Masculine Pink

"In Western culture, the practice of assigning pink to an individual gender began in the 1920s.[5] From then until the 1940s, pink was considered appropriate for boys because being related to red it was the more masculine and decided color, while blue was considered appropriate for girls because it was the more delicate and dainty color, or related to the Virgin Mary.[6][7][8] Since the 1940s, the societal norm was inverted; pink became considered appropriate for girls and blue appropriate for boys, a practice that has continued into the 21st century.[9]" Wikipedia

chechen suicide terrorists

an editorial in new york times discusses the issue of suicide terrorism in chechnya. the first author is perhaps the world's leading academic studying the topic of suicide terrorism and published some years ago an article called "the strategic logic of suicide terrorism."

Effort to ban Blue Fin Tuna trade failed

"It was a desperate defeat. The European Union and the United States had come to Doha to save the bluefin tuna, a fish so delicious as sushi and sashimi that large specimens fetch $100,000 on the Japanese market. As a consequence the species is as endangered as the white rhino. But, just like the tunas that return each year to the Mediterranean to spawn and find themselves in a labyrinth of nets, the conservationist nations have swum into a trap.

What followed was not pretty. Japan and the fishing nations inflicted a stunning defeat on the conservationist countries, which had wanted to ban international trade in bluefin tuna. Japan’s victory, against the weight of scientific opinion, not only raises the question of whether the bluefin can survive but also whether rationality can ever prevail in preventing endangered species from being obliterated." Times Online

Like a Native American proverb says

"When we have caught the last fish, cut down the last tree, and polluted the last river, we will suddenly discover that we can't eat money."

Now it is two

"GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain name registration company, told lawmakers Wednesday that it will cease registering Web sites in China in response to intrusive new government rules that require applicants to provide extensive personal data, including photographs of themselves."WP

Good on ya!

"In December, China began to enforce a new policy that required any registrant of a new .cn domain name to provide a color, head-and-shoulders photograph and other business identification, including a Chinese business registration number and physical, signed registration forms. That data was to be forwarded to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), a quasi-governmental agency. Most domain name registries require only a name, address, telephone number and e-mail address."

GoDaddy founder is a former Marine.

Passover 2010 - March 30 - April 6

Great news on Biotech front

"A federal judge on Monday nullified patents associated with human genes known to detect early signs of breast and ovarian cancer.

It was the first time a federal court has invalidated a patent on genes. The American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case, said the New York federal court decision “calls into question the validity of patents now held on approximately 2,000 genes.”

U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet agreed with the civil rights group that the patents were invalid because they covered the most basic element of every person’s individuality. “Products of nature do not constitute patentable subject matter absent a change that results in the creation of a fundamentally new product,” Sweet wrote in a 152-page opinion."
Wired

The idea that a company can actually patent a human gene is atrocious. I am glad the court starts to push back against this foolish concept.

Amnesty International sez China leads in death penalty

"This document summarizes Amnesty International's global research on the use of the death penalty in 2009. More than two-thirds of the countries of the world have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. While 58 countries retained the death penalty in 2009, most did not use it. Eighteen countries were known to have carried out executions, killing a total of 714 people; however, this figure does not include the thousands of executions that were likely to have taken place in China, which again refused to divulge figures on its use of the death penalty. "

You can download the full report here. I am not opposed to death penalty but one cannot help but reflect that these numbers must have included innocents.

Sock Puppets and Hookahs

Hey Friends, short update on nomadlife's favorite hookah.

The Hobocans crew (T-rent and Mix) spent much of last year re-working the HoboHookah design. We incorporated user feedback, changed materials to make it more durable, and switched manufacturers to lower the price.

In the end, this is the baby of a modern hookah we got. Somehow, we made a better hookah at a lower price.

Anyway, just thought you might sleep better at night knowing we're still helping travelers rip hookah. We got some nice coverage recently, too. Mix got interviewed by a sock puppet, and Thrillist threw their hat in the ring in New York and DC (where we were a "Best of the Best").

Spices used in Cameroon cooking

Find out all about them here.

London Redux

"Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up aboard packed underground trains at the height of the rush hour in Moscow this morning, killing 38 people and leaving an estimated 62 injured, according to the Russian security service.

The first blast came at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow at 07.56 (03.56 GMT), killing at least 22 people and wounding 12. The station is deep below the headquarters of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, and just yards away from the Kremlin.

Irina Andrianova, a Russian Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman, said:"The blast hit the second carriage of a Metro train that stopped at Lubyanka."

Commuters were killed both on the platform, which was packed, and in the carriage, she said." Times Online

Ghost town

This is how a runaway development looks like.

Slacking Off

I know some of you have been wondering about the nomadlife migration. Blogger extended their migration deadline to May 1st, so I do what's convenient, slacking off. I'll resume work on the migration tool again next week.

Incorruptible Corpses

"St Bernadette was born Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France. From February to July 1858, she reported eighteen apparitions of “a Lady.” Despite initial skepticism from the Roman Catholic Church, these claims were eventually declared to be worthy of belief after a canonical investigation. After her death, Bernadette’s body remained “incorruptible”, and the shrine at Lourdes went on to become a major site for pilgrimage, attracting millions of Catholics each year.
"List Verse





It's pretty amazing. The faces you see here are doll like because they have been covered with thin wax after the exhumation.

Beijing Underground City

"The tunnels, built from 1969 to 1979 by more than 300,000 local citizens and even school children, wind for over 30 kilometers and cover an area of 85 square kilometers eight to eighteen meters under the surface. It includes around a thousand anti-air raid structures."China.org

Approved

Golden Parachute of Dubai

"Dubai reveals a debt-restructuring plan, putting $9.5 billion into a troubled state conglomerate

The plan involves pumping a total of $9.5 billion into Dubai World and its offshoot. Nakheel will get $8 billion, as well as having an earlier $1.2 billion loan converted into equity. Dubai World will get $1.5 billion in new money plus the conversion of $8.9 billion of debt into equity. Of the fresh funds, $5.7 billion will come from loans already provided by Abu Dhabi. The remainder will come from the Dubai government’s own resources."

Nakheel itself still owes about $9.3 billion, including loans, bonds and payments due to suppliers. Holders of publicly traded debt instruments, such as its sukuk due this year and next, will be repaid as scheduled. For everyone else it is a bit more complicated. Nakheel’s bankers, including bilateral and syndicated lenders, will be paid in full but not on time. The company’s individual contractors and suppliers, who have suffered silently but deeply in this crisis, will soon get a cash payment of up to 500,000 dirham ($136,000). That should clean Nakheel’s slate with half its contractors, the firm says. The other half will have their claims settled by a mix of cash and a tradable IOU.
Economist

The Pope must resign

"Top Vatican officials — including the future Pope Benedict XVI — did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even though several American bishops repeatedly warned them that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church, according to church files newly unearthed as part of a lawsuit." NY Times

"After long delays, the Catholic Church finally appears to be taking responsibility for sexual abuse cases. But it is an uncomfortable process. The pope even failed to take the problem of child abuse seriously when he was the archbishop of Munich."Spiegelde

"POPE BENEDICT XVI yesterday accepted the resignation of former papal secretary John Magee as Bishop of Cloyne, Co Cork.

Dr Magee apologised to anyone who may have been abused by any priest while he was in charge of the diocese.

In a statement Bishop Magee (73) said he had tendered his resignation to the pope on March 9th and yesterday he had been informed that the pontiff had accepted it. “As I depart, I want to offer once again my sincere apologies to any person who has been abused by any priest of the diocese of Cloyne during my time as bishop or at any time,” said Bishop Magee, who was ordained bishop of Cloyne on March 17th, 1987."Irish Times

"Brazilian authorities are investigating three priests accused of sexually abusing altar boys after a video allegedly showing one case of abuse was broadcast on television, police and church officials said Tuesday.

The case came to light after the SBT network aired a video purportedly showing an 82-year-old priest having sex with a 19-year-old altar boy who worked for him for four years. Other young men appeared on the report saying that they, too, had been abused by Monsignor Luiz Marques Barbosa." AP Brazil

And these are just the recent headlines. The handling of the Boston sexual abuse was also appalling. Like the say, it's not just the sin, it's the cover up, the denial, the belated apologies, the hundreds of face saving measures by moving around abusive priests around instead of firing them. It is accountability time.

Blockbusted

"Shares of Blockbuster Inc. sank 30 percent Wednesday after the video rental chain warned that it may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Competition from DVD-by-mail company Netflix Inc. and DVD vending machines operated by Coinstar Inc. have eroded the Dallas company's revenue even as it staggers under a heavy debt load." NY Times

The Internet kills the video rental star. They used to make tons money just by charging late fees. Good riddance.

News from Pirate Paradiso

"Shabab fighters, in their trademark green jumpsuits and checkered scarves, used to control parts of Medina. But in the last year or so the neighborhood, dominated by a single clan, banded together to drive them out.

Young men joined the local militia. Old men raised money for guns. Women and girls hauled ice, rice and milk to the front lines and braved gunfire to evacuate the casualties.

“We hate the Shabab,” said one mother, Amina Abdullahi Mohamed. “They misled our youth.”

Medina is now one of Mogadishu’s safest areas, and while still not particularly safe, an unmistakable beat of life has returned.

There has not been a suicide attack for months. The markets are packed, protected by baby-faced militiamen in polo shirts and Kalashnikov rifles over their shoulders. Beat-up old minibuses cruise the streets, and there is even something close to traffic. A tight clan network keeps a watchful eye and last month, a teacher of the Koran recruiting children for the Shabab was promptly arrested." NY Times

Community organizing - with guns.

Millennium Prize Award

This is a great 2006 article in the New Yorker about who solved Poincare conjecture, one of the seven most important mathematical problems. This is another good article from NY Times about the news of the solution.

A Russian mathematician, Dr. Grigoriy Perelman of St. Petersburg, solved in 2002 and it took several years to confirm it. He was recently awarded by The Clay Mathematics Institute for solving the problem but refused to accept it. He previously refused Fields Medal, considered as the Nobel Prize for Mathematics.



"The Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) announces today that Dr. Grigoriy Perelman of St. Petersburg, Russia, is the recipient of the Millennium Prize for resolution of the Poincaré conjecture. The citation for the award reads:

The Clay Mathematics Institute hereby awards the Millennium Prize for resolution of the Poincaré conjecture to Grigoriy Perelman.

The Poincaré conjecture is one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems established by CMI in 2000. The Prizes were conceived to record some of the most difficult problems with which mathematicians were grappling at the turn of the second millennium; to elevate in the consciousness of the general public the fact that in mathematics, the frontier is still open and abounds in important unsolved problems; to emphasize the importance of working towards a solution of the deepest, most difficult problems; and to recognize achievement in mathematics of historical magnitude." CMI

Interview with Omar al-Bashir

"SPIEGEL: Mr. President, you are the first sitting head of state against whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In addition, genocide charges are being considered against you. More than 100 countries, or about half of the world, are required to execute the arrest warrant. How do you respond to these serious charges?"Spiegel

Google China closes

From today, Google.cn will be redirected to Google Hongkong that features uncensored results.

It is a daring move for Google to contest freedom of information with one of the largest search market potential in the world. Good for them.

Wow!

"By a razor thin margin of 219-212, the House of Representatives tonight passed far-reaching legislation that will lead to near-universal health care coverage in the United States -- a goal that has eluded Presidents and Congresses for a century.

The vote concluded at 10:48 p.m., almost 10 hours after Democrats gavelled the chamber into session, confident the vote would be there. The bulk of reform will now be enrolled and signed into law, while a separate, smaller package is expected to go to the Senate, where Democrats are expected to muster the 51 votes needed to pass it. The vote on the reconciliation package is expected within the House within the hour."TPM

History is made.

Closing argument

Awesome, awesome speech!

Big day for US Health Care Reform

"With the stage set for a historic showdown over landmark health legislation in the House on Sunday afternoon, the White House and Democratic Congressional leaders winnowed their hunt for votes to a slim list of lawmakers, including several opponents of abortion who were demanding assurance that no federal money would be used to pay for insurance coverage of the procedure." NY Times

Today is a big day in President Obama health care reform push. Today we'll find out whether the US will get its health care reform. If the bill is dead, there won't be another push for reform for years to come.

Greece Alone

Colossus of Rhodes

"Greece would prefer that any financial help come from Europe, to avoid the embarrassment of turning to the I.M.F. But with voters in Germany and elsewhere strongly opposed to a bailout for what they see as a profligate government, European leaders want to see proof the Greek government is serious about cutting spending after years of living beyond its means.

Citing legal hurdles, a government official in Berlin said on Thursday that Germany believed that any external financial support to Athens would best be provided by the I.M.F.

“In the case that the Greeks get into really serious problems, we would support an I.M.F. solution,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Beside unsettling the markets, Greece’s troubles have undermined the euro, the common currency it and 15 and other European nations share.

Amid the uncertainty, the euro slipped against the dollar and was quoted at $1.3621 in afternoon trading in New York on Thursday, down from $1.3741 early in the session. European stocks also wilted, with the Athens Stock Exchange General Index ending 3.4 percent lower.

Since the euro’s inception in 1999, no member has sought support from the I.M.F., which typically comes to the rescue of emerging-market economies rather than developed countries. The earlier offer of support for Greece did calm markets and take the spotlight off Greece, but European leaders have been vague about how any aid package would actually be structured." NY Times

Germany is not going to bail out Greece. IMF will rush in.

Ah Palestinian

"A foreign worker in Israel was killed Thursday by a rocket fired from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory of Gaza, according to the Israeli military, soon after the European Union’s top foreign policy official arrived here on a rare visit by such a high-ranking official." NY Times

Never lose the talent to sabotage their own interests.

For the Catholic Church Hierarchy

"After weeks of keeping silent on the issue, Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday spoke out on the mounting allegations of sexual abuse within the German Catholic Church. Also on Wednesday, a Church representative admitted that some cases of abuse had been suppressed.

The complaints keep coming. By the end of last week, some 200 people claiming to be victims in Germany had approached a Berlin attorney engaged by the Jesuits to look into cases of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy. A further 150 went public with stories of mistreatment at the monastery school in Ettal. And 15 former choirboys came forward with grievances relating to their time as members of the famous Regensburg choir called the Domspatzen." Spiegel

USA, recently Ireland, Brazil and now Germany. Stop the stonewalling already.

Better than a hat trick

This post outlines how the current Israeli government has managed to pissed off its friends Turkey, UAE, USA and Brazil in the last 3 months.

There is no method in this madness.

Update: On a second thought, I have come to agree with the opinion that all these actions sounds fishy. It looks like the current Israel government is trying to hard to piss off its allies.

Flag burning in Cairo

You can find more pictures of an anti Israel protests earlier today in Cairo here. The dome in the background is University of Cairo. My office is about 200 meters from the university and 20 meters from Israel embassy.

Groove

Finally, a Pandora for the rest of us.
Its fast and its free.

Send your teddy to a Prague vacation

Send your darling

It's awesome. You send your Teddy and pay the company to take it around town and take pictures.

600 meters under an Antartic ice sheet

"In a surprising discovery about where higher life can thrive, scientists for the first time found a shrimp-like creature and a jellyfish frolicking beneath a massive Antarctic ice sheet."

the end of the line DOCUMENTARY

The world's first major documentary about

the devastating effect of overfishing

"Imagine an ocean without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This is the future if we do not stop, think and act."

TAKE ACTION

FIND OUT ABOUT WHICH SUITABLE FISH TO EAT

.......................................................................................................

RESTAURANT GUIDE

.......................................................................................................

SPREAD THE WORD

.......................................................................................................

RECLAIM THE OCEAN

.......................................................................................................

JOIN THE MAILING LIST

.......................................................................................................

learn more at The End of the Line

"fish are friends, not food" ;)

Passing the word

Dear Chicos and Chicas,

Hope all is sunny and funky in your worlds.

As you may or may not know Ado and I spent much of 2005 in Cuba drinking rum and smoking cigars.

During our few brief moments of lucidity, we accidentally managed to record a 12 track album, snappily entitled ‘The Revolution presents: Revolution’ (a.k.a. ‘Wot I did on my holidayz’). There’s an awesome VIDEO about it here .

(We also made a film called ‘Guantanamero’, but that’s another story!)

Now, lest the record descend into endless trip hop noodlings, and drunken attempts at noseflute solos, we drafted in a bunch of actually talented peeps like Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim), Orishas, Roisin from Moloko, Rich File from U.N.K.L.E., Poet Name Life from The Black Eyed Peas etc, to do the donkey work (and made what I still maintain was a commercially foolish decision to take ourselves off the album entirely).

In Cuba we kidnapped a band of the most awesomest young Cuban musicians available to man, locked them in a basement, starved them for forty days and nights while poking them with long and pointy sticks, and set them to work with our producers. They eventually emerged, blinking in the daylight, battered and spent, with the greatest Cuba-UK-Hip Hop-House-BigBeat-Son-Mambo-Salsa Fusion album ever committed to wax.

The record was released a little while ago and we are currently enormous in Belgium.

Now my wonderful friends, I have need of your services. More clued-up music peeps than us put together huge social networks of friendlies to help get the word out on their releases. We’re not asking you lot to buy the damn thing (although it does make the perfect gift for Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and for people who want their lives to become a tiny bit more awesome.), but I would dearly and sincerely love to abuse our friendship, asking you to spread the good word, and help a couple of struggling music moguls.

Some of y’all have already joined the Facebook site for The Revolution, which suggests you are quite simply better than normal people. Well done.

The best way is to rate the album on sites like Amazon and Itunes. Also hmv.com, play.com, any other music download sites you can think of.

[I wouldn’t in any way attempt to coerce the electorate, but apparently there’s an ancient Shinto prophecy that says if you don’t give it at least four stars you will immediately grow a tail, and start smelling of old sushi.]

People who feel moved to review the record will have an even specialer place in our hearts (which could one day lead to some inappropriate ‘thank-you’ touching, for the very fortunate). We suggest you do this right now.

But also in a more general sense tell your friends, and people you think might be interested, about how great the album is – whether you mean it or not.

In all seriousness we put our heart and souls into putting together this record, and the amazing young Cuban guys in particular really deserve to be recognized for what they achieved. This is the time for a big push on getting the word out, and we’d love it if you could be part of it as well.

So can we ask you guys to help us out, watch and rate the vids, rate the album on any site you come across on which it’s mentioned, buy a copy of the album for yourself, if you’re a blogger give us a shout out, buy a copy of the record for everyone in China, and show our Cuban guys the love. (NB. We have hidden some serious subliminal messaging in that last sentence).

Thanks you so much and we love you all in different ways (some of them downright disgusting).

Hasta La Victoria Siempre!

Fidelito Winfield and Ernesto ‘Che’ Cassuto

the aftermath

The fiasco of US Vice President visit to Israel with the ill timing and bad decisions to expand 1600 house settlement in East Jerusalem still reverberates after a week. This article in Foreign Policy explains why.

"There are important and powerful lobbies in America: the NRA, the American Medical Association, the lawyers -- and the Israeli lobby. But no lobby is as important, or as powerful, as the U.S. military. While commentators and pundits might reflect that Joe Biden's trip to Israel has forever shifted America's relationship with its erstwhile ally in the region, the real break came in January, when David Petraeus sent a briefing team to the Pentagon with a stark warning: America's relationship with Israel is important, but not as important as the lives of America's soldiers. Maybe Israel gets the message now."

Bottom line, General Petraeus, the powerful US commander for the CENTCOM region (pretty much where Iraq and Afpak wars are happening) start seeing it as a security problem for the troops.

Love

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

A passage from "Captain Correlli's Mandolin"

When history sweeps

"Massive population exchanges occurred between the two newly-formed states in the months immediately following Partition. Once the lines were established, about 14.5 million people crossed the borders to what they hoped was the relative safety of religious majority. Based on 1951 Census of displaced persons, 7,226,000 Muslims went to Pakistan from India while 7,249,000 Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from Pakistan immediately after partition.
About 11.2 million or 78% of the population transfer took place in the west, with Punjab accounting for most of it; 5.3 million Muslims moved from India to West Punjab in Pakistan, 3.4 million Hindus and Sikhs moved from Pakistan to East Punjab in India; elsewhere in the west 1.2 million moved in each direction to and from Sind.[citation needed]

A crowd of Muslims at the Old Fort (Purana Qila) in Delhi, which had been converted into a vast camp for Muslim refugees waiting to be transported to Pakistan. Manchester Guardian, 27 September 1947.

The newly formed governments were completely unequipped to deal with migrations of such staggering magnitude, and massive violence and slaughter occurred on both sides of the border. Estimates of the number of deaths range around roughly 500,000, with low estimates at 200,000 and high estimates at 1,000,000.[10]" Wikipedia

I usually use this partitioning of India as a case against Palestinian's demands for the right of return in the negotiation process and as a case against slavery reparation. The sweep of history is cruel and brutal and people gained and loss during the turmoil. The middle class and elite strata of Egyptian population lost a lot under the military revolution in 1950's with their rights and properties confiscated by the junta. It's gone and any effort to recover it will be mostly an exercise of futility.

Sometime the only justice we can seek and achieve is the promise and the foundation of better future.

How not to treat a guest

A couple of weeks ago the Israel foreign ministry publicly dressed down Turkish ambassador to Israela over some mini series in Turkey private network TVs.

Yesterday, the Israel Interior Ministry announced 1,600 new housing in East Jerusalem while the US Vice President was in Israel on a visit to kick start the indirect start between Israel and Palestine. This was the equivalent of a diplomatic bitch slap to its closest ally.

Joe Biden had to condemn this move directly while he was in Israel.
"He issued a statement condemning “the substance and timing of the announcement” of the housing, and added, “Unilateral action taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations on permanent status issues.”"

On the positive side, there was a massive demonstration against this new plan by Israel citizens.

Rage Day

"As much as half the food aid sent to Somalia is diverted from needy people to a web of corrupt contractors, radical Islamist militants and local United Nations staff members, according to a new Security Council report.

The report, which has not yet been made public but was shown to The New York Times by diplomats, outlines a host of problems so grave that it recommends that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon open an independent investigation into the World Food Program’s Somalia operations. It suggests that the program rebuild the food distribution system — which serves at least 2.5 million people and whose aid was worth about $485 million in 2009 — from scratch to break what it describes as a corrupt cartel of Somali distributors."NY Times

A public execution

How justice get meted in Yemen. This is an old story (2009) which I found by accident this morning. The man to be executed is found guilty of raping an eleven year old boy and dismembering his body. I wonder what the atmosphere like in this public execution and how people in the crowd take the experience of watching a man legally killed in real time.

Micro Rwanda in Nigeria

A bunch of Muslim militiamen marauded a mostly Christian village and killed a reportedly 500 civilians by hacking them to death, including women and children. This attack came as a reprisal from an attack by Christian militiamen early January to a Muslim village.

As usual, the conflict is more complex than the label of "religious war" but nevertheless it is an easy label to use and it's not entirely out of context.

Iceland voters rejected Europe's demand for payment

"Icelanders were out on the streets Sunday celebrating the results of a referendum that overwhelmingly rejected the reimbursement of Britain and the Netherlands for savings lost when Icesave collapsed. German commentators say that Iceland is right."
Spiegel.de

There's nothing it can do

Research shows that alcohol helps women to lose weight.

Guess who's back, man.

Tips for London

My girl got a job in London in Clapham area and she's moving there in April. Is there any tips on how to find accomodation in London?

Iraqi Parliamentarian Election

The Iraqi election polls just closed minutes ago. Despite occasional violence, the election is successful. I bet that the international election observers will give it a clean bill of health.

Tom Friedman has a good column today writing about promising 2 energy start ups.

Australia seek to ban Southern Ocean whale hunting

One sample of a Southern Ocean whale catch.

"The Australian Government said that it would formally ask the International Whaling Commission to ban the Japanese fleet from carrying out its annual catch in the Southern Ocean.

The proposal, which may be sent to the IWC as early as today, was issued on Sunday by Australia’s Foreign Minister and followed a prickly weekend of bilateral talks between Stephen Smith and his Japanese counterpart, Katsuya Okada.

Japan and Australia were able to see eye-to-eye on the traditionally thorny issues of nuclear non-proliferation and UN peacekeeping operations, but Japan’s persistent engagement in what it calls “scientific” whaling continues to rankle in Canberra. Mr Smith’s proposal to the IWC would be a phased ban on whaling in the Souther ocean" TimesOnline

The iPad Killer (for real!)

From....... Microsoft!

Now I know Zune never ever matched up to the iPod, but I think Apple can kiss it's ass goodbye with this one. Mssrs. Balmer and Gates have outdone themselves on this one!

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/microsofts-courier-digital-journal-exclusive-pictures-and-de/?s=t5

Google release migration tool

Don't use this at the moment until nomadlife redirecting application is ready. I will incorporate the instruction to include the usage of this Blogger ftp migration tool. Blogger FTP support will stop on May 1, 2010, almost two months away. We still have time.

Move over iPad

Engadget

Rouge Wave

"According to Louis Cruise Lines, the owner of the vessel, the Louis Majesty, it was hit by three "abnormally high" waves, each more than 33 ft. (10 m) high, striking in clear weather and without warning. "We heard a loud noise, and it was the wave that hit us," Claudine Armand, a passenger from France, told the Associated Press Television News. "When we came out of [our room], we saw the wave had flooded everything."
"
Time

Check the fact about this Rouge Wave


"Drauper oil rig, freak wave amplitude graph, fair use Source: here
This is the reading of the actual wave which best evidences to a reader what a "freak wave" reading looks like. The Draupner incident was the first such verified measurement of a freak wave by a scientific instrument. It is used in the article both to accompany the description of the verification at the Draupner platform, as well as to indicate to a lay reader what such a reading looks like, being a very clear representation of a genuine rare incident." Wikipedia

This is one rare genuine photograph of a rouge wave. It's scary.


"The oil freighter Esso Languedoc outside the coast of Durban (1980). The man who took it, Philippe Lijour, estimated the mean wave height when this occurred to be about 5-10 m. The mast on the starboard side is 25 m above the mean sea level. The wave approached from behind and broke over deck, but caused only minor damage."Science blog

Another picture

Ocean Prediction Center

And check out this peer reviewed report about the largest rouge wave ever recorded

"In February 2000 those onboard a British oceanographic research vessel near Rockall, west of Scotland experienced the largest waves ever recorded by scientific instruments in the open ocean. Under severe gale force conditions with wind speeds averaging 21 ms−1 a shipborne wave recorder measured individual waves up to 29.1 m from crest to trough, and a maximum significant wave height of 18.5 m." Geophysical Research Letters

This one was in Bearing Sea

Sail World

And apparently these rouge waves are quite common
"A scientific team counted more than ten individual giant waves around the globe more than 75 feet high during the three-week period. " Sail World

Ah Liberty

Chris Bodener

It's an awesome scene.