YouReviews

its STILL WATER

2008-04-21T20:00:00.001+01:00

Volvic Touch Of Fruit offers a great series of drinks, the individual bottles of 50cl can sell for around 70p. I recomend that you buy a multipack from a warehouse - this turns out cheaper.
The main flavours are; strawberry, lemon and tropical
Some flavours have fast been dissapearing such as the peach flavour due to lack of popularity.

The best flavour is probably strawberry followed by the tropical flavour. All the flavours are good and offer an alternative to plain water.
The drinks are sugar free, it is still water with natural flavours. As the company is Volvic they use volvic natural mineral water well 99.5% of it is anyway. (according to ingredients)

Volvic touch of fruit is made in france and is a company of Danone.
Per 100ml of volvic you get a 1.4kcal (5.7kj), 0.9g carbohydrates and 0g fats and protein.
Volvic instruct that the drink should be kept in a cool clean and dry place out of direct sunlight and away from products or chemicals with strong odours!
The drink should be kept refrigerated and be consumed within one week of opening.
The main selling slogan of Volvic touch of fruit is:
'volvic, fills you with volcanicity! - this has come about due to the source of water volvic use- mineral water from volcanic rocks - they even have a picture of the different types of rocks that the water is filtered through eg. basalt and granite.

Volvic also claim that 'Volvic touch of fruit combines the goodnes of volvic with delicious fruit flavours in a thirst quenching drink with an UNEXPECTEDLY FRUITY TASTE!
Well theyre not really lying this drink is a great thirst quencher and is an all round great drink, not as plain as plain water and not as sticky as juice, not as unhealthy as fizzy drinks and not as healthy as protein shakes.
This light drink of water with flavour is actually well flavoured, the flavours are evident when drinking and even though the ingredients contain things like citric acid, preservatives, potassium benzoate and sweetners; sucralose and acesulfame K.
It tastes fresh and healthy, the preservatives are there to give the product a longer shelf life and are not necessarily harmful.

The bottle is ideal for travels and with meals, though its strong flavour can destroy any other tastes from staying.

The tastiest treat, the quickest snack, ok ill quit the waffle (Birds Eye Potato Waffles)

2008-04-17T18:36:00.002+01:00

Advantages: Cooks so quick, tastes soo good,

Disadvantages: eat them hot not cold!

wow, this is an honour.
Birdseye potato waffles. Yummy. i dont need to write a full review of them theyre amazing.
I have been eating these daily since i was a child.
You can get a pack of 12 for a pound in iceland sometimes, or a bit more.
I have tried the other branded waffles such as the tesco iceland and other supermarket brands. These cannot hold a candle to birdseyes potato waffles.
I personally eat mine microwaved because this is the quickest option. I microwave it for one minute on a 1000watt micro then turn it and micro for thirty seconds.
Best served with salt pepper and chilly sauce. The best thing to eat with these waffles are eggs or fish fingers.

If you want to make the most of your waffle i recommend you fry it in shallow oil. The taste it out of this world.
I have previously toasted the waffle, but this wont work as the outside may get slightly done but will remain frozen inside still. Grilling is also similar and takes a long time. But if you do not want to fry and stay healthy then grilling is good.

The potato waffles come in a standard red packing, inside all the waffles are individually stacked. The waffles should be kept frozen and then heated when wanted.
The most common side dish is baked beans but for me, it has to be fishfingers.

A great extra for the waffle is to slice some cheese and sprinkle it on top. As i described when microwaving i turn it and put it for thirty seconds, at this time you should add the cheese.

The waffles must have some secret ingredient as this is no mashed potato, i believe it isnt too healthy however as you will notice some oil produced however you cook it.

Regarding taste and texture ill let you in...Basically if you fry or grill the waffle the outside gets cooked quicker than the inside as the head radiates the outside of the frozen waffle and it cookes from the outside in leaving the outside crispy and the inside soft.
If you cook in a microwave it cooks from the inside out, so the waffle reamains soft inside and out (as the waffle is make of mashed potato inside)(and the coating outside only goes crispy if heated from outside in)
However if you overheat it in the microwave - eg. by putting for 2 minutes or more on a 1000wot micro you will get hard bits in the waffle that are overcooked - theyre crunchy, what these are i have no idea, but still the waffle will be soft otherwise.
To eat with eggs theyre delicious fried or microwaved, not much difference, healthier microwaved id presume - less oil, however when you cook the waffle you notice it takes out its own oil. Id love to see a waffle factory to see how these yummy things were made. Any more questions dont hesitate to ask!

Summary: Waffles+fishfingers+chillysauce=heaven

Smackdown vs Raw (PS2), Its not as good as Smackdown 2!

2008-04-15T18:55:00.002+01:00

Advantages: Good graphics, fairly intelligent gameplay

Disadvantages: Very Little Backstage options!!

The graphics are amazing, the last wrestling game I played was Smackdown 2. But unfortunately for Smackdown Vs Raw, Smackdown 2 was much better!
Let me explain:
1) Season mode is farr too easy and is finished very fast, if you restart season mode its basically the same story each time whatever superstar you use.
2) You cannot go backstage in matches!
3) theres less stuff you can do like its more difficult to put people through announcers tables
4) Backstage there is only 1 backstage place you can play thats the car park which is good but far too limited. Smackdown 2 had loads more options, you could even drive a pickup car sort of thing then!

the only thing thats better is the graphics, but thats because its a PS2 game, other good things are that you can take your opponants finisher move (that uses two smackdown signs) + you can make a persons face bleed as they have a body sign next to the players name showing where you have been applying pressure, when a part goes red you are more likely to win/pin.
And thank god they have The Rock to unlock otherwise it would be useless, but however I do not know how to unlock his entrance video, the music is there but for unlocked superstars you just have a W sign.
The superstars you can unlock include: superfly, andre the giant, the rock, mankind, old kane, bret heart, old undertaker, animal and some other dudes ive never heard off.

Best superstars to wrestle with are triple H, big show, ANDRE THE GIANT, kane, kurt angle and ofcourse The Rock.

The create your own superstar is very advanced and you have loads of options to customise your player which i cannot be bothered with.
They have a shopzone where you can unlock items (like the superstars mentioned above) for points that you can get by completing challanges in challenge mode or by doing season mode matches.
Annoying thing is challange mode just tells you what to do to complete the challange then you have to set up that match, if you could just start challange mode like an arcade mode that would be much better.

Gameplay is good, things like royal rumble are alright, you know have a ringout meter that gets drained if you are put over the top rope you hang on untill your meter is drained. Your ring out meter refills when you eliminate someone from the ring. I prefered the old method but this is still good as if you use your finisher then try to eliminate someone they are more likely to go.

My worst match is cage match, it just annoys me they way they climb out and stuff, hell in the cell is good but not as good as it used to be, its not as easy to break the cell at the top as it used to be and they have made it more realistic, the cage and ring are not attached, - so when you leave the ring you have to leave the cage thereafter, you can fight between the ring and the cage and do lots of damage.

Smackdown vs raw starts by talking about how generations have passed (of previous games, they show games from smackdown 1 until this game)
The new feature in this game - when you begin a match you have things like strength battles etc where you have to do things like press the button they tell you to quickly to punch the opponant first, I find this very annoying and a waste of time, - like the slapping thing as well where you have a slap meter and you have to press x when the slap meter is in a curtain place to do a good slap.
Id prefer if they just start the match!
And I wish they had all my favorite charecters including Stone Cold Steve Austin, and i wish that you could actually use unlocked superstars in season mode. - You can get over this problem as you can use created superstars in season mode. It would take you ages but you could re-create a charecter and then use him. (though story line would always be the same)

The ring entrance videos/end of match videos are not all that impressive.

If only you could go backstage! there would be more weapons and more options like driving the pickup car etc.!

Summary: smackdown vs raw was a dissapointment to me as the last game i played smackdown 2 on ps1 was better

Emirates Stadium - My First Footie Match

2008-04-13T12:41:00.005+01:00

Advantages: Mexican wave is amazing, crowd experience, great control(security) (the home and away sides can't see each other when entering the stadium and when getting food from the kiosk)

Disadvantages: expensive food, long cues on way home

Yesterday I went to my first ever footie match at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium to watch 2 matches, first Valencia vs Inter Milan, the second was Arsenal vs Paris St Germain.
An excellent day, first match started 2.00 second 4.00, was home by 7.30.

Ticket cost: £25 for both matches
worth it? definitely, this was an experience I will never forget.
The weather was excellent and we arrived there by tube (came out at Arsenal station turned right and walked down the road (5 mins) with hundreds of fans towards the stadium. A sea of red covered the street with the occasional white shirt (Arsenals new colours) with very few blue shirts or any other kits.
As you walked down the street there were several police officers on Massive horses with riot helmets, and there were little stalls on the streets selling Arsenal merchandise like shirts, scarfs, booklets and bags.

The ticket was booked online Arsenal.com, a party of 4 of us, tickets £25 each. The exit gates at arsenal tube station were open to avoid people getting crushed by the mass of people, people would just can their oyster cards as they passed.
Its easy to get lost and loose who you came with, particularly if everyone is wearing the same colours. Arsenal offer a history tour at their museum - just opposite the stadium which just has old shirts etc. so I didn't bother with that. There are different stands, indicated by different letters, I went to zone F in the blue color and went through gate 23 to arrive at my allocated seat of 242, all seats are RED.
As this was my first time at a football match i didn't know what to expect, i was expecting loads of footie hooligans and drunks and a massive pitch with seats all around you up to the sky. I have to say the pitch was much smaller than i imagined it. It looked very clean and tidy and exactly like the picture they have at arsenal.com

Its very well organised in the sense that there is lots of security and people just sit at their seats talking with friends, while players come on and train and mascots (Gunnersaurus wearing #99) went around to the people nearest the pitch. I have to say the match isn't as 'brilliant and intense as it looks like on tv. I could not recognise and players except Materazzi who kept getting boo'd heavily every time he got the ball and by his large figure. I regret not taking binoculars - i wasn't even that high up, row 23!
The first match was great 2-0 to Valencia was the final score, almost all fans were Arsenal fans and they started getting restless chanting Arsenal every so often, but were fairly calm (until someone scored).
As i could not see it was alright as the goal was replayed on the big screen TVs (2 of which were visible to me) the rest of the time the players name and time remaining were displayed on the big screen (and adverts at half time)
I can tell you its probably worth bringing your own food as cues to get food are MASSIVE and take more than the half time (even with announcements 3 minutes before the match resumes)+ food/drink is WELL OVERPRICED, a small bottle of coke (like ones at McDonald's cost 2.00 each, we got Doritos things with jalapenos and sauces - delicious but cost like a fiver each!! Other people got hot dogs which I'm sure were around the same price. If you don't have £10 don't even think of getting food.

When the Arsenal players came out there was a standing ovation, and when the arsenal game began the crowd began their typical chants. (if you hate Tottenham stand up! etc) The crowd were much more noisy with chants in the second game and as the players were taking time to score a Mexican wave began, this was absolutely amazing probably the best experience, better than the match! the entire stadium took part even people at the very top rows went with people below them, the stamping of feet to the build up of the wave filled the arena and echoed, getting louder as the wave came to you and everybody rushed onto their feet and cheered and the wave would die down to the other end of the arena. The wave went around like 4 times, it was just before the end of the first half when an Arsenal player scored and all fans got to their feet and destroyed the Mexican wave.
I expected cheering to be the main source of noise as we hear on TV, but the main thing people do when good football is displayed is clap, the entire stadium is filled with clapping and a few cheers when something happens.
You can see the photographers and workers lined around the pitch with their laptops, and 1 camera man were visible taking footage of the audience (never my side!) ( the match was only on sky sports 1 as far as i know)
The second half was much the same, Arsenal missed a penalty which caused a lot of 'aww' sounds around the stadium, I could feel all around me people were waiting for a Mexican wave to start, and a few people tried to initiate it but nobody followed up, luckily just then a goal arrived for Arsenal and the fans were all on their feet again. If the opposition score (which they didn't in Arsenals match) the audience are silent with occasional boo's and a few claps.
We cannot hear any commentary inside the stadium but right behind me i got a running commentary from 2 old men talking to each other, but this wasn't annoying as you'd expect as one of them sounded like Trever Brooking!

Many people left 10 minutes before the end even though the match was still very active, I understood why later. We left 1 minute before the end of the match with SEVERAL other people, there was a large cue to get out which got even bigger outside the stadium, the police still there ready, this time more in numbers created a barricade allowing separate cues for people to walk the street and up for Arsenal train station. After maybe 30 minutes in the cue we entered the tube station onto the crowded tubes and began the Journey back home.

So overall the experience was much more peaceful than I expected, this was probably because 99.9% of fans were Arsenal fans, there were some very old people coming to watch, women men and lots of kids, some very young children, I saw a mother with a baby that looked only 1 day old coming and parents with two toddlers sitting, how their children didn't cry with the noise God knows. People were reading books waiting for the matches to start, the tv's were playing adverts and past Arsenal matches, this wasn't what I was expecting at all.
I had great fun participating in all the cheering clapping and Mexican waves, once your in the audience you are part of the crowd and often just follow them naturally. For example most of the arsenal fans supported Valencia and i planned on supporting inter Milan (in the first match) but i ended up following the crowd without realising it.
The first match included famous names like Brazil's Adriano, Materazzi (Italy), Solari, etc. But none of these faces could be identified and watching the match was like watching anyone play football, except these guys were quite good.

Summary: A Great Experience, maybe prefer watching on tv, but a must experience
*pics below were taken by my 1.3MP phone, so the quality isn't amazing!

WWE

2008-04-13T00:13:00.003+01:00

Advantages: Great Sports Entertainment, THE ROCK !!

Disadvantages: comes on SKY

Wow wrestling is the thing i grew up on.
Most boys have to find something they can idolise (i believe) most in the UK go for football, thats why its Englands national sport; people find a footballer or football team they can support and in future use to relate with others.
I on the other hand got into wrestling as I watched this in my critical years.
Wow the first time i watched it was at my aunts house while my mum and aunt had gone of for a chat. In those days it was WWF and I saw (my now childhood hero) THE ROCK (Duane Johnson) absolutely destroying all opponents not in a wrestling match but in a 'verbal battle'
The Rock is known as the recognised symbol of greatness, and damn that is true. The confidence, charisma and attitude of The Rock is what makes me respect him so much.

WWF - the world wrestling federation was great, it was like a drama programme with storey lines, resolved by epic wrestling matches. Yes wrestling is fake, but who says it cant be entertaining.
Wrestling's main selling point is entertainment, you have enmities between certain wrestlers who do crazy things to get revenge (you'd have to watch it to see what I'm talking about). Similarly Football is not just a sport, its an entertainment, people support and follow teams, idolise players in the same way people get into wrestling.

The world wrestling federation lost a case against the world wide fund (animal rights WWF) and so changed its name to WWE - world wrestling entertainment, a very fitting name.

I can tell you that I dont watch WWE any more, because the main reason I watched it - The Rock has left and gone into Hollywood (better money for someone of his talents)

What makes a character like the Rock easily like able is that he plays the audience, he is known as the people's champion, he does the peoples eyebrow (raising one eyebrow), the peoples elbow (one of his finishing moves). He is the peoples choice!

----audience---

Wrestling is mainly for younger kids, it used to be a man's sport but now if you look at wrestling, the majority of the fans are very young kids, in fact my cousin (10 years old) he is the one who has reminded me of how great wrestling is, now there are all these new characters/wrestlers that I've never heard of. I guess in relation to football its like when a great footballer retires, like Zidane or Pele.
If you analyse football and wrestling its the same, you have a hero and a villain - Zidane and Materazzi, (the italian head butted in the world cup final!) Man u and Real Madrid etc.

Like football, wrestling sells alot of merchandise, I have The Rock action figure (got it when was little!) and a folder of WWF with all the superstars and their signatures.

WWE is criticized as most wrestlers take anabolic steroids (with the exception of The Rock and a few others) Its also criticized for setting a bad example to kids, wrestling has slightly adapted to its change, It does target younger audiences more, but tries to keep the older too with 'Divas etc'
WWE produces new wrestling games every year for leading consoles and are very popular.

---matches----

There are several types of matches in Wrestling like a hardcore match; where weapons are involved, a cage match; where wrestlers battle inside a cage and the winner is the one who climbs out, Hell in the cell - wrestle in a cell, ladder matches where opponents must climb the ladder and grab a title belt from above and loads more matches like these.

---responsibilities----

Wrestling is fake, but the dangers are real, at every commercial interval they put the message, 'dont try this at home' on screens. As there have been a few cases of accidental deaths where children try to imitate what they see on TV (like with the game GTA)
Its true that television has a major influence - I managed to learn how to do 'the peoples eyebrow' just like the rock (raise one eyebrow) just to show off to my friends at primary school - it took me a whole summer to develop that skill!

---competition----

WWF has outshone all its competitors - ECW, WCW and in fact has taken all good wrestlers from those organisations as they were loosing money and have grown massively, they had 'Hulk Hogan' and have had famous names like 'Andre The Giant' and of course 'The great one' 'The Rock' (the great one being one of his many self appointed titles)
(its understandable he left wrestling, he's married and has a daughter)
Enough of the Rock, WWE's net income in 2006 '$47 million dollars'
WWF was founded in 1952 and changed its name on May 25th 2002 after being sued in 2000 by the world wide fund for use of the name WWF overseas without permission.

---box office-----

WWE has many BOX OFFICE events with sell out crowds events like The Royal Rumble - where 30 wrestlers have to try to knock everyone out of the ring and remain the last man standing in the ring. Wrestlemania is the biggest box office event, like the World Cup Finals of football where key wrestlers who have had grudges all season would wrestle.

In the news recently was the death of Chris Benoit - who apparently killed his family and himself due to Steroid abuse, Owen Heart another wrestler died doing a live stunt on WWF, many others have died, or been injured in participating in the world wrestling federation.

for more information or if you have any questions please ask because i would be more than happy to comment on the WWE/WWF - a topic i enjoy!

Summary: Wrestling will remain there forever, whether it will still be so popular is another issue altogether

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Lidl - Quality Really Can Be Cheap...

2008-04-13T00:10:00.001+01:00

Advantages: Great Prices, Items are good too, some unique sellers like croissants

Disadvantages: no free carrier bags on exit

Lidl 'Where quality is cheaper' - they arent kidding!
(pronounced LEE-DULL not lidl)
At the moment a 400gb External hard drive is going for £69.99!!

Lidl don't only sell household items but now sell toys and electronics as well as clothes.
Every week through the post I receive a lidl leaflet where they show what is coming on offer the following Monday and Thursday.
Just to show you the variety of the things lidl sell I'll give you a little list of things I buy/bought:
Bought a sit up bench with free dumbbells (£15)(a year ago)
Buy Croissants - they have a huge variety, normal ones, mini ones with jam in the middle, some lovely croissants individually packed perfect for taking out with cream white chocolate/milk chocolate in the middle!
MY BONSAI TREE (only £3.99 and the tree is 4 years old already!, also bought mini cactus for £1.00 and other plants, have great Japanese plants every so often.)

Everything is also dead cheap - eg. at the moment they have an 8 in one remote control going for £3.99
150g pack of salad 0.69p
400g roast dinner £1.00
18 packs of skips for £1.29
The list of incredible prices goes on. You can get bread for 17p.

Basically Lidl is a European discount supermarket chain of German origin that operates 5,000 stores.
In Germany it is Aldi's main competitor. (thus most of the products are German+cheap)
Founded in 1930
How it got its name: Lidl is not an abbreviation, but the last name of Ludwig Lidl, a retired teacher

Dieter Schwarz, is the chairman and CEO (i,e, boss)

45.9 billion dollars was the companies revenue in 2005
Lidl is all over Europe and its main competitors are: Aldi, Netto, Kwiksave & Penny Market.

Lidl now have thier own website which is pretty good, it shows the latest offers for every week, you just enter your post code and it shows what offers are available to you.
It now also has a lidl recipe website where it provides recipes. They even have an online newsletter with the latest offers than you can get free.
They have a careers section on their website, however I have read a lot of negative things about working for lidl, as they apparently do not treat staff well and pay very little.

Overall Lidl is excellent, brings out some great useful gadgets for the cheapest prices. It always has great food cheaply priced and most of the cereals and companies they sell you would never have heard of, but they're all good!
I recommend the Croissant section, the jam, tinned milk - for making tea and whatever electrical stuff they have on offer!
I also buy pocket tissues called Cien (10 quality tissues) packs are 99p.

Thinking back I have never had a problem with anything I have purchased, only negative thing is they do not provide carrier bags for your shopping, they sell them from 3p or you can bring your own, or use their trolleys. If you buy something with instructions, like an inflatable pool there's a good chance that instructions will be in German (they usually have an English set as well, but not always)

Summary: Lidl is great, every so often they bring out some really useful things at low prices. Great quality

Whats the story with Balamory?

2008-04-13T00:09:00.000+01:00

Advantages: Great Programme, loads of hidden messages

Disadvantages: none

#Boolaamooreee booollaa morreee ... Whats the story in Balamory wouldnt you like to know.....#
god that song gives me goosebumps every time it comes on, maybe its because my tv's volume is so loud or just because its a kind of exciting program.
As soon as theme tune starts my 1 year old niece would stop in her tracks and just stare at the tv till the theme tune finishes then look at me and give me a great big grin :)

Every character in Balamory lives in a different coloured house, so the colours can be associated with the characters.
There is always a problem in Balamory - a minor one revolving usually around Miss Hoolee (the narrator and nursery teacher) and her nursery kids. She begins the show by asking 'whats the story in balamory today?
' whichever character is trying to solve the problem like archie the scientist (who lives in the pink house) Josie Jo (now called josie jump lives in the yellow house) etc would start singing #can you guess which coloured house are we going to...# If its PC Plum (the blue house) children will shout in the background the blue house! and the character will say its the blue house!

This is a good way to teach children of colours, and each colour is relevant to the characters personality, yellow for josie jump who is active fun and sporty, pink for archie - that i dont understand...blue for PC plum - as police uniforms are blue, orange for the artist, and red for the shop. The shop includes an old lady and a lady in a wheel chair. The cast of Balamory is great as its multicultural and has people with disabilities to show children not to discriminate.

In each episode the children at the nursery (different for each episode) do something fun, like visit places and learn things, eg. they went to a mosque and then drew the architecture.

At the end of their little adventure Miss Hoolee asks what was the story in balamory today and then bubbles fill the screen as she moves her hand and then narrates the story and images of their activites display.

This show is great, as it has conistancy - what my 1 year old niece likes, a good song, bright colors and valuable lessons. Like the way the charecters depend on each other shows how valuable friends are, and shows you not to be scared of policemen as PC Plum is a bit of a Plum himself.

The entrance and ending of Balamory with the theme song mentioned in the beginning shows a steam boat going past an island (Balamory - the area)

Summary: Balamory teaches kids valuable lessons and has fun in the process.

that went swimmingly

2008-04-13T00:06:00.000+01:00

Advantages: great fun underwater, and VIP skill

Disadvantages: can be boring if your that kind of person

I never used to like swimming, thought its kind of boring i guess that's because I'm still young. The majority of people I see who take up swimming are older people like 30+.
One of my teachers at college used to get up at 6.00 to go swimming just before school, and found it a great way of socialising with others her age (like 40+).

I go swimming every week from 8.00 to 9.00 in the morning on Sundays as my friends hire out the pool. Its great (except for the fact its so early in the morning!) we play water-polo, water cricket and other ball games in out own way.
(for water cricket we use those floats as bats and bases, and for water polo we use railings on the side of the swimming pool as goal posts)
In a way this isn't really swimming and i noticed i suck at swimming my stamina is really poor, can just go once or twice and I'm already tired. So now I actually practise swimming and its great the improvement in my stamina and swimming skills are evident, i can now swim 1 length faster than anybody else I know, my technique is the forward crawl, but i keep my head underwater and just come up for one breath before finishing. Basically kick and wave your arms wildly, I found that working out at the gym on my shoulder muscles really helped me achieve the speed. I am soon to enter a competition.

----The beginning----

The first swimming method i learnt was the back-stroke. Once you realise you float on water and you can lie on your back you are sorted, all you have to do next it kick and use your arms, you can breath normally, you don't have to hold your breath - this is the only stroke i can use for long distance swimming to stop me drowning (in deep water) This is very useful as its not tiring and can be pretty relaxing.
Next I learnt the forward crawl, I found the technique was similar to how I learnt to ride a bike, once you've got momentum and are going your sorted and moving, you wont drown (till you get tired)
The breast stroke is stroke i still practise as I find the leg movements a little hard, but I dislike this stroke as its extremely frustrating to see yourself moving so slowly (in comparison to the forward crawl or butterfly stroke)

The best thing about swimming is swimming under water; its such a great experience, the feeling of freedom and emptiness surrounding you is great.
Its definitely worth getting goggles if you swim underwater i recently got some great tinted goggles from ebay for £3.00 - definitely worth getting if there is a lot of chlorine in the pool.

If on holiday, or in a hot place there's nothing better than a cool swim the feeling is amazing. When i went to Marseilles on holiday it was boiling but luckily we had our own private pool, that made that holiday my best holiday of all time.

Summary: Takes a great deal of athleticism, swimming underwater is a great feeling

My Top Ten Websites

2008-04-13T00:05:00.000+01:00

Advantages: Easily Accessible from anywhere in the world

Disadvantages: Never enough time in the day to do everything you want to

1) www.mopages.co.nr (my own website) - I created this primarily to suit my needs, the tools i use most often, eg. A tv guide, jokes and a movie forum where people post links to videos

2) Gmail.com - Google offer the best emailing service, they give you over 2gb of space and that increases every second. Email is the easiest way of communication

3) Google.com - the best search engine from my experience, offers the most results and the most accurate results, image, video searches are also great as Google own youtube (so youtube is off my top ten list)

4) movieforumz.com - they post online movies on a forum and have other forums

5) www.tv-links.co.uk - free online tv series and movies

6) dooyoo.co.uk - this is an excellent website for writing what Im writing now, you get payed to write reviews

7) Ciao.co.uk - payed surveys and payed to write reviews, this website is great you can check your balance whenever you like and claim your money when it reaches at least £5.00

8) gb.Lightspeed.com - lightspeed offer payed surveys, at least £1 a survey, and you can claim the money immediately as there is no payout rate, you can get money by paypal, even £1.00 and payment is immediate and quickly received.

9) Ebay.co.uk - buying from ebay is cheap,

10) Amazon.co.uk - selling the stuff you bought from ebay onto amazon is a great way of making money, as amazon's prices are generally higher but still very popular so your item has a good chance of selling.

For more information or if you have any questions please contact me i would be honoured to help :)

Summary: The top ten websites are based on my most popular websites, i.e. which i visit the most & enjoy

do YOUTUBE?

2008-04-13T00:04:00.002+01:00

Advantages: Very popular, easy to use and navigate

Disadvantages: get in trouble for dodgy content

Founded in February 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim YouTube.com is now one of the most popular websites in the world, In November 2006, within a year of its launch, YouTube was purchased by Google Inc. in one of the most talked-about acquisitions to date.
So you will notice that google video - who was once a competitor now displays youtube videos in Google video search results.

Other sites that are similar to youtube and allow you to put your videos online are veoh.com and www.dailymotion.com, dailymotion is perhaps in someways better than youtube in the fact that they are less strict with what you post, people post virtually anything, registration is also free like youtube's and is only needed if you want to post or to watch a movie that is rated over 18.
A new and upcoming site is stage6.divx's site, but you these are only sharing divx files, (usually movies and copied content) and this site will never rise to the height of youtube.com

Youtube is huge and the most popular site compared to all competitors, they now have a google gadget that allows you to embed videos onto your website, and have youtube searches etc.

---Success through youtube---

People have made a lot of money from youtube, as videos are available and viewed by such a large audience people have risen from nothing to fame. Like the Japanese students who were singing a song and put it on youtube (got several hits) & were given a sponsorship deal by Pepsi and now are filthy rich!
Similarly a band made their video and put it on youtube -( the one with the treadmills ), they never officially published the video but it got extremely famous and now the band are famous.

------Youtube awards-------

The site has been awarded "Best Invention of the Year" by Time magazine and was the first Web site to receive "Entertainer of the Year" by Entertainment Weekly. Both Chad and Steve have been received several prestigious honors and acknowledgements from the business and entertainment communities including: Business 2.0's "50 Most Influential People," GQ's "Men of the Year," and Fortune's "Most Powerful People in Business." They also were prominently featured in Time magazine's "Person of the Year" issue and received credit for largely influencing the publication's unprecedented selection of "you" in a year that YouTube led the digital democracy explosion

---Test Tube---

This is youtube's ideas "incubator." This is where YouTube engineers and developers test out recipes and concoctions that aren't quite fully baked and invite users to tell them how they're coming along
Things currently in test tube are active sharing, audio swap, remixer and streams,
(for information visit youtube.com)

Youtube have recently created youtube tv which allows you to watch youtube videos.
Like dooyoo youtube.com has its own online community
Where they have group videos (videos of a similar nature) and contest winners - Youtube's contents are another way of making money, they may set a theme for people to make a video of, the best one receives a prize.

Youtube continues to make money and you will notice they display google adverts (of sponsors through the adsense scheme)(for extra income)

---press---

As youtube is so popular it gets a lot of media attention and has recently been mentioned in The Washington post, Reuters, new york times, CNN, BBC news and many others.

---bad things---
As its so easy to publish a video onto youtube many people post movies online (usually in parts of films out in the cinema) these are usually deleted within a week as there are several youtube staff that skim through the millions of new videos to find illegal content.

--more---

You may wonder how and why youtube is so rich its because YouTube has struck numerous partnership deals with content providers such as CBS, BBC, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, Warner Music Group, NBA, The Sundance Channel and many more.

Interestingly the site utube.com which sell tube and roll form equipment complained and sued youtube saying how they get so many hits due to people miss spelling youtube!
Utube.com declined a $1 million offer for utube.com from youtube.com! Utube were hoping to strip youtube of its domain, but haven't had any luck yet!

Summary: Youtube is the 4th most popular site in the world after yahoo, msn and google

Tesco Value Cookies

2008-04-13T00:04:00.001+01:00

Advantages: CHEAP AS CHIPS

Disadvantages: HAD DODGY TASTES AND NOT FAT ENOUGH!

Well I used to buy these, dead cheap, you get loads of cookies, (over 50, there are 2 packs of 300g inside the bag)
The first times i bought the cookies they were fine, they weren't exceptional, but they were biscuits and tasted like plain ordinary cookies.

If you want the best cookies i recommend Maryland Cookies (red pack) you get only like 12/15 in there but they're always great. I always eat my cookies with a dip of either tea or milk. Makes it much more worth-while.

One day when i bought another pack of Tesco cookies (because i was gobbling these quick time) (like a year ago) all the cookies tasted very different, the taste i can only describe as coconuty (like coconut). I thought this was a one off, so I got another pack and noticed the same odd taste, i finally figured that they must have changed the recipe or I must have finally developed sensible taste buds. Either way since then I have never bough Tesco cookies again, I am tempted to try to do so again sometime, and will add to this review to let you know if they have changed. (I must make it clear here I am definitely not dissing the tesco brand, as they offer the finest strawberry cheesecake and many other fine tesco value products. (see the tesco review for more info). It would be interesting to see if they made cookies from the Tesco Finest brand, and see how good they are.

The best cookies money can buy are: Tennessee Cookies - these are giant American cookies, can be bought from LIDL, - but these are expensive like £1.00 a pack and you get maybe 15 (don't quote me on that), the more sensible best cookies are maryland's which are great. These do not break when you dip them quite as quickly as the tesco ones, they also have more 'meat on the bone' - cookies are fatter and don't have that weird taste I described. (p.s maryland cookies available in lidl and tesco from (75p-£1.35) i expect tesco and lidl would be very cheap like 65p, they are often on offer like buy one get one free though - they also have more flavours like hazlenut as well and white chocolate - all of them are amazing!) (- Ill write a review about maryland cookies!)

Summary: Cheap, dodgy?

2008-04-13T00:03:00.000+01:00

Hula Hoops

2008-04-13T00:00:00.001+01:00

Advantages: tasty, small & hooped

Disadvantages: small pack?

There are now loads of flavours of hula hoops including Salt and Vinegar (blue), Barbecue Beef (brown), Original/Ready Salted (red), Cheese and Onion (green). (Hula hoops are produced by KP Snacks)

Hula Hoops my favourite crisps with a difference.
Differing to other crips in its shape hula hoops is not only tasty, fit perfectly to the edge of your finger but now have reduced saturated fats, less salts (apparantly) and are generally cheap in multipacks

I have been eating hula hoops since i was a child and have grown to love the flavour more and more. Hula hoops have tried to expand the market by producing new flavours such as cheese and onion hula hoops and salt and vinegar. You probably wont see much of these flavours as they have not been a great success, through hula hoops whole lifetime the original has outsold most leading brands.

The packs are relatively small so fit easily into any bag or pocket. They are the perfect portable snack and 1 pack does quench your hunger.

Another thing i love about hula hoops is the attractive designing of the packets, Red and yellow the perfect primary colour combination, as copied by Walkers. Each pack is 27g (made from foil)

Since Hula Hoops Revolution of having a round crisp with a hole in it many crisp brands have tried to come up with another original idea, as seen with crinkle cut crisps and other such examples.

1 Pack of hula hoops can be finished within 3 minutes easily, is this a disadvantage? so little crisps inside the pack?

Each bag of the original Hula Hoops contains 141 calories, slightly high compared to ordinary crisps at 131 calories. They also contain 0.9g of protein, 15.4g of carbohydrates, 8.3g of fat, 0.5g of fibre and 0.3g of Sodium.

(A 12 pack would cost around £1.50, not usually sold individually)
---claims from Hula Hoops----

Now 55% less Saturated Fat - Same great taste.
Made with 100% Sunflower Oil.
Original flavour Hula Hoops are suitable for vegetarians.

Summary: These are great snacks can be eaten anywhere, foil wrapper makes noise so maybe not anywhere...

Amongst The Yummiest Cookies In Town :P

2008-04-12T23:56:00.001+01:00

Advantages: taste great, arent too expensive

Disadvantages: no problems experienced so far!

Maryland cookies are in my top two cookies every.
(tesco's cookies have been eliminated from my list due to bad taste - see my review on tesco cookies for details)

Maryland cookies are exceptional, cost around 70p-£1.35! Places like Lidl and Tesco that sell these cookies will have them for like 60p - most of the time they are on offer like buy one get one free so its all good

The flavours available for Maryland Cookies are:

Choc Chip Oatmeal and Honey Cookies
Choc Chip and Coconut (Export Only)
Choc Chip and Hazelnut Cookies
Double Choc Chip Cookies
Fudge Brownie Cookies
Mini Cookies And Milk
Mini Choc Chip Cookies
Apple Cranberry and Cinnamon Cookies
Raisin Oat Choc Chunk and Maple Syrup Cookies
Choc Chip Cookies

You may be thinking why have i not seen most of these flavours in supermarkets? thats because these are American cookies and maybe some flavours are not imported to the supermarkets we know.
Flavours I have tried include choc chip, white choc chip and choc chip with hazelnut.

The red pack is the normal choc chip flavour, brown pack is the one with hazelnut, and red with white has white choc chip. I can officially tell you that all flavours are amazing. Nowadays when i go to tesco/Salisbury's I have not seen the white choc chip flavour I only see the hazelnut and original, I will try a larger branch of Tesco like the one in Watford which is great, they would probably have a few more options there.
In the hazelnut flavour you can taste the nuts, its great, like the originals it still goes great with a dip like milk or tea.

The only problem is the pack is 150g and can be finished within 5 minutes if watching tv and getting carried away, there are like 15 cookies in the pack which isn't much, and whats more is that the cookies are delicious, the biggest problem is sharing, not a trace would be left behind.

you are probably wondering then what is the other top cookie brand, well that is also an American style cookie, a giant cookie infact, theyre called Tenessee Cookies and are available from Lidl, cost like a pound for a small pack of giant cookies, they have huge chocolate chips and are delicious - taste like freshly baked cookies that sell for 70/80p each!

:P

Summary: These cookies are great, 150g costs around 60-70p cookies finish quick though - are addictive!!!!!!!

Yahooo! Theyre Filthy Rich!

2008-04-12T23:49:00.001+01:00

Advantages: good website, the most popular in the world so must be worth something

Disadvantages: not as good as the new Google

Yahoo is officially the best website in the world, not my word hell definitely not my opinion, but fact.
It is the most visited website bar none (second is msn, then google...etc)
Yahoo is an American public corporation and global Internet services company. It provides a range of products and services including a web portal, a search engine, the Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, news, and posting. It was founded by Stanford University graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo in January of 1994 and incorporated on March 2, 1995. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

It has 11,700 employees! revenues of 1.67 billion dollars (early 2007)!!!

I have personally used yahoo, its pretty good, the majority of users are the American population.
Statistics showing the websites popularity can be seen by Alexa.com.
Their main rival is Google (and MSN)
Like Google they offer services like web page building (yahoo geocities) (they offered this much before google!) (google's services are however better in my opinion) The emailing services are also one of the most popular in the world, however compared to Gmail (i have accounts with both google and yahoo,) Gmail is however better (newer too) as Gmail's space is over 2gb and increasing every second, it also provides a live chat when checking emails which Yahoo does not - you need to be logged into yahoo messenger - a separate application to launch chat.
Yahoo being such a big company has been in a lot of business and gained incredibly in the dot com boom, they even planned to merge 50/50 with ebay at one time (though never did)

The homepage of yahoo.com takes about a second to load, it shows the latest headlines, top searches and marketplace and allows you to easily navigate to whichever service you desire, eg. weather, email, etc.

Summary: Yahoo is remaining on top due to the fact americans are used to its service and dont want to change!

Dont Drink And Drive, Smoke Weed And Fly?!

2008-04-12T23:47:00.001+01:00

~should cannabis be legalised?~ ~feel free to post your opinions~

Advantages: Medicinal purposes, great feeling when high of confidence

Disadvantages: often abused and causes accidents

hmmm Cannabis/marijuana/pot/grass or weed as it most commonly known as in the UK is a class C drug (unless in resin/most concentrated form) (Most commonly known species is Cannabis Sativa.)
The name cannabis comes from the greeks, the english word is generally Hemp
What makes people high is the compound THC present in cannabis. It is commonly used for religious and medicinal purposes. (for example in The simpsons weed homer, homer smokes marijuana to help his eyes)
Rastafarian's use cannabis and according to a friend some old Hindus use it in cooking in offerings.

As you know cannabis can not only be smoked but can be cooked in brownies and cakes, - (Can be bought in Amsterdam)

Ok thats enough of an intro and a show of to my knowledge.

i think cannabis should be the lowest classed drug in terms of legalities, so possession is not an offence but dealing large quantities or using pure resin (strong concentrations) can be.
The reason i think that cannabis should not be given a higher legal rating is because from experience I can tell you it just completely messes up your head for like 2 hours and maybe puts your own life in danger, - in the same way as alcohol would though. It does not seem any more dangerous health wise as Tobacco smoking is. as Cigarettes are the biggest killer (after obesity) and the main causes of cancer.

People I know have been on cannabis all their lives from very young childhood and are very nice people, they are more risk takers than others, but are friendly all the same and enjoy life, however I do not think it should be legalised as the entire country would be in a mess is people are blazing all the time; different people take it differently, some people are less effected than others, some in rare cases do get more violent this is because of the increase in confidence that you gain.

There is no addictive substance except the high you get from the THC, once you are hooked on that your life is almost ruined as it costs a lot of money to keep buying weed to fuel your needs, the only way to make money is by dealing and going onto higher class drugs that pay more like Charlie/aka cocaine.

1/8th of an ounce of cannabis may cost around £15.00, different people sell in different amounts and weights.

Cannabis should not be abused, I cannot see any law that suits cannabis except what they have at the moment, class C, i think its for the best though i know many many people disagree with me, its for the safety of our future generation, don't drink and drive, smoke weed and fly! - you understand my point!
(reaction times are much slower for some this is extremely dangerous)
I think maybe organised parties should be allowed to serve cannabis but the users should be controlled somehow.
Let me know what you think, I would love to hear your comments!

Summary: Cannabis is a useful tool in medicine and has been around forever, now the youth have taken it up..

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

2008-04-12T23:46:00.002+01:00

Advantages: Great movie, stunning visual affects good effort great characters

Disadvantages: If you have read the book you feel you have already seen the film

---intro----

Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix is a 2007 fantasy adventure film, based on the novel of the same name, by J. K. Rowling. Directed by David Yates, it is the fifth film in the popular Harry Potter film series.

The author JK is very pleased with the movie and described it as looking fantastic (on her website)

Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix according to most of my friends and colleagues is the best movie yet!

I personally watched it, thought it was good, nothing too special compared to the previous movies, as they've all been to such a high standard.

Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe in this movie looks so much older (aged 17 in filming) (is now 18). Harry Potter the fictional character is the same age as Daniel and the character grows up together with Harry.

This movie is filled with fantasy and adventure, if you have seen the previous movies I strongly recommend you watch this one, the beginning is great, just being re-introduced to the characters we see how huge Dudley is and how much older the rest of the cast are.
The opening scene is in a park where Dementors come after Harry in the Muggle world and Dudley suffers from this experience. In order to defend himself and Dudley Harry conjures up his famous potronas charm - and by doing magic gets himself in trouble by the ministry.

The movie includes all your favorite characters, including two great new characters, Luna Lovegood - who was selected by the open casting session in London.
Cho also appears in this movie, and still mourning Cedrig Diggories death feels vulnerable and gets quite close to Harry.

---spoiler-----during a heated wand battle; good vs bad-

The main event in this movie is Sirius' cousin Bellatrix Lestrange appears and casts the killing curse on Siruis, Siruis smiles at harry and disappears (dies)

According to extras and programmes on the making of the movie, the actors were given a dance instructor and lengthy training for filming the wand fight, the stances and positions were specially choreographed, and you will notice that a lot of effort has gone in and has payed off.

My favorite character in this movie is Bellatrix Lestrange played by the famous Helena Bonham Carter, and I also particularly enjoyed Luna Lovegood's performance in the movie. You will find she is a bit eccentric (I will leave you to make your own mind up about her charecter though).

The movie yet again has stunning visual effects, the horse like animals took ages of computer animation, the wings were even made translucent if you look carefully.
The movie features a giant, - Hagrids half brother who is huge! During filming a long pole the size of the giant was used so actors could know where to look.

The title of the movie 'the order of the phoenix' is the secret organisation by the good guys - like mad eyed moodie, sirius etc. Where the Ministry is corrupt the good guys have no other option but to make their own gang used to fight evil and more importantly protect Harry.

Since the reveal of the first movie you are introduced to what the characters supposedly looks like, this ruins your imagination, so if you've read this book, then watch the film, you'd probably feel like you've already seen the film in some parts (though with the way daniel radcliff and co have changed so much this might not be the case)

Summary: In this movie the Ministry of magic try to take over Hogwarts, will they succeed...

Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (PS2)

2008-04-12T23:41:00.001+01:00

Advantages: the best footie game (a mon avi)(in my opinion)

Disadvantages: players/team not up to date, not enough skills

Pro Evolution Soccer 4 is absolutely fantastic. I was not very much into football at the time of this game's release but all my friends were eager beavers to get this game and i got this game by chance as one of my friends had two copies (the other was an unwanted present from other friends).
This game is simply fantastic, it is the most realistic football game ever, much better than fifa;
(i have previous fifa games like fifa 2003 and previous pro evo games like pro evo 2)
1) Fifa have different controls, O is shoot etc
However Fifa games give the players more skill and if you want an easy game fifa is good as its really easy to score - automatic shooting (though newer games can be more advanced)
2) Fifa is very easy, shoot and ball will automatically go towards the goal
However Fifa have a larger franchise and provide games on platforms that pro evo does not like the mobile phone for example.
Fifa also had the rights to the players names (at the time of pro evo 4) and pro evo 4 did not, so the players names are jumbled up versions of the players real names.

Graphics are fantastic, the controls are superb, (eg. R1 sprint, triangle through ball) and I recently figured out (after so many years) more controls, like the right analogue stick not only does skills but also allows you to curl the ball when you shoot.
With Pro Evo 4 there are many trick shots you can do like a good simple shot (if the keeper dives down will go over him/in the goal) is press shoot but before you release press R1 then release and the shot will be perfect (not too much power though) (best from very close)
or you can press L1 when shooting and this will 'lob' the keeper, (go high over his head)this is especially useful if your opponant (like my friends do) like to make their keeper charge out (by holding triangle)

Pro Evo has many modes, they have a standard season mode which is great and easy to complete, you unlock classic/legend teams like legend argentina etc. (with all famous players)
you can also have world's best team and europe's best team which comprises of the best players from each relevent continent.

Best teams to play with on pro evo 4 are: Brazil (as in those days Brazil were the best), Real Madrid (they have fab players) and most other teams too.
You can also edit teams and create players, so I've made rubbish teams like Iran unbeatable etc.
Its great fun creating your own team as you can customise the players looks (eg height) etc.

Training Mode is also great, you can have situation training like shooting, free kicks etc, or free training where you would train with your team against a goal keeper. This is great to practise and build up your skills.

After having played this game for so long I can say that dificulty wise the game is easy. Before the match you can select the difficulty star rating. Basically the higher the rating the more natural the game - i.e. shoot slightly off target and the ball will go off targer.

The latest Pro evo is number 6, most famously on the Xbox 360, I have played this game alot on the xbox and can tell you its much more difficult, and very different. I much prefer pro evo 4! The controls and gameplay are much better!! I stunningly found the graphics more likable on pro evo 4, (it could be the tv i played pro evo 6 on) (also charecters faces were better on 4)
However what pro evo 6 has over 4 is that teams are updated, all transfers occuring in real life are present and teams are changed in terms of ranking and skill.
However you can overcome this as you can download updates for pro evo 4 from the internet and save them to special ps2 USB's that can be inserted into the playstation 2 (I have a slimline and it has usb ports)(they only work with special USB's)

Best MomentS!
I have scored from the halfway line with Zidane, I managed to do the same penalty kick he did in the world cup with Zidane (and the game was made much before the world cup). Zidane is annoying to play with, he's good at shooting but sucks at running, Henry, Rhonaldinho (as he's called in this game), Ronaldo and the likes are great players.
Christiano Ronaldo is nothing special in the game (as he is special in real life), Michael Owen is one of the fastest runners in the game if not the fastest so is great for penetrating defences. (plays for Real Madrid in game) (so is fairly up to date)

Pro evo 7 is out - from the Japanese copy of pro evo called winning eleven. The latest winning eleven game is rated the best football game ever, havent played it yet, dont know how ill get a copy but hell im going to try!
(i think its called winning eleven 2008)

26th october 2007 is the official release date of the real pro evolution soccer 2007. Whether it will be as good as 4....we'll have to wait and see!

I want them to make available and indoor stadium, that would be so much fun!

p.s. I played pro evo 6 on the pc i thought it was better than the xbox 360 version...hmmm

Summary: Pro Evo 4 is the best football/soccer game in my opinion. 6 is good but not as good

Should Sports Be Made Compulsary?

2008-04-12T23:39:00.001+01:00

Advantages: refreshes mind, social networking, fitness, life

Disadvantages: lazy people need encouragement - make it compulsory, ignore excuses

YES!
And up until the end of high school (year 12)(GCSE's) it was.

Obesity is thought to be one of the biggest killers in the Western world (while famine(and disease) in the rest of the world!

Basically in my high school we had to do P.E - physical education twice a week even if we didn't take PE as a subject. This is great and very useful as with the world we live in nowadays TV and computers make life so easy and entertaining that people - children in particular don't get as much exercise as they used to.

Exercise will make you feel better as a person as well, give you a better physique and more attractive to the opposite sex. Exercise will also help you live longer - working out fats prevent clogging and heart attacks.
Many diseases found in the west like Diabetes and obesity are linked by lack of exercise. Treatments are exercise and sports.

---My Advice----
Start exercising from today, but don't over do it, the results of feeling more confident and happy may take a week, or may take more for some. Start of slow with basic exercises and then perhaps take up sports;
Sports is basically exercise in game situations, some more strenuous then others - I'm not sure I'd classify golf, darts and pool as sports (they usually aren't but some people do refer to them as sports)

Sports will also help you socialise and make new friends, you will easily make very close friends because you will both have something in common - this linkage will be the sport that you both play and have a passion for.

There is generally a sport for everyone, man, woman, child, adult, senior citizen.

If you don't really exercise much i recommend trying a sport like swimming, this way you can take it at your own pace and build skills and muscles and also loose any fat.
Then you could go for football, basketball, cricket etc.
Once you have great athleticism you can keep building it by doing marathons, relays etc.

Sports will never be made compulsory to people of all ages, but is in some places and should in all places be compulsory for children. Sometimes children do not know what is good for them, if they have a lazy attitude to life like most they will ignore taking part in sports, they will loose social opportunities, fresh air (in some cases) and most importantly exercise.

Once you are part of a team sport you are part of a family. All sharing the same interests bonds are often tight and close. Try joining a team and make sports a compulsory part of your life.
You will feel you can concentrate better - studies have shown that kids who participate in sports are often smarter and brighter; sports is refreshing to your mind,
so next time you want to take a break from work, don't switch on the TV, go kick a football around with your friends/family.

As I said sports gives you an extended family, this will reduce crime within youths and yob culture, people often commit crime like vandalism and muggings because they are bored. If they take part in sports they will have something to do, a hobby, a passion, something to use their energy on constructively

Summary: Sports Should Be Compulsory, Its For the Betterment of our nation, grades will increase, yobs will <

Tekken 5 (PS2)

2008-04-12T23:38:00.004+01:00

Advantages: Tekken 5!

Disadvantages: boring after 2 weeks

Love it-----
All tekkens are the same, but are improved at a steady rate at each game, i have tekken 1 and tekken 3, and now tekken 5
Tekken 5 has all the great charecters of the original, with all the same buttons and great moves. This game is officially a classic, and does not need to change to adapt to the modern improving games that come out.
With its arcade style layout it feels like your playing a game at the arcade, but the quality, moves and charecters are playstation standard.

-------

My best players are Huorang and Brian (mind my spelin)
Each player has their own style of fighting and speed so you are evenly matched.
However you will notice in tekken 5 that several players are sharing moves, for example the sumo has a few of gunjack's moves, etc.etc.
I do not like the fact that the charecters you unock are sometimes so similar to existing charecters, like updated or alternate versions, eg. gunjack 2.

-----

This game is a timeless classic, which will get boring if you play it regularly, but is one of those classics you can hold a tournament with. with your friends like you would with pro evo.

-----

I also dislike the fact that with the quick players like law, if you play against an amateur all they have to do to defeat you is press all the buttons really fast and sometimes just repeat one move to kill you!
But this is what makes this game more and more like an arcade machine!

-----

I cant wait to unlock all the players, and hope i dont get bored too quickly. I wouldnt buy an updated version of the game like the existing tekken 5 as this is pointless all tekkens are basically the same! There are new modes like ball mode etc, which are quite fun as i remember in tekken 3, but have their sell by date and you will get bored eventually.
But if you want a REAL CLASSIC fighting game, and you dont like wwe style fighting games this is the game for you.

-------

The reason i mentioned wwe is because of the way you can move about in wrestling games to differnt scenaries, in this game it is amost 2d, you are stuck, in one scene with 1 background and you fight arcade style.

Summary: just like a day at the arcades, the good old days, but kinda boring after some time

Freeview

2008-04-12T23:37:00.001+01:00

Advantages: FREE NO CONTRACT, GREAT CHANNELS

Disadvantages: NONE

Freeview! Where would I be without it? I have no idea.

The channels introduced to freeview every day - free of charge, channels other people are paying to watch on packages like sky and ntl. The latest and greatest channels on freeview in order of my preference are:

E4 (great dramas and BB)
TMF (MTV shows like Cribs etc.)
Cbeebies (for entertaining my niece)
Film 4 (great movies)
Itv 2
Sky 3
Itv 4

there are loads more new channels like smile tv - it starts showing from 1am.
There are loads of great news channels like sky news, sky sports news, and of course BBC News 24.
Because freeview is like digital (works through tv arial) you have interactive so you can press the red button.
Sky News 24 is great when you press the red button, you can watch multi screen news- i.e. pick what news you want to watch, eg. headlines, weather, stories or sports. So you dont have to wait for what you want!

The best thing about freeview is that its free, you just pay like £30.00 for the set top box. I bought a mitsui or some strange japanese make, the box is great!
The menu allows me to preview the channel and use guide to select the channel I want. I can get details of any programme even if its tomorrow etc.
Freeview's interactive is great, you get interactive text so you can get great holiday information, play games and whats more is you can get stuff like 'movie picks' 'listings etc.' so you can check what the recommended movies that are coming on are and when and where they are on.

Freeview also has channels that you can pay to see - by top up tv cards (your freeview box has to be compatible, like a phone card you buy a little card with credit that allows you to watch channels that you have to pay for like UK TV GOLD and Television X.

Dont recommend getting the top ups as the channels they offer are not that good, like TCM for example is no way near as good as UK TV Gold, TCM has old historic movies, you want history watch UK TV History which is provided with freeview.

GOD BLESS FREEVIEW!

Whats more is that you get terrestrial TV channels like 1,2,3,4,5 on the freeview box and theyre great quality, and you can use interactive services on them like timetables.

Bought my mitsui from comet ages ago. Generally prices are still around £30 when they reach 20 im getting another one for my room on my mini tv.

You can get recording set top boxes with inbuilt freeview or tv with inbuilt freeview.

You must get freeview. Its Amazing. Whats more is you have to because by 2010 the government (UK) plan to get rid of the way we view terrestrial channels (from my understanding)

Have any questions on freeview I'd be happy to answer any questions. Leave a comment and let me know if you use freeview or use a contracted satellite (pay basis).

-------Latest Exclusive News About Freeview:-------

Virgin has announced that it will launch a new channel, Virgin 1 on Freeview later in 2007. The channel will show drama, comedy and factual programming, and will replace FTN.

Nuts TV comes to Freeview from 12th September 2007. Broadcasting "lads" content from 9pm to 1am, could this be the new Men and Motors?

TCM will leave top up tv

Channel 4 and Emap to launch a new music channel on Freeview? Reports in Variety indicate that Channel 4 may end up with a Freeview music channel soon...

At the start of October, channel numbers for Film 4, E4+1, ITV4, ITV Play and Quiz Call changes. Also, Five US (ch.35) and Five Life (ch.36) have been added.

TVTV appears on channel 304. We expect this to be a TV listing service

I will update this review with any further exciting news regarding Freeview's Expansion!

Summary: MORE AND MORE CHANNELS ARE COMING TO FREEVIEW EVERYDAY. JUST UPDATE YOUR DISH ON MENU TO CHECK (FREE

Hi5.com

2008-04-12T23:36:00.001+01:00

Advantages: its popular with certain ages groups, easy to use

Disadvantages: popularity means abusers + facebook strong competition

---history and intro to hi5------

Hi5 is the 11th most popular website in the world, myspace and orkut.com being the only 2 social networking sites to be more popular.
hi5 was founded by Ramu Yalamanchi who is also the current CEO
hi5 basically allows you to create an online profile in order to show information such as interests, age and hometown and upload user pictures where users can post comments. hi5 also allows the user to create personal photo albums and set up a music player in the profile. Users can also send friend requests via e-mail to other users

According to hi5 they receive over 18 million unique users per month!!!
and have over 50 million members, From Miami to Mumbai, Lima to Lisbon, Sydney to San Francisco, 'hi5 is the place where young people come to stay in touch with friends, meet new people, create & explore content, and express themselves. '

In terms of misuse hi5 seems alright, there are a few who put porn on their images when its against the rules but apart from the odd few its quite alright. I have noticed it is getting more popular as strange people add me as friends/send me comments.

Hi5 have now allowed you to personalise your profile, like using html coding, so people now have mouse effects and videos playing on their profile. Hi5 also allow you to have music tracks playing on your profile.
Hi5 have created groups like according to schools attended etc, intending to re-unite old friends, has that happened? well yes actually I've met many old primary school friends again through hi5 and its great to see how they've turned out.
On hi5 you can see the people who have visited your profile, you can also search for people, keep a journal, scrapbook etc.
People can leave comments on your hi5 personal page and can also leave photo comments. (Which you can accept or reject)
People can also give each other 'fives' like for example categories include cute, best friend, handsome etc.

The main competitors to hi5 are facebook.com - very popular with university students - infact there was a recent article that students on facebook were discussing exam papers or something and that they were going to be investigated.
Other sites include bebo, orkut and many more.
They are all extremely similar, facebook however looks quite unique as you can draw pictures on peoples 'walls' - (equivalent of giving comments on their comment page)

Summary: Hi5 is a great social networking site that is increasing in popularity daily. Do you use Hi5?

Amazon.co.uk Auctions

2008-04-12T23:33:00.001+01:00

Advantages: Cheap, easy to use

Disadvantages: few users, few sellers, few items, small business compared 2 ebay

Amazon.co.uk is huge and is one of the most visited sites in the world so this is great from a sellers perspective.
However Amazon auctions is a different story altogether.#

Amazon auctions is really simple and easy to use, its pretty similar to ebay except paying to list the item is easier as it charges you through your amazon account (safer payment than direct bank - like ebay usually want);

listing an item----
listing is great, you can select your own picture for your item (obviously) (though you cannot do this in marketplace) and you are not charged to do so. The cost of listing is not that much, however you do get charged to put a starting price etc. I payed 81p to list my item so that is very little, HOWEVER had i listed on marketplace it would have been free BUT they would have taken a lot of amazon taxes (like £1.00/£2.00) but if the item doesnt sell on marketplace you dont get charged, however on auctions you would, (but you can re-list for free (once more) (that was the rule when i listed my item)

Another thing is I could not list on ebay as my bank account was an under 18's but I could on Amazon, having sold loads and made loads from amazon.co.uk marketplace i thought id try selling on auction.

Unfortunately I did not get the result I was hoping for or near what I was expecting. I was selling two ps2 games worth maybe £20 in total (socom us navy seals) I got the games for around a fiver (from ebay) and they eventually sold for about that much, on top of that I got negative feedback from a very fussy buyer.
I know for a fact I would have got more selling the items individually on Amazon.co.uk marketplace. Since that bad experience I have never used marketplace again, though I am tempted to...I feel that not enough people visit the amazon auctions, its not as common and obvious as marketplace.

From a buyers perspective---

I have searched through marketplace on several occasions looking for good deals - things I may use like playstation 2 games, or things I may sell, cheap pc games. I know that amazon.co.uk originally started off as a book seller - this is evident in the auctions as most items are either books or very old DVD's. There are often collectible figures and DVDs of television series. I have never bought anything from auctions as I have never found anything that interests me.
Compared to ebay a much larger auctioning website amazon auctions is just not as good there are much fewer sellers and much fewer items.
Just to make sure things have not changed I just went on to s1.amazon.co.uk - amazon auctions website and looked for ALL Playstation 2 games, there was only one some NFL game going for a fiver with 0 bids.

However the way amazon auctions is built is great, its really easy to use to list items and buy items, the amazon account for sending and receiving payments is great as its secure and all transactions go through amazon so you cannot be scammed and you will receive the money. I think if amazon effectively advertised their amazon auctions and more people payed attention and used it then it could be a great success.

S1.amazon.co.uk is the website for amazon auctions (in the UK) otherwise auctions.amazon.com for amazon.com's auctions.

Summary: Stick to ebay for auctions, but use amazon for selling. The audience is too small for auctions !

The Simpsons

2008-04-12T21:46:00.009+01:00

Advantages: EVERY EPISODE IS FRESH+GREAT WATCH WITH FAMOUS PEOPLE Disadvantages: NONE!! The Simpsons is a highly successful long-running animated American sitcom created by Matt Groening. The Simpsons is one of the most popular cartoons in the world, if not the most popular. No. of episodes to date: 400 !! (longest running US sitcom!)

Characters----
Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, their dog Santa's Little Helper and their cat Snowball II. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield. Homer is basically a fat slob, unintelligent, loves beer and tv but has a heart underneath. He is the father of the simpson family and works at the nuclear power plant Marge is the mother, a typical mother figure who cooks, cleans and looks after the kids - and looks after homer in the same way. Overworked and perhaps under appreciated. Bart is a ten-year-old troublemaker. His sister, eight-year-old Lisa, is precociously intelligent. Bart famously rides a skate board and says stuff like eat my shorts!, Lisa plays the saxophone and is the most intelligent member of the family (and perhaps springfield - after the scientist) The show uses catchphrases, and most of the primary and secondary characters have at least one each. Notable expressions include Homer's annoyed grunt "D'oh!", Mr. Burns' "Excellent..." and Nelson Muntz's "Ha-ha!". Some of Bart's catchphrases, such as "¡Ay, caramba!", "Don't have a cow, man!" and "Eat my shorts!"

----The best episodes------

1) The weed Homer - homer has to smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes 2) Treehouse of horrors (eg. Tree house of horror IV) They've got the simpsons monopoly, simpsons figures, and of course The Simpsons Movie which is amazing! Summary: THE SIMPSONS RULES! IF YOU HAVENT WATCHED IT GIVE IT A GO YOU'LL LOVE IT

Skins

2008-04-12T21:46:00.006+01:00

Advantages: Great Fun To Watch

Disadvantages: Not Suitable For Sensitive Audiences

Skins is a series/drama following teenagers who's lives are surrounded by drink, drugs, sex and parties.

~The first season had 10 episodes (as its based in the UK and is a UK drama - and UK dramas generally have very few episodes in every season). The first season has completed on E4, but if you missed it and want to watch skins its about to start on channel 4 now.

----The characters----
---guys---

Main character, Tony Stonem is played by Nicholas Hoult
(when he was younger he in that Hugh Grant film 'About a boy' (he was the boy) (looks the same just older now);
---description-----
The best-looking, most popular boy in town, Tony's a born leader, always whipping his crew off on a new mission. Always at someone else's expense. (his full profile can be seen on the channel 4 website)

Sid
Poor Sid. A virgin with no confidence, his best friend Tony plays him like a fool, and it doesnt help that Sid's forever lusting after Tony's gorgeous girlfriend. But Sid's cleverer than he thinks and eventually he'll face up to Tony and win the girl of his dreams. It's just not the girl he thinks.
- Sid is arguably the main character of the tv series, from the audiences perspective he is often the most loved character.

My favorite character: Always game for a laugh, Chris will smoke/screw/rob/snort anything. But nothing stops him getting to psychology class. Because nothing gets him going quite like his psychology teacher Angie. For Chris, she's out of this world.

The gay one: Magic on his feet and a whiz with his hands, Maxxie can have any boy he wants. And he wants them all.

the 'muslim': Anwar's family want him to study the Koran, not drink, not smoke, not gamble, not listen to decadent music, not have sex, not take drugs. Anwar likes Tequila, Dope, Pills, Lupe Fiasco, Breasts and X Factor. He's sixteen (another favorite character of mine!)

Rudeboy wannabe: Posh Kenneth offers us a rare mix of upper crust elocution and street bangin' slanguage. What no-one knows, is that the Big K is a big hit with the ladies.

---The gals----
Michelle
Tony's girlfriend is just as you'd expect. She's drop dead gorgeous with a quick wit that keeps everyone on their toes. Everyone except Tony, who runs rings round her. And Michelle knows it. She just doesn't know how she's going to set herself free.

Cassie, the troubled one: An anorexic, self-harming, drug addict with zero self esteem. We never know whether Cassie will die or heroically rise from the ashes but we love her. She's magic.

Jal, the middle one: Super bright and the most talented young classical clarinet player in the country, nothing gets past Jal. Especially not the way Tony treats her best friend Michelle.

Effy Tony's rebellious sister: Our kids are sugar and spice and all things nice compared to Tony's little sister and her shadowy ways. Effy's the one person Tony really cares about, but she'll lead him to places he doesn't want to go.

Abigail the posh one: Posh, pretty and pumped full of prescription medication, Abigail lives in a world of imported carpets, private school and constant therapy. Just think of all the fun Tony can have with her...

---The episodes---
They follow the different characters, usually each episode is mainly about a different character though all characters are involved.
Episodes are great fun and always eventful for example the teenagers go to Russia for a school trip, end up staying in the weirdest prison type place and meet the neighbours... (i cannot describe the episodes as words cant do them justice, you'll have to watch them!) - you can get them on 4od (4 on demand - watch through the channel 4 website).
The channel 4 website is great, you can get full detailed profiles of all the characters and watch exclusive videos prior to episodes (eg. for the Russia trip how the teenagers managed to get the money to pay for the trip)

Be warned this programme is not suitable for most audiences as it works very adult themes and has very strong drug content in every episode (especially when Chris is around!).
The funniest character is probably Anwer due to his very different family lifestyle compared with the others, the last episode of season 1 shows his birthday party; there is a tragic twist ending the episode which I cannot spoil.
Each character has their own thing going on, Chris his life's a mess his parent have gone, he lives alone then some hobo took over his house and now he is homeless - used all his money for drugs.
Sid Jenkins the geek is wrapped up in his love for Michelle and doesn't realise how much Chrissie likes him.

Just by saying this I am revealing too much about the episodes so I end here.

---critics---

Critics have complained that the series depicts an unrealistic and stereotypical portrayal of teenagers
and that it indulges a 'teenage fantasy world' portrayed as being close to realistic. It has also been criticised for excessive promoting of the show using new media and many TV trailers, whilst other critics criticized the writing as poor in comparison to other similar themed series.
Theyre completely right, it is over fantasised the lives they live but its great fun to watch!

The second season starts soon, cant wait!

more info on the charecters can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skins_%28TV_series%29

---Spoiler Exclusive---
Shane Richie has apparantly landed the role of a pervy teacher in the upcoming second season

Ex-Eastenders star Shane Richie has signed up to appear in controversial teen drama Skins.

Summary: Skins is a gripping drama, filled with action and tragedy, unrealistic, yet great fun to watch!

White about White

2008-04-12T21:44:00.000+01:00

Advantages: Its White, its peaceful and innocent, good wallpaper colour easy to buy paint

Disadvantages: plain and dull? absence of excitement and colour

----Write About White----Anything White----What is white----

WHITE, white is the colour of snow, white is the colour of of clouds, white is the colour of my floor, white is the colour of my door, white is the colour of my tissues. writing a poem on white; i must have issues, white is the colour of my rubber, white is the colour of blubber.

White is the colour of original chalk to write on blackboards, white is the colour of whitesands a beach resort.
White is my favorite colour, people argue theres nothing duller...

WHITE is white a colour? no it is simply the absence of colour, just as dark is the absence of light.

White is the opposite of black, white is clean and pure, white stands out, white illuminates. White gets dirty easily.

#the ink is black, the page is white, together we learn to read and write, to read and write#

I said white is the absence of colours, actually according to science and fact its the complete opposite, did you know that white is the combination of all the colours of the visible light spectrum,White is also the colour of objects that reflect light of all parts of the visible spectrum equally, and are not dull !
As a shade, white has the highest possible brightness, 100%, and has no hue. The impression of white light can be created by mixing appropriate intensities of the primary colours of light — red, green and blue — a process called additive mixing

Typical white objects: sugar, foam, pure sand or snow, cotton, clouds, milk

Most scientists believed that white was the fundamental color of light; and that other colors were formed only by adding something to light. Newton demonstrated this was not true by passing white light through a prism, then through another prism, Newton concluded that the prism merely separated the colors already present in the light. White light is the effect of combining the visible colors of light in equal proportions.

'Black attracts heat, white reflects it'

---white in life/white connotations----
Albino animals are considered sacred in almost all cultures
White is one of the two opponents in many board games of abstract strategy, such as go, chess, and checkers
A white rose represents innocence in Western Civilization.
In ancient China, white was the symbol of West and Metal, one of the main five colors.
In Chinese, Japanese and Indian tradition, white is the color of mourning, death, and ghosts. In India white also stands for Peace and Purity
A white flag is an international sign of either surrender, or truce, that is, it is a sign of peaceful intent, typically at time of war
Whitewash, figuratively, means an attempt to obscure the truth by issuing a blanket of lies
White is the traditional color of bridal dress in both western (European) and Japanese weddings. In Western weddings, a white dress is thought to be symbolic of purity (the bride has not engaged in pre-marital sex). This is also said to be the symbolism of the veil.
White is the color of the usual cricket clothing, usually referred to as 'whites'. It is a result of cricket being a summer game with players being exposed to direct sunlight for prolonged periods of time.
White noise, in acoustics, is a sibilant sound that is often a nuisance, although it can also be deliberately created for test purposes

What does White Mean to you?
Write a comment in this review and tell me what white symbolises to you and what you think of the colour or the word white.

---Race/Colour/Ethnography----
The term white is often used in the West to denote the race of fair-skinned Caucasoids people of European descent with pale to white skin color, whose skin color actually ranges from pink to pale brown. It has suggested that the colors beige or peach are a more accurate representation of the color of most Caucasians

Summary: White means a lot to many different people, it has been there since the beginning of time,

The Rock

2008-04-12T21:43:00.002+01:00

Advantages: The Great One inside and outside the ring!

Disadvantages: He Left Wrestling!

(as the rock) 'Finally I get to write a review...on The Rock.
You see ladies and gentlemen, you see boys and girls, the rock, the peoples champion, the bramabull is without a shadow of a doubt, The Most Electrifying Man In sports entertainment!'

That opening paragraph is basically how The Great One (The Rock) speaks.

Duane The Rock Johnson (as he is now called - due to media influences) is one of the greatest people in the world and the most successful person in the wwe.
Triple H has been trying it for years and years, longer than the Rock but has never reached the top, The Rock on the other hand has excelled so easily right to the top of the wwe and beyond (onto hollywood). (Triple H being Hunter H Helmsley another wrestler who has been the rock's greatest rival (according to the rock))

Therock.com used to be 'the great one's website but now just redirects you to wwe.com, however you can still get information about him on wikipedia. The best way to learn about The Rock is by watching one of his wrestling moments, especially when he is trash talking. (trash talking being the term when wrestlers 'diss' their opponents) (not that the rock has ever talked trash)

The rocks slogans
'Finally the rock has come back...(to *****) -*(***being the place the wrestling match is set like new Orleans etc.
- this is usually the first thing he says when he gets to the mike or an interview, and all the fans love it and say it with him.

Terms that the rock made up and uses includes, 'Jabroni' (thats an insult to someone, like calling them an idiot), The rock's 'strudel' (you can guess) and 'pie' (you can also guess - opposite to strudel).
His main taunts were:
The People's Eyebrow (The Rock raises an eyebrow to the opponent/crowd)
Just Bring It (Hand motion telling the opponent to come)
Ready for the Rock Bottom/Stalking his opponent (Puts his hands on his knees and starts to wait until his opponent turns around, occasionally jumping around behind them)
It doesn't matter...(Shouts this, frequently dismissing the opponent/crowd)

his most famous catchphrase - he usually finishes all his interviews/speeches/talks with it....'If you smell, what the rock, IS...Cooking! (then raises 1 eyebrow)' (originally his theme was do you smell what the rock is cooking, it later changed to if you smell what the rock is cooking.

Johnson married Dany Garcia on May 3, 1997, His best man at the wedding was fellow wrestler and longtime family friend Tonga "Haku" Fifita!
However, on June 1, 2007, Dwayne and his wife Dany, after 10 years together, announced that they would be splitting up. (they have a daughter born aug. 2001)

The rocks many nicknames include:
The Brahma Bull
The Corporate Champ
The Great One
The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment [2]
The People's Champion [2]
Rocky

The rocks main finishers (finishing moves in wrestling) include The sharpshooter (submission move)
THE PEOPLES ELBOW and of course THE ROCK BOTTOM!

The rock is the great one outside wrestling as well:
2006, Johnson started up The Dwayne Johnson Rock Foundation that is known for its charitable work with at-risk and terminally ill children. He's a pro fisherman! And has delivered many speeches and hosted many talk shows like the stunt awards and has been in many films, (4 this year) and another next year and probably more soon enough

---things you didn't know..rock's relatives in wrestling!!---

"High Chief" Peter Maivia - Grandfather
"Soulman" Rocky Johnson - Father
The Wild Samoans Afa & Sika - Uncles (via his blood brotherhood to their father)
Samu - Cousin
Yokozuna - Cousin
"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka - Uncle
Deuce - Cousin (adopted)
Rikishi - Cousin
Rosey - Cousin
Umaga/Jamal - Cousin

amazing stuff, rock really is a third generation superstar!

Rock is huge, outside of films, outside of wrestling, he has several selling action figures (i have one!), sells birthday cards, stationary (i have - got when younger). He presented a speech on behalf of the wwf at the republican national convention and done much more

Summary: The Rock made Mick Foley famous with the rock n sock, he made wwf famous, he brought in the millions....and millionss...

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Climate Change, The Science and the answers

2008-04-12T21:42:00.002+01:00

Advantages: Its a big problem with small solutions that could help IF EVERYONE did something

Disadvantages: inevitable its not going to work out, the earth will suffer and so will future generations

Let me start of from basics. Climate refers to the temperature over a long period of time, and climate change in general (this topic) refers to changes in the earth's climate - (over decades/millions of years) Climate includes the average temperature, amount of precipitation, days of sunlight, and other variables that might be measured at any given site. Weather is different as its the day to day state of the atmosphere and changes and varies all the time. (whereas climate can be predictable)

----external causes of climate change-----
Variations in solar radiation, the Earth's orbit, deforestation, ozone depletion (decrease in amount of earth's ozone) and greenhouse gas concentrations

---The Greenhouse Effect-----
(This was actually a question is the June 2007 A2 biology paper so I should be able to discuss this!)
The greenhouse effect is caused by a blanket of chemicals that surround the earth's atmosphere and prevent heat rays escaping. - The Sun's heat rays will enter and reflect of the earths surface and escape the earths atmosphere (some bouncing back - keeping the earth warm) however this cloud of gasses cause an insulation (like that of a greenhouse) so the overall temperature of the earth increases due to heat being trapped in the earth.
Greenhouse gasses are thought to be the primary cause of global warming (overall increase in the earths temperature (climate change))
the atmospheric concentration of CO2 in 2005 was 379ppm3 compared to pre-industrial levels of 280ppm3 (so theres an obvious increase due to man's intervention)
---the science behind Co2 in the oceans-----
Le Chatelier's principle explain the characteristics of the dynamic equilibrium of a gas in solution such as the vast amount of C02 held in solution in the world's oceans moving into and returning from the atmosphere. These principals can be observed as bubbles which rise in a pot of water heated on a stove

---The sun-----
The sun has its own cycles such as the solar cylce, which could be causes of climate change, however solar cycles are not yet fully understood as the changes that are occurring in the sun are over very long periods of time (Slow)
Changes in the earth's orbit change sun light intensities on the earth. The 'orbit changes' are known as Milankovitch cycles, these orbital cycles are predictable (mutual interactions of the Earth, its moon, and the other planets) - the milankovitch cycles are thought to be causing glacial changes.

---Volcanoes---
Volcanoes are more influential then you might think, a single eruption causes climate change - causes cooling for a period of a few years. So a much larger volcano eruption (occur only a few times every hundred million years,) but can reshape climate for millions of years and cause mass extinctions!
How the volcanoes cause cooling - its thought that the dust thrown from eruptions cause a cooling blanket by blocking the sun's rays, however dust usually settles within six months!
Volcanoes and Co2
Volcanoes release massive amounts of CO2 from the earth (that are usually stored (sedimentary rocks)etc). However The US Geological Survey estimates that human activities generate more than 130 times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by volcanoes!

The biggest cause of climate change is the increase in CO2 levels due to emissions from fossil fuel combustion, followed by aerosols (particulate matter in the atmosphere) which exerts a cooling effect and cement manufacture. Other factors, including land use, ozone depletion, animal agriculture and deforestation also impact climate.

Fossil fuels have caused increases in CO2 levels from a concentration of ~280 ppm to more than 380 ppm today. These increases are projected to reach more than 560 ppm before the end of the 21st century. It is known that carbon dioxide levels are substantially higher now than at any time in the last 800,000 years!!

Like with all theories there are arguments, people believe that global warming is due to nature more than man's intervention, blaming solar activity, ocean currents, cosmic rays and unknown natural causes (e.g. Leroux)

---so what can we do about it-----

--Kyoto Protocol----

The Kyoto protocol is the most prominent international agreement on climate change, and is also highly controversial. Some argue that it goes too far or not nearly far enough in restricting emissions of greenhouse gases. Another area of controversy is the fact that India and China, the world's two most populous countries, both ratified the protocol but are not required to reduce carbon emissions under the present agreement. Furthermore, it has also been argued that it would cause more damage to the economy of the U.S. than to those of other countries, thus providing an unfair economic advantage to some countries. (people believe that production would move to those countries (as they have the major energy sources) however India and China are probably the least energy efficient countries!.

-----Explaining renewable and non renewable sources of energy----

Renewable sources of energy include the sun, the wind, ocean currents, biofuel etc.
They are renewable because they dont run out, they can be re-used again and again and are not 'wasted once'.

So why dont we use these sources to produce energy? why do we use non renewable energy sources like fossil fuels (coal, oil & gas) which cannot be replenished and cause environmental damage and have limited supply?
Its because:
1) equipment - like wind farms and solar panels cost too much - the setup costs are too great to benefit.
2) less energy produced by these renewable methods and they take more time to be produced. Fossil fuels cause a great amount of energy to be produced quickly.

Nuclear Power - provides great amount of energy and is thought to be environmentally clean, - France used nuclear power and reported the cleanest air of any industrialised country (2007 programme 60 minutes)

Why not nuclear then?
Its Uneconomical and is a potentially dangerous energy source with a limited fuel supply, especially compared to renewable energy
Also a problem of storing radioactive waste, the potential for possibly severe radioactive contamination by accident or sabotage, and the possibility of nuclear proliferation. (however new technologies claim they can safely store the radioactive waste)

So here is a summary of the causes-----------------

Man Made: Carbon dioxide · Climate sensitivity · Deforestation · Global dimming · Global warming potential · Greenhouse effect · Greenhouse gases · Keeling Curve · Urban heat island

Natural: Cloud forcing · Glaciation · Global cooling · Ocean variability · Orbital variations · Plate tectonics · Radiative forcing · Solar variation · Volcanism

The effects-------------

Sea level rise · Glacier retreat · Climate change and agriculture · National Assessment on Climate Change · Economics of global warming · Shutdown of thermohaline circulation

Mitigation's------

Individual and political action on climate change
Kyoto Protocol: Clean Development Mechanism
Schemes: Emissions trading · Personal carbon trading · Carbon tax · Carbon offsets · Carbon dioxide sink (Carbon sequestration)
Energy conservation: Efficient energy use · Renewable energy · Renewable energy development · Soft energy path

----What Can We Do Now----
We leave the politics to the politicians and we go for individual action, we can make a big difference if ALL of us take small steps and change our lifestyles
There are so many ways for example:
- in shopping ; buy energy efficient products
- use public transport instead of cars
- protecting forests, and plant new trees
- Use appliances with energy stars
- have a car with high petrol milage
- Use less animal products (rearing livestock contributes more greenhouse gases than all fossil fuel burning combined according to The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization )

Want more info visit http://www.campaign-green.co.uk/

Summary: This is a global problem and needs everybody to take it seriously CO2 emissions can be lowered !

Television / TV

2008-04-12T21:41:00.003+01:00

Advantages: USED FOR MARKETING, ENTERTAINMENT, POLITICS AND MORE

Disadvantages: ABUSED? BRAIN WASHING? POLITICAL AGENDAS?

TV - Television is great!!

---INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY----

God bless Willoughby Smith in 1873 for the discovery of the photoconductivity of the element selenium and the invention of a scanning disk by Paul Gottlieb Nipkow in 1884.
Yes television is complicated and was black and white until the Russians in 1889 realised they could have colour televisions!

---the UK's history---
The first British television broadcast was made by Baird Television's electromechanical system over the BBC radio transmitter in September 1929. Baird provided a limited amount of programming five days a week by 1930. On August 22, 1932, BBC launched its own regular service using Baird's 30-line electromechanical system, continuing until September 11, 1935.

Other countries such started television broadcasting much later, for example Canada started in 1952!

Tv's are extremely popular nowadays with most households having at least 1. The living room has developed into the television room and many bedrooms now have their own televisions.

Technology behind Tv is rather complicated so I will not explain the waves and frequencies. - However I can explain that the frequency name used for the United Kingdom is PAL - so when you buy a tv or PlayStation (/ PlayStation game)etc. make sure its PAL so it will work with UK tv's etc.
NTSC is for the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Mexico, and some other countries
SECAM - is for the french.

Tv's come in all shapes and sizes, from thin LCD's to the fat old style televisions. The 14" to the 40". Now to the 150" - thanks to the television projector.
I personally have a 5" tv in my room and a 22" downstairs. Both have their own freeview boxes - allowing the television to receive digital television (with no subscription)

-----Prices----
TV prices vary depending on the model you want. You can get television via UHF - just using an aerial and you will get local television channels - you don't need a satellite dish or to pay for any digital boxes.
In the UK there are 5 UHF channels. Technically they are free, however you need to pay a television subscription fee - i.e. own a tv license

A colour TV Licence costs £135.50 and a black and white licence costs £45.50.

You can buy your tv license online or via many methods - info can be seen at:
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/index.jsp

You can buy digital boxes that allow you to receive other channels from all over the world, packages include SKY, NTL, VIRGIN MEDIA and many more.

---Is a Tv license necessary----
You need a TV Licence to use any television receiving equipment such as a TV set, set-top boxes, video or DVD recorders, computers or mobile phones to watch or record TV programmes as they are being shown on TV.

If you use a set-top box with a hi-fi system or another device that can only be used to produce sounds and can't display TV programmes, and you don't install or use any other TV receiving equipment, you don't need a TV Licence.
(you only need 1 per household)
You will need to renew your TV Licence every year.

----The best television channels----
Best tv channels in my opinion are:

1)SKY 1/SKY SPORTS
2)SKY MOVIES
3)CHANNEL 4
4)MTV

There are different tv channels for different people, from shopping channels like Bid Tv to baby channels like Cbeebies, from movie channels to adult channels. Television has almost every genre imaginable like cartoons, documentaries, soaps etc.

Amongst my favorite television programmes: Skins (E4/channel4), The simpsons (sky1/channel4), and dramas like lost/prison-break/meadowlands etc.

I have personally had Sky and NTL previously and now use freeview.

Television programmes can now be seen on the Internet, in fact you can watch live television from your computer, not only with a tv tuner but via the Internet (live streams)

Television has developed rapidly and there are many issues such as what can be shown and what cannot, over time the rules have been relaxed greatly - there is the watershed - i.e. adult content, violence etc cannot be shown till after a certain time (eg. 9.00pm) Also swearing cannot be heard until after (eg. 6.00pm)
obviously censorship laws vary from different countries, some have very relaxed laws eg. Russia and others more strict eg. Iran

Television is not only used for entertainment and marketing but is also used for political agendas - election parties advertise their candidates and their party on TV. Television channels make a lot of money through advertising - in between television programmes they display adverts. Some channels like the BBC do not have adverts.

Television along with technology has developed so greatly that now you can pause live TV, rewind and fast forward television! As well as record at a touch of a button.

For more information on freeview see my review on freeview.

Summary: Television is growing all the time, people all want to be famous, - the best way, through television

Will Smith Is Legend

2008-04-12T21:40:00.002+01:00

Advantages: excellent lead actor WILL SMITH

Disadvantages: Ended too quickly! Loved the story and wanted more

Wow I am a huge fan of all Will Smith featuring programmes, from the fresh prince, to Independence day. I am Legend is absolutely amazing if you like Will Smith because throughout the 101 minutes of exciting action packed movie you are gonna see Will Smith at his best.

The movie is based in New York City one of the busiest and most popular cities in the world, the city has become a wasteland a plague has mutated every living thing into human eating monsters. The 'sole survivor' is none other than Will Smith and his dog. The movie shows how all the humans affected by the plague have become zombie like monsters that can live only in the dark (like vampires) and feed of human / living flesh! (sorta like vampires) these creatures (that are a mix between vampires and zombies) basically rule the night time, during the day time Will Smith or Robert Neville (terrible choice of name in my opinion) (but kinda suitable as Robert Neville is a scientist) lives and does stuff.

There are some spectacular scenes in this PG-13 movie from the Brooklyn bridge to isolated streets.

This movie is extremely well built, I particularly like the way the movie is set to Robert Neville's present time but tells the story of the destruction of New York through his flash backs.
In the movie Robert Neville discovers that he is not the only survivor and that there are in fact a camp of other survivors. The ending is absolutely spectacular and memorable a bit like titanic but more action packed!
I'm not going to spoil the ending here because the entire movie leads up to that ending which is quite a shocker.

Overall i highly recommend this movie to any action movie lover, its a taste of resident evil, with a kick of Will Smith at his greatest.

Summary: this movie is a great action packed sci/fi / thriller similar to resident evil movies but BETTER!

Mopages.co.cc - the home of free stuff

2008-04-12T21:39:00.002+01:00

Advantages: has loads of good stuff that are legit!

Disadvantages: too much going on, no consistency

Mopages is a website that was originally designed for students and teenagers but has been expanding rapidly, this amateur style website may not seem as professional as other sites however it is amongst my favorite sites. This is because it is updated almost daily.

www.mopages.co.cc offers free stuff (primarily for the UK) in the form of a forum, this means that anybody can post freebies or leave comments on free stuff.
I've always been very sceptic about 'freebie' sites as usually nothing in life is ever free, and most freebie sites just offer their affiliated links so they gain through you trying to sign up for offers that are usually scams.

However since discovering mopages my opinions have changed a lot, my favorite freebies include the Free DVD, (yes i got to choose a dvd FREE!) and the nescafe mug! I've ordered loads of freebies all of which are 100% free with free delivery, the freebies usually take like a month to come though, but this is understandable. I've recieved them all!

Mopages.co.cc also offers Online Tv - in the form of different gadgets so you get a variety of channels to choose from, from Al-Jazeera english to Fox 5.

-----History------
Mopages was created by a student in order to make money. The site started with online movies which was quite popular but then changed to freebies (probably due to legal issues!)(on mopages blog)

I've noticed that now mopages just links to the best online movie/tv show sites, it has loads of strange things such as recommended autosurfs (its a way of advertising a website).

-----My Favorite Features------
Apart from the freebies my favorite feature on mopages.co.cc is the make money online page, its called how to make money online, the page shows the best paying survey sites, the best advertising companies for website publishers, and it even features dooyoo there! - thanks to this page I've been making easy money doing surveys.

I also quite like the Tv-Guide it just links to good tv guide sites that are up to date such as tv-guide.co.uk

Ok overall the site is not exactly eye candy or very professionally laid out, it also has lots of banner ads, the navigation is not exactly that consistent but the drop down menu is very easy to use and is on most of the pages. Mopages.co.cc tries to be a jack of all trades website which doesn't really work very well, It should stick to one thing rather than trying to incorporate everything! But overal this amateur site is good and has done a lot for me, so it may do something for you too?

*this review is not copyrighted

Summary: Mopages is a good site and definitely useful however not v. professional but this works well for it.

Matsui DTR 2 Freeview Set Top Box

2008-04-12T21:36:00.001+01:00

Advantages: does the job you want it to do efficiently

Disadvantages: the DTR3 is better!

Matsui make great freeview boxes, i have the dtr2 and dtr3, this dtr2, is dead easy to use and really quick, the signal is also great with the remote and can probably extend to like 7 metres (with full battery),( the remote takes two triple a batteries)
OK let me explain why I say the signal is good...I use my matsui dtr2 freeview box upstairs in my room, on my 5" TV ! I have the freeview box under my 2 interconnected beds. I got a small indoor aerial for £5.00 from ebay which I connected to the freeview box and I get good reception! - the trick is to update the freeview box when you are in good reception that way you will get all the channels from then...
anyway
back to the matsui dtr3, this box is quite large, like the horizontal length of a VCR player but not so high, there's a red light on the left that shows when the box is off, and the green light on the right when on and when you press buttons on the remote. As you can see from the picture the device is well ventilated and doesn't over heat. As soon as you plug in the freeview box to an aerial, to the power, and to a tv, you are ready to go, just go to menu, installation, first time installation and it will search for new channels, this only takes 1 minute, (if your in an area of bad reception may take longer).
As you know new freeview channels are coming out all the time and so its important to update the box regularly, to update it just go to menu, installation, automatic update, this takes 1 min and replaces any previous channels with new channels it gets according to signal.
When you change to a channel you automatically get the channel number, name of the programme now and next and their times, with the current time of day and the signal strength of that channel (or you can get it by pressing i).
The guide button allows you to go through the channels and see whats on now and next on all channels, when you press guide the whole screen fills with the guide (and programme descriptions) - with the dtr 3, when you press guide you still have a little screen of the tv channel playing on the top right which is dead useful for previewing channels!
You get subtitles on programmes with a touch of a button, you can also check what is coming later on in the day on a particular channel by: pressing i, then press select, you get a little menu of the programmes coming on the channel your on, you can press the coloured buttons, like red and blue i think to movie up and down that menu! - i figured this out recently its really useful!

Picture quality is ofcourse perfect being a freeview box (digital) and sound is what you need, the max volume is not as loud as the volume would be on terrestrial tv, but it doesnt matter. - IMPORTANT THING TO DO IS... keep your freeview volume on the highest and then to adjust volume use your tv remote - otherwise you get static/other sounds which ruin sound experience!#
But sound is perfect dont get me wrong!

the remote you get with this device is the same as the dtr3 and absolutely gorgeous compared to other ugly freeview controllers! its really perfect and easy to use, its also strong ive chucked it across the room a few times and broken a tv but the remote hardly gets a scratch (dont ask)

OK so basically matsui make great freeview boxes, this dtr 2 is really good and gives you what you want, but for that added touch of a smaller box and a nicer guide menu get the dtr3, theyd both be £20 or less now so obviously get the dtr3,

FOR MORE INFO ON FREEVIEW READ MY DETAILED REVIEW ON FREEVIEW IT EXPLAINS WHAT FREEVIEW IS AND THE CHANNELS IT OFFERS...
feel free to give feedback/ask questions

Summary: really easy to use and install, really cheap too!

Imdb.com

2008-04-12T21:35:00.001+01:00

Advantages: thorough and has everything

Disadvantages: homepage is crowded

IMDB or internet movie database is one of the most popular if not THE most popular movie website on the internet, it provides information on a huge variety of movies and celebrities - actors and acresses, you can see what movies an actor has been in and what movies he is set to be in. Any information about movies is here, what movie star was born on the day you visit the website is there, the latest photos from movie events such as the oscars.
IMDB is an amazon.com company.

IMDB is completely FREE. They recently made IMDB PRO this is for movie professionals who can subscribe to get even more useful movie information.

Just to demonstrate how HUGE the IMDB is you can get up to date statistics on imdb.com about how many titles it featues, today itis currently at 1,039,447

IMDB have also launched IMDB RESUME which allows you to get yourself discovered, its a perfect opportunity for budding actors/actresses. IMDB gets over 52 million visitors including movie experts who could further your career.

IMDB is very easy to use and navigate they have their navigational bar at the top and an excellent IMDB search engine where you can search titles, tv episodes, companies, biographies and much more!
IMDB is great for checking the latest cinema releases all over the world, the latest DVD releases, the information is quite detailed so you can use IMDB to find the rating for a movie and the age certificate.

Summary: IMDB is the best site of its kind

Apple iPod nano (3G) 4Gb

2008-04-12T21:32:00.001+01:00

Advantages: its funky monkey fashionable, video quality greaT!

Disadvantages: features are nothing special

Got this for £60 on amazon thanks to dooyoo!! I used like £30 of amazon vouchers earned from dooyoo to get the ipod nano (3g) 4gb for £30 less than £90 the original sale price.

Ok Im not a fan of ipods never have been and never will be. Apple are clever and stingy, you have to use itunes to put videos and stuff on the ipod, this was my first ipod ive had it for ages and put loads of my own movies on it already (not apples's!)

The picture quality is absolutely SUPERB! best ive seen on any small device, considering the screen is a tiny 2" you'd think you could never watch the full length movie on it, but your wrong you can, and with style.
This device is excellent for long car journeys etc, the sound is good and can pump up a fair bit, you could insert speakers to the headphone socket thingy I have done that but its nothing too special unless the speakers are connected to the mains and can be amplified.

The music or whatever you listen to is great quality, its easy to move from track to track the the buttons and the scrolling thingy is fun for playing 1 of the 3 games you get on the ipod, its especially good for reading e-books on the ipod. Yes i said ebooks, you can put a simple txt file on your ipod and read it, the ipod can also be used as a mass storage device, you can get more games for the ipod but theyre usually quiz ones and aren't exciting, Im regretting rushing into spending my dooyoo amazon vouchers on this ipod, I shouldve got a psp, it does all that and much more (with the wifi) and the gameS!

The ipod nano is tiny, and gets scratched EXTREMELY EASILY! however it seems strong - thought im afraid to test its limits by throwing it, i have dropped it a few times and it scratches but its fine.

The thing i dislike about the ipod nano the most is what i mentioned earlier about apple being clever and stingy, they want to make money by making you download itunes and stuff, so you have to download itunes software to put stuff on the ipod.

The ipod makes a great video/media player, you can view pictures and stuff but lets be honest, loads of devices can also do this, most phones allow you to do this, (when they take memory cards you can easily fit movies (in 3gp format)) and heres my little secret, if you have a GBA/ GBASP like i do you can get a gba sp movie player FOR ONLY £10 which takes an SD memory card and you can put any movie, picture, ebook, nes game, sound whatever easily. (though you do have to run it through a converter first to get it into gba format (the software is obviously included) (its not an official nintendo item, get it from ebay).
On the subject of conversion, with the ipod you cannot put any old videos on there, luckily you can put mp3s and your not limited to itunes only, but movies have to be converted to mp4 format specially for the ipod, luckily as the ipod is so popular there are loads of sites that do conversion online for free. You can also put youtube videos onto your ipod using vixy.net and many other sites.

But lets be honest the thing that annoys me the most is t that you cannot just open the device and drag and drop items there, you have to use itunes, for this reason and others i may have stated I am officially not a fan of the ipod....why i havent returned/sold my ipod yet and continue to use it is a mystery even to me.... (i love the headphones! :0)

the ipod has become an item of fashion where i live (london) ....
is it your cup of tea...let me know!
have any questions/problems let me know!

p.s. i didnt give ease of use full marks because sometimes the little turning thing gets excited and jumps/goes quicker than i want it to!

Summary: its one of those things that i dont know if i love or hate! agh!

Natwest.co.uk

2008-04-12T21:30:00.000+01:00

Advantages: Really Easy To Use And Very Useful FREE

Disadvantages: none

Natwest is great, I use nationwide too and natwest is much better...The natwest website is very easy to use and the online banking facilities are great.
You can sign up for online banking at natwest.co.uk, basically you'll get a security online code through the post.

You can apply online or by calling a number (0800 number), you'll need your account number, sort code and debit card, the application process should take 5 minutes after which you will be given a customer number (your DOB followed by some numbers) You'll then get the welcome pack in a week, then you can use all the online banking facilities.

---advantages and facilities-----
The statement facility is great because it is up to date to the minute and you can move money between your accounts.
You can pay people, bills and transfer money online.
You can get email alerts for overdue bills
You get a telephone banking service too, all of which are free and secure.

Basically natwest.co.uk is great, its secure and easy to use, I particularly like the way they tell you the last time you logged on when you login, however there have been security breaches so like always you still have to be alert for anything suspicous.

Summary: Natwest offers secure and easy to use online banking. Reduce Paper statements!

Adbrite - Internet Marketplace

2008-04-12T21:03:00.000+01:00

Advantages: great ads, high cpm, $5 payout rate!

Disadvantages: none yet!

--------Adbrite---------the Internets ad marketplace-------------------
Adbrite is an excellent website for advert marketing, so web publishers can find high paying CPM ads (they pay per thousand impressions) and can control the ads that display.
Adbrite allows advertisers to advertise themselves anywhere they want, at the rate that suits them.
Adbrite is currently serving 620 million impressions a day on 48,974 sites! So its HUGE!

AdBrite was started by Philip Kaplan and Gidon Wise in 2002. They were looking for an easy way to sell advertising on their websites and blogs, and decided to place a small "Your Ad Here" link on each site to connect advertisers to an order form. AdBrite's simplicity spread through word-of-mouth, and within the first two years, more than 1,000 sites were using AdBrite to sell ads.
You can customize your PPC ad formats and with the full page ads you can have a title/background at the top of the page to keep your website looking consistent.

-----publishers-----
website publishers can display text, banner, full page, in picture, in video ads and earn CPM - per thousand impressions at a competitive rate, - Once you insert the HTML for the ads to your site, advertisers will get the opportunity to bid to place their ad on your site, this way you can have several companies advertising on your website and not have to worry about accepting them/rejecting them as adbrite can sort this for you.
Best thing is you can set a minimum CPM price and have any other ads display when adbrite cannot find a company that wants to pay your minimum charge!
You can choose to review each ad before it appears on your site. (though its recommended that you let adbrite do this) - I noticed why when using adbrite on my website www.mopages.co.cc, I got many more adverts displaying quickly when I let adbrite manage my ads, rather than waiting to review them myself, - I have over 500 companies for just one ad area, its easier to just let adbrite manage them.
The thing I like most about adbrite is its low payout rate, when your account reaches $5.00 you can get your money by cheque.

I have personally used almost all popular publisher networks, from google adsense to MIVA, and I can honestly say that Adbrite is my favorite.
Some ad companies are offering $200 PPC! and $75 CPM! (though these hardly get any views, its usually the cheaper ones that get shown the most!

------------advertisers-------------------- -
Adbrite is also great for advertisers, you can choose the type of ad you want to display, CPC- cost per click - so you only get charged when the ad is clicked, CPA - cost per action, and CPM (cost per thousand impressions), you can even choose geographical targeting, demographics, keywords and by content. There are great sites to advertise on such as Facebook (apps), ebaums world and many more!
---------more---------

The website is really easy to use and navigate, you can check stats daily and they're updated really quickly, so you can check which ad zones are doing the best and working well for you.
Adbrite also has a referral program where you earn 50% of AdBrite's profits for the first 3 months and then 10% of AdBrite's profit for the next 9 months.

I recommend adbrite to everyone, both advertisers and publishers, you should join this California based company and maximise your revenue!
- you can see more about adbrite as compared to other CPM/CPC publisher networks, and register on www.bestads.co.cc.
Thanks for reading and rating, feel free to ask me any questions or suggest any improvements!

Summary: adbrite is my fav. advertising company. register at www.bestads.co.cc

Tinseltown Secrets

2008-04-12T21:00:00.000+01:00

Advantages: "Celeb hotspot"

Disadvantages: Food. And Price

Tinseltown is an American style diner very popular with celebrities, they've recently expanded the franchise to the UK, and have branches all over including Hampstead.

Basically Food is over-priced and not very nice, infact my friend who ordered the italian pasta with chicken - his chicken was off and the pasta was cold.
However I got the chinese dish it was warm, and tasted alright however the chicken was also off!
The food and drinks are well over priced. The best thing out of the experience was the hot chocolate which was edible and actually tasty (but quite small + expensive)

The place is very popular, it is also halal, and "great for tourists", all over the walls there are pictures of celebrities sometimes the pitcures include the manager/boss of tinseltown standing with the celeb.

The one in central london opens 24 hours, so you can go any time.

For more info visit their website tinseltown.co.uk

Summary: Overpriced food, bad food, limited menu, mainly for tourists