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TV Show: The Sopranos

TV show 'The Sopranos' is heading for a finale. Washington Post reports:


Final Look at 'The Sopranos' Characters

By JAKE COYLE
The Associated Press
Monday, June 11, 2007; 3:32 AM

NEW YORK -- The eruption heard across the country Sunday night at
10:03 p.m. EDT: Collective exclamations of "What?" "Are you kidding
me?" and " $&!?"

The choose-your-own-adventure ending of "The Sopranos" left endless
loose ends that seemed to parody the typical audience expectations for
a series finale. If you were bothered by the never-heard-from-again
Russian who escaped assassination in the Pine Barrens, well, you're
probably not very happy now.

Meanwhile, "Sopranos" creator David Chase was in France, unreachable
to all press, according to an HBO publicist. You might call it a safe
house, far away from the giant hit he just ordered on "Sopranos"
watchers.

But as ambiguous as the conclusion of the HBO drama was, the 86th
episode _ titled "Made in America" _ still left us with final,
indelible images of the main characters.

TONY SOPRANO: Many expected Tony to die, but the mob boss managed to
live through the episode; whether he lives much past that is a matter
of subjectivity. Were the shady-looking characters hanging around the
diner in the final scene there to kill Tony? Were they undercover
cops? Neither? With a likely indictment hanging over his head, our
last impression of Tony (James Gandolfini) was of a relatively
peaceful family man who had come to terms with many of his headaches,
including Uncle Junior (whom he had disavowed after Junior shot him)
and therapy (which he disavowed after Dr. Melfi ended their sessions).
He showed interest in both in the finale. His kids continue to
disappoint, but perhaps not too much. Any judgment of Tony's lasting
mental state, though, would take pages and pages, and still leave
unresolved issues.

PHIL LEOTARDO: In the battle of Tony vs. Phil, New Jersey vs. New
York, Tony won. Phil (Frank Vincent) met his fate at a gas station
where he was shot, and then had his skull accidentally run over for
good measure. Tony was able to turn Leotardo's crew after even they
acknowledged that the New York boss had gone "too far" in his war.
Tony blamed the "tension" partly on Leotardo's inherited insecurity
from the deceased New York boss Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni, a veiled
reference to Johnny Sack's sensitivity to his wife's weight. As
always, slight comments linger, even beyond the grave.

A.J. SOPRANO: Tony's son was his old self. He didn't kill himself, his
dad or figure prominently in the mob war fallout. Instead, A.J.
(Robert Iler) griped about America and quoted "Yeets." He accidentally
burned his SUV to a crisp, but also finally kissed his model friend
Rhiannon. He decided he wanted to join the Army, but was dissuaded
when his parents got him a job on a movie, which was put into
production after "Danny" Baldwin passed a script to Tony. That future
seemed no more likely to last for A.J. than any other, but it was he
who warmed his family in the final scene by quoting Tony in wanting to
"remember the times that were good."

MEADOW SOPRANO: Tony's daughter (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) mainly remained on
the sidelines in the finale, as she had for much of the season. She
and Patrick Parisi are headed for marriage, and he might be getting
her a job at his law firm once she's completed law school. When Tony
pressed her on why she wasn't still going to medical school, Meadow
said she became interested in law only after seeing the police badger
her family _ perhaps furthering Tony's guilt. We also learned that
Meadow is an absolutely terrible parallel parker.

AGENT DWIGHT HARRIS: We learned more about the FBI agent (Matt
Servitto) in the final episode than in all those before it: His job is
hurting his relationship, and he's having an affair with another
agent. Harris also supplied Tony with the approximate location of
Leotardo. Working terrorism, he clearly misses the more
understandable, exciting world of the Mafia. When told of Leotardo's
death, he cheered: "We're gonna win this thing!" There were, though,
several reveals of FBI surveillance on Tony, including phone taps. And
Carlo Gervasi was rumored to have flipped after his son was arrested
for selling ecstasy.

CARMELA SOPRANO: Carmela (Edie Falco) remained a faithful wife to Tony
and was seen flipping through real estate brochures, suggesting real
estate remained her devotion. She also grown tired of Tony's use of
his depression as a crutch _ similar to how Tony viewed Christopher
Moltisanti's alcoholism. When Tony spoke to A.J.'s therapist about the
hurt his mother caused, Carmela's eyes rolled.

PAULIE "WALNUTS" GUALTIERI: The Soprano soldier (Tony Sirico) proved
both his allegiance to Tony and his deep distrust of felines. A cat
adopted by the crew that sat and stared at a photo of Christopher
particularly bugged Paulie, who thought it might signify a "jinx"
following Christopher's death. Though Paulie was suspected of
cooperating with the New York family, he proved loyal to Tony. When
Tony offered Paulie Carlo's job, Paulie hesitated, but eventually took
it. In between, he showed he was feeling his age, and was haunted by
sighting of the Virgin Mary _ in the Bada Bing, of all places.

SILVIO DANTE: After being shot last week on orders from Leotardo,
Silvio (Steven Van Zandt) was only shown briefly laid up unconscious
in a hospital bed, his wife quietly filing his toenails. No mention
was made of any recovery for Tony's second in command.

JANICE SOPRANO: Tony's sister and the wife of the late Bobby Bacala
was shown in mourning, but feeling relatively resilient. Janice (Aida
Turturro) joked to Tony: "I need to watch my weight. I need to snag
another husband."

CORRADO "JUNIOR" SOPRANO: Tony had long abandoned his increasingly
senile uncle and former head of the family after Junior (Dominic
Chianese) accidentally shot Tony at the start of the sixth season. But
Tony visited Junior at what appeared to be a state-run old-age home,
to tell him to leave his money (if he can remember where he buried it)
to Bacala's children. Junior didn't recognize Tony; when Tony reminded
Junior that he once ran Northern New Jersey with Tony's father, Junior
replied: "We did? That's nice."

DR. JENNIFER MELFI: Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) was a no-show in the
finale after her abrupt termination of therapy with Tony in the
penultimate episode. Tony appeared to use A.J.'s therapist as a Melfi
stand-in, divulging, "You see, I never could please my mother." You
can take the mobster out of therapy, but you can't take therapy out of
the mobster.

News: Lindsy and Paris in same jail?

Will Lindsay end up in same prison as her pal Paris? the question is sending ripples thru the ne, and so is the following video !!!!!

Lindsay Lohan To End Up In Same Prison As Paris?

Entertainmentwise.com reports:

Lindsay Lohan could end up in the same prison as her pal Paris Hilton following her DUI arrest at the weekend.
Commentators yesterday claimed the 20-year-old faced the real possibility of jail time after crashing her car at 5:30am on Saturday morning following a suspected night of drinking
A "usable amount" of cocaine was also said to be found in the vehicle by police.
Fox News' Laura Ingle reports, "Lindsay could face a serious jail term and could well end up in the same facility as Paris.”
Ironically, but perhaps not unsurprisingly, Paris Hilton - who is due to start her own jail term next month - was apparently partying with Lindsay at Hollywood club Les Deux on the night of the crash.

And here is the video:

Movie: Harry Potter 5- The latest trailers !!!

Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix emerges with some brand new trailers and interviews of the Actors, here is the compilation....

LATEST TRAILER :




CHARACTERS TAKE:



and lastly, the ORIGINAL TRAILER:

Cecilia's ex-husband tries presidential election again!!!

Former Argentinian President, Carlos Menem, ex husband of Chilean Miss Uniiverse Ceilia Bolocco, tries his hand at the election again, reports AP.


Former Argentine president Menem to make long-shot bid to regain presidency

By: Associated Press -

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Former President Carlos Menem said he will make a long-shot bid to regain the Argentine presidency in October's election.
Menem, who ruled from 1989 to 1999 as leader of the Peronist Party, told reporters Thursday he will run with his newly founded Loyalty and Dignity Party. He has broken with the Peronists, now led by incumbent President Nestor Kirchner.
Most opinion polls give Menem, 76, little chance with just around 5 percent of the vote.

Menem recently announced he had separated from his Chilean wife, former Miss Universe Cecilia Bolocco, who caused an uproar when photographs were published of her kissing and sunbathing topless with an Italian friend in Miami. Menem said the separation occurred before the photos appeared.
"It is not for me to interfere with what she does," he said.
Menem and Bolocco married in 2001 after meeting when Bolocco interviewed him for a Chilean television program. They have a 3-year-old son, Maximo.

TV: Rosie O'donel Might not return to 'The View'

Rosie O'Donel, the controversial host for the TV show "the view", stated that she might not return to the show, Los Angeles Times reports:

O'Donnell unsure if she'll return to 'The View'

NEW YORK — A day after she and Elisabeth Hasselbeck clashed angrily on "The View," Rosie O'Donnell took the day off Thursday to celebrate her partner Kelli Carpenter O'Donnell's 40th birthday and indicated that she is unsure whether she will return to the program.
O'Donnell told a viewer on her personal blog that she has "no idea" when or if she will go back on the ABC daytime talk show for the remaining month of her contract. To another fan who urged her to walk away, she wrote: "well u know when its time 2 go."
With the program running taped editions Friday and Monday, O'Donnell's next live appearance is scheduled for Tuesday. A spokesman for "The View" did not respond to a question about whether she would return.
O'Donnell and Hasselbeck, who have professed to be friends despite their political differences, waged a fierce verbal battle Wednesday over a remark O'Donnell made last week in which she implied the U.S. has engaged in terrorism in Iraq.
O'Donnell complained that Hasselbeck did not defend her against conservative critics who claimed she had called the troops "terrorists." The younger co-host pushed back, saying O'Donnell had a responsibility to defend her own words.
The back-and-forth escalated as the two women raised their voices, pointedly jabbed their fingers in the air and called each other "cowardly."
Barbara Walters, the show's creator and co-producer, was not on the program Wednesday, but when she returned Thursday, she declared that "Aunt Barbara is back and there will be peace in the kingdom."
"It's a hot weekend, so everybody can cool off," she said in a video statement on ABCNews .com.
Indeed, Hasselbeck was substantially calmer during the program's "Hot Topics" segment. Noting that the show was being preempted on the East Coast for President Bush's news conference, the co-host said wryly: "I just want to know where he was yesterday. We could have used a little of that."
It remains to be seen whether she and O'Donnell can mend their relationship. The comedian, who announced last month that she and ABC could not agree on terms for extending her contract, is set to the leave the program June 21.
During Thursday's show, Walters noted that O'Donnell had the day off but did not address the question of her return. She said she did not want to rehash the fight.
"What this show was for many years, and for most of this year, was that women could talk and argue and debate without it getting personal and nasty," Walters said. "And this is the way women are at home, and this is the way we want it to be and the way it has been. And that's the way it will be."
"We were all on the same team," she added later. "And usually, if we had big things to discuss we used to do them off camera. Yesterday it was on camera. But on the other hand, the show went on yesterday as normal — if there's such a thing as normal on this show."

Music: Jordin, The new American Idol

One of the main question this morning is Who won the American Idol. The finale of the show was last night. American Idol title is taken, and the winner of American Idol is Jordin Sparks. She is really talented, she sings soulfully, she had 74 million votes of her fans, and now she is the winner. The American Idol Finale Video is available at the show's official site.

Jordin, 17, has been one of the fans of American Idol since she was 12 years old, and she was dreaming to participate in the show and become a winner of the American Idol. Her dream has come true, moreover, she is the Idol now, the new winner.

"I've just been trying to top myself each week," Sparks told The Associated Press. "I would sing my song and after I was done I was like, `OK, what am I going to do next week that's going to be ... either just as good or better."

After she sang "This Is My Now”, which was picked up by the voters for the final performance.

Jordin on being announced as the new American Idol.

When Jordin was announced the winner, she said: "Thank you so much for everything. Mom, Dad, I love you. Nana, Papa, P.J., thank you guys." She was shining on the stage and she looked very happy.

Jordin’s rival was Blake Lewis, 25, a stylish beat-boxer guy known with his fresh approach to music and his hip-hop pas. He was very nice looking on the stage and he had a plenty of fans. Blake himselft was a fan of Jordin, he says, that she really deserved the crown.



"I picked Jordin Sparks at the top 24 as the American Idol winner," said Blake. "I was actually going to try to wear a `Vote for Jordin Sparks' T-shirt last night but they wouldn't let me do it."
Jordin Sparks has won a contract for recording CD as a part of American Idol title. Blake doesn’t have a contract yet, but he’s sure he’s shined at the stage and someone will appreciate his talent. Blake talked about his future album’s style - "like electro pop, very danceable."

Photo: crocodile Attack

"May 18, 2007—A saltwater crocodile holds the forearm of a veterinarian following a grisly attack at Taiwan's Shoushan Zoo in April. "

: Reports National Geographic!

Food: Death by veganism

New York Times 21st May 2007, featured an article called "Death by Veganism," penned by Nina Planck, author of “Real Food: What to Eat and Why.” has sent ripples through the net world. To find out why, check it out!!!

The article follows:

Death by Veganism

By NINA PLANCK

Published: May 21, 2007

When Crown Shakur died of starvation, he was 6 weeks old and weighed 3.5 pounds. His vegan parents, who fed him mainly soy milk and apple juice, were convicted in Atlanta recently of murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty.
This particular calamity — at least the third such conviction of vegan parents in four years — may be largely due to ignorance. But it should prompt frank discussion about nutrition.
I was once a vegan. But well before I became pregnant, I concluded that a vegan pregnancy was irresponsible. You cannot create and nourish a robust baby merely on foods from plants.
Indigenous cuisines offer clues about what humans, naturally omnivorous, need to survive, reproduce and grow: traditional vegetarian diets, as in India, invariably include dairy and eggs for complete protein, essential fats and vitamins. There are no vegan societies for a simple reason: a vegan diet is not adequate in the long run.
Protein deficiency is one danger of a vegan diet for babies. Nutritionists used to speak of proteins as “first class” (from meat, fish, eggs and milk) and “second class” (from plants), but today this is considered denigrating to vegetarians.
The fact remains, though, that humans prefer animal proteins and fats to cereals and tubers, because they contain all the essential amino acids needed for life in the right ratio. This is not true of plant proteins, which are inferior in quantity and quality — even soy.
A vegan diet may lack vitamin B12, found only in animal foods; usable vitamins A and D, found in meat, fish, eggs and butter; and necessary minerals like calcium and zinc. When babies are deprived of all these nutrients, they will suffer from retarded growth, rickets and nerve damage.
Responsible vegan parents know that breast milk is ideal. It contains many necessary components, including cholesterol (which babies use to make nerve cells) and countless immune and growth factors. When breastfeeding isn’t possible, soy milk and fruit juice, even in seemingly sufficient quantities, are not safe substitutes for a quality infant formula.
Yet even a breast-fed baby is at risk. Studies show that vegan breast milk lacks enough docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, the omega-3 fat found in fatty fish. It is difficult to overstate the importance of DHA, vital as it is for eye and brain development.
A vegan diet is equally dangerous for weaned babies and toddlers, who need plenty of protein and calcium. Too often, vegans turn to soy, which actually inhibits growth and reduces absorption of protein and minerals. That’s why health officials in Britain, Canada and other countries express caution about soy for babies. (Not here, though — perhaps because our farm policy is so soy-friendly.)
Historically, diet honored tradition: we ate the foods that our mothers, and their mothers, ate. Now, your neighbor or sibling may be a meat-eater or vegetarian, may ferment his foods or eat them raw. This fragmentation of the American menu reflects admirable diversity and tolerance, but food is more important than fashion. Though it’s not politically correct to say so, all diets are not created equal.
An adult who was well-nourished in utero and in infancy may choose to get by on a vegan diet, but babies are built from protein, calcium, cholesterol and fish oil. Children fed only plants will not get the precious things they need to live and grow.

Iraq war: the murder of innocence

The total financial costs for Iraq war have risen from the initial Bush Administration estimates of $50 billion to more than $400 billion total, most of it coming from the United States, but at least £4 billion from the United Kingdom.

The coalition forces, comprising forces from mainly US and UK, have been accused to have committed several war crimes, apart from bringing death to thusands of civillians.

1) The torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib by coalition forces.

2) The use of white phosphorus.

3) The murder of 24 civilians in Haditha, including women and children.

4) The murder of 11 civilians in Ishaqi, including five children

5) The kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi man named Hashim Ibrahim Awad

6) The gang-rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl and the murder of her family, in Mahmudiyah.

7) The bombing and shooting of 42 civilians in Mukaradeeb.

The Iraqi insurgents have also been accused of severe war crimes.

Most severe of them are:

1) Killing over 12,000 Iraqis from January 2005 - June 2006

2) Attacks on diplomats and diplomatic facilities including; the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003 killing the top U.N. representative in Iraq and 21 other UN staff members

3) The February 2006 bombing of the al-Askari Mosque, destroying one of the holiest Shiite shrines, killing over 165 worshipers and igniting sectarian strife and reprisal killings.

4) The publicised murders of several non-military personnel. Most of these civilians were subjected to brutal torture and/or beheading.

5) Torture or murder of members of the New Iraqi Army, and assassination of civilians associated with the Coalition Provisional Authority.

DO WE PAY TAXES TO DESTROY A NATION? TO KILL CHILDHOOD AND INNOCENCE?

Joke of the Day: Bushism

Technology: iPhone

The iPhone is a multimedia and Internet-enabled mobile phone announced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs during the keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo on 9 January 2007.
The iPhone's functions include those of a camera phone, a multimedia player, mobile phone, and Internet services like e-mail, text messaging, web browsing and wireless connectivity. iPhone input is accomplished via touchscreen with virtual keyboard and buttons. The iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone, though Jobs mentioned in his keynote that Apple has a "plan to make 3G phones" in the future. Apple has filed more than 200 patents related to the technology behind the iPhone.

The iPhone is scheduled to be released in the United States in June 2007. It will be available from the Apple Store and from AT&T Mobility LLC, formerly Cingular Wireless, with a price of US$499 for the 4 GB model and US$599 for the 8 GB model, based on a two-year service contract. Apple has also announced plans to make the iPhone available in Europe and Japan at a later date.

FEATURES1> Touch screen: The 3.5 inch (8.9 cm) liquid crystal display (320×480 px at 160 ppi) touch screen is specifically created for use with a finger, or multiple fingers for multi-touch sensing. No stylus is needed, nor can one be used, as the touch screen requires bare skin to operate.
For text input, the device implements a virtual keyboard on the touchscreen. It has automatic spell checking, predictive word capabilities, and a dynamic dictionary that learns new words.

2> Other inputs: The display responds to three sensors: a proximity sensor that shuts off the display and touchscreen when the iPhone is brought near your face to save battery power and to prevent spurious inputs from the user's face and ears, an ambient light sensor that adjusts the display brightness which in turn saves battery power, and an accelerometer, which senses the orientation of the phone and changes the screen accordingly, albeit in only one 90 degree direction.

3> Phone: The iPhone allows conferencing, call holding, call merging, caller ID, and integration with other cellular network features and iPhone functions. For example, a playing song fades out when the user receives a call. Once the call is ended the music fades back in.

4> Camera: The iPhone features a 2 megapixel camera with video and software that allows the user to upload, view, and e-mail photos. The user zooms in and out of photos by "unpinching" and "pinching" them through the Multi-touch interface. The software will interact with iPhoto on the Mac.

5> iPod: The layout of the music library differs from previous iPods, with the sections divided more clearly alphabetically, and with a larger font. The Cover Flow, like that on iTunes, shows the different album covers in a scroll-through photo library. Scrolling is achieved by swiping a finger across the screen.Like the fifth generation iPods introduced in 2005, the iPhone can play video, allowing users to watch TV shows and films.

6> Internet: The iPhone has built-in WiFi, with which it will be able to access the Internet (through a wireless network) via the Safari browser. The iPhone will also be able to connect to the Internet through AT&T's EDGE network but will not be able to utilize AT&Ts 3G/HSDPA network at launch.[22] The web browser displays full web pages as opposed to simplified pages as on most other phones. Web pages may be viewed in portrait or landscape mode and support automatic zooming by "pinching" or double-tapping images or text. The iPhone also has Bluetooth 2.x+EDR built in. It works with wireless earpieces that use Bluetooth 2.0 technology and allows file transfer.

7> E-mail: The iPhone also features an HTML e-mail program, which enables the user to embed photos in an e-mail message. Yahoo! will be providing a free Push-IMAP e-mail service similar to that on a BlackBerry; IMAP and POP3 mail standards are also supported, including Microsoft Exchange.

8> OS X: Apple has confirmed an optimized, full version of the Mac OS X operating system (without unnecessary components) will run on the iPhone, although differences between the operating system (OS X) running on Macs and the iPhone have not been officially explained.

Sport: Snowboarding

Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a snow-covered slope on a snowboard that is attached to one's feet using a boot/binding interface. It is similar to skiing, but inspired by surfing and skateboarding. The sport was developed in the United States in the 1960s and the 1970s and became a Winter Olympic Sport in 1998. Some of it's pioneers include: Craig Kelly, Tom Sims, Ben Kenison, Alex Burton, and Terry Kidwell. It is constantly increasing in popularity.

Although many snowboarders do not wear any protective gear, helmets and some other devices are gaining in popularity. Wearing protective gear is highly recommended due to the dangerous nature of alpine sports (especially freestyle snowboarding). The body parts most affected by injuries are the wrist, tailbone,the head, and the ankles. (also knee ligaments amongst professional riders). Useful safety gear includes wrist guards, padded or protected snowboard pants and a helmet. Snowboarding boots must be worn. It is best that you wear boots that fit you, which means your toes do not touch the end of the boots and they are not too tight but not too loose. Goggles are used by most people, and are very crucial at high altitudes on bright days to prevent snow blindness. Goggles also protect riders from temporary vision loss due to snow getting in eyes that can result in impact into terrain or obstacles. Padding can be useful on other body parts like the hips, knees, spine, and shoulders.

Snowboarding has been the focus of numerous Hollywood feature films, quite notably the 2001 movie Out Cold, which included appearances by several renowned professional snowboarders as stunt performers, actual characters, or both. An early Hollywood nod to snowboarding was in James Bond film "A View to a Kill"— the opening sequence features Roger Moore as Bond eluding attackers with an improvised snowboard.

Gaming: Starcraft 2

Haven't seen the latest trailer of Starcraft 2? Pity on you!!!! Well, better late than never, here it is for you!




StarCraft II is a sequel to the popular real-time strategy game StarCraft, announced on May 19, 2007, at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, South Korea. StarCraft II is being developed for concurrent release on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X. It has been stated that development on the game began in 2003, shortly after Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was released. While there is currently no release date, the game development is in the pre-alpha stages and is "very far along and already playable in multiplayer with all three races".

StarCraft II will take place four years after StarCraft: Brood War,[11] and will feature the return of notable heroes from the original game, such as Zeratul, Sarah Kerrigan and Jim Raynor. Players will revisit worlds from the original game, such as Char and Braxis, along with new worlds, such as the jungle planet Bel'Shir. The Xel'Naga and Terran Dominion factions will also feature in the game.

Environment: Fighting CO2 with plankton

ONE of the Earth's major natural barriers to global warming could be strengthened by the first commercial venture to grow vast plankton blooms.US eco-restoration firm Planktos intends to drop tonnes of powdered iron into the Pacific in a two-year project which aims to induce the growth of plankton.
Some scientists believe the iron seeding technique will help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere after research published on Friday showed that atmospheric carbon dioxide is no longer being absorbed by the Southern Ocean at the rate it used to be.
“The ocean's rising acidity and surface water temperatures and most of all the dwindling wind-borne supply of vital iron micronutrients have literally decimated the marine plankton plants which generate half the planet's oxygen, remove half its CO2 and feed every higher form of ocean life,” said Planktos CEO Russ George.
“However, public concern with the climate change issue may finally highlight and help reverse this crisis as more people recognise that simply restoring these plankton back to known 1980 levels can remove 3-4 billion tonnes of atmospheric CO2 or approximately half of our global warming surplus today.
“We are trying to demonstrate that this restoration is not only achievable and affordable with targeted iron dust replenishment, it is absolutely necessary to rehabilitate the ocean's health.”
Each decade since 1981, the ocean has soaked up between 5 per cent and 30 per cent less of the greenhouse gas than experts had predicted and has unloaded more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the international team led by Dr Corinne Le Quere, from the University of East Anglia and British Antarctic Survey, said.

Icebergs like these will be a part of history soon with the present rate of global warming!!

Like the rainforests, the Southern Ocean is one of the most important carbon “sinks” that together remove half of all man-made emissions of carbon dioxide. It acts like a huge sponge, trapping carbon from the atmosphere.
“We (Planktos) are now launching a two-year series of commercial-scale pilot projects that will seed and track six large forest-sized plankton blooms in various ocean regions,” George said.
“Based on the science derived from 10 earlier international research trials, each of these blooms should regenerate tens of millions of tons of plankton life and deep ocean sequester 3-5 million tons of CO2. Most importantly this work can dramatise that humanity can make a hugely significant climate difference with a safe, simple and very green natural technology.”
Planktos plans to pour 100 tonnes of iron into the Pacific in a bid to reverse this trend, despite concerns in the scientific community.
The powdered iron provides a crucial nutrient for plankton growth that is missing or in short supply in up to 70 per cent of the world's oceans.
Phytoplankton, the plant form of plankton, struggle to grow if there is little iron - but the extra supplies could mean that as the phytoplankton grow they will photosynthesise and absorb carbon that, when they die and sink, will be trapped on the seabed, where it will be out of the system.
The project will take place in international waters 500km west of the Galapagos Islands and Planktos hopes to create a bloom of 50-60 million tonnes of which, it estimates, up to 20 per cent will sink and take 3-5 million tonnes of carbon with it.
If it is a success, it could open up iron seeding to the carbon offsetting industry, giving companies an alternative to planting trees to compensate for carbon emissions blamed for global warming.

Joke of the day: Bushism

"A lot of students around the country protested the Iraq war today. The National Youth and Student Peace Coalition sponsored an anti-war organization called 'Books Not Bombs.' President Bush's response: 'Why do you want to drop books on them?'"

Book Review: GTD by David Allen

For more than 20 years, David Allen has been a management consultant and executive coach. Allen’s first book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, published in 2001, became a National Bestseller. Allen has been called a personal productivity guru whose work has been featured in Fast Company, Fortune, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.
Getting Things Done is divided into three parts. Part 1 provides an outline for getting control of your life through the five stages of mastering workflow: collection, processing, organizing, reviewing and doing. Part 2, which is well over half the book, repeats a lot of what is said in Part 1, but provides much more detail on the application of Allen’s methodology. Part 3 explains why Allen’s methods work and the benefits to be gained from using his approach.
The entire process, including inputs, processing/thinking, and outputs (actions and action lists), is conveniently summarized in a flowchart provided in the book. Allen’s philosophy is that to be one’s most productive self, one must be able to think clearly. In order to think clearly, one must have completely downloaded from one’s short-term memory or RAM (like computer RAM) all the "open loops" -- unfulfilled commitments one has made to oneself. This frees the mind to do naturally what it does best -- think about things rather than of things. Allen gives pointers for using one’s critical thinking skills, including three methods for making decisions about what actions to take, in Chapter 9.

David Allen: The author of GTD

Once one has everything off his mind and written down, in paper or electronically, one has to decide, "What’s the next action?" This is THE critical question. Once this is decided, the action must be completed or tracked in a trusted system, such as a Personal Digital Assistant or PDA.
Allen also has a two-minute rule, which states that as one goes through their in-box and determines next actions, any next action that can be completed in two minutes or less should be completed immediately. In this way, a lot of items are touched only once and are forever cleared from "psychic RAM."
Allen outlines a process for getting RAM cleared in the first place and then for keeping it clear on a daily basis, as new things come into one’s "in" box. The "What’s the next action?" question must be asked on the front-end, when the item from the "in" box is first reviewed.
Applying Allen’s system is put forth as a way for today’s knowledge worker to have a competitive edge in the new millennium. His system is as applicable to one’s home environment and projects as it is to one’s work. He also claims it can help procrastinators.
Getting Things Done is part tools and techniques, part psychology. Allen says that mastering your time enables you to live in the present moment. This may be the true gift of this book.

Technology: solar bikini

Powering up the one-piece, solar bikinis are sure to hit the market. The company Triumph wants to place the bikinis on shelves soon, having already showcased them in Valencia. There have been prototypes before but this Triumph's Solar Swimsuit seems to be the first that is going to be commercially available. Created by lingerie and swimwear manufacturer Triumph and photovoltaic cell manufacturer Conergy, it will provide enough power to feed a cellphone or an iPod.

Spanish swimming champion Gemma Mengual sporting the solar bikini.

While the solar panels may be used to attract attention to glittery bikini babes, they're meant to charge up iPods and phones at the beach. For the ladies, this is a sure way to get noticed, as you'll be more popular than an airport plug on a delayed flight. Unless, of course, you're in Boston, in which case the shiny lights and electric cord coming out of your butt may pose a threat!

Smiley

Two blondes were driving along a road by a wheat field when they saw a blonde in the middle of the field rowing a row boat.
The driver blonde turned to her friend and said "You know - it's blondes like that that give us a bad name!"
To this, the other blonde replies "I know it, and if I knew how to swim, I'd go out there and drown her."

Top News: Ron Paul

Politics: Latest on Ron Paul

If unscientific online polls were a determining factor, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas would easily be a top tier candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. But they aren't -- and he isn't.
Despite coming in first place in a post-debate poll on MSNBC and in other online surveys, Paul hovers around two percent or less in surveys conducted by Gallup, Harris, Zogby and other leading polling firms.
At the same time, however, he has a large network of "meet up" groups across the country, heavy traffic on his campaign website and new-found media attention since comments during a Fox News Channel GOP debate this week that appeared to blame U.S. foreign policy for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The statement, which drew a strong response from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, might have torpedoed the chances of a top-tier candidate, but Paul still came in a close second in an online poll immediately after the debate.
This indicates a large body of supporters, Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton said Thursday.
"Ron Paul has more passionate supporters who are more likely to send in text messages and emails into the polls," Benton told Cybercast News Service. "That may skew it, but we're not going to apologize that our supporters are more passionate than Rudy Giuliani's supporters."
Benton said the Paul campaign has not engaged in an organized effort to encourage people to vote in online polls. He also scoffed at accusations from bloggers that Paul supporter were spamming Web sites. "This is not a handful of people. This is a grassfire movement," he said.

Paul, 71, is a 10-term Republican House member and was the 1988 Libertarian Party presidential nominee. He stands apart from the rest of the GOP field, having opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. He also has called for the immediate abolition of the Internal Revenue Services and other federal programs, declaring himself the "true conservative" in the race because he wants to return the GOP to its non-interventionist roots.
Paul's campaign claims more YouTube subscribers than the campaigns of any other presidential candidates. (A YouTube subscriber is someone who gets automatic email alerts on a topic of their choice when a new video on that topic is posted on the popular video-sharing site.) Also, more Ron Paul videos are posted on YouTube than all but two of the GOP candidates, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
In another indication of massive online interest, "Ron Paul" is also the top search on Technorati, a blog search engine that says it indexes more than 75 million blogs. On Friday, Ron Paul was at the number one position on Technorati, ahead of the likes of Paris Hilton and American Idol.

Ronald Ernest “Ron” Paul (born 20 August 1935) is a 10th-term Congressman, Physician (M.D.), and a 2008 presidential candidate from the U.S. state of Texas, seeking the nomination of the Republican party.
As a Republican, he has represented Texas's 14th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997, and had previously served as the representative from Texas's 22nd district in 1976 and from 1979 to 1985.
Paul advocates the limited role of government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency. He has earned the nickname "Dr. No" for voting against any bill he believes violates the Constitution. Former Treasury Secretary William Simon is quoted as saying that Paul is the "one exception to the Gang of 535" on Capitol Hill. He has never voted to raise taxes or congressional pay. He has consistently voted against the USA PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and the Iraq War.

Paul has $524,919 on hand, according to his most recent campaign filing, far less than the millions raised by the top-tier candidates, McCain, Romney and Giuliani. At the same time, when compared to the six other second-tier GOP hopefuls, the Texan raised the most money during the first quarter in 14 states, including Florida and Texas, and the second-highest amount in Montana and New Hampshire.
Paul's campaign website has significantly higher traffic than those of the other second-tier candidates, and rivals the hits on the McCain, Giuliani, Romney sites, according to Alexa.com, a site that monitors web traffic.
Paul has come under heavy scrutiny since Tuesday night's debate, when he answered a question about whether his non-interventionist foreign policy view should change after 9/11.
"The reason they attacked us is because we were over there," Paul responded. "We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years."

Nature undercover

Now you see me... now you don't! That's camouflage. To be invisible, inspite of being right in front of your enemy's eyes! The technology military use worldwide to get an edge over their foes. But that is an age old concept, when it comes to raw nature. Just have a look how these creatures have mastered the art of camouflage!

What do you think about the image on the left? a leaf? no my friend, this is an insect- mimicking to be a leaf!

This toad, hardly deceptible, has developed a skin color over generations to blend into the environ it lives.

Lizards like these change their body color to mimic their environment.

Octopuses not only change their color, but also their skin texture to mimic a rough rock or a smooth sand bed!!