Kaki King gives music to the world.

Kaki King, the first female on Rolling Stone's "guitar god" list, rocks out to a full live set at TED2008, including her breakout single, "Playing with Pink Noise." Jaw-dropping virtuosity meets a guitar technique that truly stands out.

English our second language

Jay Walker explains why two billion people around the world are trying to learn English. He shares photos and spine-tingling audio of Chinese students rehearsing English -- "the world's second language" -- by the thousands.

This is a TED video clip.

Debunking myths

Skeptic Society founder Michael Shermer dedicates his life to debunking myths, superstitions and urban legends, and also explaining why we believe them. Along with publishing Skeptic Magazine.

This is a TED video clip.

Chicken-a-la-carte

This is a powerful video image organized by the writer-director on a situation that started with ordering the ubiquitous fried chicken.

Click here: Chicken-a-la-carte

Web and Semantics

The stunning speed that the web internet is now approaching the speed of light.

Developers are moving from syntax recognition to semantics, the meaning dimension of the words. In the future computers will be taught to read through the words and create meaning.

The implication of this is that search engines are more adept in searching articles you want to read. This has also implications on other areas of development like travel, sports, lifestyles and other aspects of human activities.

Wonderful Nature

The relationship of bees and petals, enter velcro.

You may want to know: Air pilot get fatigue

Air pilot fatigue.

Plane pilots can get tired feeling like "drinking too much when one loses sleep".

Electric cars

Automakers are gearing up in producing their mini electric cars. With this move the good news for electric cars is just a moment notice.

I am hoping that electric cars will prove to be a success and will be accessible to common people.

Slapping women is OK - Judge

Saudi judge: It's OK to slap spendthrift wives

By Mohammed Jamjoom
CNN

(CNN) -- Husbands are allowed to slap their wives if they spend lavishly, a Saudi judge said recently during a seminar on domestic violence, Saudi media reported Sunday.

It is OK to slap Saudi women who spend too much, a judge has told an audience.

Arab News, a Saudi English-language daily newspaper based in Riyadh, reported that Judge Hamad Al-Razine said that "if a person gives SR 1,200 [$320] to his wife and she spends 900 riyals [$240] to purchase an abaya [the black cover that women in Saudi Arabia must wear] from a brand shop and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment."

Women in the audience immediately and loudly protested Al-Razine's statement, and were shocked to learn the remarks came from a judge, the newspaper reported.

Arab News reported that Al-Razine made his remark as he was attempting to explain why incidents of domestic violence had increased in Saudi Arabia. He said that women and men shared responsibility, but added that "nobody puts even a fraction of blame" on women, the newspaper said.

Al-Razine "also pointed out that women's indecent behavior and use of offensive words against their husbands were some of the reasons for domestic violence in the country," it added.

Domestic violence, which used to be a taboo subject in the conservative kingdom, has become a hot topic in recent years. Groups like the National Family Safety Program have campaigned to educate the public about the problem and help prevent domestic abuse.

Saudi women's rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider told CNN that Saudi women routinely face such attitudes.

"This is how men in Saudi Arabia see women," she said in a telephone interview from the Saudi city of Dahran. "It's not something they read in a book or learned from a friend. They've been raised to see women this way, that they're less than a person."

Al-Huwaider added that "I'm not surprised to see a judge or a religious man saying that - they've been raised in the same culture - a culture that tells them it's ok to raise your hand to a woman that this works."

Another Saudi judge, in the city of Onaiza, was the source of a separate recent controversy: he twice denied a request from the mother of an 8-year-old girl that the girl be granted a divorce from her 47-year-old husband.

Last month, after human-groups condemned the union, the girl was granted the divorce.

Pope tells the miss-use of religion

The Pope Benedictine XVI is on a visit to Jordan, Israel and the West Bank. According to one reporter, he is exceedingly careful in his speeches so an not to offend his host.

Hunger, Food, Obesity

As the tsunami financial crisis is wrecking havoc to millions, a new term came into place, "newly unemployed". In America Food Bank sees a rise of 30% in food provision as newly unemployed are making the lines.

Author also claims that the FDA food pyramid is also causing obesity in the land of the plenty.

Click on link.

Link between Education and Health

Studies have shown that those with low educational attainment would have higher health risks than those with better education.



Click link for full article.

Education, France, Protests!

France is reeling from its 14 weeks strikes in their universities.

Click on the link.

Rethinking Boxing

Howie Severino shared this link at Facebook.

It's about the pain in boxing. Matthew Syed wrote an incisive critique on the pain, on the image of Hatton's girlfriend.

True we were not the one on the canvass, it was Hatton.

The money will flow for both fighters and their associates and the media.

But where has civilization been going when we see these things? Can we separate the enjoyment of those Romans when this group called Christians as they find themselves standing on the dreadful sands of the coliseum? Are we different?

After the fight, are we better humans? Was it able to lift the human condition?

Rethinking China

Is China a rich or poor country?

To some it is a mix of First, Second and Third world.

To official pronouncements it is still a developing country.

Click on link.

Financial Crisis, Explanation

An explanation of the global financial crisis by BBC Business Editor Robert Peston.

Who are the Pastafarians

Quote "Free Hugs, from your friendly atheist neighbors". Now they are coming out.

And what is the "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monsters?"

Radicals and Housing

Radicals have gone a long way in social experimentation. But on the subject of house this have been successful. Still housing as a social need will never go away. It is a subject of intense debate and mechanism building to provide it to people.

Read.

Where are the Moldovan youth?

Where is Moldova? I don't know? Where are the Moldovan youth?

I think that is a question that you should now be answering.

Recently, violence erupted at the capital city wherein it was led by thousands of young people against the communist government. It started with a blog "I am not a communist". Young people used Facebook and Twitter.

The article tells a lot of perception and mis-perception. And the youth should be listened to not just in Moldova but around the world.

Good in math but poor in history

Explaining the Wall street crash. The ascending power of the banks and its downfall.

Cartoons and freedom to express.

It has been 3 years since the publication of the cartoons by a Danish artist that offended the Islamic world.

The 73-year got tired of hiding. Read his reflection.

Greed and Stupidity

Continuation of the conversation on the financial mess we are in by David Brooks.

Facebook user saves life.

Facebook user saves life of an overdose 16-year old teen.

Lessons from a Dog.

Lessons from a dog and coping with prostrate cancer.

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Slydini - Magician

Slydini on Dick Cavell show in 1977.

Click on colored link of the one below.

http://cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/conjuring-slydini/?scp=1&sq=slydini&st=cse

Spinal cord injury

Voices of those who suffered from spinal cord injury.

Click on colored link for the article.

Praying and saving a plane

A pilot decided to pray out loud instead of saving the lives of his passengers. He was sentenced to jail for ten years.

Click on link for whole article.

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Using words and license

In an interview with Barack Obama in Jay Leno's show, Obama made a not so nice remark about people with special needs.

He immediately apologized for this remark but it fuelled more discussion about using the word.

Click on colored link for the full article.

Marriage ending in death.

Surprising marriage end in death.

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Obama

Barack Obama, the newly elect America president, fidgets in the presence of women.

Epidural Hematoma

Head injury suffered by Natasha Richardson, wife of Liam Neeson (Schinler's List) created an epidural hematoma, a vessel broke that caused the bleeding. It seemed that she was fine on the early hours but the hematoma continued to build up making her to feel head aches.

Click on the colored link.

Head injury

Actress Richardson, wife of Liam Neeson died with a head injury. It looks like that she was doing fine after her accidental fall.

Article on colored link tells us about head injuries that seem to be "ok" but not "ok" at all.

Trials, Mistrials and the Web.

As Jurors Turn to Web, Mistrials Are Popping Up

By JOHN SCHWARTZ

NEW YORK TIMES Published: March 17, 2009

Last week, a juror in a big federal drug trial in Florida admitted to the judge that he had been doing research on the case on the Internet, directly violating the judge’s instructions and centuries of legal rules. But when the judge questioned the rest of the jury, he got an even bigger shock.

Eight other jurors had been doing the same thing. The federal judge, William J. Zloch, had no choice but to declare a mistrial, a waste of eight weeks of work by federal prosecutors and defense lawyers.

“We were stunned,” said a defense lawyer, Peter Raben, who was told by the jury that he had been on the verge of winning the case. “It’s the first time modern technology struck us in that fashion, and it hit us right over the head.”

It might be called a Google mistrial. The use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out information about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the country, upending deliberations and infuriating judges.

Last week, a building products company asked an Arkansas court to overturn a $12.6 million judgment, claiming that a juror used Twitter to send updates during the civil trial.

And on Monday, defense lawyers in the federal corruption trial of a former Pennsylvania state senator, Vincent J. Fumo, demanded before the verdict that the judge declare a mistrial because a juror posted updates on the case on Twitter and Facebook. The juror had even told his readers that a “big announcement” was coming on Monday. But the judge decided to let the deliberations continue, and the jury found Mr. Fumo guilty. His lawyers plan to use the Internet postings as grounds for appeal.

Jurors are not supposed to seek information outside of the courtroom. They are required to reach a verdict based on only the facts the judge has decided are admissible, and they are not supposed to see evidence that has been excluded as prejudicial. But now, using their cellphones, they can look up the name of a defendant on the Web or examine an intersection using Google Maps, violating the legal system’s complex rules of evidence. They can also tell their friends what is happening in the jury room, though they are supposed to keep their opinions and deliberations secret.

A juror on a lunch or bathroom break can find out many details about a case. Wikipedia can help explain the technology underlying a patent claim or medical condition, Google Maps can show how long it might take to drive from Point A to Point B, and news sites can write about a criminal defendant, his lawyers or expert witnesses.

“It’s really impossible to control it,” said Douglas L. Keene, president of the American Society of Trial Consultants.

Judges have long amended their habitual warning about seeking outside information during trials to include Internet searches. But with the Internet now as close as a juror’s pocket, the risk has grown more immediate — and instinctual. Attorneys have begun to check the blogs and Web sites of prospective jurors.

Mr. Keene said jurors might think they were helping, not hurting, by digging deeper. “There are people who feel they can’t serve justice if they don’t find the answers to certain questions,” he said.

But the rules of evidence, developed over hundreds of years of jurisprudence, are there to ensure that the facts that go before a jury have been subjected to scrutiny and challenge from both sides, said Olin Guy Wellborn III, a law professor at the University of Texas.

“That’s the beauty of the adversary system,” said Professor Wellborn, co-author of a handbook on evidence law. “You lose all that when the jurors go out on their own.”

There appears to be no official tally of cases disrupted by Internet research, but with the increasing adoption of Web technology in cellphones, the numbers are sure to grow. Some courts are beginning to restrict the use of cellphones by jurors within the courthouse, even confiscating them during the day, but a majority do not, Mr. Keene said. And computer use at home, of course, is not restricted unless a jury is sequestered.

In the Florida case that resulted in a mistrial, Mr. Raben spent nearly eight weeks fighting charges that his client had illegally sold prescription drugs through Internet pharmacies. The arguments were completed and the jury was deliberating when one juror contacted the judge to say another had admitted to her that he had done outside research on the case over the Internet.

The judge questioned the juror about his research, which included evidence that the judge had specifically excluded. Mr. Raben recalls thinking that if the juror had not broadly communicated his information with the rest of the jury, the trial could continue and the eight weeks would not be wasted. “We can just kick this juror off and go,” he said.

But then the judge found that eight other jurors had done the same thing — conducting Google searches on the lawyers and the defendant, looking up news articles about the case, checking definitions on Wikipedia and searching for evidence that had been specifically excluded by the judge. One juror, asked by the judge about the research, said, “Well, I was curious,” according to Mr. Raben. “It was a heartbreak,” Mr. Raben added.

Information flowing out of the jury box can be nearly as much trouble as the information flowing in; jurors accustomed to posting regular updates on their day-to-day experiences and thoughts can find themselves on a collision course with the law.

In the Arkansas case, Stoam Holdings, the company trying to overturn the $12.6 million judgment, said a juror, Johnathan Powell, had sent Twitter messages during the trial. Mr. Powell’s messages included “oh and nobody buy Stoam. Its bad mojo and they’ll probably cease to Exist, now that their wallet is 12m lighter” and “So Johnathan, what did you do today? Oh nothing really, I just gave away TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS of somebody else’s money.”

Mr. Powell, 29, the manager of a one-hour photo booth at a Wal-Mart in Fayetteville, Ark., insisted in an interview that he had not sent any substantive messages about the case until the verdict had been delivered and he was released from his obligation not to discuss the case. “I was done when I mentioned the trial at all,” he said. “They’re welcome to pull my phone records.”

But juror research is a more troublesome issue than sending Twitter messages or blogging, Mr. Keene said, and it raises new issues for judges in giving instructions.

“It’s important that they don’t know what’s excluded, and it’s important that they don’t know why it’s excluded,” Mr. Keene said. The court cannot even give a full explanation to jurors about research — say, to tell them what not to look for — so instructions are usually delivered as blanket admonitions, he said.

The technological landscape has changed so much that today’s judge, Mr. Keene said, “has to explain why this is crucial, and not just go through boilerplate instructions.” And, he said, enforcement goes beyond what the judge can do, pointing out that “it’s up to Juror 11 to make sure Juror 12 stays in line.”

It does not always work out that way. Seth A. McDowell, a data support specialist who lives in Albuquerque and works for a financial advising firm, said he was serving on a jury last year when another juror admitted running a Google search on the defendant, even though she acknowledged that she was not supposed to do so. She said she did not find anything, Mr. McDowell said.

Mr. McDowell, 35, said he thought about telling the judge, but decided against it. None of the other jurors did, either. Now, he said, after a bit of soul-searching, he feels he may have made the wrong choice. But he remains somewhat torn.

“I don’t know,” he said. “If everybody did the right thing, the trial, which took two days, would have gone on for another bazillion years.”

Mr. McDowell said he planned to attend law school in the fall.

________________________________________________________

Atty. Sonny Pulgar

Katataspulong - http://www.sonnypulgar.com

Unconventional school

Efren Penaflorinda teaches reading and writing. He also uses a pushcart. He is one shown by CNN to be one of the new heroes.

Please click on the colored link.

Exercise

Just how much exercise do you need to keep fit?

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The Party and a culture that stays.

The secretive Chinese Communist Party has just concluded their congress. Some officials are going to glitzy stores like Gucci, Calvin Klein buying gifts for whom?

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Cops in pay of killers gets life.

New York cops were found guilty of assassinating persons whom the Mafia considers their enemy.

The two cops were partners in receiving pays from the gang.

Click on the link for the article.

Welcome Darwin, Welcome Vatican

The Vatican is sponsoring a conference on the ideas of evolutionist Charles Darwin.

Trying to find a common ground on evolution and creation?

Click on colored to link and read details.

Lots of unsold cars

Lots and lots of unsold cars are waiting to be shipped to dealers.

Toyota has decided to cut down production. Good for Toyoto for now, but how about if they decide to lay off workers? Not good.

Click on colored link to see those cars.

What is Xenophobia?

A pregnant Brazilian was attacked by an alledged members of Neo-Nazi group in Switzerland. We know that Swiss people are conscious about laws that respects human.

Is this a case of xenophobia?

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Friendliest countries.

What are the friendliest countries in the world. Why are they friendly...

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Elderly, New working class, out of jobs

Our elderly has lost their jobs, looking for work they encounter many many problems.

Read on colored link.

Elk Feeding creates a debate

This article on feeding Elks feeds the mind on how a habit becomes a tradition and how tradition becomes a culture and when to turn around.

Follow the colored link to land on the article.

Aging and financial crisis in NY

Aging citizens in NY are angry as to the situation they are in now given the collapse of the Wall street.

Click on colored link for the article.

Optical Illusions

Interesting optical illusions.

Click on the colored link for the visuals.

Speed in looking for "God Particle"

Tevatron in the US and the Large Hadron Collider of Cern is racing to discover, if they are successful, in finding out the Higgs particle as a debris.

100 Billion earths!

For all we know we are not alone. Scientists are saying that there are more earth like planets in the known space.

Please clik on colored link for the article.

Losing the Pope

The article is about a German writer who walks out of the Catholic Church and lost Pope Benedict 16th.

It was a time when Pope Benedict welcome back Bishop Williamson who denied that the holocaust (Shoah) never happened.

Click on the colored link for the full article.

Pope and the Jews

Pope Benedict 16th is going to meet angry Jews due to the inveterate Bishop who denied that there were no Jews that were sent to the gas chambers of Hitler.

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Charles Darwin leading

Charles Darwin's knowledge on evolution is helping scientist solve crime and reduce the size of your computer.

Colored link will lead you to the article. Click on it.

Obama calls Wallstreet bonuses shameful

When CEO are raking in huge amount of bonuses which is equivalent to greed, which in effect is causing untold suffering to so many people who are laid off from their jobs, Obama calls it shameful.

In the Philippines, Intel has laid off 1,600 employees. Where are they going to get the next meal?

Thousands more will be going on the same line.

Read the discussion. Click on colored link.

Cancer and Zebrafish

Latest discovery on cancer research and and ocean going Zebrafish.

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Octuplets and Ethics

There are ethical dilemma in having an octuplet birth.

Read the article. Click on colored link.

Who will you write for?

When you are writing who will be your readers?

Evidence is coming out that there are more writers than readers.

Click on colored to lead you to article.

Science rightful place

It was equated by the writer that Science and Democracy go together.

The word science again was sparked in the speech of Barack Obama last 20 January.

Obama wants "to restore science in its rightful place."

Where would that be in our society?

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What life asks of us

David Brooks wrote to the International Herald Tribune, What life asks of us.

As I read it through, it was like a very good piece on institutional behavior in which my students will be reading. Well, I think It is more than that. It gives a penetrating energy that infiltrates the sinews of our muscles. It confronts us with who we are in the first place.

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University without walls.

Joel Yuvienco the online internet expert and visionary has been telling me a university that may exist without any physical plant.

He continued that Universities and teachers have to evolve given the present state of technology.

Click on the link to lead you to the article.

Diary of a girl.

A girl's diary on her life under the Taleban in a place called Swat in Afghanistan.

Click on colored link to lead you to article.

Radical Obama

Somebody wants Obama to be as radical as possible because this time is a moment for radical action.

Thomas Friedman has something to say about it.

Click on the colored link to lead you to article.

Ooops...Obama inaugural address

What happened way back 20 January at inaugural address?

It's a kind of ooops (a famous utterance of Will Smith on Independence Day) as Obama was taking the oafh of office.

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Bergen Belsen

If your are at Bergen Belsen, what will you remember?

What is the master narrative?

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Lost generation

Barack Obama's speech

Full text of Barack Obama's speech at the President's inauguration.

Click on colored link and it will bring you to the full text.

Mexico and the Philippines

Mexico and the Philippines shares the same story with the financial crisis due to the American subprime.

Click on the above link for the article.

Migrant workers

Money coming from migrant workers helps developing economies afloat. But due to the financial crunch of 2008, this will slow down.

World Bank estimates around $600bln are sent by migrant workers around the globe.

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Understanding the global financial crisis - BBC

The BBC has made a timeline of the global financial crisis.

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New forms of life and acidification

New forms of life were discovered at the Tasmanian deep. Scientist are studying the ocean temperature, and possible acidification of the sea.

Floating Table

Burakumin

How the ruling Japanese political party treat outcasts or buraku.

Free Taxes for Teachers

Is the time of teacher not to pay taxes in the offing? Is this one solution regarding the global economic crisis.

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Cancer Free Baby

Is a cancer-free baby possible?

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/09/uk.cancerfree.baby/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Click on the above link and read article from CNN about cancer free baby.

Romance, China and America

How the two countries, China and America are interconnected.

Click on the colored lind and it will lead you to the article.

Atheists message

Atheists send their message in 800 buses.

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Free labor at the web.

Free labor at the Web.

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