Bill Bonner, world economy - Money Week
Everything is predictable. Yet, we have no idea what will happen. That is the curious paradox of our world. We all know we’re going to die. But none of us knows just how or when or where. As Woody Allen says, don’t tell me when I’m going to die, just tell me where…I’ll avoid the place.
BBC - Birmingham - Features - Lebanon blog: one
Jamsheed Din, from Birmingham based charity Islamic Relief arrived in Lebanon on Sunday 30 July 2006. He’s with aid workers from the charity, who plan to provide food and medicines to those who have been affected by the conflict.
As recently as 2005, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared an “irreversible” peace process between their two countries. However, terrorist attacks in a series of Indian cities undermined that accord, and the G-8, abiding by India’s request, has put the Pakistani government on watch. Government sources in India speculate on potential connections between Musharraf and extremist groups suspected of the violence, and question the Pakistani president’s control over his own country. The G-8 statement backs India’s commitment to confront terrorism as a byproduct of globalization. Musharraf has since released statements indicating his desire to maintain good ties with India, yet Prime Minister Singh may need time to reevaluate his approach and determine whether Pakistan stands as potential ally or enemy. The official G-8 statement puts governments on notice, warning against any mixing with suspected terrorist groups. – YaleGlobal
When Not to Trust Your Gut — HBS Working Knowledge
In past issues of this newsletter, we have highlighted a variety of psychological biases that affect negotiators, many of which spring from a reliance on intuition. Of course, negotiators are not always affected by bias; we often think systematically and clearly at the bargaining table. Most negotiators believe they are capable of distinguishing between situations in which they can safely rely on intuition from those that require more careful thought—but often they are wrong. In fact, most of us trust our intuition more than evidence suggests that we should.
Passing Down the Legacy of Conservatism - New York Times
Headed for what she called “conservative boot camp,” Christina Pajak grabbed the essentials: dress sandals, her Bible and “The Politics of Prudence” by Russell Kirk, the celebrated writer who a half-century ago gave the conservative movement its name.
Those who knew Naveed Haq said Saturday that to them he was an enigma, a puzzle that they wish they could have solved before his deadly rampage in a Seattle Jewish center.Stunned and saddened by the news, some of Haq’s acquaintances recounted many of what they saw as the contradictions of his life.
He held a degree in electrical engineering and was the son of a successful engineer, yet he couldn’t keep a regular job. He was smart, creative and skilled as a writer. He recently won an essay contest for a U.S. Institute of Peace scholarship.
Yet Haq was frustrated at his lack of friends and female companionship.He told friends he felt alienated from his own family, in part because his career had disappointed his father and also because he had disavowed Islam last year, converting to Christianity.
AlterNet: Six Immigration Lies, Dispelled
Immigrants aren’t animals or terrorists — and they’re not sucking the nation’s economy dry.…. Rep. Steve Katz, R.-Ariz., presented his proposal to Congress for a
“super fence” along the border. “We could electrify it,” he said, “not
enough to kill somebody but enough to make them think twice. We do that
with livestock all the time.” If the problem eased, he suggested, we
could open it up again and “let the livestock run through.” Enough said.
Concentration means directing one’s attention on whatever one intends. We all have a natural ability to concentrate. Have you noticed how difficult it is to get young children’s attention when they are playing? Do you remember the time when you were completely engrossed in an interesting novel, a super film, an exciting match or an exhilarating piece of music? You were concentrating then. At this very moment you are reading these words, you are concentrating.It helps to know what it is like to concentrate, so that you can get back to that state of being. [Read More]
The Last Ones Standing - The Boston Globe
Only four Shakers are left in the world, all living in southern Maine. But if they can’t attract converts to their celibate lifestyle and this really is the end for them, they have a plan to ensure that their legacy lives on forever.
Yahoo Messenger is out of Beta - Download Squad
The new Yahoo! Messenger version 8 with voice has been brought out of beta to stir the pot with MSN Messenger, and Google Talk.
Google Talk File Transfer, Voicemail, and Music Status Update - Download Squad
Google has just released a great new version of Google Talk. This new version has all the goodies people have been asking for.
This new feature list includes:
- File Transfer - Send unlimited files and folders to contacts. With no restrictions on file size.
- Voicemail
- If your buddy isn’t answering his/her call, leave a message. A
voicemail message. And even if your friend doesn’t use Google Talk,
they can still receive it in a nice little attached audio file.- Music Status - Show what tunes you are currently listening to.
Google Talk is shaping up to be an ultimate player in the IM and VoIP
world. They have come a long way since the launch of their first
rendition of a barebones instant messenger. MSN Messenger look out!
Warm Watermelon More Nutritious
Storing and Eating Watermelon at Room Temperature Maximizes Nutrients[Sidi Z: But it tastes like….]
Shares of Exxon-Mobil have jumped to an all-time high on word that the company posted a quarterly profit of more than $10 billion (a 36 percent jump), thanks largely to high oil prices. Tyson Slocum, Public Citizen’s energy guy, told the Institute for Public Accuracy:
“We’re getting so little bang for our buck. In Europe, they do pay more
for gas, but much of it is made up of taxes that subsidize mass
transit, so they’re getting something very tangible for their money. We
don’t get anything like that for the prices we’re paying. We need to
tax these windfall profits that companies like Exxon are posting and
make investments into getting off our oil addiction.”Expect Exxon, rather, to spend some of this bounty on its strenuous PR effort to deny the reality of global warming, as documented by Chris Mooney in Mother Jones.
BBC NEWS | South Asia | US House backs India nuclear deal
The US House of Representatives has approved an agreement to share civilian nuclear technology with India.
Clean your laptop with a Post-It note - Lifehacker
Get (most of) the gunk out of your keyboards with a Post-It note - the stickier, the better.Tricks of the Trade suggests this especially for travellers on the go, since more stuff tends to get trapped in between the keys. I’ve found that this little trick works very well; you can also use Post-Its to clean out the keyboard in your wireless device (PDA, BlackBerry, etc.).
Whether you know it or not, you’ll probably be eating soya today. It’s in 60% of all processed food, from cheese to ice cream, baby formula to biscuits. But should it carry a health warning? Felicity Lawrence investigates
[WARNING: Life is a known cause for death.]
An executive from one of the country’s leading motoring groups yesterday told religious leaders to “stick to what they know best”, after a senior bishop suggested that driving a fuel-hungry car was a “symptom of sin”.The Bishop of London, the Right Reverend Richard Chartres, said that the purchase of large cars or even holiday flights was an environmentally “selfish choice”. But Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said decisions over what car to buy were “practical” and not moral choices.
Northwest Florida Daily News: Want to simplify? Add a monitor
They may conjure up the image of frantic day traders, but few pieces of technology can make your work at a desk more serene than a second monitor.Forget about constantly minimizing and maximizing windows to read a new email (which usually is spam, anyway). Put Outlook on its own monitor, and go about your work in the other, calmly looking to your side whenever you want to check your mail. Or the calendar, or a spreadsheet, or your favorite sports Web site.
[Faraz: Having gotten a 19″ monitor to go with my 17″ laptop, I couldn’t agree more.]
Morality is not on our side - Haaretz - Israel News
There’s practically a holy consensus right now that the war in the North is a just war and that morality is on our side. The bitter truth must be said: this holy consensus is based on short-range selective memory, an introverted worldview, and double standards.This war is not a just war. Israel is using excessive force without distinguishing between civilian population and enemy, whose sole purpose is extortion. That is not to say that morality and justice are on Hezbollah’s side. Most certainly not. But the fact that Hezbollah “started it” when it kidnapped soldiers from across an international border does not even begin to tilt the scales of justice toward our side.
Sreedhara.com » The biggest hole in the world - great photos
The gaint hole is actually a diamond mine in Eastern Siberia near the town Mirna. It is 525 meters deep and 1.25 km in the diameter.
TheDenverChannel.com - News - Marshals: Innocent People Placed On ‘Watch List’ To Meet Quota
You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they’re reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it.
MoorishGirl: A Lesson in Semantics
It’s one of those really bizarre coincidences that you’d never get
away with in a work of fiction: This week, as bombs continue to fall on
Beirut, Israel marked the 60th anniversary of the bombing of the King
David Hotel, in Jerusalem. (If you don’t know about this attack, here
is some background.)
Back then, the attacks were described as the work of Jewish terrorists;
now they are known as the work of Jewish freedom fighters, desperately
trying to establish a homeland.In Ha’aretz, Tom Segev reports on the work of an academic
conference that was held at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center on the
question of who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter:…
President Bush ran for office as a “compassionate conservative.” And he continues to nurture his conservative base — even issuing his first veto this week against embryonic stem cell research.But lately his foreign policy has come under fire from some conservatives — including the father of modern conservatism, William F. Buckley.
The Verdict: Oink - Los Angeles Times
As we consider the worst fast-food offering ever, let us begin with the artifact itself: KFC’s new Famous Bowls product consists of a plastic tub of mashed potatoes or rice, topped with yellow corn, fried chicken nuggets,gravy and three varieties of grated cheese. All in one container, all to be consumed as a single homogenous mass, spork after spork of undifferentiated food matter.
