Network Manager by Day, Blogger by Night.
Archive for January, 2006
Laughter paves the way for romance
Jan 24th
Studies suggest humour signals big brain and good partner-potential.
If love is blind, then maybe humour is the attention-grabber.
That’s the conclusion of two recent studies that confirm a long-standing stereotype of flirting: that women like joky men, while men like women who laugh at their jokes.
The idea that funny people are attractive may seem obvious. But there have been very few scientific studies to examine whether or not this is true.
Eric Bressler of Westfield State College, Massachusetts, and colleague Sigal Balshine of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, did this by asking more than 200 male and female college students to examine photos of members of the opposite sex. Some had funny quotes pinned beneath them, such as: “My high school was so rough we had our own coroner.” Others had bland ones: “I’d rather walk to school than take the bus.”
Women ranked the humorous men as better potential partners, the researchers found – and as more friendly, fun and popular. Men’s view of a woman, on the other hand, appeared to be uninfluenced by her wit.
Bressler suspected that men and women do, in fact, both value a sense of humour in a mate, but that they might be looking for slightly different things: women valuing an ability to be funny and men valuing an ability to see the joke.
Make me laugh
In a second study, Bressler and his colleagues asked nearly 130 students to imagine two people of the opposite sex. One fictional character was funny; the other appreciated another person’s humour. The team then asked each student which they would choose for a relationship.
Women generally preferred men who were funny, while men favoured a woman who thought he was funny, the team report in a second paper accepted for publication.
Bressler believes that the findings might hint at why humans have evolved a sense of humour at all.
According to one theory, proposed by psychologist Geoffrey Miller at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, women prefer funny men because their wit reveals an active and healthy brain – and a fine set of underlying genes. “It’s a very powerful and reliable way to show creativity and intelligence,” Miller says.
Smarty pants
If this theory holds true, a woman choosing a funny man as a partner is more likely to have genetically healthy children who will survive and reproduce themselves. This so-called sexual selection could, in some circumstances, favour women who like humorous men, and men who like women with an appreciation for humour.
The entire idea remains speculative, however. And this particular study only looked at humour in North American college students.
But as biologists identify more and more human genes, Miller suggests that they might find ones that contribute in the brain to both a sense of humour and broader mental health.
What does this means for those seeking love? Bressler, being a scientist rather than a relationship therapist, is reluctant to say. But when pushed, he boils it down to a simple line of advice for the ladies: “If you’re not interested in a guy then don’t laugh at his jokes.”
Source: Nature.com
Dead whale is examined by experts
Jan 22nd
I can’t believe I was up London yesterday and missed the whale, though what can I say, I’m very sad to hear it died, I really do love animals, and it’s a real shame when they die like this! 
An expert is carrying out a post-mortem examination on a whale which died after becoming stranded in the River Thames.
Despite a seven hour rescue attempt, the 18ft (5m) northern bottle-nosed whale died on a barge which was trying to take it back to deep waters.The mammal suffered breathing problems and muscle spasms when it convulsed and died on Saturday evening.
Paul Jepson, from the Zoological Society of London, hopes to find out why the animal became lost on Friday.
Thousands of onlookers lined the river to watch as the mammal was put on a special pontoon at Battersea Bridge and then onto a barge on Saturday.
Plan scaled down
Millions more around the world then watched the doomed rescue attempt on television.
The whale was being taken to Shivering Sands off the north Kent coast, where rescuers had hoped to release it back into the sea.
This plan had already been scaled down from an earlier one to transfer it to an “ocean-going vessel” and take it to deep water off the south coast.
Earlier, naturalist and television presenter Terry Nutkins said the rescue operation was the wrong thing to do and that the animal needed space.
He told BBC Radio Five Live: “It wouldn’t know what was happening, it was surrounded by boats… it would have been absolutely terrified as well as being stressed.
“It was kept… like a goldfish in a bowl. So, it doesn’t surprise me that it’s died.”
However, he later concluded he had “no doubts” the rescue operation had been the best way to try to save the whale.
Tony Woodley, a director of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) group said that despite the sad outcome, the decision to move the whale – costing the group about £100,000 – was correct and they had given it their “best shot”.
He said: “The organisation was under extreme pressure from other experts and the media and it is our opinion that we did the right thing for the whale.
“We believe that if the whale would have been left how it was then it would have just slowly died and we don’t think that was the acceptable option to take.
“We always knew that it was going to be risky. We did everything that we could and I am afraid that this time it was not a success.”
He denied suggestions that the noise made by boats as the whale lay in the Thames caused its eventual death.
Pod spotted
A spokeswoman for the Zoological Society of London said Mr Jepson was among the best qualified to carry out the post-mortem examination given his previous research work on stranded marine mammals.
It will be carried out at Gravesend in Kent where the whale was unloaded and take about six hours.
She added the results of the tests would be known on Wednesday or Thursday.
The whale, which could weigh about four tonnes, was first spotted at on Friday morning.
There were reports of a pod of whales in the Thames estuary earlier in the week, and it was possible the whale had become separated from this group.
It was the first sighting of the endangered species in the Thames since records began in 1913.
Windows Blackcomb Renamed to Windows Codename Vienna
Jan 22nd
Microsoft has now changed the Codename of Windows Blackcomb to Windows Codename Vienna, what do you think of this name change, is it better or worse or don’t you care?
Microsoft has changed the code-name for the next version of Windows after Vista from “Blackcomb” to “Vienna,” according to company evangelist and blogger Robert Scoble. Blackcomb was named back in 2000, when Windows XP was still known as Whistler. But Microsoft says it needed a name that fit the “Vista” theme.
“The codename for Blackcomb has changed to ‘Vienna’. This does not reflect a big change for us; we have used city code names in the past,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. “These code names are derived from cities/locations in the world known for great ‘vistas’. The kinds of places we all want to see, experience and that capture the imagination. Vienna fits with this concept.”
Day trip out in London
Jan 21st
Hey everyone this post today comes directly from a Mc Donald’s Internet PC near Piccadilly Circus, as I’m up in London for the day out, I’ll update this post later with some photos and a bit about my day out!
Ok better be going there’s loads to do.
Next stop Microsoft’s offices as I’ll be going there next week and thought I might as well walk past them as I’m in the area! 
See you later people! 
Update: Ok I’m back home now, and well what can I say what a fantastic day out, below I’ve included a list of places I quickly toured around as it was kind of one of them trips were you try and visit as much as possible in a limited period of time, just like a race to see who can visit the most and get in and out of places the fastest!
Science Museum
Natural History Museum
Westminster Bridge
Piccadilly Circus
Walk by Microsoft Offices
Soho and Chinatown
Hamleys toy store
Trafalgar Square
The National Gallery
National Portrait Gallery
Tate Britain Art Gallery
And that’s about it really, without going into further detail that is, though I was going to do a quick stop at canary wharf but it was already 5 o clock and I thought it was best to start my journey back than try and do something else, so I’ve left that for another day!
The Million Dollar Homepage is back online
Jan 19th
Looks like the Million Dollar Homepage is now back online!
Hi Darren,
I’m pleased to report that The Million Dollar Homepage is back online after
almost 6 days of downtime due to a malicious attack by hackers who tried to
extort $50,000 from me. I’m pleased to say that I did not pay a penny, and
worked closely with my hosting company Sitelutions and DDoSprotection.com to stop the attack. I can also report that the FBI are investigating (this is
because my website is hosted on servers in the US).Happily, now that the site is back online, I’m able to properly announce the
winner of last week’s eBay auction for the last 1,000 pixels. The auction
ended Wednesday 11th January, but unfortunately that was just as the attack on the site began, so I was unable to upload the winning bidder’s pixels and give them the fanfare they deserved.So, without further ado, I’m very happy to announce that Elijah Kliger of
Brooklyn, NY, is the proud owner of the last 1,000 pixels for his new site,
http://www.MillionDollarWeightLoss.com, which sells a variety of weight-loss
products and supplements. The winning bid was $38,100 – congratulations
Elijah!The auction completed the sale of all one million pixels on the homepage and
brought the final total I’ve earnt from the site to a massive $1,037,100 -
not bad for less than 5 months work eh! I’ve kept saying it, but this whole
thing still hasn’t sunk and I’m really not sure when it will. It’s been an
amazing experience and I’m sure 2006 will be an exciting year.I’ll keep you posted – I have a few new ideas up my sleeve
Thanks for your support, and have a great year.
Alex
The Million Dollar Homepage
www.milliondollarhomepage.com
Save Precious time, use these Free Round Corner Images.
Jan 19th
Ever wanted that rounded corner effect for your HTML tables? It is easy to create the images in your favorite graphics program, but for those that do not own or know how to use a graphics program to create the rounded corner images you see on some websites. These are especially for you!.
Gamer Commits Suicide on Forums
Jan 19th
Very very sad, but true, poor guy!
SOFIA (AFP) – A 21-year-old American online gaming fan broadcast his suicide on a Bulgarian Internet forum.
Named as Mitchell S., the gamer switched on his web cam and swallowed a large amount of motor antifreeze and pills after complaining about family problems and a lack of money, forum administrator Boyan Georgiev told Bulgaria’s BGNES news agency on Wednesday.Other forum members thought the man nicknamed “Kudjo” was joking even though he rambled for six hours about the effects of the substances and disappeared from view several times.
After he failed to appear at regular meeting spots, gamers went to his home and learnt he died in hospital on January 7.
The gaming Web site http://www.metalgearsolid.org/ has closed pending an investigation.
“Our company has not in any way provoked this suicide. We are not responsible for material published on the site,” Georgiev told BGNES.
He said about 5,000 online game fans visited the forum every day.
Here’s what the gamer said on GameFaqs
I’ve spent just shy of 5 years on this board, and I feel I need to let you guys know this. This isn’t a fake like Wing: I’m ending my life. A combination of money, school, and (consequently) housing problems has created a burden I can’t bare. I know this makes me a coward, but that’s okay. With any luck, I won’t be around for you to call me that.
I want you guys to know I had a lot of fun. It’s sad so many left, but they few of you still around you guys were just as good friends as those I had in real like in some ways. Thanks for it all.
—
http://www.authorjdphillips.com/
Link to post on GameFaqs
News at Yahoo
My first ever Google Adsense check arrives!
Jan 17th
This morning I got my first ever Google Adsense check throuh the post, I was thinking it would never come but it has, on it is the value of £69.73 / $121.60 which isnt that bad considering I never would of have had this money if I hadent ever started using adsense in the firstplace!
So why not try adsense today!
Google.com overtakes MSN.com in Alexa rankings
Jan 16th
Just saw this posted over at Overdo’s Blog, watch out Msn!
I see lots of people talking about Digg v Slashdot, but this seems to have gone unnoticed.
And non-techies say the Internet is boring
Microsoft Flight Simulator X
Jan 16th
It has just came to my attention that the next version of Microsoft Flight Simulator will be called Microsoft Flight Simulator X, and what can I say the Graphics and the detail of realism are definitely getting better with each release, what you don’t believe me, then why not go and check out the link bellow and then come back and tell me what you think!
Microsoft Flight Simulator X Screenshots
