Livin' the life...

If you've ever spoken to me for any extended period of time, you would know that I love to mix in other languages in my speech. Other languages meaning French and Spanish! Well just now, I've stumbled across a rather worthwhile article listing 8 FREE online resources for learning languages. I must say that some of these are anything but extensive, but they provide a reasonable foundation. And, let's be honest, if you really want to learn a new language, you'll probably do a course!

So enjoy the article! I know I will. Adios amigos! Y, hasta la vista! Or.. En Francais; Au revoir, a bientot!

I stumbled across the following USB stick lately, I could help but come to the conclusion that this is strictly created for soldiers or well, forest dwellers!

Here's the photo of another more snazzy looking one! It's amazing what USB sticks are being combined with these days. Then again, I guess that follows on quite nicely from the weird USB devices that are available in general!

Very thought provoking, albeit aged video, discussing the Internet, net neutrality, and the scary perspective or 'fact' that our Internet is under attack. This video is NOT meant for 'techies' but rather, for anyone that uses the Internet. [See savetheinternet.com for more info.]

I also recommend this video response. It's a few minutes longer but it is worth it, as it is about twice as comprehensive and descriptive.

Woopie!

I must say however, it is a real shame England got eliminated.. the atmosphere over here just isn't the same! It lacks that sense of joy, and patriotism that was so prevalent during the World Cup in 2006. England was so alive then! Well, that's before Portugal eliminated them. eek!

[Image above sourced from the Official UEFA Euro 2008 website. You can get a PDF, pin-up version of the matches from UEFA here.]

Even though a friend informed me that the trailer trumps the movie, because it was on my list of movies to watch for 2008 I decided to follow up on my post and watch Iron Man anyway.

My result? A wee bit too unbelievable. I think I would believe the Spiderman story, or even the Batman or Joker story of how they came to be, before I swallow the one purported in Iron Man. I must admit that I have no clue of if this is how he came to be in the comics, but regardless, I find it a little unbelievable. Being able to make an "Iron Man" prototype in a cave? Largely by yourself? That has a flame thrower? Probably I'm getting too old for this stuff to be accepted so easily!

Objectively however, it was an OK movie, but I would say one definitely for the teens or anyone who treasures any comic-gone-movie title from Marvel. In this right, I would give it 6/10.

The official death toll for Burma's cyclone disaster has jumped to almost 78,000 people, with nearly 56,000 missing, according to state TV. ... (Full Story; my previous report)

Barring a terrorist attack on a major city, today is the first day I have seen the same story being covered on the front page of three of the top news articles I read. BBC, Yahoo! and Metro were all keen to cover the plummeting of the wild life populations alluded to in a recent report.

The BBC reports, "Between a quarter and a third of the world's wildlife has been lost since 1970, according to data compiled by the Zoological Society of London. Populations of land-based species fell by 25%, marine by 28% and freshwater by 29%, it says. Humans are wiping out about 1% of all other species every year, and one of the "great extinction episodes" in the Earth's history is under way, it says" (Source).

What are the core reasons you ask? The authors seem to squarely blame it on pollution, farming and urban expansion, over-fishing and hunting. But of course, that can't be a surprise for us. I believe it was the Metro (on the paper's front page) that said that human population was up 60%. In their report online they state add to this point and state, "The declines [of the wild life populations] come at a time when humans are consuming ever more natural resources, and are now using 25% more than the planet can replace" (Source).

Having read this post, I'm positive you will agree that the polar bear photo (from the Metro) illustrates the current state of affairs quite accurately.

If I didn't know better, I would think Mother Earth is getting upset.

A massive search and rescue operation is under way in south-western China after one of the most powerful earthquakes in decades.

Troops have arrived in Wenchuan county at the epicentre, which was largely cut off by the quake - but heavy rain is hampering rescue operations.

Elsewhere in Sichuan province, frantic efforts are being made to reach thousands of people under the rubble.

The death toll is now more than 12,000, officials say, and looks set to rise.
Chinese rescuers search a collapsed building for survivors in Beichuan, Sichuan province, on Tuesday

In one city, Mianyang, near the epicentre, more than 18,000 people are said to be buried under the rubble, state news agency Xinhua reports.

In the nearby town of Mianzhu, at least 4,800 people are trapped, and massive landslides have buried roads to outlying villages, state news agency Xinhua says. (Source)

Here's more information including videos and photos from Google, Yahoo!, and CNN.

Please remember China and Burma, and all others in which there is extreme tragedy, in your prayers.

Somewhat random and likely inaccurate, but blog-worthy nonetheless.

Online source of image.

From the sky... Before and after: extent of flooding clear in Nasa satellite images

(BBC)

 

On the ground...

(Telegraph)

Regardless of where you are in the world, surely you have heard about the tragedy currently affecting Burma. Well below is an update taken from the BBC.

Experts say that a massive aid operation is needed to help those affected by Cyclone Nargis, which smashed into the low-lying Irrawaddy delta region on Saturday.

But the Burmese government has spurned some offers of aid, such as one from the US to deploy navy ships, and many foreign aid workers are being held in a queue for visas. The government has approved some UN air shipments, but these are still being delayed.

A Bangkok-based UN official said that World Food Programme planes loaded with 40 tons of high-energy biscuits were stuck in Dhaka and Dubai because they had not yet received permission to land in Burma.  ...
On Wednesday, the top US diplomat in Burma said that the number of deaths could be much higher than reported. Burmese state media said on Thursday that 22,980 people had been confirmed dead and another 42,119 were missing.

But Shari Villarosa, the charge d'Affaires of the US embassy in Burma - also known as Myanmar - said the death toll could reach or exceed 100,000, based on information from a non-governmental organisation that she would not name. (Source)

Please remember this country, and all others in which there is extreme tragedy, in your prayers.

Back in 2005 5% of the Internet users said they were using RSS aggregators or XML readers to get the news and other information delivered from blogs and content-rich Web sites as it is posted online (according to the Pew Internet Project).

Feedburner recently reported that they track around 60 million RSS subscribers. Even if we bump that number to 70 million RSS users (counting people that use RSS with other applications or platforms) this would still convert to a meager 5,4% of the Internet users around the world, as of today.

What is the takeaway message? Only a very small percentage of the Internet population is aware of the RSS format and its benefits, and that number is growing slowly over time.

By creating the RSS Awareness Day and celebrating it every year we should be able to get the general public exposed to this format, hopefully increasing the usage of RSS feeds and related applications among Internet users. (Source)

Well.. Happy RSS Day!

A few days ago whilst browsing the Web trying to locate where a quote (i.e. "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion") I had heard earlier that week had originated, I stumbled upon a rather fascinating blog post titled "19 Eponymous Laws Of Software Development".

In that blog post I found the aforementioned quote - also known as Parkinson’s Law or the law of bureaucracy - and a ton of other pretty snazzy entries (not all related to software development). I especially like: Postel’s Law, Pareto Principle, Hofstadter’s Law, Linus’s Law and Wirth’s law. It's a nice article, I suggest you check it out.

Etymology of A Distro..

"On the flipside of things, there is a whole different world of OS names, some are funny, some are insightful, some are romantic, others are cute, some are too small to fill their creators’ huge egos, and finally some are like their proprietary rivals, just boring. So if you ever wondered what your favorite Linux distro means, you will probably find the explanation here. (or BSD, I know they are not the same but I decided to add to the diversity of this article.)" (Ref)

Great article. I have used Ubuntu and Red Hat. What about you?

For the last few years, the 'big boys' of the Internet have made some interesting Earth Day logos out of their usual emblems; this year was no different. This post is mainly for my records; I want to see how they change next year. So here they are in no particular order.

I checked live.com, altavista.com, digg.com but they haven't done anything. If you know of any others to add, please let me know!

Also check out, the Earth Day home page, fact sheets, and some other enlightening toons [1] [2] (the one above was sourced from here).

Here's a very interesting article I read in Friday's Metro.

"The internet has much bigger problems that slowness (Metro, Wed) - the real issue now is the total amount of data we download today.

Thanks to the recent boom in popularity of streaming and downloading video from the internet, we are all downloading far more data than before. BBC's iPlayer has come under pressure from British internet service providers as the chief culprit thanks to its high-quality video and peer-to-peer network causing an unprecedented increase in data traffic.

As a result, 'unlimited download' packages are no longer financially viable for any ISP, even big names such as BT and Virgin. It's just a matter of time before they start tightening limits, hiking up their prices or even going bankrupt." Edward Noad, London SE1.

Even though some of this guy's comments make things sound a bit gloomier than they are, I do believe in certain cases, he does make some valid and rather pertinent points; one good example is unlimited packages!

Case in point: I remember lately some flat mates and I were perplexed at why our Internet connection was going SUPER slow between the hours of 5pm-12am,.. then we got the word of a possible 'cap' on our downloading between that time. Normally that would not be a problem HOWEVER, last time I checked, we're paying for UNLIMITED Internet! Then again, these days, I guess nothing is 'unlimited', companies (such as my former mobile service provider!!) throw in a 'Fair Usage Policy' which, at its heart, is a mechanism to limit your unlimited access.

Ah well, what can we do? BBC iPlayer is an excellent idea. Possibly we need to get this faster Internet in place asap? Or will we have to revamp every 10 years or so? After all this has the perfect makings for a classical cyclic problem!

Since I posted a Top 10 listing for 2007 yesterday, today I figured that I would drag us back to the present i.e. 2008. Therefore, here's Yahoo!'s 10 Most-Anticipated movies for 2008. My picks are Iron Man, Indiana Jones, Wanted and The Dark Knight. I can't wait!

"50 Top 10 Lists of 2007" - This is definitely one of the best articles I have seen in a while. TIME, (in partnership with CNN) has published 50, Top 10 Lists of 2007. These span categories from news and entertainment to science and technology. At first glance some of the ones which peek my curiosity are listed below.

News: Top 10 News Stories, Top 10 Underreported Stories, Top 10 Religion Stories, Top 10 TIME.com Most Popular Stories
Arts & Entertainment: Top 10 Movies
Science: Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs, Top 10 Scientific Discoveries, Top 10 Natural Disasters
Business, Tech & Sports: Top 10 Gadgets, Top 10 Websites
Pop Culture: Top 10 Quotes, Top 10 Buzzwords, Top 10 TV Ads

I would brand this article a 'Must Read' for anyone!

Wooppieeee!!!

"One of the final hurdles preventing Europeans from chit-chatting on their cell phones while hurtling through Euro airspace has been cleared, as UK regulator Ofcom (akin to our FCC), has given the OK for cell phones to be used on planes, as long as they're above 3,000 meters. (Many of the other approvals required across Europe have already been granted.) ...

Of course, in the U.S., no such plans are underway, though those hopeful for getting Internet access while airborne are in for a treat. This week, the FAA approved plans for American Airlines to offer in-flight Wi-Fi service, and that approval can potentially be applied to any U.S. airline that wants to offer the same type of technology (provided by Aircell). No news on a date when such services will be turned on, but many are hoping to have live Wi-Fi rolled out on at least a few planes by the end of the year." (Ref)

On a more tangential yet similar note though, check out this article: Airliner showers: A very guilty pleasure.

Cell phones, Wi-Fi, showers.. what next?!

Just was doing some research which lead me to GE's web site and as I was browsing, I stumbled across a GE fact sheet that shows that NBC - a channel I knew well back in Barbados (Law & Order, Las Vegas, Scrubs) - is one of the six businesses which constitutes GE!

We learn something new everyday.

Happy Easter!!!

I must say, in England the season of Easter seems a bit more publicised and widely - dare I remark - 'accepted', than it is in Barbados. By 'accepted' however, I do not necessarily mean that everyone is jumping for joy that Jesus is risen! (even though He IS!) but the point that even non-Christians are eager to wish others a Happy Easter.

(Regarding Easter eggs - I had tried to find some authoritative and official Christian source to explain the origin, and purpose of Easter eggs.. however none I found were up to my standards.

It is my belief however that Easter eggs within Christianity are a symbol of new life. So yes, it's more than just a big lump of Cadbury chocolate!)

Have a blessed Easter.

Well, even though the ending of the movie was "leaked" to me (thanks to a certain female- M!!), it was still a largely enjoyable experience! This Drama, Thriller, Western Adaptation is likely one of the better movies I've watched in a while, a bit.. gory and senseless at times but, pretty alright.

One comment I must make though is that I think some scenes could have been expanded upon, to facilitate a more 'complete' story (eg. how the Llewelyn Moss met his end). BUTT, I fully appreciate why such was not done - and no, not because the movie was already scheduled to be ~2 hours long!

My take is that it's all in keeping with the title of the movie.. *here I pause to let you ponder*. If you take the title, "No County for Old Men" at face value, you'll see that it was not really about Llewelyn (hence why his .. 'departure' was not shown), or about the Chigurh (and the fact that he got away scot free). As the movie progresses you can see that Sherrif Ed Tom Bell is just struggling to fathom the crimes, killings, and generally 'the times'. Lastly, look at how the movie ended with "Old Man" Sherrif Bell's reflections on his dreams. *pause for effect* .. get me?

I suggest you watch the movie once more - if you've watched it previously, keeping my comments in mind, I'm sure it will be better the second time around.

33 And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. 34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
And they divided His garments and cast lots. 35 And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.”
36 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.”
38 And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew:
      THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”
40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

I must say, Google is one of the Top 3 sites I visit online. And that's not only because of its market-leading Search, but also its many other cool and fun gadgets. Dare I say it, I actually thought that I had, to a good extent, explored all the "kingdom" of Google! However, today PC world outlines some other things (they call "pranks, goofs, and put-ons") that definitely slipped my eyes. Here are the "best of the bunch"!

"The flow of blood may be ebbing, but the flood of money into the Iraq war is steadily rising, new analyses show. In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.

Beyond 2008, working with "best-case" and "realistic-moderate" scenarios, they project the Iraq and Afghan wars, including long-term U.S. military occupations of those countries, will cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion — or more — by 2017.

Interest on money borrowed to pay those costs could alone add $816 billion to that bottom line, they say." (Ref)

...

Today is Palm Sunday. The day commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion, reported by all four Canonical Gospels Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19.

Last year June, I reported on a commandment listing from the Vatican which highlighted a list of Ten Commandments for drivers. Well, the Vatican is at it again, but not for drivers this time, now it's more focused on sins in the societal context as you can see below.

"VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Thou shall not pollute the Earth. Thou shall beware genetic manipulation. Modern times bring with them modern sins. So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of "new" sins such as causing environmental blight.

The guidance came at the weekend when Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican's number two man in the sometimes murky area of sins and penance, spoke of modern evils.

Asked what he believed were today's "new sins," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics.

"(Within bioethics) there are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control," he said.

The Vatican opposes stem cell research that involves destruction of embryos and has warned against the prospect of human cloning.

Girotti, in an interview headlined "New Forms of Social Sin," also listed "ecological" offences as modern evils.

In recent months, Pope Benedict has made several strong appeals for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race." (Ref)

Some of the other newly purported sins include: polluting the environment, causing social injustice, causing poverty, becoming obscenely wealthy and taking drugs (Ref).

These sins of course are to be added to the old (more personal) list of: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.

To be fair.. New times.. new sins..

As the author writes.. "Here are listed 10 categories of devices you can buy to make you feel like a James Bond, from laser beams that cut things to x-ray goggles that see through clothes to CSI grade forensic lab hardware." (Ref)

My favourite two gadgets are shown below.

Laser	Virtual Secret Surveillance

(Please note that it is your responsibility to follow the law in your country with respect to the purchase and use of these gadgets. I neither (a) am endorsing any of these products or (b) accepting any responsibility for your use of them. Use them at your own risk!)

This person's post is simply excellent, exquisite even! (And it's not just me that thinks so, it's got over 800 diggs!) Here's an excerpt..

"Recently, the blogosphere echoed that sentiment with news of “Facebook fatigue”.

1. In January, The Register started by saying “Whisper it, but numbers from web analytics outfit comScore have confirmed what the chatter in bars and cafes has been saying for months - people are, just, well, bored of social networks.” About Facebook, they added that “behaviour seems much the same; join, accumulate dozens of semi-friends, spy on a few exes for a bit, play some Scrabulous, get bored, then get on with your life, occasionally dropping in to respond to a message or see some photos that have been posted.”
2. A few weeks later, Techcrunch also looking at ComScore data said “The number of people who visit Facebook has been leveling off over the past few months in the U.S., and even dipped by about 800,000 individuals in January. (…) Maybe all that friend spam has something to do with the decline. Will the Facebook fatigue get worse, or is this just a temporary dip?”
3. Adding his grain of salt, Rory Cellan-Jones from the BBC added: “The general feeling is that the kids, with their minute attention spans, have already tired of the social networking site and moved on to something more hip and happening. I think the opposite is true - that Facebook’s new wave of older users have decided it is just not worth the bother and are now leaving it to the kids.”

..." (Ref)

Cellan-Jones' comments (above) grab my attention the most and you can check his full post titled, "Facebook - back to the kids?".

This entire FB thing has been quite amusing I must say! But I do wonder if Twitter is.. really the next "best thing since slice bread" to invest in. To be totally honest, I'm more interested in the comments made about FB that I am in the original author's comparison of it with Twitter.

Anyway, in a couple months we will see the outcome (personally, I doubt Twitter will reign, it's quite limited in functionality and prospective audience compared to MySpace, Hi5 and their current successor, FB).  Whatever the grand result.. I'm sure MILLIONS of you out there are can't wait to hop on this cyclic bandwagon whatever tomorrow's new thing will be! No offense meant of course.

A blast from the past!

As you'll see the video I've embedded above is not the real music video, but on the positive side, it does have the lyrics! Anyway, I also suggest you check out the real music video! Seeing the guys and noting the year it was done - probably around 1995 - definitely adds more feeling and passion to an already great song. Enjoy!

I found the following story a bit of an eye-opener.. I'm sure I had heard of a similar regulation/guideline before, but I had never actually heard of it preventing a video! Read below..

"The video for Gnarls Barkley's new single, "Run," may feature a cameo from Justin Timberlake, but it's still not quite ready to air on MTV.

That's because of its strobe effects, which caused the clip to fail the Harding Test -- guidelines established to prevent TV images from triggering epileptic seizures.

However, the video is available on various online outlets, and Gnarls Barkley member Danger Mouse was hopeful the situation could be resolved shortly.

"I don't know exactly what's going on, but we're having issues. I think (the video) is cool. It works for me. But I'm not necessarily that easily seasick," he told Billboard.com. "We can't predict how people are going to interpret it."" (Ref)

"Scientists working with Antarctic ice have found that the level of greenhouse gases is at the highest level in over half a million years. Carbon dioxide is 27% higher now than any other time over the last 650 000 years. Methane, an even stronger greenhouse gas is 130% higher. The period of time studied covers eight full glacial cycles including a time when the earth's position relative to the sun is the same as it is today. Other scientists have found that the annual rate at which the sea has risen since the industrial revolution is twice that of over the last 5000 years. It is predicted that by 2100 the sea level will be 40cm higher. These results provide strong evidence that human activity since the industrial revolution, rather than just natural processes, has strongly altered the world's climate. As one of the scientists involved in the research put it: 'The levels of primary greenhouse gases such as methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide are up dramatically since the Industrial Revolution, at a speed and magnitude that the Earth has not seen in hundreds of thousands of years.'" (Ref)

Just something to ponder about.. Hey, with that in mind, have any of you watched the movie An Inconvenient Truth? If you have, here's an interesting follow-up BBC story I found titled "Gore climate film's nine 'errors'".

I love photos, they tell exciting stories and capture a moment in time forever. Here are a few photos that a writer says, "Changed the world".

Just a few songs I like..

The Hoosiers - Worried About Ray

Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music

Kate Nash - Foundations

Basshunter - Now You're Gone

Blue October - Into the Ocean

(These links were all working at the time of this post but we all know how that goes. :\)

After seeing the poster I did guess that this was another "Scary movie"-like film and therefore, really should have avoided it! However, I am such an avid fan of 300, I simply HAD to watch its parody in Meet the Spartans.

But, as with the two Scary Movie films I watched (1 and 2), it left me totally disappointed. Rather than making me laugh, a great deal of it just seemed offensive and poorly done - also come on! A dance off?? A "yo momma" competition?? (n)!

In general, the movie mostly relied on vulgarity, especially "strong language", and anything that seemed even remotely "funny" to the writers/directors/producers.

But, to be honest, I did not expect much.. either from the movie itself, or from the 13 great Spartan warriors Spartans who set out to defend their homeland against the invading Persians (whose ranks include Ghost Rider, Rocky Balboa, and a hunchbacked Paris).

Rating: 3/10. The plot gave it that high score.

Maybe missing an "if ($unread > 1)" statement somewhere Yahoo!?

Time for a refresher of sorts. This post mainly acts as an update to previous posts.

Documented civilian deaths from violence: 81,269 – 88,720

The preceding statistics were taken from the Iraq Body Count web site, or more specifically, this page.

A few nights ago I finally got around to seeing this highly spoken of film - namely I Am Legend - and for me, three words sum it up - not worth it.

There just seemed to be a lack of real depth to the story and at times I honestly could not tell if I was watching Resident Evil or not!

Mr. Smith's performance in general was OK but the movie, to me, did not do his talent justice. If you compare this movie to another one, such as I, Robot, I'm sure you will agree.

All-in-all, as I said, this movie was disappointing. On the bright side though, I like the official website. Well done!

This is a follow-up story to my original MicroHoo? post.

"SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo Inc.'s board will reject Microsoft Corp.'s $44.6 billion takeover bid after concluding the unsolicited offer undervalues the slumping Internet pioneer, a person familiar with the situation said Saturday.

The decision could provoke a showdown between two of the world's most prominent technology companies with Internet search leader Google Inc. looming in the background. Leery of Microsoft expanding its turf on the Internet, Google already has offered to help Yahoo avert a takeover and urged antitrust regulators to take a hard look at the proposed deal." [Continue reading...]

Well, we're all entitled to an opinion and here is one person's take on the 10 Best-designed web sites in the world! To be fair though, he also does give some fairly decent reasons!

• Apple.com
• Mozilla.com
• Iconbuffet.com
• Boldchat.com
• Circografico.com.ar
• Enhancedlabs.com
• Protolize.org
• Bearskinrug.co.uk
• Corkd.com
• Sumagency.com

For me, I do agree with most however Boldchat... not so much. :\ If I were to swap that with something, I'm tempted to drop in Yahoo! - even though I do think it is about time they do a redesign. I say Yahoo! mainly because of the amount of content they have available and how well they designed the layout and present it. One other aspect I appreciate is their largely unobtrusive integration of ads (especially in the narrow layout).

At some point in time though, I think I'll try to pull together a Top 10 of my own.. Hmm, only problem is, I probably only visit about 10-15 sites! :\ lol! Anyway, let me know what you people think! Is this person crazy or what? I think Apple.com is a must for all Top 10 lists. Surely we concur on that?!

"3D Realms president Scott Miller commits to a new Forever release date after 11 long years of delays and beating around the bush. Xbox 360, PS3, and PC versions being planned." (Ref)

If you've known me for any extended period of time, you would know that in my "gaming life", there has only been ONE GAME, that has EVER, captivated me to enormous proportions. That game is Duke Nukem. I honestly enjoyed playing that game SO much, I could do it for hours. And, when I found out you could download maps, and also play with friends online, !!! Well, you can imagine what happened.

The thing is though, all that stuff that I mentioned above, happened between the years of 1999-2004; so in essence, quite a while ago! More recently I had tried playing one of the newer versions of Duke - Manhattan Project to be exact - but I didn't like it too much.. (To me, it seemed very much a 2d-ish game where you largely go back and forward. Also, I found it a bit difficult to find exactly where you need to go to get accessories/keys and finish the stage. I do take the point though that Duke was always like that, however, now it's much more complicated!) So now,  with this news, I have Forever to look forward too! That is one demo I'll definitely be giving a go!

Very lately I have actually been considering purchasing a game - you know just for 'fun' - and since I've tried Ghost Recon on Xbox, that has jumped to the TOP of my "desired" list! I can thank my flatmates for that one! Anyway, I'll postpone the decision until I give this 2008 release of Duke Nukem Forever a shot! If it's anything like the Duke Nukem 3D of the old days - of course with better graphics, and game play! - that may just edge out Tom Clancy's army-based blockbuster. taa!

By the way, here's the Official Duke Nukem Forever Teaser!

"May 4, 2007 -- Stung by the loss of Internet advertising firm DoubleClick to Google last month, Microsoft has intensified its pursuit of a deal with Yahoo!, asking the company to re-enter formal negotiations, The Post has learned.

While Microsoft and Yahoo! have held informal deal talks over the years, sources say the latest approach signals an urgency on Microsoft's part that has up until now been lacking.

The new approach follows an offer Microsoft made to acquire Yahoo! a few months ago, sources said. But Yahoo! spurned the advances of the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant. Wall Street sources put a roughly $50 billion price tag on Yahoo!. ..." (Ref)

February 1, 2008 - "Unable to topple Google Inc. on its own, Microsoft Corp. is trying to force crippled rival Yahoo Inc. into a shotgun marriage, with a wager worth nearly $42 billion that the two companies together will have a better chance of tackling the Internet search leader.

Microsoft's audacious attempt to buy Yahoo, spelled out in an unsolicited offer announced Friday, shows just how much Google threatens the world's largest software maker's grip on how people interact with computers. ...

Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li expects Yahoo to resist, predicting the company "will do everything possible to stay independent," even if it means swallowing its pride and rehiring Google to run its search engine and sell ads on its site. ...

Google already controls 62 percent of the worldwide search market, and has been widening its lead, according to the latest data from comScore Media Metrix. By combining, Microsoft and Yahoo would have a 16 percent share of the worldwide search market, the Web traffic tracking company said. ...

The fate of Yahoo's brand also is unclear if Microsoft takes over. Both Ballmer and Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft's platforms and services division, hailed Yahoo's strong brand value but did not commit to keeping the name alive." (Ref)

Tomorrow -  Who knows? Definitely, to be continued.

As it seems that every other person has a Gmail account, but few know its real 'power', I find this article quite appropriate and useful!

Check out the 11 Power Tips for Gmail!

Sometimes, I think the readers of my blog really need to get a blog of their own! Not, meaning anything bad of course, just that they do have "things to say" and I would really welcome the company in the Blogosphere! Why I say this you ask? Well, after seeing the following story, one of my readers suggested that I carry this article as a follow-up to one of my previous posts - namely, the one on the song from Plain White T’s - Hey There Delilah.

Anyway, on with the story! Definitely check it out if you know the song.

Bet you didn't think she was real!! I didn't.. It's a pity she has a boyfriend.. Wonder how long that will last,

(Thanks for the suggestion J! :-))

"Once again, Mac delivers!". If you're a Mac fan, I'm sure after Mr. Job's annual keynote speech a couple days ago - or more specifically, after feasting your eyes on that sweet-looking MacBook Air - that was your unanimous conclusion. If you're a shareholder however, I'm not sure you'd be so happy. Why? Well, let's read together:

"Apple's stocks took a beating on the stock exchange on Tuesday 15 January following Steve Jobs' annual keynote speech at Macworld2008 in San Francisco. Although shares in the company peaked as the CEO took to the stage they soon started to drop until Jobs announced the MacBook Air where they recovered slightly.
However as the news sunk in of what had been said the shares went south even further hitting $165 before a final rally before 4pm brought them back to a closing $169, down $14.88 (around 6%) at the end of the trading day from $180." [Source]

Oh well, I'm sure they'll be back up soon, after all, "HAVE YOU SEEN THE MACBOOK AIR?!" ...

Doing this should be really simple but MS, for some reason has chosen to integrate it with Windows Internet Explorer thus making additions of new feeds counter-intuitive at best. Anyway, to get it loading your feeds of choice, browse to the Windows Sidebar and gadgets (overview) page and scroll down to "How does Feed Headlines work?". After a few steps you'll be up-and-running! Enjoy!

PS. Don't forget to add my blog to your Feed list!!

Here are a few news clips I found noteworthy as I browsed the newspaper on the bus this morning.

"About 151,000 Iraqis have died in the three years since the US invasion, a study has concluded. The latest estimate, based on surveys of nearly 10,000 households by the World Health Organisation and the Iraqi government, is the most accurate study of the death toll since the war began, experts believe."
Me: *sigh, so sad. I wonder how many were civilian casualties.

"Waste from the new nuclear power plans is likely to be buried 1km (3,000ft) underground in secure vaults, the Government said."
Me: Sounds good! We need to get rid of waste (which is probably toxic), so dig a _deep_ hole, pack it the earth, and cork it shut! Excellent! ..

"First-Class degrees were handed to students in record numbers last year. One in eight students graduated with a first, while half scored 2:1s [Upper second class in B'dos]. It comes as academics said they had to alter courses due to the rising amount of school leavers being poorly prepared for studying independently."
Me: Am I to as