Boredom strikes! 01 (Jul 08 - Oct 09)

[kennynah]

what's the website ?

[sidney]

I think your are referring "where to download"

[millionairemind]

The latest fashion in shoes - The Bush Shoe

Bush Shoe' Is Bonanza For Turkish Cobbler
Javier Espinoza, 12.23.08, 01:04 AM EST

Amid a downturn, it can take something outrageous to spark buying. Turkish shoemaker Ramazan Baydan boasts that his company has been swamped with thousands of orders from around the globe due to his claims to have designed and produced the black leather shoes an Iraqi journalist threw at U.S. President George W. Bush.

The owner of the Istanbul-based Baydan Shoe Company said he had to hire 100 extra workers to cope with the "huge" increase in demand for model 271.

"People are calling from all over the world to order this shoe I designed a decade ago. We have so far 370,000 new orders from Europe, the Middle East and the United States compared to only 40,000 orders of this particular model in December last year," Baydan told Forbes.com during a phone interview through an interpreter.

Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at Bush during a press conference in Baghdad on Dec. 14 as the president made his last official trip to the country. The incident sparked condemnation from political leaders, but it also met with a surge of popular acclaim as a brave act of defiance against a leader who is widely reviled in the Arab world.

Shoemakers in Iraq, Lebanon and China and Iraq have also claimed to be the makers of the famous footwear. It may be impossible to prove their parentage: Zaidi has been in custody since the incident and investigators reportedly destroyed the shoes during explosives tests.

Baydan, who has renamed the model the "Bush shoe" or "Bye-Bye Bush," said the United States was one of his biggest markets for it, with 19,000 pairs ordered so far and the count rising. Britain and the Middle East were also high on the list.

Baydan said roughly 120,000 pairs have been ordered in Iraq, and the shoe has been selling for around $40 in Turkey. Asked what his reaction was when he saw the shoes being thrown at Bush, Baydan said, "I felt proud."

Zaidi will go on trial New Year's Eve on charges of aggression against a foreign head of state during an official visit, which carries a prison term of five to 15 years. Zaidi's brother claims that the journalist was tortured into writing an apology, and said he plans to sue the Iraqi authorities.

[winston]

Fake content sparks TV crackdown

The broadcasting watchdog has ordered a crackdown on low-brow confessional talk shows as part of a campaign against base entertainment and because such programs often fake their content.

China has seen a plethora of these television shows, mainly on regional stations, with names like ''Real Love,'' ''Here Comes the Litigant'' and ''Say It Like It Is,'' where people come on to talk about family disputes or appeal for money.

But many of them have resorted to faking their content to get higher ratings, the Xian Evening News said, in a report carried on Sina.com.

The report said the crackdown was also part of a government campaign to take vulgar programs off the air.

At least one show, ''Extreme Emotion Face-Off,'' has already been banned.

REUTERS

[kennynah]

you should have seen some japanese vulgar programs...mainly sexual in content being aired... i've actually seen one by chance, where women form the audience and the show is about them participating in sexual acts in front of TV cameras with paid gigolos .those chosen to go on stage are cheered on as if they won some prizes ...complete with the ooooos and the ahhhhhss ...no kidding...

[millionairemind]

Today is a slow day, so tot of some lobangs to write about.

With competition between Telcos being so fierce nowadays, if your contract is due for renewal soon, it is time to squeeze out some good bargains.

I got a call from M1 (current provider) who gave me a $150 voucher plus another 3 months free caller ID service, just 1 week prior to my 2-yr contract expiration. My calling plan is just a basic plan.

My understanding is that most Singaporeans can't wait to upgrade their cellphones on the 21mth deadline. Hence, they seldom get a call from their telcoms giving them this "loyalty" voucher.

If you haven't upgrade by the 24th month, they would be guessing that you wanna jump ship. Keep them guessing and you will get your freebies without lifting a finger

[winston]

Which came first – the chicken or the egg?

That question is no longer a quandary, according to scientists who specialize in evolutionary genetics. They say the egg came first. But it wasn't a chicken egg, it was an egg of some other type of bird, and it contained a DNA mutation that produced a bird that eventually evolved into the chicken.

Good enough. Just one question: Which came first – that other type of bird, or the egg of that other bird?

The evolutionary geneticists can get back to me later on that one.

[kennynah]

Which came first – the chicken or the egg?

my take ? the screw...came first

[winston]

It's Fun to Know: Disgusting Beauty Secrets of the Ancient World

Plastic surgery, liposuction, Botox injections, hair transplants... you might think that modern medicine has given the world the ultimate in extreme beauty treatments. Not so. Women (and men) have always gone to great lengths to enhance their looks.

The Romans believed that bathing in a mixture of crocodile dung and mud would keep their skin smooth and wrinkle-free.
Japanese geishas used makeup made from bird droppings and rice flour.
Iranian women died their hair red with a mixture of henna, tadpoles, and cow blood.
Men and women in ancient Egypt used dark eye makeup made from lead. So what if it could cause heavy-metal poisoning... it also repelled insects!
Women throughout medieval Europe used poisonous arsenic powder to lighten their skin.
(Source: Mental Floss)

[millionairemind]

Check the length of your index fingers and ringer finger

Search:
Finger length may predict financial success
AP
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID,AP Science Writer AP - Tuesday, January 13

WASHINGTON - The length of a man's ring finger may predict his success as a financial trader. Researchers at the University of Cambridge in England report that men with longer ring fingers, compared to their index fingers, tended to be more successful in the frantic high-frequency trading in the London financial district.

Indeed, the impact of biology on success was about equal to years of experience at the job, the team led by physiologist John M. Coates reports in Monday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The same ring-to-index finger ratio has previously been associated with success in competitive sports such as soccer and basketball, the researchers noted.

The length ratio between those two fingers is determined during the development of the fetus and the relatively longer ring finger indicates greater exposure to the male hormone androgen, the researchers noted.

Previous studies have found that such exposure can lead to increased confidence, risk preferences, search persistence, heightened vigilance and quickened reaction times.

In a separate study last year, Coates and colleagues reported that the hormone that drives male aggression and sexual interest also seemed able to boost short term success at finance.

They studied male financial traders in London, taking saliva samples in the morning and evening. They found that those with higher levels of testosterone in the morning were more likely to make an unusually big profit that day. Testosterone, best known as the male sex hormone, affects aggression, confidence and risk-taking.

In the new study, the researchers measured the right hands of 44 male stock traders who were engaged in a type of trade that involved rapid decision-making and quick physical reactions.

Over 20 months those with longer ring fingers compared to their index fingers made 11 times more money than those with the shortest ring fingers. Over the same time the most experienced traders made about 9 times more than the least experienced ones.

Looking only at experienced traders, the long-ring-finger folks earned 5 times more than those with short ring fingers.

While the finger ratio, showing fetal exposure to male hormones, appears to signal likely success in high-actively trading that calls for risk-taking and quick reactions, it may not indicate people who would do well at other sorts of financial activities, the researchers said.

Some traders require additional skills on dealing with clients and sales workers.

And the advantage may even reverse for some, Coates team said, such as traders taking a more analytical and long-term approach to the markets.

One study, which looked at average finger ratios in university departments found that faculty from math, science and engineering exhibited longer index finger ratio, rather than ring finger, they noted.