Barnhard Blog

RIP Don LaFontaine

Unsubcribe the paper version of the dutch telephone book. The picture above looks familiar?

Is Kim Jong Il dead? Yes, North Korea’s “Dear Leader” is no more, having passed away in the fall of 2003, writes Waseda University professor Toshimitsu Shigemura, professor at the Faculty of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University, in Shukan Gendai (Aug 23-30).

A one-time Mainichi Shimbun journalist posted in Seoul, Shigemura is introduced by the magazine as a leading authority on the Korean Peninsula. His latest book, released this month, is titled “The True Character of Kim Jong Il.”.

If true, the implications are potentially vast. Among them: former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s summit partner during one or both of his landmark visits to Pyongyang in 2002 and 2004 was not Kim himself but a dummy—the stand-in Shigemura claims has been fooling the world for at least five years.

Read more @ Japantoday.com

Data on 5,000 justice staff lost

Justice Minister David Hanson said he was “very angry” at the loss.

“I await the enquiry to see the details of the information, but my assessment is that the confidentiality and the security of staff will, I hope, not be compromised,” Mr Hanson told BBC Radio Five Live.

Read full article at the BBC website

Rotterdam, 8 sept. In de urine van zwangere vrouwen in Rotterdam zitten vrij veel afbraakproducten van pesticiden, chemische bestrijdingsmiddelen. Méér dan in de urine van zwangere vrouwen in de Verenigde Staten. Dat is de uitkomst van een gezamenlijk onderzoek van het Erasmus Medisch Centrum in Rotterdam en TNO.

Lees meer: NRC - Pesticiden in urine zwangere vrouwen

Sarah Palin believes the U.S. Army is on a mission from God.

In June, Palin gave a speech at the Wasilla Assembly of God, her former church, in which she exhorted ministry students to pray for American soldiers in Iraq. “Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God,” she told them. “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God’s plan.”

More: Sarah Palin’s 9 Most Disturbing Beliefs [via]

St. John, Jersey, Channel Islands, September 9, 2008 – O3b Networks Ltd. today announced it will begin deployment of a new global communications infrastructure to provide high-speed, low-cost Internet connectivity to emerging markets in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

Backed with financial and operational support from Google Inc., Liberty Global, Inc. and HSBC Principal Investments, the new system will reduce bandwidth costs for telecommunications operators (telcos) and Internet service providers (ISPs), enabling cost-effective voice and broadband services at speeds equivalent to those enjoyed in the developed world.

Developed nations, particularly in the northern hemisphere, are well served by an extensive submarine fiber network. The deployment of a fiber network in many developing markets is not commercially viable, let alone practical.

The O3b Networks system will offer fiber performance over satellite, at prices comparable to fiber in developed regions. By allowing direct connection to core networks and 3G Cellular/WiMAX towers, the O3b Networks system will completely change the economics of telecommunications infrastructure in the world’s fastest-growing markets for communications services.

Just another illustration why electronic voting isn’t very trustworthy.

Read the rest of this entry »

While most articles are about the scientific promises of the Large Hydron Collider, what about the data monster to make it work in the first place. Smart design and no supercomputers! Enjoy this offroad video at Cern. PS. Nobody chatting about that other subatomic billion dollar monster in france? Read the rest of this entry »

[Found on RC]. [Original rap]

@ Appleknits you can find cozies suitable for your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPod Classic. Each and every cozy is one of a kind and hand made. In short nice knitted stuff for your iPhone, iPod touch and classic iPod. All knitted by Silvia Korving (other website).

Website: Apple Knits at Etsy

Tokyo Undressed is a very nice photo blog of Rikki Kasso [tip from Tijs].

Interview: Read the rest of this entry »

R.I.P. 150 years of trade, Lehman, Exit/Lynched Merill, BAIL-out AIG..
Things aren’t recovering very well.

See also: Too big to fail. Update: More recruitement videos

[VIA TOKYOMANGO]

Soothing Glimpses of Tokyo from Sugoi on Vimeo.

When there is a fear for a crisis, first victim is allowing short-selling: United States, Brittain, The Netherlands..

Update: List of US bailouts , Update(2): Lets prohibit Long

This sunday the F-1 will have their first night race in Singapore.

Update: Some photos

What is Earth Overshoot Day?
September 23

this year

marks an unfortunate milestone: the day humanity will have used all the resources nature will generate this year, according to Global Footprint Network data. Earth Overshoot Day marks the day when humanity beings living beyond its ecological means. Beyond that day, we move into the ecological equivalent of deficit spending, utilizing resources at a rate faster than what the planet can regenerate in a calendar year.

Whereas global warming en climate change need a number of measures before one can grasp how humanity is doing, Earth Overshoot day is (if you ignore the definitions) a nice single number indicator.

It seems that Bush actively pushed towards the current crises. [via]

Any topic not related to the content but appearance…. does this video kill it please? For so far gossip?

Sarah Palin accepts the blessing of Pastor Thomas Muthee, who asks Jesus to fund her political campaigns, and protect her from witchcraft.

A short academic review of the turbulent 2 financial crisis weeks.