VampireS SUMO

After five years of mostly loyal service, my trusty computer finally gave up the ghost on me, recently.

It had been on it’s last legs for some time, so the other week I decided to bite the bullet and replace it, and now I’m sitting at my desk most days with something that’s loosely comparable to the HAL 9000.

I was aware, in the general sense, of just how fast the world of computers moves. With constant technological advances, anything you buy today will be obsolete fairly soon. However, I hadn’t banked on just how fast the whole design of computers changes.

My old computer was boxy and white, it had cables running to and from anything connected to it, and it had to be given an order to do something.

HAL, on the other hand, is all wireless. It’s grey and sleek. And it seems to be thinking for itself at least half the time. It knows more than I do, and worse yet, it KNOWS that it knows more than I do.

The wireless aspect, especially, bothers me. Somehow, when I type something, it is transferred to the screen without any sort of physical connection. This computer could run on voodoo for all I know. I know that if something is working, I should just shut up and be glad of it, but I’m just too paranoid by nature not to find stuff like this weird. I don’t like not knowing how my computer does things, I feel like it’s mocking me.

I’ll give you an example. The other day, I was collecting various links for a project I was working on, and decided to make a separate folder in the “Favourites” box in my web browser. I then told the computer to hide the folder so it didn’t pop up every time, which, of course, it did. What I hadn’t banked on was that it hid it so well that I haven’t been able to find it, since. For all I know, it’s down the back of my sofa. HAL certainly isn’t telling.

It’s also a lot faster. I don’t understand data-compression - indeed, I don’t really feel I have to - but somehow it saves songs to it’s memory in less time than it takes to play them. That’s more than I can do.

You can play me a song and after a few run-throughs I can pick up the basic chords and the words. What I cannot do, however, is hear the opening bars and then sing you the whole thing verbatim and quote you the changes for every instrument needed. HAL can.

In short, it’s scary.

Like all guys, I have the creeping fear of turning into my father. I think a major sign of the fact that you’re getting older is when technology overtakes you. I was fine with my old computer, understood it implicitly, it was the kind I used in high school.

HAL, on the other hand, is part of a new breed. I wouldn’t be entirely shocked to learn that it chooses to look like a computer, and is in fact made of some sort of liquid metal that can imitate whatever it feels like when my back is turned.

Admittedly, I have a ways to go before I’m as baffled by technology as dad is. He often shouts at the TV remote for not doing what he wants it to, and, unable to get rid of the menu he has somehow brought up, will sulkily sit and watch TV around a box of options in the middle of the screen that obscures most of the picture.

It’s beginning to get the better of me, though. My old computer had an endearing quirk, if by endearing I mean “makes you want to kick it out of the window.” Sometimes, through stretching or leaning or whatever, I would mash a random selection of buttons on the keyboard and something unusual would happen. Either it would deleted everything I’d been doing forever, or the screen saver would come on, or, once, an inter-dimensional vortex was opened to the planet Noquilon, although admittedly that was after a very long stretch and a lot of button mashing.

I haven’t the faintest ideal of how I used to pull this off, but it made some sort of sense. Random button pressing can lead to unexpected events. Only fair, really.

HAL, on the other hand, does it of it’s own accord. I press a series of buttons that seem perfectly logical and it still does something that, more often than not, leaves me staring, slack-jawed, at the screen. It’s entirely too much technology for my mind to handle; I’m like a monkey with a lawn mower, or George Bush with an entire nuclear arsenal.

Proof, if proof were needed, that machines are evolving too fast comes from the little “help” characters. My old computer had a cartoon paper clip as your little “help” bringer. Recently when I tried to search for yet-another file that HAL had hidden, I was guided by a Labrador.

Not only did the Labrador find files that I was convinced no longer existed anywhere in the known universe, but I realised that as such, in the space of five years, the help icon has progressed from an inanimate, simple object that would sit on my desk and do simple things when needed to something that can sit, stay, get the paper and piss on my shoes.

If that isn’t a powerful metaphor, I don’t know what is.

Luke Haines

I suppose you think that you learn guitar by playing guitar. Well, do you learn to say the right things by talking all the time? Let’s take a look at the art of not playing guitar…

How can you learn to play guitar by not playing? Is it really possible to develop as a guitarist without touching the instrument?

In weight training it is an established fact that muscle growth takes place during rest, for example when you sleep. It doesn’t mean that you will become a famous muscle builder by sleeping. Sleeping is just a part of the overall picture called muscle growth.

Don’t ever think that you will become a good guitarist by not playing guitar at all!

But I define a good guitarist as a good musician. A good musician can convey his musical emotions to somebody else and this ability takes more than just practicing moving the fingers among all those guitar strings.

What can you do to become a better guitarist and a musician when you don’t play? Let me give you a few suggestions:

1. If you play classical guitar, get into the habit of often reading guitar sheet music without your guitar. This practice gives you training in the art of hearing the sheet music in your head and also gives you a better chance to really learn notational symbols in the music and rhythmic subtleties.

2. Take a week off from your guitar playing every now and then and use all your musical energy listening to good music or just being a good citizen. Learn to spot musical and artistic heights in the music. Listen to all types of instrumentalists. With concentration. My best listening position is laying flat on my bed with headphones on forgetting the rest of the world. Maybe you have another approach.

If you feel and enjoy musical and artistic expressions in the music these will probably be implemented in your own guitar playing sooner or later.

3. Be a good musical friend by helping somebody else to play. It will help you become more unselfish and like people more. Well, maybe you already like people sufficiently but to learn to like people is part of our development as musicians as we are supposed to give of ourselves to others when we play.

4. Prepare your body and mind for playing guitar by learning the art of relaxation and stretching your muscles. You can of course find articles on these subjects on the net. Performing in a relaxed manner will help you enjoy your own music more and will help your public to relax and enjoy your music too.

5. Take time to sit down, or stand up if you like, and ponder about what guitar playing means to you. Is there something that you would like to develop in your guitar playing that will give you more joy and happiness. Set a realistic goal and write down what you can do every week to accomplish that goal.

I believe in practicing on my guitar of course but I hope that these pieces of advice concerning not playing guitar will increase your love for your guitar and the art of playing and giving musical joy to others!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site capotastomusic.com/ Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play resources at capotastomusic.com capotastomusic.com

The Georgian Poets were named after the reign of King George V who was crowned in 1910. The first volume of Georgian Poetry appeared in 1912, proposed by Rupert Brooke. Four more volumes were published – the last in 1922 – edited by Sir Edward Marsh. The Georgians are the poets who wrote the preludes and swan songs to and before the Great War of 1914-18, and some of them are also known as War Poets whose later verse altered under the impact of that war.p

Pre-war Georgian poetry is typified as dreamy and romantic and escapist in comparison with the harshness of war described by the realists. The most enduring Georgian is Flecker who introduced orientalism into his verse and died young, though the most famous is, still, probably, Rupert Brooke who outlived Flecker by three months and died patriotically on St George’s Day, which is also Shakespeare’s birthday. The forgotten Georgians are those who continued in the vein of late-Romantic picturesque descriptions of countryside.

The major Georgians are Lascelles Abercrombie, Hilaire Belloc, Edmund Blunden, Ruert Brooke, William Henry Davies, Ralph Hodgson, John Drinkwater, James Elroy Flecker, Wilfred Wilson Gibson, Robert Graves, Walter de la Mare, Harold Monro, Siegfried Sassoon, J.C. Squire, and Edward Thomas.

An absent name is John Masefield who was writing earlier and lived longer than most Georgians. He is best known for Salt-Water Ballads (1902) and for his narrative poem The Everlasting Mercy (1910). John Masefield was Poet Laureate from 1930 to 1967.

James Elroy Flecker was almost exactly a contemporary of Rupert Brooke. Both died in 1915 – Brooke on a troopship bound for the Dardanelles and Flecker in a Swiss sanatorium. Both of them fantasised about death, Flecker more so because he was diagnosed with consumption in 1910. The following quotation is taken from Flecker’s Golden Journey to Samarkand and reappeared posthumously in his verse play Hassan (1922) for which Edward Elgar composed a score; and Elgar’s music could be as lush and seductive as the verse.

We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage
And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die,
We poets of the proud old lineage
Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why,-
What shall we tell you? tales, marvellous tales
Of ships and stars and isles where good men rest,
Where nevermore the rose of sunset pales,
And winds and shadows fall toward the West.

And how beguile you? Death has no repose
Warmer and deeper than that orient sand
Which hides the beauty and bright faith of those
Who made the Golden Journey to Samarkand.

(The Golden Journey to Samarkand)

This golden journey, as Ezra Pound remarked, took place merely on paper, yet Flecker still enjoys a popularity that other Georgians have lacked or lost. Looking at his brief life and works in more detail:

Flecker’s father was a clergyman and headmaster of Dean Close School, where Flecker was a day boy. He attended Trinity College Oxford and also Caius College Cambridge where he studied Arabic, Persian and Turkish before joining the diplomatic service. He served as Vice-Consul in Constantinople (Istanbul), Smyrna (Izmir), and Beirut from 1910 to 1913; however, his health was poor and he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. At the outbreak of the First World War he was not quite 30 years old and unfit for military service. He died five months later in a sanatorium. His grave in Cheltenham, England, bears the epitaph ‘O Lord, restore his realm to the dreamer.’

Flecker’s verse is high on sensibility and often low on sense. The Dying Patriot bears a resemblance to Rupert Brooke’s The Soldier in that it urges the living to carry on where the dead left off, but it lacks the curious Englishness on which Brooke is insistent.

There’s a house that Britons walked in, long ago,

Where now the springs of ocean fall and flow,

And the dead robed in red and sea-lilies overhead

Sway when the long winds blow.

Sleep not, my country: though night is here, afar
Your children of the morning are clamorous for war:
Fire in the night, O dreams!
Though she send you as she sent you, long ago,
South to the desert, east to ocean, north to snow,
West of these out to seas colder than the Hebrides I must go
Where the fleet of stars is anchored, and the young star-captains glow.

(The Dying Patriot)

What are these dead robed in red but the noble ancestors who have suffered a sea change? The verse is trance-like and lulling – a mixture of amniotic fluid and the tranquillity of amnesia. Those (patriots) who have gone before and the country itself require the young (children of the morning) to go to the ends of the earth in Imperial service. Meanwhile, the dying patriot himself (why not herself) is about to become part of a constellation in mark of heroism, to glow warmly for evermore in the cold night sky. The soul is headed westwards on the path of the dead. ‘Hebrides’ sounds a little odd, as though Hesperides didn’t quite fit, and geographical quibbles over cardinal points have no place in poetry – but it’s not odd when the word ‘Britons’ is considered. This is good native stuff overlaid on Greek myth. It’s the poetry of 1914 and ‘over by Christmas’ and it cheered the Oxbridge volunteers of August for whom a war was but a distant prospect and excitement and a firefly blaze of glory.

Read the full version of this essay at:
literature-study-online.com/essays/war-poets.html www.literature-study-online.com/essays/war-poets.html

Stephen Colbourn has published many articles about literature on literature-study-online.com/ Literature-study-online at

literature-study-online.com/ www.literature-study-online.com. He is a freelance writer. He has written widely on English Language Teaching and has published articles on literature, linguistics, and computers in various journals together with many Readers for Heinemann and Macmillan Education. He has contributed articles on literature to The Essentials of Literature in English post-1914, published by Hodder Arnold in 2005.

There is a guy called Pendleton. You won’t have heard of him but he is well known in Britain, at least in medical circles. He was a family physician with a love of medical education and used to teach doctors to become better family doctors.

One of the things he developed was “Pendleton’s Rules”. This was a process of feedback on a task between two or more people. It was designed to be safe, non-threatening and constructive.

It is still used today, and in fact, Pendleton is still alive and well - at least he was at the time this article was written. His rules can be transferred into virtually any situation where feedback is justified.

For example, when viewing images and giving your opinion. Or when discussing tasks and routines in photography.

It’s a really simple set of rules which follows the following broad pattern:

- the person wishing feedback talks first and states what went well or was done well

- then the person giving feedback says what went well or was done well

- the receiver then states what went badly or was done badly

- lastly, the giver of feedback states what went badly or was done badly

It is a very powerful feedback method which gives the subject a number of positives. First, the subject is able to think about what they did well and actually praise themselves for it. This is important because we rarely say to others how good we are at something. The person giving feedback can then reinforce this “good work” ethic and add additional praise. Thirdly, the recipient is given a chance to think about the negative parts - something that can, in other situations, either be glossed over or received grudgingly. Discussing your own problems can be very positive when someone is there to share and support your discussions. Lastly, the giver of feedback can point out any other areas that were missed or which were too painful to vocalise.

It worked for Pendleton and it continues to work for intelligent doctors in Britain. It might also work for your photographic progress.

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site theshutter.co.uk theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at thephotographysite.blogspot.com thephotographysite.blogspot.com

Finding and buying a house property is always difficult, and it is no different if you are buying a property in France. When you are shopping around and looking at various houses in order to find one to buy, you should follow a few guidelines that are used almost universally by those looking at for-sale properties.

Before you even start to look at properties for sale in France, you should write down exactly what you would like to see in a house. Many people tend to make exceptions while looking for properties, saying something like “well, it doesn’t have quite what I wanted. But, it looks nice, so I’ll take it!” If you write down what you want, you’ll be less likely to settle for less than what you really want.

Despite what you may think, writing down your goals actually speeds up the process of finding a property in France. You will be able to immediately eliminate choices of houses, and therefore you will quickly narrow the property sale listings down to ones that fit all of your criteria. You will be able to avoid the list of being “swept away” by a nice-looking property that while pleasant, is still below the standards you have set.

frenchways.co.uk Property for Sale in France

Almost everyone would like to generate a little extra income without any risk of his or her own financial resources. There are ways to do this on the Internet and the best way is to become an affiliate marketing partner. This is not a get rich quick scheme, but it can be a reliable way to generate some additional cash. As an affiliate marketing partner you register for free with an Internet company that will pay you to help market their products or services.

Once you become an affiliate marketing partner the company will provide you with banner ads for your website, text messages with links to the company site, and other tools to help promote the company. When someone uses one of your links to purchase something from the company’s website you earn a commission on every sale. When you are an affiliate marketing partner you don’t have to buy in products yourself and you don’t have to worry about closing sales or collecting money. That’s all done for you.

A good Internet site will pay an affiliate marketing partner a good commission on a regular basis. This will continue as long as you remain an affiliate and continue to refer others to the site. Signing up is easy and most of the work is done for you. Even if you use your own website for your business you can still earn some extra income. Now is the time to become an affiliate. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

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The history of Thailand currency traces the evolution of the
medium of exchange used in Thailand prior to the 1st century.
This dates from the days of barter trade, ancient beads and
money in various shapes and sizes till the currency in modern
times.

Ancient beads, seeds, bracelets and pebbles used as a
medium of exchange in the early days around 200 – 300
BC, have been discovered in Thailand, including old
Roman copper coins dating back to 270 BC!

During the 1st – 7th centuries, metallic coins of the
Funan Kingdom in Indochina made their appearance
in Thailand, followed by Dvaravati coins in the 7th –
11th centuries. This was followed by a period in the history of
Thai currency when money in different shapes and sizes from
various places were in use.

Sandal wood flower coins or Dok Jan coins from the
Sri Vijaya Kingdom in SE Asia were introduced in
trade in the region in the 8th – 13th centuries. Cowrie shells
and baked clay coins were also used from the pre-
Sukhothai era until the reign of King Rama IV, when they were dropped from circulation.

From the 14th – 19th centuries, coins from the
Lanna Kingdom in the northern Thailand embossed
with various designs were also in circulation. Around the same
period, 15th – 19th centuries, Lanchang, the kingdom in
northeastern Thailand introduced silver and copper
pieces in long and narrow boat shapes.

In the history of Thai currency, the money that was most
enduring was Pot Duang or bullet money. This first
appeared during the Sukhothai era, 13th – 14th
centuries. Pot Duang money were hand-made coins. Metal
strips were bent and folded into spheres very much like a
bullet, thus the name, bullet money.

Bullet money was in circulation for 600 years from the
Sukhothai era to Rattanakosin until its withdrawal from
circulation in 1904 during the reign of King Rama V.

The most profound changes in the history of Thai currency
occurred during the Rattankosin era in the reigns of
King Rama IV and King Rama V. Standardized factory
minted coins and bank notes were officially
issued.

During the reign of King Rama IV, when foreign trade and
diplomatic relations expanded, the paper money, in the form of
royal promissory notes, was issued in 1853. These were
followed by bank notes issued by the foreign to facilitate trade
clearance.

In 1857, Queen Victoria of Britain presented Thailand with the
first minting machine and the minting of the first Thai silver
coins commenced. In 1858, a minting machine purchased from
Britain and the Royal Mint was set up in the Grand Palace and
the minting of coins went ahead full steam.

In the reign of King Rama IV, money was denominated in
satang, tho, phi, padueng and baht.

During the reign of King Rama V, or King Chulalongkorn,
coinage was streamlined. The numerous denominations were
reduced to only two, satang and baht, based on the
metric system, which remain till this day. Bank notes issued
were in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 40,80, 100, 400 and 800 baht.

Today, the denominations have been streamlined to 25, 50
satang coins, 1, 5, 10 baht coins and 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000 baht
notes.

The history of Thai currency goes back more than 1,000 years,
evolving from ancient beads and bracelets to the modern baht
that’s in current use.

The ancient beads, bullet money and old currencies can be
viewed at the tour-bangkok-legacies.com/bank-of-thailand-museum.html Bank of Thailand Museum in Bang Khun Phrom
Palace within the premises of the Central Bank of Thailand.

tour-bangkok-legacies.com/history-of-thai-currency.html The History of Thai currency first appeared in tour-bangkok-legacies.com/ Tour Bangkok Legacies, a travel
website with a historical perspective of renowned places preserved
for posterity and the legendary figures who left these legacies
in the landscape of Bangkok. The author, Eric Lim, is a freelance writer who lives in Bangkok Thailand.

If you have never played poker gambling games online before there are a few things you should be aware of before you go off to play. First of all you need to know that there are a variety of poker gambling games that you can find online to play. No matter what kind of poker you enjoy most you will be able to find that poker game somewhere online for you to play. You can find Texas Hold’em, 5-Card Draw, and Stud Poker online, as well as many other poker varieties. If you have one game you enjoy you can find it and if you enjoy many games you can find sites that offer you a variety of poker gambling games to play.

Secondly you need to know what kind of sites to look for when you are finding a place to play poker gambling games. You want to be sure that the site has reasonable fees and good customer service. It is also important that you find a site that is successful and has many players and many games going on throughout the day. Many sites offer great promotions and money-back specials so be on the lookout for these.

Thirdly you need to be aware of poker etiquette when you are going to play poker gambling games online. Be sure to play as quickly as possible so you will not hinder the game. Also be sure that you know the rules of the site and follow them. You should always be courteous to the other players. Poker sites are no places for rudeness or crude talking. Following these simple tips will ensure that you have the best poker game possible and that all have fun while playing poker gambling games.

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I Wanna love you is a name suggest is a love song sung by Akon, the Senegalese born American Hip Hop singer. This is the second single by the singer and also features Snoop Dog, I Wanna Love You is a single form his album Konvicted. Akon is a Senegalese born Hip Hop singer and songwriter currently based in United States. This is Akon’s first number one single in the billboard and for Snoop this is his second number 1 song at the billboard. I Wanna love you is a censored version of the song which had a different title earlier, in this song Love has replaced other words. This song was performed live at the American Music Awards in the year 2006. This song was originally made by Piles; he is an upcoming rapper from Ft Myers in Florida, but later on due to some reasons he was replaced by Snoop Dog to work on the song.

Originally when the song came out under another title, and this generated huge controversy which forced a change in the title. However most of the elements of the songs remained as was in the original, only the world fuck was changed to love to make to deal with the controversy. Other then this certain words in the lyrics that were found to be not fit for younger audiences was also removed from the content. The video of the song is shot very well and it revolves around the character of the song who notices a stripper in a strip bar doing her work Both the character and the stripper notice each other, get attracted and wish to be together with each other.

Though Piles was the original writer of the song, he was replaced by Akon later on with Snoop Dog. The main reason behind this is the fact that Piles was arrested for illegal possession of gun. Two of his close people were further charged with attempted murder in a shooting that broke out in a Nightclub at Florida. Though Piles was released on bail, but this had a heavy impact on his work and was consequently replaced by Snoop Dog in the song. Akon is one of the most popular artists in the Hip Hop scene today. He released his album Konvicted and this album was made in collaboration with Snoop Dog, Styles P and Eminem. This album which contains the song I Wanna Love You made its debut at number 2 in the Billboard.

The I Wanna Love you and other songs of the album have gone on to become chart topper at many places worldwide. On the whole the album Konvicted is a good blend of music of different types. The album has Hip Hop songs, Rap, R and B and Reggae which reflects his African origin and roots. The album has recorded a sale of more then 2000,000 copies and that too within the first week.

Kati Makat loves all kinds of music like rock, hip hop, country, pop, rap and reggae. She refers ez-tracks.com ez-tracks.com as one of her favorite sites for downloading music,free MP3 downloads,online music, ez-tracks.com/getsong-songid-42516.html I wanna love you.

After years of making its users feel insecure about viruses and worms, Microsoft has finally achieved what was until now hardly imaginable: making the companies dedicated to its own security feel insecure.

It seems that in its new operating system, Vista, scheduled for release in early 2007, the software giant has been unable to restrain itself from its storied monopolistic tendencies and has dared to include its own security system.

Under pressure by such newly trembling companies as Symantec, maker of Norton Antivirus software, and McAfee, another major player in Windows security, Microsoft has relented and said it will allow users to have the option of selecting security providers other than itself.

It has, however, insisted that it would now be a breach of security to allow the companies access to its precious “kernel,” or the very center of its operating system, which they had always had access to and which they feel is necessary to be able to provide their users with reliable security.

Microsoft, however, never hoping to gain an unfair advantage, continues to insist that their exclusion is simply necessary to preserve the security of Vista.

The insecure providers of its security are continuing their challenge to its never monopolistic practices, but their own vista is now hardly cloudless.

Tom Attea, humorist and creator of NewsLaugh.com NewsLaugh.com, has had six shows produced Off-Broadway. Critics have called his writing “delightfully funny,” “witty,” with “good, genuine laughs″ and “great humor and ebullience.”