Karina

Copyright © 2014 Criss-AC.net. All rights reserved.

Karina

Copyright © 2014 Criss-AC.net. All rights reserved.

Karina

Copyright © 2014 Criss-AC.net. All rights reserved.

Is it her?

Copyright © 2013 Criss-AC.net. All rights reserved.

In a world in motion [...]

Copyright © 2012 Criss-AC.net. All rights reserved.

Old Italian Fiat

Copyright © 2012 Criss-AC.net. All rights reserved.

Sunset in Marina di Carrara

Copyright © 2011 Criss-AC.net. All rights reserved.

With feet in the water

Copyright © 2011 Criss-AC.net. All rights reserved.

2 under 1 moon

Copyright © 2011 Criss-AC.net. All rights reserved.

Harmony

Copyright © 2010 Criss-AC.net. All rights reserved.

23 September, 2009

Evidence that UFOs really exist?

 

Alien head         News, news, news! Iran’s IRGC (Islamic Revolution Guards Corps) hunted down a shinning flying object over the Persian Gulf, and the news is still hot! The unidentified flying object was part of a group, and it was the only one hit after IRGC targeted them. It sank into the waters of the Persian Gulf and at the moment I am writing this post, its remains have not yet been located. Read the whole article here.

22 September, 2009

Mommy, Mommy, I want to become an attorney!

 

If this is your dream job… if you ever consider becoming an attorney, there are couple of things you must read before you become one. Don’t follow their example!

So apparently, these things happened for real in Court. Sad… sad… story below:

ATTORNEY: Your present condition, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in which ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?

-------------------------------------------
ATTORNEY: Now Doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: …did you actually pass the bar exam?

-------------------------------------------
ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the 20 year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: He's 20, much like your IQ.

-------------------------------------------
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you shitting me? Of course not. [LoL Elvis

-------------------------------------------
ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Getting laid!

-------------------------------------------
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?

-------------------------------------------
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.

-------------------------------------------
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male.

-------------------------------------------
ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.

-------------------------------------------
ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All of them. The alive ones put up too much fight.

-------------------------------------------
ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.

-------------------------------------------
ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 PM.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.

-------------------------------------------
And the best for last:

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.
Head against the wall

Not that I have something against these people – I just find it funny… ridiculously funny.

21 September, 2009

The MAAAAAAAN rules!

 

Man vs. Woman

 

 

Browsing the internet I found these “rules” to help make a household more happy. Don’t know if it will work for most of you, but I am definitely going to give it a try Hot

So here they are:

 

 

 

 

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

2. Learn to work the toilet seat. You’re a big girl. If it’s up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don’t hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

3. Sunday sports: it’s like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

4. Crying is blackmail.

5. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

6. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

7. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That’s what we do.

8. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

9. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.

10. In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.

11. If you think you’re fat, you probably are. Don’t ask our opinion.

12. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

13. You can either ask us to do something, or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

14. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

15. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

16. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Nerd smile

17. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what a mauve is.

18. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

19. If we ask what is wrong and you say “nothing”, we will act like nothing’s wrong.

20. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

21. If you ask a question you don’t want an answer to, expect an answer you don’t want to hear.

22. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine… Really.

23. Don’t ask us what we’re thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, football, cars, computer, or… women.

24. You have enough clothes.

25. You have enough shoes.

26. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

27. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight…

28. …but did you know men really don’t mind that? It’s like camping.

29. Pass this to as many men as you can – to give them a laugh.

30. Pass this to as many women as you can – to give them a bigger laugh.

 

Source: http://www.geekwithlaptop.com/the-man-rules

15 September, 2009

The Italic Dilemma

Italic

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve always had this dilemma, and haven’t had a good answer so far… Why the italic style, which bends to the right, is called ITALIC? Which is the connection between bending over to the right and Italic? And… is there any connection between italic and Italy?

14 September, 2009

This my friends, is the new generation of games

 

Unfortunately for me, a PC user, this game will be released for xBox 360 only and exclusively. This is it. This is HALO 3 ODST. Amazing soundtrack, and see trailer below:

Source: GameTrailers.com

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you…

…my new baby! She is a member of the Nikon family, and her name is Nikon Coolpix P6000. There are a couple of things that make her so special. One of the most See it also on my Flickr page

interesting things about it is the fact that it has integrated GPS. And what does it exactly? It just tags your photo with the latitude and longitude and embeds that data into the EXIF headers of the picture, so later when you upload it to Flickr for instance, it will be automatically placed on the map. Details about what the camera can do you can find here, the official site. Also, please find a couple of on my Flickr page.

11 September, 2009

Principles of being stupid

  You're stupid!

– “Ahh, can’t believe how stupid she is!”

– “Why do you call her stupid?”

– “Of course she is stupid! She doesn’t even have Facebook!”

 

…and I think to myself: now that’s one heck of a reason to be stupid nowadays.

10 September, 2009

Bye, good bye, bulb

BBan

 

A “green” decision was recently adopted by the European Union Council, and this decision is pointing out towards the popular old-fashioned light bulbs. They have decided to ban them from the EU, and instead they’re promoting a different alternative: the more eco-friendly compact fluorescent bulbs.

In order to pursue this decision, the EU is not allowing the retailers to sell anymore these bulbs. However, they are still allowed to sell, only until they deplete their existing stocks. As EU is moving forward towards this new direction, the US is watching in background, and if everything will turn out well, this ban against the incandescent bulbs will be implemented in the US during 2012 too.

 

Source: http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/10/european-union-begins-ban-of-incandescent-light-bulbs/

Windows 7 shortcuts

 

This post is for those of you who use Windows 7. Still unreleased though, but at this point is very stable and cool. Below you’ll find a list of shortcuts that are quite useful. Some of them will run on other versions of Windows, such as XP and Vista. Hope you’ll find them useful!

Win + Up Arrow Maximize the current window
Win + Down Arrow Restore down or minimize current windows
Win + Left Arrow Dock the current window to the left half of the screen
Win + Right Arrow Dock the current window to the right half of the screen
Win + [number] Activate and run the program pinned on Windows 7 Taskbar, running program won’t be affected
Win + Home Minimize all but the current window
Win + Space Makes all windows transparent so you can see through to the desktop
Win + Pause/Break Open System Properties
Win + Tab Flip Aero 3D [press Tab to cycle through windows]
Win + B Move focus to notification tray (the right-most portion of the taskbar)
Win + D Show/ Hide desktop
Win + E Windows Explorer is launched
Win + F Search
Win + G Bring all gadgets on top and foreground
Win + L Lock Computer
Win + M Minimize all windows
Win + P Open the projection menu (generally used for laptops connected to projectors)
Win + R Run Command is launched.
Win + S OneNote Screen Clipping Tool
Win + T Show preview thumbnail of running applications in Windows Taskbar one by one without mouse over
Win + X Mobility Center
Win + # Quick launch
Win + = Magnifier
Win + [+/ –] Enables the magnifier and zooms in/ out
Win + Shift + Up Arrow Maximize vertical size
Win + Shift + Down Arrow Restore vertical size
Win + Shift + Left Arrow Jump to left monitor
Win + Shift + Right Arrow Jump to right monitor
Win + Shift + M Undo all window minimization
Win + Shift + T Cycles backwards
Win + CTRL + F Opens the Active Directory Find Computers dialog
CTRL + Right Arrow Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word
CTRL + Left Arrow Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word
CTRL + Up Arrow Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph
CTRL + Down Arrow Move the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph
CTRL + Click A pinned taskbar icon to cycle through the program’s open windows (e.g. IE)
CTRL + Win + Tab Persistent flip 3D
CTRL + Shift + an arrow key Select a block of text
CTRL + any arrow key + Spacebar Select multiple individual items in a window or on the desktop
CTRL + Shift + ESC Open Task Manager directly
CTRL + Shift + N Create new folder

 

Source: http://bharatbaba.com/blog/window7-shortcut-keys/

06 September, 2009

Last.FM moderator abuse?


Couple of days ago I got a friend invite on my Last.FM page (http://www.last.fm/user/xKoP) from a random girl who had Very high musical compatibility with me. So I have accepted her friend request, and I went to her profile. In her friendlist there were like 2,000+ people, and another weird thing that I could not understand is how it was possible for her to get 160,000 plays in less than 24 hours. She subscribed to Last.FM one day before she added me.
     So I went to their forums to inquire about this. Is it normal, or maybe there are some glitches in their system? I’ve started a new thread on this topic and some moderator answered and did also something else. He banned the girl. For which reason you may ask? Because she had 2,000 contacts in her friend list!!! So what is wrong with that???
The same moderator explained that this (aka Last.FM) is not MySpace where everybody is in the race to beat the friend count of Tom (the MySpace founder). What kind of lame reason is that? How could somebody get banned only because they have 2000 people as contacts?
You gotta see his description from his personal profile: “For the record: I do have a tendency to step on toes. Sometimes by accident, and sometimes on purpose.
Oh, and because of that... If you have questions or (moderator) issues, PM me, rather than shouting. I'd like to keep things a little apart.” – what does it say about him? His will should be done whenever he does not like something!
I do not know the exact reason, but it sounds like an abuse to me. He, the mighty moderator, how he bans the user, according to his will and might. Friend spamming? I do not find it fair, all I see is this mod taking advantages of the privileges that have been given to him. I wonder if it is described in their ToS this particular fact.

See the thread on Last.FM: http://www.last.fm/forum/21713/_/563193

31 August, 2009

The dream I dream… the dream of her…

'cause when I dream, I fly to you... Last night I couldn't fall asleep at all, I spent ~ 2 h trying to get some rest... last night I felt so strange, when I thought of her... of her... it made me seek companion in something else, not in a material being - at least for the moment... so I fell asleep. I had a dream about HER, SHE again...

She used to haunt my dreams, […]

This girl is haunting my dreams... Remember I told you I dreamt about her several times, and the topic of each single dream was the same: she was missing me and she was hoping for me to forgive her and come back. Several days ago, I had this dream: I accidentally found her in a waiting room in Vienna. I see her, she sees me, I look into her eyes, but… but I do not approach. I keep on going. I passed that room without showing attention to her, but I knew she was there, watching me from behind… and I returned. When I shut the door behind me, I stopped... for some reason I stopped…

Without being too much aware of what I was doing, I opened the door to come back to that room where she was, and SHE was opening it from the inside... The crying angel jumped into my arms, crying and telling me to forgive, to come back... and I gave her the most sensitive hug I have ever gave to someone... Last night I could physically feel her tears on my face when she was hugging me crying... telling me the same thing...

Why am I having these dreams? Why does she come into my dreams when I am deeply fallen into depression and sadness? Which is the meaning of these dreams with her? Could it be me MY OWN WISH to have her back... unconscious wish? What is she feeling about this? Does SHE… ever know…? 

…and I miss. The night comes on again, and so she will. In the night she comes to haunt… As of now, I miss her, like I never missed anyone.

What is going on with me? Why is she still messing with my wrecked life?

_____________________________

Peace has slowly descended into my soul… feeling detached of everything right now, I close myself inside me and I wait the day of tomorrow. I wish I was free… free, just like her. I have no doubt one day I will see her again… Eye to eye…

Let me fly, let me fly… I do wanna say Goodbye…

 

...to me, to what I was, to what I am being caught into, for so long...

Angel in expect
Wanted to fly... but I've been held down. When I dared to raise my wings to get away... of you, of myself, there has always been something someone one dragging me down... to suck away my strength to move on... God, how... mortal, could I be??

This is me, the same student of life, the same day-dreamer, who hopes in finding an escape, in a moment of extreme self-criticism.

28 August, 2009

How to enhance a portrait in Photoshop

Will simply explain how I did create this picture: (the picture is clickable, it will take you to my Flickr page)

DSCN2208_Edit 

During the last weekend, I took my girl out for a walk. We’ve been walking through the center of Prague, and at some point, we stopped taking some pictures. In her glasses there was a great reflection of the towers, and I am crazy about shooting such things. So I decided I should give it a go. In this tutorial I will show you how you can turn a rather usual and boring picture into something that will look way better.

The camera I am using is a Nikon Coolpix P6000, the best camera in the Coolpix series, and Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, also the best graphic editing software.

This is the initial shot, untouched:

 

Now, the first thing I did was to apply a couple of photo filters. I have applied them as new layers, and I’ve used two. First one is a deep brown, applied as normal (hex code #663300), second is a deep blue (hex #000033), applied as overlay. If you’re familiar with Photoshop, you should know what these codes are.

Second thing to do is to smooth the face tones and texture. I have used the quick mask mode to paint the area that needs to be smoothed, and after I’ve got the selection I wanted, I have created a new layer as a copy. Now, remember to always have a background duplicate when working, always! If something goes wrong and you’re out of UNDO-es, you can always revert to the initial background.

So, as I said, I have created a new layer with the area that needs to be smoothened, and the way I did it was using a great blur filter called Surface blur. It has been implemented firstly in the CS2 version if I am not mistaken, and what it does? It blurs in such way that most of the details or edges are preserved, and it is the best blur technique if you’re going to smooth some textures in your own photographs.

After I’ve applied that filter I had to adjust the opacity in top of the initial layer, to make sure that no textures are being lost due to blurring. Also, you can adjust the fill ratio as well, the result will be the same.

As soon as I got that and I’ve been happy with the result, I’ve applied a black border frame, and this was all. This is the result!

DSCN2208_Edit

Later edit: I have found a couple of tutorials/ applications, and I must add before you click on them, that they are for purchasing only. There are other free tutorials on the web, but these helped me the most. 

 

Enjoy!

This is how they do organ transplant in China

Chinese doctors prelevating organs

A gunshot to the neck of the condemned at the prison entrance, while the doctors are waiting for the body in an ambulance to remove the heart, kidneys and liver once the death is certified. This is how 2 out of 3 organ transplants are done in China. After years of suspicion,  Deputy Minister of Health Huang Jiefu announced in China Daily newspaper a new national organ donation that contrasts the black market, while respecting the rights of prisoners on death row.

In a country whose people are culturally rejecting the idea of being buried without having the body is intact, only 130 people in 7 years have authorized their organs to be used after their death. To bridge the gap between demand and supply, the government - that kills the largest number of prisoners in the world, 1718 in 2008 only, according to Amnesty International - is therefore used in the 65% of those sentenced to death. Officially, the prisoners should give their written consent, but the opaque Chinese legal system has left ample room for abuse. But these are not enough: about 1 million Chinese are in the queue lists for a transplant, but only 1% per year can get it.

In this context a flourishing black market began to rise. It also attracted many foreigners, the so-called "transplant tourists". Here it is a market not so obscure: Listings of organ traffickers are easily found on the Internet. Just go to the site daifumd.com (daifu in Chinese means doctor) to find the announcement of a 35 year-old who sells his kidney for 200,000 - 300,000 yuan, approx. €20,000 - €30,000. Not even the law that since 2007 does require that living donors are a spouse or a blood relative has stopped the illegal transplants: they are indeed increased from 15% of the total in 2006 to 49% in 2008. To circumvent the law, moreover, is enough to falsify documents or to buy the complicity of officials. While selling a body can bring in thousands of euros, it is increasingly difficult to find willing donors.

Source: Descopera.ro

26 August, 2009

If you’re going to San Francisco…

Then you should definitely try to avoid this! Or get a travel insurance? Funny!

24 August, 2009

My latest “creation”

Panoramic picture with Pash + Julia

Dancing!! From my “long” digital photographer experience, I just created my first panoramic photo! Do not expect to find an actual panorama… why I call it so it is because I have successfully managed to stitch two pictures together… and the result came out quite nice. (Or at least… this is what I like to think.) I will show you how it started, how I went through, how I got to the final result. But first, let me tell you its story:

I was walking with my girlfriend and two of her friends (a very nice couple) that came to visit us from Russia on Charles Bridge (Karluv Most – as they call it in Czech) across Vltava, in Prague Czech Rep. Well, it is an old bridge and at each 10 meters there is at least one statue, made of either bronze, either rock. There is the saying that if you rub your hand against one of the bronze statue and you make a wish, that wish will turn reality.

So as we were passing through, Julia decided to make a wish so she placed her hand on the statue. Her boyfriend Pash was right behind her, and he thought he could go on and make a… Whistling…a wish Open-mouthed. A big wish I’d say! So I took the shot, and unfortunately I was not quick enough to take a one shot only. I needed two: one for Julia’s wish, second for Pasha’s. After one year… more than a year, I found out that you can put together two pictures, and to create a picture from two “halves”. The software I used is Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended. Enjoy the “tutorial”:

I shall start by showing you the initial pics I took, untouched, exactly the same way I shot them (now they are resized for publishing purposes):

This is the first one, with Julia making the wish. I have also published them on my Flickr page, so you can click on them and you’ll see them in large size:

Julia making a wish -- click to see it on Flickr

Second is Pasha, making his “wish” now:

Pasha makes his wish

 

So I have used Photoshop to stitch them together, in an attempt to create a “panoramic” photo. First I had to load them both in Photoshop, then from the File menu –> Automate –> Photomerge… and this is the result I got:

Attempt1

As you observe, the top right corner is stretched all the way up (which is normal in the original picture). The black areas need either to be cropped (which will not make a good picture after all – try to see it in your mind if black was cropped) or… either be constructed. I decided to do a little of both.

First thing to do was to use the amazing Vanishing Point from the Filter menu to get rid of the distorted top-right corner. After playing a bit with Vanishing Point, the picture looked like this:

Attempt2

So far so good. The corner does not look distorted anymore, so I can say now that I can move on to the next step: constructing the areas under black or cropping them.

I will start with the black area in the bottom-right corner. As you notice, there is pattern that can be easily copied and multiplied. You can create ground, cracks, corners, using the existing background. The tool I’ve used is called Clone stamp tool, and you can access it from the toolbar in the Essentials display mode, or simpler, by pressing S on your keyboard. After I’ve reconstructed that corner, the picture looked like this:

Attempt3

The corner is now built totally. I have used nothing but pattern already existing in the picture itself. And the great Clone stamp tool, of course.

Now only one step remains: the black area at the top. For an easy to understand reason, I have decided to crop it (there are trees and bricks from the house, very hard to construct without creating a repeated pattern). So I will simply crop that. Doing so it will just save me some extra time + work, and besides, the pic will get a more widescreen aspect ratio.

Attempt4

 

We are here so far. Everything looks more or less OK. Now it is time to work a bit on the enhancing. I’ve decided to go for a B&W treatment, and to add a nice 12 pixel black frame, each side bordered by a 2 pixel thin white border. This is the final result!

Panoramic picture with Pash + Julia

Hope you’ll find this tutorial helpful when creating your own panoramic photos. Photoshop will help you the same way it helped me. So… gotta end this… Yawn… Please share your own work too, and if you’re a Flickr member, keep up with me on there!

Later edit: I have found a couple of tutorials/ applications, and I must add before you click on them, that they are for purchasing only. There are other free tutorials on the web, but these helped me the most.

 

 

Enjoy!

22 August, 2009

And you thought English was simple?

I just received this by email from one of my friends – it definitely helped changed the way I used to regard English – that’s why I gotta share it. So here it is:

 

We wonder why people have trouble learning the English language – even those of us have it as our first language!!!

You think English is easy?

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted – but if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS: Why doesn't “Buick” rhyme with “quick”?

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this.

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is “UP”:

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends. And we use it  to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: a drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP...

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP. When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so… it is time to shut UP!

Oh… one more thing: what is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night? U-P

Unknown source.

Blogger Labels: English,friends,language,Polish,furniture,soldier,bushes,insurance,door,sewer,farmer,Upon,subject,series,friend,England,French,France,Sweetmeats,meat,rings,Guinea,tooth,booth,geese,index,Doesn,amends,odds,ends,vegetarian,Sometimes,asylum,recital,Ship,truck,cargo,lunacy,human,lights,Buick,rhyme,letter,word,topic,election,secretary,room,leftovers,times,People,appetite,dictionary,desk,earth,Unknown,paradoxes,indices,teachers,speakers,feet,computers,officers,tickets,definitions,dove,neither,plural

20 August, 2009

Window Phone Concept: weather forecast in your palm!

While idly browsing the web, I found something totally awesome Idea: a gadget which is called Window Phone, and what’s basically? It’s just a piece of polished transparent glass, able to display the current weather conditions just by blowing onto it. If it is a sunny day Smart icon for sunny day, it will remain a transparent clear glass, behaving like an usual phone. If it rains Rain for instance, it will display water drops. If it is cold, snowy or whatever Umbrella, it will be steamy. It will not get steamy actually Nerd, it will only display it. Scroll down the post to see images.

  BB1 BB2 BB3

NOTE! This is only a concept – don’t go eBaying for it. Don't go eBaying for it! 

 

Source: http://www.tuvie.com/window-phone-blow-your-cell-phone-to-write-a-text-message

19 August, 2009

Deal of the century, or the biggest screw-up of his life

 

Cut-up cards

I had just recently read this article on the news about how a guy managed to steal ~130,000,000 credit cards! Not physical cards of course, but their details. Enough to give him access to the bank accounts linked to these cards. Fun thing is that he was actually an agent for US Secret Service and his job was to track and hunt down hackers. He learned something, got some ideas, he probably understood that he could make more money than he could ever dream of, by doing what exactly he was supposed to prevent from being done.

 

Aged 28, he got these many millions of credit cards on top of the allegedly 40 mills he managed to stole previously. Or well… at least this is what the federal prosecutors are stating. As Secret Service agent, he got in touch with some hackers and it seems this is how he got into the “business”. He used to warn them before they were raided, and by doing that, he used to protect his own arse.

 

The trick he used to do was simple, really simple: "wardriving", which involved cruising through different areas with a laptop computer and looking for accessible wireless Internet signals. Once they located a vulnerable network, he would install a "sniffer" that captured credit and debit card numbers as it moved through a retailer's processing network.

Now, if convicted, he might face either 20 years in prison, or he could get life sentence – his lawyer did not comment that.

I am just wondering now… the guy was smart, obviously smart. Not everybody can do that, to get such big amount of cards. Yet, he got caught. He was supposed to know the techniques used to get guys like him, but they still got to him. Seems they have outsmarted him though.

Assuming the info about the 40m is correct, couldn’t he just withdraw somewhere, buy himself a private island, invest the rest in something legal and live happily ever after? Maybe it was not that simple as it sounds, but faced to 20 years in jail or even worse… life sentence, it guess it would be a considerably option.

Blogger Labels: Secret Service,Deal,life,article,news,Enough,agent,Secret,Service,ideas,money,stole,laptop,computer,Internet,Once,card,numbers,retailer,prison,lawyer,everybody,info,island,Maybe,option,areas,techniques,cards,hackers

 

16 August, 2009

Things you should not do when you sit next to the driver

And I did not know where the Pope was!! Or where the Titanic was filmed. Cute as well. Damn, as hell! See 4 and 10.