X'mas '06

Google Now Offering Domain Registration Services

Friday, December 15, 2006
8:18 AM PT Posted by Erin Biba

Google announced today that a domain name search and registration service has been added to its Google Apps for Your Domain offering. Google will partner with GoDaddy and eNom, two domain registration companies to offer the service.

Registration fees are a nominal $10 per year, which will include private registration to protect personal information and will support .com, .org, .net, .biz, and .info domains.

Besides search and registration, the service also includes the creation of an administrative account for managing the site and a configurator to ensure the Google Apps are immediately available on the new site.

Google Apps for Your Domain includes Gmail, calendar, shared calendaring, Google Talk instant messaging, Google Page Creator, and the Start Page for creating a home page.

The domain name service is available now.

From Ephraim Schwartz at InfoWorld

Google Patents: The Atari Files

Thursday, December 14, 2006
1:53 PM PT Posted by Harry McCracken

The new Google service o' the day is Google Patent Search, and it's exactly what it sounds like--a search engine that puts a Googley front end on millions of documents from the U.S. Patent Office. It's fun to explore, but as I started poking around, I was reminded of a basic fact of patent life: Some of the world's most interesting products have incredibly tedious patent filings (tedious, at least, if you're not an engineer).

Here, fr'instance, is a little number from 1977 titled "Microcomputer for use with video display." The inventor was a computer hobbyist named Steve Wozniak; the assignee was a tiny startup called Apple Computer. Historic. But dry reading, to say the least. And the art is nothing to write home about:

atari-woz.jpg

There is, however, at least one technology company whose patent filings are fun to look at. That company is Atari, and I've been enjoying myself rummaging through them. A few examples...

Actually, this first one isn't Atari-related, strictly speaking, but it's a must: In 1969, Ralph Baer, sometimes called the forgotten father of the video game, patented a box for playing a ping pong-like game on your TV. This was before Atari unleashed Pong, the first video game blockbuster, on the world; even the most primitive video game imaginable was..well, almost unimaginably high-tech.

atari-baer.jpg

OK, now for some Atari patents. Here, from 1978, is what would seem to be a rudimentary version of the original Atari 2600 console--back in the dats wgeb the mere notion of cartridges was a breakthrough in itself. It's a reminder of just how long ago this was in video game history that the TV shown is a big ol' boxy model with knobs rather than pushbuttons; you can't tell from the drawing, but I'll just bet it has a fake-walnut case...

atari-vcs.jpg

Also from 1978, here's what looks to be some sort of home system with BMX-like grips...

atari-bmx.jpg

Here's the 1980 patent on the Atari joystick, still one of the greatest game controllers known to man, and available again today as part of the modern-day Atari's Flashback retro console.

atari-joystick.jpg

And here's another Atari controller, less well remembered, from late 1982. It hasn't aged nearly as well as its predecessor...

atari-laterstick.jpg

Here's an oddball case, from 1982, for an arcade machine that was two, two, two games in one--there was a display and controls on both sides.. (I don't remember ever seeing one of these at any of the arcades I hung out at...)

atari-dual.jpg

And I have no idea, also from 1982, whether this "puppet-like apparatus" turned into an Atari product, but I couldn't not include it.

atari-puppetlike.jpg

That's just for starters--there are other Atari patents worth perusing, and I'll betcha that its competitors' intellectual property is equally interesting in some cases. (The products of Coleco are probably worth of particular study.)

If you find any cool stuff, let me know...

Ugly Hand

What happen to my hand??? Ugly huhhh??? sobz

The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Please ignore the dates in the photos... i set it wrongly.. -.-



























































































































































Olympic Mascots

Brain Injury May Occur Within One Millisecond After Head Hits Car Windshield

Sagittal view of compressive pressure in head model (glass at right); pressure highest at impact of Coup site. Pressure scale -- red: 30 atmospheres, blue: 1 atmosphere. (Image courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories)

Research by a Sandia National Laboratories engineer and a University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center neurologist shows that brain injury may occur within one millisecond after a human head is thrust into a windshield as a result of a car accident.

This happens prior to any overall motion of the head following impact with the windshield and is a new concept to consider for doctors interested in traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Paul Taylor of Sandia's Multiscale Computational Materials Methods Department and Corey Ford, neurologist at UNM's Department of Neurology and MIND Imaging Center, made the discovery after modeling early-time wave interactions in the human head following impact with a windshield, one scenario leading to the onset of TBI.

Sandia is a National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory.

TBI is associated with loss of functional capability of the brain to perform cognitive and memory tasks, process information, and perform a variety of motor and coordination functions. More than five million people in the U.S. live with disabilities associated with TBI.

"In the past not a lot of attention was paid to modeling early-time events during TBI," Taylor says. "People would - for example - be in a car accident where they hit their head on a windshield, feel rattled, go to an emergency room, and then be released. We were interested in why people with head injuries of similar severity often have very different outcomes in memory function or returning to work."

More notice has been given to TBI in recent years because of the large number of U.S. soldiers returning home from Iraq with head injuries caused by blast waves from discharged improvised explosive devices.

Taylor says that modeling brain injury is a far more humane way to study scenarios leading to TBI than the traditional trial-and-error approach using laboratory animals.

The two researchers started by importing a digitally processed, computed tomography (CT) scan of a healthy female head into the Sandia-developed shock physics computer code, CTH. The CT scan was digitally processed to segment all soft tissue and bone into three distinct materials - skull, brain, and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF).

Computer models were then constructed representing the skull, brain, CSF, and windshield glass. The simulations were run on Sandia's Thunderbird parallel architecture computer using 64 processors for each simulation.

"The results of our simulations demonstrate the complexities of the wave interactions that occur among the skull, brain, and CSF as the result of the frontal impact with the glass windshield," Taylor says.

The modeling represents what would happen to an unrestrained person hitting the windshield of an automobile in a 34 mph head-on collision with a stationary barrier.

In discussions between Taylor and Ford, it became apparent that different types of cell damage might occur depending on the type of stress to which the cells are exposed. "Isotropic stress," commonly called pressure stress, imposes density changes that can damage a cell's internal structure. "Shearing stress" acts as a tearing mechanism that damages the cell wall and membranes, giving rise to apoptosis, or cell death. Both are likely at play in most incidents leading to TBI.

Each type of stress is displayed on two different views of the brain - the sagittal view - where the brain is cut between the left and right hemispheres - and an axial view in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the body just above the eyes and ears.

"Through our modeling we were able to predict early-time stress focusing within the brain during an impact event. However, we have yet to identify what specific levels of stress will lead to TBI," Taylor says.

"This is the focus of our future research effort. Furthermore, our current models simulate the brain as homogeneous. We want to create a higher-resolution simulation capability that better represents the various portions of the brain to provide detailed specificity of our results."

Such capabilities may allow Taylor and Ford to have a better understanding of how the early-time stress contributes to TBI and aid in the design of better protection devices such as headgear for sports and military personnel.

Triumph In The Skies 《 衝上雲霄 》

wahh.. 2003 drama series now than i started watching wor... lolx -.- they look so cool in their uniform.. =x i didn't manage to find same triangel doll that zoey's having.. sianz... if anyone knows where to buy it.. please tell mi k... thanks =p

Triumph In The Skies is a 2003 drama series produced by the Hong Kong TV network TVB. The show revolved around the theme of aviation, following the lives and loves of the pilots, staff, and flight attendants of the fictional Solar Airways, as well as the workers of Chek Lap Kok airport. It is somewhat similar to the now-cancelled NBC series LAX.

The show was partially sponsored by Cathay Pacific on which Solar Airways was based and sparked a temporary interest in aviation amongst Hong Kong's residents. It also sparked an interest in a small doll called Triangel, which was featured early on in the series.

External photography took place on location in Japan, Italy and Australia, with the sequences shot in Australia being memorable for its depiction of flight training.

Cast

• Francis Ng
• Flora Chan
• Joe Ma
• Michelle Ye
• Myolie Wu
• Ron Ng
• Sammul Chan
• Bosco Wong
• Kenneth Ma
• Louisa So
• Jerry Lamb
• Shek Sau

Plot Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Samuel (Francis Ng) and Vincent (Joe Ma) are good friends since young. They are both striving to become the first Chinese captain for Solar Airways. Vincent's attitude towards romance is epitomized by his nickname 'playboy', but Samuel is determined to pursue true love. They meet a stewardess, Isabelle (Flora Chan), and both fall in love with her.

Samuel's mum left his dad years ago, only to find out that she is pregnant with Issac (Ron Ng). And since then she had been telling Isaac that she is his sister, not his mom. Years later, Samuel's mom goes back to his father, and Isaac, thinking that their mom is his sister, keep thinking he is very big. At first, not even Samuel know that Isaac is his brother. Then his parents decide to tell Samuel the truth. But Isaac still don't know. Zoe met Samuel on the aeroplane when she was suspected of having arithmetics, and was very nervous as there was a storm outside plus the plane wasn't stable. So the air stewardess asked Samuel to go out and assure Zoe that he would land the plane safely. From then on, Zoe had a crush on him. To get closer to him, she even applied for a job at the airport. And also because she was impressed by the air stewardess's calmness during that time.

Donald (Sammul Chan), Zita (Michelle Ye), Chris (Bosco Wong)are assigned to be trained in Australia as pilots. Can these 3 energetic youngsters fulfill their dreams? Isaac and Vincent already fulfiled their dreams of becoming a pilot even before Donald and all started applying for the job.

Possible Sequel

Rumors have suggested that a sequel will be made in 2006. However, the date has appeared to have been pushed back due to, apparently, continuing negotiation with a major airline to provide support.

Also, rumors have suggested that in the sequel, all characters except Issac (played by Ron Ng) will be replaced.

I'm Sorry, I Love You 《 对不起, 我爱你 》

Mianhada Saranghanda



















I'm Sorry, I Love You 《 对不起, 我爱你 》- MTV








For KBS homepages for this drama,
go to: www.kbs.co.kr/drama/misa/index.html/ (in Korean).

For KBS Videos on Demand (VODs) in Korean, go to: www.kbs.co.kr/drama/
misa/view/vod/vod.html/.

For KBS photos from this drama, go to:
www.kbs.co.kr/drama/misa/report/photo/
photo.html.


For KBS wallpaper, go to: www.kbs.co.kr/drama/misa/media/paper/
paper.html.

Cast:
Cha Moo-hyuk: So Ji Sup (Glass Slippers)
Song Eun-chae: Im Soo Jung
Choi Yune (singer): Jung Kyung Ho
Kang Min-joo: Suh Ji Young
Moon Ji-young: Choi Yeo Jin
Oh Deul-hee (real name: Jo Mal-bok) (Yune's mom): Lee Hye Young
Yoon Seo-kyung: Jun Hye Jin
Song Dae-chun (Eun-chae's dad): Lee Young Ha (Sang-doo)
Jang Hye-sook (Eun-chae's mom): Kim Hye Ok (Running After Dream)
Min Hyun-suk: Shin Goo (Miss Kim's Adventures in Making a Million/Wife)
Song Sook-chae (Eun-chae's older sister): Ok Ji Young
Song Min-chae (Eun-chae's younger sister): Jung Hwa Young
Kim Kal-chi (Seo-kyung's son): Park Gun Tae
For more info on the cast (in Korean), go to: www.kbs.co.kr/drama/
misa/about/cast/cast.html.

For the storyline and cast info from the KBS Global Marketing website (in English), go to: contents.kbs.co.kr/program/program_
dview.php?contentsUid=47&category=0
&isBroadcast=Y&isBroadcast=Y.

Factoid:
This drama was filmed in part in Australia.

So Ji Sup has a different hairstyle in this drama. He and Im Soo Jung won the best couple award at the 2004 KBS drama awards show.

The last 2 episodes of this drama are tear-jerkers. According to the production staff, the script for those episodes were impossible to read because of tears. Read about it in a 12/27/04 KBS Global marketing article at: english.kbs.co.kr/entertainment/news/1338629
_11858.html.

A second OST for this drama was issued due to the popularity of this drama. Read more about the 2nd OST in a 12/23/04 KBS Global Marketing article at: english.kbs.co.kr/entertainment/news/
1338372_11858.html.

Suh Ji Young is a member of the female k-pop group, Sharp.

This drama won the Best Picture Award at the 32nd Korean Broadcasting Awards. Read about this award in a 7/22/05 KBS Global article at: english.kbs.co.kr/entertainment/news/
1357789_11858.html.

布衣神相 片尾曲歌- 杨怡 & 林文龙

作曲：谭天乐
填词：何杰良
主唱：杨怡 & 林文龙

女：想共你走让你牵著我手
即使我想但是已没然后
跟著你走渡过春夏与秋
恍惚我心 被你看透

男：流利对白没有我象木偶
说不出口那会爱到永久
长夜化作白昼我也倦透
别要走 请捉紧我手

（合）男：看著你
女：靠近你
男：黑暗中
女：在半空

合：分不散的拥有
男：如若接著吻
女：吻著深

男：这气氛
合：习惯这一晚的争斗

合：留心在你身边靠近
男：静夜裏听你声音

合：没原因待我好得过份
女：活著我的心

布衣神相 主题曲 - 林峰

题曲 - 林峰

命运若是愚弄
是否不得不失控
命运就在愚弄令你断了梦
今生即管情动
下世亦注定扑空
如再济世或仗义苍天不理
也不至动容

无惧天色再沉
玄妙中指引
但愿相信有幸能解困
如若终可再寻
迷雾里足印
如雾散 月照遍众生
即使披荆都给斩刺多得一位布衣

万世千秋从无人如他再料事
就算改写命运扭转命途
毕生都可告知
是际遇命运让你得到心中意义
即使心灰都给点化终可得到靠依
遇过几千从无人如他再仗义
命里天机都给推测
就如他口中的已知
际遇命运让你先知
都未能改编历史


好喜欢看林峰演古装戏~
能演又能唱。。。
<大唐双龙传> <覆雨翻雲>

Face to Fate [ 布衣神相] (TVB Series)

A drama i'm watching now.. very nice show =pp












Synopsis

A battle between good (white group) and bad (black group)of the marital arts organisations. 5 group members of each side fights in a tournament held e

very five years; the winning team gets to control the organisational structure of both groups for that term. When the 5 skilled warriors from the white side is killed by the heart demon, (who plays with the heart, causing the person to think of their darkest moment in the past- what they want to forget about the most) Their dark side eventually consumes them with the heart beating very fast and then exploding. A search for 5 more white

warriors begins. Lee Bo Yee (Frankie Lam), a taoist fortune teller from neither side of the competing martial arts styles, attempts to help the white side to find five new warriors before the tournament begins. On the way, he becomes good friends with an extremely skilled doctor, one who can cure almost any known disease to man, Lai Yeuk Yee (Raymond Lam).

Face to Fate (TVB Series)

Chinese Title: 布衣神相

Bo Yee Sun Sheung (Bo Yee fortune teller)

Cast:

• Frankie Lam
• Raymond Lam
• Tavia Yeung
• John Chiang
• Anne Heung
• Selena Li
• Nancy Wu
• Derek Kwok
• Chun Wong
• Lok Ying Guen

Genre : Ancient Drama / Ancient Wuxia Fiction

Episodes : 30

Issued : TVBI Sep 2006

剧 名：布衣神相
英 名：Face To Fate
监 制：关永忠
编 审：蔡淑贤，叶世康
原 著：溫瑞安
演 员：林文龙
林峰
杨怡
李诗韵
姜大卫
向海岚
胡定欣
骆应钧
类 型：古装剧/武侠/玄幻
制 作：电视广播（国际）有限公司
发 行：TVBI 2006年9月海发

Pope says anti-Islam quotes not his own views

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Wednesday his use in a speech of medieval quotes critical of Islam, which infuriated Muslims worldwide, did not reflect his own convictions and were misunderstood.

Muslims wanted the Pope to make a clear apology for quoting 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus in a speech in Germany last week, saying everything the Prophet Mohammad brought was evil, "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

At his weekly public audience in the Vatican, the German-born Pope, speaking in Italian, repeated his earlier remarks that the crisis was caused by a "misunderstanding."

"But for the careful reader of my text it is clear that I in no way wanted to make mine the negative words pronounced by the medieval emperor and their polemical content does not reflect my personal conviction," the Pope said.

"My intention was very different. I wanted to explain that religion and violence do not go together but religion and reason do," he said.

The 79-year-old leader of the world's one billion Roman Catholics said he hoped the whole furor could eventually serve to encourage "positive and even self-critical dialogue, both among religions as well as between modern reason and the faith of Christians."

Rat Food

Claim: Photographs show rats being prepared for human consumption.

Status: Undetermined.

Example: [Collected via e-mail, 2006]

Be very careful what you order at a restaurant; make sure it's what you want. Be careful! ... It may LOOK like Chicken. But is it REALLY Chicken?? RATS BURNING THE HAIR OFF THEM WASHING THEM BEFORE COOKING CUTTING THEM UP INTO PIECES THAT SIMULATE CHICKEN PARTS PREPARED FOR DEEP FRYING WELL SEASONED TO TASTE GREAT! ALL DONE AND READY TO EAT! CLOSER LOOK RAT, THE OTHER "WHITE MEAT" BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN EATING OUT AT YOUR LOCAL RESTAURANT!

Origins: We don't know the specific origins of the pictures displayed above, but they probably are real images of rats being prepared for human consumption somewhere in Asia. However, it's rather unlikely, as the text accompanying the photos implies, that the rats pictured are vermin rounded up off the street and foisted uponunsuspecting diners as chicken.

The level of preparation and presentation pictured here is indicative of a restaurant (or perhaps a private home) in a part of China where clean, fresh, farm-captured rats are lavishly prepared and served to diners eager to consume rat-meat dishes. Indeed, in some parts of China rat meat sells for considerably more than chicken, pork, or beef.

In 2000, New Yorker reporter Peter Hessler journeyed to Luogang, a small village in China's Guangdong Province specifically because he'd heard Luogang was home to "a famous restaurant that specialized in the preparation of rats." Upon his arrival, he discovered there were two such restaurants (the Highest Ranking Wild Flavor Restaurant and the New Eight Sceneries Wild Flavor Food City) in the village, with a third under construction. Here are a few excerpts from his article, describing what he found out about the preparation and consumption of rats at those restaurants:

Besides rat, a customer at the Highest Ranking Wild Flavor Restaurant can order turtledove, fox, cat, python, and an assortment of strange-looking local animals whose names do not translate into English. All of them are kept live in pens at the back of the restaurant and are killed only when a customer orders one of them.

Many people come from faraway places. They come from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macao. One customer came all the way from America with her son. They were visiting relatives in Luogang, and the family brought them here to eat. She said you couldn't find this kind of food in America.

At the Highest Ranking Wild Flavor Restaurant, I began with a dish called Simmered Mountain Rat with Black Beans. There were plenty of other options on the menu — among them, Mountain Rat Soup, Steamed Mountain Rat, Simmered Mountain Rat, Roasted Mountain Rat, Mountain Rat Curry, and Spicy and Salty Mountain Rat — but the waitress had enthusiastically recommended the Simmered Mountain Rat with Black Beans, which arrived in a clay pot.

I ate the beans first. They tasted fine. I poked at the rat meat. It was clearly well done, and it was attractively garnished with onions, leeks, and ginger. Nestled in a light sauce were skinny rat thighs, short strips of rat flank, and delicate, toylike rat ribs.

"We're not eating city rats," [the restaurant's owner told me]. "The mountain rats are clean, because they aren't eating anything dirty. Mostly, they eat fruit — oranges, plums, jackfruit. People from the government hygiene department have been here to examine the rats. They took them to the laboratory and checked them out thoroughly to see if they had any diseases, and they found nothing. Not even the slightest problem."

I watched dozens of peasants come down from the hills, looking to get a piece of the rat business. They came on mopeds, on bicycles, and on foot. All of them carried burlap sacks of squirming rats that had been trapped on their farms. In Luogang, rats are more expensive than pork or chicken. A pound of rat costs nearly twice as much as a pound of beef.

Last updated: 15 October 2006