[mount of olives] precepts for living

Here are the words, just the words, minus anotation and minus the hard-sell: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Continued here.

[iceland] thou shalt not steal thy neighbour’s hotpot

The District Court of North Iceland last Thursday sentenced a man in his twenties to two months prison for stealing a hot pot from a patio but he might escape imprisonment if he manages to stay on the right side of the law for three years, as reported on mbl.is. The hot pot was stolen from the patio of a summer house in February 2006. As it had yet to be glued to the patio, the thief could remove it with a crowbar. The thief was tracked down after an observant citizen contacted the police in Akureyri. Yet to be glued? Crowbar?

[éditorial du figaro] pas d'excuses pour les mineurs

Il n'est jamais trop tard pour ouvrir les yeux. Les chiffres de la violence augmentent, 180 000 mineurs sont, chaque année, mis en cause, une moitié d'entre eux sont âgés de 13 à 15 ans lorsqu'ils sont traduits en justice. Mais si la gravité du constat commence à être partagée, les solutions, elles, divisent encore. Et là, la gauche, saisie par ses traditionnels démons, chausse ses vieilles lunettes. Pour accuser le ministre de l'Intérieur de « pompier pyromane », et asséner sa culture de l'excuse. Refusant d'admettre que c'est précisément celle-ci qui a favorisé le développement de la délinquance dans les banlieues. Suivez ici.

[australia] highest greenhouse gas per capita

UN figures released this week show that, per capita and discounting tiny Luxembourg, Australia pumps out more greenhouse gases than any other nation and more than twice the levels within the European Union. The sprawl of Australian cities, relatively cheap petrol and fuel-inefficient cars have made transport emissions particularly high. And having one of the world's highest populations of cows per head gives it ‘spectacularly high emissions of methane’, which cows burp out endlessly. Those Aussies.

[george allen] never spit

In a nutshell, if I understand it correctly, Sen George Allen and James Webb [Virginia race] both allegedly have skeletons in the closet and a political prankster, Mike Stark, decided to ask, on his website, for donations to help with one of his pranks. He sucked in $4000 and began with a question to Allen about spitting on his first wife, after Allen’s team zeroed in on Webb’s sexual references in a book he wrote. There was biffo but at least it put the issue on the agenda. Read the details here.

[feedback] pretty vital, actually

Thinking of employing this little chap as my blog-mascot – for a start, he is wearing my football team’s strip.

Coming around to thinking that we can’t blog alone. I’d heard previously that my site was slow-loading but had it confirmed today by one blogger and I’m at a loss what to do about it. Too many pictures? Non-standard template? Too many links out? At one point I put it down to Kaspersky but that can’t be so; so if you could advise, it would help a lot.