Something about Google Weave

Google Wave is the new creation of the holding of Mountain View. this new tool was presented at the annual conference in San Francisco as the revolution of modern communications, it is intended to replace the e-mail and change the way we work.

Created by the same programmers of "Maps", Wave is a hybrid that brings together in one e-mail, instant message, and all existing solutions for video and audio sharing. Using Wave, users can exchange text, images, videos, music and chat, all in real time and can do so in a group. There is also the possibility (as is done with a tape recorder) to rewind the conversation - even after days - and see what was discussed and add new content or make changes to those already published.

Wave is a new tool in the service of those who intend to collaborate online. Chat, email, social networking and other instruments combined in a single interface, so finding synergies between them can develop the unique value of the communicative "waves" unleashed.
Here's the Developer Preview at Google I/O 2009. Enjoy!


Alex Romani

World Of Warcraft becomes a Magazine

Blizzard Entertainment has announced the creation of a magazine dedicated to the official World of Warcraft and other Blizzard titles. the magazine will take the name of "World of Warcraft: The Magazine" and will be an opportunity for the players who will have access to guides, and undisclosed information.

The new magazine will be available in English, French, German and Spanish and can be subscribed from the management of the game by means of annual subscriptions or twice.
The prices will be 34.95 Euro for the annual subscription or 61.25 Euro for the biannual. Meanwhile, have already been circulated details of the first number, which will consist of 148 pages and will celebrate the 5th anniversary of the game.

Meanwhile are confirmed the rumors, the river of detailed rumor about the new expansion of World of Warcraft, Cataclysm, with the revival of the classical world, with enormous changes to its geography, two new races (Goblins for Horde, Worgen for the Alliance), the highest level increased to 85 and the usual load of new raid dungeon, and a considerable amount changes and minor adjustments.

here' s the first Cataclysm announcement trailer, from Blizzcon 2009...enjoy! ;)

New poster for TRON Legacy

Any geek who defines himself as such, understands the world of TRON, the 1982 film by Steven Lisberger, with Jeff Bridges.

TRON is considered the first science fiction film that has as its reference point, the virtual reality. All the scenes inside the computer were filmed in black and white, colored and once completed. Among the leaders of the film are the beginning of his career, Tim Burton. In the film are also cameos of characters in the game (eg Pac-Man) and Disney (eg Mickey Mouse).

In Tron, the focus of the story is Flynn, scheduler software for video games, in the fight against ENCOM, a powerful information technology company whose director, Dillinger, has passed for its programs in fact created by the young technical which is also an admired champion of videogames. While sitting at the terminal in search of the code, Flynn was observed through an electronic eye on the evil MCP, which - seeing that the efforts are establishing the intruder a danger too great - drives a powerful laser beam that the poor immobilises Flynn , digitizes the piece by piece, and recomposes in the form of energy within the integrated circuits that make up his universe. The human discovers to his great surprise that the programs created by him and his colleagues have created a new race of beings whose existence consists in executing the orders they are given by the program running. In the case of video games, these virtual beings must fight relentlessly, playing there on the challenges proposed by the game itself .....

For the new chapter has been a wait of 28 years .....

Directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, writers of Lost, the film should arrive in cinemas in 2010. 300 million dollar budget.

The soundtrack has been entrusted to Daft Punk, and I do not believe that someone could do better :)

Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 Gameplay

Ok, it seems that the waiting for the launch of the new Pro Evolution Soccer is going to end. Infact, it will be available for PC and Xbox360 for October 22.

And it seems that a lot is changed from the past versions...

Changes will mainly on graphical enhancements, and AI (Artificial Intelligence) and game modes, among all, improvements on how kick-placed (as a penalty shoot out and punishments) and the patterns of play (for example, you can move more players simultaneously).
In the new Konami game will be a gameplay slower than Pes 2009, giving more value to the strategies and steps that are essential for scoring. The online game server will be based on the system of PES 6. Will also disappear the Konami ID. Competitions UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League will be present also in the way "becomes a myth" and "Master League".

The Konami has stated that there will be many more stages including the famous Anfield Road. The public will be fully 3D and images circulating on the network you can see a grassy renovated and better than Pes 2009.

The UEFA Champions League will be also playable online. There will be no visible load times in games. There will be a whole new light.

I JUST CAN'T WAIT

EU Invests on Internet Mobile

The EU invests on the Internet mobile, to make it faster. From January next year about 18 million euros of the EU budget is already allocated to research on mobile fourth generation Lte (Long Term Evolution), informs the European Commission. Lte allowing a speed of Internet access via mobile phones up to a hundred times higher than the current third-generation networks.

now, what is LTE, from www.wikipedia.org.
LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the last step toward the 4th generation of radio technologies designed to increase the capacity and speed of mobile telephone networks. Where the current generation of mobile telecommunication networks are collectively known as 3G, LTE is marketed as and called 4G. Most major mobile carriers in the United States and several worldwide carriers have announced plans to convert their networks to LTE beginning in 2009. LTE is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) which will be introduced in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 8. Much of 3GPP Release 8 will focus on adopting 4G mobile communications technology, including an all-IP flat networking architecture.

LTE could allow data transfer rates to and from mobile devices between 15 and 100 times faster than 3G networks.

LTE provides downlink peak rates of at least 100Mbit/s, 50 Mbit/s^[1] in the uplink and RAN (Radio Access Network) round-trip times of less than 10 ms. LTE supports flexible carrier bandwidths, from 1.4 MHz up to 20 MHz as well as both FDD (Frequency Division Duplexing) and TDD (Time Division Duplex).

The goals for LTE include improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum and reformed spectrum opportunities,^[1] and better integration with other open standards. The architecture that will result from this work is called EPS (Evolved Packet System) and comprises E-UTRAN (Evolved UTRAN) on the access side and EPC (Evolved Packet Core) on the core side. EPC is also known as SAE (System Architecture Evolution) and E-UTRAN is also known as LTE.

The main advantages with LTE are high throughput, low latency, plug and play, FDD and TDD in the same platform, improved end-user experience and simple architecture resulting in low operating expenditures. LTE will also support seamless passing to cell towers with older network technology such as GSM, cdmaOne, W-CDMA (UMTS), and CDMA2000.^[1]

Command & Conquer 4

Command & Conquer 4 is the conclusion of the Tiberium saga that had its origins 15 years ago. The characteristics of this unique strategy game for PC will be the multiplayer game modes and cooperation. The release date for this science-fiction strategy game in real-time product from Electronic Arts has not yet been formalized.

The final version of Command & Conquer 4 arrive during 2010, only in PC format. The game is developed, as the latest chapter in the series by EA Los Angeles and will use the technological platform Sage.

Command & Conquer 4 is the last chapter of the Tiberium series. The precious resource has invaded the Earth almost in its entirety, making it uninhabitable. Nod and Gdi allies find themselves under the guarantee a future to humanity, while the motives behind the plans are finally revealed Kane. Command & Conquer 4 contain the two traditional single player campaigns, one for faction.

District 9

District 9 (R) TriStar (111 min.) Directed by Neil Blomkamp. With Sharlto Copley.

District 9 is a science fiction film directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson. It speaks about aliens landing occurred about 20 years ago by a huge spaceship, almost equal to ten football fields.

Immediately after landing the aliens begin to camp in shelters, rummage among the waste and destroying the railway lines. At some point, then, the authorities decided to accept the complaints of people, to intervene and confine the aliens in a ghetto in South Africa.
A private company called Multi-National United (MNU), also intends to use the weapons that have so far been unused and to do this you need the alien DNA. From here begins the first problems which culminated when a staff member of this agency mysteriously contracted a virus that begins to change his DNA.

The agent named Wikus thus becomes the most wanted man and the world's most valuable because it represents the only way to discover the secret of alien technology......

Here's the movie trailer....enjoy!

Facebook Lite

Facebook comes in "Light". A few lucky members were asked to assess their potential and to perform tests on the reliability of the new coup "face book".

Before Facebook gets one of the "start-up" most promising network and then runs a light version of its famous site social. Some thousands of users have received this communication: "You have been selected as tester Facebook Lite!" the message says. "We are building a more simple and faster than Facebook, but is not yet over" read "Help us make it better." At the time of writing the link to "light" version (http://lite.facebook.com), but the expectation is great!

Google Caffeine

The secret project, where a large group of engineers from Mountain View has been working for several months, "is the first step in a process that aims to go beyond the current size, to improve indexing speed, accuracy and comprehensiveness of results."

The name is "Caffeine." The reason is said to be more awake, quickly and efficiently. It is the latest generation of software the search engine most used in the world.

Behind the appearance will remain unchanged, the new architecture of the search engine - the engineers promise of software house - will bring significant changes, especially to web developers.Despite remains the largest and most reliable search engine in the world, the giant Californian recently is moving towards a revival of the image and system updates, especially aware of potential threats from new competitors, in particular from Wolfram Alpha, the engine computational knowledge designed by British scientist and mathematician Stephen Wolfram, and the so-called "real-time search through social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Pearl Jam new album

The latest one the Pearl Jam is the launch of Backspacer, the new disc, which looks like a treasure hunt in the Network.
The band of Seattle has hired Tom Tomorrow, the cartoonist famous for the comic strip "The Modern World" (former assistant to Eddie Vedder and members), with the mandate to create artwork from nine seed in the Network. The purpose of the game? First of all find the images that go together to compose the cover of the disc. Then, complete the puzzle with one click you can start downloading the Speed of Sound, an MP3 song in demo version played by Vedder solo, a tribute that anticipates the album itself.

After the battle with Ticketmaster, after the so-instant concert, the Pearl Jam show that they are the band that knows how to exploit the media and play with the public, even after all this years of succsess.

Always a step ahead.

Here's the Tracklist

1. Gonna see my friend
2. Got some
3. The Fixer
4. Johnny Guitar
5. Just breathe
6. Amongst the waves
7. Unthought known
8. Supersonic
9. Speed of sound
10. Force of nature
11. The end

GI Joe - the movie

Encouraged by the success obtained by the Transformers movie, Paramount Pictures and Hasbro have decided to devote a film to another series of cartoons of the 80s cult.
I G.I. Joe (Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity) have a special anti-terrorist group composed of some veterans of that war, with the help of innovative means of war fighting a criminal organization known as Cobra, whose goal is world domination dragging it into chaos.

The plot of the film incorporates the classic GI series Joe Real American Heroes, with the protagonist GI Team captained by Joe Duke, battling against the forces of Cobra Commander and his armies.
The team will no longer have its base in Brussels, but in the United States of America, as in the Marvel Comics series of the 80s.
The film explains the origins of many characters you will discover why Snake Eyes is mute, and why the evil Destro ports a metal mask.

In the cast, in the shoes of Duke, leading the team there will be the couple Channing Tatum and Dennis Quaid will wear the clothes of General Hawk and Cobra Commander will be Bad starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Sienna Miller, who will be the diabolical companion Cobra, said that all the actors have undergone a long and arduous physical training to improve their athletic skills, although the most loved and most agile will surely Snake Eyes, which will be starring Ray Park.

G.I. Joe is a live film directed by Stephen Sommers, director known for Van Helsing and The Mummy. History is written by Stuart Beattie, screenwriter of Pirates of the Caribbean: Pirates of the Caribbean and Collateral, helped by Skip Woods.

twitter and facebook hacked

Social network under attack. In particular to make the first expenditure was Twitter, but also Facebook and FriendFeed are proceeding much more slowly than usual. The microblogging service from 9 hours on the east coast U.S. is out of service.

The "USA Today" reveals that the managers themselves have written on their home page: "We are defending against a denial-of-service attack, and will update again shortly status".
The system that the hacker (but would be more correct to be referred to as' cracker ') have used to put out Twitter is to overload with millions of simultaneous requests Twitter.

Technically this is called "denial of service" (DoS). The "denial of service" occurs when many computers - in this case controlled by the hackers - seeking access to the site at the same time, "ping", that is sending hundreds of packages of multiple requests per minute, with a single connection for each computer to a DoS are hundreds of thousands of computers that perform the ping, also a knowledge of the owners.
In the Facebook security services IT company has initiated an audit to ascertain the causes of the sudden slowdown that server, however, does not normally excel in order to speed response.

Today Windows 7 ISO Release

Microsoft has completed work on Windows 7 and prepares to launch the operating system.

The first step is the release of Windows 7 for large PC manufacturers (Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, Acer, etc..)

By August 6 to prepare the PC preinstalled with Windows 7.

The day of official release on the market for all is set for October 22 2009.

Here is the official calendar with all dates of issue until 22 October

* 2 / 3 days after the RTM: distribution of the OEM ISO;

* August 6: availability of the ISO - English version on TechNet Plus Direct Subscription MSDN and Microsoft Connect for IT Professionals, Developers, Partners ISV (Independent Software Vendor) partners and IHV (INDEPENDEND Hardware Vendor);

* August 7: availability of the ISO - English version in the Volume License Service Center for all customers with volume license contracts with active Software Assurance;

* August 16: availability of the ISO - English Version Microsoft Partner Network Portal for Microsoft Certified Gold Partner and the Certified Members;

* August 23: availability of the ISO - English version for the Microsoft Action Pack Subscribers;

* September 1: Volume License customers with Software Assurance may begin to buy Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2;

* October 1: availability of the ISO in all languages on all channels of distribution and cited for all types of customers mentioned;

* October 22: market availability of Windows 7 and PC preinstalled with Windows 7

I hope it's better than Vista....

Send an message to the wall of shame

The messages are written in all languages of the world and come from hundreds of different countries. These are the messages that the activists of ' Send a message ' (http://www.sendamessage.nl/), a non-gov organization, have faithfully reproduced on concrete slabs of the wall that divides Israel from the West Bank.

With just 30 euros and an e-mail to write phrases of love fragments of songs on one of the last walls "of shame", after the one of Berlin, still remained standing. The idea is to turn the barrier into a 'canvas' on which to write messages and graffiti "as long as the contents are not offensive to anyone" of the organizers state, was born from an idea of a Dutch advertising and Palestinians, and is a way to transform a wall, symbol of division and hatred, into a symbol of hope for one of the most haunt place of the planet.
The money is used to finance education projects and education for Palestinian children. To write your own message just send an email to the email address of 'Send a message' and type the text; Palestinian activists are committed to faithfully bring it back on the wall and return, once completed, three photographs of the 'wall' .

it's time to go to the mothership!

The new Fallout 3 DLC is finally available for download! The name of this great addon is "Mothership Zeta", and it will take you inside of an alien mothership ( do you remember that junk piece of UFO you have found in the Capital Wasteland? :P)
here a little description of what you will find inside the addon.....

In addition to offering a fascinating glimpse of the Earth at the end of the twenty-third century, through Mothership Zeta weapons we can use technology and the power to say the least, devastating, as the atomiser (particle gun), the destructive (rifle from long distance) or Crio-grenade that temporarily freezes enemies, plus a variety of weapons, armor and items that can be found inside the huge alien spaceship.

Interesting is also the possibility to return to your liking UFO even after having finished the main missions making your character an "Expert in Xeno-Technology" skill through which you can use more efficiently all types alien weapons, including the Blaster scovabile in the "smooth version" of Fallout 3.

GB: CATHOLIC BISHOP, FACEBOOK pushes YOUNG TO SUICIDAL

The Catholic church declares war on British Facebook and MySpace but also e-mail and sms. For Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminter and primate of England and Wales, the misuse of these tools create more and more reports' surface, where the number of friends and 'most' important quality 'of the report. Everything for Msgr. Nichols increases the risk of suicide among the young: "Among young people - told the Sunday Times. Often a key factor in committing suicide and 'the trauma of a transient. You throw in a friendship or a network of friendships, then when it collapses are found desperate''.

For the prelate, "the friendship and not 'a consumer, friendship and' work hard and durable, and when 'true'. Nichols, spiritual leader of 4 million Catholics in England and Wales, considers the excessive use of electronic communication and ' "dehumanizing." In confirmation of his theory Nichols mentioned the case of 15enne Megan Gillan, who last week was' end his life after being taken seriously around on a chat in another social network, Bebo. The Sunday Times, the article closes, revealing an apparent inconsistency perche 'on Facebook there is a Vincent Nichols who claims to be the Archbishop of Westminster, which correctly cites as home address Ambrosden Avenue in Westminster, and has 336 friends .

Super Phelps strikes Cavic

ROME, 1 August 2009 Michael Phelps has conquered the gold medal in the 100 meters butterfly at the championships of the world of swim of Rome swimming in 49" 82. The precedent record 50" 01, was established by the Serb Milorad Cavic yesterday, today second in the contest gained from Phelps.

"I heard the crowd getting louder and louder and I figured it was going to come down to the touch again," the Olympic champion told reporters after flexing his arms in celebration in an unusual display of emotion.
"As you could tell I was extremely ecstatic."
Phelps's fourth gold of the meet and his 21st overall in world championships was sweet after he had a rare taste of defeat when he lost his individual 200 freestyle world title to Germany's Paul Biedermann Tuesday. He has also won golds in the 200 butterfly, the 4x100 freestyle relay and the 4x200 freestyle relay over the past week in Rome, where he arrived with a scaled-back program of races.

New York Bomb

LaGuardia Airport's central terminal was evacuated Saturday after a Manhattan kook was busted with a fake bomb in his bag, authorities said.The NYPD Bomb Squad investigated, and it turned out the suspect had a bunch of batteries taped together to look like dynamite with wires sticking out, sources said.But the damage was done.After the 6 a.m. scare, thousands of passengers were rushed out of the concourse and even herded off planes waiting to take off on the runway.Flights in and out of the airport were grounded indefinitely, and air traffic across the country was expected to be delayed as a result.

Eminem the warning

Eminem must not have appreciated much “Obsessed”, the last song of Mariah Carey. In the video the singer dresses the cloth of rapper a much similar one to Em and, even though in a funny way she accused him of being “obsessed” from her. But not there is nobody that has said to Mariah that Eminem would have answered for the rhymes? However it is its job! The answer of the rapper of Detroit is The Warning, a song that talks nonsense to the zero on Mariah Carey and husband Nick Cannon. Practically Eminem defines crazy, alcoholic Mariah, “of easy customs” and asserts to have at least once made sex with she. I doubt that Mariah will succeed to hold head to an answer of the sort.

7 year old steals car

A 7 Year old kid steels his parents car at church and leads the police on a slow speed chase...
The 7-year-old stole his dad's car to skip church this weekend and drove it 45 mph right back home with the police right behind him.
How can we blame him? :P

IPHONE Virus

A security hole which affects iPhone Mail and Safari has been discovered. This bug would allow an attacker to use Mail to do phishing and open certain web pages even without the owner of the iPhone noticing. The discoverer of these is Aviv Raff, one of the greatest experts in information security, which in His website has published the results of a research on iPhone vulnerability. The problem by the way is that Mail handles different URL, and hackers are able to create an internet address that the user believe that it is a reliable source , but actually clicking on the same access to a fake website that may be able to steal information, but Safari does not provide some trace of this transaction. The problem is in the 1.1.4 firmware and in 2.0, but Apple is already working to correct the problem of software Mail and to see if it must intervene in a fix for Safari.

The new Nikon D300s

Destined to the more demanding and expert customers and to the professionals integral Nikon D300S a sensor from 10,3 megapixel and very offers to an automatic focusing 51 points. Between the main innovationes we remember the possibility to record filmed in resolution HD from 720p to 24 frame to the second. For audio acquisition the machine offers an income in order to connect also a microphone stereo. Is in a position to executing continuous releases till 7 frame to the second, moreover it offers a double lodging that it allows to use or the cards Compact Flash or them files of it SD. In this way the photographer can hold separate the photos in RAW from those in JPEG, or to dedicate a sim to the recording of the films and other to the photos.

Marvel VS Capcom 2 on xbox360

Marvel vs Capcom 2 will be available to download sometime today on Xbox Live Arcade. Capcom recently revealed the release date for the classic beat-em-up via their Twitter account. Gamers will be able to pick up the game on the Xbox 360 for 1200 Microsoft Points. The game is expected on the Playstation 3 in a ‘number of weeks’ for $15. The game should start to appear on the XBLA at any time today.

Avoid Twitviewer

What is twitviewer? twitviewer is an app to view twitter conversation.

Cool, but it appears that may be a phishing scam, or at the least, is probably not doing what it promises.
Upon entering your credentials, it does show you a list of users that supposedly visited your profile, but it seems likely this is fake.
Just avoid this app, and if you logged in, you may want to consider changing your password .

'Family Guy' takes on Fox over abortion-themed episode

"20th Century Fox ... allowed us to produce this episode and then said: 'You know what? We're scared,' " MacFarlane said.

Fox hasn't released a statement about MacFarlane's claims, and no details about the episode have been made available.

But don't worry too much about Stewie and crew. In May, MacFarlane signed a $100-million deal to keep "Family Guy" and "American Dad" on the air through 2012. "Family Guy" airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on Fox.

source:http://www.freep.com

The (new) Secret of Monkey Island - Special Edition

The rebirth of the LucasArts could be tied own to the names that have made the history of LucasArts, to begin from that Secret of the Monkey Island that is from many recognized like one of the best titles of the history. The remake will be available on Pc and Xbox 360: characterized from the possibility of ' switching' in real time between the old diagram (still splendid) and the new one, will allow the new generations to discover to the fascination of the Caribbeanses and the sympathy of Guybrush, one of the personages more outside than head of the history of the videogames.

What's Yahoo! Answers

Yahoo! Answers is a community-driven knowledge market website launched by Yahoo! on December 13, 2005 that allows users to both submit questions to be answered and answer questions asked by other users. The site gives members the chance to earn points as a way to encourage participation and is based on Naver's Knowledge iN. As of December 2006, it had 60 million users and 65 million answers, accelerated by the closure of Google Answers. On June 11, 2007, Yahoo!'s former questions and answers service, Ask Yahoo!, was formally merged with Yahoo! Answers.^[1] Yahoo! Answers has become the second most popular Internet reference site after Wikipedia, according to Comscore.^[2

Any question is allowed on Yahoo! Answers, except ones that violate the Yahoo!Answers community guidelines.^[3] To encourage good answers, helpful participants are occasionally featured on the Yahoo! 360° blog page. Though the service itself is free, the content of answers are owned by the respective users — while Yahoo! maintains a non-exclusive royalty-free worldwide right to publish the information.^[4] Chat is explicitly forbidden in the Community Guidelines, although users may choose to reveal their Yahoo! Messenger ID on their Answers profile page.

In order to open an account a user needs a Yahoo! ID, but can use any name as identification on Yahoo! Answers. A user can also be represented by a Yahoo! avatar or a Yahoo! 360° picture. When answering a question, a pull-down menu allows one to choose to search all over the Internet.

Questions are initially open to answers for four days. However, the asker can choose to close the question after a minimum of four hours or extend it for a period of up to eight days.^[5]To ask a question one has to have a Yahoo! account with a positive score balance of five points or more.

The points system is weighted to encourage users to answer questions and to limit spam questions. There are also levels (with point thresholds) which give more site access.^[6] Aside from this, points and levels have no real world value, cannot be traded, and serve only to indicate how active a user has been on the site. A notable downside to the points/level side is that it encourages people to answer questions even when they do not have a suitable answer to give, in order to gain points. Users also receive ten points for contributing the "Best Answer" which is selected by the question's asker or voted on by the community. Contributors often vote for their own answer regardless of its quality or appropriateness. On the other hand, many people ask questions not to gain more knowledge.

The point system encourages users to answer as many questions as they possibly can, up to their daily limit. Once a user shows that they are knowledgeable within a specific category they may receive an orange 'badge' under the name of their avatar naming them a "Top Contributor". The user can then lose this badge if they do not maintain their level and quality of participation.^[7] Once a user becomes a "Top Contributor" in any category, the badge appears in all answers, questions, and comments by the user regardless of category.

Level / points table

1. 1–249
2. 250–999
3. 1,000–2,499
4. 2,500–4,999
5. 5,000–9,999
6. 10,000–24,999
7. 25,000

Voting and rating with "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" is done anonymously, and once done cannot be changed. Users may tag an interesting question with a star, and the list of users who have so tagged a question is made public.^[8] On Answers profile pages, users can track how many stars they have received for their questions. However, a user may un-star a question at will. In the event a question is deleted, any stars it had at the time of deletion are still credited to the asker's account. Users may also keep a separate watchlist of questions that is kept private.

source www.wikipedia.org

Italy: Premier claims in 'sex tapes' ancient tombs under his villa

Sardinia, 24 July (AKI) - Italy's National Archaeologists Association is said to be surprised by claims made by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in secret 'sex tape' recordings saying that 30 Phoenician tombs dating back to 300 BC were found in his villa in Sardinia.

If the claims are true, it would mean "extremely significant data for the study of the Phoenician expansion in the island, and particularly for the reconstruction of ancient settlement dynamics in the area of Olbia," said the National Association of Archaeologists, quoted by left-leaning Italian daily La Repubblica.

Under Italian law, discoveries must be reported to archaeological authorities. However, the alleged finds had not been made public until the tapes were released by Berlusconi's 42-year-old female escort Patrizia D'Addario.

Not having reported such findings to the Superintendence of Archaeological Heritage or police in charge of the preserving Italy's cultural heritage is a crime punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine ranging from 310 to 3,099 euros.

Italy's opposition has asked Berlusconi and Italy's minister of cultural heritage Sandro Bondi to address the Italian parliament on the alleged finds and why they were not reported.

However, it is also possible that Berlusconi had invented the story, exaggerated or was confused, said Repubblica.

La Repubblica and its sister weekly L'Espresso this week published on their websites a series of audio recordings and transcripts allegedly containing conversations between Berlusconi and D'Addario and between D'Addario and Gianpaolo Tarantini, the man who allegedly hired her to go Berlusconi's official residence in Rome last October and November.

D'Addario alleges she slept with Berlusconi on the night of 4-5 November last year. She has handed audio recordings and photos to magistrates which she says secretly took at Palazzo Grazioli and which back up her claims.

La Repubblica and L'Espresso have posted several of the audio tapes and transcripts to their websites.

In one of the latest clips posted on Thursday, D'Addario is heard apparently praising the 72-year-old for his sexual prowess while he in turn gives her advice on her sex life, advising her to masturbate "with a certain regularity".

Berlusconi's lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini has disputed the veracity of the tapes, saying they were "without any merit, completely improbable and the fruit of invention."

Berlusconi on Wednesday tried to make light of the controversy surrounding his private life, acknowledging that he was "no saint". But he vowed to govern until the end of his mandate in 2013.

source: AKI

What is a Sommelier

A sommelier, or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, commonly working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service. The role is more specialized and informed than that of a wine waiter.

The principal work of a sommelier is in the area of wine procurement, storage, wine cellar rotation, and to provide expert advice to customers.^[1]

A sommelier may also be responsible for the development of wine lists,^[1] and for the delivery of wine service and training for the other restaurant staff. Working along with the culinary team, they pair and suggest wines that will best complement each particular food menu item. This entails the necessity for a deep knowledge of how food and wine, beer, spirits and other beverages work in harmony. It could be argued that the role of a sommelier in fine dining today is strategically on par with that of the executive chef or chef de cuisine. A professional sommelier also works on the floor of the restaurant and is in direct contact with restaurant patrons. The sommelier has a responsibility to work within the taste preference and budget parameters of the patron.

In modern times, a sommelier's role may be considered broader than working only with wines, and may encompass all aspects of the restaurant's service, with an enhanced focus on wines, beers, spirits, soft-drinks, cocktails, mineral waters, and tobaccos.

Though sommelier is a job title potentially anyone may claim, becoming a certified sommelier requires classes and an examination.^[3] The certification is offered by a wide range of educators, and a basic education may be attained for $800–3,750 over the course of six months.^[3]

The Court of Master Sommeliers, established in 1977, is the examining body for the Master Sommelier Diploma, the Advanced Sommelier Certificate, the Certified Sommelier Certificate, and the Introductory Sommelier Certificate, and was created under the supervision of the Vintners Company, The Institute of Masters of Wine, The British Hotels & Restaurants Association, The Wine & Spirit Association of Great Britain and The Wholesale Tobacco Trade Association.^[4] The Court also offers an intermediate level of Education titled "Advanced Sommelier Course" which invites carefully selected candidates to sit and be both tested and educated in the rigors of the Master Sommelier program. The course is generally offered 2-3 times per year and acceptance is highly controlled. Often candidates will apply for 3-4 years before being offered a position. The course is extreme in its preparation and testing for potential Masters Candidates. The Guild of Sommeliers is a nonprofit membership organization, created by a group of Master Sommeliers, to support the development of the trade.

from wikipedia www.wikipedia.org

Cisco Adler

WET REPUBLIC welcomed Shwayze and Cisco Adler to perform during round seven of “SpyOnVegas.com Hot 100,” a weekly bikini contest at Las Vegas' first.

Cisco Sam Adler (born September 6, 1978) is an American musician and former frontman for the band Whitestarr. While the band is primarily known for their participation in the VH1 series The Rock Life,^[1] Adler has gained notoriety for his romantic relationships with actresses and models,^[2] including Mischa Barton,^[3] Kimberly Stewart,^[4] Lauren Conrad,^[5] and Paris Hilton.^[6] While they were dating, Stewart got a tattoo which read "Daddy's Little Girl Loves Cisco," which she later had altered following their breakup.^[7] In January 2007 a nude photo of Adler appeared on the internet,^[8][9] which effectively ended his relationship with Barton.^[10]

Adler is the son of music producer and director Lou Adler^[11] and Phyllis Somer.^[12] He is also a relative of actress Daryl Hannah through marriage.^[13]

In 2008 Adler left Whitestarr, and has since been working extensively with hip-hop artist Shwayze. Their first single, "Buzzin'," reached number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the follow-up "Corona and Lime" peaked at number 23.^[14] They are starring in the MTV reality series Buzzin' which follows the two as they record an album,^[6] have appeared on MTV Cribs,^[15] and toured with Warped Tour 2008.^[16] The pair have also collaborated with DJ Skeet Skeet on a Nike-sponsored workout program entitled Beach Blast by Shwayze.^[17][18] On December 18, 2008, Adler was arrested in Fargo, North Dakota for assaulting an employee at the club at which he and Shwayze were performing.^[19] He was released shortly after being taken into custody, posting $500 bail.^[20]

In addition to music and television, Adler also produced and appeared in the film Sweetie Pie.

source www.wikipedia.org

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -Ferrari driver Felipe Massa has damaged his skull and will need surgery after his car slammed into a wall during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

His team said Saturday the 28-year-old Brazilian was airlifted to a hospital and will remain under observation in intensive care following the operation.

The team said Massa's condition was stable, and that he was conscious when he arrived at the hospital.

The crash occurred after a spring had fallen off another car and flew up and struck Massa in the helmet. An apparently dazed Massa continued driving over a curb and across the track. He went through the gravel area alongside the circuit before striking the tire barrier.

source si.com

cash for clunkers

Toyota will begin airing national and regional television commercials today in support of the government's Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) by informing consumers that the Toyota family of cars and trucks has 25 models that qualify for federal rebates ranging from $3,500 to $4,500.

The program, better know as "Cash for Clunkers," begins today and will run through Nov. 1, or until funds are exhausted, whichever comes first. Consumers can access the program's official guidelines by going to www.cars.gov.

All Toyota and Scion passenger cars and most Toyota trucks, vans and SUVs are eligible for government incentives under the program. In addition, some Lexus models also qualify.

Regionally, consumers can apply their CARS rebates toward special 60-month leases on Yaris, Corolla, Camry (non-hybrid), RAV4 SUV and Tacoma pickup. Since rates will vary by region, information is being posted on buyatoyota.com so consumers can learn which lease specials are available in their area. The special leases are only available to customers participating in the CARS program. Consumers not receiving government incentives can take advantage other regional offers, including low APRs and cash rebates.

Public Web site:http://www.toyota.com/cashforclunkers

source: prnewswire

alexis cohen death caused by a 23 year old man

Police have arrested a 23-year-old New Jersey man in connection with Saturday morning's hit-and-run death of two-time "American Idol" contestant Alexis Cohen. The Asbury Park Journal reports that Daniel Bark was arrested at 6 p.m. on Sunday and charged with causing Cohen's death by reckless driving and then leaving the scene of a collision.

From MTV.com

Mars Real Chocolate Relief Act

Every Friday through October, Mars will give away free real chocolate to 250,000 people. That means you can enjoy your favorite Mars' candy brands—M&M'S®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, 3 MUSKETEERS®, MILKY WAY® and DOVE®— for free!

from https://secure.realchocolate.com

Angel of Death

Angel of Death is a web series of eight to ten minute episodes created by Ed Brubaker. The series stars Zoë Bell as Eve, an assassin taking revenge on her former employers, and costars Lucy Lawless. Angel of Death was produced by White Rock Lake Production and distributed by Sony Pictures Television. The episodes were released on Crackle from March 2 to March 13, 2009.

Plot

The show is a thriller about the assassin, Eve, who is employed by a ruthless crime family. After suffering a severe head trauma (knife through her head) while on the job, she begins to hallucinate and becomes haunted by her victims. As a result of her injury, Eve is driven to seek revenge on those who ordered the hits in the first place—her mob employers.^[1]

History

While developing the story about a cold-blooded killer growing a conscience, Brubaker's original idea for the series was a hitman afflicted with brain cancer, but then remembered watching a scene in an old PBS documentary series where a patient walked into the ER with a hunting knife stabbed right through his skull, and drew inspiration from that for Eve's head injury. Angel of Death is Brubaker's first online series.^[2]

The show reunites Lucy Lawless, Ted Raimi, and Zoë Bell - who all worked together on Xena: Warrior Princess. Bell was Lawless's stunt-double on the long-running series.

from wikipedia the free encyclopedia www.wikipedia.org