The Times of India : India shining, Economy second only to China

NEW DELHI: The economy surged 8.2 per cent last fiscal, at marginally better rate than 8.1 per cent Central Statistical Organisation had forecast in February, placing India as the world's second fastest growing economy after China's 9.8 per cent.

The 2003-04 growth that came riding bountiful monsoon rains was the fastest in 15 years and against a meagre 4 per cent growth in the drought-hit 2002-03.

I do have ideas about the pictures of the future. I do have ideas that the world is going to move forward slowly, and hopefully, less painfully into the future as these giants of worlds come into their own in the world economy. Now when I say into their own, I do not mean any disrespect to either of them as they are some of the largest economics in the world and the first and second largest countries in terms of population...they are beasts to be reckoned with on all levels. What I mean, is that as the middle class rises and increases in size then these nations will explode due to extraordinarily huge demands for product based simply on the fact that they have disturbingly large populations that point direction to futures with even greater numbers on all fronts...population and economics. Things will evolve beautifully in this world. I can't wait for it all...If I'm alive still and all... :-)

New Scientist : Speed of light may have changed recently

The speed of light, one of the most sacrosanct of the universal physical constants, may have been lower as recently as two billion years ago - and not in some far corner of the universe, but right here on Earth.

The threat to the idea of an invariable speed of light comes from measurements of another parameter called the fine structure constant, or alpha, which dictates the strength of the electromagnetic force. The speed of light is inversely proportional to alpha, and though alpha also depends on two other constants (see graphic), many physicists tend to interpret a change in alpha as a change in the speed of light. It is a valid simplification, says Victor Flambaum of the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Wow...the speed of light s potentially variable. That's like saying the Earth isn't at the center of the universe...err...I mean like saying the world is flat...uhh...Looks like physics and all kinds of theories could change in a manner we weren't ever expecting..fun times

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Einstein's Parrot -- A great brain and a bird brain spend time together

Whaddya call it when Leo Szilard and Enrico Fermi pull up an anchor? A chain retraction! Not so good? You should hear me play the violin. So Schrödinger and Heisenberg are driving down the road, and Heisenberg says, 'Hey, I think you just ran over a cat.' And Schrödinger, he says, 'Is it dead?' And Heisenberg says, heh heh, get this: 'I can't be certain.' Okay, so the smartest man in the world is talking to a parrot. Hey, Parrot, that's not a joke, that's my life."

Funny. :-) I find it moooost funny. :-)

CNN.com - Private craft soars into space, history - Jun 21, 2004

Test pilot Mike Melvill landed at Mojave Airport, about 80 miles north of Los Angeles, California, after taking the rocket plane SpaceShipOne to an altitude of more than 100 kilometers (62.5 miles) -- the internationally recognized boundary of space.

Melvill told reporters he had "a hell of a view from 62 miles."

"The colors were pretty staggering from up there," he said.

This will be the start of a new revolution. The world is going to change greatly in the coming times for teh better and for the worse in many different ways. Hopefully we will live to see some of the amazing creations that we are about to start creating. I can't wait to see things begin. Space will be reachable for you and I. Insignificant in many manners...ultra significant in others. Space though...you and I will exist for some part of our times in space.

New Zealand News - World - Super Size Me provokes a super size row

A few days into his grand experiment of eating only at McDonald's for 30 days straight, the New York-based film-maker Morgan Spurlock started complaining of headaches and other unpleasant side-effects - listlessness, depression, chest pains, shortness of breath, sexual dysfunction and more.

His headaches, however, almost certainly pale in comparison to the giant, throbbing one his much-discussed documentary Super Size Me is causing the executives who run Ronald McDonald's global empire.

Heh...doh? Who wants to go to the movies with me? You know...I have been on this little health thing...its a sorta kinda health thing because I haven't done all that much...but I have had a good solid month of healthy and proper eating and have lost some weight while eating more mass overall...just healthy mass...thus fewer calories and crap. And then when I go and eat something from one of our wonderful establishments, like above mentioned, I feel this...weight inside of my body...anyone know what I'm talkin about? Bah...googlebots galore understand me. :-)

Bloomberg.com: NYC Police Saw Sign of Tower Collapse, Study Says

Federal engineering investigators studying the destruction of the World Trade Center's twin towers on Sept. 11 said New York Police Department aviation units reported an inward bowing of the buildings' columns in the minutes before they collapsed, a signal they were about to fall.

The disclosures come amid scrutiny of the nation's and city's preparedness for and response to the Sept. 11 attacks by the federal commission studying the deadliest assault on U.S. soil. A report released by the panel this week said the U.S. military was neither trained nor prepared to respond to suicide attacks by hijacked planes when those attacks occurred.

I don't show much support of our government very often...and even below the surface of this event going on above there is probably as much politics and crap that makes me dislike the government...but...ignore all the ignorance and blunt stupidity and look at what the government of the United States demanded occur and look what has come of it. What it says to me is that responsibility will doled out in some manner and from it knowledge hopefully gleaned...as well, there is at least an accolades of our weaknesses and where we can head to fix them. Tell me I am wrong and I can deal as long as you tell me why and prove to me what is right.

Press Pass - Surprise: Fermilab's SELEX experiment finds puzzling new particle

Mesons tend to be a short-lived tribe. Their lifetimes are so short that they show themselves as a range of masses-what particle physicists call the particle's "width." This unusual effect -- a particle's mass being uncertain because it lives a very short time -- is a direct result of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. It is a vivid demonstration that these particles live in a quantum world. The meson lifetime is 10 (-24) seconds, or about the amount of time it takes light to cross a proton. By comparison, light travels one foot in a billionth of a second.

Request of the Week: Could someone please explain to me how meson's help create me?

CNN.com - Scientists find rodent monogamy gene - Jun 16, 2004

Previous studies have also suggested that the receptors may play a role in disorders such as autism, and that brain pathways involved in romantic relationships also play a part in drug addiction.

"It is intriguing," said Young, "to consider that individual differences in vasopressin receptors in humans might play a role in how differently people form relationships."

It is quite amazing that we have discovered that in some animals...the same gene that controls "love" also controls how much you like drugs (hrmm...) and autism... :-) I love the human body...amazing ain't we?

CNN.com - Mind over video game - June 15, 2004

"Simply by thinking the word 'move', the volunteers played the simple video game, the researchers reported."

"It took six minutes of training and they all achieved control in less than 24 minutes," Leuthardt said.

"After a brief training session, the patients could play the game by using signals that come off the surface of the brain," added Moran. "They achieved between 74 and 100 percent accuracy, with one patient hitting 33 out of 33 targets correctly in a row."

Tick...tock...clip...clop. Those sounds are the everpresent future that seems to continually encroach upon your yesterday without people even realizing this. Can you believe that right now there are human beings controlling computers solely through the use of wires plugged into their skull ::side note:: yes, it is in a very rudimentary stage, ie, huge amounts of wires and the fact that the skull is open and they are hardwired...but with first shrinking of silicon smaller and smaller in size... .65nm is small man...secondly with advancement of wireless communication and lastly with nanotechnology, I can so very easily see someone getting this permanently installed (it will self install as well...as nanobots will do this on their on inside of your skull) in their skull as simply as getting an ear pierced. Walk into your apartment and just think light and they turn on. Would be a great fucking prank in the house...just walk by constantly flipping everything on and off as fast as your can... :-) IT IS HERE!!! So sayeth the future.

Bloomberg.com: Iraq Oil Flow From Gulf Still Halted; North Attacked

Iraqi oil exports through its two terminals in the Persian Gulf were halted for a second day after two pipelines were damaged, at least one by sabotage. Another pipeline was bombed in northern Iraq and the head of oil-company security there was shot and killed.

Now you may be fearful of this in whatever ways because it is so far away...but watch the world unfolding and remember that there is always an effect from these actions. Your lifestyle is affected. You freedoms. Your future is significant. If the world is in turmoil the world will fester. Growth will be inhibited...ecnomics will slow. Our growth as a world civilization...not a continent based one...will be hampered.

Marooned : 18 YEARS OF SOLITUDE

"It's loneliness that makes the loudest noise," wrote philosopher Eric Hoffer. For a deserted Nicoleño woman, it no doubt thundered up the arroyos and over the thrashing surf, drowning out all with the echo of what was no longer there. Humans are adaptable creatures, but how do you begin to adjust to a life without a single other human in it?

She clapped and danced without a trace of self-consciousness — one benefit of isolation — as the mainland drew near.

Eighteen years without another human being to communicate with. A fearful endeavor indeed I would think. Liberating in many unwelcome ways I would guess. Interesting nonetheless. Painful to face.

Channelnewsasia.com: Taiwan's Chen refuses to rule out reunification with China

In a pre-emptive warning ahead of Chen's inauguration, China Monday vowed to "crush" Taiwanese independence moves "at any cost."

Taiwan's leaders must choose between recognising the island as part of the mainland or "following their separatist agenda to cut Taiwan from the rest of China and, in the end, meet their own destruction by playing with fire," Beijing said.

If this is the not international equivalent of "Shut the fuck up and sit down bitch before I beat you into the wall" then I don't know what is. Wow...China man. The largest country on Earth. Largest army. Largest population. In 20 years, largest economy as well...and then it will triple in size. Nuclear power. Space power. China. The world is beautiful

Aljazeera.Net - Casualties in powerful Baghdad blast

Iraqi police fired in the air to drive back crowds which struck the cars with sticks. The crowd shouted "Allahu Akbar," and "Down with the USA."

US occupation soldiers arrived and tried to seal off the area. The blast is the latest in a series of similar explosions that have rocked Baghdad since the US occupation of Iraq last March.

This is the daily life of some people. This is what they do for a living. This is what people who live on this street deal with. The police have this to worry about instead of paperwork. Problems. Real problems.

OneWorld.net - Saddam Will Miss Old Buddy Reagan

"Seventeen years after Saddam Hussein gassed her home in Hallabja, packed mud and a canvas tarp still serve as the roof of Aftow Khafood's home in Benslawa refugee camp. "We would like to improve our situation," she says. "When it rains, we are afraid our house will collapse over our heads. We want to return to our homes and live like others in normal houses."

"As the eulogising of President Reagan pour in, Khafood says the only international help she has got has come from the United Nations, which has provided her family with toilet facilities and 200 cinder blocks, which she stacked into makeshift walls."

Wired 12.06: The Ultimate Pitching Machine

It's the fastest human movement ever measured in a laboratory: the violent forward rotation of a baseball pitcher's shoulder as he whips the ball toward home plate. To the batter, or anyone watching on TV, the motion is merely a blur. But not to biomechanical engineer Glenn Fleisig. "The arm flips forward at the shoulder joint with an angular velocity of 7,200 degrees per second," says Fleisig. "If a pitcher's arm kept up that velocity for a full second, it would make 20 full revolutions. It's just phenomenal."

I'm just a blogging bitch tonight, this is what happens when I lose my computer on a Saturday evening and don't get it up and running again till Thursday at 7 AM. In terms of the article...imagine him throwing a lead ball at your face.

Aljazeera.Net - G8 demands real Iraqi sovereignty

"At the end of a meeting in Washington on Friday, France said Washington had to give up control over local forces while Italy said a new Iraqi government had to have a say over US-occupation troop's tactics."

"In a nod to Iraqi authority, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States would withdraw its troops if the interim government made such an unlikely demand."

ME:: I wonder if this will work? I wonder if we will act properly and with mind and I wonder if those who hate us (or our presence more so) will react positively. I hope so. They have suffered in that country more than anyone needs to. This needs to end.

Turkey frees Kurd dissidents: Concession seen as move to smooth entry into EU:

"Today's decision is a sign that the implementation of political reforms, which Turkey has been introducing in the past two years, is gaining ground," he said.

Much has changed since their 1994 convictions, in large part because Turkey has made wholesale changes in its constitution and laws in an effort to fulfill EU conditions for starting entry talks at the end of this year.

"They have already served all but nine months of their sentences."

THIS IS ME NOW:: I call bullshit. They get off nine months early on a ten year sentence and suddenly Turkey is this almighty politcal power showing the glow of genius and wonder? Heh...you know, times like these help remind me how fucking stupid this whole play is up there between all the people who are suppossedly "in the know." Why can't we just play fucking smart? It is all about money and betterment of existence. With intelligence and maybe the end of some of the closemindedness that inhibits the "great leaders" of our world, we could actually do something that matters...and maybe four people convicted of a wrongful charge won't be celebrated because they are released...because that is common sense...maybe, just maybe we will beat the fuck out of the morons who put them in prison in the first place.

IHT: Ex-head of Mitsubishi arrested with 5 others: Hidden defects suspected in fatal crash

The Japanese police on Thursday arrested a former president of Mitsubishi Motors and five other former executives on charges relating to the company's failure to disclose a vehicle defect suspected of causing a fatal accident in 2002.

Over the last several months, Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso have recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles to repair defects, including problems that caused fuel tanks and wheels to suddenly fall off moving vehicles.

Gorby had the lead role, not Gipper

Then Mr. Gorbachev announced a grandiose plan to rid the world of nuclear weapons by 2000. Just another hoax, the Reagan men cried. More Commie flim-flam.

Then came another concession -- Kremlin permission for on-site arms inspections on Soviet land -- and then the Reykjavik summit. In Iceland, Mr. Gorbachev put his far-reaching arms-reduction package on the table and Mr. Reagan, to global condemnation, walked away, offering nothing in return.