Yummy Wakame Weblog

What a cute Pepsi ad! (1mb mpg)

Mzansi Afrika tells of The Hidden Health Trauma of Child Soldiers
A new Belgian study reveals that children abducted or recruited to fight in wars suffer horrific atrocities and many are beaten and sexually abused. Young soldiers are forced to kill other children or even members of their own family, and girls are given to senior staff to act as wives.

An estimated 300,000 children, some 12 or younger, are currently serving as soldiers or guerrilla fighters in conflicts around the globe.

“I think this is the first time someone has investigated their experiences,” Ilse Derluyn, of Ghent University in Belgium. Derluyn and her colleagues interviewed 301 former child soldiers who had been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel movement in northern Uganda. Their research is published in The Lancet medical journal.

UN Regional Information Africa (IRIN) has more on this story.

In the meantime, Oneworld.net reports that Nepal’s Maoist rebels have announced plans to raise a militia of 50,000 children by April.

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (CSC) is an NGO that does valuable human rights work around this issue. They have been at the forefront of efforts to ban the recruitment and use of child soldiers, while encouraging sustainable networks to promote demobilization and reintegration of former child soldiers. The site provides news, information, resourses and related links.

Toilet seats ‘cleaner’ than office desks
According to a US study, KEYBOARDS, computer mice and telephone dials are more infested with microbes than toilet seats.

Office workstations should be regularly disinfected since they can on average contain 400 times as many germs as a toilet seat. Telephones harbour up to 25,127 germs a square inch, keyboards 3295 and computer mice 1676. The average office contains 20,961 germs a square inch.

Even more reason to work from home!

Another Kollaboration clip – bigger, better quality
(Windows Media)

Bathroom Mania
An illustrative new line of sanitary products by Dutch illustrator and designer Meike van Schijndel.

Here it is – Gareth Cliff’s infamous Interview with Jesus that got him suspended at 5fm.

brainFART Intelligence…

“I just heard about a patient who is an intravenous drug user and was high on heroin. After being unable to obtain any more of the illicit substance, he drew blood from another user that was high on heroin and then proceeded to inject himself with it.

Now’s he septic and almost dead.

Great problem solving skills, I’ll give him that.”

One of the many great things about living in South Africa is how a lot of emerging technology is tested there first. Internet Banking was going for a few years there before it even started emerging in the UK, and even today Internet banking in the UK is limited. Microchipped Bank Cards were used instead of speedpoints at many South African shops and they are only now introducing them in the UK. Cellular networks and phones were tested in South Africa too which meant that it was offered to the public for such great prices on pay-as-you-go, every family had at least one while it seemed only businessmen were using them in the rest of the world.

While listening to 5fm on internet radio today I caught a FIAT ad:
“Now all Fiat Palio Special Series come equipped with bluetooth as standard”
Nice! A Motorola Bluetooth Car Kit integrated with a Radio/CD. With the aid of this wire-less device, the driver can keep both hands on the steering wheel while receiving or making calls through voice activation.

FCS (Feline Confusion System)
Have you confused your cat recently? Chances are you have not. Most people don’t realise that they must confuse their cats regularly.

(found on caiterwauling)

George W. Bush rubs man’s head for “luck” in display of apparent racist ignorance (photo)

Before speaking to a March 3rd Los Angeles audience at the White House Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Mr Bush was introduced by an African-American male, whose head Mr Bush proceeded to rub while grinning and smirking. Full story…