Apparently the problems in getting Ares connecting properly started to emerge in late 2006. In December 2007 they reappeared and now they’re back with a vengeance.

The problem seems to be based around something called a ‘cnode’. These cnodes are the initial IP addresses that Ares uses when it starts up; it is these that really get Ares connecting to the outside world in the first place. Some of the older implementations of the Ares software – old, worn, classics like Ares Galaxy – were simply not repopulating this list of cnodes, so when you restarted you’d get a series of dud IP addresses to connect to.

Newer versions of Ares – superstars like Ares Vista and Ares Ultimate – just update this list of cnodes constantly and so you’ll have no trouble getting Ares connecting just as it should.

We met in a bar where she danced and also loved to play Connect 4. I have been trying to understand Patong girls and their love of such trivial games (and the reasons why they’re so damn good at them!!) but, again, I have given up. Naturally she beat me at the game and I was forced to shell out most of my vacation money to keep her in drinks. She deserved it, though.

I honestly thought I had died and gone to heaven when I came here. I came from the US where I was a below average looker to here, where the girls simply loved my looks! I thought I should be trying to understand Patong girls but, ultimately, I was happy enough not knowing.

Being a bit of an Apple geek I thought I’d do some research on the app store. It seems that Apple have big plans. It seems also that, for once, Apple hasn’t predicted what will happen in the real world.

Apple, it seems, originally planned for the situation where each app bought in the app store would cost around $10. That would bring them $3 in revenue (they will be taking a 30% cut); added up over the millions of apps likely to be served through the app store, Apple will soon make a healthy profit.

They hadn’t imagined, though, that around 71% of all apps would be offered for free through the app store; nor had they imagined that their estimate price of $10 would be so far off the mark. This is the harsh reality that is being painted by a recent survey of 20 iPhone developers at WWDC which suggested that the average cost of an app would be – gulp — $2.29.

Of course while this is fairly bad news for Apple (they’ll bounce back, I’m certain) it’s fantastic news for users like me.

Salvia gained notoriety when the parents of a Delaware teen blamed the drug for tragic and untimely death of their son who committed suicide, seemingly while under the influence of the hallucinogenic drug.

Users say that using Salvia induces hallucinations which can make users feel like they are having outer body experiences or are merging with inanimate objects or even the floor. There have been no confirmed reports of Salvia being bad for you in the long or short term; which makes the laws seeing Salvia banned just more ludicrous.

Oklahoma and Kansas are the latest of 11 states to see Salvia banned, with another 20 or so considering the banning or limiting of the drug.

As noted above Salvia is still completely legal under US federal drug law and it is widely available over the Internet. The drug comes in its natural state or as a concentrated extract which is up to 60 times more potent than the natural form. We don’t want to see Salvia banned, but there is little we can do to fight against the country’s lawmakers.

Still here are the numerous Thai-style clubs with their local cover bands and small tables around which the locals dance the night away. The difference now is that this is not the only type of club to grace the Phuket nightlife.

Reduced too are the number of clubs in the touristy areas on the island that cater to hip hop and dance music hits. The music is usually not very creative, but these clubs provide cheap booze and space to dance.

The new kids on the Phuket nightlife block are the few clubs that really concentrate on offering harder dance music to the clubbing connoisseur. And they’re doing this in style, inviting eminent DJ’s like Judge Jules and Louie Vega to the island. Testament to Phuket’s cautious attitude towards the heavier music is the fact that these massive gigs were no more than half full at any time.

The Phuket nightlife is improving quickly but the island’s attitude is improving slightly slower. This will change, though, and Phuket will become the nightlife capital that it so richly deserves to be.

And the benefits of hallucinogens have been known for thousands of years. Throughout human history, we have used plants in order to enter altered states of consciousness and accelerate our spiritual quests. Some negative feeling towards these drugs in the 60s and 70s (detractors were criticizing the movement that associated with the drugs rather than the drugs themselves) did not stop the popularity growing steadily. Today most psychedelic drugs have been made illegal but some, not least Salvia Divinorum, have managed retain legal status.

Salvia is related to the sage and mint plants and is common in Mexico. In its natural form, and whether chewed or smoked, the Salvia plant has only mild effects. Much more potent is the concentrated version of the plant sold widely on the Internet.

Good luck on your search for spirituality.

So the next rather obvious question is why they would do this. Well, that’s easy when you think about it, too. Apple’s plan is to release the next generation of iPhone games in the relatively near future; holding back on stocks of the older iPhone games helps in three ways. Firstly it creates a demand which the new version will then satisfy. The second reason is that Apple are very keen to sell their iPod/iPhone hybrid thingy. Thirdly it simply saves them having to make and ship more old iPhone games that would then potentially be recalled.

I wasn’t really looking for another piece of filesharing software as the one I’ve used seemed ok. I stumbled across the Ares Ultimate website and liked what I saw: careful simplicity. So I downloaded away.

And the slickness came. Honestly, this was such a breath of fresh air after seeing my old music filesharing software for so long: what I had in front of me was like manna from heaven. Yeah, I liked this. I liked this a lot.

So, I thought, Ares Ultimate looks the part, but does it play ball. Oh it does. The operation is a great deal different from my other software but it just seems more logical. Everything seems to be where I would put it if I were designing software. Oh, and it works with AOL which is, unfortunately the only ISP I can use.

So would I recommend Ares Ultimate? Absolutely. I really have removed my old software from my system and I’m just using this now, full time. And all this change from an accidental download. Definitely recommended to everyone!

What others are saying:
Nice results with Ares Ultimate
Ares Ultimate surprisingly easy to use

This is where the designers of Ares Ultra come in. This is a filesharing application that allows you to share files. Ares Ultra is as simple as that. It doesn’t allow you to play solitaire or to process word documents but then that’s great because if I wanted that I’d fire up my word processor or solitaire programs. Ares Ultra does exactly what it says it’s going to do.

In a world where increased complexity and function seem to rule supreme, it is refreshing to see lowly Ares Ultra doing something right.