Who Is The Premster?

Guess who's back?

A Breath Of Fresh Air

First off, don't ask me why I scour the Internet to find such weird stuff. Truth is, these "interesting" nuggets find me.

And why am I sharing this interesting piece of news with you? To give you hope - hope that there will soon be reprieve from people who silently, with a squeek or just indiscriminate reverberating bass, invade your odourless breathing space with their gaseous exhaust that travel from their rear to your nostril by diffusion at what would seem like the speed of light.

Hence, this thoughtful concept will benefit those who blatently indulge in public "production" as well as poor unwitting "consumers". Who do you have to thank for this? Well, they're Brian and Myra Conant. They even have a patent pending. So, how does it work, you ask?

Essentially, a non-intrusive cloth pad - made from Active Charcoal - is worn inside the undergarment and positioned in the appropriate area (that's Blow-Off Valve, in automotive terms). Active Charcoal (versus Passive Charcoal?) is ideal for absorbing and containing such emissions so that a breath of fresh air can be had by all - even after a heavy helping of chilli, onions and baked beans.

Of course, one could get creative and turn this into a mask - as a 'gift' to some foul-mouthed friend, relative or co-worker to make a point - although it regretfully will not have the same desired effect.

In the end, consideration for your fellow earth inhabitants is of utmost importance. With that, I leave you with words of wisdom about belching by Tina Miller of the TV sitcom Still Standing - Better out the front door than out the back.

Have a good weekend, all!

PS. This concept is not exactly new. The Premster (its fun referring to yourself in the third person) posted about a similar product last year!

The Holey "Grail"

I have a friend who manages a team of people at work. Even though I know him as a friendly, responsible and very likeable person, his constant gripe is "The guys don't like me". I guess it is impossible to be popular when you're stuck toeing the company line. I can relate because I have a team of Engineers under my charge too.

During one of our chit-chat (its closer to whining) sessions, he jokingly said "I can just imagine everyone passing my coffee mug around, taking turns to pee in it when I'm not around". Although I laughed heartily at the joke, I started to worry about my own coffee mug parked in plain view on my desk. Since then, it has been a prisoner in my desk drawer only to see the light of day when I need a caffeine fix.

Enter the anti-theft mug from Israel. As you can see from the picture, all you need to disable this mug from unauthorised (or pee) use is to remove the key-lock plug and any liquid poured into it without the key will come flowing out instantly.

Absolute genius!

Welcome The Unwelcomed

My wife and I have a "visitor" to our home at least two Sundays in a month. He shows up unannounced and it doesn't matter if we already have guests or were planning to catch up on a TV series we've recorded during the busy work-week. He'll just sit there till we're done, which can be very uncomfortable. So, we shelve what we wanted to do just to keep him entertained.

About two months ago, my wife had an old classmate over for lunch. She brought her two young boys (who were excited about meeting Eddie and Casey) as well as her husband, who was an absolute pleasure to chat with. Then, about an hour into what was a delightful afternoon, the knock on the door came. Our usual "visitor" came in and plonked himself down on the sofa. I think he made our friends uncomfortable and they "decided" it was time for them to go.

No matter how hard we've tried to tell him without hurting his feelings, he hasn't got the message.

As such, I found it impossible to contain my excitement when I found this welcome (or otherwise) mat. Turn it one way and it bids a warm "Come In". For the unwelcomed, flip it around and it bluntly says "Go Away". Vist this aptly named website for more details.

Since subtlety has not worked, I think purchasing one would be classified as an investment. I am sure my wife would agree. Still, I worry he'll be none the wiser. *sigh*

Vinyl Irony

I love vinyl records. Having been a freelance deejay from the mid-80s till the late 90s, I was frequently working with records. For those of you born after 1990, records are how we old fogeys listened to music before CDs were born. Vinyl records not only delivered great sound (yes, much better than CDs), they last a whole lot longer than CDs if well-maintained.

Many friends describe my music collection as "insane". I might have about 700 odd CDs (and growing - I've lost count) and a good 500 pieces of 12" vinyl records. I only switched to CDs because a lot of music is no longer pressed onto vinyl - which is a really sad thing. So, I constantly tell my wife that I need to shower lots of tender loving care upon my beloved record collection. And in case they get damaged, I am working out a schedule to "digitize" them. "Protecting the music by migrating them from the analogue to the digital world", I always say.

But THIS is not what I had in mind when I said "protecting the music"!!

A company in the US is taking old 45s (that's old-school slang for a 7" vinyl record) and turning them into iPod cases!! How cruel is that? Among the vinyls they are crucifying to protect iPods include gems like Band Aid's Do They Know Its Christmas?, Starship's Nothing Gonna Stop Us Know, Bananarama's Venus, Olivia Newton-John's Physical (this was once banned from airplay in Singapore for being "too suggestive"), Pet Shop Boys' Always On My Mind and the kicker - Revolution by The Beatles.

But what really upset me was the use of Sly Fox's Let's Go All The Way. I used to do a real killer live mix of this track together with Shout by Tears For Fears and Rock Me Amadeus by Falco. It was my signature mix so I take this very personally.

But personal issues aside, I applaud the guys for their ingenuity. I'd rather these gems of the past live on this way than to be cast aside or tossed into the incinerator like garbage. It is also a reminder to current and future iPod toting youngsters how music was enjoyed generations before.

Keen to get one? Pop on down to their website.

Wonder if they'll just send me the records intact if I request. *wink*

Japanese "Technology"

The Japanese are well known for innovative technology. They are, after all, the first to bring us portable music players like the infamous "Walkman" back in the 70s. This evolved into portable disc players and today, portable MP3 and video players. So, I was not too surprised when I came across this video.

Why was I looking for something like this on the Internet? I've been doing quite a bit of my own ironing these days and I realised that while my ironing skill is average, I am hopeless when it comes to folding t-shirts... and that is putting it mildly.

The video is in Japanese and I am no Pat Morita. But it seems easy enough to follow.

Try it out and let me know how it works out for you. Have fun!!

Cool, isn't it?? I thought so too! :)