Stories from 5 November 2013
Melbourne Cup Brings Mixed Emotions
Melbourne Cup has been a day of mixed emotions. It has been a triumph for trainer Gai Waterhouse who became the first woman to train the winner of the race.
Palestinian Pick-Up Lines
Humor, especially dark humor, is a culturally acquired taste – especially in a war zone. The hashtag #PalestinianPickUpLines has recently been trending on Twitter, garnering tens of additions in the past few days.
Complaint in Blogpost Goes Viral Prompting Reply From Service Provider
Jay Harish Shah, an Indian passenger who travelled on Air France and had an unforgettable experience, did not stop at filing complaint with the airlines. He created a blog titled One Night In Paris sharing his plights which went viral prompting the airline to reply quickly. He shares his subsequent...
‘A Country is More Than a Territory': Chileans Demand Vote From Abroad
Chileans abroad will not be able to vote on November 17, but they can participate in a symbolic and electronic election to push for exercising their right to vote.
Thoughts on Bangladesh Election 2014
Habib Siddiqui weighs in on the recent political stalemate in Bangladesh, which is making the road to Bangladesh Election 2014 difficult. He comments: If the political leaders can’t tolerate each other as fellow human beings, politics is a wrong profession for them in a democracy.
Book Highlights Women's Plight to Find the Disappeared in Chile's Desert
We dug in the desert and sometimes came across strange bones. We were so frightened during those years that we would bury them again. With this quote Ramona Wadi starts her review of the book titled “Flowers in the desert – the search for Chile’s disappeared”, by author Paula Allen....
Remembering the 1746 Earthquake in Lima
On October 28, 1746, Lima was shaken by one of the strongest earthquakes in its history. Here are several testimonies from that time period recovered by historians and Peruvian bloggers.
Painting an Entire Favela in Rio de Janeiro
The dream of painting an entire favela in Rio de Janeiro is closer to become real now that the crowdfunding campaign launched by two Dutch artists in September has come to an end with over 100,000 US dollars raised for paint and painters. When Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn started the...
Teaser of Collaboration Between Calle 13 and Wikileaks’ Julian Assange
The expected single titled “Multi_Viral,” a collaboration between Puerto Rican hip hop group Calle 13 and Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, will be released next November 13, 2013 (yes, all 13s). Last June, René Pérez, the group's frontman, visited Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Using the hashtag #JulianAssangeCalle13 they asked...
Trinidad & Tobago: Opposition Wins Again; Government Still Optimistic
Hot off their win in the Local Government Elections, the opposition People's National Movement has won the St. Joseph by-election - yet, the government is forging ahead with hope.
Trinidad & Tobago: Creative Collaboration & Devious Download
The Caribbean Review of Books blogs about an exciting new project, Douen Islands, whose “first manifestation” is an e-book of eleven poems (one of which boasts a video adaptation) and brief Twitter texts. Bonus: Click on the downloadable link in the post.
NaBloPoMo, Caribbean Style!
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has spawned NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), which, in turn, is getting quite a few Caribbean netizens blogging – here, here and here.
‘Women Should Be Submissive’, and Other Google Autocomplete Suggestions
Following UN Women's lead, Global Voices conducted its own experiments with Google's Autocomplete feature. The investigation revealed popular attitudes about women’s roles, sexuality, appearance and relationships with men.
The Caribbean's Financial Culture
Abeng News magazine reports that the Caribbean has some of the lowest savings rates in the world.
PHOTOS: Snapshots of Life in a Manila Urban Poor Community
Despite the reported progress in the Philippines, Manila is still home to hundreds of thousands of informal settlers.