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While browsing through the shelves of the library, I came across this book with an eye-catching orange coloured cover: Freakonomics - A Rogue Economist Explores The Hidden Side Of Everything. At first glance, I initially thought it was just another book about the speculation of economic trends but one thing that eventually attracted me to flip open the book was its front cover, featuring a lime with an apple skin.

The bulk of the content is on how Steven Levitt, a John Bates Clark medal holder (awarded every two years to the best American economists under forty), views certain issues differently as compared to other leading economists. What do you think is the reason behind the drop in crime rates in the USA in the 1980s? Steven Levitt attributes it to the legalisation of abortion, which is the first question that he answers in the book, this therefore creates a certain level of suspense in order to cause readers to continue reading. His opinion is clearly explained, with data to back it up. However, when he aired his opinions to the mass media, he was criticised for his view.

You should not give this book a miss even if you are not an expert with statistics. This book is full of actual incidents, while Levitt gives his own opinion as to why they occurred. Thankfully, the statistics used in this book about economics can be understood, as Levitt and his co-writer have tried to avoid using economic theories and delving deeply into microeconomics because it would be too confusing for most readers with no knowledge of economics at all.

Once you have finished reading this book, you might find the economics is not that hard after all, as Levitt manages to highlight many different aspects of economics and simplifies them till the point where it almost seems like common sense. This book will really enlighten you about certain aspects of economics.

After you have read this book, you'll think things that comes to you twice, not wanting to follow the "conventional wisdom" as others or professional data and research that comes out from either some experts or the government. Everything will deserve a second look at that time. More research might come out from you and you might take any views into your consideration and argue with your peers sensibly over an issue.

How a name relates to a family's economic status? Ever wondered why a crack dealer (drugs dealer) wanted to sell cracks and involved in gang violence, risking their lives even the return is low? Is allowing your kids going to a house with a pool or to a home with guns is more dangerous? Which parenting books by all the parenting experts out there is correct? How a sumo wrestler and school teacher cheats? If you have trouble finding this out or maybe the answer you are having now may just be conventional wisdom then check out Freakonomics for some surprising answers!

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First things first, some credentials. I'm not an IT guru. I'm a computer user, not a computer geek. I've been using Windows for going on ten years now, and while I've been aware that Macs existed, I've never really contemplated switching, until now.

What caused the switch wasn't anything traumatic with my computer; it wasn't any kind of Steve Jobs reality distortion field, or mind control rays from Apple. It was that I'd looked at what I actually do on a notebook computer, as opposed to all the things I could theoretically do, and I could do them all on a Mac, and the MacBook Pro was a pretty sweet piece of hardware.

First, let's be honest. None of us are going to be upgrading parts of our laptops. The appeal of a PC is that you can upgrade incrementally; my main desktop machine (now relegated as a gaming platform, rather than a serious workstation) has had parts upgraded on it since I first built it in the late '90s. I think the floppy drive cable might be the only thing left of the original machine, maybe some screws. You're not going to do that with a laptop. A laptop, you'll use for three years, never open the chassis once, and count yourself lucky if you can give it as a hand me down to some cousin before they go off to school.

I just got myself a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz model with a 17" screen - I'd been wanting a 17" screen laptop for a while. I do a lot of writing and remote work with page layout software, so the wide screen is great for having InDesign open and a word processing app or a spreadsheet. The other reason for getting the MacBook pro was that Adobe had just launched their latest versions of the Creative Suite software, all recompiled to work on the Intel processors; since I was going to upgrade anyway, well...

Now, there are lots of gewgaws on the MacBook Pro. The ambient light sensor is pretty sweet. There's a light sensor (a couple of them, actually) that will automatically adjust the backlighting on your MacBook's screen to maximize contrast, while minimizing the amount of battery power used. Similarly, there's a backlight for the keyboard, which I found really annoying at first, but it kind of grows on you.

With the new Intel optimized software, performance is pretty solid. The graphics card is underclocked for heat management (and since MacBooks are passively cooled, that's kind of important - more on that later), but since there aren't many games for OS X, that's not a major issue. (Besides, if I'm going to play a game, I want a bigger monitor, a real mouse and more keyboard space.)

The connection ports are OK. While some people bitch about the lack of a PC card slot, I haven't used a PC card in a laptop since Clinton was President. I do wish there were more USB ports; I've taken to carrying a USB hub in my laptop bag. The Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity are excellent, and Apple has put in some really nice touches - if you plug it into an external monitor, it just works. (In fact, most everything I tried with the MacBook Pro just worked. No configuration, no hassle, no fuss. On the other hand, there wasn't as much variety of stuff to hook up, but the stuff that was available was very high quality.)

The biggest gripe I have with the MacBook Pro is two fold - the first is that passive cooling. You will roast your legs if you actually use it on your lap. It's just damned hot on the undercarriage. The second, oddly enough, was OS X, particularly the Dock. The Dock is like the Windows Task Bar, if the Windows Task Bar had been designed by a hyperactive five year old living on pixie sticks. It leaps at you with big flashy animations, which make it hard to actually tell what's going on; it vanishes on you. Most of the other user interface differences tend to be "different for the sake of being different" in my opinion, though I was pleasantly surprised to be able to 'right click' with the touch pad.

Although I already have a Dell Inspiron 640m as reviewed here, overall, I like my MacBook Pro too; it's a good piece of machinery, but it's not a cult object of reverence.

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When the first Shrek film arrived a few years ago, it took a half dozen of my friends informing me that it was more than simple children's fare to get me into the theater. It was a hard sell, but when I got in there, I was pleasantly surprised by the adult natured humor and clever play on the classic fairy tale formula. It was a fun experience and the second film actually managed to improve it, turning the angry ogre and obnoxious donkey into household blanket and lunchbox fodder.

So, when Dreamworks rolled out their third entry in the Shrek series, the eponymously named Shrek The Third, I was excited for yet one more run through Far Far Away and its many genre entrapped residences, flush with pop culture references, slyly disguised adult humor, and a slapstick approach to even the most simple of character interactions.

Unfortunately, I was let down almost immediately. Without giving away too much of the plot of the story (of which there is very little), Shrek and Fiona are staying in Far Far Away because the frog king is ill and Shrek has been called upon to stand in as the King's son-in-law for a bit. Apparently, Far Far Away is a wee bit sexist as well. Anyways, Shrek doesn't enjoy this new responsibility and along with the possible arrival of a bouncing baby ogre, and the whiny Justin Timerlake voiced antics of Arty, the young and oft-hated future King Arthur, the journey begins.

First off, the familiar aspects of the film series are almost completely gone. Sure, the characters are all there, and they're going through the motions. But, with every declaration of "I'm an ogre donkey" Shrek seems to be just a bit too snarky, tossing a smile to the crowd saying, "I'll make good in the end." There's no crass, obnoxious Shrek anymore who just wants to be left alone. This is a boring, family man with a gruff exterior that is no longer funny alongside Donkey's grown up attitudes, his own children in tow.

The jokes are all stale, with dozens upon dozens of characters thrown out in rapid succession, each one showing off their own basic stereotypes, whether in gender, origin story, or pop culture cliché. Essentially, Shrek The Third doesn't try a single thing new. What has happened instead is that the series that took such joy in utilizing all of the stereotypes from children's movies and making fun of those conventions has fallen into the trap of utilizing those very conventions. It's a problem that unfortunately plagues many children's films, but is infinitely more disappointing for a film series that at one time did it right.

When mass production and marketing took control of the children's film market, quality immediately fell. Shrek was a good example of how some directors and writers were unhappy with this freefall in quality. Six years later unfortunately, those very same writers and directors have gone down the path of least resistance and offered up canned cliché schlock that children will eat up because it has pretty colors.

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Nokia N95 is a smartphone that is part of the Nokia Nseries line. Some of the features that are included with the Nokia N95 include the adoption of S60 third edition platform, along with the feature pack 1, running on the Symbian operating system. The screen is 2.6 inches in size and provides a 240 x 320 pixel screen resolution on a 16 million color TFT display.

This smartphone uses a two-way slider mechanism that allows access to alphanumeric keypad when you slide it up (open) and exposes the media playback controls when you slide it down (close). The dedicated media playback controls are a nice touch, but they are hard to press at times. Besides, the front flap of Nokia N95 just doesn't feel like it's securely locked into place and it somehow can easily slide open the phone when you put it into your pocket.

The Nokia N95 comes with an integrated Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation system, which is found below the 0 key on the keypad. This new GPS feature displays the maps in clear detail on the 2.6-inch colour screen and it supports maps for more than a hundred countries. Maps can be downloaded over the air through a carrier data packet network or through the built-in Wi-Fi system. You can also download maps through a PC using the MapLoader program. In addition, you can also access city guides and voice navigation for a one-time fee. This advanced feature will undeniably assist users who are always on the go to find their desired location.

One of the most notable features for the Nokia N95 is the built-in 5 megapixel digital camera that comes along with Carl Zeiss Optics lens. This includes digital zoom, autofocus and flash option. You can use it to take awesome pictures and record videos at near DVD quality! You can even one-click upload the pictures to Flickr. There's also a second camera, the front CIF camera, for face-to-face video conference calls. Because of this feature, Nokia N95 was awarded the "Best Mobile Imaging Device in Europe 2007". However, the camera sometimes seems to load very slowly. Another draw back is that it only can record videos for about 3 minutes, so it definitely won't replace your regular video cam.

Nokia N95 also comes with a stereo FM radio, visual radio and a full fledged music player that supports WMA, RealAudio, SP-Midi, MP3, M4A, AMR, AAC+, eACC+, and True Tones. Users can use the music playing features in Landscape mode when you slide open the phone, but you may find it annoying as it doesn't switch back to portrait mode automatically when you slide close the phone. You can use the standard 3.5mm jack, which is found on the left side of the phone and connect your standard headphones to listen to the music. Alternatively, the built-in stereo speakers let you forgo headphones and listen to your music directly through your phone. Both your video and music can be output to a TV or any similar device through a composite cable for a great photo and video viewing experience on a big screen.

A 3G capability is unarguably the very essence of a smartphone, and Nokia N95 offers 3.5G high speed wireless Internet connectivity. However, U.S. users may find it disappointing as it doesn't work on the U.S. 3G networks nor HSDPA bands. To overcome this, U.S. users may consider unlocking it for use with Cingular and T-Mobile SIM cards through Nokia's flagship stores. Nonetheless, there’s also a built-in Wi-Fi capability that lets you access the Internet through 802.11 b/g wireless networks. You can also connect to the net through EDGE. With Nokia's promising web browser, it can display complete and full web pages, unlike other phones that only show simplified web pages, which is why I always prefer Nokia's web browser. Best of all, you can view the web pages in landscape or portrait mode, your choice!

Talking about the size, Nokia N95 is sort of bulky, but it is compact when compared to other flip phones. However, it weighs only 120 gram which is unbelievable considering all the built-in technology and capabilities. One big disappointment is that it has short battery life.

All in all, Nokia N95 is a superb all-in-one smartphone with total combination of video, camera, map locator, WIFI capability and the sliding capability. No other phone, as of yet, has all these same capabilities combined in one neatly compact package. I really like the phone and it would be a perfect smartphone to me if it's a touch screen. Overall, this phone is a great buy.

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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) could be the most fun you have at the movies this summer. If you liked the first two movies at all, there's a pretty good chance you're going to like this one.

This movie truly has something in it for everyone: action, comedy, twists and turns, and even a sappy love story. Young and old will find this movie appealing. The actors have refined their roles to near perfection by the third time. Johnny Depp gives a great performance as Captain Jack Sparrow. He is as funny, quirky, and down-right as weird as ever. We even get a glimpse as to why he is so strange at times. I'll give you a hint...it has something to do with a mental condition. Jack's entrances into the first two movies were great and this one is probably even better. You'll be surprised as he somehow manages to get the Black Pearl out of the middle of the desert.

Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner fall in and out of love throughout the trilogy, and even more so in the third installment. They both do a wonderful job of portraying their characters. We even get to see some of the back story to the infamous Davy Jones. Apparently, he wasn't always a tentacle-faced freak. He even loved someone once, but we don't want to spoil the movie for you., that's for me to know and for you to find out.

The movie weighs in at about three hours. So be sure and go to the bathroom ahead of time. Chances are you won't want to miss a second. There really isn't any part of those three hours that is boring. The plot goes one direction and then back to another. There's a high likelihood that you will get confused at some point. You'll wonder which side most of the characters are on. However, throughout the changes in direction, the action and irreverent humor never stops. It all leads up to a climactic battle in the center of a whirlpool. The Flying Dutchman and The Black Pearl stage a battle for the ages.

Even Keith Richards, the rock legend, makes a wonderful cameo appearance as Jack's father. The resemblance is uncanny. Seeing his performance makes you wish that he wasn't drunk all the time. Then he may have had a bigger role in the movie. Nevertheless, it is a very nice addition. The one thing that was kind of anti-climactic in the movie was the appearance of the goddess Calypso. She really doesn't do nearly as much as you expect her to. However, she is pretty cool regardless.

Be sure and stay until after the credits also. They give a little more closure to the story and increase your hopes for another sequel. Just be prepared for the longest credits in the history of the world.

Overall, I would highly recommend this movie. There's a good chance that you and your family will love it. I'd like to see it again already. Disney has put out another great movie that nearly everyone will enjoy. It's not just for kids and it's not just for adults. Be prepared for a really entertaining time at the movies.

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