flickering pictures

Zimbabwe’s voters may have finally put an end to Robert Mugabe’s wacky reign of terror, error and kleptocracy.
Results posted outside voting centres seemed to show a landslide win on Saturday for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s party, but Mugabe’s government has warned that any claims of victory before the official results are released will be treated […]

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A neat video and a great description of one of humanity’s strangest rituals, the daily closing of the Wagah border crossing between India and Pakistan. Is this hilarious, or am I just horribly insensitive?
From the excellent (and aptly-named) blog Cool Things in Random Places:

India and Pakistan share a single border that cuts straight through […]

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We’ve been hearing a lot lately about alternative energies — particularly biofuels of questionable value like ethanol — but in December a really neat pilot project seems to have passed, for the most part, under the radar.
Pacific Gas & Electric, a major player in California’s energy industry, is backing a Canadian-made power plant prototype that […]

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I’ve been posting my notes from India, scribbled and scrawled all around the country last summer, while I get things up and running around here. Now that things are humming nicely, I’m spending less time fixing things, leaving me more time to post tasty content. But although I’m not quite so desperate for […]

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In an all-too-rare example that crippling diseases can be fought and beaten in the developing world, a Canadian epidemiologist has helped Somalia rid itself of a disease that hasn’t threatened Canada in nearly 50 years.
From Reuters:

No Somali child has been paralysed by polio in the past year as a result of a huge campaign to […]

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The Observatoire des Médias hosts an interactive map showing the intensity of Western media coverage in different regions. News outlets studied include the Guardian, The Economist, France’s Rue89.com, the Daily Mail, Slate.com, “the Blogosphere” and others. The map above is for the New York Times.
I’m not sure what the methodology here is, but […]

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UPDATE: The scanner has been claimed, but the printer is still up for grabs.
I’ve got an old Canon printer and scanner that are just gathering dust, and I’m looking to give them away. You can have them for free if you’re in the Montreal area and can pick them up. E-mail me if […]

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About a month ago, I wrote about the growing movement to boycott Beijing’s Summer Olympics, on the basis of its support for brutal regimes in Sudan, Myanmar and elsewhere — and its none-too-pretty human rights record at home. I was convinced that a boycott is a bad idea and still am, but pressure is […]

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A profile of a Phra Kru Ba Neua Chai, a monk who rides his horse around the Thai-Myanmar countryside fighting drugs. The former law student also happens to be a professional muay thai boxer covered in tattoos, who lost just three fights in his 15-year career. From Malaysia’s Star:

At 29, he told his […]

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The United Steelworkers of Montreal bring their urban hillbilly stylings to the Cabaret Juste Pour Rire this Saturday, and no matter what you think of bluegrass, there’s no better music to drink and stomp your foot to. It’s scientific.
If you haven’t heard their stuff, check out some reviews or peruse their Myspace page. […]

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