Officials confirm that all online data has been lost after the Internet crashed and was forced to restart. The global world is forced to go back to pen and paper, using owls for communication and trade with stone currency until problem is fixed. Time frame until problem is solved — indefinite.
Extra stationery supplies and owls can be purchased here or go to your nearest UPS or FEDEX outlet to purchase an owl. Stones can be traded and purchased with water or/and food here. The current currency rate is: 1 stone = 1 cheeseburger, fries and large drink.
Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash
I love the Simpsons — can’t wait to see the movie. Here is how J, me and Miles will look in a Simpsons cartoon. Thanks to Kristarella for the Simpsonize Me link.
I have resisted the temptation of buying an Apple iPhone. Well, J won’t let me get one anyway but nevertheless I think can be proud of myself as I would never have lasted this long in my younger days.
I do have to go to the AT&T shop to have a look at one though. The advertisements on TV certainly makes it look very impressive indeed, especially the feature where the screen changes from a vertical to horizontal configuration when you move the iPhone sideways. As impressive as it is, I am not sure whether I do like the idea of having an iPod and phone combined, I may be irritated everytime the phone rings while I am listening to music or when I am surfing the web.
Must keep resisting … must be strong … 
My sister-in-law and her family did something extra special this summer. She and her family raised money for her sponsored child (as part of the Children’s International program) and went to visit her in Mexico (Guadalajara).
For those of you who don’t know what Children’s International is, it is a non-profit organization tailored towards uniting underprivileged kids with those who want to sponsor them.
At Children International, in our efforts to fight poverty, we unite sponsors with children around the world – bringing different nations and cultures together.
The photos she showed us of her sponsored child’s house and their living conditions just reminds us of how lucky we are to have a simple comforts in life like a proper house, clothes, electricity, water, food and transportation … things we all take for granted. It was to an extent that they didn’t have electricity or water and literally just stayed within 4 walls with a wooden door without proper toilets, sewage systems and showers. The village communities had a main area to get water each day and they had to fill their buckets up everyday. There were no proper roads into the housing shelters too and everyone had to walk through stone rubbles and overgrowth. (see picture below — those buildings on both sides of the stone rubble are actually houses!)
My sister-in-law and family certainly made their sponsored child and her brother happy by taking them out to McDonald’s for lunch. With that and the many toys and clothes given by them and friends, they certainly had the summer of their lives. Their smiles that were caught on camera were priceless.
I tip my hat to Children’s International too for building a nice community building for the sponsored kids with a playground, dental facilities, computer/ teaching rooms and a library. Donations collected also went towards buying more books for their community library. And thanks to the many Mexican social workers for volunteering to take care of more than 1000 kids at a time and Microsoft for donating brand new computers for them to use.
I saw the video footage my sister-in-law took and it just breaks my heart to see those adorable kids and their families live in such a state. You just can’t imagine it is for real until you see it. We are so very lucky — the next time I gripe and complain about not having something, I’ll just have to think about the many thousands of kids and their families out there that are worse off than me and have literally nothing.
As continued from yesterday…
How well do you know your beers? Can you match the labels to their brands?
Put your mouse over the black highlight below to reveal the answers.
10. Heineken 11. George Killian’s Irish Red 12. Miller High Life 13. Molson Canadian 14. Moosehead 15. Murphy’s Irish Stout 16. Newscastle Brown Ale 17. Olde English 800 18. Rolling Rock 19. Sierra Nevada Pale 20. Stag
Source: Reagan Branham, St. Louis Post Dispatch
How well do you know your beers? Can you match the labels to their brands?
Sorry for the bad quality image as it was scanned.
Tune in tomorrow for Beer Buzz Part 2.
Put your mouse over the black highlight below to reveal the answers.
1. Bass Pale Ale 2. Bavaria 3. Becks 4. Budweiser 5. Corona Extra 6. Fosters 7. Fullers London Pride 8. Guinness Extra Stout 9. Harp
Source: Reagan Branham, St. Louis Post Dispatch
This sign in a public bathroom says it all. I just hate using public bathrooms as some people just do not have good hygiene and manners to clean up after themselves. They should add to the sign to remind those people to wash their hands before exiting the bathroom too!
My fellow blogger friend Yoshi at Hello! Yoshi is participating in this years Blogathon 2007. I actually thought of doing it but had already made prior plans for the weekend — maybe I’ll do it next year.
On the 28th of July, Yoshi will be blogging every half hour for 24 hours straight starting at 6 am, PST and will be blogging for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
So why don’t you sponsor him in his efforts and make him work for the money while donating to a good cause. There will also be random drawings for all sponsors where some lucky winners will win gift certificates from Amazon.com or ThinkGeek and 1 GB memory sticks.
More details are in his blog post here.
Good luck Yoshi!
Picture this…
You are an owner of a dry cleaning store. Somehow one of your customer’s suit jacket/pants gets lost by mistake. You offer a refund of the dry cleaning bill ($10) and the cost for a new suit. The customer refuses, and sometime later, goes to court to sue for $67 million to cover “mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort” and a falsely advertised “Satisfaction Guarantee” promise.
Ridiculous, isn’t it?
Well, this is the type of case that makes one say… “It only happens in America”. And it did really happen to Korean immigrants Jin and Soo Chung and their son, who own Custom Cleaners and two other dry cleaning shops in the Fort Lincoln section of Washington, D.C. The person suing them is Roy Pearson, a local judge in the Washington, D.C area.
Did I mention that the Mr. Pearson also wants 10 years of weekend car rentals to transport his pants to another store.
“People in America are now scared of each other,” legal expert Philip Howard told ABC News’ Law & Justice Unit. “That’s why teachers won’t put an arm around a crying child, and doctors order unnecessary tests, and ministers won’t meet with parishioners. It’s a distrust of justice and it’s changing our culture.”
This case had been going on for 2 years and the poor Koreans had to pay extensive legal costs and were forced to close their stores. It’s a case of legal bullying and utter waste of tax payers’ dollars. This civil case should not even have been allowed to go this far as it should have been thrown out by the mere absurd nature — something is really wrong with our legal system!
It also shows how much compassion and heart this judge has. A judge should set a good example by trying to prevent legal suits of this nature instead of encouraging them. His state of mind as a legal figure is definitely in question.
If these are the type of legal figures chosen to judge our public cases justly and without biasness, then I would say that our legal system is in shambles and in need of a big shakeup. It is already considered bad, frivolous and unjust… the very American system and constitution of our forefathers can might as well be torn up. We might as well not have a legal court system and resort to judging like cavemen.
Throughout the whole experience, Mr. and Mrs. Chung have since suffered huge financial and mental anguish. With their disenchantment in the legal system, they are now considering moving back to Seoul as their lives have been destroyed by this ordeal.
This story does have a happy ending though. The Koreans won their case last month when the residing court judge ruled in their favor. They are now contemplating suing Mr. Pearson for all the legal fees they have incurred during the 2 years. With this ridiculous act of legal bullying and abuse of power from a man in his position, Judge Pearson may face more than just that — he may not be reappointed within the local courts when his 10 year contract is up soon.
I still can’t comprehend how the $67 million and the 10 years worth of weekend rental figures came about within this lawsuit.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
I believe in Karma. No matter what, everything you do in life will eventually come full circle. To wreck someone’s life and take away their livelihood as Judge Pearson did is just not right and sinful. He may have something coming to him (sometime in his lifetime) if it has not already done so.
Mr. and Mrs. Chung, on behalf of the American people, I am embarrassed at our legal system and deeply apologize for how the system has betrayed you. I would like to wish you and your family the best and good luck for the future (whatever it may be).
The Discovery Channel has some pretty interesting shows. Several days ago, I happened to catch the popular Man Vs. Wild TV series (they were running an all day marathon of the documentary).
The documentary is about Bear Grylls, an adventurer who served three years with the Special Air Service, a special forces unit of the British arm, who strands himself in remote locations across the world to demonstrate localized survival techniques.
Eating grubs, slugs, turtles, baby crocodiles, dead animals, making beds out of the tropical plants, special ways to find your bearing in a remote place, pointing special trees/plants that make natural antiseptics are some of the things the show documents. He certainly makes me wonder how I would survive if I was stranded in a remote location. Although there is always a question of how much of this is played out and how much is not, I tend to give it the benefit of the doubt as it is much more of a documentary styled program than a fake reality show (in the Survivor mold). I do have to wonder how in the world the cameraman runs about chasing after Bear Grylls and still be safe enough to get excellent film footage. The camera angles and closeness the cameraman manages to capture is unreal.
It is interesting to hear what he said when asked what he would take with him if he was ever stranded in a remote location.
“Flint and striker, so I can light a fire however tough it gets — lifts my spirit always and has often saved my bacon! My Christian faith: high mountains and my time in the military taught me that it takes a proud man to say he needs nothing, and I need my faith. And, finally, a laminated picture of my family tucked inside my shoe.”
For me, I’ll probably settle with a knife, lighter and a picture of my family too. Fire lets me cook things and keep away animals and insects, the knife to cut through stuff or cut up food. The picture of my family could turn out to be the most important part of the surviving as it gives you hope. Hope and faith gives you the will to fight on and survive.
I believe we can also learn a little from Bear on his persistence to overcome difficult situations. He says, “it is OK to be scared — what matters is keeping going, hour after hour, day after day, night after night… the difficult journey is ultimately about how much you want it and how much cold and discomfort you can put up with.”
Coming from a man that broke his back in three places and several years later overcame the odds to become the youngest British climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest and come down alive, those are pretty powerful words to live by. Certainly a born survivor.
I would like to think that we have a little of Bear Grylls in all of us.
What would you take (if you were stranded in a remote place)?
