Category: Web

Nico is our Mauritian homie in Bangkok. I like visiting his blog and pretending I can read French every day for a couple minutes, then invariably loading his page through a site like Babelfish in order to see how much I misunderstood (alas, invariably much more than I understood).
Anyway, the title of this post stems from the Babelfish translation of the term, “coup d’etat.” Go check it out yourself here.
That’s right, blow d’etat! I’m writing the screenplay in my head right now – I’m thinking Austrian accents, chained midgets, and trannie crossdressing ladyboy amputees… “Meesta? Ver are ze royal jew-els?”
This is bound to be a hit.
…………
I think the current strategy of translation-providing machines is to generate nonsensical translations of such entertainment value that we humans forgive them for actually sucking at their real purpose. For instance, I think c’est much fuzzier* is the greatest expression I have ever heard! And a stupid machine thought it up!
*fifth paragraph from the bottom of the page I linked to above, linked again here just in case

Here’s an awesome collection of vintage drug advertisements: LINK

“Please switch off all mobile phones, since they can interfere with the aircraft’s navigation systems. At least, that’s what you’ve always been told. The real reason to switch them off is because they interfere with mobile networks on the ground, but somehow that doesn’t sound quite so good. On most flights a few mobile phones are left on by mistake, so if they were really dangerous we would not allow them on board at all, if you think about it. We will have to come clean about this next year, when we introduce in-flight calling across the Veritas fleet. At that point the prospect of taking a cut of the sky-high calling charges will miraculously cause our safety concerns about mobile phones to evaporate.”

You know what? It would really suck to die on a commercial airliner.
Full article here: Fear of Flying
(thx daisho)

Seriously awesome.
You can find his earlier work on the same site, on this page.

They are retarded:
Korean Air bans in-flight use of Dell, Apple laptop computers over battery problem
Never mind that only certain models were affected, or that many people have already traded in their recalled batteries… That’s a deciding factor when buying tickets, bitches! (and not only because most of your seats don’t have an in-seat power supply system) Tasty in-flight bibimbap aside, KAL is now dead to me.
……………
In other news today, Korean Air (NASDAQ: KAL) is buying out a major Korean notebook PC manufacturer…

There comes a time to take a stand and tell people to fuck off: Wikipedia defies China’s censors
The fact of the matter is that Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are either pussies or sellouts (or most likely, both!) with regard to China, and anyone trying to make it sound like they had no choice is obscuring the issue – there was a definite choice. It was between increased profits or morals, and those companies have made it clear which they place more value on. Well, fuck them – they have made their own beds.

Bravo, Wikipedia!

Oh, Tamade. To think we gave up the thrill of your streets for this retirement commune on Awaji…
Every Osaka lover owes it to him/herself to go visit the police stations around Nishinari/Sumiyoshi. I shit you not, the buildings are barricaded against attack from the outside. The area around the Sumiyoshi police station, especially, is what I imagine Japan looked like right after the war, complete with streets filled with mangy dogs, scary vagrants, and rusty piles of junk. OK, maybe the strays are a bit inauthentic (read: “four-legged protein source,” if they had even lasted that long, or even existed in the first place for that matter) for post-war Japan, but you get the picture.

Does Luc Besson read my blog?
A year ago: Luc Besson is a fucking sellout
Today: Luc Besson says he’s finished with filmmaking
Wow, that worked out pretty well! Luc will stop churning out turds for money, and I’ll stop calling him names! Next up: Lucas. George Lucas.
You will pay for Jar Jar, Georgie! YOU WILL PAY!

Here’s my nomination for Best New USB Peripheral, 2006:

USB Atataka Surippa (warmed slippers)
Other great products I found on that site:

• Vaccum tube Amplifier for iPod
• Spydisk SD/MMC Card Reader
• Morse Code Drive (which has nothing to do with morse code; it seems to be just a keypad enabled security system for USB drives)
• USB Ass-cooling cushion
• Foot pedal-type stealth switch (AKA “boss switch” used to quickly change from a game/pr0n/non work-related screen to a spreadsheet, etc. instantly)

A couple people have asked for Wordtank buying advice the past couple months. Here’s a handy link I just stumbled upon:
Compare Canon Wordtank Models
I’m thinking of picking up this one before I go to Thailand. There are certain instances when I’d take a Wordtank instead of a laptop, especially in situations when I didn’t have a net connection. Sounds like those situations will increase in frequency in Thailand, since I basically have a broadband implant here in J-land.