3,000 First Nations women missing

"Over 3,000 of our women, of us as a people, have gone missing without a word," he said. "There's no front page for our missing women." The above is a direct quote from the May 30 Vancouver 24 Hours. David Dennis, vice-president of the United Native Nations society, was speaking at a rally, on May 29 outside the Vancouver Art Gallery for A National Day of Action in Support of First Nations. He also spoke of young First Nations men being criminalized, and of the 'systematic poverty plaguing aboriginals in the shadow of the 2010 games', to use the words in the report. The front page story of the day was about how to get through to Seth Rogen for an interview, in case you were interested. I feel sick.

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Robotic suit-clad soldiers coming up

What's it about: A recently developed exoskeleton-ish robotic suit that can amplify human strength and endurance as many as twenty times. (source)

Comments: Is it a coincidence this suit made the headlines in the summer of the Iron Man movie? Speaking of which, I don't think it'll be used for similar, superhumanly noble purposes. The guy who made it happens to work for a company that has a contract with the US military, you see. Besides, it's a long way off from perfection: it's not cost effective (we guessed that part) and has a current battery life of only thirty minutes.

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The Quran incident and its reception

[This article was published in OpEdNews.] The US military has apologized for the actions of a soldier who used the Quran for target practice. It's all over the news right now. Most news sites are using the CNN report above, or the AP report. The incident happened on May 9, and was reportedly discovered two days later. CNN was the first to report, and broadcasted a ceremony where the top US military official in Iraq apologized to tribal leaders on Saturday: "I come before you here seeking your forgiveness. In the most humble manner I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers. [...] The actions of one soldier were nothing more than criminal behavior. I've come to this land to protect you, to support you — not to harm you — and the behavior of this soldier was nothing short of wrong and unacceptable." True. He also read out the soldier's apology: "I sincerely hope that my actions have not diminished the partnership that our two nations have developed together. ... My actions were shortsighted, very reckless and irresponsible, but in my heart [the actions] were not malicious." Depending on, that is, how "malicious" is defined these days -- and by whom. Check out these sites and forums that are reaping the bandwidth of such crises: PhillyBlog ("Who gives a shit?", "A book is an object... If you aren't a Muslim, the book isn't sacred") Godlike Productions ("I [use] pages from it to wipe my ass after I pinch a loaf...", to which one forum member responded "The internet is [flooded] by this sort of comments... if i was a muslim, i would feal threatened, and start to believe the extremists are right about us") Topix ("I THINK THIS IS HILARIOUS! MUDSLIMES BEHEAD PEOPLE,MURDER CHILDREN AND OLD FOLKS AND WE GET OUR PANTIES IN A BUNCH BECAUSE A SOLDIER SHOOTS A PAGAN BOOK! WE NEED TO NUKE IRAQ AND GET OUT. WE SPEND BILLIONS ON THE WAR IN ANOTHER COUNTRY WHILE OUR ECONOMY IS IN SHAMBLES" -- all caps it was) ABC news ("they should NEVER give in to the muslim pigs, burn the stupid book, shoot it, let the dogs eat it", "A religion that worships paper is goofy. That's all it is, paper. If you don't hold the meaning of your religion in your heart and not in material things, your religion is in trouble") and JazzCorner ("He may have found the only way for a grunt to get out of Iraq..."). Comments seem to be from all across the spectrum, but most respondents seemed to be -- amazingly -- approving of the incident. I'm damn sure Glenn Beck will have a great time, too. The situation in Radhwaniya, Baghdad however, is intense. Residents carried banners and cried slogans, calling on America to get out of Iraq. Not surprisingly, a local sheikh termed the incident an "aggression against the entire Muslim world". Tribal leaders, dignitaries and security officials were reportedly at the apology ceremony, where a US military official kissed a Quran and presented it as a "humble gift" to the tribal leaders. The soldier who carried out the misconduct has been relieved from his duties and is set to be deported back to the US. Incidentally, the CNN and AP reports have some discrepancies -- 1. CNN: the bullet-ridden Quran had "multiple bullet holes and an expletive scrawled on one of its pages"; AP: had "14 bullet holes" and "graffiti inside the cover". From my understanding, there's a difference between "expletive" and "graffiti". Images of the Quran have not been -- and most possibly will not be -- released. 2. CNN: "Officials said the soldier claimed he wasn't aware the book was the Quran. U.S. officials rejected the claim." Since it was rejected by US officials, who were the officials who claimed the sniper wasn't aware it was the Quran? Why would anybody desecrate a holy book -- any holy book? What intent -- other than a malicious one -- would incite a person to hurt someone precisely where it will cause enormous grief? The Quran incident will no doubt worsen the situation in Iraq, where apart from other casualties, five children were killed on Saturday when a mortar slammed into their neighborhood. They had been playing. A US soldier died on Sunday, when a roadside bomb hit his vehicle, north of Baghdad. I wonder how the parents of all these people who have died in this war -- the kids, the marines -- are coping with their realities. Of course we don't want to imagine what they're going through -- it's way too much stress, who wants that when we have Lindsay Lohan so screwed up and anyway we always say fuck Bush and so on. Maybe that's why we have wars.

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Morocco fire claims 55

It's been a really tough time already, with rising gas prices and a worldwide food crisis. And now we have this: a violent fire broke out in a mattress factory in Morocco. 55 people are said to be dead; 12 are seriously injured. At the time of the fire 100 of the factory's 150 workers were reportedly inside. The name of the city? Casablanca.

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Guess what they stole

Updated What's it about: the chaos that's broken out in Congo. People are beating up sorcerers, accusing them of "stealing" their male organs with black magic. I'm not joking, it's all over the radio over there, and the police have arrested 13 suspects. Comments: need one say more? Check it out here. If you like it, check out this as well.

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Possible UFO sighting at Phoenix, Arizona -- video

Just out (well, actually I was a couple of hours late to catch up): strange objects emitting bright red light appeared in Phoenix, Arizona skies yesterday at around 8pm local time. The lights aligned themselves in different patterns, and were too precise to be talked away as being flash fires or something similar. The local Air Force base said the lights weren't part of any Air Force activities. Now, was this a real UFO sighting? Well, the image quality is certainly quite good, something they admitted on the news. And lots of local residents, including journalists and air traffic controllers, claimed they witnessed the event. Check out the video for yourself. Here's a link to the source.

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A climate change nightmare for Bangladesh

What's it about: How climate changes will create a huge humanitarian and economic crisis in Bangladesh within the next few decades. Comments: Irrespective of wherever you live, you're not safe from the effects of climate change. It's pretty likely that during our lifetimes we will witness tremendous environmental changes and subsequent hostilities -- a global water crisis, tsunamis and long winters are just for starters. If you're concerned, check out this Reuters article.

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Oxymorons and Tibet

1. Linda Cullen on Tibet's humanitarian crisis: "... they've banned American Idol in China, and I hear that's why the monks in Tibet started rioting."
2. Same page (Vancouver 24 Hours, March 26): Bobbie Gill via email responds to a letter: "Why should we let a little thing like human rights get in the way of our two-week extravaganza? It's party time people! If we simply follow the example of VANOC and bury our collective heads in the sand, then things like human rights abuses in Tibet and China will just simply disappear."
3. On November 23, 2006 four Tibetan students attempted self-immolation, protesting Chinese president Hu Jintao's visit in Mumbai.
4. According to scientists, immolation (death by fire) is the most painful experience known to man.
5. March 26 is Independence Day in Bangladesh.

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Google falls for the dark side

Okay, isn't that cool? Forgive my obsession with the search engine giant, but the way Google manages to catch your attention with the most trivial facelifts is nothing short of amazing. I was almost looking for Darth Vader, when I found out it's Google's way of promoting Earth Hour. That's awesome too.

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Harvard prof, Glenn Beck on counter-terrorism ethics

This happened a few weeks ago, probably in early March. I was back home from university, exhausted; there was nothing going on on TV. A few channels later I stumbled on the Glenn Beck show on CNN, and my respect for the media and the academia hit an all time low. I'm not really into CNN. I think the way it presents information is overgloss and hype-pitched. If you don't believe me you can tune into the Nancy Grace show (she did a full investigative report on Heath Ledger's death, when the only thing that could be confirmed at that time was the fact that he was dead). Hence I didn't really intend to engage my already befuddled brain there, or anywhere. But one really needs to stop and listen when a famous news personality (is that even the right term? I really don't want to call him a journalist) accuses university students for wearing Islam-supportive or Che Guevara t-shirts, and has a Harvard prof backing him up. The reason I'm posting this so late is largely because I don't have any links I can forward you to. I've ran all across the Glenn Beck website, and CNN's website, but couldn't find anything, not even text material, that suggests that the talk even took place. But trust me, it did. As far as I recall Glenn Beck was interviewing this Harvard bigshot regarding his latest book (which Beck repeatedly said he was a huge fan of) and the then-recent shooting at a Jerusalem Jewish seminary that left eight students dead (I'm guessing this was the news they were talking about; to Israel's credit, the peace talks went on). Beck argued that university students, who have no idea who Che Guevara was, or have no idea about Islam, wear t-shirts with Che Guevara pictures or Islamic messages, thus breeding terrorism. Fantastic, isn't it? I can't help wondering which university this guy graduated from, in case he ever went to university in the first place. He reportedly makes $10m from radio shows alone, has written two bestsellers, and suggested that all American Muslims must prove they are not enemies on two separate occasions. Now the Harvard guy: talking about the seminary incident, he proposed that preemptive attacks on terrorists ought to be legalized, and rued that the UN General Assembly and the international community would never let such good things happen. I don't get it: isn't a Harvard teacher supposed to be smart? What exactly will his students learn from him? What's wrong with the world? In case you are siding with the diddlesome duo's preemptive tactics against Palestine, you might want to check out this post. Wait, there's more: the two actually concluded that civilian casualties in such preemptive strikes would be necessary sacrifices. And, while one pointed out and the other cheered, if civilians threw themselves in harms way, knowingly or unknowingly using themselves as human shields protecting the terrorists, they ought to be dealt with... Observe: if you knew who was a terrorist, wouldn't you be jumping on (I'm not using the term 'arresting' here) him/them by now? What are law enforcement agencies for? If you're asking to legalize preemptive strikes against terrorists, in that case, aren't you acting on suspicion? Isn't that like searching for WMDs when there are (were) none? Thoughts? I know a team of one bad prof and an irksome newsman can't ruin the world. But here in the West, being on exile prompted by fancies of higher education, things almost always appear more troubling than they usually are. And it generally permeates your writing, and somehow leaves you downtrodden.

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Palestine vs Israeli land occupation

You don't want to, but despite your best efforts, sometimes you come across the kind of news that completely knocks you off your feet, and leaves a hole in your world. Unfortunately that's what happened to me -- and this blog.

My apologies for having vanished. A few weeks back I came across a very disturbing image that I'm sharing with you here. It depicts Palestinian land loss since 1945. I found it on Digg (it's been dugg a total of 2363 times till date), and apparently it isn't really hosted on any authentic news site. Nevertheless, lots of people are clearly interested in it; many are claiming it's authentic, while others are pointing out that it's fake.

I have no idea whether it's real. I'm not really interested in the Middle East crisis, or any crisis, in the sense that due to my many years as a journalist, I've learnt that there are many sides of a story that go untold. Take the history of my country, for instance: every time a party comes to power it revises history textbooks religiously. And newspapers follow suit: one chunk of the media devotes itself to the interests of the government, while the other (often the larger chunk) sells its heart and soul to serve the wishes of the main opposition. It's like a live Wikipedia effect.

(Elongated clarification: it's not that some newspapers and TV channels have ethics and prefer being patient with a new government. Or that some newspapers and TV channels are dedicated towards the interests of the people -- a concept that seems to have largely dissolved in the West -- and are therefore always at daggers drawn with any party in power. It's the painful opposite: some newspapers and TV channels have already sold their hearts and souls to particular political parties, and will go any distance to serve their interests, because they have common interests, which usually involves money. From my experience and associations, I know that similar traditions exist in almost every country -- actually, in every country; hence, I'm not willing to jump to conclusions.)

I often come across Stop Genocide in Palestine and Israel Celebration Week camps on campus. Growing up in a predominantly Muslim country, I wasn't blind to the fact that almost everyone around me accused Israel of violating human rights. Irony: the Quran is addressed to the Israelites, the people of Israel, the children of Israel, the Bani Israel tribe, whichever you prefer...

To get back to the human rights part, Canada recently removed US and Israel from a torture watchlist, "responding to pressure from close allies". The Amnesty International page on Israel reports that

More than 8000 Palestinians, most of whom are nonviolent prisoners of conscience and few if any of whom have received trials that meet international standards, are being held as political prisoners. Over the past five years, close to 20,000 Palestinians have been made homeless and thousands of others have lost their livelihood as the Israeli army has destroyed over 4,000 homes, vast areas of agricultural land and hundreds of other properties.

AI also notes that

The construction of the fence/wall inside the Occupied Territories violates international law, is based on land confiscation and is causing grave human rights violations. In addition, military checkpoints, blockades and a barrage of other restrictions confine Palestinians to their homes or immediate surroundings. As a result, the Palestinian economy has virtually collapsed.

I'm lost, and in shock: the AI accounts (and thousands of news reports worldwide, which I'm innately less inclined to believe) seem to insist that the disturbing picture isn't (at least) entirely imagined. On the other hand, violence always requires a counterpart. What are your thoughts?

This is already turning out to be a long post, but I ought to point out that I probably would have dismissed the image as just another internet hoax, had I not spoiled an evening (which subsequently ruined a few days) unintentionally watching a CNN program. I'll leave that for another post.

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Reading "Othello" detrimental to relationship, study finds

Something that only an idle mind can produce.People who have seen or read William Shakespeare's "Othello" and have told their partners are almost certain to break up. William Sanders, a freshman in poli-sci at UCLA, told his girlfriend that he was studying the play for an English course. They broke up within a month for no apparent reason. Julie Styles, a North Vancouver native and second-year UBC student, saw her 6-year relationship being ended in a matter of days after she had told her boyfriend she was reading "Othello". Alison Cooper from Sydney tearfully recalls that her 40-year-old marriage was over after her husband, Bill Dawson, a plumber, went to see a local production of the play. "My Bill was so loving and sweet," she said, "But that goddamn Shakespearean play made him lose his mind. He was always ranting about how to murder a wife, and I simply couldn't take it anymore." Ms Cooper is currently under psychiatric treatment and facing mortgage issues. The tragic play seems to have most horribly affected people who have just started dating. 8.75 out of every 10 people surveyed broke up the day after they confessed that they had read, seen or were reading "Othello". Caroline Mahtab, an assistant professor at the University of Cairo pointed out the reason: "The play is cursed, and although people do not believe in these things anymore, every book has a Qi" she said. "Like a person, a book too has a soul, since so much of it is the work of a human soul, and many others." Coyote Dina, a Native American elder from the Haida tribe, confirmed this theory. "It is true -- books and parchments do have souls, and some have the power to affect human beings in ways they cannot even imagine." Literature professors, psychologists and leading Shakespeareans have hotly refuted this view. "It's complete BS," dramatist Tom Stoppard is reported as saying. "Shakespeare would never do such a thing." Celebrity psychologist Dr Phil had a lenient but disapproving view. "There is so much hate in that story," he said. "Hate cannot be your friend." He refused to comment on Oprah Winfrey, however. The RSC have refused to shut down productions of "Othello", despite the 660 protests held worldwide. Last October protester Sidhu Gurujan of Punjab, India almost died from injuries sustained while setting himself on fire. A flowerpot from a nearby apartment had cracked open his skull. While critics are convinced that talking about the play leads to relationship disasters, they have admitted that reading or seeing it and not talking about it could actually be beneficial. Many students confirmed this, and have confessed that writing papers on "Othello" helped them get good grades. "It works like an aphrodisiac," Oka Sung happily announced. The happy Toronto party-goer has his own prescription for students reading "Othello": "Tell you girlfriend or boyfriend that you're actually reading "Romeo and Juliet, and even if you haven't read "R & J", nod religiously when your partner talks about it." Religious leader Mullah Tashfinullah from Khorasan, Obasan, Afghanistan blasted the concentrated efforts of world universities in forcing young minds to indulge in the play. "In the name of Allah, the benevolent, the merciful," he said, "The book is actually about a battle between the forces of good and evil. It is as clear as sand and water. "The lady character (Desdemona) preaches with her actions that love is blind, while the pious Moor shows how marriage is a real-opener. "Anybody who poisons young minds against wedlock with such lies is a worshiper of Satan and progenitor of CSI Miami, and will burn in the bottomless pits of hell." He approved of readings of "Romeo and Juliet" in lieu of "Othello", calling it an admirable work, but insisted that the actress should wear a veil at all times. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England in 1564. He is the most respected playwright in the English language, and his works continue to generate truckloads of critical responses by university professors and graduates alike. Shakespeare died in 1616 after a merry bout of drinking, and left his second-best bed to his widow in his will. Hexed literary works have long generated discontent, an issue that remains ignored by the authorities to this day. Last year a mass hysteria ensued rumors that reading James Joyce's "Ulysses" caused individuals to vomit and then laugh shaking their heads wildly. Now, how was that for a Valentine's Day post? :D :D Sorry for disappearing for a while. Wandering, wandering.

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Metro newspaper goof-up

The mother an innocent young man murdered in a gang shooting is lobbying for a website that identifies known gangsters to the community. Published today in Metro Vancouver. It's the first page lead news, titled 'Mom wants gangsters ID'd online'.

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Eee II PC with Windows launches in Japan

My predictions did come true! Well, more or less -- it's not Vista. The 4G-X will cost ¥50,000 ($468/£239/€320).Asus finally launched the first Windows version of the Eee II PC in Japan on Thursday, CNet reports.

The Taiwanese company was originally set to launch Windows-running versions of the hit sub-notebook in December, and has now declared US shipments in late February or early March.

Dubbed the Eee PC 4G-X, it will come (like its Japanese counterpart) pre-loaded with Windows XP Home Edition. It has the same hardware specs as the original Eee PC 701, aka the 4G, introduced last fall: 4GB of storage, Intel Celeron 900MHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, etc. In addition to 4GB of storage, the 0.92kg 4G-X has 512MB of DDR 2 memory, a 7in, 800 x 480 display, three USB 2.0 ports, SDHC memory card reader, 10/100Mb/s Ethernet, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and a 0.3-megapixel webcam. According to RegHardware.co.uk Asus is, however, bundling the Eee with a 4GB SDHC card, which makes the 4G-X actually come with 8GB of storage.

Looks like I was right in guessing that the Eee wouldn't ship with Vista after all, although it's worth noting that Windows XP running on Western Eee PCs usually cites the CPU being actually clocked at 630MHz.

The 4G-X will cost ¥50,000 ($468/£239/€320). [image: CNet]

If you're interested in laptops, you might want to check out All about the MacBook Air.

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Time stops at NY Grand Central

Updated: Feb 05 2008 This is so cool! The world's largest train station in the world came to a halt for 5 minutes, and I'm sure nobody was offended. The event was organized by a group called Improv Everwhere (we desperately need them at the state universities).

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Microsoft bids record $42b for Yahoo! : inside news

[Updated] It's true: Microsoft announced today that it has bid $31 a share to acquire Yahoo!, representing a 62% premium over the former search engine giant's recent market value. All about the deal -- and the tricks of fate that make it a popcorn event.Update: Microsoft hasn't managed to buy Yahoo! yet, which was kinda expected. Hey, imagine the truckload of pride Yahoo! has to swallow. I hope this even keeps me interested. (Do you think MS buying Yahoo! would be a good thing for internet users? Drop a comment.) It's true: Microsoft announced today that it has bid $31 a share to acquire Yahoo!, representing a 62% premium over the former search engine giant's recent market value. The total value of the offer is $44.5 billion in cash and stock, making it the largest bid ever in the hi-tech industry. Pundits are claiming that it's an incredibly expensive deal, even for a company the size of Microsoft. Michael Liedtke of AP describes the situation brilliantly: Unable to topple Google Inc. on its own, Microsoft Corp. is trying to force crippled rival Yahoo Inc. into a shotgun marriage, with a wager worth nearly $42 billion that the two companies together will have a better chance of tackling the Internet search leader. (The deal is valued differently across the news sites I'm currently madly surfing.) In any case, this move shows just how desperate Microsoft is to ensure its digital supremacy. The future is less desktop and more online then, eh? Microsoft has to do this deal. It's a battle that Microsoft needs to win, said AMR Research analyst Jonathan Yarmis. It's a classic case of a buyer overbidding to blow any potential competitors out of the water, according to James Owers, a Georgia State University professor of corporate finance. Analysts are still unsure whether the deal is going to take place -- and many are claiming that Microsoft might have to ward off other bidders, such as Baidu.com. There's also a fair chance that the Redmond, Washington-based software giant will need to raise the bar even further to get the job done. In a classic twist of fate,

• Yahoo! shares climbed $9.20, or nearly 48 percent, to $28.38 while Microsoft shares fell $2.15, or 6.6 percent, to $30.45 (a sign that Wall Street is skeptical about whether the acquisition makes sense).
• Google shares fell $48.40, or 8.6 percent, to close at $515.90 Friday.
• Shortly after Microsoft disclosed its intentions, the U.S. Justice Department said it is "interested" in reviewing antitrust issues. European Union officials declined to comment, but analysts said Microsoft probably will face more challenges getting a Yahoo! acquisition approved in Europe than the United States.

Now we only need Steve Jobs to complete the pretty picture! :D [Sources: AP, Yahoo! News, Google News, MarketWatch.com, etc.]

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3-year-old found frozen to death in Saskatchewan

It's precisely the kind of news you don't want to see. A three-year-old girl has been found frozen to death on the Yellowquill First Nation east of Saskatoon, the Globe and Mail just reported. Her one-year-old sister is still missing, and her fatherA three-year-old girl has been found frozen to death on the Yellowquill First Nation east of Saskatoon, the Globe and Mail just reported. Her one-year-old sister is still missing, and her father, who is suffering from frostbite and hypothermia, was rescued.

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US spy satellite dies, will crash to earth

[Updated] A large US spy satellite has lost power and is headed for a crash in late February or March.Update: They're planning to shoot down the 5,000-pound satellite from a Navy ship, according to Bloomberg. The shoot-down has been delayed due to poor weather.

A large US spy satellite has lost power and is headed for a crash in late February or March, government officials requesting anonymity revealed to the Washington Post. The satellite, which no longer can be controlled, could contain hazardous materials, and it's unknown where on the planet it might come down, they said. The information is reportedly classified as secret.

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World's weirdest week?

This really must be the weirdest week ever! I'm a longtime fan of the 'odd news' columns on websites, and swear I haven't seen such an outburst of craziness ever, ranging from Canada to Australia. Laughs guaranteed.This really must be the weirdest week ever! I'm a longtime fan of the 'odd news' columns on websites, and swear I haven't seen such an outburst of craziness ever. Here's the summary:

• The Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation is in a mess due to a self-redemption casino kiosk in Regina mistakenly giving out $20 bills instead of $5s. The company is now trying to track down the lucky folks by examining security camera footage.
• There's (yet again) a new Mars photo released by NASA that features a statue-like figure. There's a hi-res version of the image (24 megs, TIF format) available so check it out.
• A man in Australia first got bit by a crocodile, then got shot by a friend who was trying to help him. The doctor has no doubt in mind that the gunshot saved his life (I think the guy might not agree).
• Two Oklahoma City cinemas are warning moviegoers that the latest horror flick 'Cloverfield' could cause nausea akin to a rollercoaster effect. The film, however, broke a January box office record.
• A British Columbia court has ruled that the city of Penticton must pay an artist for a statue of a naked man whose genitals keep getting vandalized repeatedly.
• There's actually an internet privacy law in effect in Greece that allows pedophiles to roam at large, even if the police manage to track them down. Not funny.
• Canadian and US experts have concluded that weird names are replacing the classic name choices for babies, such as Matthew and Olivia. Parents seem to consciously avoid the top 20 baby names these days, and the result isn't always sensible. There's actually a little girl living in Connecticut whose named Asshole. In a separate turn of events, NZ authorities have denied a couple from naming their kid 4real, so they've decided to call him Superman.
• A criminal group was uncovered in Algeria that made porn DVDs and put well-known Islamic preachers on the covers to disguise them. The police said that many customers bought the DVDs in good faith.
• Russian scientists have discovered that cockroaches conceived in outer space grow faster than their earthly counterparts, and run faster and are hardier.
• A Chinese boy trying to evade piano lessons called up the police and said his dad was trying to sell him.
• The heads of the Al-Arab and Fallaheen families of Qena, Egypt have signed a pact that will end a troublesome 'mustache war'. The families had previously abducted each others' leaders and shaved off their mustaches, beards, hair and eyebrows, which sparked off a series of violent clashes in which the two parties fought each other with clubs and sticks.

Okay, I might be infrequent in blogging for the next couple of weeks. Not kidding. Work, work.

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Google search share drops, Yahoo! rises

Latest results from Comscore reveal a drop in Google's share in the search engine market. Yahoo! is enjoying a popularity boost.

SVW reports:

Latest results from Comscore show a slight drop of 0.2 percentage points in Google's share of search in December 2007 compared with November 2007 to 58.4 percent. Second place Yahoo gained 0.5 percentage points to 22.9 per cent over the same period. The reason?

According to Comscore, Americans conducted 9.6 billion searches at the core search engines, representing a 3.9-percent decline versus November. With many Americans traveling and spending time away from home during the holidays, search activity typically experiences a seasonal decline during December. Google Sites saw 5.6 billion core searches during the month, while Yahoo! Sites recorded 2.2 billion. Here's what I think: The holiday season just might be the reason Google lost some share in the search engine market (for Google, 0.2 percent would be thousands and thousands of users). However -- Yahoo! has made tremendous progress in recent times (although it's in a financially tight spot). I'm not saying that there's any chance Yahoo! will beat Google, but right now Yahoo! is a much more worthier opponent than it used to be. Plus, Google's spot-free reputation seems to be facing scrutiny: not all of its services did well in 2007, and I'm even wondering whether they'll dump Notebook (read more here). Blogger seems to have lost out permanently to Wordrpress too, and I recently had a pretty hard time on Blogger myself (here).

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