1- Comodo Firewall Pro
This firewall is one of the best available. It comes stacked with multiple tools (including built in Antivirus) that help protect your system from hackers and other types of attacks. It also applies access control for installed programs and system services. Best on its class
Get it here
2- AVG Antivirus Free
This free anti-virus is rated one of the best on its class. It scans files on the fly, upon opening, in e-mails and more.
Get it here
3- HijackThis
There are many tools out there for free that can help you get your spyware/adware troubles fixed. However; few tools have the ability to engage multiple security savvy guys out in multiple sites that can review your PC security settings and recommend the best solutions - FOR FREE!!!.
HijackThis is that tool. Run the app on your PC and it will tell you what changes have been made by a malicious spyware/adware. You can then review the log file and seek help online if you can't interpret it yourself.
I think its worth checking out!!..
Get it here
4- NanoScan
While HijackThis can do an awesome job at detecting changes performed on your PC, NanoScan can scan all of your running processes in less than a minute and detect which are Trojan horses, Spyware, Viruses and other malicious software that could be running on your PC. Great tool for analyzing your running processes.
Get it here
Note: Might need to install a plug-in
5- ShieldsUp
After you install your security tools, you need to verify and make sure that what they perform as good as they claim to be able to. To do this, you use ShieldsUp. This cool tool will do some system profiling on your PC and tell you which stools are slacking and which are working as expected. No bad to make sure the tools are reliable and accurate.
Get it here
6- PC Flank
Well, you have ShieldsUp which helps ensure your Firewall is running as expected and all ports are blocked, PC Flank will perform an attack on your firewall to see if it blocks them. Then it will tell you the results. This will tell you how well you are protected.
Get it here
7- EULAlyzer
Security is not all about protecting your PC, but also about protecting your self when clicking the Accept bottom while downloading or installing an application. By dragging the EULAlyzer tool into the EULA agreement you are making sure that you don't get yourself in trouble later. This tool performs a scan of the license agreement and generate a report on any problematic language it might encounter.
Get it here
8- Kruptos 2
This tool will secure specific folders/files by requesting a password to access them. Only the password holder can access the file. It also includes a file shredder.
Get it here
9- SmoothWall Express
A great way to protect your home/office network is by using a network firewall. This free tool will allow you to turn any old machine running a Pentium 200 MHz or higher with 128MB of memory or more into a network firewall. This tool won the Best of Open Source Software Awards (BOSSIES) in the open source security category for 2008.
Get it here
10- ZoneAlarm Free Edition
Last, but not least, we have ZoneAlarm Personal Firewall Free Edition. This firewall will block internet black attacks and includes program access control for inbound and outbound protection. This a firewall that I have personally used for a very long time on the past and can say that is another "best on its class" kind of firewall.
Get it here
Note:
Many of these tools were reviewed by PCMAG.com and their review can be found on the site's list of The Best Free Software. I have installed all of the above mention applications thus decided to choose them to form my top 10 list.
The number in which they are listed does not indicate a best to worst order. It is just the way I listed them. I am not liable for any issue you might encounter during the installation of these tools.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
New segments will soon be added to the blog!
Hello all,
I will be updating the blog more frequently. Apologize for the slow response to your questions. After the holidays, I will be implementing new and improved segments to the blog. More about the new stuff will be coming down the pipe later next month. Stay tune and thanks for your continued support.
Elgato!
I will be updating the blog more frequently. Apologize for the slow response to your questions. After the holidays, I will be implementing new and improved segments to the blog. More about the new stuff will be coming down the pipe later next month. Stay tune and thanks for your continued support.
Elgato!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Install Fedora on a PS3 with Clustering
I found this to be interesting. How cool is it to be able to install Fedora on your PS3? I think its great and would definetly try it.
For instructions on how to do it, go here.
For instructions on how to do it, go here.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Intel completes 32-nanometer chip
I was reading the article for the new 32-nm chip from Intel earlier today. I figured this is something worth placing on the blog and commenting on. I would love to see this new chip in action. Just how much can we shrink the processors? This is just an excellent example of how far technology has come in the last couple of decades.
For those who have not read the article click here to be directed to C-Net.
For those who have not read the article click here to be directed to C-Net.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Google Native Client
I was reading about Google's Native Client. I hope that the intended purpose of this project is accomplished. This will be a nice upgrade to our current software (Flash, Java, etc). For those not familiar with this project follow the links below.
Google Code Blog info on Native Client
Download Native Client for Windows, Linux, MAC
Install the distribution and run demos, following the instructions in the Getting Started Guide
If you want to contribute to this project even more visit the Native Client Home page. Here you can find all the links provided above and much more.
Have Fun and update this blog with any comments regarding your experience with Native Client.
Google Code Blog info on Native Client
Download Native Client for Windows, Linux, MAC
Install the distribution and run demos, following the instructions in the Getting Started Guide
If you want to contribute to this project even more visit the Native Client Home page. Here you can find all the links provided above and much more.
Have Fun and update this blog with any comments regarding your experience with Native Client.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The Sad Reality of the US Economy
Clark Howard the consumer reporter suggest not giving gift cards at all this year. If the business goes under, the card will be no good and that will just be money down the drain.
Ann Taylor closing 117 stores nationwide A company spokeswoman said the company hasn't revealed which stores will be shuttered. It will let the stores that will close this fiscal year know over the next month.
Eddie Bauer to close more stores Eddie Bauer has already closed 27 shops in the first quarter and plans to close up to two more outlet stores by the end of the year.
Cache closing store s. Woman's retailer Cache announced that it is closing 20 to 23 stores this year.
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines closing 150 stores nationwide. The owner of retailers Lane Bryant , Fashion Bug , Catherines Plus Sizes will close about 150 under performing stores this year. The company hasn't provided a list of specific store closures and can't say when it will offer that info, spokeswoman Brooke Perry said today.
Talbots, J. Jill closing stores. About a month ago, Talbots announced that it will be shuttering all 78 of its kids and men's stores. Now the company says it will close another 22 under performing stores.. The 22 stores will be a mix of Talbots woman's and J. Jill , another chain it owns. The closures will occur this fiscal year, according to a company press release.
Gap Inc. closing 85 stores. In addition to its namesake chain, Gap also owns Old Navy and Banana Republic . The company said the closures - all planned for fiscal 2008 - will be weighted toward the Gap brand.
Foot Locker to close 140 stores. In the company press release and during its conference call with analysts today, it did not specify where the future store closures - all planned in fiscal 2008 - will be. The company could not be immediately reached for comment.
Wickes is going out of business. Wickes Furniture is going out of business and closing all of its stores, Wickes, a 37-year-old retailer that targets middle-income customers, filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
Goodbye Levitz / BOMBAY - closed already. The furniture retailer is going out of business. Levitz first announced it was going out of business a nd closing all 76 of its stores in December. The retailer dates back to 1910 when Richard Levitz opened his first furniture store in Lebanon , PA. In the 1960s, the warehouse/showroom concept brought Levitz to the forefront of the furniture industry. The local Levitz closures will follow the shutdown of Bombay .
Zales, Piercing Pagoda closing stores. The owner of Zales and Piercing Pagoda previously said it plans to close 82 stores by July 31. Today, it announced that it is closing another 23 under performing stores. The company said it's not providing a list of specific store closures. Of the 105 locations planned for closure, 50 are kiosks and 55 are stores.
Disney Store owner has the right to close 98 stores. The Walt Disney Company announced it acquired about 220 Disney Stores from subsidiaries of The Children's Place Retail Stores. The exact number of store s acquired will depend on negotiations with landlords. Those subsidiaries of Children's Place filed for bankruptcy protection in late March. Walt Disney in the news release said it has also obtained the right to close about 98 Disney Stores in the U.S. The press release didn't list those stores.
Home Depot store closings (E. Brunswick, Rt 18 just put up their closing sign). ATLANTA - Nearly 7+ months after its chief executive said there were no plans to cut the number of its core retail stores, The Home Depot Inc.
announced Thursday that it is shuttering 15 of them amid a slumping U.S.economy and housing market. The move will affect 1,300 employees. It is the first time the world's largest home improvement store chain has ever closed a flagship store for performance reasons. Its shares rose almost 5 percent.The Atlanta-based company said the under performing U.S. stores being closed represent less than 1 percent of its existing stores. They will be shuttered within the next two months.
CompUSA (CLOSED) clarifies details on store closings. Any extended warranties purchased for products through CompUSA will be honored by a third-party provider, Assurant Solutions. Gift cards, rain checks, and rebates purchased prior to December 12 can be redeemed at any time during the final sale. For those who have a gadget currently in for service with CompUSA, the repair will be completed and the gadget will be returned to owners.
http://www.news.com Macy's - 9 stores.
Movie Gallery - 160 stores as part of reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy. The video rental company plans to close 400 of 3,500 Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video stores in addition to the 520 locations the video rental chain closed last fall.
Pacific Sunwear - 153 Demo stores.
Pep Boys - 33 stores.
Sprint Nextel - 125 retail locations. New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse appears to have inherited a company bleeding subscribers by the thousands, and will now officially be dropping the ax on 4,000 employees and 125 retail locations. Amid the loss of 639,000 postpaid customers in the fourth quarter, Sprint will be cutting a total of 6.7% of its work force (following the 5,000 layoffs last year) and 8% of company-owned brick-and-mortar stores, while remaining mute on other rumors that it will consolidate its headquarters in Kansas . Sprint Nextel shares are down $2.89, or nearly 25%, at the time of this writing.
J. C. Penney, Lowe's are scaling back.
Ethan Allen Interiors: The company announced plans to close 12 of 300+ stores in an effort to cut costs.
Wilsons The Leather Experts - 158 stores.
Pacific Sunwear Will close its 154 Demo stores after a review of strategic alternatives for the urban-apparel brand. Seventy-four under performing Demo stores closed last May.
Sharper Image: The company recently filed for bankruptcy protection and announced that 90 of its 184 stores are closing. The retailer will still operate 94 stores to pay off debts, but 90 of these stores have performed poorly and also may close.
Bombay Company: (Freehold Mall store closed) The company unveiled plans to close all 384 U.S.-based Bombay Company stores. The company's online storefront has discontinued operations.
KB Toys posted a list of 356 stores that it is closing around the United States as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. To see the list of store closings, go to the KB Toys Information web site, and click on Press Information.
Dillard's to Close More Stores. Dillard's Inc. said it will continue to focus on closing under performing stores, reducing expenses and improving its merchandise in 2008. At the company's annual shareholder meeting, CEO William Dillard II said the company will close another six underperformed stores this year.
And there is a lot more out there that are going through the same thing. Just sad
Ann Taylor closing 117 stores nationwide A company spokeswoman said the company hasn't revealed which stores will be shuttered. It will let the stores that will close this fiscal year know over the next month.
Eddie Bauer to close more stores Eddie Bauer has already closed 27 shops in the first quarter and plans to close up to two more outlet stores by the end of the year.
Cache closing store s. Woman's retailer Cache announced that it is closing 20 to 23 stores this year.
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines closing 150 stores nationwide. The owner of retailers Lane Bryant , Fashion Bug , Catherines Plus Sizes will close about 150 under performing stores this year. The company hasn't provided a list of specific store closures and can't say when it will offer that info, spokeswoman Brooke Perry said today.
Talbots, J. Jill closing stores. About a month ago, Talbots announced that it will be shuttering all 78 of its kids and men's stores. Now the company says it will close another 22 under performing stores.. The 22 stores will be a mix of Talbots woman's and J. Jill , another chain it owns. The closures will occur this fiscal year, according to a company press release.
Gap Inc. closing 85 stores. In addition to its namesake chain, Gap also owns Old Navy and Banana Republic . The company said the closures - all planned for fiscal 2008 - will be weighted toward the Gap brand.
Foot Locker to close 140 stores. In the company press release and during its conference call with analysts today, it did not specify where the future store closures - all planned in fiscal 2008 - will be. The company could not be immediately reached for comment.
Wickes is going out of business. Wickes Furniture is going out of business and closing all of its stores, Wickes, a 37-year-old retailer that targets middle-income customers, filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
Goodbye Levitz / BOMBAY - closed already. The furniture retailer is going out of business. Levitz first announced it was going out of business a nd closing all 76 of its stores in December. The retailer dates back to 1910 when Richard Levitz opened his first furniture store in Lebanon , PA. In the 1960s, the warehouse/showroom concept brought Levitz to the forefront of the furniture industry. The local Levitz closures will follow the shutdown of Bombay .
Zales, Piercing Pagoda closing stores. The owner of Zales and Piercing Pagoda previously said it plans to close 82 stores by July 31. Today, it announced that it is closing another 23 under performing stores. The company said it's not providing a list of specific store closures. Of the 105 locations planned for closure, 50 are kiosks and 55 are stores.
Disney Store owner has the right to close 98 stores. The Walt Disney Company announced it acquired about 220 Disney Stores from subsidiaries of The Children's Place Retail Stores. The exact number of store s acquired will depend on negotiations with landlords. Those subsidiaries of Children's Place filed for bankruptcy protection in late March. Walt Disney in the news release said it has also obtained the right to close about 98 Disney Stores in the U.S. The press release didn't list those stores.
Home Depot store closings (E. Brunswick, Rt 18 just put up their closing sign). ATLANTA - Nearly 7+ months after its chief executive said there were no plans to cut the number of its core retail stores, The Home Depot Inc.
announced Thursday that it is shuttering 15 of them amid a slumping U.S.economy and housing market. The move will affect 1,300 employees. It is the first time the world's largest home improvement store chain has ever closed a flagship store for performance reasons. Its shares rose almost 5 percent.The Atlanta-based company said the under performing U.S. stores being closed represent less than 1 percent of its existing stores. They will be shuttered within the next two months.
CompUSA (CLOSED) clarifies details on store closings. Any extended warranties purchased for products through CompUSA will be honored by a third-party provider, Assurant Solutions. Gift cards, rain checks, and rebates purchased prior to December 12 can be redeemed at any time during the final sale. For those who have a gadget currently in for service with CompUSA, the repair will be completed and the gadget will be returned to owners.
http://www.news.com Macy's - 9 stores.
Movie Gallery - 160 stores as part of reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy. The video rental company plans to close 400 of 3,500 Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video stores in addition to the 520 locations the video rental chain closed last fall.
Pacific Sunwear - 153 Demo stores.
Pep Boys - 33 stores.
Sprint Nextel - 125 retail locations. New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse appears to have inherited a company bleeding subscribers by the thousands, and will now officially be dropping the ax on 4,000 employees and 125 retail locations. Amid the loss of 639,000 postpaid customers in the fourth quarter, Sprint will be cutting a total of 6.7% of its work force (following the 5,000 layoffs last year) and 8% of company-owned brick-and-mortar stores, while remaining mute on other rumors that it will consolidate its headquarters in Kansas . Sprint Nextel shares are down $2.89, or nearly 25%, at the time of this writing.
J. C. Penney, Lowe's are scaling back.
Ethan Allen Interiors: The company announced plans to close 12 of 300+ stores in an effort to cut costs.
Wilsons The Leather Experts - 158 stores.
Pacific Sunwear Will close its 154 Demo stores after a review of strategic alternatives for the urban-apparel brand. Seventy-four under performing Demo stores closed last May.
Sharper Image: The company recently filed for bankruptcy protection and announced that 90 of its 184 stores are closing. The retailer will still operate 94 stores to pay off debts, but 90 of these stores have performed poorly and also may close.
Bombay Company: (Freehold Mall store closed) The company unveiled plans to close all 384 U.S.-based Bombay Company stores. The company's online storefront has discontinued operations.
KB Toys posted a list of 356 stores that it is closing around the United States as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. To see the list of store closings, go to the KB Toys Information web site, and click on Press Information.
Dillard's to Close More Stores. Dillard's Inc. said it will continue to focus on closing under performing stores, reducing expenses and improving its merchandise in 2008. At the company's annual shareholder meeting, CEO William Dillard II said the company will close another six underperformed stores this year.
And there is a lot more out there that are going through the same thing. Just sad
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Greasemonkey - One of the best things Firefox has to offer
I've been playing around with greasemonkey lately and though that it would just be fair to mention to you guys how great this is. With this extension I am able to change how google.com looks or gmail, how to easily download embedded videos from websites and a lot more. You might want to check it out. Please see my new google home page below.
Origens of Life Explained?
I found this article while browsing Wired and though you might like to know where you come from. Read on...
Originally considered a dud, an old volcano-in-a-bottle experiment designed to mimic conditions that may have brewed the components of life might have been right on target.
After reanalyzing the results of unpublished research conducted by Stanley Miller in 1953, chemists realized that his experiment had actually produced a wealth of amino acids — the protein foundation of life.
Miller is famed for the results of experiments on amino acid formation in a jar filled with methane, hydrogen and ammonia — his version of the primordial soup. However, his estimates of atmospheric composition were eventually considered inaccurate. The experiment became regarded as a general rather than useful example of how the first organic molecules may have assembled.
But the latest results, derived from samples found in an old box by one of Miller's former graduate students, come from a device that mimicked volcanic conditions now believed to have existed three billion years ago. The findings suggest that amino acids could have formed when lightning struck pools of gas on the flanks of volcanoes, and are a fitting coda for the late father of prebiotic chemistry.
"What's amazing is that he did it," said study co-author Jeffrey Bada, a Scripps Institute of Oceanography biochemist and Miller's former student. "All I did is have access to his extracts."
Bada stumbled across the original experiment by accident when a colleague of Miller's mentioned having seen a box of experimental samples in Miller's office. Bada, who inherited Miller's scientific possessions after his death in 2007, found the box — literally labeled "1953-1954 experiments" — in his own office.
Inside it were samples taken by Miller from a device that spewed a concentrated stream of primordial gases over an electrical spark. It was a high-powered variation on the steady-steam apparatus that earned him fame — but unlike that device, it appeared to have produced few amino acids, and was unmentioned in his landmark 1953 Science study, "A Production of Amino Acids Under Possible Primitive Earth Conditions."
But Miller didn't have access to high-performance liquid chromatography, which lets chemists break down and classify samples with once-unthinkable levels of precision. And when Bada's team reanalyzed the disregarded samples, they found no fewer than 22 amino acids, several of which were never seen by Miller in a lifetime of primordial modeling.
Perhaps amino acids first formed when the gases in Miller's device accumulated around active volcanoes, said Bada. "Instead of having global synthesis of organic molecules, you had a lot of little localized factories in the form of these volcanic islands," he said.
"The amino acid precursors formed in a plume and concentrated along tidal shores. They settled in the water, underwent further reactions there, and as they washed along the shore, became concentrated and underwent further polymerization events," explained Indiana University biochemist Adam Johnson, a co-author of the study. "And lightning" — the final catalyst in the equation — "tends to be extremely common with volcanic eruptions."
Luke Leman, a Scripps Institute biochemist who was not involved in the study, published today in Science, agreed.
"These findings add to a growing body of literature suggesting that areas near volcanoes could have been hotspots of organic chemistry on early Earth," he said.
Leman continued, "These findings will likely inspire a next generation of prebiotic chemists, much as Miller's original experimental results have inspired the field for more than fifty years."
Added Bada, "There's a lesson here: don't throw anything away."
The Miller Volcanic Spark Discharge Experiment [Science]
Images: Flydime / Science
Note: Added Harvard University prebiotic chemist Jack Szostak by email after the article went to press: "I like this work, because it shows that we have to think about local environments where specific classes of molecules can be made. Some good stuff might get made near (not in!) volcanoes, other good stuff might get made in other environments. At least this helps get away from the silly old idea that life began in an oceanic primordial soup (too homogeneous and too dilute for anything interesting to happen)."
Source: blog.Wired.com
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Theevrytin Reviews - G1 - Google Android
Well, after waiting for months, the new G1 smartphone is here. Powered by Google's own OS - Android - and packed with bunch of features, it is probably one of the hottest smartphones in the market right now. The service is being provided by T-Mobile and even though this is not a competition - at least not yet - for the iPhone, Apple should still consider this to be a wake up call for its future releases. It is clear to me that soon enough there will be another phone with the Android OS that can surpass the iPhone by far. Apple keep an eye out, Google is coming for you!!! - At least this is what I think..
Bottom line is that after you put together the amount of tools that Google has at its disposal with the Android OS and integrate all these features as they did, it is clear to see what I mean about this phone having the potential of soon surpassing the iPhone. The features have been so nicely integrated that it is just seamless to the user, thus making it simple to use and operate. Once you type your user name and password for you G-Mail account, you are all set. All of your e-mails as well as contacts and all that, is magically there. Google talk and all gets setup and signed in, very cool!!!
The IM tools which supports Google Talk, Windows Live, AOL and Yahoo Messenger is probably the best available out there. Not to mention Google Search and Google Apps integration. This was done flawless. It will make you want to use them all the time.
It supports multiple music player formats, including; MP3, AAC, M4A, DRM-free, WMA, WAV, AMR, MIDI and OGG Vorbis.
In addition to all this, you have the OS itself. The Android OS is probably one of the easiest and fastest to navigate. There is no lag and its much faster than that of the iPhone.
The Keyboard operates very nicely and its very simple to use.
Things I don't like?
- Less battery life when using all features
- It is heavier and bulkier than the iPhone by almost one oz (5.6 oz compared to 4.7 oz for the iPhone). Of course this is due to the simple fact that it has a full Qwerty keyboard. So, its not that bad.
- The screen itself is not multi-touch as that of the the iPhone. Because of this you can't expand in and out as you do in the iPhone. Not good for those used to this feature.
Regardless of these little imperfection, I still give it a 5 out 5 star rating. Way to go Google!!!
TheEvryTin Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Videos and Pics below:
Images credit: lifehacker
Bottom line is that after you put together the amount of tools that Google has at its disposal with the Android OS and integrate all these features as they did, it is clear to see what I mean about this phone having the potential of soon surpassing the iPhone. The features have been so nicely integrated that it is just seamless to the user, thus making it simple to use and operate. Once you type your user name and password for you G-Mail account, you are all set. All of your e-mails as well as contacts and all that, is magically there. Google talk and all gets setup and signed in, very cool!!!
The IM tools which supports Google Talk, Windows Live, AOL and Yahoo Messenger is probably the best available out there. Not to mention Google Search and Google Apps integration. This was done flawless. It will make you want to use them all the time.
It supports multiple music player formats, including; MP3, AAC, M4A, DRM-free, WMA, WAV, AMR, MIDI and OGG Vorbis.
In addition to all this, you have the OS itself. The Android OS is probably one of the easiest and fastest to navigate. There is no lag and its much faster than that of the iPhone.
The Keyboard operates very nicely and its very simple to use.
Things I don't like?
- Less battery life when using all features
- It is heavier and bulkier than the iPhone by almost one oz (5.6 oz compared to 4.7 oz for the iPhone). Of course this is due to the simple fact that it has a full Qwerty keyboard. So, its not that bad.
- The screen itself is not multi-touch as that of the the iPhone. Because of this you can't expand in and out as you do in the iPhone. Not good for those used to this feature.
Regardless of these little imperfection, I still give it a 5 out 5 star rating. Way to go Google!!!
TheEvryTin Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Videos and Pics below:
Images credit: lifehacker
Comments
I just wanted to take a second to address a little issue here. I noticed that I've been getting some traffic lately and no comments are being posted. You do realize that you don't have to subscribe to post comments, right?. Just wanted to make sure you were aware.
It's OK to post anonymously!! Let others know what you think. Thanks!!
It's OK to post anonymously!! Let others know what you think. Thanks!!
Obama delays MLB Game
I found this interesting and wanted to know your thoughts on the subject. Read on....
"NEW YORK (AP)—Major League Baseball has agreed to push back the start time of a potential World Series Game 6 by eight minutes to allow Democrat Barack Obama to purchase a half-hour of air time on the Fox network.
Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said Thursday that the game time would now be set for 8:35 p.m.
The Obama presidential campaign said Oct. 9 that it had bought the 8-8:30 p.m slot on CBS and NBC.
“Fox will accommodate Senator Obama’s desire to communicate with voters in this long-form format,” network spokesman Lou D’Ermilio said in a statement. “We are pleased that Major League Baseball has agreed to delay the first pitch of World Series Game 6 for a few minutes in order for Fox to carry his program on Oct. 29. If requested, the network would be willing to make similar time available to Senator McCain’s campaign.”
The World Series has not gone to a sixth game since 2003.
The decision was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. "
Source: Yahoo! Sports
I don't know why the big deal or the reason why they would have to delay a game for this. I mean, its not like they are going to say anything new. Everything that both candidates are saying now they have already been saying for months. What do you think?
"NEW YORK (AP)—Major League Baseball has agreed to push back the start time of a potential World Series Game 6 by eight minutes to allow Democrat Barack Obama to purchase a half-hour of air time on the Fox network.
Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said Thursday that the game time would now be set for 8:35 p.m.
The Obama presidential campaign said Oct. 9 that it had bought the 8-8:30 p.m slot on CBS and NBC.
“Fox will accommodate Senator Obama’s desire to communicate with voters in this long-form format,” network spokesman Lou D’Ermilio said in a statement. “We are pleased that Major League Baseball has agreed to delay the first pitch of World Series Game 6 for a few minutes in order for Fox to carry his program on Oct. 29. If requested, the network would be willing to make similar time available to Senator McCain’s campaign.”
The World Series has not gone to a sixth game since 2003.
The decision was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. "
Source: Yahoo! Sports
I don't know why the big deal or the reason why they would have to delay a game for this. I mean, its not like they are going to say anything new. Everything that both candidates are saying now they have already been saying for months. What do you think?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Davin Harris put to shame
Check out how this guy from London shake Davin Harris' pants at his own game.
Well, the guy in the black sweater is actually a pretty good player. His name is Stuart Tanner and he is supposed to be a playground legend on his area.
More at Yahoo! Sports
Well, the guy in the black sweater is actually a pretty good player. His name is Stuart Tanner and he is supposed to be a playground legend on his area.
More at Yahoo! Sports
Meaning of ' Barack Hussein Obama '
Hello there. Sorry for my delay on any new postings to my site. I've been a little busier than usual lately.
Anyway, I found this article while browsing the net the other day and though that it would be helpful to post it in here. It is something that many people still don't understand and think of it totally different than it really is. Don't take me wrong, I don't particularly care much for either of the two presidential candidates. I think each has their strong views, but don't really care for their stand regarding the environment. I think of myself as an environmentalist who care and appreciate our planet and who would like to see something done to preserve it. Whit that said, please read the below for some interesting information regarding the name "Barack Hussein Obama".
By Juan Cole
President of the Global Americana Institute
jricole@gmail.com
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Barack Hussein Obama, Omar Bradley, Benjamin Franklin and other Semitically Named American Heroes
At Cincinnati, Bill Cunningham, according to the LAT, who "introduced presidential candidate John McCain at a rally here today accused Barack Obama of sympathizing with 'world leaders who want to kill us' and invoked Obama's middle name -- three times calling him 'Barack Hussein Obama.' " John McCain repudiated Cunningham's low tactics and said that using the middle name like that three times was "inappropriate" and would never happen again at one of his rallies.
I want to say something about Barack Hussein Obama's name. It is a name to be proud of. It is an American name. It is a blessed name. It is a heroic name, as heroic and American in its own way as the name of General Omar Nelson Bradley or the name of Benjamin Franklin. And denigrating that name is a form of racial and religious bigotry of the most vile and debased sort. It is a prejudice against names deriving from Semitic languages!
Christian, Western heroes have often been bequeathed Middle Eastern names. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the medieval Spanish hero, carried the name El Cid, from the Arabic al-Sayyid, "the lord."
Barack and Hussein are Semitic words. Americans have been named with Semitic names since the founding of the Republic. Fourteen of our 43 presidents have had Semitic names (see below). And, American English contains many Arabic-derived words that we use every day and without which we would be much impoverished. America is a world civilization with a world heritage, something Cunninghamism will never understand.
Barack is a Semitic word meaning "to bless" as a verb or "blessing" as a noun. In its Hebrew form, barak, it is found all through the Bible. It first occurs in Genesis 1:22: "And God blessed (ḇāreḵə ) them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."
Here is a list of how many times barak appears in each book of the Bible.
Now let us take the name "Hussein." It is from the Semitic word, hasan, meaning "good" or "handsome." Husayn is the diminutive, affectionate form.
Barack Obama's middle name is in honor of his grandfather, Hussein, a secular resident of Nairobi. Americans may think of Saddam Hussein when they hear the name, but that is like thinking of Stalin when you hear the name Joseph. There have been lots of Husseins in history, from the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, a hero who touched the historian Gibbon, to King Hussein of Jordan, one of America's most steadfast allies in the 20th century. The author of the beloved American novel, The Kite Runner, is Khaled Hosseini.
But in Obama's case, it is just a reference to his grandfather.
It is worth pointing out that John McCain's adopted daughter, Bridget, is originally from Bangladesh. Since Hussein is a very common name in Bangladesh, it is entirely possible that her birth father or grandfather was named Hussein. McCain certainly has Muslim relatives via adoption in his family. If Muslim relatives are a disqualification from high office in the United States, then McCain himself is in trouble. In fact, since Bridget is upset that George W. Bush doesn't like her "because she is black," and used her to stop the McCain campaign in South Carolina in 2000, you understand why McCain would be especially sensitive to race-baiting of Cunningham's sort. The question is how vigorously he will combat it; he hasn't been above Muslim-taunting in the campaign so far. (And, the McCains really should let Bridget know that she is Asian, not "black." The poor girl; Bush and Rove have done a number on her, and Cindy's confusion can't help.)
The other thing to say about grandfathers named Hussein is that very large numbers of African-Americans probably have an ancestor ten or eleven generations ago with that name, in what is now Mali or Senegal or Nigeria. And, since so many thousands of Arab Muslims were made to convert to Catholicism in Spain after 1501, many Latinos have distant ancestors named Hussein, too. In fact, since there was a lot of Arab-Spanish intermarriage, and since there was subsequent Spanish intermarriage with other European Catholics, more European Americans are descended from a Hussein than they realize. The British royal family is quite forthright about the Arab line in their ancestry going back to Andalusia.
Obama, being a cousin of Dick Cheney on one side and having relatives in Kenya on the other, is just more and more typical of the 21st century United States.
So, anyway, Obama's first two names mean "Blessing, the Good." If we are lucky enough to get him for president, we can only hope that his names are prophetic for us.
Which brings me to Omar Bradley. Omar is an alternative spelling of Umar, i.e. Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph of Sunni Islam. Presumably General Bradley was named for the poet Omar Khayyam, who bore the caliph's name. Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, in the "translation" of Edward FitzGerald, became enormously popular in Victorian America.
Gen. Omar Bradley, who bore a Semitic, Muslim first name, and shared it with the second Caliph of Sunni Islam, was the hero of D-Day and Normandy, of the Battle of the Bulge and the Ruhr.
Would Mr. Cunningham see Omar Bradley as un-American, as an enemy because of his name?
What about other American heroes, such as Gen. George Joulwan, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander of Europe? "Joulwan" is an Arabic name. Or there is Gen. John Abizaid, former CENTCOM commander. Abizaid is an Arabic name. Abi means Abu or "father of," and Zaid is a common Arab first name. Is Cunningham good enough to wipe their shoes? Is he going to call them traitors because they have Arabic names?
What about Congressman Darrell Issa of California? ("`Isa" means Jesus in Arabic). Former cabinet secretary Donna Shalala? (Shalala means "waterfall" in Arabic).
I won't go into all the great Americans with Arabic names in sports, entertainment and business, against whom Cunningham would apparently discriminate on that basis. Does he want to take citizenship away from Kareem Abdul Jabbar [meaning "noble the servant of the Mighty"] and Ahmad Jamal [meaning "the most praised, beauty"]? What about Rihanna ["sweet basil," "aromatic"]? Tony Shalhoub [i.e. Mr. Monk]?
Let us take Benjamin Franklin. His first name is from the Hebrew Bin Yamin, the son of the Right (hand), or son of strength, or the son of the South (yamin or right has lots of connotations). The "Bin" means "son of," just as in modern colloquial Arabic. Bin Yamin Franklin is not a dishonorable name because of its Semitic root. By the way, there are lots of Muslims named Bin Yamin.
As for an American president bearing a name derived from a Semitic language, that is hardly unprecedented.
John Adams really only had Semitic names. His first name is from the Hebrew Yochanan, or gift of God, which became Johan and then John. (In German and in medieval English, "y" is represented by "j" but was originally pronounced "y".) Adams is from the biblical Adam, which also just means "human being." In Arabic, one way of saying "human being" is "Bani Adam," the children of men.
Thomas Jefferson's first name is from the Aramaic Tuma, meaning "twin." Aramaic is a Semitic language spoken by Jesus, which is related to Hebrew and Arabic. In Arabic twin is tau'am, so you can see the similarity.
James Madison, James Monroe and James Polk all had a Semitic first name, derived from the Hebrew Ya'aqov or Jacob, which is Ya`qub in Arabic. It became Iacobus in Latin, then was corrupted to Iacomus, and from there became James in English.
Zachary Taylor's first name is from the Hebrew Zachariah, which means "the Lord has remembered."
Abraham Lincoln, of course is, named for the patriarch Abraham, from the Semitic word for father, Ab, and the word for "multitude," raham,. Abu, "father of," is a common element in Arab names today.
So, Mr. Cunningham, Barack Hussein Obama fits right in this list of presidents with Semitic names. In fact, we haven't had one for a while. We are due for another one.
A blessed and good one.
posted by Juan Cole @ 2/27/2008 12:02:00 AM
For original post click here.
Anyway, I found this article while browsing the net the other day and though that it would be helpful to post it in here. It is something that many people still don't understand and think of it totally different than it really is. Don't take me wrong, I don't particularly care much for either of the two presidential candidates. I think each has their strong views, but don't really care for their stand regarding the environment. I think of myself as an environmentalist who care and appreciate our planet and who would like to see something done to preserve it. Whit that said, please read the below for some interesting information regarding the name "Barack Hussein Obama".
By Juan Cole
President of the Global Americana Institute
jricole@gmail.com
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Barack Hussein Obama, Omar Bradley, Benjamin Franklin and other Semitically Named American Heroes
At Cincinnati, Bill Cunningham, according to the LAT, who "introduced presidential candidate John McCain at a rally here today accused Barack Obama of sympathizing with 'world leaders who want to kill us' and invoked Obama's middle name -- three times calling him 'Barack Hussein Obama.' " John McCain repudiated Cunningham's low tactics and said that using the middle name like that three times was "inappropriate" and would never happen again at one of his rallies.
I want to say something about Barack Hussein Obama's name. It is a name to be proud of. It is an American name. It is a blessed name. It is a heroic name, as heroic and American in its own way as the name of General Omar Nelson Bradley or the name of Benjamin Franklin. And denigrating that name is a form of racial and religious bigotry of the most vile and debased sort. It is a prejudice against names deriving from Semitic languages!
Christian, Western heroes have often been bequeathed Middle Eastern names. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the medieval Spanish hero, carried the name El Cid, from the Arabic al-Sayyid, "the lord."
Barack and Hussein are Semitic words. Americans have been named with Semitic names since the founding of the Republic. Fourteen of our 43 presidents have had Semitic names (see below). And, American English contains many Arabic-derived words that we use every day and without which we would be much impoverished. America is a world civilization with a world heritage, something Cunninghamism will never understand.
Barack is a Semitic word meaning "to bless" as a verb or "blessing" as a noun. In its Hebrew form, barak, it is found all through the Bible. It first occurs in Genesis 1:22: "And God blessed (ḇāreḵə ) them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."
Here is a list of how many times barak appears in each book of the Bible.
Now let us take the name "Hussein." It is from the Semitic word, hasan, meaning "good" or "handsome." Husayn is the diminutive, affectionate form.
Barack Obama's middle name is in honor of his grandfather, Hussein, a secular resident of Nairobi. Americans may think of Saddam Hussein when they hear the name, but that is like thinking of Stalin when you hear the name Joseph. There have been lots of Husseins in history, from the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, a hero who touched the historian Gibbon, to King Hussein of Jordan, one of America's most steadfast allies in the 20th century. The author of the beloved American novel, The Kite Runner, is Khaled Hosseini.
But in Obama's case, it is just a reference to his grandfather.
It is worth pointing out that John McCain's adopted daughter, Bridget, is originally from Bangladesh. Since Hussein is a very common name in Bangladesh, it is entirely possible that her birth father or grandfather was named Hussein. McCain certainly has Muslim relatives via adoption in his family. If Muslim relatives are a disqualification from high office in the United States, then McCain himself is in trouble. In fact, since Bridget is upset that George W. Bush doesn't like her "because she is black," and used her to stop the McCain campaign in South Carolina in 2000, you understand why McCain would be especially sensitive to race-baiting of Cunningham's sort. The question is how vigorously he will combat it; he hasn't been above Muslim-taunting in the campaign so far. (And, the McCains really should let Bridget know that she is Asian, not "black." The poor girl; Bush and Rove have done a number on her, and Cindy's confusion can't help.)
The other thing to say about grandfathers named Hussein is that very large numbers of African-Americans probably have an ancestor ten or eleven generations ago with that name, in what is now Mali or Senegal or Nigeria. And, since so many thousands of Arab Muslims were made to convert to Catholicism in Spain after 1501, many Latinos have distant ancestors named Hussein, too. In fact, since there was a lot of Arab-Spanish intermarriage, and since there was subsequent Spanish intermarriage with other European Catholics, more European Americans are descended from a Hussein than they realize. The British royal family is quite forthright about the Arab line in their ancestry going back to Andalusia.
Obama, being a cousin of Dick Cheney on one side and having relatives in Kenya on the other, is just more and more typical of the 21st century United States.
So, anyway, Obama's first two names mean "Blessing, the Good." If we are lucky enough to get him for president, we can only hope that his names are prophetic for us.
Which brings me to Omar Bradley. Omar is an alternative spelling of Umar, i.e. Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph of Sunni Islam. Presumably General Bradley was named for the poet Omar Khayyam, who bore the caliph's name. Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, in the "translation" of Edward FitzGerald, became enormously popular in Victorian America.
Gen. Omar Bradley, who bore a Semitic, Muslim first name, and shared it with the second Caliph of Sunni Islam, was the hero of D-Day and Normandy, of the Battle of the Bulge and the Ruhr.
Would Mr. Cunningham see Omar Bradley as un-American, as an enemy because of his name?
What about other American heroes, such as Gen. George Joulwan, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander of Europe? "Joulwan" is an Arabic name. Or there is Gen. John Abizaid, former CENTCOM commander. Abizaid is an Arabic name. Abi means Abu or "father of," and Zaid is a common Arab first name. Is Cunningham good enough to wipe their shoes? Is he going to call them traitors because they have Arabic names?
What about Congressman Darrell Issa of California? ("`Isa" means Jesus in Arabic). Former cabinet secretary Donna Shalala? (Shalala means "waterfall" in Arabic).
I won't go into all the great Americans with Arabic names in sports, entertainment and business, against whom Cunningham would apparently discriminate on that basis. Does he want to take citizenship away from Kareem Abdul Jabbar [meaning "noble the servant of the Mighty"] and Ahmad Jamal [meaning "the most praised, beauty"]? What about Rihanna ["sweet basil," "aromatic"]? Tony Shalhoub [i.e. Mr. Monk]?
Let us take Benjamin Franklin. His first name is from the Hebrew Bin Yamin, the son of the Right (hand), or son of strength, or the son of the South (yamin or right has lots of connotations). The "Bin" means "son of," just as in modern colloquial Arabic. Bin Yamin Franklin is not a dishonorable name because of its Semitic root. By the way, there are lots of Muslims named Bin Yamin.
As for an American president bearing a name derived from a Semitic language, that is hardly unprecedented.
John Adams really only had Semitic names. His first name is from the Hebrew Yochanan, or gift of God, which became Johan and then John. (In German and in medieval English, "y" is represented by "j" but was originally pronounced "y".) Adams is from the biblical Adam, which also just means "human being." In Arabic, one way of saying "human being" is "Bani Adam," the children of men.
Thomas Jefferson's first name is from the Aramaic Tuma, meaning "twin." Aramaic is a Semitic language spoken by Jesus, which is related to Hebrew and Arabic. In Arabic twin is tau'am, so you can see the similarity.
James Madison, James Monroe and James Polk all had a Semitic first name, derived from the Hebrew Ya'aqov or Jacob, which is Ya`qub in Arabic. It became Iacobus in Latin, then was corrupted to Iacomus, and from there became James in English.
Zachary Taylor's first name is from the Hebrew Zachariah, which means "the Lord has remembered."
Abraham Lincoln, of course is, named for the patriarch Abraham, from the Semitic word for father, Ab, and the word for "multitude," raham,. Abu, "father of," is a common element in Arab names today.
So, Mr. Cunningham, Barack Hussein Obama fits right in this list of presidents with Semitic names. In fact, we haven't had one for a while. We are due for another one.
A blessed and good one.
posted by Juan Cole @ 2/27/2008 12:02:00 AM
For original post click here.
Friday, September 26, 2008
How much time do you spend surfing the web while working?
I found this article interesting and funny, so I though you guys might like it. I still think is miscalculated a bit, people spend more time than this on the web while working.
"If you're reading this while your boss thinks you're hammering away on some code or updating that Excel spreadsheet, then you're likely one of the workers that spend about 25 percent of their work time doing personal stuff online. And chances are that your boss doesn't even know it.
Network security consultant firm Voco says that CEOs and CIOs of companies are often completely unaware of what employees are doing online during work hours, allowing them (especially the tech-savvy ones) to get away with all sorts of online goofing off. Employees tend to spend work time browsing eBay auctions, using online dating or social networking sites, chatting over IM, and more, and they do it for just over a quarter of the time they spend at work.
Sometimes, employees also make use of company resources to engage in nefarious activities, like downloading movies and music over P2P. According to Voco's data, for example, many of the prerelease downloads of Hellboy: The Golden Army were over corporate networks. Not only does this consume bandwidth meant for business, it also opens up corporate networks to spyware, adware, and other challenges for network security. And, of course, it could pose a legal issue for the company in question as well. "If investigators were tracking who was downloading, then the company address would turn up and the company would be the one facing legal implications," Voco consultant Paul Hortop said in a statement.
At the same time, not all "personal" Internet use is necessarily bad. Hortop points out that sometimes it can be a challenge to determine exactly what kind of use is inappropriate. "Is it more time-efficient to let staff do their banking online than having them leave the office for half an hour?" he asks. Additionally, workers spending time on social networking sites could actually help the company, given their increased importance to businesses.
Of course, surfing at work isn't exactly a new phenomenon. In a survey conducted in 2005, 93 percent of all US employees admitted to using their employer's Internet access for personal reasons as well as business ones, and 52 percent said they would rather give up coffee than their Internet connections at work. How much that personal Internet use actually impacts businesses is up in the air, however. Websense claims that such behavior costs American corporations nearly $200 billion per year, although given the tiny sample used when drawing that conclusion, the actual number may be quite a bit different.
Regardless of how much it's costing companies, what's important is to make sure you're actually getting your work done while you're not checking your friends' status updates in Facebook or overbidding on an eBay auction. Now, get back to work!"
Source: arstechnica.com
"If you're reading this while your boss thinks you're hammering away on some code or updating that Excel spreadsheet, then you're likely one of the workers that spend about 25 percent of their work time doing personal stuff online. And chances are that your boss doesn't even know it.
Network security consultant firm Voco says that CEOs and CIOs of companies are often completely unaware of what employees are doing online during work hours, allowing them (especially the tech-savvy ones) to get away with all sorts of online goofing off. Employees tend to spend work time browsing eBay auctions, using online dating or social networking sites, chatting over IM, and more, and they do it for just over a quarter of the time they spend at work.
Sometimes, employees also make use of company resources to engage in nefarious activities, like downloading movies and music over P2P. According to Voco's data, for example, many of the prerelease downloads of Hellboy: The Golden Army were over corporate networks. Not only does this consume bandwidth meant for business, it also opens up corporate networks to spyware, adware, and other challenges for network security. And, of course, it could pose a legal issue for the company in question as well. "If investigators were tracking who was downloading, then the company address would turn up and the company would be the one facing legal implications," Voco consultant Paul Hortop said in a statement.
At the same time, not all "personal" Internet use is necessarily bad. Hortop points out that sometimes it can be a challenge to determine exactly what kind of use is inappropriate. "Is it more time-efficient to let staff do their banking online than having them leave the office for half an hour?" he asks. Additionally, workers spending time on social networking sites could actually help the company, given their increased importance to businesses.
Of course, surfing at work isn't exactly a new phenomenon. In a survey conducted in 2005, 93 percent of all US employees admitted to using their employer's Internet access for personal reasons as well as business ones, and 52 percent said they would rather give up coffee than their Internet connections at work. How much that personal Internet use actually impacts businesses is up in the air, however. Websense claims that such behavior costs American corporations nearly $200 billion per year, although given the tiny sample used when drawing that conclusion, the actual number may be quite a bit different.
Regardless of how much it's costing companies, what's important is to make sure you're actually getting your work done while you're not checking your friends' status updates in Facebook or overbidding on an eBay auction. Now, get back to work!"
Source: arstechnica.com
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