Ouch

Aaaah yes. Summer. I went down to Shin Maiko with a couple of friends and their young son on the weekend and got my Pre-Thailand Trip Sunburn out of the way. My shoulders haven't seen that much sun probably since the last time I went to Thailand! Anyway, I hope the peeling is over by the time I get on the plane in August.

The news cycle is continuing it's run along the bad economic news front. Apparently they've stopped reporting on Iraq in the American news but let me assure you, it's still going strong.

There's more on the biofuels mess, more on 'what's wrong with Obama', more on 'hyper-miling', melting ice sheets in Antarctica, decent electric cars, cost effective solar, the global economic crisis, Japan's sabre-rattling, ex-Nova president's arrest, the housing crisis and corporations raping the wilderness. My blog memes are getting a workout today - unlike me!

I can actually imagine the rest of the G-8 leaders looking at each other after Bush left the room and saying, "What an asshole," to each other after this scene.

The Iran situation is becoming a 'will they or won't they' scenario. Some think that if Obama wins then Bush will strike, others hope that good sense will win out. Good sense? Bush? Start stocking up, people. This article draws together a lot of threads that seems to make sense. Scary reading.

Go to North Korea, see the sights, get shot.

China is actively involved in the genocide in Sudan.

Thailand and Cambodia are facing off over the ruins of an 11th Century Hindu temple. There goes one thing off my list of places to visit.

Good news. A community based cleanup is changing parts of Bolivia for the better.

Moviegoers, this looks like an interesting doco - a warts and all look at the world of the geisha.

I found a kindred spirit, Andrew Womack, who has excellent musical taste. Witness his reviews of the best albums of 1988 and 1989 for example.

Just wait until he grows out of it... this'll become the 'before' picture.

Committing intellectual suicide, or watching Fox News for 24 hours.

One of India's most eligible bachelors has a private security team consisting of 15 female commandos to protect him from rampaging female fans. Sounds like a Bollywood movie is just around the corner...

How not to weed the garden.

One of the cutting edge issues of the day, why the snooze is set to 9 minutes.

At the end of the day you might just want to say screw it all and get high. Americans seem to enjoy it more than anyone else! In Australia we like beer, a lot! Even the judge had a sense of humour over it.