Very funny…
[Via: Gaping Void]
Month: November 2006
Al Jazeera English Goes Live
Al Jazeera English, the new 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel from the Qatar-based television network, has begun broadcasting from its main studios in Doha in high-definition format.
Al Jazeera English also has broadcast centres Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington.
In addition to the four broadcast centres, Al Jazeera English will have 20 supporting bureaux which will gather and produce news. It will share the resources of the Arabic language channel’s 42 bureaux and is planning to add further bureaux in the future.
The opening broadcast, which was expected to be available in 80 million households around the world, took place at 3pm Doha time (12:00 GMT) and featured a clip introducing the channel.
The channel has attracted some of the best known faces in international news from BBC, CNN, ABC and others.
In addition to cable and satellite, it will be available on broadband, IPTV, ADSL, terrestrial and mobile phone platforms.
Along with the launch of the new international channel, Al Jazeera’s English website got a much needed overhaul. The current design is much better and puts more focus on the content.
I caught the news on Al Jazeera English today on my lunch break, and first impression speaking, it’s looking pretty good up to now.
For more info on Al Jazeera English, it’s programme, presenters …etc; check the Press Office.
[Site: Al Jazeera English]
7 Pains You Should Never Ignore
Just came across this article titled “7 Pains You Should Never Ignore” and thought I’d share it. Apparently if there are any 7 pains that you should never ignore, it’s these.
Here’s the list of pains and the possible conditions associated to them:
1. Sudden Groin Pain: Testicular torsion
2. Severe Back Pain: Aneurysm
3. Persistent Foot or Shin Pain: Stress fracture
4. Sharp Pain in the Abdomen: Appendicitis, pancreatitis, or an inflamed gallbladder (Cholecystitis)
5. Transient Chest Pain: Indigestion or heart attack
6. Leg Pain with Swelling: Deep-vein thrombosis
7. Painful Urination: Bladder cancer
Of course most of the conditions listed ase are worst case scenarios, but still it shows how we should never take things lightly and brush off certain pains as nothing.
For more details, check the full article: “7 Pains You Should Never Ignore“.
Java Open Sourced with GPL
After years of requests and debates, Sun Microsystems is going ahead and releasing Java source code under a GPL license.
It plans to put the code for the programming software under the version 2 of the General Public License (GPLv2), which governs Linux and many other open-source products.
The Sun-hosted Java.net Web site will provide access to Java Platform Micro Edition (Java ME) software for mobile phones and Java Platform Standard Edition (Java SE) software for desktop applications.
Sun already has open-sourced its server-side Java Platform Enterprise Edition software in a project called GlassFish. But it is now making that same software available under the GPLv2, rather than the Sun-conceived Community Development and Distribution License (CDDL).
The nature of the GPL is that additions to software available under the GPL must also use the license. However, Sun is employing the so-called “classpath exception,” a license addition that allows the company to place limits on the software that the GPL covers.
This should help protect the work of programmers and companies that build their applications on top of Java.
This move by Sun is an attempt to build a stronger community, gain more developer followers and to avoid the problems of packaging Java with Linux distributions because of concerns over license alignment.
I’ve personally been one of the supporters of Java becoming open source for a long time, and I think the best way to keep it growing and always innovative is by opening it to the huge community of Java developers. So I think it’s great that they’ve done this at last.
[Source: CNet News]
Some Small Design Changes
As you should’ve already noticed, Subzero Blue has undergone some small design changes, the most important of which is the switch to a 1024×768 screen resolution.
I’ve been working on these design changes for a couple of months now, mainly getting used to them myself, trying to work out the best way to use space and organize the different elements of the blog.
There’s still some work to do here and there, but well I thought I’d just go ahead and put up these changes anyway, and then continue tweaking.
Other than the small changes in the design that I will let you discover for yourselves, I have also made the summaries feed a full post feed too. I think a person subscribing to a blog’s feed should be respected just as much as a person who visits the blog itself, if not more.
You’ll also notice some ads scattered here and there, not all of these will stay, some are just for tests, others are temporary placeholders.
I showed the design to a few people over the past month or so to get their feedback, and the reviews were mixed (some loved it, some didn’t like it), so in the end I went with my own instinct about it and put it online.
What do you think?
8 Habits For Developing More Secure Code
Michael Howard, senior Security Program Manager at Microsoft, writes a list of habits any developer must have in order to get a final, secure and efficent product. The list goes as follows:
Habit #1: Take Responsibility
Habit #2: Never Trust Data
Habit #3: Model Threats against Your Code
Habit #4: Stay One Step Ahead
Habit #5: Fuzz!
Habit #6: Don’t Write Insecure Code
Habit #7: Recognize the Strategic Asymmetry
Habit #8: Use the Best Tools You Can
Details for every habit can be found here: 8 Simple Rules For Developing More Secure Code.
I couldn’t agree more…
US Midterm Election Highlights
The following are the highlights of the US midterm elections:
– Democrats win House of Representatives.
– Democrats are more likely to win the Senate too.
– Nancy Pelosi is to become the first woman speaker of the house, she’ll also be the first Italian-American speaker.
– Keith Ellison, first Muslim elected to house of representatives.
– For the first time, 16 women are present in the senate.
– Majority of US governors are now Democrats.
– Deval Patrick, first Black governor, elected in Massachusetts.
– Donald Rumsfeld steps down.
Personally, I think these are very good results.
Results of political elections in the US generally affect the rest of the world too, so it’s good to see that Bush and his administration won’t be able to freely do as they please from now on.
[Via: Houssein]
New Seven Wonders of the World
The New7Wonders Foundation, a Swiss-based foundation created in 2001 by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber, launched a campaign to revise the list of the world’s seven wonders.
The 21 finalists for the New Seven Wonders of the World, listed alphabetically, are:
1. Acropolis of Athens, Athens, Greece
2. Alhambra, Granada, Spain
3. Angkor Wat, Angkor, Cambodia
4. Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico
5. Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
6. Colosseum, Rome, Italy
7. Easter Island statues, Chile
8. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
9. Great Wall, China
10. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey
11. Kyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan
12. Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow, Russia
13. Machu Picchu, Peru
14. Neuschwanstein Castle, Fussen, Germany
15. Petra, Jordan
16. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
17. Statue of Liberty, New York, United States
18. Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom
19. Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
20. Taj Mahal, Agra, India
21. Timbuktu, Mali
People can vote online or by phone to choose among this list.
The final list of the new seven wonders is planned to be announced on July 7, 2007, in Lisbon taking advantage of the alignment of the date (07.07.07).
Personally, I don’t know why we have to be limited to seven?
I think all of them deserve to hold the title of “One of the wonders of the world”.
[Site: New Seven Wonders of the World]
How Readable Is Your Blog?
I came across an interesting readibility test on Roba’s blog yesterday that helps you determine how readable your content is.
So, I checked for my blog and here are the results:
Gunning Fog Index: 9.75
Flesch Reading Ease: 64.33
Flesch-Kincaid Grade: 6.79
So my Gunning-Fog Index of 9.75 puts me with the most popular novels when it comes to readability; The Flesch Reading Ease of 64.33 puts me within the recommended fork for writers; And the Flesch-Kincaid Grade of 6.79 means that a person with a minimum 6.79 years of schooling can easily read my blog.
So, I guess I write a lot better than I thought I did. Maybe I should start seriously working on a book.
You too can take the readability test for your blog or website here.
Cappuccino Or Chocolate?
The following events took place between the hours of 7:00 and 7:05 PM the other day, at a small grocery shop nearby, between me and the guy at the shop:
[…]
Me: Do you have those cappuccino thingies, you know those small instant cappuccino packs?
Guy: Yeah (and he goes to the back of the shop to get some)
Guy: How much do you need?
Me: Four
(he hands me four packs of powdered chocolate)
Me: Isn’t this chocolate?
Guy: No, it’s cappuccino
Me: Well, no it’s chocolate.
Guy: No, it’s cappuccino
Me: Dude, look it says “Chocolate”!!
Guy: No, it’s cappuccino
Me: Man, it’s “Chocoline”, they only make chocolate!! (I’m extra sure of this because I know the company that makes this brand and I’ve even been to their factory a number of times on work, and they’re all about chocolate)
Guy: No, it’s cappuccino
(I look around a bit and spot a pack of cappuccino lying around)
Me: Now that’s cappuccino, but this is chocolate
Guy: ….
Me: Ok, do you have any more of this “real” cappuccino?
Guy: No, that’s the last one
(I look around and find a full box)
Me: There’s a whole box!! Just give me another one and let me get out of here!
Guy: ….
Aaarrrgghhhh…
I don’t know why I even bothered…