That's For Christmas Dinner? [Infographic]

Aside from the gifts and decorations, one thing that every nation shares during Christmas is a large meal with friends and family members. While the meals are somewhat similar because they feature meat and vegetables, you might be surprised by the main courses and side dishes commonly found in other nations. 

Here are a few traditional Christmas meals in different nations.

Dark Day For Gay Rights

Dear friends,

Two Indian Supreme Court judges just decided that gay sex is illegal. ILLEGAL!! But if we act fast we can help reverse this crazy backwards ruling.

Men and women in India now face police harassment and life imprisonment. This hateful decision is being met with outrage, and if we now show India that outlawing love is making them an international embarrassment we can get the Indian Parliament to fast track passing a law that the judges have to respect.

Click here and sign now to help love conquer fear in India. When we reach 1 million we’ll get all our names written on hundreds of giant hearts ringing the Indian parliament, then place prominent ads showing that the world will no longer accept making love illegal. 

Anti-Apartheid Hero Nelson Mandela Dies Aged 95

Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela dies aged 95 (via AFP)

Nelson Mandela, the revered icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and one of the towering political figures of the 20th century, has died aged 95. Mandela, who was elected South Africa's first black president after spending nearly three…

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Obamacare Continues to Reveal Flaws: Republicans Now Blamed

By Marc Miller

The Obamacare catastrophe continues as the Affordable Care Act has hit yet more difficulties in the path to implementation. Only this time, the president isn't apologizing for it, nor is he expressing confident optimism that it will be fixed sufficiently in the near future: he's blaming Republicans.

While speaking on Tuesday at the Wall Street Journal CEO Summit, President Obama opted to place blame on the Republicans for failure to resolve major issues in his signature health care plan, including the roll-out of the health care exchange website.

Obama declared, “One of the problems that we’ve had is that one side of Capitol Hill is invested in failure and that makes the kind of iterative process of fixing glitches as they come up and fine-tuning the law more challenging.”

Yet, while the president and democratic strategists have focused on the website, more issues that have been lurking in the background, and are slowing being revealed: one of them has to do with the IRS and fraud. This concern came up on Tuesday, after the issuance of the inspector general’s report.

Dragons, Unicorns & Other Legendary Creatures

 

Magical and mythological creatures have enticed and fascinated people around the world for centuries. This can be seen in their depiction dating as far back as to the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians. As time progressed, these fantastical animals were written about in world texts, described in countless tales and legends, and more recently these creatures have been depicted in various movies and TV shows. With such a wide array of mythical creatures having been depicted throughout history, how does one decide which of these beautiful creatures are the best? Here is a list of what are arguably the five most amazing and beautiful mythical/magical creatures. 

US Courts Asked To Recognise Chimpanzees As People

US courts asked to recognize chimps as people (via AFP)

Walking, talking chimpanzees may be TV comedy gold but now three courts in New York are being asked to recognize four chimps as "legal persons" with fundamental rights. The move would allow the animals to be released into sanctuaries where they could…

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Francois Hollande Goes All Rambo On Us

"The new gung-ho France seems to have well and truly buried the 'cheese-eating surrender monkey' tag invented by The Simpsons later taken up with glee by American hawks during the Iraq War."

I'm so going to shove this syndicated article from GlobalPost down the throat of those silly francophobes on Twitter who think they're clever trying to insult me with the outdated (and so inaccurate, as the French Resistance did play an important role during WW2 anyway) joke about the French always surrendering. 

What Is An Underground Bunker And Why?

With the popularity of underground bunkers growing due to the trend of prepping, it’s important to take a step back and examine the different types of bunkers and find out what’s best for you before you begin to invest in one type or another. Rather you are looking at bunkers for shelter from storms, fear of nuclear attack (which always seems to be looming according to this article from the Guardian) or martial law you need to make sure that whatever choice you make that it fits your needs. Consider factors such as storage space, number rooms, bunks and energy. You also need to consider your price range and rather you want an above ground, partially underground or underground bunker.

 There are pros and cons to each different type of bunkers that you should be aware of before you make any commitments. Here are some of those pros and cons:

UN Refugee Agency Unveils Palestinian Archive

UN refugee agency unveils Palestinian archive (via AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has unveiled a trove of pictures and film captured over more than 60 years chronicling the collective memory of those who fled or were forced into exile. Established in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees who lost…

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Which New 'Doctor Who' Companion Am I? [Warning: I Might Have Had A Sex Change While Taking The Quiz!]

The full title should really have been "If I was not 'The Loupster' already (the Loupster is not one of the Doctors' companions and he's got companions himself), etc... etc... etc... which new 'Doctor' Who' companion would I be?", but... err... it would have been a tad too long, wouldn't it?

Anyway, this post is about the results I've got in the BuzzFeed's quiz "Which New 'Doctor Who' Companion Are You?". I'd already taken the "Which 'Doctor Who' Are You?" one, so I thought "why not take a quiz about the Doctor's companions as well?" After all, it was all in good fun and, let's face it, the chances of not being Captain Jack Harkness were rather tiny, weren't they? 

I mean, hey, I did make a point of answering all the questions in a manly manner, so what could go wrong?

Nothing much... except that, according to the quiz, I'm now one of the Doctor's female companions, d'oh!

Three Unpublished J.D. Salinger Stories Leaked Online Via eBay

Three unpublished J.D. Salinger stories leaked online via eBay (via Raw Story )

Three stories by the notoriously reclusive author J.D. Salinger were leaked online Wednesday. They were being auctioned as a book on eBay, but an anonymous Reddit contributor noticed that the seller had included a PDF scan of it in the description.…

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Promotional Video Production London - Golden Rules For Success

• Attention
• Branding
• Communication

Did this manage to capture your attention yet? That's exactly what your promotional video should trigger: the attention of the audience. If you can't grab it within the first 10 seconds, they are going to shift to other activities or messages that come across as more captivating.

Engaging your viewers can be extremely rewarding as studies show they are likely to share a cool and catchy video with their friends. This means you get additional exposure for free, exposure which may translate into increasing your brand awareness. When planning your video marketing campaigns, you can get professional help from any good promotional video production agency (Tech TV are a good example), so you can make the most out of this powerful marketing tool. Just stick to the following golden rules for success.

United Nations: Women's Rights Resolution Passed Despite Backlash

UN women's rights resolution passed despite backlash (via AFP)

A UN General Assembly committee has agreed a landmark first resolution on women's rights defenders such as Malala Yousafzai, despite a hard fought campaign by an alliance including the Vatican to weaken the measure. A Norwegian-led coalition, which…

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The Fall of the Eleventh Doctor: 5 First Signs of Greatness

While the following syndicated article from www.throughacitygeekly.com was written before the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special was aired (on a global scale and all), I do believe that it is actually still a very timely (and interesting) written piece as it is about Matt Smith leaving the TV show and how the writer of this post warmed up to the Eleventh Doctor.

Enjoy!

Loup Dargent

The Fall of the Eleventh: 5 First Signs of Greatness (via www.throughacitygeekly.com)

This year, midnight will strike Eleven as we bid farewell to Matt Smith and welcome Peter Capaldi as the Doctor in TV’s timeless (sorry) Doctor Who. I’ve been through this before: the shock, the anger, the bargaining, more anger and tears, then…

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Celebrities' Secret Twins

They say there is a secret way to success. That's all they tell me, sadly. I guess it's a secret people are willing to keep. That's why so very few of us actually make it. Those who manage are forever remembered as being the best humanity has to offer (whether that is true or not is a whole different story). All the rest of us have left is looking up to those people, envying them and thinking, “Why weren't I that lucky?”, or even more frequently, “Why don't I look like that?” Well, as you're about to find out, turns out looks doesn't solve everything.

Controversy Persists Over Sex Scenes In 'Blue Is The Warmest Colour'

Controversy persists over sex scenes in 'Blue is the Warmest Colour' (via AFP)

The director of a highly charged lesbian love story that dazzled Cannes said Monday he felt "great regret" at a controversy that has threatened to overshadow the film's rapturous critical reception. Abdellatif Kechiche, director of "Blue is the Warmest…

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Cover Reveal: 'The Other Me' By Suzanne van Rooyen [Giveaway Included]

It's with great pleasure that we're hosting today the Cover Reveal for another novel by Suzanne van Rooyen...

Suzanne is no stranger to this corner of the Blogosphere as, not only we have hosted a few Book Tours and Cover Reveals in the past for her previous books, but also, she wrote a very informative article for us (QUILTBAG Protagonists in SF/F YA Literature) that happens to mention... Whovians of the world rejoice!... Captain Jack Harkness, from Doctor Who and Torchwood!

Find out more about her new book and... Enjoy!

Loup Dargent

PS: By the way, there is a Giveaway at the end of this post, with the opportunity to win a $15 Amazon giftcard. Good luck to all of you!

Mexico To Give Equality Prize To Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai

Mexico to give equality prize to Pakistan's Malala (via AFP)

Mexico said Sunday it will award its 2013 International Prize for Equality and Non-Discrimination to Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot by the Taliban for championing girls' rights to education. The award seeks to recognize Malala's efforts…

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Doctor Who: The Many Loves Of The Doctor

Doctor Who: The many loves of The Doctor (via The Christian Science Monitor)

How many loves has The Doctor loved?(Adrian Rogers/BBC/AP) There’s a lot of hate in Doctor Who. The Daleks, un-anthropomorphic antagonists, feel nothing but it. There is also a frequent, terrible absence of any emotion at all. Cybermen – humans…

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"Doctor Who" Zips Around The Planet In 50th Anniversary TV Special

"Doctor Who" zips around the planet in 50th anniversary TV special (via AFP)

TV's most famous Time Lord popped up simultaneously in nearly 100 countries on Saturday -- in a special 50th anniversary episode of the BBC's cult sci-fi series "Doctor Who". Fittingly, for a two-hearted, time-travelling alien who reincarnates every…

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