Η Διαφήμιση και η Οικονομία

Δεν καταλαβαίνω τι συμβαίνει. Ή ο κόσμος έχει βλακέψει ή είναι τόσο απελπισμένος που θα αρπαχτεί από οτιδήποτε όποιο ματζούνι και γιατρικό του προσφέρουν (επί πληρωμή) για να απαλαγεί από το πάχος πχ ή οι υπεύθυνοι για αυτές τις διαφημίσεις είναι βλάκες.

Η επόμενη είναι μια διαφήμιση της Ελληνικής οικονομίας για το πριν και το μετά της περιόδου δημοσιονομικής προσαρμογής.

Σημείωση: Η δεύτερη φωτογραφία ειναι αληθινή, απλά δεν. βρίσκεται στην Ελλάδα. Nashville Parthenon.

T-Mobile mobile internet blocking system.... is crappy

Recently I purchased a USB 3G mobile broadband dongle sponsored by T-Mobile.
It was very cheap and very locked too to this network, but luckily internet is a great resource to overcome such problems.
There is a catch though. The problem is that the buyer has to provide at the cashier Name and Address before taking it home, although no ID is necessary.
Despite that, T-mobile has a "fair usage" policy in how much data can be downloaded, and additionally has a content lock!
That means that you cannot access freely sexual content (which is probably justifiable)
http://tmuk.content-lock.t-mobile.net/cop/adult

unless you register by credit card, "or call 1818 from your mobile or visit your nearest T-Mobile Store".
https://tmuk.content-lock.t-mobile.net/cop/xhtmlmpintro.do;jsessionid=6D64DB54D4ED760259D2435BDBD02837?ID=6D64DB54D4ED760259D2435BDBD02837

Imagine my surprise when trying to access Blogger.com I got the same "adult lock" response!
Strangely wordpress.com is not affected by that, and blog.com wouldn't load when I tried it.

SOOOOOOOOOO
what may one think? Probably a mistake in the adult database, ORRRRRR bloggers are dangerous and should be approached with extreme caution.

FLICKERING - DARKENING LAPTOP SCREEN

I bought my laptop back in 2007. its not some not a Banded super wow machine. However it worked for the purpose I need it.

Within the first 6 months 1 USB port was not functioning and the screen was flickering. Since it was still under warranty I send it back and they replaced the motherboard. It also seemed they fixed the flickering screen...for a few hours.
I didn't payed much attention to it, cause the screen did not flicker while it was left alone. It flickered only when I was moving it. Sometimes it was darkening completely (but was visible under strong light) when I closed the lid and didn't come back on afterwards, unless the powersaving settings kicked in and "turned it off" while it was still like that, so it subsequently could turn on by moving the mouse or pressing a key.

I wasn't sure what was causing it cause the flickering was happening too when i moved the cables leaving the motherboard through the hinges to the screen.

About a week ago, the screen started darkening for no apparent reason. And what a surprise, It would not get back on unless the power saving setting kicked in, but wouldn't stay on for more than a few minutes at best.

Something had to be done this time and out of warranty.

Three things could be faulty.
The cables (easy fix), the inverter (easy fix) or the fluorescent lamp (difficult fix),

A previous experience with a faulty fluorescent lamp resulted in me braking the old lamp initially, the replacement lamp had a short connecting cable, and eventually I scraped the screen cause I broke the contacts of the vertical screen signaling.

An other experience with a faulty cable was 100% successful after replacing the cable.

So hopping it was one of the two easy fixes, I ordered an inverter from EBAY which was pretty cheap rather than buying a whole faulty laptop to loot the inverter. The seller said that it was brand new, never used, so I got it and replaced it.

My goodness. Watching my screen never felt better. Perhaps a bit when I had first bought it but surely the difference is great and works like a charm.

Total repair cost: 9.99£ for the inverter and a couple of hours for the screen disassembly test and assembly.

Detailed instructions on how to do all that can be found here and here

Εναλλακτικά παιχνίδια για όλους.

Ένα εξαιρετικό κείμενο σχετικό με τις σχέσεις κράτους εκκλησίας από την Ελευθεροτυπία.

Η επιστημονική φαντασία και το παρόν

Δεν μπορούσα παρά να σκάσω στα γέλια όταν διάβασα το άρθρο για τα ιπτάμενα ξενοδοχεία για κροίσους που δημοσιεύθηκε εδώ και αλλού, αφού το πρώτο που μου ήρθε στο μυαλό ήταν τα ιπτάμενα εμπορικά κέντρα του Τζάκ Ράνταλ στο βιβλίο Οι Κλώνοι (Spares) του Michael Marshall Smith. Επιτέλους ο Τζάκ σύντομα θα κάνει την εμφανισή του στους δρόμους του νέου Ρίτσμοντ.

iPad YEA

"Hello World" said the iPad today and the world jized its pants in a true American fashion. Gizmodo, (which unfortunately I follow) and other gadget websites shed countless pages of electronic ink, spending dozens of man-hours (theirs to write stuff, ours to read the said stuff) writing about the rumors of its existenze, showing photochopped and blurred or crystal clear photos of it, speculating on its specifications, and shedding tons of sweat and tears in the process.

They even posted a Bounty Ad for 100.000$ for evidence of its existence and for fracks sake they got an official lawyer response!!!

And I ask: Why the the heck does that happens? It is a fracking tablet computer. Yes it is slim, yes it powerful, yes its battery lasts a lifetime, yes there was a lot of secrecy around it, SO FUCKING WHAT? So there is gonna be absolutely no fucking, as I told a former friend once, when he asked the same question.

I am no Apple fanboy, I am no Windows fanboy, hell I am no Linux fanboy either, not to mention Be, Solaris etc. I couldn't care less if they all burnt to HELL and I wouldn't shed a tear. Though I would rather prefer if they would not burn simultaneously cause humanity needs some time to develop the next O.S. which is gonna jiz our pants next.

What the heck is all about really people? I mean look at it. Its sleek and dandy but does it run Crysis? Is it gonna change the world? Is it gonna be able to protect us from earthquakes, from asteroids? Protect us from viruses, nuclear disasters? Protect from stray bullets? Protect from hunger, from typhoons and drought? Is it gonna protect us from the climate change? Pour petrol in our tanks, regenerate the forests? Is it gonna change our lives? What the frack is it going to do? Ahhhhh I forgot. All those are other peoples problems. So who gives a shit about them?

Is it going to allow us a whole new way of reading books? Or accessing the internet, or navigating Google maps? And GOD knows what else? WOHOOOOOOO FRACKING GREAT. Now after jizing our pants about it lets do something more productive. Lets send 5 fracking $ to the people suffering in Haiti to ease our guild (if we feel anything at all) rather than send our troops. And then lets spend the other 494+ $ to the fracking iPad and lets get a bank loan to pay the remaining 5$ we already spent. Banks need to survive the recession too right?

Stupidity has no limits. Sky is the limit.

If the Gizmodo fan club was ever to read these I know exactly the kind of warm welcome I would get from many of them as did the booth babe and anyone else not agreeing with the American way of life. Heck why not? They are the rulers of the world, right?

Hmmm, now where did I leave my piggy bank? I think the time is right to spill its guts. And how the heck am I going to order the iPad from the US????

Don't get me wrong. It seems splendid and would love to have one, but why the hell all this maddening, artificial, demand?