Month: February 2005

Iran Hit By Earthquake

Very Sad…

A powerful earthquake has rocked central Iran, destroying buildings in several villages and killing 190 people.

Iranian officials told state-run television on Tuesday that 1,000 people have been injured — at least 280 in the city of Zarand alone.

The magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near Zarand in central Iran at 5:55 a.m. local time (0225 GMT).

[Source: CNN]

Iran has been hit by a number of strong earthquakes over the past years, causing a lot of disasters and damage around the country.

God help the people of Iran who have gone through these disasters time and again and who have lost homes, loved ones, businesses and so much more.

Our hearts and minds are with them.

Sick…

As some of you might already know from my wife’s blog, this past weekend hasn’t been the best for me.

I’m sick…
My whole body is aching, I have a constant headache, you could fry an egg on my head, my throat hurts, my brain feels like it’s bouncing around painfully in my skull, I’m not seeing clearly, my back is killing me and a million other things.

I totally hate being sick!
It just sucks to feel how helpless us humans can be.
Just some damn little virus is enough to throw our lives completely off track and make us virtually useless.

The Life of David Gale

Last night, I watched “The Life Of David Gale“, a very good movie starring Kevin Spacey , Kate Winslet and Laura Linney.

It’s a drama/thriller about a man against capital punishment who is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row. He asks for a reporter and grants her exclusive interviews over the 3 days before his death to talk to her about it all.

I really enjoyed this movie and would certainly recommend watching it.

Kevin Spacey obviously can do no wrong. All his movies rock.

I’d score this movie: 8/10.

Listening To…

Using Audioscrobbler, a Winamp plugin and RSS Digest I’ve added a new section on my blog’s sidebar that shows the latest songs that I’ve been listening to

What happens is that the winamp plugin contacts the Audioscrobbler site to generate an RSS feed of the stuff I’ve been listening to. RSS Digest then kicks in to read that feed every hour and transforms it into html code that you guys can see here.

Each song links to a page on Audioscrobbler with a list of the top fans of that song.

I think this is really cool 🙂

Life On Mars?!

Could be…

A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water.

What was found, according to several attendees of the private meeting, is not direct proof of life on Mars, but methane signatures and other signs of possible biological activity remarkably similar to those recently discovered in caves here on Earth.

[Source: Space.com]

My thoughts on this issue have always been mixed although most of the times I’m more inclined to believe that there must be life on other planets than earth.

I mean, come on, with all the planets, solar systems, galaxies and never-ending space, how can it be that life only exists on this little planet earth.

What do you think?

George Michael Quits Pop Music

Unfortunately…

George Michael says he is saying farewell to the world of pop music, using a candid documentary about his life to put the record straight before he “disappeared.”

He also declared the genre that brought him fame and riches, as well as unwanted media attention, was dead.

“George Michael: A Different Story” traces a rags-to-riches journey that made Michael one of the biggest selling artists of the 1980s and 1990s but which was not without tragedy along the way.

“I just thought it was very important to explain myself before I disappear,” the 41-year-old said. “I truly believe that there’s a life for me that is not this one.”

[Source: CNN]

It’s a shame that George Michael will be quitting pop music. His songs and albums were always something great to look out for.

He’s given so much to the music world over the years, and has been one of the few who have managed to keep rolling out amazing hits.

Although I never classified myself as a George Michael fan, I just love his music.
I hope he changes his mind and comes back with another one of his great albums.

Kyoto Accord Takes Effect

After years of delays, the Kyoto global warming pact is now in effect, requiring dozens of industrial nations to reduce emissions of “greenhouse” gases believed linked to climate change.

The agreement, negotiated in the Japanese city of Kyoto in 1997 and ratified by 140 nations, calls on 35 industrialized countries to rein in the release of carbon dioxide and five other gases from the burning of oil and coal and other processes.

Its impact, however, will be limited by the absence of the United States, the world’s leader in greenhouse gas emissions. Australia has also rejected the plan.

Of course the US government wants out of this accord.
How else would they burn all the oil they’ll be getting out of Iraq?!

[Source: CNN]
[Via: AquaCool]

Cory Doctorow’s “I, Robot”

Cory Doctorow has a new short story called “I, Robot”. Why? Here’s what he says:

Last spring, in the wake of Ray Bradbury pitching a tantrum over Michael Moore appropriating the title of Fahrenheit 451 to make Fahrenheit 9/11, I conceived of a plan to write a series of stories with the same titles as famous sf shorts, which would pick apart the totalitarian assumptions underpinning some of sf’s classic narratives.

Today, Infinite Matrix magazine published the latest of these, a story called “I, Robot”, which describes the police state that would have to obtain if you were going to have a world where there was only one kind of robot allowed and only one company was allowed to make it.

I think this should be very interesting.
I really liked Cory’s last novel “Eastern Standard Tribe”, and will sure be reading this short story.

[Via: Boing Boing]