JUNE 25 - THE MAN who oversaw the much-praised redevelopment of Ascot Racecourse is to join the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) s its director of construction.

The legend of Buca di Beppo involves a covert meeting of key developers in a Mafia-style restaurant in the United States. 'Bucas' has on more than one occasion been the catalyst for key (and in some cases considered insurmountable) development 'humps' being overcome.

With copius amounts of food and wine flowing, the creative juices of coders seem to work keener, faster, and problems are solved. Louis Landry famously agreed that living near a Bucas could actually lead to faster development cycles.

Mmmm. A restaurant with photos of famous Mafia films like The Godfather and violin cases leaning against the booths. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

If Joomla! was a commercial venture, we're sure management would actually consider building a Bucas inside the building!

Masterchief meet Bugsy Landry.

The Joomla! team has about 1 million good reasons to be smiling about the Joomla! 1.5. In its current incarnation, it's had more than 1 million downloads, taking it to an unprecedented level of popularity. The new code base is almost an entire re-factor of the old code base. The user experience is still extremely slick but for developers the API is a dream. A proper framework for real PHP architects seeking the best of the best.

If you're a former Mambo User or a 1.0 series Joomla! User, 1.5 is the future of CMSs for a number of reasons. It's more powerful, more flexible, more secure, and intuitive. Our developers and interface designers have worked countless hours to make this the most exciting release in the content management system sphere.

Go on ... get your FREE copy of Joomla! today and spread the word about this benchmark project.

September 9 - Chicago City Council has today unanimously agreed to take full financial responsibility if the city is awarded the 2016 Olympics, a guarantee that officials hope will help end financial doubts that was threatening to ruin its bid.