Okay, so the rankings may be inaccurate, but they have implications for the next World Cup.
(Via Dana.)
Author: Newley
Hi. I'm Newley Purnell. I cover technology and business for The Wall Street Journal, based in Hong Kong. I use this site to share my stories and often blog about the books I'm reading, tech trends, sports, travel, and our dog Ginger. For updates, get my weekly email newsletter.
BBC:
More than 100 people are feared drowned after an Ecuadorean ship carrying illegal migrants sank off the coast of Colombia, local authorities have said.
The boat is thought to have sailed from the port of Manta in Ecuador.
Categories
More on the Failed States Index Map
Thanks to a link from the excellent Global Voices Online, my post about Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Foreign Policy’s Failed States Index Map has attracted interesting comments from bloggers boz and Miguel A. Buitrago.
Boz agrees that the Index was flawed; he says the evaluators “tried too hard to rank all states on some common standard, and managed to fail a common sense test.” And Miguel points out some pages on the FP site that list the criteria they used in their rankings.
Some truly stunning pics. Click on thumbnails for related galleries and narration.
(Via Gridskipper.)
A 12-year-old girl dialing a wrong telephone number sent Taiwanese security officials scrambling after the ambassador from Swaziland was threatened with death, officials said yesterday.
Officers in the Shihlin District of the Taipei City Police Department yesterday established after investigations that the matter was the result of a misunderstanding.
It turned out that a 12-year-old ethnic Chinese South African girl intended to make a phone call to a friend to request her to return her iPod, but she accidentally dialled the number incorrectly.
Unaware of this, the girl used abusive language while speaking with what turned out to be the Swazi ambassador.
Ambassador Njabuliso Gwebu told police she was warned that “you will die” in the late-night call to her official residence on Aug. 3, an official at the Swaziland Embassy said.
After checking phone records, police traced the owner of the phone, an ethnic Chinese South African businessman. It turned out that his 12-year-old daughter had been using the phone regularly and made the threatening call that night.
(Via The Taipei Kid.)
Categories
My First 10K Road Race
Yesterday I ran in my first ever 10K (6.2 miles) road race. That’d be the 17th Annual Harris Teeter YMCA Loudoun County Leesburg 10K & 20K road race. I’d never even run a 5K — 3.1 miles — race, which would have been a natural introduction to competitive racing, but I am a badass.
Or so I thought.
The good news: I finished the race. Without walking (save for stopping to get water at a couple of the water stations).
The bad news: I ran it slow. REAL slow. Like in an hour, seven mintues, and 30 seconds, which comes out to a eleven minute, 10 second pace. I knew I was running more slowly than my training pace, but I didn’t care. It was extremely hot. (Kudos to my buddy Jack W., who completed the race in 57:58.)
The really bad news: I was beaten by one Robert Gurtler, of The Plains, VA, who finished the race in 1:01:55. Robert — who I now consider my mortal enemy — is 70 years old.
The really really bad news: I was also bested by one Robert Smith, age 71, of Comus, MD, who finished the course in 58:26.
I hereby declare war on all septugenarians named Robert who run faster than me.
Here’re the offical race results, which reveal the sad fact that I finished 257 out of 289 male competitors. (Had I raced against the ladies, I would’ve come in at about 172 out of 234. Next time I’m running in drag.)
One final word: despite my poor showing, this race was a lot more fun than the last endurance athletic event I participated in, the dreaded VentureQuest.
As I’ve mentioned before, I collect metro cards from around the world. And I received a nice item in the mail yesterday from Miles B. and Susie: a Boston T card. (I’ve ridden on the T a few times but have always forgotten to snag a card for my collection.) Many thanks, you two.
I decided, for your viewing pleasure and for archival purposes related to the future Newley Purnell presidential library’s ephemera exhibit, to document my cards.
Here’s the full gallery with pics of each card, notes on their design and material, and dates of acquisition. (I always thought my collection was huge, but I’ve actually only got seven cards. I really need to beef it up…)