Saturday, January 20, 2007
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Most expensive coffee
The world's most expensive coffee is the Kope Luwak coffee or (Civet Coffee). Recently, on ABC's NEWS money section, the price quoted for a cup of Kope Luwak coffee was $10 (2007). It's expensive because of limited supply primarily due to symbiotic nature of its manufacturing process. I think yo u can call it symbiotic because you need a palm civet (found in Southeast Asian country) to finish off the coffee beans. On
USA Today had an article about kope luwak click here
Forbes list of the most expensive coffee click here
Where to buy Kope Luwak Coffee read this discussion board
Friday, January 12, 2007
What a president really want to say if given a chance
In 25 years of interviews with his hometown paper that could only be released upon his death, former President Ford once called Jimmy Carter a "disaster" who ranked alongside Warren Harding, and said Ronald Reagan received far too much credit for ending the Cold War.
"It makes me very irritated when Reagan's people pound their chests and say that because we had this big military buildup, the Kremlin collapsed," Ford told The Grand Rapids Press.
Ford contended his own negotiation of the Helsinki accords on human rights did more to win the Cold War than Reagan's military buildup.
The best president of his lifetime, Ford said, was a more moderate Republican: Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Harry Truman "would get very high marks" for his handling of foreign crises, Ford said. He also praised Richard Nixon as a foreign policy master, despite the Watergate scandal that drove him from office.
Ford considered John F. Kennedy overrated and Bill Clinton average. He admired George H.W. Bush's handling of the Persian Gulf War and had mixed opinions of Carter, who defeated Ford in 1976.
In 1981, Ford said: "I think Jimmy Carter would be very close to Warren G. Harding. I feel very strongly that Jimmy Carter was a disaster, particularly domestically and economically. I have said more than once that he was certainly the poorest president in my lifetime."
But two years later, he praised Carter's performance on the Panama Canal treaty, China and the Middle East. And in 1998, he said Carter "will be looked on as a better president than some comments we hear today."
"He was a very decent, fine individual," Ford told the paper. "There were no major mistakes. There just weren't a lot of exciting results."
Ford's gave the interviews on the condition that his remarks be withheld until after his death.
According to the newspaper, Ford declined to rate George W. Bush, saying he did not know him well enough.
Ford said Reagan, who challenged him unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in 1976, was "a great spokesman for attractive political objectives" such as a balanced budget and defeating communism, "but when it came to implementation, his record never matched his words."
Reagan was "probably the least well-informed on the details of running the government of any president I knew," Ford said. In a separate interview, he said Reagan "was just a poor manager, and you can't be president and do a good job unless you manage."
Under the 1975 Helsinki accords signed by Ford, the United States recognized borders in Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe in exchange for the Soviets' pledge to respect basic human rights.
Ford said other key factors that won the Cold War were the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Europe after World War II and the establishment of NATO.
"When you put peace, prosperity and human rights against poverty, a massive unsuccessful military program and a lack of human rights, communism was bound to collapse," he said. "No president, no Democrat or Republican, can claim credit for those programs. I'll tell you who deserves the credit — the American people."
Don't lick a EURO banknote
A currency dealer displays euro banknotes in 2002. Irish researchers found traces of cocaine on every single banknote contained in a random sample tested in a study of drug contamination of currency, Dublin City University (DCU) has said, not wonder they need vacations
Comet McNaught
The Comet McNaught steaks across the sky in Barrow, Alaska, Monday Jan. 8, 2007. The comet, discovered last year by Australian astronomer R.H. McNaught, is expected to remain visible in the Northern Hemisphere, conditions permitting, through Friday.
NASA astronomer Tony Phillips says Comet McNaught is the brightest comet visible from Earth in 30 years. It is six times brighter than Hale-Bopp in 1997, and 100 times brighter than Halley's Comet when it appeared in 1986, Phillips told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Apple: iPhone is here
The Apple phones, which will operate exclusively on AT&T Inc.'s Cingular Wireless network,
will start shipping in June. A 4-gigabyte model will cost $499, while an 8-gigabyte iPhone will be $599. While wireless carriers typically offer discounts and rebates on new devices when they agree to sign a two-year service contact, Cingular said it was unclear whether this would be the case with the iPhone.Cingular declined to comment on its financial arrangement with Apple.
IPhone is less than a half-inch thin -- less than almost any phone on the market today. It comes with a 2-megapixel digital camera built into the back, as well as a slot for headphones and a SIM card.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Apple Cell Phone , iTalk, i_blank, iVoIP, Google Phone
Apple buzz -- New Cellphone? Here is a collection of the possible design feature of this elusive device.
First Pictures
And advertisement for the device
| Spec commercial for a new cell phone from Apple by award winning filmmaker Christopher DeSantis with design by Gregory DeSantis. | |
And, a case for Apple VOIP device rather than Cellphone
The cell phone market is a mature market that is already saturated with products of every shape and kind. A cell phone exists for almost every need. No speculator yet has offered anything concrete as to features or services an Apple phone will offer that make it unique.
To read more go to www.aaronadams.net
And Finally, google is comming up with its own cell phone gphone. Read more in this article from David Smith, technology correspondent of The Observe .
Which Vitamins Help, Harm? from ABC News
For long I suspected Vitamin Supplements were kind of risky esp. the ones that weren't water solvable. (Key here is Additional Supplements) But consult your doctor and understand the daily dosage requirement for each supplements you are taking before you stop and add more. Here is an article from ABC NEWS that speaks about
Daily Dose: Which Vitamins Help, Harm?
They May Be Big Business, But Not All Supplements Will Make You Healthier
Dr. TIM JOHNSON
May 1, 2006 — - It's become a daily ritual -- taking pills to supplement the vitamins, minerals and enzymes in your diet.
Americans spend nearly $9 billon every year on vitamin and mineral supplements in the belief that they can help prevent disease and improve health.
No one questions the value of a daily multivitamin, and yet some experts say additional supplements are unnecessary, and in some cases may be dangerous.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Provocation: Why Women Aren't Funny
What makes the female so much deadlier than the male? With assists from Fran Lebowitz, Nora Ephron, and a recent Stanford-medical-school study, the author investigates the reasons for the humor gap.
by Christopher Hitchens January 2007
Be your gender what it may, you will certainly have heard the following from a female friend who is enumerating the charms of a new (male) squeeze: "He's really quite cute, and he's kind to my friends, and he knows all kinds of stuff, and he's so funny … " (If you yourself are a guy, and you know the man in question, you will often have said to yourself, "Funny? He wouldn't know a joke if it came served on a bed of lettuce with sauce béarnaise.") However, there is something that you absolutely never hear from a male friend who is hymning his latest (female) love interest: "She's a real honey, has a life of her own … [interlude for attributes that are none of your business] … and, man, does she ever make 'em laugh." Now, why is this? Why is it the case?, I mean. Why are women, who have the whole male world at their mercy, not funny? Please do not pretend not to know what I am talking about.
To read more got to VF