Livin' the life...

For this week...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 - Everything Has Its Time

"To everything there is a season,      
A time for every purpose under heaven:
      A time to be born,
And a time to die;
      A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
      A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
      A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
      A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
      A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
      A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
      A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
      A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
      A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
      A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
      A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
      A time to love,
And a time to hate;
      A time of war,
And a time of peace."

Remember..

To everything there is a season,      
A time for every purpose under heaven.

Have a blessed week!

To readers in Barbados. Clocks go forward tonight (well in the wee hours of Sunday morning), therefore the UK will now be 5 hours ahead of Barbados as opposed to 4.

Thanks for setting me straight Jeremy.

Sorry folks, I'm a bit sick at the moment hence no blog posts.

These are some stats which I took from the Metro newspaper last Thursday (March 20th). This post is intended to compliment my other post.

175: British soldiers killed in action since March 2003
3,979: Number of US soldiers killed in action
133: Non-British or US coalition troops killed in action
7,951: Iraqi military and police officers killed
127: Journalists have been killed in Iraq since 2003

173,508: Total coalition troops stationed in Iraq

4,200,000: Estimated numbers of Iraqis displaced from their homes

2,500,00: Barrels of crude oil produced each day pre-war
300,000: Barrels of crude oil produced each day in May 2003

70,000: Estimated strength of Sunni insurgency, up from 5,000 in 2003
115: Average number of insurgent attacks each day since 2005

10,000: Peak prison population in 2003
60,000: Prison population in Aug 2007

£424bn: US cost of the war
£4.5bn: British cost of the war

Update: A few seconds ago whilst watching BBC news, a story aired that reported death of the 4,000 US soldier (Ref).

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)

...

11 Pimped-Out PCs: "From the cutting edge in eight-core PC gaming muscle to the retro styling of the Victorian era, these desktops and laptops reach for the heights of extravagant design." (Ref)

Definitely some quirky looking stuff!

As you can see I've included my favourite one in this post! It starts at around $1324 for a configuration with an Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 processor with nVidia GeForce 8800GTS graphics.

Which one, if any, strikes your fancy?

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..

Today the BBC reports: "A controlled explosion has been carried out on a World War II bomb found in Coventry city centre.

The bomb was discovered on Wednesday [12 March 2008] morning by construction workers at the site of a new hotel.

Police set up a 500m exclusion zone as a precaution and offices, flats, hotels and a theatre were evacuated.

Cordons were lifted after the device, found at the Belgrade Plaza development in Upper Well Street, was made safe just after 0240 GMT.

About 140 people had to spend the night in rest centres set up by the council at Queens Road Baptist church and St Peter's Church in Hillfields. ..." (Ref)

Imagine that! One of my mates (FROM BARBADOS!!) even had to evacuate his flat as a precautionary measure - he lives in the City Centre! For me, I go to Uni in Coventry but live elsewhere. Regardless though, this news is a real shocker! I'm glad it all ended well.

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!)

Just a few days ago I posted about Mourinho and his public notice to return to the game, as the coach of a top Spanish or Italian club.

Well.. after seeing the news tonight that Inter's coach Mancini is stepping down at the end of the season (linked possibly to Inter's "shocking" CL exit at the hands of Liverpool even though he denies it), I think I have a pretty good idea where he [Mourinho] may be heading!

Let's wait and see how it turns out!

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!

A few days ago when as I was reflecting about all the varrriiouss things on my mind, out of nowhere, the verse, "cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you" came to me. Because I was not 100% sure that this was the correct quotation I googled it and eventually, browsed on to look at the verse's overall context.

I hope the verses (below) can impart some of that same enlightenment which I feel, to you, and serve to remind you that He is there waiting for us whatever we may be going through..

The verse..

"Submit to God, Resist the Devil

5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for

      “ God resists the proud,
     But gives grace to the humble.”

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 5:5-11 (NKJV).

(Believe it or not, I only wanted to underline the really KEY parts of the verse.! :$)

Enjoy your week and God bless! :-)

I just found an Excellent presentation on The Business Value of SOA by Anne Thomas Manes, a Vice President and Research Director at Burton Group.

And yes, SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) is a part of my research..

I found this rather shocking so definitely worth a blog post..

"Jose Mourinho has expressed his wish to return to Stamford Bridge in next season's Champions League and "kill" Chelsea with a leading Spanish or Italian club.

The most successful manager in Chelsea's history also had warm words yesterday for his former employers, but admitted that he had formed no relationship with Avram Grant during more than two months together at the club.

"He was working at my club but he wasn't working with me," he said. "I don't know the person. I feel nothing for him but I feel everything for the club. I still feel that the club is part of me and I want it to succeed. But I hope to play them next season in the Champions League and I want to go there and kill them." " (Ref)

.. Or.. is this just a publicity stunt to broadcast that he's looking for a job at a top Spanish (Barcelona, Real Madrid?) or Italian (Juve?) club? I wonder..

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'".

LOl! Proper! Thanks J!

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with ALL your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13.

I can add nothing to this scripture to make it more perfect or pertinent. Therefore, I'd just ask you to take a few minutes out of your busy day and meditate on these words and their meaning, their implications for your life.

Have a blessed week!

Took a trip to Birmingham City Centre and the Bull Ring today! Below are a couple photos from the trip (I've only made the following smaller versions available as the originals are not of good quality).

Overall it was a quite pleasant day out - weather and all as you can observe from the photos! - and it was spent with great company as well!

The old..	The new!

In my humble opinion, the new BBC home page definitely rocks - a big improvement to the previous version. It is much more interactive, has a nice and smoother feel, more customisation possible and still maintaining that ever-important accessibility help.

My only reservation about the new page is that it really is quite huge compared to the old one. I always thought that the BBC had kept their previous page narrow in consideration of those persons with not-so-wide/big displays. Therefore, I must assume now that BBC has determined that enough of their visitors have large enough displays to warrant this move..

The last comment I have is for readers to note that IT IS just the home page that has been changed. If one accesses any of the links, you will see that the page loaded is still the same "old" version of the BCC web site - the same old, narrow version. This may be good for some of us, i.e. when considering the aforementioned displays issue, but of course for others - like myself, we would like something a bit newer that is more interactive and 'fun'. I mean, we all can go to any place to view the news, so why should we view it at the BCC? What's their "value proposition", dare I use that business term. But then again, all in time I guess.. All in time..

Have a great weekend folks!