So yah, I haven’t updated the blog in like two days, but I’ve been busy trying to purchase a condo. Assuming my weird lack of any credit rating mess doesn’t come back to haunt me, I should be able to say within 10 days of this Friday if I have my condo. The vitals of the place are as follows:

Price: $111,800.00

Fiorante Homes & Commercial Ltd. is pleased to introduce Wetmore Court; a carefree lifestyle for today. Total of 42 unit will offer a private park for residents of Wetmore Court. 2 storey 1070 sqft single attached garage with direct entry. 1/2 bath on main floor. 2 bedrms up. Master bedrm is 12′6″ X 13′10″ & features an alcove, plus a walk-in closet. Kitchen features oak cabinets, centre island, patio doors off dining area to patio & private park. For more info call Maitland Blackwell & 591-7665.

In addition to that I’m dumping another $4k into Central Air, Appliances, a island in the kitchen, and a digital programmable thermostat. And in addition to asking for all that last night, I came into work today and found out I just got a $4k a year raise, which, if I don’t account for taxes, is like $333 a month more … or about how much more this Condo will cost me a month over my current apartment. It wouldn’t be exactly that but it should be at least $150 - $200 more a month which will lessen the pain that would be my new mortgage payments. Hmmm, I wonder where my pay stub is? Ah, there we go, ~$200 increase over last month.

People can now pre-order ‘Firefly: Complete Series’ from amazon.com. The DVD set contains all episodes of Firefly, including the three that were never aired by FOX, and the now notorious Firefly gag reel. Also included are loads of interviews and commentaries on all of the episodes by cast members, writers, and directors–including Joss Whedon. It is due out December 9th, 2003 and is currently priced at US$37.49 (a saving of US$12.49, ie 25% off).

“Since May 1, 49 Americans have been killed in hostile attacks and 55 have died from other causes, like traffic accidents and accidental weapons discharges, a senior military official in Baghdad said today.”
[Source: New York Times]

It is reassuring to know that Americian stupidity kills more Americians than enemy action, don’t you think? I mean, if I was an Americian I would sure be glad to know my buddy wasn’t killed by some Iraqi guerilla, but by a pure blooded Americian who accidentially shot my buddy when his gun went off. I am so glad that my friend wasn’t killed in a meaningless act of violence by an enemy who has already lost. He was killed by an Americian, like, that’s normal isn’t it? What the hell could this turkey have been thinking? Why would you have stated that more people died from normal things like traffic accidents then guerilla attacks? I don’t see how this helps you other then claiming that the guerilla attacks aren’t that serious … and more soldiers are dying from their own stupidity (great morale boaster there, hurrah!). Even if you take care of the guerilla’s, you still have to worry about the Americian turkey in the next truck over who might run into you or “accidentially” shot you. What a joke.

The part they failed to mention is that since the 20th of this month, 14 service men have been killed. That’s like two a day. And the fact that people in Karbala are chanting things like “There is no god but God, and America is the enemy of God!”, you have to be a little concerned on whether these attacks will stop even if you get Saddam. I mean, the normal citizens seem fairly pissed off at the US. I mean they are altering the shahada¹ for you … and it isn’t in a good way. But then again I can understand where you are coming from, your standing outside of a shrine and people start throwing cans and rocks at you, it is understandable to use you M16s to demonstrate why you don’t fuck with US soldiers … and fire into the crowd. The US is making so many friends in Iraqi, I can’t possibly understand why there has been an escalation in guerilla attacks there. Can you?

[1]: The shahada is the first of the five pillars of Islam. This central tenant is one simple statement: “There is no god but God, and Mohammad is his Prophet.”

Rumours are gathering that the Jim Henson Company is planning to make a Farscape mini-series. “An apparently reliable source told IGN FilmForce that a four-hour special was in pre-production, and that it would be shot in Australia.” You can read the full article here. The problem I have with it is it claims that Comic Con was where the announcement was going to be made … and that was last weekend … anyone heard of anything more on this? The only hope I have is that the “To Be Continued” bit at the end of Farscape implies that Henson Productions intended to finish the show no matter what.

It appears that Firefly is not quite dead yet. Two of the three filmed, but unaired episodes have apparently been shown on the Sci-Fi Channel UK. The episode entitled “Heart of Gold” was shown on the 14th of this month, and the episode entitled “Trash” was shown on the 21st. The fifteenth episode entitled “The Message” should be airing this Monday. So far both episodes have made their way onto the internet and I’ve found them both

The part of this that interests me the most is the fact that not only has Sci-Fi shown the entire season so far as it was supposed to be aired (ie: Pilot First), but is showing _all_ the episodes so far filmed. This boasts my hopes that they may have rescued the series from the clutches of the Evil Empire^(tm) formerly known as Fox, and new episodes may be forthcoming next fall and/or summer.

UPDATE: I found out that Whedon is trying to make a firefly feature film. In additional, the article mentions Firefly is being released on DVD … where is my wallet?

UPDATE: Had I actually read the comments Fyn posted on Saturday, I would have found out that Unit3 already has all of the unaired episodes.

“Since they are made of law and money instead of flesh and blood, the only thing they will understand is paying money. Make them pay.”
— rigorist on Kuro5hin

” A U.S. government plane spotted the bright-green truck chugging through the water at 8 mph (13 kph) on July 16 about 40 miles south of Key West, just over halfway from Cuba to Florida. The Cubans had fashioned a makeshift, bright yellow shelter on the truck’s bed.

‘The truck’s engine was actually running, propelling it through the water,’ Doss said.”

[ Source: Reuters ]

“Kuno became a local celebrity in 2001 when he sprang from the waters of the Volksgarten park lake to swallow a Dachshund puppy whole. He evaded repeated attempts to capture him.”

[ Source: Reuters ]

Why is it I haven’t heard of this before now?

“Microsoft suffered utter defeat at a crucial pretrial hearing in what appears to be the highest-stakes patent litigation ever — one in which a tiny company called InterTrust Technologies claims that 85% of Microsoft’s entire product line infringes its digital security patents. InterTrust’s engineers developed and patented what they say are key inventions in two areas: so-called digital-rights management and trusted systems. … Though InterTrust declines to place a pricetag on the suit, it’s hard to imagine the company settling now for any sum that does not have a ‘B’ in it. InterTrust claims that its inventions cover technologies that Microsoft has been weaving into its Windows XP operating system, Office XP Suite, Windows Media Player, Xbox videogame console, and .NET networked computing platform, to name just a few.”

[ Source: Fortune Magazine ]

“Parents, roommates — even grandparents — are being targeted in the music industry’s new campaign to track computer users who share songs over the Internet, bringing the threat of expensive lawsuits to more than college kids. … The president of the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the largest music labels, warned that lawyers will pursue downloaders regardless of personal circumstances because it would deter other Internet users. … The RIAA has issued at least 911 subpoenas so far, according to court records. Lawyers have said they expect to file at least several hundred lawsuits within eight weeks, and copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song.”

[ Source: Fox News ]