Current Windows desktop

I give it some water every day.

Yes I still run a Windows machine & I have proof! I haven't made the move to Vista though, I don't see it as a necessary thing for the moment.

Current Mac desktop

Roar!

I'm not really in a dark mood but I like a nice dark background every now & then, it's easier on the eyes for me. Anyways click on the image for more information (yes, you too can have the same wallpaper!). ;-)

Clichés are thicker than blood

Today at work we had the opportunity to donate some blood to the Red Cross & I didn't hesitate for a second. Having never donated before I was asked to fill a form giving information about myself, my current health status, whereabouts & the places I've been to recently.

My first hesitation came when I was about to fill in the place of birth. I wondered how the doctor would react when seeing one of the famous 4H, in this case Haïti. You're also asked which tropical country you've visited in the recent months & of course I've been back to Haïti last year around the same time so there would really be no way to avoid the subject with the clearance test doctor once I was done with the form.

The "interview" went quickly & we spent most of the time talking about my recent visit to the dentist. Oddly enough she asked me to enumerate the tropical countries I had been to, the same ones I had written down in the form. I'm still not sure why, maybe she thought I had written down Haïti as a joke. Nevertheless I recited them & she didn't show the slightest reaction when I mentioned Haïti. She just asked if I had ever done the Malaria to which I replied no & then I was off to bleed.

I wondered if she was trained to avoid the subject or if it was just me having all these thoughts in mind for nothing. Maybe I should work on putting all those clichés behind rather than getting ready to jump at someone's throat for mistakingly bringing them up.

PS. the needle was huge! But I survived & now I can't feel my arm...

A scarf & a bikini

There's also a volcano eruption scheduled for two weeks from now.

This month of April certainly had a few common points with a roller coaster as far as the weather goes. Certain days were cold in the morning yet had you sweating in the afternoon under the sun. But even in those sunny afternoons, the temperatures were still between 10 & 20°C (closer to 10 though) but it seems that starting Sunday, things will really start to get warm.

Maybe I should start ironing my Hawaiian shirt...

Portishead is back!

It shall be mine!

It's been a while since the last Portishead album & now the their Third album has been put on sale on their official website. Of course there was a super nice collector's edition & I couldn't let it pass. I'm all excited as this is the first time I've ponied up for a collector's edition, I hope I won't be disappointed but the 1GB Portishead USB key alone makes me believe I won't be (I'm so geeky, it's ridiculous). Now I just need to find a portable vinyl player. :-P

In the meantime here's an old video for your viewing & listening pleasure:

Kick ass!

Getting a clue isn't the most common thing in the world, even more so when it involves the Internet. When creators of a cartoon show that I show do indeed get a clue, I believe there's matter for a celebration. South Park Studios is now open & offers every single archived episode of the show directly available for viewing. The new ones also get added but I'm not sure how long after being aired on television. What's the catch ? Well there are 3 ads of about 10/15 seconds in each episode but I see worse every day.

In the words of the great Cartman: "Screw you guys, I'm going home!"

Globalization farts in your general direction

Of course multinationals certainly won't admit it that way, but in practice that's what they do. With the Dollar & the Euro drifting further apart, the price discrepancies between the prices on both sides of the Atlantic is really moving into the domain of the ridiculous. I'm amazed major news outlets haven't written about it but now lemonde.fr has done so:

Le consommateur français profite très peu de la baisse du dollar face à l'euro
LE MONDE | 20.03.08

©

One part I really liked was the example of Adobe, selling their Creative Suite for $1200 (~€800) in the US but the price almost quadruples to €2500 (~$3925) in Europe. I've checked with the article's author & apparently the Adobe representative didn't laugh while justifying the price difference (I could've sworn...). I'm sure it's all because Eastern European translators ask for more than 50 cents an hours since last year. :-P

Environmental terrorists

The environmental subject is often in the headlines probably because it's the new fear inducing subject in the news. I believe that it's important subject because of certain affinities I have with the subject but I can't help but think that it's being used by the news outlets as a fad.

None the less it has probably given some people ideas like a group of former employees from Lenoir-et-Mernier. They decided that to get what they wanted they should hold a river for hostage, in this case the Meuse river in Belgium. Instead of attacking the material assets of the CEO responsible of the closure (or so the story says), they believe it to be a safer bet to screw around with nature instead, threatening to dump some acid in the river.

What's next ? Forests on fire because of raised taxes ? Freaking geniuses.

Article links: Google News