czeano's New Writeups

February 12, 2009 (recipe)

2009-02-12T04:21:19Z

So today I got my balls caught in a blender.

In unrelated news, I also found a margarita recipe that is significantly less enjoyable than advertised.

World War IV (thing)

2008-07-31T19:53:18Z

World War IV (WWIV) was a cool computer bulletin board (BBS) software written in the 1990s for use on PC-compatible computers. It was written initially in Pascal and later rewritten in C. It was distributed as shareware. When a sysop paid a nominal fee (40-60 US dollars depending on the year) to "register" his or her copy, the developer sent a copy of the complete source code on floppy disk so the BBS program could be modified at will. The fact that it was inexpensive, modifiable, and easily supported external programs (called doors, predominantly games like Tradewars 2002 and Legend of the Red Dragon) made it very popular with hobbiest system operators.

[ citation needed ]

April 11, 2008 (log)

2008-07-24T03:48:53Z

In Xi'an*.

I decided that at some point on this trip, I wanted to get a Chinese-language copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi). I finally got a chance to track down a bookstore today. I was out wandering the streets while my sister was on her bike ride around the wall of the city.

I went into a pharmacy** and asked "Zaina'r yi ge shu dian?" which is tourist-Chinese for "Where's a book store?" They pointed me to the left, so I went to the left. About a block later, I saw a sign for "bookstore" -- miraculously, in English.

When I approached, I saw it was a "Xinhua Bookstore". I went inside. The store was nearly empty -- just a bunch of bookless shelves, some plastic-banded stacks of pamphlets, and a dude sitting at a desk. I looked at him confusedly, as this clearly wasn't a normal bookstore. Still trying to figure out where I went wrong, I held up the neatly-copied-from-the-internet note I had with the four characters for San Guo Yan Yi.

He…

Three "T"s (idea)

2008-07-22T09:30:53Z

If you suddenly find yourself in the People's Republic of China, first you should be disturbed by whatever laws of physics were broken in order for the word "suddenly" to apply. Shortly after orienting yourself, and before determining if you should seek some sort of Consular assistance from your home country, you might end up communicating with the locals.

During said hypothetical conversations, during which you may be surprised by the capability of nearby citizens to speak your native tongue, there are certain topics you would be wise to avoid. For the most part, you don't want to discuss your opinion of the nation's governing body, nor any political party which…

#everything (idea)

2007-11-05T08:48:54Z

Seriously, though, here's the thing: Just don't.

For a long time, Slashnet's #everything channel (or "#e") was exactly as ModernAngel's writeup suggests. In the three years since, it has divested itself entirely of any connection with this website.

Yes, it's true, (although they hate to admit it) many of the regulars met each other because of this site or because of events inspired by E2 or advertised via E2 or maybe because they were sleeping with E2 (and have the rash to prove it). But these days, unlike as ModernAngel claims above, not only is the subject of this site against the rules, it most definitely will invoke a kickban if raised by someone other than a chanop.

Don't go there and lurk. Don't show up out of the blue and start talking about your precious writeups. If, because you…

March 16, 2007 (idea)

2007-03-17T02:43:08Z

Followup, from earlier (as promised): Still wearing a red shirt.