Ken Lee

Girl sings Mariah Carey's hit single, Ken Lee, on Bulgarian Idol. Rofl.....

Best scene in Jean-Claude Van Damme's Bloodsport

LHC Armageddon Countdown

Haha frankly, I am a bit nervous about this thing. I mean, this thing has the chance of wiping out the entire universe lol. Something to think about.

If you are curious about when the world is going to end, refer to this handy countdown clock.

Woman struck by lightning survives

"High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Seas: The Race to Save the Cougar Ace"

True story of an amazing salvage team that saved a cargo ship from sinking. A very good read, I promise.

In the crew's quarters below the bridge, Saw "Lucky" Kyin, the ship's 41-year-old Burmese steward, rinses off in the common shower. The ship rolls underneath his feet. He's been at sea for long stretches of the past six years. In his experience, when a ship rolls to one side, it generally rolls right back the other way.

This time it doesn't. Instead, the tilt increases. For some reason, the starboard ballast tanks have failed to refill properly, and the ship has abruptly lost its balance. At the worst possible moment, a large swell hits the Cougar Ace and rolls the ship even farther to port. Objects begin to slide across the deck. They pick up momentum and crash against the port-side walls as the ship dips farther. Wedged naked in the shower stall, Kyin is confronted by an undeniable fact: The Cougar Ace is capsizing.

He lunges for a towel and staggers into the hallway as the ship's windmill-sized propeller spins out of the water. Throughout the ship, the other 22 crew members begin to lose their footing as the decks rear up. There are shouts and screams. Kyin escapes through a door into the damp night air. He's barefoot and dripping wet, and the deck is now a slick metal ramp. In an instant, he's skidding down the slope toward the Pacific. He slams into the railings and his left leg snaps, bone puncturing skin. He's now draped naked and bleeding on the railing, which has dipped to within feet of the frigid ocean. The deck towers 105 feet above him like a giant wave about to break. Kyin starts to pray.

---

A phone rings. Rich Habib opens his eyes and blinks in the darkness. He reaches for the phone, disturbing a pair of dogs cuddled around him. He was going to take them to the river for a swim today. Now the sound of his phone means that somewhere, somehow, a ship is going down, and he's going to have to get out of bed and go save it.

Ship captains spend their careers trying to avoid a collision or grounding like this. But for Habib, nearly every month brings a welcome disaster. While people are shouting "Abandon ship!" Habib is scrambling aboard. He's been at sea since he was 18, and now, at 51, his tanned face, square jaw, and don't-even-try-bullshitting-me stare convey a world-weary air of command. He holds an unlimited master's license, which means he's one of the select few who are qualified to pilot ships of any size, anywhere in the world. He spent his early years captaining hulking vessels that lifted other ships on board and hauled them across oceans. He helped the Navy transport a nuclear refueling facility from California to Hawaii. Now he's the senior salvage master — the guy who runs the show at sea — for Titan Salvage, a highly specialized outfit of men who race around the world saving ships.

Full article...

Medieval tech support

Teh funny is present:

New router on its way

My current router is on its way out... A while ago, I took the cover off it because it was overheating. Now come Fall and the heat being turned on, it's just spasming. Apologies to those on my MSN list having to deal with my MSN constantly signing in/signing out.

Don't worry though. The new router that's on-route is the WRT54GL. Oh yeah baby.

Thanksgiving Weekend Hiking Trip

The group (minus Sam) posing at the highest point in the park.

During the Thanksgiving long weekend, I went hiking with a couple friends in Frontenac Provincial Park. The park is about 20 minutes north of Kingston. My friend Sam has a blog entry describing the trip along with nice pictures. Check out his blog.

Update: The complete set of pictures by Sam can now be found here.

Algonquin Park Canoe Trip

Two weekends ago, I went on a canoe trip in Algonquin Park with a couple buddies. We started in Ragged Lake, went through Smoke Lake, and then Big Porcupine Lake where we camped overnight.

One of us fishing at our camp site on Big Porcupine Lake.

The campsite was fantastic. It was located at a point overlooking the lake. At night, we had a spectacular view of the stars.

Time lapse photograph of the stars. Notice how Polaris stays in the middle.

After we canoed back on Sunday, we took a 10 km hike on the Centennial Ridges trail to catch the sunset above the park.

The group overlooking Algonquin Park at sunset.

Trip summary:

• 6 people, 3 kevlar canoes
• 1 lb of gorp each
• 6 portages totalling 2370 m
• 23.1 km, there and back

More pictures of the trip can be found here. (Photos by Sam and Horace)

I climbed a 5.13a, in sneakers. Take that Spiderman! (Photo by Horace)

Decline in Pirates Population Cause of Global Warming!

Correlation? I think so!

Beth Rodden climbing a 5.14b. I was speechless after watching this video.

Super deal for students

As part of a new Microsoft initiative, they are offering students the normally $900 Office 2007 Ultimate software for $64. Note: you will have to download the software (500MB). It mentions you can order the physical DVD for a small charge, but I was never given that option.

"As part of Microsoft Corp.'s commitment to education, the company is introducing a promotion inviting students who are actively enrolled at educational institutions and have a valid e-mail address from the institution to purchase Microsoft(R) Office Ultimate 2007 at a student price of $59.95 (U.S.). "The Ultimate Steal" promotion will run in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States starting today and in France, Italy and Spain starting Sept. 20, 2007. The promotion will end April 30, 2008."

• Read more here.
• Buy it here.

French River canoeing trip

The photos from the canoe trip can be found here. (Photos taken by Horace)

I am super-excited about doing some backcountry canoeing this long weekend on the French River. More details to follow!


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Insane video of storm sewer overlow in Minnesota. I wondered whether this was a design flaw, or did somebody forget to take down a bulkhead lol...

Funny pics I came across today, lol - superheroes are so gay...

TONIGHT, WE DINE IN CLEVELAND!!!!

I have a lot more respect for Geraldo Rivera after watching him in this interview with Bill O'Reilly. The argument is whether somebody's illegal status is an issue in a drunk driving death. Huge shouting match ensues.

FYI:
I was trying to backup some DVDs but I found my DVD drive's (NEC ND-2510A) read speed to be extraordinarily slow. After some research, I discovered many DVD drives come with what's called a riplock which limits the speed at which DVD videos can be read and copied. This was something that was implemented to curtail piracy. So although your drive is rated to be 8x or 16x read speed, the riplock limits the maximum read speed to 2x. To remove this limitation, you can search for hacked firmware online that removes the riplock.