unique and common names combos

Checking again common first names on my surname: Aman and first name Ana, and found at least 17 people named Ana Aman. Amazing!

Aman surname

Some more research on my name...
Aman seems to be a popular surname in USA and also a popular first name in India. It means "peace" and rhymes with Atman and Batman.

SCAM ALERT: Blue strawberries, climbing strawberries, blue roses

A few weeks ago I have ordered from Ebay some strawberry seeds. I wanted to get as many varieties as possible and while searching I noticed some guys offer blue or violet or even green strawberry seeds. I ordered a couple of those too, only to find out later that such things don't even exist and the pictures are made in Photoshop. Then I looked at reviews and I realised how many people got scammed the same way. Many gave positive reviews right away after receiving the seeds. Shame on all these sellers for what they are doing. You spend money plus time and resources to take care of something that has no chances to succeed. Shame on them and shame on me because I researched this only after the purchase. This works very well with ebay feedback because getting a fruit from seeds could take years, and you can no longer leave feedbacks after 60 days so these sellers keep 99%+ positives and appear very legit.

It's 100% SCAM. If you look on youtube there is no single video of real blue or climbing strawberries. Yeah, videos can be manipulated too, but not as easy as an image.

EU ruins the beauty of Internet with cookie control and data protection

Some EU laws are getting ridiculous. Look how many websites have this stupid cookie warning, but only the legitimate ones, the bad guys don't give a f* about this. And the data protection directive is so vague that it will only serve for abusive actions.

Have fun with a simple "Game of Thrones" social activity

The game is very simple. You need some papers, pens and a couple of friends who are familiar with Game of Thrones. Give each a paper+pen and ask them to write the names of everyone in the group, including themselves.

Then for each name, they should associate a Game of Thrones character. It should be done based on personality rather than physical aspect.

To avoid upsets, it may be a good idea if everyone writes with capital letters, making it harder to identify the author. But remember it's only a game and take it easy even if you were associated with "Reek" or "Shae".

After the game you may learn a lot about you as a person. Do you see yourself the same way as your friends do? Do they see you all in the same way or each in his own way?

Names Encyclopedia

Today I've found some interesting details about my name Ana and about my surname Aman. The surnames is used in more than 49 countries. About Ana I knew it's popular but I thought Aman is rare. Aman it's also used as a firstname in 47 countries.

Gmail in Germany

I keep getting an annoying message that Gmail cannot be used under this name in Germany.
Then it works with mail.google.com, but when I send an email, it seems like it's using user@googlemail.com by default instead of user@gmail.com.

We can't provide service under the Gmail name in Germany; we're called Google Mail here instead.

AI chatting bot

Wanna have some fun chatting with a bot? Yeah, may sound stupid, but can be funny, check this out: http://www.markconnell.com/mark/chat.asp.

Which part of brain are you using?

Check this nice left/right brain test.

If the world falls and you remain alive, can you start rebuilding?

Let's say something catastrophically happens and only you and a few other people remain alive. How useful will you be? Take this nice quiz.

Keyboard without windows special keys

It's seems so hard to get a classic keyboard nowadays. Specially on USB. All keyboards are filled with useless multimedia buttons. And every keyboard has some special keys put differently. Whenever I switch computers I need time and concentration to avoid mistakes. I would love to have a keyboard like I used to have in 1995. No special windows keys, a simple 101/102 keyboard.

AI bots taking over the Internet

In science fiction AI is often seen as an upcoming power trying to overthrow human authority, usually in the form of humanoid robots. There might be a lot of time left until our world will look like in the Matrix, but let's take a look at what bots are already doing on the Internet (which can be for some people even more important than the real life).

Ingredients needed:

1) A programmer
2) Captcha recognition - A CAPTCHA is a program that can generate and
grade tests that:
* Most humans can pass, BUT
* Current computer programs can't pass


BUT


Some captchas are weak, can be easily passed by computer
programs, and the most important: EVEN THE MOST COMPLICATED CAPTCHAS CAN BE MASS RECOGNIZED USING CHINESE METHOD (which means simply hiring a couple of people to type in captchas all day long)




3) A couple of compromised computers or a list of open proxies/winsocks


...and you get this:


* mass forum spams
* blog comments spam
* contact forms spam
* email spam is too old to mention and it does not even require captcha recognition, however it can now extend to new levels because you will get spammed from yahoo/gmail/hotmail legitimate accounts, no longer just with fake headers

Basically any form of free registering account can now be abused.

You'll say that's why there are forum moderators. But what a moderator can do when you get 1000 new threads/hour from usernames made from different IP addresses? I guess all they can do is to turn off new user registration.

traffic analysis

Traffic analysis is the process of intercepting and examining messages or packets in order to deduce information from patterns in communication.

First used by military intelligence, but now it's use is more commercial-like in Internet surveillance. Big companies pay o lot to know when simple users surf the Internet, what they buy online and what sites are most visited. Basically your behavior and interests are tracked and recorded and are going to be used for economical or political purposes. While for the companies this means optimization and profit, for others this can be discrimination or interference in personal life.

Solution? There is no solution for the masses. Most people simply don't realize what's happening behind their Internet activities. They think nobody is able to track their activities. Others know it's possible but they think no one actually cares what you do online. But they are WRONG! As a consumer/buyer you are monitored because you need to be easy manipulated and in order to do that, they need to know as much as possible about you.

As an individual, you can start using VPN, SSH Tunnels or Tor.

What users do on the Internet

According to a stanford.edu research, this is what users do on the Internet:



It was made around year 2000 I think, so it's quite old.
Something more recent(2006) says Internet is mostly used for p0rn: http://www.grupthink.com/topic/433.
More surveys and polls list emailing and shopping on top: http://www.pewinternet.org/trends/Daily_Internet_Activities_1.11.07.htm
dpolls.com


Some more stats like usage by continent/countries can be found here: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Blue Air

It's been a while since Blue Air started to operate flights in Romania and Europe, but I've only found out about it recently. I was planning a vacation in Greece, and the almost 1500 km that we'd have to drive to the destination (which was northern Greece, the southern part would have put some more hundreds kilometers on the route) didn't sound too good. So I looked for
some cheap plane tickets and found none, only the airport taxes were about 300€, not to mention the tickets themselves, so I gave up the whole trip, sadly. Now it's too late, the summer is gone and I've got a new job to think about, but at least for the next year I'll know that there are some options for the light-pocketed, Blue Air being one of them. Not for Greece, though, as for now they only operate routes in Romania, Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Turkey and UK. They have some nice offers, 1€ per ticket and other such cheap offers, but still, the 2 problems for me remain: is it worth it to travel with low-cost companies, in terms of safety? and th eother one, well, they don't cover that many destinations...But this is constantly changing, as they grow, after all, 3 years is not such a long time in business world. Heh, I've seen that they're based in Bucharest, Baneasa airport, and not only do they offer cheap flights, but they offer free connection from Cluj- where I live - to Bucharest, thus making me the same offers as to the ones living in Bucharest, nice! I've surfed a bit for some customers' opinions, and just like in any other matter, there are pros and cons, of course the only pros are related only to the low prices...While the cons range from targeting the air hostesses' attitude to the more worrying problem of flights cancels, delays and lack of efficient communication.
Well, I'm still in doubt. It's not yet the time to make a decision in becoming their customer, but I think it's a good thing that the ancient Tarom has some competition in the local and international markets. And it hasn't been a whole year since Romania joined the EU, I'm sure things will improve in this area of air transportation too, I just hope it'd be sooner than later :)

messengerfx

Despite the fact that Meebo has already been around for a while with its MSN, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Jabber, and GTalk support , not to mention the availability in more than fifty languages, it seems that a recent competitor has appeared. From Turkey, Europe, meet MessengerFX! It seems i'm not the only one curious about this big fuss, as the statistics clearly indicate an increase in number of web searches, most of them coming from Europe, and in the past six months the new, web-based MSN messenger has gained some users, but i highly doubt they come from the rabks of Meebo users, as it doesn't seem to be any reason to switch. My opinion is that it's a mouth-to-mouth like phenomenon, combined with the impulse to settle for the first thing found (not a bad thing in all cases, though). If it works -and it does, quite well-, it's simple to use, i understand the language it's in (or at least the minimum required) and my pal told me about it, why should i look any further? The language barrier is not a big problem for europeans and south-americans, either, as these 2 continets' languages are highly related with one another and represented well in messengerfx: Turkish, English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Swedish. For those who only use the MSN messaging client anyway, it's a justified choice, besides, diversity and a competitive market can only benefit the users. As long as everything is clean, in terms of security, about Messengerfx, i can only be content of its existance.

frases romanticas, frases de amor

El amor inspira las mas grandes hazañas y también impide realizarlas.
Eros es un poeta tan entendido que convierte en poeta al que quiere.
El amor es una bellísima flor pero hay que tener el coraje de ir a recogerla al borde del precipicio.
El amor no sólo debe ser una llama, sino una luz.
El amor no se mira por lo que el otro exige, sino por lo que ofrece.
Nunca podrás pecar de amor.
Ama y haz lo que quieras. Si callas, callarás con amor; si gritas, gritarás con amor; si corriges, corregirás con amor; si perdonas, perdonarás con amor. Si tienes el amor arraigado en ti, ninguna otra cosa sino amor serán tus frutos.

Amor es lo que queda en una relación cuando se ha prescindido de todo el egoísmo.
El amor es símbolo de la eternidad. Elimina todo sentido del tiempo, destruye todo recuerdo del principio, y anula todo temor de un final.

frases tristes

Guarda la tristeza para ti mismo, y comparte la felicidad con los demás.

"Me invade la tristeza al saber que no estás a mi lado para consolarme, para darme un beso y subirme el ánimo, para restablecer mi autoestima, si supieras la agonía que siento al despertar y ver que ya no estás a mi lado, es un dolor que al parecer nunca tendrá fin, pero aún así intento sólo recordar los buenos momentos compartidos y seguir mi vida, ya que no hay mal que dure cien años ni cuerpo que lo resista."

Sentirte hundida, no poder sonreir, querer desaparecer, soñar con un mundo mejor; eso es la tristeza.

El verdadero dolor es el que se sufre sin testigos. Que mal se siente uno cuando te enamoras de alguien y no eres correspondido ¿Quién me hizo así para sufrir? ¿No quería Dios igualdad para todos?
No hay mayor dolor que recordar los tiempos felices desde la miseria.
No sé yo que haya en el mundo palabras tan eficaces ni oradores tan elocuentes como las lágrimas...

Tristeza es saber que amas a alguien después de haberle perdido.
Las lágrimas fueron puestas por Dios en los ojos, para deshacer las penas del corazón.
Que triste se pueden tornar tus errores cuando ellos te dejan en la pena de la soledad.

Online Investment Scams

Internet is a great tool for investors, allowing them to easily and quickly research investment opportunities. But the Internet is also a prolific place for fraudsters. This is why you have always to think twice before you invest any money in a site.

The Internet permits to anyone to communicate with a mass audience without spending too much time or money. Any individual can reach thousands of people by building a website, posting messages on discussion boards or chat rooms, by buying traffic or entering into traffic exchange schemes, by advertising with banners or pay per click sites or by sending mass spam emails.

It's easy for scammers to make their messages look credible. They often use basic manipulation techniques such as fake testimonials. But it is very hard for honest investors to make the difference between facts and fiction.

One of the first rule is to not trust anything you didn't ask for. If you got an email from someone you don't know about a great offer, then disclose it immediately. Honest companies don't use aggressive advertising methods. Many newsletters owners get money from companies to spread false information or promote worthless stocks.

Those who are looking for quick and easy investments or money making opportunities can become a victim of pyramid plans or nigerian email scams.

Beware of the pyramid plans. You can find many banners or text ads about how you can double your money in a few days. People who run these sites usually use payment methods that don't support chargebacks such as e-gold. The sites work like this: you put your money there, let's say $100, then they claim you will get $10 daily for 30 days so you will totally have a 200% profit in just one month. After you have paid, you will eventually start getting $10 for a very few days and you will start to believe everything is true so will ask your friends to join or maybe you will invest yourself more money. Then suddenly the site gets closed you hear nothing about them, you cannot track them because they used anonymous servers, anonymous domains and anonymous accounts. They will start a new site and start over tricking other people.

Nigerian email scams are one of the top fraud phenomena on the Internet. Almost any Internet user who owns a mailbox have received at least once an email from someone claiming to be a very rich person who needs assistance to get a big amount of money out of some country or bank. System administrators or user support mailboxes sometimes get hundreds of such emails every day. They are written in a good english, overusing capitalization and making everything look official. Victim may get excited, would call them, then they will be asked to send a small amount of money for some arrangements in order for the nigerian to make the big transfer, then he asks for more and more money until you finally realize you got scammed.

Coin or roulette programs sometimes look very attractive. But the programs behind them are not honest and they will always generate the odds in a such way you will always lose.

Back to investments, you may start your verification about a company with the SEC's EDGAR Database. The federal securities laws require many public companies to register with the SEC and file annual reports with audited financial statements. You can access and download these reports from the SEC database for free. Before you invest money in a company, check whether it's registered with the SEC and read the reports.

Always do more research by using other techniques than just reading on websites or newsletters. Check the company's domain whois data, make phone calls, try to contact other companies which worked with your targed. Make research about the people behind the company. Check if they are real and which is their history.

parkway drive lyrics

It saddens me that some people get so emotional distresses that they reach that point when they hurt themselves just for drawing attention, either pitty or some sick form of admiration ("you must be really tough to bare that kind of pain"). These Parkway Drive lyrics I've come across today depict his really good:

The incisions is your wrist were all for show.
Just like you.
He epitome of self indulgence.
Another farce.
A charade and another set of crocodile tears.
So serenade her with your last pathetic suicide love song."

Just as Garbage's "Bleed like me" lyrics:

"Doodle takes Dad's scissors to her skin
And when she does relief comes setting in
While she hides the scars she's making underneath her pretty clothes"

and I could go on... I met a girl some time ago, her thighs were all covered with scars clearly from many cuts...