Five in Katie Holmes' Family

In all this news about Katie Holmes and her marriage to Tom Cruise there's one bit that always seem to get forgotten. Or rather two. The children Tom adopted with his previous wife, Nicole Kidman.

According to Katie Holmes the new baby, Suri, gets on really well with the older two children.

But one thing that still puzzles me: if the reason that they did adopt was that Tom Cruise can't have children, then where did Katie Holmes' baby come from?

Rod Marries again.

Yes, it looks like Rod Stewart has finally done the decent thing and married Penny Lancaster.

Seems only the right thing to do after a two year engagement and her bearing him a child, doesn't it?

So Penny Lancaster becomes Penny Stewart at last.

Or, given the way that things go in the UK, soon to be Lady Stewart.

Justifying the Cut

Some would justify circumcision by stating that it reduces STDs. Others, that there's a religious reason.

Some point out that it stops penile cancer.

But finding out that circumcision actually increases sexual pleasure is an interesting argument.

Mother's Day Strippers

Now this really sounds like a rather good idea actually:

Peruvian officials launched an investigation on Tuesday into a Mother's Day striptease performance by a dance troupe in a Lima auditorium owned by the national judiciary.

Peru's Superior Court, just one step below the Supreme Court in the judicial hierarchy, issued a statement condemning what it described as a "shameful incident".

The striptease took place last week during an event organized by a trade union which represents judicial workers.

Local media reports said that when the dancers peeled off their clothes to the sound of Mexican music they were heckled and whistled at by spectators, most of whom were women.

I'm not sure I understand the shock actually. One thing we do know about mothers is that they take at least an occasional interest in matters sexual.

Ringtones Links

"Everybody loves ringtones. So i decided to have a search for the best ringtones sites. Maybe everyone knows Ringophone.com or Ultrasonic-ringtones.com but to tell the truth the best site for free ringtones to download is GoldRingtone.com. Download the best Ringtones for free! Doesn't it sound attractive? The site has a weekly update (as they inform me with their press release) so you can continuously find the best new free ringtones.

The site is simple. The users can download free mp3 ringtones from any carrier. Besides, there are sections for all carriers. You can get free Sprint Ringtones, or free Cingular Ringtones.

Scoble Says Microsoft Sucks!

Well, he does indeed say that, Robert Scoble does indeed say that Microsoft sucks.

 

MICROSOFT’s formerly tame blogger has bitten the software company that made his name when it employed him as a “technology evangelist”.

Robert Scoble writes the Scobleizer web log, one of the most-read sources of technology commentary on the internet.

He owes his status to the three years he spent at Microsoft, where he was given free rein to comment on the company’s affairs from the inside. The Economist magazine has credited Scoble with playing a significant role in softening the software giant’s former reputation for monopolistic bullying.

In the past, Scoble has tended to be sympathetic about Microsoft’s failings. However, he was provoked into stinging criticism last week after a series of triumphalist remarks, including some disparaging comments about Google made by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive.

At a “global summit” of its most-valued software developers, Microsoft repeatedly declared that it would “win” in search and other parts of its Windows Live internet strategy.

“The words are empty,” Scoble responded. “Microsoft’s internet execution sucks (on the whole). Its search sucks. Its advertising sucks. If that’s ‘in it to win’, then I don’t get it.”

He continued: “Microsoft isn’t going away. Don’t get me wrong. They have record profits, record sales, all that. But on the inter-net? Come on.

“Microsoft: stop the talk. Ship a better search, a better advertising system than Google, a better hosting service than Amazon, a better cross-platform web development ecosystem than Adobe, and get some services out there that are innovative.”

That it's true and all is just what makes it so fun. If it wasn't for their operating system I wouldn't use a single Microsoft product at all.

California Driver Education

Certainly things have changed since I was there: driver education in California now requires that you take a state approved test before you can get your learner's permit. I am glad that wasn't in place when I took my California driver's test: I would never have managed to do what I did, arrive in the country and rent a condo, buy a car, get a licence, get the house furnished and everything insured in just 8 days.

However, don't despair, there are simple ways to deal with the problem. One option is to get this program dealing with driver education in California. It's a state approved course, so it meets the rules, but the difference is that you can do most of the work at home. Once you've studied this, you can get your learner's permit. Now what is the value of being able to do this at home? Well, you can do it in your own time, at your own speed. There's no need for parents to ferry you off to classes at a particular time and that all just makes life so much easier.

The second option for California driver education is to look at that program, the virtual one. This is computer based and allows you to learn safe and effective driving techniques from your own room! You can simply log on when you want to and take parts of the course. Again, the value is that you can do this when you have time to, not working to the rigid timetable of organised classes. It's also true that we all learn more when we are the only student, not being distracted by those around us.

Either or both programs will teach you in the way the law insists you must be, so that you can complete your California driver education and get your learner's permit.

After that, it's driving on the real roads to gain experience, and no one has quite worked out yet a simpler way to do that.

New Directory

Now here's an interesting idea. We're all familiar with the process of a directory, right? Guides to what's going on out there on the net, perhaps the most well known is Dmoz, although Yahoo originally started out as just such a directory.

Well, you would think that everything had been done already but this simply isn't true. As software advances, there are still new approaches that can be tried.

As for example this new directory that's just getting up and running. They're making sure that each entry is hand reviewed, meaning that the quality of the entries will be high and $3 for inclusion in such a site seems like a very reasonable deal. They're also using the Wordpress software to do it which gives them some huge advantages, (transparency to the search engines, for example). In effect, making a Wordpress Directory.

Well worth checking out. It looks like they're also going to be aggregating the content in some manner, so that your site content will be pinged more often and thus increase your visibility to the engines. I admit that I need to look at this a little more to get it straight in my mind. Excuse me.

Dell and Intel Kickbacks

Looks like Dell is being sued for accepting kickbacks from Intel which were paid to stop it using AMD chips: 

Dell shareholders are suing the computer maker over allegations it took kickbacks from Intel to maintain an exclusive relationship with the chipmaker.

The class action suit alleges Dell's profits were inflated by as much as $800m a year by the payments. The money was paid as long as Dell rejected chips from rival supplier AMD. Dell only started offering machines with AMD processors last year.

The case, filed in Austin, Texas, alleges the computer maker failed to properly account for the money and defrauded shareholders. The filing was made Wednesday last week - the same day Dell announced Kevin Rollins would be replaced as CEO by Michael Dell.

The problem isn't the payments themselves, Intel and Dell can enter into any agreement they like. Rather, it's the way they were accounted for: you have to tell the world how you're making your profits.

 

Technorati tags: Dell, Intel, AMD

Microsoft Advertising in a Lesbian Club?

Yes, indeed, it's true, Microsoft are indeed advertising Windows Vista in a lesbian strip joint. Or something like that anyway. But no cause for alarm, this is in Second Life:

Microsoft hand-picked 10 Sadville destinations to show off Vista via a virtual press conference that included visits from top executives Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. The venues range from marketing firm displays to steamy man-tamer bars inhabited by avatars with moral and cartoonal flexibility.

Kitten Lulu, an esteemed Register reader and Second Life inhabitant, summed up the locations for us.

• Strawberry Estate, not sure what it is. There isn’t much there apart from an atomium-like structure
• Parioli, a PG Italian sim by Virtual Italian Parks
• Sanctuary Rock, dance and music club dedicated to good rock music
• Elements @ Goddess Of Love 3, one of the leading SecondLife dance and night clubs
• Crayonville Island, a marketing company’s sim
• Isle of Lesbos, the name says it all: an entire sim dedicated to (virtual or real) women who love women (i.e. Second Life’s lesbians)
• Mermaids Gentlemans Club
• ShowGirls Gentlemen’s Club
• Liquid Dreams, in their own words: “The Premier Adult Experience - The newest Adult Club in Industry Offering Escorts, Dancers, Sex Roms, Skyboxes and More!”
• Irie Vibes Club, reggae roots dance hall

LuLu's take on the tawdry collection? "I guess they want to convey the idea that Windows Vista is sexy . . . but not free."

I gotta admit, strip joints, a lesbian bar and a roots reggae dancehall, really not where I would expect people to be advertising an operating system: even if they are all in cyberspace.

 

Technorati tags: windows, vista, microsoft, second life, lesbian