Warm yuletide greetings to you all. Unfortunately, now that I’m back, I’ve discovered I will be leaving earlier than expected for another 3 months.

Unfortunately, for the next 3 months I will be in an area with extremely slow internet at best, none at worst; therefore, updates will be few and far between. Bear with me as I press on through these exasperating times.

From Taiwan islet to clear landmines as China ties grow

Old news: Taiwan lays 70,000 landmines to prevent Chinese from taking over island of Kinman

New news: Taiwan removing 70,000 landmines to assist Chinese in taking their money over to the island of Kinman

From Freakonomics: A Good News/Bad News Day for the Nuclear Energy Industry

After a 30 year lapse, the U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission has finally received an new application to build nuclear reactors. NRG Energy group submitted the paperwork to build two new reactors at its existing site in Bay City, Texas.

Super Reading Bonus: People arguing about nuclear power in the comment section of the above article

From Tech Bugs Stymie Virtual Border Fence

A contract with Boeing and 20 million dollars later, a 28 mile “fence” composed of radars, motion sensors, and other high tech tracking equipment has sprung into being in Arizona. One problem: it isn’t functioning. For all you out there familiar with government contracts, see if this sounds familiar: project is supposed to begin testing in June, radar goes down, software goes down 2 months afterward, and the entire system has a problem “integrating” according to the Secretary for Homeland Security. Man, I love when my tax dollars get spent efficiently!

From Turkey to Pull Plug on YouTube Over Video Slam

Turkey has yet again blocked YouTube over claims that videos on the site are insulting the founder of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Attaturk, among others. Other governments joining Turkey in blocking an entire website for less than 10 insulting videos are Thailand and Morocco. Undoubtedly, their decisions are neither blunt, over zealous, nor complete and utter overreactions…..

From Qataris grab a further 3% stake in LSE

Qatar’s government owned Investment Authority acquired a large amount of stock in the London stock exchange after NASDAQ sold its holdings there. This purchase brings Qatar’s ownership to 24%, approaching Dubai’s 28% holdings. Qatar’s purchase brings it closer to the maximum stake it can have (29.9%) without making a full bid for the Exchange. With that level of ownership, Qatar can make it extremely difficult for Dubai to make a takeover bid, bolstering Qatar’s position in the battle for influence in London between the two nations. Qatar is also seeking to model its own exchange in Doha after London.

A Law many people have a hard time swallowing. It makes sense to trust your friends, right? In situations involving power and influence, however, this is not correct. Friends can easily become enemies due to envy and greed. A friend may expect gifts from you after you have come into wealth/power and become hurt when those gifts don’t match his/her expectations. With an enemy, on the other hand, you know exactly where he/she stands. They don’t expect anything from you, which becomes pleasant astonishment when you put them in your employ instead of crushing them. Finally, with your enemies collected under you, you can keep a close eye on them.

From Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power

From NY Times Does the Math: Pay Walls Don’t Make Sense

Good news for all us casual news browsers out there: the NY Times has finally dropped its subscription service and made all articles since 1987 available for free online. Particularly of interest to me is the availability of Thomas Friedman’s Op-Ed pieces, as linked to in my Blogroll. The topics he covers include Middle Eastern politics/wars, globalization, economics, information technology, and more. Along with his articles, he has written the following books, all of which are excellent:

The World is Flat – Globalization

The Lexus and the Olive Tree – Globalization

From Beirut to Jerusalem – Middle Eastern politics

Longitudes and Attitudes – Terrorism

From Americans giving up friends, sex for Web life

Uh….I don’t really know what to say to this article. The title pretty much covers it – the majority of US adults feel they can’t go a week without the Internet and one third claim they have given up friends and sex for the Web. I think I am going to go stab myself with a fork….