Ready for another addictive webiste ?

Last time, I was looking for an interest thing on the Internet. I was desperately searching a key information. Something funny. Something different. Something cute. I was wandering, and I was almost lost. I have already spend a lot of hours without find anything ! Can you believe that ? It is utterly impossible.
Then, suddenly, a miracle happened.

And what a miracle ! I thought I was doomed to be bored until my last breath and I found a marvellous website. I am sure that all the girls that will read this article will particularly appreciate it.

Here it is !

This blog is a kind of photo album of very cute boys and their beloved cat. It is really addictive and it makes you want to shout out loud : "OMG he is so cuuuuuute" ; "OMG I really WANT this cat, right now!"
This blog combines two great features  : cute boys and even CUTER cats.

Sometimes, I would like to live in some websites. And especially in this one!



Death penalty versus democracy

The recent execution of Troy Davis in the state of Georgia reveals how cruel was death penalty. According to me, death penalty cannot exist in a so-called democratic country like United States.


Sometimes I wonder if the courts just wanted to kill Troy Davis. The evidence against Mr. Davis, based on what I've read here and elsewhere, was based entirely on witness testimony, which was shown to be unreliable  in seven of nine cases. And even if the witnesses had not recanted their testimonies, just what a few people say shouldn't be the only evidence needed to sentence a person to death. He shouldn't have been
executed.

 

This story has touched the hearts of millions of people all over the world. This is a terrible thing that has happened. I feel that the families of the cop  want some kind of justice and they want someone to pay for it (like in the Middle Age, you know). The problem here is that Troy Davis (accused murderer) was never seen at the scene of the crime, no gun was found, and the shell casings were used at Davis' home early that day. A person at the scene of the crime claims the police forced him into identifying Mr. Davis as the shooter. Mr. Davis was then executed by the state for the murder of the officers. I disagree strongly on this issue because there was absolutely no evidence to say that Mr. Davis was the murderer.

Shirley Bradley's talking on Internet Mobility

Here are two videos featuring an interview of the beautiful Shirley Bradley. Listen to her delicious voice.

Part 1 of the interview 

Part 2 of the interview 

A good reason to become a veggie

Here I will explain why hamburgers could be weaponized. Hence the good reason to become a veggie.

Since the last events of terrorism, people have bitterly discovered that their everyday life was jeopardized and submitted to a constant control. In fact, all the activities of life, even the most trivial ones, are turning out to be dangerous. Eating is getting difficult since it recently proved to be something dangerous. Yet, let's face it : contaminating food is easy.

Among several forms of terrorism, bioterrorism seems to be all the more dangerous as it's the easiest. In fanct, the food supply is very vulnerable to intentional acts of terrorism. Is food a byword of death ? Every reckless consumer will eat something without deeming the potential risks that are part and parcel of terrorism. Food-defense experts are establishing the list of foods of which an attack could have some dramatic consequences. In this list, we can find food in large batches, foods subject to uniform mixings or foods with a short shelf life. What do we notice ? Those kinds of foods are widespread and usual : there can stir up people's fear.

Governements will have to bother with these everyday concerns to trigger off the public interest and to avoid as many contaminations as possible. In fact, contaminations' cases remain few are are not very media-hyped (appart from mad cow disease and bird flu). Nevertheless, the list of chemicals that could contaminate food is practically endless. There is the salmonella, the most easily obtainable microbe, but there are also the attractive agents that take many days before triggering illness.

To control food's safety, producers have implemented systems to identify and secure points of vulnerability and a Bioterrorism Act has been put into place in 2002 to prevent and detect the potential attacks on the food supply.Nevertheless, their effeciency remains dubious thus revealing the necessity to make even more efforts.

(Here is my face, when I'm thinking of hamburgers. Beurk)

There are pending issues that are at stake. How the citizens could play a substantial part in being warned of the dangers ? How being certain that the plates are secure ? Authorities, governments as well as food-processing industries will then have to gather their efforts to submit food to a tight control, though bioterrorism has not made disasters yet.

To conclude, I would say that there is no need to terrify citizens about food's contamination. They just need to be informed about the potential risks. We do not have to instaure a climax of terror.

The Cleveland Show

The Cleveland Show is an american animated serie, one of my favorite one ! Believe me : when you start watching this marvellous serie, you will be utterly addicted to it.

First, let's sum the plot up ! It is concentred upon the marvellous adventures of Cleveland Brown, a character from "Family Guy", and his crazy entourage. When he was young, he was in love with Donna. Unfortunately, Donna married with Robert, Cleveland's classmate. Few years later, Cleveland wants to start his life from scratch, after having divorced. He decides to leave Quahog in order to live in Stoolbend (Virginia), where he finds Donna again. Then, they fall in love again et decide to live together, with their children : Roberta, Rallo and Cleveland Junior. Their neighbours are bears and a redneck family.

"Family Guy" and "American Dad" were two previous series made by Seth MacFarlane. Nevertheless, in this particular case, there is not a lot of black yet humor. There is the typical humor from a good american comedy, that's why many people can laugh in front of their screens. That's why "The Cleveland Show" has become so popular. It can target a lot of people, without being politically incorrect. Nevertheless, they are mocking at some very famous people, through witty characters. Then, Liza Minelli, Jennifer Aniston, Dolly Parton and EVEN Barack Obama are taking part of this TV show ! They don't have wise thoughts, but that is not the most important thing
The real success of this TV show lies in its very specific yet funny details and its secondary characters. My favorite one is the bear who speaks with a russian accent, wearing a tie. He is also the new Cleveland's neighbor and he saw him for the first time, he yelled "A bear!". Then the bear said "A Black!"

I can't live (if leaving is without Facebook)

I can't live (if leaving is without Facebook) by Nathalieb

Are hipsters addicted to the Internet ? Do we ARE all hipsters ?

The answer is not that obvious. The hipster is a quite recent phenomenon, popularized approximatedly in 2005. Since then, many journalists are using this key word, and they have created a kind of micro society, especially on the Internet. They have created a genuine community, thanks to many videos, photos that are know "well-embedded" on the Internet. For instance, the video entitled "Interior Semiotics" has been recently seen as the typical video who represent all the typical hipsters. I will not give the link to this video but I can tell you that all the young people here are so caricatural, as if they were from a Larry Clarke's film.

I am only making an hypothesis but : maybe hipsters are those who are addicted to the Internet. Because when you can't help going on the Internet, wandering around marvellous websites to find whatever you want, you have the sense of belonging to a community. And when you get this feeling, you are willing to visit some very peculiar websites, talk to some very special individuals. 

If you listen carefully to the lyrics of the song "Being a dickhead's cool", you will understand that they present, of course in a derogatory way, the hipsters are tech-savy people. "Polaroid app on my iPhone" ; "Say I work in media, i'm really on the dole" : this is a great way to show that this people are using the Internet to build their image. They can be addicted to it because it is a precious and convenient tool to reinforce who they are. Or at least who they pretend to be !

Are we all going to be hipsters ? Please, no ! In my opinion, Internet is a great way to take part of a community, find peers, people who share same tastes as you. Internet gave to us great promises. Communities. Dialogue. Share. Open-mindedness. And so on... These promises gave birth to people who evolve ONLY with the Internet. That's why I am saying that hipsters are addicted to the Internet. 

What about inclusive growth in India?

India has made a lot of great achievments in a very short period of time. They are becoming very influent on the world, their economic growth is tremenduous. But what about inclusive growth ? Does, in India at least,  economic growth automatically mean well-being ?

The main problem deals with the reformers, who are stuck to the old British institutional systems, which is totally outdated. India needs to reform its own institutions starting from legal system  to find ways to be more transparent. I think that India can only thrive under a system that give to all Indian citizens a genuine opportunity to prosper. Moreover, India and its growing population will always doing harsh jobs for a great part of the world. How can this situation evolve ? How can economic growth be linked to development ? How to foster it ?

Then, despite of the economic growth, there is still a lot to do about corruption, violent religions,  the poor cities likes Bungalore where the number of people below the poverty line is going to rise. Somebody said one generation has to suffer so that the future generations can enjoy the benefits of change.


To conclude, I would say that, generally speaking, the BRICs are currently facing this issue. In other words, they tend to prefer economic growth at the expense of development. Then, that's a kind of mistake to say that BRICs will be the future (excuse me, the Future). Of course they will be. But some countries need to take into account people's needs. I am quite sure that economic growth is not the most important thing to be in the political spectrum.

Who fears the dragon?

The business magazine The Economist is questioning the rise of China as part of its  "Where do you stand?" advertising campaign. Two posters, totally different of course,  have been created. Here is a summary of what each one is saying.

China Is A Threat To The West

• China spends about $100 billion on defence, almost three times as much as a decade ago, and nearly twice as much as Britain.
• China cracked down on minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang and persecuted campaigners like the Nobel laureate, Liu Xiaobo.
• China’s hunger for raw materials is exhausting the earth and bolstering corrupt regimes in the developing world.

 China Is A Friend To The West

• China makes a fifth of all the world’s goods. It kits out the West’s consumers and finances the West’s borrowers.
• China goes out of its way to emphasise that it wants a “peaceful rise”. No other great power in history has done that.
• China is the world’s biggest investor in green technology.

The two posters  were placed next to each other, displaying both sides of the argument around China, at various media sites in the UK towards the end of June. The ads aim to attract new readers, in order to change people’s stands on the magazine, seen as exclusively reserved to  high-powered business people.

Below you can see the posters on the London underground.

As for me, I have some difficulties to express my opinions on China. That is why i found this campaign rather interesting. Because The Economist have been reflexing upon pros and cons, and has tried to reach as many people as possible by doing an efficient campaign. If you were on London this summer, I guess you couldn't have missed it !

And you, what do you think ? Is China a threat or a friend to the West ?

My name is Google and I can do whatever I want.

Google, who does not know Google ? Google, maybe one of the most popular websites in the world. To sum it up : Google is da place to be. Trendy, agreable, convenient... But why Google is blamed ?

I think that Google is blamed for its licentiousness, its trade-off with the Chinese Government, and for its trespassing into people's lives. On the one hand, the other media blame Google for unfairly thriving them at their expense. On the other hand, it has nettled the whole political spectrum by taking various controversial liberties on several tricky issues. Then, Google has undoubtedly triggered a debate over its trustwhortiness.

Google can be compared to a sort of financial institution thriving on the customers funds. It is entrusted with and thus made morally accountable for them. Both alternatives Google is confronted with are bound to have a negative impact either on users' privacy or on its own profit and efficiency. It is therefore faced with a dilemma concerning the forthecoming management of private data.

I think that Google should openly face the face that it is an efficient profit-making company instead of stubbornly sticking to its politically correct stance. It will not be able to sustain and that is therefore bound to be difficult. Most companies  keep consumer information for themselves to adapt or boost their marketing strategy. So, why not accepting this undeniable fact ?

In Rainbows - Illegal Downloading

Here is my podcast dealing with illegal downloading !

A Google bus in India

Hi ! You can listen to my podcast, dealing with an interesting way to bridge the digital divide here. Sorry for the lame quality of my podcast, but SoundCloud does not work on my computer (I can't go to this website). I hope that's it's quite understandable !

How to overcome the digital divide ?

At least, at the local level, we can act in order to erradicate this recent phenomenon. Look at this video ! In order to counteract this issue, some people advocate social measures -even tiny ones- whereby governements would attribute incentives for instance. Money being a major incentive, and bringing new technology involving heavy expenditure, it seems a quite relevant way to bridge the digital divide. In addition, this policy may well turn out to be beneficial to society at large.

I think we should look at it as an investment ! Today's donators are tomorrow's participants in building a new world ! The money invested in public librairies, in recycling old computers can bring benefits. This is even more true at the local level -and to be convinced, just look at this short but nice video! The strictly financial aspect is not the only one : it is also a matter of choice. Some people cannot afford to buy computers, however much they would like to.

If such people received, indirectly, money from the state, the digital divide would be perhaps erased. "Money can't buy you love". Of course, it does not. But it can level out some social inequalities in order to leave no ones out. Not only more tech-savy families, but also more happy AND tech-savy familes would result for this kind of measures.

Globalisation, I'm writing your name.

It is really difficult trying to talk about the economic gap between the North and the South. Yet, maybe we can try to explain it. Instead of feeling sad. At least.

I think that both the industrial revolution and globalisation have created blatant inequalities. The former entailed deep social changes, the creation of a destitute working class, kept at starvation level by low wages, living in slums in new industrial centres and submitted to the sweating system.

The latter is often accused of increasing the gap between the Western world and developing countries, though some specialists contend that, far from putting poor countries at a disadvantage, globalisation has helped them to grow faster. Others also claim that, were it not for the WTO, the situation might play in the hands of the multinationals at the expense of the losers.

Maybe it's not globalisation in itself that must be questioned, but the way it is implemented. We should then try and check the worst excesses of globalisation so that the global village leaves no ones out.