May, 2006

Stories from May, 2006

User-built dictionary of English idioms

  31 May 2006

Jamaican Simone Champagnie links to What does That Mean, “a free, user-built dictionary of English idioms, buzzwords, and catch phrases from around the world”. The site includes entries from North America, the British Commonwealth, Italy, Japan and South Korea.

Bermuda: Parliamentary alibis

  31 May 2006

The Limey cites several examples of equivocation on the part of Bermuda's MP's over their failure to debate an important amendment to the Human Rights Act last week, and reports that a rally is being organised to protest the lack of debate among the MPs. Christian Dunleavy reproduces on his...

Caribbean: Lists

  31 May 2006

On his freshly launched blog, Jamaican novelist Marlon James weighs in on the New York Times “Top Twenty-Five American Books”. Barbadian blogger Titilayo singles out a few notables from TIME magazine's “list of “100 men and women whose power, talent or moral example is transforming our world”.

Canada: A legal on illegals

  31 May 2006

Jdid, a Barbadian immigrant living in Toronto, has very mixed feelings about the protests against the deportation of illegals which took place recently in Canada. “I feel badly for someone who built up a life here and then had it cruelly plucked from beneath them but at the same time...

Barbados: Labour party blogging

  31 May 2006

Barbados's incumbent Barbados Labour Party seems to have taken to blogging like a fish to water — at least for now. Four posts in the last four days, on topics such as why the “two major media organizations” in the UK and the USA contacted blog Barbados Free Press for...

Bahamas: Development proposal

  31 May 2006

Residents of a small community in the Bahamas vote against a proposal which would have helped “preserve the character of local communities”. Larry Smith says the proposal's “scope, bureaucratic complexity and level of detail” may be to blame, “and, of course, we should not overlook the ever-present influence of party...

The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs

  31 May 2006

Bolivians have long resigned themselves to the fact that their football national team will also be home watching the upcoming World Cup on television. For the third straight tourney, Bolivia has failed to qualify for the world’s most important sporting event and have left this tiny nation saying, “maybe in...

Kyrgyzstan: The Meeting Happened!

Edil Baisalov, a Kyrgyz opposition leader, takes issue with negative coverage of last weekend's protest in Bishkek (Russian) that characterized the event as a failure that took the wind out of the opposition's sails. In his opinion, that the protest took place makes it a success.

Sri Lanka: The conflict and the death of a loved one

  31 May 2006

The death of a friend's father is a shocking reminder of the fragility of life in Sri Lanka for Indi. “The people dying aren’t youthful revolutionaries or radicals, these are just normal people. They have families and responsibilities and hundreds of people that depend on them in countless ways.” An...

Sri Lanka, India: The other side of LTTE

  31 May 2006

Kiruba on the other side of LTTE – “Back then, they were the good guys. The village folks were sympathetic towards their struggle and generally gave them good support. They were mainly looking for shelter and food and there was never a shortage of that in the village.”

Pakistan: Dipalpur and history

  31 May 2006

Shirazi on a town that has held the fort and been a passage of sorts. “Dipalpur is famous in the history as an outpost that has played a significant part in the defence of Delhi kingdom against Mongol invasions in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.”

Nepal: Hinduism and the Throne

  31 May 2006

Samudaya.org comments on the close relationship of the throne and Hinduism. “The Shah Kings in Nepal have exploited Hinduism for more than 236 years. Since the majority of the population is Hindu, as a god of 80% of the citizens, the throne was unchallengeable.”

China: Don't learn Chinese for business opps, learn it for this book

  31 May 2006

For unavoidable reasons known to all, or at least presumed, Lifeweek editor Wang Xiaofeng, one of China's most entertaining bloggers—known to many for a hoax [#026] pulled in March this year which brought many bloggers’ scorn—mysteriously killed off his widely-read Massage Milk (also known as Wears Three Watches) in early...

Nepal: Writing on the wall

  31 May 2006

Blogdai has some serious words of advice. “Get rid of these old reprobate politicians and sweep aside your romanticizing, stone-throwing children, Nepal, and let's get busy with saving the country before these fools plunge us into civil war.”

China: Down with reactionary blogger

  31 May 2006

This year is the 40th anniversary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Ah Q weekly used an old propaganda poster from Cultural Revolution to make sarcastic remarks on the recent “management” of blogsphere. The original poster depicts a worker using Mao's tiny red book to hit the reactionary class. The new...