State of East Timor

Armored U.N. vehicles guarded East Timor’s leaders Tuesday under a state of emergency declared after rebel soldiers critically wounded the Nobel Peace Prize-winning president and fired at the prime minister’s convoy. AP

At least we know how the U.S. stands on the issue:

If the East Timorians decide to revolt, I’m sure I’ll have a statement.”
— G. W. Bush quoted by Maureen Dowd in the New York Times, June 16, 1999

Arrest this polar bear!

I’ve seen a fair number of Greenpeace “protests” that may have achieved the short term goal Greenpeace was gunning for, but has made environmentalists look incredibly bad in the process. The aftermath information released after Greenpeace successfully stopped the oil platform Brent Spar to be dumbed in the Atlantic, comes to mind. (wiki link)

This, on the other hand, is awesome:

Art

Members of a Czech art group who hacked into television broadcasting with images of a hoax nuclear explosion were charged and will have to stand trial, a state prosecutor said Thursday.

A freeze-frame from the Web cam shows an image of a nuclear explosion.

The six members of the Prague-based Ztohoven group were charged last month with spreading false information and face up to three years in jail if convicted, said Dusan Ondracek, the state prosecutor in the northern town of Trutnov, who is in charge of the case.

The trial could begin by the end of January, Ondracek said.

Don’t Miss
Watch hoax nuke blast on YouTube
On June 17, viewers of a Czech television channel watching a Web cam program monitoring weather in various Czech mountain resorts could see a nuclear explosion taking place in the Krkonose or Giant Mountains in the northern Czech Republic.

In December, the project was awarded the NG 333 prize for young artists by Prague’s National Gallery together with a cash prize of 333,000 koruna. AP

Stewart, Colbert to return to the air

“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” will resume production on Jan. 7 without their striking writers, the Comedy Central network announced Thursday.

(…) In a joint statement, Stewart and Colbert said: “We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence.”AP

Should be interesting to see an “unplugged” edition of the two. I always found the be the interviews as interesting as the rest of the shows, so to have one without the other may be less idea, but still better than neither. Either way, my birthday is on the 6th, so thanks!

Supermodel ‘rejects dollar pay’

The Dollar is doomed!

The world’s richest model has reportedly reacted in her own way to the sliding value of the US dollar - by refusing to be paid in the currency.

Gisele Bündchen is said to be keen to avoid the US currency because of uncertainty over its strength.

The Brazilian, thought to have earned about $30m in the year to June, prefers to be paid in euros, her sister and manager told the Bloomberg news agency. BBC

Stephen Colbert writes NYT guest column

Yup, you read that hedline right. Stephen “My Balls are so big I carry on while Bush and Co are sitting near by” Colbert has written a guest column for the New York Times. Read it here.

Sit still, will ya?

Who says wire writers can’t have humour in their pieces. Here is the AP dissing Bush for not being able to sit still for a few minutes and listen:

Bush smiled and nodded - then nodded some more - as Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip enthusiastically explained how his government holds paperless Cabinet meetings.

The system, which uses digital signatures, permits legislation to be OK’d with the click of a mouse.

Ansip’s explanation, though, was not as lickety split. He described in detail how the dozen members of the Cabinet - in a room dubbed the “Starship Enterprise” - can vote or make comments online. Cabinet meetings that used last about four to five hours now wrap up in about 30 minutes.

Bush endured the lengthy explanation, shifting his weight back and forth. (…) AP

M&S or 007&E?

Priceless Guardian quote:

Still, perhaps we should acknowledge the drug reference and salute a perfect portrait of the mixed-up, shaken-and-stirred mores of Britain circa late 2006: a 69-year-old grandmother - dressed, say M&S, in a £150 “Magicwear” hold-it-all-in dress - doing a Bond-themed gig in Superman’s house and singing about being on E. Fingerfood and sensibly priced partywear all round!

To get a clue of what this hilarious passage is about, read the short story here.

Fiction

With names like this (Nebel is the german word for “fog”), in a story like this, who needs fiction?

The operation’s alleged mastermind, John Nebel, “should have been the CEO of a Fortune 500 company,” said his attorney, Steve Zissou. AP

Traffic

You may not find this as funny as I thought it was (I am an Urban Geography major after all), but since you needed a smile I posted this especially for you. All you others, look away.

Traffic jams in Moscow forced footballers from the city’s Spartak club to abandon their team bus and take public transport to a match on Tuesday. The players and coaching staff had to run to a nearby metro station to catch a train to their Champions League fixture with Inter Milan. Moscow police blamed the traffic jams on a number of factors, including fans on their way to the match. The team lost the match 1-0, and are now likely to exit the competition.(…) BBC

Paging The Doctor

This is a Doctor Who episode waiting to happen.

Pigeon v. Pelican

About ten years ago I sat in a park in London and wondered out loud if the pelicans ever eat any of the pidgeons that kept pestering them. Today I read this on the BBC Web site:

Pelican swallows pigeon in park (article includes picture)

One more mystery solved.

Ninjas

A regular day in Tampa.

Four ninjas steal ATM
Tampa, Florida - It’s not quite Halloween, but that didn’t stop some costumed bandits from making off with a gas station’s ATM.

Tampa Police say four men dressed in ninja outfits slammed a white Ford pickup truck into the Sunoco gas station at MacDill and Azeele on Monday morning.

The suspects picked up the automatic teller machine and drove off. They then went to Riverfront Park, took the money out and drove the truck with the ATM into the Hillsborough River and fled on foot.

The robbery was reported just after 5 AM. The truck was reported stolen and the gas station was not open to the public at the time because it is undergoing renovation.

There has been no sign of the ninjas. WTSB Tampa

Musharraf v. Bush

I finally got around to watching The Daily Show from Sept. 26 with Pakistan’s Musharraf as guest. I am still not sure what to make of Musharraf’s motives, but let me say this: It’s outright embarassing that Musharraf is explanining a situation American politician talk about daily in a more coherent, logical and careful of long term implications than any American politician.

Wach the interview after the jump.
Read entire entry

All your base are belong to us!

I am absolutely in love with all the new things Apple released yesterday, especially the games you can now buy for your 5G video iPod for $5 a pop (the equivalent of two coffees at Starbucks). But it seems that the really neat game Zuma (US iTunes store link) has some translation issues:

Virus program incurs church wrath

Quote of the week:

“As Christians, we’re used to not always getting answers to our prayers immediately, but this seemed to take the biscuit,” said the spokesman. BBC

British Ambassador to Iraq: civil war likely, 5 to 10 “messy” years expected

A secret (and now not so secret anymore) memo send to Blair and other British officials by outgoing British Ambassador to Iraq William Patey has been leaked. Patey’s assessment of the situation in Iraq is rather gloomy and says things like:

“The prospect of a low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy.

Even the lowered expectation of President Bush for Iraq - a government that can sustain itself, defend itself and govern itself and is an ally in the war on terror - must remain in doubt. BBC

Whoops. Didn’t the official Iraqi line say exactly the opposite just yesterday?

Before Patey, who was hand-picked by then British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, can be discredited by the Bush/Blair war-mashine, let’s review what he said when he was sent to Iraq on June 11, 2005, about a year ago:

Iraq faces many great challenges, but the advantage of arriving with fresh eyes is to be able to see just how much has been achieved. Having been involved in Middle East policy throughout my career with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, I knew many of the new leaders of Iraq during their time in exile. To meet them again, as ministers of a democratically elected government in Baghdad is quite momentous. As they face the challenges that lie ahead, the British Government will continue to support the Iraqi Government and people in their struggle for a better future. I very much look forward to playing my part in this endeavour.
official Web site, British Embassy

Sounds like a realist to me.

French fries back on House menu

We made it!

French fries are back on the menu in the US House of Representatives, three years after the name was ditched in favour of “freedom fries.” BBC

Funfact: “french” fries are from Belgium.

Bush Grants Self Permission To Grant More Power To Self

WASHINGTON, DC—In a decisive 1–0 decision Monday, President Bush voted to grant the president the constitutional power to grant himself additional powers.

President Bush announces announcement of the new power-granting announcement.

“As president, I strongly believe that my first duty as president is to support and serve the president,” Bush said during a televised address from the East Room of the White House shortly after signing his executive order. “I promise the American people that I will not abuse this new power, unless it becomes necessary to grant myself the power to do so at a later time.” The Onion

Work it Out

I think my mysterious friend CasaDega (one can never have enough Michelles…) nailed it when she mailed me a link to this video with the note “I hate Dave Matthews Band, but this video is too good not to pass along.”

(One nitpick: is that supposed to be Cheney or Rove? I guess the heart attack gives it away, but looks more like Rove to me.)

Update: lyrics inside.
Read entire entry

The Summer Song

Is this the answer?

What will grow quickly, that you can’t make straight
It’s the price you gotta pay
Do yourself a favour and pack you bags
Buy a ticket and get on the train
Buy a ticket and get on the train

Cause this is fucked up, fucked up
Cause this is fucked up, fucked up

(…) And it’s fucked up, fucked up
And this is fucked up, fucked up
This your blind spot, blind spot
It should be obvious, but it’s not.
But it isn’t, but it isn’t

Thom Yorke - The Eraser

Reporter asks White House, ‘Why don’t you want the fighting to stop?’

Wow, some of them are awake? Did Helen spike their coffee again?

A reporter apparently asked White House Press Secretary Snow “Why don’t you want the fighting to stop?” and followed up with, “So the idea that the United States is holding back in doing any more criticizing of Israel is to give them a chance to take out as many targets as they want?”

Transcript here. (No real answers, but it’s a fun read.)

‘Expert’s view’ on bad G8 photos

The BBC is having some fun with photos from the G8 summit. These photos are all wire photos, but the “expert opinion” below is exclusive to the BBC.

Expert’s view: Bush is showing willing - head back and turned, which is an awkward posture, to laugh with Chirac and Koizumi. BBC

Expert’s view: In this picture with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he looks masterful. His hand is firmly on top of hers and he looks straight ahead while she looks at him.

Bush is a lot more media-savvy than people give him credit for. BBC

Irish steal Welsh trawler to sail home, get picked up by RAF - no joke

Simply classic:

It probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but two young Irish men were being questioned by police today after stealing a fishing trawler to sail home after missing the last ferry from north Wales.

The pair, aged 18 and 20, took the 30ft inshore trawler, Le-Bon Heur, from the port at Holyhead, Anglesey, on Saturday night after missing the last boat to Dublin.

According to one report, after several hours at sea the men realised they were lost and called what they believed was the Irish coastguard for help.

In fact, they had been mainly sailing in circles and were just 12 miles north of where they started, meaning they were rescued by Holyhead’s lifeboat service, with an RAF helicopter also scrambled. (…) Guardian