Firefox 1.5 Final Now Available

You can find more info about it in the release notes. Highlights are: Automated update, drag and drop reordering for browser tabs, improvements to popup blocking, better accessibility and better support for Mac OS X.

Extreme Yoga?

The first time I saw this I was amazed. Of course this is not possible (prove me wrong otherwise)
It reminded me of the story of advanced martial art practitioners who could retract their testicles inside their bodies so that they would be protected.

Porting GNU/Linux And Darwin To The Microsoft Xbox 360

The Free60 Project wiki and developers mailinglist has been launched. The project aims to port open source operating systems like GNU/Linux and Darwin to the Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming console. The site already contains some interesting details about the Xbox 360 security: per-box key stored on CPU, boot ROM will be on CPU too and a hypervisor verifies the running state of the kernel.

Xbox 360 Crash Fix Found

A Gamer fed up with his new Xbox 360 crashing every 20 minutes has fixed the problem by raising the power supply off the ground with some string.
Dan, from Duluth, or 'goldeneyemaster' as he is known, told the game spot forum that he thinks the main reason that the xBox 360 freezes is because the power supply overheats. The solution is to lift the power supply off the floor and allow the air to circulate better around it.
Another simple method involved getting a box with no cover and putting the power supply on the edges.
As a result, he was able to leave his machine on for a stonking seven hours without it freezing up.
Other gamers to the site report that the idea works for them too. Many of them note with relief that since it is the power supply that is clearly the problem, rather than the box itself, it should be fairly easy for Microsoft to replace.

Optical Illusion, Disappearing Purple Dots

Someone emailed this to me, pretty cool in my opinion
If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, you will only see one color, pink. If you stare at the black + in the center, the moving dot turns to green.
Now, concentrate on the black + in the center of the picture.
After a short period of time, all the pink dots will slowly disappear, and you will only see a green dot rotating if you're lucky!
It's amazing how our brain works. There really is no green dot, and the pink ones really don't disappear. This should be proof enough; we don't always see what we think we see.

You have to click on the image to make it start

Man accused of stealing $200,000 worth of Legos

Wow that's a lot of Lego boxes.
Agents had to use a 20-foot truck to cart away the evidence from a suspect's house -- mountains of Lego bricks.
Read the article here

Wal-Mart Supercenter cancels local Xbox 360 sale

A melee erupted among a crowd of shoppers in the rush for the new Xbox 360 video game console at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in northeast Maryland.
It took 10 police officers to restore order
Wal-Mart canceled the sale and police ordered everyone to leave.

Nice, now wait till tomorrow. I predict at least 1 person will go to the hospital on Black Friday.
People will be getting up at 2AM to wait in line to save a couple of dollars. I never shop on Black Friday and certainly not at Wal-Mart. Online is the way to go, shop when you want and how you want, it's open 24/7 and no crowds

Jessica Simpson And Nick Lachey Split

Who cares?
Why is this on every channel on Thanksgiving day?
Isn't their real news like Toxic slick floating through Chinese city, heading for Russia , Cloning Pioneer Sorry for Ethics Lapse or even Suicide Bombing Leaves 30 Dead in Iraq
So what's next for Nick Lachey? A tell all book about how her father controlled everything and that is the reason the marriage fell apart etc etc etc
I am sure it will be an E True Hollywood Story soon
Enough said

Google Onsite Advertiser Sign-up

Google just released this program.
This is the description: "Gain new advertisers directly from your webpages
Your content is valuable. And starting within the next two weeks, advertisers will be able to bid for placement on your site right from your web pages. With Onsite Advertiser Sign-up, a new feature of AdSense, your AdSense ad units will display an 'Advertise on this site' link that takes interested advertisers to a page which you can tailor for your business. On this page they can see your details about your site and the Google AdWords program. Advertisers who sign up for AdWords through this landing page will create an ad automatically targeted to your site, and your site alone. And more advertisers competing to display ads on your site means more revenue for you."

Let's see how this works out.

I am addicted to Diet-Coke

Whenever I pass the cafeteria I feel the urge to buy a diet coke. I don’t know what’s in it but something makes me want to buy it all the time. I did not drink coke till I was about 15-16 years old. I really started after getting my first programming job. I am not a person who has trouble getting up in the morning and don’t need the caffeine to do so; I wake up at 4AM without an alarm clock. But whenever I buy a coke and start drinking it I feel some kind of rush going to my head. I don’t think it is the caffeine because I don’t get the same feeling when I drink tea.
I remember when I used to drink ripped force in the gym before my work out and it would be something similar. Then they banned ephedrine and that was the end of that. I think ripped force was good for my workouts because I made my runs about a minute faster per mile. Anyway I am trying to kick the habit and switched to green tea, but it is not easy. Maybe I should join DCA (Diet Coke Anonymous)

Top 20 Geek Novels

Top 20 geek novels according to Guardian

1. The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams 85% (102)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four -- George Orwell 79% (92)
3. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley 69% (77)
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Philip Dick 64% (67)
5. Neuromancer -- William Gibson 59% (66)
6. Dune -- Frank Herbert 53% (54)
7. I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov 52% (54)
8. Foundation -- Isaac Asimov 47% (47)
9. The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett 46% (46)
10. Microserfs -- Douglas Coupland 43% (44)
11. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson 37% (37)
12. Watchmen -- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 38% (37)
13. Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson 36% (36)
14. Consider Phlebas -- Iain M Banks 34% (35)
15. Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert Heinlein 33% (33)
16. The Man in the High Castle -- Philip K Dick 34% (32)
17. American Gods -- Neil Gaiman 31% (29)
18. The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson 27% (27)
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy -- Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson 23% (21)
20. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham 21% (19)

Top 10 Space Movies Of All Time On Space.com

Top 10 Space Movies of all time as it appears on Space.com
I don't think that I agree with this list but here is what they have

1. Apollo 13
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. Star Wars IV: A New Hope
4. Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
5. Star Trek: First Contact
6. Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
7. Alien
8. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
9. Contact
10. Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi

SQL Server 2005 Launch In Philadelphia.

I have attended the SQL Server 2005 Launch In Philadelphia. It was very informative I learned some stuff I didn't know and saw some usefull implementations of the new features. There were about 30-40 vendors present. The one vendor that I hoped would be there was not. This company is red-gate and they are the makers of a product called SQL Compare I have used this product for about 2 years now and was hoping to speak to someone and letting them know how much I liked their product. The Architecting Scalable Flexible and Secure Database Systems track was interesting as well as all the others. What kind of goodies did you receive here? Of course everyone received SQL 2005 Standard and Visual studio 2005 Standard Editions. Also included was Windows 2003 Server R2 RC1, Biztalk server 2006 CTP, A free exam voucher, free Biztalk 2006 Developer Edition download (after registering for the beta download) and a shirt of course (ironically Philadelphia is not mentioned on the shirt). All in all a good event and I am glad I went

Playing Outdoor Chess In Amsterdam

I don't know why but I had the need to share this picture with the world. I think the concept is pretty cool.

Army considering combat chewing gum

The Army is developing a new chewing gum to help soldiers fight dental problems in the field. The gum takes the place of brushing teeth, which the soldier in a combat situation might not have time or means to do.
How ironic, I just went to the dentist yesterday and he was giving me a hard time about not enough flossing

Watching All Six Star Wars Movies Simultaneously

Someone who has a lot of extra free time decided to watch all 6 Star Wars movies simultaneously on 6 screens. While he was doing that he noticed a couple of interesting things.

"The first appearance of Palpatine in TPM and AOTC is ON THE SAME FRAME. And at the same time in ROTJ, Vader is telling Moff Jerjerrod that the Emperor is coming."

"And the holograms of Palpatine in TPM and Luke in ROTJ in these scenes appear at about the same time."

"Anakin standing next to Obi-Wan in AOTC and ROTS, and in ANH as Vader standing next to... that other guy."


You can get the videos and read more stuff about it here Weirdhat

Anyone remember Dark Side of the Moon - Wizard of Oz coincidences ?

Wired store opened in New York City (SOHO)

160 WOOSTER II NEW YORK CITY

Cool I will have to check it out, I love their magazine, these are some things they have going on


Pink Light Specials You gotta be in it to win it. In the store, that is. WIRED will give something away each and every day to store shoppers.

WIRED Wednesdays Stop by from 4 to 6 pm to satisfy your afternoon caffeine craving with a free hot drink of your choice from Tassimo.

Thursdays Sounds of the Season Presented by Flavorpill. Groove to some of New York's hottest DJs while cruising for the latest high-tech gear. First four Thursdays in December.

WIRED Wheels Make a weekend purchase at the WIRED Store and enjoy free door-to-door shuttle service to your next destination in a new VW.

Class-action lawsuit in California by consumers against Sony

The suit claims that around June 2005, Sony BMG began to issue some CDs that install digital rights management software that continuously monitors for rights problems, depleting a computer's available resources.

The suit says the technology cannot be removed without damage to the system and that Sony BMG does not advise consumers of the existence or true nature of the program.

Of course you can get all the details about the rootkit on Mark's Sysinternals Blog

top 10 antioxidant sources in the average American diet

Below is a list of the top 10 antioxidant sources in the average American diet

10 Potatoes
9 Tomatoes
8 Apples
7 Beer
6 Red wine
5 Corn
4 Dried Beans
3 Bananas
2 Black tea

and number 1 =Coffee

So what does this tell us? Well for starters the average person in the U.S. does not eat enough fruits and vegetables, which of course are better for your overall health due to their high content of vitamins, fiber and minerals. Berries and dates have the highest antioxidant value per serving but are not to be found on this list

Blog-Spotting With IBM Software

IBM has announced new 'Blog-Spotting' software that will allow the monitoring of blogs, wikis, news feeds, consumer review sites, newsgroups, and other community-generated content. From the article: "People can share and spread opinions faster than ever before and that's accelerated the impact of public opinion on businesses"

programmer sues his former employer for changing his programs' source code

Well people will try all kinds of things, for example sue McDonalds because they are fat. This guy got paid for the work he did and should be quiet. Next monday the gardener will sue me because I moved the flowers in my garden thus messed up his precious work
Read the article here CNET

PostgreSQL 8.1 Has Been Released

PostgreSQL 8.1 has been posted, but has not been officially announced as of this moment. This release includes two-phased commits, improved SMP and overall performance, a new role system replaces the older user/group, autovacuum is now within the backend rather than a separate contrib module, and various improvements, performance enhancements, and bugfixes. To find out all the new features go here . To download the latest release go here

Google Referral For Firefox

Well I got my first Firefox dollar, thanks Google and thanks to the person who installed it

German IT (Nutzwerk Ltd) Bans Whining In The Workplace

German IT outfit Nutzwerk Ltd has come up with the perfect solution to whining in the workplace - it's made cheerfulness a contractual obligation, advising those who don't measure up to the prescribed level of jollity in the morning to stay at home until they cheer up. The plan was prompted by a female employee whose constant complaining prompted the other staff to complain about her complaining

Google Referrals For Adsense and FireFox

Wow Google is stepping it up a notch this time. They have introduced referrals for adsense and for FireFox.They will give you $100 once someone signs up for adsense and reaches $100 in revenue. This means that if you sign up 10 people and those 10 people generate $100 in ad revenue Google will pay you $1000. I am sure the web will be green and white tomorrow. Google will also pay $1 for ever FireFox installment (When a user you’ve referred to Firefox plus Google Toolbar runs Firefox for the first time, you’ll receive up to $1 in your account, depending on the user’s location.). Like I said expect to see a lot of these ads by tonight. They have stepped up their effort to go after Microsoft.

Copernicus' Grave Found In Polish Church

Polish archeologists believe they have located the grave of 16th-century astronomer and solar-system proponent Nicolaus Copernicus in a Polish church, one of the scientists announced Thursday.
Copernicus, who died in 1543 at 70 after challenging the ancient belief that the sun revolved around the earth, was buried at the Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Frombork, 180 miles north of the capital, Warsaw.

XBOX 360 Sold Out At WalMart Hits $4100 On Ebay

Wow already sold out at WalMart? I did not expect that so soon
This is the message on their site "We're sorry, but we've SOLD OUT of our initial launch quantity of Xbox 360 hardware. However, the Xbox 360 will be AVAILABLE IN WAL-MART STORES AT 12:00 AM on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22."

Who wants to pay $4100 for the XBOX 360, I would like to meet that person

Lithium-Ion Battery that Delivers Unprecedented Levels of Power, Safety and Life

A press release from A123Systems announces another new lithium-ion battery technology that promises to deliver unprecedented performance (according to them). The technology is supposed to deliver 10 times the cycle life and 5 times the power over conventional lithium technology, and only require 5 minutes to recharge to 90% capacity.

Hydrogen Fuel Cells Hit the Road

Well, it looks like Honda is doing a real test of their fuel-cell car. A family in California is renting the car for $500/mo. Honda is charging them so that they take it seriously - an executive explained that if it were free they might not get the kind of feedback they want. If someone is paying for something and they're not happy - then you're going to hear about it. This is apparently the first fuel-cell car on the road anywhere in the world, according to Honda.

Smash My iPod Video

Check out this site (http://www.smashmyipod.com/)
"The Plan After we collect $400 in donations, we will take that money to a local Apple Store. We will purchase the iPod, open it right inside the store, and destroy it right on the spot. The whole thing will be shot on film, and displayed on this site."

Well finally they collected enough money to do this and the video is online

Bush To Unveil Bird Flu Strategy

President Bush today will unveil a national strategy to tackle bird flu in a bid to reduce the chance of a widespread outbreak among people, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "It's something we need to take seriously," he said. "That's why the president has been leading the way." So far, the deadly strain of bird flu disease does not appear to infect people easily, but it does appear to have a high mortality rate of about 50 percent.

"By the end of the year, more than 4 million courses of antiviral treatment should be on hand, though that number is far lower than what the World Health Organization has urged."

Mmmmm we can help half of Manhattan

Let's wait for the strategy later today
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