Mogadishu Bombed

Ethiopian fighter jets have bombed Mogadishu International Airport, witnesses say. Mogadishu is the capital of Somalia.

Godfather Of Soul Dies

Legendary singer, James Brown, has died, according to his agent.

Tsunami Remembered Ver. 2.0

Welcome to AKRAM's Universe! This is my virgin post in the world of blogging. Today, a year had passed since the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami ripped apart shores of countries around the Indian Ocean. Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka were among the countries which saw waves up until 10 metres high and which travelled at 800 kilometres per hour. Over 200,000 innocent lives perished in the worst ever natural disaster in recorded history. And until today, many are still rebuilding their lives. The Tsunami is the hand of God. It is a way of letting us know who is The Almighty. Calamities and catastrophes come and go, but God is still The One. What can we learn from all this? When disaster strikes, if we are still alive, then it is by the grace of God, The Creator. Human beings are just one of His many creations. All living things will eventually die. But God is The Eternal.

Taken from my very first posting a year ago in 2005

Season's Greetings

I would like to wish all Christians a very MERRY CHRISTMAS 2006!

Save Our Internet

If you’ve been struggling to wrap your head around the hugely important issue of net neutrality, check out this excellent primer from the coalition SavetheInternet.com.

(h/t: Crooks and Liars)

Goode Is Evil

Article VI United States Constitution
… no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Goode needs a refresher course on the Constitution.

That may be the case, but considering what’s being done to the Constitution under the pretext of the Global War OF Terror, discriminating in this case seems par for the course, especially in this resonant climate of fear.

The Myth of Islamo-Fascism gripping the masses and fueling the war must be exploded. Let’s be clear, terrorism is haunting the world, but take a closer look. At the inception of al Queda’s parent band, the Mujahidin, the master of ceremonies was none other than the new boss at the Pentagon, Mr. Gates. Al Queda is funded primarily by the number one client (Saudi Arabia) of the master of ceremonies over the just-published Iraq Study Group Report, Mr. Baker. Focus, people. Connecting these dots is not rocket science. 911 was not hatched in a cave in the Hindu Kush on a laptop and executed by a rag-tag band of fanatics.

The Straussian-Nietzchien, proto-fascist, neocons driving this madness must be shown to their cells - we can no longer suffer their strangelove insanity.

Investigate, indict, prosecute and execute — Support 911 Truth — End War OF Terror!

Muslim Dem Out-Graces Christian Rep

Keith Ellison (D-MN), America's first Muslim congressman, prefers to be sworn into office with a Koran and not a Bible.

Fancy that.

Threatened by this news, Rep Virgil Goode (R-VA) warned his constituents: "I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States" if we do not adopt "strict immigration policies."

Never mind the fact that Ellison's family's been in America since the mid-18th Century, "I'm about as American as they come," he tells CNN in the clip, right. I was under the impression that it was as more about who you are than where you're from. But point taken.

Goode, totally unrepentant, said that as long as he represents his district there'll be none a them filthy Korans on his walls. Only it sounded slightly more ante-bellum and genteel than that.

Ellison's response ought to put any Christian allied with Goode to shame.

The Nightmare Scenario

A Dig led by Sergei Plekhanov

Editor’s note: A former arms control expert in the Soviet Union argues that Bush, in his obsession with North Korea and Iran’s relatively minuscule nuclear threat, has effectively ignored the much more perilous threat of Russia’s 10,000-strong nuclear arsenal.

This week, the international crisis that started in September with U.S. discovery of stepped-up uranium enrichment activities in Iran is expected to trigger a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. In the past few weeks, international attempts to defuse the crisis failed, as Russia, supported by China and North Korea, increased the readiness of its armed forces and made several threatening moves. In his address to the citizens of Russia, President Valdimir Putin called the situation “grave” and expelled U.S. diplomats from Moscow. President Bush invoked the War Powers Act. A Russian reconnaissance plane collided in midair with a U.S. plane in the vicinity of U.S. ballistic missile defense installations. It is expected that in the next few days, Russia will launch a strategic nuclear strike at American command centers and armed forces. The U.S. will retaliate.

This is the gist of the scenario, called Vigilant Shield ‘07, for this year’s Homeland Defense Exercise, currently being conducted by the U.S. Northern Command, according to Washington Post columnist William Arkin’s Early Warning blog (“Russia Supports North Korea in Nuclear War” and “The Vigilant Shield 07 Exercise Scenario”). War games are a peculiar genre, easy to make fun of, but the logic of this scenario merits serious attention, as it reminds us of an important reality we usually prefer to forget about.

When we think about the danger of nuclear war nowadays, the mind zeros in on North Korea and Iran and stays there, preoccupied with the fact that North Korea has a few nuclear bombs, while Iran may or may not build a few of its own in the next decade. The international community is tying itself in knots trying to respond to the colossal threats to world peace and security that these two countries present.

Now, the reality is that of the world’s estimated 22,000 nuclear weapons, about 21,000 belong to the U.S. and Russia, each of the two possessing nearly equal numbers and keeping about 1,000 of them ready for launching within 30 minutes. The rest are distributed in batches of a few hundred among France, the UK, China and Israel, while the new members of the “nuclear club,” India and Pakistan, possess a few dozens each (Nuclear Issues—CDI).

If we should worry about the existence of nuclear weapons with their unique capacity to put an end to human life on this planet, it is odd that we overlook the thousands and peer at the murky single digits through a magnifying glass and tremble with fear.

What happened to the clarity of mind that defined world thinking about nuclear weapons 20 years ago, when it was obvious that the really dangerous nukes were those in massive numbers that the Americans and the Russians trained on each other and were ready to use on a few minutes’ notice? Recognition of the danger and willingness to do something about it was then a mark of supreme statesmanship. So, when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan jointly proclaimed in Geneva in November 1985 that “nuclear war can never be won and should never be fought,” it resonated through the global community, generating hopes that maybe, just maybe, they really meant it and would do something real to reduce the nuclear threat. And they did. They worked out a series of agreements to bring the Cold War to a close and start the process of nuclear disarmament. After the Soviet Union’s collapse, the momentum of nuclear arms reduction continued for a decade. And then, at the dawn of the new century, just as we stopped worrying about the big bombs because they seemed to be on the way out, a Second Nuclear Age began. One of its hallmarks is that both Washington and Moscow have rediscovered the political value of nuclear weapons and are working to make sure that their still-enormous arsenals can be used, quickly, for unleashing a war that would cripple this planet beyond repair.

The existing architecture of nuclear arms control, composed of dozens of international treaties and institutions created to monitor their implementation, was built in the 1960s-1990s primarily to reduce the threat of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Underpinning the architecture was U.S.-Soviet strategic parity. In a very real sense, the energy of the global East-West conflict fueled the efforts to contain and regulate it. And Washington and Moscow became joint custodians of international arms control. Today, that joint enterprise seems to be on the way to Chapter 11.

There are a number of reasons for this.

First, there is complacency. Since the 1980s, the sense of urgency that had stimulated arms control efforts in the past has progressively weakened. The fear that the U.S. and Russia might use their fearsome arsenals gave way to a fear that the Russian economic crisis might make the post-Soviet arsenal easy prey to organized crime and terrorism. Safe dismantlement and storage of the redundant weapons and submarine reactors was becoming a more important area of U.S.-Russian cooperation than mutual reduction of the arsenals.

Even more important is the impact of the new U.S.-Russian strategic disparity. The fact that both countries have continued to maintain roughly equal numbers of nuclear arms has been increasingly at odds with the real dimensions of the two sides’ international influence. While Russia reeled under the impact of its calamitous transition to capitalism and the Kremlin’s attention largely turned inward, the United States claimed the role of the world’s hegemonic power intent on remaking the global order.

10 iPODs Must Be Given Away !

It's your chance to win a brand new iPod!


Yes! I Want My iPod NOW

All you have to do is watch a quick, 3-minute video all the way through and fill out the short, 2-question form at the end. The video is about my friend Marlon Sanders' new Web Design Dashboard. It's a killer product that's just what the doctor ordered if you need to design web sites, sales pages, mini sites, blog graphics, affiliate pre-sell pages, or landing pages.So if you're spending loads of dough on web site templates, freelance designers, and expensive software, you definitely want to watch the video (and of course, if you want a chance to win a brand new iPod!).

Check it out...

Click Here To Win an iPod!

It'll only take 3 minutes!

Melbourne's 2nd Warmest Night

The temperature dropped to an uncomfortable 27 degrees at 12.40am and at 6am it was already 30 degrees. The Bureau of Meteorology had initially forecast a maximum of 31 degrees for today, but amended this to 35 this morning. It is believed to be the second-warmest December night in Melbourne, just shy of 27.2 degrees on a night in December 1961. A change bringing thunderstorms was expected to hit Melbourne later today and deliver about five millimetres of rain in the city and 5-15 millimetres statewide. "We're forecasting rain right across the state. In Melbourne ... the main rain is likely to come through during the late afternoon and evening, just ahead of the wind change."

theage.com.au

Latest Net Terminology

The Internet has given birth to a quirky range of modern addictions and maladies, the British weekly New Scientist says in its Christmas issue published this Saturday.

They include these:

EGO-SURFING: When you frequently check your name and reputation on the internet.

BLOG STREAKING: "Revealing secrets or personal information online which for everybody's sake would be best kept private."

CRACKBERRY: "The curse of the modern executive: not being able to stop checking your BlackBerry, even at your grandmother's funeral." (A BlackBerry is a popular handheld device that can be used for phoning, emailing and web-browsing).

GOOGLE-STALKING: Defined as "snooping online on old friends, colleagues or first dates."

CYBERCHONDRIA: "A headache and a particular rash at the same time? Extensive online research tells you it must be cancer."

PHOTOLURKING: Flicking through a photo album of someone you've never met.

WIKIPEDIHOLISM: Excess devotion to contributing to the online collaborative encyclopaedia, Wikipedia. (Wikipedia even has a page where you can test whether you're an addict: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Are-You-a-Wikipediholic-Test)).

CHEESEPODDING: Downloading of a song "so cheesy that you could cover it in plastic wrap and sell it at the deli counter." Cheesepodders are especially vulnerable to soft-rock favourites from the 1970s.

Miss Nevada USA Title Stripped

Miss Nevada USA has been stripped of her title today after racy photos of her appeared on the internet, pageant officials said. Some of the photos show Katie Rees kissing other women and exposing one of her breasts. "Katie Rees has been relieved of her duties as Miss Nevada USA 2007," said Paula M Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organisation, which owns the Miss USA pageant.

Shugart said first runner-up Helen Salas would assume the title and compete at the 2007 Miss USA pageant on March 23 in Los Angeles. Rees' dismissal comes two days after Miss USA Tara Conner was allowed to keep her tiara by Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump after she admitted to underage drinking at New York bars. Rees' lawyer, Mario Torres, defended the blonde beauty queen in a statement sent to the media.

"Katie Rees Miss Nevada USA wants the public to know she was 17 and had a lapse in judgment,'' he said. "The actions on that evening in subject are in no way indicative of the person she is or the person she has become. ... She is a law-abiding citizen and talented adult. This was an isolated incident that occurred more than five years ago when she was a minor.''

Shugart made the decision to jettison Rees, with pageant co-owner Trump's support, said Miss Universe Organisation spokeswoman Lark-Marie Anton. Trump, who co-owns Miss Universe with NBC, gave Conner a second chance after meeting her on Tuesday. Trump said Conner, 21, was a good person with a good heart and deserved to keep her title.

"I think Tara is going to be the great comeback kid,'' Trump said.

Rees has appeared as Miss Nevada USA at charity events such as the Goodie Two Shoe Giveaway, at which underprivileged students received free shoes, backpacks and school supplies. Ms Shugart said first runner-up Helen Salas will assume the title and compete at the next Miss USA pageant on March 23 in Los Angeles. In another beauty pageant brouhaha, Mothers Against Drunk Driving said yesterday it was severing ties with Miss Teen USA Katie Blair because it was "disappointed'' by reports that the 18-year-old had been partying with Conner in New York clubs.

AP

A 13-Billion Snap Shot

TO A casual observer it could be the psychedelic creation of a mischievous puppy that has dipped its paws in paint. But it may be one of the most extraordinary pictures ever snapped.

It is, scientists said yesterday, the glow from the first things to form in the universe, more than 13 billion years ago. Snapped by NASA's Spitzer space telescope, the bizarre objects must have existed within a few hundred million years of the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago. An Australian astrophysicist, Ray Norris, said the NASA team may have found "the holy grail" of astronomy.

What the ancient objects are remains a mystery. One possibility is stars, the first to light up after the dawn of time. They would have been "humungous", said NASA, "more than 1000 times the mass of our sun". Or they may be "voracious black holes". While black holes are invisible, heat emitted by matter plunging into them can be detected. "Whatever these objects are," said Alexander Kashlinsky, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, "they are intrinsically incredibly bright and very different from anything in existence today." The image was made by Spitzer shooting pictures of five areas of the sky. All light from stars and galaxies in the foreground was then removed, leaving only the ancient infrared glow.

"Imagine trying to see fireworks at night from across a crowded city," Dr Kashlinsky said. "If you could turn off the city lights, you might get a glimpse at the fireworks. We have shut down the lights of the universe to see the outlines of its first fireworks." Professor Norris, from the CSIRO's Australia Telescope, said the image did not show the objects themselves, but their glow that was radiating from all parts of the sky, because "the early universe is all around us".

The next step would be to find and get direct images of the objects. "Many of us are searching for these objects," Professor Norris said. He believed locating them would be possible with the James Webb space telescope, the Hubble's successor, to be launched in the next decade, and the Square Kilometre Array, a radio telescope that may be built in Australia. Professor Norris conceded astronomers could not explain how such big objects formed so quickly after the Big Bang. "According to our models, it takes quite a while to build black holes and galaxies," he said.

Bloggers - READ THIS!

A company that helps advertisers connect with bloggers willing to write about their products for payment will now require disclosures amid criticism and a regulatory threat. Before this week, advertisers were barred by PayPerPost from telling bloggers they can't disclose the sponsorship, but bloggers were able to decide on their own whether or not to do so. Under the new policy, bloggers must disclose that they are accepting payment, either in the write-up or in a general disclosure policy on the blogger's web journal. "Ever since we launched, there's been a lot of controversy about disclosure," said Ted Murphy, PayPerPost's chief executive. Besides other bloggers questioning the ethics of receiving payments without disclosure, the US Federal Trade Commission said in a December 7 staff opinion that failure to disclose could, in some cases, violate consumer-protection laws on deception. The FTC did not single out PayPerPost or say whether it would launch any investigation.

David Sifry, founder of the blog search site Technorati, praised PayPerPost's move. "Overall, this is an encouraging and long-awaited change," he said. "I think that people have learned that without trust, all posts become suspect. ... By encouraging honesty and transparency in sponsored posts, PayPerPost adds (some) clarity to the waters they muddied when they launched six months ago. "PayPerPost lets advertisers tell bloggers about word-of-mouth marketing opportunities such as a new gadget or shoe. Advertisers set a price of $US5 or more per post, and willing bloggers respond. The better the price, the more quickly spots fill up. The Orlando, Florida, company brokers the payments.

Bloggers are free to trash products or write neutral reviews, but advertisers can specify whether they pay only for positive write-ups. Advertisers include News Corp.'s Speed Channel and OfficeMax, Murphy said. PayPerPost may lose some advertisers with its new policy but believes the transparency will be better in the long term, Murphy said.

Google Oogle

Already facing a legal challenge for alleged copyright infringement, Google's crusade to build a digital library has triggered a philosophical debate with an alternative project promising better online access to the world's books, art and historical documents. The latest tensions revolve around Google's insistence on chaining the digital content to its internet-leading search engine and the nine major libraries that have aligned themselves with the Mountain View-based company. A splinter group called the Open Content Alliance favours a less restrictive approach to prevent mankind's accumulated knowledge from being controlled by a commercial entity, even if it is a company like Google that has embraced "Don't Be Evil" as its creed. "You are talking about the fruits of our civilization and culture. You want to keep it open and certainly don't want any company to enclose it," said Doron Weber, program director of public understanding of science and technology for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The New York-based foundation on Wednesday will announce a $US1 million grant to the Internet Archive, a leader in the Open Content Alliance, to help pay for digital copies of collections owned by the Boston Public Library, the Getty Research Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The works to be scanned include the personal library of John Adams, the nation's second president, and thousands of images from the Metropolitan Museum.The Sloan grant also will be used to scan a collection of anti-slavery material provided by the John Hopkins University Libraries and documents about the Gold Rush from a library at the University of California at Berkeley. The deal represents a coup for Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle, a strident critic of the controls that Google has imposed on its book-scanning initiative."They don't want the books to appear in anyone else's search engine but their own, which is a little peculiar for a company that says its mission is to make information universally accessible," Kahle said. Google's restrictions on its digital book copies stem in part from the company's decision to scan copyrighted material without explicit permission. Google wants to ensure only small excerpts from the copyrighted material appear online - snippets that the company believes fall under "fair use" protections of U.S. law.

A group of authors and publishers nevertheless have sued Google for copyright infringement in a year-old case that is slowly wending its way through federal court. In contrast, the Open Content Alliance won't scan copyrighted content unless it receives the permission of the copyright owner. Most of the roughly 100,000 books that the alliance has scanned so far are works whose copyrights have expired. Google hasn't said how many digital copies it has made since announcing its ambitious project two years ago. The company will only acknowledge that it is scanning more than 3,000 books a day - a rate that translates into more than 1 million annually. Google also is footing a bill expected to exceed $US100 million to make the digital copies - a commitment that appeals to many libraries.

The non-copyrighted material in Google's search engine can be downloaded and printed out - a feature that the company believes mirrors the goals of the Open Content Alliance. Although the Open Content Alliance depends on the Internet Archive to host its digital copies, other search engines are being encouraged to index the material too. Both Yahoo and Microsoft, which run the two largest search engines behind Google, belong to the alliance. The group has more than 60 members, consisting mostly of libraries and universities. None of Google's contracts prevent participating libraries from making separate scanning arrangements with other organizations, said company spokeswoman Megan Lamb.

"We encourage the digitisation of more books by more organizations," Lamb said. "It's good for readers, publishers, authors and libraries. "The motives behind Google's own book-scanning initiative aren't entirely altruistic. The company wants to stock its search engine with unique material to give people more reasons to visit its website, the hub of an advertising network that generated most of its $US2 billion profit through the first nine months of this year. Despite its ongoing support for the Open Content Alliance, Microsoft earlier this month launched a book-scanning project to compete with Google. Like Google, Microsoft won't allow its digital copies to be indexed by other search engines. While Kahle says he was disappointed by Microsoft's recent move, he remains more worried about Google's book-scanning initiative because it has gathered so much attention and support.

All but one of the libraries contributing content to Google so far are part of universities. They are: Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, Oxford, California, Virginia, Wisconsin-Madison, and Complutense of Madrid. The New York Public Library also is relying on Google to scan some of its books. The University of California, which also belongs to the Open Content Alliance, has no regrets about allowing Google to scan at least 2.5 million of the books in its libraries. "We felt like we could get more from being a partner with Google than by not being a partner," said university spokeswoman Jennifer Colvin. But some of the participating libraries may have second thoughts if Google's system isn't set up to recognise some of their digital copies, said Gregory Crane, a Tufts University professor who is currently studying the difficulty accessing some digital content. For instance, Tufts worries Google's optical reader won't recognise some books written in classical Greek. If the same problem were to crop up with a digital book in the Open Content Alliance, Crane thinks it will be more easily addressed because the group is allowing outside access to the material. Google "may end up aiming for the lowest common denominator and not be able to do anything really deep" with the digital books, Crane said.

All Good Deeds Will Be Rewarded

Make it a point to continue doing GOOD deeds, however small or insignificant. GOD has promised that ALL good deeds WILL be rewarded. Persevere and be patient. Being patient is half the battle won. And cleanliness is next to Godliness. Be clean, stay clean, strive to be clean always.

God's Wrath On Malaysia

Yes, the Malaysian population may be inundated by the flood situation. Tens of thousands had to be evacuated. Some lives were lost. Property damages in the millions. In my humble opinion, some of the Malaysian populace erred. God is now angry. And God's wrath Has no Mercy.

Please Forgive Me...

I humbly apologize if any of my posts had made any of you uneasy, let alone hurt your feelings. To err is human, to forgive, divine. Please forgive all of my sins because I don't think I have much more time left. I pray to God that all who had been following my blog are blessed and continue to be blessed. One parting advice, if you pray, make your prayers your number one priority every day. I hope to see all of you soon. Please take care, always. And always say thanks. Be grateful. Be humble. Are we not sons of Adam?

Drunken Aussie Pilot 7 Times Over Limit

A DRUNKEN Australian pilot who tried to fly a packed plane to Dubai when he was seven times over the alcohol limit has been jailed in London. John Cronly-Dillon, 51, was sentenced to four months' jail last Friday by a judge who told him he had brought an unblemished 25-year career to a stupid and ignominious end. Isleworth Crown Court heard the Emirates pilot had been on such a bender that his drink level sent monitors through the ceiling, even though he claimed to have observed the ban on pilots taking alcohol within 12 hours of a flight. He was arrested after stumbling around during a routine search at Heathrow, making incoherent jokes about "not blowing up my plane" with his breath smelling strongly of drink. Douglas Adams, prosecuting, said that tests found 134 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, compared with the allowed limit of 20 micrograms for a pilot. He was arrested minutes before the flight was due to leave, stranding hundreds of passengers. Judge Usha Khan told him that his behaviour during the search had been extraordinary. While waiting for security staff he drank water and ate a whole packet of chewing gum. She said: "Your face was red, and the security guards could smell alcohol on you."You also stumbled as you took your shoes off for the security gate and again as you passed through the metal detector, hitting the side and activating the alarm." The behaviour belied defence claims that Cronly-Dillon did not realise the state he was in. He pleaded guilty to preparing to fly while over the alcohol limit. Judge Khan accepted that he was suffering from stress and fatigue and that the debacle had lost him his job and his home in Dubai. But she told him before he was taken from the dock after a brief glance at his wife in the public gallery, that an immediate jail sentence was unavoidable. "The courts take a very dim view of passengers who get drunk on an aircraft," she said. "It is much worse if it is the pilot, who has a high level of duty of care to those he would have been looking after."

Royal Rebel

She is already considered the Royal Rebel, with a pierced navel and colorful past. Now Zara Phillips - granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and world-champion equestrian - is raising eyebrows by appearing in an advertisement. Phillips, the 25-year-old daughter of Princess Anne, posed for automaker Land Rover - which is one of her sponsors - in a white evening gown with a mud-spattered hem. The photograph for the ad was taken by Mary McCartney, daughter of former Beatle Paul McCartney. The Mail on Sunday, a British newspaper which keeps particularly close tabs on the aristocracy, said in an editorial that "it is hard to get stuffy" about Phillips' choice to appear in an advertisement - something the royal family generally does not do. "She will get away with it because of who she is, and because she has already shown that if you break the rules with panache, your admirers will outnumber your critics," The Mail said. "As she shows in her new pose, she can even manage to look good splattered with off-road mud." Today Phillips, who is 11th in line to the throne, was named sports personality of the year by the British Broadcasting Corp. "I'm actually shaking," said Phillips, who beat Ryder Cup golfer Darren Clarke to the title, which is chosen by public vote. "It's amazing, thanks to all the voters, it's just amazing to be here with all these amazing sports people." On her horse Toytown, Phillips took the individual title in the three-day eventing at the World Equestrian Games this summer in Germany. She also helped Britain win a team silver medal in the competition. Her mother, Princess Anne, won the BBC sports trophy in 1971.

Hottest Day For 53 Years In Melbourne

Melbourne has endured its hottest December day for 53 years. The mercury soared to 42.1 degrees Celsius in Melbourne at 2.45pm (AEDT) today as bushfires raged across much of the state. That made it Melbourne's hottest December day since December 20, 1953, when the temperature also hit 42.1. By 4pm - an hour and a quarter later - the temperature had cooled to 23.5. Cool wind changes were expected to sweep across the state in the next few hours. But fire crews fighting blazes in Victoria's north-east and Gippsland areas are bracing for conditions to worsen. Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Terry Ryan said it was possible showers could sweep through the fire-affected areas tomorrow. But the rainfall was likely to be light, and isolated thunderstorms predicted across the state would bring little rain, he said. Mr Ryan said a fresh south-westerly change was expected to move through Gippsland between 9pm and midnight in the low-lying coastal areas. The higher parts and Alpine area will be affected by a westerly change on Monday morning. By mid-tomorrow, the cool change was expected to have swept across the whole of the state. A few showers are expected mainly in the southern and mountain areas. The temperature in Melbourne tomorrow is forecast to reach a top of 20 degrees Celsius, with a few showers. The day will be mostly cloudy with moderate south to south-westerly winds.

Apple's iPhone Launch Delayed

A message for gadget fans expecting the launch of Apple's hybrid iPhone at January's MacWorld Expo : brace yourself for disappointment. The device is being billed as an iPod-phone combination, and rumours of its features have flooded the web in recent months. Wall Street analysts say the speculation of a delayed launch is even affecting Apple's share price. "Based on our checks, we believe the timing of Apple's iPhone commercial launch is around late first quarter 2007 to early second quarter 2007," CIBC World Markets analyst Ittai Kidron wrote last week. But Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research, believes the speculation is "starting to get out of hand", since Apple has never even acknowledged the device's existence. "Is it possible to call a product that hasn't been acknowledged, much less shipped, delayed?" Gartenberg wrote in a blog post.

MacWorld - held in San Francisco between January 9 and 12 - has long been the venue for Apple's major product announcements, and each year Apple-watchers speculate on what Apple chief executive Steve Jobs may unveil. Mr Jobs, who gives the keynote speech at each MacWorld, is famous for saving the most significant announcements for the end of his speech. At MacWorld 2005 he unveiled the iPod Shuffle, while this year his "one more thing" was the MacBook Pro, which saw Apple's laptops move to an entirely new architecture. This trend may come back to bite Apple, since there is now an expectation for the company to unveil a revolutionary product each year. More so than any other technology company, a sub-par announcement from Apple will be detrimental to both its stock price and goodwill. MacWorld 2007's major announcement was previously expected to be the iPhone, but rumours of a delay have shifted speculation to a home theatre content streaming device called iTV. Apple demonstrated iTV at a press conference in September, but a commercial product hasn't been formally announced. At the time, Mr Jobs said the formal unveiling would occur in the first quarter of next year.

IPhone rumours began circulating as early as 2002, but it's only recently that specific details have emerged. On August 7, Apple filed a US patent application for a phone and music player combination.

Taken from www.theage.com.au

Five British Sides Through To Last 16

Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Celtic successfully qualified for the knockout phase in the UEFA Champions League after conclusion of all group fixtures yesterday. Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is convinced a British club will win the Champions League. Every English team topped their pool and Ferguson believes any one of Britain's representatives can go on to be champions of Europe. "It is fantastic for British football," said Ferguson. "I think one of the British teams can win and I just hope it is us. "I think the team is confident of their ability now. They know they can win games and can play and there were a lot of moments last night when I think we played some fantastic stuff."

Gates Nominated

In WASHINGTON, The Senate Armed Services Committee has unanimously recommended approval of Robert Gates' nomination to become secretary of defense.

BlueHeavenmails.com

I received my second payment yesterday. Although this site is not an autosurf per se, you just need to click five links daily. A no-brainer!
YES, I've got a brain somewhere. I want to sign-up now!

Bainimarama "Severely Deluded"?

Frank Bainimarama was "severely deluded" and had taken "complete leave of his senses" in ousting Fiji's elected Government, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday. "He called on people not to break the law, but the military commander has just ripped up Fiji's constitution and chucked it out the window," she told New Zealand television. "It is supreme arrogance to say other people shouldn't break the law when you have just single-handedly set out to destroy the law." She described the military commander's actions as "simply an extraordinary display of military arrogance".

Earlier, as the coup began to unfold, she said New Zealand was suspending defence ties with Fiji and barring Commodore Bainimarama from visiting the country, where members of his family live. "This is an outrage what is happening in Fiji today," she told Parliament. She later told the BBC: "The international community should be communicating its support for the democratic process in Fiji . . . and urging the commander to back off before he completely destroys his country and his people's prospects." Japan called for a peaceful return to democracy. "The Government hopes the unrest will be peacefully resolved and the country will restore democracy as soon as possible," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. "Japan will continue co-operating with concerned nations."

English Ashes Squad Collapse Dramatically

SOME of the marquees had already been dismantled. Tickets were half-price, reducing further after lunch. Touts wore forlorn expressions. Fans ambled down King William Street with towels in their bags, anticipating space to spread them on the scoreboard hill for the first time in five days. A total of 17 wickets had fallen on the first four days, and the fifth would be for going through the motions. But this was cricket, the contrary game. This was the Ashes, in the name of which men do damnable things. One bad decision, the first of the match, against England opener Andrew Strauss, prompted a constriction in teammates' throats. Quickly, it became outright panic. Like medieval royals with syphilis, they went suddenly mad. England lost its last nine wickets for 60, the same England that made 6-551 declared in the first innings.How could this be? Certainly, this day was hotter than the first four, and the pitch more mischievous.Adam Gilchrist donned a helmet to keep to Shane Warne. He also stood up to paceman Stuart Clark, and later — much later — Glenn McGrath. Certainly, the masterful Warne held the stage, bowling 27 overs unchanged.But the real crumbling was in the English minds. Three top-order wickets fell to outrageously attacking shots, another was a botch of a run-out. Kevin Pietersen fell prey to vanity. Warne left deep mid-wicket open, so Pietersen played the sweep, the shot he had eschewed for 6½ hours in the first innings, and was bowled — off-stump — behind his legs. Captain Andrew Flintoff chased a wide ball, wicketkeeper Geraint Jones an even wider ball. Yet England knew no middle ground. Runs would always have been its insurance, yet it scored a meagre 30 in the morning session. Australia had come more in hope than expectation, but now played as if possessed. They appealed often, loudly, sometimes hysterically. The umpires, understanding what was at stake, cut them some slack. By tea, England was all out. Only Paul Collingwood remained, unbeaten in nearly 3½ hours. Warne assailed him with ball and bawl, but he showed teammates what a strong mind can bear. McGrath, intriguingly withheld until the 44th over of the day, finished the job. Warne, tired and sore, retired for a shower, Coke and toasted sandwich. Australia was left to make 168 in 36 overs. Now fans streamed across the Torrens from the city, with ever quickening stride, hearkening to the intermittent roars from the Adelaide Oval. Pie stalls re-opened. The authorities threw open the gates. The stands and terraces filled, the crowd's voice became a force. The tide had turned. First innings titan Matthew Hoggard bowled the first over, but Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden crashed 10 from it, so laying down a marker. Captain Flintoff, favouring his ankle, shared the new ball; the time for cotton wool was gone. AustraliaEngland, constrained to attack, did, but inevitably made mistakes. Clarke gained seven from one shot, three with four overthrows. The culprit was Pietersen. As defeat closed, Steve Harmison bowled a wide, now his stock ball, and Jones dropped a catch. But this was merely epilogue. When it was finished, the Australians hugged one another like schoolboys, then ran to salute the crowd like footballers, forgetting even to souvenir the stumps. The applause did not abate for five minutes. Ponting called it the best Test win of his career. The tickets, discounted at the start of the day, were now collectors' items. sustained casualties, as a team on a fifth-evening run-chase must. But it always had the momentum. Ponting, in the form of his life, batted as if this was the first day, not the last. His series average is 225. Michael Hussey, promoted above Damien Martyn, brought urgency and imagination. Repeatedly, he swept Giles, orthodox and reverse. As a left-hander, he had licence Pietersen did not. Besides, he was facing Giles, not Warne. Giles has 3-262 for the series.

In Brisbane, arguably, Australia caught England cold. But this was the win that re-established the natural order. It was the win that could only have been inspired from within a champion team. Only two teams have made more in the first innings and still lost. England paid for timidity in not playing spinner Monty Panesar, and in not making more haste on day one. Australia leads the series 2-0 after two, as it has in three of the last four Ashes series here. The difference now is that England holds the Ashes, needs only to draw and so cannot quite be counted out yet. But England's eyes are glazed, its pulse irregular, its legs the texture of jelly. The same might be true of MCG boss Stephen Gough and the whole SCG Trust.

Sex Tape Scandal Shocks Indonesia

INDONESIA is grappling with its first real political sex scandal — a widely circulated video of one of its most powerful politicians in a hotel room with a popular singer. Politicians have taken care to keep their lives private in this predominantly Islamic country. Many have playboy reputations but none has been caught on tape. The politician, Yahya Zaini, is parliamentary secretary of the Golkar Party, the biggest in Indonesia, and head of its religious affairs committee, which has responsibility for moral issues. Vice-President and Golkar Party chief Jusuf Kalla said the tape must be verified. "The woman in the video could be his wife, who knows? If that is the case, the one distributing the video must be held responsible," he said. Mr Zaini, who is married, flew back from a parliamentary study tour in Australia at the weekend, as news of the tape spread. He is in hiding in Jakarta. The singer, Maria Eva, admitted making the tape, but denied distributing it. During a tearful press conference last night, Eva said she had loved Mr Zaini, but their affair ended two years ago. She said she had been pregnant and was pressured to have an abortion by him and his wife. Eva said Mr Zaini had financed her first album. She said she had tried to forget the episode and was now a participant in a Koran reading class at the home of Din Syamsudin, chairman of Indonesia's peak religious body. Eva has appeared in several miniseries, including the Islamic-oriented Divine Blessing soap opera. It is believed the video was shot as she and Mr Zaini campaigned for Golkar. It was sent to a number of mobile phones and email addresses last week. Eva's lawyer, Ruhut Sitompul, said Golkar figures had sent her an open plane ticket and told her to leave for Singapore for her safety. Islamic leaders and political parties have been campaigning for tougher morality laws in Indonesia, including outlawing pornography and public displays of affection. They want harsh action taken against Mr Zaini. Party deputy chairman Agung Laksono heads Golkar's investigative team. "The team's main task is to investigate whether the porn video is authentic, determine what kind of violation the legislator committed and make recommendations on what actions the party should take," he said.

Insomnia and I

I first developed insomnia in early 1984. It was more of the side-effects of a medication that I was taking at that time, rather than some crazy lifestyle, like clubbing and drinking. I don't drink. At the moment, I want to set my biological clock back to normal. I've got out of bed at 5.30 am sharp in the last three days. I hope to do it on a daily basis. My doctor has prescribed me sleeping pills, but I use them very sparingly as I don't want to make it a habit. I usually take this Lorazepam 1 mg pill if I want to make sure that I get quality sleep for the night. My supply is running low and I need to get fresh supplies soon. Also, it helps that you don't consume caffeine at least 3-4 hours before you sleep as caffeine stimulates your mind. Caffeine is found in many carbonated soft drinks and coffee. Also, you need to take your last meal at least three hours before hitting the sack. A glass of room-temperature milk and a cold bath also help you to go to sleep without trying too hard.

Thosai Bawang, Anyone?

As I had just a few pieces of yellow water melon for lunch, naturally, I was hungry when tea time arrived just now. After getting some Xpax prepaid for my Nokia mobile, I thought it would be good to have something to satisfy my hunger. So I did want to have thosai. Wait a minute. Why not try thosai bawang? Bawang is the Malay word for onion.

Regular thosai batter is made from lentils and rice blended with water and left to ferment overnight. The batter is then ladled in small amounts onto a flat, preheated pan, where it is allowed to spread out into a circular shape and is fried with edible oil or ghee until golden brown. The thosai is then neatly folded in half and served. Thosai bawang is similar, but chopped and sauted onions are spread on it.

The verdict? Simply fantastic! The damages? A mere RM1.50 (US$0.40)...

AL-FATIHAH

Today is the 7th anniversary of my father's passing away. His name is Mohamad Anas. "Daddy" as we affectionately called him died on his 72nd birthday in 1999. Having gone away forever, I remember my dad fondly every day, without fail, in my daily prayers. He was a kind, gentle, intelligent and the best dad in the entire Milky Way. Together, we had many great memories that will last me a life time. I miss you, daddy! If you're a Muslim, please recite the Al-Fatihah quranic verse for him. Thank you.

198 Feared Killed

Officials say that at least 198 people may have died in the typhoon that struck The Philippines. Another 260 are missing.

A 15-Hour Feat

Yesterday, I woke up at 10.30 a.m. I did get five hours sleep. Lately, I find myself spending more and more time with optimum productivity. Thank you God for blessing me with excess energy levels. At the moment, I really want to get some precious sleep in half an hour's time. I'm proud to say that for the past 20+ hours, I managed to put in around 15 hours of solid internet marketing work. Of course I did not work non-stop. I had breaks for brunch and dinner, and breaks for performing my daily 5-a-day prayers, besides taking breaks whenever I feel like it. Later tonight I will going out for a date with two other guys. We will be discussing existing business opportunities, have a decent meal and certainly want to check out the action. I think that will be my just reward for a week of honest hard work. Having mastered multi-tasking, I find myself doing several things at one go. And I just love it!

Yousuf Sets Multiple World Records

Against West Indies, Mohammad Yousuf, 32, made his second century of the third and final Test and his ninth of 2006 to break Vivian Richard's 30-year old record for most runs scored in a calendar year.

They have been set an improbable target of 444 to win the Test. Pakistan declared after tea on six for 399 after resuming on two for 130 in the morning. Lara, bowled for a second ball duck in the first innings, survived some anxious moments before unleashing his trademark drives but needs to match the batting feats of Yousuf (124), Mohammad Hafeez (104) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (58 not out).

Yousuf set various records, finishing 2006 with 1,788 runs in 11 matches to overtake the 1,710 of Richards in 1976. His nine hundreds this year, including six in his last five Tests, lifted his batting average to 56 in his 73rd Test and are also the most in a calendar year. He was finally bowled round his leg by part-time spinner Sarwan after facing 195 balls with 15 fours. It was his 23rd career ton and with 665 runs in all the best aggregate for a three-match series by a Pakistani, surpassing the 583 by Zaheer Abbas against India in 1978. He also made 102 on the opening day of the Test. Yousuf put on 149 for the third wicket with opener Mohammad Hafeez who plodded his way to his second Test hundred. Skipper Inzamam declared the innings after Shoaib Malik (10) and Abdul Razzaq (10) fell in quick succession after Yousuf's departure. The 32-year-old achieved the new mark in 11 Tests, the same number it took the West Indian great.

"I wasn't competing with Viv Richards, he is a great player -- it was only with God's help that I achieved this," Yousuf said, adding that he dedicated his innings to his family. "Richards and Lara are two of the greatest batsmen of this century and to be reckoned alongside the greats is a great satisfaction for me." Yousuf raised his bat and looked to the sky as Lara, who had pledged his side would try to protect his legendary predecessor's record, applauded the Pakistani and went to congratulate him at the end of the over. "It is excellent, to score nine hundreds in a year and near 1,800 runs in a year," Lara said. "Yousuf deserves all the credit. His run of form is tremendous, but I didn't like the last 600 he scored this season."

Lara added he believed his team could still save the match. "Our minds will not be on the total, but to bat out the day."

Noon Deadline For Fiji

FIJI'S military commander Frank Bainimarama has threatened to overthrow the Government at noon today after declaring that concessions offered by the Prime Minister were not good enough. Hours after the Prime Minister appeared to almost completely surrender to Commodore Bainimarama's demands, the renegade military chief declared he was still not satisfied.

"We have given the Government until tomorrow afternoon to answer to our demands," he told a media conference in the capital, Suva, late yesterday. "If by tomorrow afternoon they have not answered to our demands, then we will take as given that we have been endorsed to do the cleaning up campaign in Fiji. "We hope this is going to be a peaceful transition, because we don't expect any confrontation nor do we expect any opposition. We will look after everybody in Fiji."

The threat sent residents in Suva streaming into supermarkets to stockpile supplies, and cash machines were beginning to run dry. It came two hours after Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase promised measures he hoped would avert Fiji's fourth coup in 20 years. In a televised address to the nation, Mr Qarase said he was willing to move on some of the military's demands. Three contentious bills the military demanded be scrapped — including one that would grant amnesty to those involved in Fiji's 2000 coup — would be reviewed, Mr Qarase said. Commodore Bainimarama said he wanted the bills dropped straight away and that the other concessions Mr Qarase had made were not good enough. He said the Government had not "cleaned itself up" and that if it did not do it, "we will do it for them". Commodore Bainimarama has been at odds with the Qarase Government for months and has survived an attempt by Mr Qarase to remove him from office while he was overseas. He was facing possible charges of sedition for threatening earlier this year to overthrow the Government.

On Wednesday Mr Qarase made a rushed trip to New Zealand to speak to Commodore Bainimarama, and later proclaimed the meeting had been a success. But yesterday Commodore Bainimarama described the meeting as "a failure". He said he was aware of a possibility of foreign troops intervening in his country's affairs and that his troops were prepared for it.

10 iPODs Must Be Given Away !

It's your chance to win a brand new iPod!


Yes! I Want My iPod NOW

All you have to do is watch a quick, 3-minute video all the way through and fill out the short, 2-question form at the end. The video is about my friend Marlon Sanders' new Web Design Dashboard. It's a killer product that's just what the doctor ordered if you need to design web sites, sales pages, mini sites, blog graphics, affiliate pre-sell pages, or landing pages.So if you're spending loads of dough on web site templates, freelance designers, and expensive software, you definitely want to watch the video (and of course, if you want a chance to win a brand new iPod!).

Check it out...

Click Here To Win an iPod!

It'll only take 3 minutes!

VISTA Launch

MICROSOFT has begun its biggest product launch in more than a decade, releasing new versions of its flagship software to the strains of Fat Boy Slim. But analysts greeted yesterday's launch with muted applause, predicting slow take-up in an increasingly competitive and overloaded market.

The software giant announced the availability to business customers of Windows Vista, the long-delayed update to its core operating system, and the 2007 edition of its Office suite of tools such as Word and Excel. It claims this is the company's biggest simultaneous software launch since Windows 95, which set sail in 1995 to the Rolling Stones' Start Me Up. Companies that have been testing pre-release versions of the software focused their praise at yesterday's launch almost exclusively on SharePoint, a part of the Office suite that streamlines the sharing of data and business information.

The Windows Vista team demonstrated advances in security and desktop search at the launch. Vista includes the option to encrypt hard drives and disable removable USB drives to prevent data and intellectual property being lost or stolen. Vista and the main Office components have had major user interface overhauls, in response to increasing bewilderment about navigating the software.When users were asked what new functions they wanted in Office, 85 per cent named a function that was already there but they hadn't found, said Microsoft Office business group director Tony Wilkinson.

But research company Gartner has predicted a relatively slow take-up of the new operating system, saying that by the end of next year fewer than 10 per cent of PCs will run Vista — and it will not reach a majority of the PC base until 2009.

Nicole Kidman Is No.1

For the first time, Nicole Kidman has knocked Julia Roberts off the top spot, and taken the title of Hollywood's highest-paid actress.It has been a curious year for Kidman. In her two films released in 2006, she has played a photographer and provided the voice of a penguin. She married country singer Keith Urban, who checked into rehab a few months after the wedding. She was the subject of a biography, by well-known film writer David Thomson, that contained an obsessive degree of appreciation. But this year she takes out the title as the prime female earner, with an estimated $US17 million ($A21.6 million) per film, a sum that could probably get half a dozen Australian features off the ground.

The title is bestowed courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, which for the past five years has published lists of actress salaries. Roberts has always been top. But in 2006, Roberts has kept a low profile, only providing voices for animal life, Hova the ant in Ant Bully, and Charlotte the spider in Charlotte's Web. Kidman's estimated salary is much the same as it was in 2005. And Roberts still holds the record — $US20 million — for the highest-paid female star. But they all lag behind the $US25 million sums reportedly paid to male actors such as Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey. These pay packets are supplemented when stars are also able to negotiate highly profitable deals, including gaining a percentage of box office earnings. Kidman's career has been a carefully tended combination of Hollywood and independent roles. Arguably, her best work has been in smaller, offbeat movies. She may have an Oscar, for her performance as Virginia Woolf in The Hours in 2002, but many of her recent Hollywood films have not fared particularly well at the box office.One of the most successful big-budget movies is the current hit Happy Feet, George Miller's animation — soon for release in Australia — in which she voices a penguin called Norma Jean.

Kidman's career path is not exactly cluttered with blockbuster hits. In 1995, after she had spent several years in Hollywood, Gus Van Sant's To Die For gave her a breakthrough role as a murderously ambitious weather girl. She and her then husband, Tom Cruise, starred in Stanley Kubrick's last feature, Eyes Wide Shut, a film that seemed to be as much about the celebrity aura around it as the performances in it, although Kidman was an intriguing presence. She was memorable as a woman on the run in Lars von Trier's stylised Dogville, highly effective in Alejandro Amenabar's arthouse horror movie The Others, and very good in Jonathan Glazer's Birth, in which she played a woman who became convinced that her late husband was reincarnated as a 10-year-old boy. A project with cult Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai seems to have been shelved.

Another Presidential Candidate

Democrat Governer Tom Vilsack has announced his decision to run for the 2008 presidential elections.