This Month At Dontmindme.com - June 2002

TV Show of the Month: It has apparently been cancelled, but Fox is running the unaired episodes of Greg the Bunny. Hopefully they will rerun the aired episodes as well so I can get them all on tape. This is a twisted little show, yes, but it's very, very funny. Watch it while you still can.

Gadget of the Month: Minolta Dimage X Digital Camera. At $599 Canadian ($399 US) it's expensive for a gadget, but it's really, really cool. It's small enough to fit into a shirt pocket, and with 2 megapixel resolution and a 3x optical zoom, it's a serious digital camera. But there's more. It's fast, one of the fastest digital camera I have ever used. Under two seconds from power-on to shooting pictures. Plus, it has video capabilities and sound recording. And it uses the incredibly small and slick Secure Digital memory cards, which are about the size of a postage stamp. It's a very cool digicam. I want one.

Game of the Month: It's become the classic nerd game, but in a good way. Risk is a relatively simple game to learn the basics of, but it's not easy to master (of course, so many games are the same way). The play is straightforward. Launch attacks and defend your territories by rolling six sided dice. Whoever has the highest dice roll wins, the loser loses an army. The second highest dice are matched up and whoever has the second highest dice wins. The loser loses an army. Claim the territory and move your troops. Receive a card at the end of your turn, trade a matched set of three for additional armies. It's that simple. You just have to repeat that until someone rules the entire world.

Fun Link of the Month: Web comics are perhaps the greatest undiscovered treasure on the entire net. Sure, there are some terrible ones, but there are some utterly brilliant ones as well. One I've recently discovered is Cat and Girl. There's no real narrative structure, just highly literate absurdity with a heavy dose of social commentary. It's the best comic about a child and a large talking feline since Calvin and Hobbes.

True Story of the Month: This is a bit too long to post entirely here, but it's a great story about the laws of physics and why they should never be ignored.

Joke of the Month: With the Stanley Cup finals currently going on, this seems appropriate. Q: You have Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in a sealed room, and you have a gun with two bullets. Who do you shoot? A: Gary Bettman. Twice.

Rumour of the Month: This was a rumour until recently, but now is actually a lot stronger than mere rumour. Apparently a release date has been set for the fourth Indiana Jones movie — July 4th, 2005.

Useful Link of the Month: If you work in IT, or if you just like being clued in on technology news, you really have to visit The Register on a regular basis. It's a UK based IT news site, although I've linked the North American one, as the UK site has a lot of local-interest-only content.

Word of the Month: Ubiquitous. It means omnipresent or frequently encountered. Think Starbucks (or in Prince Edward Island, Tim Horton's).

Quote of the Month: "Stiny! Get me a danish!" Strong Bad from Homestarrunner.com.

Fun Fact of the Month: Phylicia Rashad, who played Clair Huxtable on of course The Cosby Show, was from 1978 to 1980 married to Victor Willis, who was a member of the Village People. Specifically he was the cop (or for the "In the Navy" video, the admiral).

Prank of the Month: Some pranks have immediate payoff. Others play out over a period of time. A good one from the latter category is to pose as the victim and contact military recruiting agencies. Ask for information on joining. Be sure to use phrases like "career change." If you are in the US, this will work even better, as you can contact all of the branches of the military, and say you are seriously considering signing up, but aren't sure which one you'd prefer to join. The victim should be getting calls and recruiting info in the mail for months. Maybe years.