Dismal World - Snapshots from the Not-So-Happy Globe

I found Dismal World today... It is disturbing, but it's the reality.

As a starter you can check out:
- Unforgettable Photos
- The Holocaust and Mass Murders in World History

China's Internet Addiction

With 137 million Internet users and counting, experts predict Chinese Internet users should outnumber their U.S. counterparts within the next few years.

While many have focused on China’s staggering economic growth of 10.5% last year, the China’s Internet growth of 23.6% has been even more impressive. Considering that in 1998, less than ten years ago, China only had about a million online, the sheer volume and growth is extremely impressive.

But unfortunately, this growth doesn’t come without some unwanted side effects.

Read it all...

The Oscar Nominees

The nominees for 79th Academy Awards have been announced.
Nominess for the best picture are:

Babel
The Departed
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

2006 Critic Top Ten Lists

BLA.ST: Promotional Directory

I found about Bla.st yesterday. The idea is cool, and I've already placed some ads for fikirbaz.com.

So, what is bla.st? Bla.st is a free promotional directory. Cards are organised by categories and countries. You can search through cards and categories... You can promote your website, blog or podcast (or product or anything) on bla.st. (Sorry, you can't sell your children, try using ebay )

Bla.st is owned by Pear Ltd, a private company based in Hamilton, New Zealand. They are completely independent, and have no ties whatsoever to any other advertising or marketing company.

- About bla.st
- Why advertise on bla.st?

Google to buy YouTube for $1.65 billion

Search engine leader looks to bulk up in the burgeoning online video market.

Google, the Internet's leading search engine, announced Monday that it is buying popular online video site YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.

YouTube, which was founded in February 2005, has quickly become the most well-known of several online video sites. More than 100 million videos, many of which are short videos created by the site's users, are downloaded a day on the site.

According to Internet research firm Hitwise, YouTube has about a 46 percent share of the online video market.

For Google (Charts), the purchase of YouTube gives the company the ability to tap into the potentially lucrative online video and social networking markets. Some analysts have criticized Google for relying too much on advertising tied to keyword searches.

The combination of Google and YouTube could further strengthen Google's dominance in online advertising, giving it an edge over rivals such as Yahoo! (Charts), Microsoft's (Charts) MSN and News Corp (Charts)., which owns the social networking site MySpace. Some analysts said Monday that Yahoo, Microsoft and News Corp. also had probably expressed interest in buying YouTube.

To read the whole article By Paul R. La Monica, CNNMoney.com...

http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/09/technology/googleyoutube_deal/index.htm?cnn=yes

Estate of the Day: A Metallica Mansion

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammet is the one with a great taste. He has several collections and some cool hobbies. Anyway, I knew about his ranch, horses etc. but I found about this mansion today. Looks great.

Check it out...

No Sex To Gangsters in Colombia

Gang members in one of Colombia's most violent cities face an ultimatum: give up guns or give up sex. In what is being called a "strike of crossed legs", supported by the Pereira mayor's office, the wives and girlfriends of gang members have said they will not have sex with their partners until they vow to give up violence.

"We want them to know that violence is not sexy," said Jennifer Bayer, 18, the girlfriend of a gang member. She and at least two dozen other women have said the sex strike will continue until their men hand over their weapons to authorities and sign up for vocational training offered by the mayor's office.

Read it all...

See what Google Talk users are listening to...

With Google Music Trends you can learn what do the Google Talk users listen. And you can even sort the songs and groups by genre.

Here is the link...

And guess whose songs are most listened in Heavy Metal genre ;)

Jason Kottke in Rebecca's Pocket

Jason Kottke is one of my favorite bloggers. In Rebecca's Poccket there is an interview wit him about blogging. You can check it out in order ty learn more about blogging, the beginning period; the very first blogs and of course more about Jason Kottke and his blogging...

Here is the interview...

Jason Kottke started kottke.org on March 1998. Before kottke.org, he did a variety of personal projects online, including the well-regarded episodic web site 0sil8. He has a BA in Physics from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

In February 2005, Jason famously left his job as a Web designer to start blogging full-time, supported by donations from his readers. One year later, he retired the "micropatron" experiment and joined an ad network to support his site. He now blogs and designs websites. He is 32, and lives in New York City with his wife, Meg Hourihan.

Sales of canned oxygen to create fresh market for Seven-Eleven Japan

Japanese convenience store operator Seven-Eleven Japan has breathed fresh air into its product lineup by announcing it will add cans of oxygen to its shelves.
The firm said it would make an entry into the rapidly expanding oxygen market and begin selling cans of oxygen on May 24. (Well it's been a month, yes...:)
Oxygen has emerged as a popular new product and sparked the creation of city "oxygen bars" that provide oxygen for customers to breathe in. The convenience store operator will sell small portable cans. It is the first retailer among Japanese convenience stores and supermarkets to enter the oxygen market.

Source: RapidNewsWire.com

Media races to make the perfect Cars pun

Jason Kottke compiled some headlines about Cars:

Headline writers everywhere are rejoicing the impending release of Pixar's new movie, Cars. As with Apple's release of their Tiger operating system, Cars comes loaded with so many opportunities for puns and metaphors that the media just can't help themselves. A sampling of puntacular fun so far:

Leading Turkish writer faces jail after incurring wrath of military

(By Peter Popham, The Independent, Published: 07 June 2006 )

When Turkey was fined by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for refusing to recognise the rights of another conscientious objector, Osman Murat Ulke, Mr Tarhan was released. But both men remain in a legal limbo, unable to get work, to take out an insurance policy or have marriage or birth recognised by the state.

Turkey is the only state among the 46 members of the Council of Europe which has refused to recognise the status of conscientious objectors or give them an alternative to military service.

After the Strasbourg ruling in April, the Turkish government was said to be drawing up legislation to protect conscientious objectors. But in one of the many signs of tension between the government and what Turks call the "deep state" - composed of the army, the civil service and much of the legal profession - a journalist who happens to be a single mother is now threatened with jail for upholding European norms.
Ms Magden said yesterday: "It's shocking that they are putting me on trial. I've no idea what will happen. The case could finish tomorrow or it could stretch on and on. The unnerving thing about the courts is they are so unpredictable, it's like a lottery. It's torture."

Recently the novelist Orhan Pamuk wrote an article in her support. Since then, she said, "other columnists have started backing me up".

Mr Pamuk wrote: "Perihan Magden is one of the most inventive and outspoken writers of our time ... Turkey's columnists are as important in the shaping of public opinion as its news editors ... Her fiery outbursts, her combative independence and her steely conscience make her just the sort of independent woman that Ataturk saw in Turkey's future when he founded the Republic. But in a bizarre twist, the Turkish army, which likes to see itself as the defender of Ataturk's revolution, is now threatening to put that freedom on trial."

Ms Magden said: "I can't see a more natural and commendable attitude than an individual's rejection of holding a gun in his hands. If I had a son I wouldn't accept sending him away for 18 months to do his compulsory service.

"If you're waiting in front of the European Union's gate to become a member country, then you have to grant your citizens the right to be conscientious objectors."

In recent months there has been a flood of prosecutions of Turkish intellectuals for "thought crime". Ms Magden said: "The prosecution system is a real barrier to justice. They file cases practically every time there is criticism. I don't believe there is a single prosecutor who dares not file a case if the complainant is the Army General Staff."

Queen - It's a kind of magic

"Queen - Its a kind of magic" is the name of the tribute band that was formed to recreate the original Queen shows. They have even performed on the same bill as Queen guitarist, Brian May, who is quoted as saying, "they were brilliant."
He says the band is as "close as you can get to the real thing" and "it’s a tribute in every sense" that showcases the various stages of Queen's evolution.

Craig Pesco is the guy who is Freddie Mercury for aprox. 7 years now. I found two different articles in ABC Goldburn Murray, one is from March 2004 and the second one is pretty new, May 2006. Both is about "Queen - It's A kind of Magic" and Craig Pesco. In the first one they say that never met anyone from the group but at the second one there are even Brian May quotes about the show. :)

Anyway, tonight they are in Istanbul and I will be there to watch them. I'll write about the show afterwards. For now, here are the articles:

- Being Freddy Mercury
- Is this the real life? Freddie Mercury lives

Gazoz 69

Gazoz 69 is a blog of a friend... Here is what Gazoz 69 is about in his own words:

Gazoz 69 is a blog dedicated to House music which you can download dj sets and daily updated selected house tracks.

you can also get information on House scene in general, as well as anything related with urban lifestyle from onitsuka tiger sneakers to evolution theory...

your interactivity is not limited with downloading dj sets or tracks, if you are into house music and if you have your own sets and you want them to be listened and reviewed here's the place!

http://gazoz69.blogspot.com

Metallica Frontman Says Music Is The Best Drug In The Whole World

Metallica frontman James Hetfield launched a tearful plea for rockers to resist drugs as he was awarded a special prize on Friday for helping people in the music industry receive addiction treatment. In a glittering Los Angeles ceremony the singer urged an audience of stars, including Ozzy Osbourne, Motorhead frontman Lemmy and Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis, to help undo the "horrible myth" that great music must be accompanied by a wild lifestyle.

Hetfield, himself a former addict, begged for a moment of silence "for the people who didn't make it, that aren't with us, who could be and I think should be," before slamming drug culture.

He said, "To have those things attached to music, which is the best drug in the whole world, moves me like no other. And I thank God that I discovered that gift early on."

The singer was presented with the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award for his dedication and support of the MusiCares MAP Fund.

- Source: Starpulse News Blog
- You can read the same news, more detailed: FMQB.com
- Official Turkish Chapter of Metallica's Metclub: OrionTurk

Google Trends

With Google Trends, you can compare the world's interest in your favorite topics. Enter up to five topics and see how often they've been searched for on Google over time. Google Trends also displays how frequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and which geographic regions have searched for them most often.

Google Trends analyzes a portion of Google web searches to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you enter relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time.

Located just beneath search-volume graph is news-reference-volume graph. This graph shows you the number of times your topic appeared in Google News stories. When Google Trends detects a spike in the volume of news stories for a particular term, it labels the graph and displays the headline of an automatically selected Google News story written near the time of that spike. Currently, only English-language headlines are displayed...

Below the search and news volume graphs, Google Trends displays the top cities, regions, and languages for the first term you entered.

Some Turkish Industrial Designers

My brother is an industrial designer, as he is Turkish as well, he is a Turkish industrial designer, as I am trying to help him make a personal portfolio web site these days, I started searching for industrial designer web sites. Some are really crap but I found some amazing ones as well, not only the sites but the designs and products were great. I will start posting those sites here every now and then. First of all I will start listing some young Turkish industrial designers' web sites... Here are some:

- Öºg?ar: Portfolio of a industrial designer based in Sweden. Works, sketches and process. (Great site, I liked it a lot)
- Bilgi Karan: Online portfolio of Industrial Designer Bilgi Karan. Includes professional and school work along with sketches and resume. (I know this guy personally as well, he's a nice guy)
- Bilge Mutlu: Bilge Mutlu, Interactive / Robotic Systems Designer. Portfolio also features links to research projects and personal online content.

(There are lots of successfull & worldwide known Turkish industrial designers, but unfortunatelly most of them don't have personal web sites, some prefer showing their work in corporate web sites etc... I will go on posting tho...)

Vintage French Tourism PR Photos

Dov says on his Flickr page:

From 1934 towards the end of the sixties, the French Ministry for Tourism employed full-time PR photographers to snap "celebrities" travelling by Air France. I've found a pack of these press photos at the flea market of Clignancourt, and bought them for 1 euro each

Google Ads

As you might have (probably) noticed, I've placed Google Ads all around Fikirbaz.com. This does not mean that I am trying to make money out of Fikirbaz.com, I am just trying to measure Google Adsense reliability for a couple of weeks or so. (But as I can't update fikirbaz.com often these days, this doesn't mean much... Anyway; sorry for the inconvenience (if there is any)

I (again) promise to update fikirbaz.com much more often. (In fact although now fikirbaz.com has an old and shabby design with non-updated sidebar & old version content management; it really gets me more excited that lots of other things... )

Thanks for understanding. See you soon ;)

How would you like to pay for that? Cash, card or phone?

Philips and Visa usability study shows consumers like the convenience of contactless payment using Near Field Communication

Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) and Visa International released the results of a new usability study of Near Field Communication (NFC) and contactless payment technology, which showed that consumers like the convenience, ease of use and "coolness" of making transactions with their mobile phones.

Study highlights include:

- Coolness factor of mobile transactions.
- Mobile payment is easy to use
- Mobile payment is convenient and fast.
- "Receiving" transactions should be automatic.
- Need for clear, consistent mark.

Philips and Visa conducted the study in December 2005 in Atlanta, Georgia. The research is part of the companies' efforts to develop programs that bring convenience, ease of use and security to mobile transactions. The purpose of the research was to take an in-depth look at usability and learn about consumer behavior when interacting with the technology.

You can click here to read it all.

Or if you prefer the article translated in Turkish, click here...

The Next Net 25

(by Eric Schonfeld, CNNmoney.com )

A new Web revolution is picking up steam, and the next Google or Microsoft could emerge from the companies that are in the vanguard.

We are in the early stages of what might be better thought of as the Next Net. The Next Net will encompass all digital devices, from PC to cell phone to television. Its defining characteristics include the ability to interact instantaneously with any of the more than 1 billion Web users across the globe -- not by, say, instant messaging, but by evolving instant-voice-messaging and instant-video-messaging apps that will make today's e-mail and IM seem crude.

The Next Net is deeply collaborative: People from across the planet can work together on the same task, and products or tools can be rapidly tweaked and improved by the collective wisdom of the entire online world.

Sam Mendes Dot Com

Today, I was seraching for Sam Mendes' Official Web Site when I found sammendes.com. A fan has registered the domain and he only has a little wish to give the domain name back to the famous director of Amercan Beauty and Jarhead...

Check it out...

Bloggies 2006 - Nominations

It's now the sixth year of the world's most established weblog awards, the Bloggies™. Personal Web publishing never stops growing, and that means this year the public will have more contenders than ever to select from when choosing the year's best weblogs. 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 have their champions; now it's time for you to do your part for 2006. Read on.

No Google Mail or Bloogging In China

Google is bringing a special version of its powerful search engine to China, leaving behind two of its most popular features in the United States.

In an effort to cope with China's increasingly pervasive Internet controls, Google said Tuesday that it would introduce a search engine here this week that excludes e-mail messaging and the ability to create blogs.

Google officials said the new search engine, Google.cn, was created partly as a way to avoid potential legal conflicts with the Chinese government, which has become much more sophisticated at policing and monitoring material appearing on the Internet.

Read it all @ NYTimes...

Ajax Challenges Web Development Leaders -- And Web Publishers And Advertisers

(By Fredric Paul, TechWeb.com)

A do-it-yourself approach to creating Web software called Ajax relies on a mishmash of existing Web technologies to create a new breed of fast, highly interactive sites. The trend is already befuddling traditional vendors of Web development software, and if these kinds of interactive apps continue to catch on, they could force Web publishing, advertising, and traffic-measurement companies to change how they do business.
Exemplified by Google Maps and Yahoo's Flickr photo-sharing site, Ajax is an umbrella term for a mix of JavaScript, Dynamic HTML, and XML used to reduce the need for Web clients to reconnect to a Web server every time they attempt to download information.

Read it all...

River IQ Game

Go try the game by just clicking here. (It is not that hard ;)

Two Articles From Adamnation

I found Adamnation today thanks to Pluck. And here are two articles I liked at the first sight... Enjoy.

Advertising in Ajax
As we all try to keep up with the "Ajaxalanche" of the past 6 months or so one thing that has not been fully considered is the effect of this new content presentation model on traditional traffic measurement and advertising models, particularly page views. It seems like this is only becoming more important since many Ajax applications are moving toward an all-Ajax model vs. just "page parts". Take sites like Live.com, PageFlakes and NetVibes for example. The entire site experience literally takes place on one page. If the user spends 1 minute onsite, it's one page view; 15 minutes, same thing.

Needless to say, this really screws with CPM-based ad plays. Granted the one-page site framework is an extreme case, but it got me thinking about the implications for new models of content delivery and monetization/measurement thereof. I dug up this thoughtful article by Fredric Paul which actually frames the issue pretty well.

Click to read it all.

iPod Video effect on TV Ratings
According to TV Week, new iPod video downloads from iTunes have boosted viewing for certain shows. The article, citing the specific example of NBC's "The Office", states: "Parsing out the credit for a ratings increase has always been tricky because myriad factors are often at play. However, NBC is confident that the iPod exposure contributed to the rise."
Click to read it all.

Who is Nabaztag?

I'm a newborn bunny, one of a unique species of intelligent, smart objects.
I'm 23 cm tall, I wriggle my ears, I sing, I talk and my body lights up and pulsates with hundreds of colours.

Thanks to Wi-Fi technology, I'm always connected to the Internet. Oh, and I'll only set you back 95 €. Set me up in your home or office and I'll be your personal companion.

Well at the moment this thing is the first on my wish list.

Wi-Fi Bunny technology is running rampant, reproducing itself at an alarming rate. First, it was the Wi-Fi Bunny known as Nabaztag, an ambient awareness device which notified you of incoming e-mail, heavy weather or any other variable you programmed into it by blinking its little pulsating multicolored lights, wiggling its ears and making generally bothersome noises. Now that this Internet-connected 9-inch-tall Wi-Fi bunny has learned how to talk and sing, and will certainly annoy you to no end, reminding you that your stocks are dropping, you’ve got mail, it’s raining outside, you’re blind and your dog is dead. Looking for some bunny-love via Wi-Fi? Shell out $114 for the privilege. - from Gizmodo

Ali and Three Men: Muhamad Ali, Malcolm-X & Elijah Muhammad

Today I watched Michael Mann's Ali, (Will Smith was great) After the movie I searched the characters a little, and here are the results and links.

Muhammad Ali-Haj born January 17, 1942 (as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.), is a retired American boxer. He is considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, as well as one of the world's most famous individuals, renowned the world over for his boxing and political activism. In 1999, he was crowned Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated, and is considered by many to be one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.

- Muhammed Ali's Official Web Site
- Muhammed Ali @ Wikipedia

Malcolm X, (May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), born Malcolm Little, also known as Detroit Red, El-Hajji Malik El-Shabazz and Omowale, was a longtime spokesman for the Nation of Islam. He was also founder of the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

During his life, Malcolm went from being a street-wise Boston hoodlum to one of the most prominent black nationalist leaders in the United States. As a militant leader, Malcolm X advocated black pride, economic self-reliance, and identity politics. He ultimately rose to become a world renowned African American/Pan-Africanist and human rights activist. Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City on February 21, 1965 on the first day of National Brotherhood Week.

- Malcolm X's Official Web Site
- BrotherMalcolm.Net
- Malcolm-X.org
- Malcolm X @ Wikipedia

Elijah Muhammad (October 7, 1897–February 25, 1975) led the largely African-American spiritual and political organization, the Nation of Islam from 1934 to 1975.

- Elijah Muhammed @ Wikipedia

Colorize Black and White photos

Recolored is a software application that helps you with the otherwise difficult and time consuming task of colorizing black and white photos. Based on the latest developments in computer assisted image colorization, Recolored makes it possible for anyone to achieve professional looking results.

To add color to a photo, all you have to do is add markings to the different regions of the image, indicating how it should be colorized. Then click the Colorize button and let the software do the rest.

Pictures of the Year - 2005

So; another year has passed. Anything changed? May be... I will be positng the Zeitgesit, resolutions and all that classic stuff sometime today. (I am not sure tho)

Anyway; here yo can find the pictures of the year 2005 from Reuters.

Remember!

Vodafone buys Turkey's Telsim

By Ercan Ersoy and Kirstin Ridley

ISTANBUL/LONDON (Reuters) - Mobile phone giant Vodafone Group Plc beat heavyweight Middle Eastern rivals with a $4.55 billion (2.57 billion pound) bid for Turkey's second-largest mobile phone operator Telsim on Tuesday.

Vodafone, the world's largest wireless group by revenue, trumped Kuwait's MTC , United Arab Emirates telecoms group Etisalat , Egypt's Orascom , Russia's Sistema and Dubai's Emaar in an auction to clinch what it called "a unique turnaround opportunity".

The deal hands Vodafone about 9.76 million Turkish customers -- a market share of about 21 percent -- in a booming industry.

But Vodafone, whose recent emerging market acquisitions include deals in India, South Africa, Romania and the Czech Republic, saw its shares slide over 2.73 percent to 124-3/4 pence by 1515 GMT as the market digested news of the price paid.

"It's the right market and the right asset, but it's not cheap," said Sean Johnstone, telecoms analyst at WestLB.

Read it all at Scotsman.com

Google: Ten Golden Rules

Getting the most out of knowledge workers will be the key to business success for the next quarter century. Here's how they do it at Google.

By Eric Schmidt and Hal Varian - Newsweek Issues 2006
(Schmidt is CEO of Google. Varian is a Berkeley professor and consultant with Google.)

At google, we think business guru Peter Drucker well understood how to manage the new breed of "knowledge workers." After all, Drucker invented the term in 1959. He says knowledge workers believe they are paid to be effective, not to work 9 to 5, and that smart businesses will "strip away everything that gets in their knowledge workers' way." Those that succeed will attract the best performers, securing "the single biggest factor for competitive advantage in the next 25 years."

At Google, we seek that advantage. The ongoing debate about whether big corporations are mismanaging knowledge workers is one we take very seriously, because those who don't get it right will be gone. We've drawn on good ideas we've seen elsewhere and come up with a few of our own. What follows are seven key principles we use to make knowledge workers most effective. As in most technology companies, many of our employees are engineers, so we will focus on that particular group, but many of the policies apply to all sorts of knowledge workers.

To learn the 10 Golden Rules, please click!

Pamuk case highlights Turkey limits on free speech

Source: Reuters; By Daren Butler

ISTANBUL, Dec 13 (Reuters) - This week's trial of novelist Orhan Pamuk is drawing unprecedented international media attention, but out of the spotlight many other Turkish writers face punishment for expressing dissenting views.

Issues such as the Kurdish problem, the role of the army and the killing of Armenians during World War One present a minefield for critics who risk prosecution by zealous defenders of Turkey's state orthodoxy.

Despite big strides by Turkey in recent years to improve its human rights record, the European Union, with which it began entry talks in October, wants Ankara to tackle long-standing restrictions on its writers.

You can read it all at Alertnet

Spielberg and the dream that didn't work

GOOD FILM scripts often have surprise endings. And Steven Spielberg has prov-ed time and again - since he first made a splash with Jaws 30 years ago - that no filmmaker tells a story better than he does, whether it is about a little green man from outer space or the horror of the Holocaust.

This time he has come up with a dramatic variation on that old plotline where the bride and groom are standing at the altar and, all of a sudden, the bride's true love turns up at the back of the church. Just when it looked like his company, DreamWorks, was about to say "I do" and jump into bed with Universal, along comes Universal's lofty rival Paramount and, before anyone can say "Here's to you, Mrs Robinson", the pair are off on the bus, leaving the rest of the industry trying to work out what happened.

Eleven years after Spielberg joined former Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and music mogul David Geffen to set up DreamWorks SKG as a rival to the established major Hollywood studios, he has finally bowed to what many always thought was inevitable, selling out to the old order.

To read the whole article, all you have to do is going to Scotsman.com

Normal is... (Life Summarized)

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.

VeriSign has acquired Weblogs.com

You can read the official confirmation in here (Verisign's infrablog, including info about Verisign's plans for the service.

Here is the official press release...

Here is what Jason Kottke thinks about this purchase.

Corporate Philosophy

Ludicorp has a great "about us" page that contains a corporate philosophy that is summarized in the book: Disclosing New Worlds: Entrepreneurship, Democratic Action and the Cultivation of Solidarity by Charles Spinosa, Fernando Flores & Hubert Dreyfus (MIT Press 1997):

Business owners do not normally work for money either. They work for the enjoyment of their competitive skill, in the context of a life where competing skillfully makes sense. The money they earn supports this way of life. The same is true of their businesses. One might think that they view their businesses as nothing more than machines to produce profits, since they do closely monitor their accounts to keep tabs on those profits.

But this way of thinking replaces the point of the machine's activity with a diagnostic test of how well it is performing. Normally, one senses whether one is performing skillfully...

Todd Levin's Tremble

I just read an blog entry: How to wave your arms around a lot. And I liked what I read because I am feeling just the same these days: I'm doing so much more, and getting so much less done. So after I read the entry I started to read more at tremble.com, than started clicking on other related links of Todd Levin and found out more about him.

i'm a writer and a comedian and silky-smooth. i have a web site that's stuffed with writing, and it's called tremble.com. i also co-produce and co-host a monthly comedy reading show in NYC called How to Kick People. not to brag or anything...

Two Google Articles

Google builds an empire to rival Microsoft
by By Elinor Mills, CNET News.com

Press Release: NASA Takes Google on Journey Into Space

Passwords, User Names, IDs, Security etc.

- Never Forget Another Password
by Ryan Singel

- One Login to Bind Them All
by Mike Novak

- ID Theft: What You Need to Know
by Kim Zetter

- Camera Phone Has Life After Theft (interesting story, strongly recommended ;)
by Kevin Polsen

Google Moon

Well, around me, everybody is playing with Google Earth... Here is an alternative: Google Moon ;)

"On July 20, 1969, man first landed on the Moon. A few decades later, we're pleased to cut you in on the action. Google Moon is an extension of Google Maps and Google Earth that, courtesy of NASA imagery enables you to surf the Moon's surface and check out the exact spots that the Apollo astronauts made their landings. "

Here is the Google Moon FAQ page.

Billboards beam adverts to passing cellphones

Ignoring adverts is about to get a lot tougher with the development of billboards and advertising posters that use Bluetooth to beam video ads direct to passing cellphones.

As people walk past the posters they receive a message on their phone asking them if they wish to accept the advert. If they do, they can receive movies, animations, music or still images further promoting the advertised product.

“It's all about delivering high quality content, tailored for mobile usage,” says Alasdair Scott, co-founder and chief creative officer of London-based Filter UK, who created the system, called BlueCasting.

Read it all at NewScientist.com...

Nicole Kidman with Short Hair: Birth

Movie: Birth
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Anne Heche, Cameron Bright, Danny Huston
Studio: New Line Cinema

Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman (The Hours) stars in "Birth" as Anna, a young widow who is finally getting on with her life after the death of her husband, Sean.

Now engaged to be married, Anna meets a ten year-old boy (Cameron Bright) who tells her he is Sean reincarnated. Though his story is both unsettling and absurd, Anna can’t get the boy out of her mind.

Anyway; I watched the trailer last week and Nicole Kidman looks great in short hair as well. I searched for her short haired photos and here are they. And here are some more links. "Birth" stirred up some controversy last September:

- Birth Does Not Display Pedophile Tendencies: Kidman States
- Kidman's ‘Birth’ stirs up controversy in Venice: Her love interest in the film is a 10-year-old boy
- Nicole Kidman trades in the famous hair to play her creepiest role yet.
- Short Haired Photos of Nicole Kidman- Trailers of "Birth"

Top 10 dot-com flops

Here is the list of Top 10 dot-com flops according to Cnet:

1- Webvan (1999-2001)
2- Pets.com (2000)
3- Kozmo.com (1998-2001)
4- Flooz.com (1998-2001)
5- eToys.com (1997-2001)
6- Boo.com (1998-2000)
7- MVP.com (1999-2000)
8- Go.com (1998-2001)
9- Kibu.com (1999-2000)
10- GovWorks.com (1999-2000)

Google Earth – Explore, Search and Discover

Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in -- Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.

This is one of the most amazing web applications I've seen. You can find anywhere on earth and look down as if you're on a plane; you're on a satellite... And you can zoom in till you find your own roof. (In fact I found my house; my ex-house; my parents house, my office etc... Download Google Earth free version and enjoy!

Two (Anti) Blogs...

Here is two blogs to check out; one of them is in English; the other'a in Turkish. The two common things they have are; both of them starts with"anti" and they are both blogs... :P

- AntiPopper (en)
- AntiKunti (tr)

Phallic Logo Awards

B3ta is all about celebrating the best stuff on the internet. They send out a free, weekly newsletter stuffed with the finest links the internet has to offer and we also have messageboards where anybody can show off their creative skills.

The game designers across the nation are playing is; can they design a logo and get it approved without the client realising it's a big spurting penis?

We asked our readers to send in the best cock logos from around the world for our team of experts to evaluate. Now we present to you the very cream of the cocks.

Coca Cola India demand "unconditional apology" from photographer

Despite severe water shortages in India, Coke continues to soak up 500,000 liters a day there to make its sugary beverage. Adland notes notes that it takes roughly seven times as much water to create one bottle of Coke.

As ironic commentary, Indian photographer Sharad Haksar created a billboard from a photo of water jugs lined up at a pump in front of a Coca-Cola billboard. Coke hated it so much that have demanded an apology and have threatened to sue him for 2 million rupees ($46,000) for defamation. Haskar told Coke, in essence, to fuck off.

[The paragraphs abd the story is taken from Stay Free! Daily]

Age Maps

"Two photographs of the same person, from different periods of time (child and adult) are spliced together. In this fusion a jump-of-time is established at the tear."

The guy is called Bobby Neel Adams. He is a photographer that creates age maps. Check them out... At the very beginning they seem scary but in fact they're cool.

Dream Jobs

They'd do it for free. They don't get discouraged by the inevitable hassles -- at least not for long. Four of our favorites tell you how to get a dream job, grow with one, and make it your own.

(From FastCompany.com - Issue96 - July 2005)

Tom Colicchio, 41, owns six restaurants, including his flagship Craft, in New York and Las Vegas, and is the author of two cookbooks.

Tim Brosnan, 47, is responsible for developing and negotiating Major League Baseball's corporate sponsorships and licensing. In the last year, he has closed deals with XM Satellite Radio, General Motors, and DHL.

Halle Stanford, 35, is responsible for developing such children's television programming as Bear in the Big Blue House and the Dark Crystal anime series for Jim Hensons Co.

Rick Steves, 50, wrote and self-published his first guidebook, Europe Through the Back Door, in 1980. His company now publishes 30 guidebooks, hosts guided tours through Europe, and produces a PBS travel series, Rick Steves' Europe.

Wanna read what these people say about dream jobs???

Anicca

Definition: Impermanence. Central to Buddhist teaching is the idea that all things are impermanent. This is the nature of all conditioned phenomena. Nothing lasts, nothing stays the same. Thus, to cling to anything will inevitably lead to suffering (dukkha).

- Buddhism: Step by Step
- Beginners' Guide to Buddhism
- Encyclopedia: Anicca

Who is my inner european?

Your Inner European is Irish!

Sprited and boisterous! You drink everyone under the table.

Human Area Networking Technology: RedTacton

RedTacton is a new Human Area Networking technology that uses the surface of the human body as a safe, high speed network transmission path.
- RedTacton uses the minute electric fieldemitted on the surface of the human body. Technically, it is completely distinct from wireless and infrared.
- A transmission path is formed at the moment a part of the human body comes in contact with a RedTacton transceiver. Physically separating ends the contact and thus ends communication.
- Using RedTacton, communication starts when terminals carried by the user or embedded in devices are linked in various combinations according to the user's natural, physical movements.
- Communication is possible using any body surfaces, such as the hands, fingers, arms, feet, face, legs or torso. RedTacton works through shoes and clothing as well. Official Site

- Engadget.com: NTT’s RedTacton enables “human area networks”

NTT Press Release: RedTacton: An innovative Human Area Networking technology that uses the surface of the human body as a transmission path
- Communication through natural human actions: touching, holding, walking -

Bowling For Columbine - Part II

A student on Monday killed two of his grandparents, then went on a shooting rampage at his Minnesota high school, killing seven people and wounding as many as 13 others before killing himself, officials said.

So; this might be a second Columbine High incident in US... Here is the full story.

Mike's Action Guide for Students: Democracy is not a spectator sport! Get involved!

Bowling For Columbine Teacher's guide.

Help A Newbie Blogger Out

Jason Kottke got a letter from a reader a few days ago:

I am father to a 2 1/2 yr old girl with her second cancer who is going for a bone marrow transplant in late March. I have just started to think about fundraising when I was forwarded your interview in Wired and it got me thinking that perhaps I could use the same approach to raise money for Julia.

I have been keeping a blog since she was diagnosed the 2nd time on 12/30/04. Although I am a web architect, I know next to nothing about blogs and am spending all my time researching cancer. Thus, the format, graphics, and look and feel have been completely neglected -- the main focus has been the content in order to -- keep a record for family, journal for Julia for when she is older, help me philosophize about life and put her illness into perspective, etc.

I was hoping you could give me some tips on getting started...

Famous Birthdays

Wanna learn the famous guys who has the same brthday with you? Edward Morykwas made a list in FamousBirthdays.com...

And do you need some birthday sources?
- EverydayBirthday.com
- HappyBirthday.com
- Also Plaxo might help you to remember birthdays. ;)

Frederick Herzberg - Two Factor Hygiene and Motivation Theory

Frederick Herzberg (1923 - 2000) proposed the Two Factor theory of human motivation. According to his theory people were influenced by two factors. Satisfaction and psychological growth was a factor of motivation factors. Dissatisfaction was a result of hygiene factors. Essentially, hygiene factors were needed to ensure an employee was not dissatisfied. In order to motivate an employee into higher performance motivation factors were needed. Some of his fellow psychologist don't agree with his work, arguing that Herzberg used faulty methodology.

- TheWorkingManager.com: Frederick Herzberg
- Management Theory of Frederick Herzberg
- Frederick Herzberg: Exploring What Motivates Us
- Frederick Herzberg's motivation and hygiene factors

Global Warming

Most of the literate world today regards "global warming'' as both real and dangerous. Indeed, the diplomatic activity concerning warming might lead one to believe that it is the major crisis confronting mankind.

Here I compiled some links & articles about the global warming. It is obvious that our generation won't suffer a lot but I think it won't be the same for our grandchildrens. I guess more conciosness is needed and that can be gathered by knowledge:

- NRDC: Global Warming
- Global Warming: The Origin and Nature of the Alleged Scientific Consensus by Richard S. Lindzen
- CNN.com In-Depth Specials: Global Warming
- A Closer Look at Global Warming
- Global Warming Facts & Our Future
- Nasa Earth Observatory: Global Warming
- Global Warming, from Wikipedia
- GlobalWarm.com
- EPA's Global Warming Site
- Global Warming Information Center
- Global Warming; Early Warning Signs
- GlobalWarming.org

2004 Year-End Google Zeitgeist

Based on billions of searches conducted by Google users around the world, the 2004 Year-End Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year's major events and trends.

zeit·geist | Pronunciation: 'tsIt-"gIst, 'zIt | Function: noun | Etymology: German, from Zeit (time) + Geist (spirit) | Date: 1884 | Meaning: the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era

Jan: Lord of the Kings
Feb: Love Poems
Mar: Orlando Bloom
Apr: Earth Day
May: Dia De La Madre
Jun: Ronald Reagen
Jul: Barack Obama
Aug: Michael Phelps
Sep: Weather Channel
Oct: Red Sox
Nov: Halo 2
Dec: Coming Soon :)

You can also learn most popular images in Google Zeitgeist as well. Also some most importand events of the related month is listed. (Highly recommended)
Dec: Coming soon ;)

Censor in MSN Spaces

It turned out that Microsoft censors lots of words in order to keep Spaces clean. Here are some articles, tests and results about Microsoft way of censoring:

- MSN Spaces: seven dirty blogs
- Chinese editions of MSN Spaces censor political terms
- All I need to know...

Words of the Year 2004

Based on online lookups in Webster Dictionary, the the words of the year 2004 is announced and the #1 Word of the Year for 2004 was:

Blog noun [short for Weblog] (1999) : a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer

Google Suggest (Beta)

As you type, Google will offer suggestions.

I Love Google! And Google Suggest is another great idea from google, as you type the word you are searching for google suggests you some similar words which are popular.

Go try it...

MSN Messenger 7.0 (Beta)

I hesitated to download the beta a few weeks aho as there were some major bugs but I installed it a couple of days ago and at the moment I am happy with it. It has some great new features. (But i wished you could write your own status messages like iChat) (I didn't test it yet but I also wish, the number of maximum users you add to your msn messenger is increased - i can not add any more friends)

Anyway, it is more fun to use this version.
Go see yourself: Msn Messenger 7.0 Beta

Some Links for Friday Surf

iPod my photo: Some guys are ipodifiying your submitted photos just for 20 bucks. I wonder if they earn any money. Cool idea... :)

Top 100 Oldest Domains: This list is old but domains are older. :) It is interesting that microsoft.com isn't in the list.

Japan's internet 'suicide clubs' : In Japan, the internet has been blamed for a spate of group suicides which appear to have been arranged in online chat rooms.

6 Myths of creativity: A new study will change how you generate ideas and decide who's really creative in your company.

Cartoon Skeletal Systems

A character study of 22 present and past cartoon characters.

"Animation was the format of choice for children's television in the 1960s, a decade in which children's programming became almost entirely animated. Growing up in that period, I tended to take for granted the distortions and strange bodies of these entities."

It's been a while since I last surfed around and posting interesting links in fikirbaz.com. Today I wandered around clicking on some of mu favourite blogs and find this guy: Michael Paulus. He has illustrations and some artwork in his site. I really liked Skeletal Systems, not only they are realistic and funny but they also reminded me some of my favourite cartton characters that i forgot. Enjoy!

MSN Spaces - Microsoft Way of Blogging

MSN Spaces is Microsoft's Blogging Application, I just found some links about it. Some reviews, some test blogs etc. MSN Spaces must just be more popular than Blogger as it has MSN and Hotmail and all that brands behind... Check these links ;)

- Here is the MSN Spaces
- Reviews of MSN Spaces
- Might this be my MSN Spaces? :)
- Press Release from Microsoft
- MSN Readies New Blogging Service
- MSN Spaces Launched

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

This week's second book is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. [Süper iyi Günler ya da Christopher Boone'un Sıradışı Hayatı] I started this one in the morning and finished it before I slept the same day. It is one of the books that I really liked and already decided to buy a couple of copies to give some of my friends.

Narrated by a fifteen-year-old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing emotions.

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. At fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbour’s dog Wellington impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.

- Author Interviews: The Curiously Irresistible Literary Debut of Mark Haddon
- The Guardian.co.uk: B is for bestseller
- The Guardian.co.uk: Favourite Haddon wins Whitbread

Foam of the Daze (L'Ecume des jours) by Boris Vian

A friend of mine had gave me this book a long time ago. But I couldn't start reading it. Last week I finished to book and this was my first Boris Vian book. Now I started to buy his other books as I really liked Foam of the Daze.

L'Ecume des jours (Foam of the Daze) is a jazz fueled Science Fiction story that is both romantic and nihilistic! Vian's novel is an assortment of bittersweet romance, absurdity and the frailty of life. Foam of the Daze is a nimble-fingered masterpiece that is both witty and incredibly moving. It is a story of a wealthy young man Colin and the love of his life Chloe, who develops a water lily in her lung.

The supporting cast includes Chick, an obsessive collector of noted philosopher Jean-Sol Partre's books and stained pants, and Nicolas who is a combination of P.G. Wodehouse's fictional butler Jeeves and the Green Hornet's Kato. The soul of the book is about the nature of life disappearing and loving things intensely as if one was making love on a live grenade!

Istanbul Metblog

As metroblogging got more and more popular everyday Istanbul Metblog launched as the 17th city. It has some great writers & bloggers... Check it out ;)
- MetroBlogging.com
- Istanbul Metlog

Danish Sperm Donors On Top

Today I read about sperm donorship in the newspaper and searched about the topic. And found some sites and also the original article. Danish students earn money and it is also legal in Denmark that your child never learns who his/her father is. But also this cheapens your sperm as low as 40 USD's. In USA the child has the legal right to learn about his/her father so it is a more expensive process in USA.

Danes are spreading their genes around the world faster than ever aided by exports from local firm Cryos International, the world's biggest sperm bank.

Each year Danish men donate sperm that contributes to around 1,000 pregnancies, and with increasing demand from Americans, Cryos has opened its first New York office -- on Broadway.

Thousands of men visit Cryos's three Danish donation centers, most of them students. They are paid $40.50 for each donation.

Genius Loves Company

Genius Loves Company is released shortly after Ray Charles' death. It was planned to be released this year before June but with his death now the album stands as a farewell to the "genius".

Genius Loves Company has 12 great tracks and 12 great artists that was together with Ray Charles to duet. These 12 artists include B.B.King, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, Elton John.

"A nostalgic stroll through the many genres he dabbled with in during his career." - Wall Street Journal

"Seemingly destined without fail for the uppermost ranks of best sellers." - New York Times

"A tantalizing collection of duets with old and young admirers.he[Charles] sounds positively fabulous with so many soul mates around him." - Boston Globe

"Ray Charles did it right for his swan song... He's in primo vocal shape, his inimitable voice of grit, sass, moan and sweet soul sway over the proceedings that range from gentle pop to deep-down blues." - Billboard

"This CD [Genius Loves Company] seems a lock to net Charles Grammy gold. Thankfully, his final project stands proud with some of his finest." - Miami Herald

"The premiere stylist saved a lot for a collection that should have a year-end Grammy presence. Few who ever marveled at the magic of Charles'
soulful touch are likely to get through these 12 duets without being profoundly moved at some point." - LA Times

"The Genius' final album shines with help from BB, Willie and others." - Rolling Stones

- Ray Charles Official
- History of Rock; Ray Charles
- Cnn.com; Ray Charles dead at 73

- If you wanna go and listen some stuff from the album...

Metroblogging

What is Metroblogging?
Metblogs are a hyper-local look at what's going on in the city. Our regional bloggers give each site a new perspective on daily life; less calendar listing, more friendly advice.

Metroblogging.com network is getting bigger and bigger everyday. There are already 16 metroblogs and some news ones are on the way. I guess that would be a great way to learn the real life of a city. Great idea, great community; great blogging...

10 worst album covers of all time

Pork Tornado: The Guy You Hate To Love... I found this diary site thanks to a forwarded mail and really liked tje page: 10 worst album covers of all time

A friend of mine sent me a link the other day that has kept me entertained with what has become my first top ten list. I guess “bottom 10” would be more appropriate, since it goes from “really bad” to “crime against humanity”. The problem with the original website featuring these album covers (Kersbergen has redirected his traffic to this site after his server got all gummed up) is that they were in no particular order and no one wrote any captions. I plan to fix that. Aside from that, I thank the person who gathered and compiled these works of art.

Tom's Petition to Renew the Assault Weapons Ban

I just received a mail from Tom Mauser, here is how it starts:

I am writing to you and a few other bloggers asking for help. My name is Tom Mauser and my son Daniel was killed at Columbine High School. If we don’t stand up to President Bush and the NRA right now, the assault weapons ban will expire and AK47s and Uzis will be back on our streets.

He has created a petition (Six Degrees from Columbine) and asks us to sign and spread it all over... The idea is great and I immediately signed and got the related link. Click here to sign his petition.

The only thing is I think he just thought of spreading the petition all over the US but I think we can spread it all over the world. The map on his petition page just shows US, as Fikirbaz is a Turkey based blog zip codes doesnt work. If you are a non-us reader of fikirbaz.com you can write any 5 digit number for zip code till Tom creates it world wide ;)

And please try to spread the link to help Tom, to help mankind!

Stop Light on a Chip

Researchers have long dreamed of creating superfast computers that manipulate the quantum states of light beams rather than the classical states of electrons, as in today's technology. Now a paper in the 27 February PRL suggests a solution to what has been one of the major unanswered questions: How do you store a light signal in a chip? The team showed with computer simulations that rows of tiny semiconductor pillars could slow light waves to a stop and store them as electromagnetic fields oscillating within the pillars.

Atomic physicists have recently learned a trick some call "stopping light." In this technique, the vibrations of electromagnetic fields are transferred to the motions of electrons in a gas of atoms. But "people never thought it was possible" to do some thing similar in solid-state devices, says Shanhui Fan, of Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California. Now Fan and Mehmet Fatih Yanik propose to capture light in a chain of coupled semiconductor pillars, which would store the light energy by allowing the electric and magnetic fields to bounce around inside them. The team hasn't yet built the device, but they have predicted its behavior with a massive computer simulation, which Fan describes as "the cleanest experiment."

To read the whole article: CLICK

To read: Stopping Light All Optically

Camper Magazine Site Re-Designed

Volkswagen Camper & Commercial Magazine has a new web site (at last) Their old site was in fact a bit amateur and now their web site is much better. Check it out... (And well, my subscription has expired... The thing that is really cool with a quarterly magazine is you have plenty of time to renew your subscription...)

Trailer - Fahrenheit9/11

Fahrenheit9/11.com is one of the most visited web sites these days. Palme D'or Cannes 2004 Winner movie will be on big screen on 25th of June.. You can go to the official site to watch the trailer...

- MichaelMoore.com
- Fahrenheit911 Reviews

C.H.I.M.P. (monitor mirror)

When you are playing Quake on the local LAN against the support desk staff you need all the help you can get. C.H.I.M.P is an early warning system that will clue you in on when to Alt-Tab back to your spreadsheet when your boss suddenly appears. How does it work? You just look at it and it magically (with it's invincible powers) produces an image of what is behind you. Just like a good C.H.I.M.P. should...

Convex mirror (3 inches diameter) fits easily on either corner of your monitor with accompanying velcro.

You can find this unique product in thinkgeek.com... 9.99$... Enjoy...

Getting Listed in Search Engines

My friends ask me about getting listed in search engines, tips, tricks and all that stuff... So I decided to search a little about the topic and find some related links to help...

I think google might answer some questions such as:
- How Do I Get My Site Listed on Google?
- PageRank Information
- Search Engine Optimizers
- Webmaster Guidelines

And some more links:
- Spidap's Basic Search Engine FAQ
- What's The Big Deal With Search Engines?? Or Why Search Engine Submission Is Important
- Multisubject Guides To Specialized Search Engines
- Getting Your Homepage Listed at the Major Search Engines
- Grantastic Designs: Search Engine Optimization

The All New Yahoo! Messenger

The All New Yahoo! Messenger's BETA version is ready for testing. It has some new features such as LAUNCHcast Radio, Yahoo Games and more customization features...

For more info and download you can click...

23rd International Istanbul Film Festival

The International Jury of the 23rd International Istanbul Film Festival presided over by Hugh Hudson (UK) and composed of Bengt Forslund (Sweden), Michael Galasso (USA), Michele Levieux (France), Derek Malcolm (UK), Jafar Panahi (Iran), Tayfun Pirselimoğlu (Turkey) and Serra Yılmaz (Turkey) has decided to give:

The GOLDEN TULIP Award to “Bu San / Goodbye, Dragon Inn” by Tsai Ming-Liang (Taiwan) for it laments the death of a cinema, but not the death of cinema. A love story, a ghost story and a story of hope for a universal art.

The SPECIAL PRIZE OF THE JURY has been shared between “Profesionalac / The Professional” by Dusan Kovavevic (Serbia-Montenegro) for its outstanding script and “L’Esquive” by Abdellatif Kehiche (France) for its harmonious ensemble acting.

I myself could not watch too many movies in the festival this year when I compare my "performance" according to previous years. Here is my list:

:: The Return - Dönüş
:: Woman of Affairs - Damgalı Kadın
:: Coffe and Cigarettes - Kahve ve Sigara
:: Fuse - Yanan Ateş
:: Reconstruction - Yeniden Sev Beni
:: Nosferatu, A Symphony of Terror
:: The Wooden Camera - Tahta Kamera
:: The Man of The Year - Yılın Adamı

Well, I hope to see some in the cinemas soon...

Block That Ringtone!

It could happen on a train, in a restaurant or during an awe-inspiring aria at a performance of "Carmen": a neighbor's cellphone starts bleating the theme song from "Friends," disrupting the mood and setting nerves on edge. Wouldn't it be great, you think to yourself, if this couldn't happen?

Others are thinking likewise, including companies and researchers developing or already selling devices that render cellphones inoperable in certain locations. Methods include jammers that interfere with cellphone frequencies, routing systems that mute phones' ringers in specific places, sensors that detect active cellphones and building materials that block cellphone waves.

To read the whole article in The New York Times, please click here...

Mystery Of Time and Space

Crimson Room by Toshimitsu Takagi was one of the most popular entries in my blog according to the comments... Lots of people came to my site thanks to Crimson Room and i guess in the comments section of that very posting people could got of the Crimson Room...

In the last comment there is a recommendation of another game of same kind: Logan's Mystery Of Time and Space. It was created by Logan (Jan Albartus) in 2002; and you can have chat with other visitors as you play the game...

Enjoy!

Gegen Die Wand / Duvara Karşı / Head-On

"You can put an end to your life without killing yourself," whispers the doctor. And Cahit, 40, whose suicide attempt has brought him to the psychiatric clinic, knows what he means: by starting a new life. Yet the anguish in his soul continues to cry out for drugs and alcohol to numb his pain. Sibel – young, pretty and, like Cahit, Turkish-German – loves life too much for a proper Muslim girl. To escape from the prison of her devout, conservative family, she fakes a suicide attempt. But it brings shame, not freedom; only marriage can save her..."

- German-Turkish Film "Head-On" Wins Berlinale
- Berlin Film Festival Winner Hits Theaters
- Gegen Die Wand: Berlinale.De
- Gegen Die Wand: German-Ciema.De
- Duvara Karşı: Sinema.com
- Sibel Kekilli:"Duvara Karşı benim en büyük şansım"
- Fatih Akın ile Berlin'de görüştük...
- 'Duvara Karşı' kim için yarıştı?
- Duvarın karşısında ne var?

Blogs Anywhere & Anytime

Log your life via your phone: Nokia is developing software that will help turn its phones into life loggers.

The Lifeblog software automatically arranges all the messages, images, videos and sound clips people capture with their phones.

The PC software organises information on a timeline and lets people add to the collection with images from other digital still and video cameras.

Eventually the software will let people publish some or all of the information they collect to the web to let them create their own biographical blog.

And here's the same Nokia Lifeblog topic in Guardian Unlimited...

Crimson Room (by Toshimitsu Takagi)

You are locked in a room and in order to get out of the room all you have to do is to find some objects to help you... And believe me, findinf the objects won't be enough.

To get you locked up in the Crimson Room you have to click here...

Director / Creator of the Crimson Room is Toshimitsu Takagi... And his personal web site is here...

Staying Alive (1983)

"So horrific are the musical sequences in this movie that you’ll swear you were having nightmares directed by Satan himself." Scott Weinberg, Apollo Guide (click to read it all)

"The words 'directed by Sylvester Stallone' say it all." Oz, HOLLYWOOD BITCHSLAP

"More like staying dead...a monotonous and unnecessary sequel that has all the grace and flow of a greased hog on rollerskates" Frank Ochieng, MOVIE EYE

"Saturday Night Fever through the eyes of Stallone." Alex Sandell, JUICY CEREBELLUM

Movie Weekend...

Last weekend I watched some movies. It had been a lot since I didn't watched more than three in a weekend so I guess I am regaining my performance. (The same can be sair for my blog posting performance as well I guess ;)

- Hero (Great Choreography of Martial Arts, great colors)
- Sweet Sixteen (Ken Loach, great accents)
- Dumb and Dumberer (great dumbness)
- Cold Mountain (great nicole)
- U-571 (great sound fx)

Well, there might be one more but I just can't remember... Am I getting older...? (Oh, I watched Five Obstructions by Lars von Trier and All About My Mother by Almodovar but they were just before weekend...)

Those who serve: Samurai

A Couple of nights ago I watched The Last Samurai (and I had watched Kill Bill a while ago), then I searched for the word Samurai and here are some results that I chose:

- You can read and learn lots of stuff about samurais in samurai-archives.com
- In Japan-Guide.com there is some basic info but you can use the links to go further
- You need some samurai history? Origins Of The Samurai by David Lay
- Interested in Japanese Samurai Swords

- And the official site of The Last Samurai
- Ken Watanabe is the acts great and he is also noöinated for an Oscar.

Helmut Newton died at 83 in a car crash

When I was in Prague in autumn I had a chance to visit one of Helmut Newton's exhibitions... On friday 23th January he died in a car accident at the age 83.

Helmut Newton, 83, the renowned photographer who in his 40-year career brought sexual provocation and menace to fashion tableaux that came to be recognized as art, died Friday in Los Angeles.

Mr. Newton was with his wife of 55 years, June, when he lost control of his car about noon when leaving the Chateau Marmont hotel. (To read it all click here)

Here is a collection of Helmut Newton links:
- OCAIW: Helmut Newton (lots of links)
- Biography
- Taschen Books: Helmut Newton's SUMO (The biggest and most expensive book production in the 20th century)
- Newton-autoerotic.com
- Ionone - Photography - Helmut Newton
- Helmut-newton.de

Kaleidoscopes / Kaleydeskoplar

I had my first kaleidoscope today... (It was a late birthday present) And here are some links about kaleidoscopes...

- Great wooden kaleidoscopes
- Kaleidoscope screensavers for your desktop
- Kaleidescope Collector: Fine kaleidoscopes in all prices, made by gifted kaleidoscope artists with skill, style and originality on the internet since 1996
- An artice about kaleidoscopes: Kaleydeskop (in Turkish)

Puslu Kıtalar Atlası - İhsan Oktay Anar

İletişim yayınları 10/1995
Türkçe Edebiyat dizisi
Isbn: 9754704724 138 sayfa Dil: Türkçe
13x19.5 cm, 3. hamur, 238 sayfa.
Türü: Roman Öykü

Yeniçeriler kapıyı zorlarken Uzun İhsan Efendi hala malum konuyu düşünüyor, fakat işin içinden bir türlü çıkamıyordu...
"Rendekar doğru mu söylüyor? Düşünüyorum, öyleyse varım. Oldukça makul. Fakat bundan tam tersi bir sonuç, varolmadığım, bir düş olduğum sonucu da çıkar: Düşünen bir adamı düşünüyorum. Düşündüğümü bildiğim için, ben varım. Düşündüğünü bildiğim için, düşlediğim bu adamın da varolduğunu biliyorum. Böylece o da benim kadar gerçek oluyor. Bundan sonrası çok daha hüzünlü bir sonuca varıyor. Düşündüğünü düşündüğüm bu adamın beni düşlediğini düşlüyorum. Öylese gerçek olan biri beni düşlüyor. O gerçek, ben ise bir düş oluyorum."
Kapı kırıldığında Uzun İhsan Efendi kitabı kapandı. az sonra başına geleceklere aldırmadan kafasından şunları geçirdi:
"Dünya bir düştür. Evet, dünya..Ah! Evet, dünya bir masaldır."
(Arka Kapak)

Köklü bir tarihlilik tavrı ile yazar, Uzun İhsan Efendi'nin kişiliğinde, dışdünya - zihin arasında kurulan ilişkideki varoluş biçimlerini sorguluyor. Hakikat, zihinde oluşan bir tasarımdan ya da nesnelerin gerçekliğinden mi ibaretttir? Uzun İhsan Efendi, kendinde geriye, yıllarca dünyaya sırt çevirip zihninde yarattığı düşlerle yazdığı eserini, Puslu Kıtalar Atlası'nı sadece okunması için değil yaşanması dileğiyle bırakır.

- İhsan Oktay Anar'la bir röportaj
- Ekşi Sözlük'te İhsan Oktay Anar
- Düşünme Biçimleri - İhsan Oktay Anar

Movies: The Best of 2003

In Metacritic.com there is a great summary page about the movie world.