Present Perfect

Spotted on the way back from the airport: Mandarine Duck, the new fragrance for men.

God, do I *wish* I were a fly on the wall in that brainstorming meeting.

What kind of guy would want to smell like something named after a dish in a Chinese Restaurant ? Which woman would ever go "God, you smell of ducks and it turns me on" ? (Hint: ducks typically smell like duck poo or pond scum).

Spotted on the way back from the airport: Mandarine Duck, the new fragrance for men. God, do I *wish* I were a fly on the wall in that brainstorming meeting....

Case in point.

Today I could not remember my password on Digg. I asked to change it, and tried to changed it to "my standard passwords for sites I barely trust". Doing that made it clear why I wasn't able to log in with that password to begin with.

Digg requires passwords to be at least 6 characters long but *only*
contain letters or numbers. So my standard password for this kind of sites was not compatible.

Yesterday I had to create a CERN account to be able to do something on the Europython site. So I tried to use the same password.

CERN wants you to use symbols from at least three groups of the following: small letters, capitals, numbers, and other symbols. So again, my standard password for this kind of site doesn't work.

This happens all the time. How hard would it be for a site to let you see what the password policy is so you can mentally browse through your passwords and pick the one that fits their policy ?

Is it just me being cranky, or do other people suffer web pass rage ?

Case in point. Today I could not remember my password on Digg. I asked to change it, and tried to changed it to "my standard passwords for sites I barely...

Tell me this.  How do I tell mugshot to stop telling me what I am doing myself ? There's nothing more annoying than having that stupid notification popup in the way telling me what song I am listening to (which I already know anyway) for umpteen seconds.  I want to tell my computer to do stuff, not have my computer tell me what it's doing.

Tell me this.  How do I tell mugshot to stop telling me what I am doing myself ? There's nothing more annoying than having that stupid notification popup in the...

- So, where were you ? Did you go to Belgium ?

- Belgium ? Why would I go to Belgium ?

- I think the relevant question is, why wouldn't you ?

I have been OD'ing on last year's Christmas present - the Buffy DVD boxset.  The pace has picked up because I got sick as a dog yesterday - so I've now started on Season 3.

My sickness did not prevent me from reaching a landmark milestone on my N800 - getting the time for all Mahjong boards under 3 minutes.  Apparently this is not a big deal - Josep claims his wife does them under 2.  She must be cheating.  Incidentally, Josep recognized my Mahjong addiction purely by looking at the scuffed LCD on my N800 - amusing.

(Warning: poo references ahead)

Incidentally, I have gone from a fever and liquid stool yesterday, over the worst headaches I've ever had all last night, to firm-but-yellow stool today, plus some back aches.  The internet puts me down for only one possible disease: hepatitis ! Luckily it also said "Don't use this as a diagnosis."

My sister is wildly entertained each time I call her for medical advice.  I am happy to have at least some use these days.

- So, where were you ? Did you go to Belgium ? - Belgium ? Why would I go to Belgium ? - I think the relevant question is, why...

By sheer accident I picked up a copy of Watchmen this weekend in Brussels. I must say I'm glad I did - I found it hard to put down, and it's definitely one hell of a graphic novel. It would have had more impact in my younger years, as the story does show its age, but it managed to work on all the levels it wanted to and kept some surprised around. Intriguing storyline.

Incidentally, I just finished watching Heroes Episode 21 (thank effing god for the Internet, why are series still "delayed" over here in this millenium ? And kudos for getting a show with such a common title to be number 1 on Google). Seeing that episode the day after finishing Watchmen is eerie. Before I felt the series was liberally copying plot lines from X-Men (5 years in to the future ? Where are the Sentinels, everything else looks the same), but the resemblance to the Watchmen plot is uncanny. I can't say why I guess without ruining either story, but I'm sure other people must have felt a little resemblance as well no ?

Heroes being derivative doesn't hurt me one bit though - it would have been hard to avoid regardless, and they've done an excellent job at driving the story forward, keeping the characters interesting, and having some awesome visuals.

The fact that it's derivative does not make it predictable, since you never know beforehand which bit they'll derive next...

I'm guessing next week is the big finale. Yay internet !

On unrelated news, my muscles ache, my appetite is gone and my head is heavy. I'm hitting the sack in the hopes of avoiding getting a cold.

By sheer accident I picked up a copy of Watchmen this weekend in Brussels. I must say I'm glad I did - I found it hard to put down, and...