Once in a while I post something about being different characters – Today’s is South Park and this is how I would look like if I was on the show. Try it yourself. [Thanks Peisser]

Ever wanted to open a word or excel document but the computer you are on doesn’t have it installed? Or worse, you need to create one and the same problem? Well, reading my RSS feeds, I saw these two links

Online Word on Writely.com
Online Excel on iRows.com

FoxIt is a fast one file program that allows you to view PDF files. Personally I am so tired of the slow performance of Adobe Acrobat reader that I am more than happy to use this.

WhyReboot tell you what pending file operations are asking for reboot.

And finally, here is a link to a scientific and very cool calculator, called Calcoolate.

Serving at the Baha’i World Centre, I met so many amazing people. Some of these wonderful friends have their own blog and since it is getting more difficult to keep track of who has a blog and who does not, my dear friend Nafisto the great has come up with a wonderful initiative which helps to keep up to date with all the BWC friends’ blogs.

If you are one of those friends, or know a friend that served there as has a blog, let them know about this.

For those of you who like to contribute to global research, here is one. BBC has created a screen saver that model the earth’s climate change based on distributed computing (very much like the SETI project). You can read the FAQ as well as download the screen saver to contribute to this project on this site.

In other findings, here are a few links I came across the last few days.

• List of free software – from antivirus to 3D graphics
• Microsoft’s answer to Craigslist
• Improving your linksys wireless router

Photography is a dear hobby of mine and although I don’t quite have either the equipment that I would like to have nor that much time these days to enjoy it, coming across sites like World Press Photo really reminds me of my love for photography and how powerful conveying a message can be through this medium.

Looking at the top prize winners though, the winning contributions are telling only stories of misery, terror and war. A good refelection of the state of the world I guess…

Following a few blogs over the last few months a few links have grabbed my attention and here they are:

• Yahoo Research-Shopping Scrollbar Search – Try it for yourself!
• Yahoo Audio Search
• Yahoo Search Shortcuts or Open Search Short Cuts

On two completely different notes, for those of you that have wanted to learn regular expressions but still struggle, here is a good link explaining regular expressions.
Also, if you are looking for a good calendar that is available online, can send reminders to you cell phone (sorry again this only works in US) and many other useful features Airset.com is a very good candidate.

This is something I came across that could be of use. If you want to send a text message to someone’s phone here is the states and you know what provider they use all need to do is to send an email to one of the following addresses (change 1235556789 to the desired phone number):

Cingular: 1235556789@mobile.mycingular.com
T-Mobile: 1235556789@tmomail.net
Verizon: 1235556789@vtext.com
MetroPCS: 1235556789@mymetropcs.com
Sprint: 1235556789@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Virgin Mobile: 1235556789@vmobl.com
Nextel: 1235556789@messaging.nextel.com

Check out (works on on FireFox) this very cool XUL app to search books on Amazon. http://www.faser.net/mab/chrome/content/mab.xul

XUL (XML User Interface Language) is a user interface markup language developed to support Mozilla applications like Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird. Like UIML, it is an application of XML that describes user interfaces. The acronym is pronounced zool, to rhyme with “cool”.

This week I started my new work and it is really fun to get back into it. Put aside the first month or two where everything is a blur and you are trying to get your head around all the details of what you are doing and are supposed to know and do, the project that I am working on is an exciting one. It is a product by Micrsoft that is still in beta testing and is called Windows OneCare Live, which is combined antivirus, firewall, back up and tune up application. I am working on the security policy of the firewall and it is an interesting project for sure. So my frequency of posting might dip for the next month or two as all my focus is on getting up to speed as soon as possible.

For those of you who read the digg.com RSS feed, as you know when you want to read an article, you get sent to digg.com website and then have to click on the link again to get redirected to the link. No more of that with this script as it will directly redirect you to the website of the article.

I am publishing it here since the original script did not work and I had to fix it. Hope you find this useful too. Also for many more greasemonkey scripts visit userscripts.org

At the airport the other day, flying with American Airlines, I was thinking to myself why the symbol of both this airline as well as the USA is a bald eagle. So I did some research and found different stories depending on who you ask and what their perspective is. Some say it is because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, and also because it was then believed to exist only on this continent.

Others believe it was because at one of the first battles of the revolution the noise of the war woke the eagles up who were circuling above these fighting men and represented the freedom.

A third opinion (and in my personal findings most relevant) goes to the significance the eagle has in the native Americans’ lives and the story of creation for many of them, i.e. as the earth was flooded and everyone were being killed by this flood, a beam (spirit) from the sky materialized into an eagle that saved a woman and flew her to the tree of life where she rested until the earth reappeared after the flood and gave birth to the new generation of mankind.

What we do know is that in May 1782 a committee was established that consisted of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and J Adams and they were to decide what the seal of United States should be. Franklin suggested a turkey and Jefferson had an eagle in mind. It is unclear why they wanted these two birds and as I mentioned the opinions differ here. Nevertheless the eagle suggestion won and was taken as the symbol of this nation. Added to that the, phrase “E Pluribus Unum.” (from many comes one) was adopted as the motto, thirteen arrows and an olive branch was to be carried by the eagle in each talon, thirtheen arrows for 13 colonies that declared independence from the Great Britain. The olive branch represents a universal sign for offering of peace. While the emblem was finally accepted officialy in 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote the following about accepting the eagle as the nation’s symbol:

I wish that the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country, he is a bird of bad moral character, he does not get his living honestly, you may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing-hawk, and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to its nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him…. Besides he is a rank coward; the little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest. . . of America.. . . For a truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on.