Hulu, a new and legal way to watch tv sitcoms online

By David Levasseur

Today NBC and News Corp. launched Hulu.com. Hulu is a streaming video website the two media giants hope will combat the illegal file sharing epidemic of video content through p2p sites like youtube.
Hulu's agenda is huge and they are hoping to take over Youtube's place on the Internet by investing big money(including $100 million in private equity) and a total valuation reportedly worth $1 billion. Hulu is currently in invitation-only Beta testing mode(email required) and you will not even be able to watch your favorite tv sitcoms and other programming until October.
NBC and News Corp. are far from being the only media companies with illegal content file sharing issues on their plates. It seems like everybody in the broadcasting and entertainment industry are competing to be the front runners in the ever changing information world. Traditional advertising is clearly a thing of the past. I expect Hulu to come up with some very creative new methods of earning advertisers' dollars.
Why the name Hulu? Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu, says, "Why Hulu? Objectively, Hulu is short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and rhymes with itself. Subjectively, Hulu strikes us as an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we're building. Our hope is that Hulu will embody our (admittedly ambitious) never-ending mission, which is to help you find and enjoy the world's premier content when, where and how you want it."

I think we will be hearing a lot more about Hulu in the next little while, but will it achieve its' goals? Time will tell.

When I grow up, I want to be a...

Painter! More specifically a Japanese body painting artist



Thanks to Random Citations for the pictures.

What is better than a velvet hattrick?

In case you don't already know what the velvet hat trick is, Let me tell you.
The Velvet hattrick is a sly way of saying I had santa fe funnel cake or a peppermint bobsled, or my personal favorite (because I am from Winnipeg) the Manitoba snow cone!

In simpler terms a velvet hat trick is a clever? way of saying you had sex in all 3 available places a women has to offer. Check it out for yourself.

Enter your search terms Submit search form

Any way I believe I asked what is better than a velvet hattrick? The answer:
The Velvet Underground's Venus in furs


Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather
Whiplash girlchild in the dark
Clubs and bells, your servant, dont forsake him
Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart

Downy sins of streetlight fancies
Chase the costumes she shall wear
Ermine furs adorn the imperious
Severin, severin awaits you there

I am tired, I am weary
I could sleep for a thousand years
A thousand dreams that would awake me
Different colors made of tears

Kiss the boot of shiny, shiny leather
Shiny leather in the dark
Tongue of thongs, the belt that does await you
Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart

Severin, severin, speak so slightly
Severin, down on your bended knee
Taste the whip, in love not given lightly
Taste the whip, now plead for me

I am tired, I am weary
I could sleep for a thousand years
A thousand dreams that would awake me
Different colors made of tears

Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather
Whiplash girlchild in the dark
Severin, your servant comes in bells, please dont forsake him
Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart

Testicle slapping

Only in Japan could they get away with this!

Who would marry Mary Ann Bevan?

Thomas Bevan with whom she would have four children.


I used to think I had a good sense of what ugly was, but

Mary Ann Bevan was the world's self proclaimed ugliest woman and I will not disagree.



Mary Ann Bevan (born Mary Ann Webster, 20 December 1874 – 26 December 1933) was named as "the ugliest woman in the world" in the early 20th century after developing acromegaly(a form of progressive giantism that causes abnormal growth and distortion of the facial features, as well as headaches, failing eyesight and joint and muscle pain). Bevan was Born in Plaistow, London as one of eight children, and worked as a nurse for much of her younger life.

Around the year 2000 Mary Ann Bevans's image was used by Hallmark Cards on a birthday card in the United Kingdom making reference to the dating show Blind Date. This was poorly received and a complaint was made by a Dutch doctor that it made fun of a woman who had become physically deformed as the result of a disease. Hallmark decided that the card was indeed inappropriate and removed it from shop shelves. Blog Plus Ultra decided that it was o.k. to show these pictures because plusultra is indeed inappropriate and feels better about himself when making fun of others.

RapidSearch

RapidSearch is a cool new site I just discovered where you can buy DVDs, Music and Games. All of their entertainment products are well organized into easy to search categories and sub-categories. For example in the DVD Animation area I found the ultra cool Schoolhouse Rock! (Special 30th Anniversary Edition)dvd and in the Music Outlaw and Progressive Country category I found a Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison c.d. You should check it out.

Is Blog Plus Ultra the Ne Plus Ultra of Blogs?

Ne!
Blog Plus Ultra is the plusultra of everything.
My motto is Ever Higher Ever Farther Ever Better
Plus ultra is the Right View
Plus ultra is the Right Intention
Plus ultra is the Right Speech
Plus ultra is the Right Action
Plus ultra is the Right Livelihood
Plus ultra is the Right Effort
Plus ultra is the Right Mindfulness
Plus ultra is the Right Concentration

The death of Fidel Castro?

The rumor That Fidel Castro is dead has been circulating the internet a whole lot lately. The latest Fidel Castro news is coming from perezhilton.com. This is not the first time people have been claiming Cuban leader Fidel Castro dead. In fact Fidel Castro dies every few days lately it seems. According to perezhilton.com the announcement that Fidel Castro died will be made at approximately 4:00 P.M. Eastern today. So, Is Fidel Castro dead? Leave a comment below.

Playboy U high schoolers, old dudes and your Mom can't join.

If you want to enroll at Playboy U, the new exclusive college-only non-nude social network launched today. Here is where you can show your school pride, connect with other students and celebrate the social side of college. Playbou U is incorporating, in true Hugh Heffner style an exclusive "members only" kind of status by only allowing people with .edu emails required.

Press Release

"Playboy U's mix of journalism, entertainment and cross-campus dialogue is distinct within social networking," said Scott Stephen, EVP of Operations, Playboy Entertainment Group. "We like to think of Playboy U as a 'campus social advisor' helping students make the most of their college experience. It's a completely different experience from what other social networks in the market have to offer."

Playboy U is open to college students 18 years of age and older with a valid .edu address. The community encourages user-generated content and dialogue about relationships, student life, social responsibility, and pop culture, and the site will showcase members' writing, photography, and videos. Playboy U also features school pages moderated by an official Playboy U student rep where members can show off their school pride and exchange news, event information, and messages. Additionally, the site offers uniquely Playboy content such as party photos, videos, contributions from Playboy personalities, and online and real world events.



Playboy U will have a unique multimedia format in conjunction with Playboy Radio. "The Playboy U Radio Show" will air its first show Wednesday, September 5 at 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Playboy Radio, exclusively on Sirius Satellite Radio. The weekly program will bring the site to life by profiling members and campus content. It will also feature advice segments, campus news, and student callers discussing college life.

Would You Like Lies With That?

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001) is a book by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser that examines the local and global influence of the United States fast food industry. First serialized by Rolling Stone in 1999...Schlosser examines the history and growth of fast food restaurants in American culture. Schlosser argues that the fast food industry wields powerful economic — and therefore political — influence on American culture and exploits that influence to increase profits at the expense of public health and of the social conditions of its workers. In making that argument, however, he insightfully portrays the fast food culture as a unique product of American history and the culture's relation to the emergence of the automobile, the homogenization of corporate culture, changes in labor conditions, and economic globalization. He also provides respectful biographies of some of the industry's "founding fathers", including Carl Karcher, Ray Kroc, and others. The fast food industry, writes Schlosser, "has helped to transform not only the American diet, but also our landscape, economy, workforce, and popular culture." From Wikipedia










You Do What You Eat

Br Marco Visscher
From Ode Magazine

Forget tougher punishments and hiring more police. The solution to crime and violence is on your plate. Here’s how healthy food can reduce aggressive behaviour.

At first glance there seems nothing special about the students at this high school in Appleton, Wisconsin. They appear calm, interact comfortably with one another, and are focused on their schoolwork. No apparent problems.

And yet a couple of years ago, there was a police officer patrolling the halls at this school for developmentally challenged students. Many of the students were troublemakers, there was a lot of fighting with teachers and some of the kids carried weapons. School counsellor Greg Bretthauer remembers that when he first came to Appleton Central Alternative High School back in 1997 for a job interview: “I found the students to be rude, obnoxious and ill-mannered.” He had no desire to work with them, and turned down the job.

Several years later, Bretthauer took the job after seeing that the atmosphere at the school had changed profoundly. Today he describes the students as “calm and well-behaved” in a new video documentary, Impact of Fresh, Healthy Foods on Learning and Behavior. Fights and offensive behaviour are extremely rare and the police officer is no longer needed. What happened?

A glance through the halls at Appleton Central Alternative provides the answer. The vending machines have been replaced by water coolers. The lunchroom took hamburgers and French fries off the menu, making room for fresh vegetables and fruits, whole-grain bread and a salad bar.

Is that all? Yes, that’s all. Principal LuAnn Coenen is still surprised when she speaks of the “astonishing” changes at the school since she decided to drastically alter the offering of food and drinks eight years ago. “I don’t have the vandalism. I don’t have the litter. I don’t have the need for high security.”

It is tempting to dismiss what happened at Appleton Central Alternative as the wild fantasies of health-food and vitamin-supplement fanatics. After all, scientists have never empirically investigated the changes at the school. Healthy nutrition—especially the effects of vitamin and mineral supplements—appears to divide people into opposing camps of fervent believers, who trust the anecdotes about diets changing people’s lives, and equally fervent sceptics, who dismiss these stories as hogwash.

And yet it is not such a radical idea, that food can affect the way our brains work—and thus our behaviour. The brain is an active machine: It only accounts for two percent of our body weight, but uses a whopping 20 percent of our energy. In order to generate that energy, we need a broad range of nutrients—vitamins, minerals and unsaturated fatty acids—that we get from nutritious meals. The question is: What are the consequences when we increasingly shovel junk food into our bodies?

It is irrefutably true that our eating habits have dramatically changed over the past 30-odd years. “Convenience foods” has become a catch-all term that covers all sorts of frozen, microwaved and out-and-out junk foods. The ingredients of the average meal have been transported thousands of kilometres before landing on our plates; it’s not hard to believe that some of the vitamins were lost in the process.

We already know obesity can result if we eat too much junk food, but there may be greater consequences of unhealthy diets than extra weight around our middles. Do examples like the high school in Wisconsin point to a direct connection between nutrition and behaviour? Is it simply coincidence that the increase in aggression, crime and social incivility in Western society has paralleled a spectacular change in our diet? Could there be a link between the two?

Stephen Schoenthaler, a criminal-justice professor at California State University in Stanislaus, has been researching the relationship between food and behaviour for more than 20 years He has proven that reducing the sugar and fat intake in our daily diets leads to higher IQs and better grades in school. When Schoenthaler supervised a change in meals served at 803 schools in low-income neighbourhoods in New York City, the number of students passing final exams rose from 11 percent below the national average to five percent above. He is best known for his work in youth detention centers. One of his studies showed that the number of violations of house rules fell by 37 percent when vending machines were removed and canned food in the cafeteria was replaced by fresh alternatives. He summarizes his findings this way: “Having a bad diet right now is a better predictor of future violence than past violent behaviour.”

But Schoenthaler’s work is under fire. A committee from his own university has recommended suspending him for his allegedly improper research methods: Schoenthaler didn’t always use a placebo as a control measure and his group of test subjects wasn’t always chosen at random. This criticism doesn’t refute Schoenthaler’s research that nutrition has an effect on behaviour. It means most of his studies simply lack the scientific soundness needed to earn the respect of his colleagues.

Recent research that—even Schoenthaler’s critics admit—was conducted flawlessly, showed similar conclusions. Bernard Gesch, physiologist at the University of Oxford, decided to test the anecdotal clues in the most thorough study so far in this field. In a prison for men between the ages of 18 and 21 in England’s Buckinghamshire, 231 volunteers were divided into two groups: One was given nutrition supplements along with their meals that contained our approximate daily needs for vitamins, minerals and fatty acids; the other group got placebos. Neither the prisoners, nor the guards, nor the researchers at the prison knew who took fake supplements and who got the real thing.

The researchers then tallied the number of times the participants violated prison rules, and compared it to the same data that had been collected in the months leading up to the nutrition study. The prisoners given supplements for four consecutive months committed an average of 26 percent fewer violations compared to the preceding period. Those given placebos showed no marked change in behaviour. For serious breaches of conduct, particularly the use of violence, the number of violations decreased 37 percent for the men given nutrition supplements, while the placebo group showed no change.

The experiment was carefully constructed, ruling out the possibility that ethnic, social, psychological or other variables could affect the outcome. Prisons are popular places to conduct studies for good reason: There is a strict routine; participants sleep and exercise the same number of hours every day and eat the same things at the same time. Says John Copas, professor in statistical methodology at the University of Warwick: “This is the only trial I have ever been involved with from the social sciences which is designed properly and with a good analysis.” As a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, Gesch emerges with convincing scientific proof that poor nutrition plays a role in triggering aggressive behaviour.

Indeed, the study proves what every parent already knows. Serve soda and candy at a children’s birthday party and you’ll get loud, hyperactive behaviour followed by tears and tantrums.

It works like this: Blood-sugar levels jump suddenly after you eat sugar, which initially gives you a burst of fresh energy. But then your blood sugar falls, and you become lethargic and sleepy. In an attempt to prevent blood-sugar levels from falling too low, your body produces adrenalin, which makes you irritable and explosive.

But sugar can’t be the only problem. After all, high blood-sugar levels mainly have a short-term effect on behaviour, while the research of Schoenthaler and Gesch indicates changes over a longer period. They suggest it is much more important that you get the right amount of vitamins, minerals and unsaturated fatty acids because these substances directly influence the brain, and therefore behaviour.

If these findings prove true, and they do look convincing, then we should be sounding an alarm about good nutrition. What are the long-term implications of the fact that the quality of our farmland has sharply declined in recent decades? The use of artificial fertilizer for years on end has diminished the levels of important minerals like magnesium, chromium and selenium, therefore present in much lower concentrations in our food.

The eating habits of children and young people also should be a cause for serious concern. Their diets now are rich in sugar, fats and carbohydrates, and poor in vegetables and fruit. Add to this an increasing lack of exercise among kids, and the problem becomes even worse. The World Health Organization (WHO) talks of an epidemic of overweight among children. Obesity, the official name for serious weight problems, is said to absorb up to six percent of the total health budget—a cautious estimate as all kinds of related diseases cannot be included in the exact calculation. Think of what this situation will look like when the current generation of overweight kids hits middle age.

The link between food and health is better understood by most people than the relationship between food and behaviour, so health has become the driving force behind many public campaigns to combat overweight. A discussion has arisen in a number of countries about introducing a tax on junk food, the proceeds of which would be spent on promoting healthy eating. In Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced in May he planned to spend an extra 280 million pounds (the equivalent of 420 million euros or $500 million U.S.) on improving school lunches after the famous television chef Jamie Oliver began speaking out on the issue.

Yet with crime a major political issue almost everywhere, it’s surprising more leaders have not embraced the idea of healthy eating as a recipe for safe streets and schools. After Gesch published his findings in 2002 in The British Journal of Psychiatry, the study was picked up by European and American media. The newspaper headlines were clear: “Healthy eating can cut crime”; “Eat right or become a criminal”; “Youth crime linked to consumption of junk food”; “Fighting crime one bite at a time.” Then the media went deafeningly silent.

Perhaps that’s because the relationship between nutrition and violence continues to be controversial in established professional circles. During their educations, doctors and psychologists are given scant training in nutrition, criminologists provided little awareness of biochemistry, and nutritionists offered no hands-on experience with lawbreakers or the mentally ill. As a result, the link between food and behaviour winds up in no-man’s-land. Even researchers interested in the subject are discouraged—not least of all because you can’t get a patent on natural nutrients like vitamins and minerals. Far more effort goes into pharmaceutical, rather than dietary, solutions.

The Netherlands currently is the only country where Gesch’s research is being explored. Plans to test the findings about nutrition supplements and behaviour further are being set up in 14 prisons, with nearly 500 subjects. Ap Zaalberg, leading the project for the Dutch Ministry of Justice, remembers how he and his colleagues reacted when they first heard of Gesch’s study. “Disbelief,” he states resolutely. “This was surely not true. But when I looked into the issue more closely, I landed in a world of hard science.”

Zaalberg knows diet is not the only factor that determines whether someone exhibits aggressive behaviour. “Aggression is not only determined by nutrition,” he states. “Background and drug use, for example, also play a role. Yet I increasingly see the introduction of vitamins and minerals as a very rational approach.” “Most criminal-justice systems assume that criminal behaviour is entirely a matter of free will,” Gesch says. “But how exactly can you exercise free will without involving your brain? How exactly can the brain function without an adequate nutrient supply? Nutrition in fact could be a major player and, for sure, we have seriously underestimated its importance. I think nutrition may actually be one of the most straightforward factors to change antisocial behaviour. And we know that it’s not only highly effective, it’s also cheap and humane.”

Cheap it is. Natural Justice, the British charity institution chaired by Gesch, which is researching “the origins of anti-social and criminal behaviour,” estimates it would cost 3.5 million pounds (5.3 million euros or 6.4 million U.S. dollar) to provide supplements to all the prisoners in Great Britain. That is only a fraction of the current prison budget of 2 billion pounds (3 billion euros or 3.6 billion U.S. dollar).

It seems the link between nutrition and antisocial behaviour shows great promise as both political issue and human-interest story. How much longer will politicians concentrate on police and stricter surveillance as the answer to crime? When will they realize healthy food can help create a healthier society? After all, people would not only be more productive, but the cost of health care and of the criminal-justice system would decline. As is the case for a man’s love, the way to safety may be through the stomach.

As Bernard Gesch notes, “Few scientists are not convinced that diet is fundamental for the development of the human brain. Is it plausible that in the last 50 years we could have made spectacular changes to the human diet without any implications for the brain? I don’t think so. Now, evidence is mounting that putting poor fuel into the brain significantly affects social behaviour. We need to know more about the composition of the right nutrients. It could be the recipe for peace.”



Food Facts
From Media Awareness

Call it fast food, snack food or even junk food - North Americans love it! Here are some interesting facts about junk food.

In the United States, the food industry spends more than $33 billion a year to advertise products that are mostly loaded with fat, salt and sugar.

Every month, more than 90 per cent of the children in the United States eat at McDonald's

The American National Cancer Institute spends $1 million per year to encourage people to eat fruits and vegetables.

Over the past twenty-five years, American researchers have found an increase in fast-food commercials during children's television programming - with many of these commercials emphasizing larger portions.

According to the Canadian Paediatric Society, most food advertising on children's TV shows is for fast foods, soft drinks, candy and pre-sweetened cereals - while commercials for healthy food make up only 4 per cent of those shown.

During the 1950s, the typical soft drink order at a fast food restaurant contained about eight ounces of soda. Today, a "child" order of Coke at McDonalds is twelve ounces, and a large Coke is thirty-two ounces (and about 310 calories!).

Fast food companies make higher profits on soft drinks than on their food products.

McDonalds is the largest owner of private playgrounds in North America.

In 1997, Americans spent over $54 billion on soft drinks.

Twelve- to nineteen-year-old boys drink an average of 868 cans of pop per year. Girls drink about one-fourth less - about 651 cans per year.

A super-sized order of McDonald's fries contains 610 calories and 29 grams of fat. Other brands aren't much better: a king-sized order of Burger King's fries packs 590 calories and 30 grams of fat.

Per ounce, Chicken McNuggets contain twice as much fat as hamburger.

In the United States, obesity is second only to smoking as a cause of death.

In Canada, 46 per cent of adults are overweight or obese. Over the past twenty years, obesity rates for Canadian kids have tripled.

The American artificial flavour industry - the industry that's behind the great taste of much of the snack food we consume - has annual revenues of approximately $1.4 billion.

And speaking of artificial flavouring - a typical strawberry milkshake contains approximately fifty artificial ingredients to create that great "strawberry" taste!

Yuwie Yuwie Yuwie

I just joined Yuwie. It seems to be another good way for bloggers like youie and meiee to make good money. How? Just click below.

Psychedelic Sunday

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Potfest, Beerfest,Hempfest, which is the best fest?

Potfest (Organised by Chris and Geoff Cox), is held in the grounds of Hutton-in-the-Forest stately home, and attracts ceramic artists from around the world



The work on display at Potfest in the Park is of the highest quality and is now recognised as one of the premier ceramics shows in Europe.








Beerfest is a beer-themed comedy film by the comedy group Broken Lizard released 2006.

Broken Lizard is a comedy group best known for its films Super Troopers, Club Dread, and Beerfest. The five members of the group are Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske. They all jointly write and act in their films, with Chandrasekhar as director.

The final scene with the message "Coming Soon - Potfest" was confirmed by Broken Lizard as a joke to make this film have an open-ended feel. The troupe said there has been fan support to create the sequel, which might be made as an animated film.






Seattle Hempfest is an annual event in Seattle, Washington, the world's largest annual gathering demanding legalization of marijuana for uses including but not limited to medicinal, industrial, and recreational. Founded in 1991 as the Washington Hemp Expo, a self-described "humble gathering of stoners" attended by only 500 people, it has grown into a 2-day annual event with attendance typically over 100,000.

Seattle Hempfest is held the third weekend in August. This year's event is August 18-19, 2007 at Myrtle Edwards Park on the beautiful Seattle waterfront, just north of Pier 70 at the corner of Alaskan Way and Broad Street.

Admission to Seattle Hempfest is free.






So, which fest is the best fest?

Spider-Man before and after

The original Spiderman theme song


Is he strong? Listen bud, he's got radio-active blood.
Can he swing from a thread? Take a look, overhead!
Hey there! There goes the Spider-man.
In the chill of night, at the scene of a crime.
Like a streak of light, he arrives just in time.
Spider-Man! Spider-man!
Friendly neighborhood Spider-man!
Wealth and fame he's ignored, action is his reward.
To him, life is a great big bang up, wherever there's a hang up, you'll find the Spider-man!

Ramones-Spider-Man


Made with The Sims2 & Windows Movie Maker. by Zsuigres

CRM lead management software by AIMpromote

What is crm software? The AIMpromote system is a very easy to use Customer relationship management (CRM) tool that also allows the account holder to sell leads before, after, or instead of making a sale themselves. They are the technology leaders in sales lead management. Making sales in today's competitive market requires that prospective clients be shown more attention than ever before. AIMpromote subscribers are able to send out several promotional pieces spread out over a pre-configured period of time to a specific subset of their leads. This kind of technology empowers companies in any industry to more effectively generate, delegate, and report on leads and the teams that manage them. CLOSE MORE SALES than ever before by signing up today for the 14-day free trial. The site offers many features that will help make your website more profitable. Get alerts and reminders about neglected leads, upcoming tasks, and overdue tasks. Another point worth mentioning is that AIMpromote.com is an on-demand software, sometimes referred to as software-as-a-service. This means that there is no software to download or install. Don't just listen to me, check out the site's testimonials from extremely satisfied customers like, "We have been extremely pleased with the support which AIMpromote has provided to us. Their support staff is very friendly, very professional and extremely knowledgeable about their product."

Gross Ornate Golden Baboon spider

The aptly named Suffolk SPCA chief Roy Gross was called in to a Rocky Point man's home today for something Gross indeed, a Hairy fat spider that is capable of jumping three feet and delivering a bite of toxic venom equal to a scorpion's. The man said he had been keeping it as a pet, but was now suffering from a classic case of Ornate golden baboon spider arachnophobia.

Is it just me, or does that guy sounds really dumb?