Some 5,000 condoms that were not used during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is being offered for sale in an auction. Each condom is marked with the Olympic motto of “faster, higher, stronger” both in English and in Chinese.

The units were collected by sports memorabilia enthusiast Zhao Xiaokai. The starting price will be one Yuan per unit (US $0.15)  and will be sold by batch.

Olympic organizers have been distributing free condoms for the athletes to use. This has started at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. There were about 100,000 condoms specifically produced for the Beijing Olympics.

This will be the first time that condoms will be auctioned in China. The auction organizers included the items in the list to help promote public awareness for HIV and AIDS. There are concerns from them however that potential buyers may be too embarrassed to bid.

Information of the names of the athletes who have given the unused condoms was not disclosed.

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Condoms for Olympic Athletes To Be Auctioned

A federal court ruled Friday, November 20, that the negligence of the US Army Corps of Engineers resulted to the failure of levees to stop flooding brought about by hurricane Katrina in 2005.

US District Judge Stanwood Duval wrote on his ruling, “The Corps’ lassitude and failure to fulfill its duties resulted in a catastrophic loss of human life and property in unprecedented proportions.” He also pointed out that the Corps had admitted in 1988 that the Mississippi Gulf River Outlet threatens human life but did not do anything to prevent possible catastrophe.

The levee system, which was designed to regulate water levels, suffered many breaches that eventually failed after the storm moved inland causing 80% of the area to be flooded and where the waters lingered for weeks.

The ruling opened a possibility of at least 100,000 more complaints which could bring billions of dollars in liabilities to the federal government. The government is expected to appeal the case.

The hurricane hit New Orleans last August 2005 with 1,836 confirmed dead, 705 missing and $81 billion worth of damages.

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Court Rules US Army Corps Helped Caused Hurricane Katrina Flooding

Did you know that today, November 21, is World Hello Day? The objective is to say ‘hello” to ten people on the day. By greeting others, the message is for world leaders to use communication rather than force to settle conflicts.
Brian and Michael McCormack initiated the event in 1973 to help ease the conflict way back then between Egypt and Israel.

Despite the fact that very few people know about this celebration, at least somebody in 180 countries know the significance of November 21. Celebrities who celebrate World Hello Day include Barbara Bush, Colin Powell, Henry Ford, Hosni Mubarak, Jesse Jackson, Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, Queen Elizabeth II, Ravi Shankar, Ronald Reagan, Stevie Wonder, The Dalai Lama and Whoopi Goldberg, among others.

If you were reading this, then it would be good if you can celebrate it by saying it to ten people today and spread the knowledge of this celebration. If some word like hello can help ease conflicts before why can’t it do the same now?

Facts about  ’hello” include the following:

• The word “hello” was first used as early as 1833.
• Students learning a new programming language usually write a program called “Hello, world!” The objective is to output that greeting in the screen.
• That there was an attempt to replace “hello” with “heaven-o” as the former contains the word “hell” in it. “Hello” never had its roots from the word “hell”.
• The most famous celebrity associated with “hello” is undoubtedly Hello Kitty

By the way, November 21 is also World Television Day.

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November 21, 2009 is 37th Annual World Hello Day

The blast occurred at 2:30 am local time (1830 GMT Nov 20) in Heilongjiang province, 10 km from Hegang City. Initial reports indicated that 139 were trapped.

Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group, the owner of the mine, said that around 528 miners were working at the time when the incident happened.

Vice premier Zhang Deijang will go to the mine and direct rescue operations.

China uses coal to generate much needed electricity, sharing 80% as source. The high demand caused too much pressure for the mines to produce coal triggering them to ignore safety procedures that increases chances of explosions to occur.

The country has a high death record from mines, factories and construction sites. Last year, around 3,200 died from the mines. However, the actual number could be higher as most coal mine explosions are covered up to avoid shutdowns.

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China Coal Mine Explosion Kills 31

University of California recently approved tuition hike and budget cuts resulted to protests from students and non-students alike bringing almost 100 people arrested.

The university approved a 32% increase for tuition hike with the first hike taking effect in January. The undergraduate tuition will rise to $8,373. The second hike will occur next fall raising tuition further to $10,302.

Several students barricaded themselves at a building in the Berkeley campus for more than 11 hours. Campus police entered the building and arrested the protesters charging them with trespassing.

Around 100 students made a sit-in at the second floor of Kerr Hall at the Santa Cruz campus. About 52 people were arrested in the Davis campus.

The loudest and largest demonstration occurred in UCLA campus with some protestors occupying the Campbell Hall for several hours.

Almost 100 demonstrators were arrested from across the UC campuses during the last two days. The university has 10 campuses all over the state.

University Regents approved the increase in the hopes of reinstating cancelled classes and compensating the lost state-funding of  $800 million that resulted in a 2,000 employee lay-off and reduced faculty pays.

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University of California Tuition Hike Protests Brought Several Arrests

A week after rumors of Miley Cyrus dying in an automobile crash, one of the tour busses of the teen icon carrying crew members crashed on an embankment leaving the driver dead.

The driver Bill Douglas died on the spot. Nine of the passengers suffered injuries. The bus flipped in Interstate 85 near Richmond, Virginia on its way to a Cyrus show in Greensboro, North Carolina scheduled Sunday. Cyrus was not aboard the bus when the incident happened as the bus is one of the four bus entourage.

Miley Cyrus and family issued an official statement from the star’s website mileycyrus.com. The statement was, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Bill ‘Uncle Bill’ Douglas. Members of our tour are like members of our family. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family in the midst of this tragedy. He will truly be missed.”

Investigation on why the bus flipped is still ongoing as of this time.

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Miley Cyrus Crew Bus Kills One, Injures Nine Others

The second movie of the Twilight saga New Moon broke two records on its first day and is positioned to break even more as it goes on its second day.

The movie broke the biggest midnight opening grossing $26.3 million in 3,514 theaters eclipsing previous record of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at $22.2 million in its midnight release. Another record broken is the biggest advanced ticket seller for the Fandango corporation. Previous holder was Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.

The movie is expected to break more records. As of 5 PM, the movie already grossed $50 million threatening the biggest single day box office record of The Dark Knight, which stands at $67.2 million.

It might enter the top 5 of biggest weekend sales if it reaches above $114 million, which is probable since the film is expected to open in 4,024 theaters this weekend.

Worldwide records projection stand that the movie is at $150 million after New Moon debut in 25 other countries.

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“New Moon” Breaking Records

Google’s new Chrome Operating System is already out! It’s absolutely FREE but you’ll need VMWare Player (or VMWare Fusion for Macs) or VirtualBox on top of your current OS (Windows, Linux or OS X) installation to make it work.

The VMWare image is ready for download via torrent. If you want some tutorial, you can go over at TechCrunch.
Enjoy!

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Google Chrome OS now available for download

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey is expected to announce today, November 20, that she will end her current show on September 9, 2011 after being on air for 25 years since 1986. The reason: to concentrate on the start of her own network.

The coming of this final show has been the topic of several rumors ever since Winfrey announced January last year that she partnered with Discovery to open a new cable network named OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). It is expected to finally start broadcasting in 2011 to 75 million homes. It is believed that, if not a revamped version, then a new talk show will be hosted by Oprah on OWN.

Winfrey’s production company, Harpo, Inc., confirmed the decision of the host to end the show after its current contract expires. The company produced shows of Rachel Ray, Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz.

Several national and local networks stand to lose ratings and revenues once the program is pulled out. CBS syndicates the show while ABC broadcasts it.

Post from: Daily Contributor

Oprah Winfrey Will End Her Current Show on September 2011

In an annual Microsoft stakeholder’s meeting, CEO Steve Ballmer reported the shooting sales of their new product, Windows 7.

According to Microsoft’s main man, The Company has sold twice as many copies of Windows 7 as any previous Microsoft OS in almost the same time frame. Of course that includes both OEM sales and boxed retail copies.

Oh Well! Microsoft got it right this time. Congrats!

[via Engadget]

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Steve Ballmer says Windows 7 sales are up! up! up!

Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy was elected the very first permanent president of the European Union. He will assume the post on December 1, 2009 as mandated by the European Union Treaty of Lisbon. He will be chairing EU summits and coordinate meetings between the European governments.

Elected with him is British Baroness Catherine Margaret Ashton of Upholland as the first High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

The appointments were met with mixed reactions. Both are considered little, low-key figures. Van Rompuy has been prime minister for less than a year and he assumed the post after King Albert II asked him to form a new government after the 2007-2008 Belgian Political Crisis. Ashton never held an elected office before.

US President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy all welcomed the appointments.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair had been pursuing the EU President position but lost out his bid when current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown can’t find enough support for Blair.

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European Union’s First President Elected

Introducing MacPad, the first-ever tablet Mac. Because you wouldn’t shut up about it.

[image credit: BBG]

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MacPad is out!

One of Iraq’s Vice Presidents, Tariq Hashimi, vetoes a recently approved elections law putting a possible problem for the national elections to push through early next year. This will also put on hold the plans of the United States to withdraw its troops from the Middle East country.

Under Iraqi law, the president and its two vice presidents are entitled with the power to veto legislation. Under the Iraqi constitution, national elections should be conducted by the end of January.

Hashimi, a Sunni, made the move to demand that additional seats be provided to represent Iraqi refugees who had fled the country. The election law states that a given number of seats must be given to the minority, internally displaced nationals and refugees in other countries.

The election law was sent back to parliament. The parliament has been delayed in producing the law and is already in doubt on whether they can revise it in time.

The US under agreement with Baghdad needs to withdraw its troops by the end of 2011. US President Barack Obama wants the troops out by August. The withdrawal can only start after a national election occurs.

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Iraq’s 2010 National Elections in Trouble

After Windows 7 and the announcement of the full release of Windows Azure, Microsoft is now releasing a public beta version for MS Office 2010. The general retail will be out Spring next year.

Improved features include the ability to backstage view, broadcast powerpoint slideshows,video editing in powerpoint, navigation pane in word, calendar preview in outlook, enhanced pivot tables and sparklines in excel and the outlook social connector to ride in with the current social networking rage.

New to the edition is the counterpart Office Web Apps. This is a free web-based version of Office. It includes Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

A public beta was also released for SharePoint Server 2010, Project 2010, Visio 2010 and Microsoft Office Mobile 2010. Anyone with a Windows 6.5 mobile phone can download and test the suite until April 5 next year.

The Mac OS X version will also be available next year.

For Office users, you can check what’s new via an online presentation and you can download the beta version.

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Microsoft Office 2010 Public Beta Now Available for Download

Uruguay managed a draw with Costa Rica Wednesday, November 18 and took the two-leg playoff 2-1 on aggregate enabling them to clinch the last of the 32 nation team slots for the 19th FIFA World Cup next year in South Africa.

Uruguay, host of the very first FIFA World Cup in 1930, had previously won the tournaments twice, during its hosting stint in 1930 and again in 1950. Costa Rica was trying to reach the finals for the third time.

Uruguay took the lead during the 69th minute courtesy of Sebastian Abreu but Costa Rica equalized four minutes later when Walter Centeno shot home from close to the penalty spot.

Nerves continued to rattle as the game was stopped for a few minutes near the end of the game after an argument between an Uruguayan camera crew positioned near the Costa Rican bench.

Only 7 nations had won the world cup, England (of the United Kingdom), France, Uruguay, Argentina, West Germany (now just Germany), Italy and record holder Brazil (5 times).

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Uruguay Clinches Last World Cup Slot