Hong Kong, August 8, 2005 - Lik-Sang.com, leading online retailer for videogame systems, games and cutting-edge gaming gear, was today informed that Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc commenced legal actions against Lik-Sang.com in the High Court of Hong Kong for selling PSP consoles.

Sony of Europe alleges that Lik-Sang.com has breached Sony's Trade Mark rights by offering the PlayStation Portable (PSP) for sale to customers in the UK, and seeks a court order that would prevent Lik-Sang.com from selling or offering systems, games and accessories to customers in the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA).

Sony further claims copyright infringement and damages by mirroring the freely available PSP manual on the news section of Lik-Sang.com during early June. Sony UK warned Lik-Sang.com at June 14 to take legal actions, should the manual and any hypertext links to Sony's web site not be removed. Lik-Sang.com complied with Sony's request to remove the manual immediately.

This lawsuit comes as a total surprise to Lik-Sang.com, given that the laws of Hong Kong are clear when it comes to parallel trade. Hong Kong's legislation is based on the fact that allowing parallel and free trade will restore natural competition and benefit consumers with lower prices. Hong Kong, one of the pioneering countries respecting worldwide exhaustion of trademark rights, allows free trade once an item entered the market for sale.

The company running Lik-Sang.com, Pacific Game Technology (Holding) Limited, is fully registered and operating in Hong Kong and has no ties with the UK. The company is currently looking into available options to combat Sony's cynical attempt to disrupt the successful online business again, gain total market control, and garner publicity.

"Lik-Sang's sales are an unlawful interference with Sony's economic interests", stated Sony's legal correspondence. The case relies on Sony's claim that Lik-Sang.com has advertised the PlayStation Portable products in a "dishonest manner". Lik-Sang.com will do its best to fight Sony's powers and appreciates any support from employees, friends and even customers.

"This is the most aggressive move against its own customers that a console manufacturer has ever taken in the 30 year history of videogames", says Pascal Clarysse, Marketing Manager for Lik-Sang.com. "Sony wants to completely cut hardcore gamers away from items released in Japan or anywhere else outside their own country. A very active part of the gaming community has been enjoying Japanese gaming culture for over two decades, and that's what the Empire is now willing to destroy."

Daily business is unaffected by this lawsuit. Customers in the UK and elsewhere don't have to worry about negative side effects or disruption of service. Shipping, Customer Support and Order Processing are fully operational and Lik-Sang.com remains open as usual. The sites news section will be updated as soon as the situation evolves.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20050809/en_celeb_eo/17109

I would have never guessed there.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050809/...tkBHNlYwM3MTg-

Uh?

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Save Danny Phantom! (and also, vote for Ev on TRL. woot.)

Marc Cohn shot in head and lived. He lives to Walk In Memphis again.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ople_cohn_dc_3

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"Your shadow is dark as should be your music." tMR
"Golf courses are heaven. It's the only place where you can drink and drive and piss in public." tMR

I don't have a link, but McDonalds now puts nutritional information on their food containers. So you know exactly how much shit you're putting into your body when eating those McNuggets and Fries.

Very cool thing.

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Potty-mouthed? New English words are just lush
Wed Aug 10, 2005 2:59 PM BST

LONDON (Reuters) - Do chuggers bother you when you want to rock up to a restaurant with your cockapoo to hoover a supersized ruby murray?

Confused? Then you need to refer to the new Oxford Dictionary of English to understand a host of new words that appear for the first time in its latest edition.

Among the new entries are "potty-mouthed" (meaning using or characterized by bad language), "lush" (very good) and "scopophilia" (sexual pleasure derived chiefly from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity).

Some words, such as "demographic" (a particular sector of a population) have become commonplace but only now make it into the dictionary.

They are joined by those emerging from new technology like "phishing" (fraudulently sending emails purporting to be from reputable firms to get individuals to reveal personal details).

Many of the new words are simply formed by mixing two others together, such as charity and mugger making "chugger" (someone who approaches passers-by in the street asking for donations for a charity) and "labradoodle" (a cross between a Labrador retriever and a poodle).

"To suit the pace of our lifestyle today there is a growing tendency to mix words together to make entirely new ones called blends," the dictionary researchers said.

They also said there were now 350 ways of insulting someone -- from "chucklehead" to "muppet" -- ten times more than there were complimentary expressions, while there were 50 words for good-looking women, there were only about 20 for men.

And for those without a dictionary to hand, "rock up" means arrive, "cockapoo" is a mix between a cocker spaniel dog and a poodle, "hoover" means to eat something quickly, and "ruby murray" is rhyming slang for a curry.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/News/news...DICTIONARY.XML

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science....ap/index.html

Millions of mutant mice are now bred and ready to advance researchers in medicine cures.

Go miceys go!

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Oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooes

Belgian monks run out of the world's best beer
Thu Aug 11, 2005 3:05 PM BST

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Monks at a Belgian abbey have been forced to stop selling their famous beer after it was voted the best in the world and was promptly sold out.

The abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren in western Belgium is home to some 30 Cistercian and Trappist monks who lead a life of seclusion, prayer, manual labour -- and beer-brewing.

A survey of thousands of beer enthusiasts from 65 countries on the RateBeer Web site (www.ratebeer.com) in June rated the Westvleteren 12 beer as the world's best.

But the abbey only has a limited brewing capacity, and was not able to cope with the beer's sudden popularity.

"Our shop is closed because all our beer has been sold out," said a message on the abbey's answering machine, which it calls the "beer phone".

And the abbey has no intention of boosting its capacity to satisfy market demand.

"We are not brewers, we are monks. We brew beer to be able to afford being monks," the father abbot said on the abbey's Web site.

Monk Mark Bode told De Morgen daily: "Outsiders don't understand why we are not raising production. But for us life in the abbey comes first, not the brewery."

source

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6448213/did/8888579/

Dude...that is so ...funny..I'm sorry but it is. Who plays 50 hours of games ALL DAY?! WTF?!

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The Live Journal

The Myspace

David The Gnome FTW!!!

Damn!! He got the hard "Game Over". I just saw that too.

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Bottle of rare Irish whiskey for sale at 100,000 pounds
Fri Aug 12, 2005 6:41 PM BST
By Kevin Smith

DUBLIN (Reuters) - A rare bottle of Irish whiskey is up for sale at a record 100,000 pounds, making it the world's most expensive single malt.

The whiskey -- spelled whisky in Scotland -- dates from the late 1800s and is believed to be the last surviving bottle from the Nun's Island Distillery in County Galway, western Ireland, which ceased production in 1913.

"It is a lot of money but it's like looking for the last dinosaur really," spirits expert Ken Thomas told Reuters on Friday. "This is surely one of the rarest bottles in the world."

Thomas, who runs a specialist drinks store in southwest England, is selling the whiskey via his Web site -- whiskyandwines.com -- on behalf of its owner, who inherited it.

"This woman walked in with the bottle in an old carrier bag and said she thought it might be worth money, and the more I looked into it the more exciting it became," Thomas said.

He said he believed the whiskey would be in good condition should its eventual buyer actually pull the cork.

"Whiskey is renowned for holding its own," he said.

Irish whiskey is generally smoother than Scotch, due to differences in the processing of the barley from which it is made. It is also often distilled three times as opposed to twice for Scotch, and lacks the "peaty" taste associated with single malts from Scotland.

The previous record price paid for a bottle of "the water of life" was 32,000 pounds, forked out by a businessman in a hotel in southern England two months ago.

The man and his friends reportedly polished off most of the 1943 vintage Dalmore 62 Single Highland Malt in an evening.

Earlier this year, a Hong Kong dealer bought six bottles of 1937 Glenfiddich Rare Collection for $48,500 (26,700 pounds) each.