'Tis the season for downloading Academy DVD Screeners

The time of year is again upon us when movie studios send out DVD screeners of the latest theatrical releases to the members of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for awards consideration. Of course, these screeners inevitably end up in the hands of evildoers who rip them and distribute them through intricate underground networks of pirates, buccaneers, and scallywags who ultimately make them available to the public via bittorrent sites, often while the films are still in theatrical release. From now on, I will have links in the sidebar to torrents of the latest DVD screeners. No rubbish Telesyncs or Cams. So curl up on the chesterfield in front of your new 42" HD LCD TV, pop up 18 cents worth of popcorn, raise your middle finger to the MPAA, and watch the latest festering bag o' garbage coming out of Hollywood in the comfort of your own home, safe from terrorists, war, plagues, and homeless people.

If you still don't know how to use bittorrent, here's a quick primer...

1. Download and install a bittorrent client; uTorrent is lighweight and feature packed but is only available for Windows. Mac and Linux users should try Azureus. It runs on Java and also has any feature you could ask for.

2. Go to a site that hosts torrents. A few of the largest are ThePirateBay, BTJunkie, IsoHunt, and TorrentSpy, but there are many other. ScrapeTorrent is an excellent amalgamated search site that searches most of the above sites and a few others simultaneously.

3. Download the .torrent file and open the file with your client (this should happen automatically). The movie will start downloading into the folder you selected for your new files.

4. Periodically stare at the downloading speed for 10-20 minutes and watch it fluctuate. This can be very meditative.

5. Watch the movie* or burn it to DVDs with the pirated DVD burning software you just downloaded and hawk them in a Chinatown alley.


*Movies are usually in .avi format and 700-1400 mb in size. They are encoded with a variety of codecs but VLC Player (Windows, Mac, Linux) will play pretty much anything you throw at it.

Dutch 'Tulip Mania' - the first financial bubble in history

Currently, a quick look across the sphere of financial newsmedia and blogs will unveil a fairly grim picture of our economic future. The housing bubble probably features most prominently in this picture, but also present are the looming crash in the US Dollar and the prognosis of an Internet Bubble v2.0 in the making. For those of us not making (or losing) money in market speculation it would do us well to consider our perspectives on value.

One of the clearest examples of a distorted concept of value comes, coincidentally, from the first financial bubble in history, the Dutch 'tulip mania' of the early 17th century. Upon their arrival in Amsterdam from the Middle East, the delicate and vividly coloured blooms quickly caught the fancy of Holland's wealthy. Tulip prices rose quickly, especially those of the rare 'broken' varieties (multi-hued due to a virus). Prices for these 'broken' varieties rose astronomically, even to the point of a single bulb being exchanged for a brewery (this variety became known as Tulipe Brasserie).

In 1611, an exchange for tulips (the first modern stock market) was established and 'option' trading (the right to buy at a future date at a predetermined price) developed into what is known as a futures market. Tulips, in a sense, changed hands numerous times before they left the ground. Thus, price became everything, effectively detached from the reality that a tulip bulb was pretty much intrinsically worthless.

As prices rise, of course, everybody wants in and prices climb higher still. The madness of the situation was illuminated to a few savvy dealers that cashed in at the peak, fuelling rumours, and causing the whole house of cards to collapse quickly leaving some with handsome profits and many in financial ruin.

Greed and the idea of a quick buck can certainly cloud our judgment and inhibit prudence in the face of opportunity. If our investments have little or no intrinsic value then we are, in essence, gambling.

Guns, Germs and LSD

The cast of a Hunter S. Thompson show issues a ballsy party invite: All firearms and explosives must be declared at the door, and not via discharge or detonation. Anyone packing less than a 9mm will be laughed out of the theater.

The Barnacle can now be reached at www.thebarnacle.ca
...tell your friends and enemies.

Last week I was lucky enough to partake in Superflex's FREE BEER, an open source project originating with students at Copenhagen IT University. Version 1.0 was released as "vores Øl" (our beer) and the guarana and hops recipe is published under a Creative Commons license encouraging derivative beers under the same license. Key messages: support the open source troops, drink a stimulant-infused beer and DIY something nice for the holidays.

2006 Cocktail Of The Year

Bloody Vagina (va-JEE-nuh)

pour 2 oz. Finlandia Vodka over ice
add approx. 5 oz. Orangina
pour in 1/2 oz. Creme de Cassis

JIMMY HOFFA'S KILLERS' BELT BUCKLE FOUND!?!!?

My wife found this sweet belt buckle at a thrift store in San Diego. The engraving indicates it was made for Frank E. Fitzimmons in 1973, the year he became the head of the Teamster's Union after Hoffa turned himself in on a federal conviction. Hoffa was pardoned by Nixon and tried to get back into the Union despite being forbidden by the terms of his pardon. He disappeared in 1975 and though never charged, Fitzimmons was a suspect. Could the buckle have been used to kill Hoffa? Why did his wife give this obviously sentimental artifact to the AmVets thrift store? Could it be the key to solving one of the most notorious missing persons cases of all time? Bids start at $50,000.

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