Sicko

Photo Copyright - Time Warner Cable

"... the 18-month-old baby who dies of a seizure when she's denied emergency-room access, ..." [Time]

I thought that that only happened in China but obviously I was wrong.

Our Tiny Ancestor

Copyright - The Times, May 15, 2007

Let's take a hard look at our family tree. We're Africans, after all.

PS: I think there's a typo in The Times article: "Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, which probably resembles the common ancestor of New World monkeys and apes, lived about 29 million years ago." The correct version ought to be: "Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, which probably resembles the common ancestor of Old World monkeys and apes, ..."

Amigo

This is my friend. My friend below wanted me to show him the friend above so I obliged.

My Friend

This is my friend, Mr Nice Guy.

Goddess of Mercy aka Avalokiteśvara

I'm trying to post a photo here. Isn't that obvious?

It's Bodhisattva Guan Yin in Mount Pu Tuo in China.

NATO Air Raid Killed 21 in Southern Afghanistan

An air strike commissioned by NATO killed 21 civilians, including women and children, in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan on 8 May 2007.

"The air strike late on Tuesday night hit houses in a village of the Sangin district, where NATO forces have been hunting Taliban militants in recent weeks." (Reuters)

Smart bombs aren't that smart, after all. These unarmed people were sitting ducks awaiting their doom.

Graffiti with a Mission

"I want to be a non-comformist. Just like everybody else." (Banksy)

I wonder the graffiti of Banksy can still be called "graffiti". At least they're graffito with a message.

I certainly don't mind Banksy doing his graffiti in the streets of Hong Kong.

More Banksy's work on the New Yorker.

Gangsters in Voluntary Dissolution

Can you believe this? A bunch of gangsters in Japan went to a police station to tell the cops there that they've decided to dissolve their own branch of an infamous underworld organisation because their boss had murdered Mayor Iccho Ito of Nagasaki, Japan, and they did not approved of what he did.

Police said the gunman was Tetsuya Shiroo, 59, head of an underworld faction that is part of a national criminal syndicate called the Yamaguchi-gumi. The gunman was tackled by bystanders and police after firing the shots. Japanese crime syndicates have ties to some nationalist political organistions, and there was immediate speculation that the shooting may have been politically motivated.

I don't think this is going to happen anywhere in the world other than Japan.

Virginia Tech Massacre

The thing that amazes me most is that a mental patient (Cho was institutionalised in a mental institution for a short period of time) was able to buy guns and ammo (500 rounds) so easily in Virginia.

If you haven't seen Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, I think it's worth watching if you can get hold of a copy.

Virginia is one of the states in the US where one can buy guns in a most convenient way. One bank put up an ad that said come and open an account with us and we'll give you a rifle of your choice for free. Guns there are like credit card gifts in Hong Kong.

I think the politicians in the US should give that some thoughts.

Electronic Arts is Giving Away Video Game FIFA 07 for Free

Software companies finally buckle and recognise the universal truth that consumers want to play but don't want to pay. One such company - Electronic Arts - has decided to give South Korean gamers FIFA07 free of charge online. If you think Electronic Arts is dumb, think again. Once gamers got hooked to the game, they started to buy enhancements or add-ons to the game for a small price of about US$1 in order to gain an upper hand over fellow-gamers. The company has managed to sell 700,000 enhancements since May 2006.

The Theory of Everything

The string theory is a hoax. What the hell!

Ever since humankind is aware of their existence in the universe, they've been pondering where they stand and how the "big void" came into being. Now they are in pursuit of the "Theory of Everything".

The Chinese have only just finished celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival has its origin in a myth that a woman flew to the moon and lived there with a woodcutter and a rabbit.

Enough Members for EU

After giving Romania and Bulgaria an endorsement to join the European Union on 1 January, EU chief José Manuel Barroso said enough is enough. The bloc has to resolve its institutional problems before it can expand further. The purpose is to ensure that the enlarged Union will function in an efficient and harmonious way. The EU currently has 25 member states, not including Romania and Bulgaria.

Osama bin Laden Dead?

The French secret services said the al-Qaeda leader is dead.

Even if bin Laden was gone, his fighting spirit and his extreme doctrines would live on among jihadists. After all, they are not fighting for the cause of bin Laden, they're fight for the cause of Allah and Sharia.

The US and the world would have a hard time coping with the dire consequences of the war in Iraq. I know Islamic radicalism didn't begin in March 2003. Yet Iraq is a magnet to jihadists and the invasion of Iraq has galvanized many an alienated Muslim youth into action. That seems to be confirmed recently by the intelligence community in the US itself.

Iraq

See here for more Yahoo! News on Iraq.

Comrades

My dear comrades have given me lots of encouragement for which I'm very grateful. I'll see what I can do with this blog.

My Blog

This is my blog.