Chekonim: June 2007 Archives

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June 30, 2007

My Events, 2007, Q2

http://www.chekonim.com/archives/events_calendars/index.html

Jul 29 : SF Marathon in San Francisco
Jul 28 - 29 : Kite Festival in Berkeley
Jul 27 - 29 : Grand Prix in San Jose
Jul 16 - 22 : World Body-painting Championships in Seeboden, Austria
Jul 6 - 14 : Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain
Jul 1 - 4 : Rainbow Gathering in Fallsville, Arkansas
Jul 1 : CHIN BIKINI in Canada

Jun 23 - 24 : Pride Parade in SF
Jun 17 : Father's Day
Jun 16 : Axis of Evil Comedy Tour (DVD) in Cupertino
Jun 15 : Axis of Evil Comedy Tour (DVD) in Sacramento
Jun 15 - 17 : RoboGames in San Francisco
Jun 9 - 10 : Italian Street Painting Festival in San Rafael
Jun 3 - 5 : Webby Awards, in NYC

May 31 : Blue Moon
May 26 : Carnaval in SF
May 20 : Bay to Breakers in SF
May 16 - 27 : Cannes Film Festival
May 13 : Mother's Day
May 1 - Jun 30 : Cherry Picking in Brentwood

Apr 26 - May 10 : San Francisco Film Festival
Apr 17 : Deadline to file your taxes (Tips and Info)
Apr 14-15, 21-22 : Cherry Blossom Festival in SF

Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

June 29, 2007

Reviews - CNET

http://reviews.cnet.com/

Great reviews and filters to narrow down your search

Posted by chek at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)

TED talks

http://www.ted.com/

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design.

Started in 1984

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

More than 100 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

My Favorites:
Photosynth

Posted by chek at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)

June 28, 2007

Azizi, Nina

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/douglas/403/

Nina Azizi

German Iranian Actress

Posted by chek at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

June 25, 2007

Gachsar Tulip Garden, May

http://www.tiknews.net/albums/pictures/?id=75

باغ لاله ها در منطقه گچسر به فاصله دوساعت از شهر تهران قرار گرفته است،اين منطقه هر سال در ماه ارديبهشت پذيرای گردشگرانی است که از سراسر ايران و جهان برای بازديد ،راهی اين باغ رويايی می شوند.اين باغ زيبا مملو از انواع لاله ها در رنگ های متنوع می باشد. گفتنی است که در این باغ، یک میلیون پیاز در قالب 17 نوع گل لاله در این باغ با ارتفاع 30 تا 90 سانتی متر کاشته شده است.
*تصاویر متعلق با نیمه ماه اردبیهشت است.
س.صالحی

Posted by chek at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

June 22, 2007

First-born IQs

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6229952.stm

A Norwegian team found first born children and those who had lost elder siblings and had hence become the eldest, scored higher on intelligence.

The link, reported in Science, was found by looking at more than 250,000 male Norwegian conscripts.

Professor Petter Kristensen, at the National Institute of Occupational Health in Oslo, and colleague Tor Bjerkedal, at the Norwegian Armed Forces Medical Service, said although the IQ difference they found in their study groups was small, it was significant.

Professor Kristensen said: "We found that it is the son's social position and not his biological position that counts."

Frank Sulloway, of the Institute of Personality and Social Research at the University of California, has been studying how upbringing influences personality and intelligence.

He told the Daily Telegraph the higher IQ in the first-born could, in part, be gained by their tutoring of younger siblings.

"In addition, the tendency for first-borns to occupy the niche of a surrogate parent, and to take on the role of the conscientious, self-disciplined and mature sibling may also explain why first-borns have higher IQs," he said.

Posted by chek at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)

Leoni, Atossa

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0503033/photogallery

German Born and of Iranian descent, Atossa Leoni has worked with both famous Iranian stars, Shohreh Aghdashloo and her husband Houshang Touzie in Babak Shokrian's film America so Beautiful and will soon appear in Marc Foster's The Kite Runner based on Khaled Hosseini's best selling novel.

Posted by chek at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2007

Abolition of British Slavery

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/launch_anim_slavery.shtml

The Abolition of British Slavery - Interactive Map

The transatlantic slave trade involved the enforced transportation and enslavement of millions. Follow dynamic trails across Africa, the Caribbean and the UK with text, images and audio to explore the abolition of British slavery.

Posted by chek at 02:40 PM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2007

Area Codes

http://www.nanpa.com/number_resource_info/area_code_maps.html

Flash and HTML maps

Central Office Codes

Another Area Code Map

Posted by chek at 05:48 PM | Comments (0)

Compare Cell Phone Plans

http://cnet.phonedog.com/cell-phone-shopping/default.aspx

Compare Cell Phones and Plans

from

Alltel, cingular, Nextel, Sprint PCS, Suncom, T-Mobile, Verizon, Cellular One, Centennial, Edge Wireless, Einstein, metroPCS, NTELOS, SureWest, U.S. Cellular, Amp'd and more

Posted by chek at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

Number of Satellites

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/980202e.html

How many satellites (roughly), both active and obsolete, are currently orbiting the earth?

There have been about 4000 launches (some with multiple payloads) and my guess is that several hundred of the satellites involved are still active. Nine individual countries have launched satellites (USA, Russia, Japan, China, France, India, Israel, Australia, UK) as well as international consortia (ESA, the European Space Agency, being the most important of those). A large number of countries have enough money and could easily acquire the technology to launch satelites, but choose for economy and convenience to either have another country launch their payloads or to participate in the space projects of other nations.

Paul Butterworth and David Palmer
for the Ask an Astrophysicist team

-----------------------

GPS Satellites

The current GPS constellation consists of 30 Block II/IIA/IIR/IIR-M satellites.

GPS constellation and individual satellite status

Posted by chek at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)

Name a Star - FREE

http://www.freenameastar.com/

Can you really name a star? Wired Magazine article.

Do it for free or pay $50-$100 at ISR.

Posted by chek at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

Vertical Farming in Cities

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6752795.stm

Imagine a 30-storey building with glass walls, topped off with a huge solar panel.

On each floor there would be giant planting beds, indoor fields in effect.

There would be a sophisticated irrigation system.

And so crops of all kinds and small livestock could all be grown in a controlled environment in the most urban of settings.

That means there would be no shipping costs, and no pollution caused by moving produce around the country.

It's all the brainchild of Columbia University Professor Dickson Despommier.

Professor Despommier lists many advantages of this revolutionary kind of agriculture. They include:

* Year round crop production in a controlled environment

* All produce would be organic as there would be no exposure to wild parasites and bugs

Posted by chek at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)

Failed States Index

http://www.fundforpeace.org/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=229&Itemid=366

-------------- Alert ------
1- Sudan
2- Iraq
8- Afghanistan
12- Pakistan
13- North Korea
28- Lebanon
-------------- Warning ----
36- Egypt
40- Syria
57- Iran
62- Russia
62- China
75- Israel
83- Saudi Arabia
92- Turkey
102- Mexico
110- India
124- Kuwait
-------------- Moderate ---
138- United Arab Emirates
152- South Korea
154- Germany
157- United Kingdom
157- France
160- United States
-------------- Sustainable -
163- Netherlands
164- Japan
177- Norway