| Adobe and Microsoft Release Competiting Rich Media Products
Over the weekend, both Microsoft and Adobe came out with competing media player products - Microsoft launched Silverlight, a direct competitor to Adobe's Flash, while Adobe released Adobe Media Player, an alternative to Microsoft's Windows Media Player. Microsoft calls Silverlight, "a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web." It'll run on both Mac and Windows, within Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. Silverlight will scale media from mobile-quality to full-screen high-definition, and is fully integrated with Windows Media technologies. The Adobe Media Player, meanwhile, "will let users subscribe to and play video podcasts published with RSS (Really Simple Syndication).
A prayer safari
"For 2007's theme, we chose "Kingdom of the Son-A Prayer Safari," reveals Pastor Aris. The African safari theme was an effective way to capture the attention of young explorers. Music, materials, decorations and activities all conveyed the essence of the theme.
At "Kingdom of the Son," students embarked on a journey into God's Word and discovered the greatest adventure of all, getting to know God. Through exploring the Lord's Prayer, children learned to talk to God and were encouraged to develop a personal relationship with Him.
Exploring the Lord's Prayer
"The Lord's Prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13 is one of the well-known passages in the Bible. In fact, many churches recite it on a weekly basis. Jesus used this to teach his disciples as a model for communicating with our Heavenly Father," explains Pastor Aris.
A comedic safari into Africa
DAVE Bloustien's Beastly is a photo safari into the comical world of Africa. Spending a month holidaying on the continent, Bloustien, 31, describes his show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival as part travel log, part a look into Africa's wildlife with a “little bit of ranting about political injustices" thrown in.
“Africa itself is a fascinating country. It's really beautiful, there's a lot to see and [it has some] really interesting people, but it also has a lot of issues which is one of the points of the show," Bloustien says.
But, adds the comedian, don't expect any solutions to Africa's problems.
“Comedians aren't very good at solving things, though they are good at pointing out the problems," he explains.
Bloustien, who warns that his show contains holiday snaps, uses musical instruments and other props to “separate fact from fiction".
Poachers target elephants, rhinos
Rhinos and elephants in Southern Africa are coming under increased pressure from poachers and organised criminal gangs, who supply the lucrative international ivory and rhino-horn markets. At least 70 rhinos have been killed by poachers in the Kruger National Park (KNP) in the past six years, including 17 in 2006 and four by mid-February this year. Also revealed in a report to be published on Monday, Animal Rights Africa (ARA), a Johannesburg-based animals rights group, says that Free State authorities have prosecuted nine people for the illegal possession of 44 rhino horns in the past two years and there have been other serious incidents in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. Arrests have also been made in the Western Cape. The report, Consuming Wildlife: The Illegal Exploitation Of Wildlife In South Africa, Zimbabwe And Zambia, also details increased elephant poaching in Zimbabwe and Zambia and quotes extensively from a document compiled by the governments of Kenya and Mali, which claims that more than 40 tons of ivory has been confiscated worldwide during the past two years.
The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
Referring to Lewis Carroll's Red Queen from Through the Looking-Glass, a character who has to keep running to stay in the same place, Matt Ridley demonstrates why sex is humanity's best strategy for outwitting its constantly mutating internal predators. The Red Queen answers dozens of other riddles of human nature and culture -- including why men propose marriage, the method behind our maddening notions of beauty, and the disquieting fact that a woman is more likely to conceive a child by an adulterous lover than by her husband. Brilliantly written, The Red Queen offers an extraordinary new way of interpreting the human condition and how it has evolved. > read full review at Amazon.com .
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