http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/yradish/15499

I found this list on yahoo today. I thought it was interesting in that the author composed the list based on a methodology rather than through his own personal opinion.

The funny thing is is that his ranking is not all that dissimilar to lists formed by musicologists and critics in respected publications like Rolling Stone.

Also noteworthy is that the newest album on the list was released in 1991 (with the oldest having had come out in 1968).

One would think that with a growing population, the best music would keep getting better and better.

Why haven't any critically acclaimed albums of legendary status been released lately?

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Every single man knows: Walking a dog in the park equals sure babe magnet. Saudi Arabia's Islamic religious police, in their zeal to keep the sexes apart, want to make sure the technique doesn't catch on here.

The solution: Ban selling dogs and cats as pets, as well as walking them in public.

The prohibition went into effect on Wednesday in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and authorities in the city say they will strictly enforce it

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25952415/

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe...f=mpstoryemail

Cliffs-
* Move a rift to apostolic tradition of ordaining only men as bishops, says Vatican
* Some traditionalists threaten to leave Anglican Church for Roman Catholic Church
* First consecration of a female bishop could happen in 2015

Does anyone else think it's incredibly sexist that the Catholic Church is condemning the Anglican Church for it's recent decision to allow women into high ranking positions in the church hierarchy? Geeze, one would think that it's about time for woman to be granted the same rights as men- it's 2008 after all.

Anyways, I thought this news was worth mentioning, as Catholics represent over half of all Christians and one sixth of the world's population. (Incidentally, the Anglican Communion is the third largest, after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches).

I think we all have at least one Catholic or Anglican friend.

What do you think about this?

Good news! More and more people around the world are beginning to view global warming as a serious threat.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...314661,00.html

kinda bums me out because the babies newly developing brain could get damaged falling from that height.

the tradition has been going on for over 500 years

almost thought the article could be fake, but there is a video to go along with it in the link.

i don't know what to think.

what are your thoughts on this?

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/06/10/131-us-states-renamed-for-countries-with-similar-gdps/

from:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=113061
That map is misleading. Its based on nominal currency values, and thus does not account for reduced costs of living. Here's a new map that accounts for purchase power parity.


Which map do you think is a more accurate representation?

Either way this is an impressive reminder of how much wealth the United States has compared to other countries around the world. Our states may be big area-wise, but many of them are much more sparsely populated then other inhabited areas of the world. New Hampshire has one one hundredth of Bangladesh's population, yet equal GDP.

Almost all (possibly all) of the states listed contain a number of inhabitants far less than the respective country to which they are compared.

Amazingly, when it comes to GDP

West Virginia > Iraq

Rhode Island > Cuba

Large majorities of adults nationally believe themselves to be smarter, better-looking, more honest, and more commonsensical than most adults- a mathematical impossibility.

Percentage of Americans who say they’re above average in terms of their:

-Honesty/trustworthiness: 94
-Common sense: 89
-Friendliness: 88
-Intelligence: 86
-Physical appearance: 79
-Health: 69

discuss

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/13/ukcrime

I just got done reading an article about an 8th grade youth beaten to death by his peers, who suspected he was gay.

Now this.

I thought it was comman sense and common human decency not to inflict harm upon others just because they are different.

Sadly, this is not the case.

Intolerance is major cause of suffering and hardship in the world.

Love and kindness seem to be in short supply these days.

What a shame.

Now that the extreme religious nuts have dropped out (Romney and Huckabee), we should examine the religious views of those that remain.

Here's what Obama said last summer at the "Call to Renewal" conference.

...given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.

And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let's read our bibles. Folks haven't been reading their bibles. ...

Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values.
...let me give you an example.

We all know the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is ordered by God to offer up his only son, and without argument, he takes Isaac to the mountaintop, binds him to an altar, and raises his knife, prepared to act as God has commanded.

Of course, in the end God sends down an angel to intercede at the very last minute, and Abraham passes God's test of devotion.

But it's fair to say that if any of us leaving this church saw Abraham on a roof of a building raising his knife, we would, at the very least, call the police and expect the Department of Children and Family Services to take Isaac away from Abraham. We would do so because we do not hear what Abraham hears, do not see what Abraham sees, true as those experiences may be. So the best we can do is act in accordance with those things that we all see, and that we all hear, be it common laws or basic reason.

Source:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/194/story_19473_1.html#

The following link is a travel log of an American who visited North Korea. Fascinating stuff- I read the whole thing in one sitting.

http://axisofeviltour.com/nk-trip1.htm