Searching for Utopia

New Kids’ new album The Block will hit the stores on September 2. Yay! I know, it’s been so long, right? The single Summertime is not so bad, but it’s mediocre at best. The album however, is more promising with appearances from Pussycat Dolls and New Edition. And soon they’re dropping a new single featuring Ne-Yo. It’s called — well, Single.

Click here to listen to it. What do you think?

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What happened when Prince Charles met Dita Von Teese?

He invited her to perform at Prince Harry’s 24th birthday in September. For real.

Well, maybe it wasn’t really his fault. Apparently he had no idea who Ms Von Teese was. When asked what she did for a living, Dita replied, “I’m a dancer.”

“Poor Charles was so embarrassed when he realised what he’d done. He genuinely had no idea about her raunchy stage act,” said one witness.

“She was stunned when he suggested the idea, explaining that his son loved a good dance.

“But he gnawed his fist to within an inch of its knuckle when his aides explained what sort of dancing she did for a living.”

I thought Dita was proud of her job, so why so stringy with words? In any case, Prince Harry wouldn’t have minded having her in his big day.

What’s one thing you can’t live without, when you live abroad like me? I know, most probably it’s your favorite food. Well, then the second thing after that should be a cheap international calling card to keep in touch with your family and friends.

Of course there are many ways to communicate with them, when you’ve settled in the new place, especially with internet connection of your own. But there were a time for us when we had nothing but two suitcases in our hotel room. And that’s when an international phone cards would be important. Travellers take note! Arm yourselves with one before travelling.

Still don’t know where to buy one? Do visit getmecallingcards and take your pick. It’s one of the largest retailers of calling cards which allows people to call from 153 countries around the world. If you stay in Singapore, calling an Indonesian fixed phone will be charged as low as 16.1¢/minute.

If you live in the US, click here to find out the rates for overseas calls.

Why did I mention the US, I hear you ask. Well, US residents are eligible to receive 3% cash rebate on purchases from getmecallingcards.com. It’s free, and there are no limits to the amount you can acquire within the program period. You can earn cash back on every time you buy online.

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As expecting parents, lately we get questions about our baby’s name. We may have considered a name or two, but right now I’m not going into the details. Rest assure that it won’t be anything like Pilot Inspektor, Kal-El, Fifi Trixibelle, nor Maddox Chivan Thornton Jolie; um, I mean Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt.

Choosing names for our babies can be difficult, yet exciting. For me, a name is the parents’ prayer for their child. It’s therefore important that we pay attention to the meaning of our chosen names. Apart from that, make sure that at least they won’t embarrass your children once they grow up. It’s them who will have to bear the name for the rest of their lives anyways.

Some parents in New Zealand have apparently forgotten about it. The revelation came after a nine-year-old “Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii” asked for her name to be changed for fear of being bullied. To her friends, she’s otherwise only known as “K”. Other names found among children in New Zealand are including Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Benson and Hedges (twins).

So if you live in New Zealand, remember that you must adhere to the following criteria to name your child:

* Must not cause offence to a reasonable person

* Must not be unreasonably long (less than 100 characters long including spaces)

* Must not be without adequate justification, be, include or resemble and official title or rank

* Does not use punctuation marks, brackets or numbers

ICUMSA, or the International Commission For Uniform Methods Of Sugar Analysis, sets the standard for sugar analysis tests to accurately tells the properties of sugar — which is acknowledged by all buyers and sellers around the globe.

Icumsa rates Icumsa 45 as the highest quality sugar for its safety. While raw sugar is sometimes contaminated by bacteria, Icumsa 45 goes through a special refining process to remove all these contaminants. Thus all health conscious countries seek to purchase this kind of sugar. Well, I suppose there is no need for me to go on with the danger of these contaminants, is there?

Anyways, Brazil is the top sugar grower and exporter in the world. Sugar from Brazil is highly sought after in the international market due to its high quality, and now they’ve come up once again with this Icumsa 45.

But of course, unless you work in a sugar trading company, you may not want to bother yourself to import this kind of sugar directly from Brazil. Just remember that the whiter the sugar, the more refined it is — healthier, that is.

So, in case you haven’t, replace your sugar with Icumsa 45.

The European Commission has maintained a ban on all Indonesian airlines flying to the European Union, saying that Indonesia had not introduced an efficient safety oversight regime and that safety gains had not yet been assessed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Having hoped that the ban would be lifted by the end of July, obbviously Indonesia are unhappy with the decision. Foreign ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah even issued a comment that the ban could be politically motivated.

The ban was first imposed on 51 airlines last year after a series of accidents occured, including an Adam Air plane which killed everyone on board.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has delayed his plan to travel to Europe, to talk about the fuel prices hike. Stating his stand on this matter, he would only visit EU states on board Garuda Indonesia.

The disappointment is unsurprising. Indonesia’s tourism has greatly suffered from strings of natural disasters, and also terrorist attacks. Without doubt, most people must think that the ban would only mean another blow.

I am too shamed, naturally. But I beg to differ on the last point. Even before the ban, in recent years there have been no airlines from Indonesia which fly to Europe — except through code-share agreements. And do correct me if I’m wrong, but as far as I know the only airline to ever do so was Garuda Indonesia. Thus, isn’t it a bit ridiculous to delay other important issues, just to save the face of Garuda Indonesia? In any case, the government could just improve the airlines’ safety system to get the ban lifted. As Xinhua News Agency reported, Garuda only performede nine survey of 56 required from January through to April.

Can you sit around and do nothing with a dead body before your eyes?

Well, these people can. These holidaymakers are seen enjoying the sun on an Italian beach, only a few meters away from the bodies of two drowned Roma beggers. They didn’t even care to move while waiting for the bodies to be collected. I thought nobody would do that even near dog carcass, let alone human. I’m so wrong.

Are you doing online business? If yes, then you must be familiar with SEO. If you’re doing business online, but you have never heard of this term, then the more it’s important for you to continue reading this post.

SEO, or search engine optimization if you will, is the process of maximizing quality traffic to your website from search engines through search results. As you know, traffic is the most important thing to promote your site.

“How would you expect customers to use your service, if they can’t even find you?”

Depending on your budget, the easiest solution is to hire an SEO company. The best time to do so is at the earliest stage — that is when you’re planning to build a new site. Frequently, effective SEO may need to adopt some changes to your site in order to be search engine-friendly.

But fret not if you’re looking to improve your existing site. A good SEO should be able to help you.

Another solution is perhaps to pick up the skill yourself. This maybe more suitable for you bloggers out there. It will surely take more time and effort, but other than those two things, why not? Just make sure you learn from the expert.

Visit seo blog to get some ideas on how to boost your traffic.

Shitty performance has seemed to take its toll on Kimi Raikkonen. After hitting a photographer at Silverstone earlier this month, he lost his cool again. Mommies take note, it’s not safe to take your toddlers to F1 races. They could be hit by — um, the reigning world champion?

My uncle in Indonesia passed away from a heart failure last month. He was 59. The news came unexpected for our family. Although he had been diagnosed with high blood pressure, it never affected him as much.

But then again, what do I know about heart failure?

Most people would think that coronary artery disease, hypertension, and cardiomyopathy can lead to it. But frequently the causes are unknown. Such was the case with Hungarian Olympic champion canoeist György Kolonics who died last week. Without doubt, a canoe world champion would have been in healthier condition than myself.

Therefore, a bit more information on this subject wouldn’t hurt. Watch this heart failure video to learn more, and forward heartlibrary.com to everyone that might benefit from the info.

Another riot tainted Indonesia’s most prestigious soccer competition, Indonesia Super League (ISL). The big match between Persib Bandung and Persija Jakarta was suspended for 20 minutes. And this was only the second week—

More details coming soon!

“Great players are always hounded by great clubs. It’s a normal situation. There are other great players who are in the market who are good and who other clubs want. I have always been hounded, not only this year. It’s not strange for me, to see what happens.”

Cristiano Ronaldo whores his image out in the US.

Barcode Giant provide the best deals on barcode scanning, label printing, mobile computing, point-of-sale, and RFID equipment. Not only they offer the lowest rates for the biggest selection of products, but they can also deliver for free — that is if you reside in the US, of course.

Another thing is that their order processing system is hacker-safe, and they don’t release customer information to marketers. I know some online stores do.

This zebra 3844-z , for example, is available from as low as $438.80, while retail price is $795. If you need a printer for a variety of applications, such as prescription bottle labeling, laboratory specimen labeling, electrical component, mechanical part labeling, and shelf labeling with graphics, then this one is for you.

Visit their website at barcodegiant.com for more products.

I read this from one of the mailing lists I join. It says:

“Singapore has one of the worst road-fatality records among developed countries. In 2007, 2.6 deaths were logged for every 10,000 vehicles in Singapore, compared to 0.8 in Japan, 1.2 in Australia and 1.8 in the United States.”

For real. Last week I saw with my own eyes when a city bus hit somebody right at the corner of an intersection in Tampines. The victim was lying on the road. How fast can you drive in traffic lights anyway?

Well, even if you just leave your car in the car park for one whole week, you’d get at least two new dents on it.

Related article: Understanding Car Expenses in Singapore — for Dummies

Have you ever thought of becoming a life coach?

A professional life coach assists his or her clients to determine and reach their goals by applying different techniques of mentoring and counselling.

Sometimes one needs an expert’s help in order to discover their objectives in life or business. They could be anyone from entrepreneurs wanting to establish their business venture to individuals trying to change their careers. As long as the person wishes to improve their achievement, s/he would still benefit from the skills of a life coach.

This profession draws inspiration from sociology and psychology. That being said, not anyone can become a life coach. If you enjoy communicating with others, have desire as well as commitment to assist them in transforming their lives; then you can learn the skills to be a certified life coach.

If you wish to learn more, the Coaching Institute is the perfect place for you. It’s an award-winning provider of accredited life coach and executive Life Coaching Courses. Their website is only one click away at thecoachinginstitute.com.au.