pimblr.com

EU: the most peaceful region in the world
The Economist Intelligence Unit has compiled a ranking of the peacefulness of countries, measuring both domestic and international violence. The results are very favorable for the EU. How do you interpret this?
First of all, the European Union was designed to create stable peace in a continent that had gone through the worst wars of mankind, through a millennium. I think this map shows that the EU has perfectly served its goal. The EU is also one of the wealthiest regions of the world, and the idea that economic unity and prosperity leads to a stable peace is hard to refute.
Secondly, it is visible, that the countries outside the EU are more violent. Does it mean that the EU has reached its natural boundary? I do not think so. Have they plotted this map 65 years ago, the EU would look the worst in the world. I think that those countries which were given the possibility to join the EU and were given time to adopt its aquis turned more wealthy and peaceful. Those countries that are not included in the integration are exposed to economic and territorial rivalry.
I think the EU is a very well designed polity, and the process that leads to membership, from the Copenhagen criteria of democracy to the Maastricht criteria of economic responsibility has a good impact on the candidate countries. The balance of power between the EU, the nation state and the regions have led to a stable economic and social equilibrium.
I hope that people have many readings of this map. I think that this should reassure the people of Switzerland and Norway that this is a good club. (This two countries would make a particularly good enlargement round!) I feel that it is our responsibility to help Bulgaria. I also believe that the perspective of peaceful living should be lucrative enough for the people of Serbia, too.

agoravox.com

So here I am, running FSX on a 2.66 Ghz dual-core with 4 gigs of RAM and a stacked video card and the mother takes forever to load and when it does, is sometimes disinclined to stay loaded. Having gotten used to Autogen in FS2004, I have had to turn it off again, because it is the only way to preserve frame rates and as for running AI traffic, well forget it, brother, because AI does worse things to FSX than the pulling the plug out the back of the PC. The Autogen and the AI issues might get fixed with the DX10 pack, which has the potential to remove some of the polygon bottlenecks, but in the meantime I have to cross my fingers that the imminent release of Vista SP1 won’t do anything dreadful to my system and that still leaves me with load times long enough for things to do a little bit of evolution around me. Not only that, but I fear that the DX10 fix could turn out to be something of a two-edged sword, because more than a few addons have texture-loading problems when I run the preview, although this predominantly seems to affect products which were released early in the FSX cycle, before the SDKs came out, or at least, were well understood.
Despite this, I run FSX in preference to FS2004, which I have hardly touched since the new version of the sim was released. Why do I do this to myself when so many others have chosen to stay with FS2004? The short answer is that I am a reviewer and reviewers get what they get to review, which has mostly been FSX products and in the course of using them, I have developed a soft spot for FSX. But the real reason is more complicated than that — FSX has spirit and on top of that, I have been using Flight Simulator for so long now that I have come to respect Microsoft’s loyalty to it in a world where products come and go so fast that three year warranties are becoming meaningless. The first time I ever used Flight Simulator, I ran it on a Tandy TRS-80 — that’s a long, long time ago now. So from where I sit, FSX is just another chapter in an evolving story and like all long stories, some of the chapters have made better reading than others and the tale has had its good, bad and just plain average moments, but there has always been something to look forward to.

flightsim.com

Eleven years ago, sitting in a restaurant interviewing Derek Fatchett, the recently appointed minister for Cool Britannia, under a Damien Hirst painting while eating the new fangled polenta, it all seemed a bit of a joke.
Noel and Liam Gallagher may have been invited to Number 10, Kate Moss may have made it to the cover of Time magazine draped in the Union flag, but London could never become the capital of the world. It was too grungy, too parochial, you couldn’t even get a latte, certainly not a skinny, wet, almond flavoured one.
Yet, within a decade, London had done it. Not only did it open the Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern, St Pancras Station and the new Wembley Stadium, it became the globe’s financial centre, filling 97 per cent of Canary Wharf’s vast new space.
Perfectly situated, with America on the left and Asia on the right, a businessman could make calls to Shanghai or Singapore in the morning and San Francisco in the evening. Madonna was won over by Cadbury’s Creme Eggs, Gwyneth Paltrow announced that the dinner parties were better and Woody Allen started basing his films in Wimbledon.
Last weekend I was in New York and the comparison was stark. Nothing has improved in a decade, the restaurants are stuffier, the buildings shabbier; London meanwhile has transformed its food, fashion and financial labour market. It doesn’t come cheap, but those who relocated to Belgravia, Chelsea and Notting Hill in the last decade had money.
The Russians, Indians, Scandinavians and Greeks didn’t mind if it cost £40 rather than $14 for their wives to have a manicure or that the organic buffalo mozzarella cost £10 a ball. The schools were good, the houses double-fronted, they soon had Cipriani, Nobu and George, and most importantly the Government was smiling on them.

telegraph.co.uk

Staring down the sensual, sloping nose of the monstrous SLR, I can’t help but wonder if I’m dreaming and briefly consider pinching myself just to make sure. Instead, my left hand instinctively hits the Mercedes-Benz’s F1-inspired shift button on the underside of the steering wheel and the supercharged V8 barks to life. With a stretch of flawless, black tarmac before me and jagged chunks of hardened, ancient lava hugging the road on each side, I’m very much awake as I travel the coastline of Hawaii’s Big Island- awake and living the ultimate dream.
If you look at a car and see more than just a people/dog/grocery carrier; if you see contoured lines, modern design, superb engineering (or a serious lack thereof); if you catch your head snapping at the sound of a growling exhaust; and if exotic rides are your ultimate vehicular fetish, then listen up: This is guaranteed to get your motor going.
Ever wished you could do more than just drool from the sidelines at your favourite supercar?
Auto shows are great at showcasing exotic cars but, for a true auto enthusiast, standing behind a velvet rope just metres from a dream car isn’t good enough.
Imagine not only being able to get behind the wheel of your automotive crush, but actually being able to drive it on public roads. Here’s where World Class Driving comes in.
Touring the United States with a fleet of exotic cars in tow, a fleet that changes regularly to accommodate the latest and greatest in automotive models, this American company offers a program that lets its customers feel the thrill and rush of driving five amazing vehicles in one day. For about $2,000 U.S., you get access to more than $1 million worth of automobiles - and your vehicular fantasy can come true.

canada.com

BENICIA, CA–(Marketwire - March 19, 2008) - The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Soil Association Woodmark have certified the Cork Supply Group as meeting their high standards for providing sustainable cork products produced from responsibly managed forests.
“We were delighted to award FSC certification to the Cork Supply Group, as they provide an important link in the trading chain for FSC cork products,” said Vanessa Linforth, Manager of Woodmark’s Mediterranean Program. “Wine consumers are learning what a wonderful, renewable, natural product cork is, and that an FSC-certified stopper in their bottle represents a healthy, balanced Mediterranean eco-system that supports traditional livelihoods. We see FSC-certified cork as the only choice for eco-friendly wine consumers.”
“The wine industry has taken a leadership role in sustainable production practices,” said James Herwatt, CEO of Cork Supply USA. “As North America’s largest provider of premium natural cork wine stoppers, we’re helping wineries meet their sustainability goals when it comes to packaging by providing natural cork products that meet the strict requirements of FSC certification.”
The FSC, an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization, has established a globally recognized system of independent forest certification and product labeling to help consumers identify timber and products from responsibly managed woodlands. Over the past 13 years, over 90 million hectares of forest in more than 70 countries have been certified according to FSC standards. Today, several thousand products are produced using FSC-certified wood and carry the FSC trademark.
The FSC Principles and Criteria are the only internationally valid standards for responsible forest management where social, environmental and industry interests carry the same weight. FSC principles for forest stewardship include recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights, long-term economic viability, sustainable environmental impact and protection of wildlife. The FSC system is supported by numerous environmental organizations, including WWF, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, as well as major companies, trade unions and social groups worldwide.

marketwire.com

OK, let’s get one thing cleared up before we start the recap of the show…
YES, Joanne did bungle and let the pre-taping cat out of the bag last week. She said “Sunday” (the day she and the ladies actually taped their performances), then quickly attempted to cover it with “I mean, Wednesday” (referring to the day the show was broadcast.)
YES, as confirmed by my behind-the-scenes AI contact, the performance shows at this point in the competition ARE pre-taped. Currently, the boys are singing for their supper on Saturday, the girls on Sunday. Do I think some transparency of this fact would have been appreciated by the general populus before Joanne’s tongue trippage?
Of course. But then, I’m a big fan of the truthiness.
I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising, given the current number of contestants and the extreme amount of work to be done between shows: Picking songs, rehearsals, Vommercials, hair, make-up, photo shoots, interview packages, schooling for the young ‘uns, you name it. Oh yeah, they try to sleep a little too.
Does it take a little of the excitement away from Tuesday and Wednesday nights right now? I think so. And according to all the emails I have received from AI fans asking if the pre-taping rumor is true, they do too.

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