Phnom Penh (Ah!) Travel Tips -- One Laptop per Child Extends Give One Get One Program Through December 31 - December 2007

Nicholas Negroponte founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child - photo David Weekly Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License FRSESHIE SHOW producer Boonkerd Angamnuasiri - NR photo CNVLD’s Secretary General Chris Minko- NR photo 2007 WOVD Cambodia Standing Volleyball World Cup - PHOTO Mr Michael Huber Pedestrian DANGER ZONE on Sihanouk Boulevard - NR photo

DJ Ken

National Radio Text Service - Thursday December 20, 2007

One Laptop per Child Extends - Giving Campaign off to Strong Start; People Want More Time to Participate

One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing every child in the world access to new channels of learning, sharing and self-expression, is extending its recently launched Give One Get One program beyond the initial two-week limited time offer through December 31, 2007, in the USA and Canada.

The extended period gives people more time to participate in this unique giving program and support the mission of One Laptop per Child. On November 12, OLPC launched the Give One Get One program for individuals in the USA and Canada to support the OLPC Foundation by paying US$399 for two XO children’s laptops – the buyer gets one laptop and the other is given to a child in the developing world. The donated laptops will go to children in such countries as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Mongolia and Rwanda.

“In the past 10 days, we’ve experienced an outpouring of support from the public that is truly gratifying and encouraging,” said Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child. “Because so many people have asked for more time to participate either individually or in order to organize local and national groups to which they belong, we have decided to extend Give One Get One through the end of this year. During this extended period we will solicit input and transition to a program of giving only at the beginning of 2008. We want as many people as possible to have the opportunity to act upon the giving spirit of the holiday season.”

FULL STORY One Laptop per Child

(Business Wire)

PHNOM PENH HAPPENINGS

CAMBODIA'S FRESHIE BOY & GIRL SHOW RETURNS

Cambodia's Freshie Boy & Girl show will return for the 2008 season when the shows producer Boonkerd Angamnuasiri changed his mind after saying at the end of last years 2007 final "James you have just seen the last Freshie show, I am tired."

That was the bad news. The good news is he changed his mind

FULL STORY

2007 Phnom Penh Volleyball World Cup News Germany take Gold

Germany defeated Slovakia in five sets to take Gold in the 2007 WOVD Standing Volleyball World Cup at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday 1 December. Undefeated through the whole tournament, Germany now take the mantle of World #1 after Canada crashed out early in the games.

Playing in front of a near capacity crowd and broadcast live to air on CTN TV, Germany had a shaky start losing the first two sets against a consistently imposing Slovakian team. Both teams had some of the most experienced players in the world on court and led by equally experienced coaches in Athanasios Papageorgiou and Helena Hanková . Germany fought back as Slovakia failed to capitalize on their lead taking the next two sets in convincing fashion but by slim margins. A strong contingent of German support in the crowd rallied the team’s morale and they took the final set by only a few points.

H.E Minister Ith Sam Heng, Ministry of Social Affairs, Youth and Veterans Rehabilitation, presented medals and trophies to the top three teams and the assembled WOVD Officials. H.E Ith Sam Heng also presented the prizes for the ANZ Royal - CNVLD Wheelie Grand Prix Final Round.

The CNVLD congratulates the German National Standing Volleyball Team for their victory and taking the crown of World #1. On behalf of the Cambodian National Standing Volleyball Team, the CNVLD wishes to thank the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia , the athletes, officials, volunteers and supporters for contributing to the success of the 2007 WOVD Cambodia Standing Volleyball World Cup. Cambodia looks forward to welcoming back all of its international friends for the next tournament

Cambodia take the Bronze!

Cambodia took the bronze medal in the 2007 WOVD Standing Volleyball World Cup playoff on Saturday afternoon, defeating Poland in five sets to become World #3. After losing to Slovakia in a nail biting semifinal by only two points in the fifth set, Cambodia came out strong to beat Poland for the second time in the tournament and win a medal. Cambodia ’s agility and fitness combined with top flight technical skills won the hearts of the nation and the Olympic Stadium was close to capacity for Saturdays game creating an electric atmosphere unlike any previous World Cup. H.E Minister Ith Sam Heng, Ministry of Social Affairs, Youth and Veterans Rehabilitation watched with pride as the Cambodian National Team paraded flags in joy after their victory as the World Cup Anthem by Preap Sovath ran out on the court.

National Coach Christian Zepp was heralded by the team for his great contribution and the CNVLD looks forward to a corresponding rise in standards in the National League as national team athletes take their new skills to their respective provincial teams. The CNVLD salutes the Athletes with a Disability of Cambodia for their fantastic efforts and for bringing pride to their nation. www.volleyballworldcup2007.org

Cambodia won two of the seven World Cup best player trophies at the 2007 WOVD Cambodia Standing Volleyball World Cup.

The recipients of the Best Player Trophies for the 2007 WOVD Cambodia Standing Volleyball World Cup are as follows:

Best Server: Man Veasna - Cambodia

Best Receiver: Martin Vogel - Germany

Best Setter: Lobomir Novosad - Slovakia

Best Attacker: Adam Stepien - Poland

Best Blocker: Joseph Mihalco - Slovakia

Best Defender: Yin Buntheoun - Cambodia

Most Valuable Player: Adam Stepien - Poland

PEDESTRIAN BEWARE

Walking the streets of Phnom Penh is no easy task. Quite frankly IT IS DANGEROUS. The sidewalks are primarily used by businesses for auto parking or restaurants extending their business on the public sidewalks by placing chairs and tables to the extent that pedestrians must walk in to street to get through.

Once in the street you must look both ways as motorcycles and vehicles go the wrong way and on the wrong side of the street. If you're used to looking into the oncoming traffic take the time to look the opposite way for the wrong way driver.

When crossing the street DO NOT EXPECT courtesy of the road and yielding to pedestrians who in the western world have the right of way. Remember…THIS IS CAMBODIA. There is no courtesy of the road here. Oncoming traffic will drive IN FRONT of you. If you and the vehicle reach the spot you are walking towards REMEMBER when metal hits flesh, METAL WINS.

If you're injured the medical facilities in Cambodia area nightmare and not recommended. Those that can afford it travel to Thailand or Vietnam for medical treatment.

On Tuesday December 18 at 2:45 PM, due to an SUV being double parked in the street on Sihanouk Boulevard, a Lucky market shopper had to walk into the middle of the traffic lane to get into the store. Motorbikes were lined up on the sidewalk blocking all pedestrians' access and endangering their lives.

If you're using a motor taxi for transport make sure that they are sober before getting on the bike. It is seldom that a motor-taxi driver takes the time to look before moving into another lane of traffic. Should you feel uncomfortable about your driver, get off and look for another. The life you save may be your own.

Make sure you hold your purse or bag IN FRONT OF YOU ON YOUR CHEST. A French girl recently died after an unsuccessful snatch and grab of her purse while she was a passenger on a motorcycle. She fell into traffic and was run over by an oncoming vehicle.

GO FIGURE

A group of NGO types brought a group of children together to sing Christmas carols including 'Silent Night.' That's the good news.

The bad news is…. The holy venue chosen for the occasion was a BAR. The amount of money many NGO employees in Cambodia spend on alcohol in a year's time is enough to employ thousands of Cambodians.

NR'S TOP CAMBODIAN STORIES

There has been a major shakeup in the interest of Cambodia's Top stories on out National Radio site. For years the Royal Palace has been rated in the overall NR Top 10 usually holding down the second or third position. This month it has fallen out of the Top 20.

Seven Cambodian stories made it to the Top 16 overall. Dr Beat Richner continues to dominate the majority of the charts but more interestingly there is a new player in the Top 10 and # 1 overall.

The rankings are as follows. The first number indicated is the ratings for Cambodian stories the second number is the ranking overall.

1. 1 - Our story on Digital Divide Data - Bridging the Digital Gap of Have and Have Nots, is one of the first Cambodian stories that we ever published. This story is mired in controversy as major search engines have violated the use of intellectual property and attached the interest in the story by misleading the public to a link to Washington University in the United States. (More below)

Special Note:

Racism is a subject that won't go away. A story Racist Radio that we wrote about the subject in 1998 continues to retain interest and keeps reentering the Top 20 over the years. We are including it on this list since the problem exists in Cambodia.

An English language publication in Cambodia suggested in its January 2007 issue for foreign club owners keep black people out of their establishment. In its June 2007 issue that same publication gave advice on purchasing narcotics. The irony is that within a one year period two of its writers of their Sihanoukville column died from drug related causes.

INTERNET THEFT?

In researching the findings we have found that search engines Yahoo, Google and MSN are all guilty of misleading the public. They have linked our story information to other sites without our permission. Those sites include Thai Visa, Washington University in the USA and UNESCO.

We have tried to contact Yahoo regarding this matter but there was no response. For our story on Digital Divide Data titled Bridging The Digital Gap Yahoo linked our information to UNESCO and Washington University web sites as noted below.

Cambodia (PDF) 13 James Loving, "DDD - Bridging the Digital Gap of Have and Have. Notes," (by James Loving, National Radio Text Service, 8 April 8, ... www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ict/Metasurvey/CAMBODIA.PDF - 117k - View as html

The questions are:

1. Why would a company that is valued at billions of dollars employ dishonest practices?

2. Who is responsible for manipulating information that is misleading to the public?

3. Who is responsible at UNESCO in permitting the practice?

Yahoo used the same story to mislead the public to the Washington University (USA) web site as noted below:

Cambodia (PDF) 13 James Loving, "DDD - Bridging the Digital Gap of Have and Have. Notes," (by James Loving, National Radio Text Service, 8 April 8, ... www.com.washington.edu/ict4d/upload/2004052712430458_03760155.pdf - 117k - View as html WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Our Roman Wanderaugh columns have been linked to other web sites by all three search engines without our permission. The most flagrant violator is Thai Visa. We have contacted them in the past but they have ignored our request to take our stories off their site.

All three of the mentioned search engines have used our story information and linked it to Thai Visa without our permission. Thai Visa actually stole our story and posted it on their site. In the past they not only stole our Cambodia By Land & Sea story but also used our photo. Since that time the photo is not on our story on their site.

Google provides advertising for the site. The question is why would a company that is worth billions of dollars resort to supporting a web site that steals?

The information of our information page on the Google site also had the following endorsing going to the Thai Visa site. ©2007 Google - Google Home - Advertising Programs - Business Solutions - About Google FRONT PAGE WITH THAI VISA

MSN did the same. They listed incorrect information and linked our work to Thai Visa as noted below:

Thaivisa.com The latest updated Thai visa immigration news; work permit and residence permit in ... Friday, 15 December 2006 Cambodia visa trip "TRAVELING AROUND" by Roman Wanderaugh o www.thaivisa.com/344.0.html o ¡¤ 7/14/2007 o ¡¤ Cached page

Cambodia visa trip "TRAVELING AROUND" by Roman Wanderaugh "AN INEXPENSIVE TRIP from BANGKOK to CAMBODIA by LAND & SEA" If you're an adventurous traveler the trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia from ... o www.thaivisa.com/border-run/page_2.html o ¡¤ Cached page o +Show more results from www.thaivisa.com

MSN also listed the headline TRAVELING AROUND on the Cambodia Land & Sea story. It raises the question why was it necessary to make two listings on the same story to link to the Thai Visa site?

Roman Waderaugh and any other National Radio columns are only legally available on the Internet on National Radio. We DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION for any other web site to use our material including soliciting our photos to the public.

We negotiate directly with interested parties for use. We are published in print in five languages. We do not approve of Thai Visa using our material and all of the search engines misleading the public to other web sites using National Radio information.

Isn't a search engines job to lead the public to the information they seek? It is clearly stated on our National Radio web site:

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We are published in five languages, English, Thai, French, Russian and Khmer (Cambodian language). Any of our foreign language material is legally available ONLY on our National Radio site.

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