4 june 06

Greetings,

Here are some random excerpts from various web stories.

..."Books traditionally have edges, some are rough cut, some are smooth cut. In the electronic anthill, where are the edges?" Updike asked the audience, which gave him a standing ovation at the Washington Convention Center. "So, book sellers, defend your lonely forts, keep your edges dry. Your edges are our edges.”

..."On the other hand, as an American writer, one should have right to write about the world as best as he can and as variously as he can. That's why you have an imagination, as well as a memory."

...Dark soya sauce, widely used in east Asia, may prove to be more effective than red wine and vitamin C in combating human cell damage, researchers in Singapore said.

...The government warned the public not to fall for the scam, noting that exam papers are state secrets and those caught leaking them face three to seven years in prison.

...the Arab culture is not receptive to modernity and has scores to settle with the West — some as old as the Crusader Wars against Muslims and others relatively new such as the 58-year Arab-Israeli crisis in which the West is perceived as biased in Israel's favor.

...There are also several prerequisites that should be in place before democracy could thrive in the region, such as a large middle class, stability, lack of militancy, religious reform and the empowerment of women

...credibility is a commodity.

...Iraq spent $4 billion to $5 billion in 2005 to import fuel from abroad. Mr. Alak's research indicates that because of the huge price incentives, between 10 percent and 30 percent of that fuel is smuggled out of the country again. Even at the low end, that would mean smuggling costs account for almost 10 percent of Iraq's gross domestic product, $29.3 billion in 2005.

...The scroll, originally several yards of papyrus rolled around two wooden runners, was found in 1962. It dates to around 340 B.C., during the reign of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great.

"It is the oldest surviving book, if you can use that word for a scroll, in Western tradition," Veleni said. "This was a unique find, of exceptional importance."

Greek philosophy expert Apostolos Pierris said the text may be a century older.

"It was probably written by somebody from the circle of the philosopher Anaxagoras, in the second half of the 5th century B.C.” Like this little blog.

This image is Christopher Columbus's home fort at San Marcos, Spain before setting sail to discover the "new" world.

Peace.