Move over Digg, Thoof's here

There's a new kid in town and it's fast becoming one of the best places to find all kinds of personalized news, websites, videos, and other links. I am referring to Thoof.com, where like Digg, users generate the news. Submitting a story is easy. Just click the 'Submit' button. Fill in the link url, title, summary of the story and the tags. Click submit story and you are done. However, it will only be posted after you sign up with them.

However, the similarities with Digg ends there. Unlike the former, other readers can then add or improve to your summary. Also unlike Digg which is dominated by technology related stories, the stories here are much more varied. You can literally spend hours reading the unending list of stories submitted by various users.

They have just introduced the "ThoofRank" system, whereby you can add a ThoofRank button in your blog or web page for any story you submit to them. Expressed as a percentage relative to other Thoof stories, this ranking system is a measure of how interesting a story is to other readers with similar interests. A ThoofRank of 50% and above is good as it indicates that a story is of above average interest to those readers.

Meeting Robin Hood - Episode 2

Some more pictures from our trip to Sherwood forest last Sunday.


Great story tellers




Rahil invited to join the orchestra


She's playing the tambourine


Dads with the kids


Now the mum's turn


An old oak tree int he forest


The jousting arena

We left without watching the jousting tournament as it was extremely hot and I was having a splitting headache.

We dropped by our friend Amruls' house Nottingham. He had cooked spaghetti and had baked a chocolate cake for us. Yes! It was as delicious as it looks.

Places in the UK reviewed by you and me

Was thinking of taking the wife and kids to London for a day or two while the weather is still nice and the sun still shining. We won't be able to get a better opportunity once my daughter starts her nursery in September. Not being very familiar with London, did some research on the net and did find some websites. However, most of them were just lists with some details. What I would have loved were real reviews by real customers.

Today, I finally found what I have been looking for on a great community web site called Trustedplaces. What makes this site unique is that customers share their opinions - good as well as bad, of places they frequent or have visited. You can add your own reviews as well. Whether you are looking for a London bar or a laundry or anything else, you will most likely find at least one review on the site.

Though highest number of reviews were of places in London, the site has reviews of places in other parts of the UK as well.

Meeting Robin Hood. Episode 1

WARNING: Loads of pictures ahead

Last Sunday we drove to Sherwood Forest, Edwinstowe, 20 miles north of Nottingham, on a convey along with Nana and Mozard's family and another Malaysian family.

The Robin Hood Festival is an annual event and it ran from 30th July - 5th August 2007 and we were able to visit on the last day. Fortunately we arrived early because the park was soon packed with people. A lot of people had to park by the road and walk to the park.

It was a very hot and bright day - the hottest since we arrived here in the UK. I am not sure but someone was telling me that it the highest that day was 31 degrees.
Phew!

























More pictures coming up.

StarCraft fansite

When it comes to computer games, most of my male friends prefer the first shooter games such as the Doom and Elder Scrolls series or the racing games. Personally I prefer the role playing or strategy games better known as RPGs. I sometimes spend days to complete a stage.

Out of all the strategy games out there one of the best is StarCraft, a real-time strategy computer game. Along with it's expansion pack, 'StarCraft: Brood War', which was released in 1998, it has now become the the third best-selling computer game in history.

I am really looking forward to their upcoming edition, StarCraft 2. It is currently under development by Blizzard Entertainment. The news of the upcomign sequel was first announced on May 19, 2007 and will be available for release on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X. For more information on StarCraft or
starcraft 2 just go over to CreepColony.com. This fansite has everything you need to know about thiis popular computer game.

Vatentine's day roses

Picture taken over 4 days starting on the 3rd of this month. I didn't take any picture yesterday as we were away to Nottingham.

This is the first rose to bloom in my garden. It is from a stem of rose from a bouquet that I had bought for my wife on Valentine's day this year.

All I had done was strip flowers and leaves off the stems and stick them in the soil. This was the only one that survived

San Francisco Sightseeing

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name 'San Francisco'. I guess different people may answer differently: the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island Gay rights, etc. As for me, it's a song - San Francisco (be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair) by Scott McKenzie (1967). It goes like this:

If you’re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you’re going to San Francisco
You’re gonna meet some gentle people there ...

It recalls the Summer of love when thousands of young people from all around the US came to the city to experience the Hippie counterculture.

San Francisco has loads of tourist attractions and things to do. If you are planning a San Francisco Sightseeing trip, you might want to consider Trusted Tours. This national tour operator has a number of great deals on their San Francisco tours. Looking through the various offers, one I would love to take is the San Francisco Motorized Cable Car Tour, a 2.5 Hours long guided tour aboard an authentic motorized cable car. It costs only $26.60 for an adult and $13.30 for a child. The tour takes you through some of the most interesting parts of the city including Vista Point at Golden Gate Bridge, Twin Peaks, Fisherman's Wharf, Palace of Fine Arts and more.

You can also up for the Trusted Tours eNewsletter to get the latest low price deals direct by email.