Weird. This has been like a domestic violence awareness week. First, that whole dad & his girlfriend incident (read entries below) then today, I come to work, somewhat late (try an hour) as usual, and what do I see? Our secretary, the one that hasn't been to work for like a week. There's something funny about the way she looks, though. Ah! I got it. She straightened her hair. So she's standing in the office kitchen, and I decide to make some small talk while getting something to drink. 'Hey, you look different, got a new hairstyle?'. She then whips around, and she's got these two really bad-ass shiners under her eyes. I mean, black and blue, plus her nose is a bit swollen. I have to admit that it made me recoil a bit. She just looks at me and says 'No, actually, my husband beat me up again. I was away from work cause I was in court gettin' a restraining order'. Then she just turns and walks away. Dumbfounded, I stood there for a while, then shrugged and went on to compile that Department of Defense order. After that horrible blunder, it's no wonder that I avoided her like rabies for the rest of the day.
Oi vei... And dad's girlfriend still hasn't picked up her stuff from our place. Maybe she wants to keep the escape option open? After growing up with my dad, I don't blame her.
In any case, we are going out today, me and my chica loco. The reason? Like we need a reason... But really, the Notorious Impregnator (those who know, will know) is back in Finland, to inspect his handiwork, I presume, so we're celebrating. Besides, today's the first day off my girly's had in 8 days. We are supposed to meet up at our place and then go on.. Somewhere. The girls are deciding (as always) and I just hope it's not going to be anywhere too expensive.
For today's celebrations (or rather as a warm-up drink) I bought a bottle of white wine, but while doing so got sort of stuck at Stockmanns book store, scanning the discount section, and ended up walking away with 'Holy War, Inc', 'The moon, a Biography', 'The Mammoth Book of Prophecies' and 'The Trial'. Yeah...
Just in case you didn't know, 60 years ago today Auschwitz was liberated. Yet we still see a lot of shit floating around in the media, and I am not just talking about the Muslim majority denying and demeaning the holocaust. I'm not even talking about the boycott issued by the Muslim Council of Britain against the Holocaust commemoration. That ain't news to anybody anymore, unfortunately. Instead, let's take a piece written by "The Spectator". For instance, the Jenin parallel is certainly unthinkable. Even the maker of "Jenin, Jenin" (which should be renamed "Propaganda, Propaganda") admits to falsifying facts and figures.
I hate skiing.
26.01.2005
Oh man... When it rains it pours. Remember the birthday party fiasco? If you don't, read up on it in the previous post, if you do then read on, for it continues.
I was feeling a bit ill in the ole' bowels yesterday (yeah, I'm sorry I keep mentioning it on my blog, but hey, that's my life), and couldn't really get any sleep. When I finally decide to turn on the computer and just surf myself to sleep, my phone rings... "Dad's girl" is calling. At something like 2am. I don't know why I answered. I mean, I knew that nothing good will come out of it. And whaddaya know, there she is, in tears, on the other end of the 'line', begging for refuge cos' good old psycho daddy's gone all bonkers on her. What could I do? I've already picked up the phone... I agreed, and made her a place to sleep on the couch... As you can imagine, after all the activity in the night, I didn't go to work.
Oh, and her stuff she gathered with her as she fled father's house is still here, "just in case". I'm pretty sure that the whole mess is just going to get messier.
On the other hand I didn't go to work today, and got to sleep in. Plus, I had a nice lunch at Stockmanns (they had a big Lego show upstairs), and got myself one of those expensive harbor books for the summer. All in all not a bad day. Except I can't stop worrying about the nightly incident...
But fuck all that. If you're in a somewhat pessimistic mood, like me, then reading Murphy's laws and corollaries might not be the best idea. But it does give things perspective. And this zoom thingy is just cool.
People actually buy up all this stuff.
24.01.2005
Been a while again, huh? Yeah... So let's do what we always do in cases like this: recap.
I must say that the past few days were pretty eventful, more so than is usually the case. Not all of the events were pleasant, unfortunately... But lets start with the pleasant ones, as they were concentrated more or less around Thursday and Friday.
First of all, the snowfall continued unabated. It kept on falling, and falling, and falling like never before during this winter. Soon it smothered the land beneath it, covering its mortal imperfection under a pristine, virginal blanket... Sniff. Of course, the snow brought with it some less romantic things, like a swarm of deadly crashes and rash of broken ankles. I guess that's the way life is, eternal give and take.
So life gave me a nice party to attend on Friday. A friend of mine had a whole host of people over from Tallinn, here to attend a synagogue. I dunno what's the deal with the synagogue, but tis' fun drinking with the jewskis. I'm half Jewish and half cossack (the cossack part regularly stages pogroms in the Jewish bits of my body), so we quickly found some common ground. And drenched it with vodka.
The next day my dad had his 51st birthday party. I was barely affected by all the vodka drinking the day before (but truth be told, I only had a six pack and about 8 shots of vodka), but was still worried that 2 days in a row might not be the healthiest thing ever, so took it slow. There was plenty of food, but I wasn't really hungry as I ate at Strinbergs (lovely tenderloin... Burned until it was charcoal!) while bidding adieu to my cousin who was leaving for Russia after a month's stay with my mother. Where was I? Oh yes, the party... Yes, it started off really nice, everyone joking, toasting... Then, how should I put it, the shit hit the fan. Dad had a noisy disagreement with one of the guests (not entirely dad's fault, I must admit), the guest stormed out, and everyone tried to placate them both out on the stairwell... Dad marched back in, and had a big argument about something with his girlfriend, while the rest of the guests, including me, were still sorting things out on the stairwell. Suddenly, his girlfriend runs out of the door, all in tears, and cries out "He hit me!", utter disbelief and betrayal in her voice... That was the "nicest" bit of the evening right there. Obviously, the party was over. Dad's girl drove everybody to town, and I stayed behind with dad, who by that time was rather drunk. I must say that by that time we've drunk 4 liters of vodka for the six of us, so that makes over half a liter a head. After staying behind with dad I topped it up with a few shots of whiskey. Anyway, dad passed out soon after, and then his girlfriend came home. I don't remember speaking with her very well, and I think I didn't, really, but I remember one sight vividly... Her stooping over the kitchen table with her back to me, shoulders hitched up, and saying in a small voice, "I'm already pregnant"... I don't remember what I said to that, and what could I have said? I think it was then that I made my way home.
Glad I got that out of my head there. Today is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year, btw. Bullshit, I say. But just in case you feel like cheering up somewhat, comics about suicidal bunnies should help. And sweet little catses should do the trick, as well. As for me, well, I think I shall escape into the world of Anarchy Online for a few hours.
Vodka, almost gone...
19.01.2005
Stupid cats... Meh. One of our cats (the white one) is in heat again, dammit. This beautiful, natural event unfortunately coincided with the time I had to wake up at 7 am and go to work. Yeah, you've heard it right. I finally went to work this week...
And just to honor my reborn enthusiasm for part-timel employment, the weather gods decided to make it snow. Wet, clingy snow. With wet, penetrating wind that made standing on the bus stops a real test of endurance. Thankfully i had my mp3 player, and was in a moderately good mood, despite the very few miserable hours of sleep I got that night.
In any case, I did eventually get to work, and got busy almost immediately, doing what I like best: driving around our various clients/customers picking up & dropping off stuff. I hardly noticed 4 hours go by... After that I went off to my "office", a little utility space filled with cannibalized mechanical cadavers, cast off parts of various machinery used in our plastic trade, and obsolete electronic junk that never gets thrown away "because you never know when that 8088 processor might come in handy".
Anyway, my task du jour was to sort out parts sent unsorted and unlabeled by inept Italian contractors. So I basically had to look through a pile of 500+ pieces of metal and compare them to pictures & notes in a gigantic compendium of embosser and printer parts so as to properly identify and compartmentalize them. And you know what? I fucking loved it. First of all I completely transformed my tiny cubbyhole, by turning the horrible fluorescent lights off and turning on a flickering table lamp (the lamp took a few bad falls and never completely recovered from its shock).
Immediately, the shadows deepened, and the place took on a mysterious air of an alchemist's study, with arcane artifacts gathering dust on the shelves and tomes of secret knowledge piled haphazardly in its shadowy corners. For a few fleeting moments I was that wizened old Alchemist, myopically poring over some long forgotten treatise on mechanics, written by scholars long since gone, occasionally adjusting my spectacles to look up at an intricate contrivance of cogs, springs and levers set in a pool of flickering yellow light on a paper-covered desk in front of me...
Yeah. I think this is as good a time as any to finish writing. I will leave you with a couple of parting gifts, a gallery of wonderful photographs from the Swedish archipelago, and some moody underground (literally) photography from Japan, the G-Cans Project.
Life in the fast lane.
18.01.2005
Nothing special to report, really. Except the fact that I have not yet been to work so far this week. That I blame on my little "empirical study" outlined in the previous post, the infamous (in our household) study on what caused my diarrhea last weekend. I found the cause alright. Those damned "Dietorelle" sugar-free candies. They even have a writing on the bag saying "Can have a laxative effect if consumed in large quantities". Well what's the fuckin point in itsy-bitsy sugar-free candy if you don't eat 20 of them in one go? Like I did... And paid the price. The second time I ate just a little bit, around 5 of them, just to see if they cause any dysfunction in my bowels. Oh boy, didn't they just! Apparently the manufacturer of dietorelle considers "5 and over" a large quantity. Obviously, work was fucked, as I only got to sleep around 7am, with the rest of the night consisting of running to the toilet and exhibiting inhumane sphincter control. Never again!
And the next day I didn't have any work, they just didn't have anything for me to do. So I ended up spending the day, well, pretty much online, except for an excursion to a local mall for food and stuff. The shops are still in a frenzy of sales (hence the picture of the day, "Ale" being a short form of "Alennus, or "Sale", in Finnish), and many actually have some pretty good deals displayed on some of the products. For a while I felt almost sad that I couldn't afford most of the stuff on sale, but then realized that I didn't need any of it.
Now we're about to watch "Secret Window", featuring wonderfully gorgeous Mr. Depp, so I shall bid y'all adieu, dump a few linkses, and be off.
Yes, the links. Finally, a plane that even I might fly on (in a sense that it's big and might thus dampen my fear of flying) has been unveiled, Airbus A380. Here's a few pics, too. Can't wait to see that double-decked baby live. And talking about aerophobia, did you ever wonder what are the odds of getting killed in, say, a car crash? And speaking of car crashes...
Sale, Sale, Sale!!!
16.01.2005
Oh man, what a lazy weekend it has been. Which, I guess, doesn't really make it all that different from most of the other weekends I've spent at home lately. I am even looking forward to going to work tomorrow. And that's pretty damn whack.
So let's recap. I had a nice dinner at Parilla Espanola on Friday (apparently it's been at eerikinkatu 4 since 1973, and I've never noticed it before), a great beefsteak with taters, the meat grilled crispy black. Just the way I like it. And all through our celebratory lunch (it was my mom's birthday lunch) a great severed bullhead (see picture of the day) watched us eat with reproach. I bet it was it's rump that we were eating... The poor thing looked so confused and in pain.
We had a good time, all in all, none of that awkward silence that often plagues "officialesque" gatherings. The dessert was a bit over the top, of course. It was kinda hard to get home after that, and I would have preferred to sleep at the restaurant. Why don't they have little cozy bunks at restaurants anyway..? I'd pay extra for that!
The next day, Saturday, I spent almost entirely online. I know, I know... Lame. Saturday night, online... When I should have been out there, partying and drinking myself senseless. At least my AO character gained a few levels, and I helped a friend level up along with me.
What made the whole gaming session a trifle uncomfortable was the sudden onset of killer diarrhea. Almost out of the blue, I found myself pissing liquid shit out of my arsehole. So my gaming was interrupted every 30 minutes or so, as I had to scramble for the toilet. So today I decided to undertake an empirical test, and ate all the same stuff I ate prior to getting diarrhea yesterday and found out that the stuff that gave the running shits was... Sugar free Dietorelle candy! Yes! I guess it must have been the sugar-free sweetening stuff they use, sorbitol, that is also known to have a laxative-like effect in any large quantities. That little experiment gave me the runs again. Sigh. What wouldn't one do in the name of science?
And speaking of science, astronomers identified the three biggest stars known to science. I guess I should balance that with something silly... Got it! You now get to command the Subservient Chicken. It does anything you want it to! And let's cap it all off with a cool eagle cam. Yes, they screwed a camera onto an eagle's skull. Neat, huh?
You're not appetizing. At all. Quit staring at me, dammit!
14.01.2005
Good morning! It is without any twisting of words that I can say that. A truly great morning, with just a tinge of hangover, not too much but still satisfyingly there, to remind you that you had fun yesterday.
Ah, but the day started in it's usual way. I was a bit late for work, since could not drag ass off bed as the alarm clock went off. I lay partial blame on girlfriend. The blasted thing kept poking me awake through the night. I was, apparently, snoring. Horribly. I'm afraid I'm getting that talent from my father, who can render anybody deaf with his thundering snore. So yeah, I kept waking up, and that's why I think I didn't get enough sleep. But no matter.
There was precious little to do at work, just fun stuff mainly, like assembling some dumb-ass "CPU Holders", and translating various documents from Russian to Finnish. And then I got an interesting errand to run. I was supposed to deliver an urgent letter to one of the wagon-masters on a St.Petersburg-Helsinki train, "Repin". It is often the quickest and cheapest way to get mail from Helsinki to St.Pete, and is employed by many people I know. Well, I jumped aboard the train, found the guy and asked him to get the letter to St.Pete's. He agreed, after I bribed him with 5 Eur, and demanded to see the contents of the envelope... The envelope contained a hologram sample, a strip about 8cm long and 2 wide, and looked really high-tech. The wagon-master was rather perplexed, and the whole scene started to take on a weird air of clandestine operations. He then looks at me like I'm engaging in industrial espionage or something. "What's this?" I start to explain that it's a hologram sample for our customer, etc, but he just waves his hands in the air and says "I don't need to know, I don't need to know" after what he reverently placed the hologram back in it's envelope. Assuring me that the delivery will be made "With utmost speed and reliability", he ushers me out of the wagon. Well, that was fun. Surreal, but fun, to use the words of Hugh Grant from "Notting Hill".
Afterwards it was time to rush home, as we were going to have a movie night, with some old friends. We ended up watching "21 Grams" (I liked it, but it's one of those movies you should see more than once, and have to actually watch it). I must admit I kinda broke the no-sugar diet... Anyway, we had a few drinks, and a few laughs, and went off to "Factory" , where a band our guests knew was playing. Factory is a grungy sorta place with amateur bands, not the kind of place I regularly favor, but it was fun. The first time I went there in years. After that (the band was not spectacular, not by a long shot, but okay) we went off to town, but most of the places were already closing, and we were forced to go to Sports Academy for a last few drinks. We then took a very expensive taxi home.
So the day was a success overall. And today doesn't look too shabby either, although I didn't go to work. Or is it because I didn't go to work? And later on we are invited to a nice dinner at a so-far undisclosed location, in honor of my mom's birthday. Mmm... I love eating at restaurants. Especially for free!
Oh yes, and now some news... Here is something to be happy about, even now the Huygens probe is descending into Titan's atmosphere! Let's hope it's not a dud and sends back a ton of valuable info and pictures on this Saturn's mysterious moon. And here is something to be sad about. A huge attack on a Gaza border crossing kills 6 Israeli civilians, wounds 3 soldiers. Although, of course, many thousands are actually celebrating the attacks, just like they did on 9/11. Draw your own conclusions. Abbas will now have to show his real colors, he can't have it both ways, like he did prior to the elections. Patting the militants on the head and praising "martyrs" with one hand and showing peace signs to Israel with the other is a great way to get votes from your average Palestinian and drooling adoration from the west, but now that shit has hit the fan, our "moderate" (i.e. rather than run Israel into the sea he will "walk" them into the sea) holocaust denier will have to do something, and fast. My prediction? He is almost certainly doomed to fail, since the true power amongst the Palestinians is commanded by the likes of Hamas and Al-aqsa martyrs brigade (those two are best described as "The Psychotic Deathcult").
The "spy train"!
12.01.2005
Yawn. What a bore. What a goddamn bore.Yet the day started off alright, at least it was ok by the time I got to work (after taking a wrong bus and walking for a mile first)... I had to finish the destruction of classified material. Since the shredder we used for the task was a piece of Chinese shit, it kept overheating and switching off. And took as much as 30min to regain consciousness. Well, I spent that down time well. During those intervals I turned off the lights in my cubbyhole and slept, reclining precariously in a flimsy office chair, my legs propped up against a shelf. I barely noticed the time go by, and only completely came round at 13:00... However, I did manage to finish my task. I definitely deserve a labor medal. I'm fairly certain that both my grand-grandparents had those... Shit, they had tons. Including the ones for The War...
Then it was finally time to go home. I was at a loss as to what to do, so had a couple of pints with a mate, along with a few games pool. Nice, certainly, but then what? I was, and still am, at an utter loss as to what to do with my remaining time. I think I'll just... I dunno. Maybe... No, not that. Maybe I'll just play some computer game..? Or read some web comics? Damn, still not quite what I want. It's a most depressing and infuriating feeling, not knowing what you want.
Oh, by the way, since I have been ranting extensively about storms lately, did you know that there is another storm coming towards Finland and Scandinavia in general? Jeez, wtf? There are still 90,000 people without electricity in Sweden. It won't be a big one by the time it reaches Finland, however. Well, we'll see... At least they say that the storms might prove beneficial to water quality & oxygen saturation in the gulf of Finland.
Link time then... Here, as if to mock my failing dietary efforts (oh dear god, how I crave them sweets and candies...), are the 10 Steps to Winter Weight Loss. And everyone should of course know how to have sex on a motorcycle. And to build a flying aircraft out of beer cans. Or mostly out of beer cans...
"Wake me up when work day's over"... Very apt.
11.01.2005
Oh boy. What an utterly shitty day at work did I have today. Or, rather, the first few hours. My head was pounding from work rage, I'd rather have nailed my balls to the mast of a sinking ship than be at work. However, after a few bitter fights with various bosses, I found my inner peace once again, and sat listening to my mp3 player and reading "Robinson Crusoe" on my Palm Pilot while destroying surplus classified material (Not to spite the management, heh, but by order. We handle many sensitive commissions for various companies, for instance airlines, that depend on absolute security and confidentiality) by shredding, burning and mangling. Ah, the bliss. To be all by yourself, in a little room with no windows, filled with all sorts of weird parts that were once, presumably, living & breathing insides of computers, printers and embossers... Surrounded by these mechanical cadavers I then merrily toiled away, entertained by my own electronic gizmos, until it was finally time to go.
Anyway, my mother has her birthday tomorrow, and I only found out about it today. And that almost by accident, too. I was trying to remember the exact date (thinking it was on the 19th) and then sneaked a peek at her passport. To my rather uncomfortable surprise, it turned out to be tomorrow! At least I found out a day before and not after. That would have taken away all of my accumulated brownie points.
So I ran off to town, in order to procure some sort of a present. I scoured a few shops, and in no time came up with a nice bracelet for around 60 Eur, that I then proceeded to nick. To that I added two assortments of chocolate and a nice box for the bracelet. I think I'm set, eh? Yeah... Anyway, didn't manage to do any Anarchy Online yesterday, so should try to today. But before I go... Yes, tis' link time.
One more site with all Playboy Playmates from '58 to '04. Yawn. Oh, then a spiffy little animation on procrastination. After all that has been watched, do take an online personality disorder test. My results were surprising, in a way. I'm apparently borderline, while I am almost certain I'm not. My girlfriend holds that title in our house.
Glass. Whole lotta glass.
10.01.2005
The "storm to end all storms" that went on over the weekend proved to be somewhat of a dud... That is, in Finland. Other Scandinavian countries got to feel it's wrath, with 7 people killed in Sweden and 4 in Denmark. Here, though, the wind speeds (and I'm talking about Helsinki) were not much higher than 20 m/s. We did have 8m waves in the northern Baltic sea, according to fimr.fi. However, even though this storm failed to surpass the storm dubbed "Storm Of The Year" a few weeks ago in it's ferocity, it did cause some quite massive flooding. The sea water levels were in their highest readings since sea level monitoring originally started in 1922, a whopping 146cm above normal sea level in Helsinki!
Having heard of that, I went on the prowl (after dropping girly off to work) to see any damage caused by the floods. By the time I went to town (15:00) the water has subsided somewhat, but the coastline was still flooded in places. I think the massive traffic congestion at kauppatori (central market right on the harbor shore) had something to do with it. I did, eventually, stumble on a particularly badly flooded piece of coast, as is seen on the picture of the day. And yes, that is indeed a monitor bobbing in the water. How it got there I do not know, neither do I know how it managed to stay afloat...
Other than that, nothing to report. I'm terminally bored. I think I'll go and play Anarchy Online after I'm done with this. So, in the mean time, why don't you watch some open-dir porn? If that didn't help, then perhaps you should try naked yoga... And watch this awesome Playstation commercial... That's it. Yawn.
The aftermath of the flood.
08.01.2005
I've been keeping a bit of a break from the blog. First of all, I don't want it to become an all-consuming endeavor, and besides, I've been feeling a bit lazy. Although I did add a new game to the files section...
Life has been rolling on well-oiled tracks for the past five days. In fact, life has been good so far. For no particular reason, really. Its just that, now that I look back in time, I've always enjoyed the year's beginning. It's a lovely fresh sensation, the year seems so full of possibilities, and you feel... Younger. Yes, I am fully aware that it sounds rather preposterous when uttered by me, a young man of 24, but there it is. Aww bollocks. Now I feel all maudlin and nostalgic.
But away all that from me. This year will be good, things will start happening... And the summer! Ah, what a summer I'm going to have! Well, enough about that, I wouldn't want to jinx it. However, in order for my plans to come to fruition, I must work. And lately, I have been somewhat enjoying work again (well, hard not to. First time I've been to work in weeks). Even despite the hour-long epic public transportation journeys. I've been doing "manly stuff" at the office, lugging things around, building things... And I found I enjoy doing them more than the usual office chores. Well, I expect that novelty factor will wear off eventually.
Not all has been work, however. I've had some fun as well, including getting sloshed on Wednesday (what is it with Wednesdays?) and walking home all the way from Itäkeskus with a friend. More civilized exploits included getting to watch the extended edition of "LOTR: Return of the King". It's well worth a look... Or three.
Today's picture of the day is of my favorite store, the Academic Bookstore... I've been looking at some pilot books (basically lists, maps and detailed reviews of guest harbors) in case my summer boating plans work out. Well, they are horrendously expensive. A mess of poorly printed pages in a bloody ring binder, with shitty photos, and an inadequate list of harbors, going for Eur 73,90! I think I'll pay a little five-finger visit to the section a bit later...
Anyway, I think I've had enough of this blogging break. Will update more or less frequently now. Now it's time to linkdump and go watch the mean wave height escalate on the Baltic. They promised a friggin gale of 30 m/s for today, worse than the so-called "Storm of the year" I wrote about earlier. According to the YLE News, the average wave height was only 4,2 meters when "Estonia" sunk, and the average wave height promised for this night is around 9 meters. Wonder if the sea claims any victims this night..?
Oh yes, here's the stuff that's caught my eye on the net lately... Some interesting "Lord of the Rings" trivia on IMDB. And completely unrelated, a great gallery by this open boat sailor from NZ. Awesome pics. I guess keeping it simple does pay off. Oh, and to round things off, the Bad Science Awards for 2004. Oh, and here's a little something that summs up my thoughts on Mahmoud Abbas. Toodle pip.
The bookstore.
03.01.2005
First post of the year, eh? For me, it still hasn't sunk in that this is it, it's 2005. If it will be like every year before this one, I will keep confusing the year on legal papers until March, at least. The year started off okay, I suppose. I'm just horribly tired and sleepy, for no apparent reason. And I've also been having trouble keeping my New Year Resolutions... Like loosing weight. Ever since I stopped smoking it seems I've developed a permanently unquenchable appetite. I mean, it's not like I won't be able to see my dick by the Summer the way I'm going, but I won't be cutting a sexy figure on the beach either, that's for sure...
Oh, and my Godparents came over from the States, I haven't seen them for about 16 years... And they were only here for 2 days. Was supposed to go on a cruise (the usual Helsinki - Stockholm affair) with them and my mother, but girlie couldn't make it (work, work, work), and the weather was dismal, with 40+ knot winds and horizontal snow, so I though that I would rather stay at home instead of puking my guts out on a cruise ship. Yeah... I even took a pic of the ship from a nearby jetty, but got snow in my lens, blurring the image... Otherwise it'd be pretty cool. For sure.
So instead of enjoying a cruise in a drunken haze and trying to score with horny teens in the disco, I went home. And link hopped! Yeah, just followed random links from blog to blog, in an attempt to see where it'll all end up. Here's an example: Coolio's Babelog (delish flesh) to Blogs 4 God (Pious flesh..?) in 12 easy hops... With pearls (and garbage) like Joker's Linkdump, Factum and Daily Intake in between. You should try it, it's sorta fun. You'd be amazed by how quickly you can reach porn sites from sites totally unrelated to porn. Such is the power of "Teh Interweb".
Other than that, I've been looking up some 2004 related stuff... And here's what I found. Top 20 nude scenes of 2004. Disappointing, except for lovely Clare Danes. Yum... Oh, and "A 100 things we didn't know this time last year". Yeah... I am especially glad that we now know that more than one billion birds crash into buildings in the US every year. And for a concise overview of the year 2004, look no further.
Ah well. The year behind is dead and buried. What calamities await us this year, I wonder? The Tsunami (link goes to a graphic images. Viewer discretion advisable) death toll reached around 160,000 already... And Dr. Abu Ziyaad here says that it's a clear warning to return to Islam. People like that make me sick, for fuck's sake. Even the Pope, a rather controversial leader of a rather fundamental religion held a mass for the victims, dead and alive, instead of saying "Jesus woulda saved you, you heathen bastards!". But no. Our dear Doctor thinks that a return to (or, in many cases, the advent of) Sharia would be the best protection against earthquakes. Ah well. I wonder how many more millennia it will take for the world to abandon religion for good? Sure, what we have in the west in form of "Liberalized Christianity" is all fine and peachy, but we must remember that 60% of the world still operates under a rather different set of instructions...
Dramatic weather, crappy picture.
