Stories from 23 August 2007
Guyana: Georgetown is flooded
“This is the Demerara Cricket Club ground behind that wall – an enclosed wading pool with the slightest rain fall..it must now be a veritable lake,” writes Flickr user Chennette, a Trinidadian living in Guyana, in the caption to the image above: I woke up this morning to find water...
Russia: “Mama, We're In Hell!”
A young Russian woman traveling from Helsinki to Moscow found herself in a railway traffic jam caused by the train derailment last week. She was so horrified by the sight of the Russian countryside that she called her mother on her cell phone and told her they were stuck "in hell." The blogger who posted this story has received 469 comments from his readers.
Namibia: Digital tools for development
Gerard writes about LearnLink Project in Namibia: “I will simply start with LearnLink, especially their LearnLink Project: NAMIBIA that saw Ed's Net see the day of light.”
Africa: Leave Africa alone
Communist Socks and Boots lashes out against One Laptop Per Child: “It based on the wrong assumption that kids will take it with them to hunt, or use it in their clay-wall classes. Or that they will need easy translation from English to local languages.”
Tajikistan: Beating the US
One of the most discussed topics on Tajik blogs recently was the loss of the US U-17s to the Tajik team in the Under–17 Football World Cup. This and much more in this week's blogosphere roundup.
Zambia: Donor money for cars and iPods
Most people in Zambia want cars and iPods, writes Positively Zambian, but because of donor money available they set up organizations, which claim to fight poverty.
South Africa: Who will follow Google to South Africa?
Vinny expects more Internet companies to move to South Africa in the near future: “South African Internet usage has grown 120% in the past year, and it won’t be long until you see eBay, Yahoo & the others follow Google & Amazon’s recent foray (Amazon’s Cape Town office built EC2)...
Iraq: The Aging GreenZone
Neurotic Iraq Wife keeps us abreast with developments in the Green Zone, Baghdad.
Ukraine: Platforms of the Main Contenders
Ukrainiana reviews the platforms of the main contenders in the upcoming election: “born-again, gutsy President Yushchenko” and Yulia Tymoshenko's “feminine mystique” – as well as Victor Yanukovych's “self-styled notion of stabilnist, or political stability.”
South Africa: Creepy confession
Crimexposouthafrica writes about Juan Uys, the man who was leading the campaign to turn away tourists: “After months of having denied it, Uys told the Cape Times he had been behind the Crimexposouthafrica.net website that urged tourists not to visit the country until the government acted to curb crime.”
Ukraine: Corn
MoldovAnn is disappointed to discover that the corn people eat in Ukraine is feed corn: “I took one bite and nearly broke a tooth.”
Iraq: Mobile Blogging
Morbid Smile from Iraq has caught up with the mobile blogging bug.
Egypt: Cultureligious Curse
The Big Pharaoh from Egypt describes the outlawed practice of female circumcision as a ‘cultureligious curse.’
Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko
Foreign Notes posts updates on Yulia Tymoshenko's pre-election moves – here, here, and here.
Bahrain: Facebook Trouble
Bahraini Rants points to Facebook problems in this post.
Russia: Communist Youth League and Just Russia
Sean's Russia Blog writes about the current political preferences of Russia's Communist Youth League.
Algeria: Chicken Differences
Algerian Chef Zadi tears apart a chicken recipe and provides an alternative here.
Former Soviet Union: A 1945 Book
Scraps of Moscow feels “sort of funny using new media to post photos of old media” and writes about a 1945 book on the still-friendly Allies – or, the “soon-to-be Cold-War foes.”
Malawi: Moving on Despite the Politics of Section 65
The phenomenal story of 19 year-old Malawian blogger William Kamkwamba continues to attract attention from around the globe. William began making headlines after his appearance at the TEDGlobal 2007 conference in Tanzania, in June, where he talked about how he built a windmill using locally available resources in a remote part of Malawi where the easiest means of energy is fuel, wood, kerosene and candlelight.
Russia: Baseball
The Accidental Russophile writes about baseball in Russia: “Let's not pretend that baseball (or even it's ancient cousin, lapta) is very popular in Russia. It isn't.”
Syria: Journalists Arrested in Occupied Golan
“Two Syrian journalists have been arrested by Israeli Occupation Forces. Ata Farahat and Yousef Shams – correspondents for Al Watan – have been detained on unknown charges. They are Syrians, working on Syrian territory,” Sasa reports.
