One hell of a site

Morning folks!

Today at breakfast, I went online to watch the news of something that merits attention. On Facebook, I saw that one of my friends had shared a link to this site: www.upworthy.com . Always yearning to discover or learn something new, I obviously clicked on the link.

I had heard of this site a few days ago, but I hadn't looked at it yet. The site's motto is: "Things that matters. Pass'em on." And that is what Upworthy is all about. We could say in a way that it is a news website, but it's kind of the opposite of what we are used to. 

Normally in the news broadcast, only the bad stuff is shown. Because people want what is "relevant" in our world. That is one golden rule of journalism: If a dog bites a man, not important. If a man bites a dog, let's report on it!".

The Upworthy philosophy is completely different. The people there think that we are more receptive to encouragement than to threat. That's why they show what goes well in the world, in order to set an example. But don't misunderstand me. This doesn't mean that upworthy-stories are set in a world without problems; it's just that they have found a way to deal with it.

A great example would be this utterly current story: Zach Sobiec

I personally stopped the video after a few minutes, because I thought "Boy, if I watch this video till the end right now, this is going to be a tough day."

On the other side, these videos will certainly cheer you up:

Jerk in a diner

In the street

I honestly haven't explored the whole site yet, so my opinion might not be as accurate as it should be, but I think I can't be totally wrong.

Could this be the most upworthy site in the history of the internet?

Enjoy, and have a nice day!

Incredibly useful and well-done website

Hi folks!

In today’s post, I’m going to give you a link everybody should click on. The website is called life-saver.org.uk. I discovered it yesterday and was quite impressed by how well it is made. On this site, you will learn how to save a person’s life, if he or she is choking, or having a cardiac arrest. Quite useful, isn’t it?

There are three scenarios in which you embody one of the characters. Along the story, plenty of questions are asked, and you have to choose the right (the safest) answer. Some of these questions are tricky, but the answers will probably prevent you from making fatal mistakes.

I don’t know if you’ve been trained for first aid, I have, and for a couple of days, I’ve been wondering if I would still be able to perform first aid correctly (where to put my hands for CPR, etc.). This website was perfect to refresh what I had learnt.

So now, instead of watching cats flushing the toilet on Youtube, I would advise you to give this site a shot. And don’t hesitate to share it, as I did, so that this website reaches as many people as possible.

Thanks UK!

https://life-saver.org.uk/#/INTRO

Bonus: CPR stands for ???

CardioPulmonary Resuscitation.

Or is it Colorado Public Radio?

"Humor is mankind's greatest blessing." Mark Twain

Bombing in Boston, explosion in Texas, earthquake in China, one week left before PC1 in Graz… lousy week for the world.

So let’s smile a bit J

The Italian man who went to Malta

How wealthy people laugh

You’re welcome :P

Earth Day

Blogging for the second time today, what is up?!

If you’ve been on Google today, on April 22nd, you might have seen this homepage.

When I saw it, I clicked on it and discovered that today is Earth Day! This means that all around the world, more than 1 billion people are participating in this worldwide even that celebrates Earth and environmentally friendly behaviors.

If there must be an official day to think of the Earth, fair enough…

Anyway, as I said, lots of people are involved in today’s actions, as you can see on this site:

Earth Day

Cleaning beaches, planting trees, taking part in a walkathon… Showing one’s concern can take various forms.

And you can do it too:

« Start doing something to lower your carbon footprint, and take a photo of yourself being part of the solution and upload it to The Face of Climate Change Wall. »

Here’s a bonus: this video is four years old and at the time, world leaders were attending the summit for climate change in Copenhagen. I think you will like it.

Time for Climate Change

So? Did you like it?

Level: Asian

Hello folks!

You know how sometimes on the Internet, some Youtube comments rank (as a joke) Asian people skills just below or just above Chuck Norris?

Well, this morning I just discovered another cool example:

You may have heard of the earthquake in China. Everybody was of course panic-stricken, everybody but a Chinese journalist, who followed her journalistic instinct to report about the event. 

Ah yes, I almost forgot, it was her wedding day.

Wanna see a picture?

Awesome, isn't it?!

Chuck Norris, you'd better watch out!

The Great Revelation in France

In the past few days, you may have heard of the situation in France, especially concerning the Finance Minister Jérôme Cahuzac. For those who haven’t, Cahuzac confessed two weeks ago, that he owned a bank account in Switzerland. In December, the online newspaper Mediapart accused him of having this account, but he denied repeatedly, in front of journalists but also in front of the President, the Prime Minister, and the National Assembly. Until Cahuzac’s confession, a big proportion of the French press called Mediapart’s journalists liars. Cahuzac’s case is huge because as the Finance Minister, he held conferences about the fight against the tax evasion, and he is himself a crook. That beats everything!

Jérôme Cahuzac

Euronews

The French President François Hollande wasn’t very popular in the opinion polls even before, but that event, which could be an affair of state, will certainly not help him winning back the trust of the French citizens.

So, he asked all his ministers to declare their inheritance, so that there will be more “transparency” in the government. That is the Great Revelation (and not Revolution!). Some think that this is good (it has already been done in other European countries) but some other think that it is just insane curiosity.

What I think is that this won’t solve any problem. A minister may well declare his or her possessions but that doesn’t prevent him or her from hiding something he or she is not so proud of.

The whole process has now lead to a childish game, consisting of finding out which minister is the richest, which is the poorest. Of course, some of them have colossal fortunes that could help the country in these hard times, but some other just own a decent amount of money. Some analysts said (rightly, I think) that being successful and enjoying the reward of one’s hard work is frowned upon in France. How can somebody find the motivation to create a business, if he or she will some day be called a lousy rich person? I’m not being partial here; this is just common sense. Hard work has to be rewarded.

Since these events, I have even greater respect towards Mediapart, and his creator Edwy Plenel. Before the truth had its day, Mediapart had little support from its fellow journalists and now, these same people are selling tons of newspaper about the affair. Isn’t that a bit too easy?

Thank you Mr. Plenel, good to know that there still are some reliable journalists out there.

Edwy Plenel

PS: if more interested in the topic, I might have some extra information :)