Do you know what self-immolation is? It’s the rather rare practice of setting oneself on fire to show how strongly you feel about something. Go figure. In the Middle East and North Africa though, it’s become more commonplace ever since a Tunisian vegetable seller did it to protest police harrassment, evoking an uprising at the end of 2010.
A Costa Cruises executive, and a woman with an obviously cold heart, has brandished her colleagues the “true heroes” of the Costa Concordia disaster. She also accused the passengers of “sensationalism” in a letter in which she discussed the tragedy that saw the Costa Concordia cruise ship capsize off the coast of Italy.
A short while ago, Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper company agreed to pay damages to 36 high-profile victims of tabloid phone-hacking. On top of this, News Corp has acknowledged to victims that executives covered up the scale of the unlawful activity by destroying evidence and lying to investigators.
Following criticism over pretty much everything he’s done in the past decades, Star Wars creator/destroyer George Lucas announced his planned retirement in a recent interview with the New York Times – adding, “Why would I make any more when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?”
Though it did well on the festival circuit, South Africa’s “Skoonheid” has missed out on a nomination for Best Foreign Film at this year’s Academy Awards. Unfortunate, but what films did make the shortlist, and which is the favourite tipped to win the gong?
This is sort of like Robocop! Brazilian police forces are testing out glasses fitted out with cameras linked to a central computer network that stores a database of criminal suspects’ faces, so that they’ll be able to arrest people during the 2014 World Cup without having to ask them their names.
Google has joined Wikipedia, BoingBoing and a number of other popular websites in the SOPA protest – not just by ‘blacking out’ their logo, which is cute but largely ineffective, but by putting together a comprehensive and informative infographic on the SOPA bill and piracy, along with access lines for voters to contact members of Congress through.
Controversy is raging on both sides of the Atlantic over a British publisher’s plan to reprint Adolf Hitler’s anti-semitic manifesto, Mein Kampf, in German for the first time since the end of the Second World War.
If you’re anything like me, going even a few minutes without music can seem like torture. However as it turns out, a few minutes without music blaring in your ears could actually save your life.
Wikipedia joined a number of other websites by going offline for 24 hours in an attempt to protest against proposed anti-piracy laws in the US. Users see a black screen and a political statement: “Imagine a world without free knowledge,” but if you really need to access the website, just hit the ‘Esc’ key when you land on your desired Wikipedia page.
In retaliation against Saudi Arabian hacker 0xOmar, who leaked the credit card details of 15 000 Israeli nationals and took down a secondary Tel Aviv stock exchange site last week, Israeli hackers calling themselves the #IDF-team have targeted stock exchanges in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates yesterday.
The White House was forced to be locked down for over an hour last night when protestors from the “Occupy DC” movement lobbed a smoke over the wall. The group consisted of about 1500 protestors, from all across America. Nobody was allowed to leave the property.
Foreign interference from the USA could have been behind the $165 million failure that was the Phobos-Grunt probe to Mars by Russia. This is the opinion of Russian space agency Roscosmos, which is investigating the most recent disaster in what has been a series of “major space mishaps” for the nation.
Following his opening address for the International Knowledge Conference at the University of Stellenbosch Business School, former president, Thabo Mbeki voiced some concerns about Twitter as “a great conveyor of reliable knowledge,” pointing to Gaddafi’s overthrow as a consequence of “false knowledge,” rather than the social media. Mbeki immediately started trending on Twitter.
Which set of global music artistes are locked in a post-awards death match following a trophy shocker that saw one win best original song for her “Masterpiece”, and saw her rival scowl so deeply, his face appeared to eat itself?
There have been plenty of tech announcements over the past few days, what with the Consumer Electronics Show going on in Las Vegas, each one claiming to be more exciting than the last – which gets tedious. So I mean it when I say that, Samsung’s new “Smart Window” is the most exciting thing to come out of CES 2012.
Just to fill you in on who Tim Tebow is, he is God’s current gift to American Football. And I mean that in more ways than one. In particular, he is a highly-religious man and often thanks God in interviews for his performance as quarterback for the Denver Broncos. That is quite normal amongst successful public […]
First dates are a minefield of social etiquette, and one misstep can bring disaster. Not one to let sleeping dogs lie, NY investment banker, Mike, let his luckless lady know- in excruciating detail – how you let a guy down easy. You can read Mike’s full 1600 word lunatic ramble or consult our handy 2oceansVibe Quicknotes version which summarises the main points of this lunacy for your convenience.
Last month, we saw footage of North Koreans weeping hysterically over the death of Kim Jong Il. Shockingly, it now turns out some of those people were just faking it! As punishment, authorities are handing down six months in a labor-training camp to all those who participated, but “didn’t cry and didn’t seem genuine.”
A UK judge ruled this week that Richard O’Dwyer, an English university student, can be extradited to the United States to face charges of copyright infringement – O’Dwyer being the former administrator of TVShack, a website that linked to pirated content. This sets a dangerous legal precedent for anybody who does anything fun on the internet.
Taxi Rank is a newly-launched web app that lets folks in Cape Town order cabs online or via smartphones – which isn’t in itself especially new or useful. What is pretty neat is that, once pick-up and drop-off points are specified, the service also provides estimated quotes by Cape Town’s various taxi companies, organized by price.
Not everything went according to plan at the ANC’s centenary celebrations over the weekend. Dictator, and Ugandan President, Yuweri Museveni, had to get his security guards to buy him some grilled chicken from Nando’s because there was no food at his accommodation.
Victorinox, manufacturers of the iconic Swiss Army Knife, as well as a host of other sharp shiny things, have unveiled their latest range of all-in-one utility tools, which now include a solid state flash drive of up to 1 terabyte capacity! Sweet!
A recent study by Chinese experts has found that internet addiction affects your brain in the much the same way that cocaine, and other drugs, does.
On the back of the dreadful news that eight rhino carcasses were found in the Kruger National Park within the space of 24 hours the day before yesterday, a South African columnist and well respected journalist has asked whether we should be farming rhino.
I’d forgotten that this was something people still did! That metaphorical ‘Doomsday Clock,’ that the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists uses to represent the threat of nuclear war, was moved to five minutes to midnight, the closest to doomsday it’s been since North Korea’s 2007 nuclear weapons test.
It’s nice that companies are willing to go to insane lengths to try and make us buy their things. Take G-Form, who wrapped up an Apple tablet in their ‘Extreme Edge’ case, and launched it into space on a weather balloon before dropping it back to earth to prove how extreme their case really is.
Those Aussies just need to be the best at everything, don’t they? Except, a British medical journal recently revealed that Australia and New Zealand also top the global charts for usage of marijuana and methamphetamine! Awkward!
Instead of selling off some non-essential items like a TV or maybe a set of golf clubs when his financial situation became dire, a Saudi business man chose to sell his son. For $20 million.
Greek disability groups expressed anger yesterday at a government decision to expand a list of state-recognized disability categories to include pedophiles, exhibitionists and kleptomaniacs. No news yet as to whether or not these people will also qualify for special parking close to schools, playgrounds, and shopping malls.