Controlling Your Hunger ...

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"Scientists discover hunger gene" They claim that this gene works throughout both the body in detect hunger and the brain with it's timing in sending hunger signals. Of course, this gene is being experimented on in mice --- modified is the word. It would be interesting to learn to what degree that the scientists made this modification. Hopefully, this research will carry over into people as a reversible correction to overeating.

Scientist Finds 100 Million-Year-Old Bee

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"A scientist has found a 100 million-year-old bee trapped in amber, making it possibly the oldest bee ever found."

1) Scientists couldn't explain what the bee was doing in Amber. Amber was reluctant to tell her age, so the scientists went on carbon-dating ... which makes it easier for them to date women. In Amber's case, they'd rather date carbon.

2) Preserved along with the bee, were the words "no chans of rane todae". Scientist claimed that this was the worst spelling bee and the worst dry spell that they had ever seen.

Jump in Site Visitors

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At my other blog, it has gone from 10 visitors a day to over 100 for today. Apparently, my other blog was picked up by LangaList newsletter. This is a great computer newsletters written by the guru of PC, Fred Langa. With over 140,000 subscribers, I wonder if this will boost my site into Google Page Rank finally.

"The Sky Is Falling" vs "No It's Not"

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On one hand, you hear stories about another species disappearing. And then you learn that they've discovered two new ones. One day, an environmental group screams that "Humanity Using Resources Too Fast". And then a group of scientists state that "the world is not running out of oil". There are those things that we can control and those that we can't. Hopefully, find the right answers is under our control.

My Disclosure Policy

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To keep everything on my blog in the clear and to maintain an honest relationship between my posts and my readers, I visited the Disclosure Policy Generator at disclosurepolicy.org. By going through six simple steps, they automatically generated a disclosure policy for my blog which I am posting for your benefit. To wit:
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This policy is valid from 30 October 2006

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is sometimes compensated for providing opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog may receives compensation for posts or advertisements, I will always give my honest opinion, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
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To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

New Technology Turns Food Leftovers Into Electricity, Vehicle Fuels

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The next time your mom gets on you to 'clean your plate', just tell her that you are doing your part for the environment. That's right! UC Davis research and technology demonstration facility is turning food leftovers into electricity. Of course, they are just now starting with restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. But if this technology proves itself, you won't have to worry about leftovers again!

More Beer, Please

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"The conference, “Beer: To Your Health!” convened by the University of Maryland Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy (CFNAP), was the first of its kind in the United States to focus on the health benefits of beer."

I like it! They are reporting that daily moderate consumption of beer (or other alcoholic beverages) MAY BE healthy. Of course, this is in line with various other industry (like milk) promoting the daily consumption of their product (like dairy) MAY BE healthy. But I'm not knocking beer. I would love to get back into brewing my own as I once did. Still, the key words are "moderate consumption" and "may be". This deserves a follow up.

Powering Your Home with 19th Century Technology

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In 2008, you may be able to power your home using a dish that resembles a large satellite dish. Advances in technology and material allows the sun to be focused onto a Sterling engine and generate about 1.3 kilowatts of energy. Even though, this is planned for commercial release in 2008, it will still be more expensive than relying on the power company.

Blind Web Surfer Sues for Accessibility

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Sometimes I just don't know what to think about the lawsuits that come about. For example, Target is being sued by a blind man because he claims that their web site is unaccessible under the "Americans With Disabilities Act". He uses text-to-speech type software and isn't able to read all of the site. Target's lawyers response that the law applies only to physical locations.

Good grief! Is Target the only store that blind people can shop at online? Are lawyers that hungry for money or power that they have to create issues that should not be issues?

Today's Page Strength Ranking

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I checked my Page Strength rating at http://www.seomoz.org/tools/page-strength.php. I'm still at a Strength 2 / 10. The analysis is "Your website/page is a relative unknown. Search engines and humans are (for the time being) infrequent visitors. Consider the accessibility of the URL, the desirability of the content and your marketing efforts online; all can have great impact on your reach. "

* Links pointing to full URL: 6%, Source: Yahoo! Site Explorer 9
* Links pointing to domain: 7%, Source: Yahoo! Site Explorer 13
* Position at Google for first four words of title tag on target URL: 45%, Source: Google 5
* Age of Domain: 100%, Source: Wayback Machine 2681 days old
* Links from domains with .edu TLDs: 0%, Source: Yahoo 0
* Links from domains with .gov TLDs: 0%, Source: Yahoo 0
* Alexa Rank 10%, Source: Alexa 1473743
* Domain name visibility A count of results at Google for a search for your domain, showing URL visibility rather than incoming link count. 12%, Source: Google 103
* Internal Link Percent The percentage of pages on the domain that link to the target url. If the target URL is the same as the domain name, this is usually 100%. 100%, Source: Yahoo Site Explorer 100.00%
* Number of links according to Technorati 22%, Source: Technorati 5
* Number of search results for URL search at del.icio.us 0%, Source: del.icio.us 0
* Listings in DMOZ (ODP) 0%, Source: Yahoo 0
* Links found in Wikipedia 0%, Source: Yahoo 0
* Google Pagerank of full URL and Domain 7%, Source: Google Full URL: 1 Domain: 1

Surprisingly, I discovered that I have a Google PR of 1! I don't know why my other site hasn't broken 0 yet, even though it has many more links to it. I'll figure these metrics out yet!

for the drummer

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It has been over 20 years since I sold my drum set in preparation for the birth of my daughter. I had invested 15 years of learning and practice and becoming profient enough to become recognized and requested. But some things are become more important and I don't regret giving my music.

Now, my children are grown and I am getting my life back. Buying a new drum kit is still a ways away. But the Internet knows how much joy I got from playing. Today, it teased me by showing this mouse pad for drummers

There are even these drum sticks for iPod

Maybe I'll treat myself with the mousepad and get on down with it!

restarting my Technorati Profile

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Technorati Profile

Guilty Pleasure

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Ok, Ok, I never thought I would ever use the phrase "Guilty Pleasure" but I caught the first four episodes of "Heros" on NBC. I can see why they renewed the season after the first episode. I don't know how I'll find the time to catch the show on a regular basis. I have an old VCR but still. This is one of those shows that will on my DVD list.....

Ms. Dewey's search engine

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Perhaps you're tired of Google's search engine. Maybe you're in the mood for something less professional, even a little abusive. Then you need to visit "Ms. Dewey's Search Engine". It's barely functional as a search engine but very entertaining.

Purple Tomatoes?

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Remember a few years ago when colored ketchup was the rage? We had ketchup with green or purple food coloring dye. If you like that, just wait two more years and you'll find purple tomatoes. They'll be purple of the same pigment that is in blueberries with the same health benefits as the berry. They're not genetically modified, just a hybrid with a variety from a wild species of South America. I can't wait...

Back to Blogging

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I felt that I needed to take a little break from writing, especially when I began dreaming about blogging. I guess it's like getting into the swing of daily exercising, getting into habit of writing can become just as addicting.

There has been so many thoughts and ideas and discoveries that I've come across in passed few days. It has been difficult not to dash to a computer to blog. These urges tend to pass mainly because there hasn't been a computer available to dash to. I really need to break down and get a digital voice recorder; one that has software to transcribe sounds into text. Chrsitmas is coming ... HINT, HINT!

One Month in This Blog's Life

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About one month ago, I added this blog as one of my resources for PPP. You can see how traffic has jumped.
As of today, Sitemeter's stats for this site are:
PAGE VIEWS
Total: 1,075
Average Per Day: 40
Average Per Visit: 2.0
Last Hour: 8
Today: 31
This Week: 279

What is missing are your thoughts and comments! What do you enjoy on here? What do you think? Does any of these posts help you?

no*ollow me?

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If you've been visiting my site, you'll noticed that the widgets that were on the right side are now gone. I've to removed for the moment because of a little thing called 'no*ollow' tag. I explain it in more detail on my other blog in a post titled, "no*ollow tag silliness". They will return as soon as I solve this 'no*ollow' issue.

Oct 21st UPDATE: Short of censoring the word, I've had to substitute a * for the letter f in the word 'follow' because of the extent of the tag silliness. You gotta' laugh ....

Unusual Businesses Ideas That Work

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I love this web site: "Unusual Businesses Ideas That Work". It is constantly updated with ideas that people are making money with as businesses! Today's installment is "How To Sell Something You Know Nothing About". You might think that sounds more like the workings of government but not in this case. Definitely a site to bookmark!

HGH revisited

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In an earlier post, I talked about a Human Growth Hormone (HGH) supplement. In doing a little more research, I found a couple of methods that demonstrate how the reduction in HGH effects your body.

Let's start with the elasticity of the skin. Take one hand, have it completely flat with the palm facing towards the ground. With your other hand, pinch about a half inch of skin on the back of the flattened hand. When you release that pinch, count how many seconds it takes to recover onto the back of your hand. If you are under 30, the skin almost instantaneously snaps back into place. The older you are, the more agonizingly slowly this process becomes. The claim of several HGH supplements is that they will restore this elasticity to youthful levels. Of course, you should be aware that if you are dehydrated, you will get similar results.

Another test is to stand on one leg, close your eyes and count how many seconds you can remain upright before losing your balance. This is an easy task for those under 30. While some people in their fifties are considered fortunate if they can last 20 seconds.

If you're going to take these HGH supplements, I would suggest using these tests and annoting your condition before hand. Take several more measurements over the course of a few weeks and compare them to see if you are getting results from the supplements. I'd like to hear from you and compile an unofficial tally here on this blog.

Toupee or Not Toupee

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Ted Dansons, star of TV and Movies, put his toupee up for auction to help out Steve Irwin's foundation. It fetched a $1,000,000!! I couldn't help but think what would happen if it were one of our crazier PPP posties that had bought it...

"So what did you do with your payperpost money?"

"Oh I bought Ted Dansen's wig for my Chihuahua. It makes a nice coat for him."

"Oh, instead of a human wearing an animal, it's the other way around. Interesting. Does he like it?"

"Oh yes! At first I thought that he would wig out. But he only started to chew on it. So I stopped him. I don't want him to get a hair lip."

"Well, I'm rooting for him. Say, you know one million dollars is a lot of money for a hair piece."

"Oh I know, I know. I kept saying to myself toupee or not toupee? Then I won and I found myself staring at it! There was no autograph or anything in it! You would think there would be something that said 'Ted Dansen wore this.' Maybe a tangle lock with note or personalized cowlick. But no! So I started thinking to pay or not to pay. It was a very Shakespearean moment and stuff."

Virtual World, Real Taxation

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Leave it to your friends in government to figure out ways to take your money. In previous posts, I talked about the pretend worlds of "Second Life" and "Entropia Universe". As in real life, they have an economy of buying and selling goods and services. In fact, a true model of laissez faire capitalism at the moment. But there are those who are studying the idea of attacking that pretend money with real taxation. Of course, they'll want to take your real money for their coffers ...

cell phones for all

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According to a study, 80% of the world's population has a mobile phone service. Wait a minute, hold the phone! According to poverty studies, isn't about 25% of the world living in proverty? That means some of them have cell phones. What are they doing paying for the service? What are they doing with their phones? Do they call each other? "I'm so hungry." "Me too." "Maybe we can order pizza." "I would but I just paid my phone bill." I think some numbers are askew somewhere...

www.widgetbox.com

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Beside the usual 'links' and 'archives' listed on the right of my blog, you'll notice a few other goodies called widgets. For example, I've placed one that lets you donate a dollar or two to a really good cause (me!) and a clock and a guitar chord player. You can find these and other cool free widgets for your web site or your blog (unless you are using LiveJournal) at http://www.widgetbox.com/.

A Happy USB Birthday

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I couldn't believe it when I saw it but you can now celebrate your birthday via your USB port on your computer....! Completely with hat, mouse pad and lights!! Guaranteed to embarrass any co-worker!

Stamps that are just in time for Christmas

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A few years ago a physicist, Kenneth Libbrecht, published high-resolution microscope images of snowflakes. The detail of each snowflake was amazing. I guess the U.S. Postal Service thought so as well. Last week they issued four new 39-cent commemorative postage stamps based on Libbrecht’s images.

Marine life stirs ocean enough to affect climate

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I've noticed that there is nothing that happens around us, no matter how minute, that isn't felt far away either in time or distance --- the butterfly effect. There is a huge integrated complexity to our universe. While it may seem random, sometimes I think that there is an order behind it just waiting to be discovered. Not some much an intelligence but predictable principles in play behind the mystery in our lives. That's why I found this article so fascinating. This is the kind of discovers that I would love to be a part of ...

Injunction against a "Bully"?

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From the maker of "Grand Theft Auto" comes a game where you get to be the bully in a private school. Of course, you get to use all the nastiness that comes with being a bully. It's only a game. Just an innocent, albeit violent, game. "It's worse than that!", says anti-video game and super brother's keeper of us all, Jack Thompson. So far, he has convinced a judge in Florida to consider stopping the sales of the game. Free speech issue? Perhaps. The game has a mature rating, and most parents certainly use this guideline when buying games for junior. Maybe the courts don't think the parents are doing a good enough job. I guess we'll find out on Tuesday how much influence Mr. Thompson has on the judge.

when quitting is a good thing...

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I am sooooo close to quitting my pizza job that I can almost taste it! Not the pizza, the quitting. And I have to tell you it is so much more delicious than the pizza. So I think about the $600 a month that I would give up. Then I consider the $1000 worth of aggravation that it costs me ... tough decision. It doesn't help that the bigger aggravation of Christmas is only a few weeks away. And $600 is $600 that I don't have. ::: sigh ::: So close ....

'Second Life' 3-D Digital World Grows

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Earlier, I wrote about Entropia Universe. There is another social online world of avatars known as "Second Life". Similar to Entropia but without being able to pull out money from this virtual world.

""Second Life" now has more than 800,000 denizens, of whom more than a hundred are earning a real-world, full-time living there, selling things like virtual land, clothes, jewelry, weaponry and pets, or by offering virtual services, notably sex."

Link to Second Life can be found here

International game laboratory created

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I guess this goes to show how important gaming has become in our lives:
"Researchers from the United States and Singapore are combing efforts to develop world-class digital game technology."

making $$ online with Entropia Universe?

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I guess I'm still trying to figure this one out. I understand the fun of playing online games such as Warcraft. But after a hard day at my jobs, I don't know if I can go into another world and work some more. Is the money easier? Perhaps. Take a look at this story: "Teen pays siblings' college fees by selling virtual weapons"

CNET has a news video on their site about it: Video: Make real money on virtual planet Calypso

Wikipedia has a good summary of the game.

And here is the world in question: Entropia Universe

Boil an egg without water?

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You must be yolking... Yet this is what a British inventor has done by using the heat from four halegon lamps. Granted, your three minute egg now takes six minutes to reach perfection but at least you didn't boil any water...

great headlight restoration cleaner!

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Six weeks ago, I wrote about a headlight restoration product. I ordered it, used it and was immediately impressed. Now three weeks after using MDWholeSale's headlight cleaner, how have my headlights held up? GREAT!!! See for yourself:

	before	after
driver side beams

This $27 cleaning product saved me from buying $200 headlight assembly. I can't say enough good about this product and about mdwholesale.com. They definitely have a product for headlight repair! If you have cloudy headlights, you definitely need to buy this excellent headlight restoration cleaner!!

October 11th articles at...

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.. my other site, "Warning: Life Under Construction"

• Preventing Applications from Stealing the Focus
• Epson inkjet printers
• PayPal Debt Card
• A Clustered What?

What makes fingernails on a chalkboard so irrate?

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Vanderbilt psychologist Randolph Blake won a prize recently for looking into why sound of fingernails on a chalkboard is so disturbing. In analyzing the sound he found similarities to primate distress calls. Why is this important? Click the link and read the article... :)

that time of the year again

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"It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly two shots rang out!" Well... not so much 'rang out'... more like 'guzzled down' as tequila often is. And it wasn't night, it was more like a sunny autumn morning. A chilly wind whipping through the trees, violently ripping off the leaves from their strong hold and sending them in a silent scream towards the earth. Ah, but they didn't die in vain for they took root and gave birth to the election signs that one finds scattered along the road way. This year looks to be a bumper crop too! Yet in all this peacefulness lies a terror. Beasts that will come forth just after Halloween and utter those terrifying sounds, "Hello, I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Now you understand the need for two shots .... minimum!

10 reasons people make stupid decisions

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I came across this great site that gives ten reasons why people make stupid decisions. In the comments that follow his posting are a few more great reasons that should be added to this list. Learn it, (don't) Live it, Love it.

Made My First Commercial

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PayPerPost had an opportunity to make a commercial for them. I used what limited resources that I had and the results are here. What do you think?

Microsoft takes on Apple with Zune

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...although analyst are saying that Microsoft will lose money. Unit for unit, Zune has the same capacity and price as the iPod. However, the Zune is bulker and has shorter battery life which may lead to its downfall. We'll see what happens when the Christmas shopping season kicks in.

new AOL software?

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Now that AOL has jumped on the free service bandwagon, it has rolled out its portal program "OpenRide". Here is the first review that I've found about it: AOL's OpenRide. As for myself, I can't get it to work behind my company's firewall so my review will have to wait until I get home.

One of the World's Best Investor for the Private Citizen

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David Swensen got his Ph.D in economics from Yale and then spent five years on Wall Street. Twenty one years ago, he returned to Yale to run their endowment program and what he did with it is nothing short of phenomenal. He has averaged a 16% return over those 21 years! NPR.org did an article on him and included tips from his book, Unconventional Success, which is full of advice for the average investor. Worth reading!!!

Do you really need that new gaming system now?!

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Sony's Playstation 3 and Nintendo's Wii will be sold just before Thanksgiving. And, as usual, supplies will be limited. So Gamestop and EB Games will be taking preorders within the next week or two. But do you really need to get that new system that was rushed through manufacturing? Look at Xbox 360. People who were among the first to buy it are having problems with the units as well as getting it repair under warranty. Microsoft has only recently agreed to repair units bought before January 1st of this year.

You know, we don't always need to be the first to get version 1 of everything. Let the market settle, let the bugs get fixed and let the price drop to more reasonable levels. Being first isn't always better.

Branson to popularize space travel

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Branson constantly amazes with his businesses: Virgin Records, Virgin Phone service, Virgin Airways. And he plans to build a space travel business as reported here:
"Branson unveils part of spacecraft, seeks to popularize space travel" I can't wait! Hopefully it will be in the next few years!

Amazing the Power that is of the Earth

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"Alaskan storm cracks giant iceberg to pieces in faraway Antarctica" Can you believe that a storm in Alask caused such an ocean swell that it travel over 8000 miles in six days to the Antarctic and STILL had enough energy to crack an iceburg! I imagine that a lot of surfers are wishing that they could have ridden that wave. Take about hang time! Our planet is an amazing place.

When you're not in the top ten ....

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... you have to try harder. I say that because, by 2:00 pm today, I had made it into the top ten posties of PPP. By the time I got home at 6:30, I was out of the list. So close yet so far ... The day is not done but still, I felt like I accomplished something and now lost it. Back to the writing board...

Iranian video game targets U.S. tanker

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I guess that it's to be expected that, in the propaganda battle, each side would target their youth and appeal to them through videos. We in the US have our games that battle all sorts of evil in the world. Now Iran has its version of battling evil. "The game, "Counter Strike," invites players to plant two bombs on the oil tanker to sink it and make the strait of Hormuz impassable, the Jomhouri-ye Eslami daily reported."

Will simply reveal the aggressiveness of the teen years and make things better in the world? Kinda doubt it ....

Security fix for older, unsupported Windows

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Last week, Microsoft rushed out a patch to fix a serious security flaw in XP and Internet Explorer Browser. Unfortunately, not all of us are using Windows XP. Some of us are still working with as Windows 2000 and ME and even Windows 98! GASP! Are we to remain vulnerable to hackers? Not according to CNET. They report that
Security pros patch older Windows versions.

Honda gives frightened parallel parkers a hand

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If you hate parallel parking, Honda is working to win your business. They have developed a automated parking-assist system and will be selling it for about $450.

Think that Gambling Prohibition ...

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... will work as brilliantly well as the alcohol prohibition of the 1920's? On Saturday, Congress (mainly Republicans) hustled through a bill that outlaws US banks and credit card companies from processing online bets. President Bush is expected to sign the bill this week.

Being an election year, I guess this is one way to appease the religious voters. We'll see if Democrats can stop this and do it their way: by taxing it to death. Either way, if you're a responsible gamer or a gambler, what are you going to do?

New Set of ... Air bags?

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"A woman in the northern Bulgarian town of Ruse survived a car crash thanks to her silicon breasts which acted as an airbag, Standart newspaper reported Monday."

Keeping you abreast of breaking news, I want to be very *up front* with this one. We all know how breast implants can cause auto accidents by guys rubber-necking for a view. But this is the first time I have heard of anyone getting implants as a safety feature. I have heard about how certain parts of the chest area can 'cut glass' under certain circumstances. As far as protecting you from breaking glass, well that's something else. If I were to choose between getting hit in the face by an air bag or getting slapped from staring at some body's "air bags", I would have to pick a bust in the mouth as a much more pleasurable option. Anyway, when they asked that woman if she was any worse for the accident, she said that she had the breast time of her life. I hope that I never get too old and suffer from mammary lost.

Microsoft will sell a cheaper XBox 360 ...

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... in Japan.That's does us in the US a lot of good! Japanese get to buy their 360 for $255 and we'll get it for ... whatever Ebay has it for, I guess!!