Disappointed

AK Silverune says:
i'm disappointed my exchanges with you today haven't made your blog.

AK Silverune says:
you know i make every effort to have a starring role in your blog!!

AK Silverune says:
damn you, i have to redouble my efforts to be surly.

We are the Robots - Kraftwerk

We're charging our battery
And now we're full of energy
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots

We're functioning automatic
And we are dancing mechanic
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots

Ja tvoi sluga, (I'm your slave)
ja tvoi Rabotnik (I'm your worker.)
we are programmed just to do
anything you want us to
we are the robots
we are the robots
we are the robots
we are the robots

we're functioning automatic
and we are dancing mechanic
we are the robots
we are the robots
we are the robots
we are the robots

Ja tvoi sluga, (I'm your slave)
ja tvoi Rabotnik (I'm your worker.)
Ja tvoi sluga, (I'm your slave)
ja tvoi Rabotnik (I'm your worker.)
[repeat to fade]

We are the robots


One of my favourite singles of all time. The Kraftwerk classic. We are the robots.

Rigged Elections

Here is an exchange this morning about Chosen Space. AK is trying to get me to want to play that game. Somehow, I have been uninterested.

AK Silverune says:
have you flown to planet Rumino yet? and voted for me?

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I don't know how.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I won't be logging on ever again.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
You can use my account.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
It's all yours.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I have quit playing that game.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Like how you quit World 3 in Tribal Wars and Travian.

AK Silverune says:
you can hardly blame me for quitting those substandard games

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I don't have time for this game.

AK Silverune says:
like how you quit AD&D

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
You can hardly blame me for quitting those games with substandard allies.

AK Silverune says:
oh dear!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I know.

AK Silverune says:
i was a good ally

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
It's sad.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Those people quit on me, eh?

AK Silverune says:
i was being killed! while you went off on your crusades! killing all those moslems!

AK Silverune says:
i shall install your player as my 2nd in command

AK Silverune says:
get him to fetch me water and my papers

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Excellent!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Go right ahead!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Do remember the password.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Oh dear.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Are you going to be prez?

AK Silverune says:
dunno yet

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I think you are. You got the deviant look.

AK Silverune says:
i'm up against a particularly bloodthirsty individual known for violent attacks against civilian traffic.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Sounds like you are against a mirror image of yourself.

AK Silverune says:
he might be unhappy if he loses

AK Silverune says:
hehehe

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I think you might be unhappy too, right?

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Will you hold the office in perpetuality?

AK Silverune says:
yes and no

AK Silverune says:
if i die, i lose it

AK Silverune says:
but can be reappointed by my lieutenants

AK Silverune says:
if they cooperate

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Ahh.. They are co-operative I am sure. After all, you control them.

AK Silverune says:
exactly

Upcoming Releases

Woo hoo! This appears to be a great coming month. Just the number of great releases in April alone is staggering. I'm elated!

Combichrist - What The Fuck Is Wrong With You People? Released
Front Line Assembly - Fallout April 2007
VNV Nation - Judgement April 2007
Assemblage 23 - Meta April 2007
Client - Heartland April 2007
God Module - Let's Go Dark April 2007
Client - Zerox Machine Released
Angels & Agony - Unison Released
Assemblage 23 - Binary March 2007
Funker Vogt - Aviator May 2007

Warhammer novels

I picked up the following Warhammer novels on Friday afternoon:

Warpsword
Night of the Daemon
Eldar Prophecy

I also picked up copies for Wei Yi.

State of Progress: Tribal Wars World 3

Hahaha! My whole army is wiped out. I had estimated that his wall would be at level 10 at most and I was wrong. His walls were at level 20, the maximum level defensive bonus was applied. And the luck factor, a huge negative. Essentially, I had hit the worst case possible scenario. The Perfect Storm.

I have way more resources but can I outbuild him? It doesn't look likely because his barracks level is higher than mine.

Now it is a race. To crush him!

There is a Singapore Open Gaming session today. I hope to be able to make it. That is, if I can wake up in time.

My Electric Barbarella cannot be switched off. I suspect she has only got three settings 'Mean', 'Meaner' and 'Meanest'. Oh nooooooooooooooooo!

I ran another 4 km this evening. Heh. I need to get back to my usual 5 km punishing runs again.

Music that I am listening to right now

Clan of Xymox - Breaking Point
Starting off with the floorkiller 'Weak in my Knees', Clan of Xymox's latest electro-gothic concoction.

In Strict Confidence - Exile Paradise
The added female vocals of Antje Schulz adds a new dimension to this veteran electro-industrial act.

John Foxx & Louis Gordon - From Trash
The electronic pop music pioneer with Louis Gordon serves another

Imperative Reaction - Eulogy for a sick Child
The re-mastered first album with extra tracks.

Imperative Reaction - As we fall
The latest hard-hitting electro-industrial release. So far, Imperative Reaction has not disappointed me yet. Excellent stuff to dream to... I have listening to it while reading earlier.

Lost Signal - Eviscerate
Lost Signal's 'Catharsis' is one of my top faves over the last few years. Here is the sophomore effort from this ebm act, offering a further development. I have heard once so far.

Snog -Vs the Faecal Juggernaut of Mass Culture
Hahaha. The Al-Qaeda song is a hoot. As usual, Snog attacks consumerism... Die iPod! Die superficiality!

Camouflage - Motif Sky
Excellent first single. It has stuck in my mind like their previous singles 'Suspicious Love' and 'Thief'.

Camouflage - Relocated
In the nineties, while Depeche Mode disintegrated and lapsed into some form of horrid electro-blues with 'Ultra' and 'Exciter', Camouflage has never lost their unique identity and vision. 'Relocated 'is the latest album. As usual, the strengh of Camouflage is their songwriting, the arrangements and pop structures.

X-Perience - Lost in Paradise
The pop purveyors which served the hit 'A Neverending Dream' has released a new album with a strong single. Pure pop.

X-Perience - Return from Paradise
A melodic first single. Does one expect anything less? X-Perience has not lost their touch. They clearly have 'experience'.

Seabound - Double-Crosser
EBM/Futurepop crossover. Always a pleasure to listen to.

Delerium - Nuages du Monde
Woo! Leeb and gang are back with this delicious concoction. This does hark back to the early Delerium in some areas.

Dismantled - Standard Issue
Hilarious album. Read the lyrics. Evil stuff.

Cosmicity - Pure
Somehow, I missed this 2001 release from Cosmicity. I have all three singles from that album. It is alright. Synthpop. Cosmicity started off with great promise in the early nineties but somehow, it has been unable to create great synthpop despite a few gems over the years.

Where AK relates his Reserves experience

AK was in the navy despite not being a regular in the SAF. He was on some sort of armed patrol boat. A sampan with a pistol if you will:

AK Silverune says:
SC

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
HEY!

AK Silverune says:
i didn't quite like reservist too

AK Silverune says:
it was a waste of my time

AK Silverune says:
luckily i wasn't required to stay in camp

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
You are fortunate. This is a low-key.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
5 days.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
and it doesn't even count.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
XXXXXXX* training.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
I have done it before.

AK Silverune says:
hah, i did something which involved me inhaling XXXXXXX

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Ahh... I didn't go in the XXXXX. I had claustaphobia.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
So, I reported sick.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
It was the XXXXXX.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
More than anything else.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Can't breathe in the XXXXXX.

AK Silverune says:
anyhow the navy reservist is a bit of a joke

AK Silverune says:
stay out for 3 weeks, except for a few nights, when we're on exercise

AK Silverune says:
the first we'd go home at 11am or before lunch, so they won't have to feed us.

AK Silverune says:
the frist week that is.

AK Silverune says:
anyhow, i'll talk to you tomorrow. going to sleep now.

AK Silverune says:
goodnight

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Good night!

AK is not alone in the bit about food. I recall that there was once when the officers wanted us to stay in the camp that night. Yet, those idiots haven't catered for dinner. Goddamn. They could walk in and out of camp at will, so, they could go buy food. Yet, somehow, for several hundred men, they forgot the dinner! Yes, the officers and senior NCOs completely forgot about the men. They forgot the dinners! And they were unwilling to let us out. In the end, after some negotiation and we were let out for a few hours to go get dinner. Funny eh?

Oh, the stories are, of course, deliberately vague, you never know which idiot is reading and if that idiot is vindictive.

*XXXXXX - Well, I'm not going to say. You never know how small-minded those fuckers can be. And they are fucking small-minded.

While doing my reservist stint in the army, I recall when everyone, meaning several hundred of us, sat on the floor with our legs crossed in a cavernous hall and listened to an officer pontificate, I felt a sense of deja vu. The one funny thing that struck me was that it was not dissimilar to when we were school children in primary school, listening to the teacher sermonise on some state-approved bits of education.

In case if you were wondering, I went for my first three-week reservist stint in 1992.

It is 2007. A good fifteen years.

What am I doing? Still holding an M16S1 assault rifle?

Drat! My reservist training programme is out. I'm joining a new unit in less than two weeks' time. And I will be doing the same thing over again. Stuff that I had done before. Why why why?

Sheer boredom.

Low-key programme which does not count towards my total number completed anyway. What a bloody waste of time.

I went for a 4 km run last night. It was refreshing. I went at a constant, steady pace.

Good morning AK!

Yet another exchange. A great way to behind the morning:

AK Silverune says:
hahahahaha

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Hello!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
You were quaking in your slippers during those exchanges with your escaped slave! You were afraid!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
You alright?

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Are you straight-jacketed and laughing in an asylum?

AK Silverune says:
what?

PUB - Wonderful Service

The people at PUB (and I'm not talking about Singapore Power or other utilities) are wonderful. They have responded to my queries for assistance and have gone beyond the call of duty. At least four different people or more were involved and each time, they took my call with great patience near Chinese New Year and assisted. They assisted after the festivities too. Mr Yusoff, Mr Shah and more. Great people. Great service. Though the problem was eventually solved by a PUB-licenced plumber, the efforts of the PUB personnel were outstanding. BRAVO!

BTR-60PB

The classic wheeled Soviet 8 x 8 armoured personnel carrier of the Cold War. Large numbers of the BTR-60 remains in use worldwide. Its later derivatives, the BTR-70, BTR-80 and BTR-90, are also in widespread use. The BTR-60 saw action in many conflicts around the world and has proven to be versatile.

Imperial War Museum, Duxford: July 2006