News – Sit Down with Syria
Middle East
I would agree it’s time to sit down with Syria. There was a great opportunity back when Syrian security fought off an attack on the US embassy in their country. Only, right after praising Syria mildly for it, the backhanded criticism resumed, putting Syria back on the defensive. Right after that attack would have been a golden moment to talk about what they have in common with us, when it comes to terrorism. As in, we’re both in danger from it. Instead, a diplomatic moment was lost due to short-sightedness. Sure, Syria is in with Iran, but what option have we given them when it comes to allies? Minimal, that’s what.
On the topic of sanctions, Jacques Chirac doesn’t think it will help deal with Iran and it’s nuclear programs. Depends on how it’s implemented. But, given the track record for sanctions, things don’t look too good.
Northern Iraq gets hit, showing it’s not just the center that’s having unrest issues. And further proving that US and Iraqi efforts to quell the violence are still meeting with minimal impact.
Jad Tayeh, a senior Palestinian intelligence officer, is killed in a drive by shooting in Gaza. No note of responsibility is given yet.
China increases it’s contribution to the Lebanon force to 1,000. There are lots of potential ways one can interpret this increase.
Africa
Evangelical Christians in Kenya are demanding that Richard Leakey’s extensive skeletal collections illuminating the origins of man, shown at Nairobi’s National Museum, edit out references to human evolution in order to prevent young African Christians from being taught falsehoods.
Europe
Some Muslim groups welcome the Pope’s repeated apologies for disparaging remarks toward Islam, but the anger in many remains. Sadly, some have reacted by committing crimes and even the apology has offended some people. The pontiff appeared to risk causing fresh controversy during his speech yesterday when he cited a passage from St Paul that risked being interpreted as hostile – not by Muslims, but by Jews. It described the crucifixion of Jesus as a “scandal for the Jews”. Maybe he needs to stop quoting scripture altogether. Seems like a bad idea.
The Swiss have a practice that requires soldiers take their guns home with them. In light of the high number of family killings, their parliament is looking into whether this practice should remain unchanged or not.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi favors lifting the 17 year EU arms ban on China. France, too, has supported this, but other countries have not.
China is having a problem with the name Chen Jie in Shanghai. Nearly 4,000 people share that name, causing much confusion. Another popular one is Zhang Min, shared by over 3,700 people. This sort of name confusion is becoming a problem. One which is likely due to the names having significance in how they’re translated. Who wouldn’t want to give their baby a name that means smart or pure? Whereas, in the US, English names don’t mean a thing, usually. So what does it matter if you name your kid John, Sam or Matt, outside of how it sounds.
Americas
Five years later? Enough secret prisons for 14k detainees to be secreted into. Money well spent? Not in my opinion.
Hugo Chavez welcomes Iranian President Ahmadinejad to Venezuela. I dunno, I think he does it just to piss off Bush.
Ford is cutting 14k white collar jobs, fighting against its own downward coasting. It’ll also be closing more factories sooner than it had predicted.
Mexico is having a political crisis around Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, reportedly defeated in Mexico’s presidential election by 1% of the vote. The vote is seen as fraudulent, but their highest electoral court has backed the results. Now, a mass of rally supporters have ‘elected’ Obrador as head of a parallel government. This is how nasty conflicts start, hopefully someone can diffuse the situation.
General
Abortion is a hot topic, but what about designing your child? Is it right to screen out flaws? Should gender be considered a flaw? What else? An interesting topic indeed.
New research finds that botox injections may be addictive. 40% of those who have had them express a compulsive desire to have them again. Of course, you have to have them over and over again cause they wear off. Personally, I think people need to chill about all of this. There’s too much havoc over looks, it makes people ill just trying to ‘look good’ for others when they probably don’t have to.
Psychologists believe that hearing voices in ones head is not necessarily a sign of mental illness. Dutch findings say one in twenty five people regularly hears such voices. So if you hear voices, don’t panic. It might be normal. 😉
Two games dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict are coming out. An interesting way to try and raise awareness.
Explainer schools you on how to fire auto workers.
The case against homework. For elementary-school students, Cooper found that “the average correlation between time spent on homework and achievement Â… hovered around zero.” In Kohn’s book, he highlights a 1998 study that Cooper and his colleagues did with second- through 12th-graders. For younger students, the amount of homework completed had no effect on test scores and bore a negative relationship to grades. (The results weren’t quite so grim for older students. Their grades rose in relation to the amount of homework they completed, though their test scores did not.) Kohn looks at these findings and concludes that most homework is at best a waste of time and at worst a source of tedious vexation.
Lunches for school. A look at prepackaged lunches. The findings are that most are way too unhealthy, though some acceptable alternatives exist, which could be included as part of a good lunch.
The Blogs look at Pope Benedict’s recent speech on Islam, note recent history repeating in the showdown between the IAEA and Congress over Iran’s nuclear program and say c’ya to Oriana Fallaci.
Today’s Papers has info that researchers have built a microchip that utilizes internally produced laser beams to transmit data, the administration’s failed attempts to implement a biometric ID program for transportation workers, Project BioShield’s efforts to manufacture and store bioterror vaccines being slowed by inept management and more in the one page news.
Amusements
Mark Fiore: Mr. Knuckles Goes to Washington
Madrid fashion show bans 5 models because they have sharp knees
Gas station advertises $1.59 gallon of gas when closed, opens with $1.99 a gallon. Do people complain? You bet
Americans earn more, spend more, US being the second-most “cash-strapped” nation, trailing only residents of Portugal
Boo Berry and the other monster cereals are back for Halloween
Two old ladies were “trapped” in their Cadillac because they didn’t know how to unlock the doors. There’s a reason Florida has its own Fark tag
Student attempts to get out of college meal plan by claiming strict adherence to the Rastafarian diet. When that doesn’t work, he goes on a hunger strike – 12 days and counting
Just in time for the kick off of National Single’s Week – Dating Do’s and Don’ts
Houston red-light camera critic intentionally runs red light so he can challenge the program, gets ticketed by a live cop instead. No, you can’t have a lawsuit — not yours
Pablo’s classmates used to laugh at his dreams of joining the Chinese Terracotta Warriors. One could say that this weekend, Pablo got the last laugh
Teens at “Jesus Camp” trained to fight for their religion, pray for end to abortion and worship pictures of President Bush
Fresno installing cams in park to catch sickos in the act of causal sex, hopefully spice up the city’s Web site in the process
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Newly discovered little birdie looks like he, too, deserves the Fark Photoshop experience
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this happy tennis champion
Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this “slow” guy