"We did not know the layout of the hotel," the commando told reporters. "There was one person on the hotel staff who was helping to guide us around."

They entered the hotel for the first time essentially blind to what was ahead. They had no idea what kind of people they would encounter, what kind of weapons might be pointed at them, and whether they might be blown up by explosives. Learn more about the Taj's past and future »

So... this is why it took the special forces so long to take down the terrorists. There were no blueprints to map out a quick/simultaneous entry by lots of guys to sweep the whole building, as you would expect them to do.

Commandos entered dark hotel filled with bodies, gunfire - CNN.com

Since we suspect they were Muslims, and since we doubt the Pakistanis can be categorical and convincing enough to thwart Indian demands, we suspect that we will be deep into a crisis within the next few days, very shortly after the situation on the ground clarifies itself.

Pakistan is so god-damned frustrating. Supposed/relative 'good guys' in the central government, elements of the intelligence service aiding terrorists, the father of the Islamic bomb driving nuclear proliferation, large swaths of the country independent and hostile and... there's not a damned thing we can do about it, because pressuring the central government to crack down on terrorism tends to hurt their credibility and threatens to destabilize the entire nation, which has nukes.

Its the country that really matters in the 'war on terror', its the place where the focus would be if this war weren't a total sham, and there's not a god damned thing we can do.

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

Red Alert: Possible Geopolitical Consequences of the Mumbai Attacks (Open Access) | Stratfor

Hurrah!! Thanks to everyone who nominated Regator earlier this month, we’ve made it past the primaries and are now a real, honest-to-goodness candidate for Best Social News site in Mashable’s Open Web Awards. This is absolutely awesome news for our young site.

Please vote for us and vote OFTEN (you’re allowed one vote every 24 hours) using the fancy blue widget on the right.

From here on out, it gets very David-and-Goliath. You see, our three-month-old startup is in the top ten with sites like Digg and Socialmedian. Yes, Digg. So we really need your help. We’re not only asking for your daily vote, we’re also asking (okay, begging) for you to share this great news with everyone you know who might enjoy Regator.

Atlanta startup Regator is doing battle with Dig and others in the Mashup awards. Show your support by voting for them once per day, per email address for the rest of the week. They are currently in the top 10. If they get top 3 it will rocket them to success, so be community minded and vote!

Regator Blog — News and Views from the Regator Team

KiokuDB: Persistent Object Graphs for Perl

KiokuDB is a Moose based object oriented persistence frontend for various document oriented storage backends.

KiokuDB focuses on predictability and transparency, allowing noninvasive persistence while minimising the unpleasant surprises that come with naive serialization approaches.

The project builds on Moose's metaprogramming for runtime support, Search::GIN's indexing and querying facilities, and preexisting database technologies such as Berkeley DB for high performance and robust transactional storage.

KiokuDB

WHEN President Bill Clinton pardoned a billionaire fugitive from justice on his last day in office, even usually loyal Democrats were dismayed. Representative Henry Waxman of California called it “bad precedent” and “an end run around the judicial process.” He said it appeared to set a double standard for the wealthy and powerful.

This is pretty troubling.

Op-Ed Contributor - A Pardon to Remember - NYTimes.com

Rachael Ray is adorable. Errr... I mean, extended talk about cheap, fresh healthy food.

Rachael Ray and Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Affordable Health Food

Crayon Physics Deluxe is a 2D physics puzzle game, in which you get to experience what it would be like if your drawings would be magically transformed into real physical objects. Solve puzzles with your artistic vision and creative use of physics.

Amazing, extraordinarily creative game that looks like so much fun.

Crayon Physics Deluxe

Hello, you! Thanks for looking at my things with you eyes! I specialise in slightly 'twisted' art (or 'twart', if you will), be it Laurel & Hardy in a mexican stand-off, or a scenic portrait of an 'At-At' being taken for a walk in the park. Everything is hand-painted, from the initial pencil sketch to the final wibbling masterpiece. Check out the FAQ page for more info.

Here's a collection of lovingly crafted buyable weirdness that you just won't find anywhere else..

Amazing art.

Strangely Drawn - Jim Hance's Art

Sounds like the future's Swiss nipple. Great.

Sputnika 02 tangles of wires.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)

Windows only: Freeware application Net Profiles lets you automate tasks—like mapping network drives or switching the default printer—based on the network your computer is currently connected to.

Yesterday when I highlighted proximity- and location-based switching with the Mac-only Home Zone, I lamented that I wasn't able to find a solid freeware tool for Windows that performed similar tasks; although Net Profiles doesn't handle any of the Bluetooth proximity functionality, it looks to work very well with location actions. It can even change your default browser homepage and proxy settings, switch desktop wallpapers, and launch programs. Net Profiles is freeware, Windows only. Thanks Christophe!null

Featured Windows Download: Automate computer settings by network with Net Profiles