State media in China spills a great deal of ink attacking reports on China by western organizations that subscribe to this or that anti-China theory - "China threat", "China collapse" and so forth. Like other catch-phrases in the media - "three represents", "peaceful rise" and such - the words are often bandied about without any explanation. Global People (环球人物), a magazine under the People's Daily group, promises to remedy that situation in its latest issue, which profiles the "China attackers" most closely-associated with a number of anti-China positions.

Here's a translation of the promo for that issue:

Global People: Who is viciously attacking China?

For several years, absurd theories like "China Threat" "China Collapse" "China Split" and "Yellow Peril" have continually attacked China from the west. These arguments and rhetoric are not worth refuting, since they have never been real and will not become reality in the future. However, they have harmed China's international image and have disrupted China's efforts at development and engaging the world, and for this reason they should be taken seriously by Chinese people.More...

Ordem superior leva padre a suspender concurso de 'Miss Freira'

Criticado por ter proposto uma competição que pretendia eleger a freira mais bonita via internet, um padre italiano voltou atrás e suspendeu tudo.

O concurso já tinha nome, "Irmã Itália 2008", e estava marcado para começar em setembro, no blog do padre Antonio Rungi, da paróquia de Mondragone no sul do país.

Conforme a intenção do religioso, a escolha seria feita via internet e, além das freiras mais bonitas, os internautas elegeriam também os projetos de trabalho mais interessantes das irmãs.

O aspecto físico, contudo, acabou tendo maior repercussão e isso prejudicou o projeto, na avaliação do clérigo, que interrompeu tudo nesta segunda-feira.

“Estão tentando impedir minha iniciativa, isto é certo”, disse padre Rungi à BBC Brasil.

O padre lamentou o destaque excessivo ao aspecto estético, dado pela imprensa, argumentando que a idéia era apresentar as freiras mais expressivas, que tivessem uma história de vida para contar.

Ler mais

A não perder: O corpo e a alma (Crónica)

David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk will be released on September 22, 2008 - a double album and concert DVD.

David Gilmour's first solo live album captures the magic of his concert held in front of 50,000 fans in the Gdansk shipyards in Poland. This final performance from his critically acclaimed 2006 'On An Island' tour features Pink Floyd classics never previously performed with an orchestra. The concert marked the 26th Anniversary of the founding of trade union Solidarity in Poland and the historic importance of the date magnified the night's breathtaking atmosphere.

The 2.5 hour DVD accompanying the live album fully portrays the drama of the Gdansk concert, set against the industrial landscape of the shipyard and the crane-filled skyline. It includes both concert footage and a riveting documentary featuring David Gilmour and the Baltic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Gdansk.

Pre-order on Amazon:
Live In Gdansk (2CD)
Live In Gdansk (2CD & DVD)
Live In Gdansk (2CD & 2DVD)
Live In Gdansk (3CD & 2DVD) [Box set]
Live in Gdansk (5 Vinyl Boxset) [VINYL] [Limited Edition] [Box set]

Live in Gdansk website
Videos on YouTube

Because everybody loves a good conspiracy:

'The USS Liberty': America's Most Shameful Secret

by Eric S. Margolis

On the fourth day of the 1967 Arab Israeli War, the intelligence ship 'USS Liberty' was steaming slowly in international waters, 14 miles off the Sinai Peninsula. Israeli armored forces were racing deep into Sinai in hot pursuit of the retreating Egyptian army.

'Liberty,' a World War II freighter, had been converted into an intelligence vessel by the top-secret US National Security Agency, and packed with the latest signals and electronic interception equipment. The ship bristled with antennas and electronic 'ears' including TRSSCOMM, a system that delivered real-time intercepts to Washington by bouncing a stream of microwaves off the moon.

'Liberty' had been rushed to Sinai to monitor communications of the belligerents in the Third Arab Israeli War: Israel and her foes, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.

At 0800 hrs, 8 June, 1967, eight Israeli recon flights flew over 'Liberty,' which was flying a large American flag. At 1400 hrs, waves of low-flying Israeli Mystere and Mirage-III fighter-bombers repeatedly attacked the American vessel with rockets, napalm, and cannon. The air attacks lasted 20 minutes, concentrating on the ship's electronic antennas and dishes. The 'Liberty' was left afire, listing sharply. Eight of her crew lay dead, a hundred seriously wounded, including the captain, Commander William McGonagle.

At 1424 hrs, three Israeli torpedo boats attacked, raking the burning 'Liberty' with 20mm and 40mm shells. At 1431hrs an Israeli torpedo hit the 'Liberty' midship, precisely where the signals intelligence systems were located. Twenty-five more Americans died. More...

O indivíduo que baleou os vizinhos por acreditar que um deles, pelo facto de ser homossexual, estaria a sodomizar o seu gato foi hoje condenado, no Tribunal São João Novo, Porto, a cinco anos e seis meses de prisão efectiva.

"Dar um tiro em alguém por ser homossexual e por supostamente ter tido relações sexuais com um gato que ajudou a resgatar, e por isso o animal ter ficado homossexual, é talvez o motivo mais torpe que eu já vi na minha vida", frisou o magistrado.

A não perder a história completa em: http://jn.sapo.pt/paginainicial/policia/interior.aspx?content_id=972605

Comentário:
Pobre gato que tem um dono assim...
Update: Com o dono em cana parece que o gato foi viver com o vizinho...

"...Entretanto, os jornalistas, como é costume, fazem espectáculo com o seu trabalho. Hoje, na RTP, José Rodrigues dos Santos apresentou uma reportagem naquela que ele considera ser “a estrada mais perigosa do mundo”. Que perigos que ele passou, ignorando as ordens dos soldados georgianos, ignorando as ameaças dos soldados russos, sempre em frente, pondo em perigo a sua vida - qual condutor embriagado, conduzindo em contra-mão na A8 - a estrada mais perigosa do mundo…"

A não perder no Coiso...

Early this year I went to the ai-ah-tó-lás' country to visit Isfahan, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, not knowing how long it will remain so because it is said to be the primary location of the Iranian nuclear weapons program.

I took some pictures there but being very busy during this year I didn’t find time yet to upload it. Meanwhile, back in the civilized world, Microsoft launched Deep Zoom, a cool new technology for Silverlight that allows to display high resolution pictures on the internet. In a nutshell, the deep zoom technology allows you to view large images by only sending to your browser the portion of the image that you will actually be viewing on your screen.

Combining Isfahan pictures and Deep Zoom the result is below:

Click to zoom-in, SHIFT+click to zoom-out.

Learn how I create this in less than 10 minutes here.
Read more about Silverlight here.

O Sol revela hoje que o papa Ratzinger gosta de gatinhos:

"O Papa Bento XVI tem fama de ter um carinho especial por gatos e autorizou mesmo uma biografia em que a história da sua vida é narrada por um gato. Chico e José é a história de um gato real, com esse nome, que Bento XVI tinha na Alemanha enquanto era Cardeal Ratzinger.

O gato pertencia à casa onde Ratzinger viveu antes de se mudar para Roma, em 1981. Na capital italiana, o futuro papa acolheu outro gato que encontrou na rua e tomou conta dele até ser eleito Papa."

A noticia não esclarece, mas estou a crer que apesar de gostar de gatinhos estamos perante um crime de abandono de animal. Ao mesmo tempo, não se coíbe de fazer estas figuretas, que levaram activistas italianos a criar uma petição-online contra o uso de peles de arminho nos seus barretes. A ver vamos os resultados...

A picture from Xiquinho Rome album that I took last year has been selected to feature on Schmap Rome for the iPhone and iPod.

Details here.

The winning picture is here.

Enjoy the entire album here.

Maybe it's time for I change my job...

The three remaining Pink Floyd members get in a car wreck and all three die. They're standing in front of the pearly gates to heaven when St. Peter comes up and says "Oh hi guys, we've been expecting you! You're really gonna love it here, Heaven is a great place for musicians. We even have our own band and you guys are welcome to join. We've got Elvis Presley singing, Jimie Hendrix is playing guitar, Frank Sinatra is on piano and Roger Waters is writing lyrics!" Dave replies "Roger's here? When did he die?" St. Peter leans over and whispers in his ear "It's really just God, but he thinks he's Roger Waters!"