An article on how money was wasted during the rebuilding effort in Iraq.
In summary:
1. Don't bother rebuilding till the fight is over because security for your rebuilding effort adds 30% to the cost.
2. Ask the Iraqi people if they really need that bridge to nowhere before you build it.
One of my favorite comments at the end of the article was... 'we're wasting it over there so we don't have to waste it over here'.
A set of 21 papers addressing global food requirements and what needs to be done in terms of food production technology were published today by the Royal Society.
This article gives an overview of many of the findings, as well as UK Chief Government Scientist John Beddington's outlook on a hungry future.
One study suggests one of my personal favorite solutions to world hunger: growing artificial meat in a giant vat. Why not? I'd happily chow down on a faux piggy if it meant more efficient food production, less reliance on fossil fuels and a perfected crunch in my BLT.
Beijing, China (CNN) -- In China, white people can be rented.
For a day, a weekend, a week, up to even a month or two, Chinese companies are willing to pay high prices for fair-faced foreigners to join them as fake employees or business partners.
Some call it "White Guy Window Dressing." To others, it's known as the "White Guy in a Tie" events, "The Token White Guy Gig," or, simply, a "Face Job."
New York Times writer James Dao has published the first in a series of articles that will chronicle the First Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment from Fort Drum, NY as they carry out a one year mission in Kunduz Province Afghanistan.
This entry focuses heavily on each individual soldier, their attitudes towards the challenges they face, and the impact on their families at home.
Very much a worthwhile read for anyone, regardless of nationality or political leanings.
The actor has invested 15 years and $24 million in a cleanup system involving centrifugal oil separators. BP and the Coast Guard plan to test six of the machines on the spill next week.
I have been sufficiently ignoring this news story for a while because there is really nothing to do about it except bitch. Yet, this live feed really got me riled up for some fresh bitching.
Meanwhile, DAWN Soap is using it for a marketing campaign : http://www.dawn-dish.com/.../home.do
In the ad I saw last night at the movies they were actually insinuating that we can just go down to the beach and wash all the birds with DAWN to save them. It showed ducks and other birds being washed clean of thick black water. At the bottom it said "SIMULATION."
Also, people are shaving their heads in an effort to sop up the mess. http://www.matteroftrust.org/
Is it more than something that just makes people feel like they're in control? That they're helping?
Gordon Brown forgot he still had a mic on after talking to some old lady (Gillian Duffy) and when he thought he had privacy, he told his people she was a bigot. So now everyone is on his case about how wrong he was to say that. I cant find any info about what she actually said/asked other than "immigration issues".
If she was in fact being a bigot, i want to know before i decide how i feel about what Brown said. Obama didn't apologize to Kanye for calling him a jackass because everoyne knows Kanye is a jackass.
A 10 year old Australian girl has survived a sting from a box jellyfish - the world's most poisonous type.
As the article explains, the box jellyfish can grow up to 30cm wide with tentacles that stretch up to 2 meters long. 10 year old Rachael Shardlow came into contact with the tentacles of the venomous creature while swimming in an estuary in Queensland, Australia.
A quote from venom biologist Dr. Jamie Seymore; "When I first saw the pictures of the injuries I just went, 'you know to be honest, this kid should not be alive'. Usually when you see people who have been stung by box jellyfish with that number of the tentacle contacts on their body, it's in a morgue."
Follow the article for a shocking picture of the resulting wounds.
Archived CBC video of the "New Coke" product launch from 25 years ago. It seems that everyone was aware of the failure of the product right from the get go. An interesting flashback nonetheless.
Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are on a mission from God.
Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.
The pope plans to visit Britain in September and they are hoping to have a case put together by then that will allow authorities to arrest him when he arrives. The Pope is not considered a head of state and most likely would not be granted any diplomatic immunity as such.
I hope they get Brad Pitt to carve a nazi insignia in his head too.
This would be laughable if it wasn't so sad. A judge has ruled that Colin Hay and his 80's Australian rock band Men At Work plagiarized 'Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree' in parts of its hit song 'Down Under'. The ruling means the current owners of the Kookaburra song stand to get as much as 60 percent of the back royalties.
I know the song they are talking about. I know the riff. Its 3 notes and yes it totally sounds like that stupid kids song. The difference is, that kids song is that riff and that riff alone. 'Down Under' has a lot more going on and could exist without that 3 note riff.
Apparently the company suing is a big greedy music company called Larrikin so its not like the money is going to some poor family of the dead lady that wrote the children's song a billion years ago.
Don't taint such a good song with your corporate bullshit!!!!
See the devastating effects of the earthquake with more perspective by paging through these before and after satellite shots. It is sad, but impressive.
Google's threat to pull out of China over censorship is a rare display of defiance in a system where foreign companies have long accepted intrusive controls to gain access to a huge and growing market.
..
But despite risking damage to their reputations by cooperating with the government, they have struggled to make headway against intense competition from Chinese rivals. Yahoo, eBay Inc. and others have given up and turned over control of their China operations to local partners. Google is the last global Internet company to manage its own China arm.
Google trails local competitor Baidu Inc. but has gained market share at the expense of smaller competitors. Google had 31.8 percent of search revenues in 2009, versus 60.9 percent for Baidu, according to Analysys
...
Google said Tuesday it would stop censoring search results on Google.cn. That would allow users to find politically sensitive photos and Web sites abroad, though downloading them might still be barred by government filters. It also said it had discovered that computer hackers had tricked human-rights activists into exposing their e-mail accounts to outsiders.
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will not be playing the opening Olympics ceremony due to the fact they were asked to pre-record their music.
The Olympic organizers claim is that this type of practice is standard for worldwide televised events, and that it is necessary in case of technical difficulties. It doesn't seem like there was any statement made explaining whether or not the pre-recorded music would be used exclusively or as a back-up.
I personally support Bramwell Tovey (conductor) 's decision. How much of a shmuck would you have to be to "bow-sync" a cello in front of thousands of spectators? They would be better off hiring a group of actors.
Interesting run down of mysteries about the attack on pearl harbor from Peter Grier at the CSMonitor. It mostly pertains to how the Japanese could have attained such surprise considering incidents and information leading up to the attack. It also suggests some answers to the questions including but not limited to conspiracy theories of President Franklin D. Roosevelt anticipating and intentionally allowing the attack to occur.
Marvi Memon, member of the National Assembly of Pakistan has declined meeting with our Secretary of State Mrs. Clinton and supplied a letter explaining why. The letter is a full-fledged attack at the new Kerry Lugar Bill and some whining about how we've provided more aid to Iraq & Afghanistan than we have to Pakistan. Also, we're apparently not hard enough on India - there appears to be a lot of distaste for India in the letter - not that we should be surprised. She's upset that Mrs. Clinton wishes to meet her after the bill passed instead of prior - when the bill can still be amended once hearing Pakistan's issues with it. While I agree with Marvi Memon on the note that our nation should have discussed the Kerry Lugar Bill with Pakistani government officials, I do find some of her points to be funny/odd. I've listed those points below with my comment below them:
2. The reference to Pakistan military and intelligence agencies being involved in giving support to terrorists in the past is equally offensive. This is a clause which enables the Indian lobby to target Pakistan and hold it responsible for all future terrorist acts in the region.
I admit, the truth[1] can be pretty offensive.
5. The term sanctuary for terrorism implies that Pakistan is a failed state as is included in intelligence reforms and Terrorism Prevention Act 2004.
Yet the Pakistan government has consistantly created "peace" agreements[2] with terrorist groups residing in the northern lawless mountainous region of their country. It is essentially a sanctuary for terrorism.
1. Firstly, the US stance in the war against extremism is biased towards protecting Indian and Afghan interests. The TTP and Baloch terrorists have been using these two countries and their resources as bases for their operations inside Pakistan as is proven by Pak military evidence. Whilst you consider Pakistan to be sovereign our aid is linked to these two countries which we find distasteful.
Actually, it's biased towards protecting American interests first and foremost. Whoever else benefits from our actions is second fiddle.
4. Whilst Pakistan is a frontline state which has paid dearly in terms of men lost in battle with terrorists, US considers India and Pakistan to be equals. Where is the advantage Pakistan should get for cooperating on terrorism? $1.5 billion is a joke compared to the billions spent in Afghanistan and Iraq, even in Turkey and Egypt. As well as the fact that no where with other allies has US imposed intrusive conditionalities.
So is this an invitation for our soldiers and other government officials to demolish Pakistan and take up residence? We'll spend just as much on Pakistan as we have on Afghanistan and Iraq in that case, promise!
5. Whilst Pakistan is blamed for terrorist sanctuaries how many infiltrators coming from India and Afghanistan specifically have you managed to stop?
How cooperative and frank has Pakistan been in helping the US stop them?
Sculpture of a small girl with enormous breasts is put on display at a city park in Foshan City, China. Young Chinese boys are being drawn to the park while mothers are shunning the piece of art.
One local mum, called Liang, complained: "The park used to be a great place for families, but now what attracts my son the most is the huge breasts. I have tried to educate him with some scientific knowledge, but all he thinks when he sees the statue are smutty thoughts."
Even educators visiting the park are complaining that the sculpture is distracting to their students.
And a kindergarten teacher, who brought her class to visit the park, says it shocked some of them to tears. "The little girls were scared and cried loudly, asking me if they would grow those huge things, and boys laughed crazily," she said.
This article was outrageously funny, I had a hard time deciding on whether I should label it weird, world or humor.
The Maldives government is holding a cabinet meeting underwater in a bid to attract international attention to the dangers of global warming.
President Muhammad Nasheed, dressed in full scuba gear, held Saturday's 30 minute meeting at a depth of six metres just north of the capital Male.
Reporting from Male, the Maldives captial, Al Jazeera correspondent Stephen Cole said that a sea-level rise of just a few centimetres would have a devastating effect on the island nation.
Beijing, China (CNN) -- In China, white people can be rented.
New York Times writer James Dao has published the first in a series of articles that will chronicle the First Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment from Fort Drum, NY as they carry out a one year mission in Kunduz Province Afghanistan. 
-world.
I have been sufficiently ignoring this news story for a while because there is really nothing to do about it except bitch. Yet, this live feed really got me riled up for some fresh bitching. 
Gordon Brown forgot he still had a mic on after talking to some old lady (Gillian Duffy) and when he thought he had privacy, he told his people she was a bigot. So now everyone is on his case about how wrong he was to say that. I cant find any info about what she actually said/asked other than "immigration issues". 
A 10 year old Australian girl has survived a sting from a box jellyfish - the world's most poisonous type. 
Archived CBC video of the "New Coke" product launch from 25 years ago. It seems that everyone was aware of the failure of the product right from the get go. An interesting flashback nonetheless.
Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are on a mission from God. 
..just kidding. The dog was actually found floating on an ice floe in the Baltic Sea and was rescued bu a crew of Polish scientists. 
See the devastating effects of the earthquake with more perspective by paging through these before and after satellite shots. It is sad, but impressive.
Google's threat to pull out of China over censorship is a rare display of defiance in a system where foreign companies have long accepted intrusive controls to gain access to a huge and growing market..jpg)
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will not be playing the opening Olympics ceremony due to the fact they were asked to pre-record their music. 
Interesting run down of mysteries about the attack on pearl harbor from Peter Grier at the CSMonitor. It mostly pertains to how the Japanese could have attained such surprise considering incidents and information leading up to the attack. It also suggests some answers to the questions including but not limited to conspiracy theories of President Franklin D. Roosevelt anticipating and intentionally allowing the attack to occur.
