Blog Marco - Random Stuff

Random Facts and Figures

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 18:08:40 -0800

Welcome to my random information dumping ground.

This is where I post up:

Random Stuff RSS

Food RSS

Sydney Cuisine RSS

Technology + Gadgets RSS

Health RSS

Electrical Engineering RSS

Sydney RSS

Sydney Events RSS

Alien Life According to the Catholic Church

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:01:45 -0700

Teaser:
The Catholic Church Doesn't Rule Out Alien Life

Image:

Body:

The Catholic church isn't ruling out alien life forms... The search for extraterrestrial life does not contradict belief in God, the Pope's chief astronomer said, adding that some aliens may even be innocent of the original sin. "As an astronomer I continue to believe that God is the creator of the universe," Jose Gabriel Funes said in an interview with the Vatican mouthpiece, the Osservatore Romano.

Even if "we don't currently have any proof... the hypothesis" of extraterrestrial life cannot be ruled out, said Funes, a Jesuit priest who directs the Vatican's observatory at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome. "Just as there are a plethora of creatures on Earth, there could be others, equally intelligent, created by God," he said.

Original sin, which by Christian tradition occurred in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit of a particular tree, refers to the fallen state from which humans can be saved only by God's grace. Asked about the difficult theological question, Funes said: "If other intelligent beings exist, it's not certain that they need redemption." They could "have remained in full friendship with their creator" without committing the original sin, he said. If not, extraterrestrials would benefit equally from the "incarnation", in which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, assumed earthlings' flesh, body and soul in order to redeem them, which Funes called "a unique event that cannot be repeated".

Guess the Word

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:55:36 -0700

Teaser:
Guess the Word Chef Ramsay Gordon is saying in his US hit show Hells Kitchen

Image:

Body:

A screengrab of Chef Ramsay swearing his face off on Hells Kitchen. (A previous post about Gordon Ramsay.)

If You Are Rich, Anything is Possible

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:36:24 -0700

Teaser:
If You Are Rich, Anything is Possible

Image:

Body:

[Comedy] Remember: If You Are Rich, Anything is Possible

Picture depicts a couple (assumed to be in a relationship): a morbidly obese man holding hands with a relatively skinny woman wearing a thong bikini holding hands and walking down beside a pool at a beach resort.

Gordon Ramsay has a Lawsuit - NOT!

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:07:39 -0700

Teaser:
Gordon Ramsay has a Lawsuit - NOT! The whole Dillions Restaurant Affair and Australia

Image:

Body:

Bloody Australian TV. Bloody Australian Media. Australian TV is SO behind. Some channels try to keep up to date, but others still force feed old TV shows down our throats. And Australian Media are reporting OLD NEWS. Channel 9 has a hit show on it's hands: "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" - they've been rushing through the seasons by showing two episodes a week. They've been marketing the show heavily and creating controversy (#1 marketing tactic) about his bad language. They've featured him on 60 Minutes and A Current Affair. Newspapers and even the government are even in on the marketing scheme by continuing the marketing story about Gordon Ramsay's foul language. Yesterday I stumbled upon a news article from heraldsun.com.au about Gordon Ramsay and his lawsuit. The story was dated: April 23, 2008 12:00am. and the Article said:

It's a Matter of Perspective

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:50:18 -0700

Teaser:
It's all a matter of Perspective. I am not selling sex! I am selling condoms with free demonstration.

Image:

Body:

"I am not selling sex! I am selling condoms with free demonstration." It's all a matter of perspective. Call it smart marketing.

Image details: A prostitute or an "escort" is being talked to by a policeman - obviously 'street walking' is illegal and the officer is questioning a blonde woman wearing a short pink dress. Her response to his questioning: "I am not selling sex! I am selling condoms with free demonstration."

PR Firms and Press Releases

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:05:52 -0700

Did you know that a lot of our news are produced from News Releases? Some are pure news like reports from government and things. Some are commercial. You may be being sold a product without your knowledge. I was reading through the paper and I found probably the most unconvincing story which most probably originated from a press release. I thought they were going to talk about cycling around Vietnam but really they're selling some tech gear. Screw them. (Although for disclosure I do own a FreeAgent drive which does a pretty good job, but I own a JVC HD Camera and not the Sony HD cam as advertised by the article)

In March last year, documentary filmmaker David Smith had no intention of following 30 cyclists from one end of Vietnam to the other perched on the back of a motorbike.

But two weeks later, armed with a digital high definition camera and no script, that's exactly what he and his son Denby were doing.

Humour: Piracy Stops Global Warming

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:56:52 -0700

Found this one while surfing around: "Piracy Stops Global Warming" - Instead of driving to get CDs, buying pre-packaged software from megacorporations and wasting energy; you can help Global Warming by using P2P. Help save resources, fight pollution and save the environment. - It's what Jesus would do.

Automagically

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:52:39 -0700

I was reading a forum discussion when someone mentioned the word "automagically". I thought that was a brilliant typo - but I was wrong. It's actually geek speak:

A computing slang term to mean something that is done by a computer program that cannot necessarily be seen happening, or which intelligently simplifies things of great complexity. For example if you had an application that loaded up a Microsoft Word document and turned it into a PDF file before displaying it on screen, you might say that the application loads a document and automagically turns it into a PDF; or one could say of a garbage-collected program that it automagically handles all issues of memory allocation and de-allocation.

--from an old page at Wikipedia

Bentley S3 E Concept Design

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:11:36 -0700

Teaser:
Bentley S3 E Concept Design - One BadAss Design or a car!

Image:

Body:

I don't normally write about cars on this blog, but I think this car deserves a mention. It's the Bentley S3 E - AND its not real. But it seems a team in USA are going to build this bad-ass gangster like car. High resolution photos of the Bentley car design below:

Mad TV Bobby Lee, a Gay Arab and a Terrorist

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:41:39 -0700

I was watching MAD TV on channel 9 last weekend (they air the episodes at 2am on Sunday or Monday night) and I realised that Australia is some 2 or 3 seasons behind in Mad TV. Stupid Channel 9. Thanks to the producers of Mad TV for allowing people to post Mad TV on YouTube. You've got to watch this random bit that MADTV made: Mad TV 13th Season Premiere: 24 with Bobby Lee, a Gay Arab and a Terrorist.

Wall St Stripper Dilemma

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:05:12 -0700

Teaser:
Wall street trader seeking damages after a stripper hits him on face with heel

Body:

I don't know what to make of this story... Should I empathise with the trader? Or should I just laugh at him for being there in the first place? (remember that he is MARRIED and he went there ON HIS OWN)

A Wall Street trader is seeking damages after allegedly being hit in the face by a stripper's high heel as she performed a lap dance for him.

Stephen Chang, a securities trader, claims in court papers filed at the Manhattan Supreme Court that he "sustained serious personal injuries" on his visit to the Hot Lap Dance Club near Madison Square Garden in November last year.

His lawsuit against the club states: "During the course of said lap dance, the employee suddenly swung around, striking [Mr Chang] in the eye with the heel of her shoe." Mr Chang, who is married and in his early 30s, had visited the club on his own. The establishment, which describes itself as the "Playboy Mansion of Manhattan party lofts" charges a $50 cover charge and a $10 one-time joining fee. A lap dance typically costs around $40.

Had Had

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 14:54:55 -0700

I was reading some news and the article had the "had had" phrase in there... Looked it up this strange little snippet of the English language on Google and it had about 8 million pages which used the phrase. Some examples of "had had" usage are: "Mum had had three drink-driving charges before 10am"; "I've had had blood clots before with my period but this time it was hard not jello feeling?"

Some fellow even wrote a stupid riddle about it:

"Ann while Bob had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher."

This "Had had" puzzle requires correct punctuation (i.e. using commas, full stops and quotation marks) to make any sense. Answer at the end of this blog entry.

Here's what some people had to say about "had had": It is the is pluperfect of "to have". "He had had a bad day." - In that sentence: "He had had a bad day" indicates that the experience occurred (and was completed) prior to another experience under discussion. As compared to: "He had a bad day" which talks about the type of day the person experienced.

Impulse Buy!

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 14:50:59 -0800

Teaser:
Impulse Buys Hurts Our Budgets - Is There Any Way Around To Prevent Impulse Buying

Image:

Body:

Christmas is coming up again - and is heralding another shopping season. And when people are in the mood for a spot of shopping, I'm sure there would be a lot of impulse buying happening too. Impulse buying is great isn't it? We feel like we need the product, it's right there and by buying it we can quench whatever thirst for shopping we had.

Impulse buying makes us feel good. And that's the problem. Impulsive purchases has the potential to be an addictive hobby, to break budgets and to fill homes with plenty of useless junk which you wonder week's later as to why you bought the products in the first place.

Some people may argue that impulse buys aren't all bad. Why would that be? I don't see any reason why impulse buys would be good for you (unless you see shopping as therapeutic, which isn't good either - pick a better hobby!). Before going shopping I always make sure I have a list which I know fits in my budget with the stuff I need (or want, people need some luxuries too). Sometimes I do find a product that I had previously made a mental note to buy which I do end up buying. I don't classify this as impulse buying since you have already made a decision to buy it before you were at the shopping mall.

For the Bored and Lonely

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:44:33 -0800

Here's a post for the bored and lonely... I'm thinking of doing speedlinking posts starting today - some of you may find the links useful and interesting as I have. I've only done speedlinking on this site three times before mid last year: here's my first one, my second one and the final one. I know there are times you just want to surf the web for recreation (excluding those social networking sites)... so here's your chance.

A researcher from Melbourne has found a way to increase the speed of ADSL by 100 times. He's sure to get shitloads of money now.

On a more serious note, Charmaine Dragun, 29, has committed suicide @ The Gap in Sydney. She was a newsreader for Australian Channel 10. If you are suffering depression or if you know anyone that you suspect having this condition, go visit Beyond Blue.