First public speech by Kim Jong-Un followed by rockets in the sky

North Korea's new supreme leader made his first televised speech today, followed by rockets flaring over Pyongyang tonight, but this time it was in celebration and not a failed rocket test.

On Sunday a massive military parade was held in central Pyongyang's Kim ll-Sung Square, as part of the climax of several events in the country to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim ll-Sung, revered as North Korea's founding leader.

After the parade, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea's new supreme leader, made his first televised public speech, which is a major change from the style of his father and predecessor as North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-ll.... read full article and view video.

Video: Moscow, Russia celebrates Orthodox Easter

Russia celebrated the Orthodox Easter holiday in a major event at the cathedral in Moscow today, together with festivities enjoyed by more than 30,000 Russian Orthodox churches worldwide.

While Christians celebrate Easter on the third day after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, to mark his resurrection, Eastern and Western Christianity use different calendars to base their calculations.

Eastern Europe uses the Julian calendar and Western Europe, the Gregorian calendar, which means that their Easter festivity days differ.

In 2012, Orthodox Easter comes one week after the Western Christian holiday and Russians celebrate the end of Lent by painting eggs and cooking special Easter cakes containing nuts and raisins... read full article and view video.

Plant orchestra — The singing plants of Damanhur explained

Since 1975 researchers at Damanhur have been experimenting with plants, measuring the reactivity of plants to their environment and their capacity to learn and communicate.

Recently Digital Journal reported on the singing plants of Damanhur Eco-Society, which included a video of the music made by these plants.

The following is more information about the research they have done and the results achieved.

Researchers use devices which they have created to measure the re-activity of the plants to their environment. The devices judge the plants' capacity to learn and communicate... read full article and view videos.

Sunday Travel — Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol, Spain

Torremolinos has been popular since the late 50's and early 60's, especially amongst the rich and famous, including John Lennon and Frank Sinatra.

Tourists flock here every year for its wonderful sandy beaches, restaurants and famous nightlife. These days, it is more of a "package holiday" destination but still retains it's attraction.

Torremolinos is 12 kms from Malaga city and the international airport. The town has a railway station, where it is possible to catch the Renfe train which runs between Malaga city and Fuengirola, giving easy access to the other resorts in the area. There are also numerous buses, both local and long-distance, giving more transport options. Close by resorts are Benalmadena, Fuengirola and Marbella - great for days out during your stay... read full article and view more photos.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/322992#ixzz1s6UzckHQ

Video: 2 lazy 2 rite — 'Smart' tech dumbing us down?

All the latest technology makes it easy to communicate quickly, but is it actually dumbing down users of the various gadgets available?

While the internet is an amazing source of information, and should be used to open up a world of learning and knowledge, is it also causing people to use shortcuts, abbreviations and to not read books?

So many abbreviations are used on the social media and also when texting on a cell phone, for example Instead of typing "you", they type "u".

Teachers are saying that their pupils, instead of reading up in their text books, are copying directly from the internet for their homework assignments, and that what they are copying is not necessarily true... read full article and view video.

Spammy popups and redirects in blogspot (Blogger) blogs (thanks Google!)

Yesterday (April 14, 2012) I noticed that when I clicked on links to other pages within my blog, one of those nasty little messages popped up asking if I was sure I wanted to leave this page.

The page within my blog then appeared, but shortly thereafter it automatically redirected to a dating website.

I queried this on the forum - turns out third party gadgets are causing the problem.  In my case, it was the calendar - now I have removed it, all is well.

So, if you are having a similar problem, remove any spammy gadgets like the calendar, and apparently there's a Facebook ad gadget that is also causing this problem.

As Blogger is owned by Google, I really think they should investigate gadgets before making them available to users!