Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts

NetActive 1 August 2011

Happy August 1st! Can you believe it? There's still time left to do summer-y things! Please take a moment, and enjoy life!

The Weekend edition of the Albany Times Union carried a story about some folks in Schenectady who had their dream of home ownership turned upside down... (there are similar problems for homeowners in the UK)... all this reminds me of the people in Colonie whose home is up for sale which was rebuilt by that "extreme makeover" or whatever the tv show is... you just ain't gonna get somethin' for nothing in this world! Ask Woody Allen!

Geoffrey P has posted HAPPY EMANCIPATION DAY... some are still awaiting their own "emancipation day" ---

THE BIG PICTURE: Assault on Libya is an Assault on Entire Africa ::: WARNING: EXPLICITLY REAL GRAPHIC PHOTOS OF LIBYAN CIVILIAN CASUALTIES

The Indigenous Tweets project recently interviewed Edmond Kachale, a software developer based in Malawi regarding native-language tweeting* - a complete article appears on Global Voices - for YOU I have a snippet:

*Chichewa is a Bantu language spoken in four countries in southern Africa; namely Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It is widely spoken in Malawi where at one point it had official status as a national language. Currently, it is no longer a national language, but it is a popular lingua franca with 60% of the population having full command of the language and 75% able to understand it. In Zambia, it is the third most popular language, spoken mostly in the Eastern Province and in Lusaka, and it is among the seven official African languages. In Malawi, the language is taught in primary and secondary schools but never at tertiary levels, except for those specialising in African languages, where students learn the structure of the language (through the medium of English).

Larry B shares Accepting Friends on Facebook vs. LinkedIn Social Networking Sites

Last but not least, you can upload/share/store files up to 2gigs on FACEBOOK! Here's how!

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.

Pop Clips » 28 July 11

Asian Women with White Men Suck?

from chinaSMACK ::: blogger Christine H. Tan explores the intricacies of interracial relations: here's a snippet or two:::

Just think about that for a while — without being politically correct, what is your gut reaction to Asian women with white men? ... "We're not all rich old white men with young ferocious Asian wives... but they do exist." ... I keep a blog where I’ve occasionally touched upon my type of interracial relationship, particularly in two posts, The Asian Girlfriend Complex, and Ending Bias against White Male and Asian Female Couples?. I wrote these posts because I am very much aware of the negative associations...

Little Mermaid, Revisited

A look back at Disney's 1989 classic featuring the human-obsessed underwater princess, Ariel. 119

By WILLA PASKIN (nEW yORK mAGAZINE)

We have a FOLLOWER! Trojan asteroid tags along on Earth's orbit...

The asteroid in the Earth's orbit around the sun has been hiding from view, mostly overhead during daylight, study finds. This celestial disciple could be the next off-world destination for astronauts from earth!

Something else is inching skyward...

GARBAGE CITY: EGYPT -- AFTER REVOLUTION...

bellavidaletty posted: Stirrings

“I’m not trying to be sexy.

It’s just my way of expressing myself when I move around.”

Elvis Presley

NetActive 27 July 2011

Colombia: RIP Joe Arroyo

Written by Lully Posada for Global Vioices · Translated by Silvia Viñas · Americas

Colombian salsa singer Álvaro José Arroyo González, better known as Joe Arroyo, passed away on July 26 in Barranquilla. On Twitter, blogs and websites his fans reacted to the news remembering his life and his songs.read »

Languages: Tweeting in Chichewa in Southern Africa

The Indigenous Tweets project recently interviewed Edmond Kachale, a software developer based in Malawi, who has been active in promoting th... More »

Pisgah Crater volcanic activity: DutchSinse vs. USGS and the rumble in the desert

the-end-time.blogspot.com

I mentioned yesterday about the fight for truth in the secular world. I'd stated that the people know there is stuff going on, but the people who have access to the data or are otherwise in official capacities speak to the opposite of what we see and know. Or they deny completely what...

TechCrunch

Possible Atrix 4G Successor Caught On Camera With 8MP 1080p Shooter In Tow - Here’s a mystery for you: Images of a Motorola Android handset have surfaced on Chinese blogs, and it looks incredibly similar to the Atrix 4G.

Michelle talks bin Laden raid...

...'it's not good, but it's good'

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.

email from Nigerian "Monitory Impostors"

"You've got mail!"

Although nowhere near as funny as the letter I received from Mrs. Esther Swally, a literate person may derive a few chuckles from this masterpiece: (Mouseover and Click on the image for a larger version)

Anti-Terrorist and Monitory Crime Division.
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Daniel McMullen (Special Agent in Charge)

Attn: Beneficiary

This is to officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal Transaction with Impostors. We the Federal Bureau Of Investigation want you to stop further communication with any Impostors claiming to be official. During our Investigation, we noticed that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Payment. Therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry of Finance Nigeria on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by coordinating your payment in total $5,900,000.00(Five Million Nine Hundred Thousand Dollars).

Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation is involved in this transaction,you have to be rest assured for this is 100% risk free it is our duty to protect you. We the Federal Bureau Of Investigation want you to contact
the ATM CARD CENTER via email for their requirements to proceed and procure your Approval Slip on your behalf which will cost you $150 and note that your Approval Slip which contains details of the agent who will process your transaction.

CONTACT INFORMATION
NAME: Mr. Kelvin Williams
Address: 18 Koffi Crescent Apapa Lagos Nigeria
EMAIL: kelvinwil205@blumail.org
phone : +23480-6111-25-03

Financial Experiment in Africa... World Impact To Follow?

Islamic banking necessitated by effect of global meltdown – ADO-EKITI— THE Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said the introduction of Islamic banking into our financial system was “necessitated by the effect of global meltdown that castrated the Nigerian financial system and slowed down the growth of the economy.”

He, however, assured that Nigeria’s subscription to Islamic banking would revive the current downturn of the country’s economy.

Sanusi pledged to dialogue with the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, this week on the issue. [Gbenga Ariyibi has more...]

...this I find very interesting, because as society is growing and changing and you could almost compare recent developments on the world scene to the volcanoes and earthquakes that have been re-shaping the planet...

Gold Has Longest Run of Gains Since 1980...

...we need a new system to match up with some of the financial things happening, like the use of mobile phones for banking across Africa and Asia ... the 'micro-loan' concept ... online banking ...

Michelle Malkin

‘Lights Out’: Harry Reid Takes the Debt Ceiling Fear Up a Notch -

So, look at all of the news hitting the "financial fan" - try to make sense of it - and let's keep an eye on this development in Nigeria.

Islamic banking has the same purpose as conventional banking: to make money for the banking institute by lending out capital. Because Islam forbids simply lending out money at interest (see riba), Islamic rules on transactions (known as Fiqh al-Muamalat) have been created to avoid this problem. The basic technique to avoid the prohibiton is the sharing of profit and loss, via terms such as profit sharing (Mudharabah), safekeeping (Wadiah), joint venture (Musharakah), cost plus (Murabahah), and leasing (Ijar).

In an Islamic mortgage transaction, instead of loaning the buyer money to purchase the item, a bank might buy the item itself from the seller, and re-sell it to the buyer at a profit, while allowing the buyer to pay the bank in installments. However, the bank's profit cannot be made explicit and therefore there are no additional penalties for late payment. In order to protect itself against default, the bank asks for strict collateral. The goods or land is registered to the name of the buyer from the start of the transaction. This arrangement is called Murabahah. Another approach is EIjara wa EIqtina, which is similar to real estate leasing. Islamic banks handle loans for vehicles in a similar way (selling the vehicle at a higher-than-market price to the debtor and then retaining ownership of the vehicle until the loan is paid). [source: wikipedia]

Gas prices on the rise; top $4 in eight states...

Tags: World Economy, Islamic banking

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.

Pop Clips » 14 July 11

Quidditch — This Week’s Grobby!

In honor of the last movie installment of the epic Harry Potter series, this week’s Grobby (that’s Greatist lingo for hobby) is inspired by the magical sport of wizards: Quidditch. But Cathy Zhu blogs that this fast-flying game isn’t just for the magically-blessed among us. Real-life— or “Muggle”— Quidditch has taken off in a big way, with opportunities for landlubbers and broom-riders alike. Check it out!

Highlights of Hogwarts: Harry Potter’s Best Spells, Coolest Creatures, Saddest Deaths, and More...

Garden gnome explains why the free blog advertising networks (eg. Entrecard, Exposure Your Blog) are more popular than paid blog advertising networks (eg. CMF Ads, Adgitize, Project Wonderful)::: meantime, Matthias publishes his sneaky SCRAPER CODE for entrecard cheats!

Zambia: Brenda Zulu Discusses the State of Zambian Blogosphere By Soneka Kamuhuza ::: The spotlight is on Brenda Zulu, a Zambian journalist and blogger. Brenda’s blog [1] provides her reflections on information, communication and technology issues in Africa. Based in Lusaka, Zambia, Brenda has been blogging since 2004 and is one of Zambia’s seasoned blogger’s. I talked with Brenda about her life, her blogging origins and the state of Zambian blogosphere. · read »

Tonyo Cruz uploads the five-year Philippine Digital Strategy plan of the government's Commission on Information and Communications Technology. The aim is to make the Philippines a digitally-empowered nation in 2016.

Gaga slammed by disability groups after performing on stage in wheelchair...

Tags: Harry Potter, Dobby

NetActive 6 July 2011

Malaysia::: Online reactions to Bersih 2.0 rally

Written for Global Voices by Mong Palatino · East Asia

The planned street rally this weekend in Malaysia known as Bersih 2.0 will now take place inside a stadium. Netizens continue to discuss the impact of Bersih as the movement gathers momentum throughout the country read »

CUBA ::: The first meeting of users of the social network Twitter was celebrated in Havana on July 1 at 4:00 pm at 23rd and 12th of the Vedado district and in the Pabellón Cuba. The event hosted almost 100 people, mostly young journalism students, administrators, professors, journalists and bloggers. Netizens reflect and comment on the exciting and controversial event.

AFRICA ::: Zimbabwean women bloggers and Facebook users have taken up new media platforms to discuss everything from their sexuality to unpacking women's role in politics and the economy.

SERBIA ::: 44,000 Serbs have joined the Facebook group 'Boycott of Chelsea Handler until she apologizes to the Serbian people,' demanding an apology from the popular American female comedian for the offensive remarks she made about the Serbian nation during a television show. Sasa Milosevic reports.

TECH TIP OF THE WEEK ::: How to Stop People Tagging You in Facebook
The simple way to remove the tag from a photo is to, browse that photo and find your profile name. Use Ctrl+F and type your Facebook profile name. This will highlight your name and find the link “Remove Tag” near your name. Click on that link. Done. You have removed the tag successfully.

But this not something you should do regularly. So you need to change the privacy setting. So that people can’t tag you in their photos any more... click here for the complete article

The Case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn VS. Nafissatou Diallo Takes a Strange Turn...

I had some serious doubts about this case right from day one...

Here's an update 2 July 2011 ::: NY POST: Maid cleaning up as 'hooker'!

UPDATE July 7 ::: Recent Photos of Diallo

::: JULY 5 UPDATE! CLICK HERE! :::

The woman who cried rape may be involved in a lot more than we have been led to believe. Is she really living in a building that exclusively houses HIV/AIDS carriers? The photo displayed here may or may not accurately depict her. Some say the picture is at least 10, maybe 15 years old. Others say it simply isn't her! What do YOU think? The way things have been going in the news, nothing really surprises me anymore. I have some added in some new information to an article I posted awhile ago. Consider this a "working update" vesrion, one where I will add new facts and allegations as they are reported.

"I have not given birth to a bad woman..." ~ quote from the mother of NYC chambermaid Nafissatou Diallo ::: Ms. DIALLO is quoted in the New York Times ‘Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing,’ (Diallo is seen in the accompanying photo)

Attention has now shifted from perp to the alleged victim of an alleged sexual assault of a 32-year old hotel chambermaid in New York City on May 14th by the former International Monetary Fund managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

The sexual assault case against Strauss-Kahn is on the verge of collapse as investigators have uncovered major holes in the credibility of the "devout Muslim Ghanian" housekeeper.

The maid, Nafissatou Diallo from the West African nation of Guinea, told police that the 62-year-old Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom naked, chased her down, forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear before she broke free and fled the room.

The New York Times reports ::: According to the two law enforcement officials, the woman had a phone conversation with an incarcerated man within a day of her encounter with Mr. Strauss Kahn in which she discussed the possible benefits of pursing the charges against him. The conversation was recorded.

That man, the investigators learned, had been arrested on charges of possessing 400 pounds of marijuana. He was among a number of individuals who made multiple cash deposits, totaling around $100,000, into the woman’s bank account over the last two years. The deposits were made in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia and New York.

They also learned that she was paying hundreds of dollars every month in phone charges to five different companies. The woman insisted she only had a single phone and said she knew nothing about the deposits except that they were made by a man she described as her fiancé and his friends.

In addition, the official said, she told investigators that part of her application for asylum included a previous rape, but there was no such account in the application. She also told them that she had been subjected to genital mutilation, but her account to the investigators differed from what was contained in the asylum application.

Inquiring minds want to know more about Diallo, who received political asylum in the US, and has been employed at the hotel for three years: La famille de celle qui accuse Dominique Strauss-Khan de tentative de viol s'est confiée à SlateAfrique. Elle décrit une jolie jeune femme de nationalité guinéenne sans histoire, sérieuse et qui n'a pu être manipulée.

via SlateAfrique ::: The one who is called Ophelia is not from Senegal, Ghana or Puerto Rico, as some journalists have reported, but from Guinea.

The daughter of a merchant form the Peule tribe (40% of the population in a country of 10.3 million), she is from the Labé region in Guinea, and followed her husband, a Guinea merchant, to the USA in 1998. There, she divorced him and has been raising her 15 year old daughter alone in the Bronx. She has some family in Harlem, including her sister, who is married to a Guinean business man working in the import-export trade.

Nafissatou Diallo holds a green card, and has been working as a maid in the Sofitel Hotel for three years. She has a reputation as a serious girl.

“She is as hard a worker as her sister,” said a cousin of hers on the phone. Diallo’s family has not been able to see her yet. Like everyone else, they read the papers, but they hope the sexual assault is “less severe” that what is reported.

Mamadou Chérif Diallo, from the victim’s family, and a 35 year old Guinean who is working for a New York City agency, who is tasked with representing the family, said this:

She’s a good Muslim. She is really pretty, as are a lot of Peule women, but in our culture, we do not accept this kind of behavior. Seriously, Dominique Strauss-Kahn attacked the wrong person. It’s a scandal! It’s really sad, this accident!

Under police protection

The family explained that Nafissatou Diallo is in hiding with NYPD protection to protect her from the media. She presenting has a lawyer. The attorney general’s office in Manhattan, contacted by SlateAfrique, refused to confirm the identity of Nafissatou Diallo, a common measure to protect sexual assault victims in the US.

French-Cameroonian writer Calixthe Beyala wrote an open letter that has been posted on several websites, entitled: “On épouse une Blanche et on viole la femme noire -or- Rape the Black Woman, and Marry the White One” - here are two snippets:

“...he knows perfectly the Sofitel Hotel in New York led by French. In this hotel, work for many black women! Many of them were raped by the former head of the IMF and the scandalous affairs have always been suppressed by the hotel management...”

“It is traumatising to realise that some Black people still have chains in their minds, and do not question the appetite of powerful men for Black women, a morbid attraction, in which relations haven't changed since slavery.”

Global Voices' Julie Owono explores the possibility that Nafissatou Diallo is a "conspirator".

Does machismo cause rape? Tracy Clark-Flory investigates for salon.com.

Blog Engage Blog Forum and Blogging Community, Free Blog Submissions and Blog Traffic, Blog Directory, Article Submissions, Blog Traffic

Tags: DSK, Nafissatou Diallo, Dominique Strauss-Kahn

NetActive 26 June 2011

HotSecretz posts FINAL FOUR PAGEANT HOPEFULS PICKED FOR MISS WORLD KENYA ::: The headhunt for Miss Nestea Kenya ended last Saturday with the crowning of four contestants from across the country in Nairobi’s Kawangware.

Kate shares a link to a Louis Vuitton Mens Resort 2012 inspired by the Maasai.

While New Yorkers celebrate the passage of Marriage Equality, Fresh attacks on gays in Ghana: Delivering a statement on the 30 years of the official discovery of HIV/AIDS on the floor of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye, Ghana’s Second Deputy Speaker, described homosexuality as an “abomination” that must be stopped “before the human race was destroyed by something worse than AIDS”.

Learn about LGBTI rights in Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi from a paper written by Naome Ruzindana. Naome is a feminist and founding member of the Coalition of African Lesbians.

Maker Faire Africa 2011 is here: “Maker Faire Africa is pleased to announce our 3rd event, ‘Maker Faire Africa 2011 : Cairo‘ which will take place in Egypt, October 6-8th, 2011. Join us once again as we continue to cultivate new and existing maker communities across Africa.”

Moving to ASIA ::: Trica Wang blogs about her experience of riding the Beijing subway disguised as a migrant worker while conducting fieldwork.

Here in North America, some Hip-Hop blogs are in a quandry... Advertising firm GroupM revealed a few weeks ago that it had adopted a new anti-piracy policy. It constructed a list of websites that it deemed to be either in support of piracy, or directly offering illegal downloads. The list of sites eventually got into the hands of the media and there are some bizarre listings on it.

China-Africa Trade Partnership

Large-scale marrying of African women can effectively solve China’s male-female sex-ratio imbalance problem! ~ ChinaSmack

Not too very long ago, I ran across a blog (I didn't bother bookmarking or digging it or saving the URL) in which the author was concerned about the growth of China, emerging as a world-player. The blogger expressed fear that the Chinese would eventually send troops to conquer North America, so the "reds" could alleviate their "shortage of women of breeding age." Well, I'm here to tell that blogger he has nothing to worry about.

The Chinese, resourceful people that they are, are IMPORTING ladies from Africa!

ChinaSmack has the details...

Tags: Chinese men with African brides, China partners with Africa

NetActive 15 June 2011

Here's what's happening now around the blogosphere and on the net!

nancycasanova Nancy Casanova

Oh no! @TheAtlanticWire: The "anatomically correct" Anthony Weiner doll and other newsmakers-turned-action figureshttp://theatln.tc/mgQYKm

#WeinerGate UPDATE
# Wife Huma Abedin returns to Washington home
# New pictures show Weiner cross dressing and 'oiled up'
# Weiner 'waiting for wife' to decide on his fate say colleagues
# Congressman believed to have flown out of New York to rehab facility
# Pelosi says 'he must go'
# Obama tells NBC's Ann Curry 'If it was me, I would resign'
# Weiner granted two weeks leave by House

#AminaArraf UPDATE
THE GUARDIAN (UK) STRUGGLES TO FIGURE OUT The weird world of the lesbian hoaxers, posing the question "Why did a heterosexual, married man pose as a lesbian online on the blog A Gay Girl in Damascus?" Guardian writer Kira Cochrane concludes "it's more about power than sexual kicks." I think it's all about power too, but a different kind of power, specifically, numbers, as in "traffic" and the feeling that one's writing (blog) is influencing major mainstream media outlets. In retrospect, there should have been all kinds of red flags.

Perhaps the biggest reason "GGinD" became a hit with Western media is that the blog was so easy to access. There are probably pro-human-rights people blogging from Arab countries, but, other than going through Global Voices (and even Global Voices got punk'd) it might not be such an easy story to hunt them down in Arabic. (Or even French. I've come across many "exclusives" for this humble weblog that were gleaned from French blogs and websites).

NPR seems to like tumblr... me too!

http://www.myweku.com/2011/06/10-of-africas-best-food-blogs-2/

MyWeku makes its inaugural annual picks of the African food blogs we can’t live without. This list comprises 10 of our favourites. Most of these African food blogs are slick with their own Flickr photo portals, Face Book fan pages and twitter following.

Those of you living in gastronomic agony need not suffer any longer. If the combination of writing, photography and the sheer abundance of recipes in these blogs fail to awaken you from your slumber, then I’m afraid nothing will!

List curated by Ada Iwugo: Fashion and Lifestyle Editor - Follow me @mywekulifestyle

Google +1, QR Codes and Activist Bloggers Rock the Blogosphere

qrcode Move over, Google +1 ::: Are QR codes the next big things for bloggers? Try it out: GET ONE!

QR is short for "Quick Response" - the codes can be read via any smartphone equipped with a reader. The one you see here is the one for my blog, which will soon appear in the sidebar. I love new widgets, services and technology, and June 2011 seems like just the right time to add QR code and some new HTML code, as you will read below!

Bloggers, you may want to pay particular attention to this ::: PR in an SEO context doesn’t just mean PageRank. It means public relations.

Have a look at Authorship HTML code.

I'll be hopefully rolling this feature out later in the month. I have a few big surprises in store for you, so keep stopping by!

Now, onto the greater blogosphere:

Syria: ‘Gay Girl in Damascus' Seized

Written for Global Voices by Jillian C. York · Middle East & North Africa

Amina Arraf has seen a quick rise to fame. Blogging pseudonymously, as Amina Abdullah, she writes about politics, the recent uprising, and being a lesbian in Syria. A dual citizen of the United States and Syria, her powerful words have shown the reality on the ground in Syria over the past few weeks. On Amina's own blog, it was reported that she had been kidnapped by authorities. read »

Al Jazeera's Gregg Carlstrom reports Arraf is hardly the only blogger to be arrested recently in Syria, of course. Twenty-year-old Tal al-Mallouhi was jailed in February on "espionage" charges; Ahmad Abu al-Khair was arrested a few days later while traveling from Baniyas to Damascus; Khaled ElEkhetyar disappeared for a week in March; Egyptian-American blogger Muhammed Radwan was detained later that month... Carlstrom goes on to say he talked briefly this afternoon with Sandra Bagaria, a close friend of Amina's living in Montreal, who said she didn't think either of those two facts played a role in Arraf's arrest. (Details)

U.S. Court says 'shield law' not applicable to 'bloggers'...

Hrna [fa], Human rights activists news agency, reports [fa] that Ali Pour Soleiman, a blogger and teacher was arrested in Iran a few days ago. He was a member of Association of Teachers and wrote [fa] in Sokhane Molem (means teacher's word) blog.

Caledoniyya complains there isn't much information about Mikel Nabil - an Egyptian blogger sentenced to three years in prison for insulting the Armed forces. “With so many bloggers being persecuted by the regimes for broaching crucial issues; in Nabil's case, the Egyptian military; it can be a challenge to keep track,” she notes.

Womanish Words congratulates Trinidadian Simona Lee, “creator of the blog ‘Women Speak: Women Tell Their Stories of Discrimination,' for being chosen to receive a 2011 Internet Activist BlogHer Scholarship.”

Tags: Amina Arraf, QR Codes, Al Jazeera, Amina Abdullah

Blog Archive

By WILLA PASKIN (nEW yORK mAGAZINE)

We have a FOLLOWER! Trojan asteroid tags along on Earth's orbit...

The asteroid in the Earth's orbit around the sun has been hiding from view, mostly overhead during daylight, study finds. This celestial disciple could be the next off-world destination for astronauts from earth!

Quidditch — This Week’s Grobby!