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World
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2011 Nobel Prize Round-Up (Update)
07 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
It’s Nobel Prize Week! Which is when regular people get their egos crushed under the weight of the giants of literature, chemistry, physics, economics, and “peace”. Which sucks. But click through, and you can wow your friends with your knowledge of this year’s Nobel winners, and give that ego a little boost.
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Sorry Rugby Fans, It’s The End Of The World (Again)
07 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
If you’re planning to be around to watch the final of the Rugby World Cup this year, then can I suggest you get your sinner on toute suite- something light should do, because Harold Camping has returned with a new prediction for the start of the Rapture. In two weeks time, to be precise: October 21st, 2011. Sorry, rugby fans!
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Zimbabwean Deportations Start Again
07 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 2 Comments
Refugee rights groups are not happy with the South African government right now, since it has quietly begun deporting Zimbabwean refugees again. The Zimbabwean Documentation Project (ZDP), which Home Affairs has been working on for two years, meant that Zim migrants have been shielded from deportation from this country for the last two years.
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Sesame Street To Add A New, Poor, Muppet
06 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Because it’s important to learn about economic disparity from an early age, Sesame Street will introduce an indigent Muppet named Lily, who will educate Elmo and the rest about the millions of starving families in America during an hour-long special episode. The letter of the day will be H.
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Britain: Illegal Immigrant Spared Deportation Partly Because Of Pet Cat
06 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
British politics is theatrical at the best of times. They’re dealing with cat-gate at the moment, so it just became even more theatrical. A judge has actually ruled that an illegal immigrant could avoid deportation partly because the judge feared separating him from his pet cat and partner risked “serious emotional consequences”.
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The Taj Mahal Will Cave In Between Two And Five Years
06 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
India’s most famous tourist attraction, the 358-year-old Taj Mahal, will collapse within five years unless something drastic is done. The wooden foundation is becoming brittle and disintegrating due to a lack of water. This is because the river crucial to its survival is being blighted by pollution, industry and deforestation.
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“Occupy Wall-Street” Spin-Off Protests Spreading Across USA
06 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
The New York protest movement, “Occupy Wall Street,” currently enjoying a crowd of 15 000 supporters, has inspired folk in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and other cities around the United States to join in on the fun/outcry. Some level of police violence is being seen in all cases, with Seattle police forcibly removing all “occupation” settlements.
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In Memorium: The Advert That Introduced Apple Mac To The World
06 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
This was the world’s first taste of Steve Jobs’ genius. RIP. Click through for the advertisement.
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India Has Launched The Cheapest Tablet Device In The World
05 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Can’t afford an iPad? Still confused about whether RIM is or isn’t discontinuing the BlackBerry tablet (er, or as a technology company generally)? You may be interested in the Aakash. It means ‘sky’ in Hindi – and it’s been launched today in India under the tagline “the cheapest tablet computer in the world”.
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Here’s How You Can Wish Desmond Tutu Happy Birthday
05 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
The majority of the furore surrounding the Dalai Lama not coming to South Africa is beginning to blow over, so let’s take a moment to remember what this was all about to begin with – the Arch’s 80th. You want to wish him, don’t you? Have you ever met him? How has he impacted your life? Well, wish him happy birthday, and you could be on CNN for your efforts.
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Russia Introduces Chemical Castration For Pedophiles
05 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Pedophilia is a rather serious crime. It hurts those that are most defenseless, and has developed a horrible stigma for anyone that drives an unmarked van. Countries around the world have established various means of combating the crime, including imprisonment and the introduction of sex offender registries. Russia, however, is trying something a little different. The land of vodka, mail-order brides and really cool furry hats has just set the ball in motion to cut off the cause of pedophilia at the source. Castration.
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Disney Realises People Will Probably Pay To See Other Old Movies Too
05 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Disney’s 3D The Lion King reissue has been topping the box offices for the past two weeks, and netted them a cool $22,1 million over a weekend. So it’s not surprising that somebody in the studio realised that, hey, they have a bunch of other well-loved movies that they could probably re-release and make money with too.
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Doh! The Simpsons Could Be Cancelled Over Actors’ Pay Dispute
05 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
One can understand the anger of Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson), Julia Kavner (Marge) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart) when Fox Television explained that they would be receiving a 45% pay cut. The broadcasting network claims they can’t afford production costs and, if the actors won’t budge, they’ll pull the plug. I think I speak for everyone when I say: Fox you, Fox.
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Obama Fried Chicken Restaurant Causes Controversy
05 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
A new fast-food restaurant in Beijing has caused controversy for using a cartoon caricature of Barack Obama in an imitation of KFC’s Colonel Sanders’ face. Its name, Obama Fried Chicken (OFC), has also upset some people. The slogan reads: “We’re so cool, aren’t we?” Magic.
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Putin Wants To Put Together An Eurasian Union
05 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Russian Prime Minister and, let’s face it, soon-to-be-President-again, Vladimir Putin has made calls for a “Eurasian Union” as part of his presidential campaign platform. A Eurasian Union made of entirely of former Soviet Union states. Because it worked so well the last time that happened.
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Lost Your Job? There’s A Card For That
04 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
It’s nice to know that whatever horrible, depressing situation life chucks at you, there is a bland, trite greeting card just desperate to leap off the rack at CNA and into your life to depress you even further.
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NYSE Threatened By Hacker Group Anonymous
04 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 3 Comments
While it might not be doing too well at the moment, the New York Stock Exchange is fairly important. One of the world’s biggest markets, the daily business of the NYSE has been threatened for a while now by the Occupy Wall Street protests. Internet hacker group, Anonymous, has now also jumped on the bandwagon, […]
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First Lady Of Iceland Joins Debt Crisis Protestors [VIDEO]
04 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Dorrit Moussaieff – wife of Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Iceland’s president – made a dramatic gesture over the weekend by hopping a security fence to join in with a group of protesters hurling eggs and yoghurt at politicians, demanding that the government do more to help the lower-income bracket.
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Naspers Buys Russian Gumtree
04 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
The South African media giant, Naspers, has bought the Russian version of Gumtree: Slando, for an undisclosed amount. The original founders of Gumtree, Michael Pennington and Simon Crookall, confirmed the deal overnight. The site has 11 million users, and has sold items including Stalin’s clothing, a slew of diamonds, a MIG 21 aircraft and one whole oil refinery.
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AlphaDog: The Latest In Terrifying, Military-Grade Robotics [VIDEO]
03 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
Boston Dynamics, a tech company working under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has released the latest in its BigDog project line – Alpha Dog, an SUV-sized, four-legged robot equipped to carry a little under 200kg in gear over a range of 32km, in harsh conditions. It’s a giant, terrifying, military robot dog. Take a look.
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South African War Hero To Receive UK’s Military Cross
03 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
One of the highest honours in the UK military is being awarded the Military Cross for bravery in war. Durban’s Peter Keogh, 30, has been selected for the award for his courage during a fire-fight in Afghanistan. He’ll receive his medal from the Queen of England later this month. Pretty impressive.
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One Dutch Border Town Takes A Hit For Tourism
03 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
The Dutch conservative coalition government that came into power last year announced plans to fight the massive tourist flow to the country’s coffee shops where tourists and locals alike come together to puff the old magic dragon. However, the Dutch border city of Maastricht has decided to try something different to demonstrate this won’t work in the long-term.
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Man Caught Smuggling Live Hummingbirds In Underwear
03 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
A Dutch man was caught trying to smuggle more than a dozen live hummingbirds inside his underpants at Rochambeau airport over the weekend. They were individually wrapped in cloth and taped up to stop them from escaping. Airport officials noticed the passenger fidgeting and acting suspiciously, and the man was detained by French customs officers.
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Arrested Development To Return For Fourth Season And A Movie
03 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Pop-culture rumour news is dangerous to talk about, but Arrested Development was one of those shows that won a religious sort of fervour from its fans, with FOX playing the role of Judas or something. So when creator, Mitchell Hurwitz announced the show’s return over this weekend’s New Yorker Festival, the internet got its preach on.
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Is The Kindle Fire Worse Than Facebook And Google When It Comes To Privacy?
30 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
Terms and conditions: we never read them, but we know we know should. Here’s what you should know about Amazon’s Fire and the new Silk browser it comes with: they make it clear that the company is entitled to retain your tablet’s unique ID, plus the URL’s of pages you have visited, for up to 30 days.
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NASA Is Going to Harpoon An Asteroid [VIDEO]
30 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
NASA wants to put somebody on an asteroid by 2025 because they don’t know how else to get people’s attention. And to succeed in this entirely worthwhile endeavour, they’ve designed a mechanism by which to harpoon asteroids, so that vehicles can land on the thing despite the weakened gravity. Call me Ishmael.
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Google Gets Its Gaydar On
30 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Is there anything Google can’t do? Between mapping the world (and the moon), interior designing the internet or digitizing every part of your work life, Google seems to have it all covered, and now US netizens can even access a Google application that makes a best guess at someone’s sexual preference.
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Scientists Win Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize For Wasabi Fire Alarm
30 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
How do you wake a deaf person, especially if the building that they are in is on fire? You squirt a puff of wasabi at them, obviously. Seven Japanese researchers were awarded the Ig Nobel prize for chemistry in the 21st annual Ig Nobel awards, a spoof of the real Nobel awards, at Harvard University last night for their invention.
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Two SABC Officials Allegedly Arrested After Not Paying Prostitutes
30 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Please notice the “allegedly” up there. Reports claim that two senior officials at the SABC have been arrested in London after refusing to pay two prostitutes for their services; the two men were in the UK for a business school initiative set up between South African and British academic boards.
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China Agrees R19 Billion SA Investment, Dalai Lama Probably Not Coming
29 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has today told a small news conference that China has agreed to invest approximately R19 billion in investment projects around South Africa. He’s been on a three-day visit to China, and has avoided all mention of the constant South African headache that is deciding whether the Dalai Lama should get a visa or not.
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