One note say's it all

Three-year-old buys pink convertible on eBay

Jack Neal briefly became the proud owner of a pink convertible car after he managed to buy it for 9,000 pounds on the Internet despite being only three years old.

Jack's mother told the BBC she had left her password for the eBay auction site in her computer and her son used the "buy it now" option to complete the purchase.

"Jack's a whiz on the PC and just pressed all the right buttons," Rachel Neal said.
The seller of the second-hand car, a dealer from Worcestershire, was amused by the bid and agreed not to force the sale through.

"Luckily he saw the funny side and said he would re-advertise," Neal said.

Source Reuters

Dozens of new species found in underwater wonderland

It never stops to amaze me that although we are roaming the earth for all these years, we still find new places & animals. Just like Souki will let you experience in your own neighbourhood.

"'Mind-blowing' discovery off coast of Papua hailed as greater even than the Barrier Reef.

Dozens of exotic new fish and corals have been discovered in a spectacular Indonesian seascape which scientists have hailed as a "species factory" - possibly the richest marine environment in the world.
The barely-explored Bird's Head Seascape, off the province of Papua, is "mind-blowing" and "unparalleled" in terms of the number and variety of species that have been logged there, scientists say. Further expeditions are expected to discover dozens more fish and corals.
Among more than 50 creatures discovered in two recent explorations by scientists from Conservation International (CI) are two new epaulette sharks, one of which appears to "walk" on its fins, several types of "flasher' wrasse and many other multicoloured reef fish, new types of mantis shrimp and around 20 new reef-building corals. A total of more than 1,200 species of fish and almost 600 species of coral were recorded, three quarters of the world's total.
Although investigated in the 1880s by explorers including the great Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace - who described it as "one of the most singular and picturesque landscapes I've ever seen'' - the Bird's Head area was largely ignored by modern scientific expeditions until this century.
Dr Mark Erdmann, who led the two expeditions, said: "These reefs are species factories. This region is simply mind-blowing in terms of its diversity. For our surveys to uncover over 50 new species of coral, fish, and mantis shrimp in less than six weeks is unheard of in this day and age. From the perspective of marine - and especially coral reef - bio-diversity, it is unparalleled for an area of this size.''
"Compared to the Great Barrier Reef, the Bird's Head has roughly 50 per cent more reef-building coral species - 600 as opposed to 405 - in an area with approximately one-tenth the size," Dr Erdmann said. "Although the GBR has slightly more recorded species of reef fish, 1,464 compared with 1,233 in the Bird's Head, it is important to note that the Bird's Head has received a fraction of the scientific attention as the GBR, and there are undoubtedly many more discoveries to be made there.''
The Bird's Head had 10 times the number of reef building coral species as the Caribbean Sea, which is 20 times bigger, he said. During the expeditions, scientists twice broke world records for the number of species found at single sites - 330 species of reef fish from an area called Fak-Fak.
The area also includes the largest nesting area for Pacific leatherback turtles and migratory populations of sperm and Bryde's whales, orcas and several dolphin species.
CI is calling for urgent action to preserve the area from destructive activities such as bomb and cyanide fishing as well as the intensification of commercial fisheries. The seascape is also under threat from mining and timber operations in coastal areas which could result sediments being washed into the sea. Only a tenth of the area is currently protected. Fortunately, strong currents and cool water, among other factors, will, scientists believe, help the reefs resist the "coral bleaching", caused by climate change, which has damaged many other reefs around the world.
The Bird's Head peninsular and its 2,500 offshore islands and submerged reefs lie off the western half of New Guinea. The coastline is extraordinarily diverse, with deeply forested steep inclines and mangrove swamps. Some shallow reefs are inland, bathed in river waters while others are exposed to Pacific waves.
The area lies at the centre of the "Coral Triangle" of the Pacific, which encompasses the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and which scientists believe functions as a "centre of origin" for much of the species diversity of that region of the world, actively exporting species outwards.
The discoveries of the Bird's Head Seascape come in the wake of an expedition last year to Papua's isolated Foja Mountains, several hundred kilometres to the south, where scientists found what they described as a "lost world" containing new species of birds, butterflies, frogs and other wildlife and confirm the international importance of the region.
Scientists are still debating the reasons behind the region's biodiversity. Dr Erdmann said one reason was that, over time, some deep sea basins - such as Cenderwasih Bay, a large lagoon-like area in the north of the region - had been closed by geological movements, which allowed new species to develop through natural selection and genetic drift. When the bays were reopened by rising sea levels or further geological movements, the species dispersed.
Dozens of exotic new fish and corals have been discovered in a spectacular Indonesian seascape which scientists have hailed as a "species factory" - possibly the richest marine environment in the world.
The barely-explored Bird's Head Seascape, off the province of Papua, is "mind-blowing" and "unparalleled" in terms of the number and variety of species that have been logged there, scientists say. Further expeditions are expected to discover dozens more fish and corals.
Among more than 50 creatures discovered in two recent explorations by scientists from Conservation International (CI) are two new epaulette sharks, one of which appears to "walk" on its fins, several types of "flasher' wrasse and many other multicoloured reef fish, new types of mantis shrimp and around 20 new reef-building corals. A total of more than 1,200 species of fish and almost 600 species of coral were recorded, three quarters of the world's total.
Although investigated in the 1880s by explorers including the great Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace - who described it as "one of the most singular and picturesque landscapes I've ever seen'' - the Bird's Head area was largely ignored by modern scientific expeditions until this century.
Dr Mark Erdmann, who led the two expeditions, said: "These reefs are species factories. This region is simply mind-blowing in terms of its diversity. For our surveys to uncover over 50 new species of coral, fish, and mantis shrimp in less than six weeks is unheard of in this day and age. From the perspective of marine - and especially coral reef - bio-diversity, it is unparalleled for an area of this size.''
"Compared to the Great Barrier Reef, the Bird's Head has roughly 50 per cent more reef-building coral species - 600 as opposed to 405 - in an area with approximately one-tenth the size," Dr Erdmann said. "Although the GBR has slightly more recorded species of reef fish, 1,464 compared with 1,233 in the Bird's Head, it is important to note that the Bird's Head has received a fraction of the scientific attention as the GBR, and there are undoubtedly many more discoveries to be made there.''
The Bird's Head had 10 times the number of reef building coral species as the Caribbean Sea, which is 20 times bigger, he said. During the expeditions, scientists twice broke world records for the number of species found at single sites - 330 species of reef fish from an area called Fak-Fak.
The area also includes the largest nesting area for Pacific leatherback turtles and migratory populations of sperm and Bryde's whales, orcas and several dolphin species.
CI is calling for urgent action to preserve the area from destructive activities such as bomb and cyanide fishing as well as the intensification of commercial fisheries. The seascape is also under threat from mining and timber operations in coastal areas which could result sediments being washed into the sea. Only a tenth of the area is currently protected. Fortunately, strong currents and cool water, among other factors, will, scientists believe, help the reefs resist the "coral bleaching", caused by climate change, which has damaged many other reefs around the world.
The Bird's Head peninsular and its 2,500 offshore islands and submerged reefs lie off the western half of New Guinea. The coastline is extraordinarily diverse, with deeply forested steep inclines and mangrove swamps. Some shallow reefs are inland, bathed in river waters while others are exposed to Pacific waves.
The area lies at the centre of the "Coral Triangle" of the Pacific, which encompasses the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and which scientists believe functions as a "centre of origin" for much of the species diversity of that region of the world, actively exporting species outwards.
The discoveries of the Bird's Head Seascape come in the wake of an expedition last year to Papua's isolated Foja Mountains, several hundred kilometres to the south, where scientists found what they described as a "lost world" containing new species of birds, butterflies, frogs and other wildlife and confirm the international importance of the region.
Scientists are still debating the reasons behind the region's biodiversity. Dr Erdmann said one reason was that, over time, some deep sea basins - such as Cenderwasih Bay, a large lagoon-like area in the north of the region - had been closed by geological movements, which allowed new species to develop through natural selection and genetic drift. When the bays were reopened by rising sea levels or further geological movements, the species dispersed. "

Orginal by Terry Kirby, the independent

So Whats Souki All About?

Put in simple words Souki is the answer to the universal question.

Question
People seek to make the most out of their time. Especially with spare time. Whether watching TV, getting a cup of coffee, going out, or socializing. Every choice is preceded by the question, what shall I do? Having a broad idea is easy, it’s in the specifics.

Search
Traditional there are two ways of finding an answer to that question:
- internet / guides
- friends
Both have the inherent problem that the information isn’t geared towards your personal tastes and likes, but is an reflection of the mental model of the sender or group. Nor is it real time.

Answer
Using reviews and clickstreams Souki.com matches people, places & content of similar interests. Creating interactive communities of like minded people. Spot on & Real time.

Our special sauce
Before serving up results Souki matches you with all your taste twins. A taste twin is someone who is similar on the bases of reviews and clickstreams. The better the match, the more influence their reviews and clickstreams have on the ranking of results.

But we need your help!
In a couple of weeks we are going to do a beta, in order to make the site multilangual we need your help with the translations. If you feel up for the task go here. Next to being mentioned in our hall of fame, we will also have a nice give a way

What would an truthful in-flight announcement sound like?

“GOOD morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and your tray-table is stowed. At Veritas Airways, your safety is our first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the event of an emergency landing. But then hardly anybody would buy our tickets and we would go bust.

The flight attendants are now pointing out the emergency exits. This is the part of the announcement that you might want to pay attention to. So stop your sudoku for a minute and listen: knowing in advance where the exits are makes a dramatic difference to your chances of survival if we have to evacuate the aircraft. Also, please keep your seat belt fastened when seated, even if the seat-belt light is not illuminated. This is to protect you from the risk of clear-air turbulence, a rare but extremely nasty form of disturbance that can cause severe injury. Imagine the heavy food trolleys jumping into the air and bashing into the overhead lockers, and you will have some idea of how nasty it can be. We don't want to scare you. Still, keep that seat belt fastened all the same.


Your life-jacket can be found under your seat, but please do not remove it now. In fact, do not bother to look for it at all. In the event of a landing on water, an unprecedented miracle will have occurred, because in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero. This aircraft is equipped with inflatable slides that detach to form life rafts, not that it makes any difference. Please remove high-heeled shoes before using the slides. We might as well add that space helmets and anti-gravity belts should also be removed, since even to mention the use of the slides as rafts is to enter the realm of science fiction.

Please switch off all mobile phones, since they can interfere with the aircraft's navigation systems. At least, that's what you've always been told. The real reason to switch them off is because they interfere with mobile networks on the ground, but somehow that doesn't sound quite so good. On most flights a few mobile phones are left on by mistake, so if they were really dangerous we would not allow them on board at all, if you think about it. We will have to come clean about this next year, when we introduce in-flight calling across the Veritas fleet. At that point the prospect of taking a cut of the sky-high calling charges will miraculously cause our safety concerns about mobile phones to evaporate.

On channel 11 of our in-flight entertainment system you will find a video consisting of abstract imagery and a new-age soundtrack, with a voice-over explaining some exercises you can do to reduce the risk of deep-vein thrombosis. We are aware that this video is tedious, but it is not meant to be fun. It is meant to limit our liability in the event of lawsuits.

Once we have reached cruising altitude you will be offered a light meal and a choice of beverages—a word that sounds so much better than just saying ‘drinks’, don't you think? The purpose of these refreshments is partly to keep you in your seats where you cannot do yourselves or anyone else any harm. Please consume alcohol in moderate quantities so that you become mildly sedated but not rowdy. That said, we can always turn the cabin air-quality down a notch or two to help ensure that you are sufficiently drowsy.

After take-off, the most dangerous part of the flight, the captain will say a few words that will either be so quiet that you will not be able to hear them, or so loud that they could wake the dead. So please sit back, relax and enjoy the flight. We appreciate that you have a choice of airlines and we thank you for choosing Veritas, a member of an incomprehensible alliance of obscure foreign outfits, most of which you have never heard of. Cabin crew, please make sure we have remembered to close the doors. Sorry, I mean: ‘Doors to automatic and cross-check’. Thank you for flying Veritas.”

Source the economist

Heads up: Oral sex can cause cancer

We know that sugar rots teeth and too much sun will give you a burn, but now scientists are even saying that giving oral sex can give you cancer.

The same virus that is behind uteral cancer is now thought to be linked to tonsillary cancer, and scientists at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet say changed sexual habits and more oral sex are part of the problem.


During the past 30 years the number of tonsil cancer cases has tripled in number in the Stockholm region. In the same period the amount of tumors infected with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) has gone up from 23 percent in the 70s to 68 percent during the past few years. The increase in HPV is now thought to play a critical role in the formation of this cancer.

Cancer in the head and throat accounts for some 3 percent to 4 percent of all cancer cases in Sweden. During the past 30 years the number of cases have been increasing, baffling scientists.

“For a long time we were perplexed why the total number of tonsil cancer cases increased despite smoking, which is a know cause of such cancer, decreasing,” said Tina Dalianis, a professor of oncology and pathology at Karolinska, according to Svenska Dagbladet. “Infection with HPV can be the reason.”

It is known that the risk for HPV infection and cancer in the uterus increases with the earlier one starts having sex and the number of sex partners one has. Researchers think the same link can be drawn to tonsil cancer.

A positive note is that the prognosis for those cancer patients with the virus infection seems to be a bit more positive than for other cancer patients. The virus seems to trigger an immune defense reaction that researchers hope to be able to better understand and take advantage of in the future.

“Changed sex habits, a younger age for having sex for the first time, more partners, and more oral sex could be the cause behind the increase of the cases of cancer,” researchers said."

source the local (swedish newspaper)

Dutch post: Wat gebeurt er als je bij Frans Bauer op de koffie gaat?

Frans Bauer staat om zijn gastvrijheid bekend, menig fan besluit dan ook op een goede dag bij frans op de koffie te gaan. Dat vind geen enige mega ster goed, zul je denken? Niets is minder waar Frans Bauer ontvangt elke dag zijn gasten met open armen. Reden dan ook voor Campina om Frans Bauer te vragen om hun nieuwe product Melkschuim te promoten. Hieronder zie je wat er gebeurt wanneer je bij Frans op de Koffie gaat. Onderstaand is alleen maar het filmpje, wil je Frans bauer zijn huis van binnen zien? Of mischien wel Frans helpen bij het vullen van de koffie kopjes, klik dan hier, of type in je browser in: http://www.opdekoffiebijfrans.nl

I admit: I was wrong

Sometimes you have to kneel when someone proves you wrong.

Couple of weeks ago I wrote about a commercial that we did for Campina “Melkschuim” or “Op de koffie bij Frans Bauer”. In that post I stated that Frans Bauer Fans probably don’t read English. I couldn’t be more wrong……..

They not only speak English but also know, Peruvian, Vietnamees, Norwegian, German, french or Gaelic. If you don’t believe me, follow the link.

Jose from Peru

Giao from Viet Nam

Marne from Norway

User from Germany

Noella Poliseno from Montréal

Ilja from Ireland

If you want to be added to this list, please drop me a line. I know that you are out there, somewhere

USA admits: The Aliens have landed

Read all about it in this special message.

"ICE arrests 15 aliens in Roswell working for U.S. military contractor


ROSWELL, N.M. - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents today arrested 15 illegal aliens who were working for a local company here that is under contract to paint U.S. military aircraft, including Lockheed C-130 military aircraft.

Some of the aliens were in the process of painting these aircraft when they were arrested.

Federal agents today executed a search warrant at Dean Baldwin Painting Inc., 82 Earl Cumming Loop, Hangar 1083, in Roswell, N.M. ICE was assisted in the investigation by the following agencies: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General; Defense Criminal Investigative Service; U.S. Department of Labor; Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General; and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol (CBPBP).

The aliens were arrested after they were determined to be illegally residing and working in the United States.

"Aggressive worksite enforcement actions like this help deter aliens from entering the United States attracted by the 'job magnet,'" said Troy Henley, special agent-in-charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in El Paso. "These operations also help discourage employers from knowingly hiring illegal aliens."

Knowingly hiring illegal aliens is a violation of immigration law. ICE aggressively pursues criminal charges against employers who egregiously violate theses laws. Thus far this Fiscal Year (through mid-July 2006), ICE worksite enforcement investigations have resulted in 445 criminal arrests and the apprehension of another 2,700 illegal alien workers on administrative immigration violations.

The aliens will be processed which includes a thorough interview and background screening to identify fugitives from the law or anyone with a criminal background. All will be placed into removal proceedings, and quickly returned to their country of origin. Aliens who re-enter the United States after having been deported face felony charges, and sentences up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

This worksite enforcement operation is part of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI), a comprehensive multi-year plan by the Department of Homeland Security to secure America's borders and reduce illegal migration. Under SBI, Homeland Security seeks to gain operational control of both the northern and southern borders, while re-engineering the detention and removal system to ensure that illegal aliens are removed from the country quickly and efficiently. SBI also involves strong interior enforcement efforts, including enhanced worksite enforcement investigations and intensified efforts to track down and remove illegal aliens inside this country.

This is an ongoing investigation.

The public is encouraged to report suspicious activity by calling ICE's toll-free hotline at: 1-866-347-2423."