The most impressive matches so far are Newcastle United vs Aston Villa, Arsenal vs Blackpool, Chelsea vs Wigan Athletic and Chelsea vs West Bromwich Albion – all of these matches ended in 6-0 in favor of the team written first, Andy Caroll for Newcastle United, Theo Walcott and Drogba scored hatricks where Drogba scored against Bromwich. Chelsea, Arsenal and Newcastle have the most number of goals with 12, 7 and 6 respectively.

Still there are the very competitive matches which haven’t begun yet like Chelsea vs Arsenal or Manu vs Man City, then the atmosphere will get real hot with crowds pouring in. Still only in the initial stages of the league, it can only get better and when it does it will be the talk where ever you go. With only 3 weeks in the season which ends on the 22nd May 2011 there will be relentless tension to see who comes on top first… there’s still time to pick your favored team so tune into your TV.

Cactus is the queen of the desert. It is believed that Cacti can survive without water for several years. Even though these amazing plants require water to survive just like any other type of plant, there are very well adapted to the dry desert conditions they are found in. The thick stem acts as a reservoir of water against the drought. Its wide shallow roots extend over a great distance are fit to absorb as much of the rain water as possible from occasional desert storms. The absence of leaves ensures that the plant does not lose water. However, cacti need adequate amounts of water to achieve its optimum growth and to flower.

Coconut trees, found scattered across areas on either side of the equator, are some of the most amazing trees found on planet earth. The species is well adapted to withstand high temperatures and high salinity. Its strong roots can resist strong winds and stormy weather. These, along with its adaptation to sandy soil, make it the tree of the beach. As other plants cannot withstand the harsh conditions of the shoreline, the coconut tree can easily win the competition for habitat, water and sunlight. This tree is very useful to man not only because coconuts are used as food, but also because of the many byproducts of coconut, like the coconut leaves, the coconut flowers, the coconut trunk, coco peat and coconut husks.

Another unique and amazing type of plant is the carnivorous. They can differ greatly from one part of the world to another. But one characteristic they all have in common, is that they trap insects and small animals for food. For example, the Pitcher plant uses the pitcher-shaped structure of its leaves to trap insects. The ‘pitchers’ are filled with a sweet but sticky liquid substance which attracts the insects, and traps and drowns them. The Venus’s Fly Trap has leaves with ‘teeth’ that snap shut when an insect crawls across. The sticky and broad leaves of Butterworts plant trap insects. Once the insects and small animals are caught, the carnivorous plants digest them and absorb the nourishment from the decomposing creatures. This supplies the plants with adequate amounts of protein.

And when I say ‘International’, ‘Chinese’ is probably the first thing that pops into your mind. But if you really want to explore the diversity of our planet you need to look beyond the Chinese restaurant around the corner. Unfortunately, Pizza Hut doesn’t count as Italian cuisine either. If you are wondering from where to start your journey, here are some ideas:

If you are looking for something truly exotic, Indian food should be just the right thing for you. From flatbreads like chapathi, naan, dosai, and poori to many other delicacies like steamed rice, tandoori chicken and spicy curries, the variety Indian food offers is endless. This is probably the ideal cuisine for vegans and vegetarians.

The world’s best gourmet kitchens are in Paris. French cuisine normally consist of an array of dishes prepared from vegetables, fruits, fish, sea food and meat served along with bread, pasta, crepe or rice and an assortment of cheeses and wine.

Italian food seems to be one of the most popular choices. After all who can resist the taste of a crusty and cheesy pizza or some delicious pasta? Some of the most commonly found ingredients of Italian food are tomatoes, eggplant, olives, garlic, pepper, cheese and meat. And don’t forget to stop at an Italian café for some tiramisu and cappuccino.

Mexican food is for all of you who can muster the courage for a really hot and spicy experience. It mainly consists of corn and beans, along with vegetables and meats loaded with chilies and other spices. Chocolate has also played an integral part in Mexican cuisine throughout history.

So are you ready to let your taste buds take you on a trip around the world?

Who hasn’t heard the name of the legendary investor Warren Buffet? The great ‘Sage of Omaha’! Well, let me tell you more about him. Born in Omaha, NE on the 30^th of August, 1930, as the son of the politician and businessman Howard Buffet and his wife Leila, Warren Buffet grew up like any child in the post-Great Depression Midwest. However, his interest in making money began when he was still a tender child. He began collecting and saving money by becoming a door-to-door chewing gum, Coca-cola and newspapers salesman. He even worked at his grandfather’s grocery shop for a while.  On a trip to New York when he was only 10 years old, he visited the New York Stock Exchange and a few months later he entered the stock market when he bought shares of Cities Service for himself and his sister. After his father was elected to Congress, his family moved to Washington DC when he was 12 years old.

As a teenager, Warren Buffet grew as an entrepreneur. He began delivering newspapers, detailing cars and selling stamps and golf balls. At 14, he was already paying income tax! Together with his friends from high school, Warren bought used pin-ball machines and set them up in near by barber shops to start a fantastic, profitable business. He also invested in his father’s business and bought his own farm while he was still a teenager.

But all this interest in money-making was not a problem for his education. Warren Buffet was only 19 years old when he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics. Within a year he obtained an MS in Economics from the Columbia Business School. After graduation he lectured at the University of Nebraska to students nearly twice his age! He began his own business partnerships there after. By 1962, he was a millionaire! In the year 2008, Warren Buffet, worth $62 billion, was crowned the richest man in the world by Forbes magazine after he beat Bill Gates, who had held the title for 13 consecutive years. Today, he is the primary shareholder and the Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. a conglomerate holding company based in Omaha, which produces involved in insurance and other investments. However, Buffet is an extraordinary philanthropist and he has pledged 85% of his wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is a private foundation established by Bill Gates and his wife to globally eradicate poverty and enhance health care.

If you want to know more about this miraculous man read Mary Buffet’s and David Clark’s book, ‘Buffettology’. However, if your interest lies in investing in stock futures and making a fortune like Warren Buffet, I suggest you read ‘The Guru Investor: How to Beat the Market Using History’s Best Investment Strategies’ by John Reese.

What exactly are Lemmings anyway?

1. Fat, herbivorous rodents that should under no circumstance be mistaken for guinea-pigs because guinea-pigs are actually cute!

Oh this is interesting! According to learned men from the 16^th century, Lemmings all fell out of the sky during a storm.

“Mass suicide” – That’s what we call the accidental mass deaths that occur when lemmings migrate in large groups.

Need evidence?

What I find most stunning is the (newly learned) fact that Lemmings (right) were based on lemmings (above).
The wee turf-haired creatures I sacrificed years ago in Lemmings Revolution actually made death cute.
Imagine a fat rodent dying. ‘Splaarffth!’ Blood, fur, guts and chipped teeth. Goddamit lemming, why can’t you be more like your distant cousin Lemming, and leave life in a way that makes the murder of small creature enjoyable?

I’m not old-school enough to have played (or want to play) the original game Lemmings released in 1991 by Psygnosis. Still, I’m a sucker for nostalgia and downloads that don’t need to be paid for. It’s time to get a copy of Lemmings revolution and another glass of lemonade.

Just need to strain out the drowned Lemmings, pop in a few ice cubes and
LEMMINGS REVOLUTION . . . is downloading. At third world country internet speeds. Thank goodness the whole game is only half a gig large. (If anybody wants to debate the ethics of using bit torrents, I’m not interested.)

Let’s get a little background information while this thing crawls its way to my laptop. The game I’m about to play was released in 2000 by Psygnosis and Talonsoft. It is the last game in the series to be made for PC. It’s also a lot more loyal to the concept than its 1997 predecessor ‘The adventures of Lomax’, where you control a single Lemming, unravel his story and weep over the fact that the Lemmings has conformed to being a standard third-person action game – something which by the looks of it, neither IGN nor Gamespot has bothered to review yet.

I couldn’t help but post this utterly mediocre (but mildly alcoholic) recipe for lemonade. It’s extra hot these days and I’m drinking a lot of the stuff, though not enough to get tipsy sadly. If anyone has ideas on how to improve my lemonade, I’d love to hear them!

LEMMINGS REVOLUTION is ready for action now, so without further ado, let’s bring on a good bout of cuteness, nostalgia and death.

Wow. I remember being amazed by these graphics: a spooky plank bridge snaking across dark water, lit by torches. A 3d ‘tree’ around which various deadly or inhibitory pitfalls are placed, the wobbling lemmings… Now I’m just amazed that I used to be amazed. It’s easy to see why it runs so smoothly on my craptop – (A laptop I’m borrowing for work while I take a break abroad and back home from university. It’s a Pentium mobile netbook, enough said).

The first level round, I choose ‘just float’ where all you need to do is equip each and every lemming with a brolly. In period I took to figure out how the tree spun, I managed to kill them all.
This was really disappointing because none of them cried ‘oh no!’ as they were supposed to. It’s the price that must be paid for bootlegging games, since I just don’t have the patience to download a better version.
The next four levels went smoothly. Take note: A ‘basher’ will take four steps swinging his arms in the air before realising that there’s nothing in front of him to bash, and that you’ve wasted his time and made him look like a fool before all his sheep-like comrades. He secretly hopes you’ll use ‘bomber’ on him next. That’s another thing I’ve learned so far. If you’ve got a frozen ‘block’ Lemming that you decide to blow up, he doesn’t have to die! Just watch the countdown and assign him a task when he sees the white light (immediately after ‘1…’). I prefer to save them with bash in such instances because it’s quite harmless in terms of random stairs and holes created in your tree.

I’m not too confident about getting the rest of my levels flawlessly completed. It would be brilliant to have a mouse right now but it looks like I’m stuck with my craptop’s touchpad, which by the way, doesn’t even come with a tapping function.

Hey! – does anyone remember another early 3d puzzle game centered on sheep? They were shiny, fat sheep that had to be rounded up in different, ways I think.
There’s time to research or remember that one anyway. I’ve posted my current progress below. The beginning level in the middle is where all my Lemmings died. I’m going to zig-zag my little Lemmings to their promised land and this should take just 8 levels. Still, it’s going to be great running through all of them. If I don’t find the sheep game too soon, I’ll probably write a Lemmings Revolution guide, and stick another recipe up while I’m at it. It’s nice to moonch/sip something home-made and yummy while taking a trip back in time.

But coconuts aren’t all homicidal fat mongers. In fact, an interesting titbit of info to note is that the liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma – bet you didn’t think you could ever have coconut blood coursing through your veins, did you? Well, I’m here telling you that it is possible. But that’s not the last of it – sure the other uses of coconuts are pretty mundane in comparison to their importance as life-saving super-drupes, but seeing as how every single part of this miracle fruit/nut/seed is a resource to us, you can bet that what they lack in the wow factor, they make up for in versatility.

To begin with, walk into my house and you’ll find heaps of coconut products; my trusty broom, for one – perfect for getting rid of unwanted muck (kidding, Bob). The fibre of the husk is used for all kinds of household goods, including mats, ropes, twine, fuel, coco peat, clothing and even filters. It does its job particularly well due to its resistance to salt water and overall toughness.

What’s more, the coconut fronds are often used by locals for thatched roofs, which they make themselves to shelter their houses. The hard shells can be cut, carved and polished to make all kinds of utensils and ornaments. Go visit any seaside souvenir shop and you’ll probably find some nifty coconut product that is WAY overpriced and yet too cute to resist.

And don’t get me started about the food! Coconut is used in all types of ways to make traditional meals and sweets, from deliciously spicy curries to mouth-watering coconut toffee. The possibilities are endless.

And what happens when the tree stops producing its wonder-fruit? Turn away to the next hot topic? Hell no! Once again the coconut tree offers its services to humanity in the form of its wood. Called porcupine wood (splinters?), this wood is used widely to make furniture and other products for our convenience.

The first fact several of us are still unwilling to give any real credence to is that companies LIE FOR PROFIT. In more cases than you think, bottled mineral water is a misleading way for companies to expand their earnings through clever marketing strategies that end up either skewing the truth or even lying outright. In fact, according to the NRDC, at least 25% of all bottled mineral water comes from a public source (ie: taps). One example of this is Pepsi-Cola’s Aquafina brand, which it stated in 2007 was just purified tap water in a bottle. This is quite outrageous when you consider how much the U.S. population spent on Aquafina in 2006 – a whopping $2.17 billion. In the same year the U.S. spent $15 billion in total on bottled mineral water. This clearly shows that bottled mineral water really isn’t worth the extra money f you can get the same thing by using a filter at home to get our water, or by just drinking it straight from the tap.

And let’s not forget the health risks. In many cases bottled mineral water can be more detrimental than beneficial. Companies add a vast amount of chemicals into bottled water, and both this and the fact that the bottles that contain the water can emit harmful substances into the water make it a risky choice, especially for those with weaker immune systems. The same survey and tests conducted by the NRDC revealed that 22% of bottled water contained contaminants that were dangerously about the state health limits. The bottles also release substances called phthalates, the levels of which are limited by the law in tap water but shockingly have no such limits in tap water. Anyone can agree with me that that’s just not right.

Then there’s the more global issue of water security. In many countries the seizure of water distribution rights by large companies has taken away the rights of many people to free-flowing water. The privatisation of this water has given the companies the ability to buy water from the country and sell to its people for much, much more, in bottles. It’s happened in places like Turkey and will continue to happen worldwide. In fact many speculate that like the war for oil, we may be fast approaching a water war. To keep this from happening we’ll have to manage our resources and make better, more socially conscious decisions.

And so there’s really no great difference between bottled mineral water and tap water, and using tap water is universally the best thing for all of us. The next time you get thirsty, consider leaving your wallet where it is and grabbing a mug from the kitchen for a good drink – you’ll be going a good deed for us all.

It’s kind of made me think that I’d like a change. It may not be today or tomorrow or even next year, but I’ve decided that soon I’d like to step out of my comfort zone and out into the wider world. After all, there’s so much out there I haven’t already seen that it would be a shame not to try, so I made a list of all the places I want to see (or even live in) before I die. The list is longer than the distance between my fridge and Istanbul, so I’ve just included just a few here, but I hope all the same that I get my message across that the world is a wonderful place and you’ll never know what’s out there unless you get out there yourself.

Vienna, Austria

What first got me thinking about Vienna was Billy Joel’s song of the same name. It’s just nice to think that whatever happens in life, “Vienna waits for you.” There’s just something so peaceful about the place. Sure the taxes are through the roof, but as far as I know the healthcare’s good, people have jobs and the violins in the song sound mighty nice, and any place that’s associated with violins must be awesome.

Tuscany, Italy

To tell you the truth, I wouldn’t mind going anywhere in Italy. The place just sounds so gorgeously welcoming! The cobbled footpaths, the beaches, the Mediterranean weather, the soccer…the FOOD!! It sounds like a real dream location! Why I picked Tuscany is that my high school friend and I made an agreement to retire there together when the time came. Just imagine that – two elderly crones playing soccer at the beach…Under the Tuscan Sun.

Tavira, Portugal

Sure it’s not as famous as Lisbon or any of those big cities in neighbouring Spain, but that’s why I like it. Tavira in South Portugal is one of the few places that actually IS one of the country’s best-kept secrets (and doesn’t just CLAIM to be so). Tavira Portugal has got some beautiful architecture and natural surroundings that are interwoven into the perfect setting for anyone who wants to get away for while. Plus the culture has been influenced by both the Christians and the Moors, so the sites are guaranteed to look interesting.

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

I’ve actually already been here before, but I liked it so much that I really wouldn’t mind going there again. Sigiriya is actually this giant rock in Central Sri Lanka that was once this giant fortress of an ancient Ceylonese Kingdom. You can still see the rock shelters at the base and the wall frescos higher up, and the view from the top is positively breathtaking. The ascent is made on a flight of stairs, carved into the rock at some points and fitted in at others. I didn’t quite enjoy having the circulation in my hand cut off by my dear friend’s death grip as she made her tremulous way up the steps, but even so, climbing this rock is a great way for all those acrophobics out there to conquer their fears.

Hawaii, America

America would never be the place I’d want to live in, unless it was to get a higher education and get the hell out of there, but two names have constantly come up as the best places to live in the entire country, and they are San Francisco California and Honolulu Hawaii. I’m more garlands, dolphins and volcanoes than night clubs, private cars and handy cams, so I pick Hawaii!

Well, maybe that’s a little extreme. I guess I just have a knack for sounding like a loser. But I must admit that Second Life is more than what it seems to the presumptuous first-timer (a.k.a. me). those who have played similar role-playing games like The Sims probably have the impression that Second Life must be a similar experience of debauchery and unholiness. The truth is that that Second Life, while being largely for entertainment purposes, has a lot more to offer its so-called residents. People in the virtual world can go to school, learn languages and even improve their driving skills if they feel the need to. Although, for now, I’d much rather stick to buying clothes and racing speedy vehicles.

Speaking of racing, I’m proud to say I just recently won my first speed race! Sure, the prize money wasn’t that great, and one of the few vehicles worth competing with was a broken down Suzuki Maruti that resembled the one that my (real-life) high school art teacher used to drive around, but it was more than I expected. Of course, I was only driving on the amateur circuit so I knew I couldn’t expect much in the first place. The races do get more challenging though, with some even containing obstacles that the drivers must overcome to even complete the race. The great scenery on the circuit is something to look at as well, and is more realistic than you’d think.

What’s next for me in the world of Second Life? Well, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to land a job spying at the new Embassy of Malta. After all, freelancing is allowed. Or maybe I could try my luck at one of those mini-MMORPGS role playing games they’ve got going on. I could even chill out with a good old game of chess if I wanted to. I don’t know about you but most of what I mentioned are not opportunities I can get every day in the real world. Until next time, take care. This is Ember Jackson, signing out.