Greatest Race on Earth

Standard Chartered’s Greatest Race on Earth (GROE) athletes Amos Mutai and Salina Kosgei, both Kenyan, today ran course record times of 2:15:01 and 2:31:55 respectively to win the men’s and women’s Singapore Marathon. The high standard of the unique relay series’ field of athletes was further shown by the top three places in both races being filled by GROE runners.

The victory for Kosgei, who was accompanied to Singapore and supported by her family, maintains her team Cyclone’s position as leaders of the GROE Women’s Team Challenge. They now have a cumulative time of 5:04:41, putting them over nine minutes ahead of their nearest rivals Grazy Girls, with both the first leg in Nairobi and now the second leg in Singapore complete.

Mutai’s spirited run for Marathon Centre Kericho has lifted his team’s position from 14th in the GROE Main Team Challenge to lead position. Previous leaders Run for Fun team dropped to 20th position, despite being represented by one of the pre-marathon favourites Joseph Ngolepus.

The Standard Chartered GROE, with a total prize pool of US$1.5 million, is a team relay of four challenging marathons in Nairobi, Singapore, Mumbai and Hong Kong. The field of elite athletes and emerging talent sped away from the start-line at 6am along the Esplanade Drive, all taking on Singapore’s heat and humidity.

The 2006/07 GROE Series sees participation from over 30 countries, the focus of which is the Nations Challenge. Zimbabwe’s Oliver Kandiero shone in Singapore, as he stormed through the course to finish with a time of 2:21:23. This puts them in third place in the Nations Challenge, closing the gap to Kenya in second to just half a minute. Uganda remain first thanks to a strong run by Ugandan Joeseph Nsubuga with a time of 2:23:56, leading the chase for the coveted GROE Gold Baton trophy at the halfway stage.

The regional competitions within the Nations Challenge are poised for a highly competitive second half to the competition after the first two marathons.

India still leads the South Asia region with national representative Ajeet Sing completing the course in 2:33:23. Close rivals Sri Lanka, only 1 minute and 13 seconds behind, are in second, with Pakistan in third spot.

A tremendous marathon by Todd Ingraham in a time of 2:35:14 has taken Australia to lead position in the Oceania & Europe region. Previous leaders Ireland drops a place to second but are only 1 minute 20 seconds behind. Finland has moved up into third place.

In the South East Asia region, Indonesia leads Thailand by a massive 15 minutes, with Vietnam in third place.

In the North East Asia region, Taiwan maintains their lead over South Korea by a margin of 20 minutes, while the Hong Kong team are in third place, a further 28 minutes behind.

In the Americas region, a truly brilliant race by Juan Escalante, who trains at altitude, finished for Mexico in a time 2:31:51, taking them above Argentina. The gap between the two is 34 minutes 10 seconds.

In another increase on last year’s turn-out, it was estimated that nearly 28,000 runners participated in the Singapore Marathon event.

fom: http://www.thegreatestrace.com/
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He’s 33, but his wife is 104

HE IS 33 and single while she claims to be 104 and has been married 20 times.

When Muhamad Noor Che Musa tied the knot with Wook Kundor in February, it was his first marriage and her 21st.

The 71-year age gap did not seem to pose any barrier to the unusual couple from Kuala Berang, Terengganu, Harian Metro reported.

The ex-serviceman was quoted as saying that he had found peace since marrying Wook and did not have any qualms introducing her as his wife.

“Before meeting Wook, I never stayed in one place for long.

“However, about a year ago I secured a job at a sawmill in Kuala Berang and stayed at Wook’s house for months without paying a single sen,” he said.

Muhammad admitted that many did not understand his decision to marry Wook and felt that their marriage was weird. Some even questioned his motive for marrying a woman old enough to be his great grandmother.

“But this is Allah’s will. My intention towards Wook is very sincere. I am not after her money as she is poor. Her only asset is her deep religious knowledge.

“Through her, I can deepen my knowledge of the religion while at the same time help her master the Romanised script,” he said, adding that their love was based on mutual respect and care.

Initially, Muhammad said he sympathised with Wook as she was all alone in the world, but over time, that feeling turned into love.

Wook, who is childless, hoped that people would not judge them.

“I hope people will view our marriage in a positive light as we have not done anything that is against the religion,” she said.
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How to find out whether your tyre has expired?

There is a 4-year expiry (from the year of manufacture).

Thereafter, the tyre may burst whilst in use

Check for this sign: ( *2603* )

There is an asterisk at the beginning and at the end of this

serial number.

The first two numbers 2 6 will tell which week of the year has

it been manufactured.

NB: One year has 52 weeks. The last two numbers represent the

year of make.

Therefore, *2603* shows that the said tyre is manufactured in

the 26th week of the year 2003.

*2699* This shows that the tyre is made in the 26th week of

1999.

Check all your tyres for safety purposes. Do not use expired tyres.

They are likely to burst (especially when running in hot weather)

because the rubber component may have hardened and cracked.

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Trip Travel Journey

Trip: travelling from one place to another

and usually back

To the place where you started, and it takes you a shorter

Time than journey.

Travel: moving from one place to
another, usually over a

Long distance.

Journey: going from one place to another,
often one-way,

Usually when the two places are far apart and when it

Takes you a long time and is often difficult. It implies

Moving on land rather than by sea. It also refers to a

person's life from birth to death. Well, life is but a dream

Because 'journey' comes from a Latin word that means

'one day' !

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MAS to go ticketless for domestic travel from May 1

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will go ticketless for domestic transactions beginning May 1, 2006.

The move will help save 15 per cent in distribution costs annually, the national carrier said in a statement.

Also, the move is in line with "Flying to Win Customers", which is one of the five thrusts of its business turnaround plan.

MAS said transactions via this facility are expected to increase from the current annual average of 5 per cent to 30 per cent over the next one year.

The airline will cease all conventional ticketing at its offices for domestic travel.

Customers have the options of booking and payment via the airline's corporate website www.malaysiaairlines.com, its 24-hours call centre (1-300-88-3000) and at both airport and city ticketing offices in Malaysia.

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Text when you can’t talk

PETALING JAYA: For some, SMS-ing has become a part of life. For others, it’s merely a convenience.

“I’d rate SMS a nine out of 10 in terms of importance,” said Maureen Tan, 26, a brand planner in advertising.

“It’s cheap and convenient, especially since I need to keep in touch with people overseas all the time in my job.”

Tan started using SMS almost 10 years ago, while she was still a college student.

Engineer Ho Wei Chong, 28, admitted to starting late.

“I only started SMS-ing after I got a phone capable of T9 predictive text input, which made it a lot easier.

“Now I SMS very often, but only for personal matters. I don’t use it for work because it’s faster to just call a person, especially if it’s urgent.”

Ho said the only time he ever sent a work-related SMS was when he did not really want to talk to the person.

“Sometimes, it’s better to SMS your boss if you want to call in sick. I’d rather not have him interrogate me about why I’m unable to come to work,” he said with a grin.

Generally, Ho did not think much about SMS-based information services but liked the one offered by his bank, which sent him text notifications if cheques had cleared.

“I don’t really believe in other SMS-based information services because some of them are expensive while others don’t provide clear instructions on how to unsubscribe.”

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China GDP grows 10.2 percent - Fantastic

China's gross domestic product grew by 10.2 percent in the first quarter of this year on the back of fast-paced trade growth, Chinese President Hu Jintao said in a televised speech.
"The mainland economy maintained good developmental momentum with our GDP in the first quarter rising by 10.2 percent and import and export trade up by 25 percent," Hu said in a meeting with Taiwan's former Kuomintang opposition leader Lien Chan.
"Frankly speaking, we do not hope to pursue extreme high speed (growth), we are paying more attention to the efficiency and quality of development," Hu said.

"We are paying more attention to the transformation of the mode of growth, resource conservation, environmental protection and more importantly the improvement of the lives of the people."

The robust first quarter GDP figure comes ahead of Hu's visit to the United States this week where a growing US trade deficit that hit 202 billion dollars last year is likely to be at the top of the talks agenda.

Washington has also become increasingly impatient with Beijing for allegedly seeking to boost exports by keeping the yuan at artificially low levels, and for failing to adequately open its markets and protect intellectual property rights.

On Tuesday, the commerce ministry announced that China's trade surplus had surged 98.5 percent in March from a year earlier to 11.19 billion dollars.

The trade surplus for the first three months of the year was up 41.4 percent from the same period in 2005 to 23.31 billion dollars, it said.

This came on the back of booming foreign trade in March with exports rising 28.3 percent year-on-year to 78.05 billion dollars and imports growing by 21 percent to 66.86 billion dollars.

First quarter exports grew by 26.6 percent to 197.3 billion dollars, while imports were up 24.8 percent year-on-year to 174 billion dollars, the ministry said.

China has not yet released the full range of first quarter economic statistics including the latest numbers on booming fixed asset investment and growing consumer spending.

"The 10.2 percent GDP growth in the first quarter is realistic because we saw that electricity consumption grew by 11 percent in the first quarter," Andy Xie, Hong Kong-based chief economist for Asia Pacific for Morgan Stanley, said.

"China's GDP growth in previous years has been understated substantially so this is a reflection of what is going on," he said. "China's economy is growing fast and there will be a lot of demand from China."

In December, China overtook Italy as the world's sixth biggest economy when Beijing said it had massively underestimated the size of its own economy, mainly due to miscalculations in the services sector.

The government found that the economy at the end of 2004 was worth 16.8 percent or 284 billion dollars more than previously assessed.

By January, China's economy had become the world's fourth biggest, overtaking France and Britain, after the government announced economic growth of 9.9 percent in 2005.

The 2005 growth rate followed the revised growth rates of 10.1 percent in 2004 and 10 percent in 2003 that came with the new economic reassessment.

In his annual work report to parliament last month, Premier Wen Jiabao said the economy would grow by around 8.0 percent for the year, a forecast widely seen as overly cautious.
China's gross domestic product grew by 10.2 percent in the first quarter of this year on the back of fast-paced trade growth, Chinese President Hu Jintao said in a televised speech.
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Hopes for cheaper malaria drug

The malaria parasite is spread by mosquitoesScientists are perfecting a cheap way to synthesise a highly effective malaria drug.
Artemisinin is currently expensive to manufacture, and so is denied to many in the developing world.
US researchers have created a yeast which can churn out large quantities of a related chemical, which can be easily converted into the drug.
Writing in Nature, they say their work may eventually help slash the cost of artemisinin, and improve access.
It would be very valuable if the cost of manufacturing the drug could be cut
Professor David Warhurst
Malaria infects as many as 500 million people a year, and kills more than 1.5 million, mainly in Africa and Asia.
Artemisinin is the drug of choice for treating those infected with multi-drug-resistant strains of the parasite. In combination with other drugs it has proved to be nearly 100% effective.
Sweet wormwood
It is currently extracted from a plant called Artemisia annua (commonly known as sweet wormwood), grown by farmers in Asia.
But natural supplies are limited, and synthesizing the drug is very expensive.
A team from the University of California, Berkeley, succeeded two years ago in engineering bacteria to make a chemical precursor of artemisinin.
They have now gone one step further by developing a strain of yeast that can churn out large quantities of artemisinic acid - a chemical just one tiny change away from the drug itself.
They did this by adding two genes from A. annua to the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Other researchers have shown that this precursor can be converted into artemisinin in a handful of chemical steps.
So in theory, it should be now be possible to manufacture the drug much more cheaply.
Bacteria factory
The Berkeley team now hope eventually to drive down costs still further by using a similar process to stimulate bacteria to produce artemisinic acid.
Bacteria grow much more quickly than yeast, and so could potentially offer a much more productive source of the chemical.
The researchers say it could still be several years before a microbe-produced version of artemisinin will be widely available.
Lead researcher Professor Jay Keasling said: "While we have made a lot of progress in the past two years, there still are a lot of unknowns."
But he added: "Now that we've got all the parts, I feel it's just a matter of time before we have a microbe ready for scale-up to production."
Professor David Warhurst, an expert in malaria at the Health Protection Agency, told the BBC News website the research was "very interesting and significant".
He said: "Artemisinin and its derivatives are the best available drugs we have got for treating malaria, particularly resistant strains.
"However, the cost is too high for many African governments to cope with, and to get it down to grassroots the price is going to have to be reduced.
"It would be very valuable if the cost of manufacturing the drug could be cut."
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Just Sayin' That elusive thing called Asian values

SOMETIMES I have to wonder at how weird things can get. A couple has been charged for kissing and hugging in public? It’s outrageous that they were even confronted by City Hall officers, but now they’re in court, and in the national — and, most likely, international — news.


Let’s not make it seem as if this is a legitimate debate about our values and mores, because it isn’t. It’s simply a case of those in power over- reaching their authority. After all, is their "indecent behaviour" an issue even if the general public doesn’t think it is?

Again, the concept of Asian values is brought up, because Asians constantly need to be told what values are important to them. To be frank, I loathe that term. Like bad traffic, "Asian values" has too often been used as an excuse for bad behaviour. To be Asian, it seems, means being meek, unassertive and for the most part, tremendously dull.

I don’t remember anyone going on about Asian values when they should matter, like in relation to justice, corruption and poverty eradication.

Likewise, the invasion of foreign, usually Western, cultural elements raises alarm bells from time to time, though those usually doing the raising seem more concerned with projecting themselves as some sort of guardian of all that’s sacred.

Yet there are few qualms about building something as clearly foreign as the Arab Square in the middle of KL.

But this whole concept of foreignness is, well, foreign to me. What exactly is foreign, really?

Is it Indonesia, with their Playboy-allowing liberalism? Sure, they might be the world’s most populous Muslim state, but their pop stars dress sexily, they have local beers, and, apparently, religiously mixed marriages are tolerated.

Or is it Amber Chia who subscribes to foreign values, for posing in that very issue of Playboy? Then again, the photo spread looks very much like what you’d find in magazines here anyway. So why all the fuss over a brand name?

Is it Singapore with its blatantly consumerist society, where citizens are mall rats who shop, eat and drink their time away, spending to fill all that’s missing from their lives? Then again, I could’ve just been describing KL. Or virtually any metropolitan city in the world.

Is it Brokeback Mountain, with its empathetic portrayal of the love between two gay men? From what I’ve heard, the pirated DVDs are doing very brisk sales. So many people obviously don’t have a problem with that film or its Asian values-forgetting director Ang Lee.

Or maybe it is socialism that’s foreign, making the for- mation of Parti Sosialis Mala- ysia "a threat to our national security"? Perhaps. After all, it’s been eight years since PSM applied for registration, which continues to be denied. But that begs the question: If socialism is as foreign as kimchi, then how would the party appeal to enough people to be deemed a threat?

Is it the English language, once widely and well spoken here, but is now like bitter medicine that needs to be forced down students’ throats? No, not really, considering it’s the language of choice for most middle-class KL-ites. And that includes everyone from ministers to businessmen of all races.

Or is it the national language, with its Roman characters and imported words like motorsikal, kompromi and yes, roti? I’m still not quite sure what inforia is, though.

Or is it Mak Yong, once local, but now deemed foreign and unacceptable in Kelantan? How easily our heritage can be erased, and how easily we let them erase it. What’s next? The rewriting of history?

Was P. Ramlee foreign, too? The legendary actor-director did feature cabaret girls and drinking in his movies.

Is it freedom of speech and assembly? Even though without speaking up and organising against British colonialism we might not have the KLCC towers today?

Is it the imported Korean cars that Malaysians are preferring to local ones? Those Koreans sure have a plan to sap Malaysia’s economic strength.

Flood the country with affordable cars so traffic will become so bad that people will spend more time cursing in traffic jams, and less time being productive.

Or, finally, is it the concept of a secular democracy, even though that’s what our Constitution states this country is? As we creep towards what I think is a permeation of religious morality into every aspect of our lives, from law to uniforms to discourse, perhaps even the document Malaysia is founded on is foreign.

This isn’t too surprising, actually. After all, those hugging and kissing English had a hand in it.

The columnist is a writer at a monthly Klang Valley magazine, KLue. E-mail him at brianyap@mac.com.
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New Red, Blue Rings Found Around Uranus

Two outer rings, one red the other blue, have been observed around the distant planet Uranus. While Uranus had been known to have inner rings of neutral color, the newly discovered outer rings show color contrasts that researchers think are caused by light reflected off particles that differ in size from one ring to the other.

And the outermost ring is only the second blue ring to have been observed, a team led by Imke de Pater of the University of California, Berkeley, reports in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

Also blue is Saturn's outermost ring, the researchers said. And they noted that both of the known blue rings have a moon embedded within them, while the red rings do not.

They speculated that the moons swept up larger pieces of debris, leaving only dust and tiny items that reflected more blue light than the red ring which could have larger pieces of debris.

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Garmin BMW Motorrad Navigator III

Garmin appears to be getting ready to release the Garmin BMW Motorrad Navigator III, a GPS navigation system designed for BMW motorcycles in the USA. The Garmin BWM Motorrad Navigator III features turn by turn directions, voice prompting, and uses Bluetooth to transmit audio to Bluetooth receivers.

Previously the Navigator II was available in the USA and the Navigator III was available in parts of Europe. We have seen indications the BMW Motorrad Navigator III will soon be available in the USA.

The Navigator III features Bluetooth connectivity that will allow simultaneous connections to both a helmet with integrated Bluetooth audio as well as a cellular phone to offer hands-free communication.

Traffic information can also be obtained through an optional service and FM traffic receiver. There is also an optional remote control which works via IR. No word yet on exactly when the Garmin BMW Motorrad Navigator III might be released in the USA.

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Singapore attacked over blog gag

The Singapore government has been condemned for gagging political discussion on the web in the run up to the country's parliamentary elections.

The government has extended censorship laws to ban podcasts and videocasts that carry political content.

Websites and blogs are already under strict control and must be registered with the government.

Media watchdog Reporters without Borders said the ban would prevent democratic debate on the net.

The ban was outlined by Communications and Arts minister, Balaji Sadasivan of the People's Action Party (PAP) in a parliamentary speech.

It is enforced under a 2001 law that seeks to prevent overt advertising by political parties.

New technology

The ban will come as a blow to PAP opponents, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).

It has used both podcasts and videocasts in an attempt to get round traditional media censorship laws in their campaign.

The party said on their website that the latest announcement was aimed "squarely at the SDP's efforts to harness the new technology to advance its platform in the upcoming general elections".

For its part, Reporters without Borders said: "Once again the Singapore authorities are showing their determination to prevent the holding of a genuinely democratic debate on the internet."

No date has yet been announced for the election.

Outside of election periods, bloggers and website managers have to register with the Media Development Authority (MDA) if they want to write about party politics.

However during elections even registered users are prohibited from open political discussion.

The government said that anyone breaking the ban faces legal action.

The announcement is an extension of the Singapore government's strict censorship policy that applies to all media.

Recently the government relaxed some of its laws in an attempt to market the country as a hub for arts and culture.

The film, Brokeback Mountain, passed film censors this year, in spite of the country's stringent laws against homosexuality.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/4882746.stm
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Disney offers teen-tracker mobile

The childrens' mobile phone market is growing rapidly

Disney is launching a US service that will enable parents to monitor how their children use their mobile phones.

They will be able to track voice, text, video and picture messages and set limits on their children's calls.

The phone will also allow parents to locate where their children are via a global positioning system.

The entertainment giant hopes to target what is a niche but rapidly expanding market of mobile phone using children between 10 and 15 years old.

"This is still a growth stage market," said George Grobar, general manager of Disney Mobile.

Disney is targeting 20 to 30 million children with the new service.

There is certainly a big market for teenagers and parents adding them to their [mobile] phone plan Julie Ask, analyst at Jupiter Research

The decision follows market research showing that parents wanted to be able to find out where their children are at specific moments and to talk to them.

'Big market for teenagers'

While the US mobile phone market is well established with 70% of the population already owning a phone, this figure is lower among teenagers.

About 45% to 50% of 13 year olds have a mobile phone, according to technology analysts Jupiter Research.

Just under two thirds of parents pay for their teenagers mobile phones.

"There is certainly a big market for teenagers and parents adding them to their [mobile] phone plan," said Jupiter analyst Julie Ask.

The new phones for parents, which will be sold over the internet, are expected to be available from June.

Disney has not yet revealed what it will charge for this service, but monthly fees from other providers are as little as $10 per month for each new family member.

This is the second specialised mobile phone service Disney is developing. The company launched a sports-based service in February at the annual American football extravaganza, the Super Bowl.

Mobile phone company Nokia predicted that the global mobile phone market will increase by 15% this year.
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Chocolate

Chocolate has been said to cause acne and tooth decay, and has a reputation for being a fattening, nutritionless food. On the other hand, chocolate is also known for being everything from an anti-depressant to an aphrodisiac. While there's still much we don't know about chocolate, recent research is helping us better understand how chocolate consumption affects our health.

The good news is that most of the bad effects of eating chocolate are either overstated or entirely false. Eating chocolate neither causes nor aggravates acne. Two studies -- one by the Pennsylvania School of Medicine and another by the U.S. Naval Academy -- showed that eating chocolate (or not eating it) did not produce any significant changes in the acne conditions of the study's participants. These results are further backed by research which shows that acne is not primarily linked to diet.

Chocolate also has not been proven to cause cavities or tooth decay. In fact, there are indications that the cocoa butter in the chocolate coats the teeth and may help protect them by preventing plaque from forming. The sugar in chocolate does contribute to cavities, but no more than the sugar in any other food.

Obviously, eating too much of any food may cause health problems. The cocoa butter in chocolate does contain saturated fat, which can increase blood cholesterol levels, and high cholesterol can contribute to heart disease. However, recent research at the University of California, Davis, has found that chocolate carries high levels of chemicals known as phenolics, some of which may help lower the risk of heart disease. Plants such as chocolate, coffee, tea, and others contain high levels of phenolics.

Andrew Waterhouse, the lead researcher from U.C. Davis, is a wine chemist. For several years he has been studying the possible health benefits of antioxidant phenolics found in red wine. Waterhouse told us that phenolic compounds are found in all plant products, and that the plants "probably make them as protective agents and for improving their success at reproduction." The bitter, astringent taste that these plants have is an indication of the phenolics found within.

So how might phenolics prevent heart disease? Apparently, phenolics prevent fat-like substances in the bloodstream from oxidizing and clogging the arteries. Said Waterhouse: "It's now believed that atherosclerosis, or the formation of plaque in the arteries, is caused by oxidation of LDL (low-density lipoproteins) -- that's one of the cholesterol particles. At first, this leads to subtle damage, and then eventually to the formation of advanced plaque." The buildup of plaque can lead to clogging of the arteries, a major cause of heart attacks.

While phenolics have chemically been proven to reduce oxidation, Waterhouse cautioned that: "It's not known if the phenolic compounds, like the flavenoids that are present in chocolate, can reduce disease. It's well known that these substances are antioxidants in a chemical sense. But we don't have strong, large-scale, controlled human studies." More research still needs to be done, but certainly the initial research is encouraging.
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Merged stars whip up magnetic super fields

Corpses of massive stars that have collapsed and exploded Typical masses little more than our Sun; radii about 10 km Superdense objects - more dense than atomic nuclei Neutron star binaries are focus of intense scientific study Now being observed for their gravitational waves Colliding binaries thought to be source of short GRBs Neutron star collisions with black holes also a possibility GRBs signal the most violent events in the Universe.

The collision of two superdense stars would produce the strongest magnetic fields in the Universe, scientists say.

These would be more than a thousand million-million times the strength of Earth's magnetic field, the UK-German team reports in Science magazine.

Its computer simulations fit with the theory that mergers of neutron stars drive some of the bursts of high-energy radiation that sweep across space.

However, the group says more work is needed to explain the link in detail.

Dr Daniel Price from the University of Exeter, UK, and Professor Stephan Rosswog from the International University Bremen, Germany, carried out their modelling on a supercomputer.

The simulations required many months of programming. (Follow the internet links for the team's simulation movies).

The study gives fresh insight into the mechanisms that could lie behind extremely powerful, split-second flashes of light called short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).

Quick start

The space-borne telescopes Swift and Hete-2 have indicated the source of at least some of these 100-millisecond bursts could result from two compact, magnetised objects falling on to each other.

Theory suggests these objects could be two neutron stars, the remnant cores of massive stars that have imploded after running out of nuclear fuel.

Although about the same mass as our Sun, neutron stars would be little more than 10km across.

Some such objects known as magnetars are expected to have intense magnetic fields anyway but the new simulations show that a collision between a pair of them could produce something altogether more spectacular - and sufficiently intense to launch a GRB.

Key to this link is the very rapid speed with which the giant magnetic fields are seen to develop in the modelled collisions.

This has to be so if neutron star mergers are to explain the short gamma-ray bursts.

"Our simulations are of the first 12 milliseconds but all the action goes on in the first couple of milliseconds the stars hit each other. You get this very strong shear that rotates and winds the magnetic field up," Dr Price told the BBC News website.

Professor Rosswog added: "This is an incredible result. Magnetic fields that we are familiar with, say from a magnet at your refrigerator, have a strength of about 100 Gauss. Such a collision produces fields that are an incredible 10-million-million times stronger."

In tandem

GRBs have been one of the great unexplained phenomena in astronomy since they were first detected in the 1960s.

It is only in recent years, with the launch of new space telescopes, that scientists have had the tools capable of studying in detail these very bright, but fleeting, events.

Computer modelling of the type carried out by the UK-German team is essential companion work to the observations, as it helps to unravel the extreme physics involved.

"There were certain speculations about how you could grow the magnetic fields, but now we know they develop very quickly. This means we have a firm theoretical basis on which to push forward with this model of how binary neutron stars produce gamma-ray bursts," Dr Price said.

The results of the simulations are being presented this week at the UK Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Leicester, and at the Nuclear Astrophysics conference at Ringberg Castle, Tegernsee.

By Jonathan Amos
BBC News science reporter, in Leicester

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'Good' food provided in childcare

Most childcare providers offer a nutritious, balanced diet to those in their care and are knowledgeable about healthy eating, inspectors say.

Education inspectors Ofsted visited 110 day childcare providers in England including nurseries, crèches and childminders.

Almost 70% were good or outstanding - no childminders and 4% of day care providers were judged inadequate.

Most offered food low in sugar and fat, but 11 often served sweets and crisps.

Such foods should be available in moderation, or as an occasional reward, Ofsted recommends.

Rosy picture

Ofsted's director of Early Years, Dorian Bradley, said that amid the debate around the standard of school meals, little had been said about the food offered to very young children.

"I'm pleased to say the picture looks rosy," she said. "Child carers, in the main, have embraced the concept of healthy eating and the wider benefits gained from it."

The best providers found out about children's likes and dislikes, presented food well and worked with parents to encourage children to try new foods, Ofsted said.

However, some carers were reluctant to question parents when they gave children fatty or sugary foods in their lunchboxes, inspectors found.

Childcare providers already have to adhere to national standards on the quality of food they provide. They stipulate that every day, at least one item from the following groups of foods should be available:

• Bread, potatoes, rice or pasta
• Fruit and vegetables
• Milk and dairy products
• Meat, fish and other non-dairy sources of protein

Schools will have to meet standards provided by the Department for Education and Skills from this September.

Cultural issues

Ana Palenciano is co-director of Polkadot Day Nursery in Stratford-upon-Avon, which is rated outstanding in the quality of food it provides.

She said teaching children to eat a balanced diet was about more than just offering them healthy choices.

"Children need to know how to respect and value food," she said.

"We teach them that some children don't have food and then they can learn to appreciate it.

"Here children learn how to behave at the table, to use cutlery and to have good table manners. If they don't learn these things, their food will just end up on the floor."

But Ms Palenciano, who is from Spain, added that food was "a cultural issue".

"A lot of people in this country miss out on learning to eat properly, but the children here become used to eating at the table with us as a family."

She aims to introduce children to healthy food from day one, and the menu for weaning babies includes lamb, apricots and pulses.

Menus for all their children, from babies up to five-year-olds, include lots of fish, meat, vegetarian food and pulses, and dessert is usually fruit.

Sweets and biscuits are not completely banned, but are given sparingly.

"There is no point in depriving children, but they get enough of that type of thing at home," she said.

"It is nonsense that children just don't like some foods. If they have been eating it from day one, they don't know any different, do they?

"But you have to use common sense and moderation."

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Power-strip with hidden GSM phone-hardware

This power-strip is actually a listening device that can be monitored from anywhere in the world. It contains a concealed GSM cell-phone and a mic; insert the SIM card from a mobile phone, plug the strip in somewhere with mobile coverage, and call the phone number for the SIM -- it will transmit the conversation over the phone-link. It's 950 Euros though: surely it's not all that hard to build one of these out of the guts of an old phone and a power-strip... To monitor, simply dial the number of the SIM card inserted in GSM transmitter from your phone and you are immediately and clearly listening to all of the audio activity in the area of our professional concealed GSM monitor AGS-01.
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Jill Carroll Released

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 30 — Jill Carroll, the reporter who was kidnapped in Baghdad in early January and whose case generated widespread international attention, was freed today, according to a correspondent for her newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor.

Delphine Minoui/EPA

Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor.

"We can confirm that she has been released," said Scott Peterson, a correspondent for the paper in Baghdad. He offered no information about the circumstances of her release or her well-being.

Ms. Carroll, 28, was abducted Jan. 7 in western Baghdad and appeared in three videotapes released by her captors. The kidnappers issued a statement through a Kuwaiti television station in February demanding that the Americans and Iraqis release all imprisoned women by Feb. 26 or she would be killed. That date passed without the governments’ compliance, and there was no further word of Ms. Carroll.

On Feb. 28, Iraq’s interior minister told ABC News that the kidnapped American reporter Jill Carroll was still alive and that he knew who had kidnapped her and believed she would be released soon.

Ms. Carroll was kidnapped less than 300 yards from the office of Adnan Dulaimy, a prominent Sunni Arab politician, whom Ms. Carroll had been intending to interview that morning. Her interpreter, Allan Enwiyah, 32, was shot dead at the scene.

In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, Mr. Dulaimy repeatedly expressed his concerns about Ms. Carroll. In recent months, he made public appeals for her release.

Though many other Americans have been kidnapped in Iraq since the invasion, and some remain in captivity, Ms. Carroll’s kidnapping garnered unusually widespread international attention, not least because her plight hit close to home for the journalists in Iraq who covered it.

Ms. Carroll, who grew up in Michigan and speaks some Arabic, had been reporting in the Middle East since late 2002, mostly in Iraq.

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Google Deletes Its Own BlogSpot Blog

Oops! Google Deletes Its Own BlogSpot Blog

SearchEngineWatch reported yesterday that Google's BlogSpot blog at googleblog.blogspot.com had vanished. Later a blogger named Trey Philips managed to register the googleblog name and posted a brief message than began with "Google, fix your blog pleeasssee!" Trey Philips has more about how he grabbed the googleblog name on his lazykarma.com blog. He also has list of links to blogs and sites that are covering the story.

Google has since reclaimed the blog. A graphic of the Google blog before Google reclaimed it can be found here, here and here. Google also admits that they are the ones who accidentally deleted the blog.

Update: We've determined the cause of tonight's outage. The blog was mistakenly deleted by us (d'oh!) which allowed the blog address to be temporarily claimed by another user. This was not a hack, and nobody guessed our password. Our bad.

The good news is that Google says there is "no systemwide vulnerability for Blogger." Apparently, it was just a silly mistake that has Google red-faced today. We can all learn from this by remembering to keep a back up of our blogs. If Google can accidentally delete a blog then anyone can.


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What is myspaceWatch.com?

myspaceWatch.com is a service that allows you to monitor login activity, track profile changes, and keep a running history of up to 5 myspace.com profiles. Are you a parent who banned your child from myspace only to see that they keep logging on, or keeping multiple accounts? Is your significant other living a double life? We keep track and monitor activity so you don't have to. We also don't ask for any of your personal information.

What does it cost?
We have two account levels:
Free Account Sign Up Now
Monitor 1 profile
Profile is crawled twice daily
View up to 25 of a profile's friends
Ad-Supported
Pro Account ($6/month via PayPal) Sign Up Now
Monitor up to 5 profiles
Profile is crawled every 6 hours
View up to 100 of a profile's friends
No Ads
For a limited time we are also offering 30 day trial of our Pro service for $5 through TextPayMe. (You can send us $5 for free, because TextPayMe will credit your account with $5 when you sign up.)

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eBay's Rhine Gold

Thousands of German startups are using the auction site to sell goods

In the U.S., ground zero of modern capitalism, it is almost an article of faith: Europeans have grown risk-averse and lack entrepreneurial zeal. But don't tell that to the thousands of folks who use eBay Inc. (EBAY) to do an end run around decades of state-imposed regulations and old ways of thinking. One of them is German businessman Norbert Otto, who recalls the exact moment he realized selling ski gear over eBay had become far more than a hobby for him.

When Otto printed out his checking account statement at a local bank's automated teller machine, the statement had so many pages that the branch manager scolded Otto for tying up the ATM for so long. Soon after, Otto opened a commercial account for Sport Otto, his online business, which last year sold $1.8 million worth of skates, skis, snowboards, and other sporting goods exclusively over eBay.

Not bad for an operation that began three years ago as a way for Otto's son to earn extra cash. Today, Sport Otto has 25 part-time employees, a large truck to haul merchandise from Dutch ports, and operations that occupy much of Rabenkirchen, a hamlet of just 60 inhabitants two hours north of Hamburg. In this region close to Denmark, where old-timers speak a dialect incomprehensible to outsiders and unemployment is 12%, Sport Otto is one of the few local employers creating new jobs. "We're very thankful that this online platform exists," says Otto, 58, a sports instructor by profession who manages the business with his 20-year-old son, Jan. "In this region, it's the only chance we have."

The Ottos' small-but-thriving operation provides a window into one of Europe's fastest growing entrepreneurial sectors: the eBay store. According to a survey by ACNielsen International Research, the Ottos are among 64,000 Germans who earn at least 25% of their income from eBay, selling all manner of collectibles, furniture, electronics, and more. Germans snatched up $6 billion in merchandise on eBay in 2004, the most recent year for which such data are available.

Germany's eBay market is second only to the U.S. A decade of slow growth and stagnant wages has turned Europe's largest economy into a nation of bargain hunters, with 20 million registered eBay users. That's close to 25% of the population, a greater share than in any other country in which eBay operates. With eBay gaining momentum, its success in Germany could portend a similar boom in France, Italy, and elsewhere in Europe.

In red tape-bound Germany, starting an eBay business is a relative snap for anyone with broadband and inventory and shipping software, which is readily available for a few thousand dollars. And logistics companies such as German post office Deutsche Post offer services tailored to small e-commerce operations. Compare that with the difficulties of finding startup financing in a country where banks are reluctant to lend and relatively few people own houses that can serve as collateral. Even those who scrape together funds are constrained by myriad regulations. Shops, for instance, must close on Sundays and by 8 p.m. on weekdays.

GIANT CUSTOMER
Some experienced businesspeople see eBay as a growth opportunity in an otherwise slack economy. In 2003, Sven Asböck and Frank Hoffmann, who had worked for a mail-order company that went bankrupt, launched DTG Dynamic-Trade in Neumünster, an hour north of Hamburg. The business snatches up all sorts of surplus merchandise, then sells the stuff on eBay. Sales have doubled every year, to $6 million in 2005, and the company employs 22 full-time workers. "We sell everything you can imagine," says Asböck. No kidding: Current offerings include bedroom sets, toasters, and telescopic rifle sights.

The business of supporting German e-merchants has also grown into a thriving industry. More package deliveries are generated by eBay for Deutsche Post and its DHL unit than the biggest catalog retailers. One customer is Bielefeld-based SE.LL Marketing, which helps customers such as toy train maker Brio unload excess merchandise on eBay. SE.LL rarely even sees the goods it auctions off, having outsourced the warehousing, packing, and shipping to DHL. "We want to focus on services. Fulfillment is not our core business," says SE.LL co-founder Christof Sander, 29, a former manager at German media company Bertelsmann.

In Rabenkirchen, eBay -- combined with the easy availability of logistics services and software -- has created a hotbed of e-commerce. For two decades Otto coached basketball, track, and other sports at municipal sports clubs and ran a ski shop on the side. But then the financially strapped local government cut his hours in half, and a recession devastated his shop's sales. In 2002, when son Jan, then 17, asked for money for driving lessons, Norbert told him he would have to earn it by selling off some of the ski shop's excess inventory. The skis sold quickly on eBay -- at twice their wholesale price.

Soon Jan found himself behind the wheel of a battered blue cargo van, ferrying Chinese-made parkas and plastic sleds from the port of Rotterdam. Sport Otto began hiring staff, using part-timers to avoid paying health and pension contributions that can nearly equal an employee's take-home pay. The fledgling company also took over a cluster of small buildings in Rabenkirchen that had been vacant ever since the former tenant, a construction company, shut down.

BUYING A BENZ
At first glance, the Ottos don't appear to run an especially tight ship. Swim goggles, baseball bats, and mosquito nets are arranged haphazardly on wooden shelves. Yet every item is bar-coded and scanned. From a desk equipped with two flat screens and littered with wholesale sporting goods catalogs, Jan knows when to redeploy snowboarding trousers from the barn to the packing shed. As customers bid, software tallies the average price and profit on each sale.

The business hasn't made the Ottos rich. Their one luxury is a Mercedes-Benz (DCX ) SUV. Jan lives in the same building used to pack orders, while Norbert occupies a modest apartment above Sport Otto's offices. Both start work at 7 a.m. and often don't finish until late in the evening. They dream of building a modern, computer-driven warehouse and buying products directly from Asian suppliers. For now, Norbert says, "we're investing everything back into the business." Spoken like a true entrepreneur.

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Mail Nation

GMail : 2,5 GB of mail storage. Not enough ? Sign up for Mail Nation, which gives users one terabyte (1000 GB). Right. Just in case you want to send 1505 divx movies to some friend by email.

p/s Available to US citizens only
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Materialistic Malaysian

An seventeen-year-old girl in Damansara Utama tells her mom that she has missed her period for almost two months. Very worried, the mother goes to the drugstore and buys a pregnancy kit. The test result shows that the girl is pregnant. Shouting, cursing, crying, the mother says, "Who was the man that did this to you? I want to know!"

The girl picks up the phone and makes a call. Half an hour later a red Ferrari stops in front of their house; a mature and distinguished man with grey hair, impeccably dressed in a very expensive suit, steps out of the car and enters the house.

He sits in the living room with the father, the mother and the girl, and tells them, "Good morning. Your daughter has informed me of the problem. However, I can't marry her because of my personal family situation, but I'll take charge. If a girl is born, I will bequeath her two retail stores, a townhouse, a beach villa and a RM1,000,000 bank account. If a boy is born, my legacy wil be a couple of factories and a RM2,000,000 bank account. If it is twins, a factory and RM1,000,000 each. However, if there is a miscarriage, what do you suggest I do?"

At this point, the father, who had remained silent, places a hand firmly on the man's shoulder and tells him, "Then you try again and again."

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Broadband Analysis

'Top Ten' countries by number of DSL lines


The fastest growth is among the developing countries further down the list. Turkey was one of the stars of 2005, adding more than 1 million lines to a total of 1.54 million, and Mexico was another adding 900,000 to pass 1.6 million.

What about Malaysia?
Telekom Malaysia's total DSL subscribers increased from 352,000 at the end of June 2005 to 417,000 at the September 2005.
"Telekom Malaysia is the incumbent telecommunications operator in Malaysia. The operator offers DSL services to residential and business customers through its Internet Service Provider (ISP), TMnet."

source:http://www.point-topic.com/content/dslanalysis/DSLanaq405060317.htm

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A number of famous/ amusing quotes PART 2

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

If hackers ran the world, there'd be no war--lots of accidents, maybe.

If it weren't for electricity we'd all be watching television by candlelight.

If you can't laugh at yourself, make fun of other people.

If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life.

It isn't pollution that is hurting the environment, it's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.

It's when you're innocently looking at ants under your magnifying glass on a hot summers day that you notice just how spontaneously they start to explode...

Join the army, meet interesting people, and kill them.

Live long enough to be a problem to your kids.

Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.

Money talks...but all mine ever says is good-bye.

Most cars on our roads have only one occupant, usually the driver.

My personal opinion is that apple is a fruit and that one should not mix fruits with computers because that one might end up with a Crapple.

On the other hand, the early worm gets eaten.

Our strength is that we don't have any weaknesses. Our weakness is that we don't have any real strengths.

People die each year testing if a 9v battery works on their tongue

Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty.

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, and often also the funniest.

Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.

Statistics show every two minutes another statistic is created.

The doctors X-rayed my head and found nothing.
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Razor Blade

A number of years ago, one of the major disposable razor manufacturers came out with the revolutionary idea of twin blades. The first blade stretches the whisker out, and the second blade cuts the whisker below the skin line for the ultimate in smooth shaving.

Sometime later, television commercial depicting the three-blade razor, in which the first blade stretches out the whisker, the second blade stretches it out even more and the third blade cuts the whisker below the skin line for the ultimate in smooth shaving.

A couple of years later, the same razor manufacturer, hoping the public had forgotten the parody, came out with the revolutionary three-blade razor. It's amazing when invention follows parody.It was at this time that I found myself joking about the four-blade razor and the five-blade razor as well.

Well, just recently it has happened. Gillette has rolled out its five-blade Fusion razor (with two lubrication strips) which supposedly achieves a 40-percent closer shave than Gillette's current MACH3Turbo system.

Now, my question is, if you had the ultimate shave 20 or so years ago, how can you keep getting even closer shaves?

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A number of famous/ amusing quotes PART 1

"We can repair anything. (Please knock hard on the door - the bell doesn't work.)" - Sign on door of repair shop

...that is his excuse for the dogs mess that I find hard to swallow.

640k ought to be enough for anybody. -- Bill Gates, 1981

82% of people that took part in our opinion poll said they didn't like opinion polls.

A man who smiles when things go wrong knows who to blame.

A verbal contract is not worth the paper it's written on.

After all is said and done, usually more is said.

As easy as 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841.

Being superstitious brings bad luck.

Don't judge a book by its movie.

Don't spend two dollars to dry clean a shirt. Donate it to the Salvation Army instead. They'll clean it and put it on a hanger. Next morning buy it back for seventy-five cents.

Earn cash in your spare time--blackmail your friends.

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow they may cancel your VISA.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

Golf scores are directly proportional to the number of witnesses.

Good ideas come to those who steal them.

Hard work never killed anybody...but why take chances?

He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in the morning regardless of what time it is.

I had a really great evening, but it wasn't this one!

I have a God-given talent. I got it from my dad.

I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father.
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Coffee "Taksedap"

Your Coffee Taksedap (not good)!

I've been to Dato K’s home or apartment. We've fried nugget, had a few laughs and a good time. Its getting a little late, and a little caffeine would be good for the ride home.

Here's the PROBLEM: Your coffee taksedap. That's right, I said it: You do not know how to brew a good cup of coffee Dato K??

You suffer (actually, I'm the one who suffers) from one of four likely problems. Lucky for you, opinionated bastards like me are here on the 'net to give you good advice you didn't even know you needed:

1) You Use Crappy Coffee. Forget instant, that's not even under consideration. Store bought, no name, canned ground coffee is at its best, mediocre. If you buy a good French Roast, and use 5 to 6 heaping scoopfuls (not spoonfuls, but those little plastic scoopers), you get a halfway decent brew.

But most people don't. They buy whatever lame ass coffee is on sale that week, and then they use miserly portions.

2) Your Coffeemaker Sucks
That's right, its a piece of shit: It brews too fast, and it doesn't make the coffee hot enough.

A good brewer will slowly let the water drip into the basket, allowing the natural oils, flavor and aroma of the beans to come out. Ahhhhh, can you smell that? Hmmmmm.
Ideally, your brewer will use fresh filtered water, crank up the heat, and then have the warmer turn off quickly -- otherwise, it will burn the brew.

By the way, when was the last time you cleaned that stanky coffeemaker of yours? You can buy commercial products, or just run a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water. Clean it every six months or so.

3) Your Coffee Was Ground Ages Ago
Forget the stuff in the can. I'm talking to the people who buy beans, ground them up immediately, and then put them in a jar in the fridge for months. That starts the gradual loss of flavor and aroma immediately. (Why even buy beans?)

You want beans, and you want them ground as close to the brewing process as possible.

4) Your Tap Water is Nasty
Depending upon where you live, your tap water ranges from tasty to industrial run off to chemical contaminants to carcinogenic.(Malaysia; especially at K. Valley muhahahha)
I have a friend who can sell you water filter.
Cancer flavored coffee tends to taste bad.
OK now you know why your coffee TAKSEDAP Dato K!!!
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What is Cacheopedia?

Cacheopedia is a wiki site to create an online encyclopedia / reference / survival guide for the sport of geocaching. It is a source for geocaching FAQs, articles, definitions, guides, and a whole lot more. Anyone can write an article about any geocaching-related subject that they wish. Readers can also improve articles that others have written.
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Health Service

Surgery Door and Surgerydoor blog

Today, I discovered there is a useful blog as well. It's called Surgerydoor - Health Snippets which "provides an overview of health news from around the world with the emphasis on the U.K."

Surgery Door -The UK's Leading Online Health Service is a very useful website about health issues.

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Spyware

Datin Zakiah of mine asked me recently how to maximize her personal computer(pc) performance.She said the pc performance is getting slower each day. I told him that there is a spyware in his computer. She is a non-computer savvy, therefore I need to explain to her in simple summary.

What is spyware?
I browsed Google search engine to look for the meaning of SPYWARE. At the bottom of Google result page I found Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Wikipedia stated a spyware differs from neither viruses nor worms. It is designed for a commercial gain such as to studyuser behavior on web browsing for marketing purpose, to delivera pop-up advertisement and etc. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware).
For me, it is a spy software. In short we call it spyware.. The spyware runs as a secret service in your pc and keeps on tracking your browsing behavior. Then, it will match your behavior pattern to the statistic which resides on its server somewhere in the Internet. After it matched the behavior pattern against the statistic, the spyware will deliver a pop up advertising banner. The pop up advertising banner has a timer, for example, every 5 minutes it will change the banner. This is pretty annoying to your eyes. Imagine the spyware collecting data from the Internet users all around the world. It’s like a research tool to study people and snooping on our Internet activities. She ask me to clean all the spyware with $50 for an hour job :)
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History Of Internet

The starting point for the Internet is considered to be some memos by J Licklider of MIT sent in August 1962 discussing his “Galactic Network” concept. He envisioned a globally interconnected set of computers through which everyone could quickly access data and programs from any site. Licklider was also first head of the computer research programme at DARPA.
In 1965 Lawrence Roberts and Thomas Merrill - watched anxiously by Leonard Kleinrock, who had proposed using packets of information - connected two computers together across the US, making it the first WAN (wide area network).
Working at DARPA in 1967, Roberts proposed ARPANET based on the packet network concept. ARPANET came online in 1969 with four host computers connected together. The technology was demonstrated to the general public in 1972. The same year the concept of electronic mail was introduced, with Ray Tomlinson of BBN writing the basic email message send and read software.
It was from here that ARPANET grew into the Internet, the concept that a group of multiple independent networks could work together. The idea of the open-network architecture came from Robert E. Khan, also in 1972. His program was called “Internetting” and based on a packet radio scenario. Having problems with the original NCP (network control protocol) he came up with the basis for the idea of what would eventually become the common TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol).
The first paper on the subject was a joint effort between Khan and Vinton G. Cerf that outlined the TCP part of the TCP/IP protocol. In 1983 ARPANET moved off NCP to TCP/IP but it had already been adopted by the military three years earlier.
In 1973 came the advent of Ethernet technology and by the early 1980s the growth of Local Area Networks (LANs), PCs and other workstations saw the young Internet grow. One big step was the introduction of the Domain Name System (DNS), invented by Paul Mockapetris of USC/ISI. The DNS permitted a scalable distributed way to resolve hierarchical host names (eg, www.seansite.net) into an Internet address.
The next step was to improve the message routing systems, which spawned the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) used inside each region of the Internet, and an Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP) used to tie the regions together. This design permitted different regions to use a different IGP, giving greater flexibility to the network.
So by 1985 the Internet was already in place as a technology supporting a broad community of researchers and developers. Even before 1985, a number of networks were built specifically for individual groups. They primarily served scholars and researchers along with various government and military organisations.
ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990 but due to the efforts of NSFNET, TCP/IP was dominating most of the other wide-area computer network protocols worldwide, and IP was well on its way to becoming the standard service for the global information infrastructure.
A major key to the rapid growth of the Internet has been the free and open access to basic documents, especially the specifications of the protocols. Groups like the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), and a host of others including IAB, IESG and IETF , to throw some alphabet soup at you, eventually led to the formation of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This was initially led from MIT’s Lab for Computer Science by Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the web.
Taking the Internet commercial Up until the middle of 1985, there were no real commercial uses of the technology and it was mostly a research sharing and communication platform.
People started by adding TCP/IP support to their products while at the same time supporting their own protocols like SNA, NetBios and others. With some workshops in 1985 presented to over 300 different interests, the community was surprised by how open the innovators were and it started the kind of bilateral information sharing that has continued until today.
By 1988 the first Interop trade show was conducted and people saw how things could work together for their benefit. Since then Interop has grown to be conducted in multiple locations around the world. During the same period IETF meetings were held to talk about extensions to the TCP/IP protocol.
Also by 1988 the Simple Network Management Protocol, or SMTP, was chosen to allow for remote management of elements like network routers. Even today SMTP is still the most common network management protocol in use.
From here the Internet grew into what we have today - a vastly commercialised and in some ways over-burdened structure. At one end are the vendors with their basic networking solutions and in the middle are the service providers or ISPs who give us the connectivity and basic services. At the other end are the users and browsers also connecting through an ISP.
The result is a commodity-driven service and to a large extent the original purpose of the Internet as an information sharing resource has been overshadowed by the commercial elements. The result is a shift in focus towards better ways to support this commercialism and hence new initiatives like the updated forms and XML specifications.
We saw the early browser wars won by Microsoft and now the new mini war, which I hope is won by Opera or Firefox. The next battle will be how to get more people connected to the Internet to be able to exchange goods and services for money.
On October 24, 1995 the Federal Networking Council (FNC) unanimously passed a resolution defining the term Internet. The definition was as follows:
“‘Internet’ refers to the global information system that _ (i) is logically linked together by a globally unique address space based on the Internet Protocol (IP) or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons; (ii) is able to support communications using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons, and/or other IP-compatible protocols; and (iii) provides, uses or makes accessible, either publicly or privately, high level services layered on the communications and related infrastructure described herein.”
In other words, a network based on TCP/IP for everyone’s use.
How the Internet develops from here will depend on how the change is managed. In the past the decisions came from a core group of engineers who were not looking at the business considerations but the best way to get it all hooked together and working correctly and smoothly.
Over time the focus has gradually shifted and a large number of special interest groups with a lot of commercial might have started to influence even the so called standards bodies. The shift continues from intellectual to economic stakeholding and in some cases the shifts are towards proprietary technology and not open ones.
We are seeing domain name wars where the individual is forced to give up their long-held domain because some company wants it and, worse, these actions are sometimes supported by bodies like the W3C.
As more and more people want to join the Internet club the question becomes how to manage the growth. There are real costs in expanding network bandwidth and the resulting structures need to be coordinated and controlled not by business interests but by groups who want to continue to see the Internet be what it was intended to be.
Without a coordinated approach we could start to see some serious fracturing of the network and see segments become isolated, within regions or countries or by socio economic groupings. Once that happens it will signal the end of the original dream.
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Malaysia Cellular Service

For those who use Malaysia cellular service, special notice.

NEW PREFIX 014 FOR PUBLIC CELLULAR SERVICE

Effective immediately, MCMC allocates the use of the new prefix 014 for
shared use by the three public cellular service operators
as follows:-

Celcom : 014 - 8xx xxxx
DiGi : 014 - 6xx xxxx
Maxis : 014 - 2xx xxxx

The new prefix 014 is an additional prefix to existing public cellular
service prefixes such as 012, 013, 016, 017 and 019.
The sharing of the new prefix is expected to reduce the congestion in
existing prefixes.

For further information regarding this notice, please contact:-

Resource Planning and Management Division,
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission
63000 Cyberjaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel: +03 8688 8000 Faxs : +03-8688-1001
DATE : 9 March 2006
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AsianPay.

Today I came accross a new online payment system called AsianPay. It’s a company based in Thailand, providing services to Asians.
I’m not interested in adding another method of payment to my online businesses as I already able to accept online payment via ClickBank, PayPal and StormPay. The only reason why I’m interested in AsianPay is the ability to transfer PayPal money to AsianPay account.
At the time of this writing, PayPal does not allow Malaysians to withdraw their PayPal money unless they have a US bank account, registered in US. By transferring PayPal money to AsianPay allows Malaysians to transfer their fund to their local bank.
I’ve just started, and now I’m waiting for my AsianPay account to be certified. Will let youguys know more about the progress.
In the meantime, why not get yourself an AsianPay account? It’s free.

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Myself Confidence

Sometimes I wish I could go back to the 22 years ago-or-whatever me and give the same amount of confidence I have now. Perhaps I would’ve made a lot more choices that would’ve saved me time, money, and the unneeded stressing. I can’t say that I can give my old me a lot more insight–because nearly nothing I think now has changed. Which I know is either a really bad thing, or a fairly OK thing, perhaps I could give myself some helpful insight–but seeing as I wasn’t, yeah…
But self-esteem is something that I suppose either most pre-teens either have little of, or just have entirely too much and run amok like ants on a fallen ice cream cone at the state fair.
While I was stable with who I was, I think occasionally it would’ve been nicer to have more confidence in my own decisions. Because, you know, not to sound conceited, I actually was quite right about most things I told my peers at the age of 11, haha. I was the square. The weirdo, the lunatic. When I’m thirty-four which isn’t too far off now–I hope that I don’t regret not having the esteem and insight that I will have then, but that I currently don’t possess. Because retrospect is a horrible thing. It’s like losing a piece to a puzzle you only started a few days ago, and now you can never finish it–you’ll just have to buy a new one.

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Google & Firefox

I got this from tech report, and imagine the money....:)

How Much Money Did Firefox Make From Google in 2005?
There’s some interesting speculations and idle gossip swirling around the Web today about how much money Firefox made from Google last year. Jason Calacanis gave his input:
“Mozilla Corporation makes all that money because of the Google Search box on the top right. If you search with that box (which I do all day long) and you click on the Google ads on the results page Firefox gets ~80% of that. They also have Amazon in the search box, and other services that I’m sure kick them back some affiliate fees. Brilliant.”
And Jeremy Zawodny also weighed in, posing this intriguing question: “Makes you wonder how much Microsoft income is derived from Search in Internet Explorer, doesn’t it?”

Firefox Earned $72M in 2005 from Google
The browser business isn't a half bad place to be, it seems.
What an amazing business: make a kick-ass browser for $10-15M a year in expense and make $72M (and growing) in revenue. It's such a good business that the folks at Flock.com are trying to do a similar thing by building a wrapper with value-added services (like bookmarking tools) on top of Firefox.
Makes you wonder how much Microsoft income is derived from Search in Internet Explorer, doesn't it?

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Free Storage Space

If you are looking for free online file storage space, take a look at Box.net. It offers 1GB storage space for FREE!

Box.net is a Web 2.0 application that offers online storage services. Every free membership gets free 1GB storage space. You can upload your files (any types) and host them on Box.net. Then, you can share the files with your family and friends.
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Imagine World

I was going through some of the random blogs on blogspot yesterday and the day before yesterday, found many interesting things online. People really blog their thoughts and the things they do on a day-to-day basis or important things to them that particular day. However, I find some of the things are kinda... embelished... meaning the truth is only 10%, while the rest, mainly fiction to heighten the exprience. Sometimes our lives are quite mundane to us, that there's nothing to write about. So, we create a bit to make interesting and since it's our blog, we choose/ imagine to do it. This kinda applies to me too...hahaha.. Having said that, there are also many that is 100% truthful, and also 100% pure fiction. ... It's really up to the blogger in question isn't it?
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Afghanistan

Afghanistan; This is a general overview of the history of Afghanistan. For such a small area, this nations sure has a violent history. From the site: Afghanistan, often called the crossroads of Central Asia, has had a turbulent history. In 328 BC, Alexander the Great entered the territory of present-day Afghanistan, then part of the Persian Empire, to capture Bactria (present-day Balkh). Invasions by the Scythians, White Huns, and Turks followed in succeeding centuries.

In AD 642, Arabs invaded the entire region and introduced Islam. Arab rule gave way to the Persians, who controlled the area until conquered by the Turkic Ghaznavids in 998. Mahmud of Ghazni (998-1030) consolidated the conquests of his predecessors and turned Ghazni into a great cultural center as well as a base for frequent forays into India. Following Mahmud's short-lived dynasty, various princes attempted to rule sections of the country until the Mongol invasion of 1219. The Mongol invasion, led by Genghis Khan, resulted in massive slaughter of the population, destruction of many cities, including Herat, Ghazni, and Balkh, and the despoliation of fertile agricultural areas.

Following Genghis Khan's death in 1227, a succession of petty chiefs and princes struggled for supremacy until late in the 14th century, when one of his descendants, Tamerlane, incorporated Afghanistan into his own vast Asian empire. Babur, a descendant of Tamerlane and the founder of India's Moghul dynasty at the beginning of the 16th century, made Kabul the capital of an Afghan principality.

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Solar Energy from Terengganu!!!

A news that change sand to energy.

Terengganu will become the world's largest solar product manufacturer with the setting up of a state-of-the-art production facility in Teluk Kalong here in April.
This is following the move by Denmark Solar Industry (DSI), a world leader in the fabrication and manufacture of solar panels and solar renewable energy savings products, to relocate its plant here.
DSI has entered into a joint venture with SOLARin group to set up the facility with an initial investment of RM200mil.
The amount would be increased to RM1bil when the facility was fully operational in 2008, said SOLARin Holdings Sdn Bhd president and group executive chairman Datuk Naser Ismail.
Terengganu will become the first in Malaysia and Asia to have such a facility and we plan to turn Teluk Kalong into the first solar valley in the world.
''This would put the state on the world map,'' he said after a presentation on the construction of the plant to State Industrial Development and Tourism Committee chairman Datuk Mohamed Awang Tera in Kijal yesterday.
Naser said the facility would employ 500 technicians when it commenced production and another 1,500 technicians by 2008.
''We will have to rush on the construction of the facility since we have targeted to export four million solar cells to Denmark by July,'' he said.
Datuk Naser Ismail (right) and Pr Vejrum Pape after the briefing.
Naser said the solar panels would be sold to Europe, the US and Australia.
DSI chief executive officer Per Vejrum Pape said the availability of high-grade silica oxide was the prime reason for the facility to be located in Kemaman.
He said a study by DSI found that the white sand in Kuala Abang in Dungun had the highest content of silica oxide - the main raw material to produce solar cells.
''It is 99.5% pure and such a high content cannot be found in China, Vietnam or Thailand,'' Pape said.
He added that the high quality of silica oxide would lower the production cost of solar cells, a major component of the solar module.
He said the sand would be smelted under a complex process into crystals to form solar cells, which is laminated to make solar panels.
He said the facility would open up a wide range of new businesses in Malaysia since the lower quality silica oxide could be turned into fertilisers, glass and porcelain.
''If the purification is better, it can even be sold to semiconductor companies, NASA and even the pharmaceutical industry,'' he said.
Source: The Star
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