REDMOND, Wash. - On his final full day at Microsoft Corp., Bill Gates went on stage to reminisce with his longtime friend Steve Ballmer, and neither man could hold back tears as Ballmer handed Gates a large scrapbook as a farewell present.

Gates, who is stepping back to focus on his philanthropy, sat with CEO Ballmer in a Microsoft conference room and meandered through moments in Microsoft’s history. They stopped to get in a few good digs at IBM Corp., whose first personal computers were loaded with Microsoft’s DOS operating system before IBM adopted its own operating software and their relations strained.

“They went off with OS 2, we were left with good old Windows, and sure enough the David versus Goliath story came out with the right ending,” said Gates, eliciting laughter from the crowd of 830 Microsoft employees.

Gates, who founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975, admitted that Microsoft has faltered along the way, and certainly isn’t perfect today.

“When we miss a big change, when we don’t get great people on it, that is the most dangerous thing for us,” Gates said. “It has happened many times. It’s OK, but the less the better.”

Read more on yahoo.com

written by Andrew

OMAHA, Neb. - Severe storms with strong winds swept through the Plains on Friday, forcing swimmers practicing for U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha to flee pools and run for cover, killing two people in Iowa, and knocking out power to thousands.

Officials at the Qwest Center near downtown Omaha closed the building to examine it after superstar swimmer Michael Phelps and hundreds of other athletes were herded into hallways because of a tornado warning.

Water poured into the building, down arena steps and onto the deck of the competition pool during the storm. The storm’s winds may have reached 100 mph in some areas, said meteorologist Bryon Miller.

An eight-day meet to decide the U.S. Olympic swimming team opens Sunday. Al Berndt, assistant director of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, said the damage appeared to be reparable and probably wouldn’t halt the swim trials.

Read more on yahoo.com

written by Andrew

LONDON, England (CNN) — Hollywood star Will Smith led a crowd of 46,664 in a chorus of “Happy Birthday” to Nelson Mandela on Friday at a party for the South African prisoner, president and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Smith introduced Mandela to the London crowd celebrating Mandela’s life with the words “The one, the only, the birthday boy, Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandelaaaaaaaaaa.”

London was the scene of a concert 20 years ago to celebrate Mandela’s 70th and to raise awareness of his imprisonment.

Mandela told cheering fans, “Your voices carried across the water to inspire us in our prison cells far away. Tonight, we can stand before you free.

“We are honored to be back in London for this wonderful occasion.

“But even as we celebrate, let us remind ourselves that our work is far from complete.

“Where there is poverty and sickness, including AIDS, where human beings are being oppressed, there is more work to be done. Our work is for freedom for all.”

As Mandela walked on stage, Smith led the crowd in a chorus of “Happy Birthday.”

Read more on CNN.com

written by Andrew

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — A 25-second snippet of video showing actor Verne Troyer and a former girlfriend having sex, available online over the past couple of days, is all the world will see of the tape — for now.

n Friday, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order requested by Troyer’s attorneys that prevents porn distributors from taking orders for the full-length video and prevents TMZ from broadcasting any more clips.

The celebrity Web site posted the short segment on its site Wednesday; Troyer sued the site and porn distributors Thursday for $20 million in damages.

U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez wrote that Troyer’s motion “demonstrated that he will suffer irreparable harm to his reputation” if the tape is distributed. It barred further broadcasting of the tape, which Troyer’s attorney, Tracy Rane, interpreted as meaning that TMZ has to remove the video from its site.

TMZ removed the snippet of the tape by late Friday afternoon, instead redirecting Web viewers to its home page. Another post describing the lawsuit remained active Friday.

Read more on CNN.com

written by Andrew

Femeile şi bărbaţii privesc în mod diferit aventurile de o noapte, aproape 50% dintre reprezentantele sexului frumos simţindu-se nefericite din cauza acestora, potrivit rezultatelor unui studiu publicat în Human Nature.

Aproape jumătate dintre femei spun că după o aventură de o noapte au simţit că acest lucru a fost o idee proastă.

În schimb, 80% dintre bărbaţi au indicat că s-au simţit foarte fericiţi după aventurile de o noapte, informează BBC.

“Recent, biologii au sugerat că femeile pot avea beneficii din împerecherea cu mai mulÅ£i masculi - astfel crescând diversitatea genetică a copiilor - ÅŸi, dacă un bărbat de calitate alege să încheie relaÅ£ia, atunci ele măcar se aleg cu gene excelente pentru copiii lor”, adaugă cercetătorul.

Totuşi, dacă femeile ar fi fost create de evoluţie pentru relaţii pe termen scurt, s-ar fi bucurat mai mult de aventuri.

Sondajul arată că nu s-a întâmplat acest lucru.

Citeste toata stirea pe mediafax.ro

written by Andrew

Fata de 11 ani din Neamţ, care a rămas însărcinată în urma unui viol, poate face avort în România, fără a fi nevoie de modificarea legislaţiei în domeniu, a decis comisia interministerială care a anchetat cazul, potrivit unor surse oficiale.

Familia va decide cine o va opera pe fata de 11 ani, iar medicul respectiv îşi va asuma intervenţia, potrivit aceloraşi surse. Statisticile din SUA arată că o fată din cinci care fac întrerupere de sarcină la mai mult de 14 săptămâni riscă să facă o complicaţie postintervenţie, susţin specialiştii.

2.000 de fete de până la 15 ani au devenit mame, într-un singur an

Biserica s-a oferit să ajute, familia refuză

Preoţii încearcă să convingă familia fetei de 11 ani însărcinate să renunţe la ideea unui avort. Din momentul în care fetiţa a ajuns la maternitatea Cuza Vodă din Iaşi, preotul unităţii medicale a purtat primele discuţii cu părinţii acesteia. Au urmat preotul din satul natal, Piatra Şoimului, dar şi protopopul din Roznov, Neamţ.

Citeste toata stirea pe mediafax.ro

written by Andrew

“Ministerul EducaÅ£iei a realizat, joi seara, repartizarea computerizată a elevilor în clasa a IX-a în licee ÅŸi ÅŸcoli de artă ÅŸi meserii, cea mai mare medie de admitere (9,98) fiind înregistrată la Colegiul NaÅ£ional “Sf. Sava” din BucureÅŸti.

Află aici unde ai fost repartizat

written by Andrew

Candidaţii din sesiunea curentă a bacalaureatului, care au promovat probele orale şi cei din sesiunile anterioare care au solicitat reluarea probelor nepromovate, au de rezolvat vineri, la română scris varianta 88, pentru subiectul I, varianta 95 pentru subiectul II şi varianta 1 la subiectul III.

VARANTA I - 88

VARIANTA II - 95

VARIANTA III - 1

Variantele pentru proba de vineri au fost extrase de Zvetlana Preoteasa, secretar de stat pentru învăţământul preuniversitar, în cadrul şedinţei publice organizate la sediul Ministerului Educaţiei, Cercetării şi Tineretului, în prezenţa membrilor comisiei naţionale de examen, din cele 100 posibile. După ce a fost anunţate variantele extrase, prin intermediul postului Radio România Actualităţi, comisiile de examen vor multiplica subiectele în număr egal cu al candidaţilor şi le vor distribui în săli.

Citeste toata stirea pe mediafax.ro

written by Andrew

Aida Yespica - iubita lui Matteo Ferrari

Alena Seredova - sotia lui Gianluigi Buffon

Belen Rodriguez - iubita lui Borriello

Edita Hortova - sotia lui Milan Baros

Eva Gonzales - sotia lui Iker Casillias

Ilary Blasi - iubita lui Francesco Totti

Marta Cecchetto - iubita lui Luca Tony

Nereida Gonzales - iubita lui Cristiano Ronaldo

Noemi Lenoir - iubita lui Claude Makelele

Oksana Andersson - iubita lui Christian Wilhelmsson

Rosario Cannavo - iubita lui Christian Panucci

Sylvie van der Vaart - sotia lui Rafael van der Vaart.

Nici romanii nu au stat prea rau:
Adelina Elisei - logodnica lui Cristi Chivu

Consuelo Mutu - sotia lui Adi Mutu

Sursa: radio21

written by Andrew

It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.

The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.

“From the viewpoint of science, the North Pole is just another point on the globe, but symbolically it is hugely important. There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water,” said Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado.

If it happens, it raises the prospect of the Arctic nations being able to exploit the valuable oil and mineral deposits below these a bed which have until now been impossible to extract because of the thick sea ice above.

Seasoned polar scientists believe the chances of a totally icefreeNorth Pole this summer are greater than 50:50 because the normally thick ice formed over many years at the Pole has been blown away and replaced by hugeswathes of thinner ice formed over a single year.

Read more on belfasttelegraph.co.uk

written by Andrew