Not so instant. As you may know, a Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption that makes things needlessly complicated. Hell, I could have made a three course meal by the time this thing made a freaking bowl of Ramen!

• Al-Qaeda Killed in Somalia: One of al-Qaeda’s top agents in East Africa was killed this morning by a US airstrike, according to officials. Aden Hashi Ayro was the leader of the Islamist comeback in Somalia and a military commander for the Shebab — an Islamist militia recently classified by the US as a terrorist group. His removal is seen as the turning point for the war against extremists who've seized towns recently. Consul for Somalia’s embassy in Nairobi said, "this will definitely weaken the Shebab. This will help with reconciliation. You can’t imagine how many Somalis are saying, ‘Yes, this is the one.’ The reaction is so good.”



• McCain Qualified For President: The US Senate voted on the question of John McCain being a natural-born citizen because of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone. The detail is one of the qualifications for the job of president. The Senate unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution recognizing that McCain is indeed a natural-born citizen.
• Maliki Is "Depraved": A bloc of Iraqi MPs have denounced the government and used a passage from the Koran to describe Prime Minister Nouri Maliki as "depraved." The MPs support the Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Iraqi troops and US-led foreign forces have fought those loyal to Muqtada al Sadr in recent weeks. Nine people died today in a Baghdad bomb blast aimed at US troops, and in recent weeks, more than 400 have been killed and 2,500 injured in Sadr City.

It's interesting that this guy calls his cartoon "Boyfriends I Have Been" because it's as much about the girlfriends he has dated who made him those different types (according to him). Clearly, this guy has no fundamental identity of his own, the poor Emo bastard. (While we're being confessional, I have definitely been Girlfriend # 2.)

When the Taliban fell six years ago, it was thought that a new government would offer women in Afghanistan a greater freedom since their rights are now guaranteed in the new Afghani constitution. The women of Afghanistan can now go to school and find employment, yet except for a small number of wealthy, urbanites, a woman who escapes a setting of domestic horror can end up in jail.

The reality for most women parts of Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan is less than free: a woman who runs away from home is usually assumed to have taken a lover and can be prosecuted for adultery. Simply leaving her house without her family's permission may be deemed a jailable offense. To see what's happening, read more