I’m not normally a ‘drug’ person but a friend of mine told me all about Salvia, and I tried some. I loved it! What an odd but strangely satisfying experience! I got the giggles too, which I quite enjoyed!

I’d never heard of Salvia but it turns out it’s been used quite a lot for a number of years. It was really first brought to the attention of an adoring public by a British documentary in 1998; this was picked up by a number of news outlets ‘over the pond’ in the US. It’s safe to say that it has caught on more in the US that it ever has in Britain.

The politicians that are currently trying to ban Salvia claim to never have heard of it. In fact many claim to have seen it ‘on YouTube’ which sounds to me a lot like the fools trying to sound technologically cool and against psychedelic drugs at the same time. The fact is that those trying to ban Salvia know very little about it. It’s not surprising – or even to their detriment – that they don’t know much about it: researchers and doctors don’t. But why should they try and pretend that they know about it? That’s the frustrating thing! Get Salvia while you can.

It’s always nice to work with software that you know. It means you don’t have to relearn how to use an application and, over time, productivity will increase. It was this mindset that has always made me reluctant to swap from my old faithful file sharing application – Ares Lite to something more modern like Ares Ultra or Ares Ultimate.

I picked up Ares Lite back in the day when it was doing an excellent job of providing a resource-friendly version of bigger brother Ares Galaxy. It was clear of spyware too, which made it very popular around the web; interestingly thought the misconception that the ‘Lite’ version of Ares Lite was used because it was the only version that wasn’t packaged with spyware was patently untrue.

There were a lot of versions of Ares that were and are packaged with spyware, Ares Destiny being packaged with Dealio being a well known case in point, and that put a lot of people off. Ares Lite was not the only clean version though.

These days there are plenty of spyware-free Ares implementations that are well worth a look. I eventually went with Ares Vista (which plays very nicely indeed with my Windows Vista installation) and this is just one of the great filesharing programs that are available.

What others are saying:
Ares Lite a blast from the past
Ares Lite a Simple Solution

I am in a minority: I like to walk into a music shop, look at the CDs on offer, make my choice and go and pay. I am in the minority and that is bad news for the businesses that my choices fund.

Fortunately these businesses are starting to realize that their business model stinks and that the profits to be made on selling physical CDs are dwindling rapidly. If, a few months ago you’d mentioned the following names in the same sentence as ‘unlimited music downloads’ then I would have laughed. Here I go: the latest entrants into the world of music downloads include Sony BMG, 24-7 Entertainment, Nokia, Vodafone and O2. Did I mention Sony? That wasn’t an error.

Sony has made two major moves recently to allow many people to have music downloads: we7 have famously procured the back catalogue for free streaming from its site and Nokia have acquired similar rights to offer unlimited music downloads for 1 year to its new customers.

What others are saying:
We7 Sony free music downloads
Free music downloads

When delving into the materially rewarding world of online P2P filesharing the software available can be, well, a little daunting. And of course this software is very much an essential component of your filesharing career.

Ares Ultra is an implementation of the famous and well received Ares software. Where Ares Ultra differs is in its presentation: rather than providing all the function in a confusing (at least to beginners and those of us less gifted in the use of computers) hodge podge of options and acronyms, Ares Ultra simply presents the options to us as they are need. Upload, Download, Delete. That kind of thing.

This simple approach is a godsend to newcomers and also to any old hands that just want a piece of software that works. Ares Ultra also has the added advantage that it is AOL friendly, so there are no artificial barriers imposed by this most awkward of service providers.

Salvia Divinorum is a member of the sage family and a close relative of the mint family (and closer relative of the Salvia plants that often adorn US gardens). New laws in Oklahoma and Kansas will see Salvia banned in those states. So what heinous crime has this little drug committed to make it so undesirable? Drug agents say smoking or chewing salvia produces hallucinations and can cause a person to become dizzy and impair speech.

Possession of Salvia in Oklahoma is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, while distribution brings penalties of between five years to life in the big house. Whatever the legality of the drug across the US – and US federal drug laws say that Salvia is well and truly legal – if you live in or are visiting Oklahoma then you must remember the new laws see Salvia banned.

Kansas and Oklahoma joined nine other US states in introducing laws to see Salvia banned. Another 20 or so are considering the limitation or banning of Salvia.

Fortunately for users the laws that see Salvia banned do not extend country wide and it is still entirely legal to buy Salvia over the Internet (though the possession and use in your state may be).

Ares Vista just saved my life. Not literally, of course, but it was a pretty close run thing.

I just got my new computer through, complete with the wonderful Windows Vista (which has been getting some good reviews on the websites I read). I loaded all my other software on no problem but when it came to the filesharing software I had real difficult getting it to connect. The software itself loaded up alright it just wouldn’t let me connect to the network.

I figured out that this must have been due to Windows Vista’s increased security settings. Pah. I went in search of a solution and quickly came to Ares Vista: designed with just this problem in mind.

I was able to download and install Ares Vista quickly and easily and, lo and behold, I was able to connect to the sharing network immediately. Ares Vista solved my problem within minutes.

Not only that but it seems to just work a lot better than my previous version, with plenty of advanced options available and a number of features that really heighten the filesharing experience. I would strongly recommend Ares Vista whether you’re working on Windows Vista or not. A great improvement.

What others are saying:
Ares Vista my friend
Simple filesharing with Ares Vista

Ares Ultimate was introduced to me by a friend – and boy am I glad it was.

You can tell this is a smart little program from the time you download and install. There is no fuss and bother as the program went onto my computer. It was almost too easy!

I really really like the simple uncluttered screens of Ares Ultimate that guide you through the process of downloading your favorite music – I wasn’t confused at any point, as the instructions were of the simple step-by-step variety (which I need!).

There are more advanced options to be enjoyed in Ares Ultimate and I reckon that in a few weeks, when I’m a music filesharing pro, I will be making an effort to explore them fully! When I do I noticed that there’s a really comprehensive help system that I’ll be able to use as a reference in my new adventure.

What’s really good is about Ares Ultimate is that It Just Works. I really don’t want anything more than that really. I want to set the program downloading some tracks then I want to be able to leave and come back when it’s done. It seems that that is not too much to ask.

As a woman of the world I found Patong particularly entertaining. The way the local girls were able to play the Western vacationers was quite astonishing. Without trying to understand Patong girls and their motives, I would say that Patong girls are some of the most devious creatures on earth. And good for them!

The attempts from the men at trying to understand Patong girls was largely – with a few honorable exceptions – pathetic. They were continually hustled at Connect-4 (of all things) and in the local game of hitting the nail into the wood block with the wrong end of the hammer (huh?). Trying to understand Patong girls was clearly beyond most men once they saw the pretty faces, lithe bodies and happy smiles. Something about these girls made men simply want to empty their wallets all over them.

The girls seemed to prey on those foreigners that appeared wide-eyed and curious. These were the ones that were the least likely to succeed when trying to understand Patong girls and the most likely to succumb to the ‘I love you’ line. These ‘gentlemen’ were invariably taken for a ride and no doubt not in the way that they would have liked.

This was an interesting trip, for sure.

There is nothing more frustrating than waking up to a day of work with your new home business only to find that your computer or telephone isn’t working. Fixing it (or getting someone to fix it) will take up time that you cannot afford. Maybe you need to get a new phone? That’s an hour out of your schedule. Maybe you need to get a new computer and load all your software and data back onto it? In this worst case scenario you might have lost an entire day that would have otherwise been spent on your home business.

In the case of the broken phone and the broken computer you may have shopped around for the cheapest deals to start with. Now you can see why this is false economy that will effect both you and your home business.

A new home business could do a lot worse that take a look at Plantronics range of telephones and wireless headsets, and at Apple’s range of computers.

Last year Radiohead – the Britsh band – offered its album ‘In Rainbows’ to fans. What was interesting about this particular release was that the album was offered under a ‘tip-jar’ style arrangement where people paid as much as they wanted to. Essentially this was free music downloads offered by a top-rated band.

This year the mantle has been taken by Trent Reznor and his band, the Nine Inch Nails. Trent has long been an outspoken advocate of, if not free music downloads, then of freedom for customers to choose. Nine Inch Nails have recently ended their contract with their publisher and have chosen to offer their latest album, “the slip” for absolutely nothing. This is the first time such a large group have offered free music downloads with absolutely no way for customers to pay for it. Even if they wanted to.

The recording industry is going through somewhat of a recession as free music downloads in its varying forms starts to bubble to the top of the pile.