A Yugoslavian Perspective

Working to get back!

2012-01-24T16:29:00.001-05:00

So i recently got Google+ and have not been impressed but I did decide to check out Googles connectedness with all its other services including Blogger. I like the new layouts and way to post. I was even able to add a Blogger App to my smartphone. So I will try to revive this blog as soon as I can. For those that have been following my blog previously, especially the Tutorials section, I apologize but I have removed this section with Technology in order to make one simple blog. I barely have time to update this one blog as it is by working 70-80hrs per week. I have been very busy.

Anyways, keep checking back soon. I will try to make time to update this blog further and post some really cool stuff from tips, guides, reviews and even opinion pieces.

Cheers!

2011-01-26T13:08:00.000-05:00

2011-01-18T14:44:00.004-05:00

Design for Obsolescence

Most people have probably never heard of this term, but it has been around for at least a century and became commonplace in the late 1940's to the 1960's with the rise of capitalism and the push for a concept that was radical at the time known as "consumer demand". The consumer demand theory is defined as "the analysis of demand with regard to consumer behavior and rationale when changes occur in variable factors such as price, income, substitute goods" (EconomyProfessor.com). Henry Ford through the use of consumerism pioneered the idea of "Design for Obsolescence" by producing products that would have an end-life and would need to be maintained or replaced frequently both profiting the producers and driving capitalism. Therefore "Design for Obsolescence" is environmentally dangerous and unsustainable. However, the drive for profits will always keep companies from producing something that lasts. Why create metallic gears when plastic ones will bring back business?

We need to ask ourselves when enough is enough. After all, these corporations get their profits from us, therefore we HAVE the control and we can DEMAND change. I definitely will put more effort into researching the products I want to buy, and choose the ones that are of high quality and longevity, and so should you. When it comes to these products, price should not be an issue and should be used to determine the value of a product over time.

Winklevoss twins’ sue Facebook again!

2011-01-11T20:32:00.001-05:00

Three men who say Mark Zuckerberg stole the Facebook concept from them have asked a US appeals court to re-open a $65m (£42m) legal settlement signed in 2008 with the company.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra argue Facebook undervalued its share price when they struck the deal.

With the company now valued at about $50bn, they charge the deception cost them millions and they want more money.

A lower court ruled the accord was binding and should stand.

Now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is considering the men's request to sue Facebook all over again.

If granted, it would mean the trio could pursue their lawsuit against Mr Zuckerberg for more money and an admission that the idea for Facebook was stolen when he did some work for them.

Texas schools to get controversial syllabus

2010-05-23T09:55:00.001-04:00

Education officials in the US state of Texas have adopted new guidelines to the school curriculum, which critics say will politicise teaching.

The changes include teaching that the UN could be a threat to American freedom, and that the Founding Fathers may not have intended a complete separation of church and state.

Critics say the changes are ideological and distort history.

However, proponents argue they are redressing a liberal bias in education.

Analysts say Texas, with five million schoolchildren, wields substantial influence on school curriculums across the US.

The BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani in Los Angeles says publishers of textbooks used nationally often print what Texas wants to teach.

Jefferson out

Students in Texas will now be taught the benefits of US free-market economics and how government taxation can harm economic progress.

They will study how American ideals benefit the world but organisations such as the UN could be a threat to personal freedom.

And Thomas Jefferson has been dropped from a list of enlightenment thinkers in the world-history curriculum, despite being one of the Founding Fathers who is credited with developing the idea that church and state should be separate.

The doctrine has become a cornerstone of US government, but some religious groups and some members of the Texas Education Board disagree, our correspondent says.

The board, which is dominated by Christian conservatives, voted nine-to-five in favour of adopting the new curriculum for both primary and secondary schools.

But during the discussions some of the most controversial ideas were dropped - including a proposal to refer to the slave trade as the "Atlantic triangular trade".

Opponents of the changes worry that textbooks sold in other states will be written to comply with the new Texas standards, meaning that the alterations could have an impact on curriculums nationwide.

BBC

Victory Day (VE-Day)

2010-05-09T23:05:00.001-04:00

May 8th and May 9th is Victory Day (West yesterday, East today) and for the first time ever, foreign troops from four countries marched in Moscow's Red Square. Unfortunately, Canada did not take part.

I can't wait till they post video of their concerts from tonight. Here are some of my favourite ones from 2008 and 2006.

Enjoy and have a wonderful May Day Week. Death to Fascism.

Keith Olbermann talks of right-wing extremism

2010-04-13T20:19:00.001-04:00

Keith Olbermann is host of “Countdown” on the US cable news channel MSNBC and on 15 February, 2010 (sorry it is late) he hosted a special edition of “Countdown” to address his opinion on right-wing extremism within the United States, specifically the GOP (Republican Party) and FOX sponsored “Tea Party” for spreading hatred, racism, homophobia and overall stupidity.

While these issues are within the United States and many readers here are probably from other countries, we cannot negate the fact that it has an effect on all of us due to US foreign policy and activities throughout the world. In the following video that you are about to watch (hopefully), I agree with Keith 100% and believe that he is THE smartest man in the United States.

Bush & Cheney Inc. arresting innocents for political purposes!

2010-04-12T19:31:00.001-04:00

Why is society as a whole becoming more and more ignorant, irresponsible and down right stupid? Has either of the two world wars taught us anything? We said never again, but today we are letting modern governments get away with anything and everything and more and more people are electing fascist parties (ie. BNP) and other racist far-right parties. We are banning people from practicing their faiths (ie. Quebec, France and Belgium bans on Muslim religious clothing). Seems to me that the theme in “V for Vendetta” is coming closer and closer to reality.

Rio de Janeiro landslide buries 200

2010-04-08T18:27:00.001-04:00

While natural disasters are not uncommon, the media seemed to be on top of it a lot more, making people think that there is some sort of 2012 event happening. After Haiti was devastated from the December 2009 earthquake, it seems to be profitable to report almost every major/minor natural occurrence. While these disasters are tragic, people should not believe that these events are increasing. Only the media exposure is increasing.

With my opinions aside, on Wed April 8, 2010 a landslide occurred in Rio de Janeiro due to heavy rains that have pummelled the region since Monday. The area affected is the Niteroi slums and 50 buildings including a nursery were buried. Civil defence fears that over 200 people were buried, 20 have been dug out alive and 6 have died. Health officials are redistributing over 70,000 aid packages.

The IOC (International Olympic Committee) does not believe at the moment that these disasters will hinder Olympic prospects for the city.

iPhone OS 4.0 event April 8

2010-04-07T20:12:00.001-04:00

“A mere two days after the release of the iPad, Apple has already announced a preview of the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 which will be shown at an event on April 8th at 10AM PT. While details of the OS are non-existent right now, previous reports have hinted at an Exposé-like implementation of true multitasking, despite Apple's consistent public dismissal of true multitasking on a mobile device. One of the biggest complaints about the iPad is its lack of multitasking and Flash, so there is a possibility Apple is holding this event soon after the iPad launch to encourage early adoption.

Previous x.0 updates have been no small deal, with OS 2.0 bringing the App Store and OS 3.0 adding a lot of much-needed features, specifically Copy and Paste. One thing that's for certain is Apple will definitely need to show something big in order to keep the iPhone competitive. With growing competition from Android-based smartphones and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform, the consumer has a lot of choice.”

By Michael Brown VIA Neowin.net

Call of Duty: World at War Collectors Edition

2008-11-13T09:53:00.001-05:00

I bought Call of Duty: World at War Collectors Edition and here is my review;

The game itself is awesome. Very realistic with actual bodily damage being shown. Though it's a bit too realistic in the multiplayer concerning the weaponry. It takes almost an entire clip to kill a guy on multiplayer. By the time I get artillery, I am already scrambling to find another weapon or ammo. The single player is awesome, love the flamethrower. What I hate though is that the grenade indicator shows up too late or doesn't show up at all, so I am going "WTF" half the time.

The Collectors Edition is another story. It's a waste of $20! It's pure bullshit and an example of false marketing.

The CE comes with;

- Call of Duty Canteen (Not intended for drinking)
- Unlocked level 45 FG-42 weapon (I think, I am at school so I don't know the actual weapon)
- Customizable Clan tag
- Week of double XP
- Storage tin with custom artwork.

Now here is where the problems start;

- Canteen is actually a tin with cap welded on and horribly engraved "Call of Duty", therefore it's paperweight, even for a collector.
- FG-42 is unlocked, ONLY in pre-made classes. To use it in custom classes you have to go up to level 45.
- The clan tag IS NOT customizable. It simply changes colour to a barely noticeable gold, in addition, this Gold colouring doesn't even show up some games. My friend confirmed this for me.
- Week of double XP.... not yet. They have not stated this week of double XP yet and have stated "until a later date".
- Storage tin my ass! Yes it is a storage tin, unfortunately the foam that was used to hold the canteen is GLUED into the storage tin. Therefore only 1/6 of the tin can actually be used for storage.

The work goes on…

2008-10-18T21:14:00.001-04:00

With the thesis proposal presentations behind me, I am now concentrating on the methodology. I am very happy about it too because the methodology is easy and with my presentation being a stunning success, I am well on my way to completing my thesis and graduating in Environmental Sciences – Honours.

The Weeks go on…

2008-09-30T22:11:00.001-04:00

This is my first time posting in a while on my main blog that is not technologically related. I have been very busy lately both working and planning my thesis. I am extremely disappointed with it. This is due to many problems that have arisen and so far I have written five different outlines, all of which have gone nowhere. I don’t know if I can pull it off since the final research proposal is due within two weeks. Though I admit that I have not worked on it hard enough as I should of, but this is due to many things coming up.

Hopefully, I can get this all straightened by the end of this week and finally finish my undergraduate studies… if it doesn’t kill me first.

Aftermath: Population Zero

2008-03-10T19:24:00.001-04:00

National Geographic attempts to show what Earth will be like without humans and how it will regenerate without our presence. It is extraordinary and wroth a look. The first video is the short-term effects, while the second is the long-term.

Assassins Creed: Review by Yahtzee

2008-02-09T20:34:00.001-05:00

Call of Duty 4: Review by Yahtzee

2008-02-09T20:21:00.001-05:00

The Birthday Weekend

2008-02-05T11:54:00.001-05:00

Well, it was a good weekend overall, though it was not as eventful as I originally thought, it was still fun. The original plan was to go to The Keg though I didn't think it would be that busy at 6pm. They told us a 3hr wait, so we all decided to go to Montana's instead. Good thing I went to Montana's too, cause I never knew they had 1.5L Jugs of beer.

Another notable point is that being drunk and playing Pokemon Stadium 2 is awesome. Its amazing how much a crappy game becomes an awesome game when you are buzzed/drunk.

Well,that's it for now. Lots of homework to do and I have to somehow plan for a trip to Calgary during the reading week (Feb 16-23).

2008-01-24T15:05:00.002-05:00

I've always attempted to stay away from the iPod's. Always choosing other companies like Samsung. 3 years ago I bought a Samsun YP-Z5 which was called the "iPod-nano killer" and it certainly was, at least for me. Twice as cheap with twice as big of a screen, the YP-Z5 was great until earlier this year when the battery time on it was almost non-existent. I would charge it in the morning, listen to it for 3-4hrs during the day, and it would be dead at night. The volume buttons were also getting stuck sometimes and I couldn't adjust the volume properly. So I decided to get another player. I originally wanted a Zune 80GB, however,its lack of support for disk use and the need to install Zune software made me change it to an iPod classic 80GB.

I so far have been happy with the iPod, no need to install extra software and it runs quite fast, contrary to some user opinions.One thing I have a problem with though is the headphones. It appears Apple went the cheap way and got headphones that just suck completely. Oh well, my Creative DJ Aurvana headphones are damn good and I am using them instead. Though the screen size of the iPod is half that of a Zune, I really don't care, because I'm primarily gonna be using it as a music player.. and who "watches" music anyway?

Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack Live!

2007-12-11T10:15:00.001-05:00

The Heroic map pack contains three new maps, each presenting a totally different play style. Standoff’s symmetrical valley, with its entrenched bases and fields of boulders is ideal for mid-sized objective and Slayer game types, while Rat’s Nest’s vast, labyrinthine passages bring something quite new to the Halo multiplayer experience – an indoor vehicle paradise, strongly influenced by the Campaign mode ideal for big team battles. Finally, Foundry is the ultimate Forge map – players can edit every single object in this voluminous industrial warehouse, place stairways, walls, bridges and tunnels to create an entirely new play space and build almost any kind of map they can think of.
All this great new mappage (is that word I just made up?) can be all yours for the low low price of 800 MS points. Of course you can wait the usual 6 or 8 months or whatever it is and the maps can be free. If you want to wait that is.

That was then, this is now!

2007-11-18T19:05:00.001-05:00

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1967 - Vice principal comes over to look at Jack’s shotgun. He goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, and FBI is called. Jack is hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Councillors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1967 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends.
2007 - Police called. SWAT team arrives. Johnny and Mark are arrested and charged with assault. Both are expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students.
1967 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the principal. He returns to class, sits still, and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey is diagnosed with ADD and given huge doses of Ritalin; becomes a zombie. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a learning disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1967 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is placed in foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist convinces Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself, and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1967 - Mark shares aspirin with principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called. Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. Car is searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1967 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college, and graduates.
2007 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given a diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, and blows up a red ant bed.
1967 - Ants die.
2007 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Homeland Security, and FBI called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates parents; siblings are removed from home; computers confiscated. Johnny’s dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Heather. Heather hugs him to comfort him.
1967 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Heather is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in state prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.

nDex Review Coming Soon!

2007-11-05T17:37:00.001-05:00

I have been swamped with work recently to the point where I stayed up till 4am doing a formal lab. I shall post a full review of MLG with pictures and the latest technology that was presented at nDex. Stay tuned.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 2007

2007-10-30T16:35:00.001-04:00

Video: Bosnia and Herzegovina 2007

Assassin's Creed Pre-order

2007-10-27T13:41:00.001-04:00

I pre-ordered Assassins Creed tonight at EB Games and with my pre-order I got the "pre-order pack" which contains a Metal DVD case with a painted Assassins Creed picture inside, 4 "lithographs" (pictures) and a bonus DVD with extra content. So I decided to watch the videos on the DVD and on the 2nd Developers Diary video there was a little quick blurb she said.... and if I'm understanding it correctly... the story mode is 40hrs of play!!! If that is true.. then WOW!

I use Windows Live Writer

2007-10-22T15:24:00.001-04:00

Microsoft a couple of weeks ago released Windows Live Writer for the public. This little utility comes with the Windows Live Package, which includes Messenger, Writer, Picture Viewer, Mail Desktop. With it I have been writing blogs without going online and it just syncs it when I get the chance to connect to a network. Its really easy to update and maintain my 3 blogs which I have. I have 3 blogs because I just do... well actually it went something like this;

My first blog started on blogger.com but then I had to extend my blog to another page just to fit in my technology obsession. I later found out that most people didn't read my blogs cause they didn't know it existed nor how to get to it, so I started a Windows Spaces blog so people on my contact list can easily gain access to it.

Well anyway, Windows Live Writer is availabe at Windows Live Writer or you can download.

2007-07-06T16:45:00.000-04:00

After entering a Microsoft design contest in April, I recieved a lot of votes and e-mail about how great my design is. On May 31st, 2007 Microsoft officially declared me the winner and after some shipping problems and a month later on June 3rd, I recieved this in the mail as a prize for winning the contest. The prize consists of:

Office 2007 Ultimate (Full): $900
Microsoft Expression Web (Full): $500

I was really surprised I won all this and now I am going to attempt to learn how to do some web design and hopefully use Web Expressions to start a new potential site that can possibly help me through university.

I will post the winning design as soon as I possibly can. As you can see I have not been updating my blog due to work.

2007-03-30T21:34:00.000-04:00

I have always been very fascinated with photography and I liked taking pictures, lots of them, everywhere I went. I used to have this Sony Digital Camera with 2x zoom and 3.2 megapixels, it did the job, but now that I like taking pictures even more (I think its an age thing) I decided to get myself a professional digital camera. It took me a week to find out which one would be best, I compared many models and I decided to go with another Sony, the H2. Well yesterday I found out that it was discontinued so I picked the camera that was next on my list. The very elegant and powerful Olympus SP-510 UZ as pictured above. It features high definition clarity with 12x zoom and 5x digital zoom, 7.1 megapixels, macro, super-macro and and up to ISO 4000. This camera is literally light years ahead. It is also 10yrs older than my previous digital cam. Well starting tomorrow I am going to take high resolution photography and by the end of next week I will launch the third Yugoslavian blog, A Yugoslavian Photo. Stay tuned.

2007-02-11T15:22:00.000-05:00

I finally got the computer fixed and got Windows Vista Business installed as well. I paid $250 for it but I think it was worth it, its fast and easier to use and I like the RAM booster. I havent expirienced any problems and I highly recommend it for people who can afford it or have a computer that can run it. You won't be dissapointed.

Reading week is also coming up and its gonna be fun. I plan to go to Stella's with my girlfriend on Saturday, so if anyone else wants to come along they can, however there is a dress code there, but the nightclub/lounge is worth it, very classy.

2007-02-04T21:53:00.000-05:00

Video: NewYears in Europe

2007-01-31T22:04:00.000-05:00

ITS MY BIRTHDAY! I'm finally 21 you American's, its also time to drink your crappy watery beer. Heh, anyway, I spent most of my day studying and fixing my computer which decided to destroy itself last night. WTF!!

2007-01-30T12:46:00.000-05:00

So I bought Office 2007 today, it took me 1.5hrs and 5 buses to get to BestBuy but it was worth it. After installing it, I went to Office Online and I was surprised by the amount of small goodies I was able to get from buying legit software, such as PDF creator, viewer, development tools, and other little tidbits which I will not mention and let anyone else who buys this software legitly find out themselves.

After using the full version, im even more impressed. Its fast, its easy, and everything I need is right there, not in the endless tabs and menus that were before in Office 2003 and older. Cudos Microsoft, another great product but this time with a low price.

2007-01-24T21:08:00.000-05:00

The Great Snowfall of 2007. This is the first time ive seen snow fall like this in over 2 years. It looks absolutely amazing... especially when your on the Tupper and its doing fishtails while ur sitting in the back and the bus driver looks like she is having fun. Hopefully this will continue on to tomorrow morning and I can take more pictures in the light cause they didn't turn out so well tonight.

2007-01-13T16:36:00.001-05:00

New Years 06/07

School has finally started but I have posted a few pictures here of the fun we had on new years at Fallsview Casino and Wolfgang Pucks. Great times.

2006-12-13T14:50:00.000-05:00

[My New Office]

2006-12-06T17:35:00.000-05:00

I am writing this with my new Office 2007 system on word. Yes it has blog support as you can see, and I think its absolutely amazing and extremely convenient. This past week has been crazy, especially because exams are here. I finished my ecology exam yesterday and I believe it went quite well. I won't be done exams until Dec 16^th, so Milad and Pat, expect film production to begin Dec 17^th. I suggest you all try Office, its available for free off of the Microsoft.ca website. I am no longer running Office 2007 Beta BTR, this is the full and final version and all I can say is that its fucking "sexii" as Milad would say, it's also very smooth and no more problems or anything, good job Microsoft. Here is a preview of it.

2006-11-25T09:24:00.000-05:00

Za Bosnu Moju

2006-11-10T22:20:00.000-05:00

I have planned out New Years Day 06/07 and I believe it will only be a success if there is proper transportation and the right number of people that will be going. The plan for now is to go to dinner at Wolfgang Puck's, hit Fallsview Casino and finish the night off at Rumors nightclub. Its time to have fun on New Years for once.

2006-11-05T23:45:00.000-05:00

I recently put this video together of Sarajevo in the winter of 2005/2006. Enjoy!

Video: A Sarajevo Winter 2005

2006-10-28T20:02:00.000-04:00

We finally made the fourth movie. I played a bad guy by yelling out "Damn Mexicans" and then the "thugs" come back and shoot me with Pat playing a British soldier from the 19th Century. At first we thought the movie was the best one yet, but soon I at least realized that it was worse every time I saw it, it wasn't random with "teleporting" going through the scenes. Soon, I also realized that nobody else found the movie funny or the least bit entertaining, some even said it was purely stupid. At Brock University, Queen's University and even ND Highschool, people thought that it was horrible, but like all movies, the sequels get worse and worse as they progress. So I have yet to meet someone that thought the new film was the least bit funny.

We decided though that we shall try again, to make a more serious and more professional film. I shall not reveal what its gonna be about, but this new one will be a year long project employing things like Adobe Premier, Photoshop, Flash, and Illustrator into making this new film the best we possibly can and leaving the audience wanting more. If we are successful, we might hit a new leap to fame in our movie making hobby. I wish, but seriously!

2006-10-21T10:44:00.000-04:00

As a hobby I am a developer, I have recieved a certificate from Microsoft as "Software Specialist" (expired 2yrs ago) and during the summer I make my money fixing, buying and maintaining computers, software wise. Many people say windows sucks because it crashes and has all these "problems", the first thing that comes to my mind is.. "have you ever thought that you suck and not your computer?" Many of these people that have computers that crash are the ones that dont maintain their computers at all or install all this crap and never get rid of it. Since ive used computers (early 1994) ive never had a problem, from DOS to Windows XP and Vista. Here I will tell you how to maintain and keep your computer running as fast as it did when you first got it using FREE software and Tools.

1. Check the software you have. If you are using a laptop and have Norton Anti-Virus on it... then u got a problem. Norton drags and wastes your resources and slows the system down, sometimes to the point of freezing. Best anti-virus programs for laptops out there are McAfee and OneCare. AVG and all those free virus scans suck and inform you of viruses that you actually DONT have. HOWEVER Norton is very good if u have a desktop running a Pentium 4 or above.

2. To a Clean Disk every week. Do a Defragmentation every week. Half the people this summer did not do this since they bought the computer, not doing these two thing will cause half the problems in the future. REGISTRY cleaning and maintenance is also important, go to step 6 on how to clean your registry for best system performance.

3. Run a virus scan every month.

4. Download from Microsoft Windows Defender 2. It is the best anti-spyware and adware program out there, also it includes "Program Explorer" which lets you control the programs that start up and run when u first turn on your computer.

5. UPDATE your computer, most people think that their computer is perfect when they get it and that they dont need updates or upgrades, if you dont upgrade and then u have a problem, then dont blame the computer... theres probably an update for it that fixes the problem that YOU did not download. Developers are'nt perfect and half the time they are on a deadline, so they rather release a program that works and then fix the little bugs later.

6. To really make sure that your computer has been completely maintained, run the FREE Windows Live Safety Center. Many people don't even know this exists, but this online program will scan your entire computer and do a virus/spyware scan, disk cleanup, registry clean up, defrag, and will check for any vulnerabilities in your system such as open ports and unsecure programs. RUN this online scan at LEAST once a week for best system performance. It never fails.

2006-10-19T10:15:00.000-04:00

Internet Explorer 7.... Move along Firefox.

Last night at about 11pm Microsoft released its newest browser, Internet Explorer 7. This browser is a major improvement having fit-to-page printing, tabs, RSS feeds, picture web browsing and a new interface giving alot of room for webpages. It is also very secure having its own fishing filter, pop-up blocker and customizable google, yahoo, msn search tab that is conveniently placed at the top corner of the browser. Recent studies by CNet and PCWorld have shown that IE7 has 178 faults in it that need to be fixed, but that is much better then IE 6's 250 faults, FireFox 235 faults and Operas 198 faults. IE 7 is the securest browser yet. I have made direct downloads available at the bottom. Note: You must have a genuine copy of Windows xp/2003 for it to work. Enjoy.

Download: Windows XP SP2 or Windows XP/2003 32-bit

IE7 Site: IE7 Webpage

2006-10-17T11:43:00.000-04:00

Video: Balkan Vacation 2004

2006-10-15T19:54:00.000-04:00

One more week of midterms and then I am homefree... for 2 more weeks, and then midterms start all over again. I wonder why they call them midterms, they are more like quarterterms. Anyway, so far its been very frantic. As much time as I dedicated to studying I still didn't have enough time to do everything needed. I wrote a 32 page formal lab report with Gas Chromatography Analysis in a day, its crazy but I think I did the best I could, hopefully I get a good mark as well. This weekend was also busy with 4 labs due by Wed and a Midterm Monday with an Analytical Chem Midterm on Wensday. I wonder how im gonna find the time to study for chem since I am horrible with anything that has to do with chemistry. Then the week finally finishes off with a Ecology midterm on thursday.

2006-10-04T22:05:00.000-04:00

Happy Thanksgiving......NOT!

This is the month of work, work and more work. I have been studying for the last two weeks for a midterm this friday in Microbiology. I can't say that I know everything, in fact, I can't remember what I read 5min ago. Also, I got two labs and an assignment due by the end of this week. The assignments are 75% complete, the lab is done and the second lab I have decided to make it a formal (gives me 2 more weeks and 2 more headaches). It is quite fun. All this stuff uses Excel... and its come to the point where my excel is open 24/7 with 7 Sheets open and I know every single formula, tool, and backdoor to the fucking program that its driving me crazy. Its even driving my Tablet crazy where I need to do a defrag every 2 days. Then theres Thanksgiving weekend... where I can't even go back to Burlington because... guess what!... I got a midterm on tuesday. This is bullshit.

2006-09-30T13:48:00.000-04:00

Four months ago I recieved Office 2007 which is due for release January 31, 2007. I have been using it since and I am finally ready to give a critical review. Office 2007 is way more efficient and a hell of alot easier to use than the older Office versions. I also like the fact that it has themes now so you can change it without changing your Windows theme. There are currently 3 main themes. Blue, Silver and Black. With the release of Windows Vista I believe Green and Red will also become available.
One of the great things about Office so far is that you can preview your changes without actually doing the changes. For example, you write a title, all u need to do is put your mouse over the size, font or style and it will give u a "live preview" and once u remove your mouse it will revert back to its original form. Now I will go over each of the improvements in each program.

Outlook 2007: I did not notice anything different from the old version.

Word 2007: All I have to say is WoW! The pictures now can be rotated in 3-D in any which way... its like they put a bit of Photoshop into Word. Also when u make tables, you can easily remove cells with an cell eraser without right clicking and specifying what cells to erase like in the old versions. Also, cleartype is used alot in Word, so now all your coverpages, titles and everything looks extremely smooth and not as pixely as the old version. Also the tables are no longer dull looking. Here is a perfect example of what you can do in Word and make your documents very visually appealing. I just dont suggest making your documents visually appealing in academic works because professors from some unknown reason prefer a dull black and white no matter what.

Excel 2007: This also deserves a WOW! Cells and formulas and even referencing has been made extremely easy to find and use. The graphs finally stand out and u can customize anything directly by click and scroll or delete. You can easily change background colour, remove gridlines and make your points or bars on the graph clearly stand out and now there is a 3-D view as well. Visual appeal in graphs is allowed as long as there is no border and background colour like Excel XP/2003 default gray. Unfortunately, I am not sure if its my printer, the BETA Office 2007 or my drivers but legends will not print. If it does for anyone who reads this please leave a comment and how to fix it if you know how.

PowerPoint 2007: I did not use this program alot but its features are exactly like Word and Excel. This screenshot also shows it off quite well.

2006-09-24T19:29:00.000-04:00

I downloaded Windows Vista RC1 yesterday from Microsoft. After 3 months of waiting for Beta confirmation I finally got the DVD and I can't wait to try it out. Unfortunately the computer I wanna play with doesnt have a DVD drive so now I got to wait for a DVD drive to be installed, damn. I admit that I am a computer nerd, I love technology especially software enough that when I was 16 I actually studied and recieved my 1-year certificate as a Software Developer from Microsoft. That has long expired but I still make some minor programs and I test Beta software for fun. Windows Vista will have to wait... but as we speak I am writing my Biology labs, essays and notes on Microsoft Office 2007 which is also on Beta but ive had no problems with it. I will soon publish on this blog my expirience and criticism of Office 2007. Until then, back to my heavy workload of assignments and labs.

2006-09-21T21:03:00.000-04:00

I was very surprised to see myself in a news article about my school in one of Ontarios top newpapers.

Powder causes scare at Brock U.
By John BurmanThe Hamilton SpectatorSt. Catharines (Sep 21, 2006)

Fourteen Brock University staff had to strip and decontaminate themselves after a suspicious powder scare yesterday.
Police and other officials ordered the action after the school received a threatening letter and staff found some white powder spilled from a package.
The powder turned out to be harmless whey powder which is a protein derived from milk.
Brock staff said no one became ill and the incident -- which generated a huge emergency service presence -- did not disrupt classes.
Dr. Jack Lightstone, Brock's president and vice-chancellor, reassured students and parents at a news conference early in the afternoon.
While most students said they weren't worried about their safety, Kristen, a student whose three-year-old son is in the campus day care centre as she attends class, said she worried until she could check on him.
"I went over to check on him and there he is all pleased and excited about the fire trucks and flashing lights," said Kristen, who did not give her full name.
Niagara police said the powder was found after the school received a letter which contained a veiled threat relating to exposure to a dangerous substance.
Inspector Bob Wright, who heads the police emergency services unit, said the letter was delivered to a 12th floor office in the Schmon Tower at 10:30 a.m. Wright would not discuss the contents of the letter.
University staff called police who isolated six employees who had been exposed to the letter on the 12th floor, seven staff members in the mail room the letter had come through and one employee in the Walker Complex where a small amount of white powder was found on the floor.
Wright said the 14 staff members were told to remove their own clothes and wash themselves according to instructions by Niagara's Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear response team (CBRN).
The staff members were given fresh clothes and what they were wearing bundled up pending testing of powder samples and samples from the envelope at the police station in Grimsby.
Wright said the discovery of the powder was coincidental to a letter which referred to dangerous substances.
Ironically Niagara police, fire and emergency services were practicing a disaster scenario involving radioactive contamination on a ship in the Welland Canal at the same time the drama at Brock began.
"We are relieved all this ended up being a wonderful exercise," he said, adding the hunt for the letter writer is a "full blown criminal investigation."

A Student reads a notice on the building where the powder was found.

2006-09-21T19:42:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my blog. I have made this blog to share my opinions and experiences with the public. Its weird writing a blog because I may have "blogophobia" as I would say (I just made it up right now) where I feel that if my opinions are taken wrong or understood wrong, something might happen, but none the less I have still chosen to start this and see how it goes.

Some history about me, I was born in Sarajevo, Former Yugoslavia (hence my name). I had a great life there from what I can remember, a lot of memories that have slowly faded away but amazingly come back when I come across familiar smells, views or sounds. When the war broke out in 1992 it all went downhill from there. I remember when I was in a tramvaj (Street Car) I saw this protest, at the time I didn't know what it was about but there were thousands of people gathered around what is now the Bosna i Hercegovina Parliament Building. They all were wearing shirts of Josip Broz Tito with banners, signs and anything they could find to protest the war that just started in Croatia. The tramvaj stopped for a min or two, could of been longer, I don't know but there was a sudden pop, a shot by a Serbian sniper killed a little girl and her mother. The war had begun in Bosnia. The entire gathering started running, the tramvaj driver stepped on the acceleration and we left as quickly as possible, by next morning my family grabbed a single suitcase, got into my grandmothers car and we drove away from Sarajevo heading for Austria.

I lived in Austria for three years, finished part of my elementary school there until I moved to Canada where I still reside. Now I am a second year student at Brock University studying Environmental Biochemistry in the hopes of achieving something that I personally think is very possible but to others its ludicrous. When I get my Honours degree, I hope to go for my Masters Degree and hopefully even a PhD in Environmental Politics at the University of Graz. From then on I have no clue but its going to be great.