3 sisters adventure trekking in Nepal

3 sisters in Nepal have set up a tourist business offering hiking and climbing tours to mountaineers worldwide, thanks to word-of-mouth and to their website.

The initial reaction by the local community in the city where the business has its office, Pokhara, was a mix of surprise and criticism for such a business idea, as well as for their community programs to train women in Nepal as mountain guides. Putting some some of the most valuable and durable assets in the country at work: its beautiful mountains, in an environmentally conscious and sustainable way, is a smart idea. Are men in the community perhaps envious!?

What if the mountain guides that the school trains turn out to be more careful, precise and overall competent than their male colleagues!?

Spread the word and/or head yourself for a walk on an Annapurna peak!

Empathy and cruelty: a roaring tale of causality and emotions!

Zero Degrees of Empathy: A new theory of human cruelty is a recent book by Simon Baron-Cohen, professor of Developmental Psychopathology at Cambridge.

Its summary and a long review article suggest interesting food for thought in little explored realms on the border between social science and science.

However, it's hard to buy the proposition: black is to white similarly to what autism is to empathy, that seems to characterise the book.

To be read and then TBC!

Home delivery food and a psychiatrist

What's the difference between home delivery food, e.g. Pizza Hut, and seeing a psychiatrist? Surely the price per unit of quantity and a few additional details.

However, similarities seem to lie in the impatience with which your stomach and your head respectively expect to get some "food", so much so that "home cooking" of a pizza or certain thoughts is discarded from the menu.

Libyan airspace is closed: who opens Gaddafi's eyes, or simply the door to jail?

According to a note issued by Eurocontrol, Europe's air traffic agency, Libyan airspace is closed.

This follows a UN resolution approving a no-fly zone and additional measures to safeguard civilians in Libya: better late than never guys! The resolution was warmly welcomed in Bengasi and other areas in Libya in which rebels endure a strenuous fight against the regime.

I wish this opens Gaddafi's eyes and stops further violence in the country. Justice would suggest to trial Gaddafi's as any criminal. However, each additional day of fight and deaths may be averted by offering the "tyrant leader" an ad hoc deal. A thin line separates justice from a bright future for libya

The Libyan Republic – The Interim Transitional National Council

While Gaddafi's troops were busy bombing cities that are controlled by the "opposition", the birth of The Interim Transitional National Council was announced online http://ntclibya.org/english/ .

May the wind of democracy and peace in Libya blow by cable and on Libyan soil anon

Inspiring women: woooo, man!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/top-100-women from The Guardian

Libya: 1, 2 and 3

colours

days before democracy and peace

Women's (every) day

Women's day is everyday
Every day is a woman's day
A woman or a man
A rose or a fist
The man or the woman
The myth or the gist
Lesbian and straight
Allegories and vibes
Gay and straight
Ideas and no jibes
Pretty and handsome
Ugly and bad
bribe and ransom
fog and fad

Gaddafi, German Defence Minister, LSE, PhD

Recent turmoil in Libya may eventually result in the fall of a non-democratic regime headed by army colonnel Gaddafi that has been in power for decades.

Such course of history has been crossed by two minor though equally interesting ones. Gaddafi's son Saif has recently gained his PhD at the London School of Economics (LSE). In addition, a Libyan foundation which Saif manages donated funds to support research at the LSE. The dubious source of the funds and alleged plagiarism by Saif in his PhD thesis has eventually led the Head of the LSE, Howard Davies, to resign with a short but persuasive letter.

On a parallel short course to cut corners, the German Defence Minister was caught cheating in his PhD thesis, thus leading him to resign.

Two recommendations ensue:

1) If your dad is a dictator and such "scholarship" funds your PhD, or if you are about to be appointed minister, check online whether you've blatantly cheated before handing in your PhD!

2) If you are an old style, vintage dictator, e.g. Chavez, Gaddafi, Kim Jong-il or Mugabe, or such a modern one that you look like a prime minister or president, e.g. Berlusconi or Putin:

2a) Proofread your children's PhD before they submit,

2b) Why don't you resign and do a PhD yourself!? You'll have plenty of time and will not need to cheat in a rush to finish!