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Family lives 4 years with dead brother

Ria — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:53:25 +0000

The northern province of Friesland is considered to be on the outer fringes of the Netherlands, with its own language, cows, and … weirdness. Proof of just how weird was the following news story from last night:

In the village of Minnertsga, the body of a man who died four years ago has been found

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Don’t believe the hype

Ria — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:22:59 +0000

iPad slips from hype topspot

Now that the brouhaha is beginning to fade, maybe we can take stock of the absurdity of the latest product launch by Apple. For those unable to attend the event in person, there were live blogs galore and even a blow-by-blow retelling of what was happening inside by vloggers refused

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Slow on the uptake

Ria — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:58:02 +0000

The TV was on late this evening, muted and ignored, until I noticed a series of clips showing motorbikes, cars and trucks trying to drive at high speed up sand dunes before getting stuck halfway up or on the crest. The bikes’ wheels spun sand jets vertically, while the trucks slid and rolled like beached

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Tabaski

Ria — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:48:20 +0000

Today is the most important national holiday in Senegal, Tabaski, the Wolof word for the Festival of the Sheep, known elsewhere in the Muslim world as Aïd-el-Kebir. It is a celebration of an event that is also important to Jews and Christians, that is, the sacrifice by Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) of his eldest son.

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Whiteout

Ria — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:22:04 +0000

The reaction anticipated in my previous post was swift and effective … actually it was glossy.

I had expected a different reaction — crude spray scribble, as had been done (by the PPK sprayers?) to the “NOUVEAU PARTI” graffiti, perhaps, or a riposte in words — but this whiteout is so … thorough and professional.

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The son still rises

Ria — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:08:06 +0000

On the same day that the leader of the National Assembly, Macky Sall, was voted out of office, a rash of graffiti appeared around Dakar — just three cryptic letters: PPK.

Fortunately, one sprayer had had the time, or the couilles, to write out the meaning: Pourquoi pas Karim (why not Karim).

The Karim

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Let them eat stats

Ria — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:29:21 +0000

Back in April, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade announced his latest new plan to revitalize the country’s agricultural sector, the largest sector of activity in terms of employment and production. It was the third plan in as many years. Previous plans, Jaxaay and Reva, were announced with similar fanfare yet failed to materialize into any actual

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Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

Ria — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:51:55 +0000

One of Senegal’s main newspapers, and the best known outside the country, is Le Soleil. Its most remarkable feature is that it is government-owned, which means that its editorial independence is comparable with Pravda in Soviet times. All content is filtered to be pro-government, or else is simply ignored.

The two main themes are (i)

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Ghetto can’t hold you back

Ria — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:51:30 +0000

The athletics results this last week in Beijing represent the summum of success for Jamaican runners, putting them in first place in the gold medal league table, equal with Russia and ahead of the US.

Bear in mind that Jamaica has a population of only 2.7 million.

The first gold medal went to Shelly-Ann

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School sacrifice

Ria — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:03:04 +0000

Ever on the lookout for the curious news story, I read in yesterday’s Sudonline of a new outbreak of mass hysteria at a Dakar secondary school. The first occurrence had been last Friday when some 90 students had experienced “hysterical” symptoms of screaming, trembling and falling into a trance-like state. Of the group, 88 were

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