April 05, 2008
Secret Journalism on North Korean Life
A North Korean citizen is being trained in the techniques of using a hidden camera.
His identity is a closely guarded secret, so he chooses to use the name Lee Jun.
Mr Lee is one of a group of citizen journalists that has begun working inside North Korea, producing written reports and video footage which are then smuggled to the outside world.
He has crossed the border on numerous occasions, bringing hours of material showing everyday life in the street, on trains, even in police stations.
(via bbc news)
Posted by Groonk at 01:45 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
February 27, 2008
The Wind will Kill You if You Let It
News about it: Minister demands explanation for windmill collapse
Extras:
- The tower of the mill was 60m high
- Wind speed was probably around 30 m/s
- You can see a truck at the base of the mill, but nobody was hurt. The mill had been evacuated 400m in each direction.
(via bunny, destructive you tube)
Posted by Groonk at 04:00 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Technology, Versus, World
January 13, 2008
This is Only a Test
Posted by Groonk at 02:32 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Map, World
September 24, 2007
Iranian President Ahmadinejad still Crazy and Delusional
We all know that Ahmadinejad believes the Holocaust to be a fiction perpetrated by, I don't know, whatever racist little elves speak into his ears at night.
Nowadays he says Iran is completely devoid of gay people and that women in Iran are as free as de-feathered birds.
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger excoriated Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday, going through a long list of documented actions and remarks by the firebrand Iranian leader and his government."Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said to applause from many of the 600 people in the room for a speech from the Iranian leader.
[...]
Asked about widely documented government abuse of women and homosexuals in his country, Ahmadinejad said, "We don't have homosexuals" in Iran. "I don't know who told you we had it," he said.
He also repeatedly said that women have freedoms in Iran and refused to comment on reports that their freedom is severely constrained.
(via cnn and dunc)
Posted by Groonk at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
June 03, 2007
DID YOU KNOW: Tigers Can Strike Underwater
Son of a bitch, are you kidding me?
Six years old, and at the prime of his life, Odin lives at the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Zoo in Vallejo, near San Francisco. He is about 10ft long from nose to tail, and is an excellent swimmer.
Odin learned to swim by diving after meat chunks. Are you seeing this? Zoologosts, hear me. We do not need fearsome, yet majestic, creatures learning new mediums in which to hunt.
(via garrett farrelly, daily mail)
Posted by Groonk at 04:35 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, Photos2, World
June 01, 2007
She wasn't a 13-year-old, She was a 34-year-old Woman
Strange does not begin to cover this:
It is almost two weeks since a disturbing story broke about a little boy named Ondrej who had been severely abused by his mother. From that point on, the whole thing became more and more curious, as somebody said to be his 13-year-old sister disappeared from a children's home. First it emerged that the authorities had no record of "Anna", who Ondrej's mother had been attempting to adopt. Hundreds of police officers searched the country for "Anna", in vain. Now it seems that the alleged 13-year-old is in fact a diminutive 34-year-old woman. The girl has never existed, apparently.[...]
Questions will also be asked of others who came into contact with "Anna" - how could they take a 34-year-old for a 13-year-old? The director of the Brno children's home from which she disappeared said she gave staff a strange feeling, and they thought she had a strange face.
What in the fuck is going on in Czechoslovakia?
(via warrenellis and cesky rozhlas)
Posted by Groonk at 05:16 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Weird, World
May 25, 2007
Tania Derveaux will Blow 40,000 Guys for Votes
Is she lying? Only 40,000 guys will know for sure.
Sex and politics have always ridden in the same cart very comfortably.
Tania Derveaux is ready to give out 40,000 blowjobs to men that vote for her in the next Belgian election. Tania is currently the leading (of course) NEE party senate candidate. Tania says she will take a 500-day tour around the world and blow dudes every single day. That's about 80 dicks a day!
In order to receive a oral tongue bath from Tania you have to be 18 or older, wear a condom and Tania can deny you for any reason. She said, "We adhere to high standards of service but due to time limitations each performance can last no longer than 5 minutes."[...]
The next Belgian election is June 5th and at least 40,000 votes are needed to start a political group.
Since I have no aspirations for porn, I never thought I'd get to see an actual Blowjob Request Form. If all I needed was a form to get a hummer...hell. I'd have printed that out decades ago.
Extra bits of internet crazy:
Some notes after having received more than 1000 applications:
- submitting several applications will not result in more blowjobs
- Services for female applicants can only be provided in Second Life if the applicant has the necessary avatar modifications
(via ONTD)
Posted by Groonk at 04:31 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Politics, Sex, World
May 01, 2007
Secrets of the Red Light District Revealed
This week might be celebrity quote week. I haven't decided yet.
The following are two seperate bits on James Gunn's visit to the Red Light District in Amsterdamn. The first quote being about a prostitute by the name of Wet Pussy. Yup, Wet Pussy.
The second is from a prostitute named "Emma" and a sad/insightful interview he had with her.
She pulled on my arm, and tried to forcibly pull me into the little room. But I am powerful! Much stronger than a prostitute! I stood my ground.[...]
We like to think there's a great divide between "us" and "them", that there's something innately different about us. But the only thing that separates us is that one choice, that simple action. And ALL of us, if put in the right situation on the right day when we're in the right mood can make an unusual choice. As I spoke with Emma, "There but for the Grace of God go I" had true resonance.
(via the james gunn blog)
Posted by Groonk at 11:40 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Quotables, Sex, World
March 06, 2007
My Words are Forbidden in China
The GreatFirewallofChina.org will test to see if you're blocked in China.
That's probably for the best.
(via digg, greatfirewallofchina.org)
Posted by Groonk at 01:32 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
February 22, 2007
Al Gore will Rock Your Face Green
I'm not knocking the goodness of his intentions but I hope the irony of big, smelly, car-driving-to concerts for global warming is not lost on people.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Al Gore announced on Thursday a series of worldwide concerts to focus on the threat of climate change, with a powerhouse lineup from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Snoop Dogg to Bon Jovi.The 24-hour event on July 7 is part of a campaign, Save Our Selves _ The Campaign for a Climate in Crisis, that promoters hope will trigger a broad movement to address what the former vice president calls a global climate crisis.
"In order to solve the climate crisis, we have to reach billions of people," the environmental activist, filmmaker and 2000 Democratic presidential nominee said in a statement. "The climate crisis will only be stopped by an unprecedented and sustained global movement."
In other news, Al Gore has inspired Tiffany Randol to throw a "Global Warming Bikini Beach Party."
Check out the cool ass poster for it:
(via ontd, The Alliance for Climate Protection, ONTD2)
Posted by Groonk at 03:33 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, Music, Science, USA, World
February 13, 2007
Northern California has World's Largest, Wettest Hole
It's located at Monticello Dam and is the largest morning glory spillway in all the world.
That's right. It's a giant glory hole.
(fogonazos link via pentacleus)
(I translated and "Fogonazos: Asombros diarios" means "Flashes: daily Astonishments. feel my Web Crawling Power)
Posted by Groonk at 05:06 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Technology, World
January 19, 2007
In from the Forest, Not Out of the Rain
Ro Cham H'pnhieng went missing in the Cambodian jungle 18 years ago. Now she's back and all is not right in the world.
"She prefers to crawl rather than walk like a human," said Mao Sun, a district police chief in the jungle-clad northeastern province of Rattanakiri where the girl's family live.[...]
After 18 years in the wilderness, police said she was able to say only three words: father, mother and stomach ache.
Villagers from the Phnong ethnic hilltribe minority believe the girl is still possessed by evil spirits of the forest. They have brought in Buddhist monks to bless her and set up a round-the-clock watch on the family hut.
Question: Why would she point at her mouth for a drink of water? Pointing at your mouth in the wilds of the jungle gets you nothing but an invite for random critters to fly in and lay buggy larvae on your uvula.
(via yahoonews)
Posted by Groonk at 04:12 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Research, World
January 17, 2007
The Midnight Hour is Close at Hand
If The PTBs won't listen to burlyman Hawking, they'll surely listen to a clock...right?
Right?!?
LONDON (AP) - The world is nudging closer to nuclear or environmental apocalypse, a group of prominent scientists warned Wednesday as it pushed the hand of its symbolic Doomsday Clock closer to midnight.
The clock, which was set two minutes forward to 11:55, represents the likelihood of a global cataclysm. Its ticks have given the clock's keepers a chance to speak out on the dangers they see threatening Earth.
It was the fourth time since the Soviet collapse in 1991 that the clock ticked forward amid fears over what the scientists describe as "a second nuclear age" prompted largely by standoffs with Iran and North Korea. But urgent warnings of climate change also played a role.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which sets the clock, was founded in 1945 as a newsletter distributed among nuclear physicists concerned about nuclear war, and midnight originally symbolized a widespread nuclear conflict. The bulletin has grown into an organization focused more generally on manmade threats to human civilization.
"The dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons," said Kennette Benedict, director of the bulletin.
Stephen W. Hawking, the renowned cosmologist and mathematician, told The Associated Press that global warming has eclipsed other threats to the planet, such as terrorism.
And there's a chart. A lovely chart of death in which to track the human extinction agenda.
(death link via 7d)
Posted by Groonk at 08:51 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Research, Science, World
January 11, 2007
And a Thousand Birds Fell From the Sky
THOUSANDS of birds have fallen from the skies over Esperance and no one knows why. Is it an illness, toxins or a natural phenomenon? A string of autopsies in Perth have shed no light on the mystery.All the residents of flood-devastated Esperance know is that their "dawn chorus" of singing birds is missing.
The main casualties are wattle birds, yellow-throated miners, new holland honeyeaters and singing honeyeaters, although some dead crows, hawks and pigeons have also been found.
Wildlife officers are baffled by the "catastrophic" event, which the Department of Environment and Conservation said began well before last week's freak storm.
On Monday, Esperance, 725km southeast of Perth, was declared a natural disaster zone.
[...]
Michelle Crisp was one of the first to contact the DEC after finding dozens of dead birds on her property one morning.
She told The Australian she normally had hundreds of birds in her yard, but that she and a neighbour counted 80 dead birds in one day. "It went to the point where we had nothing, not a bird," she said. "It was like a moonscape, just horrible.
(via the australian)
Posted by Groonk at 04:02 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Quotables, Weird, World
December 15, 2006
Belgium TV Station Punks Entire Country
Shades of Orson Welles attacking Grovers Mill with tales of martian invasion cannot be overlooked.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Suddenly and shockingly, Belgium came to an end. State television broke into regular programming late Wednesday with an urgent bulletin: The Dutch-speaking half of the country had declared independence and the king and queen had fled. Grainy pictures from the military airport showed dark silhouettes of a royal entourage boarding a plane.Only after a half hour did the station flash the message: "This is fiction."
It was too late. Many Belgians had already fallen for the hoax.
Frantic viewers flooded the call center of the RTBF broadcaster that aired the stunt. Embassies called Belgian authorities to find out what was going on, while foreign journalists scrambled to get confirmation.
[...]
About the only people who enjoyed the program were the separatist far-right Flemish Interest party. It wants to get rid of the king and thought it could see a flash of its future in an independent Flanders.
"I want to congratulate the RTBF for this daring show," said Flemish Interest leader Filip Dewinter.
(via yahoo news)
Posted by Groonk at 06:59 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
November 17, 2006
They Have The Technology. They Have Rebuilt Him.
BBC News Producer Stuart Hughes lost his leg to a landmine in Iraq.
Recently, he got an upgrade:
Every evening, before I switch off the bedside light, I take my right leg off and plug it into the mains. I am a below-knee amputee. I lost my leg in 2003 after stepping on a landmine while covering the war in Iraq for BBC News.
A few weeks ago, I became one of the first people in the UK to be fitted with the world's first "intelligent" prosthetic foot.
The word "bionic" inevitably conjures up memories of the 1970s TV series, the Six Million Dollar Man. Unfortunately, my prosthesis doesn't enable me to leap over a wall with a single bound or run faster than a speeding bullet.
Rather, it uses sensors and a built-in microprocessor to mimic some of the actions of a human foot. The Proprio Foot is one of a new range of bionic artificial limbs designed by Ossur, a prosthetics company based in Iceland.
(via warren ellis)
Posted by Groonk at 04:53 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Technology, World
November 06, 2006
Saddam to Hang for Past Atrocities
...Or however best they carry out capital punishment in the New Iraq(tm):
BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced Saddam Hussein to the gallows for crimes against humanity, closing a quarter-century-old chapter of violent suppression in this land of long memories, deep grudges and sectarian slaughter.The former Iraqi dictator and six subordinates were convicted and sentenced for the 1982 killings of 148 people in a single Shiite town after an attempt on his life there.
Shiites and Kurds, who had been tormented and killed in the tens of thousands under Saddam's iron rule, erupted in celebration — but looked ahead fearfully for a potential backlash from the Sunni insurgency that some believe could be a final shove into all-out civil war.
(via yahoonews)
Posted by Groonk at 04:38 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of War, World
October 07, 2006
"Tibetan refugees shot dead as Everest climbers watch"
omg.
The killings highlight the yawning gap between China’s state propaganda, which cast it as the friend and protector of the Tibetan people and the harsh reality of a brutal military occupation as experienced by three million Tibetans. The shootings also revive concerns about Beijing’s human rights record as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in two years.
Posted by Groonk at 02:30 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
October 04, 2006
Let's Look Back to World War I
--British Army Capt. S. Sassoon, July 1917
Posted by Groonk at 04:46 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Quotables, War, World
September 20, 2006
Zhang Forgot to Let Sleeping Pandas Lie
So many odd/surreal quotes in here. It's difficult to keep up.
The panda, who was asleep, was startled and bit Zhang, 35, on the right leg, it said. Zhang got angry and kicked the panda, who then bit his other leg. A tussle ensued, the paper said.
"I bit the fellow in the back," Zhang was quoted as saying in the newspaper. "Its skin was quite thick."
[...]
This next part uneases me:
I think it comes from being an American. If I do something wrong my government seeks to "press charges" or "put me under arrest." Or if you're the current President, you have that lovely option of secret prisons scattered about the world.
"Considering punishing him," has that extra wicked ring to it. It makes whatever government that says it turn instantly into a scolding parent ready to lock you in your room or run into the yard and pick a switch and it better be a good strong switch or you're really gonna get it then.
(via 7d)
Posted by Groonk at 04:22 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, Quotables, Weird, World
September 16, 2006
Stephen Colbert gets a whole Bridge and 50 Good Dollars...
...in Hungary.
I teared-up a little when I saw this on Thursday night. It was not because I'm running low on badassedness. It was because my tears were tears of laughter/joy. Colbert seems genuinely amused by the whole deal.
Once again proving, the best comedy comes from the surreal truth. At least I guess it's true. It may be truthiness, instead. I'll have to visit Hungary in a few years to find out.
(via colbertnation and ONTD)
Posted by Groonk at 06:50 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Just Freaking Neat, Video, World
August 31, 2006
When Assured Mutual Destruction is Just not Enough
Accelerated Future's Michael Anissimov, has created an article named "Six Places to Nuke When You're Serious."
Nice to see the kids considering all the options.
In this scenario, it does not really matter who is dropping the bomb. The point is to create as much mayhem as possible. This analysis leans towards detonation targets that do damage to the United States in particular, both because the US has many enemies, and because many countries are economically and politically dependent on a smoothly-functioning US. The attack might be a set-up for a larger operation, occur in the context of a war, or simply be an isolated event. Potential orchestrators of the attack include rogue states like North Korea or Iran, criminal organizations, jihadi organizations, or more sophisticated groups like circles of well-educated and wealthy Americans exploiting abrupt technological transitions to gain power.
2. Knock off a chunk of Cumbre Viejo at La Palma in the Canary Islands.
Explosions on mountaintop, rocks into ocean, waves into coast. Walls of water into cities. You get the idea. The wave goes around the globe three full times before it dissipates. Not sure if this one is worse than blowing up Manhattan.
Number 1 will dumbfound you. Is right out of an ill conceived Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer plot.
(via accelerating future)
Posted by Groonk at 01:15 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Blogged, Culture, USA, World
August 14, 2006
The World Abides...for the Moment
The truce between Israeli forces and Hizbollah guerrillas is formally due to take effect at 0500 GMT under a U.N. Security Council resolution.
Haaretz said Olmert had met his defence minister and heads of armed forces late on Sunday to discuss the ceasefire.
"Olmert ordered the army to begin abiding by it as of 2 a.m. this morning, other than in cases of self-defence," the newspaper said.
"They also agreed that the army will begin withdrawing some of its forces from Lebanon immediately, but will remain in various positions that offer control over surrounding areas until these positions can be handed over to the Lebanese Army and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)."
Posted by Groonk at 01:22 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
August 11, 2006
New Scientist says 'Fear Nothing but Fear Itself'
They are scientists because they are smart...most days.
Alarm and distress over flying may be the main casualties of Thursday’s alleged terror plot to blow up more than 10 passenger planes, experts say.
Despite terrible fatalities in the London and Madrid train attacks, which between them killed almost 250 people, fear of airline terrorism strikes deepest, say psychologists. And one of the reasons is the indelible memory of the attacks which demolished New York’s World Trade Center on 11 September 2001.
“It’s not only that the planes were hijacked, but that the passenger planes themselves were used as weapons, something people had never thought of before,” says Elie Godsi, a clinical psychologist based in Nottingham, UK.
So even though the alleged UK plot to down airliners appears to have been foiled, it still represents a victory of sorts for terrorism because of the resulting fear and mayhem.
“Whenever people fly now in the post-9/11 world, it’s obvious that anything suspicious to do with airline travel will be disproportionately stressful,” says Godsi.
[...]
...says Perman-Kerr, the current alert could be counted a success in terrorist terms, even though any plot appears to have been thwarted. “Nothing has to happen, because the fear in people changes their behaviour and their activities, hitting the economy at the same time.”
Godsi agrees. “One of the worst things you can do to people is impose uncertainty, and uncertainty with an intangible threat is worse still,” he says.
Yet ironically, terrorism accounts for a tiny number of deaths compared with other causes such as road accidents, deaths from drug abuse or heart attacks and strokes. “It’s disproportionate in its impact because no one knows when it will strike, and typically it happens when people are going about their daily business.”
As to the stress experienced by the thousands of travellers who have had their journeys disrupted, Godsi says they are likely to cope with it and accept it provided they are given adequate explanations for the measures introduced. “If people understand the reasons, they’re usually happier, even if they suffer inconvenience as a result,” she says.
(via lovable, huggable newscientist in their pretty lab coats and ze frank, the talking head that could)
Posted by Groonk at 04:12 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, Science, World
August 10, 2006
The World Overreacts: Passengers Forced to Dump All Liquids
And by "overreact" I mean throwing the baby out with the bath water. If all these supposed saftey systems were in place in the get-go, you would think all that needed to be done was intensify the boarding process. But I'm nowhere near official. Maybe I'm just thinking out of my ass.
U.S. authorities banned the carrying of liquids onto flights after the arrest of 24 people in an alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound planes using explosives disguised as drinks and other common products
.The restrictions forced people to unpack their carry-on bags on the floor in the middle of terminals to remove the prohibited items. Some travelers tried to squeeze makeup, sunscreen and other toiletries into their checked baggage, where liquids were permissible.
But people without checked bags or those who had already given their luggage to their airline had to throw out the banned items.
"It's very frustrating. I'm no terrorist," said Alison Phillips as she struggled to repack her suitcase in Tampa, Fla., after removing all liquids for her return flight to Jamaica.
Other security measures were also ramped up at airports across the nation. Gov. Mitt Romney sent the National Guard to help patrol Boston's Logan Airport for the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks, when terrorists hijacked two planes from there and flew them into the World Trade Center. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also activated the National Guard in California, and Gov. George Pataki in New York considered doing the same.
You kow, when drastic measures like these occur after they stop the Bad Men from causing harm to innocent life, I get teh impression that the "officials" are simply reacting to whatever fresh hell scenario comes along. If I were wanting to prevent wanton distruction, I would have assembled the eggheads necessary to think ahead of my adversary. The best way to win at chess is to outthink your opponent.
Are you telling me that the mightiest country in the land can't pool the resources from other nations that have been dealing with crap like this a lot longer than we americans have and fashion together some kind of plan against those that only know how to maim and kill to get a point across?
Certainly, you're not telling me this. Cause every time I look in the news and see "officials" getting passengers to throw out their liquid tylenol, take off their shoes, and dump nail clippers en masse, that's the impression I'm getting.
Anyway, here's a list of items banned aboard planes in Britain as of this posting.
(via yahoo news)
Posted by Groonk at 07:23 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of USA, World
The World is Angry: Another Terror Plot Diffused
US intelligence officials believe the plotters hoped to stage a practice run followed by actual attacks on up to 10 planes within days.
UK police said they could have caused "mass murder on an unimaginable scale".
As Ze thoughtfully put in his show today(the show with zefrank: 08-10-06) regarding the quote "mass murder on an unimaginable scale," it is very imaginable. The loss of human life would have been terrible and measured. Officials don't need to resort to hyperbole just to get their freaking point across. Find the problem and solve the problem as best you can. You don't have to add to the problem by making grandstanding statements like "murder on an unimaginable scale." Leave shit like that for the movies.
This is real life. Most people can put the facts together if you give it to them straight...minus the added drama.
(via bbc news)
Posted by Groonk at 06:48 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of USA, World
August 03, 2006
Global Warming Brews Up Ice-Cap Beer
My God. I must have some of this. I love the taste of impending doom.
The brewers claim that the water is at least 2,000 years old and free of minerals and pollutants.
The first 66,000 litres of the new dark and pale
ales are on their way to the Danish market. The beer from Greenland - a semi-autonomous Danish territory - costs 37 kroner (?3.40; five euros) per half-litre bottle.
It is the first ever Inuit microbrewery - located in Narsaq, a hamlet 625km (390 miles) south of the Arctic Circle…
Beerme.com states there are only 2 breweries in Greenland. And one of those is planned as of 3/14/06.
I wonder...
(via warren ellis)
Posted by Groonk at 02:01 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, World
Iraqis Podcast About their Lives
Instead of solely relying on the oft times half-assedness of CNN or the complete idiocy of Fox News, get a better idea about life in Iraq from actual Iraqis.
Alive in Baghdad founder Brian Conley explains it all in this Rocketboom mach II clip
(via rocketboom mach II)
Posted by Groonk at 11:29 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, Podcast, World
July 27, 2006
$100 Laptop Crusade Sallys Forth
All the hoo-ha over the $100 laptop and whether it's feasible and such continues.
What I find interesting is, most of the naysayers have made money off of what was considered at the time to be impossible. What? they get a little comfortable in the system, they become above the little guy?
If the $100 laptop is on the level. At least they are trying something. That's more than I can say for those kids who have the money to do the same.
...it promised to outsell every other laptop in the world in just a few years. Oh, and one more thing: The machine would need to cost one-fifth the price of the cheapest laptop at Wal-Mart. The Media Lab dubbed the project One Laptop per Child, but everyone else knew it simply as "the $100 laptop."
Behar was skeptical at first. And who wasn't? After Negroponte announced the plan at the World Economic Forum in January 2005, the critics descended: Most scientists said a $100 laptop was unbuildable, many development experts said it was out of touch with the needs of poor communities, and a good number of educators wondered about giving computers to kids who go without modern textbooks. Steve Jobs dismissed the idea as "a science project." Intel's chair, Craig Barrett, called it "a gadget." Bill Gates mocked the idea of its battery-charging crank. Behar saw their point. "I grew up as a designer in Silicon Valley," the Swiss-born Behar says, "but I'm not one who sees computing as the remedy for everything."
There was something about the project that appealed to him, though, something that almost sounds like nostalgia. "Computers were supposed to be a democratizing tool. You used to see that boundless optimism from Silicon Valley hardware companies. I'm not sure it's still there," he says. "One Laptop per Child is the first thing I've seen in many years that is in line with the original goal of the PC."
Ok...off the soapbox.
(via wired news)
Posted by Groonk at 09:45 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, Technology, World
July 19, 2006
English Roads are Melting
Gritting lorries have been sent out to spread crushed rock dust on melting tar to create non-stick road surfaces.
Monday was the year's hottest day so far with a reading of 32.7C (90.9F) at Heathrow. Forecasters say temperatures could be 37C (99F) later in the week.
The average maximum temperature in England for this week in July is only 21-23C (70-73F).
Whatever, kids. You whine to me when that heat index hits 110F. Then we'll be on common ground.
(via warren ellis multi-link)
Posted by Groonk at 08:04 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Research, World
July 11, 2006
Genghis Khan is a Rock God
A festival has begun in Mongolia to honour the nation's most famous emperor, warrior Genghis Khan.
Celebrations marking the 800th anniversary of the Mongol empire have been going on all year
.But the highlight is the three-day Nadaam festival, which features the traditional "three manly sports" of horse-racing, wrestling and archery.
The games are taking place around the country, with the population thronging to district centres to take part.
"This is the most beautiful and important holiday of our country," Tsendsuren Majaa, who was attending the games in the western town of Arvaikheer, told Reuters news agency.
(via bbc news)
Posted by Groonk at 07:28 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Holiday, Research, World
June 21, 2006
Matt Harding Stole My Life
I was wondering where my life was. I figured I let it slip between the cushions of my couch. I looked there but all I found was a strip mine's worth of copper(pennies) and a rollerhockey ball.
Then I see this guy Matt Harding dancing about the four corners of the world and having a damn good time doing it. That's when it hits me. That's my life. That's the one I lost.
Matt Harding, I don't know who the hell you are or how you found my life, but I want it back. I'm Hulk green with envy and I'm coming to take it from you. When I find you...GROONK will SMASH the life out of you and take it as his own!
(via b55seddel)
Posted by Groonk at 11:47 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Just Freaking Neat, Video, World
June 08, 2006
Hitler had Nuclear Weapons?
Of the tactical variety, it seems.
Rainer Karlsch said that new research in Soviet and also Western archives, along with measurements carried out at one of the test sites, provided evidence for the existence of the weapon.
"The important thing in my book is the finding that the Germans had an atomic reactor near Berlin which was running for a short while, perhaps some days or weeks," he told the BBC.
"The second important finding was the atomic tests carried out in Thuringia and on the Baltic Sea."
Mr Karlsch describes what the Germans had as a "hybrid tactical nuclear weapon" much smaller than those dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
He said the last test, carried out in Thuringia on 3 March 1945, destroyed an area of about 500 sq m - killing several hundred prisoners of war and concentration camp inmates.
Modern day Germans remain skeptical. While the Seoul Times has taken it upon themselves to post every Hitler picture they have in their archives. It's like the History Channel threw up all over their web page.
(via warren ellis)
Posted by Groonk at 01:53 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of History, World, WorldWarII
June 07, 2006
"Hell's Kitchen" Averted in Australia
Local Australian governments are wanting to create a 220 yard no brothel zone around all cemeteries. This comes after Brisbane stopped said flesh fest from opening across the road of a local cemetery.
Dude has a point. Whoever thought it would be a "good idea" to place a brothel near a gravesite is a very disturbed individual. Don't they know that zombies love to feed on the flesh of sinners? Opening cat houses next to graveyards would be handing the undead an easy-to-get-to spicy buffet.
(via myway)
Posted by Groonk at 01:37 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Weird, World
May 23, 2006
Lionel Ritchie Makes Grown Iraqi Men Cry
[...]
I asked Richie if he knows just how big he is here. He said, "The answer is, I'm huge, huge in the Arab world. The answer as to why is, I don't have the slightest idea."
He has performed in Morocco, Dubai, Qatar and Libya. There is obviously something up there. The more we talked, the more he theorized as to the reasons his music might be so popular here. He thinks it is because of the simple message in his music: Love.
Richie says he was told Iraqis were playing "All Night Long," on the streets the night U.S. tanks rolled into the country in 2003.
The mere thought of grown Iraqi men shuffling throgh the streets and all of a sudden breaking into a rendition of "Dancing on the Ceiling" is enough to make me feel warm inside. Of course, that warmth is from the pee I couldn't hold back when I double over from a horrendous case of laughter.
(via oh no they didn't)
(I'm developing quite a crush on that site.)
Posted by Groonk at 04:55 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, World
April 24, 2006
Iraqi Bloggers Speak Up
The article points out several different points of view. More than I cared to document. That defeated the purpose of being terse memory cap reference points.
The article also pointed out that most of the Iraqi bloggers are young and well educated.
Unheard of in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, blogging is providing ordinary Iraqis with a voice -- a chance to vent and reflect on the changes reshaping their country.
For the outside world, the generally anonymous internet postings offer raw insider views and insights in which sorrow and joy, hope and despair, fear and defiance coexist as the violence of the insurgency and now sectarian divisions swirl around Iraqis.
"The West should listen to the opinions of the simple Iraqi people. They only hear from analysts and politicians," said Zeyad, who agreed to discuss his blogging only if his family name wasn't revealed for security reasons. "This is a good window into the world."
Zeyad typed his first entry in his Healing Iraq blog in October 2003 about Iraq's new currency, calling it "wonderful and so symbolic" that the distribution of the new dinar coincided with the anniversary of a referendum that re-elected Saddam. He has gone on to chronicle his thoughts on all aspects of life in the new Iraq.
A self-described agnostic born into a Sunni Muslim family, Zeyad reacted angrily in 2003 when the then interior minister announced that people found eating in public during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan would be detained for three days and fined.
"I wanted to kill someone after reading all that," Zeyad wrote. "Free country my ass."
In later postings, he seethed at the growing influence of Muslim clerics, saying it made him fear for the future of freedom in Iraq.
"I want to be able to buy my vodka without having to look left and right. I want to be able to walk with my girlfriend in the street while holding hands together without people glaring at me. Is this TOO MUCH to ask?" he wrote. "Do I have to immigrate and leave my country for wanting to do all that?"
But there were moments of pride and exhilaration, too.
One came when Iraqis voted for an interim legislature in January 2005, their first democratic election in decades.
"Hold your head up high. Remember that you are Iraqi," Zeyad wrote that day.
[...]
While lamenting the violence in Iraq, a blogger who uses the pseudonym The Mesopotamian praised the war that ousted Saddam.
"The blood and sacrifices by the American soldiers and people will never be forgotten," The Mesopotamian wrote. "It was right, it was just and it was ordained by God that a murderer and tyrant should be overthrown."
Posted by Groonk at 10:37 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Blogged, World
March 22, 2006
Warshooter: Thailand Tsunami Then and Now
Humans and nature know how to re-build:
the green returns
More photos at the Warshooter gallery.
(via rocketboom)
Posted by Groonk at 05:10 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Blogged, World
December 07, 2005
Saddam skips-out on his own trial
The seven other defendants and Saddam's lawyers were present in the courtroom when Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin convened the session at 3 p.m., about four hours late.
At the end of Tuesday's session, an angry Saddam said he would boycott the next day's proceedings after complaining he and his co-defendants had been mistreated.
Saddam's threat not to attend the Wednesday session came at the end of a daylong session in which five witnesses - two women and three men - related the events of a 1982 crackdown on Shiite Muslims. The most dramatic testimony came from a woman who spoke from behind a curtain with her voice disguised.
She told of beatings, torture and sexual humiliation at the hands of security agents when she was a teenager.
At the end of the Tuesday proceedings, the judges agreed over defense objections to meet again the following day. Saddam shouted that "I will not come to an unjust court! Go to hell!"
Saddam, dressed again in a dark suit and white shirt and clutching a Quran, complained that he and the seven other defendants were tired and had been deprived of opportunities to shower, have a change of clothes, exercise or smoke.
"This is terrorism," he declared.
Throughout the trial, which began Oct. 19, Saddam has repeatedly staged confrontations with the court and attempted to take control of the proceedings with dramatic rhetorical flourishes.
Now imagine what would have happened if someone pulled that shit at the Nuremberg Trials.
(via yahoo news)
Posted by Groonk at 06:44 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
November 22, 2005
Technology and Comics working together
Jostling on the sidelines of this week's UN net summit in Tunis were dozens of projects that provide people in developing countries with much-needed hardware to get digital.
[...]
But they found was that after the trainer they provided for two months left the schools, the computers in the labs remained largely untouched, especially by the teachers themselves.
"It is no use giving computers away to schools if no one is going to use them," Ebben Haotuikulipi from SchoolNet Namibia explained to the BBC News website.
"It is printed every Tuesday in the local youth newspaper, so it goes across the country. What is in the comic is also all online," said Ms Haotuikulipi.
(via bbcnews)
Posted by Groonk at 09:22 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Comics, Culture, Technology, World
November 05, 2005
France Continues to go Ape-Shit
The violence - originally concentrated in neighborhoods northeast of Paris with large immigrant populations - is forcing France to confront anger long-simmering in its suburbs, where many Africans and their French-born children live on society's margins, struggling with unemployment, poor housing, racial discrimination, crime and a lack of opportunity.
Triggered by an outburst of fury over the deaths of two teenagers, the unrest has taken on unprecedented scope and intensity. The violence hit far-flung corners of France on Saturday, from Rouen in Normandy to Bordeaux in the southwest to Strasbourg near the German border, but the Paris region has borne the brunt.
(via myway)
Posted by Groonk at 04:14 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
October 06, 2005
In a Sad Self-Marketing Ploy, British Cleric Outs Harry Potter
"As for Harry Potter, well, he's not the only gay in the village," the former Anglican priest told children at Penair School in Truro, southwest England, referring to a catchphrase from the popular British comedy TV show "Little Britain."
He also described the villains in Rowling's blockbuster series as "wimps" and called TV "crap" compared to books.
[...]
"It was a joke; a joke from 'Little Britain' that the children would know," Taylor was quoted by newspapers as saying.
"I didn't set out to offend. I'm a priest and I'm very careful about not offending people."
Choke on my fuck, Reverend.
Oh, I'm sorry. Was that offensive? I'm very careful about not offending.
(via dunc!)
Posted by Groonk at 01:09 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Marketing, World
September 29, 2005
FILE UNDER: Nice
This is highly unconfirmed since it comes from the seriously dodgy Ananova.
Posted by Groonk at 01:33 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
September 12, 2005
The Tiger Meat was Actually Donkey Meat Drenched in Tiger Piss
The Hufulou restaurant, located beside the Heidaohezi tiger reserve near the city of Hailin, had advertised stir-fried tiger meat with chilies for $98as well as liquor flavored with tiger bone for $74 a bottle, the China Daily reported.
Raw meat was priced at $864 per kilogram.
The sale of tiger parts is illegal in China and officers shut down the restaurant, only to be told by owner, Ma Shikun, that the meat was actually that of donkeys, flavored with tiger urine to give the dish a "special" tang, the newspaper said.
The report didn't say how the urine was obtained.
Authorities confiscated the restaurant's profits and fined Ma $296 it said. It wasn't clear what Ma was fined for. Selling donkey meat is not illegal in China and it is widely consumed in the northeast.
Ma had initially claimed that the meat came from dead tigers sold to him by the management of the Heidaohezi reserve, but later changed his story, the report said.
While Heidaohezi's director denied that claim, the reserve, with about 150 tigers, has been involved in similar controversies in the past.
Until China outlawed the trade in 1993, the reserve received most of its revenue from the sale of tiger skins, bones and other body parts, which are believed by Chinese to imbue vigor and sexual prowess.
Not one part of that story deserved to be forgotten.
(via warren ellis)
Posted by Groonk at 01:31 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, Weird, World
August 16, 2005
Gas Buddy
Search for the lowest and highest gas prices in the USA and Canada with Gas Buddy.
All prices seem to be user submitted.
(via eggmessageboards)
Posted by Groonk at 03:10 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Politics, USA, World
July 28, 2005
Shuttle/ISS rendezvous Revisited
I would have had pictures the first time but Groonk Command and Control isn't fully functional yet.
But now I have half my image resizing capabilities and Google Earth on my side:
just north of Australia
full globe view
off the coast of japan
they passed me by again...the bastards
Many,many thanks go to ogle earth for the live Gearth/Shuttle tracking application.
Posted by Groonk at 05:21 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Apps, Blogged, Google-fied, Science, USA, World
July 27, 2005
All over the world
I went browsing Flickr's most popular tags. I found some interesting photostreams.
The Solo Backpacker's been all over the world. I'm extremely jealous.
Freddy lives in Portland, OR. She's 30 but already taken.
Following a London tag revealed a very evil looking Yoda on tathei's stream.
A mega city shot from Tokyo Tower drew me to Shagadelicbabe's stream.
I'm stopping this tour with notforsale's view of New Zealand. His Lights and Urban Environs set is nothing short of inspiring.
To me anyway.
Posted by Groonk at 03:23 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Art, Culture, Photos2, World
July 07, 2005
London Bombings
There were three explosions on the Underground - which police said left 33 dead - and one on a double-decker bus in which an unknown number died.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has returned to London from the G8 summit, has described the attack as "barbaric".
An Islamist website has posted a statement - purportedly from al-Qaeda - claiming it was behind the attacks.
(via medicmike)
Posted by Groonk at 10:56 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
June 25, 2005
Why Don't we Help Them Too?
Robert Mugabe has been a busy little dictator of Zimbawe.
Below includes a before and after sat pic of the destruction of a 200,000-person shantytown on the outskirts of Harare:
There are reports the bulldozers don't even hesitate to maim children. And now Robert Mugabe, the "statesman" has prohibited the growing of food in backyards in a country that encounters severe famine for years already. For more information visit websites like AllAfrica.com, ZimDaily.com, ZWNews.com and especially The Zimbabwe Situation, which compiles all other media reports on the deterioration of the former food-box of Southern Africa.and:
At least three children have been crushed to death during the operation.
(via boingboing)
Posted by Groonk at 08:09 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
February 03, 2005
Say that again...
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.com
Apparently this is the longest single word(w/o hyphens) domain name in the world. And:
This Welsh town actually exists and its name translates as "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave".For brevity, it is understandable that many of the locals simply refer to their village as "Llanfair" www.llanfair.com or "Llanfair PG" or "Llanfairpwll" which, of course, makes for easier typing and is faster to pronounce.
Posted by Groonk at 06:52 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
December 09, 2004
The Curse of Tokugawa
Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada, the 17th century ruler who outlawed Christianity in Japan and purged its believers, is one of six former shoguns buried on land that was or still is part of Zojoji Temple. When the temple sold the land, it was also supposed to have brought the spirit of the shogun with it. Excavations of the site in 1958 revealed the shogun's bones were still located in their original grave. For the past 40 years, the nearby Tokyo Prince Hotel has sat atop land housing ancient burial sites.Of course, it's impossible to determine whether the Seibu Railway group is affected by a shogun's curse, but the weekly argues its heavy handed attitude rubs up the spine of Japanese who traditionally worship their ancestors.
via dph
Posted by Groonk at 09:18 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
November 10, 2004
Russia makes a bid to become as Lame as Huntsville
So far, the bill has failed.
The upper house of the Russian parliament has poured cold water on a bill that would have banned the consumption of beer in public.[...]
The surge in beer sales follows a ban on drinking vodka and other strong liquor in public - part of attempt by the Kremlin to curb Russia's hard-drinking culture.
But that plan may have backfired, with rising widespread anxiety about drunken, rowdy youth.
Posted by Groonk at 05:20 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
October 13, 2004
She's a fighter
She told police that when Koh attempted to rape her, she pretended to consent to his advances and then bit off part of his tongue, police Capt. Somsak Maiboonmee said."His tongue was partially severed, so I decided to just bite it all off. It was still in my mouth," the girl told reporters. "He yelled at me and got up, kicked me in my neck, and then I ran away."
via 7d
Posted by Groonk at 06:09 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
September 22, 2004
Diaries are bad for you?
Keeping a diary is bad for your health, say UK psychologists. They found that regular diarists were more likely than non-diarists to suffer from headaches, sleeplessness, digestive problems and social awkwardness.We expected diary keepers to have some benefit, or be the same, but they were the worst off, says Elaine Duncan of the Glasgow Caledonian University. In fact, youre probably much better off if you dont write anything at all, she adds.
Whatever, lady.
"Words matter. Write to learn what you know."
Posted by Groonk at 04:08 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
September 14, 2004
More killed by suicide than war
World Health Organisation figures show a suicide takes place somewhere in the world every 40 seconds.[...]
While men make up most suicides, more women actually attempt to take their own lives.
There are an estimated 10-to-20 million attempted suicides each year.
via dph
Posted by Groonk at 09:50 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
September 06, 2004
Bosnian Bruce Lee Monument
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - In Bosnia, where one man's hero is often another man's villain, some citizens have decided to honor a man Serbs, Croats and Muslims can all look up to kung fu great Bruce Lee.Lee is best remembered for single-handedly taking on dozens of bad guys in a series of kung fu flicks. But the statue of the Chinese action hero in the ethnically divided city of Mostar is intended to remind people of Lee's lesser known values "loyalty, friendship, skill and justice," said Veselin Gatalo, a writer who helped come up with the idea.
[...]
"Lee is a true international hero and is a hero to all ethnicities in Bosnia and that's why we picked him," Gatalo said.
Bosnia's war killed hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Croats and Muslims and left the country divided into a Serb republic and a Muslim-Croat federation.
In Mostar at least, Gatalo, an ethnic Croat, hopes a statue to Lee will help erase the city's tarnished image as a place of bitter ethnic rivalries.
"We want that people, when you say Mostar, respond: 'that's the city that has a monument to Bruce Lee,'" Gatalo said.
via mattfraction
Posted by Groonk at 07:28 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
August 11, 2004
Building and Materials
Further proof that people are more alike than you think.
BAGHDAD - Hoda Mohammed Jassem responded with stony disbelief when television crew members arrived at her war-damaged house, thrust a microphone under her nose and announced they were going to rebuild her home.But her 17-year-old daughter, Abeer Al-Zubair, caught on, and as the TV camera rolled, she broke into a delighted smile.
"I'm feeling like I'm dreaming," she said as a big orange truck piled high with bricks, tools and workmen trundled around the corner to begin reconstructing the family's house.
Welcome to Iraq's first home-improvement show - with an Iraqi twist. Think "This Old House," except that all the wrecks selected to be featured in this version were destroyed by war, and they belong to people too poor to rebuild them."Materials and Labor," as the show is called, airs Friday nights on Al Sharqiya, Iraq's first privately owned TV station, and it's proving to be a big hit. Initial funding for the show came from wealthy donors, and now viewers are being asked to send in contributions.
Reality TV is infecting the world and no one cares.
Posted by Groonk at 12:47 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
More on the Iraqi Boy Band
Strange times indeed.
I've been receiving various comments on previous posts I've made. Mostly from people looking to spead their name.
God bless ego-surfing I suppose.
Anyway...I got a follow up on the Iraqi boy band, "Unknown to No One."
The irony in that name is priceless. The mega mix I found on their site...equally priceless.
Posted by Groonk at 09:11 AM | Comments (2) | Ministry of World
July 27, 2004
Government Gone WIld
A few bits snatched from boingboing's files (Yes. I know the post title is a cheap gag):
Stargate fan-site operator busted under anti-terrorism law
The creator of an SG-1 fansite has been charged by the FBI with criminal copyright infringment, the result of an investigation that involved a USA PATRIOT Act warrant against the site's ISP to gather intelligence. The Feebs confiscated and then destroyed his personal computers, returning their remains months later. All this comes after several of the show's cast and creators have made a special point of saying how much they liked the site. The site owner lives in Ohio, but has been charged in LA and needs money to get to the coast and defend himself; they're raising money through t-shirt sales and could use your helpUpdate: The guy's name was featured in a press release: "Adam Clark McGaughey".
A dutiful boingboinger searched for "Adam McGaughy" in google groups and found a bunch of people that have been ripped off by him around 2002 on some SG-1 sites as well as ebay.
Just some more info to chew on.
ACLU makes farking funny "Big Brother" pizza delivery ad
A short and freaking funny vid about a pizza delivery service in a near-future United StatesKalashnikov charges the US goverment with pirating his AK-47 design
Since the collapses of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein's army in Iraq, the United States has been purchasing or arranging the transfer of thousands of knockoffs of Kalashnikovs commonly referred to as AK-47's, to outfit new military and security forces in Kabul and Baghdad.These rifles have not been made in Russia, where the arms industry holds patents for the weapon in several nations. Instead they have originated in weapons plants controlled by Eastern European states, each of which was a partner of Moscow's in Soviet days.
30,000 anti-Induce Act letters sent to Congress
Orrin Hatch's Draconian Induce Act -- which would criminalize iPods on the grounds that shipping a high-capacity personal stereo practically begs the public to use file-sharing services to fill it -- continues to draw fire from all quarters. Between EFF and SaveTheIpod.com, over 30,000 Congresscritter letters have been sent by voters in every state in the Union, asking government to save America from Orrin Hatch and the cartel that has put him up to this insanity. Click ... to send your own letter9/11 commission report: much of what we knew was wrong
The commission's report found that the hijackers had repeatedly broken the law in entering the United States, that Mr. bin Laden may have micromanaged the attacks but did not pay for them, that intelligence agencies had considered the threat of suicide hijackings, and that Mr. Bush received an August 2001 briefing on evidence of continuing domestic terrorist threats from Al Qaeda.
A few more bits.
The automatic Kalashnikov has been compared to being Moscow's Ford. I'm not sure that's a distinction they want to live up to. Automatic weapons being as common as cars. That's the world we live in, I suppose.
You can download the 9/11 comission report here.
Here you will find a handy outline of the lengthy report's structure.
That is all.
Posted by Groonk at 12:43 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Politics, USA, Video, World
July 24, 2004
Labrador survives drug smuggling
Some people need to have their eyes ripped out and placed in their small intestine while they lay upon a white-hot bed of nails.
Rex, a Golden Labrador, was one of two dogs who had containers holding cocaine surgically inserted into their stomachs.
[...]A man and woman were convicted on Wednesday of trying to smuggle the cocaine, worth 126,000, into the UK.
link via dph
Posted by Groonk at 12:25 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
July 22, 2004
Human Clock
Ponzu found this guy.
Humanclock.com shows a photograph of the current time, with the photo changing every minute of the day (all 1,440 occuring minutes on Earth!) Thus you end up with a rotating picture clock sorta deal.
Such a neat idea and so simple.
I must participate.
Link via ponzu
Posted by Groonk at 11:25 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, Funny, Marketing, World
June 25, 2004
No 'magic potions' allowed
Tim Montgomery faces being banned for life and stripped of his Olympic gold medal and world 100 metres record after allegedly admitting to a federal grand jury he used human growth hormone (HGH) and a steroid he described as being like a "magic potion".[...]
On November 6 last year Montgomery told the grand jury that he knew HGH was a banned substance and that he was taking "the clear", which Conte told him was a steroid-like substance that was not banned. "This was the magic potion," Montgomery told the grand jury.
Posted by Groonk at 09:37 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
June 03, 2004
An Interview with Conrad Feather
Conrad Feather is only part way through his PhD but has already spent several years living with indigenous people in the Amazon, helping them drive loggers from their ancestral land. Recently he trained them to use GPS devices so that they could create the first map of their territory and make an ambitious bid to win legal title to it. This month the project won him the prestigious St Andrews Prize for the Environment. He talks to Alun Anderson about his life with the Nahua
Posted by Groonk at 12:49 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
May 31, 2004
Just the Facts
The CIA's World Factbook has the info you need to compete that paper on any country in the world.
Need to know what Australia's export commodites are? This is the site for you.
Posted by Groonk at 11:41 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
May 24, 2004
Good on him
CANNES -- 'You've put a huge light on this movie," said Michael Moore, as he won the Palme d'Or on Saturday night for his George W. Bush-bashing documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11."What have you done? I'm completely overwhelmed by this. Merci," said a flabbergasted Moore.
When everything calmed down, Moore, 50, said the prestige of the Palme d'Or would ensure Americans would see his movie, and he quoted Abraham Lincoln in saying, "as long as people know the truth, the Republic is safe."
Posted by Groonk at 10:39 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
May 19, 2004
Beware the Italian Polizia
via MedicMike
Posted by Groonk at 02:29 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
May 12, 2004
Today's Front Pages
This link lists 316 newspaper front pages from 44 countries.
How freaking awesome is that?!
Posted by Groonk at 03:22 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Apps, Culture, History, World
May 11, 2004
Video Shows Beheading of American in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A video posted Tuesday on an al-Qaida-linked Web site showed the beheading an American civilian in Iraq in what was said to be revenge for abuse of Iraqi prisoners.The video showed five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks, standing over a bound man in an orange jumpsuit - similar to a prisoner's uniform. The man identified himself as Nick Berg, a U.S. civilian whose body was found Saturday near a highway overpass in Baghdad.
"My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Suzanne," the man said on the video. "I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah. I live in ... Philadelphia."
After reading a statement, the men were seen pulling the man to his side and putting a large knife to his neck. A scream sounded as the men cut his head off, shouting "Allahu akbar!" - "God is great!" They then held the head up to the camera.
Link via 7d
BBC news and the New York Times report on the murder but also add:
The 26-year-old Mr Berg, who owned a communications equipment company, was involved in rebuilding antennas in Iraq before he disappeared on 9 April.But he went missing prior to that, and was later found to have been arrested at an Iraqi checkpoint in Mosul and held in an Iraqi jail with Iraqi prisoners for 13 days, his father told American TV on Tuesday morning, before the video was released.
Michael Berg said the US authorities were indirectly responsible for his death, by failing to secure his release and thereby causing him to miss his flight home on 30 March.
"He would have missed the escalation if they had let him go," he said.
The Berg family declined further comment after receiving news of the video.
Posted by Groonk at 04:24 PM | Comments (2) | Ministry of World
April 06, 2004
Alanis' naked suit
Ok, Alanis. We get your point. Now why don't you get good and angry so that you'll start making decent albums again?
Hosting the 2004 Juno Awards ceremonies, Canada's version of the Grammies, Morissette disrobed on stage to reveal a skin-colored, naked body suit with nipples and pubic hair.
The satirical act, says Morissette, was aimed at U.S. government institutions for over-reacting to cultural, free expression, as a result of the fallout surrounding Janet Jackson's Super Bowl faux pas, when her breast was a