Q: I have been invited to a themed party to which all the guests have to bring a ball-shaped food item. People go all out for this party. There are even prizes!
However, beyond the rice ball and the meatball, I am short on ball-shaped foods. Any advice?
Sent by Alison
If you just so happen to be in the market for a second hand space craft, NASA has a deal for you, pal. The Space Shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour are currently for sale with a price tag of $28.2 m each. Just think, you could park one of these bad boys in your trailer park and relieve its glory days. It’s probably best that you take the shuttle to a qualified space ship mechanic before you commit though. The last thing you wanna do is drop that kind of cash on a lemon.
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http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1047985
It’s pretty cool what’s going on with our neighbors to the north! Is anyone going up or know someone who is?
Today, Americans are celebrating a very somber but inspiring national holiday: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
As Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote in a blog post a few days ago, “People all over the United States are urged to honor Dr. King’s legacy by making this holiday a national day of service.” Stone reminded us of this wonderful quotation by King: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”
But often in my sojourn through the social Web, I find myself with no decent answer for that question as I watch hordes of well-meaning people throw their supposed social capital at hashtags and fan pages without doing anything more meaningful than that. What do you think: Is your “whuffie” enough of a donation to a good cause?
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“What are you doing?” “What’s going on?” The questions most often asked of us by the social web are essentially navel-gazing. In a recent post about a startup devoted to self-reference, I wrote, “Answering questions all about you, your preferences, your past, your thoughts, your wishes and hopes, your regrets, what you eat and where you live – nothing is more intoxicating to the average social media user. From our first LiveJournal entries to mid-2000s MySpace chain surveys to our latest tweets, we clearly love talking about ourselves.”
If the visibility of humanitarian topics in social media is any indication of a trend, we clearly love aligning ourselves with good causes, as well. Sometimes, it seems to me that the latest global tragedy or incurable disease is used as simply another hue on the social web’s palette – something we use to paint pictures of ourselves.
For example, in 2009, I saw waves of green Twitter avatars and locations of “Tehran” as #iranelection peaked on Twitter’s trending topics. But what did any of us actually do to help the citizens on the ground there? The green pro-free Iran icons really did nothing to help the folks getting wounded and killed in Iran. And the new “censored” Twitter avatars we’re seeing? Well, since Twitter’s blocked in most countries that are aggressively censoring web content, it does absolutely no good.
As Kiva fellow and social media philanthropist Sloane Berrent told me a few months ago, “People are so fast to click a button, and that can be great. Retweeting, forwarding and Facebook walls are great engagements. But what’s more difficult is the donate button. That’s the big hurdle and disconnect.”
In other words, from Haitians to humanitarians, they all wish we’d put our money where our mouths (or status updates) are.
Our latest international disaster was Haiti’s earthquake last week. I’m sure many of the folks reading this post did a lot to help via donations to the Red Cross and other organizations, but how often can we say that our social media or other actions are truly doing something for others? And how often are those actions as ineffective as a lapel pin on a politician or as meaningless as a prayer on the lips of a hypocrite? In many cases, the social media user is doing nothing for others, but is instead highlighting his own awareness and sociopolitical “involvement.”
There are some organizations such as SocialVibe (scroll to the last part of the post) that allow brands to foot the bill for humanitarian fundraising as users simply point and click their way through web interfaces to show their support. And there’s no doubt that social media tools have made it easier for struggling groups to communicate their needs for help. But by and large, I believe that our social media actions don’t do nearly as much for others as they do for us ourselves.
Perhaps, before we fire off rant-replete blog posts or make our avatars into 50 x 50 pixel political statements, we should ask ourselves the question Dr. King posed so many years ago: “What does my action DO for others?” And on the flip side of that coin, “What does my action do for me?”
If the answers to those questions embarrass you, take a step back, make a sizeable donation to a related humanitarian organization, then post away and tell others how much you donated and to whom, and create channels for others to do the same.
What do you think? Am I completely wrong; is awareness and communication through social media the “new” currency for donating to a good cause? What points have I missed in my thought process? Let me know your opinions in the comments, and also share how you plan to make your actions count for others today.
For another perspective on this topic, see Mashable editor Ben Parr’s column on CNN.com, or check out ReadWriteWeb’s Charity & Social Good archives.
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There’s still 142 days, 18 hours and a few minutes until the 2010 World Cup launches in South Africa but the first use of cutting-edge promotional technology is already making an appearance. Sports have been where a lot of technology in the new Augmented Reality category first went mainstream – from Sportvision’s down-line TV overlays to IBM’s Wimbeldon Seer.
Augmented Reality (AR) is technology that places data on top of our view of the world around us. The first World Cup 2010 AR made an appearance at a small event in London last week.
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This screenshot is of a prototype of a system that will be found in public spaces around the world in the months leading up to this year’s tournament. Passers-by will see video reflections of their own faces but with the flags of randomly selected World Cup competing countries overlayed on top of their faces. When they see that image, the country’s national anthem will play.
It’s not terribly interactive, but it is a fascinating experiment in trying to build international camaraderie by making fans imagine themselves as if they were fans of another country’s team. How would they feel if they had that other country’s flag painted on their faces and heard its national anthem? Were they from that country, they would probably feel proud. How does the AR make them feel? Perhaps like a more worldly, sympathetic person. That sounds like a positive World Cup experience.
We’re told that the system was built by long-time Augmented Reality market leader Total Immersion, in partnership with CrossPlatform.tv. The face being augmented is Simon Grice, founder of MashupEvent. The screenshot was sent to us by “an anonymous source, who was very impressed.”
Who’s World Cup AR will we see next and what will it do? We look forward to seeing the world’s most popular sport become an experience all the richer.
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OTTAWA — Despite public support for alternative energy — and the opportunity it presents to replace carbon-based fossil fuels — its progress in Canada is impeded by uncompetitive prices and the lack of clear government policy, accounting firm …
A few weeks back we posted an article about an upcoming handset from Motorola called the Mirage (or Shadow). At the time, we posited that the phone would likely be called the Mirage. We’re hearing today that it’s leaning more in the direction of Shadow and. Further, it’s being rumored that this will end up as the Nexus Two. Yep, we’re already talking about that.
Check out a couple of pictures that may or may not be fan renders which look like they could be descendant of the Motorola Droid/Milestone. Although similar overall, the Shadow does have some subtle differences. Take a look at the wrist strap and white keyboard and you’ll see (potentially) a nice new look. Real or not, we’re somewhat intrigued by this handset.
Source: Alfred’s Blog (translate)
Unlimited cellphone plans are trendy now and many are starting to offer them, but how do those plans fare against the old mix of 450 or 900 minutes and your choices of data and texting? Let’s go to the chart.
Click on the image for a closer look.
Geez. Still a bit confusing, isn’t it? I’m just gonna keep hugging my old grandfathered plan nice and tight. [BillShrink]
Inflation is a hidden tax, an insidious crime against the public. It is the easiest way for any government to confiscate the savings of the public and for generations, wealth has been transferred in this manner.
Remember, money is supposed to be a store of value, however due to reckless central bank-sponsored inflation, it can no longer fulfill this critical role. Unfortunately, nobody questions the inexplicable loss of the purchasing power of their savings, thus, central banks get away with financial murder.
Inflation distorts the economy, it brings great harm to the public and it encourages speculation and mindless risk-taking. In fact, inflation acts as a poison for retired people since they are no longer able to earn more money in order to maintain their standard of living. So, thanks to inflation, most senior citizens are unable to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Before we delve further, we want to make it absolutely clear that inflation is defined as the increase in the quantity of money and debt within an economy. And contrary to what the governments want you to believe, inflation is certainly not an increase in the general price level within an economy. Instead, an increase in the general price level within an economy is a consequence of inflation. Allow us to explain this subtle yet critical difference:
For the sake of simplicity, let us assume that America’s money-supply is US$100 and this is the amount available to buy the five oranges its economy produces. Common-sense dictates that under this situation, each orange will cost US$20. Now, let us introduce a banking-cartel called the Federal Reserve, which is able to extend credit (via its debt-based fractional reserve banking system); thereby inflating the supply of money within America to US$1,000. Under this scenario, with a 10-fold increase in money available to purchase the same amount of produce, each of the five oranges will now cost a whopping US$200! An orange is still an orange; it does not change. What changes is the purchasing power of the paper money that is used to buy that orange.
Hopefully, you can see from the above-simplified example, how an inflation in the supply of money and debt causes prices to increase within an economy.
Furthermore, in its attempt to manipulate the masses, the establishment does everything in its power to suppress the official ‘inflation barometer’. Governments achieve this goal by shamelessly doctoring their Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) calculations via various seasonal and hedonistic adjustments. The chart below highlights the discrepancy between the CPI-U published by America’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and the SGS Alternate CPI, which is calculated by Shadow Government Statistics using the old methodology. As you can see, over the past 20 years, prices have been rising much faster than the officials would have you believe.
Let there be no doubt, inflation is a total disaster and our world will be a better place without this reckless money-creation. Contrary to official dogma, our world experienced tremendous progress during the 19th century, and there was no inflation during that period. The chart below shows the changes in America’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the past two centuries. As you will observe, the CPI fell for most of the 19th century as the purchasing power of the American currency rose. However, since the formation of the Federal Reserve in 1913, the CPI has exploded causing the purchasing power of the US dollar to spiral downwards.
Given the fiat-based monetary system and banks’ vested interest in expanding credit, we have no doubt that most nations will experience very high inflation over the coming decade. Accordingly, we suggest that long-term investors protect their purchasing power by allocating capital to precious metals, commodity producers and fast-growing businesses in the developing world.
Puru Saxena
for The Daily Reckoning Australia
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Okay, so we were under the impression that Facebook login credentials were a locally-managed affair, but it looks like almost anything can break when AT&T’s involved — according to CNET, the carrier just fixed “several problems” that had users logging into the wrong Facebook account from their phones. The issue was apparently related to subscriber identification numbers being mistranslated into bad URL session IDs, and AT&T says it’s taken some security measures to prevent it from happening again, while Facebook’s just shut off the automatic login feature that used the ID number entirely. Excellent work all around. Unfortunately, there’s also a pesky incident in Atlanta where someone was able to login to another Facebook account from an AT&T phone due to a bad cookie, but AT&T says that was an “isolated” case and that it’s “unclear how this cookie was set on the phone.” How very reassuring. Back to Friendster!
AT&T fixes bug that logged users into random Facebook accounts originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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By 1UP Staff
Another year has come to an end, and 2010 is already off to an impressive start for new releases. Before we get wrapped up in the new year’s hottest games, it’s time look back at 2009 and the titles 1UP’s readers selected as their favorites. Votes were divided by Best of Platform, Best of Genre, and Game of the Year. After each category’s runners-up, you’ll notice that 1UP’s editors have also weighed in with their favorite picks for each category as well. Plus, we have a special section at the end of our listings dedicated to special staff awards for games that deserve extra mention for excellence.
We begin with the Best of Platform Awards, in which the best releases for all consoles, handhelds, and of course PC are singled out. Multiplatform titles were eligible too, because sometimes a game just feels better on one system than on another. So what did our readers and editors decide were the games that best exemplified their hardware? Read on….
Jump to: Platform Awards |
Genre Awards |
Game of the Year |
Editor Awards
Platform Awards
A love letter to Super Metroid that updated the structure of Nintendo’s classic exploratory shooter to incorporate the visual and control stylings of modern third-person shooters, Shadow Complex was as notable for the sociopolitical controversy it inspired as it was for raising the bar of quality for downloadable games. Mostly, though, 1UP’s editors and readers loved it for being damn fun.
Runners Up: Flower (14%), Torchlight (10%), Marvel vs Capcom 2 (10%)
Editor’s Pick: Shadow Complex
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TokBox, the web-based video chat application, appears to be testing new paid features on its platform. Although the startup creates a great product that allows for multi-user video chat from the browser, TokBox faced hardships last year and was forced to fire 30% of the company’s total staff and shuffled the executive lineup.
TokBox is obviously looking to create a revenue stream with the paid features, allowing users to pay $9.99 per month to add moderation functionality for chats. So with the paid features, you can choose who can join your call, remove people from your call, silence the audio of participants, control who shares media on the chat, and distribute moderator controls to other members of a chat. It also appears that the startup will charge users if they want to add more than 20 people to an individual chat.
The startup recently added document collaboration powered by EtherPad, which was acquired by Google late last year. It looks like TokBox is formulating a business plan; which should make its investors happy. And this monetization comes at a time when the online video chat application space is heating up, with TinyChat (which is free) and others gaining popularity.
We’ve contacted TokBox for comment and will update with a response.
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Timbaland Feat. Katy Perry “If We Ever Meet Again” Music Video: Rock It or Drop It?
Que o GOIÁS ESPORTE CLUBE vem, aos poucos, viabilizando um meio para construir sua própria arena já não é segredo pra ninguém. E esse projeto vem ganhando força a cada dia. Sob a batuta do conselheiro Paulo Rogério Pinheiro, esse sonho não só da diretoria, mas também da torcida esmeraldina, começa a ganhar forma.
O GOIÁS ESPORTE CLUBE vem mantendo contatos com a empresa RedBull, que já tem algumas arenas espalhadas pelo mundo (como essa na Áustria). Todas essas arenas com tecnologia de primeiro mundo. O projeto é audacioso. Somente suas custas para ser apresentado ao BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento) giram em torno de UM MILHÃO DE REAIS. Só o projeto.
No dia 23 de janeiro próximo, o presidente da RedBull Sulamericana desembarcará em Goiânia, onde dará início as possíveis negociações sobre esse investimento de uma futura "RedBull Arena" para o VERDÃO.
O conselheiro do VERDÃO, Paulo Rogério Pinheiro, foi inclusive convidado a ir a New Jersey, onde já se encontra em fase final de construção a "RedBull Arena New York" (fotos), com capacidade para 25 mil pessoas, onde se praticará o soccer, como o futebol é chamado lá nos Estados Unidos.
Vale salientar, que essa negociação está apenas começando. Mas não custa nada cruzar os dedos.
A wilted spinach salad, simple and nourishing, offers an excellent way to incorporate fresh winter greens onto your supper table during the long, dark days of winter when hardy spinach is plentiful. Heating the spinach very slightly, as in this wilted spinach salad recipe requires, provides a dual purpose: not only does it make the dish more suitable for cold days when fresh, raw greens can be unappealing, but it also helps to mitigate the effects of oxalic acid – an antinutrient naturally found in spinach and other greens.
Fresh spinach and chicken combine with the smokiness of bacon and sweetness of apples for a satisfying winter salad.
(…)
Read the rest of Wilted Spinach Salad with Chicken & Honey Mustard Dressing (169 words)
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There have been rumours spreading around of a dual platform approach for Windows Mobile, with WM6.X being a low end oriented OS, and WM7 being a high end OS.
Whilst browsing around jobs at Microsoft, I found one describing
Here’s your chance to join a team where you can truly make a difference in one of Microsoft’s fastest growing businesses. Windows Mobile has been a great platform for building phones that meet the needs of the business user. With the aid of Moore’s law however, the majority of phones sold in 3 years will have smartphone capabilities. Microsoft recognizes where the industry is trending and has increased its investment in consumer experiences.
So, as far as Microsoft is concerned, everyone will have a smartphone soon.
Perhaps Microsoft want to get in first with the low end before everyone else does? What do you think?
The full job description can be found here.
There was no joy in Baltimore on Saturday night. The Ravens lost their game against the Colts.
Football is often said to be a substitute for armed warfare. It has its strategies, its heroes, and its casualties. The city of Baltimore – or most of it – would probably have preferred a win against the colts to a win in Afghanistan or Iraq.
War is a game played for mortal stakes. But there is less difference between war and football than is generally realized. There is nothing at stake in most wars – just like football games. Still both sides are so keen to win they make fools of themselves. Supporters wave flags and sing victory songs. And if their team wins, THEY feel like winners, even though they played no role whatsoever in the victory.
Nor are all wars bloody affairs. Many societies conducted stylized warfare…often with very few battlefield casualties. The West was able to dominate the world, say some military historians, because the Greeks…and later the Romans…and later the Europeans…were more ready to die.
Regards,
Bill Bonner
for The Daily Reckoning Australia
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We’ve spent plenty of time discussing the importance of Section 230 in properly applying liability, and avoiding situations where angry individuals or organizations sue a third party service provider because they have deeper pockets and are easier to sue. However, most countries don’t have similar safe harbors (or, if they do, they tend to be much more limited). This is really unfortunate and can lead to significant chilling effects. Over in the UK, it looks like they’ve just updated e-commerce regulations to carve out a safe harbor for ISPs… but only related to hate speech. But it makes me wonder why carve out a special exemption for hate speech, and why not set up full safe harbors that say a service provider should not be blamed for the actions of a user?
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If you have any comments, questions, concerns, and tips with regards to local events, celebrations, or transportation between venues, feel free to give us a shout on this thread.
Helpful Resources
Your First Step into Vancouver
At YVR Vancouver International Airport, depending on the location of your place to stay in Vancouver, it is advised that passengers use the Canada Line, Vancouver’s newest rapid transit line.
TransLink’s Canada Line Map.
Trains from every 6-8 minutes during peak and mid-day period from YVR-Airport Station, and 12 minutes during early morning and late night periods.
Vancouver uses a zone-based system to calculate fares. Travel going out from the airport to downtown Vancouver is a two zone fare, plus an airport surcharge of $5, while travel to Richmond is a one zone fare with the surcharge. This will be automatically calculated if your are purchasing fares from the the Ticket Vending Machines at the station. See TransLink’s zone map for more information.
Beware, the Wikipedia Map for SkyTrain displays incorrect information with regards to the airport surcharge.
Notice though, the airport surcharge only applies to passengers going out of the airport and not coming in. Depending on the number of people in your party, it may be cheaper to purchase a pack of faresavers, which a slightly discounted pack of 15 fares. The airport surcharge does not apply to Faresavers. Faresavers can be purchased at 7-11 within the Domestic Terminal. See YVR’s website for more information.
Your fare will be valid within 90 minutes of your travel within the zone(s) you have purchased for on most TransLink transportation modes. That includes the SkyTrain rapid transit system (Canada Line, Expo Line, Millennium Line), Coast Mountain Bus Company (Buses within Metro Vancouver), West Vancouver Blue Bus (Buses to West Vancouver), and SeaBus passenger ferry. It does not, however, apply to the West Coast Express, which is a commuter railway. Also, TransLink is not valid nor is it required on the Olympic Streetcar as it is operated by the City of Vancouver and Bombardier, offering free travel from Granville Island to Olympic Village Canada Line Station. See TransLink’s website for more information.
Driving is not recommended during the Winter Olympic games due to the expected heavy congestion and the many road closures and restrictions. Parking is also not available by venues.
Your 2010 Olympic Games ticket is your free public transit fare. This means you do not have to purchase a fare if you are travelling to
While most Olympic Venues in Vancouver is accessible by TransLink public transit, the Cypress Mountain Venue is not. Please see the Olympic Bus Network for more information. Transportation from Vancouver to Whistler Olympic Venues is also only available through the Olympic Bus Network.
Header and Footer Images from VANOC
