Linkdump

A Fridge for REAL men
Army mutiny in Burma?
Spacecraft begins voyage to the asteroid belt
A robot riding a bicycle

All Hail Technoviking

Via Digg

Technoviking does not dance to the music, the music dances to Technoviking.

Update: The video was uploaded to Break.com less than a day ago and already it has had a staggering 1,300,000 views. "TechnoViking" certainly has turned into a bit of an Internet celebrity. This morning "technoviking" was at no.4 on Google Trends.

Update 2: Somebody's put Michael Jackson's "Beat It" on the video..




This is Sparta! (pic)

Russian schools to switch to Linux

Via Cnews

Russian OS is to be installed on every school computer in Russia by 2009. Furthermore, every pupil will get the opportunity to operate the applied software produced in Russia, Leonid Reiman, acting Minister of Communication stated at a press conference.

The Ministry of Communication Press Service explains the Ministry plans to install Russian OS and alternative program package in every Russian school. The dates to carry out tenders for OS development have not been announced yet, but the tenders are to be held in the near future, the Ministry of Communication informs.

“Software distributives, developed on the basis of Linux and tested within 2007-2008 might actually be installed in schools by 2009 end”, - Sergey Shalmanov, CNews Analytics Analyst believes.

Family Guy Star Wars

PHP : Outputting A to Z

for ($i="A";$i<="Z";$i++)

will output A to Z , but it will also output AA, AB, AC until it finishes with ZZ.

To just output A to Z do the following

for ($i="A";$i!="AA";$i++)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is astonishing - it's the Milky Way in the constellation of Scorpius. The clouds that you see aren't clouds of dust and gas - they are actually clouds of stars.

The "bin Laden" trade

Somebody is betting $900 million on the S&P crashing by Sept 21st. It's been dubbed the "bin Laden" trade.
Read more here
The Bin Laden trade
Dispelling the Bin Laden options trades

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Arrrrhhh... today is "Talk Like A Pirate Day".


Pirates are absolute divine beings according to Gospel of the Flying Spagetti Monster.


More info:
Talk Like A Pirate Day
Church of the Flying Spagetti Monster

SCO blames Linux for bankruptcy

Via Slashdot and Information Week

More on Groklaw

"With its cash reserves running out and its legal case against IBM Corp. unraveling, The SCO Group Inc. says there is doubt that it will remain afloat.

SCO made the statement in its most recent quarterly U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission statement, filed today. The company cited its recent motion for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as well as a recent court setback relating to its intellectual-property claims as reasons for worry."

Northern Rock shares plunge

In the UK there's currently a run on a bank - Northern Rock - with worried savers queueing to get their money out. Share trading in Northern Rock shares has been suspended.

"Worried savers have continued to flock to Northern Rock bank branches to withdraw their savings, following similar scenes over the weekend."

Northern Rock share trading suspended
BBC News
Northern Rock Shares plunge
Yahoo Finance Quotes

Update: Via the FT
The European Central Bank offered emergency credit facilities worth €139bn in a midweek auction which was heavily oversubsribed. According to FT Deutschland, 140 banks applied, including “some of the largest British banks” - Barclays among them.

Turning to the Bank of England, as Northern Rock did last night, has a high reputational risk, whereas turning to the ECB has, by and large, allowed UK banks to stay out of the headlines.

2007 Emmy winners

Here is the complete list
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series
Jeremy Piven - Entourage

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Terry O’Quinn - Lost

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
Jaime Pressly as Joy - My Name Is Earl

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Thomas Haden Church - Broken Trail

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
Katherine Heigl - Grey’s Anatomy

Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program
Late Night With Conan O’Brien

Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program
Rob Marshall - Tony Bennett: An American Classic

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Robert Duvall - Broken Trail

Outstanding Miniseries
Broken Trail

Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series
Alan Taylor - The Sopranos

Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series
David Chase - The Sopranos

Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Special
Tony Bennett: An American Classic

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Judi Davis - The Starter Wife

Outstanding Made For TV Movie
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Helen Mirren - Prime Suspect

Outstanding Directing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special
Philip Martin - Prime Suspect

Outstanding Writing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special
Frank Deasy - Prime Suspect

Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Television
Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, CurrentTV.com

Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program
Tony Bennett - Tony Bennett: An American Classic

Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series
Richard Shepard - Ugly Betty

Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series
Greg Daniels - The Office for “Gay Witch Hunt”

Outstanding Reality-competition Program
The Amazing Race

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Ricky Gervais - Extras

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
Sally Field - Brothers & Sisters

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
America Ferrera - Ugly Betty

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
James Spader - Boston Legal

Outstanding Comedy Series
30 Rock

Outstanding Drama Series
The Sopranos

Google News
Emmy Awards website
Wikipedia

Tropical Storm Ingrid

MIAMI (AFP) — Tropical Storm Ingrid emerged over the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, becoming the ninth named storm of the 2007 Atlantic season, the US National Hurricane Center said.

With winds of up to 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour, Ingrid was about 1,350 kilometers (840 miles) east of the Lesser Antilles, a chain of popular tourist islands, the center said.


Via AFP
National Hurricane Center
NowPublic

10 Totally Stupid Online Business Ideas that made someone rich

Good one this. Nichegeek has an article on 10 totally stupid online business ideas that made someone rich.

My favourite is LaserMonks - real Cistercian monks who will refill your laser cartridge. 2005 sales were $2.5 million.

Richard Stallman - If you want freedom don't follow LInus Torvalds

Full 4 page interview with Richard Stallman on freedom, Linux, Microsoft, software patents and Linus Torvalds.

Vaduz

Vaduz is the capital of the principality of Liechtenstein. The town, located along the Rhine, has about 5,248 inhabitants.


View Larger Map


Google Trends this morning show "vaduz" at number 3.

Linkorama

Bloxorz (web game)
15 Last FM power tweaks
The world's worst credit card
5000+ resources to do just about anything online
Cap Gemini to pitch Google Apps
ajaxWindows

Photonic thruster may shorten trip to Mars to a WEEK

Not sure about the actual physics behind this, but it is an interesting story nonetheless.
Thruster May Shorten Mars Trip

An amplified photon thruster that could potentially shorten the trip to Mars from six months to a week has reportedly attracted the attention of aerospace agencies and contractors.

Young Bae, founder of the Bae Institute in Tustin, Calif., first demonstrated his photonic laser thruster (PLT), which he built with off-the-shelf components, in December.

The demonstration produced a photon thrust of 35 µN and is scalable to achieve much greater thrust for future space missions, the institute said. Applications include highly precise satellite formation flying configurations for building large synthetic apertures in space for earth or space observation, precision contaminant-free spacecraft docking operations, and propelling spacecraft to unprecedented speeds -- faster than 100 km/sec.

“This is the tip of the iceberg," Bae said in a statement from the institute. "PLT has immense potential for the aerospace industry. For example, PLT-powered spacecraft could transit the 100 million km to Mars in less than a week.”

Britney Spears MTV Awards

Atrocious
"Out of shape, out of touch, Britney Spears opened the worse MTV Awards Show ever, an atrocious disaster show inspired by Timbaland that served as a big infomercial for the Palms Hotel. If this is the music business, no wonder albums aren’t selling; they don’t have a clue what they are doing!"

Britney Spears Kicks off MTV Awards
Digg - Britney Spears attempts comeback at MTV Awards
Britney Back from the brink - in a bra

New blog - Towns of America

I've started a new blog about the lesser known small towns of America. In Google Earth and Maps I've always been fascinated by the small towns of America that I've never heard of before - and there are quite a lot of them. Most Europeans would have heard of Kansas City or Tulsa, but very few , if any, would know about ,Cape Girardeau, Benton or Olney.

The format of the blog is a simple idea - pick out a relatively unknown town in America and post an embedded Google map of it, a Wiki link, links to photo galleries and any other links to websites about that town.

Formula One tracks on Google Maps

Formula 1 Grand Prix circuits Google Maps mashup


Hat tip: Googlemaps Mania

Other Google Earth/Maps links:
Google Earth Flight Simulator tips
Rachael Ray's US Travel mashup
Mendoza, Argentina crime map
UK Flight prices mashup
Discover popular user created maps

Nessun Dorma Lyrics

Luciano Pavarotti
October 12, 1935 – September 6, 2007
ITALIAN;
Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
Tu pure, o, Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza,
guardi le stelle
che fremono d'amore
e di speranza.

Ma il mio mistero e chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun sapra!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo diro
quando la luce splendera!

Ed il mio bacio sciogliera il silenzio
che ti fa mia!

(Il nome suo nessun sapra!...
e noi dovrem, ahime, morir!)

Dilegua, o notte!
Tramontate, stelle!
Tramontate, stelle!
All'alba vincero!
vincero, vincero!


ENGLISH
None must sleep! None must sleep!
And you, too, Princess,
in your cold room,
gaze at the stars
which tremble with love
and hope!

But my mystery is locked within me,
no-one shall know my name!
No, no, I shall say it as my mouth
meets yours when the dawn is breaking!

And my kiss will break the silence
which makes you mine!

(No-one shall know his name,
and we, alas, shall die!)

Vanish, o night!
Fade, stars!
At dawn I shall win

Pavarotti , in his own words:
"Pensho che una vita per la musica sia una vita spesa bene ed e a questo che mi son dedicato"

"I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent and this is what I have devoted my life to"

Ubuntu Feisty - sound problems

A bunch of links regarding sound problems with the STAC9200 chipset on Ubuntu Feisty

Launchpad Bug 117246
No sound - Ubuntu Forums
No sound with hda nvidia and sigmatel stac 9200
Comprehensive sound problems guide
Hda Intel Sound HOWTO
Fedora 6 - No sound on Sigmatel - Gateway laptop
ALSA dmix setup
Envy - nvidia driver download python script

Vanessa Hudgens Pictures

This is another pure linkbait experiment after seeing this morning's Google trends. No I don't have them, but you could have a look around
this Google Trends page.

Google Reader adds Search

Google Reader now has a search facility.
Via Matt Cutts