Take that advertisements!

Do you hate websites that have animated advertisements? They are highly distracting and are often irrelevant to the actual content of the website. One example of a website I have recently gone to is CliffsNotes (free English notes about literature books), which is jam-packed with both animated and non-animated image advertisements.

I have found a neat (and free) add-on to Mozilla Firefox that blocks off the majority of animated advertisements. If you don't use Firefox already, I highly recommend you give it a try. Although it used to be much better than Internet Explorer, Microsoft have improved IE a lot recently. But there are still some very small things that you will find more convenient when you compare Firefox to IE.

Anyway, the add-on to Firefox I was talking about is called Flashblock. As its name suggests, it blocks parts of websites that use flash. Where the flash object used to be, an 'F' symbol appears, which you can click on to run the Flash program if you feel like it.

Click here to download Flashblock.

This wonderful add-on, coupled with unchecking Tools --> Options --> Content --> Load Images Automatically, easily took care of all the image advertisements on CliffsNotes. Of course, you will want to turn the latter option on again when you visit other websites, otherwise images won't load.

You'll be surprised at the number of advertisements that Flashblock will block during normal browsing (e.g. YouTube, Hotmail, etc.).

Top 5 Free Software Picks for 2010

See my new article on the top software picks.

In short, the suggestions are:

1. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

2. Vuze

3. TeamViewer

4. RoboForm

5. TuneUp Utilities 2010

Click here to see the full article "Top 5 Free Software Picks for 2010".

The Feeling of Immortality

In my rather random research, I have found two animals that are "biologically immortal". They technically just keep regenerating and never actually "die".

According to Wikipedia: "The Hydrozoan species Turritopsis nutricula is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again. This means that there may be no natural limit to its life span. However, no single specimen has been observed for any extended period, and it is impossible to estimate the age of a specimen. Theoretically, this cycle can repeat indefinitely, rendering it biologically immortal until its nerve center is removed from the rest of the body."

However, Wikipedia is often inaccurate (not wrong, just inaccurate). I could find no information on this animal in the paid subscription websites Britannica Online Encyclopedia or World Book Student.

The Wikipedia article on Turritopsis nutricula also mentions the predatory species Hydra, another kind of cnidarian that is claimed to be immortal.

Now, I found an article on this creature on both Britannica Online Encyclopedia and World Book Student!

Britannica Online Encyclopedia mentions that Hydra is "a genus of invertebrate freshwater animals of the class Hydrozoa (phylum Cnidaria)." It is an "organism [that] consists of a thin, usually translucent tube that measures up to about 30 millimetres (1.2 inches) long but is capable of great contraction... All Hydra species feed on other small invertebrate animals such as crustaceans." However, it makes no mention of the species being supposedly "biologically immortal".

Nevertheless, I found positive evidence on the World Book Student website. L. Muscatine, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles states: "Hydras can regenerate (regrow) parts of their bodies. It is estimated that in a period of several weeks a hydra replaces all the cells in its body. The hydra, therefore, never grows old."

I think this constitutes sufficient evidence to prove that this Hydra animal is biologically (but not physically if it gets eaten) immortal.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_long-living_organisms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_nutricula

"Hydra." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. 7 Nov. 2009 .

Muscatine, L. "Hydra." World Book Student. World Book, 2009. Web. 7 Nov. 2009.

Interesting Facts About Chicken

Despite the picture, I haven't had KFC chicken in a year or two. Nevertheless, I have discovered some interesting facts about the animal that our favourite food comes from.

Did you know?

Chickens can live from five to eleven years, depending on the breed. The oldest chicken lived 16 years. However, chickens that are raised for their meat are typically slaughtered in 6 to 14 weeks.

In the wild, they often scratch at the soil to search for seeds, insects and even larger animals such as lizards or young mice.

Lighter chickens are generally capable of flying for short distances, such as over fences or into trees (where they would naturally roost). Chickens will sometimes fly to explore their surroundings, but usually do so only to flee perceived danger.

The meat of chicken is also called "chicken". (I bet you didn't know that one!)

Chickens can make good companion animals and can be tamed by hand feeding. Chickens are generally low-maintenance. The major challenge is protecting the birds from predators such as dogs, raccoons and foxes.

Chickens have been known to live after beheading. Mike the Headless Chicken or Miracle Mike was an extraordinary case in which a chicken lived 18 months after its beheading. It's authenticity was established by the University of Utah.

Some groups which advocate for more humane treatment of chickens claim that they are intelligent. Dr. Chris Evans of Macquarie University claims that their range of 20 calls, problem solving skills, use of representational signaling, and the ability to recognize each other by facial features demonstrate the intelligence of chickens.

Hens lay eggs without the need for fertilization by a rooster. However, these eggs do not contain offspring.

Sources: Wikipedia, Guinness Book of World Records

See below for a morally-correct article.

Wrestling - The misunderstood sport

It's well known that wrestling is fixed - results of matches and storylines are predetermined. But wrestling is seen in a negative light and is misunderstood. Professional wrestling is the performance, management, and marketing of a form of entertainment based on elements of Greco-Roman wrestling, mixed martial arts, and theatre. Just to make a couple of points clear:

1. Wrestling is an entertainment sport done by professionally-trained performers. Why I enjoy wrestling: watching people fight and unleash moves on each other for entertainment is fun to watch. Wrestling moves look and sound cool: Twist of Fate, Swanton Bomb, Go to Sleep, Starship Pain, etc.

2. There's very little blood in wrestling (unless it's by accident).

3. Wrestlers are professionally trained so that their moves won't injure other wrestlers.

How come wrestling is often non-competitive or "fixed"? It is because of the huge physical strain on wrestlers that it cannot be a normal competitive sport such as tennis. I'm sure a normal human being can't wrestle four days a week, it's simply too tiring. In addition, Rey Mysterio notes that "injuries can happen at any time".

See above for an article about chickens.

Ryan's Philosophisationing

Ryan Shelton's Philosophisationing of Karma on Rove.

Mass–energy equivalence

[Note: Do not read this article if you have learned physics or are talented in science.] Maybe you know it better as E = mc². The only reason I called it "mass–energy equivalence" was because Wikipedia calls it that, and also I couldn't write that "squared" thing in the title.

We've all heard of Einstein's formula for relativity, E = mc². Einstein proposed his formula in his 1905 paper, "Does the inertia of a body depend upon its energy-content?" But what does it really mean? Well, in the formula, E is energy, m is relativistic mass, and c is the speed of light in a vacuum (which is 299,792,458 meters per second).

So basically, expressing the formula in words: energy equals mass multiplied by the speed of light squared. Described using units, E (in joules) = m (in kilograms) multiplied by (299,792,458 m/s)². Thanks Einstein!