Kentucky Derby

by Alex on August 28, 2008 · Filed Under Sports · 1 Comment 

Kentucky Derby

Grade 1 Race
Kentucky Derby

“The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports”
Location Churchill Downs
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Inaugurated: 1875
Race type Thoroughbred
Website: 2007 Kentucky Derby
Race information
Distance 1¼ miles
Track Dirt, Left-handed
Qualification 3-year-old
Weight Colt/Gelding: 126 lbs (57.2 kg)
Filly: 121 lbs. (54.9 kg)
Purse US$2 million
Bonuses: US$ 200

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses, staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is over one and a quarter miles (2 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57.2 kg) and fillies 121 pounds (54.9 kg).[1] The race is known in the United States as “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” for its approximate duration, and is also called “The Run for the Roses” for the blanket of roses draped over the winner. It is the first leg of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in the US and typically draws around 155,000 fans. It is the single oldest annually held sporting event in the entire South. Read more

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Muhammad

by Melissa on August 26, 2008 · Filed Under history · Comment 

Muhammad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

“Muhammad” in a new genre of Islamic calligraphy started in the 17th century by Hafiz Osman.[1]

 

A 16th-century Ottoman illustration depicting Muhammad at the Kaaba. Muhammad's face is veiled, a practice followed in Islamic art since the 16th century. Read more

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Liviu Librescu

by Margaret on August 25, 2008 · Filed Under history · 2 Comments 

Liviu Librescu

Liviu Librescu (August 18, 1930 – April 16, 2007; Hebrew: ליביו ליברסקו) was a Romanian born and educated Israeli-American scientist and academic whose major research fields were aeroelasticity and aerodynamics. His most recent position was Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Tech.[3] The 76-year-old Holocaust survivor was shot and killed in the Virginia Tech massacre while holding off the gunman at the entrance to his classroom so his students could escape through the windows.[4]
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Amazon Kindle

by Sandy on August 17, 2008 · Filed Under Amazon Kindle, Business, Entertainment, Gadgets · 2 Comments 

Amazon Kindle is an ebook reader which uses an electronic paper display, reading Amazon’s proprietary Kindle format (AZW format), and connects by downloading content over Amazon Whispernet, which uses the Sprint EVDO network. The Kindle does not need access to a computer. Whispernet is accessible through Kindle free of charge. The day that the Kindle was released, the Kindle Store had over 88,000 digital titles available for download. The initial sale of the Kindle sold out in 5.5 hours.

Technical specifications

The Kindle features a 6″ diagonal, 4-level grayscale electrophoretic display (E Ink material) with a resolution of 600×800 pixels (167 ppi), although the largest graphic image that can be displayed without being resized is 450×550 pixels. It measures 5.3 inches × 7.5 inches × 0.7 inches (134.5 mm × 190 mm × 19 mm) and weighs 10.3 oz (295 g). The Kindle’s internal storage capacity is 256 MB, shipping with 180 MB free. A SD memory card expansion slot is present, officially supporting up to 4GB which implies support for SDHC. It has 64 MB of RAM. The battery lasts roughly two days with wireless on, and one week with wireless off. The battery charges in about two hours. A USB 2.0 port (mini-B connector) is available for connecting to a computer (where it acts as a USB flash drive). The Kindle features a headphone jack and one-year warranty. The device runs on a modified version of Linux based on the 2.6.10 kernel.

Content

The internal memory of the Amazon Kindle can hold approximately 200 non-illustrated titles. Users can download content from Amazon in the proprietary Kindle format (AZW), or load unprotected Mobipocket (PRC, MOBI) or plain text content. Amazon offers an email-based service that will convert HTML, DOC (Microsoft Word), JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP documents to AZW. It also supports audio in the form of MP3s and Audible 2, 3, and 4 audiobooks, which must be transferred to the Kindle over USB or on an SD card.

Users can download content through the Kindle Store. The Kindle Store is accessed through Whispernet, over Sprint’s EVDO network, which Amazon provides free of charge. New releases and New York Times bestsellers are offered for approximately $10. Classics like Bleak House sell for around $1.99, with free samples available of the first chapter of each book. Subscriptions to newspapers cost between $5.99 and $14.99 per month, magazines between $1.25 and $3.49 per month, and blogs for $0.99-$1.99 per month. Users can send documents to a conversion service which will send a Kindle-formatted file to the device directly for $0.10 or to a personal e-mail account for free. Users can transfer converted documents from a computer to the Kindle via a USB cable or an SD card for free. Access to Wikipedia is offered at no additional charge.

Digital Text Platform

Concurrently with the Kindle device, Amazon launched the Digital Text Platform, a system for authors to self-publish directly to the Kindle. Currently in open beta, the platform was promoted to established authors by e-mail. Authors can upload documents in several formats for delivery via Whispernet and charge between US$0.99 and $200 per download. The authors receive 35% of revenues based on their list price, regardless of discounts by Amazon.

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Lauren Nelson helps nab child preditors and pedophiles

by Robert on August 13, 2008 · Filed Under Current Events · Comment 

Lauren Nelson is a beauty queen from Lawton, Oklahoma who holds the Miss America 2007 title. Nelson is the second consecutive Miss America and sixth in the history of Miss America to hail from this state.

Miss America Lauren Nelson

Nelson was Miss Teen Oklahoma 2004, and in this role, she performed at the 2005 Miss America Pageant.[2] En route to Miss America, she won the Miss Oklahoma State Fair local title and then competed in the Miss Oklahoma pageant for the first time on June 11, 2006, and was crowned Miss Oklahoma 2006, for which she received a $16,000 scholarship. At age nineteen, she was the youngest contestant to become Miss Oklahoma.

Nelson went on to represent Oklahoma in the Miss America 2007 pageant broadcast on CMT from the Aladdin Resort and Casino on January 29, 2007. She won a preliminary swimsuit award on Thursday night, becoming her state’s first Swimsuit preliminary award since 1955. At the conclusion of the live telecast, Nelson was crowned the 82nd Miss America. She succeeds Jennifer Berry, of Jenks, Oklahoma, in the first occurrence of consecutive winners from the same state since 1959-1960.

A graduate of MacArthur High School, Nelson is a student at the University of Central Oklahoma. She is also a member of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority. She is a member of Centenary United Methodist Church in Lawton, Oklahoma. Her goal is to become a Broadway performer. Her Miss America talent was a vocal performance, and her platform issue is “Be NetSmart – Protecting Kids Online”. She receives a $50,000 scholarship award along with the title.

In a recent article she expressed support for Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama.[3]

Nelson recently teamed up with host John Walsh on the FOX television show America’s Most Wanted to assist in the apprehension of potential child predators. Initial reports as of May 1, 2007, stated that she did not plan to return to testify against those predators that were apprehended, putting the prosecution’s case in jeopardy. [4] However, she appeared to change her mind later that day, and it is reported that she will testify against the perpetrators.

Source: Wikipedia

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Immigration

by Seth on August 12, 2008 · Filed Under Current Events, Politics · 1 Comment 

Immigration

Although human migration has existed throughout human history, immigration in the modern sense refers to movement of people from one nation-state to another. Immigration implies long-term permanent residence (and often eventual citizenship) by the immigrants: tourists and short-term visitors are not considered immigrants (see expatriates). However, seasonal labour migration (typically for periods of less than a year) is often treated as a form of immigration. The global volume of immigration is high in absolute terms, but low in relative terms. The UN estimated 190 million international migrants in 2005, about 3% of global population. The other 97% still live in the state in which they were born, or its successor state.

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Michael Steven Bublé

by Bethany on August 9, 2008 · Filed Under Entertainment · Comment 

Michael Steven Bublé (born 9 September 1975) is a critically acclaimed Grammy-nominated, multiple Juno Award-winning Canadian crooner, big band singer and actor. While achieving modest chart success in the United States, his 2003 self-titled album has reached the top ten in Canada, the UK and Australia. In 2004, a live album and video called Come Fly with Me was listed on the Billboard music video charts and reached Australia’s top 40 album charts. He reached commercial success in the U.S. with It’s Time. He currently lives in Vancouver. His third album, Call Me Irresponsible, was released on May 1, 2007

Michael Buble

Early years

Bublé was born in Burnaby, British Columbia. He is of Italian descent with dual citizenship in Italy. He graduated from Cariboo Hill Secondary School. Bublé grew up listening to his grandfather’s collection of jazz records. On his website, Bublé highlights the importance of his grandfather in encouraging his musical tastes. “My grandfather was really my best friend growing up. He was the one who opened me up to a whole world of music that seemed to have been passed over by my generation. Although I like rock and roll and modern music, the first time my granddad played me the Mills Brothers, something magical happened. The lyrics were so romantic, so real… the way a song should be for me. It was like seeing my future flash before me. I wanted to be a singer and I knew that this was the music that I wanted to sing.”

Bublé’s grandmother encouraged him to learn the standards that he loved and to enter a talent contest in Vancouver which he won before a later disqualification for being underage. Not discouraged, he won first prize in a Canadian Youth Talent Search at the age of seventeen.
For the next few years, Bublé pursued a musical career without great success. He appeared as Elvis in a Red Rock Diner road show and sang as a star of a musical revue called Forever Swing. He also appeared in an episode of pleth Game in 1996. He recorded a couple of independent albums, one as a present to his grandfather. Bublé received two Genie Award-nominations in 2000 for both songs he wrote for the film Here’s to Life starring fellow Canadian Eric McCormack.

Career breakthrough

Bublé’s career breakthrough came when Michael McSweeney, associate to former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, saw his performance at a business party. Having enjoyed Bublé’s performance, McSweeney was given an album, which he gave to Mulroney and his wife. Bublé was then invited to sing at the wedding of Mulroney’s daughter Caroline in 2000, where he sang Kurt Weill’s “Mack the Knife”. At the wedding, Brian Mulroney introduced Bublé to David Foster, a multi-Grammy award winning producer and a Warner Brothers record executive who had worked with Josh Groban previously. Foster signed Bublé to his ‘143′ record label, producing the self-titled album Michael Bublé in 2000. The album features a range of standards from various eras including “Fever”, “The Way You Look Tonight”, “For Once in My Life”, Van Morrison’s “Moondance” and Lou Rawls’s “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine”. Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees sang back up vocals on Bublé’s version of the group’s “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?”.
Michael Bublé was released in early 2003 and soon entered the Canadian album charts. Chart success in the UK, U.S., Australia and elsewhere soon followed with the album going Platinum and reaching the top ten of the album charts in the UK and Canada and going all the way to #1 in Australia. The album has reached the top 50 of the Billboard 200 album charts in the U.S. His version of George Michael’s “Kissing a Fool” was released as a single from the album and reached the top 30 of the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” reached the top 30 of the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart as well. His third single “Sway”, originally performed by Dean Martin, also reached the top 30 of the Adult Contemporary chart, while a Junkie XL remix of the song reached the top 20 in Australia in May 2004.
Bublé won the “Best New Artist” award at the Juno Awards of 2004 and his self-titled album was nominated for “Album of the Year”, but lost out to Sam Roberts.

Bublé released a Christmas EP Let it Snow in late 2003. The title track reached the top 40 of the Antartica singles chart, ironically in mid-summer in that country. He released a live album and video in April 2004 with the video reaching the top 10 of the Billboard video charts. The album also reached the top 50 of the Australian album charts as at the end of April and the Billboard 200 album charts.

Bublé has also appeared in a variety of films in the past few years including his appearance as a karaoke singer in Duets opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis. He also has appeared in Totally Blonde in 2001 and in The Snow Walker in 2003.
Songs from Bublé’s debut album (”For Once in My Life”, “Kissing a Fool”) were released on the soundtrack for the Ewan McGregor/Renée Zellweger movie Down with Love, but the soundtrack also included a previously unreleased duet with Holly Palmer on the movie’s title theme. The Junkie XL remix of “Spider-Man” from Bublé’s Babalu album was played during the closing credits of Spider-Man 2, and this version was also released as a single.

It’s Time: Bublé goes mainstream

Bublé’s second studio album, It’s Time, debuted as a hugely successful sophomore performance. The album reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 album chart and number 2 on the ARIA Album Charts in Australia. It’s Time also debuted at number 4 on the UK Album Charts. The album features covers of Beatles and Ray Charles songs, and the hit single “Home”.
Bublé can be seen in Starbucks commercials singing his cover of the Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn swing standard, “Come Fly with Me” from his debut album, and more recently, ESPN has used “Feeling Good” in commercials for poker tournaments.

Michael Bublé has now sold in excess of ten million recordings worldwide. His popularity continues to grow as he has a massive following across Europe, North America, Australia, Southeast Asia, South Africa and Brazil.

Michael Bublé won four Juno Awards (equivalent of the American Grammy Awards) at the 2006 Juno Awards in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, including “Pop Album of the Year” (It’s Time), “Single of the Year” (”Home”), Album of the Year (It’s Time), and Artist of the Year. He was also nominated for the Juno Fan Choice Award, but did not win. Overall, Michael Bublé took away the most awards at the 2006 Junos.
He is managed by Bruce Allen, who also manages Martina McBride and Bryan Adams.

Bublé has collected some of the best musicians in the world to appear with him, many of which have released albums of their own. In concert, he often features an instrumental number.
On April 4, 2007, Bublé appeared on American Idol, as a last minute replacement to Tony Bennett, singing Frank Sinatra’s “Call Me Irresponsible.” He later joked with Ryan Seacrest asking, “Am I wasting my votes still voting for Antonella Barba?” The next day, members of the media speculated as to whether or not Bublé was intoxicated while on American Idol because of slurred speech and frequent laughing during his performance.

Personal life

Bublé was engaged to long-time girlfriend Debbie Timuss, a stage actor, dancer/ballerina, and singer. Both were in the musicals Red Rock Diner in 1996 and Dean Regan’s Forever Swing in 1998. Timuss was listed as one of the dedicatees in Bublé’s self-titled album Michael Bublé and It’s Time, and as background vocalist on It’s Time. While away in Italy, Bublé co-wrote the hit single “Home” for Timuss. She was also featured in his Home music video. They were later engaged in 2004 and ended their relationship in November 2005. He then dated Grammy-winning Canadian singer Emma Banigan. They met in 2004 at his concert in Toronto. He is now dating British actress Emily Blunt.

Bublé grew up with a best friend from Denmark (’Rasmus’) with whom he celebrated julefrokost quite often. He is fond of Danish Schnapps, familiar with Danish culture and Danish drinking songs, and speaks a bit of Danish, which he mentioned at a concert in Denmark. He is also good friends with Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo.

Source: Wikipedia

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YAHOO and MSN join the Google Sitemaps program

by Seth on August 5, 2008 · Filed Under Technology · Comment 

YAHOO and MSN Search have announced that they will support the popular format for XML-Sitemaps which was invented by Google in 2005.Google MSN Yahoo

In an encouraging act of collaboration, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft announced tonight that they will all begin using the same Sitemaps protocol to index sites around the web. The system instructs web masters on how to install an XML file on their servers that all three engines can use to track updates to pages. This should make it easier to get your pages indexed in a simple and standardized way. People who use Google Sitemaps don’t need to change anything, those maps will now be indexed by Yahoo and Microsoft.
Source: TechCrunch

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Marine Corps Weapons

by Steve on August 4, 2008 · Filed Under military · Comment 

Bladed weapons

Bayonets

* M9 bayonet
* OKC-3S bayonet

Fighting Knives

* Ka-Bar
* Strider SMF
* Gerber Mark II

Swords

*
o Marine Noncommissioned Officers’ Sword, 1859-Present
o Marine Officers’ Mameluke Sword, 1875-Present

Small arms

Pistols

* M1911A1 .45 Caliber Pistol
* M9 Beretta 9 mm Pistol
* MEU(SOC) pistol
* S&W Model 10
* S&W Model 66

Submachine guns

* Heckler & Koch MP5
* CAR15 SMG (Marine Recon only)

Rifles

* M16A2 & M16A4 Assault Rifles
* M4A1 Carbine
* M4A1 Close Quarter Battle Weapon (CQBW)
* USMC Squad Advanced Marksman Rifle (SAM-R)
* USMC Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR)
* M40A1 & M40A3 Sniper Rifles
* M82A1A & M82A3 Sniper Rifles
* Mk 11 Mod 0

Shotguns

* Remington 870
* Mossberg 590A1
* Masterkey
* M1014

Machine guns

* M2 .50 Caliber Machine Gun
* M240G 7.62 mm Medium Machine Gun
* M249 5.56 mm Squad Automatic Weapon
* M60E3 7.62 mm Machine Gun

Grenade launchers

* M203 40 mm Rifle-Mounted
* MK19 40 mm Grenade Machine Gun
* M79 40 mm Stand-Alone
* M32 Multiple Grenade Launcher

Less-than-lethal

* Mk 141 Mod 0 grenade

Mortars

* M224 60 mm Mortar
* M252 81 mm Extended Range Mortar

Artillery

* M198 155 mm Medium Howitzer
* M777 Lightweight Howitzer
* HIMARS

Missile Launchers

* AT4
* Shoulder-Launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon (SMAW)
* FGM-148 Javelin Anti-Tank missile
* Tube Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire Guided (TOW) Missile Weapon System
* Stinger Weapons System
* Predator Short-Range Assault Weapon
* M72 LAW

Vehicle-Mounted

* M2 .50 Caliber Machine Gun
* MK19 40 mm Grenade Machine Gun

Aircraft-Mounted

Guns

* GAU-12 25 mm Gatling gun
* GAU-16 .50 Caliber Machine gun
* GAU-17 7.62 mm automatic gun
* GAU-2B/A
* GAU-4 20 mm Vulcan (M61)
* M197 Gatling gun
* M2 .50 Caliber Machine Gun
* M240G 7.62 mm Medium Machine Gun

Bombs

* CBU-99 Cluster Bomb
* GBU-10 2000 lb laser guided bomb
* GBU-12 500 lb laser guided bomb
* GBU-16 1000 lb laser guided bomb
* MK82 series 500 lb bomb
* MK83 series 1000 lb bomb

Missiles

* AGM-45 Shrike Missile
* AGM-65 Maverick Missile
* AGM-84 Harpoon Missile
* AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-radiation Missile (HARM)
* AGM-114 Hellfire (Helicopter launched fire-and-forget)
* AGM-122 Sidearm (anti-radar) Missile
* AIM-7 Sparrow
* AIM-9 Sidewinder (anti-air) Missile
* AIM-120 AMRAAM

Rockets

* Hydra 70
* M260 70 mm Rocket Launcher

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Acer AL2216WBD 22″ Widescreen LCD Monitor - Ultra-fast 5ms, WSXGA+ 1680×1050, DVI, VGA, Black, VESA 100mm

by Margaret on August 1, 2008 · Filed Under Gadgets, Gaming, Technology · Comment 

Acer AL2216WBD 22-inch DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor
Enhance your vision with the Acer AL2216WBD. Incorporating the latest LCD technology, the Acer AL2216WBD offers the best visibility, performance and unprecedented value. The high level of brightness 300cd/m2 together with 700:1 contrast ratio creates crisp images and enhances legibility. With its fast response time of 5ms, the Acer AL2216WBD brings remarkable display quality to your desktop.

Widescreen Format
Widescreen monitors deliver a cinematic experience by allowing you to see more images than you would on a standard screen of the same display size. Widescreen monitors are ideal for watching DVDs and playing games. You’ll see images that are similar in proportion to what you’d see in the movie theater.
5ms Response Time
Fast 5ms video response enables digital, HD broadcast-quality video.
DVI/VGA Input
Enjoy the versatility of the sharper, colorful digital graphics from DVI, along with standard VGA graphics. DVI/VGA doubles your connection possibilities.
User Friendly Controls
No guessing or stressing. User friendly controls allow you to operate your monitor easily so you can devote your full attention to the fabulous images onscreen.

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