Hi All

I've recently started using Google RSS Reader.

You know how tiring it can be going to our sites of interest just to check for new stories. RSS as a technology is not too new, but one can always find new things among 'old' technology :)

What's the biggest advantage in Google Reader? - that one can use it everywhere there's a computer or terminal with an internet browser, no need to install anything, and no need to synchronize syndication lists.

What's the biggest disadvantage in Google Reader? - that one can't search inside the feeds. But, I believe with little effort and requests from users, Google may develop and implement such an option (if it isn't already on the make).

Note: After about 5-10 refreshes in IE the computer slows down and appears as if it is doing much proccessing, and for nothing! In Firefox, on the other hand, it works flawlessly.

(I know, I haven't given any primer on RSS, but you can find it here, there and everywhere :)

Enjoy!

While searching online for some information about London, I came across The London Portal by Wikipedia. It looks one of the most robust information portals about London.

The portal contains more information than could be summed in a blog post, information that surrounds most of every aspect that concerns the capital.

Culture | Economy | Geography | Government | History | Infrastructure | Politics | Sport | Tourism

These are just the head menu items. and I may use Walter Besant's quote:

 I've been walking about London for the last thirty years,

and I find something fresh in it every day.

I'd bet new information about London can be found via this portal every day.

Happy New Weekend!

fsi-language-courses.com, is the home for language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute. These courses were developed by the United States government and are in the public domain.

The site is dedicated to making these language courses freely available in an electronic format. It is an independent effort to foster the learning of worldwide languages.

Courses currently on site: Cantonese, Chinese (Standard), French (Original), French (Revised), German, Greek, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish Programmatic and Turkish.

Some of these courses work is still in progress, you can watch their Status.

Fruitful Learning y'all! 

Tags: Free, Language, Course

Students tend to be up-to-date with the latest technology

Students increasingly own an expensive range of personal items such as MP3 players, iPods, laptops and widescreen televisions, a survey suggests.

A study for Direct Line home insurance shows the average value of students' goods rose 50% over the past 10 years.

In 1996, students had possessions worth £1,900, compared with £2,900 now, the poll of 587 students indicated.

Direct Line Home Insurance spokesman Simon Ziviani said: "The wealth of today's students really is proof that times are changing and that the majority now enjoy a degree of affluence."

A survey published last week suggested most parents and students significantly underestimated the level of debt youngsters would accrue while at university.

Grid.org projects are powered by United Devices' Grid MP technology, the leading solution for commercial enterprise grid deployments. 

How could the wife, who wouldn't settle for a cottage, castle, monarchy and caesarship, settle for a Fisherman as a husband? - Wouldn't one expect that she should not settle for less than a Pilot who is also a Medical Doctor that knows his way around DIY & Hardware stores and can fix most common and some uncommon household appliances & general problems?  

this isn't a literary space

Book Notice:

Tales and translation: The Grimm tales from pan-Germanic narratives to shared international fairytales. By CAY DOLLERUP. (Benjamins translation library 30.) Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1999. Pp. xiv, 384. (Book Review) (Amazon)

The Living Wage for London, calculated by the Living Wage Unit, was first calculated at £6.70 in April last year.

The unit found that wages below £6.15 an hour were not enough to keep workers above the poverty line, partly as a result of London's high housing costs.

Workers need to be paid at least £7.05 an hour, the mayor says

BBC NEWS | England | London | Mayor urges higher minimum wage

Why all of a sudden Ken makes this headline? The living wage unit has already been calculated more than a year ago!

Is it out of respect for the minimum wage workers or out of fear that the latter might leave for a cheaper life elsewhere and leave the low paying jobs for Londoners that won't like to take them?

From the Great Fire of London in 1666 to the Olympic Games in 2012, the Museum of London is selling off slices of the city's history, and a little bit of its future too.

Staff at the museum hit upon the idea of the Great Sale of London as a solution to their fundraising problems.

Short of £4m for an £18m revamp bill, sponsors are invited to buy a year they believe is worth celebrating.

Their names will then be inscribed against a timeline on a plaque to be displayed in the museum.

But it seems history comes at a price. Each year from 1666 to 1899 costs £5,000, and is mainly targeted at corporate sponsors.

Those with a little less cash will have to wait until 16 November when bidding begins in an online auction for the 20th and 21st Centuries.

BBC NEWS | England | London | For sale: A piece of London's past

History is a thing of the past, and Italy is a thing of the pasta (or vice versa),

History indeed comes at a price, and it doesn't take the same route twice.

There are times when you think, and there are times when you're not,

and the actions you take at present, make tomorrow's knots.

Wisdom is a thing that can't be bought, only gained,

though some things might always stay unexplained.

To buy a piece of history, you may very well may,

To make the history that others may buy tomorrow, on that you have to start working today!

Couples say they often get together in romantic museums Visitors to Britain's museums are not only discovering art and culture, but love too, according to a survey. Museum and gallery-goers voted London's Victoria and Albert as the most romantic venue, in the survey published for Museums and Galleries Month. Nearly a fifth of 500 respondents said they had fallen in love while in a museum or gallery. Other favourites included the National Portrait Gallery, Tate St Ives and the Tower of London.   Virginia Tandy, Director of Manchester Art Gallery and co-chair of Museums and Galleries Month 2006, said galleries and museums had a "special romantic atmosphere".

BBC NEWS | UK | UK's museums have pulling power

London ('s Galleries) makes  :), who would imagine

I wonder if they included London's beautiful parks and heaths in the survey (Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Hamstead Heath).

For eight months, no one notices her, because she makes sure she looks respectable, taking showers and even ironing her clothes in public places like hospitals. She has made herself invisible, out of touch from anyone she used to know - and keeping separate from other homeless people.

But this is the information age. And even though she doesn't speak to anyone, she can go into a library where she can access the internet and write an online journal - a homelessness blog - which she uses to describe all her unspoken experiences and feelings.  (BBC)

WanderingScribe

How long is the hour hand? How much does it weigh? and of what kind of metal is it made of?

How long is each numeral?

These facts including releant photos can be found on the BBC Site at The Clock Tower.

More about the Big Ben on the Big Ben page at the BBC Site..

UK court to unmask 'file-sharers'

About a quarter of software in the UK is estimated to be pirated Ten internet service providers have been ordered to hand over the details of 150 UK customers accused of illegally sharing software. The High Court order follows a 12-month covert investigation by the Federation Against Software Theft (Fast). Among the internet providers are BT, NTL, Telewest and Tiscali. Over the next two weeks, they are expected to provide the names, addresses and other personal details of the alleged file-sharers.

BBC NEWS | Technology | UK court to unmask 'file-sharers'

This Blair, not this one.

BBC NEWS | England | £500,000 fake DVDs seized in raid

Dear readers: Don't buy pirated software and Fake DVDs. Use this money for your ISP