I wanna be like Osama
At the end, what save us all from a swamp of sadness is the capacity to be self-ironic and laugh about the tragedies we experience every day. The biggest the tragedy, the funniest the laugh: this must be the rule. Following it, may raise his or her hand that guy who has never made any irony out of September the 11th, Osama Bin Laden, George Bush and the terrorists. This deliberately light and politically incorrect approach towards the conflict between the West and the Islamic world usually inspires fun when held in the private space, occupied by our family, friends and colleagues. But it can start to create diplomatic problems once it becomes public, like in the case of Jihad: The Musical, a show that puts on the scenario a “fictional Afghan poppy farmer” who, for love, finds himself caught between a band of Jihad terrorists and the global media. With “a pink burkha-wearing chorus line touting automatic weapons” that follows the characters vicissitudes.
Filed Under Media & Society
V for Vegetation… and also Victory
Victory Gardens 2007 is a two year pilot project that supports the transition of San Francisco’s backyards, front yards, window boxes, rooftops and unused land into food production areas.
If you live in the area and would like to become a part of the project, contact them here. They will their way to you via tricycles, hand you a starter kit (which includes soil, plants, tools and a drip system) then they’ll teach you how to get everything set up so you can go and dig and plant away.
The project got its name from the World War I and World War II eras when gardens were planted both at private residences and on public land to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. These were called “war gardens” or Victory Gardens.
Filed Under Environment, History & traditions
Pigeons on the pill
If we had to agree on an animal as a world icon, it will probably be a pigeon. Feral pigeons, also called city doves or city pigeons, have become abundant all over the world (from small villages to colossal metropolis) comfortably accommodated in our window ledges, rooftops, monuments and bridges; after all, our cities offer, besides a safe free housing, plenty of food and water.
These peaceful and resilient creatures have made contributions of considerable importance to humanity, especially in times of war by carrying many vital messages from one place to another.
However, they are often considered a pest, invasive species or even vermin, owing to concerns that they spread disease, damage property, cause pollution and drive out other bird species. In the last few decades, people have begun to poison them when their numbers become too large, but this has proven to be fairly ineffective since pigeons can breed very quickly (up to six times a year).
Hollywood residents believe they’ve found a humane way to reduce their pigeon population and the messes the birds make: the pill.
Filed Under Environment, Modern Life, Research, World Health
The Red Light Despatch
Truck drivers, poets, skateboarders, housewives, students: every self-respecting community in this world communicate with his members and with the rest of the people through a piece of paper, no matters if it’s a journal, a newspaper, a magazine or just some toilette paper printed on both sides. Why shouldn’t it be the same, then, for the people who run the world oldest business, the prostitutes? They probably have a lot to exchange, a couple of crazy and tragic stories to tell and the pressing need to share their experience with someone else. In India the “Red Light Despatch” is putting this idea into practice, by collecting confessions, poems and essays from the prostitutes working in the brothels of Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi and some smaller cities. The reporters are often themselves sex workers – 2 million women in the whole country – or their relatives and work together with two professional journalists and some health workers to get the magazine published once every month in 1.000 copies, in Hindi and English. The publication, without photos, is distributed for free among prostitutes and residents of red light districts.
Read the original article on the Reuters
Filed Under Media & Society
Sex sells global warming
A long time ago, imaginative and ambitious people had the idea that getting to the Moon was possible. One memorial day, man was stepping on this beautiful, intriguing natural satellite and at the same time, proving that human been is able to get any goal and to promote its evolution. The question is, how is it possible that after all those thousands of years of our existence, we still suffer from poverty, ignorance, lack of tolerance? Yes, we can achieve individual aspirations, but are this issues a proof of a natural human irresponsibility towards the others? It would only cost $10bn (£5bn) a year to provide 1.1 billion people with clean drinking water, yet we currently spend $38bn (£19bn) on pet food and $1,200bn (£600bn) on the world’s military.
Turn around and observe all forms of advertising that are out there. Do you recognize the pattern? Do you see the consumption tactic? Ever since marketing experts observed our animal weakness, they discovered the best and easier technique to sell: sex. Instincts of sexual competition, mixed with our faculty to show off (which make it hard for us to share wealth, status and power) are probably the explanation of our weakness towards consumption as well as our common failure as a selfish race.
Filed Under Environment, History & traditions, Media & Society, Modern Life, World Health
Shanghai’s new office attire
Yes, this is the summer and yes the world is getting warmer. Put those two facts together and you’ve got the basis of discomfort. While we, the casual, so gracefully stroll about in our Speedos and bikini’s, how’s a poor accountant, lawyer, or secretary supposed to cope in these 40 degrees Celsius days? They got it right in the governmental offices of Chile and now they’re getting it right in a smaller space…32 Shanghai office buildings. There, workers are being told to lose the stuffy suits and sport a fresh and spiffy T-shirt and shorts ensemble in an effort to help themselves and the environment. Air conditioners will be turned down this Friday, in what the municipal government is calling “Cool dress day.”
Energy demand has increased significantly as China’s economy has been growing, which it’s done and continues to do at an alarming rate. As a result there are frequent power outages in the country because of lagging power capacity. Something tells me China is going to have to expand past 32 buildings on one day to really make a difference but how can I say that when I’m enjoying my 15 degree work environment so thoroughly?
Filed Under Environment, Modern Life
Is obesity contagious?
Colds and flu are contagious sicknesses. Emotions, feelings and attitudes can also have contagious reactions. But what will you say if I tell you that having a friend, sibling or spouse who is overweight raises your risk of being obese too?
That is what researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of California said, looking at data collected over 32 years of study. Their analysis suggested that the links could not be solely attributed to similarities in lifestyle and environment, but that what appears to be happening is that person becoming obese most likely causes a change of norms about what counts as an appropriate body size. “People come to think that it is OK to be bigger since those around them are bigger, and this sensibility spreads,” suggesting that social factors were even more important than physical ones in obesity.
So, if we get overweigh as a result of a causal relationship with the obese people around us, does that mean that in fact, we, as a community, are losing our individuality and our ability to think and act by ourselves by following other’s patterns and adopting them, even when we know that they will negatively affect us somehow? And if obesity is contagious, how is that positive reactions, such as sharing the enthusiasm to lose weight, are not?
Researches also believe that this study may amplify other factors and help account for the dramatic increase in obesity across the US population.
Filed Under Modern Life, Research, World Health