Indian Gay Pride Finally Out of the Closet

Sunday's first Queer Pride Parade in Delhi marked a turning point for India's gays and lesbians, who are persecuted under a colonial-era law, Section 377, that criminalizes some sex acts. A high court is considering a petition against the statute.

Beach Gets Protected As Heritage Site

It’s Sydney’s most famous beach and it’s one of the cities’ iconic sites, just as the Opera House or the Harbour Bridge. The news of the beach’s inclusion in the National Heritage Listing provides protection with criminal sanctions for any damage caused to the site.

Bondi Beach is the quintessential Australian beach in the imaginary of many. As Peter Garrett, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts puts it: “you can’t get more Aussie than Bondi,”

SHM: You can’t get more Aussie than Bondi

PARK(ing) Day

Last month, San Francisco artists and activists took over parking spots around the city and turned them into "PARK(ing)" spaces or temporary public parks!

via parkingday.org

The world map of social networks

Social networking is quickly emerging as the horse in front for brand planning online. Social media is a catch-all term to describe websites where users or members share content, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media themselves.

It's interesting to see how the world has been mapped according to which social network a country is using the most:

- Orkut leads in the Indian subcontinent, as well as Brazil.
- Facebook is stronger, internationally, than Myspace, with surprising strongholds in the Middle East.
- hi5.com is the most international of all the social networks, leading in Peru, Colombia, Central America, and other, scattered countries such as Mongolia, Romania, and Tunisia.
- both Bebo and Skyblog follow colonial patterns, the first strong in smaller English-speaking countries such as Ireland and New Zealand, and the latter in Francophone countries;
- and Friendster, the original social network, leads all across Southeast Asia.
- Fotolog, a photo service defeated in the US by Friendster, has re-emerged as the dominant social network in Argentina and Chile

PSFK - Valleywag

China's surnames shortage

With more than a billion people now sharing just 100 surnames, Chinese authorities are considering a landmark move to try to end the confusion, state media reported Tuesday.
Current Chinese law states that children are only allowed take the surname from either their mother or father, but the lack of variety means there are now 93 million people in China with the family name Wang.
Under a new draft regulation released by the ministry of public security, parents will be able to combine their surnames for their children, a move that could open up 1.28 million new possibilities, the China Daily reported. (AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE)

Third world country or the cradle of modern civilization?

it's Naples... the beutiful forgotten city divided between its loveliness and its squalor, where the endless crisis over trash seems once again never ending. In the mire of politics and Mafia, garbage reings on.

courtesy of NY Times