The thoughts of a madman on sports, politics, management, music, entertainment, life and anything else the wonderful internet has to offer!
Warthog Launch is a great little flash game where you usse granades to launch your warthog vehicle up in the air and destroy the enemies floating above. Of course this is heavily inspired by the the "warthog launch" strategy in the super hit X Box game Halo.
Sorry if this site has been neglected in some recent days. I'm currently working on another site, A Journey Through Time which is focusing strictly on my interesting history links. I hope it will provide some more focus/direction that the randomness of this current site. I'm not planning on killing this site yet, but just give me a minute or two to gather my thoughts. Please stay tuned.
It seems that surnames are making a resurgence in Mongolia. For more than 80 years, everyone in the country was simply on a first name basis after the abolition of the surnames by the Communist Party during their rise to power. They were removed as a direct attack to the clan system and the powerful hereditary aristocracy and the class structure. In the 1990's, Mongolia again became a democracy, and the beautiful freedoms of surnames was once again returned (Wikipedia has a good timeline of Mongolia's modern history) Here are the basics the new laws:
In 1997, a new law required everyone to have surnames. The law was largely ignored, but then a system of citizenship cards was introduced. Slowly the country of 2.5 million began to adopt surnames. Today, however, there are still 10,000 people without surnames. So the government is trying to solve the problem with a mixture of incentives (a discount on the registration fee) and heavy-handed pressure (a threat of financial penalties on anyone who fails to get a citizenship card before the June 27 national election).It seemed that this need for surnames came as much out of necessity as for convenience. The one-name system was so confusing that some people were marrying without realizing they were relatives. The real interesting situation is the way by which people are choosing their surnames.
The book also suggests other ways to choose a surname. Some people choose the name of a mountain or river in their ancestral region. Others prefer the name of an ancestral occupation: Blacksmith, Herdsman or Writer. Some names are linked to clans: White Camel or Black-and-White Horse. And some names have more obscure origins. One surname listed in the book, perhaps less fashionable today, is Seven Drunk Men.In western society today our surnames are so much a part of who we are. They carry our pride, our family heritage and our history. I can't even fathom having to simply choose one from a book in the middle of my life. Imagine how complicated things would be in a country where people only have first names. Think about how many Johns, Pauls or Marks that you know. What a nightmare.
The Rejection line is a pretty interesting concept by greatly simplifying the dating process. Don't like someone? Too scared to give them your real number? No problem - give them the Rejection Line number. The recording will take care of the heartbreak. Here's how it's explained on the site:
We do the rejecting. You spend time doing things you enjoy, like walking in the park, going to cultural events, and dating attractive people. Rejection Line Tips:Lines are available for plenty of other cities beyond New York as well. Los Angeles, Atlanta, Orlando, Oakland among others are included. Don't miss your chance to make use of this service.
- Streamline your personal business, and familial relationships
- Use at bars, clubs, and art exhibitions
- Page to cell phones and beepers
- Write on bathroom walls
- Store in your cell phone as your "private line"
- Leave as a mysterious and sexy voicemail
- Give to creditors, telemarketers, and religious zealots.
As I mentioned, I attended the Blue Jay's game yesterday. It was a pretty interesting trip. It was full of a good game, good times, good food and some very funny moments. I don't have any time to spare tonight to post my thoughts, but I promise that I'll get to that tomorrow. Trust me, it's more than worth the wait.
Plastic Balls is a great little flash game over on Playaholics. It's a sort of reverse breakout style game with the added headache of severe gravity. It's a very great game. Too bad that the action is far too slow to make it replayable. It seems that it takes 10 or 15 minutes to get to any level where the action is overly challenging. I wish there was a password/leve skip function so I could really get down to things more quickly. I need some more Flash games to pass the hours at work. Please comment on any recent games that you've been addicted to. I just can't get enough.
There is a great deal of crazy crazy weather here in the Greater Toronto Area tonight. At about 5:30 today, the skys completely opened up. I've never seen it rain so hard, so fast. Within 15 or 20 minutes the parking lot was absolutely flooded. There was at least 3 feet of water. At intersection after intersection, people were totally freaking out as they attempted to wade through such a large amount of water. Driving the small, weak Toyota Tercel that I do, this sort of off roading was pretty much out of the question. SUV driver after SUV driver was able to barrel through the rapids with nary a beat of an eye. This completely through off my entire route home. I was unable to use my usual backroads. This meant that I was about 1/4 of the way home at the time I usually am able to be home and safe. It was painful, just painful. Listening to the radio on the way home it seemed that this wasn't exactly an isolated incident. There were numerous tornado/thunderstorm warnings across Southern Ontario. We passed countless downed trees on the way home. I hope that everyone made it home alright tonight. I feel bad because my mother has to almost head straight back out now to pick my brother up from work at Canada's Wonderland.
Seems to be a quiet weekend around these parts. There isn't much of interest that I've come across to post in the last couple of days. I guess a certain amount of weekend relaxation starts to take place since the summer has started. I know I'd wouldn't want to do much more than sit in the sun and just relax. It isn't overly hot here, but at least the sun is shining. I'm planning on heading to the Skydome tomorrow to check out the Blue Jays. They're facing the Arizona Diamond Backs, which doesn't overly excite me beyond the fact that Randy Johnson is pitching. I always like to head there to see the future hall of famers and stars of the game, if possible. Just so I can tell my kids one day that I saw them. I can't think of a better way to spend a nice (almost) summer day.
Midget Tossing is a great little flash game where you attempt to throw a dwarf across a valley and into a corresponding garbage can that is being operated by other midgets. The game may be a little bit lame, but I promise you that the song is more than worth the effort.
Pimp War is a great free, browser based online game. You can live out all your pimping fantasies here - work your pimp hand, make crack, hire goons, buy a sweet ride and all the other things that pimps do. Here's the full explanation from the site:
You will become a master at the art of pimping your hoes, commanding your thugs and battling your enemies to protect what you have and to help your empire grow. This game is NOT for whiners. PimpWar players have 5000 ways to call you a bitch ass. So if you think you can handle it we suggest you get a couple friends together so you are not alone in this bad bad place and then bring yo bad self.It's highly addictive. Don't even get started if you're not ready for a commitment.
