Stories about Humor from January, 2008
The difference between Senegal and China
Blog politique au Senegal explains the difference between Senegal and China [Fr]: “Aside from the obvious differences like the color of their skin, the enormous disparity in the size of their populations, their respective demographic differences, I also know that there exists another fundamental difference…Us, we play football, we dream...
Latvia: Law Firm's Name Change Attempt
Can you imagine a law firm with a name like this: “Viss mainījies skaļi klusēja migla virs pļavām aiz upes un jenotiņš to sajuta tik skaidri ka aizrāvās elpa un nosvīda uz ceļgaliem rātni uzliktās ķepiņas.” Latvian authorities cannot, either, according to Latvian Abroad.
Qatar: Strange Lights Over Doha
Qatar's bloggers are looking at the night's skies trying to understand what the strange bouncing lights a blogger captured with her camera phone are all about. Is it a UFO, an aircraft, a meteor or Spiderman?
Guyana: Persons of Influence
Do! You! Know!!! Who Guyana-Gyal is?? You should…
Singapore: Not in China
Arzhou is shocked to find that according to one of the US state tax department Singapore is a part of China.
Hungary: “Is Budapest Scarier than LA?”
Pestiside.hu responds to an LA reader who is afraid of going to Budapest.
The Balkans: “Jestdej”
Sleeping with Pengovsky posts a copy of the Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ – spelled phonetically by Croatian musicians: “… For all of you native speakers out there – if you ever wondered how English sounds to people from the Balkans – take a look at the above picture. It just doesn’t get...
Uzbekistan: Perpetuum Mobile?
Ibragim says that a teenager from the academic school in Samarqand, Uzbekistan, allegedly invented a “perpetual” car engine powered by a very unusual kind of fuel – air.
Venezuela: Blogger Picks Political “Oops” Moments
Venezuela faced plenty of controversies in 2007, with some of its principal political actors finding ways to stick their foots in their mouths. Blogger More Baker looks back and picks her favorite "oops" moments of 2007, with their accompanying memorable phrases.
Serbia: The Presidential Election
The presidential election in Serbia was held on Jan. 20. The Republic's Electoral Commission confirmed that the Serb Radical Party's candidate Tomislav Nikolic beat the other nine candidates. He received 39.4 percent of the votes, followed by Boris Tadic, the current Serbian president, who got 35.42 percent.
Kuwait: Scarlett Johansson in Kuwait
Actress Scarlett Johansson visited a military camp in Kuwait, making blogger Mark to ask: “How does one go about getting access to US camps in Kuwait?”
Sudan: Potassium bromide and witchcraft
Andrew Heavens writes about Potassium bromide and witchcraft in Sudan: “Only in Sudan. Sudanese bakery owner fined for using witchcraft in court”
China: Flowers in the Press Conference
Imagethief notices the flower addiction in Chinese Press Conference.
Serbia: “Endorsed by… Bill Gates?”
Belgrade 2.0 writes about a Serbian “presidential candidate using Windows desktop wallpaper in his official campaign as well as something at the end of the video which reminds pretty much of some Windows sound.”
China: T-shirt with Chinese Character
Alpar shows a t-shirt with Chinese characteristic, with slogans and pictures of eight prides and eight shames, harmonious society, city management teams’ violence (zh).
Ukraine: Crimean Politicians
Orange Ukraine writes on how Crimean politicians “are asking for testing of Ukrainian language to be conducted in Russian” – or else they wouldn't let the country's PM enter the peninsula.
The Baltics: Missing the Borders 2
Lituanica has more on the story of the missing borders and one poor cleaning lady, who was on her way to work in Kaunas, Lithuania, but fell asleep and found herself in Tartu, Estonia, instead.
Peru: Wendy Sulca, Child Video Sensation
From Peru, 10 year old Wendy Sulca is quickly becoming an internet sensation. Her folkloric videos have viewers discussing children´s rights, what it means to be Peruvian and whether or not children should sing about certain topics.
The Baltics: Missing the Borders
Latvian Abroad notes that the lack of borders in the Schengen Zone can be quite a nuisance: “A woman from rural Lithuania tries to catch a ride to Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania. A miscommunication with the driver leads to … her being dropped off in Tartu, Estonia!”
Pakistan: Mush and Britney
Pakistan Paindabad takes a funny look at Pakistan and Britney Spears.
Belarus, Russia: Minsk-Murmansk Train
The post translated below features a photo of a note pasted on the Minsk-Murmansk train - a note that's supposed to assist passengers in locating cars they've got tickets for, but is instead a great illustration of how easily something mundane may turn into the frustratingly surreal in this part of the world.
