16 December 2008

Turkmenbashi and Ulan Bator

Hey folks! I have a lot to do, and I need to get an early start, so I'm going to save the more important stories for tomorrow, and just post a few of the light bits from yesterday to keep you entertained. Read on.

The company that publishes the Mexican edition of Playboy magazine has apologized for its most recent cover, which features a nude "Virgin Mary" - in Mexico, of all places. They're all Catholic there! Unbelievable. The model they got to pose for the picture is pretty hot, though.

I don't assume many of you know where Turkmenistan is, or could even find it on a map. Okay, find Iran (shouldn't be too hard), or even Afghanistan. See the country to Iran's north, on the east side of the Caspian sea? That's Turkmenistan. Well, Turkmenistan has just held open parliamentary polls. (BBC, AFP. Why is this a big deal? Well, Turkmenistan is a former Soviet holding in Central Asia, and once the Soviet Union collapsed, it was ruled by the iron-fisted Saparmarat Niyazov. I think I noted several days ago that Turkmenistan recently edited its national anthem to remove repeated references to "Turkmenbashi," or "Father of the Turkmen," which was Niyazov's self-proclaimed nickname. This is the guy who had literally had a gold statue of himself made, and then placed it on a rotating base so that it always faced the sun. He died a couple of years ago, and they've been slowly reforming their country since then, so these are good steps for them to take, and I'll take it all as reasonably good news.

There are also a couple of decent links to pass on from the Guardian. Their daily 24 Hour Pictures section had an awesome picture of the Mongolian capital - no shitty walls in sight! Also, we're all cheering about the collapse of the oil bubble. Would you like to see an interactive presentation on who's going to be whining about the oil bubble collapse? Here you go! And as you can see, oil is down two or three dollars since yesterday, even though the Saudis have cut production. Less consumption, less production, and lower prices, all at the same time? That's an excellent thing.

If you're bored today, check out one of the best South Park episodes I've seen in ages: Elementary School Musical. Frickin' awesome.

That's it for today. Check back in tomorrow for more, and have a great day!

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