News

Greg Meckbach wrote an interesting post today on
Here’s a quick excerpt
By Col R Hariharan (Retd.)
During the last one week, Sri Lanka army has kept up its momentum of advance. According to defence sources, the troops of 57 Division are on the periphery of line Tunukkai-Mallavi, west of A9 highway. We can expect them to secure the line from Vellankulam on the coast to Mallavi during the course of the week The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)’s failed attempt to dislodge the security forces in area South of Vavunikulam tank by last Wednesday is significant. Vavunikulam is astride the Vellankulam-Mallavi-Mankulam road axis and provides a take off point to build up the threat to Mankulam on A9. Even if the LTTE had succeeded, at best it would have bought a few more days of respite. However, the fact is that the LTTE was beaten back at Vavunikulam with a body count of 29 LTTE dead.
The LTTE counter attack […]

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unknown wrote an interesting post today on
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Just read this story and saw short documentary through Mental Floss. A great website in any case. It’s absolutely amazing the courage this 19 year old young woman has to compete in this year’s Olympic Games despite the cultural prejudices and dangers for her and her family. Wouldn’t it be powerful if students could come together and support people and causes like this one? This year I’m looking to spend a great deal of class time on project based collaborative learning with students and classrooms from around the world. I can only hope that my students are as inspired and strong and Mahbooba.

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adriddle0115 wrote an interesting post today on
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al Qaeda is against the idea of King Abdullah holding meetings for interfaith dialog and believes it amounts to heresy against Islam.

DUBAI: A key al Qaeda figure has said Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah should be killed for calling for an interfaith dialogue that amounted to joining a Western crusade against Islam.
“Hurrying to kill this wanton tyrant (King Abdullah) who has announced himself to be a leader of atheism would be among the most pious acts,” Abu Yahya al-Libi said in a video posted on Monday on Islamist websites often used by al Qaeda supporters.
The message followed a groundbreaking Saudi-sponsored interfaith conference in Spain this month in which King Abdullah called on followers of the world’s major faiths to turn away from extremism and seek reconciliation. http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/07/28/europe/OUKWD-UK-QAEDA-INTERFAITH-SAUDI.php

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kdumwm wrote an interesting post today on
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Nearly every business, start up or establishment is facing a dilemma after decades of startling success, due the excessive expansion, misjudging economic opportunity, and surviving on borrowed capital; the bill has now become due.

In the recent past, businesses could fudge records, price gouge consumers, and literally expect that consumers would pay, and more often than not; they would. Consumers had no concept of shopping for value and quality, while expecting a decent return on investment for the money they shelled out.

But a funny thing happened between 2000-2008. Price increases did not work, companies could not continue to price gouge consumers primarily because the consumers could not control their own spending and credit habits. A economic summit is now underway by the average consumer to combat an ever decreasing cash flow Caused by their extravagant lifestyle.

The catch is just about all other Corporate 500 companies are in the same […]

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cards6 wrote an interesting post today on
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“The act of female suicide bombing is not a purely religious phenomenon, and there are several secular extremist organizations that practice it, such as the Kurdish Workers’ Party (now known as Kongra-Gel) or the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in Sri Lanka.” (Source: ISN) 
Women suicide bombers have been on the forefront of the Chechen rebel movement for years. The Russian media has sensationalized dubbing these women who usually appear on videotape dressed in all black with explosives strapped to their waits as the “Black Widows.” Many, not all, of these women’s husbands were killed during the first war in Chechnya in 1994 and then again in 1999 under Putin. Some credit this phenomenon with Chechnya being able to connect its rebel movement to global jihad through the sensationalism by the RNineteen of the 41 Chechen attackers who seized a Moscow theater in 2002 were women, dressed in all black wearing belts strapped […]

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cards6 wrote an interesting post today on
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Women suicide bombers have been on the forefront of the Chechen rebel movement for years. Nineteen of the 41 Chechen attackers who seized a Moscow theater in 2002 were women dressed in all black wearing belts strapped with explosives. The Russian media soon dubbed these women the “Black Widows.”
Since then Chechen women have carried out almost two thirds of the terrorist attacks. This is above the proportions when compared to other terrorist organizations. A report by the INS- International Relations and Security Network based in Zurich states that religion is not the main factor that drives terrorist attacks.  ”The act of female suicide bombing is not a purely religious phenomenon, and there are several secular extremist organizations that practice it, such as the Kurdish Workers’ Party (now known as Kongra-Gel) or the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. “
The INS’s report entitled, “Women to the forefront in Chechen Terrorism” attempts […]

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kdumwm wrote an interesting post today on
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Even being in pain you can find a way to be productive.  Working from home has become a part of the economic sector as businesses have learned to outsource labor and costs have forced creativity as well as reductions in work force.  Some companies chose to let certain employees work from home when the types of work they were producing suited opportunity to work outside of the office.
This opportunity came with several doors although at first it was the “standard” non disabled worker who was being offered the jobs that came from companies finding ways to operate more efficiently and cost effectively.  AS with any door you get a two way swing.  On the back swing of the work from home phenomenom comes the opportunity for stay at home folks and disabled folks who can’t work in traditional environments to become a part of the working sector again.  Being disabled […]

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unknown wrote an interesting post today on
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The last untouchable in Europe
By Sean Thomas - July 28, 2008
Independent.co.uk
Sitting in her little house near Tarbes, in the French Pyrenees, Marie-Pierre Manet-Beauzac is talking about her ancestry. 
For most people this would be agreeable, perhaps even pleasurable. For the 40-something mother-of-three, the story of her bloodline is marked with a unique sadness: because she belongs to an extraordinary tribe of hidden pariahs, repressed in France for a thousand years.
Marie-Pierre is a Cagot.
If the word “Cagot” means nothing to you, that is not surprising. The history of the Cagot people is obscure; some assert it has been deliberately erased. Marie certainly believes that: “To talk about the Cagots is still a bad thing in the mountains. The French are ashamed of what they did to us, the Cagots are ashamed of what they were. That is why no one, these days, will confess they are of Cagot descent.”
Except, uniquely, for Marie-Pierre […]

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worldmonitor wrote an interesting post today on
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A quick succession of three bomb attacks have killed over 61 people in Baghdad. Reports state that all three explosions were female suicide bombers.
“At about 8am, three female suicide bombers detonated themselves among pilgrims heading to Kazimiyah,” Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad’s military commander, said in a statement posted on his website. As the pilgrimage climaxes on Tuesday, police and security officials expect at least a million people to visit the Kadhimiya shrine in northwestern Baghdad. Iraqi security forces have increased their numbers in the area, including female security guards to search women.
By discouraging women against joining security forces and not frisking female civilians, target areas have become vulnerable to multiple, close range attacks. Female suicide bombers reach their targets swiftly, bypassing the multiple security checkpoints that would have stopped any male conspirator’s efforts.
According to Time magazine, “Although fewer than 30 of the nearly 1,000 suicide bombings since the end […]

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worldmonitor wrote an interesting post today on
Here’s a quick excerpt
A quick succession of three bomb attacks have killed over 57 people in Baghdad. Reports state that all three explosions were female suicide bombers.
“At about 8am, three female suicide bombers detonated themselves among pilgrims heading to Kazimiyah,” Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad’s military commander, said in a statement posted on his website. As the pilgrimage climaxes on Tuesday, police and security officials expect at least a million people to visit the Kadhimiya shrine in northwestern Baghdad. Iraqi security forces have increased their numbers in the area, including female security guards to search women.
By discouraging women against joining security forces and not frisking female civilians, target areas have become vulnerable to multiple, close range attacks. Female suicide bombers reach their targets swiftly, bypassing the multiple security checkpoints that would have stopped any male conspirator’s efforts.
According to Time magazine, “Although fewer than 30 of the nearly 1,000 suicide bombings since the end […]

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