Notes from a bemused canuck
I had a bit of a chat with one of the women who run the DiNA (one of the on-site cafes on campus). They go through about 15 boxes of teabags in a day. That's just them. Figure the same with Pebbles (the other cafe) and that means that there are roughly 3000 cups of tea sold every single day on campus. Now if you consider that there are maybe 1000 people on campus, that means an average of 3 cups of tea sold for everybody in a day.
This makes me smile for some reason.
There are a few things lawmakers have decided really ought to be handled with the “care and oversight” that only the government can provide: e.g., tax collection, radioactive materials, biohazards, guns, and CDs. CDs? No, I'm not talking about financial Certificates of Deposit, though that might make more sense. I'm talking about Compact Discs.
New “pawn shop” laws are springing up across the United States that will make selling your used CDs at the local record shop something akin to getting arrested. No, you won't spend any time in jail, but you'll certainly feel like a criminal once the local record shop makes copies of all of your identifying information and even collects your fingerprints. Such is the state of affairs in Florida, which now has the dubious distinction of being so anal about the sale of used music CDs that record shops there are starting to get out of the business of dealing with used content because they don't want to pay a $10,000 bond for the “right” to treat their customers like criminals.
The legislation is supposed to stop the sale of counterfeit and/or stolen music CDs, despite the fact that there has been no proof that this is a particularly pressing problem for record shops in general. Yet John Mitchell, outside counsel for the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, told Billboard that this is part of “some sort of a new trend among states to support second-hand-goods legislation.” And he expects it to grow.
In Florida, Utah, and soon in Rhode Island and Wisconsin, selling your used CDs to the local record joint will be more scrutinized than then getting a driver's license in those states. For retailers in Florida, for instance, there's a “waiting period” statue that prohibits them from selling used CDs that they've acquired until 30 days have passed. Furthermore, the Florida law disallows stores from providing anything but store credit for used CDs. It looks like college students will need to stick to blood plasma donations for beer money.
Why this trend, and why now? It's difficult to say, but to be sure, there is no love lost between retailers who sell used CDs and the music industry. The Federal Trade Commission has scrutinized the music industry for putting unfair pressures on retailers who sell used CDs, following a long battle between the music industry and retailers in the mid 90s. The music industry dislikes used CD sales because they don't get a cut of subsequent sales after the first. Now, via the specter of piracy, new legislation is cropping up that will make it even less desirable to sell second-hand goods. Can laws targeting used DVDs be far behind?
The music industry has never been a big fan of the Doctrine of First Sale, and the rise of digital music sales will only exacerbate the tension between consumers who believe that they “own” what they pay for, and the music industry. As more and more content-oriented goods transition to digital formats that are distributed free of physical formats, this issue is going to get tricky because it will be harder to spot the counterfeits from the authentic products, and consumers will still expect to exercise robust rights with the content that they've paid for with their hard-earned cash.
God Bless The Land Of The Free…
Source: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070507-record-shops-used-cds-ihre-papieren-bitte.html
A cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father will let you live forever if you pretend to eat his flesh, drink his blood, and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that he put there a long time ago as punishment for all humanity because a rib-woman made from a dust-man was convinced by a talking snake to eat fruit from a magical tree.
I am so going to hell for finding this hilarious :)
We went to Southwold this weekend for a day trip to the seaside. It was a lovely day.
It started in Saffron Walden, where we went to pick up some food and a parcel from the post office. Katy got nibbled on by a duck, which we took to be a good omen for the day to come.
The weather was lovely, and the tourist route we were on to to take us to the seaside was a perfect windy, meandering road (if a bit narrow – we almost had the side of the car taken off by a very wide tractor going rather fast. So wide we were actually relieved that the vehicle behind it was a LGV…) We stopped at a little teapot pottery along the way but didn't buy anything.
Southwold is really, really lovely. It's what I expected a seaside town to be like (not the crass and tacky version I'd seen in Yarmouth). We walked along the beach and stopped here and there to collect nice looking pebbles. I officially love the sound of the ocean. It was sooo relaxing, especially since the beach was mostly empty (except for a few lads drinking beer and people walking their dogs). One thing that shocked me though, which I've only found out today. Those dinky little seaside shacks that have no utilities and look a bit tacky and decrepit sell for about 20K – and you don't own the land they're on – you still need to apply for a license from the council.
Southwold is home to the Adnams brewery. We wanted to go have a visit but apparently they stopped doing those years ago. We did walk next to one of the fermenting room buildings and the smell of the hops coming out of the ventination ducts was beautiful :) We had a quick pint at a local pub then went shopping at the Adnams wine and kitchen shop. I could have spent waaaay too much money, but we were reasonable and only spent about £20. I did succomb to temptation though and bought stout beer-cured bacon. I mean, beer and bacon. Hmmm, bacon. It's nature's perfect food.
We walked around the high street for a bit and then headed home. On the way back, we stopped at Shawsgate Vineyard in Framlingham. The wines are not bad at all, but in our heart of hearts, it doesn't compare to Chillford (but then again, nothing probably will). Their Baccus dry white is nice (we had it with a baked camembert last night for dinner – LOVELY!) and their medium-sweet Harlequin will make a nice dessert wine.
Sunday was a bit of a weird day. I'd planned to go to the Cambridge Gliding Center open day as they'd announced cheap trial flights. Unfortunately, my headache came back with a vengeance and submitting myself to G-forces would not have been the best thing to do. Instead, we went to Tesco for a shop and then went to the garden center to pick up some herbs for our new herb garden. I planted most of those. I did! Yes, me! Those of you who know me well know that I'm not the most outdoors-y type, but Katy and I spent a good hour outside with our hards dirty. We now have two types of sage, two types of oregano, coriander, chives and lemon thyme. They smell really, really nice :)
Finally, I leave you with more pictures;
Tolstoy: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/tolstoy/30_04_2007/
Southwold: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/southwold_apr_2007/
I've been reading the news again. Really, I shouldn't. Hypocrisy abounds. Most of the news is SCANDAL!!! and gossip from the latest reality-tv-show-that-is-not-scripted-we-swear!!! People are spoon fed claptrap on body image and celebrity schtick. In the meantime, news about the fact that the biggest world economy on the verge of collapse and that big brother is watching you more and more (and you're letting him, cause you're too distracted by shiny pretty things and fake boobs on TV). The “most powerful” country in the “free world” is led by a moron who more than 2/3 of his countrymen think he's doing a crap job (at the time of writing this, Dubya has a 28% approval rating).
You have to give it to Bush though. Everybody knew that politics was dirty and that backscratching was commonplace. He had the chutzpah to actually do it to such an extent that it's right in the faces of the masses. The amazing thing though? He managed to blow smoke so far up their asses that they were distracted enough with other things. The tail truly did wag the dog.
What's the point of this entry? There is none, really. I read about how a U.S. customs agent barred a prominent canadian psychotherapist because he published scientific work on LSD in the 60s and this “admitted drug abuse” was enough to bar him foverer from entering the land of the free. He can appeal to the US embassy and “that for $3,500 (U.S.) plus incidentals, he'd have a 90 per cent chance to get an entry waiver, but it would probably be just for a year, and the procedure would have to be initiated again, any time he wished to cross the border. Each time, he would have to produce a statement saying that he had been 'rehabilitated.'”
This is insane. The US is going to implode under the weight of all its stupidity and two-facedness. It's puritanism gone to the extreme. It's ok to show solders being shot to hell and bombs exploding Marines to little bits of gooey shapnel on prime time TV, but God(!) forbid you see even the hint of a boob. You have freedom of religion to believe in God in any way you want (be it baptist, catholic or even protestant). You can get a complimentary shotgun when you open a bank account (but please refrain from bringing it to school, that's bad taste).
I don't know why I'm so pissed off about everything today. I think it's because the US is going to hell, and it'll drag everybody down with it. CIvil liberties are being eroded away in the name of “safety”. Britain is a prime example of this. Heath & Safety are going completely nuts. It seems that there is no sane middle ground. Everything is hazardous to your health. Warning labels abound (my favourite still being a “may contain traces of nuts” on a block of pure porc lard I bought from Tesco). The UK is following the US's lead and turning into a Nanny State and this is not a good thing in my opinion. It seems that personal responsibility is giving up and burying its head in the sand. Drinking 10 liters of coke a day made me fat so I'm suing Coca Cola because they didn't warn me about the health hazards.
I give up.
Go home, Turn on, tune in, drop out.
A Dutch escort agency Society Service has set up a special service for geek virgins looking for that elusive first sexual encounter. Sociology student Zoe Vialet set up the agency last year, Ananova reports, and admits she's had “a lot of demand from virgins” – most of them from the IT sector. She explained to De Telegraaf: “They are very sweet but are afraid of seeking contact with other people. They mean it very well but are very scared.”
Zoe has a crack team of five girls “specially trained” to pop geeks' cherries. However, those readers tempted to avail themselves of their charms are warned it's not just a case of stump up the cash, insert your floppy in the drive, eject and then off for a pizza.
Au contraire, you'll be expected to hone your skills over a extended period, as Vialet insisted: “Every booking lasts three hours minimum. Longer is possible, shorter not. We take the time to take a bath together, do a massage and explore each others body. When the date is over, you will have had a fantastic experience, and you will be able to pleasure a woman.”
And just in case you thought you might just try and get a real squeeze for a bit of mutual body-exploration, think again. Vialet warned: “You better practise before having a girlfriend. Woman expect men older than 30 having had some experience. Some men need a little bit of help. But it makes them happy and they are glowing .There is nothing more terrible than dying as a virgin.”
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/20/geek_service/
I could play the piano, or bass, or guitar, or violin.
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Ingredients
* 2 lb. stewing beef
* 4 onions, white or yellow
* 3 Tbsp. sweet paprika
* 2 bay leaves
* 1 L. water
* 4 peeled and diced potatoes
salt & pepper
Cut beef into 1 inch squares, add 1/2 tsp. salt. Chop onions and brown in olive oil, add beef and paprika. Let beef simmer in its own juice along with salt, paprika, bay leaf and 1/2 liter of water for 2 hr. on low heat. Add more water as required during simmering period. Add diced potatoes and remaining salt. Cover and simmer until potatoes are done and meat is tender.
Preparation time less than 30 mins
Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
150g chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids)
4 free-range eggs
75g caster sugar
50g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tbsp cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
mascarpone, to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/365F/Gas 4.
2. Place the butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, and allow the chocolate and butter to melt.
3. Once the chocolate and butter have melted, stir to combine, then set aside and allow to cool.
4. Place the eggs and sugar into a clean bowl and whisk for 4-5 minutes, or until pale and light (more than doubled vlume and holds soft peaks).
5. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture and gently fold together, taking care to maintain volume in the eggs.
6. Add the flour and cocoa powder and fold in.
7. Grease and flour four ramekins or dariole moulds.
8. Divide the chocolate mixture among the ramekins. Place onto a baking tray and transfer to the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes, or until set, but still with some wobble in the centre.
9. Loosen the puddings and very carefully turn each out onto plates.
10. Dust the puddings with cocoa powder and serve with a dollop of mascarpone on top.
