Hidden Nook

The Last Post...

2006-06-30T17:41:00.000-04:00

It has been fun blogging here for the past year or so. I've learned so much about blogging by posting here, and it has given me the opportunity to learn from some of the best in the field when it comes to how to not only write what you want, but also make money at it at the same time.

Unfortunately my passion for politics is more of a negative feeling rather than a basic passion of mine. The field is already getting crowded with great people (on the right and the left) so I do not see a great need to return here. I'll be closing down this weblog in order to move onto other interests of mine...

For all those who visited here in the past, thanks. For those who added me to their blog rolls, thanks. And if I've added you I'll probably be checking out your site from time to time.

For now though I'll be over on these blogs, some of them new, others not so new as they generally hold my interests and attention more. My four major passions in life are God, Space, Israel and Google. These up and coming blogs will hopefully reflect that.

One Spirit: Poetry towards God

Colony Worlds: God and Space...and the Human race.

IsraGood (new): Detailing Israeli technology, culture and all things kosher.

Inside Orkut: News, views and cultural taboos from inside Orkut's community forums.

Blogger Delights: Exploring the blogosphere one weblog at a time.

Picasa Fun: Discussing tips and techniques, and having fun with Google's Picasa.

Darnell: My personal media journal.

Well, it sure has been nice, but unless you visit my other weblogs, you'll only see my past record here. That's all folks, and keep on blogging!

PS

Comments will remain open but moderated so don't fret if it doesn't show up immediately.

Another Dead Terrorist (Goodbye Al-Zarqawi)

2006-06-08T12:29:00.000-04:00

(Hat Tip: My Dad)

My Dad informed me early this morning about an air strike that has indeed killed Al-Zarqawi. Here is more from Fox News.

(Fox News) Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda in Iraq leader who led a brutal insurgency that included homicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings, was killed in an airstrike on a building north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials announced Thursday. [...]

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening at around 6:15 p.m. local time in a bombing raid on a building in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province.

I would give more details, but Iraq The Model and Michelle Malkin have more details and analysis.

My personal feelings about Zarqawi can not be repeated hear (after all, this is a family site) although The Onion could give you hints about his future plans from talks with his affiliate jihadists. END

Tags:

Terror

Al-Zarqawi

Iraq

Dead Terrorists

Taking A Break

2006-04-29T23:58:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I started to pick up this weblog again, but for those who are curious you can see this post for details. Selah!

Tags:

Technorati Test

Three

Congress Members Arrested For Darfur Protest

2006-04-28T15:44:00.000-04:00

While government officials argue about the topic of the day, it seems that five fellow Congressmen decided to exercise their voices on a topic that few worldwide seem to care about--Darfur.

(MSNBC) Five Congress members were willingly arrested and led away from the Sudanese Embassy in plastic handcuffs Friday in protest of the Sudanese governmentÂs role in atrocities in the Darfur region.

"The slaughter of the people of Darfur must end," Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., a Holocaust survivor who founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, said from the embassy steps before his arrest.

Darfur is one of the major reasons why the United Nations is not ready to assume the helm as an "international government." Their lack of response is infuriating none the least and sadly our congressional leaders seem to have more courage to speak out against this tyranny than the entire international community.

(MSNBC) Four other Democratic Congress members Â James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Jim Moran of Virginia Â were among 11 protesters arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor subject to a fine.

"We must hold the Sudanese government accountable for the attacks they have supported on their own citizens in Darfur," Olver said.

Dozens of demonstrators carried signs, some reading "Stop the slaughter" and "Women of Darfur suffer multiple gang rapes," in front of the embassy Friday morning.

Protesters cheered as the congressmen stood up for human rights, and demanded that the Sudanese government allow international troops to monitor the situation. Although that may be a noble idea, the UN has lost much of its moral voice because of the child rape issues.

It would be more effective if another "coalition of the willing" was formed and the group submitted a letter to Sudan to either end the slaughter or face a quick end themselves.

Tags:

Sudan

Darfur

Genocide

Congressmen Protesting

Does Anybody Care?

Israel Promoting Water Technology In China

2006-04-27T15:52:00.000-04:00

Besides defending itself from dangerous minds, Israel is steadily expanding its economy beyond the middle east, and into the far east.

(Xinhua) Nine Israeli high-tech water companies headed by Israel National Water Co. voiced their interests in China's fast-growing water-treatment market at a Water Expo in Beijing on Wednesday. [...]

Israel is willing to share with China its wealth of experience in water management and production accumulated over the past seven decades, said Dr. Yehoyada Haim, Ambassador of Israel to China.

In response to dry weather and water shortages, Israel has developed a series of high-tech technologies including methods of desalination and irrigation.

When it comes to water technology, "the Jew knows best," especially since their nation is composed mainly of desert, mountains and an oasis that the Israeli citizens had to put together.

It would be nice if some of this technology was used in Palestine, (as they desperately need it). But with the Hamas government refusing to recognize the Hebrew state, that is probably an unlikely scenario--unless new elections occur. END

Tags:

It Doesn't Pay To Be A Terrorist (Hamas)

2006-04-26T16:42:00.000-04:00

It seems that the Palestinian government led by Hamas is in serious financial trouble as they are not only banned from receiving Western aid, but also unable to access funds from middle-eastern nations.

(Reuters) Aggravating the crisis, local, regional and international banks have balked at transferring Arab and Islamic donations to the Palestinian Authority, fearing sanctions by the United States which regards Hamas as a terrorist organization. [...]

Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have pledged emergency funds totaling more than $200 million. But the Palestinian Authority cannot access the money because local, regional and international banks have balked at making the transfers.

Bank officials say they fear Washington will impose sanctions on them or deny them access to banks on Wall Street which they rely heavily upon to conduct day-to-day transactions.

We live in a global economy and money is the blood that allows us to circulate those goods worldwide. If the Palestinians are going to eat (let alone create wealth) then Hamas will need to abandon its plans of destroying the Jewish state.

After all, what good is a gun if your belly is not full?

(Reuters) Hamas has been seeking access to foreign funds deposited in Egyptian bank accounts set up by the Arab League to aid the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority. [...]

"We understand the sensitivities in which the banks are dealing," [Finance Minister Omar Abdel-Razek] said. But he added: "We expect the banks to shoulder their responsibilities and to take some risks."

Contrary to popular opinion, not all Palestinians are bad, and not all of them seek the destruction of their Israeli neighbor. But as long as the leaders they elected continue to harbor ill will towards Israel, then the west has no reason to allow the government to survive off of donations and international welfare.

After all, would you give your neighbor food stamps if he refused to recognize your rights and applauded your destruction?

Tags:

Hamas

Palestine

Israel

Middle East

Terrorism

Doesn't pay to be a terrorist

Testing Blog Post

2006-04-19T13:48:00.000-04:00

I am testing the features of a web publishing tool entitled Writely.com (owned by Google).

So far it looks really great, but hopefully I will be able to publish here and connect it to my weblog.

Hamas Has An Un-Kosher Dream

2006-04-03T21:03:00.000-04:00

You can not get more radical than this in the Holy Land. What Arafat dared to speak privately to his own people, Hamas is declaring its intentions to the world.

(Israel Insider) In an interview with the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, al-Zahar spoke about his "dream of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall at my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it."

"I hope that our dream of having an independent state on the entire territory of historical Palestine will be realized one day." This dream, he added, "will become real one day. I'm certain of this because there is no place for the state of Israel on this land."

Al-Zahar however does hint at the possibility of Christians and Jews living with Palestine--although it is pretty much doubtful how much freedom they would have underneath a democratic theocratic regime.

(Israel Insider) Al-Zahar declared that Hamas will not disarm its military wing, adding that the Hamas government will continue to support armed organizations opposing the "Israeli occupation." "Why should we disarm the militants while the Palestinian territories are still occupied? The people have to defend themselves," he said.

Al-Zahar, who is the overall leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, also called upon the international community to give the Hamas cabinet a chance to show it was "clean and transparent."

With words like these being uttered, a war is pretty much expected between Israel and Palestine--especially if Iran attacks Israel.

Tags:

Hamas

Israel

Palestine

Middle East

Fanatical Stupidity

Google Courting The GOP?

2006-03-30T12:10:00.000-05:00

(Published on Blogger News)

Apparently April fools is still 48 hours away (as of this post) and it appears that the search engine king is cozying up to the GOP.

For a company known to have stronger roots in the Democratic party than Hillary's own campaign staff, this news seems as a shocker from the Twilight Zone.

(CNET News) Google appears to have embraced the rules of the so-called K Street Project. For a decade or more, Republicans in Congress have used the K Street Project to strong-arm businesses to hire only Republican lobbyists and to make donations only to GOP candidates.

Google has hired Washington powerhouse lobbying firm Podesta Mattoon. Though known as a bipartisan firm, Podesta Mattoon will probably hand this account to Lauren Maddox, a former staffer for Newt Gingrich.

Google is apparently "teaming up" with the GOP in order to influence government policy, especially after their sting by bloggers and the government over the China issue.

(CNET News) "The folks I've talked to," Clark told The New York Times, "everybody recognizes that the employee contributions were weighted heavily toward Democrats, and they're waiting to see a course correction." (Since 2001, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Google employees have donated $361,294 to federal candidates, parties and political action committees, with all but roughly $10,000 going to Democrats or their allies.)

Despite their neutral approach towards search, Google is probably realizing that they are not making too many friends with the conservative party, with some bloggers refusing to click on Google Ads as it may support "Demville."

Google is hiring GOP lobbyists in order to help curb what it sees as emerging threats to its internet rights.

(NewsMax) Google's emerging army of advisers "would help it fight fires along several policy lines, including copyright law, access to the Internet and privacy issues like its successful court fight this month to narrow a Justice Department subpoena over disclosure of its users' searches," according to the Times. (Media Source*)

Although some may disagree, this is perhaps a wise strategy for Google. The search engine king must find ways to reach out towards the Republican party--especially if they win the Whitehouse again in 2008.

Tags:

Google

Republicans

Lobbying

Politics

You look good in red

Four Options For Afghanistan

2006-03-23T15:44:00.000-05:00

(Published on Blogger News and Freedom's Zone)

Many, many moons ago Americans spilt their blood for a people living far, far away in the hopes that one day, peace and freedom would blossom in a land only known for violence and hate.

Unfortunately freedom (specifically freedom of religion) was not part of the "packaged deal" when Afghanistan was liberated, leaving the post-Taliban democracy with four options when it comes to the trial of Abdur Rahman.

(MSNBC) KABUL, Afghanistan - Senior Muslim clerics said Thursday that an Afghan man on trial for converting from Islam to Christianity should be killed regardless of whether a court decides to free him.

Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old former medical aid worker, faces the death penalty for becoming a Christian under Afghanistan's Islamic laws. [...]

Diplomats say the Afghan government is searching for a way to drop the case, and on Wednesday authorities said Rahman is suspected of being mentally ill and would undergo psychological examinations to see whether he is fit to stand trial.

Facing pressure from abroad as well as within, the Afghan government has several options it can choose, each one with serious consequences.

Execute Abdul: This would satisfy the "moderate voices" of tolerance, at least from the clerics who seem to have a better understanding of the brain than Afghan's psychologists (see next point).

Of coarse, this may cause the "return of the Taliban" as multi-national forces would be inclined to withdraw.

Declare Abdul Insane: This would satisfy most diplomats and relieve internal pressure. Although a nice loop hole, handing down a sentence like this would reduce the nation's medical society as to having the IQ of a box of rocks.

Even the Taliban were smarter than that.

Free Abdul: Would bring about many smiles across the west but probably increase terrorist recruitment levels ahead of the US military (but then again, so will the first option).

It may also cause religious riots--that is unless...

We Free Abdul via Koranic verses: Believe it or not, CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) has the best solution. This would establish freedom of faith in principle and alleviate the pressure to riot in the streets.

Only time will tell which door Afghanistan will choose, although the "insanity plea" will not hold up towards public opinion (Christian, Atheist and Muslim). Unless freedom to worship (or not) is demonstrated in the Muslim region, Abdul "Deja vu" could happen again in Iraq.

Google News, Kosher Style

2006-03-07T22:43:00.000-05:00

It looks as if the Google team has finally launched a Hebrew version of their Google News site, Kosher style.

(Google Blog) We're launching Google News in Hebrew! Google News Israel aggregates articles across Hebrew-language newspapers and presents them side by side so you can read what all of them are saying in one view.

It's been fun and challenging to create this edition, having to accommodate text that reads right to left, and adjusting our algorithms to work with a whole new set of papers. [...]

Meanwhile, with the recent opening of our Israeli office, we look forward to offering many more products to our friends there.

Google's presence in Israel will help raise the status of the Jewish nation and hopefully encourage more employment within it as well. Despite the terrorism that the land is frequently known for, Google's appearance will hopefully draw attention to the normal way of life most Israeli's experience outside of terrorism. END

Google Responds To The China Issue

2006-01-27T16:55:00.000-05:00

(Previously posted on Blogger Delights, Published on Blogger News)

Google over on their Official Blog Site gave an explanation as why they had to launch a local search engine in China.

(Official Google Blog) Google users in China today struggle with a service that, to be blunt, isn't very good. Google.com appears to be down around 10% of the time. Even when users can reach it, the website is slow, and sometimes produces results that when clicked on, stall out the user's browser. Our Google News service is never available; Google Images is accessible only half the time. At Google we work hard to create a great experience for our users, and the level of service we've been able to provide in China is not something we're proud of.

This problem could only be resolved by creating a local presence, and this week we did so, by launching Google.cn, our website for the People's Republic of China. In order to do so, we have agreed to remove certain sensitive information from our search results. We know that many people are upset about this decision, and frankly, we understand their point of view. This wasn't an easy choice, but in the end, we believe the course of action we've chosen will prove to be the right one.

Although I was not too thrilled about Google's decision to violate their own mission statement "Don't be evil," (something they humbly admit to later on in the article) their explanation as why they allowed their search engine to be filtered does clear up some issues regarding why they choose to play "internet nanny" (at least on a minor scale).

Some well respecting bloggers have decided to remove Google Ad Sense from their sites until they begin to provide "unfiltered searches" towards the Communist regime. Although they are entitled to their opinion, I will not be joining the bandwagon as Google is not as powerful as a government (despite the myths) and Congress is already addressing the issue as I type.

To be fair, Google has put a little disclaimer at the bottom of their Chinese site, explaining that results are filtered, although I think they should place that near the top IN RED to alert their current and future users.

I am glad that they are not placing Blogger, Gmail and (hopefully) even Orkut within the Red Dragon's grasp, as that would make me abandon Google forever.

Only time will tell whether Google searches will be liberated from governmental intrusion (both foreign and domestic). Until then, I hope we all learn from this sad situation and I pray it is a wake up call to Americans that our liberties are privileges indeed, as our brethren around the world can only view life through a filtered lens.

The End Of One Blog Age...

2006-01-25T12:59:00.000-05:00

...And the beginning of a new.

Editor's note: (if you've been tagged, scroll down towards bottom--the intro is boring) After careful consideration, I decided to pull back dramatically on this weblog due to inability to maintain several blogs at once.

In order to blog on other personal interests, Hidden Nook will remain idle, (except for short seasons) although I will continue to read weblogs on a daily basis.

For those interested, you can find me over at Colony Worlds, Inside Orkut and Blogger Delights (not to mention the blog novel I am about to begin on Sol Worlds).

I'll probably return here in the future, but before I forget, I must finish the work assigned to me--via The Black Kettle that is.

Update: Make that Colony Worlds, Inside Orkut and Google Your Business.

Not to mention Sol Worlds via Writely.com and my audio site, Darnell via Audio Blogger.

__________________

I was tagged earlier, but never took the time to respond, so I am making up for it in this post.

Five Weird Things About Me:

I don't like cats although my favorite (current) pet is one.
I don't enjoy sleeping and wish I didn't have to (as there are more productive things in life.
I started blogging before I knew what blogging was (I'm serious).
I would travel a thousand miles overseas in a heart beat but would loathe traveling to the grocery store.
I am a little nervous about heights, although I love to fly and jumping out of an airplane is something I would want to do.

There you have it. Ain't I weird? ;)

Weblogs I am tagging:

Sigh, the never ending life of a blogger. ;)

A New Low For The UN

2006-01-20T22:56:00.000-05:00

Despite showing actual leadership regarding the Darfur situation, the United Nations apparently forgot that woman's suffrage is just as important as international politics.

(Reuters) The United Nations, under pressure from Pakistani diplomats, barred an interview with a rape victim from Pakistan while the country's prime minister was at U.N. headquarters, her sponsors said on Friday. [...]

Mai, a 33-year old peasant woman was gang-raped in 2002 on orders of a local council for an offense committed by her brother and forced to walk home nearly naked before a jeering crowd. She prosecuted her attackers and became a women's rights leader.

UN sources claimed that Mai's appearance would "detract attention from the prime minister's visit" who was unaware of the situation. If the United Nations is unable to take a little flack from its own members, then when will it ever take center stage for world leadership? END

Israel Develops Pilotless Chopper

2006-01-18T14:12:00.000-05:00

Israel, long known for developing unmanned vehicles as well as the feared "death sharks" has launched its newest ally defending its right to exist-pilotless helicopters.

(Isracast) Although pilotless helicopters have been in development for the last several years in the U.S. and around the world, the craft developed by the Israeli company Steadicopter is the cheapest, simplest and most versatile of its kind.

The craft has a unique guidance system which includes a gyroscopes, a GPS, and other items unmentioned by the Israeli company. But what stands out most is this crafts many uses not only in the military sector, but also in the private as well.

(Isracast) The craft can come in a variety of configurations that can fit military and security applications such as: mine detection, stealth scouting, border patrol and police surveillance, as well as civilian applications such as high voltage line inspection, media coverage and agriculture purposes.

The helicopter is very small, weighing only 17 pounds and measuring less than 60 inches in length. The helicopter can be controlled by a laptop but only has an air time of 90 minutes.

This new device should prove to be very effective in monitoring the Israeli border. Not to mention a potentially useful tool for reconicence for Amerians in Iraq.

$60,000 Anyone?

2006-01-18T13:40:00.000-05:00

The FBI has recently increased a reward for the arrest of a polygamy leader charged by a grand jury of sexual conduct with a minor.

(Salt Lake Tribune) Special Agent Deborah McCarley of the agency's Phoenix office said officials hope the enhanced reward will encourage someone to reveal the whereabouts of Warren Jeffs, president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), who dropped out of sight about two years ago. She described the amount as significant for a local fugitive who is not on the FBI's national Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

This man apparently arranged the marriage of a 28 year old man (who was already married) and a 16 year old girl. If convicted he could face up to two years in prison (if not more) as well as wrath "in the life to come" as polygamy was something the apostle Paul discouraged in leadership.

The LDS church currently doesn't recognize polygamy, and hopefully they will catch this man and "throw the book at him." END

Narnia Sequel In The Works

2006-01-18T13:27:00.000-05:00

After the success of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, it appears as if a second film is currently in the works.

(Christian Post) According to Variety.com, Cary Granat, CEO of LWW co-producers Walden Media, reported that the script for Prince Caspian is already, "underway, with plans to tap a director within a few weeks."

"We're planning on starting production by the fourth quarter of next year," Granat told Variety.

Andrew Adamson chose to film Prince Caspian in order to film the four kids (in the previous film) before they have grown up. A second sequel may potentially top the initial release, although Adamson is not content on directing a sequel--he seems bent on making all seven.

(Christian Post) While Adamson's involvement in Prince Caspian is not confirmed, NarniaWeb has reported that Douglas Gresham--C.S. Lewis' stepson and consultant to LWW- will be on board for the Narnia sequel, although his exact role in the film is unclear.

It would come to no surprise if Adamson ends up directing the sequel as has done a superb with the previous film. It may be wise for the Narnia team to keep him on board, unless of course Spielburg inquires about directing the sequel.

Video Tribute Towards Martin Luther King, Jr.

2006-01-16T15:04:00.000-05:00

Here is a video clip of one of the greatest men of the 20th century.

The video is about 70 seconds long, but is worth watching. If one is unable to view this video in Firefox, simply click on the media source and it will bring you towards the site. END

Porn For Kids?

2006-01-16T13:24:00.000-05:00

(Hat Tip: World Magazine Blog)

Apparently a teacher in a Cleveland Ohio suburb failed to realize that assigning pornography as a "research assignment" would enrage some parents.

(Forbes.com) A high school research assignment on Internet pornography was canceled after parents in this Cleveland suburb complained. [...]

The assignment asked students to research pornography on the Internet and list eight facts about pornography. Students also were asked to write their personal views of pornography and any experience they had with it.

After receiving many calls Superintendent Jeff Lampert decided that dropping the assignment was in the best interest of the students. It is surprising that a teacher would suggest kids watching these videos, especially since many of the students were between 14 and 15 years of age. END

Is President Bush Interfering In Israeli Elections?

2006-01-12T23:58:00.000-05:00

(Published on Blogger News)

Several Israeli officials are showing their disapproval of the Presidents "interference" on what they see as strictly kosher politics.

(Jerusalem Newswire) [A]ccording to a number of reports in the Israeli media Thursday, US President George W. Bush has decided to do what he can to try and ensure that Olmert, standing in for an incapacitated Ariel Sharon, is elected to be full-time prime minister when Israelis go to the polls on March 28.

Reports Thursday said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has invited Olmert to visit Washington DC, probably sometime next month.

President Bush has not come out with direct vocal support for Olmert, although he is probably the only candidate supporting the road map (Editor's note: what's left of it).

Olmert has stressed that he will continue to work with America to realize a Palestinian state, an issue his political rivals probably oppose. Kadima (meaning "forward" in Hebrew) will probably win landslide elections to the dismay of some evangelicals and orthodox Jews.

Acting Prime Minister Olmert is currently leading the government after Sharon's unfortunate stroke (Editor's note: hopefully he will recover fully).

Those accusing Bush of playing favorites should realize that the President can associate himself with any potential leader, and it is ultimately up to the people to select the new Prime Minister.

Google Searching For Buddha?

2006-01-09T21:21:00.000-05:00

It appears as if the search giant Google will be assisting Buddha Films in a hunt to find the human face that best reflects the face of Buddha.

(The Buddhist Channel) In an exclusive interview with Business Standard, the chairman of Buddha Films, BK Modi, who is now based in Beverly Hills, said preliminary discussion were on with Google for the global talent hunt.

He said a lot of people across the globe had shown interest in playing the role of the Buddha, but not one matched the image of the Buddha.

Buddha Films was approached by a leading Japanese actor who they apparently turned down because they did not "match up." Although Google has indexed a vast (yet unknown) portion of the web, they do not yet possess the technology to index general faces.

But if Google can assemble the images for Buddha Films, their is one corporation who can sift the faces in order to find the face of Buddha.

(Riya) We are a group of determined face recognition and text recognition researchers and engineers who believe it is time for a new type of photo search that uses technology to look inside and automatically tag photos. We hope this will revolutionize how people "see" the world. (Source*)

Riya may be of interest to Buddha films as their technology would enable the Hollywood company sift through the millions of images, reducing the time and effort needed in the search. There is no news whether or not Riya has been contacted by Buddha Films, but if not it probably would be in Riya's interest to contact them.

Are Hindus And Muslims Outbreeding Christians?

2006-01-07T14:28:00.000-05:00

The general "Christian" population is growing at a faster rate compared to the worlds general population (1.3 percent verses 1.2 percent respectively) and makes up one third of the worlds population, with 2.14 billion adherents.

Despite their colossal size, they may be losing out towards their nearest competitors--the Muslims and the Hindus.

(The Christian Post) Although the overall number of Muslims and Hindus--1.31 billion Muslims in 2005 and 870 million Hindus--are less than Christians, the Islam population has grown at a rate of 1.9 percent per year and the Hindu population has grown at a rate of 1.5 percent per year.

The Christian population has seen a major decrease throughout Europe, which may be one of the reasons why it appears the faith of Christ is encountering a "speed bump." However according to the article Christianity has seen large increases elsewhere, especially in Africa and Asia where the growth rate is 2.6 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.

(The Christian Post) Out of all Christian groups, charismatic independent churches are growing the fastest, at 2.4 percent per year.

Dr. Brierley, Executive Director of Christian Research, noted that charismatic black churches in the United Kingdom have also seen rapid growth.

Although more analysis will probably be conducted as to the reason of this "slow down," a simple look will probably reveal why churches seem to be increasing in one area of the world and dying in another. Although raising kids after ones faith may be key factor towards keeping the growth rate up, evangelism is probably the main reason why some churches thrive while others die.

Israel Develops First Laser Diamond Cutter

2006-01-07T14:07:00.000-05:00

(Isracast) The Israeli company Sarin, developer and manufacturer of precision diamond and gemstone production technology, has recently started shipping a new system for cutting diamonds using green laser.

The new system, called Quazer, is based on proprietary technology and features a number of important breakthroughs in the sawing, cutting and shaping of diamonds.

This technology apparently has advantages over the previous methods of cutting diamonds, such as the ability to cut the ever so damage-prone "tension stones." Although Israel is not the diamond capital of the world, this technology may establish the little Jewish state as a major player in that industry. END

Another Blog, Another Day

2006-01-07T11:32:00.000-05:00

Editor's note: Posting has been rather light over at this site, as this author has been busy renovating this weblog (as you can see), launching two other blog sites off of the ground (Inside Orkut and Blogger Delights) as well as starting a third site (Colony Worlds).

Why all the weblogs? Because this author has various interests that can not be contained on one site, and it seemed necessary to "specialize" those interests in order to capitalize on them.

For those interested, four more contributors are needed for two other blogs (Inside Orkut and Colony Worlds) but until then this author will hold down the fort. ;)

Is Mars Really Worth It?

2006-01-02T21:21:00.000-05:00

(Published on Blogger News)

Before any space lovers accuse this line of thought as solar heresy, let us consider the following scenario's as possible. Martian dust is revealed to be non-fatal towards human flesh and engineers have developed ways to keep the red particles from damaging any machines. Vast water resources are located underneath the Martian ground and science has developed a way to make the red soil fertile for plants.

NASA, as well as international space agencies have devised ways to reduce the amount of time to terra form a world from an extreme 10,000 years towards within a lifetime of fifty years. Last but not least, education has enlightened humanity the need to breed amongst the stars and has encouraged world governments to provide international space agencies with all of the funding they will ever need to accomplish their mission of resettling Mars.

But even if all of these were probable in the near future, Mars is missing a key ingredient to make it a worthy home for terrestian life. That key ingredient missing from the red planet can be summed up in one word--resources.

Now some may consider this logic trivial or silly, but unless Mars has something to offer the solar system (or more specifically, Earth) then it will not be worth the trillions of dollars necessary to turn this barren wasteland into an Eden. Similar to the California gold rush, valuable resources on Mars would stimulate a desire to travel towards the red planet, which in turn would stimulate businesses and corporations to promote an economy upon its surface.

The Moon is a perfect example of this. Until recently, their was little desire to travel back towards the lunar surface, as humanity had already established their presence by landing on the white world in 1969. Despite Presidential direction from the Commander in Chief (i.e. Bush), NASA was still searching for a logical reason to revisit Earth's nearest neighbor.

They were that is until Hubble spotted an element called helium-3 upon the moons surface, an element some researches herald as the perfect non-polluting fuel. Some scientists have analyzed that there is enough of this on the moons surface to power the world for thousands of years, which has caught the attention of fuel hungry nations, such as China.

What Mars lacks is a similar resource that would attract the necessary attention to not only conquer the world environmentally, but also enable a worldwide economy to develop. After all, people are going to need to earn an income while surviving the fierce habitat, especially if Mars is to be home to millions of colonists, let alone billions of future residents.

Once a colony is established on the red planet, it will need to contribute something back towards planet Earth, something other than a few scientific curiosities. If the Martian globe is unable to provide any "fruit" back towards those who invested colonizing the world, then its greatest hope is to become a tourist destination hosting miles of desert for the eye to see.

Sources: Science @ NASA, Space.com, Aerospace Scholars NASA

Hyperlink: Red Chasm (Mars)