I’m feeling rather thirsty for a few good books.  If any of you have a favorite book (please only those of human authorship) to suggest for me, please do…  Desired (not required) genres:  Religious, non-fiction, history, political, social science, various humanities…

This is funny and maybe a bit sad, for many reasons.  But apparently, Michael Jackson is wandering around Bahrain in women’s overdresses and veils…

Michael Jackson shops in Bahrain disguised as woman

Now here’s where the discussion about privacy, identity and safety comes up…

But if everyone finds out that it’s him eventually, why the disguise?  If, even in full cover, he is recognized (may be the entourage…) is it even worth doing?

And what about these photographers who hound celebrities, in hopes of taking a shot that will be seen around the world?  By making this post, I think I may have validated the photographer’s work… although I hope not.

I went through some of the older links in my “Favorites” — just to see what was in there.  Here are some goodies:

Akiane - an amazing child artist

Cats in Sinks - oh yes!

M.C. Escher website - uhhhh…

Gautam Narang’s Photography - beautiful

MR. T - Wikiquote - Shut up, fool!

OBEY - phenomenology

Zatoon Cartoons - Muslim cartoons

I’ve been watching the Alito hearing… It’s basically a bunch of Republicans complimenting him, his family and his past, while glossing over and brushing aside any critique of Alito, followed by a comment about the previous Democrat’s poor tact (How dare you hurt his wife! You made her cry!)

Then a Democrat, chasing Alito through his endless sidesteps, abstract and vague answers and issues with “recollection.” Back and forth.

And the callers to C-SPAN; the obligatory “heez’a best man fur’tha job! ‘merakin peepo’ needz ta lissen ta senaterz talkin’ ’bout his past! Heez an excellunt judge! Them crazy lib’rulz ain’t in touch with tha mainstreem ‘merikins.” … caller from _x_ southern state…

And spacing out with my new Lava Lamp… ohhh yeaaaah.

http://ask.yahoo.com/20060111.html

Dear Yahoo!:

How many people in the world live in extreme poverty?

Kelly
London, England

Dear Kelly:

According to NetAid, over a billion people, or roughly one in six, live in extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than US$1 a day.

The World Bank goes on to define moderate poverty as basic subsistence living, on $1 to $2 a day. All told, nearly half the world’s population lives in poverty — that’s 2.8 billion people living on less than two dollars a day.

Some other facts to keep in mind:

• Each year over 8 million people die because they are simply too poor to stay alive.
• More than 800 million people go hungry every day.
• The gross domestic product of the poorest 48 nations is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people.
• Thirty-thousand children die every day due to hunger and treatable illnesses.
• 6 million children die every year before their fifth birthday, as a result of malnutrition.

You can find detailed poverty assessments of specific geographical regions on the World Bank’s PovertyNet. And if you’re interested in learning how the World Bank comes up with its poverty statistics, take a look at PovcalNet.

The goal of the Millennium Campaign is to reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day by 2015. And the aim of the One Campaign is to direct an additional 1 percent of the United States budget towards eradicating global poverty.

Right Islam vs. Wrong Islam

The organization for which the author is an advisor: Libforall

Happy New Year +one second!

I’ve been gone a while. Not an unheardof thing for this blog, but yeah. Since hubz had a long weekend, we stayed up late, ate donuts, got drunk on caffeine-free diet Coke, went to the city and generally wasted time having fun. Lailee had her first walk in downtown Philly… She’s a country girl, but she did wonderfully. Hubz says he wants to live in the city… That will be interesting.

It’s 2:00 in the morning and we still may go out… Man, I love long weekends. I took some pics recently that I haven’t uploaded and I have to upgrade my Wordpress installation. But later!