Jeff Dunham - Achmed the Dead Terrorist

I was alerted to this video and it was too good to ignore. I am therefore posting it online for your viewership!

Society and the young

Interesting post from Nestor Laiviera, a 23 year old University student in 4th year of reading for a Bachelor of Communications Degree. I think there is much truth about this. And how many times have we heard it? (U iz-zaghzagh ta' illum.....)

Defining the younger (and theoretically more enlightened) generation as ‘frivolous’ and ‘immature’ only ultimately belittles the society that creates them, and only serves to hinder the generations that follow.

This comes from a students' blog found online on The Times.

Down with gas

I have been suffering since Friday when a realised that something was wrong with my bowels. I started taking some pills and eat drier food. It seemed to be getting better but then on Tuesday, the pain and WC visits were too much to ignore. So I went to the doc who told me that I had gastric flu. Lovely. It is not easy to eat dry food, crackers, plain bread etc. especially if you are cooking yourself. Yes, my parents are away in Germany and so we have to do the cooking ourselves. I shall be posting some images of the good food that we prepared, thanks to my sister's photography of course.

My God is that real?

By late 2008, it will be the highest man-made free-standing structure in the world. Interesting to note that the proposed height is still a secret, though it is expected at 816m.

Have a look at the tower website and you shall get more impressed. Furthermore, wikipedia suggests that other competing high rises are in the pipeline; all are to be located in the Middle East

This should further confirm the rising status in the global arena of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Xmas lights at the cost of...?

Di-ve.com has just published the following:

Christmas street lightning gets discount
by Chris Galea, di-ve news

VALLETTA, Malta (di-ve news) -- November 26, 2007 -- 1225CET -- Enemalta Corporation has amended its scheme giving a discount to street lighting during the Christmas festivities.

The Corporation will be giving a 50 per cent discount on temporary services for the decoration of streets during the festivities, a scheme which is expected to cost Enemalta around Lm5,000.

Under its previous scheme, Enemalta used to give the first 50 units consumed for free, which effectively represented a reduction of less than Lm3 on the expense. This scheme had last year cost Enemalta less than Lm300.

The Corporation augured that that the contribution would help to further embellish the commercial centres during the festivities.

Xmas spirit apart, this is surely not the way forward to reduce energy consumption.

Some wise words

I think I shall call this the quote of the month:

Gli amici veri sono quelli che ti danno contro e ti fanno capire che stai sbagliando, non quelli che ti danno sempre ragione e ti dicono che la colpa e' sempre degli altri.

Translating to English, it should sound something like:

True friends are those who stand up and tell you that you are wrong, not those who always say that you are right and tell you that others are always to blame.

You might be asking who said this. The answer is Roberto Mancini.

He was speaking about Adriano and all his latest problems that have influencef his on-the-pitch performances.

Our latest baby...

The image below is the promo image found on many website of our latest baby. Yes, the Acer Extensa 5500, aka Baks, was purchased more than a month ago now. It is a shared ownership thingy between me and Baanisuu. Baks is doing its job surely well, ie making the best of mobility.
Price? circa Lm400 including case, Windows Home Premium and 2Gb RAM instead of 1Gb.
Seller? Scan Computers

Climate change slideshow

I have just added a tiny winy widget to this blog, thanks to the Blogger team of course. It is simple. This widget is a slide show. Pics can be your own or from an online archive (Flikr, Picasa). If you choose the latter, you have to insert a tag name that will be used to find images of your choice. Since I do not have many pics on Picasa, I decided to go for the term 'climate change'. What did you expect?

Science fiction? Science yes; fiction no

Have a look at the pictures below. I was amazed. It looks so surreal. More likely from a sci-fi blockbuster than a few metres (50m-175m) below the ground. Yet, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located in Switzerland, is about to open its doors next year. Purpose: particle accelerator and collider.




Wasn't I right? Amazing!

Eco-driving...interesting tips

Driving at 70mph rather than 85mph - a 40% fuel saving

5% fuel saving can accrue from consistently changing gear at the right time (2,500 revs in a petrol car)

Environmental advantages of taking the aggression (rapid acceleration, jerky gear changes) out of your driving and travelling smoothly and steadily

Every 45kg taken off the car can save 1% on fuel

The average eco driver, doing 12,000 miles a year, could be saving up to £273 a year on petrol

Don't bother slipping into neutral. A modern fuel-injected car coasting in neutral is basically idling in disguise and will consume more petrol than when it is in gear.

Good maintenance is at the heart of economical performance

Now how would you go about all this? Are you an eco-driver?

Source: The Guardian

Another one....

I have just got to know that the following application:

PA 00554/06
Construction of supermarket with adjacent carpark and sign.
Site at, Triq San Gwann, Safi

has been granted planning permission.

The recommendation by the Case Officer was for refusal. However, the DCC board felt that
DCC 126-01A/07 held on 6 November 2007 Approved in view that this development does not conflict with agriculture policy provides an essential service to the communities of the surrounding villages. Without adverse traffic impact. Prior to issue of permit architect to submit a landscaping scheme providing a row of trees along the southwest part of the site and other landscaping within the site.

The site is located opposite the new Karwija Boys Secondary, also ODZ, where people who pass there on a daily basis know that Triq San Gwann during school time is literary packed with cars parking on both sides of the road. It is so bad that at some points of the road two cars cannot pass easily. What's more is that buses use this road (Bus nos 32 and 34).

My reaction?

Thank you!!!

California fires

We have all heard on the devastating fires that ravaged many counties of California. Below is an interesting picture sequence of the event taken from a camera trap set up to study coyote behaviour in the area. Watch below:

At 0945, the wind picks up, and moving leaves and branches trigger the camera which takes a series of pictures, including this one at 1044.

At 0450 on 22 October a coyote runs by. It might have been fleeing the fires

The next shot, taken at 0900 speaks for itself

Just one minute later, at 0901, the fire has passed. A few shrubs continue to burn.

The camera keeps taking a picture a minute for 10 minutes until this one, at 0910. It shows just how thick the smoke was in the 0901 picture.

The camera doesn't fire again until the following day at 1112, when a coyote walks by.

Source: New Scientist

Antarctica - the final eden

Past the century mark

Yes, I did it! I managed to pass the 100 blogposts! I mean, I now that not many people are reading my blog, but wtf. I am neither making, nor loosing money with the blog. OK, maybe I am loosing my time. But anyway, happy 100 posts :-)

Il Genio

Wonder why Zlatan Ibrahimovic got the above nickname? See the vid below against CSKA last Wednesday.

For those who still to not believe!

This photo blogpost is for those of you who still believe that global warming is a myth:

Himalayas: Pictures showing the contrast between glaciers in 1968 (top) and 2007

Sea ice, polar bears' natural habitat, has been steadily receding, leaving their long-term future in doubt

Source: The Guardian

Another one by Mosquito!

Here you go folks, another goal by the pride of Malta: Michael Mifsud. His goal cancelled QPRs goal and led the way to a surprising away victory by Coventry: 1-2 the final score.

Stoke City vs Coventry City

Watch the match highlights below, of the latest game of CCFC where Michael Mifsud scored two goals. His second is a marvel! No wonder he was include in the team of the week.

The irony of it

Isn't it ironic that at Coconut Grove, Paceville, while the DJ spins tracks such from bands such as Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Korn, Ozzy as well as other contemporary metal, the TV screens show music videos by 50 Cent?

Cookin' at home

One of the pleasures in life without doubt is food. Normally my mum is the cook but every now and then, I get the chance to do something myself. Well, actually, it is 'we get a chance' because my cooking experiences always includes Baanisuu. This is one of the other things that both of us enjoy doing together. Here below is our last creation: a chicken-veg pie. The idea came from a Weight Watchers recipe but we amended and gave it our personal touch as you can see in the image below. Did we enjoy it? Yes we did!