According to a recent poll, more than a million Iraqis have been killed since the 2003 invasion by the US.

Via Opinion Business Research (ORB).

Not attending DrupalCon has its benefits, here are some, which were cheerfully discussed on IRC #drupal yesterday by those "left behind".

Ossama Bin Laden, head of Al-Qaeda, appeared in a video posted on some sympathetic web sites. This is the first time in 3 years he has done so.

Noting that he looks more youthful, Western media has noticed his shorter trimmed bird, and less grey hair compared to before.

Moreover, Radio Free Europe analyses certain aspects of the video message, including:

This is yet another example of an email scam claiming that you won a prize.

In order to lower suspicion, they mention that there are no tickets to buy and only your email is used. This is to preempt the question: "how can I win a lottery when I did not buy a ticket?"

From: emones deprts <estonmeskromes@web.de>

Dear Beneficiary,

An almost-intact house in the Manitoba town of 550 just west of
Winnipeg being thrown several hundred metres through the air before disintegrating and falling to the ground ... seconds later, a large van is seen whirling through the air; it was later found in a distant field

That is really powerful ...

Via CBC.

Back in August, opposition newspapers in Egypt reported that president Hosni Mubarak's health has deteriorated, as well as speculation about the succession.

It seems that this is a sensitive topic among the ruling elite,
because in a rare reaction, Mubarak was interviewed in Al Ahram, the
semi official newspaper and the headline read : "I know who is
spreading these rumors and their objectives".

Sea ice in the Arctic has sunk to its lowest level since satellite record-keeping began, fully opening the most direct route through the Northwest Passage, the European Space Agency said Friday.

The much-coveted shortcut connecting Asia to Europe through the Canadian Arctic has been historically impassable.

This could save around 5,000 kms per trip from Europe to Asia, as opposed to the Panama Canal route. This also adds to the growing evidence of global warming.

When I visited Hungary in the summer, the language was totally alien to any other language I am remotely familiar with. Being from the Finno-Ugric group, it is remotely related to Finnish, and little else.

From the signs in the airplane, I learned that the word "dohány" means "smoke", i.e. tobacco. This was confirmed from shops, and even the name of a street in the Jewish section of the city.

Marry our daughter is an American web site that claims it is a referral service for those wanting to marry young girls.

They say that their "service" centers on the fact that it is legal under US law to marry young girls (aged 14 to 16) with the consent of their parent or guardian.

Moreover, they advertise a set bride price for each girl ranging from $20,000 to $50,000. They even stress that the practice of the bride price is biblical and that the entire site is driven by

Two studies in British universities conclude that friendships formed in online social networking sites, such as Facebook, are not as close as once made face to face.

They also have the interesting observation of the type of people who are friend collectors. These just try to accumulate as many "friends" as they can via other friends, even if they do not know them that much.

Via the CBC.