Iraqi Deathtoll

There have been 151,000 violent deaths in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, according to a study published on the Jan. 9 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The new survey conducted by the Iraq Family Health Survey “for the purpose of estimating mortality between January 2002 and June 2006,” yields yet another number to the already conflicting reports from other groups such as Burnham, which estimated 601,027 violent deaths, and Iraq Body Count, which estimated 47,668.

The range in estimates may be the result of different subject pools. In other words, some reports might feature data from more (or less) violent areas in the country.

Here’s a map that shows the number of households surveyed in each of Iraq’s 59 regions (determined by the IFHS) for this latest survey.

(The new study has “a purported 95% confidence interval of 104,000 to 223,000″ deaths.)

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Of Kings and Ringtones

And finally…

The latest craze in ringtones? The King of Spain!

from www.reuters.com posted with vodpod

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A Nativity Scene with A Twist

Thinking about getting a new nativity scene for your home this Christmas?Leave it to the Neapolitans to come up with some of the best ideas for an off-beat look at this tradition made popular by St. Francis Asisi in 1223.

from www.reuters.com posted with vodpod

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Memo to Kelly

NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly might want to look to India for a model to keep New York’s Finest in top shape.

The regime? Yoga and Bhangra.

from www.reuters.com posted with vodpod

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Santa Claus Tracker

Christmas is fast approaching and we all want to make sure Santa doesn’t forget about us.

The NTS, or North American Aerospace Defense Command Tracking Service, was created in the mid-50s to track Santa as he makes his way around the world on Christmas Eve. Read and hear about how it all began.

And now, you can now track Santa in 3D, starting at 2 a.m. on Dec. 24, by downloading Goggle Earth.

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Well, somebody had to do it

Why not the King?

After President Chavez criticized former Spanish President Aznar, the current Spanish President Rodriguez Zapatero, a socialist with very different views from those of the conservative Aznar, defended his countryman by saying that President Aznar was chosen by the Spanish people.

This response, however, was not good enough for Chavez who kept interrupting. Until finally, a voice of reason rose from the crowd…

“Why don’t you shut up?,” the King of Spain, Juan Carlos, told President Chavez.

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Sometimes dying is a bitch

Some of these are funny, others sad and tragic, but most of them are CRAZY.
2spare.com lists the Top 25 Craziest Deaths (in the last 100 years) and Famous Last Words.

Here’s a taste:

Frank Hayes, jockey, suffered a heart attack during a horse race. The horse, Sweet Kiss, went on to finish first, making Hayes the only deceased jockey to win a race. (1953)

Now, now, my good man, this is no time for making enemies.
Voltaire (attributed), when asked by a priest to renounce Satan.

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Population Distortion

The Worldmapper website lets you see the world according to specific indicators.

Below is the map of the world if it was drawn by population totals.

Check out Australia, Canada and Russia (I think we might have lost Mongolia and Greenland).

Another interesting map shows the world distorted for the number of preventable deaths.

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Social Inequality through the Ages

Have you ever wondered how today’s social conditions compare to those during, let’s say, the British Industrial Revolution? Of course you have.
Branko Milanovic of the World Bank, Peter H. Lindert of UC Davis, and Jeffrey G. Williamson of Harvard came out with a new way of measuring social inequality that can do just that.

Because there is no reliable income data for time periods that preceded the industrial revolution, the scholars infer the inequalities in 14 different “ancient” societies using social tables (where various social classes are ranked from the richest to the poorest with their estimated population shares and average incomes, the report states).

Their calculations show that today in the U.S. we enjoy more equality than 1801 England, but less than in Rome during the last years of the Roman Empire.

Here are two tables to compare (lower GINI means lower social inequality):

1) societies then and now

Country/Territory, year	GINI
China 1880	███████████
China 2002	██████████████████████
Roman Empire 14	██████████████████
Italy 2000	██████████████████
Byzantium 1000	████████████████████
Turkey 2003	█████████████████████
British India 1947	████████████████████████
India 2000	████████████████
England/ Wales 1801	█████████████████████████
United Kingdom 1999	██████████████████
Holand 1732	███████████████████████████████
Netherlands 2005	███████████████

2) ancient societies and various modern countries

Country/Territory, year	GINI
Denmark 2002	███████████
China 1880	███████████
Roman Empire 14	██████████████████
Morocco 2005	████████████████████
Byzantium 1000	████████████████████
United States 2004	██████████████████████
British India 1947	████████████████████████
Thailand 2002	█████████████████████████
England/ Wales 1801	█████████████████████████
Brazil 2005	████████████████████████████
Holand 1732	███████████████████████████████
Namibia 2003	███████████████████████████████████

(Modern day data was acquired from the CIA World Fact Book.)

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Gore: Nobel Laureate

An Inconvenient Truth’s creator and former Vice-President Al Gore has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway this morning, the AP reports.

He shares the prize with the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change for their efforts in bringing man-made climate change to the fore-front of national and international politics.

“I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize,” Gore said. “We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity.”

Below is a Reuters report about the Nobel Peace Prize nominations.

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