Mebsuta

You can get the American consumer price index (CPI) for every month since January 1913 online at the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt

The numbers tell you how many cents it would take in each month to equal the value of a dollar in 1983.

It is updated about the 15th of every month.

Last night Al Jazeera aired a message that Osama bin Laden made in September. He told Europeans that they should stop following America and get their troops out of Afghanistan. He said America’s power there is weakening and that it is killing women and children. In the message Bin Laden claimed credit for the attacks on New York and Washington, in which women and children were killed.

More.

Musharraf promises to end emergency rule on December 16th. The general election is due on January 8th.

More.

Some notes on my Waste Management (WM) bill since it is a bit strange:

1. WM bills me on the first of January, April, July and October.
2. The amount due varies due to changes in the cost of Diesel fuel and environmental testing.
3. You can pay at their website: wm.com. There is no convenience fee but if your bill is late, then get the reference number and call it in to customer service: 610 863 6057 – otherwise they will stop your service.
   
4. A good quarterly amount to pay them is $110; if monthly, then $36.67.

General Musharraf steps down as army chief in Pakistan but remains the president.

More.

Hoping to create a Palestinian state that can live a peace alongside Israel, Bush today talks to president Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and prime minister Olmert of Israel. Also there are Syria and Saudi Arabia, whose help will be needed to create a lasting peace.

Little is expected to come out of these talks, but Bush hopes they lead to other talks that will end in peace between the Israeli and Palestinians before he leaves office early in 2009.

More.

China has made public the first pictures of the moon sent back by Chang’e-1, a spacecraft now circling the moon.

Premier Wen Jiabao said, “The Chinese nation is fully able to stand tall among the world’s ranks of advanced nations.”

China first sent a man into space in 2003. In 2005 it sent two men for five days into space. It hopes to put men on the moon by 2024.

More.

Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister that Musharraf overthrew in 1999, returns to Pakistan after living abroad for seven years. Like another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, who returned last month, he could help to return Pakistan to democracy. Thousands came out to greet him.

He tried to return in September but was turned back. He has been living in Saudi Arabia

More.

“Naruto” (2002- ) is a Japanese television show about Naruto, a 13-year boy with yellow hair, who is going to ninja school. He hopes one day to become Hokage, the leader of all the ninjas, but right now he has little idea of what is going on and is just learning. Deep inside his body is a demon, the Nine-Tailed Fox.

“Naruto” was created by Masashi Kishimoto. It first appeared in a manga magazine in 1997. In 2002 it became a television show in Japan. It was brought to North America in 2005 and appears on Cartoon Network. It came to Britain in 2006 and to Australia and Brazil in 2007. As of 2007 they were still making new shows.

“Naruto” looks like it takes place long ago in Japan, but it is not Japan at all but another world. Most of the action takes place in the Land of Fire. They do not have guns or cars but they do have television, cameras, telephones, electricity and glass windows.

On this world everyone has a force inside him called chakra. Ninjas are trained to use this chakra to fight others. It is their main weapon. They use it to do things like making dragons out of water, creating balls of light that can kill, making themselves into giants and jumping from tree to tree.

There are also samurais on this world. They fight in the army using ordinary weapons like swords. Ninjas do not fight in the army except when needed. They mostly fight for themselves or for those who hire them.

The main characters:

Naruto: the hero. He often does not know what is going on, but he is brave and faithful.

Sakura: a schoolmate with pink hair. Naruto likes her but she does not care for him.

Sasuke: another schoolmate. He has black hair and is much better than Naruto. Sakura likes him but he does not care for her.

Kakashi: their sensei or teacher who teaches them the way of the ninja.

“Naruto” sounds almost like “Nar’to” and Sasuke like “Soss’kay”.

See also:

• Naruto Anime – Official U.S. Site – a nice website done by Viz Media, which brought “Naruto” to North America.
• NarutoFan – a fan website. Also good.

The Labor Party won elections for parliament in Australia defeating the Liberals. Kevin Rudd will become the new prime minister, ending John Howard’s 11 years in that office.

More.