Bloggers, aided by an army of civilian journalists sending videos and photographs by mobile phone are letting the world know what is going on inside Burma, as the monks continue their protests against the military regime.

The world has been watching as thousands of saffron-robed monks march through the streets of the Burmese captial Yangon in protest against the repressive military regime -- thanks to the images seeping out of the country via the Internet. While foreign journalists are being refused visas and are forced to wait in Bangkok hotels, ordinary Burmese are taking huge risks by taking photographs and blogging to communicate with the outside world.

Consider the tape Osama bin Laden made for the sixth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

I came across these psychedelic-looking roses at the county fair the other day and just had to snap a few photos. Yes, theyre real! The signage at the event explained that the flowers hail from the Netherlands, and that the multi-hued effect is created by injecting various dyes into the stems during the growing process. The effect is very surreal, like a wedding bouquet a Deadhead might carry. Does anyone out there have any more information about these wild and crazy roses? More photos in the CRAFT Flickr pool. Link.

President Bush has stepped up the criticism of Iran in the past months. In fact, in the Petraeus hearings and in Bush?s latest speech about Iraq, Iran has emerged as one of the primary reasons why the U.S. cannot leave Iraq immediately:

?If we were to be driven out of Iraq, extremists of all strains would be emboldened,? Bush said. ?Iran would benefit from the chaos and would be encouraged in its efforts to gain nuclear weapons and dominate the region.?

When India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons (not power plants, weapons) in 1998, they were both pretty much welcomed into the nuclear club. There was no talk of bombing India or Pakistan, and in fact the U.S. entered into a deal with India in 2005 which lifted the moratorium on nuclear trade between the two countries, allowing India to expand its nuclear energy program with U.S. backing. This was a complete reversal of the previous U.S. policy to cut off states that acquired nuclear weapons without approval.

There?s this other place most of us go for 8 hours every day, and it?s pretty boring. Unless you work on the hit show ?The Office,? your real-life office is pretty bland, so that?s why I went to ThinkGeek to find a few little seasonal-appropriate toys for the old cubicle. 

Glow in the dark zombies

Your very own skull/paper weight

Giant plush germs: cuddly AND creepy!

AUSTIN ? Gov. Rick Perrys new home in a gated community west of downtown comes with a pool, a guesthouse and a monthly rental bill of $9,900 that Texans will pay for at least a year while the official Governors Mansion undergoes repairs.

The 1,178-square foot guesthouse, for example, can serve as headquarters for staff and security, said Perry spokesman Robert Black.

A Perry political donor also is connected to the transaction, a fact that Perry spokesman Robert Black proactively detailed with other specifics of the lease and that also drew some criticism.

The state also is paying an $1,800 pet deposit for the Perrys dachshund, Lucy.

The snapping turtle, which is native to America, was first spotted by head warden Dennis Manning 17 years ago.

I had to think of people that would actually enjoy this twisted, perverted type of email.

Strangely enough, several of your names came to mind.

Feel free to pass it on to other similarly twisted acquaintances of yours.

A friend of mine who is a Police officer sent this to me.

It is not for the Faint of heart.

If you have a weak stomach, then don?t look at the attachment.

It?s a picture of the demise of a young suicide jumper. Taken shortly after he landed, it shows him with his insides now on the outside. You will see the look of horror on the faces of the bystanders.

20 Reasons Not to Have Children

One of dead confirmed by state TV was a Japanese photographer, shot when soldiers cleared the area near Sule Pagoda, a city-centre focus of the protests - as loudspeakers blared out warnings, ominous reminders of the ruthless crushing of a 1988 uprising.

About 200 soldiers marched towards the crowd and riot police clattered their rattan shields with wooden batons.

"Its a terrifying noise," one witness said.

"By boosting its IDA pledge by over 100 per cent, the World Bank Group is putting its money where its mouth is," said World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

The World Bank highlighted that, for the first time, the amount pledged to IDA is also being funded "substantially" from the income of the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The IFC is a World Bank affiliate that promotes private-sector development through investment and advisory services. The Bank said it plans to expand private-sector investments in developing countries.

With virtually no greenhouse-gas emissions, reactors are touted as part of the solution to global warming. Over the next 15 months, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects a tidal wave of similar permit applications for up to 28 new reactors, costing up to $90 billion to build.

But the renaissance may be less robust than it looks. Even if the projects are successful and building proceeds at breakneck speed, the lead times are so long and costs so high that its unclear that the US can build enough nuclear plants to make a dent in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. Theyre so financially risky, experts say, that the only reason building plans are under way is that the federal government has stepped in to guarantee investors against loan defaults.

Stealth Windows update prevents XP repair

A computer program that emulates the human brain falls for the same optical illusions humans do.

It suggests the illusions are a by-product of the way babies learn to filter their complex surroundings. Researchers say this means future robots must be susceptible to the same tricks as humans are in order to see as well as us.

For some time, scientists have believed one class of optical illusions result from the way the brain tries to disentangle the colour of an object and the way it is lit. An object may appear brighter or darker, either because of the shade of its colour, or because it is in bright light or shadows.

. Irans strategic facilities are scattered across the breadth of Iran, and are completely camouflaged... "

In a sweeping revival of Russias nuclear industry, President Vladimir Putin has signed off on the construction of 26 major new nuclear stations, which will almost double the share of atomic power in Russias electrical grid. In addition, the countrys main atomic agency says it hopes to export as many as 60 nuclear power plants in the next two decades.

Critics say those export plans ? particularly for floating stations, which use uranium enriched nearly to weapons-grade level ? pose a proliferation risk, and warn that the largely Soviet-era technology could have dire ecological consequences. But advocates say the expansion wave is unstoppable, due to a partial shift in public attitude, the exigencies of global warming, and increasing economic pressures.

Leading the globe in construction of new plants, it also hopes to export as many as 60 plants in the next two decades.

The influenza A virus does not lie dormant during summer but migrates globally and mixes with other viral strains before returning to the Northern Hemisphere as a genetically different virus, according to biologists who say the finding settles a key debate on what the virus does during the summer off season when it is not infecting people.

"Nobody really knows why flu is a winter disease in the temperate regions and more continuous in the tropics," says Edward Holmes, professor of biology at Penn State. "The big question is, ?Why is flu seasonal"?"

Flu infections in the Northern Hemisphere typically follow a familiar pattern. Some time before the start of the winter infection season, the virus evolves, changing enough to evade the previously primed immune system. Then, just before summer, the virus disappears, only to resurface the next fall with a completely different genetic makeup, ready to fool the immune system anew.

The hygiene hypothesis: Are cleanlier lifestyles causing more allergies for kids?

ANN ARBOR, MI ? A little dirt never hurt. But in today?s super-clean world, vaccinations, anti-bacterial soaps, and airtight doors and windows are keeping dirt and disease-causing germs at bay.

While staying germ-free can prevent the spread of disease and infections, leading a cleanlier lifestyle may be responsible for an increase in allergies among children.

?It?s called the hygiene hypothesis,? says Marc McMorris, M.D., a pediatric allergist at the University of Michigan Health System. ?We?ve developed a cleanlier lifestyle, and our bodies no longer need to fight germs as much as they did in the past. As a result, the immune system has shifted away from fighting infection to developing more allergic tendencies.?

According to McMorris, finding a balance between healthy living and clean living may be a challenge.

A branch of The United Church of Christ in Adrian, Michigan was recently solicited by an insurance company, asking if they wanted an insurance quote. The church replied "yes" but the insurance company, Brotherhood Mutual, then refused to give it to them after learning about their gay-friendly policies.

10 Reasons to Have Children

In the few snatched moments he was allowed before his daughter was whisked away by doctors, Andreas Mueller spoke from his heart.

"I whispered to her: Kimberly, youll make it," he recalled.

The size of a mobile phone: Kimberley Mueller weighed just over 10 ounces when she was born in Hanover, Germany - making her the worlds smallest surviving baby

With a survival chance of less than 1,000 to one, every day she has got through since then is a triumph.

Six months later, Kimberly has finally been allowed to go home to her parents in Hanover.

"Babies as small as this usually have no chance," said Dr Oliver Moeller, a heart specialist who treated her.

Kimberly is the smallest baby ever born in Germany and the youngest to survive.

Ok not quite everything is better with ginger, but it can sure bring an interesting taste fresh, candied, or dried to many dishes. Ive been using it in all three forms for a long time now... I found the below article pretty interesting....

Ginger - a spice for all seasons
Marlene Sorosky Gray, Special to The Chronicle
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Good Enough principle is so common that Google cant find it, I guess, but basically it is a belief in mediocrity and an antidote to envy. Nobody is better than anybody else, superiority is mostly an illusion, so dont think youre a big shot because youre not. Were all about the same when you come right down to it. Dont look back with regret ? your life was good enough. Your parents were good enough, so was your school, so is your job. So quit belly-aching. Dont sweat it. Good Enough may seem like faint praise, but some things really are good enough. Dont make a big deal over it. Dont try to make it the best that ever was or could be. Its good enough. And thats good enough.

Afghan protesters shouted "Death to Canada" in a small village outside Kandahar city on Wednesday, but the Canadian military said it was not involved in raids that killed two local clerics.

Communities in southern Afghanistan consider the violation of privacy in the home to be an even greater offence than in the West, according to a report in The Globe and Mail.

Canadian officials said Canada was not involved in military raids late Tuesday night, and neither was the International Security Assistance Force.

If theres ever been a time in our lives when we needed to touch ALL the bases, God and spirituality included, that time is now!

If you want to have lots of kids, look for a Barry White instead of a Justin Timberlake. Men with a deep voices have more offspring, a new study suggests.

Previous studies conducted by David Feinberg of McMaster University in Canada have shown that women are more attracted to men with deeper voices, judging them to be older, healthier and more masculine than their higher-pitched rivals.

Men, on the other hand, go for women with higher pitched voices because they find them more attractive, subordinate, feminine, healthier and younger-sounding.

Sally Mann

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Philippe Halsman

Untitled Photography (UK)

The four inch long creatures are being hand-reared by staff at the New Forest Otter, Owl and Wildlife Park in Ashurst, Hants.

Workers say Mary, Mungo, Midge and Slappy get comfort from playing with the centres cleaning brush and enjoy rubbing against it.

The smells on the brush, which is used to sweep a yard, remind the hedgehogs of their natural habitat while the texture reminds them of their mother.

"Because they have very poor eyesight you have to appeal to their sense of smell and touch by giving them different scents and textures.

"They like natural scents and have enjoyed playing with our cleaning brushes, soil, leaves, flower pots and the like.

"They particularly seem to enjoy rubbing against the brush.

"It may sound odd but I imagine the bristles feel a bit like their mum."

Playtime: The baby hedgehogs enjoy themselves with their mother

But apparently they are birds of a feather - in one way at least.

For scientists have discovered that crocodiles, like pigeons, have a powerful homing instinct.

In an extraordinary experiment, they showed that man-eating crocodiles can find their way home over hundreds of miles using the sun, the stars, the earths magnetic field and even landmarks along the way.

By fitting satellite tracking devices to three wild saltwater crocodiles, the Australian experts discovered that the reptiles have the intelligence and stamina of migrating birds.

One, relocated from its hunting ground in North Queensland, swam around the northern tip of Australia to return home - covering more than 250 miles in less than three weeks.

The finding means that the long-established practice of capturing the man-eaters and removing them from watering holes used by tourists is almost certainly a waste of time.

But after munching his way through two decades of pond life - including countless fish and unsuspecting ducklings - this turtle has emerged as a 20lb monster.

His nickname is Snappy, his modus operandi ruthless.

Lurking in the depths, he spies young birds then uses his razor-sharp beak to drag them under and devour them.

Such is his size and insatiable appetite, wardens at Caldicot Country Park in South Wales deemed him a risk to visitors and decided to move him from his pond to a new home.

A baby alligator snapping turtle: This would have been Snappy 20 years ago

Snappys pond: The hungry turtle has eaten most of the ducklings, fish and even snails

At 29in long, Snappy is thought to be one of the biggest specimens of his kind outside his native U.S.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Snappy was bought as a present when they were all the rage. And Snappys favourite food... duck

A pair of Sumatran tiger cubs and a set of young orang-utans, all abandoned at birth, have become inseparable after sharing a room at an Indonesian zoo.

The four have lived side by side for a month without a hitch, although this goes against their natural instincts.

"This is unusual and would never happen in the wild," zookeeper Sri Suwarni said. "Like human babies, they only want to play."

But the friendship is not destined to last as tigers start eating meat when they are three months old and will need to be separated from their new playmates.

2) What?s the worst that could happen to you if this belief were true?

i. Is this belief always true?

ii. Is it true for everyone?

iii. Has there ever been a time when it wasn?t true?

6) Place your new beliefs in a place you?ll see often.

The Google Robot FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Google Robots?

Google Robots are our human-like machines that walk the earth to record information. They do no harm, and they do not invade your privacy.

What are Google Robots good for?

Our Google Life search website is powered by the Google Robot crawler program. On the Google Life website at life.google.com, you can:

• Find out what menus the local restaurant offers at what prices
• See a perfect 3D shape of all houses in your city
• Know how crowded the bar is you want to go to tonight
• Know what items to find at your local mall
• Find out if your library has a certain book available (Also see: Whats a book?)
• Know what you said and who you met 3 weeks ago (this feature is available only to My Public Life? subscribers)
• Locate your friends (this feature is only available if your friends subscribed to My Public Life?)
• And much more!

"Commercials containing sexually provocative sounds or tantalizing language as well as vulgar advertisements for breast enhancement and female underwear are banned, effective immediately," said the SARFT notice.

The watchdog also ordered an end to programs with titles including the names of "sex-related drugs, products or medical institutions."

It is, however, unlikely to be the extraterrestrial equivalent of "I Love Lucy" or other radio or television broadcast.

"Its much too bright. There is no way any civilization that we could possibly think of could create a thing so incredibly powerful,"

An outbreak of bluetongue disease in Irish cattle would effectively close down the livestock industry here, and would have a greater impact than an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan said yesterday. Login or subscribe for more.

Yahoo Inc. will jettison a little-used service for finding and rating audio programs known as "podcasts," the latest casualty of the Internet companys rejuvenation effort.

The podcast section will be silenced Oct. 31, according to a notice posted on Yahoos Web site. It joins several other features that Yahoo has scrapped as it tries to snap out of a financial funk that has depressed its stock price and triggered a reshuffling of top management.

Yahoo spokeswoman Carrie Davis said the company still hopes to blend its index of podcasts into another part of its Web site.

The latest retrenchment comes near the end of 100-day

review of Yahoos operations that co-founder Jerry Yang announced in mid-July, a month after he replaced Chairman Terry Semel as the Sunnyvale-based companys chief executive.

Yahoo is expected to dump more services before the overhaul is completed, with its music subscription service frequently mentioned as one of the most likely targets.

Republican presidential candidates discussed the importance of reaching out to people of color during a minority issues debate Thursday night and criticized the leading four GOP contenders for skipping it.

"I think this is a disgrace that they are not here," said Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback. "I think its a disgrace to our country. I think its bad for our party, and I dont think its good for our future."

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he was "embarrassed for our party, and Im embarrassed for those who didnt come."

Barbara Ehrenreich has a very interesting piece on our refusal to tackle the health care crisis the only logical way: A Single Payer system.

Think of the damage. An estimated 18,000 Americans die every year because they cant afford or cant qualify for health insurance. Thats the 9/11 carnage multiplied by three - every year. Not to mention all the people who are stuck in jobs they hate because they dont dare lose their current insurance.

Saddam Hussein never killed 18,000 Americans or anything close; nor did the U.S.S.R. Yet we faced down those "enemies" with huge patriotic bluster, vast military expenditures, and, in the case of Saddam, armed intervention. So why does the U.S. soil its pants and cower in fear when confronted with the insurance industry?

The index is based on perceptions of public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories.

At the bottom of the table, ahead of Somalia and Burma, were Iraq, Haiti, Uzbekistan and Tonga.

By a vote of 76-22, the Senate passed the Lieberman-Kyl amendment, which threatens to ?combat, contain and [stop]? Iran via ?military instruments.? Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) called the amendment ?Cheney?s fondest pipe dream? and said it could ?read as a backdoor method of gaining Congressional validation for military action.?

The military juntas announcement on state radio and television was the first acknowledgment of the use of force against protesters and its first admission of bloodshed after a month of mostly peaceful demonstrations against the government.

The United States and the European Union condemned the attacks and called on the military rulers to open a dialogue with pro-democracy leaders, including detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a joint statement on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

About 300 monks and activists were arrested on the ninth straight day of protests in Yangon, dissidents said. The number could not be independently confirmed.

Help the Penan

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Shots were fired to clear crowds defying a brutal crackdown in Myanmar Friday as authorities reportedly cut Internet connections and graphic new video footage showed troops using deadly force.

The governemt also cut Internet connections Friday, according to reports, severing a vital information link that has been used to digitally smuggle images of the violent suppression out of the secretive state.

The opposition National League for Democracy party won general elections in 1990, but the military refused to honor the results and has repeatedly placed party leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

DVB also released video on Friday that appeared to show someone being shot at close range in Yangon a day earlier. The person flies backward into the street as shots ring out and the crowd scatters. Watch police open fire on crowds. »

SKYplay

SKYplay depicts a composition dominated by use of the sky & real clouds at that moment with another object.

World?s First Daguerreotype

Burundi (IPA: /bu?undi/), officially the Republic of Burundi, is a small country in the Great Lakes region of Africa. It is bordered by Rwanda on the north, Tanzania on the south and east, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west. Although the country is landlocked, much of its western border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika. The countrys modern name is derived from its Bantu language, Kirundi.

Draw out a ruler to get the pixel width and height of any elements on a webpage.

Iraq, Afghanistan wars to cost U.S. $190 bln in 2008

"We cannot create a democracy at the point of a gun" in Iraq, Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, warned Gates in a hearing often interrupted by the shouts of anti-war protesters. "Sending more guns does not change that reality."

Olbermann Rules!

Free Trial The Scruffs   Full Version The Scruffs

1. Oh, Batman. You didnt.
This is my all-time favorite. That Batman has really got problems.

Intel alert on US ?Achilles heel?

The US will lose thousands of jobs to low-cost countries unless companies reduce soaring healthcare expenditure urgently, Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel, the chipmaker, warned on Thursday.

Mr Barrett said failure to curb the $2,000bn annual healthcare bill would compromise the global competitiveness of the US economy. ?Healthcare is the Achilles heel of the US in terms of competitiveness,? said Mr Barrett in an interview with the Financial Times. He said healthcare costs for US companies were so high that it was cheaper for some to hire new employees in a low-cost country than to pay for healthcare benefits for American workers and their families.

Richardson Would Drop Boy Scouts Over Anti-Gay Policy
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Google (GOOG) shares Friday hit an all time high. The search engine giant now has a market cap of close to $175 billion, just a few billion below Wal-Mart (WMT) (to provide just a modicum of perspective here, current Street revenue estimates for the current year are 33x higher for Wal-Mart than for Google: $377.8 billion vs. $11.5 billion).

Dont Let President Bush Deny Health Care to 4 Million Kids!

On September 25, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to protect and expand health coverage for Americas low-income children. The Senate is expected to do the same later this week.

You have heard that these people are conspiracy theorists, crazies and kooks. If you watch Fox News and CNN, you?ve heard that these people should be locked up in camps for having the audacity to question the US government.

We?re talking about over 100 million Americans and growing. You?ve heard that these people hate Bush and they hate the government and they hate Jews.

Variations in two genes may increase the likelihood that a person will report suicidal thoughts after taking an antidepressant, researchers reported yesterday. The finding could help doctors develop tests to predict which patients will do well on such medications and which will react badly.

The authors of the study, which was released to reporters yesterday and will appear in The American Journal of Psychiatry on Monday, said that the findings were preliminary and would need to be verified by further testing.

The study focused on reactions to only one drug, Celexa from Forest Laboratories, and found no link between the gene variations and dangerous behavior like suicide attempts.

This distinction is critical, because doctors do not know whether people who report thoughts of ending their lives are at increased risk to act on them. The one patient in the study who attempted suicide consistently denied having any suicidal thoughts.

Am I going crazy?

It?s a phrase we?ve all uttered to ourselves from time to time, but now a new Web site helps you figure it out for sure. Check out www.sanityscore.com, which offers a simple online quiz designed to assess aspects of your mental health, including your risk for depression, anxiety and other emotional disorders.

It?s worth noting that there?s no officially sanctioned test from the mental health community for measuring one?s sanity, so you shouldn?t make important health decisions based on these results. Still, I think it?s worth checking out not only for insight into your state of mind, but because it may prompt an overdue discussion with your doctor.

A multinational team of environmental and occupational health researchers has found that consumer paints sold in Nigeria contain dangerously high levels of lead.

Increased globalization and outsourcing of manufacturing has drastically increased the likelihood that products with unacceptably high levels of lead are being traded across borders?including between China and Africa as well as into regulated countries like the United States.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and University of Ibadan in Nigeria report these findings in an early Sept. 12 online edition of the journal Science of the Total Environment. Researchers believe the study?to be published in the December print issue of the journal?is the first report of new consumer paint lead levels in Africa.