Archive for
February 5th, 2007
Stories
Bolivia: A Cement Obelisk and Frozen Water Balloons
Cities and towns were on the mind of a handful of Bolivian bloggers this week. In December of 2006, the city of Cochabamba rolled out the red carpet and played host to a summit for South American presidents. In honor of the occasion, some of the local lawmakers proposed to commemorate the gathering by constructing a giant obelisk somewhere in the city’s center. Some of them also theorized that this would be a boom to local tourism in spite of its estimated Bs. 4,000,000 (approximately $500,000 USD) price tag.
Fadrique Iglesias Mendizábal finds the idea absurd. In his blog El Clavo en el Zapato [ES] (the Nail in the Shoe), he said the proposal does not quite add up.
¿Alguien de verdad en su sano juicio o con un poquito de sentido común se cree que en un país alucinante para el turismo, con lugares alrededor como Samaipata, Chiquitos, Tiwanaku, La Paz, Coroico, Toro Toro, Copacabana, el Salar, Sucre, Potosí, Noel Kempf, etc, etc, etc, un paseante, por más engañado que esté, va a modificar su hoja de ruta para ver un trozo de cemento, so pretexto de ser el más grande se Sudamérca?.
Could someone with a sane mind and a little bit of common sense actually believes that in a country with such impressive tourism spots such as Samaipata, Chiquitos, Tiwanaku, La Paz, Coroico, Toro Toro, Copacabana, the Salar (de Uyuni), Sucre, Potosí, Noel Kempf, etc., etc., etc., think that a traveler, no matter how misled he might be, would change his route to see a cement tower, whose sole pretext is that it is the largest in South America?
Much ado in Zimbabwe
There was much ado in Zimbabwe over the last week. Much ado about nothing, that is. The biggest development in the beleagured nation's news was Gideon Gono, the controversial governor of Zimbabwe's central bank delivered a much anticipated monetary statement last week. Sadly, like everything else in the country, it was the incriminating rumours swirling around the governor that were the main fixture early last week when Gono delivered the statement. Gono, who has long been accused of meddling in non-monetary matters, is now stands accused of prying into print media, and targeting indigenous bankers while building and protecting his questionable legacy.
A clearly unimpressed Zimpundit surmized the policy statement thus:
Here’s what Gono did, or didin’t do in his policy. Lending rates; stagnant at 500%. Exchange rate; shunted at long outdated paltry rates, and nothing else. Correct me if I’m wrong, but last time checked the sum of nothing is, well, nothing. If anything, this last statement was notable because it was Gono’s thinly disguised concession to Zimbabwe free (sometimes called black) market.What’s maddening about this is that common Zimbabweans already took fifty punches in their long famished stomachs as prices rocketed in anticipation of Gono’s nil statement. Zimbabwe has a jittery economy which overcorrects for any anticipated shocks. So while Gono, continues to protect his glass house legacy, millions are enduring untold suffering in Zimbabwe. On the streets, where Gono better not go, prices are up, hopelessness is rampant, and there are no jobs.
Arabisc: Kuwaiti Looking for an Easy A
We may have all met them..at least those of us who have managed to secure straight As at school and university. While some us may shun them from the beginning, Kuwaiti blogger Jandeef couldn't shake this climber off his back that easily.
He gives us a hilarious transcript of a series of conversations he has had with a fellow Kuwaiti, who has come to study at the same university he in enrolled in, in the US. Whether the conversation is real or imaginary is irrelevant, but its portrayal of how some lazy students are after an easy A rings true to many of us who have come across such specimens in our lives.
Here's the dialogue, which started with this telephone conversation:
والله مستواها زين وسمعتها ممتازة بأمريكا وكل الشركات الكبيرة توظف خريجينها.
- يعني صعبة؟
هممم والله مو صعبة بس كرف .. يعني يبيلها مجابل.
- انزين انا ماني عارف سستم المواد هني والستدي بلان .. ودي لو تساعدني فيه الله يخليك.
حاضر .. نتلاقى باكر بالجامعة واشرح لك كل شي ان شاء الله.
- To tell you the truth, it has an exceptional reputation and all its graduates get jobs with leading companies.
- Is it difficult?
- Hmmm..It isn't difficult but you will have to put in a lot of work.
- Fine, I don't know what the system is and how to do a study plan. Do you mind helping me?
- I am ready. Let's meet at the university tomorrow, and I will explain to you everything.
Arabisc: Morocco's Blind Declare War
In Morocco, a group of blind people are planning to stage a protest with a difference.
Blogger Dar Lakbira says that they have decided to wear shrouds when they march on February 7 to demand more rights and support from social services to draw attention to their plight, which includes not being able to secure jobs - despite a clear law which says that the disabled in Morocco should be given a priority in securing a job.
Dar Lakbira, which means the Big House in Arabic, doesn't hide his sympathy towards this sector of society, which he says suffer as much as other down-trodden sectors in his country.
Hindi Blogoshere: From freedom of speech to blog theft!
Time again for yet another update on the happenings of the Hindi Blogosphere. And this time we will start with something different, outer space for example. Ashish tells us about smaller sons of Sun, the asteroids & the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Ashish elaborates further on the origin on these asteroids by giving the known theories that many have given, the stronger of them suggesting that perhaps these asteriods are the remains of an ancient planet between Mars and Jupiter which somehow disintegrated!! He also tells us about how stars are born out of a Nebula and about the Neutron Stars and Pulars.
But the theories don't only exist about creation and destruction of heavenly bodies, they very much exist for those living on this planet Earth and one of them is how Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose died, with his death still a mystery, Sanjay remembers the great patriot and contemplates on how and when Netaji actually died. Lokmanch also puts forth some new facts regarding Netaji, giving more room to existing and new theories.
On the other hand, there's no better outlet for theories than books, so Jitu shows us the new way of (more…)
Libyan Bloggers in a Week
The past week has been quite interesting as Libyan bloggers discussed the relative merits of a parallel universal, virtual reality or a chance at a Second Life which you could enter anytime you want if you were bored with your current one.
This brings the movies Vanilla Sky or even the Matrix to my mind.
Highlander who started the conversation says:
” Articles are increasingly cropping out about Second Life and that means I can no longer keep silent about this phenomenon […] especially if the Swedish Embassy is opening an office now ! While the radical French politician Le Pen ideology has recently been greeted with protests and even violent demonstrations here […]
Politics and activism ? this is serious stuff so if you were thinking that this place is teaming with cybersex and all sorts of ‘fun' then think again. The ‘greenies' are here as well , so if you care for the environment and global warming then why don't you log on to ‘climate island' and check what solutions they can offer. […] WOW, this means Second Life is NOT a fantasy world as we thought but a REAL one with all the attribute of this first life somewhere else. Online !”
Links for Mon, 2007-02
Indonesia Matters points to a new book on Anti-Chinese violence that took place during the mid to late nineties in Indonesia.
Dili-gence comments on the Reporters Without Borders findings on press freedoms in East Timor and explains why he has no sympathy for the journalists who were in Timor from May to July last year.
Sabahan uses the blog ranking service at Technorati.com and comes up with a list of top 50 influential Malaysian blogs.
Togolese origined France-based blogger Kangni Alem comments on a recent series of workshops on collective knowledge and practices in Africa organized by the Africa Centre in Cape Town, South Africa (Fr): “The Africa Centre is a project which foretells the future hegemony of South Africa on the rest of the continent. A project entirely funded from within while elsewhere funders would have been international. … In the rest of Africa the selfishness of the rich forbids such practices, correct me if I'm wrong!”
Belizean - The Belize News Blog publishes an article by Godfrey Smith analysing the benefits for Belize of establishing diplomatic ties with China rather than Taiwan.
Robert Miller at Haiti Innovation sings the praises of Haiti's famous Barbancourt rum, and quotes from an article which notes the role of Barbancourt in voodoo rituals.
Geoffrey Philp marks the birthday of Jamaican novelist John Hearne: “He had to tread carefully, I suspect, as a white Jamaican who did not sound Jamaican, in a society that was changing rapidly and in which the privileges, which a generation before a person in his situation would have taken for granted, were disappearing.“
In spite of the fact that five Jamaican policeman have been killed in as many weeks, bassChocolate finds it hard to empathise.
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