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Just a reminder, if you want to drop by for the Superbowl Party:

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Word.

I want to draw your attention to the latest addition to the blogroll:

Blogger Rabbit

Named after the famed Roger Rabbit, of the book “Who Censored Roger Rabbit” on which the similarly titled movie was made, Blogger has the sense of humor and the political sensibilities to give this guy a big thumbs up. So go check him out.

And while you’re at it, if you’re familiar with the movie but unfamiliar with the book on which it was based, you may find this summary interesting.

should NOT dress up like Michael Jackson.

See the whole site here.

You’ve probably heard about Taiwan’s exploding whale by now. I hadn’t seen pictures until a friend sent me this:

A dead sperm whale has exploded while being delivered to a research centre near the southwestern city of Tainan.
Passers-by and cars were soaked in blood and body parts were sprayed over a road after the bursting of the whale, which was being carried on a trailer.

The whale had died earlier on a beach and had been collected so its remains could be used for educational purposes.

A marine biologist blamed the explosion on pressure from gases building up in the mammal as it began to decompose.

The whale attracted a lot of onlookers both before and after it exploded.

I can just see it now, a Taiwanese Officer Clancy saying, “Move arong peopre, noting to see hewe…” (bad attempt at typing a Chinese accent).

Read the article here.

Uhh, I’m a PC guy, but I have immense respect for Apple and what they’ve been doing lately. And if I received a G5 for Christmas, I’d gladly accept the gift and endeavor to be more of an Apple/Unix guy.

Not this moron.

If you’re a real Apple fanatic this site might be too upsetting for you. Basically, this kid gets a loaded Apple G5 from his parents for Christmas. But he really wanted a Dell, and doesn’t have the heart to tell his parents to return the machine. So what does he do?

Rips out the guts of the G5 and installs an Athlon.

The site even includes pictures of the operation. As I said, not for the faint of heart. Even as a PC guy, I had trouble taking it. What a moron.

UPDATE: It turns out it was a prank, or so he claims. Not sure I believe him because that photo of the loaded G5 dual interior looks like it was taken by him. Regardless, I hope he’s telling the truth now. His “confession” is at the same link as before.

They should change their company name to Moronola!

AT&T Wireless and Cingular, a joint venture of SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp., are finally selling Motorola camera phones. But Verizon Wireless still hasn’t.

How come? According to a person familiar with the matter, Verizon Wireless got a model from Motorola — called the V810 — in December and technicians brought it into their testing lab to try it out. They extended the phone’s antenna, looked through the viewfinder, snapped a picture and discovered … the antenna was visible in the picture!

Yeah. I should tell you that they still haven’t released the driver for the v300 phone that I have. Fucking morons. How do you screw up a product launch (two actually) that badly?

Read the article here (subscr. req.).

And so did their stupid rant about Ikea. One guy takes those “Fight Club” types to task:

It’s happened again.

Not for the first time, I was subjected the other day to a heartfelt diatribe on how Ikea has singlehandedly leached all the vitality and vigor out of the world, shoehorned human creativity into an infinity of barcode-anonymous MDF wall units, and spawned endless cyborg armies of khaki-clad, essentially fungible consumervolk.

You read that right: Ikea.

Unlike many nonsensical prejudices, it’s roughly possible to trace the root source of all this hostility, identify a locus classicus of Ikeaphobia: in this case, the vastly-overrated Fight Club. Ever since the film hit American screens, some years ago now, it’s been hip among would-be cynics of a certain cohort to reserve a stream of vituperation for the giant Swedish furnishings chain…

You know what? I’m done with it. If your life is mediocre, I promise you, Ingvar Kamprad didn’t make it that way. You did. And if you’re so desperate for your own soixante-huit moment that you can sit there with a straight face and tell me that you’re being oppressed by flat-packable pine furniture with goofy pseudo-Scandinavian names, I’d advise you to spend a few days working with child slaves in the Sudan, or something.

He’s absolutely right. It reminds me of the Pope being shocked that when Poland was freed from Communism the people there flocked to McDonalds. It’s like, what’s your objection, fast food at reasonable prices? Did you really expect the Poles to hang out and do the rosary all day instead of better themselves? Gimme a break.

Read the entire rant here. Well worth it.

Is Steve Jobs stealing Apple signs from out of business retailers?

Thomas Armes owns Santa Clara-based Elite, the former Mac reseller, and he certainly has a bone to pick with Apple. Armes and four other current and former resellers are suing Apple, accusing it of illegally crippling their businesses.

But the story behind one paragraph in his legal complaint sounds like a fraternity prank gone wrong: Armes accuses Apple of making off with his rainbow-colored Apple signs.

Apple had no comment. The sign dispute began in July, when Elite Computers closed its store across De Anza Boulevard from Apple headquarters. Armes said Apple asked him to take down the Apple-logo signs, which he says were worth about $12,000 — understandable, since the shuttered retailer could cast a pall over Apple’s brand. Armes said that less than two days later, the signs had disappeared.

Quite a mystery. Read about the whole dispute here.

Scientists have created a new type of matter:

Scientists have created a new form of matter saying it could provide a new way to generate electricity.
The fermionic condensate is a cloud of cold potassium atoms forced into a state where they behave strangely.

The new matter is the sixth known form of matter after solids, liquids, gasses, plasma and a Bose-Einstein condensate, created only in 1995.

“What we’ve done is create this new exotic form of matter,” says Deborah Jin of the University of Colorado.

Sounds wicked cool. I’d love to see what types of electricity generating technology comes out of it. But I have to admit, I’d never heard of the Bose-Einstein condensate before. Anyone out there know what it is?

Read the article here.