I’ve Been Tagged: 5 things you did not know about me.

I just realised I was tagged by Dreamlife in March already and didnt even notice… I need to read my friends blogs more.

Anyway… 5 Things you did not know about me…

1) I had my last real good fight back in Standard 5 (7th Grade) and I feel I’m really out of practice and sometimes wish someone would either beat the crap out of me or at least try so that I can feel alive again.

2) I actually enjoy watching Oprah sometimes. (stop laughing)

3) I Love Art movies… I find them so much more interesting than the commercial zone… with exceptions of the totally boring ones, the ones which absolutely no sense at all, those that end when they shouldn’t and ofcourse, the one’s which try to pass off as art but are actually porn.

4) I snore… loud enough for people to wake me up and tell me so. Taz… stop it.

5) I Love empowering people with knowledge. I just recently got my 9 year old sister-in-law her own G-mail account and her own blog. Go Say Hi :)

Since I was tagged in March and didnt follow through I don’t think there’s anyone left to tag.. so if you haven’t been tagged… this is me tagging you :P

Women

Technorati Tags: Women, Texting, New Yorker

Sex and Video Games…

This is a Brilliant Thesis…

Master’s Student Demonstrates Thesis Project in Her Underwear
New York University student, Jennifer Chowdhury has developed for her thesis a new way in which technology can be used for the betterment of mankind :) Her master’s thesis project called Intimate Controllers is not explicitly sexual but you wouldn’t use it with your sibling either.

Intimate Controllers is a set of sensors embedded in underwear that direct the action on a video game. Rather than sit separately on the couch and jam fingers against small plastic buttons, players touch each other to control the game.
For her demo, Chowdhury made a video of herself and a partner playing Pong. He stands behind her with his hands near her shoulders, and she reaches back toward his hips. When he touches her left breast, the paddle moves to the left. The sensor in the right bra cup moves the Pong paddle to the right.

Lighthearted and playful, the invention nevertheless has a serious side. With it, Jennifer acknowledges the seductive nature of video games and the deleterious effect a passion for games can have on relationships. Yet “stop gaming” is hardly a solution.
(It’s like firemen. You can’t fall in love with a fireman and then ask or demand that he stop fighting fires, even if your intentions are good. You can’t fall in love with a gamer and expect him or her to give up gaming to spend more time with you.)
“Anything that gets a couple to spend more time with one another, or to experience each other in a new way, is good for a relationship,” she says. “If a couple plays well together, they will probably do other things well together as well.”

Technorati Tags: Technology, NYU, Sex, Technology, Thesis, Intimate Controllers

Facebook Antithesis: ArseBook

For All those against the Facebook menace… I present… Arsebook

Haha. :P

Technorati Tags: Arsebook, Facebook, Antithesis

Does what happens in the Facebook stay in the Facebook?

This is Scary.

After my previous experience… I think I should just let Facebook Go.

Word.

M.

UPDATE: Facebook has just let slip their secret advertising rate card which they claimed doesn’t exist… Opportunities included are Sponsored Stories, Sponsored Groups, etc.

For your enjoyment, here’s the complete seven-card PowerPoint deck as a photogallery

Tags: facebook privacy advertising corporate

Corporate Noose takes a tug at My Facebook Profile.

Call on Monday Morning…

R: “Hi Muhammad, It’s Renee’… tell me something, are you on facebook?”
M: “Yeah, I am.”
R: “What exactly is your profile picture”
M (confused as to how this is work-related):”Umm…”
R: “Is it a hand grenade?”
M: “Actually, it’s a mic shaped like a hand grenade and its artwork from a band I like. Why?”
R: “Well we have a complaint from a shareholder, he doesn’t think it’s appropriate.”
R: “We have to issue some type of response to him.”
M: “Well tell him I’ll change the profile picture, But Facebook is banned at Unilever anyway, so I’ll have to do it at home.”
R: “Okay, thanks.”

Why did I give in so easily? Facebook is banned at Unilever anyway right? What does a shareholder have against my profile picture on social networking site that has absolutely nothing to do with work, except maybe the “Unilever” network on Facebook.

Well, I just received a couple of lessons in the workplace. Politics, just like family politics, is an absolute bitch if you want to move anywhere, or get anything done. I also just got my second warning for excessive internet Usage (I think the limit is 3 before you get ‘bumped off’). So between a “shareholder” who could probably fuck over my career and changing a profile picture on facebook doesn’t seem like a choice at the moment.

Then again, I should have stood my ground on principle and told him to fuck off. But this isn’t the movies, I got to put food on the table and Rage Against the Machine artwork just wont’ pay for that. The Dillemma sounds too much like something from “Prison Break” though. Unfortunately, I can’t get writer to write me a nice ending, so I can’t take the chance.

So right now, my dillemma is what should I change my profile picture to that will be more subtle, but same sort of message..

hmph. I think it was Immortal Technique who said that when you try and change the system it ends up changing you. This stuff is hitting so close to home.

Eina!!!!

Woman jailed for testicle attack

A woman who ripped off her ex-boyfriend’s testicle with her bare hands has been sent to prison.

Amanda Monti, 24, flew into a rage when Geoffrey Jones, 37, rejected her advances at the end of a house party, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

She pulled off his left testicle and tried to swallow it, before spitting it out. A friend handed it back to Mr Jones saying: “That’s yours.”

Monti admitted wounding and was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Link

Technorati Tags: Balls, Ex-Girlfriend, Ouch

Language as Secret Code

Normally we use language to be forthright and to be understood. Occasionally, however, people use a language code to disguise the meaning of what they’re saying. Language is a code in itself, of course — a formal system of communication shared by its users. But there are also codes within codes, used by people who don’t want to share information with outsiders. Such codes deliberately isolate information from others in ways that regularly understood language would not. Codes are used for many reasons, including security (as in times of war), efficiency (as in occupations), intimacy (as in clubs or social groups), or secrecy (as in the prevention of detection). Code sharing, as the term is currently being used, is fine when used within the group that understands it, but when it causes confusion to those outsiders not in-the-know, it can be irritating and troublesome.

Mark Liberman’s comments on airline code sharing prompted some memories of past criminal cases I’ve worked on, when codes were used to prevent any outsiders who might be listening in from understanding what was being said. In the 1983 case of the grandma mafia, three otherwise respectable looking grandmas in the women’s clothing business carried out an Asian cocaine operation under the guise of selling “blouses” and “skirts,” which turned out to refer to different types and quantities of illegal drugs.

I also thought of a 1988 case in which I was asked by the US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiary, Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, to review the 1981 audio tapes in a case involving then Federal Judge Alcee Hastings. Co-defendant William A. Borders was convicted in that case but Hastings was  not. Nevertheless, the government thought Hastings’ participation in those tapes sounded very suspicious. So they brought impeachment hearings against him. In an earlier post. I described some of my analysis in that case.

Link to Full Post

Technorati Tags: Secret, Code, Language

This Weeks Coolness.

If you’re planning a holiday.. try out St. Lucia on the Kwazulu Natal NorthCoast (that’s in South Africa)… It’s beautiful, calm, serene, lots of animals, lots to do.. I loved it:)

In the Coolness News Today…

MIT students demonstrate wireless power transfer – In an experiment, a team from MIT were able to power a 60W light bulb
from two meters away. Calling their demonstration ‘WiTricity,’ the
researchers believe that a system is possible that could send
electricity to your battery powered devices within a room sized space.

How cool is that! No more huge power cables to carry around for laptops, no more plugging things in.. just stand near a socket and you get yourself charged :P

Scott Adams (The Guy who Draws Dilbert) has got a really cool piece on why he thinks the guy who decided to sell ski masks to insurgents in Iraq is probably the best Entrepreneur, ever!

and finally…
Tetris Fridge Magnets…

also in case you’re interested… “Where did the Swastika come from?”

Technorati Tags: Cool, News, Dilbert, Scott Adams, Tetris, Swastika, MIT, Witricity

Death Around the Corner: A Short Story

My neighbour’s on her deathbed.  It’s a cancer, which has spread to liver.  The doctors say there’s nothing they can do except wait for the inevitable.  She’s been to chemo twice but it severely affected her quality of life and the doctor’s can’t guarantee any results… so her family has decided to take her off it and bring her home.  Where she can be surrounded by love and a familiar place with familiar faces.

I was there last night after noticing the large amount of cars and activity around our 3 Flat simplex.  It was going on all day but I only asked her son-in-law last night what her condition was like.  I regret asking that question so late.  What was I waiting for?  It was so obvious and I was blindsided with my focus only on myself and my life.

I should have been more thoughtful. More aware.  I could have offered so much more help.  Especially with the crowds of guests coming in and out of the house.  It must be a logistical nightmare catering for all those people and staying by her side.  I mean her kids have to go through the pain of watching their mother in this state and cater food and drink, provide seating, etc. ??  It’s just not right if I don’t help.  It’s probably the worst sin to ignore this situation in this context.

So I knocked on their door last night and their son-in-law, Muhammad, told me that she’s taken a turn for the worse.  The room was full of people sitting in prayer on chairs against the walls, cynically, I noticed the array of Islamic headgear.  A weird thing to notice but I must have been subconsciously denying the situation in some way.  As I walked back to my place to call my wife as well, it dawned on me what was happening.  This lady, my neighbour, was the sweetest and most loving woman I had met and I mean this because I have only ever saw her caring for other’s welfare, including my own when I first came to stay here.

As my wife and I walk through to the bedroom from which we can hear the hum of prayer coming through and as we open the door we se ethe room packed with relatives.  My neighbour, the sweet old lady, Zuleikha, is lying on the bed surrounded by her daughters who are in tears.  Her husband, son and the rest of the family sitting against the wall.

Her eyes were closed, almost completely sunken and surrounded by dark rings and ashen skin.  She was deathly thin, her body had refused to take anything in and she was on a drip.  She was lying still and her two daughters, one rubbing her chest and the other holding her hand and keeping her head next to hers.  Her husband holding her hand and talking to her. The only movement I’d seen of her was her lips move ever so slightly to whisper something in her husband’s ear.  All the while the hum of prayer continues around the room and I can’t stop myself from praying as well… for her suffering to ease and for her to attain her ultimate goal.

The sight shakes me to the core and makes me regret even more why I had not acted earlier, and the actions of the last few hours haunt me as well… watching a movie, contemplating watching an episode of Prison Break… in my own little world, oblivious. I can’t say I wasn’t disgusted with myself.

So after while, the room being crowded enough, we leave the bedroom for the lounge to make space for other’s who want to come in.  As I walk into the lounge, I notice that it’s filled mostly with women and this makes me a bit weary… and this lady then tells my wife to tell me that the men are on the balcony.

So I walk to the balcony and there are three guys sitting at the far end, one smoking a cigarette.  As I approached, they each momentarily (a fraction of a second) lift their eyes to notice me but without any acknowledgment not even a slight nod of the head. No greetings, so I stand there uncomfortable and ignored which makes me both embarassed and extremely irritated because my head’s still reeling from what I’ve seen in the room just next to where I’m standing.  Standing there, not disturbing their conversation, which is focused on the very important topic of what exactly constitutes an occasional smoker.  I felt like I was in a scene from Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho. What the hell is wrong with these people?

This really irked me as my head was still spinning from I had witnessed a moment ago and from feeling death so close (in time and space.)

So I just left and headed next door to my place, head still spinning, mouth still moving in prayer. And the last thing I remember before falling asleep was how death can come at any time for some as slow as cancer and others in fractions of a second.  Have I prepared for it? Has my life been lived to achieve my purpose on earth? Was I even close? Am I close?  I could die tomorrow or in the next couple of minutes and not know if my life had made the slightest positive difference to anyone.

I lay my head down and close my eyes.  I see a picture of Aunty Zuleikha again, the same warm smile I had seen countless times… I fall asleep. In the morning I woke to cries coming from next door, She had lasted through the night but didn’t get to see a new day.

Technorati Tags: Death, Short Story

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