Owner: The Foo Logs URL:http://thefoologs.com Join Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:24:49 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A mashed blog about technology, life, food, movies, Web 2.0 and just about everything else. Site statistics:Click here
Checkout my Tumblelog 2007-10-10 20:19:51 Check out my new Tumblelog, a compilation of bits and pieces around the blogosphere. It is my online scrapbook of interesting links, photos, quotes and more. I figured it’ll be good to use it as a place where I can put online links without the frills, lengthy text, just keeping simple and sweet. It’ll also allow me to refer back to it if I ever wanted to write about something.
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Bad day in Ohio 2007-10-10 15:43:09 Train derails (not far from where we live) causing a huge fire and couple of schools closing. There was supposedly hazardous materials on the train.
14 year old gets suspended for fighting, comes back to school with two guns, starts shooting and then kills himself. Four shot and wounded. Just unbelievable! I hate the fact that things like that happen, especially since J is a teacher too. I get worried everytime she goes to school. What’s the world coming too when we can’t even be safe in schools and colleges?
18 year old gets drunk and accidentally falls to his death from the 11th floor of his condominium residence.
To say it’s a bad day in Ohio
is a major understatement.
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Useful Tweak: Freeing up memory when using Firefox 2007-10-09 16:56:16 My Firefox
2.0.0.7 browser has been a very slow and unstable lately. It has also been a memory hog, consuming about 130K of memory with around 20 or so tabs open. My friend AG recommended I look at this Firefox tweak from Solo Technology. This tweak allows memory to be freed up everytime you minimize the Firefox browser.
It’s pretty easy to do:
1. Start Firefox (yeah, I know… duh.)
2. type “about:config” in the address bar and hit enter (don’t type the double-quotes)
3. type “config.trim_on_minimize” (again, not the double-quotes) into the Filter field. Odds are, you won’t have this preference but we should check first.
1. If you DO have the preference, make sure it is set to true
2. If you do NOT have the preference, add it
1. Right click anywhere in the preference list and select New -> Boolean
2. Preference name should be “config.trim_on_minimize”
3. Select true for the value
4. Close Firefox an Read more:Useful
, Tweak
Baseball mascot mania 2007-10-09 14:46:37 It’s down to 4 teams - Cleveland, Boston, Colorado and Arizona for the right to call themselves 2007 Major League Baseball World Champions.
Thought I might profile the 4 team mascots…
The Cleveland Indians mascot is a pink heffalump called Slider. Birthdate is July 29, 1990. Origins unknown, he lives between homeplate and the teams dugout. Loves Popcorn, Hot Dogs, and Pizza and Strawberry Shakes. Supposedly hangs out with best buddy mascots Billy the Marlin (Florida), Philly Phanatic (Philadelphia), The Moose (Seattle), Slugerrr (Kansas City), Dinger (Colorado) and Pirate Parrot (Pittsburgh) in the off season. I’m not sure how they came up with Slider as his appearance has absolutely no relation to baseball or anything associated with Cleveland. Not my personal favorite but he seems a hit with the kids.
Wally the Green Monster is the official mascot for the Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball team. Born on April 13, 1997, he lives in the famous 37 foot wall calle
Mancar vs. Womancar 2007-10-08 21:05:01 J gets a kick out of me pointing out a “mancar” and a “womancar” while driving on the road. Sounds like caveman talk, doesn’t it? Me drive “mancar”, you drive “womancar”.
Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not in anyway being sexist. I’m just thinking in terms of how one perceives a driver and the car he is driving. My explanation is simple, there are masculine and feminine cars — regardless of who drives it. Then there is the car that is neither masculine or feminine, a unisex type car that can go both ways.
For example, a Dodge Charger, Chrysler 300M, Chevy Suburban or a Hummer shows the rude, bold in-your-face, imposing character that has male traits and a Jeep Liberty/ Compass shows more of a sleek, elegant contemporary styled SUV indicative of a woman. A Hummer is more like a ruff-n-tuff bull in a china shop knocking everyone out of the way and imposing its presence. A Jeep liberty or Toyota Rav4 is mo
Not a total geek 2007-10-08 20:22:47 Looks like I am a geek but not a total geek. Take the geek test here.
71% Geek
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Smelling like beer 2007-10-06 11:15:47
For $5, you can get two bars of Guinness Stout soap. Just be reminded that you can’t eat it or you’ll get a soapy stomach ache. I don’t think that smelling like Guinness would be very appealing but that may be just me. This may another reason your husband or wife can’t yell at you for coming home smelling like beer.
I especially like the warning:
“DO NOT attempt to eat or drink this soap! You will not get a buzz you will get a major tummy ache and be blowing bubbles for a week. This soap is intended to wash your body not your intestines”
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Go Tribe! 2007-10-05 22:57:27 Indians 2 - Yankees 0
As a Cleveland Indians fan, shame on me to watch a movie instead during the game. We watched Ben Stiller’s The Heartbreak Kid instead. Didn’t realize it was rated R until J told me as I was surprised at the nudity and crudeness. Overall a funny movie, Jerry Stiller was his classic funny self as usual.
I digress… good couple of games by the Indians and they are up 2-0 in the series. Now it’s to New York for a sweep. Though I don’t think they’ll win on Sunday, I think they’ll take game 4.
Go Tribe
and hope they go all the way!
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Life is short, make it count 2007-10-05 11:56:53 How would you react if someone wrote you an apologetic email for something they did 5 or 10 years ago? Derek Powazek paints a gracious picture, “if I wronged you this year, I’m sorry. If you wronged me, I forgive you.”
Reading his post, it made me reflect on my life… how have I been in the past, how have I treated people, and do I forgive and forget. I do believe too that everything goes full circle. “Treat someone the way you want to be treated”, my mom always told me.
It is more than just forgiving someone. The friendships and ties that would have been all those years from not talking to each other, can’t be brought back. Who knows, if those ties weren’t broken, how it would have changed the course of one’s life. It’s all about the fullness of life and achieving it spiritually and mentally. Is it part of the answer to the meaning of life? Maybe it’s part of what makes up our number 42.
I quote the text of Tao T Read more:count
Former Australian & English Soap Opera stars making it big 2007-10-04 21:18:46 Amazing how many Australian
/ English
Soap Opera stars
are coming to America to make their name. I know this because I used to watch a couple of the soaps (namely Neighbors and Home & Away) when I was schooling in England. They are doing pretty well for themselves…
1. Michelle Ryan
She was Zoe from the English soap Eastenders. Currently the star of Bionic Woman.
2. Jesse Spencer
He was the Billy Kennedy in the Australian soap called Neighbors. Currently starring in House.
3. Melissa George
From England’s soap Home and Away (Angel Brook). Starred in the movie Amityville Horror (2005), Sugar and Spice, Alias and more.
4. Anna Friel
From England’s Brookside and Emmerdale Farm. Currently starring in Pushing Daisies.
5. Isla Fisher
She was Shannon Reed on the English soap Home and Away. Starred in Wedding Crashers, Scooby Doo, Hot Rod and more. Famous for being Sacha Baron Cohen’s (Borat) fiancee.
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How NOT to make a Powerpoint presentation 2007-10-03 13:50:39 This is hilarious but true. When I go to conferences and meetings, I cringe at some of the Powerpoints people make. I’ve probably seen them all… too colorful, too much information, too boring, too confusing, silly graphics, unnecessary animations etc.
This video pretty much sums up how NOT make a Powerpoint presentation
. It was done by Don McMillan, an engineer turned comedian famous for his corporate comedy.
In summary, when making a Powerpoint:
1. Don’t crowd your slides with too many words
2. Spell check!
3. Avoid too many bullet points
4. Eliminate bad color schemes
5. Too much data/ numbers doesn’t mean its better
6. Don’t use too many animations
7. Choose the right font
(via)
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The dancing lady 2007-10-03 10:57:53 This is an optical illusion, look at the dancer below. Which way is she spinning?
If you see her spinning clockwise, then you are left brain oriented i.e. you are a logical and analyzing person.
If you see her spinning counter-clockwise, then you are right brain oriented i.e. you are an artistic and intuitive person.
Not sure how I explain seeing both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. That’s happening to me, I’ll see her spinning clockwise for a moment and then after a few minutes see her spinning the other direction.
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10 year old gives birth! 2007-10-02 15:04:47 This really shocked me. What is the world coming to when a 10 year old girl gets pregnant and gives birth
. The father was 13 and as it was reported, the girl looked like a 10 year old too. I assume that means her body had not matured and developed yet. Her parents didn’t realize that she was pregnant when she was gaining weight, they even put her on a diet and only found out she was 9 months pregnant when they brought her to the doctors. Contrary to what I thought when I first read the article, it wasn’t incest or rape related.
This happened in Belgium, with a 2006 research showing that 57 Belgian 10 year olds were prescribed with birth control (yikes!). The stat didn’t clarify how many were for medical reasons though. It makes me wonder how many cases of this sort are in the States that go unreported.
Is this a one off or are kids getting sexually active at a younger age? Getting pregnant when you are a preteen is a little ridiculous though. At that age, they should
Breast Cancer Awareness month is here 2007-10-01 15:35:08 October is BreastCancerAwareness
month. It’s a month to get people talking about breast cancer, to raise awareness and to raise money for research.
Breast cancer does affect many lives, men or women. If you can, donate and help support the improvement of breast cancer research and the unfortunate that have been diagnosed with it.
Last year I made The Foo Logs Pink for October but didn’t get around to doing it this year. However, Mr. Robotman did buy a breast cancer ribbon as you can see him proudly wearing it on the top of this blog.
A funny story too, in the post last year, I wrote Breast Awareness month instead of Breast Cancer
Awareness. Oops! I wouldn’t have noticed if J didn’t tell me about it. It’s amazing how many people actually missed that too. Well, I made sure not to make the same mistake again this time!
Here are some links around the web:
National Breast Cancer Foundation
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
The Official Breast Cancer Awareness
M
For the rich only: The supersonic private jet 2007-10-01 10:11:35
Lockheed Martin and Supersonic Aerospace International has joined forces to make the Quiet Supersonic Transport (QSST), a high speed luxury jet that flies coast to coast in 2 hours at Mach 1.6 to 1.8 (approx. 1,056 mph to 1,188 mph) quietly without the eardrum-blistering sonic booms.
Specifications
Range: 4,600 miles
Speed: Mach 1.6 to 1.8 (approx. 1,056 mph to 1,188 mph)
Dimensions: 132.1 ft. length, 63 ft. wingspan
Capacity: 12 passengers, 3 crew
Cost (projected): $2.5 billion development cost; $80 million per aircraft
First flight (projected): 2011
Someday we might see it for commercial airlines too but for now, it’s for the super rich. The rich get all the fun toys, don’t they?
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5 websites I can’t go without (actually 10 sites to be exact) 2007-10-16 09:33:41 Via Shoemoney and SEOmoz, thought I might also try to list 5 websites that I can’t do without.
It was near impossible to narrow it down to five, so I did ten sites instead. Here’s my top 10 favorite sites and daily reads (in no particular order):
1. Techcrunch
Daily (and latest) news of tech businesses and Web 2.0 startups from Michael Arrington
2. USA Today
Daily news around the globe
3. ESPN
Can’t miss the latest sports news!
4. Techmeme
Compilations of tech news around the internet and blogosphere
5. New Scientist
The latest science trends and discoveries of the day
6. How to change the world
A marketing blog of Guy Kawasaki, director of a venture capitalist company and columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine
7. Michelle Malkin
Conservative syndicated columnist, author, and Fox News Channel contributor
8. Lifehacker
Gina Trapani recommends downloads, web sites and shortcuts that save time
9. O’Reilly Radar
Tim O’Reilly’s blog about tech, emerging mark
Custom made wooden computer accessories 2007-10-16 06:22:02 If there’s one thing computers don’t do well, it’s matching your home decor. Wood Contour may change all that.
These beauties are made from one piece of wood, and you get to choose from 29 wood varieties - Mahogany, Beech , Oak, Ash , Birch and others. Hand crafted and custom made, the company guarantees that no two items will be exactly alike given the nature of wood.
I wonder what it would feel like using a wooden keyboard and mouse. I’m not quite ready to find out, as a set of keyboard, mouse and monitor costs about $2950 (or more depending on the type of wood I get).
Wood Contour Site
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What goes around, comes around 2007-10-13 06:58:01 Do you believe in Karma? I do.
This story tells it perfectly. I have always said it myself, “what goes around, comes
around”.
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
“I want to repay you,” said the nobleman. “You saved my son’s life.”
“No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer.
At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the
Color Swashes 2007-10-12 02:59:27 Trying to find a good HTML color reference page is really tough, I haven’t found one that is useful to me. There are always missing elements to it, no color codes, can’t copy and paste the code, there are colors but no reference codes etc.
Therefore, I went ahead and made a simple chart with the color codes matching the colors in the background. I made it such that you can copy and paste the color codes (based on the proper matching background color).
It took long enough but the effort is worth it. I didn’t really bother with spicing up the page layout but it does the job — for me anyway. I added handy social bookmarking icons on the bottom of the page so you can easily add to your favorite bookmarking sites (script courtesy of Alexander Hadj Hassine). If there is anything else you would like me to add or if you have other ideas, let me know.
Access my html color swash page here or click on the picture below.
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Never give up 2007-10-11 16:19:24 Abraham Lincoln was a failed businessman, deemed too temperamental to be a lawyer, was defeated in his run to be a congressman, commissioner of the General Land Office, Senator (twice) and vice president. He ended up becoming one of the most important Presidents in the history of United States.
Winston Churchill didn’t even pass sixth grade and was defeated in every election he ran. He finally became Prime Minister at the age of 62.
Charles Darwin was considered an ordinary boy and didn’t have enough intellect by his father.
Albert Einstein didn’t start reading until he was 7, was actually dubbed stupid, mentally slow by his teachers and one that would never go anywhere in life.
Michael Jordan was not deemed good enough to play basketball and was cut by his high school team.
Walt Disney was bankrupt and fired by his newspaper editor as he lack imagination and good ideas.
Charles Schultz (creator of Peanuts) had every cartoon he drew rejected by his high school
Imagining the Tenth Dimension 2007-10-21 04:13:53 I’ve always been fascinated by the 4th dimension and beyond, especially being a big fan of Michio Kaku and his books. So you can imagine my excitement when I came across Rob Bryanton’s book called Imagining the TenthDimension
: A New Way of Thinking About Time and Space.
This video (from Rob’s website) simplifies the multi dimensional theory in an almost cartoonic way. Just a note, it’s 11 minutes long. It’s a feat in itself to concise what has baffled scientists for generations in 11 minutes and getting the point across (without being too technical). Great stuff!
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Smile Today. Life is not a rehearsal 2007-10-19 01:42:26 J received a unique birthday present from my sister yesterday… a sunflower mug drawn and personalized by celebrity actors Sir Michael and Lady Shakira Caine. It’s actually part of donated artwork from Whatever It Takes, a unique charity project by 21st Century Leaders.
Their concept is simple, they “gather artworks from leaders in all fields; royalty, film, music, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, sports, literature etc. Each ambassador donates a symbol of hope, a self portrait and a message of hope for the future.”
Their products come in the form of wristbands, footwear, mugs, clothings to bags; each with unique hand drawn pictures and hand written messages from the celebrities.
Proceeds from the merchandise sales go towards tackling key global development issues including poverty, child abuse and environmental conservation. So far, they’ve raised $1,071,663.
J’s birthday mug includes a picture of a sunflower drawn by Sir Michael Caine and his wife ( Read more:Smile
, Today
Ridiculous baseball salary stats 2007-10-18 12:33:40 Total team salaries:
Cleveland Indians = approx. $61 Million
NY Yankees = approx. $195 Million
Boston Red Sox = approx. $143 Million
The combined cost of paying NYY’s Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez for one year could pay for the WHOLE team of Florida, Washington, Pittsburgh or Tampa Bay.
The combined salary of NYY’s Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi is $10 million more than the cost to pay all 22 players of the current Cleveland Indians team.
It just shows that money may buy you glitz and glamor but doesn’t necessarily make you are good team. Someone once told me that there is no ‘I’ in the word ‘Team’. Isn’t that the truth!
Espn’s salary breakdown for the various teams:
NY Yankees
Boston
Cleveland
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Why 2007-10-18 09:17:04 … are people getting cancer at a younger age?
This past year alone, I’ve heard of several people diagnosed with cancer including two that I know personally (a twenty something year old and the other in her late 30s). Then there is young Charlotte O’Shea, one of many cancer diagnosed kids between 2-5 years of age. Sad but true.
Although I would never like to see cancer on anyone young or old, wasn’t cancer deemed an “old person’s disease” years ago? This may no longer be the case.
Browsing through the web, I came across these astonishing facts:
* Each school day, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer.
* One in 330 children will develop cancer by age 20.
* Although the 5 year survival rate is steadily increasing, one quarter of children will die 5 years from the time of diagnosis.
* Cancer remains the number one disease killer of America’s children - more than Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Asthma and AIDS combined.
That’s p
The Dickwad Theory 2007-10-18 00:57:38 Funny and so true.
via www.penny-arcade.com
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Mrs. Elana “I am suing my florist for $400k” Elbogen 2007-10-17 10:55:02 So there was the judge that sued his dry cleaner for ruining his pants, now there’s the lawyer that’s suing her florist for $400k.
The reason … the flowers at her wedding were not arranged properly, the wrong color and it caused “extreme disappointment, distress and embarrassment.”
By the way, those flowers she ordered cost her $27k. That’s ridiculous! Seems like she’s a rich spoil brat and a litigation lawyer — a pretty bad combination to me. I wonder whether she was stomping and kicking her feet like a 5 year old when she saw the different colored flowers.
What is wrong with people nowadays? Potentially putting a florist out of business to appease your vanity is just wrong. People like this just make me sick. There really should be a law against people wasting the courts time and money on frivolous suits just because they can, they know the law and they want to prove a point.
I am not sure what she stands to gain from all this too.
Random ramblings 2007-10-25 16:37:53 Sad but true
Posting my Lifestream, confirms what I already know but didn’t want to hear - that I spend WAY too much time on the web and my computer (even though it’s part of my daily work routine). Sad but true.
Facebook buzz
The buzz yesterday was Microsoft buying a piece of Facebook - a $240 million stake and the rights to have exclusive third party advertisement rights — possibly paving the way for a Microsoft Live Facebook search engine too. There are also reports that they may have secured another $500 million from two New York investors.
Although being only 3 years old, the company is already valued at $15 billion and is currently the 5th most valuable US internet company (via Techcrunch) behind the likes of Google, Ebay, Amazon and Yahoo. Facebook currently has about 47 million users/ members, records 15 billion page views a month and registers about 150,000 new users a day.
Mark Zuckerberg has really done well for himself, especially for a 23 year old t Read more:Random
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