News, Headlines, Information, Facts

iPhone 3.0 release time

2009-06-17T05:59:00.000-07:00

Upgrade should be arriving between midday and 2pm, East Coast time.
Between 5pm and 7pm today (UK time).
Following up reports that it was delayed until tomorrow, Twitter user @richardlai checked out different Apple sites around the world and discovered that Apple Singapore was reporting 18 June, while Apple India was reporting 17 June.
Make sure your iPhone's plugged in and ready to sync between those times, if you want to be the first to get the update.

IPhone 3.0 boasts of new features, so it seemed to be a worthy software upgrade. Cut, copy and pasting text between applications are now possible. Landscape keyboard makes it easier to type. Sending MMS can be done. Spotlight search offers a one-stop search which visits every application on the phone for the search item, so the user does not need to hop from one application to another. Voice memos convert an iPhone to a sound recorder that can record meetings. The Enhanced Stocks App is something that will also be useful to owners who are into the Stock Market trade.

Current iPhone owners can download the software from iTunes for free, and iPod Touch users can get it as well, but for a fee of $9.95, just like the last OS update. What time exactly, we don't know yet. Apple will only say iPhone OS 3.0 will come out sometime Wednesday.

The update includes many functions other phones have had for a while, including multimedia messaging (if supported by your carrier--AT&T won't offer it until later this summer), voice recording, buying and renting movies and TV shows over the air, full system search, tethering (again, if your carrier allows it), and push notifications.

Apple has also bundled in some extras, like landscape virtual keyboard for certain apps, more extensive parental controls, in-app purchasing, and a feature for MobileMe customers called Find My Phone.

There will also be stereo Bluetooth available, as well as the capability to create applications specifically for interfacing with third-party hardware. That could lead to a boon in the accessories market for the iPhone as well as the iPod Touch.
As anticipated as Wednesday's OS 3.0 launch is, it's only the second most important product rollout for Apple this week. The new iPhone 3G S is scheduled to hit stores Friday morning.

Americas Army 3 download

2009-06-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

Pragmatic Solutions announced today that the Army’s soon-to-be-released PC game America’s Army 3 (AA3) will be available exclusively on AOL’s Big Download.com, http://www.bigdownload.com a site offering fast and free PC game downloads and files. The Deploy Client was developed and powered by Pragmatic Solutions, an America’s Army Development partner. America’s Army 3 is the only action game that delivers an authentic and entertaining Army experience by reflecting the training, technology, actions and career advancement of a Soldier within an exciting free game experience. Beginning June 17, 2009 when the game is publicly released and running through June 21, 2009, users will be able to download the game via the Deploy Client exclusively on Big Download, and from Big Download and other partners listed on the America’s Army website thereafter.

Beginning June 11, 2009, America’s Army 3 players were able to pre-load the game from Big Download via the Deploy Client, which is a launching pad for America's Army, allowing you to connect to community forums and get direct access to support, information on the Army, or other content delivered dynamically to you.

AA3 has more authentic military elements including training, technology, weapons, and audio than any other military game. Built on Epic’s Unreal Engine 3, AA3 delivers stunningly realistic environments, lighting effects, animations, and team-based experiences so that America’s Army players can experience how the Army has strength like no other in a game like no other.
The teen-rated game will be constantly updated to include new features and missions and to highlight new technologies being incorporated in today’s Army.

“We are very excited to be working with Big Download in distributing AA3 via the Deploy Client to help reach the broadest audience and welcome as many new players as possible to our community” said Marsha Berry, the Army Senior Executive Producer for the America's Army program. “The episodic nature of our new game makes digital distribution the most efficient and effective way to get updates into players’ hands.”

AA3 highlights different aspects of the Army from Army Values and the Warrior Ethos to Army career opportunities and lifestyles both on and off duty. Through their in-game characters, AA3 players will be able to experience how Soldiers train, live, and advance in the Army. AA3 players will also experience different types of technologies and equipment used by the Army’s high-tech Soldier. Players are bound by Rules of Engagement (ROE) and gain experience as they navigate challenges in team-based, multiplayer, force-on-force operations. In the game, as in the Army, accomplishing missions requires teamwork and adherence to the seven Army Core Values. In the game, a player’s actions and demonstrated Army values will have consequences that are integral to success in gameplay and will affect a player’s career progression.

AA3 players will have customizable persistent characters that advance in their virtual careers by completing specialized training and accomplishing missions. The character’s career progresses much as it would in the Army. After completing basic combat training players go to advanced training to increase their in-game skill level and progress in their Army career. This specialized training allows players to unlock new abilities and gear, and to customize the gear they carry as well as their equipment loadout. As players advance, they will be able to cross-train and develop many different occupational specialties available in today’s Army. Highly-trained players will be much sought after due to the capabilities they bring to multiplayer missions.

Initially, the core of the gameplay focuses on an Infantry Soldier (11B). Players can select from a variety of roles that the 11B performs such as Advanced Rifleman, Automatic Rifleman, Squad Designated Marksman and Grenadier. The first additional Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) players can explore is 68W Health Care Specialist (Combat Medic) which will be added this summer. Players who complete advanced individual training modules can take on new MOS roles that will affect gameplay. Additional information on America’s Army 3 can be found at http://www.aa3.americasarmy.com.

About America’s Army
The Army creates and distributes America’s Army so that young Americans can virtually explore Soldiering in the U.S. Army like Soldiers experience it – as individuals and as members of teams. Through the Game’s virtual experiences, young Americans can explore the Army from basic combat training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and medic training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, to operations in defense of freedom. Along the way, they can join elite Army units and experience the strength of Army teamwork, values and technology within an engaging environment. The game has become an online phenomenon, consistently ranking among the most popular PC action games played online. The games are rated T for Teen and can be downloaded free from various partners listed on the http://www.americasarmy.com website. They are also distributed at local Army Recruiting stations, ROTC Detachments and Army events.

In the America's Army game, players are bound by Rules of Engagement (ROE) and grow in experience as they navigate challenges in team-based, multiplayer, force-on-force operations. In the game, as in the Army, accomplishing missions requires teamwork and adherence to the Army’s core values. Through its emphasis on team play, the game demonstrates these values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage and makes them integral to success in America's Army.

The Army launched America’s Army in July of 2002, and has released major updates to the game every few months. These releases feature new technologies, missions, Army units and occupations. In keeping with the dynamic nature of Soldiering, the America's Army game will continue to expand and will allow players to explore the Army of today, tomorrow and the future. An entirely new version of the game, America’s Army 3, will be released July 17, 2009.

About Pragmatic Solutions, Inc.
Pragmatic Solutions, Inc. develops software and adds brains to games. By employing unique database-driven technology, we create innovative software to enhance online gaming potential. With our Leverage™ Software Suite, a fully-scalable architecture which manages all server-side aspects of a game, we can integrate your single-player scenario, MMOG, commercial or serious game title. We provide tools to distribute games, provide social networking, and then assess and infer traits to enhance and customize the needs of your game community. White label versions like the Deploy Client are a state-of-the-art digital distribution platform, allowing users to be in control of their gaming experience and getting them in-game faster.

Source: www.mpogd.com

Guitar Hero Smash Hits

2009-06-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits (previously called Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits) is a music video game and the fourth expansion game to the Guitar Hero series. The game will feature 48 songs taken from four previous games in the series -- Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock -- expanding them to include support for full band play first introduced to the series in Guitar Hero World Tour. The game is being developed by Beenox and will be published by Activision for release on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 systems on June 16, 2009.

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits will play similar to Guitar Hero World Tour, featuring support for a four instrument band: lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocal. In addition to using master recordings for each song, the songs have been charted to use gameplay features introduced in World Tour including the open bass strumming & slider sections for intense solos using the touchpad on the guitar bundled with World Tour.

Here’s the full list of Guitar Hero Smash Hits including videos for each song:

Guitar Hero
1. Blue Öyster Cult - “Godzilla”
2. Boston - “More Than A Feeling”
3. Deep Purple - “Smoke On The Water”
4. Franz Ferdinand - “Take Me Out”
5. Helmet - “Unsung (Live)”
6. Incubus - “Stellar”
7. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - “I Love Rock N’ Roll”
8. Ozzy Osbourne - “Bark At The Moon”
9. Pantera - “Cowboys From Hell (Live)”
10. Queen - “Killer Queen”
11. Queens Of The Stone Age - “No One Knows”
12. The Donnas - “Take It Off”
14. The Exies - “Hey You”
15. White Zombie - “Thunder Kiss ‘65”

Guitar Hero II

16. Alice in Chains - “Them Bones”
17. Avenged Sevenfold - “Beast And The Harlot”
18. Danzig - “Mother”
19. Foo Fighters - “Monkey Wrench”
20. Iron Maiden - “The Trooper”
22. Jane’s Addiction - “Stop!”
23. Kansas - “Carry On Wayward Son”
24. Lamb of God - “Laid To Rest”
25. Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Free Bird”
26. Mötley Crüe- “Shout At The Devil”
27. Nirvana - “Heart-Shaped Box”
28. Rage Against The Machine - “Killing In The Name”
29. Reverend Horton Heat - “Psychobilly Freakout”
30. Rush - “YYZ”
31. Stone Temple Pilots - “Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart”
32. The Police - “Message In A Bottle”
33. The Sword - “Freya”
34. Warrant - “Cherry Pie”
35. Wolfmother - “Woman”

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s

36. Anthrax - ” Caught In A Mosh”
37. Extreme - “Play With Me”
38. Judas Priest - “Electric Eye”
39. Poison - “Nothin’ But A Good Time”
40. Ratt - “Round and Round”
41. Twisted Sister - “I Wanna Rock”

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

42. AFI - “Miss Murder”
43. DragonForce - “Through The Fire And Flames”
44. Heart - “Barracuda”
45. Kiss - “Rock And Roll All Nite”
46. Living Colour - “Cult Of Personality”
47. Pat Benatar - “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”
48. Priestess - “Lay Down”
49. Slayer - “Raining Blood”

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

50. Aerosmith - “Back In The Saddle

Thanks to IGN for compiling and releasing the list.

Interesting Facts - Useless knowledge that might be Useful.

2009-06-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

1. If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on your right side. If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side.

2. If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. For when a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.

3. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

4. Your tongue is germ free only if it is pink. If it is white there is a thin film of bacteria on it.

5. The Mercedes-Benz motto is “Das Beste oder Nichts” meaning “the best or nothing”.

6. The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.

7. The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.

8. The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night.

9. Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

10. The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

11. Dalmatians are born without spots.

12. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

13. The ‘v’ in the name of a court case does not stand for ‘versus’, but for ‘and’ (in civil proceedings) or ‘against’ (in criminal proceedings).

14. Men’s shirts have the buttons on the right, but women’s shirts have the buttons on the left.

15. The owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids.

16. The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it’s already been digested by a bee.

17. Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.

18. The color blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones.

19. Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die.

20. Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.

21. The verb “cleave” is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.

22. When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red.

23. When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.

24. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor.

25. The lion that roars in the MGM logo is named Volney.

26. Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros.

27. Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan.

28. It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million to make a film about it.

29. The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples.

30. There are 1,792 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

31. The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually the sound of nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.

32. Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.

33. It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body.

34. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

35. Most soccer players run 7 miles in a game.

36. The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.

37. Every day 200 million couples make love, 400,000 babies are born, and 140,000 people die.

38. In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it
is smiling).

39. Colgate faced big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command “go hang yourself.”

40. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.

41. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

42. The average person laughs 13 times a day.

43. Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are:Mizaru(See no evil), Mikazaru(Hear no evil), and Mazaru(Speak no evil)

44. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

45. German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.

46. Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump.

47. Whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.

48. Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn. Suddenly the pigs, all two thousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and stampeded, trampling the two hapless protesters to death.

49. If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural cause.

50. The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet!!

Some more:

1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire a strung across the U.S.
101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan (Wendy) are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don't die throughout the movie.
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.
123,000,000 cars are being driven down the U.S's highways.
160 cars can drive side by side on the Monumental Axis in Brazil, the world's widest road.
166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered each year in the U.S.
27% of U.S. male college students believe life is "A meaningless existential hell."
315 entries in Webster's Dictionary will be misspelled.
5% of Canadians don't know the first 7 words of the Canadian anthem, but know the first 9 of the American anthem.
56,000,000 people go to Major League baseball each year.
7% of Americans don't know the first 9 words of the American anthem, but know the first 7 of the Canadian anthem.
85,000,000 tons of paper are used each year in the U.S.
99% of the solar systems mass is concentrated in the sun.
A 10-gallon hat barely holds 6 pints.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off.
A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate.
A cow produces 200 times more gas a day than a person.
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
A fully loaded supertanker travelling at normal speed takes a least twenty minutes to stop.
A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.
A giraffe can go without water longer than a camel can.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons per day. Most of the sweat evaporates before a person realizes it's there.
A hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute on average.
A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside.
A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
A jellyfish is 95 percent water.
A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
A jumbo jet uses 4,000 gallons of fuel to take off.
A male emperor moth can smell a female emperor moth up to 7 miles away.
A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 6 years. Wow.
A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in just one night.
A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana.
A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn't give her coffee.
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
A quarter has 119 grooves on its edge, a dime has one less groove.
A shark can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water.
A skunk can spray its stinky scent more than 10 feet.
A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.
A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans!
A walla-walla scene is one where extras pretend to be talking in the background -- when they say "walla-walla" it looks like they are actually talking.
A whale's penis is called a dork.
About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30.
About 70% of Americans who go to college do it just to make more money. [The rest of us are avoiding reality for four more years.]
According to a British law passed in 1845, attempting to commit suicide was a capital offense. Offenders could be hanged for trying.
Actor Tommy Lee Jones and former vice-president Al Gore were freshman roommates at Harvard.
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
All porcupines float in water.
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
Almost a quarter of the land area of Los Angeles is taken up by automobiles.
America once issued a 5-cent bill.
America's first nudist organization was founded in 1929, by 3 men.
Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.
An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.
An average person laughs about 15 times a day.
An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Armadillos are the only animal besides humans that can get leprosy.
Armadillos have four babies at a time and they are always all the same sex.
Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.
Aztec emperor Montezuma had a nephew, Cuitlahac, whose name meant "plenty of excrement."
Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under is cap to keep him cool. He changed it every 2 innings.
Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.
Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.
Back in the mid to late 1980's, an IBM-compatible computer wasn't considered a hundred percent compatible unless it could run Microsoft's Flight Simulator.
Bank robber John Dillinger played professional baseball.
Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
Ben and Jerry's send the waste from making ice cream to local pig farmers to use as feed. Pigs love the stuff, except for one flavor: Mint Oreo.
Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru, an island nation in the Western Pacific.
Blueberry Jelly Bellies were created especially for Ronald Reagan.
Bubble gum contains rubber.
Camel's milk does not curdle.
Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".
Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
Cats can produce over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs can only produce about ten.
Charles Lindbergh took only four sandwiches with him on his famous transatlantic flight.
Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them use to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."
Cleo and Caesar were the early stage names of Cher and Sonny Bono.
Columbia University is the second largest landowner in New York City, after the Catholic Church.
David Prowse was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars. He spoke all of Vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to be dubbed over by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the movie.
Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ?
Dogs and cats consume almost $7 billion worth of pet food a year.
Dolphins sleep with one eye open.
Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was the physician who set the leg of Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth... and whose shame created the expression for ignominy, "His name is Mudd."
Dr. Seuss pronounced "Seuss" such that it rhymed with "rejoice."
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt."
Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that's the weight of about 6 elephants.
Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might be retarded.
Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.
Eskimo ice cream is neither icy, or creamy.
Even if you cut off a cockroach's head, it can live for several weeks.
Every person has a unique tongue print.
Every time Beethoven sat down to write music, he poured ice water over his head.
Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails.
Fortune cookies were actually invented in America, in 1918, by Charles Jung.
Gilligan of Gilligan's Island had a first name that was only used once, on the never-aired pilot show. His first name was Willy. The skipper's real name on Gilligan's Island is Jonas Grumby. It was mentioned once in the first episode on their radio's newscast about the wreck.
Giraffes have no vocal cords.
Goethe couldn't stand the sound of barking dogs and could only write if he had an apple rotting in the drawer of his desk.
Hang On Sloopy is the official rock song of Ohio.
Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
Honeybees have hair on their eyes.
Human teeth are almost as hard as rocks.
Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
Hydroxydesoxycorticosterone and hydroxydeoxycorticosterones are the largest anagrams.
Hypnotism is banned by public schools in San Diego.
"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
If NASA sent birds into space they would soon die; they need gravity to swallow.
If you bring a raccoon's head to the Henniker, New Hampshire town hall, you are entitled to receive $.10 from the town.
If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.
If you toss a penny 10,000 times, it will not be heads 5,000 times, but more like 4,950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.
If your eyes are six feet above the surface of the ocean, the horizon will be about three statute miles away.
In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die.
In 1980, there was only one country in the world with no telephones - Bhutan.
In 1983, a Japanese artist made a copy of the Mona Lisa completely out of toast.
In 1984, a Canadian farmer began renting ad space on his cows.
In 75% of American households, women manage the money and pay the bills.
In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their finals.
In England, in the 1880's, "Pants" were considered a dirty word.
In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
In every episode of "Seinfeld" there is a Superman somewhere.
In Kentucky, 50 percent of the people who get married for the first time are teenagers.
In Los Angeles, there are fewer people than there are automobiles.
In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
In space, astronauts cannot cry, because there is no gravity, so the tears can't flow.
In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile services (two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not re-number the other channel assignments. That is why your TV set has channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.
In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured.
In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
In the movie "Casablanca," Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam."
In the White House, there are 13,092 knives, forks and spoons.
In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs.
Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category.
It takes a lobster approximately seven years to grow to be one pound.
It takes about a half a gallon of water to cook macaroni, and about a gallon to clean the pot.
It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up its stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of its mouth. Then the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
It was once against the law to have a pet dog in a city in Iceland.
It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in Switzerland.
It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a certain church in Omaha, Nebraska.
It's against the law to catch fish with your bare hands in Kansas.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. (Don't try this at home!)
Ivory bar soap floating was a mistake. They had been overmixing the soap formula causing excess air bubbles that made it float. Customers wrote and told how much they loved that it floated, and it has floated ever since.
John Lennon's first girlfriend was named Thelma Pickles.
"Kemo Sabe" means "soggy shrub" in Navajo.
Kotex was first manufactured as bandages, during WWI.
Lee Harvey Oswald's cadaver tag sold at an auction for $6,600 in 1992.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet.
Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son.
Lorne Greene had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator while he was host of "Lorne Greene's Wild Kingdom."
Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its original size: "L.A."
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.
Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
Millie the White House dog earned more than 4 times as much as President Bush in 1991.
Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.
Montpelier, VT is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonalds.
More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money printed throughout the world.
More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.
More people use blue toothbrushes, than red ones.
Mosquitoes have teeth.
Most Americans' car horns beep in the key of F.
Most cows give more milk when they listen to music.
Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
Most lipstick contains fish scales.
Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean elephants.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, and purple.
Non-dairy creamer is flammable.
Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament Building is an American flag.
On an American one-dollar bill, there is an owl in the upper left-hand corner of the "1" encased in the "shield" and a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner.
One in every 4 americans has appeared on television.
One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the 1930's lobbied against hemp farmers -- they saw it as competition. It is not as chemically addictive as is nicotine, alcohol, or caffeine.
One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet.
Only 55% of all Americans know that the sun is a star.
Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
Over 1000 birds a year die from smashing into windows.
Owls are one of the only birds who can see the color blue.
Pamela Anderson Lee is Canada's Centennial Baby, being the first baby born on the centennial anniversary of Canada's independence.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air.
Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head."
Playing cards were issued to British pilots in WWII. If captured, they could be soaked in water and unfolded to reveal a map for escape.
Polar Bears trying to blend in with the ice will sometimes cover up their black nose with their paws.
Pollsters say that 40 percent of dog and cat owners carry pictures of the pets in their wallets.
Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States.
Recycling one glass jar, saves enough energy to watch T.V for 3 hours.
Reindeer like to eat bananas.
Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson."
Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.
Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and Australia have participated in every Games.
Slugs have 4 noses.
Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food.
Some toothpaste's contain antifreeze.
Spotted skunks do handstands before they spray.
"Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight floors for the cat to realize what is occurring, relax and correct itself.
Sylvia Miles had the shortest performance ever nominated for an Oscar with "Midnight Cowboy." Her entire role lasted only six minutes.
Texas is also the only state that is allowed to fly its state flag at the same height as the U.S. flag.
The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)
The average American drinks about 600 sodas a year.
The average American will eat about 11.9 pounds of cereal per year.
The average bank teller loses about $250 every year.
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year.
The average person is about a quarter of an inch taller at night.
The average person laughs 15 times a day.
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth.
The band Duran Duran got their name from an astronaut in the 1968 Jane Fonda movie "Barbarella.
The blesbok, a South African antelope, is almost the same color as grapejuice.
The Boston University Bridge (on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts) is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane.
The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life".
The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
The company providing the liability insurance for the Republican National Convention in San Diego is the same firm that insured the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic.
The condom - made originally of linen - was invented in the early 1500s.
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
The Earth weighs around 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons.
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump.
The first Ford cars had Dodge engines.
The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C.
The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver."
The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
The housefly hums in the middle octave, key of F.
The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.
The katydid bug hears through holes in its hind legs.
The "L.L." in L.L. Bean stands for Leon Leonwood.
The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. The only other word with the same amount of letters is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
The moon is moving away at a tiny, although measurable distance from the earth every year. Do the math and you will clearly see that 85 million years ago it was orbiting the earth at a distance of about 35 feet from the earth's surface. This would explain the death of the dinosours; the tallest ones, anyway.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz."
The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."
The national anthem of Greece has 158 verses. No one in Greece has memorized all 158 verses.
The Neanderthal's brain was bigger than yours is.
The oldest known goldfish lived to 41 years of age. Its name was Fred.
The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
The only nation whose name begins with an "A" but doesn't end in an "A" is Afghanistan.
The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League All-Star Game.
The penguin is the only bird who can swim, but not fly.
The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.
The phrase, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, "No eye gouging." Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be disqualified was to poke someone's eye out.
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times.
The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head.
The Ramses brand condom is named after the great pharaoh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children.
The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.
The Sanskrit word for "war" means "desire for more cows."
The "save" icon on Microsoft Word shows a floppy disk, with the shutter on backwards.
The saying "it's so cold out there it could freeze the balls off a brass monkey" came from when they had old cannons like ones used in the Civil War. The cannonballs were stacked in a pyramid formation, called a brass monkey. When it got extremely cold outside they would crack and break off... thus the saying.
The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in Jello.
The starfish is one of the only animals who can turn it's stomach inside-out.
The state of Florida is bigger than England.
The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."
The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley.
The United States Government keeps its supply of silver at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York.
The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.
The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead".
The word "modem" is a contraction of the words "modulate, demodulate." (MOdulate DEModulate)
The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."
The world population of chickens is about equal to the number of people.
The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old.
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
There are over 52.6 million dogs in the U.S.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
There are more plastic flamingos in America than real ones.
There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
There are only thirteen blimps in the world. Nine of them are in the United States.
There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
There is a town in Newfoundland, Canada called Dildo.
There wasn't a single pony in the Pony Express, just horses.
Thomas Edison, lightbulb inventor, was afraid of the dark.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, push your thumbs into its eyeballs -- it will let you go instantly.
Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it is known as Tennessee.
Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5pm. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize that this was the day of the changeover.
When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.
When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food.
When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home, the stadium becomes the state's third largest city.
White Out was invented by the mother of Mike Nesmith (formerly of the Monkees).
Who's that playing the piano on the "Mad About You" theme? Paul Reiser himself.
Wilma Flintstone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble's Maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.
Windmills always turn counter-clockwise. Except for the windmills in Ireland.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Women's hearts beat faster than men's.
You blink over 20,000,000 times a year.
You can only smell 1/20th as well as a dog.
You'll eat about 35,000 cookies in a lifetime.
You're born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only have 206.
You're more likely to get stung by a bee on a windy day than in any other weather.
Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day.
Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe.
Your right lung takes in more air than your left one does.
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks otherwise it will digest itself.

Johnny Palermo photo

2009-06-11T06:11:00.000-07:00

Actor Johnny Palermo, who appeared in more than 30 television shows in his brief career, died June 8 in an early morning car accident in North Hollywood, Calif. He was 27. His girlfriend, Alessandra Giangrande, who was driving at the time, also was killed, and her brother suffered serious injuries. Palermo and Giangrande were pronounced dead at the scene.

Blackberry internet service

2009-06-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

In order to improve user’s BlackBerry Internet experience, RIM has released an update to the BlackBerry Internet Service 2.7 a couple of weeks ago. The new features of the BlackBerry Internet Service 2.7 include email account integration, and better usability. The improvements are available through a knowledge base patch called KB18305 which is now available through the software update for BlackBerry smartphones users.

The KB18305 comes with an improved Help Screen that will allow users to send service books, access BlackBerry Answers, and access the BlackBerry Help site on a BlackBerry smartphone among others. Thanks to this BIS 2.7 KB, users can also close the Email Settings app with ease. Last, but not least, the BIS user interface is now available in two new languages, Thai and Indonesian.

BlackBerry Internet Service 2.7 includes improvements to the BlackBerry smartphone user experience, including improved usability and email account integration.
Help Screen

The improved Help screen is designed to allow the following:

Send service books
Open the BlackBerry HELP web site on the BlackBerry smartphone
Access BlackBerry® Answers
Contact information for wireless service providers

Zone diet

2009-06-07T23:09:00.000-07:00

The Zone diet is a diet popularized in books by biochemist Barry Sears. It advocates consuming calories from carbohydrates, protein and fat in a fixed ratio.
The diet centers on a "40:30:30" ratio of calories obtained daily from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, respectively. The ideal formula has been under debate, although studies over the past several years (including a non-scientific study by the PBS documentary show Scientific American Frontiers) have shown that it can produce weight loss at reasonable rates.
You know stories of those lucky few who find a diet that permanently resolves the battle of unwanted pounds accumulated over the years. However, the vast majority of you who are overweight struggle with the condition for most of your lives. The simple truth is that the success of your weight loss program is contingent on making permanent changes in lifestyle. The changes you make will not only result in losing weight but also keep it off for good. The Zone Diet implements the scientific basis of hormone, nutrient and calorie balance to impact the way your body processes foods and creates energy. In turn, the Zone Diet is proving to be an effective way to permanently make improvements to overall health. Keep reading to learn more about it!

The Zone Diet’s Basic Claims
The Zone Diet, the topic of the bestselling book “Enter the Zone,” bases all of its health claims on the premise of a diet plan comprised of 30 percent protein, 30percent fat and 40 percent carbohydrates. This formula sounds dramatically different from everything else you’ve recently heard about dieting, right? Co-author Barry Sears, who holds a Ph.D. in bio-nutrition and 15 years of research in the field, contends that the conventional recommendation to achieving weight loss and overall good nutrition through a high-carb, low-protein, low-fat diet is simply “dead wrong.” Not only is Sears promoting his method of diet control as a means to losing weight, but also strongly promotes its benefits in combating the onset of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and possibly cancer.

Sears explains that “the Zone” is the state in which your body’s metabolism is working at maximum efficiency, and he has all of his own scientific data to back it up. By controlling your balance of insulin, which controls fat storage and other hormones in your body through diet, Sears claims to have found the key to good health and weight loss for you.

The Zone Diet’s Meal Plan
The specifics of meal planning through the Zone Diet can seem complicated, which is understandable. With more proponents of the diet plan devising their own recipes to maintain the proper balance of protein, fat and carbs in Sears’ method you might easily get confused on what to eat. Here is the simple breakdown: each day contains three meals and two snacks, one in late afternoon and one in late evening. At every meal and snack, you should consume a small portion of protein, about the size of a small chicken breast, and a “good” carbohydrate portion (double the size of the protein) consisting of vegetables, lentils, beans, whole grains or fruit. Sears also professes that your body needs 30 percent daily fat intake to reduce the carbohydrate absorption into the body. So his list of recommended fats includes traditional favorites such as ice cream, macadamia nuts and olives.

The Zone Diet: Expert Analysis
While Sears’ book contains scores of testimonials to the benefits of his Zone Diet plan and its positive health and weight loss effects, there is currently no independent scientific research or proof to back up his claims. Consequently, most scientists and nutritionists are slow to agree with the scientific data claims made by Sears throughout the book. Many will contend that he grossly exaggerates the results of basic research in the field. On the other hand, a vast majority of the experts who have reviewed the Zone Diet plan have conceded that the plan is easy to follow, and contains all of the foundation requirements to good nutrition. Simply put, while the diet may not result in the medical claims made by its author, it’s concise formula of lean protein and lots of vegetables will absolutely bring those of you who are overweight into a pattern of a healthier lifestyle.

Source: www.alternativehealthjournal.com

The hangover movie quotes

2009-06-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

Tracy (Sasha Barrese): "We're getting married in five hours."
Phil: "Yeah ... that's not gonna happen."

Stu: "Why can't we remember a godd*** thing from last night?"
Phil: "Because we obviously had a great f***ing time."

Stu: "Everyone says Mike Tyson is such a badass, but I think he's kind of a sweetheart."
Alan: "I think he's mean."

Dr. Valsh (Matt Walsh): "It's on the corner of 'get a map' and 'f*** off.'"

Alan: "Next week's no good for me. The Jonas Brothers are in town."

Alan: "Tigers love pepper. They hate cinnamon."
Sid (Jeffrey Tambor): "Remember what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Except for herpes. That s***'ll come back with you."

Stu: "Am I missing a tooth?"

Phil: "Whose baby is that?"
Alan (Zach Galifianakis): "Check its collar or something."

Stu: "We're not going to leave a baby in the room. There's a f***ing tiger in the bathroom."

Stu: "She is wearing my grandmother's Holocaust ring."
Alan: "I didn't know they gave out rings at the Holocaust."

12 travel scams, cons and tricks

2009-06-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

Travellers lose billions each year to a series of scams, cons and tricks - the majority of which occur in foreign destinations when people are at their most vulnerable. Here are 12 to look out for:

The journey: Tyres and fliers

You are driving along the motorway when a driver draws alongside you, pointing to one of your tyres and gesturing to you to pull over. You stop on the hard shoulder and the other driver kindly pulls over to help. While you inspect the tyre, he lifts all your valuables from the front seat. A new version on this is when you return to your parked car and get in, only to see a flier stuck under the rear window wiper obscuring your view. So you jump out to remove it, thieves nip in and drive off in the car - more than likely taking your bag/shopping with it.

Tip: If you fear you have a flat tyre, try to continue until the next service station. If you do have to remove the flier, ensure your valuables are hidden. In both cases, always keep the car locked.

Metal detector

You place your laptop on the airport security scanner while waiting for a couple of people to pass through the metal detector. The first passes, but the second person triggers the alarm and laboriously takes out coins, jewellery and mobile phone from his pockets. By the time you go through, the first person has long gone, as has your laptop. Most prevalent in countries where you can go in and out of the departure area, such as the United States.

Tip: Never put your belongings on the conveyor belt unless the metal detector is clear.

Currency cons

Unscrupulous cashiers in banks or bureaus de change adopt suspect counting methods when handing over money to foreigners. With irregular pauses they miss out numbers in the countback in the hope that the tourist is not concentrating or does not understand. Another scam is to give someone the wrong currency when exchanging money for example, Czech koruna (50 to 1) instead of Polish zloty (six to 1) - or confuse them with one zero too few (think Turkish lira). More often than not, the tourist will fail to notice.

Tip: Find out about the currency and exchange rate before leaving (www.xe.com), pay attention to those zeros and insist on counting back your money in front of the cashier.

Hire or liar

It's the end of your holiday, you are in a rush to catch your flights, so you hurriedly hand back the keys to the hire car representative who gives you a nod and sends you on your way. Only when you arrive back home do you find your credit card has been charged for damage you never inflicted. This is increasingly prevalent in Europe.

Tip: Make sure you mark any damage before you hire the car and ensure you get a signature for the "all clear", a copy of the paperwork before departing.

By day: Travelling light

Crowded streets, malls, markets and railway stations are the obvious spots. While moving through the crowds you bump into a passer-by: you apologise and move on. It is only later that you notice you are travelling light - your keys, wallet or phone has gone.

Tip: Make sure your bag is zipped up. Never leave your wallet in a back pocket. Take what you need in a money belt and leave the rest in your hotel safe.

Compensation claim

Someone will bump into you in a crowded place, drop a pair of spectacles or a precious ornament (always previously broken), feign horror and claim to the world and his wife that you have to pay up for the damage. In some African countries, this scam extends to pedestrians bumping into your car and then writhing around on the ground while a hostile crowd asks for compensation.

Tip: Ask to resolve the situation at a police station or hotel reception the crook is more likely to give up the ruse.

Mess take

You are admiring the sights when you feel the unmistakable splat of bird droppings on your shoulder or perhaps you have something spilt on you by a clumsy passer-by. As you stop to examine the damage, an amiable local helps you clean off the mess, while cleaning out your wallet.

Tip: You could chain your wallet to your belt, but a money belt is the safest option.

Unfair cop

A man approaches you to ask for directions or to offer you a currency exchange or even drugs. Then two men appear, flashing badges and claiming to be police. They demand to see your passport and check your wallet for "counterfeit money". When you hand them over the men either disappear into the crowd or one distracts you while the other relieves you of your cash. If you have been duped into changing money they may confiscate it, claiming that it is "counterfeit".

Tip: If approached by police, insist on checking their photographic identification and accompanying them to the police station before handing anything over.

Snooze and lose

You are waiting for a train, plane or bus, with your bags by your side, and a passer-by "accidentally" drops a wallet, money or keys from his pocket. Being honest, you grab them and run after him to return it. Your bags, meanwhile, are long gone.

Tip: If you are alone, err on the side of caution, even if this means appearing rude.

By night: Unlicensed taxis

It is late, you have had a few drinks and it is a long walk home there are no licensed taxis at the rank and a man is offers you a lift. The fare seems reasonable but you could pay a much heavier price. The consequences can range from simple muggings to murder.

Tip: Never, however tempting, get in an unlicensed taxi in a foreign city that you don't know well, particularly if you are alone.

Bitter pill

While enjoying a few drinks in a bar, you nip to the lavatory and return to finish your drink or perhaps you have just accepted a drink from a friendly stranger. Either way, that will be the last thing you remember: your drink has been spiked. Hours later you wake up to find your wallet has gone, or far worse.

Tip: Never leave your drink unguarded or accept a drink from a stranger unless you see it served by the barman.

Unwelcome reception

You're settling down for an early night when your hotel room phone rings. It's the receptionist apologising for the late hour but asking you to verify your credit-card details. You read them out and drift back to sleep. The caller, of course, was not the receptionist and your credit card is taking a pounding. A variation on this is someone approaching you in what appears to be hotel uniform, saying that he needs to make a photocopy of your passport for hotel records. You hand it over and he disappears.

Tip: Only give out your card number or passport in person at reception, never over the phone.

Source: The Telegraph, London

Tetris game

2009-06-06T01:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday TETRIS!
Tetris (Russian: Тетрис) is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov. It was created on June 6, 1984, while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow. He derived its name from the Greek numerical prefix "tetra-"—as all of the game's pieces (known as Tetrominoes) contain four segments—and tennis, Pajitnov's favorite sport.

The game (or one of its many variants) is available for nearly every video game console and computer operating system, as well as on devices such as graphing calculators, mobile phones, portable media players, PDAs and even as an Easter egg on non-media products like oscilloscopes. It has even been played on the sides of various buildings, with the record holder for the world's largest fully functional game of Tetris being an effort by Dutch students in 1995 that lit up all 15 floors of the Electrical Engineering department at Delft University of Technology.

While versions of Tetris were sold for a range of 1980s home computer platforms, it was the hugely successful handheld version for the Game Boy launched in 1989 that established the reputation of the game as one of the most popular ever. Electronic Gaming Monthly's 100th issue had Tetris in first place as "Greatest Game of All Time". In 2007, Tetris came in second place in IGN's "100 Greatest Video Games of All Time". It has sold more than 70m copies.
Who doesn't know about the Tetris game? This game has been with us for 25 years and still very strong and has no signs of becoming outdated. The magic of this game is probably in its simplicity.
Google, the popular search engine (and by popular we mean the number one visited website on the entire Internet), is famous for continually altering their homepage layout and is doing so again today, but this time in commemoration of one of the most memorable video games of all time.

You guessed it, Tetris.

The seemingly ancient game turns 25 years young today and to celebrate Google is decking out their page with the letters of Google spelled out in Tetris form. If you haven’t already visited Google after 4PM EST, when the North American page went live, head over to Google to see what you’ve been missing.

Long live Tetris.

The Hangover trailer

2009-06-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

The R-rated “Hangover” is set in Las Vegas and is the story of groomsmen who lose the soon-to-be groom during a wild night of partying.
Very exciting is the appearance of oddball comic Zach Galifianakis and former boxer Mike Tyson, whose passion for the Phil Collins song, “In the Air Tonight,” is hilariously shown in the movie’s trailer.

Headaches and nausea are the norm for a typical hangover – but losing a buddy because you can’t remember last night? Awesome.

Go see “The Hangover” this weekend with some guys. Ladies, this one’s probably not for you – it’s all gross-out humor and there isn’t a single real female character in all of “The Hangover,” just stereotypical Vegas bimbos.

Pros: It’s a goofy, “Dude, Where’s My Car” for 20-somethings.

Cons: “The Hangover” is a little lowbrow and definitely not family-friendly.

The plot of The Hangover isn’t rocket science: three groomsmen head to Las Vegas to throw a bachelor party weekend. On their very first night, they get hammered and wake up in a destroyed hotel room – with a tiger, a baby, and without the groom. It’s “Memento” without a crime or “Old School” with memory loss. While “The Hangover” doesn’t really have a deep message or meaning, but it’s a fun movie for a guy’s night out.

4 day diet - very interesting

2009-06-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

Dr. Smith says losing weight is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical. People don't spend enough time training the brain to take on one of life's toughest journeys. He says that lack of mental preparation is the first and biggest mistake people make before starting a diet program.

Over the past 20 years, Dr. Smith has worked with thousands of patients who have struggled and succeeded with their weight loss efforts.

“I have learned a tremendous amount from their personal experiences,” he says. “If you don't get your mind right, it will only work against you.”

The mental game he believes is largely ignored because everyone is eager to focus on calories and an exercise regime. While those are important aspects that are vital to weight loss, focusing on them is like putting the cart before the horse. He says to mentally prepare and journal for ten days before starting a diet program.

Once you have started, Dr. Smith says he has a simple guide that helps you set goals, stay motivated, and resist temptations that will threaten to get you off track. His 4-Day Diet is composed of modules to avoid boredom from eating the same foods day after day.

“People get bored with dieting,” says Dr. Smith.

The 4-Day Diet is not a crash diet – you actually change the type and quantity of food every four days.

THE 4-DAY DIET

The Induction Module helps remove toxins that have accumulated in your body. It will clear your mind and body for the changes that come next. The Induction Module is written as a 4-day plan, however, you can make it longer by repeating some of the days. It includes fruits, vegetables, yogurt, salad, legumes and brown rice.

The Transition Module reintroduces foods into the meal plan. All four days are identical.

The Protein Stretch Module is 4 days of loading up on protein.

The Smooth Module gives you 4 days in indulging in some of your favorite foods, like pizza, hamburgers, French fries and hot dogs, without overindulging. It will give you a taste of the old and a greater appreciation for the new way of eating.

“Permanent weight loss occurs really with a lifestyle change of eating habits,” says Dr. Smith.

The Push Module is easier to follow than the other modules and helps keep you motivated.

The Pace Module keeps you moving forward but at a speed that will help you finish strong during the later stages of the diet.

The Vigorous Module is designed to challenge you and includes foods to help you towards the final lap of victory. Dr. Smith says that it doesn’t mean you have actually reached your goals. However, you can go back and do the modules again from the beginning or even switch the order.

“Just remember, each module has a purpose,” says Dr. Smith.

Dr. Smith highly recommends psyllium. The husk of the seeds from this plant are an important source of fiber. One tablespoon is equivalent to 14 tablespoons of oat bran. It also mops up various toxins and helps clear them out of your body. It is recommended to take psyllium mixed in 6 to 8 ounces of water.

In April 2008, Dr. Smith launched the 50 Million Pound Challenge. In a two-year initiative, Dr. Smith is encouraging 5 million African-Americans to lose 10 pounds each. There are high rates of obesity in the black population (45 vs 32 percent of Americans).

Source: www.cbn.com

New iPhone to be called "iPhone Video?"

2009-06-05T05:41:00.000-07:00

If a post at gaming site Kotaku is to be believed, the much-rumored new iteration of the iPhone will have a 3D graphics chip inside, and will support external keyboards and game controllers. Additionally (says Kotaku) Apple has hired internal game developers. The inclusion of the 3D graphics chip and hiring of developers are, in many ways, Apple's acknowledgment of the growing importance of gaming to the platform. Another thing the developer is considering to help bolster gaming on the iPhone include the possibility of a new store dedicated solely to gaming. The company will also be watching with great interest the roll-out of in-game microtransactions with the latest firmware.

Was David Carradine murdered?

2009-06-05T04:50:00.000-07:00

The Oscar-nominated actor David Carradine, 72, was found dead in the Thai capital, Bangkok.

Now comes the question of whether it was suicide or not. They said the rope was wrapped around other parts of his body. Who is going to tie up other parts of their own body just to commit suicide. Wouldn't you just wrap the neck and be done with it? Plus, did they say he was found hanging or just with the rope tied?
Some people who know him say, he would not have taken his life, at this time; even though, he struggled with suicidal thoughts in his past years. Those who do not believe he committed suicide say that his career was in an upswing and so was his personal life. A few years ago, his career took on a new life with the movie, Kill Bill. He had pretty much been out of the entertainment industry, until then. David had made statements to others about his suspicion that, not many industry leaders were willing to give him roles as he aged . After appearing in Kill Bill, he began working again; in fact, he was in Bankok, Thailand to film a new movie. He had only been at the hotel for a few days when he was found dead.

Citing unidentified police sources, local newspaper The Nation reported that the actor was found hanged in his luxury hotel room and is believed to have committed suicide. But, again, the cause of death is currently under investigation.

There is an autopsy being performed; hopefully, it will help to put some of the questions surrounding his death to rest. Whether it was suicide or something else…there is still pain and grief for his family, friends, co-stars, and fans. It is a sad end for a talented man who appeared to try to live his life with dignity. We wish to extend sympathy to all who knew him; or, to those who felt like they did because of the roles he performed and, the impact on their lives from watching him over the years. Rest in peace David Carradine.

Prototype xbox 360

2009-06-04T05:17:00.000-07:00

Microsoft introduced a prototype camera on Monday that can be used as a controller for the Xbox 360. Codenamed "Project Natal," the camera eliminates the need for a handheld input device , instead, the gizmo can track a player's full body movement, recognize their face and voice, scan images of real items and respond to both physical and vocal commands.

Microsoft also debuted 10 exclusive new games and several additions to the Xbox Live online service at their flashy Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference at University of Southern California's Galen Center.

But the biggest gee-whiz moment came when Microsoft senior vice president Don Mattrick and Steven Spielberg introduced "Project Natal."

"Two months ago, Don shared with me the 'Natal' experience, and the gamer in me went out of my mind when I got to be really interactive with this," said Spielberg, a game developer as well as filmmaker. "More dramatically, I felt like I was present for a historic moment, a moment as significant as the transformation from the square-shaped movie screen to CinemaScope and then to IMAX."

During the press conference, "Project Natal" was demonstrated with three prototype programs: "Ricochet," a soccer-like game which required the player to use their entire body to bounce balls at targets; "Paint Party," an art-making program that used the player's body as the brush; and "Milo," a virtual boy who communicated and interacted with the player.

"This is all about breaking down barriers the only way Xbox 360 can," Microsoft corporate vice president Shane Kim said before the conference. "For far too long, the controller has kept people from playing games. 'Project Natal' totally eliminates the need for a controller, and we believe it's going to bring people together in a way we haven't seen before."

The "Project Natal" prototype device showcased at the E3 press conference combines a camera, depth sensor, microphone and processor running proprietary software. Kim said game developers would receive "Project Natal" development kits Monday, and that there was no date set for when the device and accompanying software would be available to the public.

The loud event wasn't all about "Project Natal." Several announcements were made about Xbox 360's video capabilities including increased functionality with the Netflix online service, streaming 1080p high-definition video, live TV in the United Kingdom via the Sky network and the ability to watch selected movies online with friends with Xbox Live Party.

Among the 10 new games announced that will be released exclusively on the Xbox 360: the open-world action sequel "Crackdown 2," New Orleans-set zombie-killing sequel "Left 4 Dead 2," stealthy third-person shooter "Splinter Cell Conviction," sleek racer "Forza Motorsport 3," first-person shooter "Halo: ODST" and psychological thriller "Alan Wake."

For the Xbox Live online service, Microsoft announced the ability to access streaming music service Last.fm as well as the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter beginning this fall. The social networking sites will be fully integrated into the Xbox Live interface, allowing users to send messages, upload photos and tweet with their Xbox 360.

Source:

http://www.xbox.com/

Owen Benjamin

2009-06-04T04:58:00.000-07:00

Christina Ricci and her actor fiance Owen Benjamin have split up, just two months after they announced their engagement. Several sources confirm the story to weekly publication People, while neither Christina nor Owen has spoken up about the nature of their relationship.

Project natal for xbox 360

2009-06-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has revealed a motion-sensing gadget for the Xbox 360 that uses the player's full body to control video games. Dubbed "Project Natal," the new accessory is a horizontal bar placed near the console that allows players to control their games and Xbox media without touching hardware.

Rather than rely on a wand to detect motion like the ubiquitous Nintendo Wii, the device uses a 3-D depth camera and microphones to recognize players' voices and movements for controlling what's on screen. ... Natal can recognize a player's face and automatically log them into their Xbox profile. In addition, the console's menus can be navigated by hand gestures (like) Minority Report.

Unveiled for the first time to the public was Project Natal, pronounced nuh-tall and a code name for a revolutionary new way to play, no controller required. See a ball? Kick it, hit it, trap it or catch it. If you know how to move your hands, shake your hips or speak, you and your friends can jump into the fun. The only experience needed is life experience.

e3 2009 news

2009-06-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

The Wii Vitality Sensor, a pulse sensor that measures heart rates, has been unveiled by Nintendo at E3.
Wii Fit Plus, a follow up to Wii Fit, uses the Nintendo balance board to help improve people’s strength, co-ordination and stamina.
The prototype PS3 controller is able to track precise movements, and even recognise the speed and power of gestures.
Sony's E3 2009 press briefing was easily one of this year's highlights at the video games expo in Los Angeles. President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America Jack Tretton opened the proceedings. He promised that 2009 would be Playstation's best year yet.
Sony's PSP Go features flash memory, allowing people to download music, photos and games on to the device.
Microsoft unveils new Xbox Live capabilities, the revolutionary Project Natal interface and am impressive video game line-up.
Microsoft has announced the launch of its Project Natal camera system for the Xbox 360 console, which allows users to play games controller-free. A few well-placed people have already had access and share their views.
Microsoft Xbox 360 users will be able to update their Facebook status, Twitter status and listen to streamed music via Last.fm, all through their console.

GMGMQ - new ticker symbol for GM

2009-06-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

The "GM" ticker symbol will be gone forever. A new ticker symbol was issued Monday: GMGMQ. The stock will end up on the over-the-counter market.

GM will be dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average as of Monday. GM, which was added to the Dow in 1925, is going to be replaced by Cisco Systems Inc.

Once a company files for bankruptcy protection, it is disqualified from being one of the 30 stocks that are part of the Dow industrials index.

GM stock closed on Monday at 75 cents a share -- flat from Friday. Shortly before closing, though, the stock had been trading around 81 cents a share, up 6 cents. It was a considerable increase after GM fell more than 25% in early trading Monday.

Everyday investors are still being warned that there is no money to be made in GM and that the stock remains essentially worthless.

"The common shareholders are wiped out," said Christopher Ruth, chief investment officer for Comerica Asset Management in Detroit.

GM now trades under the pink sheets under the symbol GMGMQ.
Also, GM has has found a buyer for its Hummer unit, but we don't know who it is.
More important are May vehicle sales figures that are out today, which are estimated in the range of 9.4 million units, well below the 10 million that GM's bankruptcy proceeding is assuming they will be seeing.

Best News!

2009-06-01T07:41:00.000-07:00