Freedom is so very precious.

 Another sign of change has cropped up in communist Cuba with President Raul Castro's announcement that Cubans can build their own homes with their own money.

[...]

Cubans will be told "OK, here you can build. I've given you this amount of space, that amount of room for a street, and that amount for a sidewalk. Now build your little home with whatever you can," said Castro on a local television program as he visited a new neighborhood of Venezuela-built homes.

[...]

Many of the perks are out of reach for the average Cuban, who earns about 17 dollars a month.

 Click for complete article

No one thought that the up and down relationship between President Elect Barack Obama and incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was going to go away, did they?  It matters more than ever right now that Obama show his support for his choice for this position.  Now that Hillary Clinton has to jump right into Condoleezza Rice's shoes at the get go in a job where she isn't always going to be welcomed with open arms, she needs all the support she can get.  She also has to deal with her past in Washington and that of her husband, President Bill Clinton and his foreign relationships.  I'd say Hillary Clinton is going to have a lot of sleepless nights ahead of her.

"As incoming President Barack Obama's secretary of state, she will have to overcome a view of some in the Arab world she is more interested in supporting Israel than being even-handed.

Once she stops being a U.S. senator from New York to take her new job, Clinton could find herself pursuing the same Middle East peace that eluded her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in the final months of his presidency in 2000.

University of Maryland professor Shibley Telhami said opinion polls he conducted earlier this year in Arab countries indicated Clinton was viewed as someone who, like her husband, would work to advance Middle East peace.

"Bill Clinton had a much more positive image in the Middle East (than George W. Bush) and Hillary is seen in a similar light," he said, adding that her past support for Israel would not necessarily count against her."


Click to Continue

A record turnout to Bethlehem.

That is what's being reported.

The "Merriest Christmas in years."

No, not about presents.  Not about money.  Not about lists.

Bethlehem.

But amid the Christian spirit "militants, fireworks, mortars, bomb shelters."

Peace on earth, good will toward men.

Merry Christmas to all.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Pilgrims and local Christians celebrated Bethlehem's merriest Christmas in eight years Wednesday, with hotels booked solid, Manger Square bustling with families and Israeli and Palestinian forces cooperating to make things run smoothly.

The festivities in the West Bank town contrasted sharply with Hamas-run Gaza, just 45 miles away. While revelers in Bethlehem launched pink fireworks from a rooftop, militants fired barrages of dozens of rockets and mortar shells at Israeli communities and sent residents scrambling for bomb shelters.

Crowds gathered around nightfall outside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, ahead of the midnight Catholic mass that is the holiday's highlight. A dozen pilgrims from India, Canada, Britain, the U.S. and other countries sung impromptu renditions of Christmas carols.

Click to Continue

So what's the infatuation with shirtless world leaders (or world leaders to be)? 

I guess whenever you have a chance to get that protective armor off from under a shirt, you've got to take advantage of it.

While some may enjoy the sights, there are others who may be thinking more along these lines:



 Seinfeld's Cosmo Kramer invention... An idea for a support for men.

It's DEAD again.  I'm speaking about the internet in the middle east.

Something is fishy, don't you think?  Almost one year ago between three and five undersea cables were cut taking out the internet.  It was never fully determined what caused all of those outages.  While some internet in the middle east somes from sattelite, some originates from underwater cable.

Now Egypt, Yemen and Sudan are having problems. 

And here we outsource a host of technology to the middle east, specifically to India.  Last year that was comprimised by the cutting of the cables.  You take for granted that the web is just there, working.  You don't plan on its underwater cables being cut. 

So you have to wonder...

Millions of people across the Middle East and Asia have lost access to the internet after two undersea cables in the Mediterranean suffered severe damage.

Huge numbers in Egypt and India were left struggling to get online as a result of the outage, when the major internet pipeline between Egypt and Italy was cut.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) throughout the region, including those in United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, also reported problems. International telephone calls, which have also been affected, are being rerouted to work around the problem.


Click to Continue

Related from February 2008

Cable Damage Hits 1.7 Million Users In UAE

Some people were crying because they missed appointments in Paris...I think I'd be crying tears of joy that at least the pilot was able to turn safely back and not have to land.  30 years of flying experience and the guy couldn't land the plane in fog?  Strange but true.

"A British passenger plane was forced to turn back minutes before landing in Paris because the pilot of 30 years' experience was not qualified to land in fog, an airline confirmed on Thursday.

Speaking over the address system as the Flybe flight approached Charles de Gaulle airport, the pilot announced to startled passengers "I am not qualified to land the plane" and turned back to Cardiff.

A spokeswoman for the low-cost airline said the pilot was "an experienced aviator with more than 30 years commercial aviation experience flying a number of different passenger aircraft types."

"He has relatively recently transferred his 'type-rating' from a Bombardier Q300 to a Bombardier Q400 and has not yet completed the requisite low-visibility training to complete a landing in conditions such as the dense fog experienced in Paris Charles de Gaulle," she said.

"The captain therefore quite correctly turned the aircraft around and returned to Cardiff; a decision which the company stands by 100 percent."

Click to Continue

 Hey, where's The Chief?  This is another one of those "I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried" moments!

 

It's come to this now....but I'm not surprised. 

No respect whatsoever for President Bush.

I suppose I'm more offended by the mocking by Americans of the actual shoe throwing than I am by the games. 

But what will really irk me is if parents encourage the game playing or mockery with their children.  There's no excuse for that.

The Iraqi journalist who tossed his shoes at President George W. Bush missed the commander in chief, but he scored a direct hit on the web zeitgeist.

The incident, in which reporter Muntadar al-Zeidi flung his footwear at Bush during a Baghdad press conference Sunday, has turned into a fast-moving internet meme, spawning dozens of games and video mashups.

Continued at Wired

Can you imagine if Chicago should land the 2016 Summer Olympic Games and  in the planning, officials decided they would designate specific lanes of of traffic in Illinois/Chicago for 300 miles to VIPs only during the month?  With hefty fines for violators?

Impossible, you say?

England is planning on doing just such a thing for the London games.

No...I can't imagine.

"More than 250 miles of road are to be reserved for VIPs during the London Olympics.

Up to 80,000 officials, sponsors, politicians and athletes will have congestion0free lanes in London and at other venues. 

Ordinary motorists face fines if they stray on to the reserved routes, which include sections of the M25. Challenging the fines could lead to a penalty of up to £5,000. "

More than 200 traffic lights will be adapted to keep Olympic officials on the move in 2012.

Critics said the plans - outlined in a Department for Transport consultation paper yesterday - owed much to Soviet-style 'Zil lanes'.

In Communist times, these were used by high-ranking party and state officials to get around Moscow in their Zil limousines.


Click to Continue

 

Communist times?  That explains it.

African and Asian Elephants





You have to wonder...

Does a captive elephant remember?  Does he remember his freedom? 

When I have ever visited a zoo, there are certain animals that it bothers me to see penned up more than others.  Elephants have always been one of those.  An elephant is meant to wander for food; not stay sedentary.

A debatable report has come out that states an elephant's lifespan is shortened by living in a zoo.  It's not surprising to me.

I enjoy looking at an elephant just as much as the next person, but maybe I should have to be the one who should have to travel to the elephants' environment rather than the elephant having to come to mine.  Born free...live free.

"Living in a zoo drastically shortens the lives of Asian and African elephants, possibly because of the effects of stress and obesity, researchers are reporting.

But their work provoked a sharp response from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The researchers are not recommending that zoos abandon elephants, said Georgia J. Mason, a leader of the work and an expert on animal behavior at the University of Guelph, in Ontario. But she said their findings suggested that imports of elephants should be limited to zoos that can identify and treat their problems, that transfers between zoos be minimized and that breeding efforts be limited to zoos with a record of success. "

Click to Continue

It just doesn't matter if 650 prominent international scientists say there is no global warming...

The remaining do say so.  And, most importantly...

Al Gore says there is global warming climate change. 




The Goracle


So there must be!

"POZNAN, Poland - The UN global warming conference currently underway in Poland is about to face a serious challenge from over 650 dissenting scientists from around the globe who are criticizing the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore.  Set for release this week, a newly updated U.S. Senate Minority Report features the dissenting voices of over 650 international scientists, many current and former UN IPCC scientists, who have now turned against the UN. The report has added about 250 scientists (and growing) in 2008 to the over 400 scientists who spoke out in 2007. The over 650 dissenting scientists are more than 12 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers. "

Continue HERE

 

But how will we show we love them back? 

It seems the first thing we had better do is start protecting them.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is reporting that accidents, not disease, ACCIDENTS, are causing 830,000 deaths of children worldwide a year.  And what's the top accident on the list?  That would be deaths from auto accidents.  8,000 U.S. children die annually from auto accidents.

Surprisingly to me, Africa has the most "accidental" deaths of children.  I suppose I would be interested in seeing what is classified as an accidental death; but it's just disturbing that there are so many, period.  It's just shocking.

Africa has the highest rate overall for accidental deaths. The incidence there is 10 times higher than in high-income countries such as Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom, which have the lowest rates of child injury, according to the report.

Around 95 percent of the deaths occurred in the developing world, mostly in Africa, but the problem is acute in richer nations as well where deaths from accidents disproportionately affect the poor.

About half of these deaths could be prevented by expanding the use of car seats, covering wells and pools of water in areas where children play, erecting barriers to keep young people from road construction and other proven measures, the joint report from the WHO and the United Nation's Children's Fund found.



Click to continue

Imagine a machine that can pull humid air from outdoors.  One that is being developed further to make drinking water for those countries with a water shortage.  It sounds great to me...sounds expensive energy wise.  But we need the water.  There are safety concerns, but then again...we need the water.  At least the problem is being addressed.

The WaterMill is one such machine that can do the trick...and even comes in camouflage for our military!  They think of everything.

Here's a photo of the inside of the machine...simple enough:

Originally envisioned as an antidote to the shortage of clean drinking water in the world, the WaterMill has the look of a futuristic air conditioner and the ability to condense, filter and sterilize water for about 3 cents per quart.

At $1,299, the 45-pound device doesn’t come cheap, and it is neither the first nor the biggest machine to enter the fast-growing field of atmospheric water generators. But by targeting individual households with a self-cleaning, environmentally friendly alternative to bottled water, Kelowna, British Columbia-based element Four is hoping its WaterMill will become the new must-have appliance of 2009.

[...]

Jonathan Ritchey hopes his company’s commercial success will smooth the way for next year’s arrival of a humanitarian application called the WaterWall, essentially a stripped-down version of the WaterMill.


Click to read complete article

That's text messaging short hand for "Just Do It."

And just do it is what a doctor volunteering in the Congo did when he performed a very complex amputation by receiving his instructions via text message. 

GR8 job doctor!

"A doctor volunteering in war-torn Congo performed a complex amputation to save a boy’s life by following instructions sent by text message from a colleague in London.

David Nott, 52, a vascular surgeon, was working for a Medicins Sans Frontieres hospital in the eastern town of Rutshuru, an area ravaged by bloody battles between Congolese and rebel troops.

Among the hundreds of wounded soldiers and civilians brought into the hospital in October was a 16-year-old boy who had been caught in the midst of a gun fight between advancing combatants in a forest in the Nyanzale region. "

Click to continue

Why isn't  Maritime security working against the pirates in the Gulf of Aden?


Check out Wired

HERE

And read my Righty Blog for the latest update on what happened today against an American cruise ship

HERE

This time thanks to the Aussie's.

What can I say, the topic is out there and it’s part of life.  It cannot be ignored.

When I heard there was talk of a toilet tax, I wondered if you had heard the poop on that…

And besides that, "experts" dont want "flushing" toilets anymore.

What's the world coming to?

Remember that old saying?

It had it's place...plus, the concept was fun.

I tend to make light of the Brits quite often in my posts.

I can't help it.  Blimey!  They're, well, bloody daft most of the time.

The latest on them is that they've run out of room to, well....

Bury their dead.

I know, it's tough when you are land locked on the British Isles.

But they want to actually dig up the bodies and dig deeper and start stacking.

I don't know...

I think if I heard I was going to be double stacked like an Oreo cookie I'd start thinking of alternatives.

Cremation would sound all the more appealing to me if I was in their shoes.

I know...you're already dead, so what's the difference?

Exactly...what's the difference...

I always get a kick out of some of the British comments on the stories from their sites.  They're better than the entire article...here's one of the comments....

"There are so many ways of respectfully handling the dead. Myself, I would love to go like a Viking: put me on a ship, set it on fire and push it out to sea. Or put my corpse on a hillside and let the birds feast. The spirit is more important than the flesh. Only the living care about tombs.

Mathieu , Delft, Netherlands"

Read the article "More Room On Top..." and view the other comments  

It's jolly good!

I'm worried about issues with Obama being president, but this isn't one of them...

Of course, now that Obama is going to be president, he has so-called relatives coming out of the woodwork.  It doesn't surprise me and it doesn't suprise me in the least that there would be those who say they are "Arab" relatives.  I suppose there will be more of this to come during the next four years....But does it matter?  He has been elected president and come on...we know his citizenship has been verified.