cimddwc » abroad

Links and Videos of the Week (2012/25+26)

cimddwc — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 08:57:25 +0000

A Lego version of the UEFA “Respect” spot

Links of the Week (2012/20+21)

cimddwc — Sun, 27 May 2012 18:46:49 +0000

Nice photos from the annular solar eclipse

World Toilet Day

cimddwc — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:31:30 +0000

Today, on November 19, is World Toilet Day, declared by the World Toilet Organization – who would have thought something like that exists?

But there’s a meaning to it, befauce over 2.6 billion people don’t have toilets at all – and for many more, the situation isn’t much better. Which isn’t all too good for people’s health, much too often there’s bad hygiene, and the excrements are discharged directly into the environment.

Wikipedia:

The United Nations claim that more than 5 million children die every year from sanitation related diseases such as diarrhoea. More than a billion people without sanitary facilities relieve themselves on streets and in rivers, heavily polluting the water. The most important source of water contamination in developing countries is due to the lack of adequate sanitation facilities. Although public toilets are available in most countries, most of them are poorly maintained.

The WTO envisages clean, safe, affordable, ecologically sound and sustainable sanitation. It aims to advocate sustainable toilet systems through capacity building and public education, and by implementing real time projects.

(via kultpavillon via BloggerAmt)

Lethal Numbers 2

cimddwc — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:32:30 +0000

I found via JuliaL49′s here (in German) the report of the US Congress’ Democrates – sources: BBC News and Tagesschau, also CNN – which states that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost the USA from 2002 to 2008 thanks to “hidden costs” 1.6 trillion dollars – $20,900 per US family (or $5,300 per person), possibly increasing to $46,400 by 2017 (that’s $3.5 trillion total).

Numbers that make you go dizzy… it’s just not clear how fast they could withdraw in a sensible manner (assuming they want), and I agree with Julia that a fast withdrawal doesn’t seem to be an optimal solution.

Free… the World

cimddwc — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:00:39 +0000

After yesterday’s “Free Burma” (non-)action day, let’s not forget that there are also a few other countries where the human rights situation is not optimal. Human Rights Watch considers in their Welt Report 2007 (as PDF) 74(!) countries worth mentioning (and the European Union is combined in that number) – the amount of problems, of course, varies greatly (who would seriously put, say, the EU on the same level in this regard as Burma?):

Africa:
Angola, Burundi, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe

Americas:
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, USA

Asia:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, The Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam

Europe and Central Asia:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, European Union, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

Middle East and North Africa:
Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco/Western Sahara, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Free Burma

cimddwc — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:00:19 +0000

They shoot with demonstrators!

cimddwc — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:07:06 +0000

As if it wasn’t bad enough what the military regime in Myanmar/Burma (now what’s the name?) is doing – and not just during the current demonstrations –, now the ZDFtext reports about shooting with demonstrators:

Translation: “They reportedly have beaten and shot with demonstrators again. They say it was warning shots.”

They must have quite big cannons… and how does this work, a warning shot of demonstrators – are they shot only slowly or a low height so they don’t die when falling back down?

Alright, it may be just a typo – one little letter in the German text so it would read “…have beaten and shot at…” Bad enough.

7, 8 or 14 Wonders of the World

cimddwc — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 09:55:07 +0000

So, yesterday, 07/07/07 (unfortunately not on 07:07), the “New 7 Wonders”, which could be voted for on the internet, have been published – not officially acknowledged by the Unesco, not undisputed, but… well, never mind. So we now have (or don’t have), besides the ancient wonders of the “world” – limited to the Mediterranean area and the Middle East, which was the world known in ancient Greece –, which are

also (=> 14) – or only (=> 7)

– including, by the way, just two of my seven votes, and the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany didn’t make it, “of course”, was apparently on the unrewarding 8th place – and, so Zahi Hawass doesn’t get mad, also (=>8) the honor candidate, the “eternal wonder”:

Great Pyramid of Giza

the only ancient wonder that still stands.

Think of it what you want, ‘t is a nice thing, somehow, anyway…