BenettonTalk

Bloggers unite for basic human rights

phoebe — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:55:27 +0000

The month of May marked the first anniversary of Bloggers Unite. This particular year marks the 50th anniversary (1948-2008) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Putting the two together, members of BlogCatalog chose to launch an awareness campaign that would address the plight of the basic human rights. (more…)

Car monogamy

barbara — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:44:15 +0000

Some people live in the same house for their whole lives. Some people have the same husband (!) for their whole lives. And some people keep the same car for their whole lives. (more…)

Africa: a big source for film-making

Tony Totem — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:53:07 +0000

More and more often American and European film makers move to Africa to shoot movies.
According to Gadalla Gubara, an 88-year-old Sudanese film director, Africa has a lot of potential for film stories, though most countries have still not prioritised the industry. (more…)

Too sexy for Xbox Live

safeeyah — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:07:44 +0000

The accusations have been flying after Microsoft banned the use of the gamertag “thegayergamer” on Xbox Live.

The Redmond giant have been accused to be “homophobic”, “a bigot”, “to not allow freedom of speech” and more.
But it’s all cleared up now, as a security manager for the company, Stephen Toulouse, explained on his blog.

(more…)

International day for story tellers

Tony Totem — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:44:15 +0000

Do you like to tell or to listen to stories? Then you can’t miss Listen! - International Day for Sharing Life Stories tomorrow, on May 16th 2008, all around the world.

People will gather in community halls, classrooms, public parks, theaters, auditoriums, as well as websites, email exchanges and virtual environments to hear each other’s stories. (more…)

(Very) Close together

barbara — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:41:53 +0000

I used to work side by side with my boyfriend. For more than one year, our tables were 30 cm apart. And not only we didn’t think it was a problem, but also enjoyed the fact that we were so close. But then I got another job proposal and moved away. And, all of a sudden, we rediscovered how good life was when we meet at the end of the day and have news to share.

Michael Roach and Christie McNally will not be able to find that out. At least, not without breaking their life vowel. (more…)

Fill your car up with… pcs

Giulia — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:30:00 +0000

Illstrated by Priya Khatri

Every time I have to fuel my car I am so embarassed! Not only because fuel is very expensive, not only because the men working at the gas stations are always very excited since they don’t expect to see a girl coming out from the car.
I just cannot believe that in spite of all the technology available today we have not found yet a solution to fuel cars without using polluting materials.

Scientists in Romania and Turkey are seeking ways to remove toxic materials from electronics so these scrap materials can be safely recycled and… junk computers could fuel cars! (more…)

Robo Soup is worth £1m

safeeyah — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:04:17 +0000

And £1 million question is if it can stir or not. This is the monetory value of the grant awarded to British scientists to find out if a robot can safely stir soup in a kitchen.

(more…)

More black than white, and yet so much difference

barbara — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:06:07 +0000

Most Brazilian newspapers today are talking about a study from IPEA (the Research Institute of Applicable Economy, in Brazil) that says that by the end of this year the black population will be bigger than the white one (bare in mind that, according to convention adopted in the country, a black person is anyone who claims to be black or brown, and the black population is the sum of all blacks and mulattos).

Reading that, made me think of an episode that happened back in 1996 to a friend. (more…)

In the beginning God created ET

Giulia — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:34:44 +0000

Illustration by Priya Kathri

It’s always been a problem for me since I was a child.
At school I started to attend the religion class and the science one at the same time.
What a dilemma: “How did it all begin?!”

Since my teachers were all Sisters, every time I asked them to tell me why the two stories were so different, they just answered: “One day you will understand by yourself”.
Then I decided to study philosophy at the university and things got worse, as I realized that the two conceptions, the creationist and the scientific ones were irreconciliable.
Is it still true?

(more…)