My Thoughts on Changes

Main Entry: pa

By way of Madame Levy I found an interesting article about linking habits of bloggers. It appears to be divided along gender lines with males overwhelmingly favoring male blog authors and females with the same trend towards their own gender. I counted my own blogroll and found I have links to 29 sites (as of today and could have more but I’m lazy about updating my MT templates…) and ten of those are to female authored sites, two that belong to gay writers (at least I know those two are) and the rest are links to male authored blogs. An almost 50/50 split. Not sure what that says about me as a person but it seems I’m not completely following the pack. Perhaps it has to do with what I like to read; what calls my attention in writing style, beliefs and ideas. I am not concerned about reaching any artificial “readership top” by strategically linking to other sites. Most of the sites I link to are sites I comment in and try to get to know the person behind the writing. Mind you, I have experienced some backfires by my habits but is all in a life’s journey of learning. In any case, I’ll be watching that space as social trends is something I find fascinating.
Keep up the good work!
apophenia: the biases of links

I began this investigation curious about gender differences. There are a few things that we know in social networks. First, our social networks are frequently split by gender (from childhood on). Second, men tend to have large numbers of weak ties and women tend to have fewer, but stronger ties. This means that in traditional social networks, men tend to know far more people but not nearly as intimately as those women know. (This is a huge advantage for men in professional spheres but tends to wreak havoc when social support becomes more necessary and is often attributed to depression later in life.)

…ahem! I’m sure Chairman Mao is laughing his ass off, wherever his spirit is…
Skies open to China’s new jet set

The number of millionaires in China is growing, and more and more Chinese will have a chance to own their own planes, said Michael Feinig, Diamond’s managing director.
“It is not far from a reality for wealthy Chinese people to be able to treat the private jet as a practical means of transport, creating an attractive market for us,” Feinig was quoted by the 21st Business Herald as saying.

…and it’s too late to stop it… Well, duh!! Welcome to the club! They should have seen that one coming. The first thing that is satiated when one have access to a “variety of good”, is hunger. When hunger is satiated, then the next, inevitable step, is consumming food for the taste of it. Then and there is when trouble begins. Nobody will eat unsavory foods for pleasure. Flip that one and you have a recipe for a fat waistline.
Fatter Chinese facing more health problems

“If the Chinese have a similar diet to Westerners, for example, with a high fat intake, they will also become corpulent,” Gong said.
As China’s economy grows, so do waistlines.
As the report pointed out, the Chinese diet has turned down an unhealthy road. Urban citizens’ consumption of poultry, meat and oil/fat is too high, while the amount of cereals in the diet is relatively low.

Just because the outburst was “bullshit”? Or because he walked off the room? Hey, where’s the bleeping thingy when you really need it? And what about all those commercials about “Erectile Dysfunction”, on Prime Time, with the implicit invitation to a good “Fornication Under Consent of the King”? Right, I forgot, it is only intended as an aid for married couples in the flacid phase of life…
Chicago Tribune | Novak’s outburst, exit stoke CNN’s ire

“Bob Novak’s behavior on CNN today was inexcusable and unacceptable,” the network said in a statement. “Mr. Novak has apologized to CNN, and CNN apologizes to its viewers for his language and actions. We’ve asked Mr. Novak to take some time off.”
It’s a heck of a sendoff for “Inside Politics,” which already is scheduled to be swallowed up after Friday’s edition by Wolf Blitzer’s new three-hour weekday program, “The Situation Room,” set to launch Monday.
Already this year, CNN has axed Novak’s “The Capital Gang” and “Crossfire.” But CNN has expected him to be a regular contributor to “The Situation Room.” There’s no word yet on whether that now will change.

Military Council for Justice AND Democracy??

Yep, that’s a “misnomer” if I’ve ever seen one.
Talk about flashbacks. The press still uses the Spanish name “Junta” for this type of government. Anybody remember where the name came from? They even used the name for the military government that ruled Greece between 1967 and 1974… Yup, it is an old and disgusting name for the infamy of millions of civilians being ruled by the sole of thousands of military boots… Hey, they have the bigger stick after all, right? I guess it gives them the right to flex some of that muscle, once in a while.
VOA News – Mauritanian Army Announces Overthrow of President Taya

In a statement issued in the name of the Military Council for Justice and Democracy, the Mauritanian military announced the armed forces have decided to end what they call the “totalitarian activities” of President Ould Taya and take power for up to two years.

… put into practice in real war interrogation tactics… Now, imagine, just imagine, this being used on our own citizens, as the School of the Americas taught countless military heads on South América to use against their own citizens. Think this is farfetched? Think again.

Documents Tell of Brutal Improvisation by GIs

The sleeping bag was the idea of a soldier who remembered how his older brother used to force him into one, and how scared and vulnerable it made him feel. Senior officers in charge of the facility near the Syrian border believed that such “claustrophobic techniques” were approved ways to gain information from detainees, part of what military regulations refer to as a “fear up” tactic, according to military court documents.

…there is always the “optimists”…
Reaction to Bolton’s U.N. Appointment

“Let’s not prejudge his behavior. Let’s wait for how he comes and what he says here. … The tendency here at the United Nations is for us to work together. So I hope that this general tendency will prevail.” _ Brazil’s U.N. Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg

Heck, yes!! I would have flee the place like running from the bubonic pest… I did, once.
Watching the news and biting my nails…
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The Expatriate Achtung! You are 15% brainwashworthy, 18% antitolerant, and 38% blindly patriotic

Congratulations! You are not susceptible to brainwashing, your values and cares extend beyond the borders of your own country, and your Blind Patriotism (“patriotism” for short) does not reach unhealthy levels. In Germany in the 30s, you would’ve left the country. One bad scenario — as I hypothetically project you back in time — is that you just wouldn’t have cared one way or the other about Nazism. Maybe politics don’t interest you enough. But the fact that you took this test means they probably do. I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt. Did you know that many of the smartest Germans departed prior to the beginning of World War II, because they knew some evil shit was brewing? Brain Drain. Many of them were scientists. It is very possible you could be one of them, depending on your age. Conclusion: Born and raised in Germany in the early 1930’s, you would not have been a Nazi.