China will be capable of reaching the moon in the next decade according to NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. China has said they going to the moon is inevitable but not by 2020, the date by which the US plans to return to the moon utilizing the Orion spacecraft and Ares rockets.
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Sudan reacted with anger today to the International Criminal Court’s indictment for war crimes in the Dafur region. Sudan promised to turn Darfur “into a graveyard” after President al-Bashir was accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In addition, the UN also withdrew nonessential staff, and international peacekeepers were put on high alert, in anticipation of reprisals from government-run militias.
“Man developed in Africa. He has not continued to do so there.”–PJ O’Rourke.
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I was watching a 5 minute video clip that made me smile. It was the highlights of the 1989 classic football match between Arsenal and Liverpool. For those who don’t know, Arsenal needed to win the game by two goals to win the championship of the year. Liverpool, having endured the FA Cup disaster at Hillsborough only a few months before, was desperate to win a game for the ones who died in that tragedy.
The game was absolutely amazing, and since most of you probably don’t know the results you can watch this video.
But that’s just an aside. The real thing that happened during this video was that I was smiling and quite happy, removed from the day-to-day grind which has been hanging over me for most of the year. I really didn’t care about the ‘task list’ that’s before me, and I think I’m coming to a decision that will change a few things.
More soon.
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Now that you have your new iPhone and you want to start writing applications, you’ll probably find one of the dozen or so ‘how to’ videos from Apple a great place to start. Unfortunately, while they updated the SDK and the Xcode application, they forgot to upgrade the tutorials.
So I, like a bunch of others folks, have been busy scrambling to follow ‘line 1′ of the instructional video and start the cocoa touch templates only to discover they don’t exist.
Never fear though–you can simply use the ‘View Based Application’ templates as a substitute.
Now to get on to the rest of the 19:45 minutes of the 20 minute video tutorial.
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The President of George has called “Russia a Menace to Peace” in the recent war of words between the two countries. Last week Russia admitted that four aircraft flew over South Ossetia, the breakaway region that is the source of much controversy between the two governments. This comes during on top of the Russian ‘change of heart’ on Zimbabwe sanctions that saw them exercise their security council veto power.
This is one of those troublesome conflicts that could easily become a hot war in a matter of moments. The Russian military, still a hollow shell of their strength during the Cold War, is more than capable of inflicting great damage on Georgia’s military. Though small, Georgia has been making substantial purchases of armor in recent years.
]]>The weaponry purchased reportedly includes armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery, helicopters, and T-72 tanks. The latter three items called into question earlier statements that Georgia has no aggressive intentions and plans to strengthen its armed forces exclusively for defensive purposes, to repel any external invasion. These weapons are well suited for an offensive against the Ossetians. From mid-June to mid-July 2005, some 800 Georgian troops conducted large-scale tank exercises using some 170 battle tanks. One year earlier, Georgia had only 76 T-55 and T-72 tanks.
The Daily Telegraph in Australia reports that the estate of actor Heath Ledger will soon enter a probate court, with his young daughter standing to be the main beneficiary. The estate, valued around $20 million, will have to be divided up in court as the parents and his sisters are technically the main beneficiaries.
]]>While Ledger left everything to his parents and three sisters, it is understood they have legal advice that under WA law, the toddler is entitled to the lion’s share.
However her mother, actor Michelle Williams, will have to officially lodge a claim with the court supported by an affidavit which could end up in the public domain, legal experts said.
The Post is reporting on the new gun control regulations in the District of Columbia following the Supreme Court decision invalidating the District’s handgun ban. There will be a limit to 1 gun per person for the first 90 days while they sort through the process.
Gun owners will have to
pass vision test
pass written tests,
provide a photo with their application to register a gun, and
submit their weapon for ballistics testing.
Guns will also still require trigger locks.
DC’s gun ban was basically ineffective. Drug crimes and easy access to weapons in Virginia and Maryland (literally only a mile away) resulted in 1000s of guns in DC and a horrible murder rate back in the 90s. While it has mellowed somewhat, the District still have a very high violent crime rate. Many police actually tell victims in DC ‘you should buy a gun’ eventhough it was illegal.
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In the US they blame the gun for all the crimes, so after an outbreak of stabbings in the UK the PM has announced a new policy to get tough on those who carry knives. Perhaps that not fair. They are going after some of the families behind these crimes.
He said stop and search powers would be increased, with more visible policing and 110,000 “problem” families with “disruptive young people” would be dealt with. These are children who have either been excluded from school, been in trouble with the law or identified as likely to be in trouble later on, Mr Brown said. Parents will be put on intensive courses to help them supervise their children. There will be more “community pay back sentences”, where young offenders have to “pay back for doing wrong”, with communities choosing penalties such as cleaning streets on a Friday or Saturday night or clearing up graffiti.]]>
How To Beat The Claw Game – Watch more free videos]]>
The 3G iPhone has sold 1 million units in 3 days, despite the hassles and pain of the registration process. There have also been 10 million downloads from the application store.
The previous phone sold 6 million units and Apple wants 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.
I wonder how many 2G iphones were replaced by 3G models. I’m sure that accounts for some of the 1 million, but we’ll see the overall numbers in a few months. The lines were still pretty long at the local Apple stores.
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