February 2008 Archives

I received a phone call this morning stating that I had been unsuccessful in my application for the Clerical Officer position with West Cumberland Hospital's Pharmacy department. Normally, the hospital just tends to inform successful candidates by phone and informs unsuccessful candidates by post.

However, I apparently impressed them enough; I was in the final three, that they thought I might be interested in applying to join the local Hospital Pharmacy Technician Training Scheme. This was probably as a result of my answer to "Where do you see yourself in four years?" I mentioned that I hoped to still be with the department perhaps with a view to studying towards some sort of qualification to help me progress on a career path with them.

The scheme doesn't commence until September and will involve on site training and day release to Preston once a week. My only concern is that although they said that I easily meet the qualification requirements I'm a wee bit concerned that it lists English, Chemistry & Biology as 3 of the 4 subjects required at grade C or above when my Biology was a grade D. The saving grace may be that it states a dual science award would be considered which gives me hope that they may take my Physics grade into account instead.

Anyway, In the meantime I still need to keep looking for a job, even if it only temporary, and hope for the best with this application.

I have recently came across arguably the best extension ever for Firefox. If you've ever used Opera there's a chance you'll have seen Speed Dial; which is a feature in Opera 9.2 which allows you to transform your top nine sites into visual favorites that are immediately available in any new tab. Now, Firefox has it's own version of Speed Dial and it works just like the Opera version. The really nice thing is that you can set it up as a start page in Firefox and then browse from there. I've got it set up with My Yahoo, Google, eBay, Facebook, MySpace and Online Banking sites along with a couple of others and can easily just click on an image to instantly go straight to that site.

I can also recommend a couple of other nifty Firefox extensions. BugMeNot tries to take the pain out of accessing free content on sites that ask you to register and Foxmarks is a bookmark synchroniser that is handy for keeping track of your bookmarks on multiple computers.

eServiceInfo.com is a website that may just prove invaluable to some people. It is a collection of service manuals for, amongst other things, televisions ( plasma, tft-lcd, widescreen, hdtv ), dvd players, video recorders, car audio equipment, digital cameras, computer monitors (tft-lcd panels or conventional crt), test equipment, power supplies and printers. I came across it whilst trying to find some information on my HP LJ4100N and whilst I didn't find what I was after I did find a free download of the LJ4100 service manual which may well prove invaluable in times to come.

This weekend is our annual 24 hour sponsored roleplay event. This year we are raising funds for the RNLI and the local hospital's Acute Care Unit. The 24 hours is split into 4 6-hour sessions. In the first session I'm playing In Nominee, 2nd session I'm running Ratkin, 3rd session I'm running D&D 3E and 4th session I'm playing Fuzzy Heroes. Ratkin is a continuation of my normal game and most of the group already have characters and I have a couple of spares for the people who don't. The D&D group is going to be a rather straightforward Dungeon Crawl and I've already got characters generated for that too. I think that might be a small group. Jacqui's In Nominee game has been fun whenever she's ran it in the past; it's from Steve Jackson Games and is an Angels & Demons game. Fuzzy Heroes is Steve's own creation and is best described as a wargame for cuddly toys. Looking forward to it.

My network printer; a HP 4100n, has died. It still prints out test pages from the printer's own control panel but won't print out anything over the network or even if connected to one of the pcs. I've changed the network card in it and still no luck. This is the second one I've had; the first one died within 7 days of me getting it off eBay, but the vendor was nice enough to send me a replacement he had. So, I've had a look on eBay and found a replacement for £19 plus £14 postage plus vat; so under £40 for a nice network printer; which is an unbelievable bargain. Until the new printer arrives I've taken my HP 1100 out of mothballs.

I didn't have much planned for today so decided to watch a couple of movies.

The first was Rambo; which is a pretty straightforward action-fest. It's set in Burma and has our eponymous hero rescuing a group of missionaries/doctors that had been taken captive. It's nothing special and has the, as expected, high gore and body count. It was probably more believable than some of the other movies found in the genre and I enjoyed it.

The second was Cloverfield. It started really slowly before picking up from about 20 minutes in. It follows a group of 5 young New Yorkers trying to escape Manhattan when a huge monster attacks. I found the filming style very reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project and was very off-putting in places. But, the film has a solid story and maintains a strong tension and sense of impending dread throughout. Definitely a highlight.

I'm off roleplaying this evening but might watch Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs & A Baby when I get home.

I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday's LotR marathon. We got there just about 10am and by time other people arrived we ended up starting just before 11am and finished just shy of midnight. I wasn't particularly tired by then and myself, Steve and Paul sat down to watch the Resident Evil trilogy afterwards. Paul fell asleep and ended up going to bed after the first film but both Steve and I watched all 3; before calling it a night at just about 4:30am. I was up again by 8:30am for breakfast but am now starting to feel tired again. I think I'll be having an early night this evening.

I'm away all day today and the title of this post gives a big clue as to why. I'm getting together with some of the Monday night roleplaying group and we're going to have a marathon Lord Of The Rings session.

We're not going to do anything unusual but watch the extended editions of The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers and The Return Of The King one after another. Total running time is approximately 11 hours 45 minutes. We'll be having meal breaks between the 3 movies; Soup at lunchtime and Jacket Potatoes this evening.

Recently purchased Crackdown for the XBox 360; paid a total of £7.98 for it on eBay. I've been playing it most of the time for the last couple of days and have just taken out the second of the three gangs in the game. It's a heck of a lot of fun and is the most I've used the XBox in ages.

Oh, and I completed The Simpsons last week; played it for a total of less than 6 hours over 3 nights. Glad my nephew loaned it off a friend rather than going out and buying it. Very repetitive in lots of places and also extremely fiddly in some.

Up until today I've been streaming films and tv shows from the pc to the xbox to watch on the big tv. However, I switched on the xbox this morning to watch the new pilot for Knight Rider and the xbox couldn't connect to the pc. Normally, closing down the network component of windows media player would solve the problem when the service automatically restarted. But, not today. So, after about an hour of fiddling and getting nowhere I totally disabled media sharing in WMP and installed TVersity.

TVersity is a media server that lets you manage your Internet and home media and create a personalized lineup of channels, and then serves this media to a multitude of networked devices in the home or on the go; making your media available anywhere, anytime and on any device.

Devices that have been reported to work, through a variety of means, include:

• The Sony Playstation 3
• The Xbox 360
• The Nintendo Wii
• The Sony PSP (firmware 2.6 or higher) via its built-in web browser
• The Nokia 770
• The Nokia N800
• Terratec Noxon
• The Nokia N80 phone
• Xbox Media Center
• The Apple iPod via iTunes

White Dwarf is a game that seems deceptively easy but isn't really. My highest score is about 7,000.

Winter Bells is a rather cute game involving a rabbit and bells. It's got some nice music with it.

Avoider has a rather simple concept. Keep the mouse pointer safe for as long as possible.

Home Run entails you trying to help a drunken man walk home. Sounds easy until you remember the guy is drunk.

I was at the hospital this afternoon for an interview in the Pharmacy department; who are looking for a Clerical Officer. I think the interview went okay and it's now just a matter of waiting to hear.

I got home and my sister's dog pounced on me when I walked in the door and landed on my toe. Boy, did it hurt! I'd managed to go the best part of a week without knocking them and it's now throbbing away quite nicely.

I don't know about other people but I sometimes find it rather difficult to get to sleep at night and if there's no Ice Hockey or Basketball on the tv I end up listening to the radio for a good couple of hours before finally succumbing. The show that I tend to listen to is Up All Night presented nightly from 1am by either Dotun Adebayo or Rhod Sharp on BBC Radio 5Live.

Monday morning is a book phone in, Tuesday morning is pods & blogs, Wednesday morning is US sports, Thursday morning is a science phone in, Friday morning is a Medical phone in, Saturday morning is a world football phone in and Sunday morning is a film phone in.

The website offers you the opportunity to listen again to the various shows and subscribe to the podcasts.

Today has been a rather quiet day; so, I took the opportunity to do some preparation work for the 24 hour sponsored roleplay event which we are running at the start of March. I've cut back to running only 2 sessions this year; Ratkin and D&D 3E. I'm planning on just running the Ratkin as a continuation of my existing campaign and will need to do very little supplemental work for it. The D&D that I'm planning on running is separate from my weekend Kobold game and both the Savage Species and Goblins game I run occasionally on Monday evenings. I'm planning on running a Dungeon Crawl for 6th level characters and to try and maximise the amount of time people get to play I've spent this afternoon generating characters for people to use. I'll take the opportunity at various times over the next week or so to sort out the dungeon and enemies.

With the exceptional capabilities of today's home consoles it seems that the last bastions of arcade gaming; the Japanese market, is now feeling the pinch.

Earlier this month arcade firm Namco Bandai announced plans to close at least 50 of its arcade locations across Japan and Sega Sammy likewise announced plans to close over 100 arcades. Namco Bandai cited the expanding home console market, and the Nintendo Wii in particular, as a big part of the problem. Sega Sammy also announced that it plans to offer early retirement to approximately 400 employees.

"A lot of the types of games that people played at an arcade can now be done at home," said Namco Bandai spokesman Yuji Machida. Machida went on to state that strong holiday sales for the console meant a lot of kids have spent their time at home playing, and spent their money on more Wii software and hardware, such as the popular Wii Fit package. Machida also cited rising gas prices as a concern, as families become less willing to travel back and forth from shopping malls, where arcades are normally located. The closures amount to approximately 20% of Namco Bandai's arcades in Japan.

Just a couple of years after increased profits, Sega Sammy has announced expectations of an estimated loss of 26 billion yen (approx. $230 million) for this fiscal year; compared to the previous projection of a billion yen profit for the year. The main culprit behind the downturn seems to be the pachinko side of the business, which saw a predicted 85 percent fall in profits, and arcade sales, which switched from a slight profit last year to a 11.4 billion yen loss this year.

To coincide with the Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall campaign to raise awareness of the plight of chickens, the RSPCA has challenged supermarkets to become the first to pledge to only sell 100% welfare-friendly chicken by 2010.

Eight-hundred and sixty million chickens are reared for their meat in the UK each year. The majority of these chickens are reared to standards the RSPCA believe are unacceptably low.

Please visit the RSPCA for more information and also please sign the petition.

I was back at the Podiatrist this morning for a quick checkup and dressing change. She's really happy with my progress and indicated that they may take less than the estimated three months to heal. She's advised me that because of the way that I walk and the fact that my toes tend to turn/point upwards rather than lie flat that I should try and take pressue off them as much as possible. She's suggested that I should stop wearing slippers around the house and either walk around in socks or, due to how sore my toes still are at times, barefoot.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the erection of the Angel Of The North next to the A1 near Newcastle/Gateshead; although Wikipedia actually lists 16th February 1998 as the completion date. I didn't realise it had actually been that long; where do the years go?

Anyway, it's estimated that it's probably seen well over 30 million times a year by people either passing or visiting it could very well end up being seen over 3 billion times during it's expected 100 year life.

I didn't realise that there is also a companion Angel Of The South planned for erection at Ebbsfleet in 2009 next to the high speed Channel Tunnel Rail Link.

Forgot to take my Metformin yesterday.

I'd normally take one with my breakfast and one with my tea; which covers my current dosage. Anyway, I had breakfast in the kitchen yesterday and hadn't taken any Metformin down with me so was going to take it when I went back upstairs. The post landed and I spent an extra 20 minutes downstairs before going back upstairs to hook up the recently arrived iPod to the PC. I forgot all about the tablet. Later on it was a similar story as I was distracted by a phone call after my tea and likewise forgot to take my tablet then.

I only realised that I'd forgotten my tablets when I was going to bed and spotted my Irbesartan on the side and thought "Damn, forgot my tablets" or rather, thoughts similar to that effect. Anyway, it was too late to take my Metformin then so just took my Irbesartan and went to bed. I've checked my bloods this morning and surprisingly enough they are still pretty low at 4.6; which shows just how little sugar I now have in my diet. You can guarantee that I remembered to take my tablet after breakfast.

Anyway, as a side-effect of not taking my tablets yesterday, I've woken up this morning with a headache which feels similar to hypo/hyper headaches I've had in the past. The current plan is not to take anything for the headache and hope it'll fade as the day progresses. I've gotten pretty good over the years at determining how badly a headache is likely to affect me and this one doesn't feel like it's going to have a debilitating effect on the rest of my day. Although, I do occasionally get it wrong.

With thanks to Dom Ramsey over at Money Blogger I am now the happy owner of a funky blue 8gb iPod Nano. I must also thank Pewari for posting about Dom's competition on her blog. Without her post I wouldn't have known about Dom's site or the competition.

If you have a Nokia mobile phone and are not 100% certain what features it supports than a visit here will probably prove invaluable. You will probably need to register but it's free and easy to do so.

As mentioned previously, my doctor has been concerned about my high blood pressure and he prescribed Irbesartan to try and solve this just under a month ago. He gave me instructions to have a blood test after three weeks to check that kidney function wasn't adversely affected and to see him again within a month.

Well, I had a blood test last week and was back to see the doctor again this morning to check the results and have my blood pressure checked again. Thankfully, there is no concern for alarm with my kidney function and the tablets have successfully brought my blood pressure down to a manageable level. They are keeping me on the tablets and have told me that they don't need to see me again for another 3 months and even then I just need to see the practice nurse.

So, with my blood sugar down around 4.5 - 6.5; it was as low as 3.6 this morning; and with my blood pressure within acceptable limits, the only outstanding issue at the moment; other than my weight, are my toes. I'm currently changing their dressing every other day and have started to notice a lot of discolouration seeping through from the wounds themselves. They do seem to have finally started to scab up and I don't think there's any cause for alarm and will be seeing the podiatrist as planned on Friday. However, it would be nice if they weren't so sensitive; not only is knocking/stubbing them painful but the dressing seems to grate against the toe matrix whenever I move my feet whilst either in bed or wearing footwear.

Today's Manchester derby ended in a shock 2-1 win for the blue half of the city. This was the fifth game that Wayne Rooney had missed so far this season; he was suspended, and United have lost all 5 times.

Prior to the game starting both teams were lead out by a lone bagpiper and as they gathered on the edge of the centre circle both managers laid a wreath. The minute silence in honour of the 23 victims of the Munich air crash was impeccably observed by everybody in the ground.

In honour of the occasion City wore shirts devoid of any sponshorship and United wore 1958-styled shirts numbered 1-11 with no logo or sponsorship on. The names of the victims were displayed around the ground on the pitch-side advertising boards prior to kick-off. However, I was really disappointed that, after all the hooplah over paying respect by removing the sponsorship logos from the shirts, they still ran their normal range of advertising on the boards during the match.

As the game itself wore on it became obvious that City were going to be very strong defensively and it also became more apparent that United were just not on song. City went in at the break 2-0 up and both goals had a wee touch of fortune about them, but I'm taking nothing away from City; they played really well. United got their equalizer in injury time at the end of the game, but, by then, it was way too late.

United are still 2 points behind Arsenal, who will be hoping to extend their lead to 5 points when they play Blackburn on Monday night.

Hollywood could be back on its feet as early as Monday.

The major studios and the Writers Guild of America are putting the finishing touches on a deal that could bring an end to the costly walkout. Today the two sides are expected to finalize a three-year contract that guild leaders plan to present to thousands of writers in Los Angeles and New York on Saturday. The guild board could approve the contract Sunday and encourage writers to return to work the next day, according to people close to the negotiations.

Studio executives and TV producers have been preparing for that day for the last two weeks, hoping to salvage the remainder of the television season by quickly revving up production to bring back some popular TV shows that have been languishing in repeats or were taken off the air.

"Everyone is motivated to get back to work as quickly as possible," said Jonathan Littman, president of Jerry Bruckheimer Television, which produces "CSI" and "The Amazing Race," among other shows, for CBS. "They want to begin producing as many original episodes as they can."

Movies that were derailed by the strike also could lurch back, including high-profile projects such as Columbia Pictures' "Da Vinci Code" prequel "Angels & Demons" and Warner Bros.' "Shantaram," starring Johnny Depp.

Films are blessed with long lead times, and last summer studio executives accelerated development and production schedules in anticipation of a strike. As a result, the movie industry was not as hard hit by the Nov. 5 work stoppage as broadcast TV.

Production shut down in December and January, after the supply of TV scripts had been depleted. That compromised the season, which officially ends May 21.

It will take four to six weeks and tens of millions of dollars to ramp up TV production, and not every prime-time series will immediately return to the air.

"It's not just flipping a switch and having everything come right back on," said Barry Jossen, executive vice president of production for ABC Studios. "There are a lot of factors and considerations that go into these decisions. We are trying to determine the amount of material that was finished before the strike started, the creative status of the show and the broadcast schedule needs."

Only about 10 to 20 prime-time network programs are likely to return this spring with fresh episodes, including some of TV's biggest hits, such as "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC and "CSI" on CBS. Some viewers might not see new episodes of their favorites until fall -- at the earliest. Shows with complex plots, large casts and complicated production elements, such as NBC's "Heroes" and Fox's "24," are expected to roll over to next season.

Studio executives say they can't justify the increased costs of ramping up production for every program halted by the strike. It would cost the studios millions of dollars extra -- an average $200,000 more an episode, according to one estimate -- to produce an abbreviated run for each series. Crews must be rehired, sets need to be rebuilt, and the costs of production would be spread over a smaller number of episodes.

Some struggling shows might not be worth saving. Shelling out millions more for marketing campaigns to try to relaunch an iffy drama could spell sudden death for such programs as NBC's "Bionic Woman" and CBS' "Cane," industry executives predicted.

Television executives are vowing to use the disrupted TV season as an opportunity to do what they have talked about for years: change their decades-old rituals in an effort to contain costs in an era when audiences have declined and technologies such as the Internet and digital video recorders have changed the way people consume media.

"TV executives haven't been sitting around thumbing their fingers during the strike; they have been giving a lot of thought to how they run their business," Littman said. "We're seeing some industrial Darwinism as the business changes."

TV comedies would be the first to go back into production. Multi-camera shows such as "Two and a Half Men" on CBS and are likely to resume production within the next two weeks. Single-camera comedies, such as NBC's "The Office," also are expected to quickly shift back into gear.

The creator of NBC's "My Name Is Earl," Greg Garcia, said he would like to get his writing staff back together Monday. Production should begin within two weeks after the strike ends, Garcia said, because the writers had left two completed scripts that were not shot and had outlined several other episodes.

"We're kind of ahead of the game, so we can mobilize quickly," Garcia said. "But it all remains to be seen."

Source: Zap2it.com

In an effort to try and keep this blog a wee bit interesting I'm going to start a new trivia feature. I'll try and post some trivia at least every other Friday and might even manage to post trivia every Friday.

I will start off with some Mongolian Trivia:

• The Mongolian ruler Ghengis Khan imposed the death penalty for urinating in water because water was so precious in the Mongolian desert.
• Mongol leader Tamerlane the Great (1336-1405) executed anyone who told him a joke he had already heard.
• Tamerlane was also reputed to play polo using the skulls of enemies killed in battle.
• In the 1800s, Mongolian prisoners were fastened into a wooden box little larger than a coffin where they were left to die. Some were given food for years, but never allowed out.
• In Mongolia, camel or horse milk is stored in a cleaned horse stomach or hide bag and hung up in the ger (tent). Everyone who passes the door has to stir or hit the bag. It slowly ferments into a slightly alcoholic, cheesy, yoghurt drink which everyone drinks, even children.
• It is said that the dish steak tartar came from Mongolian warriors keeping a piece of beef under their saddles so that it is pummelled until tender as they ride around all day and then eating the steak raw.

I had a job interview this morning with Allerdale Borough Council; for the position of Benefits Clerk, based at Allerdale House in Workington. Allerdale is the borough north of Copeland; where I live, and has a population of approximately 95,000. It includes the towns and surrounding villages of Workington, Maryport, Cockermouth, Keswick and Wigton. I think the interview went okay and hopefully I managed to answer all their questions to a satisfactory standard. My only concern is that I don't know a lot about Council Tax or Housing Benefits but I'm hoping that a lot of the people interviewed are going to be in a similar position. There's actually 2 positions up for grabs so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I must admit my feet were really sore first thing this morning when I put my shoes on and I was hobbling around the house grimacing and thinking "This isn't going to work." After all, it's the first time I've worn socks and shoes since getting my toes done. However, by the time I'd reached Workington my feet weren't anywhere near as sore as they had been and although there was a fair bit of discomfort, it wasn't enough to cause me great hardship. I managed to limp through the morning okay.

GoComics is a site where you can either view comics online for free or register and get comics emailed to you. Registration requires a minimum amount of information and enables GoComics to send you the comics you are interested in and allows them to describe the aggregate demographics of their sites to advertisers. Specific user information is not disclosed to any third parties.

Giveaway of the Day is a project that, on a daily basis, offers licensed software for FREE that you would normally have to buy! Every day they nominate one software title that will be a Giveaway title of that day. The software will be available for download for 24 hours (or more, if agreed by the software publisher) and that software will be absolutely free. That means - not a trial, not a limited version - but a registered and legal version of the software.

Game Giveaway of the Day is their companion site. No prizes for guessing what you can get there.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster.

British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to takeoff from a slush-covered runway at the Munich-Riem airport in Munich, Germany. 23 of the 44 passengers on board the aircraft died in the disaster.

The flight was operated by British European Airways (BEA) as an "Elizabethan" class Airspeed Ambassador charter aircraft G-ALZU Lord Burghley.

Eight of the victims were Manchester United footballers:

• Geoffrey Bent
• Roger Byrne
• Eddie Colman
• Duncan Edwards
• Mark Jones
• David Pegg
• Tommy Taylor
• Liam "Billy" Whelan

Three were members of the club's staff:

• Walter Crickmer, the secretary
• Tom Curry, the trainer
• Bert Whalley, the coach

Eight were newspaper representatives:

• Alf Clarke of the Manchester Evening Chronicle
• Don Davies of The Guardian
• George Follows of the Daily Herald
• Tom Jackson of the Manchester Evening News
• Archie Ledbrooke of the Daily Mirror
• Henry Rose of the Daily Express
• Eric Thompson of the Daily Mail
• Frank Swift of the News of the World; the former Manchester City and England goalkeeper

Two were members of the BEA crew:

• Captain Kenneth Rayment, the co-pilot
• Tom Cable, a steward

Two other passengers also died:

• Bela Miklos, the travel agent
• Willie Satinoff, a supporter

Please also visit Munich58 for more details.

The 3 headline acts and the first 4 support acts have been announced for this year's Download Festival.

Kiss, The Offspring and Lostprophets are set to be the daily headliners for the main stage at the Donington Park event over the weekend of June 13, 14 and 15.

Mötorhead, HIM and Rise Against have been announced as daily headliners of the second stage.

Judas Priest have been announced as very, special guests and although it hasn't been confirmed on which day it is rumoured they will be appearing with Kiss.

I'll be honest and say that of the 7 bands announced I would only be interested in seeing 1 of them; Mötorhead, and I've already seen them before. I'm in no rush to go and get tickets; even if I could afford them. I will be waiting and seeing if anybody else is announced that could persuade me to part with £150; a £15 rise on the 2007 ticket price.

Datamancer, to use his own description, is a dweeb. He builds wacky stuff and dabbles in a little bit of everything.

One of the highlights of the site is a Victorian Steampunk Laptop which features an elaborate display of clockworks under glass, engraved brass accents, claw feet, an antiqued copper keyboard and mouse, leather wrist pads, customized wireless network card and turns on with an antique clock-winding key by way of a custom-built ratcheting switch made from old clock parts

For those of you that may not want to know the result please do not continue reading this post..

Tonight is Super Bowl XLII (42) from Glendale, Arizona between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. Whereas I'm not really bothered who wins since the Chicago Bears failed to make the playoffs, I am hoping for a decent game to mark the end of the season. The two teams have already met once this year; in the final week of the regular season, with the Patriots coming out 38-35 winners.

The Patriots have a chance to make history tonight; not only are they going for their fourth Super Bowl title in seven years but more importantly, they are going for a 19-0 unbeaten record; surpassing the 17-0 record set by the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

The Giants have a chance to deny history; although, Eli Manning could make history by emulating his brother Peyton and lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy one year later; the first time siblings would've won the Super Bowl in back-to-back seasons.

The game is live on Sky Sports and BBC2 in the UK. I'm off to settle down in front of the TV.

Reading about the subject of my previous post; Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, got me thinking about how censorship of the internet affects people around the world and led me to discover the following sites:

The OpenNet Initiative's aim is to investigate, expose and analyze Internet filtering and surveillance practices in a credible and non-partisan fashion and to uncover the potential pitfalls and unintended consequences of these practices.

Reporters Without Frontiers has fought for press freedom on a daily basis since it was founded in 1985. All the organisation's press releases and publications are available online in five languages (Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Persian) at its website which keeps a daily-updated list of journalists killed or imprisoned around the world. It also contains detailed reports on special cases and invites the public to sign online petitions for the release of jailed journalists.

Wikileaks is an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. They expose oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. They are also of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights since it was founded in July 1990.

I would like to urge everybody to please read this article and then sign the petition to try and help prevent the death of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a young student of journalism in Afghanistan who has been sentenced to death by an Islamic court for downloading a report from the internet.

Freaking News is the top News Photoshop Pictures site on the web. Actual news stories fuel their Photoshop picture contests with scores of wacky doctored pictures. Members get cash for participating and winning the daily contests.

Crazy and Fun is a site about some of the crazy and fun stuff that you can find on the internet. There are many funny pictures, videos, stories and news stories. You can also find sports material and music for all.

Gadgettastic is another of the myriad of sites that aim to bring you the latest news on gadgets and technology from around the world. If your looking for the latest gadgets, gizmos, and geek stuff you will find it Gadgettastic.

Nikon Universcale is one of the coolest size comparison animations I've seen.

Fulfillment on The Sect of Homokasu is a seemingly simple piece-fitting puzzle game that soon gets tricky. There are also a selection of other games there.

A quite funny Quicksand Prank.

Unexplained Mysteries is a website devoted to paranormal phenomena and the worlds greatest unexplained mysteries.

Silly Photos from Bored.com.

Do you have a wee bit of spare cash squirrelled away for a rainy day? How about blowing it on a new PC? A Japanese firm; Zeus PC, is currently offering 2 fairly high spec pcs; namely the Jupiter and the Mars for the princely sums of ¥80,000,000 and ¥60,000,000 respectively. That converts to approximately £375k and £280k each.

Both include a 3Ghz Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB of RAM, 1TB hard disk drive, a 256MB GeForce 8400GS graphics card, 24in LCD monitor and some decent Onkyo speakers. The Jupiter has a custom built jewel encrusted platinum chassis; whilst the Mars, comes in yellow gold.

Have a look at Gizmodo for more details and a translated link to their website.