The foreign exchange market (currency, FOREX or FX) Trades currencies, or simply lets say buy or sell currencies from banks or to banks and other financial institutions. The main purpose of Foreign currency exchange is to promote ...
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Our American Flag by The American Illuminati.
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Our Capitol by The American Illuminati.
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Our First Flag by The American Illuminati.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Filed under: Computers, Video Games, Green Tech, Gift News, holiday gift, Featured Stories
Greenpeace has been making a lot of noise lately with its attacks on Apple for using nasty stuff in the iPhone and in general for not being very green. Apple is implementing plans for getting greener, and now it seems Greenpeace is moving on to, well, greener pastures, attacking a whole boatload of tech companies with its latest Guide to Greener Electronics.
The guide rates electronics manufacturers based largely on their commitment to recycling old gear and reducing the use of toxic compounds in new stuff. This is the first time Greenpeace has chosen to include Nintendo in the list, and it has ranked the Wii-maker dead last -- not because the motion-sensing abilities of the Wiimotes are powered by globs of toxic waste, but instead simply because the company doesn't provide any information about things such as what it's doing for recycling and when it plans to phase out the use of PVC.
Nintendo's competitor in the video game battle, Microsoft, is also new to the list and also scores low, though slightly better than Nintendo, thanks to having a plan for phasing out the use of PVC and other materials that result in the creation of toxic compounds. Sony, the third player in the current console war, scores much higher in the green rankings thanks largely to its acceptance of expired electronics from Japanese consumers for recycling.
We here at Switched find this ordering somewhat confusing. Sony's console, the PlayStation 3, is by far the most power hungry of the three, drawing 200-plus watts of electricity when playing games. Microsoft's Xbox 360 averages a somewhat more efficient 145 watts, while Nintendo's Wii uses just 15-20 watts, which is less than 10-percent of the power of Sony's machine! Yet Nintendo is ranked as the worst electronics maker on the planet? We think Greenpeace should care a little more about the pollution caused by power generation.
Top of the charts was Sony's celly spin-off Sony Ericsson, which has already phased out the use of PVC to a large extent, while most others are still just thinking about it.
From Greenpeace (via Engadget)
Related Links:
- iPhone Bad For Environment, Says Greenpeace
- Apple Responds to Greenpeace, Gets Sued
- Apple Getting Greener
Read More... [Source: Switched]
The Fine English Company is a recently launched line of luxurious furniture, luggage and lifestyle accessories reminiscent of Britain's colonial past with a contemporary flair. Founded by former financial consultant Benedict Wormald, the company was born out of a desire to trade in his city lifestyle in London and turn a lifelong passion for classic British design and antiquities into a business. The Fine English Company's products combine traditional craftsmanship with its detailing of exotic animal skins, rare and native woods and veneers to create a range of collectible and desirable objects betokening the best of bespoke British luxury,
With 15 years of experience sourcing unusual items and commissioning bespoke products, Benedict worked tirelessly to create the Fine English Company's first collection, a selection of which is now available at Holland & Holland, the famous London gunmaker established in 1835 and holder of the Royal Warrant. The core range includes steamer trunks finished with exquisite detailing and exotic zebra and giraffe skins, for £2,750 - £5,750. Larger furniture pieces include traditional leather armchairs, sofas and footstools, and club-style fireplace fenders upholstered in tweed, zebra and giraffe skin giving them a contemporary flair.
Fine English also has range of smaller items for sporting gentlemen including traditional handmade slippers with leather soles in a range of animal skins, bold tweed, and for the pocket pirate, a skull and crossbones. Also available are a number of iconic humidors for the busy plutocrat with rich wood finishes such as ebony, macassar and walnut, some decorated with the skull and bones (£2,500) or iconic Union Jack. Also a collection of stunning bespoke pocket knives featuring William Morris acanthus engraving, 18k pink gold with gold lipped pearl details, Damascus steel blades and ivory from the woolly mammoth, rivaling creations from the world's finest gun and watch makers.
A well-curated collection of fine antiques is also on offer, drawn from military, architecture, automotive, aeronautical and sporting pursuits and restored to perfection. Of course the company offers a complete bespoke service as well; if you can conceive of it, Wormald promises to make it happen - he claims to have never turned down any client's request. From unique taxidermy - one recent example being the finest Van Ingen Tiger to be seen in Europe - to whole games rooms, gun rooms, dramatic architectural statement pieces and even a mahogany WC seat with the skull and bones motif, Fine English will furnish it to your requirements.
Filed under: Apparel, Cigars, Decor, Art, Sports, Men's Style, The Classicist
The Classicist: Bespoke British Luxury from the Fine English Company originally appeared on Luxist on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You’ve toiled away endlessly on your holiday display, possibly risking your life — or at least a few staple gun cuts — to best your neighbors and their dancing inflatable snowmen. But you’ve done it, and now your lights are up for the whole neighborhood to enjoy.
Before you start celebrating your Christmas victory, however, take a gander at Ric Turner’s mind-blowing holiday light extravaganza. The former Disney “imagineer” has outdone his own creations from holidays’ past, and turned his house into one big, bright game of Guitar Hero he calls Christmas Light Hero. Yeah, you can’t really compete with that.
The visually stunning light show is timed and choreographed just perfectly with a very real game of Guitar Hero, as played with the Wii wireless guitar controller. Perfection didn’t come easily, though: Turner used 21,268 lights and LEDs. The end result is simply dazzling.
Christmas Light Hero
How’d He Do That?
Curious about Turner’s methodology? Here’s what Turner told Make about his out-of-the-box Christmas light configuration:
“Christmas Light Hero is using 7 light controllers from Light-O-Rama built from kits to control 21,268 lights and LEDs. Each controller has 16 outputs and 2-3 TTL level control inputs that are used by the game system to fire different programmed light sequences depending on what happens in the game. It relies on the fact that the game sequence is very consistent. If the game and the lighting sequences start together, they will stay in very good sync through the length of the song. The light program allows branching and overlays for fail, star power and ‘ready.’ I have some ideas to automate the initial show/game sync, but for now you have to push doorbell buttons at the right moments.
To program the show a video recording was made of a perfect round of Guitar Hero playing Eric Johnson’s ‘Cliffs of Dover.’ The timing of all the dots and the light show choreography follow that video.
When you play, you watch only the Christmas lights, but the audio you hear is from the Wii, so your flubs are broadcast for all to hear (people in cars can tune 99.1 and crank it up as loud as they want.) When we are not playing, a separate version of the program that has the audio from the recorded game plays with the lights as a loop. The YouTube video also has this audio, (because I forgot to record the direct audio when I was shooting the documentation, and the camcorder did not pick it up very well.)
A video screen is on the driveway showing the game video, but if you want to be on the high score list you have to make it through the whole game only watching the Christmas Lights. Even though the game is in “easy” mode, the lights don’t provide the same timing detail as the game does, so it is much harder. Even expert Guitar Hero players have a hard time with the lights, and nobody has made it through without errors (yet).”
This is perhaps the coolest holiday light show we’ve ever seen. If your dad is anything mine ��think overly competitive with holiday lights ��then this might be one viral video you might consider not passing along.
[via CNET]
Tags: christmas light hero, ric turner, viral video
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California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was recently spotted in Milan, Italy shopping at a Franck Muller boutique store. While Schwarzenegger is a well known watch lover, I was not previously aware that he was a fan of Franck Muller timepieces. Now I know. For those of you that don't know, Arnold is a big fan of big watches. Luxury watch brands have been known to make special timepieces just for him. One relatively recent watch I hear that he purchased was sized at a whopping 60mm wide. To my knowledge, Franck Muller doesn't make anything this large, but they have some hefty timepieces.
The reports aren't clear as to what, if anything Schwarzenegger purchased. He spent some time in the store, as you can see by the candid security camera images. Perhaps if he is helping to save one fiscally troubled entity, he might also refocus his efforts on the State over which he is currently presiding as governor - that probably needs his help more.
Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.
Via Business Montres (in French).
Filed under: Timepieces, Celebrity Shopping
Schwarzenegger Spotted In Franck Muller Watch Store originally appeared on Luxist on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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MLA hopes to dump fees on government cheques Winnipeg Free Press ... now a spokesman for the Siloam Mission. He called the Conservative MLA's proposed law "a worthy idea" that "perhaps should have been done a long time ago." Tory Suggests No Fees On Government Cheques |
Read More... [Source: Conservative - Google News]
Filed under: Borrowing, Home, Mortgages
Someone recently sent WalletPop a press release detailing what claimed to be one of those "eliminate your debt" strategies.This one hinges on something called a "mortgage checking account." It's similar to a mortgage elimination scheme that proliferated in Australia a few years back and hopped onto our shores under a different name.
In this 2007 article, the Boston Globe explored what was then being called a "line-of-credit" mortgage and concluded that the scheme was more about marketing than merit.
The plan pitched to us by a company called MoneyDesktop purports to let you pay off your mortgage via a home equity line of credit (HELOC). In theory, you take out a home equity line of credit, deposit your paychecks into that line of credit instead of a checking account, and write a check paying down your mortgage in the amount you've just deposited.
Continue reading Mortgage payoff pitch is no panacea
Mortgage payoff pitch is no panacea originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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