"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,..." (yada..yada)

As a bonus, you have find constitution of countries around the world here. It's a great party trick to cite the preamble of Constitution of Jamaica.

The Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean, between Mozambique and Madagascar, are a small nation of sparkling blue lagoons and picture-postcard beaches. But the country is politically unstable and a report published today says it is the world's most vulnerable country to the future impacts of global warming such as increased storms, rising sea levels and agricultural failure.

At the other end of the scale, Canada is the best place to move to if you want to be a climate change survivor in the decades ahead (although Britain is also a good place to be as a warming atmosphere takes hold).

The best-to-worst rankings are revealed in the first-ever climate change vulnerability index, produced by Maplecroft, a British consultancy which specialises in the mapping of risk. Its study, The Climate Change Risk Report, looks in great detail at global warming risks in 168 countries.

Independent

msnbc

This release was achieved without a single loss of life. One heck of a job by the Colombian military. It's a pretty amazing rescue effort.

""The Lost Pyramid" is one of those rare documentaries with a revelation so stunning, it's made headlines before anyone has seen it. The film, debuting next week on the History Channel, follows a team of archeologists as they unearth Egypt's fourth Great Pyramid at Giza, which, as the title says, has been lost for years to the desert sands. Even more amazing, this new pyramid (built by the Fourth-dynasty Pharaoh Djedefre) is actually the highest one of all?27 feet higher than the Great Pyramid of Cheops. "I'm a pyramid man, and what I've seen now has made me change many things," says Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. "Every history book in every language is going to be rewritten."" (Newsweek)

You can download the documentary here (It's piracy and you get a bad karma if you do it).

"Tens of millions of Americans have quit smoking cigarettes. The benefits of quitting ? no matter what your age ? are prodigious. Risks of heart disease and stroke plummet. So does the risk of lung cancer, along with cancers of the mouth, throat, bladder, cervix and pancreas. But can the damage from smoking ever be completely undone? Norman Edelman, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, explains." (Time)

"

1. El Bulli, Roses, Catalonia, Spain (Best in Europe)
2. The Fat Duck, Bray-on-Thames, UK
3. Pierre Gagnaire, Paris, France
4. Mugaritz, San Sebasti�n, Spain (Chef's Choice)
5. The French Laundry, California, USA (Best in the Americas)
6. per se, New York, USA
7. Bras, Laguiole, France
8. Arzak, San Sebasti�n, Spain
9. Tetsuya's, Sydney, Australia (Best in Australasia)
10. Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark
11. L'Astrance, Paris, France
12. Gambero Rosso, San Vincenzo, Italy
13. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London, UK
14. L'Atelier de Jo�l Robuchon, Paris, France
15. Restaurant Le Louis XV, Monaco
16. St John, London, UK (Highest Climber)
17. Jean-Georges, New York, USA
18. Alain Ducasse au Plaza Ath�n�e, Paris, France
19. Hakkasan, London, UK
20. Le Bernardin, New York, USA
21. *Alinea, Chicago, USA" (wikipedia)

I bet you haven't been to any of these restaurants. Suckers.

ps: I haven't been to any either.

India releases its National Action Plan on Climate Change. It's brilliant, very cleverly worded and if given the chance for implementation - big "If" given India's track record at delivery - will really change things for the country and it's notoriously bad-boy image on climate change.

The focus is on 8 areas - going whole hog on Solar power, improving energy efficiency by 20% by 2017, creating sustainable cities, securing water resources, protecting agriculture, increasing forest cover to 33%, preserving the Himalayan ecosystem and improving strategic knowledge on climate change.

"Though he eventually hopes to eliminate hookworms entirely from his allergy treatment, Dr. Pritchard has few qualms about venturing where no parasite researcher has gone before.

?I gave myself 50 worms, and I felt it,? he recounted. ?I had stomach pains and diarrhea. But with 10 worms, we?ve ascertained a dose that does not cause symptoms. The patients are happy. They?ve kept their worms, and I get an e-mail a day from people all over the world who want to be infected.?" (NY Times)

"The Tunguska "event" leveled nearly 800 square miles of swampy woodland in Siberia, traveling from the northwest to deliver a 5-megaton blast seen by hundreds of witnesses, including one who created a postage stamp of the explosion. A space rock about 50 yards long had zoomed into the Earth's atmosphere and exploded in mid-air." (USA Today)

Top 10 animation films by AFI and for the ladies, click here.

Apparently the only tactic the government can throw against the opposition leader "Anwar Ibrahim" is a SODOMIZER !!

"Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has denied accusations he sodomized a male aide in a politically explosive scandal, which he blamed on a government conspiracy to thwart his rising clout."

"The accusations revived memories of a similar sex scandal a decade ago that led to his imprisonment and ouster as deputy prime minister.

Hours after the aide filed the complaint, Anwar, 60, took refuge at the Turkish Embassy, claiming his life was in danger. Anwar, 60, dismissed the accusation as "a complete fabrication."(CNN)

The last time he was thrown in jail after going against his former mentor Mahatir Mohammed (Sodomy !!)

and now that he threaten the establishment, the "sodomizer" accusation comes back alive.

"A three-party opposition coalition led by Anwar made spectacular gains, winning an unprecedented 82 seats in the 222-member Parliament and the legislatures of five states. Anwar has threatened to engineer defections from the National Front -- which has ruled continuously since 1957 -- to bring down the government by September."

Jezz folks, get a fuckin' grip.

Winding road invites readers to post their pet peeves while on the road...



(photo courtesy: winding road)

(ForeignPolicy)

Pakistan is more "failed" than North Korea? Bangladesh, e tu?

Robert Mugabe has been sworn in for a new five-year term as Zimbabwe's president after election officials declared a landslide victory for him.

Official results show Mr Mugabe won all 10 provinces, with 85.5% of the vote, but there were many spoiled ballots.

He was the only candidate to run after the opposition boycotted the vote amid claims of state-sponsored violence. (BBC News)

It's up to the neighboring countries and the international community to decide whether to accept him as a true leader of Zimbabwe. The opinions are clear, but the outcome is not.

"Not only should this specific point be remembered, but one should also recall as a general rule of thumb that if you see a large, powerful, well-organized lobby citing the needs of the poor as the rationale for something or other they're almost certainly full of it. In the real world, poor people have extremely little political clout and anything that's attracting a lot of political attention is almost certainly doing so because it's of concern to the non-poor." (Matthew Yglesis)

"Debit or credit? Paper or plastic? Lease or buy? Public or private school? Have you made the right choices? Probably not, according to the important new research on the science of choice. In clear and entertaining style, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness provides a crash course on how and why humans are prone to make bad choices, and what we can do about it. Through dozens of eye-opening examples, authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein demonstrate how "choice architecture"--a fancy term for the particular scenario or context in which we are asked to make a decision--can actually nudge us toward making better decisions. More importantly, the authors show that by putting the right "nudges" in place, choice architects (who range from cafeteria managers to divorce lawyers) can substantially improve just about everything important to us, from our retirement savings to the health of our planet, without removing our range of options. Recommended for fans and foes of Freakonomics and Predictably Irrational. --Lauren Nemroff" (Amazon)

I heard that this book is super bloody awesome.

It's Bill's last day on the job - BBC News has a retrospective of Microsoft's ups and downs.

It mentions that he received an honorary degree from Harvard last year, leading to him joking about "finally [having] a college degree on my resume" - what does Bill Gates' resume even look like? Is it just a piece of A4 with "Microsoft, y'all" written in big Times New Roman in the middle?

(left) A car that runs on compressed air (like a scuba tank) available this summer, from 12,700 USD in taxi form in India. Includes an on board air compressor so you can charge it from the mains in 4 hrs, or from a custom air compressor at a 'gas' station in 3 minutes, and it will go for 125 miles. Well, why not? TATA is the conglomerate behind it. (right) This car has Solar panels on the roof, pedals in the front seats, is made of carbon fiber and does 150 miles to the gallon (because it is so light). Available from 2012, for 20,000 USD.