Bhutan becomes newest democracy:

The small Himalayan country of Bhutan became the world's newest democracy Monday when voters cast ballots in the nation's first parliamentary elections.

...

Turnout was more than 79 per cent of the 320,000 registered voters, Wangdi said. The results will not be official until Tuesday morning.

The election came with a twist: it was the country's king, not the people, who pressed for democracy.

...

"Why do we need these people and their arguments?" asked 48-year-old Kinzang Tshering after listening to one candidate make his spiel days before the vote. "They tell us they are better than the other ones. How should I know which one is better?"

Wow, that music plays on every page load, huh?

Duck Hunt!




thought I'd share...

So I've been going a bit TED crazy for the past few days, and thought I'd share some of the more interesting stuff I've watched, in case people are bored and need 15-20 minutes of video to fill their free time.

Michael Pollan: The omnivore's next dilemma -- Turning our darwinian biological viewpoint on its head, and creating interesting sustainable agricultural solutions as a result.

Rives: Is 4 a.m. the new midnight? -- Not because I'm a conspiracy theorist but because he's entertaining and he reminded me that I need to find more Giacometti.

Peter Donnelly: How juries are fooled by statistics -- Fundamental logical errors we make when faced with statistics, not to mention some of the disastrous implications of those errors.

Reasoner and Greene joke about the former's highlight-reel goal:

I don't believe it, Al.

So it's true... Percy is alive!

I saw him at Good Buddy restraunt... Unless it was his doppelganger.

3 points back...

wtf??

Two great things I grabbed from BoingBoing:

First, Fake. You Are Not Dead, A Guide To Modern Living. streaming and mp3 download available. I'm just not sure how to describe it.

Second, Miro. Combines RSS feeds, bit torrent and VLC player into one nice interface. Comes with a collection of 3860 channels (things like TED talks, PBS video podcasts, etc.) as well as the ability to add RSS feeds for either torrents or directly linked videos. Manages a video library for which you can limit the maximum hard disk space. Automatically deletes videos 5 days after you download them (unless you decide to keep them), making it easy to maintain. Lets you search and download from YouTube and other video sharing sites. And a great interface.

Also, it wasted my morning. So it goes.