Stories from Quick Reads from May, 2014
BookCrossing in Latin America
Silvana Aquino writes [es] on Infotecarios about BookCrossing, BC, the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise. BC has become a an increasingly popular phenomenon, as right now there are two millions of registered users, known...
Cuesta de Miranda, Argentina
Laura Schneider shares [es] on Viajes y Relatos her visit to Cuesta de Miranda [Miranda Slope; es] in La Rioja, province of Argentina. The word “slope” already makes me think of cliffs and corniches, so without a doubt I tried the road. The worst case scenario was me coming back....
Learning How to Sing
Do you think it's impossible to sing if you don't have a good voice from birth? Carlos Campaña on Vox Technologies thinks [es] the opposite: It's possible to learn how to sing without having a good voice, as the concept of “having a good voice” lacks sense when we understand...
Are Colombian Librarians Updated, Technologically Speaking?
Jaider Ochoa-Gutiérrez wonders [es] on Infotecarios if ordinary librarians are updated on technological issues that influence their profession, such as content curation, big data, labs among others, and answers from his own experience: I must confess that, to me (and after speaking with some colleagues), the issue is still vague;...
Spain: If European Election Would Have Been Legislative…
On the blog Recuerdos de Pandora, Milhaud carries out [es] a maths exercise and takes the results of European election in Spain to a legislative election, and the analyses that data with some interesting results: Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, or PSOE, loses seats, but the People's Party, or PP, ends...
Twitter Effects in Thinking
Carles López Cerezuela believes Twitter produces some kind of “collateral damage” in human thinking, and on his blog KRLS he relates [es] some of those effects considering the good and bad parts of each one. Besides the already widely pointed out by several analysts, these are some of the mentioned...
Comments on the Results of European Election
Martín Guevara writes [es] on his self named blog about the results in Spain of the European Parliament election that ended on Sunday, May 25. Martín is surprised with the new victory of People's Party: Well, well, People's Party wins again ,even after Arias Cañete defined women as an inferior...
Disempowerment for Collective Growth
On Mi pensadero there is a review of the Seminar about Participation, Self Management and Disempowerment #ikaskide1314. About disempowerment, the website comments [es]: Disempowerment is leaving power that incites a collective construction. From simple to complex and from complex to simple. It's not a show, it's not a place where...
The Legalisation of Political Repression in Ethiopia
Beza Tesfaye describes how the Ethiopian government legalises political repression in the country: It has been one month since the latest round of repression against government critics in Ethiopia began. Last weekend, the Zone9 bloggers and three journalists who were arrested in late April appeared in court. To date, very...
When Maya Angelou Lived in Egypt and Ghana
Sean Jacobs writes about American author and poet Maya Angelou, who died at age 86 yesterday May 28, 2014: In 1961, Maya Angelou, already a civil rights worker, and her then partner Vusumzi Make, an exiled activist from South Africa (he was a leading Pan Africanist Congress member), moved to...
We Have to be Prepared for Children's Questions
On Mamacitas, there are reflections [es] about the experience mothers have when it comes to sex questions from their children: Comprehensive sex education can't start at 15 years old, it's too late by then. It's a contradiction that we want to protect our children from every danger and that we...
Atletico Madrid Football Club Campaign
Américo Alvarado wrote on Barataria about the campaign by Atletico Madrid Football Club: Sometimes, we witness real life stories, worthy of the seventh art. And right now we are witnessing one of those stories, somehow we are living it in the thrilling world of football. Heroic and inspiring are just...
Prison Literature
From a very young age he had a very big urge and devoted himself to well known works and trades such as becoming friends with what he didn't own, but he was also very clever, smart and extremely aggressive, but with highly defined principles towards shyness and respect for chlldren...
Reading “I am Malala”
On Books’ Whisper, there is a review [es] of the book “I am Malala” by Malala Yousafzai where they claim everybody should read her story. The post reviewed here was part of the first #LunesDeBlogsGV [Monday of blogs on GV] on May 5, 2014, submitted by Cati Restrepo.
Dominican Republic and Open Government
[All links direct to pages in Spanish.] After a recent trip, Spanish Alberto Ortíz de Zárate writes [es] on Administraciones en Red about Open Government in Dominican Republic: In Dominican Republic, the Ministry of the Presidence has created the General Direction of Ethics and Government Integrity (DIGEIG by its Spanish...
Dragons and Fears
Miguel Carrillo wrote [es] on Evolución Creativa about fears, and he uses a tale from a land named “Confortland”, and concludes with this reflection: Fears don't define us, how we face them do. We hire our dragons to protect us, they aren't good nor bad, they just are. The only...
“How are We Malagasy Supposed to Provide School Supplies and Medications for our Children ?”
Malagasy blogger Tojo Fehizoro posted a spreadsheet that summarized the minimum cost of basic supplies for a Malagasy family of 4 with 2 children, 10 and 7 years old respectively. The spreadsheet lists the cost and description of each item [mg] and the combined salary of both parents: Monthly Income Monthly...
China's Censors Become Busier Before Tiananmen Anniversary
Index on censorship magazine details China's yearly Tiananmen anniversary crackdown: slower internet, blocked search terms, more military personnel in public and the arrest of high profile individuals. Author Francine Stone from Index thinks “this year’s crackdown appears particularly thorough, either a reaction to dissent being higher than usual or a perception...
A Prison Break Story with Chinese Character
Two peasants from Hunan pretended to be UN peacekeeping officers in order to rescue their friend from jail. It is a failed attempt but full of dark humor. Off Beat China translated the news story.
Podcast: History of the Internet in China
Sinaca Podcast discusses how the Internet has grown and changed China with three guests who have experienced the worst and the best of the Chinese Internet: Duncan Clark from BDA China, Gady Epstein from The Economist, and Bill Bishop, the author of the Sinocism newsletter.
“An Island Luminous” Makes Haiti Open Access
There's an exciting new free-access website on Haiti, which pairs rare books, manuscripts, newspapers and archival photos with intelligent commentary.
