As the surge of 30,000 U.S. troops continues to pour into Afghanistan, the Obama administration is now considering the possibility of reconciling with some of the Taliban, reintegrating the soldiers into society, as a way to find an end to this long conflict. The plan is supported by Afghan president Hamid Karzai, although discussions are still in the very early stages. A recent United Nations report found that violence in Afghanistan claimed the lives of more than 2,400 Afghan civilians in the year 2009. While this is the largest annual death toll for noncombatants since the U.S. led invasion eight years ago, the report found that the majority of deaths had been caused by Taliban attacks. Collected here are images of the country and conflict over the past month, part of an ongoing monthly series on Afghanistan.

(through Boing Boing)

Immerse yourself in the energetic, innovative and potentially illegal world of mash-up media with RiP: A Remix Manifesto. Let web activist Brett Gaylor and musician Greg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk, serve as your digital tour guides on a probing investigation into how culture builds upon culture in the information age.

Biomedical engineer turned live-performance sensation Girl Talk, has received immense commercial and critical success for his mind-blowing sample-based music. Utilizing technical expertise and a ferocious creative streak, Girl Talk repositions popular music to create a wild and edgy dialogue between artists from all genres and eras. But are his practices legal? Do his methods of frenetic appropriation embrace collaboration in its purest sense? Or are they infractions of creative integrity and violations of copyright?