Normally the US State Department issues travel advisories to American travellers for dangerous hotspots around the globe. So think of places such as Colombia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea. But the quiet peaceful German town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen? Surely a joke?

The travel advisory issued July 2nd, which the US Consulate in Munich says will soon be lifted, warned any Americans travelling to Garmisch-Partenkirchen to “be on the alert” and to “avoid public gathering places, particularly restaurants, bars and discos frequented by American citizens” in Garmisch.

The warning, which has seemingly outraged the German government, was issued after a brawl at a Garmisch nightclub in which several people were injured and an American soldier who took part in the attack was threatened with revenge attacks. More threats were received later.

This warning is a little insulting to Germany because a) it lumps them in with real dangerous countries around the world and b) it implies that the German police are not capable of maintaining law and order in Garmisch. One brawl in one nightclub and suddenly the US Government is warning Americans to avoid all restaurants, bars and discos?

Look at it this way - how would the US Government feel if there was a fight outside a New York nightclub and suddenly other countries advised their citizens to steer clear of New York? There would be an uproar and Wolf Blitzer would be in his Situation Room with guests criticising those crazy Europeans.

What do you think? Was the travel warning appropriate or a little bit of a diplomatic over-reaction?

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US Government issues travel advisory for German town

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Even though I have seen that movie countless times, it still scares the living crap out of me.  Here’s the trailer :

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The 50 Greatest Movie Trailers Of All Time?

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CNET is reporting that Microsoft is considering selling their next version of Windows, Windows 7, on specially formatted USB sticks to allow netbook owners (such as myself) to install the operating system more easily.

Most netbooks (or maybe all of them, I don’t know) don’t have a disk drive and if you want to run something from a disk, you need to convert it into a ISO image first (unless it’s a movie file or a music file which are not able to be run from ISO’s).   Then you just mount a virtual drive and click on the ISO file.

I don’t mind doing all this but a lot of other netbook users might not know how to do it or might not have the inclination to want to do it.  Then again, how many users will want to use a USB stick?  I suppose it all depends on how badly you want Windows 7 installed on your computer.

Would YOU buy Windows on a USB stick?

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Will Windows 7 be sold on USB sticks?

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The other day, I transferred my email service from Yahoo to Google Apps and it was only today I realised that the “Gmail This!” bookmarklet which I use intensively on a daily basis was now useless.

The bookmarklet, in case you don’t know, opens a new email window when you are on a webpage with the link of that page already pre-populated in the body of the email.   You can then email the link of the page you’re looking at to your email contacts or email yourself to put the link into your email archives.  I do the latter and I have built up quite a list of links in a “story ideas” label.

But after looking at the bookmarklet, I’ve realised it is easy to change it to Google Apps.  Just right-click on the label and choose “properties”.   Copy and paste everything from “location” into a Windows notepad file.   Then find the part which says “http://mail.google.com“.   That is the part that redirects the bookmarklet to Gmail.

At the end of that link, add /a/yourdomainname (and also change the http to https for security sake).  So mine would be https://mail.google.com/a/markoneill.org .  Copy and paste everything back into the “location” section of the bookmarklet and click “OK”.

You’ve now got a bookmarklet which will allow you to email links using your Google Apps instead of Gmail.

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Changing the “Gmail This!” button to Google Apps

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As soon as the post hit the site, Colman was “assaulted” by indignant and outraged posters who took great exception to what he said. A few supported him (including me) but the majority of the posts are rather on the negative side. Some of them basically implied that Iran meant nothing to them while Jackson represented their whole life.

I can understand people loving Michael Jackson and being devastated by his death but I think things regarding the “King Of Pop” are starting to reach hysteria level.   I am a Jackson fan as well and I listen regularly to his music but I would never say that he is more important than a nation trying to assert their democratic rights over a dictatorial regime.

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There is also a version on YouTube where Elvis sings it himself.

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I find it utterly distasteful that while his body is still warm, the media are obsessed with only talking about the child molestation accusations, his money problems and whether or not he was a disturbed child. Right now on BBC News 24, they are obsessing over whether the fans will get their money back or not from the comeback concerts he was planning to perform! Can’t everyone just shut up and show a little bit of respect to his family and to his memory?

THIS is what we should be focusing on - the music -

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Many thanks to Patrick for pointing this one out to me on Friendfeed.   18 year old Khadijah Williams has been accepted to Harvard but what makes her stand out is that she and her mother & sister are homeless.  Despite that, she was determined to succeed in school and make something of her life.

Reading it, you really start to feel that anything is possible in life.  She’s a great inspiration.

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