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| Giving a new meaning to "Shanghaied" > > > > |
| Half a million free condoms for Shanghai |
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| "Once in a while a book comes along that changes one's perspective forever. *Ancient Futures* is such a book. I haven't been the same since." |
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| The Great Forgetting > > > > |
| Growing Earth? |
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| The floating ecopolis |
| C o u n t r i e s , I s l a n d s |
| Chocolate's bitter sweet relationship with the rainforest |
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| Rap Sheets > > > > |
| Seven Countries Consider Dropping US Dollar |
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| Cancer of YC evident in even the oldest profession > > > > |
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| got ET? > > > > |
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| The Growing Loneliness Epidemic -Brian Vaszily |
| S. Korea carries out mass pig cull |
| Study: Humpback whales have 'human' brain cells |
| The Way The World Ends
By Helen Caldicott |
| NK's Kim Jong Il to go on "a little diet", care of UN |
| Norway's 'doomsday vault' to protect seeds |
| Japan defeated on whaling, green groups relieved |
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| Pro-greed > > > > |
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| beLIEf > > > > |
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| email@mikeblackwood.net |
| World Sites > > > > |
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| NMI/EMC |
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| NO MAN IS AN ISLAND; EACH MAN IS A COUNTRY |
| Southwest Alaskans say bird is the size of a small plane --Tale of big bird catches some air --BIGFOOT SIGHTINGS ON THE INCREASE --I've seen the Beast of Bolam, says hunt man --Those chupacabras are at it again in Puerto Rico; --Strange Creature Eating Large Animals In Argentina? --Police investigating gnome reports in Ecuador --Strange Creature Forces Maru Women Indoors This list is just a tip of a huge iceberg on their site :) I could read for hours :) |
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| Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Give a man religion, watch him starve to death praying for fish. -- Scott Stockdale ------------------------------- For good men to enjoy killing requires religion. --author unknown |
| Anti-march reports |
Number of Billionaires Up to Record 793 These greedheads are worth 2.6 trillion dollars while this child starves Click on the photo to see what such an extreme concentration produces |
| UN report warns overuse of water |
| Telescope to spot alien beams |
| Mysterious pyramid of Japan |
| "Roof of the world" glaciers melting fast |
| Gen. Odom - Why US Must Get Out Of Iraq NOW-Cut and Run? You Bet! By Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, Yale Foreign Policy.com / May 7, 2006 |
| Prodi: Iraq war 'grave error' |
| They had their "Passion of the Christ"; now we have "THE DA VINCI CODE!" |
| ...will process the equivalent of all books in print every second. |
| China's longest river "cancerous" with pollution |
| Drought-stricken Beijing faces dry Olympics: report |
| China: slowing rate of desertification |
| Reuters typo: "it's", not "its" |
| Millions breathe cancer-causing air in India: report |
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| The Unification Flag of North and South Korea |
| South Korea plans search for alien life |
| Africans starve because billions in aid is wasted |
| Is the U.S. #1? |
| The Physics of 'Safety' |
| UFO observed on the Moon by Italian Astronomers |
| CBS Interviews Disclosure Project Witness Dan Willis |
| Archipelagos > > > > |
| Police raid closes rebel convent |
| Oil prices soar on invasion fears |
| S. Korea leader 'baffled' by mad cow fears |
| Google launches new space race to the moon |
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| "...Punishment or Healing?" |
| Why Internet connections are fastest in South Korea |
| Soccer fans shun hookers for art's sake |
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| Street Children in Colombia |
| Brooklyn, New York (VBS.TV) -- The first time I heard anything about people living in the sewers in Colombia was back at the beginning of the '90s. The sewage system running under Bogota's streets was filled with packs of kids living waist-deep in human waste and taking in copious amounts of glue and crack in order to cope.
This was at the height of Colombia's Dirty War, and the whole reason street kids had moved into the sewers in the first place was to get away from the violence above ground. But then the paramilitary death squads who had chased them off the street started coming into the pipes and shooting them or dousing them in gasoline or raping them. The sewer kids became a fairly big humanitarian story in the media for a while, with networks in America and Europe sending in TV crews to cover it and folks setting up charities abroad. Then, as happens with news stories, it fell off the radar, and I guess people kind of thought the problem had been resolved, if they thought of it at all. But what had actually happened was, about six months after all the stories aired, the death squads went in, armed with the whereabouts of the sewer-kid hot spots, and carried out massive reprisal killings. There was some talk in the government about cracking down on the death squads, but by all accounts, soldiers and off-duty cops made up a good part of most squads. So the situation just stagnated while the world turned its attention elsewhere. See the rest of Sewers of Bogota at VBS.TV When we went into the sewers and started talking to people, nobody wanted to be anywhere near our camera. Having heard stories about the last time cameras came down, they were all sure that the police would figure out where they were hiding from our footage and come in to beat the (expletive) out of them (the fact that they were all cracked out of their skulls probably didn't help with the paranoia either). We took great pains to obscure the locations of their homes, but the only reason any of them talked with us was because we went down with Jaime Jaramillo. We had mixed feelings about Jaime, or "Papa Jaime" as he prefers to be called, when we met him. He was constantly mugging for the camera and repeating the same well-rehearsed speeches about the kids' living conditions ("Their only food is trash, their only music the honking of the city bus ..."), calling us at our hotel when he's on the local news, etc. The thing is, though, he is seriously one of the only people in the country who's done anything about the situation in the sewers. We all snickered at the meditation tapes and the Evel Knievel jumpsuit, but once we got down into the pipes, not only did all the kids know and trust him, they ran to him like he was made out of crack. |
| Bazooka Joe kids, the Gamines of Colombia > > > > |
| Sewers home to Colombian kids |
| By Thomas Morton, online editor, Vice MagazineApril 23, 2010 12:38 p.m. EDT |
| Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN) -- The influx of thousands of soccer fans would increase demand on South African sex workers; at least that was the belief of a leading expert prior to the start of the 2010 World Cup.
But it seems fans of the beautiful game that traveled to the Rainbow Nation have created a flop in sex-worker business -- leaving prostitutes out-of-pocket and out of work -- in favor of more high-brow pursuits. "The World Cup has been devastating. We thought it was going to be a cash cow but it's chased a lot of the business away. It's been the worst month in my company's history," the owner and founder of one of Johannesburg's most exclusive escort companies told CNN. "No one is interested in sex at the moment. I think we've had three customers who traveled here for the World Cup which has seen my group's business drop by 80 percent. I enjoyed watching the games, but I can't wait for everyone to just go home now!" the madam, who works under the alias of "Tori," added. The behavior of fans in South Africa has run contrary to what was predicted prior to the start of the tournament after David Bayever told World Cup organizers in March it was feared that up to 40,000 extra prostitutes could converge in the host nation to meet the expected demand. Bayever, deputy chairperson of South Africa's Central Drug Authority (CDA) that advises on drug abuse but also works with prostitutes, warned: "Forty-thousand new prostitutes. As if we do not have enough people of our own, we have to import them to ensure our visitors are entertained." But the tournament in 2010, if anything, has seen the modern-day soccer fan attracted to art galleries and museums over brothels. A trend that has seen a drop in revenue across the board for the prostitution industry, which is illegal in South Africa. "Zobwa," the chairperson of Sisonke -- an action group representing around 70 street prostitutes in Johannesburg -- said business had been down over the last month. "People went to the bars and stadiums to watch the games and afterwards they went home. They didn't bother themselves with coming to us," Zobwa, who works as a prostitute told CNN. "Before the tournament we were getting good money but [over the month] it has not been busy at all. We thought it was going to be much better but it has been boring. I've actually left Johannesburg now because there has been so little trade. "Police have been keen to keep ladies off the streets and I don't think the foreign visitors were interested," Zobwa added. But where one industry declined because of the change in soccer fans' tastes, another has boomed -- cultural centers such as museums and art galleries have reported record attendance. Wayde Davy, deputy director of Johannesburg's Apartheid Museum, said visitors to see the exhibitions on South Africa's struggle against racial inequality had never been so good. "Before the tournament we anticipated an increase in numbers, we planned for around 2,000 a day but we've actually seen around 4,000 a day. One day we saw over 6,000 people -- it's gone through the roof. "We thought people were coming here for the soccer and party but we've been pleasantly surprised. Some of the teams visited too," Davy added. Antoinette Murdoch, the chief curator of the Johannesburg Art Gallery -- which specializes in contemporary art installations -- said she had seen similar results. "Fifty percent of our visitors have been international and there's a strong correlation between their country of origin and the teams playing in the World Cup," Murdoch said. "We normally have around 3,000 visitors but this month it's been closer to 4,000 which is a significant increase for us. We were worried that we would be inundated with sport hooligans, but there seems a lot of interest in our culture. We're situated by a fan park, but we've had no examples of drunken behavior, just friendly visitors and big donations in our tips box!" Diana Wall, manager of collections at Museum Africa, said her center had also seen an influx of culture-craving soccer fans. "Last June we had 472 foreign visitors, this year we've had nearly two-and-a-half thousand since the first match. We're situated in Newtown, a cultural district of Johannesburg, and our numbers have improved significantly." Though reticent to comment before an official post-tournament report had been conducted, Roshene Singh, the chief marketing officer for South Africa Tourism, suggested that South Africa playing host might have made a difference. "Having a World Cup in Africa is different from going somewhere more local. It's a long-haul trip so many have traveled with a holiday in mind too, so they probably want to have more of a total experience of the destination. "We estimate that in the region of 300,000 people visited for the World Cup on packages costing anything between $2000 to $20,000. We noticed that most fans were between the age range of 25-55-years-old, with many coming in as families or with corporate sponsors. "People who come to South Africa come for our people and our culture, those visiting have certainly had a great time. The township of Soweto has been full; shopping in the cities has also been very popular. The fans have been very well behaved and South Africans have been great hosts," she added. |
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| The Shanghai government will be offering 500,000 free condoms around the city in an effort to control the spread of HIV and AIDS. .
This week, local health officials released Shanghai HIV and AIDS statistics. Although there were a number of notable stats, one worth noting is that nearly “80 percent of HIV carriers and AIDS patients registered in Shanghai caught the virus through unprotected sex,” according to local officials. In light of the report, Shanghai health authorities are teaming up with condom-maker Jissbon to distribute condoms across the city. Expo-designated hotels and the 2010 Expo site itself will be targeted, although no specific number of hotels was given. Jissbon is donating 300 condom vending machines and 500,000 condoms to help the cause. 2010 Expo-designated hotels range from the budget hotel chain Jinjiang Inn to Shanghai luxury hotels including Pudong Shangri-La Hotel and JW Marriott Shanghai Tomorrow Square. Now no corner of Shanghai is safe from Expo condoms. Or perhaps we say every corner is now safer. The goal of the campaign is not only to increase condom usage in the city, but to also increase AIDS awareness among visitors to the World Expo, the majority of whom are Chinese. "Encouraging people, especially the youths, to practice safe sex is a good starting point," Yu Meiling, a doctor from nearby Anhui province who is visiting the 2010 Expo with her husband, told China Daily. Wong Chinchu, communication manager with the Pudong Shangri-La Hotel, told the paper that the hotel respects the move, but will do its best to protect its guests' privacy. Although the Expo might seem like an odd place to promote safe sex, authorities back their reasoning. "Unprotected sex is a major virus vehicle in cities like Shanghai," Zhuang Minghua, the AIDS control office's assistant director, said to Shanghai Daily. "So promotion of the use of condoms is the most effective and useful method to prevent HIV/AIDS, especially under the current big flow of people into the city for the World Expo." This push is part of the Shanghai AIDS Prevention and Control Commission's condom promotion program which kicked off in May with the goal of having “free condoms available by 2012 in 90 percent of public venues such as hotels, residential complexes, wet markets, entertainment venues and construction sites.” In additional to putting condoms in public places, Zhuang said that Shanghai officials will also reach out to sex workers, men who have sex with men and other high-risk groups, although specifics of those programs were not discussed. On December 1, 2009, there were 4,828 HIV carriers and 834 AIDS patients registered in Shanghai. |
