8/5     "Communist Party makes a comeback ... in Japan"
        http://news.yahoo.com/communist-party-makes-comeback-japan-134436281.html
        \_ They never went away in Japan. When I lived there, the MP from my city
           was a Communist (back in the early 90s). --erikred
        \_ They never went away in Japan. When I lived there, the MP from my
           city was a Communist (back in the early 90s). --erikred
	...

7/25    http://www.quora.com/Japan/What-facts-about-Japan-do-foreigners-not-believe-until-they-come-to-Japan
        Japan rules!
        \_ Fifteen years ago I worked there for seven months.  I miss Japan!
           (I'm Chinese immigrant.)  More facts:
           - Besides cold drinks, vending machines also carry hot drinks like
             hot tea and corn soup.  And they are actually hot instead of warm.
	...

7/21    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cold_War_pilot_defections
        This week's food for thought, brought to you by People's
        Republic of Berkeley: Did you know that many US pilots defected to
        communist Cuba?  South Korea pilots defected to communist
        North Korea? Iran<->Iraq pilots defected to each other?
        W Germany pilots defected to E Germany? Taiwan/ROC pilots
	...

2/16    "Iraqi: I'm proud my WMD lies led to war in Iraq"
        http://www.csua.org/u/sl0 (news.yahoo.com)
        \_ Duh.  the best thing that could ever happen to a country is
           the US declaring war on it.  cf: japan, germany, and now iraq.
           the US winning a war with it.  cf: japan, germany, and now iraq.
	...

8/29    OC turning liberal, maybe there is hope for CA afterall:
        http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/us/politics/30orange.html
        \_ and the state is slowly turning conservative. Meg 2010!
           \_ We will see. Seems unlikely.
        \_ Yeah, because CA sure has a problem with not enough dems in power!
           If only dems had been running the state for the last 40 years!
	...

2/4     Don't be evil.  Unless it's with China, or doubleclick, or the NSA...
        \_ Google on the China deal: "We're not being evil because
             we'll do a better job providing information to the
             Chinese than any other company."
           Google on getting out of the China deal: "We're not
             evil because we're cutting our losses in China
	...

5/16    Can anyone tell me what Greece is hoping for by rejecting austerity?
        From here it seems like the austerity is a pretty generous attempt
        to keep Greece from imploding entirely.   Are they hoping the
        Germans will put them on eternal state welfare, or what?
        Also, why would an outright default mean they must leave the Euro?
        Is it just that they won't be able to pay basic gvmt services
	...

12/15   I'm planning on traveling to Europe and I was wondering if there's
        any reason I shouldn't be able to use a US power tap/strip (no surge
        suppression) with just a plug adaptor (i.e., no voltage conversion).
        This would be for use with electronics that accept 100V-240V. While
        the power strip is intended for use at 120V, it's just wires, right?
        (Also, this power strip has no power LED or similar.) If anything,
	...

4/25    "Aliens may exist but contact would hurt humans"
        http://www.csua.org/u/qmq (news.yahoo.com)
        Normally I'd just shrug it off when I hear comments like this, but
        this time the one who said it was Stephen Hawking.
         \_ Why? what aspect of Hawking's intelligence makes him any more
            compelling than the 1000s of others who have pointed out this
	...

12/5    If Harry Potter is rewritten in a modern style using science
        instead magic, and using real people and references instead of
        fiction, what could it include? I'll start:
        -Slytherin Pureblood = Nazi Ayran
        -Muggle = melting pot
        -Dobby = Black slavery, illiterate
	...

6/30    German John was talking about miniskirts in Europe. Well, I made it
        to Paris and Amsterdam in June and he wasn't kidding. I liked the
        tall blonde Dutch girls riding bikes in short skirts and boots.
        \_ Damn, now I want to go to Amsterdam. Again. Without my wife and
           two kids. Probably not going to happen this summer.
	...

5/18    how come we interfere with Bosnia civil war, yet we don't even
        bother to raise complains about Sri Lankans' genocide toward
        their Tamili minorities?
        \_ it's a protest against recording artist M.I.A.
        \_ because our military capacity is overtaxed based on our
           insane implementation of PNAC's ridiculous vision of a
	...

5/1     Europe Explained:
        http://www.swiss-miss.com/2009/05/europe-explained.html
        \_ Can't read some of the smaller print.  What's it saying about
           Bosnia, Albania, etc?
           \_ http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3510/3192055736_5d3e9ca1f0_o.jpg
	...