This & That, Ceci et Cela

Seems Florida was born crooked to the bone and the next elections are going to be a murky, filthy, bitch of a fight: This year in Florida, the state ordered the implementation of a “potential felon” purge list to remove voters from the rolls, in a disturbing echo of the infamous 2000 purge, which removed thousands of eligible voters, primarily African-Americans, from the rolls. The state abandoned the plan after news ...

Your own 1st class suite! Hell yeah, forget regular 1st class, that's for smalltimers. If you're not cruising in your own jet, then you need your own fully enclosed first-class suite, with a leather seating that converts to a flat bed and doors that can be closed for privacy. Emirates Airline, has finished each of the ...

An Environment Agency report suggests so many people are taking the drug nowadays it is building up in rivers and groundwater. Does this mean that ridiculous levels of joy have been noticed in the non-depressed residents?

Forget B&O, this are some extra-terrestially cool audio speakers! By Ferguson

Stephan Schulze's winning entry for Peugeot Car competition. We can dig it. If Peugeot is smart, they'd drop it into production asap.

Polygamy, still allowed but made much more difficult under the new Mudawana, is not uncommon in Morocco. But in the Western Sahara, to most women it is unacceptable. In Morocco, particularly in the lower and more religious classes, divorce brings great shame on the woman. In the Western Sahara, a newly divorced woman throws a party.  A grand salute to Saharawi women.  Rock on!

China's scary control freaks make for sore losers: Singaporean diplomacy, fuelled by a desire to remain on good terms with nearly everyone, tends to be unspectacular stuff. That changed this month, when Prime Minister Lee travelled to Taiwan one quiet weekend in July on a “private and unofficial” trip to see some friends. One such friend, however, was Chen Shui-bian, the president, whose pro-independence stand angers China. Beijing, predictably, was ...

Freaky factoid of the day = 10,000 bullet-proof cars in Mexico City: "Safety on the roads has a whole new meaning in Mexico City, where there are an estimated 10,000 bullet-proof cars in circulation. With fear of violent crime at an all-time high, it's a booming sector, despite the hefty price-tag: converting your Mercedes or BMW can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $90,000, depending on the level of security. According to ...

Once every two years in August, a carpet of flowers is laid down over the Grand Place. This year the 800,000 begonias feature an Art Nouveau theme, covering 300 square metres and kept fresh by fountains built into the pattern. There will be a music and light show followed by fireworks above the Grand Place on August 14th; visitors ...

Mystery is swirling around Berlin's five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel on Potsdamer Platz. The Ritz opened to great fanfare in January, but has since been plagued with odd problems. An unexplained fire took place two weeks after the hotel opened, and now a deadly bacteria infects the pipes. On July 8th, the hotel suddenly stopped taking bookings, insisting they were full despite obviously empty rooms. Guests ...