Coming up this month will be the launch of Office 2010, Visual Studio 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2,  and SharePoint 2010. To kick things off, Microsoft is holding launch-events in various parts of the country. Be a part of the launch of Microsoft’s new products, (and take home free copies of the software,) by signing up for an event in your area. For those of you who can’t make it to a live event, there will also be a live keynote by Stephen Elop, President of Microsoft’s business division on the launch of the new software suites.

There are two paths for each event, IT Pro and Developer:

For IT Professionals, focuses more closely on Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010

For developers, focusing on Visual Studio 2010 and SQL Server 2008 R2.

The events are free to sign up for, but space fills up fast.

#4 – John Astin (It’s all in the eyes.)

#3 – James Earl Jones (I could listen to him read the phonebook, quite frankly, and it would still be cool.)

#2 – Christopher Walken (If he doesn’t scare you, you’re either the man himself or the #1 entry on this list.)

And the number one, possibly most frightening/disturbing rendition of The Raven. . .

#1 – Vincent Price (True greatness never fades.)

I purchased this cigar from Cigar.com for $6.00, not a bad deal considering the hype surrounding this stick. Here’s the low-down on the cigar itself:

One of A.J. Fernandez’s most recent gems, Diesel exudes a ton of full-flavors in a medium to full-bodied format allowing for a stout, complex experience with perfect balance.

Abdel “AJ” Fernandez is the protégé of Don Alejandro Robaina, the man who is considered to be the “Godfather” of tobacco. After spending most of his life studying in Cuba under Don Alejandro, Abdel Fernandez moved to Nicaragua to begin producing his own cigars. After only 6 years, Abdel currently produces Rocky Patel’s Fusion, Indian Tabac 10th Anniversary, Padilla Habano, Sol Cubano Cuban Cabinet, Man O’ War and Man O’ War Ruination, all of which received rave reviews.

Only available in a stout 5″x56 belicoso, Diesel exudes a unique leathery and spicy flavor with a toasty core of espresso beans. The package has a classic, rustic look while th blend is perfectly balanced and will appear to any aficionado who appeciates premium tobacco. Boasting fillers from Nicaragua’s Jalapa, Condea and Esteli regions, each and every leaf is aged for three years, then concealed with a dark and oily Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper. This is one unique cigar you’re sure to love.

My first impression of this cigar was “WOW”. It truly delivers on the “flavor bomb” promise. Throughout the entire experience, the flavor was rock-solid and went to both my gut and my head. Considering that I’m a very big guy and I’d recently had dinner, having a cigar give me a noticeable head-rush is no small feat. The wrapper is toothy and quite tasty, never overwhelming, and the rough, oily texture is a great complement to this powerhouse. There was plenty of smoke, the draw was thick and satisfying, and I’d say the cigar lasted for about an hour and  a half with a nice, even burn.

With the kind of body this cigar offers, I can’t recommend it to newbies. For fans of Rocky Patel’s Edge, Don Pepin Garcia’s Cuban Classic, or heavy-hitters like Punch or A.J. Fernandez’s own Man O’ War, this is definitely a must-try. Have a big, thick steak, a dark stout beer, then have a seat outdoors and enjoy this unholy cocktail. You won’t regret it.

A couple of places to find your Diesel:

• Cigar.com
• Cigars International
• Cigar Bid

Another review from Puff.com: Diesel Unholy Cocktail Review

Like free stuff? Like cigars? Then you’re in luck. Win a box of Arnold’s House Blend, No. III cigars, featuring a Sumatra wrapper from Equador, a Nicaraguan filler. The cigars are medium-to-full strength Toros, (6×50), and I can personally account for the rating. They’re quite good, and I certainly wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a 20-count box of these sticks.

Enter the contest here to rename the cigarreviews.wordpress.com site to something catchier, and you could walk away with the freebie box of cigars.

• iTunes U is a resource available through iTunes which grants access to thousands of classes and complete courses that have been podcasted from universities and colleges around the country (and the world).
• MIT’s OpenCourseWare is an example of the content available from iTunes U, and a great stand-alone resource for any student that wants to get a preview, or overview, of courses offered at MIT.
• TED offers videos of talks and lectures by prominent and influential teachers, thinkers, and artists from all over the world.
• Academic Earth offers a wide variety of courses and lectures in video-format.
• Video Lectures has a large selections of videos covering lectures in a broad range of topics.
• Free Video Lectures offers an RSS feed of newly-submitted videos to keep users up to date of their selection.
• Lecture Fox provides a list of available classes in the form of videos, audio, and notes.

It’s no secret that web anonymity breeds a high level of douche-baggery. Why bother with outdated concepts such as respect, open mindedness and base decency when no one knows who you are?

Why, indeed, when it so easy to set up a new forum account or a blog and write things which you would never say aloud? Why?

Because of the illusion that your actions, your words are completely consequence free. I say illusion because it is just that, an illusion, it’s false. There are always consequences to our actions, though it may not be ourselves who suffer them.

More than a punch to the head, words do hurt. What you write laughing in your bedroom at 4am about another human being can deeply wound that person.

When a time comes that I find myself writing about another person, I always ask myself a simple question: Would I say that to his/her face? If the answer is yes, I hit publish. If the answer is no, I delete.

I wish I could institute this policy to the web as a whole, but I simply don’t have that reach. My hope is that some of you at least will take these words to heart, and like our mother’s taught us to think before we talk, please think before you type.

The reason I bring this up is because I’ve been following the recent dust up between Perez Hilton (who I consider to be complete trash) and Will.I.Am. If you haven’t heard about it yet, do yourself a favor and try and ignore it, it will make you feel just a little bit worse about humanity.

Still, it did make me think.

Violence is not an answer to any question, it is not a solution to any problem. I would also say the same about what Hilton does for a ‘living’. Dozens of times per day, he goes on record to millions of loyal readers and bashes, makes fun of and judges people in the media’s eye. It’s a deplorable thing he does, and thus far, he’s never faced any consequences for his actions. Until now, until he was punched in the head.

Hilton isn’t a victim, he was held accountable.

Should he have been punched? No. But he wasn’t blameless.

How would you have reacted if someone said to your face what Hilton says about others on a daily basis, either about you, a family member or a friend?

Hilton shouldn’t have been attacked, that is wrong. People should stop supporting what he does, that is also wrong.

While the media will no doubt be talking about this for the next few weeks, I honestly hope that people will realize this incident can be applied to the vast majority of the internet using community. And that maybe, we can learn from it.

It’s easy to do the right thing when everyone is looking, but how about doing the right thing when you’re alone at your computer?

As opposed to this being nothing but a funny entry on a comedy blog, (I laughed when I saw it, just as I laugh at other “blooper videos”,) it actually turned into news when PETA showed outrage at the incident, no joke: PETA miffed at President Obama’s fly “execution”

PETA’s blog points out that they were approached for comment about the incident and did not make any unprovoked statements,

Believe it or not, we’ve actually been contacted by multiple media outlets wanting to know PETA’s official response to the executive insect execution.

In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn’t the Buddha, he’s a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act.

Immediately following these comments, they were quick to plug a product they sell and stated that they’ll be sending him a humane bug catcher for future use. . . yes, my head hurts too. They’ll never back down on the position that we shouldn’t even swat flies, but I’m hoping that the present is at least an attempt at humor and that there won’t be follow-up stories of a letter containing lecture on cruelty to animals to go along with the thing. Hopefully, they realize that they were only contacted by other news organizations because somewhere, some producer saw the video and suggested his reporters ask PETA for comment between fits of laughter.

This is what they’re sending him: Katcha Bug™ Humane Bug Catcher

If nothing else, maybe this will boost President Obama’s approval ratings with conservatives and his critics. He’s sending a strong message to the rest of the world: if this is what he does to flies, just imagine what he’ll do to Kim Jong-Il if North Korea doesn’t back off their nuclear weapons program.