This article from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting talks about how far the Afgan women have come since the fall of the Taliban. There is still a long way to go, but things are moving in the right direction.

George Will has a column on just how significant Pope John Paul II was in bringing down the Communist Government and all that followed.

A Celebrant of Freedom (washingtonpost.com): "In an amazingly fecund 27-month period, the cause of freedom was strengthened by the coming to high offices of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and John Paul II, who, like the president, had been an actor and was gifted at the presentational dimension of his office. This peripatetic pope was seen by more people than anyone in history, and his most important trip came early. It was a visit to Poland that began on June 2, 1979.

In nine days a quarter of that nation's population saw him. Marx called religion the opiate of the masses, but it did not have a sedative effect on the Poles. The pope's visit was the nation's epiphany, a thunderous realization that the nation was of one mind, mocking the futility of communism's 35-year attempt to conquer Poland's consciousness. Between 1795 and 1918, Poland had been erased from the map of Europe, partitioned between Austria, Prussia and Russia. This gave Poles an acute sense of the distinction between the state and the real nation."

Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes Of All Time

This is a very fun read.

To date, I have had only one good April Fool's day prank. At my former company, we had a large long, 4 story building. The morning of, my partner in crime and I put up signs on all the doors (over a dozen) that said (paraphrased) "Roof Spraying Work Today, please park away from building to avoid overspray". As we watched from our office window (the building had a curve to it so we could see 6 of the doors), people would walk up to the door, pause, and then turn around and go back to move their cars. About a quarter to a third of the people moved their cars to the far side of the lot.


Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes Of All Time

One of the nice things about having a blog is that you can use it to list posts for future reference. This is one such post. I have read it several times already and will probably read it more as I get something new out of it each time. Read the comments also.

It is also one of the rare times that Bilge has decided to post something, hopefully we will see more of it.

One Hand Clapping