] During 50 years of communist rule in former Yugoslavia,
] the Croatian island of Vis remained an inaccessible naval
] base lost in the middle of the Adriatic.
]
] The islanders eked a living from fishing and services for
] the Yugoslav military. Tourism, which in today's Croatia
] generates some $4.0 billion in revenues a year, came much
] later to the island than it did elsewhere on the Adriatic
] coast.
]
] There are no big socialist-style hotels here, some 12
] years after Croatia left Socialist Yugoslavia and fought
] an independence war with its ethnic Serb minority and the
] Yugoslav army.
]
] The place looks more like an early 20th century
] fishermen's settlement and, with some luck, it may stay
] that way.
]
] The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has designated Vis as one
] of the 10 last paradises on the Mediterranean and is
] taking steps to preserve its pristine beauty and
] wildlife, while giving locals a chance to make some money
] in the process.

Lost Mediterranean island deemed wild paradise

Australian scientists have shown that the more men masturbate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop the disease that kills more than half a million men each year.

Don't let those nuns convince you that it's a sin!

Masturbation Reduces Risk of Prostate Cancer

The U.S. Chess Federation picked the Cumberland Plateau city over 29 others, including Atlanta, Dallas, Indianapolis, Lexington, Ky; Louisville, Ky.; Newark, N.J; Portland, Ore.; St. Louis, Salt Lake City; and San Francisco.

We're all culture-fied here in Tennessee!

U.S. Chess Federation Moves to Tennessee

] As a Creation Scientist, one of my greatest duties that I
] take great pleasure in is introducing the works of the
] Lord to the young generation. The sparkle of wonderment
] that fills their eyes in knowing the creative power of
] God fills my heart with the Lord's divine Love. It
] however saddens me greatly that the proponents of
] Evolutionism have corrupted this true purpose of science
] and are instead using it as a propaganda tool to spread
] Secularism. But what is education for if not to fight
] against ignorance such as that? Our children are the
] future face of Science and we must teach them to
] recognize the truth of the Word of the Lord so as to
] break the cycle of Evolutionism dogma that is paralyzing
] scientific development and making higher education a
] dumping ground for the excesses of materialistic
] philosophies.

You must scroll down and read the winners. My personal favorite: the 2nd place winner in the middle school division, for using physics to explain why god designed women to be homemakers. Religion just scares the shit out of me sometimes. The sad thing is, even though I put this under humor, its REAL!!!

OBJECTIVE: Creation Education: Creation Science Fair 2001

] LONDON - In an astonishing announcement on global warming
] and extreme weather, the World Meteorological
] Organisation has signalled that the world's weather is
] going haywire.
]
] In a startling report, the WMO, which normally produces
] detailed scientific reports and staid statistics at the
] year's end, highlighted record extremes in weather and
] climate occurring all over the world in recent weeks,
] from Switzerland's hottest-ever June to a record month
] for tornadoes in the United States - and linked them to
] climate change.
]
] The unprecedented warning takes its force and
] significance from the fact that it is coming from an
] impeccably respected UN organisation that is not given to
] hyperbole (though environmentalists will seize on it to
] claim that the direst warnings of climate change are
] being borne out).

Nope, no global warming, nothing to see here...

New Zealand News - World - Extreme weather evidence of global warming

] Melinda Dishman's 13-year-old daughter rarely talks about
] the hidden cameras that reportedly took pictures of her
] changing clothes in a school locker room.
]
] ''She's embarrassed. Her big concern is who has looked at
] them. She just knows it's not right,'' said Dishman,
] adding that her daughter is now acutely aware of her
] surroundings and wonders who might be watching. ''She
] doesn't take her privacy for granted.''

While I was in TN earlier this morning one of the technology coordinators told me about this story. The really disturbing part of this is that it was a middle school.

Parents demand limits for school cameras - Wednesday, 07/09/03

Interesting read on how Google certainly has become a very influential entity and why more and more people are beginning to be disgruntled with it.

s Google's growth provoking a backlash? Industry observers are beginning to think so. A few years ago, they note, it was difficult to find anyone who didn't worship Google, but now many people have a beef with the firm. Some of the complaints are obviously self-serving and maybe even dismissible -- such as those from the Chinese government, say, or the Church of Scientology. But the ire of other groups has more heft. In recent months, the question of how Google should index blogs has become a hot topic online. Google has been attacked by some critics who say the search engine gives blogs too much weight, and others who say it's not giving blogs their due. Then there are webmasters and people in the "search engine optimization" industry, folks whose livelihoods depend on ranking well in Google. With so much riding on the whims of one firm, these people are constantly, pedantically, obsessed with and irritated at Google, sometimes, as in Massa's case, to the point of litigation.

The Google Backlash

McDonald's is telling its direct suppliers -- those that control all stages of animal production -- to phase out such antibiotics by the end of 2004. Direct suppliers provide most of McDonald's poultry and 20 percent of its meat.

This is definitely the best news I've seen come out of the fast food industry, ever. Premium Salads are a joke, since most of them have more calories and fat than a Big Mac.

For those of you that haven't ever read up on this before, cattle, poultry and pig farmers were looking for a better way to provide growth energy (aka calories) to their livestock, because it would take several years for a calf to get big enough to send to the slaughterhouse. Through research and experimentation, it was discovered that corn was an excellent source of energy, however, the animals couldn't digest it properly. Actually, it would make them sick, so to counteract that effect, livestock are regularly fed antibiotics.

One of the theories regarding antibiotic resistant viruses is based on the fact that the food we consume has already been given antibiotics. It is possible that the virii out there have already mutated to survive the antibiotics given to the livestock.

McDonald's curbs antibiotic use in meat

A good interview with a good musician, albeit one that is only admired by the dregs of society, like hackers! Lesbians! Lesbian hackers!

Excerpt:
In "Serpentine" you say, "I've been around the world now/ and I can say this about America:/ The mind control is steep here/ the myopia is deep here." What do you mean by mind control in that song?

I'm not really that well traveled. I've just been a few places. I exaggerate. I form big opinions based upon small bits of knowledge. [Laughs.] One thing that is great about traveling so much is learning about where you come from. We all speak from our own perspectives, but I think the American tendency is to be very ethnocentric. I began to experience it as a kid growing up, learning history from the perspective of the elite ruling class. As I travel around, I've begun to realize that there's a way of looking at it where America is a pretty big evil empire that is trying to carry out an imperialist program in the world. And we're becoming very hated and we have very little awareness of it because we're so saturated with corporate propaganda. I keep trying to explain to people outside America, "No, we're not all evil. We're just ignorant."

At least she doesn't have to worry about the radio stations not playing her music because of this interview, since Clear Channel stations don't normally play her music at all...

Salon Interview with Ani DiFranco

I feel cruel just because I watched this.

Darth Fatty?