Labels: music

"Archaelogists in Berlin have uncovered 2,000 skeletons in a huge medieval cemetery near the city center since they started examining the site in March 2007.

The site was found during construction work in Petriplatz square. A large number of the skeletons are of children, a sign of their high mortality rate in the Middle Ages." (De Spiegel)

The smart ass guide to USA.

Unfortunately, it seems more likely to be a case of faulty wiring rather than revolutionary righteousness. But we can still hope...

Hey all - I am moving this post up to get more attention. This doesn't require much time just for you to cast a vote! Check out the posting and click here to vote!!!

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My partner Jesse is passionate about sports and working with youth. Last year he signed up to work with 80 youth in the South Bronx through a program called Young Heroes. Inspired by under served youth with no access to sports programs Jesse is the process of developing an organization to address this need. Much like Teach For America, it calls on young adults to serve in schools as coaches and mentors in places across the US so desperatley in need. As obesity rises to be the number one killer of children in America this is a concrete way to make a difference.

You can help by voting for his project on here. It won't cost you a cent, all you need to do is vote. And if you are not an American Express Card Member, sign in as a guest.

Please pass this on to people you know and help Jesse achieve his dream of changing kids lives everyday.

http://www.rockthelist.com/2008/08/15/top-30-best-movie-race-scenes/

Right now, Al Jazeera has it live...

So far he is sounding like he won't budge. "Stand firm" etc...

No declaration of emergency rule just yet, but I'll keep you updated...

UPDATE - Resigned!

Is resigning "to stop the downfall of the country and move Pakistan toward the path of development"

"I am happy to be resigning in front of a free and vibrant media, and I hope they continue to play that role long into the future"

The Russians and the Georgians give different accounts of who provoked whom in the weeks before Aug. 7. Each side accuses the other of premeditated attack. While the public line from the Bush administration in the past week has been that Russia and Putin are largely to blame, some administration officials said the Georgian military had drawn up a "concept of operations" for crisis in South Ossetia that called for its army units to sweep across the region and rapidly establish such firm control that a Russian response could be pre-empted.

They note that in January, the Georgian Ministry of Defense released a "strategic defense review" that laid out its broad military planning for the breakaway regions. As described by David J. Smith of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, the document sets out goals for the Georgian armed forces and refers specifically to the threat of conflict in the separatist regions.

American officials said that they had clearly told their Georgian counterparts that the plan had little chance of success, given Kremlin statements promising to protect the local population from Georgian "aggression" ? and the fact of overwhelming Russian military force along the border.

The shelling from South Ossetia to Georgia proper increased significantly in August. On the morning of Aug. 1, five Georgian police officers were wounded by two remotely detonated explosions on a bypass road in South Ossetia, Georgian officials said. Troops from Georgia battled separatist fighters, killing at least six people; the Georgians accused the South Ossetian separatists of firing at Georgian towns behind the shelter of Russian peacekeepers.

On Aug. 6, the separatists fired on several Georgian villages, Georgian officials said. The Russian Defense Ministry and South Ossetian officials say that Georgians provoked the escalation by shelling Russian peacekeeping positions in the region's capital of Tskhinvali, along with civilian areas.

The Georgians said the separatists stepped up their shelling. Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili of Georgia called Fried and told him that her country was under attack, and that Georgia had to protect its people. Fried, according to a senior administration official, told the Georgian not to go into South Ossetia. The Georgians moved in on Aug. 7. (IHT)

(For a background on everything that happened before the Georgian Military drafted its "Concept of Operations", read this excellent article at the IHT)

"First came the historic finish by Jamaica?s Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart. Fraser?s blazing race of 10.78 seconds captured the first gold medal in the event by a Jamaican woman. Simpson and Stewart tied for second in 10.98.

They were following the inspiration of their countryman Usain Bolt, who won the men?s 100 a night earlier and shattered his own world record." (NY Times)

Oy.

NY Times asks the question.

I'd say, yes.

Shortly before World War I another British author, Norman Angell, published a famous book titled "The Great Illusion," in which he argued that war had become obsolete, that in the modern industrial era even military victors lose far more than they gain. He was right -- but wars kept happening anyway. (Paul Krugman, NYTimes)

100 meters of Olympic 2008.


(NY Times)

I'm looking for videos.

"Georgia's population is over 5 million. Compared to that South Ossetia (SO) is tiny, before the conflict began it had maximum only about 40 thousand people living mainly in Tskhinvali city. Rest of SO territory is hardly populated at all - mountains, alpine steppe and deep forests. Actually it was a popular tourist destination in times of Soviet Union. Georgia wants this territory, they are not interested in integration of local people who were historically and culturally always a trouble for them - they are from different ethnic groups and don't mix with each other.

Georgia almost achieved it's plan of driving Ossetians from their land within 24 hours period on the day of Olympics opening ceremony. Geographically and strategically they could easily have done it. Once the city of Tskhinvali is destroyed 2 months before the winter hits hard in that mountanious area then Georgians could have upper hand of controlling the whole of that deserted area. The SO frozen conflict would be solved in one day and President Saakashvili would fulfil his election promise, emerging as a strong leader to deal next with Abkhazia which is a much tougher case for Georgians.

Russians are now set to rebuild Tskhinvali in almost frantic efforts because otherwise Ossetian civilian population will not and could not return to destroyed infrastructure. Winter season is harsh in SO and locals switch on their heating systems already in October. The number of Ossetian refugees in Russia is estimated to be 32 thousand by now. Russians have a choice in spending their money - to build winter refugee shelters on their own territory in order to feed and take care for this sudden influx of demoralized people OR to try to rebuild at least sections of Tskhvinvali city so that Ossetians can go home.

Georgians effectively cut Tskhinvali water supplies already 3 weeks before the conflict began (residents had to ship water from nearby village wells) and now everything is gone - gas, electricity, water, heating system, harvest, trading, banking, schools, hospitals...

We had repaired and rehabilitated dozens of medical points in all major towns and villages in SO over the period of 8 years, we helped virtually every hospital in Tskhinvali..... The clinic in large Khetagurov town which became a hub for qualified medical assistance for whole area (even Georgians would travel from far distances to be treated in that clinic) was repaired and equipped with our help. Everything is gone now, Khetagurov resisted the night attack and was virtually leveled with ground by morning of Aug 8. Please note that Tskhinvali city itself had no strategic military facilities to justify the all-night and then whole day attacks by Georgians."

I got this from an email from a trusted source.

"The sleek, touchscreen iPhone has proved so lucrative for Apple that the electronic gadgets manufacturer has unseated Google to become the most valuable company in America's cradle of technological innovation, Silicon Valley.

Queues outside Apple's stores are commonplace since the phone's launch a year ago as shoppers line up to get their hands on the prized device.

On Wall Street, the phenomenal popularity of the phone has fuelled a 44% surge in Apple's share price in 12 months. By the close of trading on Wednesday, Apple's market value had edged up to $158.8bn - a shade ahead of Google's $157.2bn." (The Guardian)

Microsoft's market cap is 253.82B (source) - Google and Apple should merge.

"The problem with having narrow skills, like being able to structure CDOs, is that if you lose your job, your employment prospects are limited. Unless you have personal connections that are willing to give you a chance at something where your skills might be distantly relevant (say being the CFO of a small company), most employers, especially large companies, want to hire someone who is already doing precisely what the job calls for. I've seen enormously talented senior people (and I don't mean from Wall Street) unable to land jobs because employers write the job specifications so narrowly." (Naked Capitalism)

I read a quote somewhere that "Specialization is for insect" but I think it's pretty hard to achieve mastery without specialization.

The blog post above talks about what happens to the tens of thousands financial wizards that get laid off due to the fucked up in the global economy thanks to their reckless risk management.

What I don't like with the current economic crisis is because a lot of banks, the bedrock of capitalism and global economy, turned out to behave like a 15 year old in his first beer bong party, all drunk and stupid. A lot of people in the financial markets make a killing over half a decade based on essentially a global scam. I mean, wtf, UBS, what happened to you? Did you get herpes or something? Citigroup, one of the best run banks in the world, fucked up so bad you'd think Mugabe was their CEO.

We need our bank to be sober, boring and solid, because governments and markets aren't.

(Drakensberg mountain Kwazulu-Natal) - come visit.

"KZN voter numbers plunge.

As many as 400 000 voters in KwaZulu-Natal have died or left the province since the local government elections were held a little over two years ago."

KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa has an estimated population of 10 million people so that 400K represents 4% population shift in 2 years (more or less - because they are talking about voters which contains certain age criteria than a general population numbers).

That kind of percentage in decline is pretty big - they don't have wars. Is it AIDS? or job exodus?

South Africa's economic growth (source) last year is around 5%, which is a good number for any country.

KwaZulu-Natal though recorded the highest percentage of HIV sufferer among pregnant women (source) - at 39.1 % in 2006 (and consistently hit above 30% rate since 2001).

When you have this high rate of pregnant women infected with HIV, you'll see similar or higher rate of percentage of infection with men as well.

The voting age in South Africa is 18 (source). So 400K decline happens 18 and above segment of the province population. This will have an impact on their economic output and social stability.

We might hear more about this province in the incoming months.

"Russia: New Military Uniforms. Owen of Lex Libertas reports that the Russian military will completely change to a new uniform by the year 2011, by a famous Russian designer."

Now that you are back in the headline again, it's important to look good.

Check this video of a team of Turkish TV reporters in the car under semi-automatic fire attack somewhere in Georgia. Nobody died but this is as close as you can get to the real thing without being killed. It's a miracle nobody in the car died.

"An engine access panel fell off a Qantas Airways jumbo jet en route to Singapore from Melbourne, Australia, on Friday, the latest in a string of incidents for the airline." (CNN)

This is what happens when your plane had a hole mid-flight. Every single infraction after that is suddenly "news" !

In 2000, Condoleeza Rice wrote an article in Foreign Affairs that set the agenda for the next 8 years of American foreign policy.

Now, on her way out, she does a re-think...

There's the usual stuff about Iraq and Afghanistan and spreading democracy and building ties with Russia and China and emerging powers...

And then there's this line..
"...access to education is a critical national security issue."

Fairly interesting read, if you're willing to read through 9,000 words...

Hey all - I am moving this post up to get more attention. This doesn't require much time just for you to cast a vote! Check out the posting and click here to vote!!!

---

My partner Jesse is passionate about sports and working with youth. Last year he signed up to work with 80 youth in the South Bronx through a program called Young Heroes. Inspired by under served youth with no access to sports programs Jesse is the process of developing an organization to address this need. Much like Teach For America, it calls on young adults to serve in schools as coaches and mentors in places across the US so desperatley in need. As obesity rises to be the number one killer of children in America this is a concrete way to make a difference.

You can help by voting for his project on here. It won't cost you a cent, all you need to do is vote. And if you are not an American Express Card Member, sign in as a guest.

Please pass this on to people you know and help Jesse achieve his dream of changing kids lives everyday.

According to the Census Bureau Thursday released projections, by 2050 whites will make up 46% of the US population (down from 66% today), blacks will make up 15% (a relatively small increase from today), Asians will raise to 9% (from 5% currently); while "Hispanics" will account for 30% (up from about 15% now).

The U.S. population is projected to grow from about 305 million people today to 400 million by 1039 and 439 million by 2050. While it's over 85 population is projected to more than triple to 19 million by 2050.

US is still far behind China or India on population, but that's a significant increase in population and in retired population, which as in many other developed countries will put big pressure on retirement funds. And the quantity of "Hispanics" is expected to increase from 49.7 million in 2010 to 132.7 millions by 2050, that's about a 267% increase!!

Read more in Yahoo or if you want to look into the data itself check the Census Bureau directly

"The 15 economies of the eurozone contracted by 0.2% between April and June, heightening fears that the euro area is sliding towards recession.

The eurozone's first decline since it was created in 1999 was driven by a slowdown in exports and consumer spending.

The German economy, Europe's largest, shrank by 0.5% in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter." (BBC)

"Where? California, of course. The marijuana is for medical use, and you can?t just walk in, drop a few coins and roll out with a bag of weed. The machines are situated in dispensaries, and surrounded by armed guards. We suspect the latter is to stop the machines getting ripped off, not to harass the legitimate users." (Wired)

For medical use only.

"Mauritania general gets backing. The new military ruler in Mauritania gets a pledge of support from two-thirds of the country's politicians."

Chalk one up for the generals. Democracy is for sissies.

A global television audience of more than three billion people watched in amazement as a series "video footage from a helicopter" of giant footprints outlined in fireworks proceeded through the night sky from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest stadium - except they were watching a computer animation 3D graphics sequence that took almost a year to produce.

While the dramatic display actually happened as portrayed on television, members of the Beijing Olympic Committee said it was necessary to replace live video with computer-generated imagery because the city?s hazy, smoggy skies made it too difficult to see, according to The Beijing Times, which first reported the story.

"Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks," "But most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished."Gao Xiaolong (the man responsible for the animation) told the China's Beijing Times.


Now honestly, how many of you thought there was something fishy about those almost perfect fireworks? This definitely raises the bar for the next computer animated films and interaction of CGI with real world news, footage, video, etc.

More information on PhotoshopNews.com, news.sky.com, Bloomber.com and NBC.com

If there's a Lebanese murdered in Dubai, you can't publish about it here.

"Uganda: Hepatitis E Death Toll Rises to 106. The death toll from hepatitis E in northern Uganda has risen to 106 a week after the government and the World Health Organisation launched a Shs10 billion programme to bring the epidemic to an end."


Hepatitis is the alphabet soup of disease. I just found out that there's actually a Hepatitis E.

I have to share with you that I am proud of our Salvadorian representative at the Olympics.

Labels: olympics2008