5 Things You Didn't Know About James Bond

The timeless James Bond is everyone’s favorite spy, and he's been successfully killing bad guys, scoring beautiful women and saving the world on the big screen since 1962’s Dr. No. When he released Casino Royale in 1953, English novelist Ian Fleming could never have imagined the heights of popularity his 007 character would reach. Since then, Bond has been played by six different actors in more than 20 movies and has appeared in cartoons, radio programs and video games. Yet, despite all this exposure, we’ve found five things you probably didn’t know about James Bond.

1- James Bond was inspired by an American zoologist

To come up with his Bond character, Fleming pooled traits from several people he knew and had read about. In naming his soon-to-be famous spy, Fleming picked James Bond after the famed bird expert with the same name. Bond wrote the acclaimed Birds of the West Indies, considered by many experts to be the definitive book on Caribbean birds. To come up with Bond’s cool demeanor, Fleming took attributes from real-life spies Sidney Reilly and Sir William Stephenson, as well as popular jazz composer Hoagy Carmichael. In fact, Fleming, who worked in British naval intelligence, also channeled his former peers in the creation of his iconic character.

2- Bond was created on summer vacation

Agent 007 may have never materialized had Fleming not bargained with one of his bosses. Specifically, when Fleming applied for a job with Kemsley Newspapers, owned by the famed London Sunday Times, he asked that he be granted two months of vacation each year. His request was approved, and each year from 1953 until his death in 1964, Fleming used those months to write a different Bond novel while vacationing at his Jamaican estate. The estate’s name? Goldeneye.

3- Bond has a drink every 24.3 minutes

It’s not uncommon for the world’s best spy to crash the most lavish parties around the world, and while he’s there, he might as well have a drink if it’s offered. Bond’s staple is the classic vodka martini, shaken, not stirred, but he’s also been known to sample other drinks. In the Bond films up to Casino Royale, Bond is seen to consume 114 drinks -- the equivalent of one every 24.3 minutes. Interestingly enough, he drinks champagne more than anything (35 glasses) and only enjoys one beer. In the Bond novels, he drinks a total of 317 alcoholic drinks -- one every seven pages, on average. Though he may enjoy the occasional drink, Bond has steered clear of smoking since 2002’s Die Another Day -- which was the last time he smoked a cigar.

4- There are only seven 00s

You’re forgiven if you were under the impression that Bond’s MI6 organization was fully stocked with agents. Throughout the movies, we learn that Bond is one of just seven 00 agents spying for the British, but he has the best knack for staying alive. In different movies, we’ve see the deaths of 002, 003, 004, and 009. Agent 006, believed killed, returns as the villain in GoldenEye before he’s disposed of. Besides Bond, only the unnamed 008 proves to be a skilled agent. He’s mentioned several times as Bond’s replacement should he die or be pulled off a mission for insubordination. It’s unclear why no 001 or 005 have ever been mentioned.

5- Bond became a 00 at the age of 38

In each movie, we learn a little more about not only Bond, but also his background -- and it all amounts to what would be a very impressive resume. A decorated serviceman, Bond attended the University of Geneva, served in the Royal Navy and later joined the special forces. While there, he was successful in several key missions across the globe. Still needing a challenge, Bond joined MI6 at the age of 30, and 8 years later received the prestigious 00 status, granting him a licence to kill for his country. More than just a typical action hero, the cerebral Bond holds a degree in Oriental languages, is fluent in English, French, German, Italian, and Russian, and can get by with passable Greek, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese.

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WARCRAFT - The Next Target from Hollywood?

With Mark Wahlberg's noir video game flick Max Payne debuting atop the box-office chart, Hollywood is once again clamoring to find other game properties to slap on celluloid. It's a risky gamble -- for every Tomb Raider blockbuster lies a thousand House of the Dead flops.
So if you're going to turn a video game into a film, it helps if you're already good at this sort of thing. And it doesn't hurt if you pick as popular a game as possible.
It's no wonder, then, that gamers and cinephiles alike are excited at the news of Spider-Man director Sam Raimi praising the big-screen possibilities of beloved multiplayer game, World of Warcraft. In a spirited MTV article exploring the problems behind video game movies, Raimi weighed in by explaining why games tend to be tougher to turn into compelling flicks than comics.

"In the world of video games, it's usually more of an environment or a scenario, not character-based ... but they certainly could [be better]. There's 'World of Warcraft' -- what an awesome video game! It has such great, adventurous characters in it and such fantastic landscapes and rules. ... You could make a brilliant 'World of Warcraft' movie -- as fine as any of the best superhero movies -- if you had the right writers and directors."

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5 Brain Exercises for Him

Many men are devoted to exercise to bulk up their bodies, but the phrase “use it or lose it” applies to more than just the muscles in our bodies -- it also applies to the neural pathways and connections in our brains. There are a variety of exercises and activities that can successfully work each of the brain’s five major cognitive functions on a daily basis. In addition to the tasks you can perform daily, you can also train your brain with HAPPYneuron online brain games and a personalized brain fitness program.Our minds consist of five main cognitive functions:

1. memory,
2. attention,
3. language,
4. visual-spatial skills,
5. Executive function.

It’s important to challenge, stimulate and effectively exercise all five areas to stay mentally sharp as our brains age. Here are 5 daily brain exercises that can help you do this.

1- Memory
Memory plays a crucial role in all cognitive activities, including reading, reasoning and mental calculation. There are several types of memory at work in the brain. Taken together, these are the cognitive skills we may notice most when they begin to fail. To maintain a good memory, you need to train for it, which can be easier than you think. Listening to music is not only enjoyable, but by choosing a song you don’t know and memorizing the lyrics, you boost the level of acetylcholine, the chemical that helps build your brain, and improve your memory skills. Challenge yourself even more by showering or getting dressed in the dark or using your opposite hand to brush your teeth. These challenges help build new associations between different neural connections of the brain.Improve your memory with this HAPPYneuron game.

2- Attention
Attention is necessary in nearly all daily tasks. Good attention enables you to maintain concentration despite noise and distractions and to focus on several activities at once. We can improve our attention by simply changing our routines. Change your route to work or reorganize your desk -- both will force your brain to wake up from habits and pay attention again. As we age, our attention span can decrease, making us more susceptible to distraction and less efficient at multitasking. By combining activities like listening to an audio book with jogging or doing math in your head while you drive forces your brain to work at doing more in the same amount of timeImprove your attention with this HAPPYneuron game.

3- Language
Language activities will challenge our ability to recognize, remember and understand words. They also exercise our fluency, grammatical skills and vocabulary. With regular practice, you can expand your knowledge of new words and much more easily retrieve words that are familiar. For example, if you usually only thoroughly read the sports section, try reading a few in-depth business articles. You’ll be exposed to new words, which are easier to understand when read in context or easier to look up on a dictionary site if you are reading the news online. Take time to understand the word in its context, which will help you build your language skills and retrieve the word more readily in front of your boss in the future. Improve your language skills with this HAPPYneuron game.

4- Visual-Spatial
We live in a colorful, three-dimensional world. Analyzing visual information is necessary to be able to act within your environment. To work this cognitive function, try walking into a room and picking out five items and their locations. When you exit the room, try to recall all five items and where they were located. Too easy? Wait two hours and try to remember those items and their locations. The next time you’re waiting on your coworker or friend to arrive, try this mental exercise. Look straight ahead and note everything you can see both in front of you and in your peripheral vision. Challenge yourself to recall everything and write it down. This will force you to use your memory and train your brain to focus on your surroundings.Improve your visual-spatial skills with this HAPPYneuron game.

5- Executive Function
Without even realizing it, you use your logic and reasoning skills on a daily basis to make decisions, build up hypotheses and consider the possible consequences of your actions. Activities in which you must define a strategy to reach a desired outcome and calculate the right moves to reach the solution in the shortest possible time are actually fun activities you do daily -- like social interaction and, yes, video games. Engaging in a brief visit with a friend boosts your intellectual performance by requiring you to consider possible responses and desired outcomes. Video games require strategy and problem-solving to reach a desired outcome -- like making it to the final level. “It’s not just Halo, honey; I’m exercising my executive brain functions!”Improve your executive function skills with this HAPPYneuron game.

Cerebral workout
As we age, it’s important to flex our mental muscles as well as our physiques. Now that you’re aware of the five main cognitive functions and how to exercise them, it will be easy to find daily activities that will help you break a mental sweat and keep your brain in shape. If you need a little structured help, HAPPYneuron has fun and challenging games to work the brain in all five areas, as well as a virtual coach to serve as a personal trainer and ensure you get the most optimal brain workout for you.

World record sandwich? Iranians eat evidence

Iran failed Friday to register what it said would be the world's largest sandwich in the Guinness book of World Records after people rushed forward and began eating it -- before it was measured.
Event organizers had planned to stuff the 1,500-meter-long sandwich with 700 kg of ostrich meat and 700 kg of chicken, and display it in a park in the capital Tehran.
But as the sandwich was being measured, chaos ensued. The giant snack was gone in minutes, a Reuters witness said, leaving the three Guinness representatives present with a dilemma.
One of the event's organizers said video footage of the sandwich would be sent to Guinness officials.
"We still think the sandwich will be recorded in the Guinness book because of all the evidence and footage that we will send them," Parvin Shariati said.

AirAsia offer 5,000 FREE Seats on Kuching-Singapore

Wowww...Hurry up!!!
Low-cost carrier AirAsia is offering 5,000 free seats on its new Kuching-Singapore route that starts next month.
Tickets for the route went on sale on the airline's website on midnight Wednesday with the free seats available for booking between now and Oct 19.
AirAsia chief executive Datuk Tony Fernandes said the Kuching-Singapore route would be a huge boost to tourism in Sarawak.
"We're currently doing a very aggressive marketing campaign in Singapore and our first flight will be on Nov 1.
"We will start with one flight a day and from March onwards we will increase the frequency," he said at a media briefing here yesterday.
On the Kuching-Macau flight, which will be suspended on Oct 26 due to low passenger load, Fernandes said AirAsia would look into reinstating it in three months' time.
"We will work closely with the Sarawak Tourism Board to promote the state to Macau and south China and we hope to reinstate this route within the next two to three months," he said.
He also announced that AirAsia will increase the frequency of its Kuala Lumpur-Bintulu route from seven to 11 flights a week and Kuching-Bintulu from seven to 14 flights weekly beginning Oct 26.
Meanwhile, state Urban Development and Tourism Minister Datuk Michael Manyin welcomed the new route to Singapore, saying it would boost connectivity and help bring in more tourists to the state.
To further develop the tourism industry, he said Sarawak's tourism authorities would work with their Sabah counterparts to jointly promote the two states.
"For example, we will promote Mulu and Mount Kinabalu together as both have been listed as Unesco World Heritage Sites.
"We will also promote our indigenous festivals together, with plans for tourists to go to Sabah, first for Kaamatan, before continuing on to Sarawak for Gawai Dayak," he said.

Fuel prices could go down further: Shahrir

KUALA LUMPUR: There is a chance of a further reduction in pump prices if the average world crude oil price for this month is below US$104 per barrel, said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad.
“If the world crude oil price continues to drop and averages at below US$104 per barrel for October there is a chance we can reduce further the pump prices for November.
“If it doesn’t then there will be no change in prices,” he said Wednesday at the Hari Raya open house hosted by the Prime Minister and his Muslim cabinet ministers at the Putra World Trade Centre.
The last fuel price review was done on Sept 24 when the Government announced a 10sen reduction bringing the prices of petrol and diesel to RM2.45 and RM2.40 per litre respectively.
On the shortage of fuel in some petrol stations, Shahrir said the reason was because the station operators could not make their cash before delivery (CBD) payments for their fuel supply as banks were closed for the current Hari Raya holiday and weekends.
“The stations should come up with a business system which addresses the problem of banks being closed during public holidays, festive seasons and weekends,” he said.
Shahrir also said that station operators should not blame the shortage on the Government’s announcement of fuel price reduction. He said this was unacceptable.
The Petroleum Dealers Association of Malaysia had said that dealers had been reluctant to increase their stock in advance due to speculation that fuel prices would be cut.
Shahrir said the operators were being selfish by asking the Government to delay the announcement of the fuel price reduction.
“The Government will not delay it because we need to immediately give the benefit to consumers,” he said.
Shahrir said it was unreasonable for the operators to say they were making losses due to the price reduction, and pointed out that the reduction was also followed by an increased demand for fuel.
“The operators made less profit because of the price reduction but no losses. Their margin is 12sen per liter so if we reduce pump prices by 10sen per liter they still make 2sen. It’s making less profit, not being in a dire state,” he said.
He added that the ministry would investigate to see whether there was sabotage, deliberate shortage of supply or if there was a protest.


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The Numerology of Names

There is a reason why you have your name and it’s not because it sounded classy in the gossip pages of the New York Post (which is where my mom found my name). Your birth name paired with numerology can enlighten you on what motivates you in life, what warrants your true expression, and the lasting impression you leave on others when you exit a room.

It started with Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician who invented the a2 + b2 = c2 Pythagorean Theorem, the only equation I remember from eleventh grade geometry. In 6th century BCE, Pythagoras combined mysticism with mathematics to construct a quotient about the future of one’s life. He coined it Pythagorean numerology and used numbers assigned to the letters in one’s full name (as well as using the numbers in one’s date of birth). The numerology determined what innate abilities one was given at birth to determine what might happen late in life, and it has become the source for modern numerology today.

How Numerology WorksWhen working with a name, numbers have corresponding letters. The numbers are added up and broken down into single digits in order to give you your final Destiny Number.

The Number Assignments
1= A, J, S
2= B, K, T
3= C, L, U
4= D, M, V
5= E, N, W
6= F, O, X
7= G, P, Y
8= H, Q, Z
9= I, R

How to Find Your Destiny Number?

(1) Write down your full name (first, middle, and last). This is the name you were given at birth—not your married name, etc.

(2) Using the table above, write down the number matched to each letter in each name (i.e. AMANDA = 1, 4, 1, 5, 4, 1).

(3) Add the numbers together for each name (i.e. 1+4+1+5+4+1= 16).

(4) You will most likely get a double digit for each name; break down each double digit number you get by adding the first and second digit to get one number (i.e. from the 16 above, add together 1+6 to get 7, which is the number for my first name).

(5) Add up the final numbers you get from each name (i.e. my middle name number is 8 and my last name number is 10, so 7+8+10 = 25).

(6) Once again, break down any double-digit numbers into one digit to get your final Destiny Number (i.e. from the 25 above, add together 2+5 to get 7, which is my final Destiny Number).
In numerology, the basic vibrations are numbers 1 through 9, but the numbers 11 and 22 are master numbers and should not be reduced to a single digit since these are master vibrations.
There are plenty of books and Web sites that will give you a thorough analysis of your Destiny Number, but here’s a basic rundown on what your Destiny Number means for you:

1 is determined, autonomous, and self-reliant
2 is loyal, tactful, and analytical
3 is passionate, positive, and fun-loving
4 is sensible, traditional, and serious
5 is bold, temperamental, and sensual
6 is responsible, cautious, and domestic
7 is spiritual, unconventional, and somewhat reclusive
8 is money-oriented, assured, and authoritative
9 is versatile, compassionate, and worldly
11 is enlightened, deep, and high-strung
22 is ambitious, a global planner, and motivated

I looked further into my 7, and found this interpretation through About Numerology.
“A Destiny number of 7 means you will find fulfillment through teaching others. By pursuing an ongoing quest for knowledge and then sharing your findings with your fellow man ... be it through teaching, writing or some other means ... you will bring joy into your own life. By following your destiny, your life should be an interesting life, one full of the exploration of science, mysteries, the occult, or other fascinating fields.”

When I think about the Amanda in me that I know, the explanation above sums me right up. Perhaps there’s more to numbers than I originally thought.