Came in work today and found my workstation infected with virus, so while the system administrator were working on my system, I had some free time to browse couple news sites. After reading the article "Sasser net worm disruption grows", I started to realize that my virus infection was not an isolated incident, rather this wave of new virus attack is quite serious and extensively spreaded.

According to BBC, Sasser is a new virus that spreads its way a bit different than previous virus.

Sasser, unlike a virus which travels through e-mails and attachments, spreads directly from the internet. It attacks recent versions of Microsoft's Windows causing the computer to shut down. Experts believe millions of computers may be infected.

Besides its new way of spreading, it is already causing a series of severe problems to many place in the world.

Taiwan's national post office said a third of its offices had been paralysed by the virus.

Meanwhile, Finnish bancassurer Samp said it had temporarily closed all of its 130 branch offices as a precaution against Sasser.

In Moscow a computer security firm warned of a possible major epidemic.

However Microsoft has released a software update targeted on this specific virus attack, so for those who have not done updates recently, I urge you to do it promptly to avoid getting infected. Now I am just waiting for my system to be fixed so I can go back to coding.

A picture is worth thousand words, and this is exactly the case here. Many thanks to Peking Duck for shining a light on the existence of these pictures. They are powerful, full of message and provide to people who live in a peaceful environment a glimpse of their daily life. These children are fed not with milk and bread, but constant tumult and smokes of war; they worry not of nutrition and diet, but dodging bullets and avoid death. Some of the pictures are truly shocking and sometimes almost beyond my tolerance, for they are too graphical and too inhumane, yet this is the very truth, the very truth that they have to bear at such early age.

Be warned of graphical contents: The Children of Iraq

Sorry for the lack of updates for the last couple days, I was occupied with my job and bewitched by my newly purchased LCD monitor.

Last Sunday, I finally took the time to go to Fry's, and brought my Samsung 193P home. Initially I had decided to go for the Samsung 173P, since the monitor is more expensive than other 17" LCD monitor on the market. But at the time of purchase, my mother convinced me to go for the bigger one. At the end, I was subdued to the temptation of this beautiful and stylish LCD, and now I have no regrets. The monitor is big and clear, and for the first time I have witnessed the true beauty of my wallpaper collection. So for the past couple days, I was always with my dear baby monitor after work. Although I was performing my usual task, but the experience was quite different and refreshing, the new monitor made everything prettier and the enjoyment was overwhelming!

Meanwhile, I spotted the same monitor at Ebuyer.com, but over $200 dollars cheaper. Immediately I placed an order, so when I got it from the shipment I will return the one that I purchased from Fry's. Isn't it great? I saved so much money and I got a brand new kick-ass top-of-the-line LCD monitor. YEAH!

I was determined to see The Day After Tomorrow ever since the first time I saw the preview at movie theater. The main reason is I have always been a fan of disaster movies. It is an incredible visual experience to see some of disaster events take place on screen, and knowing that the possibility of them happening in real world is not as slim as some of events depicted in fantasy and science fiction movies. I guess this sort of realism brings out my curiosity and fascination.

So I thought that The Day After Tomorrow would be just another disaster movie that depicts some of the major natural disasters, kind of movie that environmentalist would love to see. However today I stumble on this short article on Whitley Strieber's Unknown Country, the article states that some of the scientists actually back up the release of this movie.

Despite government pressure on NASA not to support the scenario in The Day After Tomorrow, scientists are backing the science behind the film. The part of the film most of them object to has to do with the compression of events that they think will happen gradually. Marine physicist Tim Barnett says, "What happens will frankly be worse than what they show, in the long run. Our lives and all our systems will get stretched and stretched and pushed and pushed. The conflicts that will come up will be remarkable." Andrew Bridges quotes oceanographer William Patzert as saying, "…Perhaps it's an opportunity to crank up the dialogue on our role in climate change."

Having read this article, it made me more eager to see this movie. I want to see how the movie depicts the human role in these events, and whether we are the sole cause of these drastic climate changes, and disasters are just a way for mother nature to bite us back.

The disaster will come near you on May 28, 2004.

On the way to work today, I was listening the live radio coverage of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's testimony before the Senate and House armed services committees. I only heard a small portion of it, and Donald Rumsfeld was very defensive in all his statement. In his statements, he took the full responsibility of these incidents, and deeply apologized in front of committee that these abuses took place under his watch.

"These events occurred on my watch," Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "As secretary of defense, I am accountable for them and I take full responsibility."

One of the senates also mentioned the suppression of news broadcast three hours before the 60 minutes show. According to the senate, one of MPs phoned CBS and requested the revelation of the abuse images to be delayed on the 60 minutes show. Under the pressure of the question, instead of simply giving an "Yes/No" answer, they fiercely debated the word choice. The use of the word "suppress" is totally inappropriate, and such act is not unconstitutional, and does not serve as serious violation of our democratic principles. However at the end of heated discussion, they did admit that such phone call took place, and they did request a delay.

So is this a clear violation of freedom of speech and freedom of press? Since when military offcials have the right to intervene the broadcasting of a television show? Donald Dumsfeld responded that similar incidents occurred in the U.S. history, and furthermore such measures are preventive rather than unconstitutional acts.

Donald Rumsfeld also revealed that possibly more photo even video might be exposed in the coming days, and the exposure of these material will only worsen the current situation.

Mr Rumsfeld said only when he saw the abuse photos on Thursday - and there were many more than those aired - did he realise how grave the situation was.

Ever since you left me here, alone. I have done nothing but standing still at my intersection of life, afraid of moving even just one pace, because one pace could easily attract a label: success or failure. With you gone in my life, for a while I've lost my fountain of strength and compass of journey. I found my entire life fade from colorful painting into a piece of dreadful white paper. Shocking realizations kept coming, while I am awake or asleep, in dreams or in reality. My pride has diminished into a grain of sand, and I am like a rat seeking darkness in the corner.

I still go to work, and finish my daily tasks. But they do not make sense. Deep inside, there is a voice longing for liberation of my suffocated soul, yet I am the very suppressor of my own desire and soul. I am afraid, I am deprived, I am desolate and I am weak. I need to figure out, but I just keep procrastinating, for I am afraid of consequence of such self-interrogation and self-discovery.

Gradually I am drifting away from families and friends. Now I am alone and in loneliness I quiver. After all I still can not live without understanding and compassion, love and comfort. After all I am still a human, not a sage or a monk. The more I know, the more isolated I am.

I am firm believer of love, and in love I believe that everything will be solved and dissolved. This world needs more love, I need more love, people need more love. But love is not free, love comes with a byproduct, and that's disillusion and pain. To accept love then I need to accept this byproduct as well.

46 people were arrested in China for the recent "Fake Milk" scandal, which I have written in one of my recent entries. However some of the foundings were shocking, according to a news article on BBCNews.com, total of 30 factories were involved in the production of these harmful milk. The number of dead babies has climbed to 50 to date, of course I suspect that the number is rather a conservative estimate.

However, because of this particular investigations other "fake" products have also surfaced, and this is only the tip of the iceberg.

More horrifying stories have emerged in recent weeks, of industrial salt and pesticides containing cancer-causing ingredients being used in preserved vegetables and noodles.

Local officials often turn a blind eye to factories with lax safety standards if they provide employment.

But these cases have illustrated all too well how that "get-rich-quick" mentality can exact a tragic human cost.

Got these from an e-mail, they really crack me up!

1. I was born intelligent, education ruined me.


2. A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where train stops. On my desk, I have a work station ...... what more can I say ......


3. Practice makes perfect, but nobody's perfect, so why practice?


4. If it's true that we are here to help others, then, what exactly are the others here for?


5. Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak.


6. How come "abbreviated" is such a long word?


7. Money is not everything. There's Mastercard & Visa.


8. One should love animals. They are so tasty.


9. Save water. Shower with your girl friend.


10. Love thy neighbor. But don't get caught.

It occurred to me that it is almost impossible to talk about right and wrong, black and white in a war time like right now. Or perhaps in a real world like today, such terms should be strictly prohibited, for they invite a never-ending debate. It appears to me that many events that take place today are almost impossible to judge right and wrong, or to distinguish black or white. They are subjectives, blurring and almost undefined. However I am still tempted to express my own opinion, regardless the label that I might get.

It seems to me that the current war on Iraq has reached to a completely chaotic and insane state. The madness of human being has crept out from the dark cave, and ready to do the intolerable, to destroy the order and moral that we have long valued and appraised. Maybe this is the very definition of war time.

Yesterday the news of Nick Berg's killing has shocked the entire nation. After the news release, almost all major talk radio shows were talking about it. It was and still is one of the big stories of media. Of course each of them has their own hidden political agenda, their potilical inclinations; so many shows have used such event as a proof of their debate, or even more as a weapon for their new wave of attack, of course attacking the opposite camp.

I am truly disgusted by all these, maybe that's because I have always been politically repulsive. In my personal eyes, politics is the most abhorrent and dangerous thing ever in this world. But of course that's just my own feeling, so no one need to agree with me.

However getting back on the topic, regardless of the political implications that the Nick Barg's killing might have in the mind of some individuals, I want to talk about it as an isolated event, no politics involved! I think the killing is cruel and an act of madness. The people who committed this are absolutely insane and they need to be brought into justice. To behead another human being and to watch him suffer, scream and slowly die, that's like pushing the human history back to couple thousand years. I cannot understand what was going on in the mind of these people, all I feel is horror and greatest disappointment knowing that as human being perhaps we have not come as far as we thought. Such gory acts should not happen in this civilized world anymore, yet they almost take place everyday now and with a increasing frequency. There is no words of consolation I can think of to say to the relatives of Nick Berg, for now words are impotent and useless.

But there is no reason to justified Iraq prisoner abuse because of the killing of Nick Berg. The prisoner abuse is equally wrong, and it will remain wrong. It still should be investigated and eradicated, but not justified and then ignored. There is no cause and effect relationship between these two events.

In a war time or tumultuous period like this, people really need to keep their logic straight, otherwise more terrible things might be on the way, and we are the sole manufacturer of them. I hope all these will come to a rest soon, world really needs peace and love.

Ok, now some light-hearted stuff.

1. Behind every successful man, there is a woman. And behind every unsuccessful man, there are two.


2. Every man should marry. After all, happiness is not the only thing in life.


3. The wise never marry, and when they marry they become otherwise.


4. Success is a relative term. It brings so many relatives.


5. Never put off the work till tomorrow what you can put off today.


6. Love is photogenic. It needs darkness to develop.


7. Children in backseats cause accidents. Accidents in backseats cause children.


8. "Your future depends on your dreams" So go to sleep!


9. There should be a better way to start a day than
   waking up every morning.


10. "Hard work never killed anybody" But why take the risk !


11. "Work fascinates me" I can look at it for hours!


12. God made relatives; Thank God we can choose our friends.


13. When two's company, three's the result!


14. A dress is like a barbed fence. It protects the premises without restricting the view.


15. The more you learn, the more you know; The more you know, the more you forget; The more you forget, the less you know. So ... why learn?

Found a simple and imageless template at Pixelscripts' old archive, and modified the code to suit my own preference. I think it came out pretty good, not too busy on eyes, very simple nothing fancy. So let me know what you think of it.

I waited and waited, and I knew you will never come back.

As the dusk paints half of the world gold and orange, the cold air starts to caress my face, sets the way for another long and lone night to come. This is the moment of the day where color plays its magical power. From gold to orange to red, then everything dissolve into a soothing blue. In blue, sounds become mute, movements set still, passion becomes cold and even tragedy becomes the trickle that runs between toes of rocky mountain. Then the night falls with its usual dark coat, diamond on its mantle, and of course the silver plate that have caused so many immortal verses in the history of poetry.

In dark night I walk, walking on the silver path. My sadness has finally made its way into the immense ocean, united with all sadness in the history. Now I am no longer I, but a shining night star that shines today, yesterday and thoughtout of human history.

But I still love you, and now love is eternal.

Finally took the time to create and to launch my gallery. I have to admit it is a pretty cool deal, 30 images for a free Tabulas account, GREAT! So far I only created two albums: Desktops and Wallpapers.

In Desktops, you will find all my desktops screenshots taken from my laptop and my home PC. In Wallpapers, you will find wallpapers that I have created in my spare time using Photoshop. If you like any of them, please go to my DeviantArt page, they are available for download.

Well, enjoy my gallery, I will make sure to update it from time to time.

It was 4 o'clock in the morning, but I still couldn't fall in sleep. The words of the book just keep coming back to my mind, and I could not let them go but tormenting myself with the same questions and answers. Life, is it a journey to answers and revelations, or merely a trip in which we are the constant questioner? We are not destined to find the ultimate answers within our lifetime through means of logic and reason, logic and reason can only lead us to more questions and doubts. So one of the tragedies of life is that we are only questioners or seekers of answers, but we will not get answers, or perhaps not fully understand the answers.

Maybe that's the very reason that most of human beings rather deal with the concrete matters. In fact, today human's life is consisted of a series of concrete obstacles and challenges. Each one of us, we spend most time in our life finding shelter, food and mate. Some even go further to acquire power, fame and wealth. However as soon as we enter the realm of philosophy and literature, we find ourself bombarded with abstract questions, yet these questions often have a profound impact in our daily life, although many manages to ignore them. But it is true only few human beings in our hisotry has devoted their lifetime to answer these fundamental questions, although their effort brought us some degree of undestanding and light, but most of times we find ourself not too far from the point of origin.

A recent article that came out on The New Yorker written by a distinguished American journalist Seymour Hersh revealed new information of the recent prisoner abuse scandal. Here I am not going to argue the authenticity of the report, even I do I have no means to do such verification. I am simply sharing the news, the rest is up to your own perspective and opinion. But Seymour Hersh says information is provided by unnamed intelligence officials. According to BBCNews report, in this article Seymour Hersh states that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally authorized the use of force during the interrogations, such authorization eventually turned into a form of encouragement of the abuses and sexual humiliations that have been exposed recently by the media.

A US magazine says Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally authorised a secret programme that encouraged the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. The article in The New Yorker says Mr Rumsfeld extended a programme already in use in Afghanistan. The operation encouraged the abuse and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners to gain intelligence, it says.

The reaction from the government is nothing but denial.

The Pentagon has described the claims as "outlandish, conspiratorial...filled with error and anonymous conjecture". "No responsible official of the Department of Defense approved any programme that could conceivably have been intended result in such abuses," a Pentagon spokesman said.

So far, seven soldiers have been charged.

Well it seems another blogging service has come into existence and it is open for user sign-up. I visited the site ModBlog after reading the news on Neowin, and overall it looks pretty fancy and sleek. It claims to be revolutionary and offers a variety of features. I didn't sign up, because I am pretty happy here at Tabulas, but I am curious so wondering if anyone has an account there and could give me a quick review.

I don't know why I have so much anger and bitterness inside of me. Everytime I get on a debate, I would lose my cool and all my anger just unleash out like rain of arrows, seeking flesh to penetrate, so the point of arrow will have a taste of blood. But why? where does this anger come from? Frankly I have no idea, at least right now. All I feel is my body quivers, heart beat races, my voice raises and I just want to tear apart everything that is in front me, destroy ... yes! My heart longs for destruction .

Then when everything settles down, when dust falls back to ground, it is just a lone soul walking on a long endless aimless road. The world is empty, just a burnt tree stands by the roadside. No matter how much I walk, I do not realize I have been frozen in the stillness of a painting.

I think it would be rather educational to know all the conflicts and wars that are currently going on around the world. So I am going to list them briefly here. Due to the lengthy content, I am going to post them in three separated journal entries. In this one, listed are the conflicts in South America and Africa.

Colombia (Farc)

The Farc are the largest, oldest and best-equipped left-wing guerrilla group in Colombia. They were founded in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party. But they are not the only armed actors in the Colombian drama. As well as the smaller left-wing rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), there is also the right-wing paramilitary umbrella organisation known as the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), which formed in the 1990s. They face opposition not just from the security forces, but also from the paramilitaries – essentially vigilante organisations which were set up deliberately to combat them.

Initially rebel groups were fighting for the establishment of Marxist state in Colombia. But over the years, the initial ideology has changed, faded away and eventually distorted, as these groups are deeply involved in drug trade, kidnapping and extortion. So far the violence has killed more than 35,000 people and caused countless Colombian to flee their home.

Sudan

As the government and southern rebels come close to signing a peace agreement, a new rebellion has broken out in the western region of Darfur. There, the government is accused of backing the Arab "Janjaweed" militia.

The root of conflict originates from the religious and ethnical differences.

In the south, Christians and animists opposed plans to expand Islamic Sharia law to the areas where they lived. In Darfur, the rebels accused the Arab-dominated government of ignoring the region and now accuse the government and the Janjaweed of "ethnic cleansing" against black African residents.

The conflict with the southern rebels over the past 20 years has claimed the lives of over 2 million people, and the recent conflict in Darfur has killed 10,000 people.

Somalia

Since 1991, when Siad Barre was toppled from power. Ever since, there has been no central government despite attempts to set up transitional authorities. Several rival warlords are battling for power.

About 1 million people have lost their lives in this constant and ongoing war.

Uganda

The Lord's Resistance Army rebels are fighting the army. The LRA say they want to rule Uganda according to the Biblical Ten Commandments but routinely commit atrocities - mutilating victims and kidnapping children to become fighters or sex slaves. The LRA also accuse the government of ignoring the north of the country.

The death toll in this particular conflict still remains unknown.

Democratic Republic of Congo

The conflict began when those responsible for the genocide in Rwanda fled to DR Congo and Rwanda invaded to pursue them in 1996. The man it backed, Laurent Kabila, toppled the leader Mobutu Sese Seko. In 1998, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia intervened on the side of the government after a new Rwandan and Ugandan attempt to change the DR Congo government. Almost all of the armed groups have been accused of looting DR Congo's rich natural resources - gold, diamonds, etc.

A peace deal was signed and it has ended this so called "Africa's First World War", which involved at least six other nations - Angola, Burundi, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. However battles still frequently occur in the Ituri province, where Hema and Lendu ethnic groups cannot settle their differences. In the east, armed men still roam, killing, looting and raping. In Ituri, the death toll caused by conflict is 50, 000; but the overall death toll of "Africa's First World War" is shockingly 3 million.


Keep in mind there are still more that I have not listed yet, but with a bit of calculation that's total of over 6 million of deaths of the conflicts that I listed above.

Chechnya

Separatists, pushing for independence from Russia, have been fighting Russian forces since the early 1990s. There are said to be 80,000 Russian troops in Chechnya. Muslim volunteers from overseas are known to have travelled to Chechnya to fight for the separatists.

Although the root of the conflicts could be traced back nearly two centuries ago, but the recent conflict was caused by Chechnya's declaration of independence right after the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991. No precise figure exists to have an account of the death during the conflict, but it is believed that tens of thousands lives are lost in the constant war.

Georgia

The separatist region of Abkhazia fought a bloody war as it tried to break away from Georgia in the early 1990s. The fighting is over, but the situation on the UN-patrolled Abkhaz-Georgian border remains tense. South Ossetia, a separatist region in the north, fought a war for reunion with a neighbouring Russian republic in 1991. Georgia regained control of a third renegade region, Ajaria, when its leader flew into exile in May 2004.

The origin of the conflict lies in ethnicity.

The ethnic Abkhaz people have a strong affinity with North Caucasian nationalities in Russia. South Ossetians aspire to unification with the neighbouring Russian republic of North Ossetia.

However the conflict in Ajaria is simply power and money.

Ten thousand people lost their lives in the war in Abkhazia in an attempt to break away from Georgia. South Ossetia conflict claimed total of 1,400 lives. Fortunately, the conflict in Ajaria was solved without bloodshed.

Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan

Tensions dormant for decades resurfaced in a territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the dying days of the Soviet Union. In the late 1980s calls by the majority Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh for unification with Armenia sparked inter-ethnic violence. After the collapse of the Soviet Union Armenians and Azerbaijanis in the republic went to war, backed by their newly-independent mother countries. Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire accord in 1994, ending five years of fighting over the disputed enclave, but the conflict has not been resolved. Ethnic Armenians control Karabakh and a swathe of Azerbaijani territory around it. Hundreds of thousands of refugees remain stranded on either side of the ceasefire line.

Estimated 35,000 people died in the conflict, and a massive amount of people have been displaced due to the conflict in the region.

Iraq

I don't think much need to be said here, since we should all know the reason of this war. So far, no official figure has been released to account the number of Iraqis killed during the war and the ongoing armed conflict. A conservative estimate puts the figure at between 9,000 and 10,000. More than 700 US soldier died in this war, UK and other coalition members suffer more than 100 deaths.

Israel and the Palestinians

Palestinian militants are involved in what they see as a resistance struggle against occupation by the Israeli army. They have also launched suicide bombings in Israeli cities. Israel has responded with incursions into Palestinian areas and by assassinating militant leaders.

The cause and origin of this conflict cannot be described in few sentences, rather it is a study on its own. If one wants to dig and have a reasonable understanding on the conflict, you probably need to trace back the history. I do not have figures of death caused in this conflict, but I am sure you should have a rough idea on the number, as we encounter the news on this conflict almost everyday, I think the figure is probably huge.

Afghanistan

The ousted Taleban are the most prominent of the militants fighting American and Afghan forces trying to extend the writ of US-backed authorities in Kabul. Clashes are most frequent in the south and east, but there have been incidents of violence in the capital, too, and several turf wars between regional warlords.

The conflict arose when Taliban refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden in 2001, so US force toppled their government and chased them out of power. After the fall of Taliban, there was a resurgence of conflict between regional warlords; but recently Taliban seems to be among the fighting force. Over 700 people have lost their lives since last August.

Nepal

Maoist rebels attempt to establish a communist republic in the Himalayan kingdom, and have been fighting against Nepal's security forces since 1996. So far, over 9,000 people have died in the conflict.

Burma

The Karen National Union (KNU) is the most significant ethnic group still engaged in armed struggle with the government in Rangoon, although analysts say the KNU has been reduced to about 1,000 fighters. The Karen ethnic group make up about 7% of Burma's population.

KNU has been fighting for their autonomy from Rangoon ever since Burma's independence from Britain. Unknown number of people have been killed each year for the last decade or so, but fortunately now an effective ceasefire is now in place.

Laos

Ethnic Hmong have been waging a low-level war against the Laos Government. The problem stems from the Vietnam War, when large numbers of ethnic Hmong sided with the US army. The 300,000 Hmong left in Laos have suffered discrimination ever since. Sporadic violent attacks in the region may have been perpetrated by them, although the government blames "bandits".

The death toll in this conflict is hard to tell, but it is probably small.

Philippines

Several groups are fighting for autonomy in the southern Philippines. The New People's Army - the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) - has been fighting the Philippines government for more than 30 years. It numbers about 9,000 fighters.

Each year in the last decade, between 15 and 100 people died in the ongoing conflict.

All information here is a brief summary from my reading of One Day of War at BBC News. It has been a very educational experience to me while reading the information and writing the last three journal entries. I learned so many new information about continuous suffering that so many people still have to bear today in other parts of world. From all these figures of deaths, I realize that we are simply wrapped in a candy bar, while other parts of world are still unsafe, and full of killings and rapes. We are the fortunate ones, but we shall not forget and further ignore problems occurring around the world, at least we should have a minimum understanding of these problems, and develop a compassionate attitude, and most important of all realize that this world even in 2004 still need a lot more peace and not war!

So yesterday me and my friend went to see Shrek 2, and I have to admit that it is hilarious and it is even better than the first one. First, DreamWork really did a splendid job on the animation. It is clear, smooth, and realistically three dimensional. The plot is easy to follow and straight forward, but that does not diminish the overall quality of the movie. The entire movie is filled with satirical remarks about present-day society, it challenges many of character images of our childhood fairy tales, and it makes fun of many recent movies. With all these ingredient, it manages to cast a can-stop-laughing spell on you, the viewer. I strongly recommend other people to see this movie, it is very entertaining and wisely humorous.

So many things to cover, but I guess I am just going to cover as much as I can, the rest you can just absorb them in TV, newspaper or online news sites. These days, the amount of information is overwhelming, and time dedicated to thought process is scarce. As an unfortunate result, people are accustomed to listen without thinking, absorb without processing, and just lazily adopt the media's hidden agenda, and go with flow. That's scary!

Just before writing this, I read an article about the private security contractors in Iraq, and you will be surprised of the amount of these contractors working in Iraq. Currently an estimate of 20,000 private security contractors are working in the country. Indeed, as the title of the article suggests is "The Bussiness of War in Iraq". However it seems bizarre to me at least that they even provide security for US envoy Paul Bremer. Isn't this job supposed to be handled by US military? Or is this a sign that shows how over-stretched the US military force is? The concern of the current situation is that these individuals are not constrained by any laws. They are not subjects to court martial, and they are not trained under any military codes. Thus they could manage to walk away unpanished if they commit any violations. Such loophole of law already revealed itself in the recent prisoner abuse scandal.

"There are contractors who are suspected of being involved in these crimes [in Abu Ghraib], including one who is suspected of raping a juvenile male detainee, who basically has walked [free] because there is no jurisdiction over it.

Besides, with many new private security companies established in recent years, the quality and the experience of these individuals are among the concerns. Just like in any other business, some companies throw bad and not much experienced individuals on the streets of Iraq just to get the job done.

So far more than 50 private security contractors have been killed in Iraq.

Now let's turn to another incident. US military bombed a location in Iraq near the border with Syria. The US insists that the target was identified as a gathering of some foreign figthers and that they fired shots at US military. However the other side of the story claimed that it was not a fighter gathering but an ordinary wedding party, and the bombing resulted the killing of 40 innocent people. A video tape has been released as proof of this claim, in which a traditional firing of salutes from guns is depicted. Now US military officials is saying that certainly there could be a wedding celebration going on hours before the bombing, but at the time of the bombing, the location was housing fighters. We might never know the truth, but definitely such incident can further damage the American presence in Iraq.

Now let's go to Gaza, where 2,000 people have left homeless. The Israeli house demolition has left many Palestinians homeless, and according to UN relief agency May has been the worst month in the past three years. Israeli force has now withdrawn from Rafah, but it is not over yet, it is only a pause.

A senior Israeli officer described Monday's pullout as a temporary measure, saying his forces were taking "a deep breath".

The intention of this recent Israeli operation is to eradicate militant groups in the region and to effectively destroy underground tunnels used for smuggling weapons.

Israel came under intense international criticism for its actions in Rafah during the operation, including a rare critical United Nations Security Council resolution which the United States did not veto.

Although I do support the Israeli operation's goal, but I do not agree on actions they have taken to resolve the problem. They may achieve their goals at the end, but they would create more hatred and animosity among Palestinian people. More Palestinian people might be driven to join violent retaliation, and even willing to be suicide bombers. These homeless family should receive appropriate compensations for their destroyed houses from Israeli goverment. I just don't believe that unjustified violence can lead to peace. But that's just my own opinion, you have your own brain, so you can form your own opinion based on these information.

當男人發現早已對身旁的女人失去了心動的感覺，就要當機立斷，勇敢地提出分手的要求。不過，分手的理由繁如眾星，該選擇哪一種最具殺傷力呢？

哲學上的說法：
「我們終究無法消除『結構主義』上的二元對立矛盾，是該邁向『解構主義』的時候了。」

物理學上的說法：
「請原諒我不能承受妳在床上的重力加速度......。」

生物學上的說法：
「我昨天把我的精子忘在妳朋友的子宮裡，不過不用擔心，十個月後它會自己長大掉出來。」

數學上的說法：
「我已厭倦妳的平面，因為，我愛上一個擁有超大弧形的女人。」

樂理上的說法：
「我們擁有最美的戀曲，那是我生命中最珍貴的的交響樂。不過，是該下休止符的時候了。」

宗教學上的說法：
「緣起性空，諸法輪轉，是以一切生滅俱為無常幻象。施主保重，就此告別。阿彌陀佛！」

文學性的說法：
「魯迅說：『妳是黑夜，而我是白天。白天只能跟太陽在一起。』請妳靜靜地聽我說：『妳是南極，而我是北極，我現在要去找那頭美麗北極熊跟她在一起。』」

驚悚的說法：
「我愛上了一個男人。......妳的健保卡應該還沒過期吧？」

星座血型上的說法：
「因為妳是A型巨蟹座，金星落在月亮星座；而我是O型牡羊座，木星在太陽星座。如果我們勉強在一起，火星跟冥王星會互撞而爆炸......。」

真情告白式的說法：
「今天我要坦承一切，來面對妳的真心。是的！我發現我是真的愛妳！因為在我們相處這段期間，我一共跟另外二十三位女子約過會，跟其中十七位上過床。經過比較評估後，我發現還是妳最好.....。」

家中有大人的說法：
「妳要相信此生我只愛妳一人。可是，我爸爸不喜歡妳，媽媽討厭妳，家裡的小狗想咬妳......。」

命相八字的說法：
「算命的說妳嘴角那顆痣主衰。我去合過八字了，大師說妳在家剋父母，出外剋朋友，婚後剋性功能......。」

沉淪的說法：
「我要告訴妳一個祕密。我已經染上毒癮，又欠了地下錢莊一大筆債。現在我只能含著眼淚到牛郎店打工。對了，還有我老大要我去幹掉一個仇家，可是我心腸好，下不了手，只是捅了他兩刀而已.....。」

讓時間解決一切的說法：
「我真的很愛妳，此生除了妳，我再也不會想娶其它的女人。這樣好了， 如果妳答應嫁給我，那我們就選在二十年後的情人節結婚好嗎？」

前世今生的說法：
「我前世欠了這個狐狸精的孽債，所以，今生我只能為她在床上做牛做馬來還債。我這輩子欠妳的，來生就讓我被妳性侵害來還吧！」

從我的論壇轉載過來的，覺得滿有意思的，與大家分享！

有些意境和略微有些水平的：

• 上海自來水來自海上


• 山西會仙橋仙會西山


• 花蓮浣紗女紗浣蓮花


• 中山停雲堂雲停山中


• 西湖靈隱寺隱靈湖西


• 天上龍捲風捲龍上天

普通又俗氣的：

• 船上女子叫子女上船


• 花蓮印刷廠刷印蓮花


• 中國山中有中山國中...我還中國鋼鐵有鐵鋼國中咧

完全瞎扯湊熱鬧的：

• 美好包皮製皮包好美


• 情人欠錢借錢欠人情


• 地下珠寶引寶豬下地...這是啥玩意兒？


• 景美的內衣內的美景


• 媽祖你幹嘛幹你祖媽

I am so glad that VerdantSkies is ready to squeeze some creative juice out of me. Although nothing has been written yet, but I foresee a lot of fun and enjoyment down the road. Besides it will really polish my already rusty writing skill. Okay, let's get down to business now. Here I present some of my suggestions:

Setting:

I agree with shortbow on this, I prefer the setting (at least the initial setting) of the story to be a large metropolitan city. It is easier for character development and also for character interaction. In a large city, a variety of areas can co-exist, some poor, some rich and some middle-class. Thus writers can choose the preferred environment for his/her character to live in, consequently form different view of life and world. Of course, anyone can bring in the existence of some underground organizations, since it is quite normal social phenomenon in cities.

Government:

I am thinking of caste system. I don't have all the groups yet, but here is a vague idea. In this world, there are natural-born humans, and there are gene-mapped humans. Natural-born humans are just like us; on the other hand gene-mapped humans are individuals born with their gene manipulated and wisely mapped using the advanced genetic technology. Intellectually these humans are far superior than natural-born humans in all areas, therefore they hold most important and prestigious professions in society. In their eyes, natural-born humans are inferior and ignorant. Thus a social tension is create among these two groups.

Besides the obvious tension, I think there are a lot more moral and philosophical issues that we can explore and address. This is just my idea and suggestion.

Side Notes:

I think it will be wise to enforce some kind of style restriction. For example, all discussion related journal entries need to be written in one way, and all story journal entries need to be written in another way. The reason for this is for a easier reading for members who join later.

Okay, that's enough for now from me.

I see a great deal of injustice in this article, where American military base expansion is endangering the survival of the smallest indigenous group in the world Inuit. How would you feel when you are forced to move out, when you are forced to tear down the house of love and memory? How would you feel when each day you witness the extinction of your community happening in your very eyes? What would you do for the survival of a race? Understanding the anxiety, furor and despair that surround these questions, maybe it would appear clear to you the purpose of Inuit's fighting for the past 50 years.

They are the last surviving group of polar Eskimos, or Iunghuits; however would they survive in this battle with the superpower is still uncertain. US established its military base at Greenland under an agreement with the Danish government.

For the US, it is a strategically important Arctic base which is considered an essential part of Washington's controversial "Star Wars" missile defence programme. For the Inuit, it is a matter of reclaiming their natural environment or facing extinction, their lawyer says.

This group of Greenland hunters has taken the case to European Court of Human Rights under the symbolic name Hingitaq 53. Hingitaq means "deported" and 53 simply means the years that they have been forced out their land of food and shelter. Readers, that's 53 years, how long would one live? 53! That's more than half of a lifetime!

The community of around 900 people blames the Danish state for their displacement and has filed several lawsuits against it.

What really moved me about this story is the following quote from the group leader Uusaqqak Qujaukitsoq:

"I promised my father before he died that I would fight to get our people's land back."

However I think their chance is slim, and the son's promise might remain unfulfilled until his dying day. Denmark has been a firm supporter of US war in Iraq and Afghanistan. They would not jeopardize their warm and friendly relationship with US over a small group of indigenous people. In the game of politics, sacrifice is always made by these people.

Gruesome crimes are still happening on America soil.

These days, we hear day and night news and talks about the war in Iraq, the media has pretty much failed to bring to our attention other news that are happening in this country, or simply we are too tired to read other news. Today, with the gruesome slyings taking place in Baltimore, Maryland, we have been reminded that the beheading of Nick Berg could happen right here inside US.

Ricardo Enpinoza, 9-year-old. His sister Lucero Quezada, also 9 years old; and their 10-year-old cousin Alexis Quezada. One was beheaded with a butcher knife, and the others were partially beheaded. The crime scene was covered with blood, and it was so gruesome that even some officers find hard to witness and proceed with their task. The way that the crime was committed is truly horrifying, and to kill young children in such gory way is the acts of a mad man.

Tomorrow I am going on a trip to Santa Barbara with my friends. This is my first time going there, so I am looking forward for a good time.

Initially I had planned to be a two-day trip, but as we have a big group, nearly 10 people, apparently difference people have difference opinions, so finally I had to settle for just one day. Thus it is cheaper, we are not going to rent car and we do not need to pay hotel rooms. However it will be a bit rush, since the round-trip driving already takes about 6 hours, and plus there are so many places that I want to visit. Anyway I hope that it will be a fun day tomorrow, and that my plan works out perfectly.

I will be sure to write about my trip when I get back!