A cool Google logo - Java required

Check out this really cool Google logo...need one of those for my Gregoogle blog - it's different to the sexy Google chick on this post which I found here.

By: Gregor | Friday, January 27 at Friday, January 27, 2006 | |

Bill Gates is worth $31,004,950,033.64 - enough for a McDonald's meal for everyone on Earth.

This Blog does not aim to be a book review, but I stumbled across this book called “How to Make a Camel Smoothie” (which I got my Dad for Christmas) and it discovers some fantastic and amazing and humorous numbers which try to explain certain things.

Here is one section which I particularly enjoy as it puts life and our livelihood (and that of others) into perspective- here goes:

Imagine you (YOU) would live in a village ofprecisely 200 people, and this would count as the ENTIRE GLOBAL POPULATION, then, in relation to such population the following numbers would represent the people:

• 97 would be women (at birth)
• 103 would be men (at birth)
• 34 would be left-handed
• 60 would be under 15 years old
• 14 would be over 65 years old
• 38 would come from more developed countries
• 162 would come from less developed countries
• There would be 122 Asians
• There would be 24 Europeans
• There would be 28 Africans
• There would be 18 from South America and the Caribbean
• There would be 10 from North America (including 9 Americans)
• There would be 1 from Oceania
• 120 would live within 62 miles of a coastline
• 96 would be urban dwellers
• 50 would be homeless or live in sub-standard housing
• 96 would lack access to basic sanitation
• 32 would lack access to safe drinking water
• 28 would suffer from malnutrition
• 32 would be unable to read and write
• 58 would believe in witchcraft
• 9 would get drunk each day
• 1 would eat at McDonald’s each day

...and my calculations have shown that in this global village of 200 people there would be a total of 2 bloggs!!!! and based on these predictions for 2006, there would be a total of 4 blogs by the end of the year.

By: Gregor | Saturday, January 21 at Saturday, January 21, 2006 | |

Anonymous Blogging tips for the oppressed – are you from Iran, China, Malaysia or Zimbabwe?

Anoniblog is a new Web site which offers tips on blogging anonymously for those people who live in countries that restrict free speech. The site warns that bloggers can't be absolutely safe, but it offers information about risks in each country and tips for minimizing risks. There are Arabic, Chinese and English versions of the guides, targeted specifically for people in Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Malaysia and Zimbabwe. The site is backed by Spirit of America, a nonprofit that supports the American military and civilian workers abroad. The group states that it aims to advance freedom, democracy and peace around the world.

I believe that this form of communication can in fact be used in a manner to aid liberation or at least freedom of speech/expression. The technological advancement in the above mentioned countries thus could benefit this development if sanctions on the use and distribution of technology are not introduced. Anoniblog for instance states that

“Mugabe, in April of this year, contracted with the Chinese government to secure access to their Internet censorship knowledge and technology. There has yet to be any report that these have been implemented and in October of this year even the Chinese found Mugabe so isolated it refused to help him with his food problems, outgrowth, in part, of his seizure of white-owned farms, which he gave as gifts to political supporters. Bloggers press on. The efforts of these individuals, estimated to number between 50 and 100, exert a disproportionate influence on their country and on international discourse about Zimbabwe, due to several factors: The lack of any other information and the resolution and intelligence of the bloggers themselves, who have broken news such as the daylight murder of a woman by the police in Bulawayo and the bulldozing of housing for the poor in Harare.”

Check out this blog on Zimbabwe...

By: Gregor | Saturday, January 14 at Saturday, January 14, 2006 | |

L'Oreal - cause I'm worth bugger all!

So I’m sitting next to a friend watching The Brothers Grimm, next to me some retarded imbecile who decides to spit out his phlegm by his feet (yes IN THE MOVIES) and during the feature, at its most intense moment, little 14 year old"I- think-I’m- hot-cause- I-speak-loud- during- the-movie- and-flip-my- hair-back-every- 3-seconds”, whips out her bloody L’Oreal nail polish and begins stroking those under-aged scratchers, exposing the stinging smell into the theatre and giggling ditzily at the screen…only here in Sandton on a Friday night…

So here is this girl (see adolescent in white top–centre of the picture) with her little push-up bra and freshly whiffy polished nails - wish I could have taken a picture while it happened and expose her infantile retardedness to the blog-world…

By: Gregor | Saturday, January 7 at Saturday, January 07, 2006 | |

Find my things

How many items can you find on this picture?

Hint: There are 39 items lying on this desk, who can name them all?

By: Gregor | Thursday, January 5 at Thursday, January 05, 2006 | |

Google going for the strike ?

The Los Angeles Times released this story, one which does not come as a great surprise, but which might change the computer market and rattle some stationary on Bill Gates' desktop.

"Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft's Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap — perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars."

On Friday, Google's co-founder (Larry Page) will address their new product range during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "Analysts suspect that Page will use the opportunity either to show off a Google computing device or announce a partnership with a big retailer to sell such a machine." Further speculations about Google going into the Video industry are also in the pipelines...

So it will be interesting to see how these two Multimedia-giants will try to outperform each other and if Google will be able to set new benchmarks within the PC industry, since they have outperformed Microsoft by miles within the online-space already.

OR NOT

"Google's Director of Corporate Communications is putting the smack down on that rumour from the LA Times that they're working on a Google PC."

So the LA Times, Engadged and of course Gregoogle did a great job hyping this story up. Then again they where writing about possible predictions...and as Mr. Churchill once said: "I always avoid prophesying beforehand because it is much better to prophesy after the event has already taken place.”

So in light of these events I found these interesting quotes about some predictions made a 'little' while ago:

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -- Thomas Watson (1874-1956), Chairman of IBM, 1943"

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

"But what ... is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

By: Gregor | Tuesday, January 3 at Tuesday, January 03, 2006 | |

100 things we didn't know this time last year

Firstly, Happy New Year to all those who I have not told personally...

Secondly (and yes I am fond of chronological order), this story, which can be found on the BBC News website is great and very interesting:

Various events and news from the last year have been compiled into 100 THINGS WE DID'NT KNOW THIS TIME LAST YEAR. Great comparrison's, mind-b(l)oggling information and purley a great read to see how far we (or others) have come.

Example: Baboons can tell the difference between English and French. Zoo keepers at Port Lympne wild animal park in Kent are having to learn French to communicate with the baboons which had been transferred from Paris zoo.

Click here to view more things....

By: Gregor | Monday, January 2 at Monday, January 02, 2006 | |