Where my mouse has taken me

Here are a few places my mouse has taken me today:

I'm about to start reading The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars for my book club. Looks like a interesting inside look at the world of chocolate companies, much like Fast Food Nation was an inside look at the world of fast food companies. I really enjoyed that book, so I'm hopeful about this one.

Backpacker Concierge helps travelers looking for bang for their buck in Egypt. Nubian guesthouses, sailboat cruises on the Nile, desert safaris. Pretty cool.

A group of hackers and activists calling themselves Anonymous has shut down a Scientology website and is working to disseminate information that will, they say, show the religion for the dangerous joke it really is. Meanwhile, they accidentally shut down a Dutch school's server, too. This all began after the church tried to take down all online versions of the leaked, four-year-old video of Tom Cruise extolling the virtues of the religion.

The One City One Book idea -- that the local library can get the whole city reading and discussing a single book at once -- has expanded to a police force. Perhaps these books are worth checking out?

Got the movie times for Cloverfield, which was pretty good but I was pretty immobilized by the motion sickness caused by the HandyCam effect. Similar to watching Blair Witch Project all over again -- ugh.

Browsing

Here are a few interesting nuggets I stumbled across while browsing the Net tonight.

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I wonder what they would deem appropriate. What do you think's a fair punishment?

Food fight fallout lingers
Parents question 15-hour community service sentences
By Jolie Breeden (Contact)
Monday, January 21, 2008

BROOMFIELD -- Parents of students sentenced to 15 hours of community service for a food fight at Aspen Creek K-8 said the school disciplined their kids too severely -- even if the form of punishment is a well-meaning one.

About 20 eighth-graders took part in a 30-second food fight at the Broomfield school on Nov. 8, said Briggs Gamblin, spokesman for the Boulder Valley School District.

School officials would not comment on any punishment, citing student privacy laws. But several parents of the students involved said they were sentenced to community service on top of writing essays and cleaning the lunchroom...

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We all know I have a soft spot for community news in general. I particularly like to check out news or neighborhood sites from places that interest me. This photo is today's cover shot for the online Delta Discovery in remote Bethel, Alaska.

Nicholson Brink of Bethel thoughtfully contemplates the beauty of the spinning Star during Slaaviq last week during observance of Russian Orthodox Christmas at the home of Theresa Nick and family. photo by Greg Lincoln

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The Delta Discovery site also has a section called Elder of the Week. I think it's super cool how these Alaskans respect and honor their seniors, as we all should. Check out these cool dudes.

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And who doesn't find stories about the Yakuza sexy? :)

Side note: I didn't realize Japan's preferred method of execution is hanging. Seems a bit old-fashioned, which I suppose is aligned with that love affair the Japanese have with all things old and new.

Third mobster faces gallows over Gunma bar shooting
MAEBASHI, Gunma Pref. (Kyodo)
The Maebashi District Court sentenced a gangster to death Monday for killing a mobster and three bystanders in a shooting at a bar in 2003.

Relatives of people slain in a 2003 bar shooting in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, face reporters Monday after a yakuza was sentenced to hang for the crime...

According to the court, Yamada and another member of the gang, Masato Kohinata, 38, opened fire at the bar in Maebashi on Jan. 25, 2003, killing three bystanders and seriously wounding another as well as the 60-year-old former boss of a rival group. They then fatally shot the bodyguard of the mob boss outside the bar.

Yamada and Kohinata were involved in the shooting under orders from Osamu Yano, 59, head of the Yano Mutsumi-kai, the court said.

The shooting was part of a turf war between the rival Sumiyoshi-kai and Inagawa-kai syndicates. The Yano Mutsumi-kai was affiliated with the Sumiyoshi-kai, and the shooting in Maebashi was targeted against the rival group member as a reprisal against the murders in 2001 of two Sumiyoshi-kai members in a funeral house in Tokyo, according to police...

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This is my favorite song today.



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Thanks to Cute Overload for my daily dose. That's right! It's four kitties in a Kleenex box, people!
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Here it comes...
Awww!

Question of the Day: Fame

If you could be famous for something, what would it be?

Answers I've received so far:
~ World peace and a cure for addiction.
~ Writing a really cool story which would then be turned into a movie starring Johnny Depp.

My answer:
I'd like to write something useful or of substantial interest; things like that are written so rarely nowadays. In my next life, I'd like to be musically inclined, maybe play an instrument or sing. That'd be fun!

(What're you going to be famous for? Post your plans as a comment.)

Question of the Day: Relocation

You're moving to a place you've never before visited. Where is it?

Answers I've received so far:
~ Tokyo, for two years. Makes you learn, and leaves a window to return.
~ Canada

My answer:
Domestically, I'd choose Colorado; even though I've never been there, I've always thought of it as a place that would really suit me, and I'd not be afraid to move there blindly. Internationally, I've been wanting to live in Japan for years and years, so that's my top choice. (Of course, my wanderlust makes this list quite long, so there aren't too many places I wouldn't visit or move to on a whim!)

(What about you? Post your answer.)