Web MD: Get married-Gain weight

Web MD says get married and you will gain weight. I guess that explains the uncles who have a big tummy. Maybe I should look for Wife who doesnt cook well so I dont get fat?

After marriage, weight gain becomes more likely and exercise takes a nose dive, a new study shows......

Daily Telepgraph: Benazir Bhutto, a kleptocrat in a Hermes scarf

Imran KHan's x-wife gives her 2 cents on Miss Bhutto.

This is no Aung San Suu Kyi, despite her repeated insistence that she's "fighting for democracy", or even more incredibly, "fighting for Pakistan's poor".

This is the woman who was twice dismissed on corruption charges. She went into self-imposed exile while investigations continued into millions she had allegedly stashed away into Swiss bank accounts ($1.5 billion by the reckoning of Musharraf's own "National Accountability Bureau").

Third World Groundwater pollution

Groundwater pollution is the movement of contaminants through the subsurface soil and groundwater. Everywhere we go we have water flowing beneath our feet at a variety of depths and i a variety of strata.

Gdoundwater pollution is more dangerous because as wiki puts it well:

Groundwater pollution is much more difficult to abate than surface pollution because groundwater can move great distances through unseen aquifers. Non-porous aquifers such as clays partially purify water of bacteria by simple filtration (adsorption and absorption), dilution, and, in some cases, chemical reactions and biological activity: however, in some cases, the pollutants merely transform to soil contaminants. Groundwater that moves through cracks and caverns is not filtered and can be transported as easily as surface water. In fact, this can be aggravated by the human tendency to use natural sinkholes as dumps in areas of Karst topography.

Developed nations generally have good controls on controlling and investigating sources of groundwater pollution. However, for developing countries, these issues are not of top priority. For them, the top priority is typically economy. Some third world places with groundwater pollution do not realize they have groundwater pollution or if they do then they don't have the capicity or means to stop it at the source.

As a case study take a look at the sources of drinking water pollution in Pakistan ( all of them explained on the WWF website):

• Muncicpal wastewater
• Industrial
• Agricultural
• Landfill leechate

So as mentioned before the issues are the lack of will, means or sources for third world countries to provide clean drinking water to their population. One way to clean water is to provide clean water downstream by purifying contaminated water but depending on the level of contamination, that may not be possible specially given that the third world lacks techniques to purify water on a large scale and sometimes even on a small scale. However there is good work being done and some charities from the developed world provide downstream solutions. For example:

• Bottle filteration
• Biosand
• A handful of clay, yesterday’s coffee grounds and some cow manure
• and many more

However preventing the pollution at it;s source remains a challenge and sometimes multi national companies are responsible for huge catastrophic disasters in the third world. For example;

Oil companies in Nigeria
Chemical companies in India
and many more ...

Listed below are the 10 most polluted cities in the world in alphabetic order ( surprise surprise-most of these are in the third world):
Chernobyl (Ukraine) | Dzerzinsk (Russia) | Haina (Dominican Republic) | Kabwe (Zambia) | La Oroya (Peru) | Linfen (China) | Mailuu-Suu (Kyrgyzstan) | Norilsk (Russia) | Ranipet (India) | Rudnaya Pristan (Russia)

Lot of work and awareness needs to be spread in the third world about groundwater pollution. however as with other issues political will, resources, technical skills, etc are issues that need to be tackled as well.

You can help by spreading awareness, donating money and writing letters to your local leaders to help reduce pollution in the third world.

LIsted on this page are some useful charities.

BBC on American Election fundraising

Interesting thoughts on the Hilary fundraising from the BBC:

During a brief and rather strained meeting a few days ago, I asked Annie what she was hoping for by way of reward when President Hillary Clinton takes over in January 2009. Ambassador to Togo, I suggested?

The atmosphere froze. I think Annie has her eye on Rome.

And she may make it or, if not Rome, then a White House pass and a job as "head of outreach" to this, that or the other segment of the community.

A job that allows you to say, "I work at the White House, I am in the Administration."

A job that is the desire of almost all Washingtonians. A job that is both very short term - you burn out fast and you are anyway limited to eight years because your president is - and, at the same time, very long term because of course they cannot take it away from you, this fact, that you were in the White House. REaD MORE

All Things Pakistani: Ramadan in Pakistan

A well written article of how Ramadan was in Pakistan. I can relate to many things in this article. Nothing like eating amee key Parathas for breakfast and then pakoras in the evening in those Ramadans. As with other things, its only when the moment passes you realize how precious the moment was.

"The dining table would be all set before the crack of dawn, as though it was just another meal in the middle of the day. How did my mom ever get up so early to have everything prepared in advance? Us siblings preferred fried eggs and malai with paratha, while my father preferred a savory dinner-like meal. We would all eat together, drink our tea, and watch the TV playing in the background. READ MORE"

The one state solution?

The one state solution to Israel_palestine issue?.

Ali Abunimah debates Avika Eldar on Canadian radio
Debate, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Oct 2, 2007

On 24 September 2007, EI's Ali Abunimah appeared on the Canadian Brodcasting Corporation program, The Current with host Anna Maria Tremonti. Abunimah was invited to take part in a debate with Israeli journalist and political columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz, Akiva Eldar.

"It's a situation few could have predicted could actually get worse. But Israel's declaration last week that Gaza is now an "enemy entity" has left many fearing the potential for all out war.

Already, Israel has shut down supplies to Gaza in response to rocket attacks on the south of the country. Humanitarian agencies are now calling the region a disaster zone. In the West Bank, prospects for peace look little better. Despite Israel's repeated promises to reduce the number of roadblocks, the tally is up over 50 percent in the past two years with a total of 572 roadblocks around the area.

All this has many -- once again -- questioning the viability of a two-state solution and whether the controversial one-state proposal is even worth talking about.

The Current hosted Abunimah and Eldar to discuss the feasibility, desirability and seeming impossibility of a one-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


Akiva Eldar is an Israeli journalist and political columnist for Haaretz. He is also the author of Lords of the Land: The War for Israel's Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967-2007.

And Ali Abunimah is a Palestinian-American journalist and the author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse."

• Listen Now [Streaming Real Audio]