The Thin Line

Filipino Table Manners Punished at School

A 7-year old is punished at school several times for using a spoon and form at the same time to eat his lunch.

http://www.westislandchronicle.com/pages/article.php?noArticle=6063

Note that the principal called the little boy a pig.

This is obviously a case of racism and intolerance. I had to Google it to believe it. I found the same article in other sites, including the Manila Times, a reputable Filipino newspaper in the Philippines.

There'll be a lot of angry Filipinos this week.

By contrast, I remember hearing how an American who visited the Philippines once said that now that he discovered how to eat with both a spoon and a fork, he would never go back to just eating with just a fork.

"It's a lot more efficient."

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Sighting

Last Saturday, I posted a New York Times article about an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker sighting at the Nikonians forum for wildlife photographers:

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Sighting

The bird was believed to be extinct for 75 years. According to the article, the magnificent bird was considered the Holy Grail for birders and it was nicknamed "Lord God" -- because that was what people exclaimed upon seeing it.

I visited my post at Nikonians today, and found quite a few excited replies (about the same thing happened on photo.net). Some of them were bitterly disappointed that bird watchers never bring cameras. Some people were more sentimental. In both the NYT article and in the forum, people cried.

Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI

Cardinal Ratzinger is the new pope.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/international/worldspecial2/19cnd-conclave.html

Kinda predictable.

So I guess the Church will be staying firm against abortion, divorce, same-sex marriages, stem cell research, female clergy...

For how long? The guy's 78...

NYT: Pope John Paul II, Church Shepherd and a Catalyst for World Change, Dies at 84

Pope John Paul II, Church Shepherd
and a Catalyst for World Change, Dies at 84

Antonio Janni/Agence France-Presse

NYT ARTICLE: Report Calls U.S. Intelligence 'Dead Wrong' on Iraq Weapons

Read the New York Times article here.

The full Commission's Report (600 pages) in PDF format.

. . .

"It's a little strange to get off the bus and be greeted by air-conditioning, classical music and semi-automatic weapons."
- Dmitri, after seeing armed US soldiers at the NY/NJ Port Authority during the first week of the Iraq war

Hedge Fund Smedge Fund

According to this New York Times article you can join a hedge fund with 25k nowadays (as supposed to something around a million) by joining a "fund of funds". Hedge funds now account for half the stock market activity. Yada yada yada.

On the other hand, this is possibly the quickest way for a young guy to lose his down payment for a condo.

Sounds very dotcom-ish to me even if people vouch for the contrary.

Jef Raskin Passes Away

Jeff Raskin -- the reason why we're using our computers now -- died peacefully at home in California on February 26th, 2005.

http://jef.raskincenter.org/home/index.html