Madhu's Shared Clipboard

AdSense now serving multiple ad networks

2010-03-16T23:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the mail from Adsense announcing this.

Hi,

We have launched a new capability in AdSense allowing Google-certified ad networks compete directly within AdSense, which means that advertisers from these third-party networks will be able to compete with AdWords advertisers to show on the Google Content Network.

These new capabilities will automatically be enabled for your account, and you'll see a new section in your Ad Review Center where you can allow or block specific ad networks or all networks except AdWords. Please note that we'll gradually be adding new ad networks to AdSense accounts over the next few months, so you won't see any immediate impact on your ads or your earnings.

To ensure the quality of the ads that appear on AdSense publisher websites, Google will certify all participating ad networks for adherence to our standards for user privacy, ad quality, and speed. Some participating ad networks use targeting methods similar to Google's interest-based advertising to show more relevant ads to users on the sites they visit. These ad networks won't be permitted to collect data from your site for the purpose of subsequent interest-based advertising, but we'll allow networks that comply with user privacy guidelines to show ads using these tools. Publishers can opt out of user interest targeting from these ad networks, and Google has changed our requirements for third-party ad serving to reflect this.

We are currently only accepting ads from Google-certified ad networks in North America and Europe, but we will make this feature available to ad networks in additional parts of the world in the future.

To learn more and manage the ad networks appearing on your pages, visit the AdSense Help Center at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=13522 and visit our blog post at http://adsense.blogspot.com/2010/03/google-certified-ad-networks-now.html.

Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team

[Online Dating Advice] Exactly What To Say In A First Message

2010-02-03T10:28:00.000-08:00

From: http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/2009/09/14/online-dating-advice-exactly-what-to-say-in-a-first-message/
Ok, here’s the experiment. We analyzed over 500,000 first contacts on our dating site, OkCupid. Our program looked at keywords and phrases, how they affected reply rates, and what trends were statistically significant. The result: a set of rules for what you should and shouldn’t say when introducing yourself online. Let’s go:
Netspeak, bad grammar, and bad spelling are huge turn-offs. Our negative correlation list is a fool’s lexicon: ur, u, wat, wont, and so on. These all make a terrible first impression. In fact, if you count hit (and we do!) the worst 6 words you can use in a first message are all stupid slang.

Language like this is such a strong deal-breaker that correctly written but otherwise workaday words like don’t and won’t have nicely above average response rates (36% and 37%, respectively).
Interesting exceptions to the “no netspeak” rule are expressions of amusement. haha (45% reply rate) and lol (41%) both turned out to be quite good for the sender. This makes a certain sense: people like a sense of humor, and you need to be casual to convey genuine laughter. hehe was also a successful word, but much less so (33%). Scientifically, this is because it’s a little evil sounding.
So, in short, it’s okay to laugh, but keep the rest of your message grammatical and punctuated.
Although the data shows this advice holds true for both sexes, it’s mostly directed at guys, because they are way more likely to talk about looks. You might think that words like gorgeous, beautiful, and sexy are nice things to say to someone, but no one wants to hear them. As we all know, people normally like compliments, but when they’re used as pick-up lines, before you’ve even met in person, they inevitably feel…ew. Besides, when you tell a woman she’s beautiful, chances are you’re not.
On the other hand, more general compliments seem to work well:

The word pretty is a perfect case study for our point. As an adjective, it’s a physical compliment, but as an adverb (as in, “I’m pretty good at sports.”) it’s is just another word.

When used as an adverb it actually does very well (a phenomenon we’ll examine in detail below), but as pretty’s uses become more clearly about looks, reply rates decline sharply. You’re pretty and your pretty are phrases that could go either way (physical or non-). But very pretty is almost always used to describe the way something or someone looks, and you can see how that works out.
We took a close look at salutations. After all, the way you choose to start your initial message to someone is the “first impression of your first impression.” The results surprised us:

The top three most popular ways to say “hello” were all actually bad beginnings. Even the slangy holla and yo perform better, bucking the general “be literate” rule. In fact, it’s smarter to use no traditional salutation at all (which earns you the reply rate of 27%) and just dive into whatever you have to say than to start with hi. I’m not sure why this is: maybe the ubiquity of the most popular openings means people are more likely to just stop reading when they see them.
The more informal standard greetings: how’s it going, what’s up, and howdy all did very well. Maybe they set a more casual tone that people prefer, though I have to say, You had me at ‘what’s up’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
There are many words on the effective end of our list like zombie, band, tattoo, literature, studying, vegetarian (yes!), and metal (double yes!) that are all clearly referencing something important to the sender, the recipient, or, ideally, both. Talking about specific things that interest you or that you might have in common with someone is a time-honored way to make a connection, and we have proof here that it works. We’re presenting just a smattering: in fact every “niche” word that we have significant data on has a positive effect on messaging.

Even more effective are phrases that engage the reader’s own interests, or show you’ve read their profile:

Awkward, sorry, apologize, kinda, and probably all made male messages more successful, yet none of them except sorry affects female messages. As we mentioned before, pretty, no doubt because of its adverbial meaning of “to a fair degree; moderately” also helps male messages. A lot of real-world dating advice tells men to be more confident, but apparently hemming and hawing a little works well online.

It could be that appearing unsure makes the writer seem more vulnerable and less threatening. It could be that women like guys who write mumbly. But either way: men should be careful not to let the appearance of vulnerability become the appearance of sweaty desperation: please is on the negative list (22% reply rate), and in fact it is the only word that is actually worse for you than its netspeak equivalent (pls, 23%)!
Mentioning your religion helps you, but, paradoxically, it helps you most if you have no religion. We know that’s going to piss a lot of people off, and we’re more or less tongue-in-cheek with this advice, but it’s what the numbers say.

These are the religious terms that appeared a statistically significant number of times. Atheist actually showed up surprisingly often (342 times per 10,000 messages, second only to 552 mentions of christian and ahead of 278 for jewish and 142 for muslim).
Though very few people actually do it, invoking the sky-breaking thunderbolts of zeus does help a person get noticed (reply rate 56%), but maybe that shouldn’t be a surprise on a site that is itself named for a member of the Classical pantheon. So if you can’t bring yourself to deny the deity, consider opening yourself up to a whole wacky bunch of them. But ideally you should just disbelieve the whole thing. It can help your love life, and, besides, if there really was a god, wouldn’t first messages always get a reply?

Moscow in slow-motion

2010-01-31T03:09:00.000-08:00

Moscow in slow-motion - Amazing video

Cosmo's 10 Naughtiest iPad Sex Tips [Multi-touch Experience]

2010-01-31T02:44:00.000-08:00

Cosmo's 10 Naughtiest iPad Sex Tips [Multi-touch Experience]
Apple's iPad is supposed to save print media, and Cosmo is a magazine that's just begging to be presented in a vibrating format. Here are some sex tips you can expect to see in the digital pages of the magazine:
10) Play a racing game and crash your car into a tree. When the iPad starts to vibrate, rest his balls on it.
9) Lie naked on the bed with the iPad resting on your belly. When he comes home, tell him he can surf the web on you tonight.
8) How about some role playing? While wearing a black turtleneck and jeans, say you want to introduce him to a 'magical' new product... in your pants.
7) Write him an e-mail explaining exactly what you want to do to him tonight in 64-point font. Everyone on the train knowing how sexy his girlfriend is will get him even hotter!
6) Load a children's alphabet game and hold the iPad so he can see it during oral sex. Tell him to trace whatever letter pops on the screen.

5) Keep ice water on your nightstand. Dip your fingers in it, and flick it on his chest. Then tap the end of the iPad's power cord on his nipples for a sexy shock.

4) Sit facing your man while you're both holding your iPads and tell him to IM what he wants to do to you — no touching allowed. See how long he can resist!

3) Check out the latest issue of Cosmo on the iPad... without using your hands. Seeing you pinch and click with your breasts is sure to make something bigger.

2) Wrap your dirty thong around his iPad in the morning and leave it in his bag. He'll get a big surprise when he takes it out at work!
1) Try to stick it in his butt.

Sex explained with pens

2010-01-31T02:40:00.000-08:00

Sex explained with pens:

Amazon Holiday Season 2009 facts

2010-01-04T23:45:00.000-08:00

    * Most remote shipments contained the EMU Australia Toddler Boot and was delivered to Atqasuk, Alaska.
    * Amazon customers purchased enough fruit cake to equal the weight of a 1967 Volkswagen Bug.
    * Amazon customers bought enough gingerbread house kits that if stacked on top of each other would be as tall as the Sears Tower.
    * If all the computers customers purchased this holiday were stacked one on top of the other, they would be more than twice as high as Mt. Everest.
    * Amazon customers bought over 50 times more Light Therapy devices this holiday season than there are sunny days in Seattle the entire year.
    * For the holiday time period alone, Amazon customers purchased enough shoot-and-share camcorders to supply 50 years' worth of non-stop YouTube watching.
    * Amazon customers bought enough Levi's jeans to clothe everyone at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
    * Amazon customers purchased so many Blu-ray disc players that if you lined them up side to side, they would stretch for more than 27 miles.
    * During the 2009 holiday season, Amazon customers bought enough 8 GB iPod touches to play 442 years of continuous music.
    * In 2009, Amazon customers purchased enough heart rate monitor watches to put one on the wrist of everyone who finished the New York City marathons in 2008 and 2009.
    * Amazon customers purchased enough Frustration-Free Package items to eliminate over 32,000 pounds of frustrating plastic materials, such as plastic clamshells.
    * The last One-Day Prime order that was delivered in time for Christmas, was placed on Dec. 23 at 9:17 p.m. Pacific and shipped to Boca Raton, Florida for delivery on Dec. 24. The item was a pair of Yellow Gold 8-8.5mm Freshwater Cultured Pearl Stud Earrings.
    * The last Local Express Delivery order that was delivered in time for Christmas, was placed by a Prime member and went to Seattle. It was a Kindle that was ordered at 1:43 p.m. on Christmas Eve and delivered at 4:57 p.m. that evening.

Amazon.com's Hot Holiday Bestsellers (Nov. 15 through Dec. 19, based on units ordered):
    * Electronics: Kindle Wireless Reading Device Apple iPod touch 8 GB and Garmin nuvi 260W 4.3-inch GPS
    * Toys: Scrabble Slam Cards The Settlers of Catan and Scene It? Twilight Deluxe Edition
    * Video Games and Hardware: Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board New Super Mario Bros and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
    * Sports & Outdoors: Razor A Kick Scooter Victorinox Swiss Army Champion Plus Pocket Knife and P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program
    * DVD: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" "Star Trek" and "Up"
    * Books: "Going Rogue" by Sarah Palin; "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown; and "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
    * Music: "I Dreamed A Dream" by Susan Boyle; "My Christmas" by Andrea Bocelli; and "Crazy Love" by Michael Bublé
    * Jewelry: Sterling Silver Marcasite & Garnet Glass Heart Pendant 10k White Gold Diamond 3-Stone Heart Pendant and 18k White Gold Round Diamond 4-Prong Stud Earrings
    * Watches: Casio Men's Waveceptor Atomic Dual-Time Watch Invicta Men's II Collection Chronograph Stainless Steel Blue Dial Watch and Timex Kids' Camouflage Stretch Band Watch
    * Beauty: Sephora Brand Color Play Palette II Santa's Lump of Coal Christmas Soap and Sephora Brand Ultimate Blockbuster
    * Home & Garden: Keurig My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator and Oster Electric Wine-Bottle Opener
    * Clothing & Accessories: The Mountain Three Wolf Moon Short Sleeve Tee Levi's Men's 550 Relaxed Fit Jean and Levi's Men's 501 Jean
    * Shoes and Handbags: Steve Madden Women's Bonanza Tall Shafted Flat Boot Hunter Original Tall Welly Boot and EMU Australia Women's Hip Boot
    * Health & Personal Care: Omron HJ-112 Digital Pocket Pedometer Philips Sonicare Essence 5300 Power Toothbrush and Farouk CHI 1 Inch Ceramic Flat Hairstyling Iron
    * Gourmet Food: Bon Appetit Gift Basket Grand Ghirardelli Chocolate Gift Basket and 50's Decade Box Gift Basket
    * Home Improvement: Black & Decker MSW100 Ready Wrench Bosch Laser Distance Measuring Device and Joby Gorillatorch Adjustable and Flexible Tripod Flashlight
    * Automotive Parts & Accessories: Wagan 12V Heated Seat Cushion 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System and Autel MaxiScan MS300 CAN OBD-II Scan Tool
    * Baby: Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether and Baby Einstein Bendy Ball
    * Software: Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 and Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition
    * Grocery: Coffee People Donut Shop K-Cups for Keurig Brewers Coffee People K-Cup Santa's Buzz and Vita Coco 100% Pure Coconut Water
    * Wireless: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Unlocked Phone Plantronics 510 Bluetooth Headset and BlackBerry Bold 9700 Phone (AT & T)

Sabina Stobrawe: Divorce lift

2009-11-25T06:25:00.000-08:00

A typical wedding photo was affixed to door lift doors in a law firm. Unfortunately, every time the doors opened, the couple split up. But help was at hand for everyone in the same position as soon as they stepped into the lift: a sign showed the name of the law firm and which floor the office was on.

Closure Compiler

2009-11-17T04:15:00.000-08:00

From Closure Compiler - Google Code:

"What is the Closure Compiler?

The Closure Compiler is a tool for making JavaScript download and run faster. It is a true compiler for JavaScript. Instead of compiling from a source language to machine code, it compiles from JavaScript to better JavaScript. It parses your JavaScript, analyzes it, removes dead code and rewrites and minimizes what's left. It also checks syntax, variable references, and types, and warns about common JavaScript pitfalls.

To help you work with your transformed code, you can also install the Closure Inspector, a tool that makes it easy to use the Firebug JavaScript debugger with the Compiler's output.

The Closure Compiler has also been integrated with Page Speed, which makes it easier to evaluate the performance gains you can get by using the compiler."

NoSQLs Compared

2009-11-16T09:17:00.000-08:00

A good review of the various NoSQLs products for
1) supporting multiple datacenters,
2) the ability to add new machines to a live cluster transparently to the your applications,
3) data model,
4) Query API and
5) Persistence Design.
The systems reviewed are: Cassandra, CouchDB, HBase, MongoDB, Neo4J, Redis, Riak, Scalaris, Tokyo Cabinet and Voldemort.
Article: http://www.rackspacecloud.com/blog/2009/11/09/nosql-ecosystem/#

Funny Facebook Groups (Part 3)

2009-11-13T04:51:00.000-08:00

When I was your age, Pluto was a planet
People Who Always Have To Spell Their Names For Other People
I Use my Cell Phone to See in the Dark
I Flip My Pillow Over to Get To The Cold Side
Enough with the Poking, Lets Just Have Sex
If this group reaches 4,294,967,296 it might cause an integer overflow
Fuck Iraq, We have to catch Voldemort
I read the group name, I laugh, I join, I never look at it again.
Honestly, I write "lol" and I’m not Even Laughing
I Will Go Out of My Way To Step On a Leaf That Looks Particularly Crunchy
It wasnt awkward until you said "well, this is awkward". now its awkward.
If I Fail My Exams, Its Facebook’s Fault

Funny Facebook Groups (Part 2)

2009-11-13T04:44:00.000-08:00

Bollywood gave me unrealistic expectations about desi women

I Thought You Were Hot Until I Clicked on "View More Pictures"

Alcohol Improves my Foreign Language!

I Wish I Were Your Derivative So I Could Lie Tangent To Your Curves!

When I was your age, we had to blow on the video games to make them work...

Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?

For those who have ever pushed a "pull" door

Geometry can kiss my Angle-Side-Side

If I were an enzyme i would be DNA helicase so i could unzip your genes

I Secretly Want To Punch Slow Walking People In The Back Of The Head

Funny Facebook Groups (Part 1)

2009-11-13T04:23:00.000-08:00

Anteater-Mushroom Alliance

Writing Papers Single Spaced First Makes My Double Spaced Result Climactic

Most Replys Inner Scrotum!!!

I Paint My Nails Like a Blind Parkinson's Patient
I Dont care How Comfortable Crocs Are, You Look Like A Dumbass.

If You're OCD And You Know It Wash Your Hands!

Dora the Explorer is soo an Illegal Immigrant...

BRB... IM NOT REALLY GOING ANYWHERE, BUT NEITHER IS THIS CONVERSATION

DAMM (drunks against mad mothers)

When I Was Your Age, Shoes Didn't Have Wheels

Worst. Facebook Group. Ever.

it's obvi you're just jeal cause I speak in abrevs so whatev

Prefix Hash Tree

2009-11-09T02:41:00.000-08:00

Distributed Hash Tables are scalable, robust, and self-organizing peer-to-peer systems that support exact match lookups. This paper describes the design and implementation of a Prefix Hash Tree - a distributed data structure that enables more sophisticated queries over a DHT. The Prefix Hash Tree uses the lookup interface of a DHT to construct a trie-based structure that is both efficient (updates are doubly logarithmic in the size of the domain being indexed), and resilient (the failure of any given node in the Prefix Hash Tree does not affect the availability of data stored at other nodes).
Paper: http://berkeley.intel-research.net/sylvia/pht.pdf

A List of Peoples' Names That Are Dirty Sounding

2009-11-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

From DirtySounding.com

Alotta Bush
Ben Dover
Dick N. Butts
Dixie Normous
Fonda Cox
Eaton Beaver
Giv M. Head
Harry Balls
Hugh Jorgan
Jack Schitt
Justin Yermouth
Master Bates
Moe Lester
Neil Down
Oliver Bush
Rolinda Joint
Sarah Tonin
Sawyer Crack
Seymour Butts
Willie Layer

Donkeys hired as zebras

2009-11-06T01:08:00.000-08:00

In Gaza, there's a shortage of zebras. Donkeys get dye-job, take on zebra role:Two white donkeys dyed with black stripes delighted Palestinian kids at a small Gaza zoo on Thursday who had never seen a zebra in the flesh.

Nidal Barghouthi, whose father owns the Marah Land zoo, said the two female donkeys were striped using masking tape and women's hair dye, applied with a paint-brush.

'The first time we used paint but it didn't look good,' he said. 'The children don't know so they call them zebras and they are happy to see something new.'

A genuine zebra would have been too expensive to bring into Israel-blockaded Gaza via smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt, said owner Mohammed Bargouthi. 'It would have cost me $40,000 to get a real one.'

Memcached telnet interface

2009-10-29T04:42:00.000-07:00

Memcached telnet commands

Command	Description	Example
get	Reads a value	get mykey
set	Set a key unconditionally	set mykey 0 60 5
add	Add a new key	add newkey 0 60 5
replace	Overwrite existing key	replace key 0 60 5
append	Append data to existing key	append key 0 60 15
prepend	Prepend data to existing key	prepend key 0 60 15
incr	Increments numerical key value by given number	incr mykey 2
decr	Decrements numerical key value by given number	decr mykey 5
delete	Deletes an existing key	delete mykey
flush_all	Invalidate specific items immediately	flush_all
flush_all	Invalidate all items in n seconds	flush_all 900
stats	Prints general statistics	stats
	Prints memory statistics	stats slabs
	Prints memory statistics	stats malloc
	Print higher level allocation statistics	stats items
		stats detail
		stats sizes
	Resets statistics	stats reset
version	Prints server version.	version
verbosity	Increases log level	verbosity
quit	Terminate telnet session	quit

Tennis Pros: Hilarious Replies and One-Liers

2009-10-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

Over the years, we have watched great tennis players who have played some beautiful tennis. But they have also given us great replies and one-liners. So, here we take a look at that.

Andy Roddick will definitely contribute to the list. Go A-Rod.

Hilarious Questions and Replies

After Wimbledon win, Roger Federer had this conversation with an interviewer:

Interviewer: 'After you had won Wimbledon, you were given a cow called Juliette when you returned to Switzerland. Is there another Juliette waiting for you?'

Federer: 'I hope not. By the way, Juliette is expecting a calf.'

Interviewer: 'Congratulations!'

Federer: 'Thanks, but I’m not the father.'

Before US open '05, Roddick was asked:

Interviewer: 'What are your chances in the US Open?

Roddick: 'As good as anybody not named Roger.'

Another Roddick gem:

Interviewer: 'You have a very fast serve.'

Roddick: 'It killed a small dog.'

After which comment, he claimed he was joking because she was not laughing at all...

Roddick: 'I'm joking, I am joking...The dog was huge.'

The press conference he did after losing to Roger in the Aussie '07 SF...had some interesting transcriptions...

Reporter: 'What was it like for you being on the end of that?'
Andy: 'It was frustrating. It was miserable. It sucked. It was terrible. Besides that it was fine.'

Reporter: 'What did Jimmy (Connors—his coach) say after?'
Andy: 'He gave me a beer.'

Reporter: 'Take us from 4-4, because up 'til then you were in the match. Then you got broken.'
Andy: 'Then I broken three more times. And two more times in the third set, and it was over 26 minutes later. Is that about what you saw too?'

Reporter: 'How do you rate Haas's or Gonzalez's chances in the final?'
Andy: 'Slim.'

Reporter: 'You're performance on here is better than on court.'
Andy: 'No shit. If there were rankings for press conferences I wouldn't have to worry about falling out of the top five I hope.'

Reporter: 'After a defeat like this do you sleep well?'
Andy: 'Depends how much I drink tonight.'

Reporter: 'How much would you have paid in order to not have to come to the press conference tonight?'
Andy: 'That's about the best question that's been asked. Well, I can't really say an amount because I would have gotten fined $20,000 (for not coming to the press conference). So, it would have to be less than that, right? If we're thinking logically. But it wouldn't be about the money. It would be about running away and not facing it. I would pay a lot of money if people would make stuff up and pretend I said it. But my dad didn't raise me like that, so here I am.'

The last one of his replies; Roddick was invited to some show, and the conversation with the host was like this:

Host: 'Do you have any hint for me? Did you bring me present of any sort?'
Roddick: 'A present?'
Host: 'Yeah'
Roddick: 'It's compulsory?'
Host: 'Ya, Great Agassi came to the show, and he gave me the racket he won the Davis Cup with.'
Roddick: 'Really!!'
Host: 'You didn't bring me anything?'
Roddick: 'I CAN'T BRING YOU SHIT...'

Reporter: 'What did Jimmy say? US Open he got on a real roll too. Did you talk about what to do if Roger got on a roll, change strategy, slow it down?'
Andy: 'There's a lot of strategy talk. But not if you're down 6-4 6-0 2-0. We didn't really talk about that. Oops.'

One-Liners

Now, some good one-liners:

'It's just unreal, I'm shocked myself. I've played good matches here, but never really almost destroyed somebody. It's a match for him to forget...and for me to remember!'
—Roger Federer, after defeating Andy Roddick in the AO '07 SF

'Hey—you guys with the ladder. If you come here I'll buy you pizza.'
—Andy Roddick, calling out to firefighters in the process of rescuing Roddick and other hotel guests from a fire in Rome.

'I've got to feel good because (Djokovic) has got about 16 injuries'
—Andy Roddick on Djovokic's injuries.

Roddick: 'Isn't it both of them? And a back? and a hip? And a cramp... bird flu... anthrax. SARS, common cough, and a cold.'

'My hobbies include underwater fire extinguishing.'
—Andy Roddick

“If Pete’s child is a girl, my son will like her; if he’s a boy, my son will defeat him.” —Agassi.

Asked what it feels like to be the World No. 1, Roger jokingly replied:

'It's great. Everybody suddenly rates my good strokes as outstanding, and my poorer strokes as almost outstanding.'

'When I was 40, my doctor advised me that a man in his 40s shouldn't play tennis. I heeded his advice carefully and could hardly wait until I reached 50 to start again.'
—Hugo L. Black

'I did my job, got a beautiful cup and a beautiful cheque. That’s it. I didn’t change the world'
—Marat on his Slam wins

“Yeah, I choked, but shit happens”
—Marat Safin

'I'd like just one time to see you guys step up and do something for us.'
—Andy Roddick venting on ATP Supervisor Gayle Bradshaw after getting no love from the chair umpire at the ATP Scottsdale event.

'I don't go out there to love my enemy. I go out there to squash him.' —Jimmy Connors

'I am the best tennis player who cannot play tennis.' —Ion Tiriac

'Winners aren't popular, losers often are.' —Virginia Wade

'If you put two monkeys on to play you'd still pack the centre court.' —Neil Fraser, commenting on Wimbledon's popularity

'One day when a linesman starts to laugh, I swear I will hit the guy over the head with my racket. I think it will be the end of my career, but I will be happy.' —Ilie Nastase

'When I won Wimbledon, I said to God: Just let me win this one tournament and I won't play another match. Maybe God's telling me to go home, but I don't want to go home. We are negotiating at the moment.' —Goran Ivanisevic

'If I can't serve on grass, I can maybe help cut the grass, paint the lines, and serve some strawberries.' —Goran Ivanisevic

'The best doubles pair in the world is John McEnroe and anyone else.' —Peter Fleming

'I can't believe he is dumping me, his buddy for seven years, for a kid he's never seen before.' —Paul Haarhuis complaining about his doubles partner Jacco Eltingh flying home from the US Open for the birth of his son

'How to shake hands.' —Bettina Bunge, on what she had learned from a series of rapid defeats to Martina Navratilova

'Experience is a great advantage. The problem is that when you get the experience, you're too damned old to do anything about it.' —Jimmy Connors

'I love Wimbledon. But why don't they stage it in the summer?' —Vijay Amritraj during the rain-drenched 2007 Championships)

'If you want to talk, it's okay with me. I sit and relax.' —Gael Monfils taking a seat while Nicolas Almagro debated with umpire and match referee, Australian Open 2009

'I'm gonna have to start winning some of the matches to call it a rivalry!' —Andy Roddick on being asked whether he and Roger Federer had a rivalry that would last for years

'Pete is a step and a half slower.' —Greg Rusedski after losing to Pete Sampras in the US Open)

'Against him I don't need to be a step and a half quicker.' —Pete Sampras responding to Greg Rusedski's criticism—he went on to win the title!

'Umpiring, the only job in the world where you can screw up on a daily basis and still have one!' —Andy Roddick

'She doesn't sleep. At night she seems to turn into a vampire.' —Goran Ivanisevic on the joys of fatherhood

'Look, Nastase, we used to have a famous cricket match in this country called Gentlemen versus Players. The Gentlemen were put down on the scorecard as 'Mister' because they were gentlemen. By no stretch of the imagination can anybody call you a gentleman.' —Wimbledon umpire, on being told to address Ilie Nastase as 'Mister'

'Thanks, but no. I want to be a winner.' —Maria Sharapova on being compared to Anna Kournikova

'Going to the dentist. On second thought, I would rather have a root canal than play Santoro.' —Marat Safin, on being asked his biggest fear

'If I don't win tonight, I guess the sun will still come up in the morning.' —Arthur Ashe

'I had a feeling today that Venus Williams would either win or lose.' —Martina Navratilova

'The difference between night and day is, er, night and day.' —Tim Henman

Andrew Castle: 'Where are all these Serbians from?'
Greg Rudseski: 'Serbia?' (during Wimbledon 2007)

'There are no excuses. I could blame it on a lack of match practice time, or on playing the world No. 10...I had a sore stomach as well.' —Sania Mirza, Australian Open 2009

'I broke all my rackets. I didn't have a racket for the fifth set. I broke four. Now, I hold the record. Now, I go home. No rackets. I really don't like these rackets.' —Nikolay Davydenko, US Open 2008

'You're on live TV, you know. You look like a real moron right now.'
—The lovable Andy Roddick, yelling at a chair umpire at Indianapolis

'You're an idiot! Stay in school kids, or you'll end up being an umpire.'

Xbox 360 Games

2009-10-28T04:40:00.000-07:00

Checkout the latest Xbox 360 games here and pre-order the upcoming Xbox Games here

Ballmer Peak (Blood Alcohol Concentration Vs Programming Skill)

2009-10-28T02:13:00.000-07:00

Holidays 2009 Toy List

2009-10-27T08:48:00.001-07:00

Apple iPod touch 64 GB, Age 12 and up
Bakugan 7 in 1 Maxus Dragonoid, Ages 5 - 15
Barbie Pink 3-Story Dream Townhouse, Ages 3 - 10
Bop It, Ages 8 - 18
Crayola Crayon Maker, Ages 8 - 15
D-Rex Interactive Dinosaur, Ages 8 - 12
Eyeclops Mini Projector, Ages 8 - 15
Fender Starcaster Strat Pack Electric Guitar with Amp and Accessories, Age 12 and up
Fisher Price Elmo Tickle Hands, Ages 2 - 6
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Age 8 and up
Huffy Green Machine 2, Age 6 and up
Infantino Twist and Fold Activity Gym, Ages 1 - 12 months
Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera, Age 12 and up
LeapFrog Zippity High-Energy Learning System, Ages 3 - 5
LEGO City Corner, Ages 5 - 12
Liv Fashion Doll Sophie, Ages 4 - 8
Manhattan Toy Baby Stella Doll, Age 12 months and up
Matchbox Mega Rig Pirates Ship in Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging, Ages 4 - 12
Maxell M&M Earbud, Ages 12 and up
Mindflex Game, Ages 8 - 15
Monopoly City Edition, Age 8 and up
Monsters vs. Aliens, Age 5 and up
Nerf N Strike Elite Bundle, Ages 8 - 11
New Super Mario Bros, Ages 8 - 11
Nintendo DSi, Ages 8 - 11
Playskool Chuck My Talking Truck, Ages 3 - 6
Razor A Kick Scooter, Age 5 and up
Razor Rip-Rider 360 Drifting Ride-On, Age 5 and up
Scene It? Twilight Deluxe Edition, Age 13 and up
Schwinn Roadster 12-Inch Trike, Ages 3 - 6
Scribblenauts, Ages 8 - 11
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Age 5 and up
Speakal iPig 2.1 Stereo iPod Docking Station with 5 Speakers, Age 12 and up
Sprig Toys Eco Recycling-Truck in Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging, Ages 3 - 6
Transformers Movie 2 Combiner Construction Devastator, Ages 5 - 12
Up, Age 5 and up
Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board, Age 12 and up
Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player, Age 12 and up

Internet rules and laws

2009-10-27T01:43:00.000-07:00

Here are the rules in short:

As an internet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches certainty.
Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won’t mistake for the real thing.
If it exists, there is porn of it.
'Any post correcting an error in another post will contain at least one error itself' or 'the likelihood of an error in a post is directly proportional to the embarrassment it will cause the poster.
In any discussion involving science or medicine, citing Whale.to as a credible source loses the argument immediately, and gets you laughed out of the room.
If you have to insist that you’ve won an internet argument, you’ve probably lost badly.
A person’s mind can be changed by reading information on the internet. The nature of this change will be from having no opinion to having a wrong opinion.
Anyone who posts an argument on the internet which is largely quotations can be very safely ignored, and is deemed to have lost the argument before it has begun.
Whoever resorts to the argument that ‘whoever resorts to the argument that... ...has automatically lost the debate’ has automatically lost the debate.
The more exclamation points used in an email (or other posting), the more likely it is a complete lie. This is also true for excessive capital letters.

Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) Launched

2009-10-27T00:14:00.000-07:00

Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a web service that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud. It provides cost-efficient and resizable capacity while managing time-consuming database administration tasks, freeing you up to focus on your applications and business.

Amazon RDS gives you access to the full capabilities of a familiar MySQL database. This means the code, applications, and tools you already use today with your existing MySQL databases work seamlessly with Amazon RDS. Amazon RDS automatically patches the database software and backs up your database, storing the backups for a user-defined retention period. You also benefit from the flexibility of being able to scale the compute resources or storage capacity associated with your relational database instance via a single API call. As with all Amazon Web Services, there are no up-front investments required, and you pay only for the resources you use

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

2009-10-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner is a really good read. Here are the highlights of the book on Amazon

Four years in the making, SuperFreakonomics asks not only the tough questions, but the unexpected ones: What's more dangerous, driving drunk or walking drunk? Why is chemotherapy prescribed so often if it's so ineffective? Can a sex change boost your salary?

SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we think all over again, exploring the hidden side of everything with such questions as:

* How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa?
* Why are doctors so bad at washing their hands?
* How much good do car seats do?
* What's the best way to catch a terrorist?
* Did TV cause a rise in crime?
* What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common?
* Are people hard-wired for altruism or selfishness?
* Can eating kangaroo save the planet?
* Which adds more value: a pimp or a Realtor?

Levitt and Dubner mix smart thinking and great storytelling like no one else, whether investigating a solution to global warming or explaining why the price of oral sex has fallen so drastically. By examining how people respond to incentives, they show the world for what it really is – good, bad, ugly, and, in the final analysis, super freaky.

Types of Cache Explained

2009-10-26T03:51:00.000-07:00

Inline cache: A memory cache that resides next to the CPU, but shares the same system bus as other subsystems in the computer. It is faster than lookaside cache, but slower than a backside cache.

Backside cache: A level 2 memory cache that has a dedicated channel to the CPU, enabling it to run at the full speed of the CPU.

Lookaside cache: A memory cache that shares the system bus with main memory and other subsystems. It is slower than inline caches and backside caches.

More info here Intel Cache Overview

Steve Jobs more popular than Jesus

2009-10-19T01:10:00.000-07:00

Source: Is Steve Jobs more popular than Jesus?