Brotherhood of the NINJA

World of Warcrack?

2006-04-30T21:38:00.000+10:00

I'm bored, and there's a queue on WoW.

Which means i look at blogs... and realise that this hasn't been updated.

So, why is World of Warcraft such a fun game? (others would call it addictive)

Well apart from the fact that it's made by Blizzard, because it's a competition. That's right it's all about a competition. And the clever thing is, that no one wins... cause all the different characters are balanced in a way such a way that they all have a weakness against another character... That and they keep on releasing beefier and better equipment whilst making existing equipment slightly easier to obatin... so there's always something else to aim for... it's the Dragon Ball idea. everyone gets stronger all the time.

woot queue is over. time to go on AH =)

and finally...

2005-10-24T01:11:00.000+10:00

I made level 60 today woot :D

And so the moment is forever immortalised, I took a screenshot :)

ahhh and it only took me 10 months heh heh

dabu zugzug

2005-06-21T20:50:00.000+10:00

You have six different smiles.
One for when you're angry,
One for when you tear flesh,
One for when you chew flesh,
One for when you loot bodies,
One for when you skin game, and
One for when you want to kill something.

Sydney Roads and the DI quotient.

2004-11-13T01:38:00.000+11:00

So I was running late this afternoon on my way to Fusion at CCC.

I figured, I've given myself a good half hour/forty minutes to get to CCC from home (this is a trip that takes around half an hour after church... actually once I made it in 22 minutes door to door, but ... ahh ... i don't think that it's very good to drive like that...). Anyways, so I hopped into my car, figured that I'd better make it quick 'cos I was late for band practice, and zoomed up the M2.

Now I don't know about everyone else, but I like to try to be an "intelligent driver". For example, if you're coming to a traffic light, and one lane has a truck, another has a bus, and a third is a bit longer but has only normal cars, you'd take the third lane because the truck and the bus are slower right? I reckon that everyone thus has a "driving intelligence" quotient (or DIQ) and depending on your 1337ness (that's eliteness for you non-geeks) you're DIQ would be higher. Influencing factors for your DIQ would be stuff like how well you know the roads, your experience in driving, observation skills, etc etc.

My DIQ was sorely tested this afternoon on the way to CCC. For some annoying reason, Epping Road at Lane Cove seems to bank up horribly bad after the M2, especially on Friday afternoons. I think a lot of people are going back into the city for week end drinks and stuff...

Anyways so I'm at the bottom of Epping Road, and I'm trying to decide which lane to take. If you know Epping Road, the far left lane is generally faster, unless there is a bus there because the busses frequently stop to drop off/pick up passengers. The far right lane is faster in the afternoons, because people turn off onto other roads, leaving you with a bit of room to play with - but it merges into the middle lane, so you have to be on your toes. The far left lane also won't take you straight to the city, and you also have to merge into the middle lane. Consequently, the middle lane is heaps slow.

I look around, and there's this yellow Honda Civic Sports in the far left lane behind a bus - so I think to myself "OK, I'm gonna take the right lane and merge out, I reckon it's faster, and as long as I beat the yellow civic, I will have won!" (yes, those are the thought processes of all male drivers...) I was winning... I was ahead - and then my lane slowed down to a crawl, and the bus and the civic sped past me. Unwilling to give up, I deftly manouvered my way up the queue, using the "inch in, hand raised thankyou" method.

Finally, after 10 minutes, I reach the top of Epping Road, and the Yellow Civic is still several cars in front of me. Unwilling to concede defeat, I cut in front of a golden volvo, past a black BMW, and speed up the road. I think to myself "man, the yellow civic driver... must be some young P plater or something, how could he beat me? ME! how can HE beat ME?"

Straining my DIQ to the limits, I finally manage to pull even with the Yellow Civic, and supressing a smirk of triumph, casually glance across the passenger seat to eyeball my competitor. It is finished. The young punk in the yellow civic, he is DEFEATED!

But no, it wasn't a punk. And no, it wasn't a he. It wasn't even someone young.

I had been out-driven, out-maneuvered, out-gunned... by an 80 year old old grandma with one of those disabled driver tags in her front window.

I don't even think she was maneuvering. She was just... driving... :(

Hmph. Doesn't matter. Final Score: Tim - 1. Old lady - 0.

Eat my dust, old lady.

Left wing SMH readers!

2004-11-01T23:53:00.000+11:00

I've come to the conclusion that the journos and readers of the Sydney Morning Herald online () are of such a particular social and political persuasion that the online polls that are released by SMH can hardly be relied upon for any true indication of Australia's views and beliefs.

All throughout the recent election, polling from the SMH readers poll showed Latham to be ahead by leaps and bounds, I'm talking 70% of the vote to Latham. And the most recent poll, the one on abortion and pro choice, seems to have 70+% of voters thinking that it should be the woman's choice, with only 11% thinking all abortions should be banned.

There's also this opinion writer, Miranda Devine, that really irks me... she writes in such a snobby way that one time I emailed her, after she wrote a nasty article about ony of my favourite teachers from my old high school (ok, admittedly he did something very wrong by dating a year 10 student) and blasted her for judging him before all of Australia... she actually wrote back, but her email was filtered by work's mail server for profanity :(

Anyways, I had a point to this... what was it... oh yeh, I am an avid reader of the SMH website, as it helps pass the day at work, but its disturbing that the other readers are such weirdos...

Or am I the weirdo? Here's a few online polls that smh has released, what are your opinions on:

Abortion - Where should we stand?
Wife's maiden name - Should she keep it?
Curfew for young drivers - Keep or discard?

For me, I say no to abortion, wife should change names, and young drivers should be locked up until they are 21... then again, maybe it's because I'm an old man - you darn kids, keep off my lawn...

got ninja skills?

2004-10-09T23:54:00.000+10:00

Take the shuriken challenge.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/shuriken.html

Fast and fierce in battle, the true sign of a red belt. This is for you.

Ninja BR34KF4$T

2004-09-26T11:52:00.000+10:00

0v3rcl0ck j00r BR3AKF4ST!!11!

Who says ninjas aren't romantic?

2004-09-12T14:43:00.000+10:00

Roses are red
Violets are blue
All my bases
Are belong to you

Enter the Matrix...

2004-08-19T01:31:00.000+10:00

Even though by the cover of darkness I am a ninja warrior of the night, during the day I have the unfortunate pleasure of working in the undefined world of IT Risk Management. This role has me doing all manner of strange and not so wonderful things, like evaluating the level of piracy at different universities (read: busting into student dorms and scanning their PCs for pirated music and movies and stuff), looking at how much money people owe software companies, and something which we call "attack and penetration security consultancy", aka "ethical hacking".

It is under this cloud cover of the wonderful world of security, risk management, and IT, that the movie "The Matrix" was noticed by me and a bunch of my geek colleagues to have some GAPING HOLES. No, not talking about how the Matrix apparently parallels Jesus' life. And no, nothing about the disappointment of the 2nd and 3rd movies.

What I'm talking about is the basic premise of the movie itself. "The Matrix" is described as a network of humans with their minds connected together in an imaginary world, while their bodies are used as robot batteries.

Breaking it down, we're essentially saying that the Matrix is a Local Area Network (LAN), where all the humans are clients (PCs). I'd even go so far as to say that the Matrix would probably be a bunch of LANs joined together to form a Wide Area Network (WAN). We'd even go further, and note that the Matrix must be built on an 802.X network infrastructure, with 802.11 Wireless LAN Access Points built in (remember, Morpheus was able to get a signal by bringing his "spaceship", or what we know must have been a wireless network card, into range. And normal people had to plug into the Matrix using a RJ-45 in their head... ouch...). Let's also assume that the robots aren't creative enough to design their own network protocols and are using TCP/IP (ok ok, let's say they are smart and are using IPv6 so they can support a large number of clients).

Having accepted this as the basic premise, it's evident that the network was giving out IP addresses, because Morpheus and Neo and Trinity could all interact on the network when they were in range and plugged themselves in. THEREFORE, we can deduce the Matrix must have a DHCP server sitting somewhere allocating addresses.

As a security consultant, I am appalled at the lack of security that the robots implemented around The Matrix. For one thing, where is the MAC address authentication? Did they ever think of using WEP keys (or even WAP) for their wireless infrastructure? And what's the deal with user authentication? I am assuming they would have a Windows2003 Enterprise/Advanced Server clustered to support a massive world wide Active Directory structure somewhere, why didn't they have strong user names and passwords? Tsk tsk tsk.

And HOW STUPID are the robots not to take out their DHCP server, or to make it so that only assigned IP addresses could be used on their network... erm... Matrix. Wouldn't allocated IP addresses have stopped the problem of these rogue humans logging on? These guys would have majorly failed their IT audit.

AND WHY did they take so long to find a client hmm? Their database must be majorly fragmented, if I was them I'd fire my DBA and get someone with some proper skills in ...

One thing I am impressed about is the way that they overcame lag on their network. I mean, there was not a single point in the whole matrix where you had to wait for someone with a slow connection to sync themselves... Like on counterstrike online, how often do you see a person standing in front of you, and suddenly appear several feet away because of your laggy connection? None of that in The Matrix. Impressive technology indeed.

Stupid robots... If they had only been up to date with their microsoft security patches, they'd be ok now, and those stupid rebel humans would have been wiped out.

If only.

The moral of the story - if you are using WindowsXP, go install Service Pack 2. And make sure you use Windows Automatic Update. Go on, do it now! Right Now! Or else you might be like one of those poor robots. Poor, poor robots.

Yo Mow Gow Chor

2004-08-11T14:40:00.000+10:00

devastation!

for the past month and a half i have been listening to http://www.bethanydillon.com/
as soon as i log in at work. site goes up and music comes on.
every day for teh last month and a half it's been driving my team crazy. one of the songs i think it's the one before for my love if you play it at a low volume it sounds as if she's just wailing for 3 minutes =)

but today after i came back from lunch there wasn't any music playing. so i thought i may as well refresh something's up and then POW

ACCESS DENIED

Access to the requested site has been denied due to policy restrictions.

Please refer to the Internet Usage Guidelines for further information

I think it's my manager.. he asked me what the site was yesterday.. i think he got systems to cancel it to piss me off...

but on the the point of this blog.. anyone have other sites? where i can listen to complete songs? like bethany dillon's site? whole songs not cut off excerpts?
lemme know.. i need something else to listen to!

Time to be asian

2004-08-08T14:39:00.000+10:00

One of the skills of the ninja is the art of dodgying... err I mean dodging. Like avoiding missile like projectiles. But now in the modern world, as new weapons are being launched at us, the ninja must know how to adapt and live in hiding avoiding the new foes and weapons being thrown at us…

What the heck am I talking about? I have no idea… but anyway..

You want to know a really good way of saving money on your home insurance? Muhahaha Let me teach you all what I’ve learnt in an insurance company. It’s not illegal. It’s not dodgy… well maybe a little. It’s not exactly a dodgy Asian thing… what I prefer to think of it is as… being a ninja.

Well this is what you do. Just get cover notes. Ring up an insurance company, give them your details, and ask for a cover note. A cover note is like a temporary cover. It’s the insurance company taking up your cover for a month allowing you to choose whether to accept their cover or not. It’ll go for a month where you’ll be covered under their policy if you choose to take up cover… then the next month call up another insurance company and ask for another cover note… repeat until you get robbed or hit by fire etc, and then take up the cover. So that means you’ll always be covered.

It’s free to get a cover note.. which means you can save heaps on your insurance each year. Unfortunately this wont work with worker’s compensation cause if you do, Work Cover will just come up and audit you, but for stuff like home and contents insurance. :)

Until next time, don’t be too cool for school. Because life is like a box of dodgy chocolates, where there isn’t anything printed on the box to tell you what you’re eating, where you never know what you’re going to get next. Unless of course you eat them often enough you know what you’re going to get next. Or you sniff it and you can smell the insides, then you would know what you’re going to get next.

Alright... (in Peon voice)

2004-08-04T18:29:00.000+10:00

It seems that there are some among us that disagree with my being a Samurai.

In a bid not to bring disgrace to the honourable Master ninja, Damiyo Tim (who I shall now call Master Timja), I will reluctantly succumb.

Why are we talking in english if we're ninja?
Perhaps blogger is translating all my Japanese text into english!! ....... Diabolical!

I'll fill this little space with some useful words.

"Aishiteru" ~ we all know that
"Denwa bango wa nan ban desu ka?" ~ What is your home phone number?
"Otome wa.. oishii desu ne!" ~ umm..... :)

Master Timja would be proud...

You are welcome, young samurai...

2004-08-04T14:54:00.000+10:00

Welcome to the brotherhood, Master Samurai Dave.

Although, this IS a brotherhood of NINJAs.

At heart, Dave is a Ninja of the highest order. In fact, Dave is probably one of the original pioneer Ninjas. His pioneering use of the silent ninja skills was so advanced that he had two entirely separate lives that he refused to bring together... Something about "worlds colliding" - very Ninja indeed! We, his brothers, were never aware of this silent endeavours until he, in true Ninja style, revealed to us the work of his silent spading...

Ninja Dave, the Brotherhood salutes you.

The Samurai and I

2004-08-04T12:08:00.000+10:00

HAHA! I bring with me the wrath of the Samurai.

Firstly let me point out that Kenshin is in fact a samurai and not a ninja.
Secondly, let me say that samurais see no need to cover their faces because:
a) We're not ugly
b) We don't want to be associated with islamic extremists
c) Because we serve only our own honour

Thirdly, well there's no third point. But.. I'm on my lunch break AHA!

eh... Tim, can I be a Malaysian Samurai?

Time to get serious

2004-08-04T11:40:00.000+10:00

I have been scolded that my Shinobi skills are wanning. As a result of careful study, I have found what could well be the answer to all relationships.. Well, more like a school of thought that might answer alot of Confucius questions. :) (note: for those of you who are going to say something about that. Yes it was intended. FUNNY eh? confusing.. Confuscius) but anyway here's a list:

1. Physical appearance
2. Possessions or money
3. Status or prestige
4. Information or knowledge
5. Social graces or personality
6. Inner nature
7. Elements of the NINJA

Researchers tell us that, in the happiest relationships, the partners are more or less equal in each of
the above categories. If not, their qualities balance each other out across the board.

Is that true? Inherently that's wrong cause someone can just go out and make a crap load of money and change the equation.. or during a relationship the equation will change and you'll change the way you think of the other person cause they aren't keeping their end of the bargain... now, is there a element of truth in that?

Personally, it's true to a certain extent. I stand with the view that each category has differing values to each person. So, for example, to someone vain and greedy, he'll rate status, appearance and possessions as something high on the list of desirables and weighing them higher then the other categories. And personality, knowledge and elements of the NINJA as low categories which aren't as important him or her.

And here's another thought, since I'm almost on a roll. (Sorry about the use of the word "NINJA" i will honourably and humbly accept punishment of abuse of the word) If you're a christian looking to "NINJA" someone of the opposite sex, isn't the only thing that you should look for is their passion and zeal for the gospel? After that, doesn't the rest all count for naught?

So my question to you is.. What do you, young apprentices of the NINJA, look for in a mate? Because after all it's not wrong to look for someone who's pretty or rich. That's just part of who you are and what your desires are. But as Confusing says, or what I'm about to say, be careful of what you desire.. you never know you might actually get it. Until next time, take care of each yourselves, and each other.

Ahh like a rabbit to a leaf...

2004-08-03T16:45:00.000+10:00

What can i say? Super Master Specitim, our plan has worked to perfection.

Of course what could have gone wrong? As our master of our master of our master Confucius says, "Like a rabbit to a leaf, or like a moth to the flame, will a bait be taken. IF it is the right bait."

How could he resist to post? By posting, he fell into our trap. Muahahahahaha
Ahhhh the dark forces of the NINJA.. it CAN NOT BE STOPPED!!!! PHEAR and I again I say Ph34r the Brotherhood of the NINJA.

ALL YOUR BASES ARE BELONG TO US!!! Until next time, ten-four.

1337 Ninja Skills...?

2004-08-03T16:18:00.000+10:00

Thanks to Junior Ninja Jingles for his kind words...

Anyways, enough with the ancient japanese theme already! The purpose of this blog was for a place for me and Junior Ninja Jingles to rant on our own, and already it has taken on a horrible overtone of harsh words and mean comments - it is as if a battle is being fought - much like the battle of the Ninja against his enemies in the encompassing darkness of night... Words have been exchanged, sharp, slicing words - much like the sharp cutting blade of the ninja's sword... It is transparently obvious that people have come here to cause trouble - transparent like the rice paper walls of the ninja's dojo...

Nothing can escape the Ninja's silent deadly hand - nothing gets past the l33t skiLlz of the M4st4 Ninja! Of course, noone may visit the Ninja's dojo silently without the knowledge of the Ninja Brotherhood...

Needless to say anonymous posts are never anonymous, especially when the master ninja and the ninja brotherhood have been wronged. Those who wish to be silent and deadly, slipping through the dark cover of night, must have the skills of the ninja – undetected, unknown. Sadly, IP addresses can be matched, and as a list admin to Sote CCC mailing list, such a match was confirmed. Ph34r my 1337 n3kKiD sKilLz… (translation – yes, I know who you are…)

Moral of the story is be good, or be exposed. Maybe you, too, may one day learn the skills of the ninja. Until then, play friendly…

Super Master Ninja Specitim

2004-08-03T12:00:00.000+10:00

Ahhh Super Master Ninja Specitim, The leader of the Brotherhood of the NINJA. So humble in his actions, preferring to tell the world of the deeds of others who are NINJA, then recall the story of his own great tale. His feats have surpassed the level of Master Ninja to that of the fabled, Super Master Ninja. It is a rare time indeed, to be living in the time of that - of a Super Master Ninja. Truly, truly i say to you, and truly again that we are living in an auspicious era. The era of Super Master Ninja Specitim.

It is an honour to be writing about his accomplishments even now as I put pen to parchment my hand quivers with phear and trembling. Not in anticipation but in awe of what this mere mortal has done.

I do hope you are seated when you read this, for if not, your knees will subconsiously drop to the ground, out of respect, to kowtow to this great Super Master Ninja.

And so begins the tale of Super Master Ninja Specitim..

It was a time not so long ago, a time when the age of the samurai had all but passed away, forging a new path in its wake. It was.. the time of the NINJA.

After falling out of favour from a particular lady, the beautiful lady Jennifer. The then Master Ninja Specitim was crestfallen. His pain and anguish was dark and cold.. so dark and black, it made even those of the NINJA world shy away in fear. We among the brotherhood were alarmed at his state of mind and were concerned that he might take extreme actions. Even to the point of seppuku. (before you object, those who follow the NINJA code are very honourable men. And yes, they would rather perform the act of hara-kiri then live with dishonour in their hearts)

But, continuing with the story, Master Ninja Specitim was distraught. None had seen him in such a state. And as we tried to console him, nothing could break him from his anguish... OR so we thought.

Master Ninja Specitim stole away, under the cover of darkness, right under our noses and instead of taking with him a katana and shuriken, he brought with him a fork and a spade. In what seemed a matter of moments, Master Ninja Specitim had elevated himself to that of Super Master Ninja Specitim. He had won back the favour of the fair chinese lady Jennifer!

We at the brotherhood were shocked to say the least. Super Master Ninja Specitim was his old self again. We were dumbfounded! Had he forgotten his lady? We had believed he was still in mourning... But alas he had worked as a true secret agent of the night and with darkness veiling our eyes, had done what was thought to be unpossible!

Super Master Ninja Specitim. We, the Brotherhood of the NINJA, honour you.

The order of the NINJA

2004-08-02T03:10:00.000+10:00

Well obviously there are only a few selected individuals who qualify for the title of "NINJA".

The brotherhood is a select group of individuals who have displayed ninja qualities in their day to day lives. How do you become a ninja, you may ask? Take the following examples:

Master Ninja JLo - Displayed Ninja qualities in spading a girl, making his move, going out with her, and not telling a single one of his mates in the process. Pure Ninja.

Master Ninja Markus - Also of the Ninja persuasion, cut through the dead of the night with his ninja spade, while telling his mates that he was "enjoying his time on the bench". Ninja skills indeed.

Junior Ninja Jingles - Always displaying Ninja qualities, never underestimate his 1337 ninja skillz...

You, too, can be one of the Ninja Brotherhood.