O.K., facts and commentary. Readers might find the facts interesting, and this is my first try on the technology. It will be a few weeks before I can dedicate the small amount of time to improving links and formatting, and to posting more frequently.

The Tamil rebels in northern Sri Lanka are making relief efforts there more difficult by insisting that everything pass on roads controlled by them. Then they have the gall to turn around and blame the Sri Lankan (ethnic Singhalese) government for neglecting Tamil areas.

(To be sure, this decades-old insurrection has something to do with longstanding Singhalese discrimination against Tamils. A blue-collar Tamil worker in Europe once told me that on university entrance exams, Tamils had to score a 36 in order to pass, whereas Singhalese needed only a 24, out of what I don’t know.)

My scientific curiosity has had me spending hours searching for good photos of an actual tsunami. Then suddenly the NYT online had one briefly on the front page. I can’t find it on the NYT anymore, but here are three photos and the accompanying story elsewhere:

First read (and see one photo at):
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11834513%255E1702,00.html

Then go to:
http://expressen.se/index.jsp?a=224696
and click on "Bild-Special: Herregud . . . ," and forward through the three photos in the pop-up.