Vintage US television commercials

They sure don't make ads like they used to back in the 50s and 60s. Here's a video showing several vintage US television commercials.

Zidane headbutt now a trademark in China

I've said it before. The Chinese are very entrepreneurial. Here's another example. A man in China has registered the trademark for the infamous Zidane headbutt. From Guardian:

Zhao Xiaokai, general manager of a sport-related company, paid 2,000 yuan ($250) to register the trademark -- a silhouette of Zidane head-butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi's chest -- for shoes, hats and beer products, the Beijing Daily said.

"Two days after the World Cup final, I had the idea to register it as a brand," the paper quoted Zhao as saying.

Zhao said that he was considering developing his own line of head-butt branded products and that two beer companies had contacted him to discuss buying the rights.

"This recognition level of this trademark is very high. Using a silhouette to render this image avoids violating the soccer star's image rights," Zhao said.

Now, why didn't I think of that?

Update: Here's the silhoutte. (Thanks Sun Bin)

Previously:
Zidane headbutt hits the web
The Zidane headbutt

Pesticides in Indian Coke and Pepsi

Pepsi and Coke manufactured in India still have alarming traces of pesticides according to investigations done by an Indian non-governmental organisation. It says that the Indian government has failed to set up the necessary quality-control standards for the soft drinks industry and that this is a grave public health scandal. From BBC:

CSE Director Sunita Narain told journalists in Delhi that samples from 12 states showed that Pepsi products contained 30 times more pesticides than found in 2003.

Likewise she said that Coke samples had 25 times the amount of pesticides found three years ago...

In 2003, an Indian parliamentary committee upheld the CSE findings on the presence of pesticide residues and recommended that standards were set for soft drinks too.

The Indian Food Processing Industries minister, Subodh Kant Sahay said the government would look into the matter when it receives an official complaint.

Update: Reader Rajiv says, "This is indeed a grave public health scandal! Here's the August 2006 lab reports (in pdf) and here's the inside story:

Our world changed a little when we published the study on pesticide residues in soft drinks. In the work we do, fights go with the territory. We need to challenge institutions — government and private — in the public interest. What we had not anticipated, however, was the sheer power and the virulence of the attack. The fact is that the two companies affected — Coca-Cola and PepsiCo — were incidental to our story on pesticide contamination and the need for food standards to regulate safety. The fact that two us multinationals were involved was a mere coincidence. But not for them.

The first attack was on our laboratory — they questioned the data analysis, our capabilities, our equipment and then as it got nastier, they resorted to personalised attacks on us and our integrity. Their favourite ploy was to dismiss us as a pawn in a conspiracy hatched by Europe (because we get funds from multilateral and bilateral agencies) to destroy the good name of us companies. But this was not all.

(Thanks Rajiv)

Why Singapore should be gay friendly

Mr Hardy thinks that one way for Singapore to continue to have a good economy and to rejuvenate its intellectual capital and knowledge base is to make it into the Promised Land for gays all over the world. From Investing in Singapore:

What I propose is that Singapore takes the quantum leap into the future by legalizing homosexual relations. In other words, Singapore has to become more gay friendly instead of just being moderately tolerant of the homosexuals who are amongst us.

Why take such drastic actions? Well, firstly, there is US statistical data to show that when the homos move in, the average income as well as property prices of the neighbourhood increases. They're also on average smarter, have better than average qualifications and are often found engaged in the industries we Singaporeans desire most - finance, media, design and scientific research. They're statistically shown to be more obedient to the rules of law and if it weren't for the fact that they're standing on the wrong side of the sexual orientation issue, they'll be Model Citizens.

How to measure speed of light at home

Put a licorice bar into a microwave oven and walla - you can then measure the speed of light! From is Gadget:

Step 3: When microwave will be turned off. And licorice bar wont be hot, it will have this aspect (view photo above). Several places in the bar are more burnt than others, and there are places intacts (There are “valleys” in the wave). Then, take a ruler a measure distance between the center of this two “valleys”. In our case is about 6 cm.

Step 4: Turn over microwave and see wave frecuency. It is indicated in the technical features plaque. In our microwave this data is 2450 MHz. This means “megahertzs”. An “hertz” is number of oscillations in a second. In this way, “Megahertz” units are the inverse of the time, indicated by “s-1“.

Now, multiply by 2 distance measured before, and multiply again by 2.450.000.000 s-1. The result is surprising! : 12 × 2.450.000.000 = 29.400.000.000 cm/s =294.000 km/s … the speed of light!

(Thanks GeekGod)

Beware of fraud emails

Becareful when you receive emails with subjects such as "PayPal® Account Review Department" and "Supposed notification of unusual activity in your account". These are sophisticated new phishing email techniques used by scammers to dupe users into giving up identity and account information. From Identity Theft 911:

However, a recipient who clicks on this link is actually taken to a bogus web page (complete with stolen PayPal logo)...

On this page is a form that asks for every conceivable piece of personal and account information, from credit/debit card numbers and passwords to Social Security number and mother's maiden name.

...If you receive a phishing email of this kind, do not under any circumstances click on any link or provide any information about yourself or any of your accounts. Please note that if you use the Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) web browser running on Microsoft Windows, there is also a possibility that vulnerabilities in certain versions of IE will allow a malicious program (such as a virus or "Trojan horse") to be installed on your computer, rendering it vulnerable to intrusion.

The World's forgotten territorial disputes

Foreign Policy (FP) takes a look at the most important border conflicts the world forgot. From FP:

Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam

Area of dispute: The Spratly Islands, a cluster of more than 100 tiny reefs, islets, and atolls in the South China Sea, with a land area of less than 5 square miles.

Why it matters: Food, traffic, and oil. The Spratly Islands are one of the most heavily fished areas in the world. They’re also located in the center of the principle shipping route between Europe and Asia. And most lucrative of all are the untapped energy sources from the seabed below. China estimates that there are 17.7 billion tons of oil in the area, which would make it the fourth-largest oil reserve in the world.

Current status: The reasons for sovereignty claims are myriad: Some nations insist that they have historical ownership, while others say that geographical logic should prevail. All parties laying claim to the territory with the exception of Brunei maintain a military presence on the islands, despite a 2002 commitment (signed by all but Taiwan) to resolve differences by peaceful means. Although military confrontations have calmed down in recent years, the islands remain a hot-button issue in the region.

(Thanks Shy)

Fan made Transformers teaser kicks ass!

It is amazing to think that this is a fan made teaser for the upcoming Transformers movie. The reflection of planet Cybertron on the water, the Autobot and Decepticon insignias flying infront of the stars of the Paramount logo and the Autobot ark ship chrashing into the Paramount mountain. Dang! This is hot.

And here is the composite breakdown of the teaser.



Amazing! To watch the real theatrical teaser, visit the official site where you can also read the headline which says that Peter Cullen, the dude that did the voice for Optimus Prime in the cartoons, has been chosen to voice Optimus Prime in the movie too. Great choice! Damn it. I'm getting excited. Counting down now.

(via Don Murphy Message Board)

Update: Reader Mike Choo says, "If you think that's cool wait till you see this fan made trailer for the 1986 animated Transformers movie." Thanks Mike. It's awesome. Gives me the goosebumps.

The First Smiley :-)

Did you know that the first smiley :-) was first invented in a bboard message back in 19 September 1982? From The First Smiley:

The smiley :-) and its many variants are an important (and fun!) part of the worldwide online social culture -- allowing emotions to be conveyed in plain text. It has been in widespread use since the early '80s, when it was first proposed. Yet the original message in which the smiley was invented had been lost -- until now. :-) After a significant effort to locate it, on September 10, 2002 the original post made by Scott Fahlman on CMU CS general bboard was retrieved by Jeff Baird from an October 1982 backup tape of the spice vax (cmu-750x). Here is Scott's original post:

19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman :-)
From: Scott E Fahlman

I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:

:-)

Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use

:-(

(Thanks Sir Thomas)

The Flying Spaghetti Monster Hat

Followers of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster should all learn how to make the Flying Spaghetti Monster hat, then proudly wear it and "waggle their noodly appendages in His name... AMEN."

(Thanks Nathan)

The Simpsons Maker and mp3s

The Simpsons Maker allows you to create your very own Simpsons character. You can choose the head, eyes, body, etc. Above is my Simpsons character. If there's an IZ Reloaded in the wacky world of The Simpsons, I guess that would be me. Ha!!!

Talking about the Simpsons, do you know that you can download more than 100 songs from the show? Just head to Simpson Crazy and download them in mp3 format. There's the famous Simpsons theme, Krusty The Clown theme and other songs sang by the Simpsons characters and guests including Michael Jackson!