tehRant

Sickness FTW!!

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:38:53 -0400

I don't know what happened to me yesterday, but I feel like I was run over by a truck.

Maybe it's the combination of the new job, too much Marmite or just plain exhaustion with the programming project at night. It got so bad that I actually couldn't show up for the day job either. Can't complain that it's the weekend.

Besides all that fun, I finally settled on the soap recipe I can't be sure if the proportions will translate to mass production, but I still need to create small batches before going into larger sizes.

Meanwhile, I did settle on the brand and a few of the labels.

There will be 5-7 types total, I think. In addition to this, I already have the recipes for the Herbal, Plus and Extra blends. Herbal will be exfoliating, moisturizing and all that good stuff. Plus is for extra sensitive skin and Extra is for more dirt removal strength.

The Classic blend is just plain Lye soap. The most basic you can get and nothing fancy. Mint will have Spearmint extracts and Pine will have Pine oil extracts. The logos are pretty reflective of the types. I couldn't decide on an exact symbol to reflect "classic" at first, but finally settled on a square and the Golden Spiral. I think few other symbols would embody "perfection" and "antiquity" as well.

Now I just need to find a place to start making this stuff...

I'm going to make soap

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:46:39 -0400

No seriously...

I've been carefullying thinking of the rammifications of this and how much time, money and effort it will take to get something like this off the ground. And I know it won't be small doses of any of them.

But I'm going to make my stand. Right after I finish my move to a new apartment.

So it's been a year and a day since I posted, but that's the ungodly amount of work I've had to do. I'm not just doing contract work anymore. I just recently got a 9 to 5.

Don't get me wrong, I like being my own boss, but I just can't manage the inconsistency in income. Some months are great, others are terrible with a 1099. I figured, I could manage a W-2 with far less worry.

I'm moving to a bloody hut

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:04:03 -0400

Or rather I will if I can't find a blasted apartment sometime before the second coming of Jesus.

So the neighborhood I was looking just isn't working out. The neighborhood is fine, except there doesn't seem to be any more around in my price range. There was one that I was looking at, but that deal fell through when the bank started floundering on this and that. If I knew it was this hard to buy a house, I would started another job, but oh well...

Meanwhile, I'm still working on my side projects. At a very slow pace, of course, but still working on them. I wanted to release theForum two months ago, but things didn't go according to plan. And I'm working on a Java based web server for internal testing and such which can run PHP.

ABC Family's KILL IT WITH FIRE weekend

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:56:36 -0400

Featuring:

Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde 2
Legally Blondes

Granted, I didn't mind the first one so much, but the "Legally Blondes" almost made me... Well, let's just say sledge hammers and watermellons were involved in that fantasy.

Moving... Again!!

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:31:51 -0400

Well, at least it's toward civilization this time instead of the middle of nowhere. Ironically, it's near my old neighborhood from several years back. I guess that place just can't do without me.

And the fuss will begin probably during or after the weekend. Which means, I can say goodbye to any hope of the peace and quiet and a restful few days I was looking forward to.

But I suppose it's for a good cause.

Oh, sacrifices!

Motel ethnic curiosity

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:34:46 -0400

Something of an amusing observation during the past week or so...

A lot of motels in the northeastern U.S. tend to be run by people from India. The particular one I'm staying in is being run by a gentleman from Gujarat, India.

In fact the whole family is running it together along with another place further south. It's really amazing to see entire family establishments like this. It's a bit of a throwback to businesses run by immigrants from Italy and Ireland in New York at the turn of the century.

Sourceforge email spam?

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:00:46 -0400

What's the deal with the sudden increase in Sourceforge.net spam?

I'm hosting a couple of projects there (actually, I'm looking for another admin to take over one of them) and my xxx@users.sourceforge.net email is getting an unusual amount of junk lately. The thing is that SF is marking them as [SPAM] in the subject line already so I'm guessing they must be aware of the increase as well. I can't imagine I'm the only user with this sudden increase.

Time to check the filters me thinks.

History channel... what?!

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:10:59 -0400

That proves it. History channel has nothing to do with history any more.

I can understand someone wanting to squeeze in UFO hunters (although that's already borderline) since it involves historical accounts of sightings, pilot reports etc... etc... But the latest few forays into the absurd is starting to get quite ridiculous.

First off, there's MonsterQuest, which is basically a list of strange creatures that people have allegedly spotted and their "victims". Mind you, the victims read off like the type you see after a tornado touchdown. All they have are a few footprints, some hair perhaps and of course, copious amounts of CGI. Which look like they were put together by some kid taking graphics classes in university. This series belong on the Sci-Fi channel for crying out loud!

Then there's Ice Road Truckers. A series that has NOTHING to do with history at all! Honestly these guys are trying to match the Discovery channel with their own silly Deadliest Catch series. There's another show that has nothing to do with "discovering" anything other than empty or full crab pots. Ice Road Truckers and Deadliest Catch belong on VS, what used to be the "Outdoor network".

The Alaskan ice road itself has arguable historical significance. After all many towns above the snow line would not exist if it weren't for the steady supplies of equipment that can arrive there. But drivers moaning about reckless oncoming traffic, slippery conditions and mechanical trouble? What in the world does this have to do with "history"?

Between this History Channel nonsense, Discovery Channel's non discovery and Sci-Fi becoming "Sy-Fy" (the dumbest name change in the history of television), I'm hoping for a communal TV executive suicide.

Update

Can't believe I almost forgot the latest and greatest entry into the sublimely ridiculous...
"Pawn Stars"

I kid you not. That's actually actually the title of a new series on the channel. The show is apparently about people running pawn shops and the valuable historical artifacts they come across. While vaguely history related, whoever chose the name should be fired!

Page increment

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:50:08 -0400

I just noticed, for some unknown reason, Thingamablog is incrementing the page numbers quite a bit.

Even though the first entry is at 0, the second one is at 9. The third is 11, 12 and then suddenly the last one was 16. I don't know why it's skipping around this much, but it may have something to do with a beta glitch. Or maybe, it treats each saved draft as a new entry. Either way, just pointing out the numbers skip around quite a bit.

Update

And, it seems, any changes to the templates won't be reflected until I make a change to the pages or add a new entry. Clicking on "republish blog" seems to have no effect in this reguard.

Restarting the religion

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:36:25 -0400

For a brief period (about 3 months) I was the leader of my own religious movement. No seriously...

It was first started in jest and involved critical discussions of why we do follow beliefs even in the face of their contradictions. Why we choose faith over logic etc... It was all in good fun and a bit of an experiment into faith and belief. Well after about the first few weeks, things started to turn sour. It became less about the experiment and fun and more about an actual structure of a religious organization. Something I definitely wanted to avoid. So the whole thing was dropped not long after.

This might be the actual pattern repeated in "true" religions many times over. Except we never see it because of the internal culture of denial.

Well, I decided I'd better dust off the old robes and try it again. This time not just as an experiment in faith, but as a means of furthering a movement toward simplicity, straightforwardness and technological advancement.

I'm even a minister in the Universal Life Church, which has got to account for something.

I called my bizarre blend of Buddhist principles, Christian terminology and Transhumanist goals as "Technological Spirituality". Some of which I've discussed before. I mentioned then that I won't get into the question of what religion I adhere to, so consider this as a preemptive explanation before someone asks again.

I don't know If I'm going to hold sermons or any of the sort, expecially considering how things are a little hectic for me. But we'll see...

Maybe someone will find good use for the output.