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March 24th, 2009
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Colombia: Are Politicians Making the Most Out of Twitter?
After the success of current US President Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential elections, partially prompted by his campaign's use of internet tools in order to reach voters, politicians (and those in charge of public relations within their campaigns) around the world wish to emulate it. One month ago, GVO's Veronica Khokhlova wrote about how the President of Ukraine and other prominent politicians started to use the Twitter microblogging service. Well, a few weeks later, after a lot [es] of coverage [es] in the Colombian mainstream media about Twitter, at least two presidential pre-candidates for the 2010 election have opened their accounts.
Even though there was an account for current Colombian president Álvaro Uribe @alvarouribe [es] (which clearly stated it was a “humouristic microblog” and not an “official” account), after journalist Andrés Cavelier published an article [es] about Twitter at the economical daily Portafolio, President Uribe's press secretary asked Twitter administrators to delete that account. Of course, after initial [es] skepticism [es] from Colombian twitterers, it seems both @German_Vargas [es] and @rafaelpardo [es]'s accounts are legitimate [es]. These accounts belong to Germán Vargas Lleras (47, from centre-right Radical Change party) and Rafael Pardo Rueda [es] (55, from Colombian Liberal Party).
Politicians join the Colombian ‘Twittosphere’
Here are some of the first reactions when Mr. Vargas Lleras (or people inside his campaign) launched his Twitter account (@mrmuller seems to be among the first ones to notice it [es].
Camilo @hyperconectado:
Siguiendo a @German_Vargas, para decirle que me da miedo cuando habla
Mañana @german_vargas descubrirá sus 6 primeros amigos con avatar
Mauricio Duque A. @enmediodelruido:
eso de que @german_vargas ande indicando sus movimientos no debe tener contentos a los de su seguridad. Ahora va para el aeropuerto
Having chicken soup for lunch in Villeta
When reading @German_Vargas tweets, it is easy to notice that he answers the What are you doing? question in a literal way. He (or a campaign staffer) really tweets what he is doing: where he is going, what town or city he is visiting, who is interviewing him, and (what some twitterers best notice) what he eats or drinks.
Some Colombian twitterers have started a “contest” or “bet” to see who will be the first to get a reply from him (some actually try by asking him serious questions, though).
Of course, some twitterers voice their dissatisfaction:
Yo sinceramente creo que @german_vargas es re n00b y no sabe hacer replies
ahora German_Vargas le añade al GPS de su campaña (que no es interesante, insisto) la info gastronómica. ¿y las ideas?
yo creo que es que @German_Vargas no se ha dado cuenta que no solo se escribe sino que también se puede leer. #hayqueleer
Quien escribe el Twitter de @german_vargas es una vieja que le carga los papeles, y como nosotros, no tiene ni put* idea de nada
Days later, @rafaelpardo appeared. Though, as Juglar del Zipa [es] states (see below), at first he was pretty much doing the same “mundane” things that his rival was doing, later he started to ask some technical questions [es] and to voice some of his thoughts, such as this one about the release of two imprisoned FARC guerrillas to become “promoters of peace”:
pienso que la liberacion de los dos de las farc es inexplicable, inconveniente e ilegal. Que hay detras? that is the question
Some twitterers react to Mr Pardo's debut and draw comparisons with his rival (and with Obama):
Alana Farrah @allyfar:
Parece que @rafaelpardo sí se pilló que la cosa es decir qué estás pensando
Mauricio Duque A. @enmediodelruido:
@rafaelpardo pregunta cosas como un ser vivo, no como @german_vargas que parece un robot
Andrés Meza-Escallón @apoloduvalis:
think @German_Vargas and @rafaelpardo are doing lifestreaming (what I'm DOING) instead of the more interesting mindstreaming (what I THINK)
AM Amaya Villarreal @AMAV:
pues sr. asistente de @German_Vargas: lamento que tenga que hacer un trabajo tan rídiculo, emulación de tres [pesos] de lo que hizo Obama.
Using Twitter to Its Full Potential
Juglar del Zipa [es] summarizes and writes about the Colombian e-candidates' arrival to Twitter (some of the ideas written lines above come from this post):
¿Acaso no saben que Twitter puede ser mucho más que responder qué estás haciendo? ¿No saben que por medio de Twitter uno puede establecer relaciones próximas con gente o conocer la textura de las opiniones más allá de las simples encuestas? ¿No saben qué es lo que se ha dado por llamar dospuntocero? ¿Algún día se le medirían a un blips&candidates? ¿Realmente serían capaces de sostener un debate, de dialogar? Claro que no.
Estos candidatos, que de seguro «en la vida real» miran a la gente como si estuvieran treinta pisos por debajo, no querrán untarse de pueblo, a pesar de estar ejerciendo. Mucho menos querrán recibir preguntas de ningún tipo de la gente rara de Internet. Y ni hablar de responderlas. Para nadie es un secreto que la ilusión del contacto es lo que tiene a Uribe donde está.
Don't they know Twitter may be much more than answering ‘what are you doing'? Don't they know that, through Twitter, you can establish close relationships with people or know the texture of opinions beyond those simple polls? Don't they know what's that thing they call “2.0″? Would they someday be brave enough to participate in a ‘blips&candidates'? Would they really able to hold a debate, to dialogue? Of course they don't.
These candidates, who “in real life” look people as if they were 30 floors below for sure, won't be willing to “mix” with the people, despite they're in a public office. Let alone to read any kind of questions from strange Internet people. And even less to answer them. It's not a secret to anyone that the illusion of contact is what has put [President] Uribe where he is now.
There's a really insightful comment [es] by @FabianPrieto to this post:
Pues este lanzamiento de candidaturas via twitter son un abrebocas a la ofensiva 2.0 con las que algun guru-web2.0 debe estar haciendo de las suyas (si el mismisimo) Todos quieren campañas tipo Obama, pero se van por lo barato… no hay ningún estudio preliminar sobre la efectividad de este tipo de comunicación… Ni siquiera creo que sepan a quien le están hablando. Sus mensajes son tan cargados de “vida cotidiana” con la misma personalización de un mensaje de Tigo. Igual sería bueno llegar a que estos candidatos conocieran el tag #yoconfieso a manera de transparencia política.
Well, this candidacies' launch vía twitter is a sneak peek to the 2.0 offensive which some guru-web2.0 (yeah, the very same one) must be indulging his ways with. Everyone wants Obama-like campaigns, but they choose the cheap way… there's no preliminary study on the effectiveness of this kind of communication… I don't even think they know who are they talking to. Their messages are as full of “daily life” as the customization of a Tigo SMS. Anyway, it would be good for this candidates to learn about the #iconfess hashtag, as a political transparency [exercise].
The race to the May 2010 presidential election has just begun. Despite the fact that President Uribe has been ambiguous about his possible run for a third term (which would have to be allowed through a constitutional reform), some candidates —such as Mr Vargas Lleras, who is already touring the country— have started their campaigns. Last week, it was learnt that 38.5% of Colombians (17.1 million people) have internet access and that almost 4 million users access [es] the net through mobile devices, a number which may grow despite the global economic crisis. It would seem there is a “potential” audience for these e-candidates but, so far, they have failed to reach it correctly. Vargas Lleras, Pardo and other candidates have a lot to do and learn if they actually decide to use the internet as a medium to campaign.
Israel: The Language of Taxis
Rasha Helwa, who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel living in Acre (and describes herself as living in Palestine), has written a series of short posts at her blog Zaghroda about her thoughts when taking shared taxis, and on the significance of the language - Arabic or Hebrew - that the driver chooses to use.
In her first post, Rasha wonders:
وليش شوفير التاكسي العربي بحكي مع زميله كمان شوفير تاكسي عربي باللغة العبرية؟
وليش شوفير التاكسي العربي بحط دايمًا موسيقى أو نشرة أخبار بالعبري؟
وليش أنا لما أفوت عَ التاكسي دايمًا بحكي مع الشوفير باللغة العربية؟
وطيب ليش هو بردّ عليّ بالعبري؟وليش شوفير التاكسي اليهودي بحسه دايمًا رايق؟
//
طيب ليش أنا متوقعة إشي تاني يعني؟…
And why does an Arab taxi driver speak to his colleague, also an Arab taxi driver, in Hebrew?
And why do Arab taxi drivers always put on Hebrew music and news?
And why, when I get into a taxi, do I always speak to the driver in Arabic?
And then, why does he answer me in Hebrew?
And why do I feel Jewish taxi drivers are always at ease?
//
And then, why do I ever expect anything else?
In a second post she recounts a specific incident:
ومع شوفير تاكسي عربي.
//
طلعت صبية سمرا بالطريق معنا بالتاكسي، الصبية عكاوية، هيك لاحظت من لهجتها.
أول ما ركبت بالتاكسي، مقدرتش تسكت (شكلها اللي بقلبها عَ راس لسانها!) وسألته بنبرة قوية:”إنتِ ليش حاطط أخبار بالعبراني؟ ومرة بتحطوا أغاني بالعبراني؟ شو قصتكو؟”
//
الشوفير العربي، ضلت أعصابه هادي، وردّ عليها بالردّ المتوقع:”لو إحنا مسافرين من عكا لقرية المكر كُنت بحط أغاني عربي..بس من حيفا لعكا بزبطش!”
الصبية السمرا جاوبته بسرعة:”هاد إسمه ضعف شخصية!”
//
كل واحد بقدر يحط مليون جملة غير اللي قالتها الصبية السمرا، وبتزبط.
وأنا ضحكت بقلبي وقتها
//
A dark-skinned girl got into the taxi with us on the way, a girl from Acre, from what I noticed of her dialect.
When she first got into the taxi, she couldn’t keep quiet (it seemed like what was in her heart was on the tip of her tongue!). And she asked him [the driver] in a strong accent, “Why have you put on the news in Hebrew? And another time you put on Hebrew songs – what’s the deal?”
//
The Arab driver stayed calm, and answered her in the expected manner: “If we were going from Acre to Al Maker village [east of Acre] I would have put on Arabic songs…But that’s no good from Haifa to Acre!”
The dark-skinned girl quickly answered him, “That’s what’s known as weakness of character.”
//
Every person can think of a million lines apart from the one the dark-skinned girl said which would have been good.
As for me, at the time I laughed in my heart.
In her third post Rasha is left wondering:
سافرت من حيفا لعكا، بالتاكسي أكيد.
مقدرتش أعرف بالزبط شو هوية الشوفير.
يمكن لأنه ما حكى مع الرُكاب
يمكن لأنه مصرخش على ولا أي شوفير
ويمكن لأنه كان حاطط موسيقي بدون كلمات.
//
ويمكن لأنه الموسيقى شغلتلي بالي أكتر من أي إشي تاني
I went from Haifa to Acre, by taxi of course.
I couldn’t quite make out the identity of the driver.
Perhaps because he didn’t talk to the passengers.
Perhaps he didn’t shout at me or at any driver.
Perhaps because he put on music that had no words.
//
And perhaps because the music preoccupied my thoughts more than anything else.
China: Names to be remembered
The death toll and identity details of school children victims in the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake last year has been sealed in a black box by Chinese government officials, like a state secret. Last December, Ai Wei-wei, a most respectable intellectual and blogger, decided to compile the names of school children who died in the earthquake with a voluntary working team. Up till now, they have collected 2,735 children's names with their parent's contact details. All the information has been uploaded to bulloger.com, an exile website hosted in overseas server, as the online discussion of this civil initiative has been harmonized in China.
Why are Ai Wei wei and the team of volunteers so determined to collect all these names? Or why does the Chinese government want to hide the figures and names? While there is no explanation from the government, Ai Wei wei tells his part of the story:
三百天前，我去了四川汶川地震灾区，看到的是无尽的伤痛和恐惧。
今天，我们仍然不能够知道在地震中，谁离开我们去了。那些孩子为什么会离开，是怎样离开的。他们在废墟下期待的时间里，心里在想着什么。
我在那次灾难中没有伸出手，我实在感到无力。
他们说，学生的死亡与他们的存在无关。他们说这是必然的，是不可避免的，是经过专家论证的。他们闭口不谈腐败，回避“豆腐渣工程”。掩盖事实，以“维稳”之名，威胁、监禁、迫害要求真相的学生父母，公然的践踏宪法，践踏人的基本权利。
那些在地震中死去的孩子，不是语焉不详的一串数字，不是“维稳”业绩的成果。
那些孩子，他们有父母亲人，有幻想，会欢笑，有一个属于自己的名字。这个名字属于他们，三年、五年，十八，十九年，这是他们可能被记忆的全部，可被唤起的全部。
拒绝遗忘，拒绝谎言。
我们启动了“公民调查”。追忆逝者，关怀生存，承担责任，为了生者的可能的欢乐。寻找每一个孩子的姓名，记住他们。
那些对公民存有不该有的幻想的人，请记住了，我们一天没有离去，这些孩子就不会离去。这是生活理由的一部分，我们不会放弃的。
Today, we still don't know who have left us in the earthquake, why the children have to leave, how they have left us. Or what they were thinking when they were trapped in the ruin.
I had not given much help in the disaster, I felt so weak and helpless then.
They said, the death of school children had nothing to do with their existence. They said this is inevitable and experts backed up the argument. They didn't utter a word on corruption and avoid addressing the issue “bean dregs project” (poorly structured school buildings). They covered up the facts. And under the name of “stability first”, threatened, detained and prosecuted parents who are looking for the truth and for an answer. They tread on the constitution and people's basic human rights.
The children who died in the earthquake, they are not numbers, nor a performance of “stability first” principle.
All these children, they have parent, have their own dreams, laughters and names. The names belong to them, the names will become memory of them, even though the memoru may not last forever - 3 years, 5 years, 18 years, 19 years, the names is a mark that reminds the world about them in the future.
We have to hold on to our memory and reject lies.
We start “citizen investigation” to remember those who passed away, to care about those who still survive. We take up our responsibility to search for the school children's names, so that they can be remembered.
For those who don't believe in citizen's effort, please remember this: the children won't be gone if we continue to hold on. This is part of our lives' raison'd etre and we cannot give that up.
According to Xinhua's report back in December 2008, in the 5.12 earthquake, among the 159 counties, 14,000 schools have been destroyed and 91% of them are public schools. However, officially, the collapse of school buildings is mainly the result of the magnitude of the earthquake, rather than human error in the construction of school buildings.
Whether or not there are human errors in the “bean dregs project” is up to further investigation and debate, however, it won't be easy for Chinese netizens to further discuss the matter as Ai Wei-wei's hard work has been harmonized in Chinese internet. According to Zhang3's blogpost and explanation, on 19 of March, a post titled as “Qing-ming festival is approaching, Let's commemorate the children victim together” was put up in a forum in Tianya. Within 4 days, the post has more than 100 thousand hits and 3000 comments, and the forum planned to organize a live chat with Ai Wei Wei. But all the related posts were deleted in the afternoon of 23 of March. The explanation is:
由於某些大家知道的原因，原定今天的艾未未先生訪談因故取消，特此告知，並向天涯網友致歉！
The interview is now published in bullogger.com in two parts: One and Two. In the interview, Ai explained that he wanted to finish the compilation in the anniversary of Wenchuan earthquake in coming May.
Information concerning Ai Wei wei's list have been circulated via twitters, a number of bloggers and netizens still managed to join in and pass on the discussion. Bai Yu-ji from my1510 gives high respect to Ai's initiation and criticizes the government for burying the dead without proper investigation and explanation:
是的，我们不知道他们为何死，但至少知道他们已经死掉了，而不是失踪。他们曾经是，现在也是我们的弟兄姊妹，亲人儿女，没有一个冷血到透顶的心脏，怎么把他们偷偷抛弃，埋掉不理呢？…
然而，究竟为了一个怎样的理由不肯去寻求、整理、公布这些遇难而死去的悲苦孩子的名单呢？为了国家么？那是怎样的一个国家呢？为了人民么？那又是怎样一群人民呢？那都不可能，我想不出任何的理由。这样荒诞而离奇的事情，为什么会发生。…
Why there is no effort to sort out the poor children victim's name list, why there is no announcement? For the sake of our nation? What kind of nation will do that? For the sake of people? What kind of people want that to happen? I can't think of any reason. How could such absurd and non-sense thing have happened…
Student Elections in Nepal
Last week Nepalese students exercised their democratic rights. Student elections were held at public universities and colleges campus throughout the country. Private institutions do not hold elections. The call to include them in the process has been growing over the years but fearing vapid political interference in college environment, private colleges and universities prefer to stay away from student politics.
The event was marred by violence and accusations of cheating. Tlell describes the annual exercise in a post as:
“These elections, unlike most of the student elections I have seen, are incredibly heated and tumultuous events. They are political statements of youth who through their voting align themselves with national political parties. That’s right, you heard me, ALIGNING themselves with various national Nepali parties. The result is a highly charged, dangerous and fear festering process that looks nothing like a democratic voting process and more appears to resemble violent mob behavior.”
At MySansar, a Nepali language blog, there are pictures of students aligned to Nepal Student Union burning college furniture, clashing with security personnel. They were reportedly expressing their frustration over the poor performance of their group.
Although the annual student elections are held to elect representatives to champion student's interest, there are those question the benefit of the exercise. Divas, a student, says:
“The phrase ‘Free Students Union’ itself is a misnomer, since although they call themselves the Students’ Union, all contesting groups in fact are student wings of the major political parties – hence they work more in the interest of their mother parties than for the academic needs of students.”
He also points towards the growing influence of ethnic politics in the elections:
“The student bodies of an ethnic group Limbu in the eastern mountains, the Limbuwan Students’ Council (LSC) have vandalized the Panchthar Multiple Campus and forced to put off the election until next notice. The Limbu students demand for a proportional election system in their stronghold areas covering nine districts. Even if the elections are held in other campuses, I’m sure that the only basis for choosing the representatives this time would be the cultural & ethnic one. The Madhesi students in Terai would choose Madhesi candidates, Newars in Kathmandu would choose Newar candidates, and so on.”
Jhamak Thapa also expresses his frustration at the attitude of student leaders. He says that instead of aligning themselves with national political parties and their agenda, student unions should focus more and student and education issues.
On the results front, as of Saturday March 21st Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) aligned All Nepal National Free Student Union(ANNFSU) is leading with wins in 93 colleges. Nepali Congress’ student wing Nepal Student Union has won in 61 colleges and Maoist aligned All Nepal National Independent Student Union - Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) is in third place with 55.
Polls were postponed in various colleges-including nation’s major institutions Nepal Law Campus, Padma Kanya Campus, Saraswati Campus because of violence. According to Myrepublica, vote counting at Tribhuvan University Central Campus, Kirtipur, Prithivi Narayan Campus, Pokhara and Ramsworup Ramsagar Multiple Campus, Janakpur has been halted due to dispute among the students.
South Africa: Uproar over visa refusal for Dalai Lama
The South African government has denied the Dalai Lama a visa to attend a Peace Conference that will be held in South Africa. The government decision has sparked an uproar online on Twitter, Facebook and blogs.
The government's stance on this has been:
The Dalai Lama’s presence at the conference would have distracted the world’s attention from South Africa’s hosting of the World Cup and drawn it instead into the fraught relations between the Dalai Lama and China, one of the country’s most important trading partners. Thabo Masebe, a government spokesman, said the Tibetan leader’s presence “would not be in South Africa’s best interests.”
Ironically, by refusing the visa application the spotlight is now focused on exactly what they are trying to avoid. A Google search for the statement above results has over 2000 results, 100's of twitter posts and several facebook groups have been created to protest it.
Here are some views in the blogosphere:
This supine and venal move is so shameful. For some more cheap goods the last vestiges of our credit as a moral country are squandered. Apparently this move was to keep the eyes firmly on the 2010 FIFA prize and not on Tibet. Instead we will have our status as Most Slippery Nation on Human Rights Issues branded into the consciousness of the world. I can only hope that the fickle powers that be decide reconsider.
Nigeria Best forum Blog writes:
South Africa is China’s largest trading partner in Africa, with 2008 trade standing at 100bn rand ($10bn; £7bn).
Dai Bing, an official at the Chinese embassy in Pretoria confirmed to Sapa that Beijing had warned the South African government that allowing the Dalai Lama into the country would harm bilateral relations.
Tony Mcgregor thinks that the South African government “should have simply ignored the Chinese, who are not, let's face it, helping development in Africa out of the kindness of their hearts…”:
What has the denial of the visa to the Dalai Lama done if not exactly that? The rank stupidity of the decision not to allow the Dalai Lama into the country, which he has by the way visited on quite a few occasions before, is breathtaking, and when linked to the human rights issues involved actually quite criminal.
The ANC has really pulled defeat out of the jaws of victory on this issue. If they had simply ignored the Chinese, who are not, let's face it, helping development in Africa out of the kindness of their hearts but out of a cold and rational understanding of economics, the Dalai Lama would have come and gone without making too many ripples and the Chinese government would soon have gotten over their fit of pique and back to the business of exploiting Africa again.
Marung show the link between the ANC, “Zuma Project” and the Communist Party of China:
The ANC`s election fund is estimated at a conservative R500m amount and enables it to hire everything and everybody in its desperate drive to remain in power and keep its president from his day in court.
…
The common denominator is that all who are funding the Zuma project have all sorts of unsavoury backrounds. One such funder is the Communist Party of China with its terrible human rights record.The denial of entry to His Holiness the Dalai Lama to attend a peace conference in South Africa was said to be at the behest of the government of China.
It is all too clear that many issues about the country will be decided by these funders.
Simon Halliday writes:
maybe it suppresses speech, shows South Africa kowtowing to Chinese interests and promotes illiberal politics inconsistent with the South African constitution.
Llewmina compares the government's stance to making a deal with the devil:
Whether told in legend or movie or comic book, the theme remains the same - make a deal with the devil, trade something you think is trivial for some quick-fix material goal. Satan, in whatever guise (and remember his name is “Legion, for we are many”; Mark 5:9) invariably breaks his promise - a demonstration of his irrevocably evil nature to which his is eternally a slave - and the damned soul realises that he or she has given away the most valuable treasure they'll ever own.
That is precisely what the ANC has done with denying the Dalai Lama a visa to visit South Africa.
Tracy Stokes highlights the irony in the decision on South African human rights day while Ismail highlight the irony of it all as well.
It has not been possible to find even a single post in support of this decision. Other Nobel peace prize winners have also threatened a boycott since the announcement.
Brazil: A Private Nature Reserve – Is It Possible?
Every citizen is responsible for the environment. To get this message across, the Brazilian Government is pushing all elements of society to act greener, restricting parameters for pollution and investing in green business. Among these initiatives is the establishment of the new conservation units, where private landowners and companies are allowed to join the National Conservation Units System (SNUC). Moreover, among the types of conservation units, there is the Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN), a natural reserve with a perpetual lease: once an area is given the status of RPPN in the Real Estate Register Office, it can not be downgraded. For an area to get this title however, it has to fall into one of the following categories:
- Have biodiversity importance;
- Have landscape importance;
- Have some characteristic that justifies this procedure (such as having species in danger of extinction or a much-damaged ecological community).
There are nearly a half-million hectares of privately-owned land protected by federal and state laws in Brazil. On the one hand, this initiative restricts the use of the land. No longer are exploitative practices allowed and the areas must be recovered and maintained with private investment. On the other hand, the Government invests in the RPPN program making specific funding accessible to property owners. Although exploitative practices are forbidden, new activities are encouraged, among them leisure trips, scientific projects, cultural and educational activities, and ecotourism. Furthermore, there is a modest tax reduction and land owners have privileged access to rural credit and can apply for financial support from NGO's and environmental funds.
The RPPNs are having a great impact on society. A naturally preserved landscape can help the understanding of green issues, like the importance of a balanced environment. Many bloggers are reporting their experiences watching the growth of this type of reserve, such as Fernanda de Souza Pimentel, from the Pitaquinhos da Fernanda [pt] blog, who describes a visit from her environmentalist father to her school last November:
“Hoje na escola onde eu estudo, a Escola de Educação Básica Nossa Senhora (Angelina, SC), aconteceu a 1ª amostra pedagógica do colégio.
Meu pai foi convidado para palestrar sobre a RPPN Rio das Lontras e o seu trabalho pela causa ambiental. Alunos e professores foram convidados a assistir essa aula na sala temática do mundo animal, ensinando aos alunos o quanto o meio ambiente necessita de cuidados.”
Environmentalist lecturing teachers and students about the importance of a balanced environment.
Since 2002, her family has owned the land in Santa Catarina that became the RPPN Rio das Lontras in 2005. The reserve has its own blog [pt] and a fauna photo album, kept by Fernanda's parents, Chris and Fernando, to document the work they carry out. In their latest post, they describe their work cataloging the bird species found in the area, some of them in danger of extinction. Thanks to their work you can hear them sing. In the blog, they explain how the work is going [pt]:
A simple house in Rio das Lontras
“A singela casinha que alugamos como base para abrigar outra equipe de pesquisadores tem ao fundo uma vista parcial da RPPN Rio das Lontras. … Aqui um aparelho de GPS e um medidor de temperatura e umidade aguardam na janela a hora de ir a campo;… O levantamento visual e auditivo foi o método utilizado em campo para a elaboração da lista de espécies da RPPN Rio das Lontras. Foram registradas 127 espécies na RPPN e em seu entorno imediato.
Photo of a Saw-billed Hermit (Ramphodon naevius), one of the species that have been reported to live at RPPN Rio das Lontras. Photo by Nick Athanas used with permission.
Tiê do Mato (Habia rubica), that also can be found at RPPN Rio das Lontras. Photo by Geiser Trivelato used with permission.
Teacher Thaiza Montine went with her school on a trip to Banana Menina, a reserve dedicated to education and research, as a competition prize. In the post quoted below [pt], she publishes the pictures and describes her excitement:
“Um passeio maravilhoooooso e extremamente produtivo, uma vez que, além da visita ao lugar também fomos agraciados com o Programa “Povos do Cerrado”, e tivemos várias palestras e aulas ministradas no meio da mata, envolvendo Meio Ambiente, Arqueologia, História de Goiás, Biologia e Gastronomia. Uma maravilha, realmente, de premiação!”
Wood Conference Room
The RPPNs are developing fantastic educational activities for the people who live around the reserves. These private initiatives are opening a window on environmental issues, helping students to better understand and visualize the importance of nature. The Brazilian RPPNs — considered unique among international schemes — have proved hat the environment and humankind can live in perfect harmony.
Links for Tue, 2009-03
Vinod Joseph at Desicritics asks “Why aren't Indo-Bangla ties warmer?”
Following last week's controversial referendum in Azerbaijan, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines comments on news that the Council of Europe has warned Baku that it could be expelled from the international body as a result of the conduct of the vote. However, the blog notes, it is unlikely that the Azerbaijani authorities will take heed of the warning.
Blogian says that passengers on local transport in the Armenian capital, Yerevan were recently impressed by the vocal talents of his 6-year-old niece. However, the blog notes, while talent is not enough to succeed in Armenia, money is.
Rajaratarala at Perceptions: musings of a renaissance farmer reports that this year more and more Combine Harvesters have taken over the job of harvesting from the manual labors in rural Sri Lanka.
Itching for Eestimaa writes about kevadväsimus - 'spring fatigue' in Estonian: “It is the yearning for sunlight and all of the earthly pleasures that you know must be right around the corner coupled with the grim knowledge that nature will find a way to delay your satisfaction for as long as possible.”
Israel is the world leader in water technology solutions with 75 per cent of sewage water recycled for agricultural use. Israeli water technologies are exported to more than 100 countries worldwide. Jonathan Shapira of Cleantech Investing in Israel and Jacob Richman of Good News from Israel have the story.
A bombing was thwarted in a mall in Haifa, Israel on Saturday night, ExpatEgghead reported. Israeli news stated that the 40 kilogram car bomb had the power to kill 30,000 people.
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