Tainted Love

DESPERATE Franco Origlia / Getty Images

Gaddafi Wanted to Be ‘Queen of England’

Muammar Gaddafi was so worried about NATO ousting him that he secretly offered Britain’s Foreign Office to give up power altogether and become a figurehead—“like the Queen of England.” The desperate offer apparently made Foreign Secretary William Hague all the more confident that Gaddafi was vulnerable. Still, David Cameron faced skepticism from British intelligence and his own cabinet, The Guardian reveals, but pressed ahead anyway, fearing he’d otherwise be remembered for deciding to “pull up the drawbridge” on the Arab Spring.

How David Cameron swept aside sceptics over Libya campaign

Guardian investigation reveals PM pressed for military action and Gaddafi secretly sought figurehead role

Scenes from Kashmir

Kashmir is a scenic land of tranquil beauty. A longstanding dispute over control of the region ensures that life for Kashmiris is anything but tranquil. Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir, and a fortified Line of Control separates forces. China also administers part of the region. Two wars have been fought between Pakistan and India since borders were drawn in 1947, and the predominately Muslim area chafes under Indian control. In August mass graves were disclosed that likely held the bodies of "disappeared" civilians killed during insurgencies years ago. The disclosure was one of a series of incidents which keeps the region tense. The political dispute and attendant violence disturbs what should otherwise be a culturally vibrant, lushly beautiful idyll. Collected here are images from the last several months in Kashmir, a region of roughly twelve and a half million people.
1. Indian tourists enjoy a traditional Shikara boat ride on Dal Lake in Srinagar, India on July 7, 2011. (Mukhtar Khan/AP)

virtual friend in car!

Global protests

There are many forms of protest, many ways to express an objection to particular events, situations, policies, and even people. Protests can also take many forms - from individual statements to mass demonstrations - both peaceful and violent. In the last 30 days, there have been numerous protests across the globe in many countries. The following post is a collection of only some of those protests, but the images convey a gamut of emotions as citizens stand up for their political, economic, religious and lifestyle rights.
1. As protesters sleep in Zuccotti Park, N.Y. police officers receive instructions. A group of activists calling themselves Occupy Wall Street targeted the Financial District for more than a week of demonstrations in late September. The group said they sought to bring attention to corporate malfeasance, social inequality, and the yawning gap in income between America's rich and poor. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Too much of a basic human need

Water is essential to life but in such places as India, Pakistan, China, and Thailand deluges have once again caused misery. Typhoon Nesat hit the Philippines earlier this week on its way to south China. In Pakistan, more than 5 million people have been affected by recent flooding, according to the aid agency Oxfam. Pakistan is still struggling to recover from the devastating monsoon rains in 2010.
1. A village boy sits on the banks of the swelling Daya River, near Pipli village, about 25 kilometers from the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneshwar Sept. 9. The flood situation in Orissa state worsened with the release of more water downstream from Hirakud dam, according to a news agency. A high alert has been sounded in 11 districts of the state. (Biswaranjan Rout/Associated Press)

music on the road!!!

Rare historic photos (almost unknown)

FIRST McDonald

Bird & cat, love & hate

The end of a dictator

Gadhafi killed in crossfire after capture Libyan -Sirte

China: Daily Life Sept. 2011

A glimpse of daily life in parts of China, documented by wire photographers from the Associated Press, Reuters and Getty. The post begins with a short essay by Reuters photographer Jason Lee. Lee photographed six-year-old Wang Gengxiang, known as the "Masked Boy." Gengxiang was severely burned in an accident involving a burning pile of straw last winter. Most of the skin on the little boy's head was burned off, requiring him to wear a full surgical mask. The mask is said to prevent his scars from becoming infected. According to the local media in the village where Gengxiang was photographed, the doctors cannot continue his skin-graft surgery until his damaged trachea (or windpipe) is strong enough. The Lee essay is following by a black slide, and then more "slice of life" photography from a still somewhat mysterious China. 1. Wang Gengxiang on Children's Day, June 1, 2010, and after he was severely burned in an accident, at Mijiazhuang village on the outskirts of Fenyang, North China's Shanxi province, September 9, 2011. Gengxiang, age 6, known as "Masked Boy", was severely burned in an accident involving a burning pile of straw last winter. (Jason Lee/Reuters)

sandra... do you remember her?

Chuck Norris - Mountain Dew Commercial

Crushing a brand new imac with a car

Leila K - Open Sesame

A step-by-step guide to celebrating

All it takes are two groups of people, one to gather and one to march past them. Parades took place across the globe these past two months for a variety of celebrations, from shows of military power, to tributes to organized labor, to pride for one’s country or culture. 1. Performers dance in the street parade at the annual Notting Hill Carnival in central London Aug. 29.. Revelers flocked to west London for one of Europe's biggest street parties, with record numbers of police on duty to prevent a repetition of riots that shook the British capital three weeks ago. Notting Hill Carnival, an annual celebration of Caribbean culture that usually draws about 1 million people for a colorful procession of musicians and performers. (Olivia Harris/Reuters)

ANNA KOSTENKO

Anna Kostenko was born in 1975 in Kiev, Ukraine, and has lived and worked in Cracow, Poland since 1991. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, where she studied painting from 1993 to 1998. She has had three exhibitions of works of art in Jorgensen and created many beautiful paintings since its release in 1999. Her fascination with different cultures has led to extensive travels that inspire her work, which has been shown in many countries, including Poland, France, Germany, Ireland and Spain.

Student protests in Chile

The ongoing student demonstrations in Chile began as a protest over the costs, profits, and fairness of higher education there. They have since attracted other segments of Chilean society venting frustration over wages, health care, and other issues. Uniting the protesters is common dissatisfaction with hugely unpopular President Sebastian Pinera and social inequality. Workers joined a 48-hour general strike in August which, like many demonstrations during the course of the protests, was met with police using tear gas and water cannons on the participants. With changes in the education system still unsettled, the student protests are likely to continue. Chileans yesterday celebrated their national independence day. 1. Students are hit by water cannons during a rally to demand changes in the public state education system in Santiago July 28, 2011. (Carlos Vera/Reuters)

Era - Don't go away

skydive....

LOOK AT YOURSELF AFTER WATCHING

Isang Litrong Liwanag

http://isanglitrongliwanag.org/

Spring in Paris (Frühling in Paris)

Download here: http://bit.ly/7pstsN

What a wonderful world - PARODY

Pump Up The Volume

Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011

 

Steve Jobs bid Apple fans farewell by telling them the best was still to come

Can Apple stay ahead without Jobs at its core?

Steve Jobs, co-founder and figurehead of Apple, passed away just hours after the technology giant unveiled its latest product - the iPhone 4S.

The launch was the first by Apple following Mr Jobs' resignation as chief executive in August, and hence it offered a glimpse of what to expect from new boss Tim Cook.
Expectations ahead of the launch had been high, with many Apple fans hoping for an iPhone 5 that would perform yet another technological leap by the nimble giant.
Instead, they were served a phone that was virtually indistinguishable from the previous model, which is already 15-months-old and thus deemed ageing by many in the fast-moving world of smartphone technology.
"The danger for these guys is that they've done a product refresh in a market where the product cycle is shorter and shorter," observed John Jackson, CCS Insight analyst.
"The danger is that the prospective iPhone customer is going to be distracted by that shiny new device from Samsung or whoever it is."
'He's irreplaceable' Compounding the fans' disappointment was Mr Cook's reluctance to step into Mr Jobs' admittedly big shoes, leaving his marketing boss Phil Schiller to do the talking.
"In terms of style, it was underwhelming," observed Gregory Roekens, chief technology officer at marketing firm Wunderman.
And as Apple's share price tumbled 5% in the immediate aftermath of the announcement, it became clear that Mr Jobs' absence was making itself felt, not only within the company he had led for so many years, but in the investor community as well.
"He's irreplaceable," said Tim Charlton, of Charlton Media Group. "There's nobody with his vision."
Lost without Jobs? What investors, and many an Apple fan, fear is not that the company will plunge from its position as one of the largest companies in the US.
Rather, they fear that without their guru leading from the front, the pace at which Apple moves forward will slow at a time when its rivals are speeding up, snapping at its heels.
"In the short term, the impact is not likely to be that much, as the company already has in place plans for technology and product development," observed Nitin Bhat, telecom analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
"But in the the medium to long term, [Mr] Jobs' absence may hurt Apple."
'Look and feel' This trust in Mr Jobs and his instincts may seem irrational, not least given the way he - in the words of Mr Charlton - "put a lot of processes in place to ensure new executives take the company forward" before he stepped down in August.
Indeed, in his resignation letter, Mr Jobs said he believed "Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it".
Mr Bhat is amongst those who were not convinced.
"Product development is not just about getting the technological bit right - it's also also about the art of getting the look and feel and the timing of its launch right," he said.
"That cannot be taught," he said. "Very few people have it and that is a trait of Steve Jobs that Apple will miss the most."
Such talk seems to suggest Mr Jobs has left behind a rudderless ship without a captain, which is patently not the case.
But it is clear that the new brooms at Apple will have to come up with something radically new quite soon to convince both customers and investors that its edge has not been lost and that Mr Jobs' legacy will live on.

the wedding dress

oh come on!!! please do mercy!!!

milk FAIL

Last Summer