Versions by Theivery Corporation

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I got a copy of this album on Saturday morning. Like Theiverie's last album in this style this one is smooth. It's more downbeat than the last one though. Smooth summery super mixed and reegineering version of songs from people like Nouvelle Vague, The Doors, Sarah Mclachlan.

Mr_other_storysmith, if I haven't just given you another nick, or even if I have, you are most welcome to a copy to match the other one you have. It would also be cool to come to your flat on day when the air is clear.

Early Americans

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Here are some choice quotes from Bill Brysons book Made in America about the first American settlers:

"The crew, with the customary graciousness of sailors, referred to them as puke stockings, on account of their apparently boundless ability to spatter the latter with the former, though in fact they had handled the experience reasonably well."

"It would be difficult to imagine a group of people more ill-suited to a life in the wilderness. They packed as if they had misunderstood the purpose of the trip, They found room for sundials and candle snuffers, a drum, a trumpet, and a complete history of Turkey. One William Mullins packed 126 pairs of shoes and thirteen pairs of boots. Yet they failed to bring a single cow or horse, plow or fishing line."

F*cking Them Back Part 2

Just got a draft from my Barrister of a letter I've instructed him to send to my business partners. It is a fairly soft start but I believe it indicates many avenues of distress from their perspective :)

I can't wait to show it to my lawyer friend I'm meeting on Tuesday.

Bush Roleplay

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I stumbled upon this not safe for work video of which is a parody of the Bush administration. It is funny and highly accurate!

Documentary Features To See

Here are some documentaries I'd like to see (adapted from the stuff article yesterday that has probably been removed already)

• The Fog of War (Errol Morris, 2003)
• Control Room (Jehane Noujaim, 2004)
• March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet, 2005)
• Who Killed the Electric Car? (Chris Paine, 2006)
• Rats in the Ranks (Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly, 1996)

Not sure if I'll find any of these funny, but it can be hard to tell sometimes.

Here are some goodies that I've already seen

• Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore, 2002)
• Super Size Me (Morgan Spurlock, 2004)
• Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore, 2004)
• Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Alex Gibney, 2005)
• An Inconvenient Truth (Davis Guggenheim, 2006)

Enron and Super Size Me were very ,very, deeply funny. No one else in the theatre thought so, but I was laughing my head off. I even used Enron as a date movie, top that!

Bowling for Columbine was pretty good, but I didn't enjoy him beating up on Mr Heston at the end, even if he did deserve it.

Fahrenheit was way too slow, but I loved the shots of the Bushes and Sadam, priceless.

An inconvenient truth was even scarier than I thought it might be, but no new facts.

Cooking Duties

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Sometime soon I'm going to have to cook Collared Greens, some kind of recipe from the south of the states. Mr_nails is putting on a dinner party, celebrating an out of culture holiday with some out of culture food. Found some links

• recipe1
• recipe2

I'll need to do some transcoding on the recipe to local equivalents and give it a test run.

Home Sick Day 2

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Still home sick. Kind of getting board. Have just downloaded a bunch of conversations from IT Conversations, about computer stuff, business, biology. Will listen to them in the lounge lying on the couch.

Home Sick Day 1

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I've got this flu thing that seems to be doing the rounds. Starts with a dodgy stomache which goes away the next day. Then you get a little achy, which leads to mind headaches and general vegitative state.

Good thing I picked up my playstation on Friday night. Probably going to miss a few days of work at this rate. Perhaps I'll have time to do Christmas lists.

F*cking Them Back

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I've got some either very lazy or very illusory business partners. I've starting the long and delicious process of fucking with them.

I have this intimate history of fucking in the business sense from my days at Unisys. At Unisys I worked in a team that did programming to contract. The owners of the contracts hired outside help to help them fuck with Unisys. There is this whole battlefield of fucking and counter fucking tactics that can be employed. It is bad-for-your-health-seek-medical-care-scary. Both your medical and your mental health. I've seen it break people, three mentally and two physically.

One of the reasons I left Unisys was my inability to influence the contracts and deals Unisys made for my team.

I was careful in applying those lessons when I made the agreements that government the relationship that is causing me displeasure now.

There is this element to personality that not many people see. Although I am patient, good and proactive and primary like to make things, my secondary nature is to be the devils advocate and reek havoc. I don't mean play the devils advocate, I mean be the devils advocate. I don't wheel that side of my personality out very often, but it is well developed.

The delicious process entails a long drawn out process (no facetiousness implied)
- short grumpy emails
- where I refuse to meet them face to face
- and demand they do what the are contractually bound
- reminders of the behaviour they are emulating now when it was happening to them
- threats of mysterious advisers
- copying emails to real advisers
- at law firms
- contract lawyers at law firms
- when the original agreement favours the aggressive party
- which is me
- who enjoys being aggressive
- implications of lost first mover advantage value liability
- threats of external valuations
- threats of value destruction

You rattle the chain for a while and then you yank it hard.

As Good As Your Next Alternative

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Recently I've come to realise that I'm shallow in that the amount of fun I'm having is related to my next best alternative at the time.

So at curry tonight now that I have some good friends there I enjoy talking to strangers much more.

More broadly it is much easier to chase women when you are already flirty with some.

The next best alternative is really a negotiation strategy thing, FYI.