Forum Topics

Primary tabs

FBI Saddam interviews released

published by You on 6 July, 2009 - 01:07

US investigators have released accounts of the questioning of Saddam Hussein, offering a goldmine of historical and personal details on the Iraqi leader.

The documents released under freedom of information rules are from interviews and informal conversations he had in US custody with the FBI in early 2004.

Saddam Hussein said he refused to allow UN weapons inspectors into Iraq to stop Iran knowing how weak it had become.

And he scoffed at reports that he used body doubles to confuse assassins.

...

The former leader appears to view Iran as the biggest threat to Iraq, which was why he says he kept UN inspectors out in the late 1990s, even though he had already got rid of all his weapons of mass destruction.

Self-help 'makes you feel worse'

published by You on 5 July, 2009 - 01:00

Bridget Jones is not alone in turning to self-help mantras to boost her spirits, but a study warns they may have the opposite effect.

Canadian researchers found those with low self-esteem actually felt worse after repeating positive statements about themselves.

They said phrases such as "I am a lovable person" only helped people with high self-esteem...

Read more @ BBC News

what do you get when you put an imam, a priest, a rabbi, a monk and 10 atheists in a room?

published by You on 2 July, 2009 - 23:34

Find God, win a trip to Mecca (or Jerusalem, or Tibet)

Turkish gameshow enlists imam, Greek Orthodox priest, rabbi and monk to try to convert atheists, with pilgrimage as reward

It sounds like the beginning of a joke: what do you get when you put a Muslim imam, a Greek Orthodox priest, a rabbi, a Buddhist monk and 10 atheists in the same room?

Viewers of Turkish television will soon get the punchline when a new gameshow begins that offers a prize arguably greater than that offered by Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Forced marriage plea to schools

published by You on 2 July, 2009 - 02:23

Forced marriage plea to schools

New guidelines are being published urging schools to identify signs of forced marriages ahead of the holidays.

The guidance comes as an official report raises questions about how schools and some councils have responded to calls for help.

The report calls on schools to play a greater preventative role, saying some are clearly reluctant to get involved.

The government's Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) says it has received 770 calls for help this year - up 16% on 2008.

The unit, run jointly by the Home Office and Foreign Office, received 1,600 reports last year - and intervened in 420 actual cases.

The Cult of Done

published by You on 1 July, 2009 - 04:49

I think there is a lot of truth in this:

The Cult of Done Manifesto

  1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
  2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
  3. There is no editing stage.
  4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
  5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
  6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
  7. Once you're done you can throw it away.
  8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.

7/7 Ripple Effect

published by You on 30 June, 2009 - 20:22

Anyone heard of this conspiracy theory documentary? I had not until I read a BBC article on it earlier today:

...Muad Dib's conspiracy video has been picked up and held up as truth. A copy of his film was sent to a survivor of the attacks and to the Chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, Dr Mohammed Naseem.

He has long harboured doubts about the government account. "The Ripple Effect is more convincing than the government statement," he says.

Dr Naseem made 2,000 copies of 7/7 Ripple Effect for the mosque. At Friday prayers he asked the congregation to raise their hands if they did not accept the government version - nearly the entire gathering did...

7/7 Ripple Effect:

Happy Firefox 3.5 day

published by You on 30 June, 2009 - 20:06

I have good news everybody, today is that day that you have been waiting for. The day Firefox 3.5 got released.

To join in on the celebrations, those that are running Firefox 3 should go to "Help >> Check for Updates" in order to celebrate.

For everyone else - why are you not using it already?

Way to go US of A!

published by You on 30 June, 2009 - 19:49

Pakistani militants abandon deal

A wing of the Taliban based in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan say they have scrapped a peace deal with the government.

The group led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur in North Waziristan withdrew from the deal as the army stepped up its offensive against the Taliban in the north-west.

The announcement comes a day after his men ambushed a Pakistani military convoy, killing 16 soldiers.

...

The group said they were abandoning the peace deal because of continued US missile strikes and Pakistan's widening anti-Taliban offensive in the north-west.

Why I don't like sales and selling.

published by You on 30 June, 2009 - 01:04

It's a tale of woe:

"If you would have [asked] for a couple of bank statements, that would have proved that they could have gone prime, but if the sub-prime loan officer [has] already been able to sell that rate to that customer, then why would you take it prime and cut your commission by two-thirds?"

Liar loans

Under a sub-prime mortgage customers didn't have to prove their income. They didn't have to pay a deposit. The lender made a lot of money - and the customer typically ended up paying a much higher rate of interest.

There has been some anecdotal evidence that companies were deliberately pushing people into such loans when they simply weren't suitable.

Pages