I wish this was a joke...

But it's not. It's true...unfortunately.
http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/life/mcdonalds-hong-kong-offers-weddings-494226#ixzz129kRnZig?hpt=C2

Ridiculousness

This is getting ridiculous! I totally agree with the one cop at the end of the story who says that it is getting to a point where lae breakers get more rights than ordinary citizens. Looks like the nanny state Britain is paying too much attention to the naughty kids and not enough to the good ones.
http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=3268&fArticleId=1.684587&fFeed=breakingnews

Great Chefs

Apparently, if you want to be a maestro chef, you need to be a little whacky. The newest addition to your plate? Dirt! Yup, thats right, dirt.

The dirt os made out of charred vegetable, or ground barley. It sounds bizaar but apparently it wins awards.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2019612,00.html?iid=WBeditorspicks

As weird and wonderful as it sounds, I don't think I would dig in.

Space Law

I guess I've just never thought about it before but it makes perfect sense that there is 'international law' governing space. It's called Space law. There is also a Treaty called the 'Outer Space Treaty' which is signed by 125 countries but only ratified by 98.

I came upon this because of a post on geekologie
http://www.geekologie.com/2010/09/how_am_i_not_the_man_for_the_j.php
Although this post claims that there are laws governing the treatment of extraterristrial life forms, I have yet to find them. There are however laws governing the use of space-relating tot he peaceful exploration of space, the inability of any particular state to make a claim on any planet and the prohibition of testing weapons in outer space. It all makes perfect sense, but like I said, I just hadn't thought of it before.

I wonder how far this law will extend. especially with the discovery (still to be confirmed) of a habitable planet... makes for some interesting reading
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2022489,00.html

Army life anyone?

Talk about Craaaaazy Americans. I am amazed that these guys exist. I think from a complete lack of actual issues and an overdose of self-inflicted conflict, these Americans have lost the plot...literally.

This group of private militias are like mercenaries but for there own cause. They won't offer their skills to the highest bidder but they will cause civil war due to percieved threats, or perhaps even boredom.

They are a group of armed right wingers-who seriously should be in the nut house. Reminds me of aggressive men with no real cause and nothing to do except play army.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2022516,00.html

Smoking Portugal

Could the decimalization of drugs work? Portugal is a case study proving the positive. Drug use is down and rehabilitation is up in a country that has decriminalized the use and possession of marijuana, cocaine and Methamphetamine. So could it work elsewhere in the world?

If anyone has seen the tv Series ‘The Wire’ you would have seen the season where the police created ‘little Amsterdam’ a section of Baltimore where drug gangs could sell their drugs and users could meet without retribution from the law. In the series, the experiment worked well. The drug gangs moved out of the centre of town. The crime rate dropped and Addiction centers and health officials were able to work amongst the addicts, helping them instead of leaving them to the fate of the city streets.

There are so many arguments for and against decimalization of drugs. A particular one against is the fact that many criminals, who may be more active in other crime rings (theft, hijacking etc) are often brought to justice because of drug possession. Many of them can’t be caught on other charges and if drugs were legalized, there would be no way of holding these criminals.

This debate should be had face to face over a couple of hours, so instead I leave you with the case study of Portugal to make up your own mind on the issue.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

The Real Big Brother

Seems like sociologists and the like are using the trapped Chilean Miners to do some studies on Human Behaviour. Their findings are interesting. It's one of the rare cases where they can study human behaviour under stressful conditions without losing their study subjects.
Check out what they have to say:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2017215,00.html