Monday, June 26th 2006 seemed like a normal day to a lot of people in our little country. Yes, all hopes of winning that elusive World Cup were crushed the evening before after Holland lost to Portugal 1-0. So the sea of orange supporters won’t be flocking towards the stadiums in Germany any more. Yet again Holland remained the, what BBC commentator (and former England striker) Gary Lineker called, “best team never to win a world cup”. For most of us, realization hit that the world goes on and it’s time to get back to your regular lives. Take down those Orange flags from your house, put that orange jersey in your closet and move on.
But not for all. I came home after work and saw my neighbor standing on his ladder, taking down his orange decorations. He looked grim and beaten. This was a guy that only a few days ago proclaimed that “We might not play that well, but since surviving the “Group of death” we’ll go to the final for sure!”. And only weeks before the World Cup he stated that Holland was the favorite to win it all because of the way they played in qualifying. He was so sure of himself. He was so cocky about it in a way that it was annoying. Even irritating. Now he was anything but sure.
“That was a tough loss last night huh?” I said when I walked by. He came down the ladder and we struck up a conversation where we talked about the game. He told what he thought went wrong in the game. What shouldn’t have gone wrong. What should’ve happened. “We” shouldn’t have lost. Not to Portugal. Not to a team he deemed unworthy. Not like this. He said that it was a bad loss. Maybe he shouldn’t be watching the squad anymore. Holland would never win a big tournament again. For all kinds of reasons.
I then said “Maybe in 2 years, those young players will be more mature and more ready. Then that European Championship is ours to lose.” And I saw the return of a little glimmer in his eye.
A glimmer of hope…
In the US (not so common in liberal Europe) employees are given random drug tests to see if they meet up with anti-drugs requirements. However you might want to experiment some night with a new party drug or just go out bonkers on a drinking binge with your friends. There might be a little problem next morning when they want to test you.
That particular problem can now be solved. Affordable Urine Samples guarantees you can pass drug screenings with their line of products. The Whizzinator (what’s in a name) is a nice addition for any man.
According to the site they “..are confident that with our kits maintaining your privacy or ensuring the accuracy of a drug test can be done easily and affordably”. But what happens if they screw up somehow. Just imagine this conversation: “Hey there Jim. I’m happy to announce 2 great pieces of news. One, you’re test came out fine: you’re clean. Second, congratulations, you’re pregnant…..”
Original link by Kottke
According to the BSA software companies lose over 30 billion dollar of revenue (although some have some reservations over that particular number) because of software piracy. And over the years there have been numerous attempts to fight this criminal activity with different levels of success.
Now Microsoft comes with a new campaign which takes a somewhat different approach. Dressed up as a CD containing software with the necessary keys, when booted up it will give the Windows “Blue screen of death” and then will display a message saying that the user is lucky that it didn’t really make the system crash.
A little computer geek humor in this is the fact that Microsoft takes one of its OS problems and implies that when using the genuine product this will not happen. Anyone ever using a windows machine knows this can happen whether you’re using the legal software or not. But that’s a bit besides the point and it’s the message that counts.
But if this new approach will work remains to be seen. The fact of the matter is that this is a problem that is just deeper then people using unlicensed software. For instance when buying a new computer from say Dell with an OEM license for Microsoft, you don’t get an original Microsoft CD but a restore CD from Dell. So when you have a problem with your PC, the only option you have is using that particular CD which restores your entire PC. Not only you’ll run the risk of losing data because it overwrites the harddisk but you’ll get that pre-installed Dell software back you probably erased in the first place. So if someone offers you a copied CD with just the OS it’s much more convenient and easy to fix your problem. Using that CD is using software that is pirated. But that has nothing to do with denying software companies their money (you’ve paid for the license when purchasing the PC) but all with common sense.
Microsoft and other software companies have to take a long and hard look at how they want their software to be distributed and sold, not only so that they can make a nice profit out of it, but also to suit the need of the consumers and make it less desirable to resort to using pirated software.
Original link by Digg
People react differently to divorces. Some get complete make-overs where they buy new clothes, get a new hairdo, maybe even a new convertible to mark the change in their lives. Others feel relieved and throw themselves into the world of singles and start dating their brains out. Then there are those who turn into a sobbing heap and sometimes start drinking or do drugs to numb the pain of the split. Many different reactions.
But maybe not as extreme as this guy who, after his wife left him for another man, decided to rebuild his room into a replica of the starship Enterprise.
Not the most common reaction one could say.
Original link by Digg
