freedom!

Microsoft censors Chinese blogs from bbc

"Weblog entries on some parts of Microsoft's MSN site in China using words such as "freedom", "democracy" and "demonstration" are being blocked.
...
Those using these banned words or writing entries that are pornographic or contain sensitive information get a pop-up warning that reads: "This message contains a banned expression, please delete this expression."
...
China recently introduced stringent regulations that require all blog owners to register their web journal with the state by 30 June.
The regulations require the writer of a blog to identify themselves to the authorities."

quotes

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.
~Dinah Craik

Sticks and stones are hard on bones
Aimed with angry art,
Words can sting like anything
But silence breaks the heart.
~Suzanne Nichols

Assumptions are the termites of relationships.
~Henry Winkler

I felt it shelter to speak to you.
~Emily Dickinson

Trouble is part of your life, and if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you enough chance to love you enough.
~Dinah Shore

thought

sometimes we handle things in ways we don't like...

world food prize

Aquaculture researcher recognised with award

"An Indian researcher who has helped feed more than 1 million people in Asia and Africa through new fish farming methods has been awarded the 2005 World Food Prize.
Modadugu V. Gupta, research co-ordinator for the Penang, Malaysia-based WorldFish Centre, will receive a $250 000 (about R1,6-million) prize in a ceremony on October 13 at the state capitol, officials announced on Friday."

horrendous...

In Pak, officials can order rape

"The original trial before an anti-terrorism court in 2002 found that Mai was gang-raped on the orders of a traditional village council after her brother -- who was 12 at the time -- was judged to have offended the honour of a powerful clan by befriending a woman from their tribe.
...

Gang rapes and honour killings are common in feudalistic rural Pakistan. In most cases the perpetrators go free because of incompetent police investigations and flaws in the legal system, which have been highlighted in the current case.

President Pervez Musharraf, who has been trying to project Pakistan as a moderate and progressive Muslim nation, has taken a personal interest in the case, saying it was tarnishing the country's image overseas."

don't have words to express myself...

Sculpture outside the CIA

heard abt it on KERA yestarday...

Solving the Enigma of Kryptos from wired news
"it's been nearly 15 years since Sanborn installed the 12-foot-high, verdigrised copper, granite and wood sculpture inscribed with four encrypted messages at the CIA's Langley, Virginia, headquarters in 1990. And it's been seven years since anyone made progress at cracking its code."

Cracking the Code of a CIA Sculpture from the washington post
"It had reached the point that David Stein was seeing the letters in his head before drifting off to sleep at night. Arrayed in seemingly meaningless order on the copper sides of "Kryptos," an oddly powerful sculpture at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, they had guarded a secret since the artwork was dedicated in October 1990. "

also related to the book "da vinci code" due to which this has gotten so much popularity.

photo of the sculpture Kryptos

amazing

Pictures Of The Week from time.