Marriage Made In Heaven

A couple were driving to a church to get married. On the way, they got into a car accident and died. When they arrive in heaven, they see St. Peter at the gate. They ask him if he could arrange it so they could marry in heaven.

St. Peter tells them that he'll do his best to work on it for them.

Three months pass by and the couple hear nothing. They bump into St. Peter and ask him about the marriage.

He says, "I'm still working on it."

Two years pass by and no marriage.

St. Peter again assures them that he's working on it.

Finally after twenty long years, St. Peter comes running with a priest and tells the couple it's time for their wedding.

The couple marry and live happily for a while. But after a few months the couple go and find St. Peter and tell him things are not working out, and that they want to get a divorce.

"Can you arrange it for us?" they ask.

St. Peter replies, "Are you kidding?!! It took me twenty years to find a priest up here. How am I gonna find you a lawyer?"

Battery Brain - Never Need a Jump Start Again

With more and more electronics being packed into vehicles these days there’s a greater risk of accidentally leaving something on and draining your battery. Then when you really need the power for something useful like starting the car, you’re out of luck and are basically at the mercy of strangers.

The Brain Battery is a simple looking device that is connected to the positive terminal of your vehicle’s battery. It continually measures the voltage in the battery and if it drops below the level necessary to start the vehicle for a prolonged period the Brain Battery will disconnect the battery from the vehicle’s electrical system. The battery will then typically recover or at least will retain enough charge to properly start the engine.

The Type I Brain Battery has a reset button on the unit itself that needs to be pressed if an electrical cut-off has been triggered and retails for $39.95 for a 12V version and $49.95 for a 24V version on the Brain Battery website. Type II and above models include a wireless remote for resetting the unit and retail from $49.95 up to $69.95 for an RV-compatible model.

CityScapes Coat Hangers

Since it looks like we’re going to be talking about things that you can only afford if that tree in your backyard sprouts dollar bills, how about these expensive Cityscape Hangers? They are made of hard wearing multi-laminated Birch ply, laser cut, hand-finished and varnished. There are five different cities, including New York and Paris. They come in sets of 5, and these go for £250, which comes out to $460 (after conversion) or about $92 each. Of course, they can be ordered individually or in quantity, though we’re not sure of the price point in these cases.

JSC unveils 'world's most expensive' mobile

The world's most expensive mobile phone - costing a cool $1.3m - has been made in Russia.

The Diamond Crypto Smartphone, designed by luxury accessories maker Peter Aloisson, has sections of rose gold as well as 50 diamonds embedded into the cover, including 10 blue diamonds.

Aloisson, 46, currently designs about four phones per year for celebrities and wealthy businessman. Most of his luxurious phones retail for at least $40,000.

The new phone, which was developed by Moscow-based JSC Ancort Company, uses powerful encryption technology to provide added security.

This level of encryption will provide secure protection of information against kidnapping, technological blackmail, financial racketeers and corrupted state officials, according to JSC Ancort.

"The philosophic idea of the project is to attract the attention of the world community to the problem of the preservation of a person's individuality and works in the contemporary man-caused world," said JSC Ancort in a statement on their website.

"Modern technology can easily change (falsify) the voices and the speech of people speaking over the phone, and it costs very cheap.

"Naturally, boundless possibilities to manipulate a person’s consciousness appear, when a person is unable to define whom he is talking to on a phone; falsified conversations aimed to compromise people are created.

"The consequences may be catastrophic for mankind. The intrusion into the private life of people with the aim to compromise them may become global. First of all it may affect the prominent people of the planet who are the intellectual potential of the civilization.

"For example, a falsified phone conversation of the head of a state may cause tremendous internal and external conflicts."

JSC Ancort said the phone offers SMS, MMS, E-mail, Internet, WAP, JAVA support and a media player.

Built on the Windows CE operating system, the phone also features a high-resolution colour TFT display and enough storage capacity for about 4,000 numbers.

The Diamond Crypto Smartphone, which has 29 preset melodies and tones, took over eight months to develop.

Mittelwerk Hanso Commercial 7/12/06 - The Lost Experience Game

Yahoo! and Microsoft finally connect their IM networks together

File this under 'It's about bloody time...'

Way back in October 2005, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced they were going to connect their IM networks together. It's been a while since then, with little communication, but you can now join the public beta program(s) that allow you to add people from either network to either client.

You need the latest version of the client - Windows Live Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger v8 Beta and you'll also need to sign-up for the betas, depending on which client you want to use:

Yahoo! Client beta
Windows Live Client beta

Then, all you need to do is add your buddies to the client you prefer (mine is Yahoo! Messenger) and it'll go through the process of connecting you up. Once connected, you'll be able to see Presence, Status Messages, Nudge and Buzz, send emoticons and even Offline Messages - not too shabby for the initial release. As you can see from the picture, both clients indicate what network you Buddy is using.

Kudos to the Windows Live Messenger team for having a blog that posts more details about the integration (Yahoo! - where's your's??)

Restoration - Free for PC

Restore files which are deleted from the recycle bin by mistake. Conversely, delete files completely.


[OS] Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows Me Windows NT Windows 2000 Windows XP Freeware

Restoration

Kool IM: Yet another web-based IM service

For those that have way too many IM accounts (I'm up to 10 as of last week), a multi-protocol IM client is essential, but what about when you're stuck at an airport kiosk or internet cafe? Meebo is a great option, but as of today there's a new game in town: Kool IM just launched with a cute little ice cube logo and support for AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, ICQ, and Jabber. Like Meebo, Kool IM is Ajax-powered and rolls all of your IM accounts into one contact list. Unlike Meebo, it opens your IMs in a pop-up window (rather than embedding everything in a single browser window or tab), and doesn't feel quite as polished. You can use Kool IM without an account, but registering lets you save and manage your accounts for quicker sign-on.

Phone Tag

a young man struggles with accepting heart break.
a short film directed by ruben fleischer staring nick thune and olivia munn. www.ruben.fm / www.nickthune.com

China launches website to teach Chinese

SHANGHAI - China launched a website, www.linese.com offering free Chinese lessons and materials to promote the study and use of the language abroad.

The site includes audio-visual presentations, interactive exercises and advice for teachers of Mandarin Chinese, with photographs and descriptions of cultural icons such as the Great Wall, kung fu actor Jackie Chan and basketball star Yao Ming.

Many of the exercises touch on China's mythical and imperial past, including practice sentences such as "how can you be a hero if you are unarmed" and "I find that Tibetans like worshipping heroes".

China is keen to expand its cultural influence along with its growing economic power, and is also setting up a network of "Confucius Institutes" around the world to promote its culture.

The website is only in Chinese and English, but versions in Japanese and Korean are being developed, the official Xinhua news agency said.

More than 30 million people are now learning Chinese as a foreign language and more than 2,500 universities in 100 countries offer Chinese courses, the Ministry of Education says.

downloadsquad.com: Make Windows shut down faster

Posted Jul 5th 2006 6:40PM
by Jordan Running

I haven't tried it out to see if it works yet, but it looks promising: User Profile Hive Cleanup Service is a free utility from Microsoft that's supposed to speed up Windows XP shutdown times considerably. The article at IntelliAdmin says the biggest culprit for slow shutdowns "is a problem unloading the current user's profile," and what the User Profile Hive Cleanup Service does is in the background and cleans up user profiles automatically. I'm not convinced that it will reduce my ~1.5 minute shutdowns to a few seconds, but every little bit helps. Oh, and FYI, after you've installed the app you'll have to reboot once before it will kick in.

Engadget: Nintendo calms crowd: will announce Wii deets in Sept.

We're not sure this'll manage to get all the rumor mongers to pack up their bags and go home for a couple of months, but Nintendo responded to the rampant speculation on Wii price and launch date by stating today that they'll announce both of those little details in September. This makes a September launch increasingly unlikely, but doesn't say much more than that. After the announcement a McNealy analyst stated: "Our position remains that the Wii could retail as low as $199 instead of $249, and October is a reasonable timeframe." So, really, we're still stuck with a fairly large launch window within which we're sure to hear a few more "sure thing" dates rumored, but really, would we have it any other way?

Engadget: Nintendo gifts birthday boy Bush with DS Lite, Brain Age

Just like you're not supposed to tug on Superman's cape, it's probably not the best idea to send the most powerful man in the world a gag gift on his birthday, so we've got to give props to our good friends at Nintendo for risking an ugly international incident to break President Bush off with a DS Lite in honor of his sixtieth -- and bundling in a copy of Brain Age to presumably help ward off his impending dementia. According to our sources inside the White House, after muttering under his breath about how "this doesn't work like my iPod," Mr. Bush decided to move onto more important matters like national security and regift the console to his Scottish Terrier Barney -- who was able to have a game of Nintendogs up and running within minutes.

CBS NEWS: Sales Tax Battle Shuts Down New Jersey

A security guard keeps watch at Caesars Casino in Atlantic City, July 5, 2006. (Getty Images/Jeff Fusco)

Governor Wants To Raise It, Legislature Doesn't; 80,000+ Out Of Work
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., July 6, 2006



(CBS/AP) As politicians in the state capital haggled over how to fill a $4.5 billion budget deficit, New Jersey's fiscal crisis was being felt across the state — casinos were closed, state offices were shuttered and many state employees stayed home.

Although Atlantic City's hotels remain open, as much as 50 percent of the room reservations have been cancelled, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi.

About 45,000 state workers and 36,000 casino workers are out of work. Unions representing both groups planned rallies in Trenton on Thursday to demand action to end the stalemate.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat, scheduled his third address in as many days to try to quell dissent from lawmakers in his own party who oppose his plan to raise the state sales tax.

Corzine wants to increase the sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent to help overcome a $4.5 billion budget deficit and ensure reliable revenue to avert future budget woes.

But several Senate Democrats and most Assembly Democrats, led by Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr., oppose the sales tax increase, saying it's regressive and unnecessary.

Assembly Democrats on Wednesday laid out a $30.7 billion budget plan relying on a tax on other services, extending casino taxes and creating a new corporate income tax. The Assembly Budget Committee was scheduled to take it up Thursday after Corzine's speech.

The state's problem began when lawmakers missed a July 1 deadline to pass a budget. Without it, New Jersey can't pay state employees, meaning casinos can't legally operate without state inspectors.

Corzine furloughed more than half the state's employees. Only about 36,000 people in vital roles such as child welfare, state police and mental hospitals remained on the job, and they were working without pay.

But the state casino inspectors are among those furloughed. No inspectors, no gambling. Atlantic City's 12 casinos stand to lose more than $16 million a day, and the state $1.3 million a day in taxes from them.

Dealers were sent home in mid-shift, gamblers cashed in their chips before being ushered to the exits, and janitors locked the doors behind them.

While gambling ceased, the buildings — which also have restaurants, showrooms, stores and meeting space — stayed open. But many gamblers headed for the exits rather than stay around.

"What do you do in Atlantic City if you don't gamble?" shrugged one gambler. There's nothing to do in "Atlantic City!"

Mayor Robert W. Levy may have the toughest job in the world: convincing visitors to take another view of Atlantic City.

"Come on down and enjoy the great weather" on the boardwalk and the beaches, Levy said.

"It smells like death. It's a horrible stench. It's a foul odor," disappointed gamblers told Alfonsi.

At Trump Taj Mahal, 150 people had canceled room reservations by mid-afternoon. Spokesman Tom Hickey said about 2,500 people would be out of work at the three Trump casinos.

"Nobody thought a thing like this would happen," said casino mogul Donald Trump.

"Las Vegas is laughing ... I think it's a sad day for Atlantic City," Trump told the New York Post.

Connecticut's Indian reservation casinos were laughing, too, and reaping the benefits. They're about the same distance from New York City.

Based on the number of telephone inquiries alone, Bob DeSalvo of Foxwoods told WCBS-AM's Fran Schneidau he expects a boost in business of about 10 percent.

"I would expect that we could pick up an additional three, four, five thousand visits per day," DeSalvo said. "On a busy summer day we typically do about 40- to 45,000."

New Jersey's horse racing tracks did not open for business Wednesday, and state parks and beaches also were closed because of lack of staff. But overcast skies and rain kept most visitors at home anyway.

In Jersey City, Felix Morales showed up at the gate of Liberty State Park with his family to go fishing, but was turned away. "Why should the citizens pay for something that the government should have fixed before it got to this point?" he asked.

The effects of the budget stalemate have frustrated the state's plan to stockpile influenza medicine in case of a flu pandemic. Officials reserved 907,000 courses of antiviral drug Tamiflu from a federal stockpile, but can't order or pay for the drugs without a budget, said Dr. Fred Jacobs, the state health commissioner.

Engadget: Nintendo Wii due for early launch?

Our money -- since we so regularly put down heavy cash on the intricacies of console launches -- is still on that November 6th date that's been going around, but we're always willing to entertain a bit more tasteful rumoring. This one's from CNNMoney.com's Chris Morris, who cites P.J. McNealy and other unnamed "industry insiders" that the Nintendo Wii is due for October, with a slight chance of late September if the cards are right. This would contrast it to the November 17 PS3 launch, and Microsoft's November 22 last year, and give Nintendo a bit of a head start in the holiday rush. Apparently Nintendo is in pretty good shape to do so, since they've already started manufacturing the Wii, and they so far have only launched one home system in November, the GameCube. It'll probably come down to manufacturing successes and title readiness, and Nintendo might want to give 3rd party titles a bit more time in the oven with the new control schemes that need to be perfected, but a least the anonymous and unverifiable signs are looking good for an early launch, and we're not complaining.

Engadget: Sony under fire for "racist" advertising

Sony, seriously, this is getting out of hand. Every time we want to rethink what you're doing and try to back you guys up, you go and pull some stunt like this latest ad campaign in Holland, which, as one can see above, depicts a "white PSP" avatar/model violently holding the mouth of a "black PSP" avatar/model -- in commemoration of the launch of the ceramic white PSP, of course. The billboard pictured here is one of supposedly somewhere near 100 evocative images created for the campaign with the same theme, which found viewers of the ads -- and game lovers alike -- crying foul at Sony's latest foible cum PR fiasco (and believe us, we're sure to catch some fire for calling it just that). When it comes down to it we honestly don't think Sony is stupid enough to mean any ill will -- or smart enough to capitalize on a PR firestorm -- with such an ad campaign. But instead of confronting the issue and addressing peoples' concerns, they meagerly defended themselves to GamesIndustry.biz with the following: "The marketing campaign for the launch of the White PSP in the Benelux focuses on the contrast between the Black PSP model and the new Ceramic white PSP model," and "A variety of different treatments have been created as a campaign to either highlight the whiteness of the new model or contrast the black and the white models. Central to this campaign has been the creation of some stunningly photographed imagery..." Oh, make no mistake Sony, the animosity and drama of the imagery, the visceral emotional implication of powerful racial overtones, and this is a huge blunder. And once again we find ourselves urging -- nay, demanding -- Tokyo reevaluate what the hell it is they're doing these days. Because mistake or not, this biz don't fly, Sony, and you're not helping the perception that you're an incredibly callous megacorp with little real direction.

P.S. -As always, we encourage a discussion. A sensitive, intellectual, worldly discussion. If you can't infer what it is we're asking of our dear readers tempted to intone on this matter, then please skip this thread to comment on, mkay?

PornoTube

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XTube

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YouTube Babes

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Smart Bikini Monitors Sun Exposure

We're seeing more and more products that take the guesswork out of determining your exposure to skin damaging UV rays. The Solestrom SmartSwim UV Meter Bikini has a waterproof digital UV meter built into its waistband that will give you the current UV reading at the touch of a button. It sells for $190, but there's no word if there'll be a similar swim trunk available for men.

500lbs Rubberband Ball VS Toyota

My Son!!

The self-driving Golf that would give Herbie a run for its money

It has proved one of the most endearing of cinematic legends - a loveable car with a mind of its own that can drive itself.

And for 40 years Herbie - or the 'Love Bug' - as the Volkswagen Beetle was dubbed in its first movie outing - has enthralled millions of families in a series of Hollywood sequels.

But now German car giant Volkswagen has turned fiction into reality by unveiling a fully automatic car which really can drive itself - and at speeds of up to 150mph.

It can weave with tyres screeching around tricky bends and chicanes, and through tightly coned off tracks - without any help or intervention from a human.

The remarkable car is the VW Golf GTi '53 plus 1' codenamed after the number '53' which Herbie carried when racing in his big screen adventures.

The GTi has electronic 'eyes' that use radar and laser sensors in the grille to 'read' the road and send the details back to its computer brain. A sat-nav system tracks its exact position with pin-point precision to within an inch.

The car can then work out the twists and turns it has to negotiate - before setting off at break-neck speed through a laid out course on a test track.

On a race circuit, it drove itself faster and more precisely than the VW engineers could manage - and can accelerate independently up to its top speed of 150mph.

To prove it is no trick, guests were invited to design for themselves a variety of different courses - using road cones - and then watch the car fly around them on its own at a test track near their world headquarters in Wolfsburg in northern Germany.

Prototype

The astonishing prototype was developed initially to help Volkswagen engineers test their vehicles.

But in an age when rapidly advancing technology and the Big Brother State is increasingly taking responsibility away from the driver - with the onward march of electronic speed limiters, collision avoidance systems, cruise control, satellite navigation, and pay-as-you-drive road tolling - the self-driving robot car is not such a distant prospect.

And many of the elements which make up its engine will be making their way into showroom cars within just a few years - just as sat-nav, collision avoidance sensors and anti-lock brakes have done in recent years.

A Volkswagen spokesman said: 'It really is a self-driving Golf. It steers, brakes and accelerates. And it races through handling courses independently. It can accomplish this at full performance and at the limits of its capabilities.'

'We called it '53' because it is reminiscent of the cinematic Volkswagen bug Herbie, which made history as the first self-driving Volkswagen. This time we've done it for real.'

'The computer calculates where and at what speed the GTi has clearance between the cones. The GPS satellite enables navigation to within less than an inch.'