Laos History Stone tools discovered in Huaphanh and Luang Prabang provinces attest the presence of prehistoric man in its stage of hunters and gatherers over the Lao territory since at least 40,000 years ago. Agriculturist society seemed to appear during the 4th millenia BC as evidences have been found by archeologists-jar burials and other kinds of sepulchres have revealed a complex society in which Bronze objects appeared around 1500 BC and iron tools were known since 700 BC. The proto historic period is characterized by contacts with Chinese and Indian civilisations. As a result between the fourth and eighth century. Between the fourth and eighth century communities along the Mekong River began to form into towships, so called muang. This development culminated in the formation of the Lan Xang (Million Elephants) Kingdom. In 1340 AD, Kind Fa Ngum led an army of 10,000 men in conquests in all directions: to the south, as far as the Khmer border; to the north as far as Sipsong Phanna (Yunnan

Five ideasWhat people should be talking aboutBy Dwayne Mamo April 29, 2007 | 12:00 a.m. CST[1] EXIT STRATEGYPresident Bush has vowed to veto a Senate proposal passed Thursday that would require American troops to begin leaving Iraq by Oct. 1.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the legislation is “in keeping with what the American people want.” However, the White House immediately labeled supporters of the bill as defeatist and announced that the measure “is dead before arrival” on the president’s desk. Indeed, members of both parties are already starting work on a new bill. Thursday’s legislation passed 51-46 along largely party lines, suggesting that Democrats do not have the two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto.Meanwhile, the troop “surge” that Bush authorized three months ago has led to improvements in Baghdad and the Anbar province, said Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. military commander in Iraq.Thursday’s vote came almost four years after

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The family of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho told The Associated Press on Friday that they feel "hopeless, helpless and lost," and "never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence." "He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare," said a statement issued by Cho's sister, Sun-Kyung Cho, on the family's behalf.It was the Chos' first public comment since the 23-year-old student killed 32 people and committed suicide Monday in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.Raleigh, N.C., lawyer Wade Smith provided the statement to the AP after the Cho family reached out to him. Smith said the family would not answer any questions, and neither would he."Our family is so very sorry for my brother's unspeakable actions. It is a terrible tragedy for all of us," said Sun-Kyung Cho, a 2004 Princeton University graduate who works as a contractor for a State Department office that oversees American aid for &nb

Let me preface this by saying that I have the utmost respect and admiration for songwriters who can write song after song. Those very talented individuals who, while they are sitting on the plane, in the bathroom, or at a dining table, grab a napkin, the roll of toilet paper, the safety guide on the airplane, or whatever may be handy and start frantically writing. While I have had this inspiration once in a while, its not a fluent talent. So my hats are off to you! The statistics were very interesting and I hope not conclusive of what is going on in the music industry right now, although I suspect they are indicative of it.

51 Billion Dollars and rising! Sounds like a company a wise investor should invest in. After all, having a piece of a 51 billion dollar industry is an exciting prospect, filled with anticipation for the future right? Not this time. This industry takes away any hope for the future. Any promise of potential greatness is dashed to the ground, becoming ashes and dust when people continue to invest in this business. Warnings have been issued over the years advising people to avoid investing in this global industry. Still people chose to purchase the stock some one share at a time, others in large quantities.

My name is Wlodzimierz Holsztynski. I'd like to present some of my old views and ideas.

---

The world is nothing but chaos, pure nonsense. Subjectively, the world is nothing but waste--a waste of promises. It follows that there is no god/God, no harmony, ...

This view is actually reasonably optimistic. Chaos means flukes too, including happy flukes, lucky flukes. It is worthwhile to live for happy flukes. Life itself is a fluke, and it knows a lot of happy flukes (as well as horrible flukes--so what)?

My goal in this blog is to present certain practical (I mean socially oriented) consequences of the general view.

Are you passionate about the rave, outdoor festival and dance party scene and can you commit to RaveSafe?

RaveSafe VOLUNTEERS

VIVAIDS " The Victorian Drug User Organisation " is currently seeking to recruit at least 5 Key Peer Educators (KPEs) from the rave, outdoor festival and dance party scene for its RaveSafe program. KPEs utilise their knowledge and experience to effectively communicate harm reduction messages through the model of peer education.

RaveSafe attend raves, outdoor festivals and dance parties, hosting a small chill-out space and providing peers with up to date, relevant and factual information about safer drug use, safer sex and hearing protection.

KPEs are remunerated for their expenses to attend raves, outdoor festivals and dance parties.

RaveSafe hold training meetings fortnightly, all KPE's are required to volunteer their time for these meetings regularly.

Contact Purple on 9329 1500 or email Ravesafe@vivaids.org.au to receive a copy of the position description.

A

Winston-Salem, NC -- Rarely does one come across anything genuinely new in music. All the many genres have been mixed together and blended so much that originality often looks as if it has fallen by the wayside. This is not the case with Osaru on his debut album, Home.

His is a unique vocal style, a one-off musical vision and an out of the ordinary personal story. Unlike many of his musical peers, Osaru has spent years honing his talents before cutting a record, and the maturity shows.

Having learnt African percussion at the age of 8, church organ at 9 and subsequently discovering the joys of the keyboard and bass guitar, Osaru went on to play music in three separate continents. His inspirations coming from the worlds of soul, jazz, R&B, hip hop, reggae and even traditional African music. Only after such an extensive musical education, and while simultaneously working as a physician in North Carolina, has Osaru decided to share his gifts with the world.

Listening to the quality and diversity of Home,

"It

all starts from a great song" -

Michael

Gudinski, CEO - The Mushroom Group of Companies

As

part of their 150

commemorations,

NAB in conjunction with Mushroom Marketing and support from The

Mushroom Group and APRA, launched the NAB Songwriting Competition -

an initiative designed to help inspire, educate and unearth the

nation's next generation of great song writers.

This

new initiative supports a raft of music initiatives NAB have been

undertaking in 2008 - free public music performances by established

artists, showcases for local and upcoming music artists, the

successful NAB Songwriting Workshops at secondary schools as part of

the NAB 150 Roadtrain tour across Australia which

have featured likes of Dean & Adalita - Magic Dirt, Monique

Brumby and Nicky Bomba, and NAB's recent Sponsorship of APRA's

inaugural S3 Summit 'Play the Music" Showcase.

"It

was an honour for us to play t

Ontario, Canada — ASK Video Interactive Media, a leading creator of software tutorials on DVD, is now shipping Level 3 of a 4-part tutorial DVD series for Logic Pro 8 music production software. In this third level progression in the series, ASK Video veteran Mike Baggley brings his extensive engineering and music chops to Logic ...

The 2009 edition of globalFEST will be showcasing top international acts in New York City. The event will be held at New York City's Webster Hall, January 11, 2009. The line-up features Calypso Rose, Chicha Libre, Femi Kuti & the Positive Force, Hot 8 Brass Band, Kailash Kher's Kailasa, L&O, La Troba Kung-F, Marcio Local, Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, Shanbehzadeh Ensemble, Tanya Tagaq, Valkyrien Allstars, and Watcha Clan.

For the sixth year, this leading showcase for international sounds keeps a foot in the door of cultural exchange, giving dozens of musicians access to the American stage. The event takes place on January 11, 2009 on three stages at the newly remodeled Webster Hall in New York City. With just one ticket, festival-goers can see thirteen acts in one night, representing diverse global styles, from groundbreaking hybrids to little-known traditions, and in three unique settings under the same roof. globalFEST is timed to coincide with the annual Association for Performing A

We understand the insatiable need for the media to compare Obama to Lincoln, we really do. There's no need to rehash the potential similarities all over again, because Newsweek is devoting their cover story this week to doing exactly that. On one hand, comparing a president-elect to a another guy from Illinois who did the job well makes all the sense in the world. And above all else, Lincoln was a good man. On the other hand, there are elements of this comparison that are wildly not suggestive of BO:

Towering over his generals, someone of Lincoln's background would have a real hard time getting elected today. Rising from manual laborer (he was once a rail-splitter) to the highest office in the land, Lincoln had no formal education. As Paul Johnson suggests in his book Heroes (even better than the TV series!), the only reason Lincoln was able to enter politics at all was because it was so easy to become a lawyer in America. And though he undoubtedly was a great president, he did have one blind spot worth no

Phil Gibson, founder of Digital Media Academy, and Brian Rothschild, Executive Director of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, announced a strategic partnership for 2009. The Lennon Bus, a non-profit state-of-the-art mobile audio and multimedia studio, will host Digital Media Academy's instructors at industry events, schools and other venues, where previews of the classes taught in their curriculum will be conducted. Audio and video recorded on the Bus will be used in many of the Academy's classes, while DMA and the Lennon Bus will jointly develop additional courses such as COME TOGETHER: Music and Video Production, to be offered for the first time in DMA's 2009 Teen Summer Camp program. (PRWeb Nov 5, 2008) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/11/prweb1573204.htm

My The Caucasian Knot posts two entries accompanied by photographs on inclusive education in Armenia. Part of a voluntary project on child protection and disabilities, the first post details a return visit to the World Vision Child Development Center in Yerevan while the second takes a closer look and accompanies ...