What Caught My Eye Today

Middle East - Too borrow from an old adage, "when it rains it pours." Tough times, indeed, for heads of state. Let's begin with the place that started all this turmoil in the first place.

Tunisia - Tunisia's interim government moved to take back control of the country's security forces and approved wage rises for the country's beleaguered police service. Never underestimate the power of a well-placed bribe. In related developments, the new director of national security is moving forward with removing stalwarts of ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's regime from key positions. Despite continuing opposition, the interim government pledged to stand firm and agreed to sign up to international conventions including the Rome statutes on the International Criminal Court and the optional protocol to the UN Convention to Combat Torture. Positive developments to be sure, though one wonders what the people actually want. Seems to be a popular theme. I wonder, if Tunisians had any idea of the wave of upheaval they started?

Egypt - Supporters of Hosni Mubarak clashed in Cairo with opposition protesters as the government spurned calls for the embattled president to immediately begin the process of handing over power. Quick question...to who? supporters of the president staged a number of rallies around Cairo, saying Mubarak represented stability amid growing insecurity, and calling those who want his departure "traitors." It would seem that bribery is also a recurring theme. A witness said organisers were paying people 100 Egyptian pounds to take part in the pro-Mubarak rally. The latest violence comes after Mubarak addressed the nation pledging not to run for re-election in September after 29 years in power. But Mubarak did not offer to step down immediately, the key demand of protesters who have flooded the streets of Egypt's cities since January 25.

And now it looks as if Tunisia and Egypt are going to get some more company...

Yemen - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, also facing demands that he quit, said he will freeze constitutional changes that would have allowed him to be president for life. There is something about the notion of "constitutional change" and "president for life" that just doesn't sound right?

Jordan - In Jordan, King Abdullah II sacked his government after weeks of demands for change. Bear in mind that boyfriend pretty much has free reign to appoint or fire anyone he wants whenever he wants. It's good the king.

Syria - A Facebook group of Syrian youth called for a peaceful revolution to start on later this week. "Peaceful revolution." Sounds like a candidate for oxymoron of the year.

Is it just me or does the convoluted mess that is the American political system suddenly seem much more appealing then it did a few weeks ago?

Internet - The spread of Internet use in Asia and the proliferation of Internet-connected phones worldwide are causing the Internet to run out of numerical addresses, which act as "phone numbers" to ensure that surfers reach websites and e-mails find their destination. In other words, the Internet is running out of space. Is that even possible?. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, said its last five "blocks" of Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses are about to be distributed. These blocks, each with 16.8 million addresses, will be distributed to the regional registries which will distribute further to Internet service providers, websites and others. These addresses are predicted to be depleted in six to nine months. The current Internet address system, Internet Protocol version 4, has been in place since the 1980s. It allows for a theoretical maximum of 4.3 billion addresses in use, far beyond what was thought necessary for what was then mainly a network for academic use. Dude, this totally sucks. I was just about finished reading what was already there. What am I supposed to do now? Engineers have known for years that the pool of these IP addresses would one day run out and have been experimenting with a new technology that allows for many more addresses — an infinite number, for all practical purposes. The new system is called Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6, but only about 2% of websites support it, including Google and Facebook. Whew. That's a relief. As long as I have Facebook, I'm cool. I don't know what I would have done I wasn't able to let my friends know what I was doing or thinking every waking moment. Talk about dodging a bullet.

Sports - According to a recently released Harris Interactive poll, nearly 3 in 10 Americans who follow at least one sport said that pro football is their favorite sport. Seventeen percent chose baseball as their favorite sport. Twelve percent of respondents said college football was their favorite sport, while 7% chose auto racing. Other sports mentioned in the poll include: Men's pro basketball, 6%; Hockey, 5%; Men's soccer, 4%; Men's college basketball, 4%; Men's golf, 2%; Track & field, 2%; Bowling, 2%; Men's tennis, 2%; Boxing, 1%; Horse racing, 1%; Men's tennis, 1%; Swimming, 1%; Women's pro basketball, 0%; Women's soccer, 0%; Women's college basketball, 0% ; Women's golf, 0%. Here's another classic case of the numbers not necessarily telling the whole story. I'm not saying that the American definition of football isn't popular, but the fact that this survey was conducted during the middle of the playoffs might have some bearing on the responses. If you conducted that survey at the end of March, I'm betting college basketball would rank a lot higher on that list (hello, March Madness). And another thing. How does swimming rank higher than women's tennis (which doesn't even make the list)? I love swimming but outside Michael Phelps how many people could name another active competitive swimmer?