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Under-age marriage picture wins UNICEF prize
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The image hardly fits our idea of the happy couple’s wedding picture - but this haunting photograph taken in Afghanistan graphically captures life for millions of girls given in marriage while under age.
It shows Mohammed, 40, with his new 11-year-old wife, Ghulam. Taken by US photographer Stephanie Sinclair, it was named Unicef Photo of the Year yesterday.
Some 60million girls worldwide are married while still under age, according to the children’s rights agency.
“Green” marketing hype turning off consumers
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The delightful Appliance Design magazine has a very interesting news item about a survey regarding consumer attitudes towards “green” products. It turns out we are getting sick and tired of all these companies trying to sell us stuff under the banner of “green” eco-friendly design. The intent to purchase green products has dropped about 20% from last year. I too am getting green fatigue. It seems like every press release and every story has to have some green angle. Now sure, buying a green washing machine may save a little energy on your bills, but the there will sure be a ton of energy wrapped up in the production of that new machine versus just keeping your old machine running. It turns out that consumers are pretty smart. In order to justify a 4000-dollar purchase for some “green” technology, they expect to see monthly savings equal to the additional mortgage payment they would need to make on that four grand. Since home equity is at 6% right now, 4 grand costs about 20 bucks a month. If that does not come off the gas or electric bill they realize that you are just trying to sell them some new crap that does not make economic sense. Bravo.
London Congestion Charge Increases Congestion
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Angie BrayThe imposition of a tax on motorists entering central London, UK has failed to produce promised reductions in congestion, according to a report released last month by London Assembly Conservatives. London Mayor Ken Livingstone had promoted his congestion charge as the solution to gridlock in the downtown area where, in 2003, traffic crawled at an average rate of 10.6 MPH. Now that motorists are paying £8 (US $16) to enter the area, that figure has dropped to 9.3 MPH. A more accurate measurement of congestion that uses London’s network of plate-reading ANPR cameras showed that “excess delay” nearly doubled from 0.87 minutes per mile in 2003 to 1.5 minutes per mile in 2006.
Of course. Unless you give people an alternative they’ll have to continue going the same way to their jobs every day, and a congestion charge is simply an extra tax on living near London.
2007 Top 10 Finalists - Best Visual Illusion Contest
Go enjoy yourself here.
The Apple Buying Experience
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The unboxing should be performed in a setting of ultimate zen-like calm and tranquility. The phone should be taken off the hook, wives given money to go off and buy shoes, children allowed to run riot on the busy road outside.
Play music. Burn incense. Turn down the lights. Vigorously clean the space the Mac will go beforehand. No frustrations or interruptions must disturb the peace. There’s nothing worse than the new virginal white mouse to be sullied by two day old pizza left carelessly on the desk.
Open the box slowly. Regard each flap individually. Sit and look upon the custom made sticky tape with rounded corners (Steve loves rounded corners) holding the box closed. Note how everything nestles together just so, like the courses in a Japanese Bento box. Take each component out separately. Peacefully look at the component for at least ten minutes (yes, even the Apple stickers). Don’t plug anything in, just look at it, perhaps gently pick it up with fingertips and admire from every angle.
The whole process may take hours. It’s a bit like tantric sex, in fact.
Then boot it up and look at porn.
The picture is from http://imacpr0n.com/
Naturally
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Someone once asked Jean Cocteau, “Suppose your house were on fire and you could remove only one thing. What would you take?”
Cocteau considered, then said, “I would take the fire.”
Three Stages of a Man’s Life…..
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Three Stages of a Man’s life:
Company Picnic
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For the last company picnic, management decided that, due to liability issues, they could have alcohol, but only one (1) drink per person.
I’m sure this guy was fired for ordering the cups.
Ministerie van Financiën - Feiten over belasting op brandstof
Als de kale benzineprijs 55,43 eurocent is, en er komt 90,67 eurocent aan belasting bovenop, wat is dan de belastingdruk?
Een simpel lagere-school-sommetje, zou je denken. 90,67 gedeeld door 55,43 is 1,63575681, oftewel afgerond honderd-vier-en-zestig procent.
Volgens het Ministerie van Financiën is het echter slechts 62%. Zo redenerend is de BTW ook maar 15,9%!
Misschien moeten we de ambtenaren even uitleggen dat “terugrekenen” niet de manier is waarop je dit doet. Wellicht ook even de cito-toets over laten doen, en kijken waar ze nog meer slecht scoren.
En wellicht dat we de heren ook even moeten uitleggen dat we echt zo gemakkelijk niet voor de gek te houden zijn.
The Cost Of Bush: $32 Trillion
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The opinion of another shrill hysteric? Just David M. Walker, the Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO:
In a speech today at the National Press Club, he said, "If the federal government was a private corporation and the same report came out this morning, our stock would be dropping and there would be talk about whether the company’s management and directors needed a major shake-up." Walker urged greater transparency and accountability over the federal government’s operations, financial condition, and fiscal outlook…
"The federal government’s fiscal exposures totaled approximately $53 trillion as of September 30, 2007, up more than $2 trillion from September 30, 2006, and an increase of more than $32 trillion from about $20 trillion as of September 30, 2000," Walker said. "This translates into a current burden of about $175,000 per American or approximately $455,000 per American household."
Full (PDF) report here.
iPhone Sales
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There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.
– Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, in April 2007.
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In its first full quarter on the market, Apple’s iPhone has become the second-best-selling smart-phone platform in North America, trailing only RIM’s BlackBerry, according to a new report.
The study by the research firm Canalys, which looked at third-quarter sales of smart phones, found that the iPhone has already outsold all of the Microsoft Windows Mobile, Symbian and Palm phones and now holds a 27 percent market share in North America. The technology blog Roughlydrafted.com reported the results of the study.
Telecom Immunity
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The President has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retro-active immunity. No immunity, no FISA bill. So if we take the President at his word, he’s willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies.
– Ted Kennedy on the Senate Floor
Constitution Protected…For Now
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Majority Leader Harry Reid has just pulled the FISA bill from consideration in this session. It will be brought up at some point next month.
Dual_EC_DRBG Added to Windows Vista
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Microsoft has added the random-number generator Dual_EC-DRBG to Windows Vista, as part of SP1. Yes, this is the same RNG that could have an NSA backdoor.
It’s not enabled by default, and my advice is to never enable it. Ever.
And the only way to be really sure it is never enabled, even by some stealth upgrade, is to simply not install Vista at all.
Fokke & Sukke
Doonesbury
Hey, dus mijn marginale belastingdruk op inkomen is dus geen 52% maar slechts 34%! Voel me ineens veel beter