This is a photo of the famous Hungarian classical composer Bela Bartok upon his graduation from high school. I can't help but see the almost identical hair style that Dries uses.Well, not bad for a hair style to come back after a century!

A Slashdot article on a Ruby Gems book review led me to a random site that turned out to be Drupal 4.7. The site is hwacha.net. What is a hwacha? It is a Korean rocket launcher from the 15th century. The site is the blog of a female Korean software developer, with interest in Korean heritage, linguistics, history, and perhaps a dash of rivalry with Japan.

One would think that Israelis would be more welcoming to more financial aid from the USA. It is free money, in the tune of $2.4 billion annually.However, the case is not as simple as just getting money. Rony Bart, a research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv makes a compelling argument for cuts in US aid to Israel. He also notes that Benjamin Netanyahu, the ex-prime minister, has started the trend of cutting aid annually.

Two characters from history, from different places, but a similar deed that earned them an everlasting legacy: each sacrificed his son when asked to compromise his principles.

Al Samaw'al ibn Adiya السموأل بن عاديا

Shmuel was a Jew who lived in northern Arabia in the first half of the 6th century C.E. His mother was of royal descent, being from Ghassan. He had considerable wealth, enabling him to live in a private fort, Al-Ablaq الأبلق founded by his predecessor, Adiya. As with most of his contemporaries, he was also a poet.

An article in yesterday's newspaper interested me enough to open an old topic that I planned to write about.

It is about Massimo Francesco Marcone, an assistant professor at the University of Guelph. He traveled the world in search of some bizarre delicacies.

Another variant of the scam. This time allegedly from the UAE. Note the "offer is 100% risk free and is not a hoax" part!

A Moncton area resident was checking if she won the lottery at a corner store. The terminal said she won what seems like a trillion dollars, although the top prize was $20,000. The funny part is what Atlantic Lotto spokesman, Robert Bourgeois said (with added emphasis):

Here is another example of fake lottery scam. They ask for fees in relation to courier.

Researchers at Purdue University build a scientifically accurate 3D simulation of the World Trade Center tower when the airplane hit it.

Among their conclusions:

Here is a series of emails sent to us by a prospective victim. Her name is withheld for privacy reasons.You can see that the method in this case is charging courier fees upfront. In other cases, it is account opening fees, government fees, bribes, ...etc., but it is all the same: upfront money for a prize that does not exist.