Amid TEDGlobal's talk of our global connection and interconnection, it's a fine time to present Bob Thurman, Buddhist monk and scholar, on the Buddhist view of the universe. In our hyperlinked world, we can know anything, anytime. And this mass enlightenment, says Thurman, is our first step toward becoming Buddha. When we can know everything, we can see how everything is interconnected -- and we can begin to feel compassion for every living being.

Bob Thurman on happiness and becoming Buddha

I was an Arabic translator. After joining the Navy in 2003, I attended the Defense Language Institute, graduated in the top 10 percent of my class and then spent two years giving our troops the critical translation services they desperately needed. I was ready to serve in Iraq.

But I never got to. In March, I was ousted from the Navy under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which mandates dismissal if a service member is found to be gay.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Translate

Gadgets for Africa: Solving everyday problems with African ingenuity

AfriGadget

During a private meeting in Washington last February, Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert M. Kimmitt warned Bulgaria’s Finance Minister that the Economic and Investment Bank (EI), chaired by the girlfriend of powerful Sofia mayor and presidential aspirant Boiko Borissov, was a target of a North Korean money-laundering effort.

EI Bank board Chairwoman Tsvetelina Borislavova, who acknowledged in an interview with CQ that she was “living with” Borissov, said she had been informed of Kimmitt’s warning “personally, by the finance minister,” Plamen Oresharski, upon his return from Washington last February.

But she said the tip was based on “false information” concocted by political enemies of her boyfriend Borissov, who before he became mayor last year was a top official in Bulgaria’s powerful Interior Ministry.

Drama ...

Turmoil Erupts Over Bulgaria Bank on Eve of Bush Visit

Rebecca Roberts talks with Nathan Hodge, staff writer for Jane's Defense Weekly, about the U.S. missile shield that has angered Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin expressed discontent with U.S. plans to put missile interceptors and radar in Eastern Europe.

NPR : Missile Defense, the U.S. and Europe

Safari 3. "The world's best browser." Now on Windows, too.

Experience the web, Apple style, with Safari: the fastest, easiest-to-use web browser in the world. With its simple, elegant interface, Safari gets out of your way and lets you enjoy the web — up to 2 times faster than Internet Explorer.

I still prefer Firefox across the board, but this is an interesting development.

Apple - Safari 3 Public Beta

From A.O. Scott:

The formula is simple: two people, a few instruments, 88 minutes and not a single false note.

From Ken Turan:

Do you believe in magic? Do you think small can be beautiful? Are you looking for a little film you can make your own, an enchanting, unpretentious blend of music and romance you can watch forever? If you do, "Once" is about to come into your life and make it whole.

I really enjoyed this film. I saw it on the art house circuit and figured that would be it. But last weekend it was part of the preview package at a regular AMC theater, so I guess it's getting wider distribution after all. (Right now it's at Tara in ATL, but only through Thursday.)

Once (2006)

Increasingly, the national conversational agenda is being set not by costly dramatic films with stars like Gregory Peck and Julia Roberts but by low-budget documentaries starring portly, middle-aged men.

... people who will not pay to see documentaries are being locked out of important national debates.

If you are looking for a worthy documentary, check out Iraq in Fragments. You can rent it today; it goes on sale next month.

I can't handle the inconvenient truth

Cities are the future of the world, and slums are the future of the city.

Universal surveillance is the solution to all urban ills.

The demographic future belongs to cities like Mumbai, Shanghai and Dhaka.

Even as the world's urban population explodes, eight "ghost cities" face potential extinction.

Twenty-First Century Cities

Seven years ago, the economist Brigitte Granville and I published an article in the Journal of Economic History titled "Weimar on the Volga," in which we argued that the experience of 1990s Russia bore many resemblances to the experience of 1920s Germany.

...

Having more or less stifled internal dissent, Russia is now ready to play a more aggressive role on the international stage. Remember, it was Putin who restored the old Soviet national anthem. And it was he who described the collapse of the Soviet Union as a "national tragedy on an enormous scale."

It would be a bigger tragedy if he or his successor tried to restore that evil empire. Unfortunately, that is precisely what the Weimar analogy predicts will happen.

Reviving the evil empire