Ok, since I live in EU, I'll choose from EU states: Any Nordic state or the Republic of Ireland.

2. If you were on a plane that crashed, would you rather be stranded on an island or a desert? Island sounds better. There's water which can be distilled and, unless it's just a piece of rock, there are also some other resources.

3. What "catches your eye" first in the opposite sex? Mmm... I guess it's a combination of hair-style and body shape.

4. How much do you think a guy should spend on an engagement ring? I have absolutely no idea of or opinion on this one.

5. How old do you want to be when you retire? It will be a sad day when I'll have to retire.

7. Would you rather be the smartest person in the world or the most attractive person in the world? Smartest. You can't fix Stupid.

8. Do you think tattoos are hot? Yeah, sort of, as long as they've been done professionally. I still like piercings more.

9. What was your first pet? I have never had pets.

10. Where did you go on your first Spring Break? N/A.

11. Are you scared of spiders or snakes? Spiders freak me out, but snakes are OK.

12. What was your first job? A summer job. The city paid me to mow lawn.

13. What is in your front, right pocket? An ID/passkey card to the synchrotron facility I'm visiting right now.

14. Do you put up a real Christmas tree each year? No. Not even a fake one.

15. How many blankets are on your bed? One.

16. Do you have a TV in your bedroom? I gave up watching TV earlier this year. No TVs.

17. When was the last time you received a card in the mail? Must have been the card Tuxette sent me from South Africa.

19. Who was the last person that text-messaged you? My boss.

20. Who was the first person you saw today? Some dude on the hotel elevator.

21. Do you have any awards hanging on your wall? Nope.

22. Do you own glasses? Sun glasses, glasses and contact lenses. L: -4.25 / R: -2.75.

23. When is the last time you shaved something on your body? A week ago. I really should shave my beard...

25. What was your first vehicle? I've never owned a car.

26. Do you miss high school? Yeah. It was almost as much fun as the university.

27. Are you more of a neat or messy person? Personal hygiene: neat, Home: a total slob.

28. Do you think that everyone should have a cell phone? Don't really care.

29. Do you remember your first family vacation? Vaguely. It was a domestic vacation trip.

30. Ever been in a fight with a best friend? Nope. I've never been in a fight.

31. Ever puked in public? Many times. At home and abroad.

32. Would you prefer dinner and a movie or bowling and ice cream? Dinner, a movie and beer.

33. Do you sleep with your door open or closed at night? Definitely closed. I can't stand open doors - between rooms or wardrobe doors - in my bedroom.

34. How far do you live from work? About 9 km one way.

35. Do you believe in afterlife? No, unless you consider the conservation of your atoms and energy as afterlife.

36. How many credit cards do you own? VISA and MasterCard.

37. Would you move to another country tomorrow, if you were offered a $100,000 job? Sure. If the job's to my liking, I'll be ready to go tomorrow morning.

38. How many kids do you see yourself having? None.

39. Were you a trouble child? No. I was a total geek.

40. Do you like butterflies? Don't like them, don't dislike them.

41. Can you shake your booty? Yeah, but why would I want to do something like that? I'm a boring person.

42. Do you shower at night or in the morning? Morning and evening (I bike to work and back).

43. Where is your favorite place to eat? At home.

44. What did you wear to bed last night? Boxers.

45. Do you have to sleep with something "ON" every night in order to sleep? I like to have some background noise. A radio or something playing on the laptop. Complete silence freaks me out. TV news broadcasts were a good source of noise.

46. On average, how much TV do you watch a day? I don't watch tv.

47. Do you have any piercings? No.

48. Would you rather go snorkeling in the Caribbean or hiking on the Appalachian Trail? Couldn't I do both?

49. Have you ever taken karate lessons? No, but I really should get moving and check out the local Krav Maga club.

50. Do you think if you got married, you would ever get a divorce? If it doesn't work, it's best for everyone involved to go for a divorce.

MONTREAL -- A 65-year-old Quebec man who received a new long-term mechanical heart last month is being described as the only living Canadian without a pulse. Dr. Renzo Cecere implanted the "Heartmate II" mechanical heart into Gerard Langevin in an three-hour operation Nov. 23. Officials at the McGill University Health Centre say the device, which is about the size of a flashlight battery, could last up to 10 years.

Artificial eyes, repaired eyes, artificial pancreas, artificial hands and other artificial organs (sorry - there's no artificial replacement/upgrade for THAT organ, yet!).

The future looks good.

Update: Diabetes no more!?

Personally I don't think they're thinking big enough, though. Why not bring back asbestos and DDT while we're at it? Must... destroy... earth!

Update:

Can't have that pesky scientific process to get in the way of profits...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday streamlined the way it updates regulations for the nation's worst air pollutants, a move that drew immediate charges that officials are trying to quash scientific review to benefit industry at the expense of public health.

The changes, some of which closely mirror requests by the American Petroleum Institute and Battery Council International industry groups, include shortening what is now an exhaustive scientific review, and replacing recommendations prepared by career scientists and reviewed by independent advisors with a "policy paper" crafted by senior White House appointees at the agency.

*boggle*

Environmental protection based on policy papers? WTF?

Update 2:

Hmm... looks like CNN got its headline ("EPA: Leaded gas may return, along with lower standards") really wrong. From the LA Times article: "The ban on leaded gasoline will continue no matter what, agency staff said, as will other rules."

At first I thought it had to be a spoof, but... damn!

Why, oh why did I have to go and mess with a perfectly working experimental setup? Now it'll take several hours to fix that screwup...

At the end of one long and barren corridor there was a chalkboard with this written on it. Did someone get lost and perish in this high tech maze? Or was someone having serious trouble with his experimental setup at some ungodly hour and did he choose to express his desperation on that board? Who knows.

There was also something a little bit more positive written on that same board, possibly as a reply to the previous message. For those who can read Scandinavian, here it is (as you can see my crappy cellphone cam is almost useless). The closest English idiom I can think of as a translation is the "Every cloud has a silver lining", but someone here probably knows a better one...

Fortunately we've managed to fix all the problems and are getting some good data, but I've been working 12-16 hours per day since Monday and it is starting to take its toll.

Next week won't be too bad, though. I'll be getting comfortably numb with sleep deprivation. ;-)

KRASNOYARSK. Dec 1 (Interfax) - An unidentified flying object has reportedly crashed between the towns of Yeniseisk and Lesosibirsk in the Yenisei district of the Krasnoyarsk territory. Local residents say they observed the crash at about 10 a.m. local time, adding that they also saw traces of fire in the taiga, the main department of interior affairs of the territory told Interfax.

I can already imagine the reaction news like this is going to cause in the usenet kook groups... "UFO crashed and now they're covering it up!" ;)

DENVER - A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti- Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

... Jensen, a past association president, calculates the fines will cost her about $1,000, and doubts they will be able to make her pay. But she said she's not going to take it down until after Christmas.

"Now that it has come to this I feel I can't get bullied," she said. "What if they don't like my Santa Claus."

Yeah, Bob. Trying to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace by hanging a peace sign on her door? The nerve of that woman. What'll she do next? Talk some nonsense about peace on earth and goodwill to men, too?

I am not an expert in parallel algorithms, but one would think that tools like gzip, bzip2 and the GNU tool-chain could be re-written so that they make better use of multiple CPUs.

It kind of sucks that compressing a 25.8 Gb backup file on a four-way machine with bzip2 utilizes only one of the CPUs.

Four states - Georgia, Alabama, Iowa and Ohio - have decided to split from the group over concerns its changing direction on issues like the minimum wage, the environment and Internet law instead of core issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.

Hunter, who was scheduled to take over the socially conservative political group Jan. 1, said he had hoped to focus on issues such as poverty and the environment.

"These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about," Hunter said.

He resigned Tuesday during an organization board meeting. Hunter said he was not asked to leave.

"They pretty much said, 'These issues are fine, but they're not our issues, that's not our base,'" Hunter said.

*boggle*

I am sure issues like same-sex marriage and abortion are great for making the members of the church feel angry which, in turn, gets them to vote or contribute to fund drives. Fine and dandy - it keeps the business going. However, what does it say about the church - supposedly a christian church - when the people who run it say outright that poverty is not a core issue.? And hate-mongering is?

Why don't they just add "Inc." to their name or register as a political party and stop the charade? Or are they tax-exempt as a church?

LONDON (AP) - European health ministers from 53 countries approved the world's first charter to fight obesity on Thursday, vowing greater action against the epidemic of expanding waistlines across the continent. The charter, approved in Istanbul, Turkey, was drafted by the World Health Organization in consultation with its European member states. It is the first real attempt to compel national authorities to take concrete action to combat obesity.

At least in this article the plan actually sounds reasonable. Targetting the problem in children's diet is the key - sugary food makes the baby RoF grow. Well, actually sugary food makes an adult RoF grow, too, but it's more difficult to influence the diet of an adult who doesn't want to change.

The only thing that would probably work is taxation ("BMI tax") or an increase in the cost of health insurance if you're clinically fat. Draconian, but EU could very well try to implement something like that at some point.

Speaking of sugary and fatty foods, have you noticed that most "light/health" snack foods (yoghurts, etc.) which are advertised with slogans like "0.2% fat content!" or "fat free!" are actually chock full of fast carbs? Yeah, there's no fat, but there's so much fast carb in there that it's not by any means light in terms of calories. You'll also get a huge insulin spike when you eat the damn thing. In other words, you'll get drowsy and when you recover again in about half an hour, you're feeling hungry again.

I sat in a Concept2 rowing machine, warmed up slowly for five minutes, did ten HIIT cycles (heart rates: 30 sec at around 130-140 bpm, 30 sec at 170+ bpm) and cooled down for five minutes.

After everything I had read and heard about how intense HIIT is, my initial thought was: "That's it? I don't feel like dying, so did I do something wrong?". Sure it was intense and I was sweating and panting like crazy, but I could have pushed even harder if the bloody machine would have let me. I've done more intense (180-190 bpm) climbs while biking, so this felt like child's play compared to those. When I was leaving the locker room I was still trying to figure out how I could have made the exercise more intense.

However, the "afterburn" I got indicated that the exercise did actually work - I was sweating like a pig for about an hour after the workout, which is something that rarely happens after my usual 40-45 min bike ride (average heart rate: 150-155 bpm) to work. I guess there really is some magic in that alternating low intensity/high intensity system.

Some observations:

10 minutes is too long at this early stage. Not because it was too intense, but because the idea of HIIT is to keep the exercise time short. If you look at the HIIT charts, they usually start at 4 min and eventually increase up to 15 min effective time (excluding warm-ups and cool-downs). They are, however, designed with running in mind and since rowing is probably less intense than running, I should probably increase the duration of the jogging-sprinting periods from 30 s to 1 min.

The rowing machine sucked in two ways. Firstly, the straps that were supposed to keep my feet in place kept getting loose. Secondly, the resistance/load was already maxed out, so I couldn't make the exercise more intense that way (and rowing faster than the 57-60 rows per minute I was doing during the sprints wasn't really possible either). Fortunately, as I said above, I can make the sprint periods longer, so the intensity is not as much as a problem as the thing with the straps.

I don't know how many calories an HIIT session burns. The exercise itself burns only about 200 kcal, but how to figure in the afterburn? This kind of sucks, because I really like having a fairly accurate estimate of my daily energy balance. But yeah, I know that the trend in the size of my Ring of Fat will be the ultimate indicator of that balance...

HIIT rocked! Psychologically this was exactly what I want from an exercise in the first place: high intensity and short duration. That's why I like weight training and biking up hills, but HIIT was even better. It's an exercise that's so intense that it makes it impossible to think anything else than the clock and the next 30 seconds. My daily job involves nothing but hard thinking, so it's nice to be able to turn the brain off for a while.

I'll keep doing HIIT now for a while, try to fine tune it for myself and see how it feels like. If it's still good after about a month, I'll probably give up normal biking in the winter and do HIIT instead.

The Maltese and the Greeks are the heavyweights of Europe, figures from the European Commission reveal. The Italians and French the most trim, while the average Briton - like the average European - is slightly over the ideal weight.

Of course the EU, well known for all its brilliantly planned, efficient and bureaucratically lightweight initiatives and practices, is stepping in:

The Commission plans to launch a strategy to tackle obesity next year.

I have no doubt that they'll spend two years and several million euros writing up a directive saying that the EU nations should standardize their citizens' average BMIs to 22.5. This directive, as usual, is then promptly ignored by all the member nations and the life goes on as usual.

I say all we need is a friend. A chocolate friend.