Be sure to slide out, this will be something for everyone around to relax at and enjoy.  Good food and good karma, for sure as we celebrate 9/7 and a CD that's been 2 years in the making.  And also in the middle of those things, we're also going to be rockin' at a local art show for ATC. For those that remember, we had Etomer and Animal's artwork up a few weeks back.  Well the aformentioned art show is set for this next weekend, Saturday, September 6th at Paddy's Coffee Shop in Union City, CA.

Make the short drive, get your latte, your mocha, whatever your vice and ease back for the evening. Another thing, we were asked not to blast this show/exhibit on myspace order to keep it as close-knit and intimate as possible so friends and fam, be sure to come out and chill with us on this one.  

Friday, September 5, 2008:
Swagmatic Album Release Party @ Avalon
777 Lawrence Expressway
Santa Clara, 95051
9PM - 2AM
 
Saturday, September 6, 2008
ATC Art Show / BMB Performance
3900 Smith street
Union City, CA 94587
6PM - 10PM

Sunday, September 7, 2008
BMB BBQ
4525 Dyer St.
Union City, CA 94587
1PM - 5PM

Be easy.

The mexican singer Julieta Venegas and the German rock band Tokio Hotel will perform on the awards ceremony of MTV Latin Awards 2008, scheduled for the next Oct 16th in Guadalajara, Jalisco (México), announced today the organizers.

- Julieta Venegas part -

Tokio Hotel, for its part, has quickly become a favorite of the MTV audience globally, and is one of the most successful German bands of its generation that has succeeded in placing three singles for their debut album “Schrei” as number one of the lists of popularity easily, said Tillán.

Bill and Tom Kaulitz formed the group in his native Magdeburg in 2001, to recruit Gustav Schäfer as drummer and the basssist Georg Listing to close alignment.

Belanova, Katy Perry and Paramore are pre-announced artists to perform at the ceremony.

Integrity Bank's skyrocket run as the fastest-growing bank in Georgia history, fueled by housing construction, has ended in failure. 

Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) late Friday acquired the deposits for the Alpharetta, Ga.-based community bank in the 10th bank U.S. bank failure this year, according to a late Friday press release from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.The FDIC estimates the cost to liquidate bad assets it assumes from Integrity Bank will be $250 million to $350 million.

Integrity Bank operates five branches in metro Atlanta, primarily in the city's affluent north suburbs.Regions Financial acquired all of Integrity’s $962 million in total deposits, including uninsured deposits, paying $9.7 million for them. The deal does not include Integrity Bank's branches. However, Integrity Bank branches will temporarily open as Regions Financial branches early Tuesday. The FDIC said all customer deposits at the bank will be available for customer use over the weekend through checks, debit cards and ATM withdrawals.

 Regions Financial is also buying $34.4 million in cash and other assets from the failed bank.

Story Highlights

Sen. John McCain spoke before pro-Israeli lobbying group

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee calls for sanctions against Iran's leaders

McCain faults Obama for his willingness to talk with Iran's president

McCain would continue Bush's policies that help Iran, Obama's campaign says...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/02/mccain.aipac/index.html

We heard the Middle East rhetoric of Senator John McCain. Now look at the Middle East performance of the Bush team.

Prince Andrew rebukes America over Iraq

The Duke of York has launched an unprecedented attack on President George W Bush's White House administration for failing to listen more to the advice of the British Government over the Iraq war...

The Duke's criticism of Washington represents an extraordinary departure from normal protocol, which determines that members of the Royal Family refrain from public comment on sensitive international and political issues.

In a rare newspaper interview, with the International Herald Tribune, the Duke expresses his strong personal regret that the US failed to heed British advice over the post-war strategy for Iraq, with disastrous consequences.

On the eve of a 10-day mission to America in his role as British trade envoy, he told the newspaper that there were "occasions when people in the UK would wish that those in responsible positions in the US might listen and learn from our experiences".

He said that because of Britain's imperial history, it had experience of many of the foreign policy challenges now facing the US.

"If you are looking at colonialism, if you are looking at operations on an international scale, if you are looking at understanding each other's culture, understanding how to operate in a military insurgency campaign - we have been through them all," Prince Andrew said.

"We've won some, lost some, drawn some. The fact is there is quite a lot of experience over here which is valid and should be listened to."

The aftermath of the Iraq conflict fuelled a "healthy scepticism" towards what is said in Washington, and a feeling of "why didn't anyone listen to what was said and the advice that was given".

British opinion had been sought, he said, before adding: "It's not as if we had been forcing that across the Atlantic."

The Duke, who saw active service when as a Navy officer he flew helicopters during the Falklands conflict 26 years ago, still takes a keen interest in military affairs.

It is understood his criticisms of the US refer specifically to the British advice - rejected during the conflict itself - about how to conduct the post-war strategy for rebuilding Iraqi institutions and placing the country on the road to democracy...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1577608/Prince-Andrew-rebukes-America-over-Iraq.html

More comments on the Bush team's activities in the Middle East:

Top aide's damning attack on Blair's Iraq war

A damning assessment of Tony Blair's lack of leadership in Iraq amid its descent into lawlessness has been made by one of Britain's most senior diplomats.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the former ambassador to the United Nations and the first British envoy to Iraq, said the Prime Minister had taken his "eye off the ball" in the crucial first days and weeks after the liberation, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

In the starkest language concerning the failure of the Government to anticipate the insurgency, Sir Jeremy said: "In the days following the victory of 9 April [2003] no one, it seems to me, was instructed to put the security of Iraq first. To put law and order on the streets first. There was no police force. There was no constituted army except the victorious invaders.

"And there was no American general that I could … establish who was given the accountable responsibility to make sure that the first duty of any government – and we were the government – was to keep law and order on the streets. There was a vacuum from the beginning in which looters, saboteurs, the criminals, the insurgents moved very quickly..."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1543458/Top-aide's-damning-attack-on-Blair's-Iraq-war.html

So how much did the Bush team know about the people(the Middle East) it was about to conquer? Once again - Sir Jeremy Greenstock:

Sir Jeremy adds: "Neither the British Government in 1917 nor the Coalition in 2003 really understood what they were taking on when they assumed control of Baghdad."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1545285/Greenstock-finally-delivers-his-barb-on-Iraq.html

What Middle East performance by the Bush team gives America a nice, warm, cozy feeling? And remember, the Middle East comes under "foreign policy". The neocons in the House of Representatives "threw a fit" when Nancy Pelosi first expressed a desire to "leave the shores of America". How was she going to get "first hand evidence" of the knowledgeable "goings on" in the Middle East?

Barack Obama has not yet had an opportunity to work on Middle East problems. The Middle East is faced with mankind's toughest problems.  Theft of land and genocide are tough problems to solve. But, Barack Obama will not be threatening world war III in order to solve the Middle East problems.

Barack Obama may even go back to the America we once knew - the America that "spoke softly and carried a big stick".

SHINee - The SHINee World + You're Like Oxygen Live Performance

• SBS - 28th August 2008
• Size - 54.31 MB
• Download -> FileSend //
• File Type: .wmv
• My Rating: 10/10

Imagine my surprise when I recognised the tune at the beginning of The SHINee World performance. If any of you watched 2007's MKMF awards, the tune is from Stephanie and HyoYeon's dance battle. The song is re-make of that. I think the majority if not all the songs of their new album are re-makes. The performance was really good. The performance of You're Like Oxygen was excellent. The choreography like I said in their MV post is similar to Replay but it's excellent and they are such good dancers! They're so talented dancing so well and singing so well and trying so hard all at the same time ^^ They must practice so hard to learn these dances!

Credit -> .::EG::. BLOG

22:53 pm ♪SHINee - The SHINee World

===================================================================

So the FDIC has issued a list of more than one-hundred troubled banks - but they won't tell you who they are? (See Graphs - Not Laughs - From the FDIC Report August 26, 2008)

Not very Civil for Servants!  Well then, I suppose I will try to point you in the right direction so you may answer some of the questions yourself. 

First, go to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco website and read about their CAMELS Ratings - the system for determining the relative strengths and weaknesses of lending institutions.

The acronym "CAMEL" refers to the five components of a bank's condition that are assessed: Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, and Liquidity. A sixth component, a bank's Sensitivity to market risk, was added in 1997; hence the acronym was changed to CAMELS. (Note that the bulk of the academic literature is based on pre-1997 data and is thus based on CAMEL ratings.) Ratings are assigned for each component in addition to the overall rating of a bank's financial condition. The ratings are assigned on a scale from 1 to 5. Banks with ratings of 1 or 2 are considered to present few, if any, supervisory concerns, while banks with ratings of 3, 4, or 5 present moderate to extreme degrees of supervisory concern.

All exam materials are highly confidential, including the CAMELS. A bank's CAMELS rating is directly known only by the bank's senior management and the appropriate supervisory staff. CAMELS ratings are never released by supervisory agencies, even on a lagged basis. While exam results are confidential, the public may infer such supervisory information on bank conditions based on subsequent bank actions or specific disclosures. Overall, the private supervisory information gathered during a bank exam is not disclosed to the public by supervisors, although studies show that it does filter into the financial markets.

Nice!  I mean we are all adults here, right?.  We all need information like this in order to make adult decisions, right?  And there is this from the last place I look for info, Wiki:

CAMELS ratings in U.S. are intended to reflect the evaluation of regulators and supervisors about bank condition. These evaluations are not publicly released but only given to the bank managers. Banks pay deposit insurance premium to the FDIC based on their rating.

A 1 or 2 rating bank do not pay a premium since it is considered to be safe. This is ironic, given the fact that one-third of the 1037 banks that failed between 1984 and 1992 have had a 1 or 2 rating (deemed very safe) only two years prior to their failure.

Oh, that is why they won't tell us - they don't mean anything...

Second thing you can do, now that you are armed with some basic knowledge, is read Is My Bank Safe?.  It has the link and how-to for checking your bank's health on-line. 

Lastly, if this is not enough for you, I suggest this other WIKI article that goes more in-depth describing Fractional-Reserve Banking, an interesting explanation of the system in general.

" I wish the fans could call out each members name when they are performing than just Hankyung. Other than that enjoy the performance."

There is such a lot going on around the festival so I have published a list of my contribution with links to others. Further info and links to the full children's area programme here and theatre information here. Band listings are on myspace here.

At the event you'll be able to buy a full programme for only 50p please buy one and recycle-it when done

Friday night in theatre

6pm experimental ambient electronica with Counter and Joimson

7-9pm fancy dress musical karaoke party (wild west theme)

followed by Tip of the Pops show tunes

Saturday

12pm Tip of the Tots wheelbarrow disco - children's area

12-5pm recycling road show - greenfield

4pm Tip of the Pops - arena

4pm recycled rocket workshops - kids area

5pm recycled rocket launches - arena

7pm recycled and vintage fashion show - theatre

Sunday

1-2pm carnival procession featuring Earwig - arena

Climate change and tip talk with Dirty Ali - greenfield

Monday

Clean-up please recycle and do not leave litter

Greenfield intro

Boscombe Community Fair is an annual festival organised by the community for the community. A showcase of local talent and meeting place for all those who live work and play in the area. The 13th Boscombe Community Fair will be held in Kings Park, Boscombe, Bournemouth on the 5 - 7th September 2008.

2007 was the debut of a new attraction called Green Village which included renewable energy, the children's area, the arena, healing and art gallery. This area was a success with the public, organisers , participants and council all wanting to see more. We would like to develop this area further by providing more environmental activities and improving the festivals green credentials.

To achieve this we are applying for a grant of £430 to provide more activities with the theme Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! In addition to last years success the 2008 green field will have more renewable energy, a green disco, climate change workshops, improved recycling / waste management and a solar powered site office

In keeping with the social and environmental objectives of BCF the greenfield will provide

• Opportunities for volunteers and groups to work with and learn about renewable energy
• Reduce our organisations carbon foot-print and impact on the environment
• Widen the appeal of BCF to families, new audiences and the local media
• Increased awareness and learning opportunities for environmental issues
• Show leadership and a willingness to act in an environmentally responsible way
• Provide practical and social demonstrations of renewable energy and recycling

Organised ACTIVITIES INCLUDE

• Solar powered socially inclusive art gallery (Winton Resource Centre)
• Tip of the Pops solar powered recycled disco
• Healing area
• Wind and solar power demonstrations
• Bournemouth council recycling PR road show
• Recycled rocket launches and workshops for children
• Get-sorted ! recycling workshop for adults
• Climate change talk and discussion
• Recycled and vintage clothing fashion show
• Partnership with Litter OUT volunteer recycling team
• Healthy, fresh food from Boscanova cafe

Meetings are a great incentive to get things done.  And they must be useful or why else would all the important people spend so much time in them? (There seems at least to be a correlation between attending meetings and the ability to survive at the top).

Yet they are frequently criticised.

They are great for getting agreement amongst people.  But for problem solving and decision making they suffer from many of the same frailties which produce the ‘nudge’ prescriptions.  The individuals in them will be influenced by how information is presented and will overemphasise the short term over the longer term.  And as a group, tendencies to agree can cloud judgement, the quest for status can quell co-operation, and the desire for inclusiveness means the group works to the lowest common denominator at the speed of the slowest.

But used selectively and managed well, meetings can exploit the range of members’ skills, and can create dynamics which challenge each other’s frailties and create outputs surpassing what any individual member could produce.  It’s perhaps worth spending a bit more time to get it right.  Shall we have a meeting to discuss it?

Epik High - Umbrella Ft. Younha Live Performance

• Love Letter - 2nd August 2008
• Size - 115.75 MB
• Download -> FileSend //
• File Type: .avi
• My Rating: 9/10

Younha starts off a little shakily with her notes, but she ends on a perfect note. Tablo and Mithra were perfect as always. I did find it a little boring to watch actually. I have another performance of it which I prefer even though they just stand there and the full song isn't performed. Enjoy!

Credit: ahboo.wordpress.com

19:14 pm ♪Koda Kumi - Koi No Mahou

Fragmentation is caused by creating and deleting files and folders, installing new software, and downloading files from the Internet. When you delete files or folders, the first available empty spaces on the Hard Drive are filled in randomly when you create new files and folders, as you do when you save pics from your camera, install software, save emails, or create documents.

A fairly common point of view holds that defragging a Hard Drive is pointless and provides no measurable increase in system performance.

One example of this type of thinking taken from a forum I visit frequently is as follows: “Disk cleanup is pretty useless, and defragging should only really be done if you recently moved around very large files on your hard disk”. This point of view has some support in the tech community.

On the other hand there is also considerable support for the following point of view: “Disk fragmentation leads to system slowdowns, PC crashes, slow startups and shutdowns”.

So which point of view then is more likely to be accurate given that hard disk fragmentation makes the disk drive heads move more than necessary when reading files which can lead to reduced performance in file input and output?

Despite the fact that it is difficult, if not impossible, to measure an increase in system performance following Hard Drive defragmentation, there is a slight leaning in the tech community toward defragmentation being a positive maintenance process. I support this point of view.

Personally, I defrag with Auslogics Disk Defrag a free disk defragger from Auslogics Software regularly. The program is extremely easy to use, does not require any analysis phase and is faster than most disk defragmentation software I’ve tested in the past, and best of all, it’s free. In my view, it’s one more maintenance process that helps me get the maximum performance from my hardware.

Before you begin a defrag process it’s important to run a program such as CCleaner which will empty your Recycle Bin, Temporary Internet Files folder, and other locations where clutter tends to accumulate on your PC. Alternatively, you can let the application remove temporary files by adjusting program settings accordingly.

As well, you should consider uninstalling any applications you no longer use. Revo Uninstaller is a free utility that will uninstall unneeded applications more thoroughly than the Windows native uninstaller.

Quick facts:

Improve computer performance and stability

Increase your productivity - no more waiting for files to open

Defragment disks in minutes

Disk fragmentation map and detailed fragmentation report

Defragment USB/memory sticks

Two million downloads of this application from CNET, and an average user rating of 4.5 Stars speaks to the value of this small application.

System requirements: Vista/XP/2000/2003, 32-bit and 64-bit and dual-core CPU supported.

Download at: Download.com