was browsing through the internet and saw serveral articles. the first two are rather odd and to some extent funny: lets see....

The blog ate my homework...

SEOUL (AFP) - More and more South Korean schoolchildren are searching the Internet to find someone to do their homework for a fee, a report said Monday.
(A portal lists more than 500 websites devoted to homework with fees to pupils ranging from 8,000-10,000 won (eight dollars 50 cents to 11 dollars), The Korea Times said.
"I need to write three English diaries by the end of the week," a 12-year said in a message posted on one site. "I don't really want to write them. Who can write for me and how much do I have to pay?"
There are also websites offering already-completed homework, with individual material downloadable for 500 won, the paper said. Others offer children a chance to share projects.
Experts worry that such sites could send students the wrong message, that they can buy whatever they want, the paper said.

isnt this jus super clever of those 12 year olds? other than it being wrong. at least they are being creative... but well, it wrong. cause u wont be graded on your efforts, but other people's. boo!!!!

next up: Russian woman sets fire to ex-husband's penis

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A woman set fire to her ex-husband's penis as he sat naked watching television and drinking vodka, Moscow police said on Wednesday.
Asked if the man would make a full recovery, a police spokeswoman said it was "difficult to predict".
The attack climaxed three years of acrimonious enforced co-habitation. The couple divorced three years ago but continued to share a small flat, something common in Russia where property costs are very high.
"It was monstrously painful," the wounded ex-husband told Tvoi Den newspaper. "I was burning like a torch. I don't know what I did to deserve this."

i feel sorry for the guy really. afterall, as he puts it, what did he do to deserve this? but then again, think. who sits around in the nude and watch tv?? its really mad. but its his choice la... nudist. lol. what do you all think?=)

now. the SERIOUS stuff:

US envoy says Middle East turmoil could cause World War

VIENNA (Reuters) - Upheaval in the Middle East and Islamic civilisation could cause another world war, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was quoted as saying in an Austrian newspaper interview published on Monday.

Zalmay Khalilzad told the daily Die Presse the Middle East was now so disordered that it had the potential to inflame the world as Europe did during the first half of the 20th century.
...

"Europe was just as dysfunctional for a while. And some of its wars became world wars. Now the problems of the Middle East and Islamic civilisation have the same potential to engulf the world," he was quoted as saying.
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Khalilzad was also quoted as saying Iraq would need foreign forces for security for a long time to come.
"Iraq will not be in a position to stand on its own feet for a longer period," he said in the interview.
Asked whether that could be 10-20 years, he said: "Yes, indeed, it could last that long. What form the help takes will depend a lot on the Iraqis. Up to now there is no accord between Iraq and the United States about a longer military presence."
Khalilzad said the chaos in Iraq since U.S.-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003 was not unavoidable but arose from mistakes in the initial period of occupation.
"Historians are discussing now whether we should have sent more troops to Iraq to preserve law and order, if it was right to dissolve the Iraqi army, if we should have built an Iraqi government quicker, if there should have been such a sweeping de-Baathification programme (removing Saddam-era officials)."

for full story, go to:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070827/tts-uk-mideast-khalilzad-cff01a2_1.html

its scary... seems like lihui and ann perng are right. world war might just be round the corner... but i still really want to believe in the good of mankind. but its kind of hard now isnt it? i admit i m an optimist. but well, WORLD WAR LEI. dont play play. Historians are now discussing if this, if that, what;s the point of all talk and no action? dont we study history so that we can learn from it and not repeat its mistakes? then why are we on the verge of doing so again? shouldnt we learn from our mistakes? !! aargh. what is the world we're living in becoming of? now got global warming already. i seriously believe that another world war will fully finish the earth off.

what mr tan said today was kinda of controversial. he said that laws are made so as to ensure the progress of mankind. but i totally disagree.sometimes, i feel that by abiding by a set of laws, we seem to become more primitive, like we cannot think for ourselves, and account for our own actions. come to think of it, CAN WE? well, that's for noone to know and everyone to find out!

btw, one last thing.... philosophers used to spend entire lives finding out what is life. now, one search in google, on WHAT IS LIFE? gives you millions of entries. but are we any closer to understanding what life really is now than from before? i dont think so. dun believe me? try it!=D