Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Program 7 (more info)
Lest you think that the challenge in my last post was an easy one, and a potential "free beer", let me tell you about the avenues of research online that will *not* lead you to an answer:
- Google searches on "Program 7", "Programme 7", "Program Seven", "Programme Seven" (at least not in the first 12 pages of matches or so)
- Art of Noise discographies
- Trevor Horn discographies
- Yaz discographies
- Anything connected with ZTT (Zang Tuum Tumb) Records
- Harold Faltermeyer discographies
- Herbie Hancock discographies
- Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass discographies
- Google searches on "Charles Beaujolais"
You've been warned...
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Monday, October 11, 2004
Program 7
A free beer to anyone who can find out anything about this song for me:
Program 7
This a horrendous recording (drop-outs and all) from radio. It's from CKMF 94.1 in Montreal, around April 1985. They played it all the time, and somewhere I have yet another recording of it that starts with the same female voice you hear in the middle, saying "We now continue this block transmission with Program 7". I'm fairly certain that's the name of it too.
I can't even explain why I like the song so much, but that's besides the point. I'm just trying to find out who did it, etc.
Good luck!
umdesch4.
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Friday, October 08, 2004
What Hackers Really Do
This is an awesome site. Just found it in a slashdot article. Bookmark it!
http://www.hackaday.com/
Enjoy!
umdesch4
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Thursday, October 07, 2004
What Happened To My Hero DVD
For those of you following at home, and especially for those of you thinking that my complaints about Canada customs were the mad rantings of a conspiracy nut, check out this email I just received from CD Japan:
Hi. Thank you for shopping at CDJapan.
We'd like to inform you about the delay with your order that has recently been shipped.
Order Number: xxxxxxxxxxx
Recently, some changes have been made to Canadian customs policies. Starting from September 20th, more stringent customs inspection procedures are required by law as part of the government's anti-terror efforts.
In principle, CDJapan fully supports and welcomes this change, and we have made sure that all required information appear correctly on the customs forms we attach to the parcels we ship to ensure they are processed through without problems.
However, while Canadian authorities have not yet made any official announcements as of this moment, we have learned that due to the stringent procedures that are now required, there have been serious delays.
Apparently, refusing to be the one who pays the additional costs that inadvertently arise from the stringent procedures, Purolator* seems to have abandoned the processing of EMS packages through customs.
*While EMS parcels are handled by Japan Post (the post office) in Japan, they are handled by Purolator once they reach Canada. They have been contracted by Canada Post to do so, and the choice has not been available on our side.
As a result, nearly none of EMS packages have even made it through to the customs office since the changes in policies were made.
Right now, Japan Post is preparing to formally demand the Canadian authorities to do whatever necessary to ensure EMS packages from Japan are processed without any further hindrance, and to make information available as soon as possible.
The delay in availability of official information might be due to an ongoing discussion about the possibility of Canada Post picking up where Purolator has left.
Right now, we do not have any estimate on how soon the package will begin to be processed again, but we are doing everything we possibly can to speed up the delivery of your package.
If we receive any further information regarding the situation in general, and hopefully about the particulars of your parcel before the delivery is successfully made, we will inform you again.
Until we are able to confirm that this situation has been resolved, we are making EMS temporarily unavailable for orders destined to Canada.
Also for your information, no similar delays are being encountered with parcels sent by Air Mail, which are handled by Canada Post.
Best Regards,
Toshi Makiya
www.cdjapan.co.jp
Interestingly, I can't find any news articles about this, nor any information on government websites (such as the Canadian Border Services Agency website). In keeping with my usual pessimistic train of thought, I'll ask the question: Who's really being protected here?
umdesch4
PS. I loved the sentence that started 'In principal, [...]'. Nice zinger! Unfortunately, it leaves me just the tiniest bit less proud to be Canadian today.
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Tuesday, October 05, 2004
umdesch4's Hot Toddy
Home sick today, and while I was drinking OJ, and lemon tea earlier, I decided to make myself a Hot Toddy. Since the recipies on the internet are all over the place in terms of what's supposed to go in a Hot Toddy, I decided to just make it up. Over the years, I've tried this little venture 4 or 5 times, and I've never really been satisfied with the results. Today, I think I got it:
In a large coffee mug, dump the following:
1 Tbsp butter (definitely not margarine)
1 Tbsp honey
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch powdered ginger
1 cup water
Nuke the whole thing in the microwave for a couple minutes until it's very close to boiling.
Add 1 oz of rum (I used Bacardi Black).
Stir.
Enjoy (stirring occasionally).
umdesch4.
