Web users from all over the world celebrate the fall of Muammar Gaddafi

The web celebrates Gaddafi's fall

Scenes of jubilation in Tripoli’s Green Square, renamed Martyrs’ Square by rebels, as the Libyan capital falls under NTC control, marking the end of Gaddafi’s regime. This footage, filmed in the early hours of Wednesday morning, shows rebel fighters celebrating the end of the Libyan dictator’s 42-year rule, although his whereabouts remain unknown and pockets of pro-Gaddafi resistance remain. Libyans, at home and abroad, have been applauding the news. 

A great many videos have been uploaded onto sharing sites over the past few hours showing exiled Libyans from all over the world joyfully celebrating the end of the Muammar Gaddafi dictatorship. As we can see there have been peaceful rallies, with a friendly atmosphere and often music playing, in a number of cities across the planet, including Washington, America; Manchester, England, and Dublin in Ireland.

Demonstrations were organized in a number of Arab countries, including Yemen, Qatar and Egypt, to celebrate Libya’s freedom and demonstrate solidarity with the rebel fighters. Here we see demonstrators singing the national anthem in front of the Libyan embassy in Egypt.

The rebel victory appears to have boosted opponents of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. As we can see in this amateur video footage, hundreds of citizens took to the streets chanting “Bashar, you are next.”

And whilst the people of Libya celebrate, NATO is urging the last remaining loyalist troops, and in particular the mercenaries working for them, to put down their weapons. The organization is also reportedly circulating these fake notes, carrying the warning that they will use force if the non-Libyan fighters do not leave the country immediately.

 American photographer fights back against bullying

Jennifer McKendrick, an American independent photographer, refused to photograph a group of high school girls for their senior year book, saying “I won’t photograph ugly people”. She had found out that four students from the Pennsylvania school in the U.S. had been using a Facebook page to make fun of and insult one of their classmates.

McKendrick was shocked by their ‘ugly’ behavior and decided she could not take photos of people capable of such cruelty. She sent a letter to the parents of the students concerned, to explain her decision. She also wrote about it on her Facebook page and her blog, where comments from web users continue to flood in, the vast majority congratulating her for her actions. 

These messages of support often include accounts of personal experiences. This web user is thanking the photographer for taking a stand, saying she also suffered at the hands of bullies as a teenager. This has been a common reaction, and a lot of bullying victims have been sharing their experiences.

Other web users have already followed Mc Kendrick’s example. This woman for example, also a photographer, explains that she refused to take photographs of someone who made racists comments in front of her.

A number of anti-bullying initiatives have been launched recently in the United States, like the government program “Stop Bullying” which has been set up to help parents, children and teachers gain a better understanding of the problem.

 Internet terminologies added to the dictionary

400 new words have been added to the “Concise Oxford English Dictionary” this year, including a number of Internet terminologies. Like “retweet” for example which is when someone reposts or forwards a message posted by another Twitter user. The word “cyberbullying” is also now officially part of the English language. These new entries illustrate the strong impact of the Internet on language development.

 Retro electronic games online

With Pica-pic.com you can now play retro handheld electronic games online, as the site offers free access to dozens of old favourites, like Donkey Kong, Parachute and Terminator.

Video of the day

As part of their online marketing campaign, a tape manufacturing company decided to recreate a scene from the science fiction film “Tron” using rolls of coloured sticky tape. The clip is sure to be a hit with fans of the film, which came to our screens for the first time in 1982.