I wonder how he feels about Courvoisier.. Kim Jong-il.. the Ladies Man.

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The little that is known about Kim Jong-il, North Korea's leader, conjures up a caricature of a diminutive playboy, a comic picture at odds with his brutal regime.

Diplomats and escaped dissidents talk of a vain, paranoid, cognac- guzzling hypochondriac.

He is said to wear platform shoes and favour a bouffant hairstyle in order to appear taller than his 5 feet 3 inches.

...

Mr Kim also has a reputation as a drinker. He was seen draining 10 glasses of wine during his 2000 summit with the South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and is known to have a taste for Hennessy VSOP cognac.

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Profile: Kim Jong-il

Elizabeth Smart found alive
Wednesday, March 12, 2003 Posted: 6:11 PM EST (2311 GMT)

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- Salt Lake City police said Wednesday that missing teenager Elizabeth Smart was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb earlier Wednesday, and her uncle told CNN she has been reunited with her family.

"We just believe in miracles and thank God she's alive," Tom Smart told CNN by telephone.

He said the reunion involved her immediate family.

Sandy City Police Sgt. Michelle Burnette said two people called police with a tip that led them to a certain address.

"Two separate women called in and said they thought they had spotted `Emmanuel,"' she said. Emmanuel's real name is Brian David Mitchell. He is a drifter who had once done work on the Smarts' home.

Elizabeth, now 15, was wearing a wig when she was found, The Associated Press reported.

CNN.com - Elizabeth Smart found alive - Mar. 12, 2003

House cafeterias change names for 'french fries' and 'french toast'
By Sean Loughlin
CNN Washington Bureau
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 Posted: 5:45 PM EST (2245 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The cafeteria menus in the three House office buildings changed the name of "french fries" to "freedom fries," in a culinary rebuke of France stemming from anger over the country's refusal to support the U.S. position on Iraq.

Ditto for "french toast," which will be known as "freedom toast."

CNN.com - House cafeterias change names for 'french fries' and 'french toast' - Mar. 11, 2003

Wow. Good stuff!!

I've always had an interest in the way that people organize themselves and some degree of intuitive understanding that people need to feel that they're part of something in order to want to contribute. The typical media piracy group, for example, is organized like a monarchy.. with a king, a few royal servants and then the chattal below begging for scraps. There's really no reason it should be this way, and I think there is actual opportunity for companies or other organizations that are willing to figure out how to treat people like people and get them to work through enlightened self-interest.. :)

EDIT: Also, read the comments on that page for some interesting different perspectives. I don't necessarily think that "chaordic" is a scientific field of study but it's certainly clear that many aspects of traditional management theory aren't working.. :) of course, I am completely uneducated in systems theory etc etc soooo..

=darwin

The founder of Visa on Corporations

The navigation menu on the left side of the page no longer hides the link for the page you are on. The Agent and Search Engine now have a more intelligent pager.

As always, let Decius or I know if you run into any bugs.

Site Update: Nav Menu & Pager

Hoorah for smart people!

SMRT People

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WHY DO CATS LIKE EATING EARWAX ??

I did a study on earwax as part of my degree in neuroscience (Bsc.Neurosci. Nottingham 1997) , and know a fair bit about Sensory Reception in both humans and cats. . .

The principal constituent components of earwax are complex sebaceous fluids and sloughed off dead skin cells. The sebaceous fluids are composed mostly of triglyceride fatty acids, waxes and cholesterol esters.

WHY DO CATS LIKE EATING EARWAX? B3ta.com

Body blow as human shields ordered out

March 8 2003
By Paul McGeough
Baghdad

The international "human shield" is on the brink of disintegration after some of its leaders - including Australian Gordon Sloan - said they had been ordered to leave Iraq.

Their numbers had been thinning as war becomes imminent, but on Thursday night came predictions that as many as half the 120 remaining "shields" would quit in the wake of a rowdy meeting with a senior Iraqi figure who they claimed had compromised the autonomy of their volunteer organisation.

Body blow as human shields ordered out - theage.com.au

Michelle Malkin:
Send the human shields 'home'

Posted: March 7, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

What color is a human shield? Crayola needs to invent a new hue weaker than lemonade and paler than jaundice: Traitor Yellow.

Showing the cowardice of their deluded convictions, dozens of Americans, Brits, Canadians and Australians who went to Iraq to protect Saddam Hussein's regime with their unshaven, Eddie Bauer-clothed bodies are now fleeing.

When Iraqi Republican Guards tried to move their pampered Western pawns in front of nuclear plants and electricity stations in preparation for impending war, the human shields buckled. Daniel Pepper, a 22-year-old Pennsylvania student, told the London Sunday Telegraph that he was appalled when Saddam's soldiers dispatched him to a yucky oil refinery.

WorldNetDaily: Send the human shields 'home'

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I used to have a real job. My idea of a vacation was to spend two to six weeks under demanding physical and mental conditions to relax from my office job. When I returned I was refreshed, invigorated, educated and thankful to be back home. I now realize that I needed this high level of intensity to make me pay attention. I was completing my "education," albeit under bizarre circumstances, but nonetheless I would return with a smattering of a new language, an understanding of another byzantine political problem and a list of new friends who might range from farmers to nomads to warlords. As I continued to drop in and out of these places my friends and associates would suggest that I should put down the stories and tips on paper, so I began writing articles about my trips.

Fielding's DangerFinder®