They won lots of money to do artsy-fartsy stuff with.

I didn’t link to one of the Turkish articles, but they were pretty funny:

"We beat out Kiev! Woot! BEEYOTCH!"

Hmmm.

Um…what defense issues? Is Iceland being attacked by somebody? Why would anybody attack Iceland?

The most impressive thing about this article is that these contractors are ahead of schedule. Have you ever worked with a contractor? Have you ever heard of a contractor being ahead of schedule? And wouldn’t you think that with a large project it would be easier to get behind?

Go Gamuda. 

No wonder they’re not afraid of bird flu: many die due to accidents, violence, and natural disasters. What’s one more thing? 

Brilliant! Students are visiting the elderly, feeding the homeless, and walking through rice paddies for fellowship and to support the disabled. Senseless violence replaced by cooperative healing. I wish stuff like this got reported more loudly.

That’s so hot. I mean, um, cold. Go you!

I suppose this isn’t that big of a deal. I suppose I should have written about how the Galway Sportsground will host the Canadians for an Ireland vs. Canada women’s rugby World Cup preliminary test. But I didn’t.

I wonder if Premier Wen Jiabao, who has just been touring that province, got a chance to visit? He stated while inspecting a dairy farm that he wished that every Chinese person would be able to afford to drink half a kilogram of milk every day. Let’s break it down: say you’ve got a 16 oz latte. Two shots of espresso in that would leave room for 14 oz of milk. How much do 14 fluid oz of milk weigh? And what kind of milk is this? What percentage fat content? Wait a minute…he used a dry measurement to talk about milk! Noooo…I had this brilliant plan to tie these two stories together, and he ruined it ALL.

I wonder how much they charge for a cappuccino over there…

Haaretz reports that Finner, a Jew, opened fire with an uzi on Palestinians being harassed by Israeli guests of the hotel at which Finner was working. A man was shot and wounded. Finner was sentenced to two years in prison.

The Israeli National News, on the other hand, reports that Pinner, not Finner, was the man in question. He was walking on the beach when a large group of Arabs began to throw rocks at him. Carrying an Uzi at the time, Pinner fired warning shots into the air until they left him alone. Later, they claimed a man had been shot in the chest, but then changed it to a leg wound. No physical evidence of any wound was produced at the trial, which the alleged victim attended. Pinner was sentenced to two years in prison.

Which to believe? Whether you are pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli, the main thing is to find what actually happened. Now, from what I have read, an overwhelming number of people have posted on the internet that they were in town at the time or had some other good source of information, and these confirmed the INN take on the story (including that the man’s name is indeed Pinner). The persons I have read championing the Haaretz version have not given any evidence for why they believe it other than that it was published. I leave it to you to decide. If you have further information, I would be glad to know of it.