Censorship disguised as War on Terror

It’s time for another installment of “this shit’s getting ridiculous“.

Granted this is not the US, but I won’t put it past them. In a meta-ironic twist of fate, UK police are now banning the board game “War on Terror” in an effort to fight terrorism. Specifically they point to the balaclavas that comes with the games. As Bruce Schneier points out: “Don’t they realize that balaclavas are for sale everywhere in the UK? Or that scarves, hoods, handkerchiefs, and dark glasses could also be used to conceal someone’s identity?”

In this post 9/11 age, why are t-shirts, hat, sunglasses, hoods, sweatshirts, bandanas, dew rags, pants, underwear, and ski masks not banned everywhere? We are fighting a global “war” on terror here, and we can’t go halfway because then the terrorists would win. It is vital to have projects like these. How else are we supposed to fight terrorism? Obviously we need a complete and total ban of all clothing and fabric from the UK. Not only will it make life more interesting, but we will be able to see who the terrorists are. And if you’re not in the UK, you can still do your part in the war on terror by refusing to buy clothing of any kind and refrain from wearing any in public. Your country will appreciate your efforts.

Popularity

I have noticed a few people being interested in the recipes I post. It’s very encouraging, and I now motivated to continue posting recipes and talking about the cooking I am doing.

I haven’t had a chance to post recently, as I have been very busy. I just got back from an interview with Synaptics in San Fransisco last Friday. It went very well, and they called that night to tell me that they were going to give me an offer, after checking a few references and doing a little paperwork. I am excited. It looks like a really fun place to work, and I think I would be appreciated and I would have the resources I needed to do awesome stuff. I am concerned about some of the logistics and the fact that I would not have any old friends up there. However, Synaptics has said they will help with the housing situation and I’ll have the other interns and a bunch of mole-alums in the Bay Area to hang out with. It might be nice to live off-campus and out of the house for a bit. It’s only temporary, so it shouldn’t be that bad.

I’m looking into the possibility of getting a car. It would make a lot of things easier. I also have plans for my potential vehicle. I would like to add a sensor network in the car to monitor stuff like tire pressure and temperatures, engine temperatures, and fluid levels, pressures, and temperatures.

Now onto making stuff for Interhouse. I’ll try to post the recipes I use as soon as I can.

OpenOffice.org Calc Tip

If you want to avoid trailing zeros, but not round to integers, use the format code ‘.XXX’ instead of ‘.000′. I am pretty sure this will make it print up to three decimal places, but fewer if the rest of the places are trailing zeros. I found this really useful when putting together a spreadsheet for Interhouse food. I did want 1 cup becoming 1.000 cup. Hope this helps.

Quote of the Week

“We had something, didn’t we?”

“Yeah. We had something.”