Some interesting news that I came across today..

Apparently too much processed food is bad for your mental health.

"A diet heavy in processed and fatty foods increases the risk of depression, according to British research published on Monday.

Researchers at University College London also found that a diet including plenty of fresh vegetables, fruit and fish could help prevent the onset of depression.

They compared participants -- all civil servants -- who ate a diet largely based on "whole" foods with a second group who mainly ate fried food, processed meat, high-fat dairy products and sweetened desserts."

I guess that McSpicy isn't really a happy pill for many people as they claim it to be after all. 

And in other news,  the bear kingdom has joined the Global War on Terror.


Bear kills militants in Kashmir

03 November 2009 | 06:16:49 PM | Source: AFP/SBS

"Indian police have credited a wild bear for killing two senior militants in the disputed region of Kashmir, where insurgents have fought Indian rule for decades.

The bodies of the rebels were recovered on Monday from forests in the southern district of Kulgam, a police spokesman said.

"The two had been mauled to death by a wild bear," he said, adding two rifles were found near their bodies.

The men - known by the names Saifullah and Qaiser - were members of the region's most powerful group Hizbul Mujahedin.
 
They had been active in Indian Kashmir for more than six years, police said.

Armed rebels in the Muslim-majority region often use the densely forested mountains as a hideout."

Just for kicks..

Some thoughts after looking at America doing its darnest deliberation over how to actually proceed with the Afghanistan mission, and that bungled joke of an election held recently. I think it's beginning to look very clear that certain perceptions of what a successful rebuilding effort in Afghan governance is, may need to change. The way that Karzai had to go on television to announce a run-off, is inherently at odds with Afghan and Pashtun culture of rulership, where legitimacy is granted, enhanced and made effective through a display of power and a strong hand.

Well, of course, unless Abdullah Abdullah (I kid you not, that's the name of the other Presidential candidate), being ethnically Tajik , is the soon-to-be anointed son of NATO because of his Northern links that might come in handy should cooperation be needed with the growing influence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.. I wonder.

I hope Pashtunistan doesn't become another Vietnam, and this time, the Taliban are no Viet Cong.


CFR: Painting Democracy in Afghanistan
Thomas H. Johnson, Director, Culture and Conflict Studies, Naval Postgraduate School

....Anybody that knows the history of Afghanistan will recognize the fact that they've practiced pure Greek democracy at the village level for two millennia. There's almost an American arrogance here thinking that we could come in and install Jeffersonian representative democracy on this country. It's also extremely important to recognize that the entire election fiasco of August has [set] any type of movement toward democracy back in Afghanistan.

What do you think the Afghans are thinking about who went to the polls, in some cases risking their well-being and the well-being of their family? Now they're waiting to hear what's going to happen two months later. My final point is that if we're going to have a special election for city council in Boise, Idaho, you couldn't pull it off in two weeks.

What makes America and Washington think that they could have a credible rerun of this election process in a two-week period?....

Oh, and it's a wet Sunday morning, good time for the heatwave to disappear..

Decided to take the first bus to town after watching the Standard Liege vs Arsenal match in the wee hours of the morning. I figured that it may not be a luxury of time that I could have sooner rather than later.

The air was moist, cool and the drizzle had just ended when I reached at 6ish. There was hardly any hint of blue in the sky, not to mention a distinct lack of an "egg yolk" kind of sunrise.

Anyway, here goes, a few image composites. Please do leave your comments, I really appreciate them.


The wonders of engineering, to create life where there is none.

( Rest of the series here )

Picture from Coldplay's website. The puppets have gone on a tour of Munich :)

Somehow, this tune is stuck in a loop inside my head. It's invigorating and strong.

Part One Part Two
Always worth a laugh. 

Jeremy Clarkson tests Porsche Boxster S & Mercedes SLK while driving round a deserted village being shot at by the Irish Guards. :D 

I've not been following Strobist for a while now, so I went to browse today. 

There is an article on improvising on light sources, because we often do not get to have the lighting we desire, and we have to work with what is available, be it natural or artificial. 

And as always, lighting is one huge part of getting the images right. 

Read more here http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/08/improvisational-light.html

I take one look at my shelf and it screams "clear me out".

Maybe I should radically change my lens collection and streamline it into just one or two toys.

Nikon 16-85mm, 50mm F1.4 and the Tamron SP 70-210 tele. Three makes good company.

Sometimes, simplicity works best.

Recommended by thesundaywriter  .For the Star Wars geeks out there. :)

To be continued..

Final semester results out soon. I don't really want to ponder upon it.

What we can produce with our own hands and launch into space, pales in comparison to our Sun.

It's amazing how insignificant we are, when viewed against the larger backdrop of space and the great unknown.

The tiny silhouette of space shuttle Atlantis looks like a pin-prick against the vast expanse of the sun in this amazing picture taken from Florida..

It was snapped as the Atlantis crew whizzed across the sun in 0.8 seconds during their mission to repair the telescope Hubble above the Earth.

View more pics by The Mirror here

Hilarious.. especially with all the different types of teachers. And the color.. it's so 1980s.

Damn, I am absolutely undermotivated for the final exams...

Update : There's another clip that shows a cat watching this clip.

Something to share in the spirit of Easter..

Hebrews 2 : 9
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Hebrews 2 : 10
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

And I hope everyone had a blessed holiday..and always live life to the fullest, it is definitely not cheap. Hehe.

"..And you know, this thought crossed my mind at the time: maybe chance is a pretty common thing after all. Those kinds of coincidences are happening all around us, all the time, but most of them don't attract our attention and we just let them go by. It's like fireworks in the daytime. You might hear a faint sound, but even if you look up at the sky you can't see a thing. But if we're really hoping something may come true it may become visible, like a message rising to the surface. Then we're able to make it out clearly, decipher what it means. And seeing it before us we're surprised and wonder at how strange things like this can happen. Even though there's nothing strange about it. ..."
— Haruki Murakami

Somehow, I find this pretty enlightening for some reason.. then again, Murakami has always been a genius with words.