What do you know about the “Roman Emperor Trajan and the wolf” statue?

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The statue, which is actually titled “Imperator Traianus” depicts the Roman emperor Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus Augustus), in full nudity while “holding” a mash up animal composed of the body of the Capitoline Wolf and the head of the Dacian Draco. Vasile Gorduz, the artist of this statue, created three copies:
1.    One located in Sevilla, Spain
2.    One located in front of Academia di Romania in Rome, Italy
3.    The latest located on the steps of the National Museum of Romanian History in Bucharest, Romania.

The latter is a bronze cast made based on a plaster model of the artist. It weights ~ 0.5 tons with a height of 2.15 meters (7.05 ft) and it cost ~45,000 €

Personal point of view:
The news articles depicting the controversy surrounding the statue in Bucharest suggest it is not liked mainly due to the nudity. The Deutsche Welle, among others, even has the audacity to conclude that the “Romanian public cannot make the difference between a naked walking passenger and a statue“ (reference here). To add to the insult, Horatiu Pepine (the author of the article) is suggesting the “Romanian public still displays the outrage experienced by the first to art exhibitions of modernist, cubism surrealist, expressionist, etc.”. As always a reference is made to the foreign public which appreciated and accepted the statue as great art, enforcing the Romanian notion that if it is approved by a foreign, it is something good, dismissing the hypothesis that perhaps the natives of Bucharest have a deeper understanding of what great esthetics and art really are and that apparently these are not found in  Vasile Gorduz’s statue.

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How to properly open a .csv file in Excel 2010?

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Most of the time, opening a .csv file in Excel 2010 does not pose any problems, but sometimes it looks something like in the screenshot here.

By default, the data fields in a .csv file are separated via a “,” (comma), but when they are separated by a “;” or a “|” or another character, it displays the contents within the A column of the spreadsheet.

There are two options:

1. Select the entire A column, go to Data->Text to columns->Choose the delimited option->Select your delimiter (“;”, or “|”, or “,”, etc.) and finalize the process. Most of the  time this method works.

2. This other method will ensure that any .csv files with a specific delimiter opened in Excel 2010 will be displayed properly. You can change this at any time if you change your mind and you want to keep the default “,” delimiter.
In Windows 7 go to Control Panel->Region and Language->Additional Settings->List separator. In here just replace the “,” with your desired character, usually “|”. Click OK and you’re set.

Be advised that the second option might create further problems as it also changes how other problems read delimiters and it definitely changes how Excel functions are written. It is recommended you change it back to “,” after you’re done with the .csv file.

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How can I separate the first name from the middle names in Excel?

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You can either use the text-to-columns function in Excel, or for better flexibility in separating the first name from the middle names, use the following functions:

Assume you have the first and middle name in the column A.

Then in column B display the first name: =IFERROR((LEFT(A1(FIND(” “,A1)-1))),A1)

In column C display the middle name(s): =IF(ISERROR(RIGHT(A1,(LEN(A1)-FIND(” “,A1)))),”",RIGHT(A1,(LEN(A1)-FIND(” “,A1))))

 

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What is the most expensive icecream in the world?

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most expensive icecreamSince 2004 the Guinness Book of Records hold this icecream as being the world’s most expensive. This specialty from the Serendipity 3 Restaurant in Manhattan contains five balls of Tahiti vanilla ice cream, Madagascar vanilla, an edible gold leaf of 23 K and one of the most expensive chocolates in the world – Amed Porceleana.The price for a cup? $1,000!The questions is:”Is it also the tastiest icecream in the world?”Note: Wouldn’t that suck? Imagine you get to spend your savings on it, you take the first taste and….it doesn’t agree with your taste buds. Could you ask for a refund?

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Where is Bahrain?

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Bahrain started to appear in the news lately and quite a few people have started asking where Bahrain is.As you can see from the map (if you have a good eye sight or you zoom in) the Kingdom of Bahrain is composed of an archipelago located in the Persian Gulf. Its closest neighbours are Saudi Arabia on the west and Quatar on the south-east.

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What is a natural remedy for a toothache?

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First of all, don’t ignore a toothache. You should go visit a dentist as soon as possible as you don’t really know what is causing the aching. If you are having an infection, it could easily spread and cause even bigger problems.This natural remedy should only be used if you’re just in pain waiting for your next day appointment. So, what’s the natural remedy for the toothache? Simply a couple of drops of clove oil on your aching tooth and surrounding gums and/or padding it with a smashed garlic clove. It has quite the antibacterial properties. If you think it would help, you can crush a couple of cloves, leave them for 15 minutes and then put them in a sealed bag in the freezer for a couple of hours and use that to soothe your toothache too.

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What is”shit coffee”Kopi Luwak?

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Yes, north americans call it “shit coffee” or poop coffee! It is not a joke! This is indeed what Kopi Luwak is, a coffee extracted from the droppings of  a civete (a kind of mongoose) who lives in Indonesia, Asia.The civete eats the coffee fruit, which are not digested and excreted in faeces. Later, Indonesian labours gather it grain by grain, clean them well and fry them.This is then packaged and sold as the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world! Kopi Luwak, the shit coffee. Probably very tasty though…

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What’s the most expensive sandwich in the world?

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most expensive sandwichThe most expensive sandwich in the world – yes, there is such a thing! – is the von Essen Platinum Club Sandwich. This delicacy with three layers has the finest chicken (Poulet de Bresse, considered the fourth gastronomic wonder of the world!), ham, quail eggs and white truffles. It is sold in Cliveden, Berkshire and costs about $200. It has 1182 calories and is on the list of the “must taste ” for gourmet fanatics from all over the world.

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How to prevent shinsplints?

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I have recently started running in order to train for a 10 km race. Maybe I did not warm up enough, maybe I was too out of shape, maybe I was wearing the wrong shoes, maybe I should have start running a lesser distance in the beginning, I don’t know. The fact is that I have shinsplints which were quite paintful. The doctor told me not to run anymore, to do other sports as running puts a lots of stress on one’s feet.I agree that it puts a lot of stress on one’s feet, especially if running on concrete, but to stop running? Well, that’s bullocks!Here are some easy exercises that I have found that you could start doing in order to strengthen the muscles attached to the shinbone and prevent shinsplints from happening to you.

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What is the highest temperature water can reach?

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The highest temperature water can reach is 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit). At this point it begins to boil and transforms into vapour. It’s good to note that this temperature is based on the assumption that this water is located at sea level. If the altitude increases, the highest temperature that water can reach drops and if it decreases, it rises.

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How to add a Facebook Like button on my website?

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Simply go to developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like and follow the very intuitive and user friendly Like button “wizzard”. After selecting your option it will generate a code similar to the one below:<iframe src=”http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=www.test.com&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=21” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ style=”border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:21px;” allowTransparency=”true”></iframe>The only problem is that this will enable visitors to just Like the URL (usually the link to your homepage) that you have entered in the “wizzard”. If you want the Like button to reflect the URL of a particular page that they are on, then you have to do a bit of programming.It’s not hard, here is how you do it in PHP:Replace the URL which follows after “href” (in this case www.test.com) with the following code:<?php echo urlencode(“http://”.$_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"].$_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]); ?>Copy/paste it in the file you wish to display your Facebook Like button. Make sure it is a php file.

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What is the highest temperature ever recorded on earth?

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The highest temperature ever recorded on earth was of 57.8 degrees Celsius (136 degrees Fahrenheit). It was recorded on September13th, 1922 in the city of Al Aziziyah, Libya. The reading is still considered controversial though as, at the time, the weather station was placed on a black tarmac which would have artificially amplified the air temperature around it.The second highest temperature ever recorded on earth, or THE highest if the above is dismissed, was recorder on July 10th, 1913 in Death Valley, USA and it was a staggering 56.7 degrees Celsius (134 degrees Fahrenheit).

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How to find out what is your personality type?

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Quickly select one of the nine images below to find out what is your personality type.Apparently these images were conceived by a psychologist and tested on a lot of people. Based on the received feedback, these images have been improved several times and re-tested until they became very accurate in determining someone’s personality type.

Here are the characteristics of each of the above images:

Continue reading →

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What is Starbucks’new logo?

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Starbucks new logoStarbucks unveiled their new logo, a few months short of their 40th anniversary. As you can see, the new logo drops the Starbucks Coffee word marks surrounding the mermaid, hoping to join the big league of companies such as Nike, Apple, Playboy, etc. that only rely on an icon to invoke brand awareness.Howard Schultz, the chief executive of Starbucks, describes the reason of the logo change in a video on Starbucks’ website.The new logo will start rolling out in March, unless the company will be faced by the same opposition that GAP encountered when they unveiled their new logo last year.

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Who was Macaulay Culkin’s longtime girlfriend?

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If you still remember “That 70′s show”, you will also remember Jackie Burkhart, played by Mila Kunis. While playing on the show, Mila Kunis started dating Macaulay Culkin, one of the most famous child stars of our time. Unfortunately, just like many Hollywood celebrities, their relationship did not last. In their defense, Macaulay Culkin’s and Mila Kunis’ relationship did last for seven (7) years.

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How to delete a folder via SSH?

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If you want to delete or remove an entire folder and its contents from your hosting server, you will usually do it via an ftp client like FileZilla. The problem arises if the the folder has a lot of subfolders and a lot of content, overall. It could take hours, while your FTP connection keeps droping.The easiest way is to delete the entire folder via SSH.Here are the simple steps to follow:1. Login into your server via your desired SSH client (ex: PuTTY)2. Navigate to the root of the folder you want to remove3. Type: rm -r -f folder_you_want_to_deleteDone!

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When can you spot a closer than usual Jupiter in the sky in 2010?

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Starting today, Jupiter will pass 592 million kilometres (368 million miles) away from Earth and the only thing brighter in the sky will be the moon. Grab a pair of binoculars or a telescope and maybe you’ll even spot some of its moons too.Don’t be dissapointed if it will be cloudy as Jupiter will still be relatively close for the following few weeks.Then again, there will always be 2022 when Jupiter will be at a similar closer distance as well. Happy spoting.

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How to install Magento on Netfirms?

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After a week of daily trial and error, I’ve almost given up with installing Magento onto Netfirms’ servers. I’ve tried installing using the downloader and the full realease with and without first installing the sample data. Nothing worked and I’m sure quite a few of you found yourself at the edge of frustration.There was another option left and this one seemed to work. I was going to install it via SSH. My optimism quickly failed as the “wget” and “./pear” functions were not allowed by Netfirms. I contacted Netfirms support to ask for more freedom via SSH so I can complete my Magento installation. Here was part of their reply:”Thank you for your inquiry.Regretfully, Magento application will not work properly on our shared server as it requires huge amount of resources to run it. We suggest signing up with our VPS hosting, Magento application will work on our VPS server.”Well, I wasn’t going to cough up ~$35 a month for that. I actually purchased another hosting plan with GoDaddy, but I haven’t been able to install it there yet either.Anyhow, the idea of not being able to install Magento onto Netfirms still haunted me. I gave it one last try and this one worked so here it is, step-by-step:(the solution is part of a paid service. Please contact us to purchase all the instructions)1.2.3.4.5.6. Go to www.yourdomain.com/magento/install/ and complete the installation wizard.Done! If you’re running into error pages with the installation wizard, be persistent and refresh the page and you’ll get to the end.Note: Magento does run a bit slow on Netfirms, but it runs.

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How to use scented geraniums?

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What are the most important product obtained from scented geraniums? Essential Geranium Oil – very expensive, very fragrant and intense used in perfumes industry to make perfumes, syntetic rose oil or fragrancing bath or body oils. Second usage is for decorative purposes: scented geraniums (aka scented pelargoniums) ennobles any garden with their exotic foliage, whether are planted in flower beds, hanging baskets or flower pots and their dried scented leaves with different shapes or textures are very appreciated in sachets and potpourri-es.What else can do with fresh leaves or flowers? If you know how to fit their taste and essences into your favorite recipes, you will appreciate their flavors in different dishes. Why is it a fragrant adventure to use their leaves in cooking? Because their diverse flavors: rose, lemon-rose, orange, apple, coconut, apricot, nutmeg, oak or champagne add an unexpected and mysterious touch to your homemade scented sugar, jelly, tea cake and/or syrup.

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Why do you need travel insurance to travel to Cuba?

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Well, if you only have US citizenship, you don’t need it. You don’t need it because you can’t go there.If you’re passport comes from any other country then you need to get travel insurance or buy a legal policy when you arrive (careful, it can cost you up to $3/day). This new measure has been turned into a law in February, 2010 and it came into effect on May 1st, 2010.Happy travels!

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How to export/import your links from/to WordPress?

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Forget about troublesome plugins and database queries or any other cumbersome methods.Simply add wp-links-opml.php at the end of your blog url. This will display the contents of an OPML file which contains your links/ blogroll info.To import the file just go to Settings ->Tools-> Import -> Blogroll and paste the link into the required field.Note: Categories are not transfered. All links are imported into one specified category.

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What to know about Web Hosting Geeks?

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If you are in need of web site hosting service and you don’t know where to start, you can have a look at the Web Hosting Geeks. They offer a valuable Top 10 list with the best web hosts of 2009. You can check out the features, promotions and prices along with helpful reviews for each one of them. If their top 10 is not enough for you can go into specifics by checking out their php hosting category, best multi-domain hosting, best unix hosting, and so on. Most importantly, don’t forget to check out their best blog hosting category as well as the best budget hosting. If you’re looking for free domains, or hosting with free promotional advertising such as Yahoo Marketing or Google AdWords, again Web Hosting Geeks is the place to find those. You should not neglect their blog as they also offer valuable articles about web development, web design, domain names, e-commerce and many more.So if you need help making up your mind about a web hosting service, go ahead and check them out.Note: You can also check out the website if you want to add your own review on a web hosting service.

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