Finally!
I don’t I will buy a new HP printer right now
It is something out of a Hollywood script; “Top CEO spies on its board members and breaks every rule there is”.
If you haven’t heard about it. There has been some stuff going on at HP. There were some boardroom secrets leaking out to the press and the CEO (Patricia Dunn) started an investigation. Nothing wrong with that you would say. No, but if you let private investigators hack into personal phone records of board members and reportors, than you are crossing a line.
Bush admits to CIA secret prisons
So, the secret prisons do exist. That means the secret transports must exist also. And that means that the US lied to it is allies in the fight against terror. [link to BBC article]
- Is this shocking?
No, I even think there is more which we (the common people) don’t know and will not get to know. - Is this something new?
No, it has been done since the beginning of time. Once somebody is in power, he/she or it will do anything to stay in power. Look at the Roman history, look at the Chinese history. - Does this mean we cannot trust the US anymore?
No, but it means at the least that we have to think twice before stepping into a new adventure with the US or any other partner. How equal are we? - Will this do any good for Bush (ratings).
At the short run no, but in one year time everybody will have forgotten about it.
Loose Change
I watched the movie Loose Change 2nd edition on Google video [link to the site]. Basically it questions the general accepted idea that 911 is an act by Al Queda. It shows a lot of ‘proof’ that it may be an act by the American Government or other forces within that society.
It left me with some questions. I advise you to take a look at it because it gives a different look on the things going on at the moment if even a few of the facts mentioned are true.
- Nine of the 911 hijackers are still alive [link to BBC article],
- The fact that nothing has been found from the plane that hit the Pentagon or the plane that went down in Pennsylvania.
Once Muslim, Now Christian and Caught in the Courts
The New York has an disturbing article on their website about a Malaysian woman who changed her religion from Muslim to Christian and now wants to marry her Christian boyfriend but is not allowed to [link to the New York arcticle].
As I understood Malaysia has a secular constitution. About 60 percent of the Malaysian are Muslim, 20 percent is Buddhist, 10 percent is Christian and 6 percent is Hindu. Enough to make it a balancing act to keep everybody happy. I also learned from the article that there is an civil court in Malaysia but there is also an Islamic Shariah court. The Islamic Shariah court decides about things like marriage, property and devorce for the Muslim part of the population. As the Malaysian woman changed her religion from Muslim to Christian she concluded that the Islamic Shariah court had no jurisdiction over her and she should be allowed to marry her lover. But the cival court decided differently.
Quote:
In rulings in her case, civil courts said Malays could not renounce Islam because the Constitution defined Malays to be Muslims.
They also ruled that a request to change her identity card from Muslim to Christian had to be decided by the Shariah courts. There she would be considered an apostate, and if she did not repent she surely would be sentenced to several years in an Islamic center for rehabilitation.
End quote.
Strange that in 2006 you are still now allowed to choose your religion and basically how you want to live your live and who you want to marry.
Summer is almost over
Personal Computer 25 years
The PC is 25 years old! I can remember the first time they carried the thing into our office. Oh man, did it change the way we worked. We had a Wang text editor in a private network. One of these great boxes with screen and keyboard in one box. The documents we wrote we either send handwriten to the typing department who were also working with the Wang or we did it on the Wang.
We first used Multimate, Lotus, Symphony, Harvard Graphics, DOS, QEMM. Great times. The first PC I had looked exactly like the one on the picture. You could park your car on it and it would still run.
Now I work with a Tablet PC, a laptop plus I still have a couple of desktop/workstations. The price of all that stuff is probably less than what you paid for the first IBM PC.
Apple hype?
Recently Steve delivered his key note about the new features in Linux OS X Leopard.
Great new features? No, not really. A lot of features were already available in either Linux and/or Windows (Virtual desktops, Time machine) or were just fixes not worth mentioning.
No new Nano, no new iPhone, no Vista 2.0, no … Maybe Apple is just like all other IT firms; sometimes hot and exciting, something boring.
42 years; the end of Top of the Pops and the end of the Rolling Stones
After 42 years the last episode of the Top of The Pops chart show was transmitted in the UK. It proves that the time that a program which is based on weekly sales figures of singles, 45’s and CD’s is behind us. Trends and sales are based on daily figures these days. The weekly Top 40 still exists but you might question how long that will last. 42 Years Top Of The Pops, an institute comes to an end.
42 Years ago the Rolling Stones performed for the first time in the Netherlands. Now after 42 years they are again back. Maybe this institute should also quit just like the Top of The Pops. I think their time has long gone.
New Nikon D-SLR coming out
So the news came out that a new Nikon D-SLR is coming out. The rumor is that it is going to be a 10mp version. Some say it is going to be the successor of the D70s, others something between the D70s and the D200. Something like a D80 or a replacement for the D100.
I don’t know. It all seems a bit odd. With the D50, D70 and D200 (not counting the D100) Nikon already has a lot of choices in the low and mid and higher-end range segment. Replacing the D100 with a D80 seems possible but that would be a direct competition for the D70s which is still selling OK, despite the 6mp sensor.
I would rather have seen Nikon entering the Full Frame market. But I don’t think that will happen nor is it technically required in order to reach the high quality standards Nikon is known for.
Hilarious!
You have to go to the (fake) blog of Steve Jobs [link to his site].
Great for a chuckle and big laugh.
Hot? Make your own air conditioner
As the temperature in the Netherlands is rising above the 30 C, the questions comes up; how to keep cool.
Answer; Build your homemade air conditioner.

Here is the link [link]


