Stories about Humor from August, 2009
Israel: For the Love of Food
With the Jewish High Holidays approaching, food seems to be on everyone's minds. The Jewish blogosphere is ripe with sumptuous tidbits and contemplations about the cultural implications of food, food and identity, and the history and culture of our favorite culinary delights.
Ghana: A gun made in Ghana
Nana posts a photo of a Ghanaian comedian holding KK 47, a gun made in Ghana.
Israel: When Translations Go Wrong
Literal translations aren't always your best bet when moving between Hebrew and English, explains How to Be Israeli. She writes that the movie title “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” which is Biblical in tone in the native English, is translated in Hebrew as “Achi, Efo Atah?” which sounds a lot...
Arab World: Welcoming Ramadan
Ramadan is an important month in the Muslim calendar. Bloggers writing in Arabic celebrate the month, already in its first week, in this post, where we share some of the artistic creations used to greet their readers on the month.
Trinidad & Tobago: Productivity
“So we need to produce more corn curls, Crix and painted stones (aka GDP) per man per hour”: This Beach Called Life takes a tongue-in-cheek look at productivity in Trinidad and Tobago.
Kenyan cartoonists find a home in the blogosphere
The older Kenyan generations vividly remember cartoon characters like Bogi Benda, Juha Kalulu and many others who premiered in newspapers. But times are changing and the internet is changing almost everything including the medium that cartoonists are using to share their thoughts.
Caribbean: “Gold Rush” in Berlin
If there was doubt in anyone's mind that Jamaica can lay claim to having the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt's 19:19 win in the 200m final must have removed any skepticism. Once again, regional bloggers celebrate with their Jamaican counterparts.
Ukraine: In Chinese, Yanukovych is Yushchenko?
Evgeny Morozov of Foreign Policy's Net.Effect writes: “It turns out that when you use Google Translate to translate (from Chinese to Russian) the expression “Vote for Yanukovych” (Yanukovych was Kremlin's favorite candidate), Google gives you “Vote for Yushenko” in the translated version. Global conspiracy orchestrated by Google!”
Trinidad & Tobago, U.S.V.I.: Hurricane Bill
Caribbean bloggers on Hurricane Bill – here, here and here.
Japan: Poop Obsession
Mari introduces a poop animation called “Unko-san” (meaning Miss Poop) to show the poop obsession culture in Japan.
Bahrain: To Cut A Long Story Short…
In Bahrain, White Girl, Arab World came across some old objects at a friend's house – and soon discovered the use of one particular knife.
China: Dangers Of Uploading Your Photo Onto The Internet
Fauna from ChinaSMACK picked up a post from NewSC and showed how one's photo protrait was transformed by other netizens.
Global Voices Unofficial Mascot Loses Left Eye
An unofficial mascot of Global Voices bloggers known as “GV Ferret” lost his left eye in a fight with a cat on Wednesday night in Boston.
Trinidad & Tobago: Raisin in the Sun
Diligently studying the contents of his breakfast cereal, Trinidadian B.C.Pires notices some similarities between raisin bran and politicians: “It strikes me we could be talking about governments as easily as cereals here.”
Croatia: Lobsters and a T-Shirt
Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about “an entire aquarium of lobsters” liberated by a Slovenian tourist in Croatia, and about a t-shirt that got a Croatian cameraman Ivan Cvirn fired from RTL Croatia.
Slovenia, Croatia: Coverage of the Border Dispute
Sleeping With Pengovsky writes that “Slovene-Croatian border dispute is giving ample material to make fun out of, but there are funny jokes and then there are just sheer egotistic stupidities.”
Bhutan: Cows As Garbage Collectors
Penstar posts pictures of the new volunteers, who are helping to dispose off the garbage from some overflowing dustbins of the Bhutanese capital.
Egypt: The Escort and The Doctor
Upon hearing about Cairo's Escort Services, Dr. Mohamed Aly wrote a short post comparing between his status and the escort's – he lost!
China: Prostitutes more trustworthy than government officials
A startling result of an online survey of more than 3,376 people published by Insight China magazine reveals that China's prostitutes are considered by some to be more trustworthy than its politicians, teachers and scientists! The survey found that 7.9% of the respondents considered sex workers trustworthy, placing them third...
Trinidad & Tobago: Movie-Making
“Trinidad and Tobago has many things going for it as an ideal location for making movies apart from rebates and government bureaucracy”: This Beach Called Life lists the twin island republic's unique selling points – and a few of the movies that were made there.