The Ontario government has been giving out coupons for discounts on energy-saving products, and I decided to try replacing some of the incandescent bulbs in my apartment with compact fluorescents. Here are my thoughts on the two products I've tried. [494 words...] (27 May 2007)
This page exists to collect comments on my Why Web BBSes suck article. Comments are moved to a separate page in an attempt to throw spam bots off the trail. (12 January 2007)
Here are just a few of the more obvious reasons that Web BBSes, often called "forums," suck. Of course, not all these points apply to all Web BBSes, but each one applies to enough Web BBSes to be a problem. The general pattern is Murphy's law: anywhere there is more than one way something could be done, Web BBSes do it the wrong way. [2856 words...] (12 January 2007)
Visitors left so many comments on my Don't buy from DVDsoon.com! page that they were starting to make the page slow to load. I've moved the older comments to this archive page; to read the more recent ones, or leave a comment of your own, see the main page. (10 September 2006)
DVDsoon.com is a mail-order retailer of DVDs and related products, based in Quebec. I, and many other customers, have had money stolen by this company, and this page exists to warn potential customers and provide some support and information. "DVD Import" appears to be another component of the same business, run by the same people. [3467 words...] (10 September 2006)
Visitors left so many comments on my Don't buy from DVDsoon.com! page that they were starting to make the page slow to load. I've moved the older comments to this archive page; to read the more recent ones, or leave a comment of your own, see the main page. (1 August 2006)
Visitors left so many comments on my Don't buy from DVDsoon.com! page that they were starting to make the page slow to load. I've moved the older comments to this archive page; to read the more recent ones, or leave a comment of your own, see the main page. (1 August 2006)
At first glance, Nanami seems to exist just for comic relief. My opinion is that she's actually much more important to the plot of Revolutionary Girl Utena than that. Just consider that she gets eight whole episodes devoted to her (as well as appearing at least briefly in most of the others)! Nobody else gets that, and the "Nanami episodes," even if they often seem outside the continuity of the main series, always seem to be relevant to and reflective of what's going on in the surrounding episodes. In a whole lot of ways, Nanami is either exactly like, or exactly opposite, Himemiya Anthy. She's like a mirror image, and we see part of the story reflected in that mirror that the storytellers couldn't show us directly with Himemiya. Her function is a lot like that of the shadow girls. Here's a summary of ways Nanami and Himemiya reflect each other, with many spoilers. (19 May 2006)
Akio tempts Utena with a fairy-tale ending, and she successfully resists him only to be betrayed, stabbed in the back at the last minute. [603 words...] (14 May 2006)