Distance


Well, things are certainly interesting on the Apple front, as confusion remains over their "first-of-a-kind, industry-leading, hardware downgrade policy" aka the 50 MHz Annoyance.

Thankfully, this has no effect whatsoever on me, as I hadn't planned on buying an Apple any time in the near future. And the only speedy-Apple that I'm likely to acquire is a wonderful little machine called the iMac, which I will not, on the whole, be paying much for, being as it's a gift from my parents, at least in part, perhaps due to the fact that they bought my sister an iMac to use at college, and it's inconceivable that she, a mere studentious type, should have a personal machine eleven-plus times as fast as I, a Computer Professional (tm, pat pend) use.

I'd hoped that this would mean I could convert my old Quadra 610 to a NetBSD machine and learn more of the wonders of Unix, however it'll take a bit of time for me to bring the iMac up to speed, mainly due to the fact that I like RAM-a-riffic computers, and since Taiwan is busily going the way of Atlantis, it will be a while before RAM prices drop enough to allow me to appropriately RAM-er-ate the thing. Oh, well. Now, I shall learn the wonders of Virtual Memory.

Meanwhile, in other news of wackiness, I keep getting these leetle cards at my PO Box, stating that some company is "going nuts trying to reach" me, and even has little drawings of miniature Planters-Peanut-Man style things dancing around. It extorts me to call a 1-800 number, but does not, in fact, tell me what the hell company this is. So, in the interest of presumably avoiding being suckered in to one of those "transfer foolish American callers to $30 a second 1-900 Singaporean sex lines" scams, I shall remain blissfully ignorant of what lies on the end of the line, and presumably these people will remain goobers.

More news of "Big Lots, The Closeout Store". Once upon a time, there was a TV show called "Gargoyles", which was a mighty thing, loved throughout the land. The first few episodes of it were, around '94 or so, collected into a "Gargoyles Movie", churned out, and then forgotten about. On eBay, as all such things occur, people would occasionally sell one of these things off, for eight or ten dollars, or even more, depending on how stupid people were feeling that week. So, I go into Big Lots, seeking cheap TV dinners, and discover the Gargoyles Movie for $2. "Hm," I think, "There's profit to be made here." Purchasing one for my own edification, I return home to check eBay. And, to my shock and horror, everyone and their grandmother is trying to unload these things. Someone at Disney must have come across a warehouse full of Gargoyles Movie tapes, thought, "My god, we still have these things?" and vented them en masse to cheap-ass stores across the land. Oh, well. And here I thought I'd come across a chance to profit shamelessly at the expense of others. I'm sure there will be more, in time.


Dragonball Z: "Explosion of Rage"

Pretty self-explanatory, eh?

Once more, we get new footage for stuff we've seen already, namely, Goku yelling at Gohan to leave so he can beat the stuffing out of Frieza. Gohan gets the point and does so, burbling happily about his father achieving the power of a Super Saiyan. Frieza's not about to let Gohan leave, and aims the Finger Blast of Doom at the kid and his Namek payload, but Goku steps in, zipping in and grabbing Frieza's wrist.

Frieza struggles to free himself as Goku happily grinds the villain's wrist bones, all the while griping that Frieza shows no remorse at all for all the damage he's caused. Goku is a forgiving type, but finally he's been pushed too far, and it's payback time. Goku demonstrates this by dishing out a massive helping of whup-ass for Frieza.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Dr. Briefs is busy working inside the guts of the space-ship, occasionally asking his cat for advice. Chi-Chi shows up, and, being Chi-Chi, yells at him some. Meanwhile, Kamesennin and Yajirobe chat some, with Kamesennin commenting that he can feel Goku has gained great power, and worries that such amazing power to change his hair style will prompt Goku into ever-increasing heights of pompousness with regards to his spiky 'do. No, wait, that wasn't it...

Back in Namek, Frieza recovers a bit from his beating (which ended with him getting slammed down through the earth) and comes roaring back to the surface in a spray of water (apparently he ruptured one of those underground water mains that seem to run under all the islands, or something). Frieza tries the old "Hah, you're no different from me, think of all the things the Saiyans did." which Goku just scoffs at, pointing out that the Saiyans paid for their deeds. [Frieza: "Oh, really? Is that why they died? I thought it was because I KILLED them."]

Frieza starts the old 'hail of energy blasts' thing, while Goku just stands there and takes it (apparently not having learned a damn thing in all this time). Each time, when the dust clears, the Saiyan warrior is there, unharmed, and Frieza ups the power.

Gohan, meanwhile, looks back and sees the distant explosions, and has to remind himself that, hey, going back would be Bad.

Frieza finally cuts to the Finger Blasts, which Goku dodges. More blasts ensue, blowing up more Namekian terrain, but Goku just keeps dodging. Frieza eventually asks, utterly frustrated, "Why can't I hit you?!" to which Goku replies "You didn't say 'please'."

"Fine," Frieza says, "Please!" And blasts at Goku again. Goku takes it this time, right in the face, but is still completely unharmed. Somewhere around here, he makes a stock heroic speech, saying things like "I am the guardian of all living things in the universe that cry out for peace! I am the ally of good, and the worst nightmare of you!" Uh, yeah.

Next time: Namek goes bye-bye.


Rant 'o the day contains no additives, preservatives or alien spores of any kind. Use only as directed. Do not expose to direct sunlight. Do not fold, spindle, multilate or remove identifying tags. Handle with care. Contains less than 3% milk fat by weight, not by volume. Certified 'Syndicate Approved'. Squeeze the lemon. Remember, kids, only users lose drugs.

THIS SPACE FOR RENT