt really -- and here I hope I'm not intimidating you with medical jargon -- "funky." I had a fever off and on for a few days but nothing too severe. However, I did feel very uncomfortable and my energy levels were pretty low. You know you have a bad case of malaise when tapping the keyboard and clicking the mouse seems like too much effort.
The itchiness, probably the worst single symptom, was mostly manageable. It was especially bad at night and I sometimes found myself scratching without thinking. Thankfully, calamine lotion helped to alleviate the worst of it. The downside is the lotion dries up in pink splotches. Since I had blisters all over the body (including the face and scalp), I ended up looking like a special forces soldier camouflaged for a mission at the Pink Aisle in TRU.
It looks like it might take a few more days to clear up. I don't exactly feel like doing cartwheels right now but my energy levels are higher and I feel less like a miserable bastard right now.
Amazing Race 8: Family Edition is over. This series was particularly notable for the way the host, Phil Keoghan, would make children cry on national television and then point out that they'll always remember the experience.
Bus Otoko: Napoleon Dynamite in Japan. Pedro offers you his ... kita-a-a-a!
Product placement on shows."... writers were forced to incorporate a line about a new Wal-Mart perfume into the dialogue as a character, Greenlee, sat at the bedside of her husband who was suffering from a fatal gunshot wound."
Seen online:
And above that:
Ridebine.Mugenbine's next releases will each include Bine parts which combine to form vehicles for the Mugenroid and on top of that, all three sets will combine to form Ride General 3.
Lego Mecha.Including tips and building instructions.
Sunrise on the animation process. [via]
I dislike pop-up windows cluttering my screen but thanks to Firefox and the mighty mighty Proxomitron, I almost never see them.
I was taken aback to find I was getting pop-up windows on some web sites after I upgraded Firefox from version 1.0.7 to version 1.5 a few days ago. This was all the more surprising since I had configured Firefox to open a new tab in the existing browser window instead of a pop-up window.
ChoroQ K.I.T.T.
Sneaky, professor, very sneaky."One lecture consisted of us watching our professor play WoW, ostensibly to showcase narrative techniques in MMORPGs but really just because he needed the Whirlwind Sword."
Blog inspires PSP game.If that's not unusual enough, the blog in question is about an abused husband. You may commence shaking your head now.
The CD Stripper.Apparently, removing the plastic shrinkwrap on CD cases is a herculean task which necessitates the purchase of a ten-dollar device.
Card sharks. [via]Six players suspended for assault, 22 suspended for bribery and four suspended for theft. Did I mention the card game in question is Magic: the Gathering?
Hung up on hanging.All Singaporeans are banned from a file uploading service because the providers consider hanging to be a barbaric form of the death penalty "which can take up to six minutes to painfully execute the victim." Yet Wikipedia notes, in modern times, "the average time between taking a victim from the cell and death was around fifteen seconds." This is an absurd move all around.
Monomania's 37-mugenroid gestalt.If that Mugenbine fan-mode topples over, seismometers will be able to detect it.
Illustration Friday."Illustration Friday is meant to challenge participants creatively. We believe that every person has a little creative bone in their body. Illustration Friday just gives a no-pressure, fun excuse to use it."
Football kids.The pros will all tell you that passing, dribbling, tackling and heading are far less important than learning to properly celebrate goals.
2005 lists. [via]
The Man-Eaters of Tsavo.HTML and text versions of John Patterson's book.
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Pass comments to tmwarwolf attitude at yahoo dot com but drop the attitude.
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