Things to do online!

Allow me to tell you why I love the internet....The internet is the single largest place anywhere where people who have never met before can become friends and talk to one another!

The internet has the remarkable ability to allow the users to ignore whether they come from, what they look like, what their religion is etc. and put their differences aside and realize that there are people out there that have the same interests as you!

So where can people hang out and chill??

Well the obvious place is the social network sites such as Myspace, Bebo, Facebook etc.....I found a teen culture community recently and have found myself going on the site and adding forum treads all the time!! It is amazing it is called JETSET by the way...Another place internet users can hang out is on forums, these are the place to go if you have a query or want your voice to be heard!

I must stress how important it is to jump on the internet socializing band wagon, soon that will be the best way to make friends! It is well worth it!

Happy Surfing

Musical moods...

I am a great music lover, taking my ipod every with me. My musical tastes are quite eclectic ranging from some mellow folk to rock and everything in between. I go through different stages like at this very moment in time , I am listening to an alternative rock group by the name of The Lemonheads.

Oh, now I listening to Kimya Dawson (anyone who knows me knows that I flick and change songs all the time) it all depends on my mood. If I need to get my fires going then, the Kooks are in order. But when I am feeling mellow some classic rock is order, maybe The Rolling Stones. And then there is the traveling music. Do you prefer certain artists over others when you are in the car on a plane or whatever? I do I always reach for my ipod and put on Belle & Sebastian. I have no idea why but they seem to make the journey go much quicker.
A music post would not be complete without suggesting some artists you should check out. My all time favorite band has to be Belle & Sebastian, but also check out The Lemonheads, The Dresden Dolls, Regina Spektor, Kimya Dawson, The Mouldy Peaches.....Oh I could go on and on!!!

Leave a comment and tell me what music you like listening to in different situations!

Fallen Soliders

Don't get me wrong I am opposed war all together. But when soldiers are sent by their governments to fight on fronts a long way from home, I can't help but feel admiration for those brave men and women.

So last night I was shocked to hear the way the MOD (Ministry of Defense) treated soldiers who had fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of the troops sent back from the combat zone, where simply put in civilian hospitals, where obviously the doctors where not trained to deal with extensive war wounds. So in this TV show called Power to The People: Battle for Trafalgar Square the presenter was talking to troops who had fallen in combat and they where describing their experiences when they where sent home. I was angered that, troops of the British Army who had risked their lives for the "greater good" in what was probably an illegal war anyway, where literally abandoned by the government.

I am ashamed that 2 out of 10 of British homeless people are ex-forces! Now just look at the support that Veterans in the US have, the Veterans of Foreign War society has the a larger budget than 27 states put together. I think it is disgusting that troops are not remembered in the UK for the valiant efforts they go to. Troops who come back injured are just as brave as the troops who die, who are remembered! Let me reiterate that I am against war!

Hacking or Cracking?

This is something that really grinds my gears...I can't stand people who say that hacking is illegally entering someones computer. This really is a source of anger for me. For you see dear readers that hacking is perfectly harmless, it is simply using some kind of programming language to make a program work quicker.

I was technically hacking yesterday when I configured Firefox to load pages quicker by playing around with the settings in about:config so by my logic I am a hacker! a nasty person? I don't think at least the people who know me, think I am malicious. Last week on a test, a question said "Define a hacker and give three ways to prevent getting hacked" I pointed out in this test that hackers do not gain access to computers with malicious intent, it is the crackers that do this. Then I gave three ways to stop a "hacker" and mentioned firewall, encrypting your wireless network and using proxy servers. The person who marked my test marked it wrong and then asked me what a proxy server was!! They are supposed to teach students who to use computer!!

Argh!! O.K rant over!

Mac vs. Windows and Linux?

The debate about who has the upper hand in operating systems, is really starting to heat up. Linux has now jumped into the mess of advertising with a spoof of the Mac ads. But which is the best operating system to go for.....Well coming from a mac user I would definitely say that mac was the better choice, but here at Up the Apples and Pears we have to to take an unbiased look at the options.

We I guess it really depends on what you are looking for, as everyone knows Windows offer the best solution for business, Mac for the young person who wants to organize their music and photos etcetera and Linux, well Linux for, I know networking, programming and the other stuff that someone may want to do. But just take a look at the following video I think this knocks windows out of the frame!!! But there is still Linux and it will be interesting to see which operating system will triumph in this epic struggle.

Your war is not with me.....

On a recent excursion, a rare opportunity when school work is tying you down most of the time, I found my self perusing the racks of a popular high street record shop. Having decided that there was no new CD to be bought, I was about to walk out of the shop when something on the sales assistant's counter caught my eye. It was a box containing dog tags in little plastic sleeves.

These dog tags had some writing on them and with a closer inspection revealed a message saying "Your War is not with me". This was such a striking message, I felt the need to find out more so I asked the sales clerk, he said that they where supporting children in war torn countries and where endorsed my none other than Corinne Bailey Rae. What a good idea........

go to http://www.warchild.org.uk/show_article.asp?ArticleType=News&ArticleID=223

Hi - Welcome to Up the Apples and Pears

Welcome to Up the Apples and Pears,

I am joining the online boom in web logs, as a complete newbie. It is not often I do something on the internet that I have not done before but anway here is my best attempt at blogging.....
Feautred on this blog there will be anything and everything, mainly though current affairs and things that spark my imagination to write. Nothing is better than the feeling to suddenly start typing having no idea where it will take you just letting the words flow and hopefully make sense. I will be posting fairly regulary, and will continue to post until my lake of things to talk about dries up, a long time I hope!!

Until next time

Mike