Stories from 12 May 2006
Suriname: Emergency SMS
Emergency SMS (short message service) could have helped the situation in Suriname, says Taran Rampersad: “Millions being spent world wide for disaster communication, and nobody wants to go with the cheapest solution that integrates into existing emergency communication and replaces ancient things which, by their nature, are allowing more damage...
Barbados: Kamau Braithwaite
Geoffrey Philp pays tribute to Edward Kamau Braithwaite on the occasion of the Barbadian poet's birthday.
Haiti: Advertising works
Living in Haiti has opened the eyes of T&T & Tribe, a family of US missionaries, to the fact that “advertising works”: “We have not felt any burning desires to go get a bunch of junk that we did not know existed prior to seeing the commercial, the billboard, or...
Haiti: Two thumbs down for Kevin Sites
Alice Backer gives reporter Kevin Sites “two thumbs down” for his Flickr photo journal of Haiti. “The photo journal does what mainstream journalists usually do when they show Haiti: show the very worst and the very worst *only*. Some would argue that the shock created by the pictures helps bring...
Colombia: Introducing Creative Commons
Ariel Vercelli is currently in Colombia garnering support for the adoption of Creative Commons licenses (ES). He recently gave a talk at the Politécnico Grancolombiano about “Creative Commons licenses in Latin America and their potential for collaborative production of content.” Carolina Botero (ES), currently in California, is one of the...
Sri Lanka: Buddhism – Far away from theory
The wide gaps between Buddhism – theory and practice at Sumna.
Venezuela: Denied Human Rights Council Membership
As per usual a post on Oil Wars has inspired an absolute avalanche of comments. The fodder: why wasn't Venezuela elected to the new Human Rights Council when China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan were?
India: Jarawas In Andaman Islands
Fractured Earth on the plight of the Jarawas in the Andaman Islands. “Some of you may be aware of the rapidly deteriorating situation of the Jarawa of the Andaman Islands. We are told that they number around 300. A new epidemic of measles has struck them, with children who were...
India: Podcast with a 72 year old Cabdriver
With 4.5 million mobile phone subscriptions being added everyday, the face of technology in India is diverse. Kamla Bhatt in a podcast with a cabdriver from Delhi. “I met Mr. Sharma, 72 years old, a couple of months ago when I was visiting New Delhi, and he drove me around...
Belarus: WFTU's Support for Lukashenko
TOL's Belarus Blog considers it a good idea to protest the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) leader's support for Lukashenko’s regime. WFTU “boasts of 129 million members in 130 countries.”
Belarus: Author of Denim Theme Faces Prison
Andrei Khrapavitski reports that “the author of the denim color theme for the Belarusian revolution, Mikita Sasim, may end up in prison for six months. The prosecutor demands such a harsh punishment for the defendant’s alleged evasion of the military service. However, Sasim does not see his guilt.”
Pakistan: Marketing Politics To The Infidels
Metroblogging Lahore has a post on how the media reaches out to a certain “infidel” market segment.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Study on Karadzic Poetry
Balkan Ghost of Finding Karadzic quotes from a research paper by Jay Surdukowski, a lawyer, scholar and poet, on “how poetry can be used to prove genocidal intent.”
Ukraine: Persecution of the Baptists
Leo Finkel reports that the Prosecutor General's Office is investigating “the Ukrainian Union of Baptist Churches, the largest Protestant congregation in Ukraine, with more than 2,500 communities and equal in number to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church's parishes.” Allegedly, the Baptists forged documents to privatize a building in the center...
Russia: Putin's Speech
Laurence Jarvik discusses a few points in Vladimir Putin's May 10 speech that have been overlooked by the media. He also comments on the mysterious mention of “Comrade Wolf” and links to Konstantin's explanation on Russian Blog. TaliaXianne of Something In The Way She Moves notes three different translations of...
Pakistan: Three German Women
Shirazi profiles three German women who work on the Thatta Kedona project in Pakistan.
Helping the Homeless in Moscow
LJ user beth4ever accidentally discovered (online) a group of volunteers feeding the homeless in the Moscow subway and at train stations, and decided to join them. Here's her account (RUS), also posted in the ru_homeless LJ community: On the homeless. I found this link and took part in an event...
Thailand: Beer Review
Paul H at 1stopchiangmai.com reviews beers available in Thailand, both local and imports. The post contains practical information for people trying Thai beers for the first time “Chang beer contains 6.4% alcohol, stronger than most other available beers. It is recommendable to drink it the Thai way, with some ice,...
Southern Africa Blogosphere
"Commentary South Africa" report on the opportunity Jacob Zuma failed to take to clear up, "once and for all, the ridiculous notion that showering can ‘purify’ someone of recently-transmitted HIV” [commentary.co.za]. The view is that Zuma is trying to revive his political clout, and must therefore appear unbending. "Commentary" links...
Indonesia: 1998
The blogger at Jakartass remembers the student demonstrations and subsequent events that took place eight years ago in Indonesia.
