This Google search error

I am an avid Google search fan. I never want to use any other search engine but Google.

But lately, i was getting this wierd message from Google everytime i type in my search.. It is not that my search words or phrase is about adult words or issues, or my laptop might be infected with spyware or viruses (i am using a commercial-licensed Kaspersky 6), but i wonder why i always get this Google error message:

Google Error

We're sorry...... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.

If you're continually receiving this error, you may be able to resolve the problem by deleting your Google cookie and revisiting Google. For browser-specific instructions, please consult your browser's online support center.

If your entire network is affected, more information is available in the Google Web Search Help Center.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google. To continue searching, please type the characters you see below:

I was beginning to think it is because my ip address is in Nigeria that Google thinks i'm a darned 419 scammer.

So i had to use Yahoo to check if i am the only one experiencing this problem.

In an article from BBC way back Jan 31, 2009, Google said the problem is only temporary and it is because they are implementing a new anti-spamming technology in their search engine.

To quote:

Google's search service has been hit by technical problems, with users unable to access search results.

For a period on Saturday, all search results were flagged as potentially harmful, with users warned that the site "may harm your computer".

Users who clicked on their preferred search result were advised to pick another one.

Google attributed the fault to human error and said most users were affected for about 40 minutes.

"What happened? Very simply, human error," wrote Marissa Mayer, vice president, search products and user experience, on the Official Google Blog.

The internet search engine works with stopbadware.org to ascertain which sites install malicious software on people's computers and merit a warning.

Stopbadware.org investigates consumer complaints to decide which sites are dangerous. The list of malevolent sites is regularly updated and handed to Google.

When Google updated the list on Saturday, it mistakenly flagged all sites as potentially dangerous.

"We will carefully investigate this incident and put more robust file checks in place to prevent it from happening again," Ms Mayer wrote.

Yes, Ms. Mayer, please carefully investigate. Because until now, i always get this error. I have to key in captcha phrases twice before my query is displayed. And every time i close my browser or reboot my laptop and PC, the challenge comes up.

So i think stopbadware.org is blocking searches based not only on certain words and phrases, but also based on ip. And because i happen to be in Nigeria, they think all of us ar bucnh of scammers. I bet all ips assigned to Nigeria are encountering this problem.

But really, i still like Google despite ths annoyances.

If you encounter this error, do not panic. It is not your PC or laptop. It is just Google.

Talked about over-protection.

Are You Wasting Money on Multivitamins?

I am feeling lazy writing something about this weekend's blues. SO let me just share an article about vitamins. You know i take too many vitamins, and not just multivitamins.. There are a lot of articles and email messages about the pros and cons of taking vitamins...

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Behind the Headlines
by Simeon Margolis, M.D., Ph.D. a Yahoo! Health Expert for Nutrition

Advertisements with tantalizing promises of improved health, prevention of cancer and heart disease, and greater energy have lured millions of Americans to spend billions of dollars on the purchase of multivitamins.

An article in the February 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine reported that multivitamin use did not protect the 161,808 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Study from common forms of cancer, heart attacks, or strokes. And the numbers of deaths during the 8 years of the study were the same in vitamin users as in non-users. Still, it is important to recognize that this was an observational study, not a more meaningful clinical trial. Although these findings apply only to women, other studies have failed to show benefits of multivitamins in older men.

These results are not at all surprising for several reasons. No large study has shown that multivitamins significantly benefit healthy men and women. In addition, for some years physicians prescribed folic acid and vitamins B12 and B6 in the hopes of preventing heart attacks and strokes by lowering blood levels of homocysteine. (High blood levels of homocysteine are associated with an increased risk of coronary and other vascular diseases.) A number of recent studies, however, have shown that, while these vitamins do lower homocysteine levels, they do not prevent heart attacks or strokes.

Many doctors have also prescribed the antioxidants vitamin E and beta-carotene to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Alas, studies have now proven that these supplements are not protective--and may even be harmful.

No one denies that an adequate intake of vitamins is essential; however, vitamins can and should be obtained from eating enough healthy foods rather than from swallowing vitamin supplements.

Then what about vitamins being a great source of energy? Some multivitamin ads do indeed claim that their supplements boost energy; and some professional athletes gobble handfuls of vitamin pills to increase their energy and strength. But researchers proved long ago that energy comes from calories, not vitamins. The highly touted cholesterol-lowering effects of substances added to some multivitamin supplements? Still unproven.

All this is not to say that specific vitamins supplements are never desirable. Vitamins can be valuable in certain situations:

* Folic acid supplements in women who are pregnant or plan to become pregnant can help to prevent serious neural-tube defects that affect the baby's brain and spine.
* Supplements that contain more vitamin D and calcium than is present in regular multivitamin pills can help older men, and especially women, avoid osteoporosis and bone fractures.
* Supplements of vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, zinc, and copper may slow the progression of vision loss in people with early macular degeneration.

And multivitamins are beneficial for some entire groups of people:

* those on a very-low-calorie weight-loss diet
* strict vegetarians
* heavy alcohol drinkers
* individuals who are not getting an adequate diet because they are too sick or too poor--or live by themselves and are unable to prepare proper meals for themselves

I also agree with a comment made by one of the coauthors of the Archives of Internal Medicine article about postmenopausal women mentioned above. An 8-year follow-up period may not be long enough to show that multivitamins protect against cancers that take many years to develop.

All the same, the results of the studies on vitamins so far point to one conclusion: Healthy people who eat enough calories from a varied diet do not benefit from multivitamin supplements.

La Lingerie

And there I was, on another lonely Sunday.

I felt lazy going to Ikeja's Family Sunday. No driver. And nobody to bum a ride. So i stayed in the house all day, Sunday.

I thought it was only me and Randy in the house. It turned out that the usual bunch is in the house -- me, Randy, Steven, Edward and Wesa. Only our boot camp manager went out that day.

As usual, i went to the living room and rummaged through our DVD collections. I think it is Steven who bought new DVDs regularly. Anyway, i've gotten tired of action flicks so i choose a rather sleazy-titled DVD - "La Lingerie". The cover photo was that of pretty young things (Hong Kong Chinese movie stars).

Hmmm, a teeny-bopper movie.

Bring out the camote and the yoghurt. The whisky and the soda.

I thought it's going to be a sort of B-movie, but it turned out to be a comedy. It's like the sort of Ruffa Mae Quinto movie. Sexy, funny, naughty, and some dorky life-changing experiences thrown in between.

The story is weaved by narration of the main character named Miu, who aspires to be a lingerie designer but ended up as a 'lingerie researcher'.

Among the bunch of characters are :

- Donut (yes, Marix, that's her movie name), Miu's cousin, who is having an affair with a married man.

- Celine, a flight stewardess endessly looking for a rich man in Business Class to seduce and marry

- James, a rookie policeman and an OC, who fell in love with Celine but indeed up as her boy-toy

- CC, a high-class GRO but manages her own lingerie store.

- Lucas, marketing manager f the lingerie store where Miu us working

- Antonio, the son of the lingerie store owner, who is gay and narcissistic.

- The unnamed lingerie pervert who stole lingerie from apartments and collects them in his pad.

I think the most hilarious part of the movie was the scene where the 'gay' Prince Antonio, supposedly wanted to have an 'experience'. Since both of them are virgin, Antonio suggested they should do Antonion's idea of 'safe sex', that is: "you do yours, i will do mine.." Nooo, there is nothing x-rated in that segment. Really reminded of Ruffa Mae's movies.

The movie may look like it has a convoluted plot (magulo) which has no direct relation with lingerie, except maybe for Miu. But if looking at the 'big picture' one will see where the title"La Lingerie" comes into play, and that is because all of the characters' separate story somehow has something with lingerie.

- Miu met Lucas when she was accepted in the lingerie store. Then, inheriting an expensive collection of lingeries from her dead aunt.

- James, meeting Celine after she complained about her missing lingeries

- CC, who owns a lingerie and met Eugene. She used her entire savings from the lingerie business to buy jewelries to be used in Eugene's 'Harvard' ball.

- Donut, who met the married man while doing assisting him in selecting lingerie for his wife

But the main theme is not about the lingerie. It is about everyone's search for true love. About dreaming of their Mr or Miss Right, while someone close to them is ignored. And as a teeny bopper movie, there is the usual need for sex or to wanting to be devirginized. At least the movie kept the 'sex' side of the story safe (no pun, intended) and wholesome.

And in the end, when the efforts failed, there is the (predictable?) usual ending .... realizing where true love lies... As their were four stories/plots in the movie, one ended happily (Miu and Lucas), another in status quo (Celine & James), the third in separation (Donut and her affair), and CC losing her sanity.

I know it's a cheap story. But it's definitely better and less corny than if it were a Pinoy version. Of course, i will make an exception if Ruffa Mae Quinto is in that movie.

The movie dialog is in Chinese (Canto) but the English subtitle is quite grammatically correct. Unlike those other Malaysia-recorded DVDs where the english translation is mangled.

Here is a review from an HK reviewer:

Miu Ho, a sweet and somewhat daffy virgin who's angling for a job as a lingerie designer. She seems to have the skills, but interviewer Lena (Gigi Leung) wants Miu to dig deeper into undergarment culture. Miu receives the title "Lingerie Researcher", and is assigned to look into the world around her to observe how underwear makes the woman - or, in some cases, vice-versa.

Miu starts her duties by surreptitiously peeping at accidental exposures in everyday life and noting in copious voiceover how many of the exposures may not really be accidental. After all, lingerie is hidden beneath a woman's clothes, but the lingerie is eye-catching and expensive, indicating that perhaps the women do want it to be seen. What's the meaning behind this contradiction? Miu's underwear thesis is ostensibly the driving force behind La Lingerie's narrative, and Chan Hing-Ka and his co-screenwriters dig into their toolbox of undue metaphor to come up with their canned, cloying discoveries.
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/la_lingerie.html

Despite the half-smile review in HK, the movie is not really that bad --- to alternate with internet...

But next Sunday, I swear I will go to Eleko Beach...

My Amarula Weekend

Well, here comes another weekend.

I worked from Monday until Saturday 2PM. So i get 1 full Sunday off.

Normally, I will spend the Sunday either at the beach or at the shopping mall.

But today, there were no available cars. Marcio borrowed one Peugeot and Edward took the other. So I have no choice but to stay at home. Good thing though that NEPA seems to be holding on since midnight.

I switched on the DSTV and saw the ongoing finals of Australian Open between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

I ran to the kitchen and searched the fridge for something to bite and drink. I found my half-empty (or half-full) bottle of Amarula. Aha. Showtime....

I brought a bowl of ice cubes, chichiria and Amarula into my room (Yes, Marix, my room has DSTV) and settled to watch the game.

In between the game, i was on the internet. After finishing my first glass, i felt compelled to research about Amarula.

According to my trusted friend Wiki:

Amarula is a South African cream liqueur made with sugar, cream and the fruit of the African Marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea) which is also locally called the Elephant tree or the Marriage Tree.

Amarula was first marketed in September 1989. It has the taste of slightly fruity caramel. Amarula has received consistently good reviews, with the caveat that, like many cream liqueurs, it is too sweet for some palates. It has become the second largest seller in the cream liqueur category after Bailey's Irish Cream, with particular success in Brazil. It is very popular and common throughout Africa, especially the south and east coast. Recently, Amarula has attempted to break into the American market.

Because of the marula tree's association with elephants, the distiller has made them its symbol and supports elephant conservation efforts. For marketing efforts it produces collectible items featuring elephant head decoration. Elephants enjoy eating the fruit of the marula tree. A common tale is that the elephants enjoy eating the fermented fruits and become "drunk" from them. Studies, however, suggest this is not true and that an elephant drinks too much water to feel the effects of the
marula.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarula

I also found this video in Youtube.com about the effects of Marula fruit on African animals after they ate too much of the fruit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmQPwgV-WbQ&feature=related

I had a gas laughing out loud watching the drunken masters of the African wild.

Hah, but i am not going to do such inebriated foolishness. I'm in the safety of my room. No cameras. No embarassing moments.

Well, thanks to Amarula for keeping me company on this lonely Sunday afternoon....