Quasi-Religious Things

Bun Length Hotdogs

2009-07-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

I was talking with some of my family, and we came up with a great idea. We were discussing a single-slice Toaster that I saw at a courtesy room at a meeting being held at a resort. The length of the single slot was too long for a single piece of bread or bagel, even the fancy style bread, but not long enough to hold two slices side-by-side. We theorized that it was maybe designed to be able to toast a hot-dog bun. Then, we came up with this idea...

You know how they make Bun-Length hot dogs, that extend just beyond the edge of a hotdog bun so that you don't run out of meat when you get to the end of eating the dog? Well, what if you like the extra size of the Bun-Length Hot Dog, but you prefer to have enough bun to hold more toppings on either end? So, they should make a new item...

The Bun-Length Bun. This would be longer than a normal bun, so that when used with a Bun-Length Hotdog it would give you the same ratio of hotdog to bun that a normal Bun gives you with a normal Hot Dog.

Ok, so that defeates the original purpose of the bun-length dog. Now we came up with another idea that holds to the original purpose. This time, it is for those interested in saving money. Why did they lengthen the dog to fit the bun, instead of shortening the bun to fit the dog? So there should instead be Hot-Dog Length Hot-Dog Buns. These buns would be shorter, so that when a regular hotdog is put in them, it fills it the same way that a bun-length hotdog fills a normal bun. It would have less meat, and be more economic particularly for serving large groups.

Ok, so next we came up with the greatest of all the ideas. What if someone likes the size of the Hot-Dog Length Bun, but wants a Hotdog that fits it the same was a regular hotdog fits a regular bun? So we invented the Hot-Dog Length Hot-Dog, which is the right size to fit on a Hot-Dog Length Bun in the standard ratio. The Hot-Dog Length Hot-Dog is thus actually shorter than a regular Hot-Dog. And, as a bonus, you could get a Bun-Length-Bun and put two Hot-Dog-Length Hot-Dogs in it end to end, to get a Super Double-Mini Hotdog.

My new RPG Blog

2009-07-07T15:58:00.001-07:00

I've started a new blog to document the development of a tabletop card/board-game RPG that I've been working on. Check it out, at 8-bit Dice.

Dragon Quest 8 Statistics Strength vs. Attack, Resilience vs. Defence

2009-06-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

I've looked all around the web and couldn't find an explanation of this simple thing, so I will explain it here.

In Dragon Quest VIII, your character statistics include the following items:

Sex, Strength, Agility, Resilience, Wisdom, Attack, Defence, Exp

Sex is self-explanatory, although it may have an impact on how some of the charisma-based skills of Angelo and Jessica work against opponents. Your base attributes are Strength, Agility, Resilience, and Wisdom. Exp keeps track of the experience points you've earned in battles. These go up as you increase in level. Attack and Defence (Defense) are calculated, as follows.

Attack = Strength + WeaponAttackBonus + WeaponSkillBonus + Misc

If you don't have a Weapon, your fists are considered to be your weapon, and your skill bonus in Fisticuffs (if any) will be your WeaponSkillBonus.

Defence = Resilience + ArmorDefenceBonus + ShieldDefenceBonus + HelmetDefenceBonus + Misc

It is the final Attack and Defence values that actually go into the battle equations which can be found elsewhere on the web.

Why are TV stations only set up for old people?

2008-06-02T00:28:00.001-07:00

I don't know about you, but I don't subscribe to a newspaper or own a television set. I do have computers, including a laptop, and a desktop with a huge widescreen LCD panel. I've posted about the TV stations before and their web accessibility, but its been a while... and I am here again to make some observations.

While ABC's player still sucks compared to their old one which used to support Linux, it is feasible to use as long as I keep my old Windows XP running. I can't wait to get rid of Windows, so I hope they get their Linux support working again soon.

But my real gripe today is over The CW. They are supposed to be this new hip channel. Their website looks nice. The person on the home page talks to me, and it works fine. In Linux AND Windows. But I can't get their episodes to play. In ANYTHING. What's the deal? I'm a computer expert, and I can't get it to work. I even checked to make sure I have the latest Java VM installed (God knows why I'd need that!) and Flash Player. Everything is in order but when I go to their site I just get a message telling me "Your video will begin after this brief message" (or something like that) and it sits there, spinning. Forever. Firefox, IE, same thing. On Linux at least I get an error message that tells me my OS won't work.

CW - What DO you support? You are alienating the younger generation, and we aren't going to come back once we get hooked on other shows. I guess I'll never get to know what Reaper is about. Too bad, it sounded like it had potential.

Hebrew Aleph-Bet and Gematria Tool

2007-07-29T10:18:00.001-07:00

Try this out!

It is a Hebrew Aleph-Bet and Gematria Tool that I've been working on for a few days. It can do four basic things, selected in the "Transcode" option:

Convert from "Compact Form" code to a Hebrew Font. There is a cheat-sheet for compact code provided at the top of the page.
Convert from "Expanded Form" code to a Hebrew Font. There is a cheat sheet for expanded code provided at the top of the page.
Convert from the currently selected Hebrew Fonts (one of the supported fonts) into the "Compact" code. In addition to the supported fonts, any modern Unicode font can be translated from by choosing any other Unicode font.
Convert from the currently selected Hebrew Fonts (one of the supported fonts) into the "Expanded" code. In addition to the supported fonts, any modern Unicode font can be translated from by choosing any other Unicode font.

The tool can also calculate Gematria values for the phrase entered and its individual words. Gematria is calculated using four different methods of addition:

Ragil. This is the standard method where each character from Aleph to Tav is given a value from 1 to 10, 20 to 100 (by tens), and then 200 to 400 (by hundreds), respectively.
Mispar Gadol. This method is identical to Ragil except that it uses the final forms of Kaf, Mem, Nun, Peh and Tsadi to represent 500 through 900. The Gematria calculation considers the letter to be final if it is in the word-final position, whether or not the selected font has a distinct character for the final letters.
Mispar Katan. This method uses repeating series of 1 through 9 across the aleph-bet, which is the same as dropping all the zeros in the numbers used for the Mispar Gadol calculation.
Ordinal. This method simply numbers the aleph-bet consecutively from 1 (aleph) to 27 (final tsadi).

In addition to calculating the "total" values, sums are given for each of those, until a single digit number is reached. So if the total is 666, the sum is 6+6+6 or 18, and the sum of that is 1+8 or 9.

I would like to continue to improve this tool so that it can be useful for many things, so please let me know what you've used it for and what you think could be added or improved.

P.S. I think Narkisim is a beautiful font, and I wish it came with the US edition of Windows XP, at least, (I think it gets installed if you add Hebrew Language Pack, though) or that there was a similar font available for free. If anyone knows of a similar free font, point me in the right direction.

2007-07-23T15:53:00.000-07:00

$5525.00

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

Major Plot Flaw in Prison Break

2007-03-11T00:45:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I should have posted about this when I noticed it, which was way back in November, but I figured everyone else would catch it too. I tried Googling, however, and did not find any posts about it, so here it is:

When Bellick got arrested for suspected murder of his friend Geary it was because the body had arrived at the hospital where Bellick was already at, and he was with the police officer at that time who ended up eventually charging him with the murder.

He had been in the hospital for quite some time, with the police outside his room. He calls Geary on his cell phone and leaves the message while he is still at the hospital. After leaving this message, he was never out of sight of the police and his whereabouts are always known up until the time he is charged with the crime. All they needed to do, was verify the time on the "incriminating" voicemail to see that he could not have committed the murder because why would he send the message to Geary after he had already killed him? It makes no sense.

Oops!

(The episode this was in is entitled "Bolshoi Booze", and is Episode 11 of Season 2.)

WYSIWYG

2006-11-09T18:06:00.000-08:00

Merriam-Webster: WYSIWYG

I've never heard the "word" WYSIWYG pronounced until today. And, I am now of the opinion that it should not be pronounced at all. According to Wikipedia and M-W "wizzy-wig" and "wiz-i-wig" are the standards.

How to Stop Terrorism - Fool Proof!

2006-09-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

I can't take credit for this idea, it came to me from a good friend, but it is brilliant! Ok, here's how it works: Many terrorists are operating under the principle that if they die as a martyr they will be rewarded in the afterlife. Most of these terrorists also have a law forbidding them to take pork into their body, as it is an unclean animal. So, the solution is to dip all of the United States (and allies) bullets in pork grease. They would not dare approach a situation where they might be shot with a pork bullet, because this would certainly prevent them from reaching paradise after this life. Problem solved. I have come up with my own addendum to this plan: Fill the walls of all passenger aircraft with pork grease so that in the event of an explosion the shrapnel would embed pork into the bodies of all on the plane.

Perhaps this is a suitable use for packaged weight watchers pork rines.

Google Notebook

2006-09-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

I just ran into a new (for me) Google service. Google Notebook

I've made one already, and it's an awesome concept. To get started you just need to install a small extension to your internet browser which gives you a new option in your right-click menu. Then when you find something on the web that you want to remember, or "jot down" in your notebook, you select whatever it is, right click and select 'Note This'. Whatever you selected is then added as an entry in your notebook with a link back to the site you grabbed it from - perfect for lazy researchers.

It's still in Beta, so there are still some quirks and problems.

It's really hard to move, add or delete images. I would like to host images off my own server, but this is impossible right now. If I add a note from scratch, there is no way to add a picture that I've found
In general, the text is hard to edit, it should be as easy as blogger!
Actually, it would be cool if it let you edit the html as well.
One of my pet peeves is a page with various font types and font sizes. I would LOVE it if GoogleNotebook had an option to set all the font faces and sizes to the same thing when you add a new note. That way they would look consistent.
It would be profitable, but perhaps unethical, to have optional google ads on the public view page. I say unethical, because you are farming other people's work and earning money off of it... but, someone researching a topic would much rather stumble across your notebook full of the information they need, than spend the time scouring the web for the same pages.
I wish I could change the look *just a little* .. maybe integrate the Google web page Template idea into it... *shrug*
One more heading type would be really good. Something to split the sections up a little.
Oh! Unicode support! pretty please?
A list of notebooks by topic or something would be cool, and a place for notebook authors to list a topic (or three), obviously.
Move the items in the 'Actions' drop down box into a toolbar type deal.

Despite that long list, Google Notebook is actually very usable right now, as is ... it just needs a little polishing.

Ketchup Nazis

2006-09-03T19:31:00.001-07:00

Every time I order one of those delicious cherry pies at McDonalds, I think about why the Cherry comes in a brown box, and the Apple in a red box. Everyone knows that when you slice open a hot Apple pie it is brown, and a Cherry pie is red. They may have some strange logic involving certain apple's skins being colored red, and Brown being designated as "special" for some reason. It is whack. This makes no sense. It is like a bad decision that has stuck with the company for decades now, and is being upheld by the current regime of Ketchup Nazis. Why must it persist?

Fruit Loops

2006-09-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about taking fruit loops, and separating them into separate bowls based on color. Purple, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange. Then eat them blindfolded and see if you can really tell the flavors apart? (Raspberry, Cherry, Blueberry, Lime, Lemon, and Orange)

Are they distinctly flavored? Or are they all flavored with the same mix, and the colors only indicitive of the contents in general?

Working on what will most benefit...

2006-09-01T23:17:00.000-07:00

We encourage our employees, in addition to their regular projects, to spend 20% of their time working on what they think will most benefit Google. This empowers them to be more creative and innovative. Many of our significant advances have happened in this manner. For example, AdSense for content and Google News were both prototyped in “20% time.” Most risky projects fizzle, often teaching us something. Others succeed and become attractive businesses.
--Larry Page

Larry Page was co-founder of Google with Sergey Brin. I like this little 20% time idea. I think more companies could make use of such philosophies. How often does the worker know exactly what would improve efficiency, but is never given the opportunity to implement it? I've seen this happen everywhere, and I think it's pretty much ethically wrong to not act in such a case to improve the company.

Have you heard of anyone with similar policies? What benefits have these companies gained from this attitude?

Replace Ampersands

2006-09-01T18:18:00.000-07:00

This Regex attempts to replace all ampersands that are not part of a character entity with the & character entity.

&((([^;]|\z){6})|.{0,5} )

$result = ereg_replace('&((([^;]|\\z){6})|.{0,5} )', '&\\1', $subject);
$result = preg_replace('/&((([^;]|\\z){6})|.{0,5} )/', '&\\1', $subject);

And a disclaimer - If you don't know what this means, then you don't need to know this. ;-)

Something I did not know about Eggs...

2006-08-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

a bomb regardless

Read my comment at "A Bomb Regardless" (ironically named)

Adjusting Courier IMAP to support Thunderbird Defaults

2006-08-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

The Courier IMAP mail server has a default limit of 4 connections per IP address. Mozilla Thunderbird defaults to using up to 5 simultaneous connections per server. This is a problem. :) Many pages document how to fix it from Thunderbird, but here's how to fix it in Courier IMAP on the server:

I'm running FreeBSD Unix. I find my courier imap configuration files in /usr/local/etc/courier-imap/

You'll find a file called imapd - edit it. There's a line that says MAXPERIP=4. Change the 4 to a 5 or a bit higher, to be on the safe side. But don't make it too high -- this restriction is there for a reason.

Now, restart courier imapd. I did this on my system by going to /usr/local/etc/rc.d/ and running:

./courier-imap-imapd.sh stop

./courier-imap-imapd.sh start

And there you have it. Your Courier will now behave gracefully with the default settings for a modern version of Mozilla Thunderbird.

Of the mountain and the vale, and the path that I went

2006-08-10T18:34:00.000-07:00

Not necessarily *good*, just bizarre, and worth listening to at least once.

Heilige Saeure (Ding Im Ding) by Paniq

Lyrics:

guten tag meine damen und herrn
äähm...wir sind.... ich bin.....nun....also.....ich mach mal die musik an

seht, ich experimentierte mit heiligen saft,
hörte, das gibt Kraft,
dass man alles rafft
fraß meine portion
und merkte schon
ich war kein mensch sondern ein elektron

zufällige fluktuation
gedankenlegion
ein bewusstseinsstrom
mit zweiundvierzig ohm

was früher ich gekannt, wurde seltsam verzerrt
ich begriff dieses land ist unerhört gestört

mein kopf war entbrannt
er hat auf dem boden ein' topf aus gedanken
welche sich auf einem hohen niveau befanden
und ich merkte wie sie mich langsam überrannten
fühlte mich zudem bedroht von äähh tischkanten

und so beschloss ich in panik was zu tun
ich war mir sicher, ich dürfte nicht nicht nicht ruhn
denn ich dachte, dass wenn ich dächte,
dass das nichts brächte
dass ich wusste das sich das früher oder später noch rächte

(Chorus 2x)
seht ich probierte die heilige säurEE
hört wie ich für euch meine schaltkreise steure
ich erzähl euch vom fraqtal, dem ding im ding
von berg und tal und dem weg den ich ging

und immer wieder ertappte
ich mich wie ich innerlich an dem gedanken bappte, ich dächte nur an mich
und sicherlich
war das auch richtich,
nur nich wie ich mir das ausmalte, oh jetzt bezahl ich fürchterlich

und als ich dachte, dass ich dachte, dachte ich dass dachte, dass ich an denken dachte
HÄÄÄ?? sachte

ich dachte dass ich beim denken an das denken etwas machte
und so verschachtelte ich mich und lachte
die sache war verrückt und ergab trotzdem sinn, denn in jeder schachtel ist natürlich noch so eine drin
und wenn du diese aufmachst, siehst du dann,
dass man in dieser wieder eine schachtel finden kann

und jede schachtel, jeder karton, jede box, jede kiste,
die du danach findest stand schon immer auf deiner wunschliste,
denn das auspacken dieser dinge ist allein das erlebnis,
alles gleich und anders, so lautet das ergebnis

(2x)
seht ich probierte die heilige säurEE
hört wie ich für euch meine schaltkreise steure
ich erzähl euch vom fraqtal, dem ding im ding
von berg und tal und dem weg den ich ging

meine zimmer, warn gefüllt mit prächtigen schätzen
angesichts der herrlichkeit musste ich mich erstmal setzen
wer hätte das gedacht - sehr her auf meine wände
bei der struktur meiner tapete klatsch ich freudich in die hände
und in der küche fand ich ein sonnenblumenkernbrot
kein kern mit gleicher farbe, ich fand blau grün und rot
und jeder schmeckte anders, das konnte ich schon sehn
allein durch den geschmack konnte ich alles verstehn

und später hörte ich musik, die klang wies himmelreich
ein gebilde aus logik und kein ton klang gleich
oh diese geistesnahrung war wie die offenbarung
dieser tag war eine unglaubliche erfahrung

ich rat euch, gebt euch den heiligen saft
ich sag euch das gibt kraft weil man alles rafft
fresst eure portion
und ihr merkt schon
wer keine angst vorm denken hat, gewinnt ein telefon

(3x)
seht ich probierte die heilige säurEE
hört wie ich für euch meine schaltkreise steure
ich erzähl euch vom fraqtal, dem ding im ding
von berg und tal und dem weg den ich ging

I hate charities that beg!

2006-08-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

14:56:48 <ziviks> I hate the special olympics people who call and beg for money
14:56:57 <ziviks> they make me feel like a monster
14:57:01 <ziviks> I think i'll blog about it!

And so I am.

Charities shouldn't call and beg people for money. It is annoying, and they are disrespectful in how they present the information and try to pressure you into helping. There are SO many different charities out there, that if I donated to all of them, I myself would be in need to call and beg as well. One shouldn't feel bad to have to reject some of these callers. Your money should go where you decide to put it, not where people are pressuring you to put it. There are many great charities out there that can be considered. But there are many more things that can be done besides just giving money, and those things are often more important, and have a bigger impact.

Veronica Returns!

2006-08-08T16:16:00.000-07:00

If this isn't an important Quasi-Religious event, I don't know what is...

Veronica Mars is returning for a third season, on the new CW network (taking over the reigns from The WB and UPN).

Tech Support Experience

2006-08-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

I got onto a certain ISP's "Live Help" for my grandfather, who chose (perhaps unwisely) to have his main email go through them. It took 3 hours and 10 minutes!!! waiting in a queue which started with 26 people in it before anyone even began dealing with me. Some Names and Usernames have been changed to protect the innocent. This is hilarious:

2:12:48 PM System MHI Sansan has joined this session!

2:12:50 PM System Connected with MHI Sansan

2:13:09 PM You Hello

2:13:30 PM MHI Sansan I am pleased to meet you, Bill.

2:13:53 PM MHI Sansan Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

2:13:55 PM You This is actually Jeff, Bill is my grandpa. He had to leave. WE are having password issues on the account

2:14:20 PM MHI Sansan What was the error message you received when you tried to access your AOL account?

2:14:41 PM You well.. We haven't had to put the password in in so long, we reinstall software and when we tried to enter it it says it is wrong

2:15:20 PM You we had it written on a paper, and maybe the O's and Zeros were mixed up or something

2:15:40 PM You So we would like to do a password reset

2:16:50 PM MHI Sansan Let me see if I have this right. I understand that you need assistance with resetting your AOL screen name password. Do I have that correct?

2:17:06 PM You That is correct. I tried to reset it, and it said unable to verify and sent me to live help

2:17:39 PM You Our user name is aolsucks

2:18:10 PM MHI Sansan Thanks for clarifying that.

2:18:30 PM MHI Sansan I will be happy to assist you in resetting the password here online. However, I need to complete account verification before processing your password reset request.

2:18:52 PM You ok

2:20:20 PM You what do you need to verify?

2:22:02 PM You I am ready to complete account verification.

2:23:16 PM You I have waited 4 minutes since you said something?

2:23:23 PM MHI Sansan What is the master screen name of your account?

2:23:31 PM You aolsucks

2:25:14 PM You The screen name is aolsucks

2:25:49 PM You I already told you that 8 minutes ago?

2:26:11 PM MHI Sansan May I have your first and last name please?

2:26:22 PM You William Day (or Bill Day -- nickname)

2:27:21 PM MHI Sansan To protect your privacy and security, I need to verify your account information. Can you please provide me the answer to the Account Security Question of the Primary Master Screen Name? Here is the question:

2:27:21 PM MHI Sansan What is your pet's name?

2:27:42 PM You fuzzball ...... or fido ... i have two pets

2:28:01 PM MHI Sansan I am pleased to meet you, Maggie.

[ May I stop to point out here: WHAT!?!?! ]

2:28:11 PM MHI Sansan Please disregard the last response. I apologize for the confusion it may have caused. The message you received was intended for another member I am currently assisting as well.

2:28:31 PM MHI Sansan I appreciate the added information.

2:28:33 PM You Understood.

2:28:51 PM MHI Sansan What Screen Name would you like to have the password reset on?

2:29:00 PM You aolsucks

2:29:41 PM You As I said 12 minutes ago.

2:30:17 PM You Please help me reset the password for screen name aolsucks

2:32:11 PM MHI Sansan Thank you for waiting. I have reset your password to WD9747 under the screen name aolsucks. For security, please update this password the next time you log in to the service.

2:32:48 PM You Please wait while I try this before you leave.

2:33:17 PM MHI Sansan To change your password, please go to https://names.[the isp].com. Type in your screen name and password, then click the SIGN ON button. In the PASSWORD section, under your screen name, click the CHANGE link.

2:34:27 PM You I have succesfully logged in. It took [YOUR ISP] and you combined 215 minutes to assist me. Do you have faster support options for the future?

2:35:01 PM You After waiting in a queue I was told I was now the first in line, but you do not have enough employees to help people individually?

2:35:53 PM MHI Sansan I do apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you. For further assistance, you may contact our Password Department at 1-888-265-8004 toll free number.

2:36:01 PM You People would be happier if you help them one at a time. I am a computer consultant and software professional in my area, and I will be recommending my customers stay away from [YOUR ISP] because of this poor service.

2:36:34 PM You Most companies have a password reset web page that does this instantly.

2:37:18 PM You You can hire a teenager for $50 to make that service work for your company and eliminate the need for this live help.

2:37:51 PM You Bye

2:38:32 PM You p.s. Dell is hiring for tech support. They are a nicer company, you might consider moving.

2:39:16 PM You I will be sharing this transcript (With the names changed) on my blogs as well.

2:40:02 PM MHI Sansan Here is what I have done for you today: The password for your Screen Name AOLSucks has now been reset . The change will go into an immediate effect on your next login. Please do not forget to update this password once you have successfully logged back in.

2:40:11 PM MHI Sansan Thank you for visiting Member Account Services Live Help. Have a wonderful day.

2:40:11 PM System MHI Sansan has left this session!

2:40:11 PM System The session has ended!

Focal Curve :: Archive » The Evil Entity

2006-08-04T23:58:00.000-07:00

Focal Curve :: Archive » The Evil Entity

A blogger after my own heart. Character entities are pain enough as it is, they should at least render according to the language they declare themselves.

Crossing Over Business and Blogging

2006-08-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

I met with a business owner today and learned that she is into esoteric studies as well. So, I decided to tell her about my blogs. I've never crossed over my blogging and business associates before, so it shall be interesting if she decides to read much of what I write. Unfortunately, since I told her about my blogs, that disqualifies her as a subject to blog about, lest she realize I'm writing about her. I imagine this type of crossover will become more common as time progresses. I know this is a common thing for bloggers to consider, and I wonder how it will influeunce the perceptions of potential clients. I tend to think it is generally good to be open and forward about who you are, and provides a comfortable experience in comparison with the typical dry, impersonal, corporate American business.

It's DVDs! it's a book! no ... it's Superman?

2006-08-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

I was wakened this morning by the doorbell ringing, and after a frantic search for some clothing, opened the door to a package! We had ordered some Buffy DVDs and a set of books last week, so I thought maybe ...

But, when I opened the box, all it contained was a Superman action figure and a note: "Congratulations! You are a fifth prize winner in the QTG Superman Online Instant Win Game, sponsored by The Quaker Oats Company."

A month ago, I had bought a box of Pasta Roni (Alfredo, yum), and it had this superman contest on it. I usually don't go in for stuff like that, but this time it paid off, sort of.

I'll add a picture of the toy later today.

Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock - New York Times

2006-07-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock - New York Times

I recently read this article which was heralded by Carla Golden on her blog and I felt impressed to share it with everyone who reads my blog.

The Genie

2006-07-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

I put this up a long time ago... but it hasn't ever caught on. Maybe someone wants to give it a whirl? Impress the Genie

Note: The genie is not granting wishes. He has a specific agenda in mind, and has his own take on the whole Djinn tradition.