Toronto is facing another local transmission outbreak of SARS, with 8 probable new cases and 26 suspected ones. 820 Torontonians are under quarantine.

One cluster of 5 cases is associated with St John’s Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto. The second cluster of 26 cases, including 10 health care workers, is associated with North York General Hospital. One patient undergoing investigation has been linked to both hospitals.

World wide, there are 8141 probable cases with 696 deaths reported from 28 countries.

Israel-Palestine
In a 21-7 vote with 4 abstentions, the Israeli cabinet has voted to approve the US backed plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Iran
Washington has cut contact with Iran.

Philippines
The search for survivors is continuing after two ferries collided in Manila Bay. 17 are dead, and dozens are missing. The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, has an extensive ferry system and a poor domestic safety record.

Algeria
Grief has turned to anger in Algeria as the death toll from Wednesdays earthquake reaches 2,162. Rescue workers say the final figure could be over 3000. 8,965 people were injured.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika had to abort a tour of a devestated area, after crowds turned on him.

TV in the 21st Century
When ever I go past an electronics store, my gaze instinctively gravitates to the new higher end TV’s on display. I’ve tried to explain why to whomever I’m with, but the technological words don’t quite convey what we are seeing. And that is because what we are seeing is a significant change in the product.

People want bigger TV’s. Manufacturers are quite prepared to provide them. In the bigger sets, we are seeing a dramatic change in resolution and sound.
Wired news takes the tech babble and breaks it down into english.

Hey….there is a well-known Canadian blogger in here!

Fragments from Floyd is posting bug pictures again…all is well in the blogosphere.

Chow down on the Daily Biscuit at gooddogbaddog. Crunchy.

The World as a Blog
Have you seen this yet? Combining Weblogs.com with geo-coding and RSS feeds, this stunning visual, updates every minute. You can see blog posts going up in real time. It took a minute to get my head around the concept.

Because we can
God bloggers….read this….
The web-elf (elves) at CaNN have been out there on-line plugging away for quite awhile now, and in the midst of all the religious puffery and flaming, has a voice that gets stronger and truer and steadier the more it gets shouted at.
This is another top notch blogger who wouldn’t be ‘allowed’ in some religious blog cyber-circles because there is no identification by gender or real-place name. Bah.

We refrained until the last little while from long boring editorials like this one because we are more interested in linking to good stuff and letting it speak for itself than blathering on at length about we think about something that we wouldn’t let you read for yourselves. And unlike many of the folks we report on, when we screw up, we apologize and try to do better next time.

If there was no need or use for such a service, it wouldn’t survive– the hits wouldn’t be there, the feedback wouldn’t come, the news and story-sources wouldn’t spread, other forms of media and even official media wouldn’t read and respond or quote us. But blogs and news digests like this one serve a purpose in the Body of Christ. Unlike old media, anyone can start a blog on any topic– but not every issue or approach is going to fly. When we get outraged letters from people who disagree, or abuse us, we know we’re making a difference– nobody bothers unless you are seen to be making a difference. And if one news service or ‘blog should go down or be taken out, more will come in behind to fill the gap and keep the word getting out.

Yo, Web-Elf…Blog on!

via relapsed catholic