From RSF:

Reporters Without Borders is very worried about the pressure being placed on the authorities by conservative religious leaders in the case of Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a young journalist in the northern province of Balkh who has been detained since late October 2007 on charges of blasphemy and defaming Islam. The Council of Mullahs says he should be sentenced to death.

"The calls for the death penalty for Kambakhsh highlight the growing influence of fundamentalist groups on intellectual debate," the organisation said. "The blasphemy charges are an ill-disguised attempt to hide the desire of the local authorities to restrict press freedom."

This Washington Post series first ran in late September, but it's worth revisiting given the bad week that Canadian soldiers seem to be having in Afghanistan.

Go to Canadian Tire and look at the back of the package of (in my case) wood screws for a refresher course. Here, generally speaking, are the three steps:

1. Create a starter hole, if necessary

2. Rotate the screw with the appropriate tool so it screws into the wood

3. Stop when it reaches the appropriate depth

I wish I were making that up, but I'm not.

From globeandmail.com:

Bad news for Coco and Blinko -- children don't like clowns and even older kids are scared of them.

The news that will no doubt have clowns shedding tears was revealed in a poll of youngsters by researchers from the University of Sheffield who were examining how to improve the decor of hospital children's wards.

The study, reported in the Nursing Standard magazine, found all the 250 patients aged between four and 16 they quizzed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary.

"As adults we make assumptions about what works for children," said Penny Curtis, a senior lecturer in research at the university.

"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."

Jack Handey, who came to fame through his "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey" bit for Saturday Night Live, once said this about clowns:

To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kinda scary. I've wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus and a clown killed my dad.

Howell Raines, who left the NYT in disgrace after the Jayson Blair affair, will be writing a media column for Conde Nast Portfolio.

For some living in the region where the Rust Belt meets Appalachia who lost blue-collar manufacturing jobs and had them replaced with low-paying retail or service ones, economic reality means moving in with relatives or even their elderly parents.

From Time's Bill Saporito:

Yeah, it's true about me and steroids. I have to admit it now. Even though the Mitchell report didn't have a section on sports writers, ask yourself this: the Senator's staff spends months to produce a 400-plus page report documenting his investigation of steroid abuse in Major League Baseball, and within 24 hours a relatively small group of journalists produces 400,000 pages of newspaper stories, wire service copy and website reports. And just how do you think that gets done? Let me tell you, dear innocent reader, there's only so much coffee a laptop-toting journo can drink in a day.