Yesterday the Economist Intelligence Unit published a Global Peace Index (GPI) that ranks 121 countries according to their level of violence. There were 24 different factors (internal and external) which went into calculating each country’s score. Factors included items such as the level of violence within a country, organized crime, the number of people in prison, and military expenditure.

The study, which was supported by a number of Nobel laureates, found New Zealand and Norway to be the most peaceful countries, and Iraq and Sudan to be the least peaceful.

To see how other countries fared check out the graph below:

No real surprises here, I think they have hit the nail on the head basically across the board. What will be interesting to see are follow-up studies in years to come. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the United States turn to red within five years.

Canada, anyone?

I stumbled across this image while perusing the Web this evening and thought you all would enjoy it, I certainly did. Although maybe I’m a bit biased due to the little boy’s name…

Arthur De Mosh, a 45-year-old tour guide at the college near Kibbutz Sde Boker in Southern Israel, was awakened from his sleep and yes it was a real nightmare. The Israeli man woke up to the sound of a leopard trying to eat his cat and did what most of us would probably never do: wrestle it.

De Mosh was able to free the pet cat, which survived the ordeal, from the leopard’s clutches.

“He jumped on the leopard and pinned him to the floor, then his wife called us so we could take it away,” Amram Zabari, a local park ranger who rushed to the scene, said on Tuesday.

The captured leopard was taken to a veterinary hospital for treatment and was later released in a wildlife reserve. So all-in-all everyone survived, and De Mosh gets the man award for the day because how many of you would honestly jump on this leopard if it had your precious little snowball in its grasp?

Larry and Sergey don’t have to worry too often — and they probably won’t here — but Google is keeping a watchful eye on a small Australian start-up that says it has developed a search engine that outperforms Google. MyLiveSearch, developed by self-taught programmer Rob Gabriel, is set to launch into public beta in the next few weeks.

What gives a lone Aussie the right to challenge global search dominance? Well, Gabriel says his search engine gives better and more relevant results because it is a true “live engine.”

In order to understand the technology behind MyLiveSearch one must understand how search engines currently operate. Google, Yahoo and MSN — the three biggest players in the search game — work by compiling a vast database of Web pages in what’s known as an index. These engines send out what are called “spiders” to crawl the Web and update pages in their indices whilst adding new pages as they go along. While this has been a very successful tactic to date, the fundamental limitation with this technology is that these so-called spiders are unable to keep pace with the rate at which the Web is evolving. Some estimates hold that Google has only indexed about 1/5 of the world’s Web pages.

Enter MyLiveSearch. The user installs a small browser plug-in and search terms get put through Google or other indexed databases. But rather than the results from Google or another engine getting returned to the user, they serve as a starting point along with the user’s bookmarks and other popular web hubs. This is where MyLiveSearch really kicks in, as now it will crawl through hundreds of Web pages connected to those starting points and will return the most relevant results. In addition, MyLiveSearch has the ability to crawl dynamically-generated Web pages, which many engines often have trouble spidering.

“This has the potential to change the way people search the internet,” he said. “Google can’t search every page every day (to build its index). The web is so dynamic and changes so often - MyLiveSearch turns your own computer into a ’super-spider’ to search it in real time.

Clearly he’s onto something big here, as Google representatives have twice made the trek down under to speak with Gabriel about his product. What will be interesting to see is whether Google will make Gabriel a rich man and simply put his product on a shelf, or whether MyLiveSearch will be given a chance to shine so we can see the true effectiveness of Gabriel’s vision. He doesn’t seem to be closed to the idea of getting acquired, as he said “this technology could be snapped onto any of the major search engines and improve them.”

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. But one thing is for sure, I will be all over this product once it gets released into beta.

First it was Turkey, then it was Thailand. Now it’s Morocco’s turn. Internet users in the North African country have been unable to access the popular video-sharing Web site YouTube since May 25th, and there is growing suspicion that the site is being deliberately blocked by the government.

While the Moroccan government has said it does not comment on telecommunications issues, state-controlled service provider Maroc Telecom claimed that the issue was due to a technical difficulty. However, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders remained skeptical, raising the issue of “we wonder how a ‘technical problem’ can affect only one website.” The group added that Internet users accessing the Web through private service providers were still able to access the site.

The controversy has reportedly stemmed from the viewing of YouTube videos critical of the Moroccan government’s behavior in Western Sahara, which is a disputed territory that Morocco assumed control of in 1975. So clearly we’re dealing with another Internet censorship case.

It continues to sadden me at how many countries are pulling the plug due to material they find offensive. What the Digg revolt showed earlier this month is that the Internet is a truly democratic medium, where the collective voice of the masses does matter. And what this action by Morocco shows is the continued attempt by governments to suppress this collective voice. Not only will this Internet censorship battle continue to wage on in the coming months and years, but I believe it will get worse, with governments becoming more proactive about censoring material. The bad news for them, however, is that despite all attempts to control the masses, the people are the ones that hold the power in the end. And if you upset them enough they will revolt, in which case the government will lose every time.

Here is an exact copy of a 1938 German voting ballot. The ballot reads “Do you agree with the reunification of Austria with the German Empire that was enacted on 13 March 1938, and do you vote for the party of our leader Adolf Hitler?,” and the large circle is labeled “Yes,” the smaller one “No.”

We Americans are lucky that our country hasn’t come to this yet. I say “yet” because at the way we’re going it wouldn’t be so surprising to see a ballot like this in the next 5 to 10 years. So here’s to hoping that our government will once again give some credence to the Constitution…

It doesn’t matter who your carrier is, unlocking your cell phone can be a huge pain. Call your carrier’s customer service department and ask them about unlocking if you don’t believe me. Why do I need to unlock my phone you ask? Well, you don’t need to, but there are a few reasons why you might like to. First, unlocking your cell phone allows for it to be used on different carrier networks. For example, you could unlock a Cingular phone and use it on T-Mobile’s network. The only thing to keep in mind with using phones across different network is that GSM and CDMA do not mix together. Secondly, a phone that is application unlocked allows you to install basically whatever you want on it, making it essentially as customizable as you want.

Before we get into how to unlock your T-Mobile Dash, I want to note that there are two types of locks on a cell phone: SIM and CID. The SIM lock is what marries the phone to a specific service provider, and as mentioned above removing this will allow you to use it on multiple carriers. The CID lock is what ties the phone to a specific OS and software, and as I just said removing this will allow you to install whatever you want.

OK now that we know what we’re doing and why we want to do it, let us proceed.

Unlocking your T-Mobile Dash is very easy but not free.

1. Go to http://www.imei-check.co.uk/dashunlock.php

2. Enter your IMEI into the form and hit continue. To find your IMEI number just dial *#06# on your Dash.

3. Complete the necessary PayPal form — comes out to around $40.

4. Save the DASHv2Unlock Program to your computer — downloadable from the Web site in Step 1 .

5. Go into your email account on file with PayPal and save the UNL file that matches your IMEI to your computer.

6. Turn on the Dash and establish an ActiveSync connection.

7. Extract and run the DASHv2Unlock program from Step 4.

8. Supply the DASHv2Unlock program with the UNL file from Step 5.

9. That’s it, just wait until the program finishes and your phone reboots.

The NYC skyline has been forever changed after the tragic events of 9/11. Currently, the Freedom Tower is being re-built in place of the old World Trade Center. When looked at closely, the Freedom Tower will send a very powerful message to Al-Qaeda and other potential terrorists around the world: the middle finger.

I moved to New Jersey in the fall of 2003 and have learned some very interesting things — both good and bad. Here is a list of ten of them.

1. The Sopranos is real.
Though not as prevalent as it once was, the mafia is still very much active. Tactics have changed though, as now you see a lot more integration into the political system. A crime isn’t illegal if you’re mayor, right?

2. There are no freeways.
Coming from California, we call all highways “freeways,” that’s just how it is. However, when using the term with the locals here I am often greeted with a blank — what the hell are you talking about — stare. The reason, New Jersey highways such as the Turnpike and Parkway are not free; in fact, they’re rather far from it.

3. Avoid Newark at all costs.
Newark has the reputation of being a bad place, but unless you’ve been there extensively you really have no idea just how bad it can be. Case in point: the university I went to bordered on Newark and a few blocks away is where I saw my first (and still only thankfully) dead body. Not a pleasant sight.

4. The pizza everywhere else sucks.
New Jersey (and by proxy New York) has the best pizza you will ever come by in your entire life. Anyone who has eaten at a halfway decent pizza place will surely agree with me.

5. Guidos are everywhere, resistance is futile.
New Jersey has a well-known stereotype for being full of guidos. I’m sad to report that the stereotype is absolutely true. They seem to be bred from a young age to become fully blossomed guidos by adult age. Do not try to fight the trend, they have strength in numbers. Just do your best to ensure you’re not assimilated.

6. The Jersey Shore isn’t half bad.
There is a lot of negativity when discussing the Jersey Shore. Most people tend to brand it as “dirty” or “skanky.” In my experience the Jersey Shore has some very enjoyable and nice areas, such as Point Pleasant or Wildwood. But a word to the wise, try not to venture into Seaside Sleazside.

7. Children live at home until they’re 30.
Where I come from kids want to move out of their parents’ households as soon as they reach 18. In New Jersey, a surprisingly high number of people live at home until they are 25-30 years old.

8. Diners are awesome.
New Jersey has more 24-hour diners than you know what to do with. Growing up I was never fortunate enough to enjoy diners, as all we had was Denny’s. NJ diners are a drunk person’s ecstasy.

9. Everybody knows everybody.
New Jersey is a tiny state relative to some others. Whenever I go out with friends they run into people they know from all around the state. It’s not unusual to see someone in North Jersey and then again in South Jersey 2 hours later.

10. Harold and Kumar are lying to you.
Despite what Harold and Kumar would lead you to believe, White Castle is not a place you want to eat at. Without going into obscene detail, I’ll just say that there is a reason they are called “murder burgers.”

There are countless bloggers out there who make posts about the “Top x WordPress Themes” or “Best WordPress Themes.” Some of them even split their posts into parts 1 and 2 because they have so many themes they want to share with people. While that is very thoughtful and nice of them, the bitter reality of all their efforts is that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and conversely, one man’s treasure is another man’s trash. What does that mean? It’s simple, not everyone has the same taste.

Rather than contribute to the pot of said postings, I have decided to take a different route. Since I don’t know what your taste is how can I tell you which themes are the best? I can’t, so why not show you all of the themes and you can decide which ones you like.

Here are my five essential WordPress theme resources:

1. Official WordPress Theme Viewer
This one comes first because it is the best of them all. At the time of this writing there are nearly 3,000 themes listed here. Thus, chances are if you are looking for a theme it will be here, as theme authors know this is the place to submit their themes if they want exposure.

2. weblog tools collection
An excellent WordPress resource all-around. They post daily theme and plugin releases with links directly to the theme creators’ sites. Additionally, the site is also available in Spanish and German for non-English speakers.

3. themesBase
A great site featuring over 1,000 WordPress themes. You can see how many people have downloaded the themes plus the rating of each theme based upon the number of individuals that have voted for it on a scale of 1 to 10.

4. ThemeVibes
A vBulletin site dedicated to promoting free WordPress themes. Each theme can be demoed as well as discussed in a typical forum style discussion.

5. WordPress Deutschland Themebrowser
Who says only English-speaking sites have good themes? This German site is a wonderful WordPress theme resource where you so can select a theme via drop down menu and it will be demoed for you on the bottom half of the screen.

These are just five of my favorite WordPress theme resources, please feel free to contribute any of your favorites below.