digitaldust

There’s this new prescription only drug called Modafinil (Provigil). The low down is that it’s meant to keep you awake for up to 40 hours with no side effects - no speed buzz, or shakes. Then just a normal 8 hours sleep and you can do it again. Where can I buy Moda Cola… or should it be Pro Cola?

To the tune of some dirty delta blues…

Woke up this mornin
Had no cup of tea
Woke up this mornin
Had no cup of tea
I miss that hit of caffeine
It was so good to me

I got those low down coffee withdrawal bluesss

I got to work today
had no froth to sip
I got to work today
had no froth to sip
I need that hit of caffeine
to make me numeja and hip

I got those low down coffeeee withdrawal bluuuesss

I’m workin for the man
got no coke to chug
I’m workin for the man
got no coke to chug
Got no hit of caffeine
To really spark my plug

I got those low down dirty coffeeee withdraaawaaal bluueess

I’m just reading through some stuff on the royal lists accounts that have just been opened. The queen gets 58p from every person in the UK. Now it occurs to me that I could happily survive on a lot less than that, if everyone in the UK gave me 1p then I would have about £600,000. In fact if everyone did this then everyone would have half a million pounds. Why isn’t this happening?

Excellent… Random search. GEEK BOY SERVICES. San Fran thing for geeks with too much money and too little style. Pay girls to buy clothes for you. Just like an escort agency only no sex.

The aches are abating, slowly. Today though I did cheat and had a cup of tea in the morning, maybe it’s that, maybe I’m over the worst.

I just found out that slugs are killed by coffee. Water with 2% caffeine will kill slugs. And with my metabolism and mollusc like nature I’m probably biochemically in tune with them - I’ve been poinsoning myself for years!!!

Day 3 of caffeine withdrawal. I’m eating half a packet of painkillers a day and my brain is doing a china syndrome. Even that is better than yesterday. If previous experience is anything to go by I’m over the worst.

The hard part is staying away from that tempting brew. An agony that is far off the scale comapred to these paltry pains. Perhaps I will have experiment with - I can barely bring myself to say it - de-caf.

Funky research showing a New Twist on Light Speed. It’s all about using orbital angular momentum of photons to transmit information. More data on your average photon than ever before.

I went to see Avalon last week. It’s taken 4 days before I’ve had the time in front of a PC to actually get some thoughts down.

Filmed by a Japanese director (the guy behind Patlabor) in Poland with the dialogue entirely in Polish. The setting is some sort of dystopian future where the only exit is the Game. A virtual reality super MMORPG set in some WW3 style middle European conflict (The polish army lent them equipment, from AKs to T-78s & Hind gun-ships). Death sends you back brain-fried. Loot can be exchanged for real world cash. The main character is one of the best in the Game. A solo warrior called Ash. She is of course very cute in a dangerous, rip your balls off, sort of a way.

It’s not your usual action movie. Certainly not a live-action manga either. The whole thing is filmed in brownish sepia tones (with a few exceptions), which on top of the slow, ponderous filming creates an oppressive air. You can feel the 1984 overtones. There seems like there are few actual action scenes, and they are used to truly forward the story, not just up the body count. The ones that are there are incredible. From a game like battle with a CG gunship in the intro to the finale they become more personal and meaningful to Ash.

Amusing to also see dumb game AI too.

There were elements of the movie I didn’t like, but the B&W treatment and the post-communist-decay settings had my eyeballs glued to the screen for the full 2 hours. There are also lots of very Japanese bits that may not gel with everyone - like cheesy theme songs and enigmatic endings - but it does tell a great story, which is certainly not black and white.

I am in hell. I chose to give up all forms of caffeine, sugar and alcohol yesterday. Why do I do this to myself? I have a blaring headache and near physical pain everytime I walk past a coffee shop.

Here’s a great article on Kuro5hin that was written by one of the PHP programmers behind the site. Good backgrounder… though a little thin on the recent, and more important, history after the RIAA really got stuck in.