Serenity Only $1M Short of Breaking Even

Diggnation reports: "... on the production budget anyhow. And, that's based on box office alone. When the DVD comes out on December 20, it should be back in the black, so to speak. Good news for Browncoats. Click on the link to see the worldwide numbers."
I hope this changes Whedon's mind. I hear (from Slashdot people) he has given up on the franchise and would like to "move on."

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Extremely Safe Browsing

A guide on how to run Firefox on a Virtual Machine within your OS. This means the browser is completely isolated from your system meaning it's very very secure.

Perfect for protecting your Credit Card etc.

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Manila Kendo Club Christmas Party 2005

The Manila Kendo Club (MKC) had a get together party after the year-end competition or shiai last Saturday. Luis sempai, playing like a kendoka on steroids, came out as the champion for this year. He got a carbon shinai for his outstanding efforts plus, I've heard, something more -- which they say explains the intensity he showed during the contest. I've posted the pictures here (friendster photo album). People interested to get print quality copies can e-mail me at male.kendoka@yahoo.com.

In Aid of Goofing Off

If you see a similar message as the one on the left (click to enlarge) in your printer dialog box, you need a break. Here are some links to help you in that all-important-sanity-saving-anti-stress-from-too-much-work-and-no-time-to-relax-office-activity otherwise known as goofing off (caveat: these are pure slacker material, watch your back, the boss might be snooping around) -

1. Dancing Paul - make a guy (I think his name is Paul) dance to several tunes including my favorite Michael Jackson song: Beat It!

2. Dancing Queen - if Paul seems a bit boring, try to getting her Royal Highness, the Queen of England into the groove (accompanied by Prince Charles and Prince Andrew no less).

3. Test Your Powers of Concentration - see if you have the stuff of great thinkers, try this simple test to measure your capacity to focus.

4. Frighten the Toad - you have to see it to believe it (note: no toad, or amphibian for that matter, was harmed during this simple experiment).

Just to clarify, all links are totally senseless. If you, at any point in the series of goofy activities, found sense in the endeavor - please get out of the office and get a cup of coffee, a latte even. Perhaps chat with someone, preferably a stranger. And don't forget to add a little bit more sweets to your drink. You may be hypoglycemic or overworked. Either way, you need the caffeine and sugar. Thanks to pookielinks for the, er, links.

Showbiz

One of the few perks at work: you get to see Alice Dixson-Miranda. The woman who immortalized the phrase "I can feel it!" was kind enough to pose for some pics with JMU Law inhabitants. Thank you very much ma'am.

Coffee

Having trouble dragging my sorry (ass) self to work so I take my morning caffeine fix to help me get started. I drink a cup of coffee. Speaking of which, a fairly recent study says that coffee is good for you. Actually, it meant the antioxidants in coffee may give a lot of health benefits not least of which is help prevent cancer. Now that is good news. If that's true, then I can say that there is one good thing I learned from law school - drinking coffee. More like forced to actually, what with the riveting page-turners that were required to be read. Come to think of it, if you're an insomniac and you're looking for a cure, look no further; just grab a law book and you'll be snoring by page 3.
Anyway, if the antioxidants improve your health in a more subtle way, it is the caffeine in coffee that makes you all jumpy in an understandably not so understated manner. It's a lot like jump-starting a stalled car. Thus, the morning rituals before going to work. I'm not really a coffee lover, that'll be my wife who's the connoisseur when it comes to these things. Me, as long as it has caffeine in it which will help me move along, then that'll do. In fact I'd rather have Lipton Tea or kapeng barako than Starbucks coffee, but that's the cheapskate in me talking. So for those similarly situated/inclined, here's a chart of the caffeine content in various beverages as well as food stuffs and medicine to guide you on your daily caffeine quests.
There are those who say caffeine is harmful. On the other hand there are studies that say that decaffeinated coffee poses heart risks. Then again, there are studies that show that studies are not to be trusted at all. Hell, I bet there's a study that says I'm a genius so grain of salt there.

Bible Erotica in Photos!?

I wrote earlier (in my friendster blog) about how the union of advertising and religion could give birth to some delightful, at times strange, offspring. Well, this gave me pause:

"A German Protestant youth group has put together a 2006 calendar with 12 staged photos depicting erotic scenes from the Bible, including a bare-breasted Delilah cutting Samson's hair and a nude Eve offering an apple."

Okay ... well, how delightful? Here are some quotable quotes about it:

"The creators said they wanted to appeal to a younger generation." [and some not so young generation of previously-not-included-in-the-church's-target-demographic, i.e., perverts, lechers, molesters and the like]
"It's just wonderful when teenagers commit themselves with their hair and their skin to the bible," said Bernd Grasser, pastor of the church in Nuremberg where the calendar is being sold. [you can say that again pastor, and I'm sure a lot of adolescents are going to "commit themselves" once they get a hold of this calendar - perhaps trying to re-enact the story of Onan]

I wonder what the pinoy parish priest of Rome has to say about this. Read more about it here and here. This links to the website where you can get a copy of the calendar.

Party Girl

I mentioned in an earlier entry (in my friendster blog actually) that I'll post something about China's famous (or is it infamous) blogger, MuMu. Wasn't able to see her blog either because the site is presently being bombarded by visits or my ever trusty computer can't handle her graphics. But even if I do get to see her site, I still wouldn't get to the contents since it's in Chinese. I doubt if Google can handle the translation. However, if anyone is curious, just click on the blog link above. Why would you be curious? Well for the male population, her blog features our comrade (she is, allegedly, a party member) of the female persuasion in skimpy outfits. See for instance the picture to the right. Contrast this with the topics she discusses, her content delves on the intellectual and political - stuff that might bore us guys if not for them nice photos. Read more about it here and here. Here's my favorite China girl (wonder if she has her own blog?):
Current read: Finishing up on Neal Stephenson's In the Beginning … was the Command Line. Paused a bit on Gödel, Escher, Bach before my head explodes.