Mind Soup

My friends and probably people who follow me on twitter probably know that I do not like Apple (probably much more than not liking - perhaps despising). I'm sick of people keep bombarding their Apple products in my face every time I say something, and I am sick of the shameless brainwashed promotions from live conversations to social media to TV programs and ads. Upon the request of one of my friends, I would like to share my reasons for this hatred to Apple as a whole, and not any certain product. The Apple brainwashed culture   It is perhaps what I hate about it the most: the over-zealous fans (or shall I call addicts) who are eating, drinking and breathing Apple and are basically walking billboards for the company. I like Google and Facebook and you don't see me shamelessly promoting them like crazy every chance I get. And it's not even just that, Apple owners think they are better than other people, that they are some sort of super-humans. Let me tell you this: o...

TELEGRAPH : Mark Boyle, 31, gave up using money in November 2008. He lives in a caravan that he got from Freecycle ( uk.freecycle.org ), which is parked at an organic farm near Bristol, where Boyle volunteers three days a week. He grows his own food, has a wood-burning stove and produces electricity from a solar panel (it cost £360 before the experiment started). He has a mobile phone for incoming calls only and a solar-powered laptop. Boyle, who has been vegan for six years, set up the Freeconomy in 2007 ( justfortheloveofit.org ), an online network that encourages people to share skills or possessions and now has 17,000 members. The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living (Oneworld Publications, £10.99) is out now. Mark Boyle gave up using cash over a year ago and loves his new lifestyle. "It all started in a pub. My friend and I were talking about all the problems in the world, such as sweatshops, environmental destruction, factory farms, animal testing, wars over reso...

Scientists at Stanford University are inching closer to a cure for noise induced hearing loss. Stereocilia, or the tiny hairs inside our ears, are an integral part of the hearing system. But overexposure to noise - such as experienced in music concerts or blasting tunes from an iPod - can permanently damage them, degrading a person's hearing over time. Researchers at Stanford, however, have hit a breakthrough in growing hair-like cells that function just like those in our ears. This could mean solutions for damaged hearing. Gizmag writes,  "[W]e’re born with 30,000 [stereocilia] per ear, but once they die off or get damaged, they’re gone for good. Stefan Heller, a professor of otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) at Stanford University, wants to change that. To that end, he recently succeeded in creating mouse hair cells in a petri dish. Could an end to deafness be far behind?" How Hairs In Our Ears Help Us Hear From the National Institute of Deafness and other Comm...

Cupertino, CA, United States (AHN) - With an alliterative nod to its popular iPod music and video playing devices, Apple on Wednesday unveiled the iPad, a touch-screen tablet computer. Chief Executive Steve Jobs introduced the device, shaped like an oversized iPhone, at company headquarters that had been anticipated for weeks by Mac fans and the media. The Wi-Fi-capable device contains a 1-gigaHertz chip, with more than 16 to 64 gigabytes of Flash ram. Like Apple's popular iPhone, the iPad runs Apple Store applications. Jobs said the tablet was designed with the environment in mind. It's highly recyclable as components are free of arsenic, BFT, PVC and mercury. The device can display full-size Web pages and its keyboard is nearly the same size as that of a desktop computer. Users can read books on its display, watch videos or play music. Potential sales for the iPad could be in the millions. In the first year the iPhone and iPod were released, each sold about...

I rummaged through my backpack, saffron lights gleaming brilliantly pale highlighted edges of steps a grumpy figure blocking my pathway I reached for my wallet and handed him two bills and a coin My bag clung on the cold metal stairs a loud echo tumbled along but no one seemed bothered. Rivers of words flowed clumsily through the dimness of the air, heavily clogged with jaded noise. I squinted at the eerie purple glow and dragged my bag across as it bumped and vibrated. Searching for a seat, seats that feel like carpets carpets that give severe rug-burn. There was only one seat left: squished between a family of five jam-packed on two seats and a young couple who were not so pleased to see me. I wanted to sit at the window. I wanted the wind to blow onto my hair. It was too late. I rummaged through my backpack for my treasured earphones. I knew this day will come I dreaded this always. I could not find my earphones This promised to be one hell of a ride. --- Bobo, Lelo, Titi the m...

Have special plans this 09/09/09? Everyone from brides and grooms to movie studio execs are celebrating the upcoming calendrical anomaly in their own way. In Florida, at least one county clerk's office is offering a one-day wedding special for $99.99. The rarity of this Sept. 9 hasn't been lost on the creators of the iPod, who have moved their traditional Tuesday release day to Wednesday to take advantage of the special date. Focus Features is releasing their new film "9," an animated tale about the apocalypse, on the 9th. Not only does the date look good in marketing promotions, but it also represents the last set of repeating, single-digit dates that we'll see for almost a century (until January 1, 2101), or a millennium (mark your calendars for January 1, 3001), depending on how you want to count it. Though technically there's nothing special about the symmetrical date, some concerned with the history and meaning of numbers ascribe powerful significance to ...