Last week, we told you that photographs were taken of a tribe of reclusive people native to the Peruvian/Brazilian forests.  On the heels of that, the Peruvian government has announced it will take action to protect the tribes and stop loggers from encroaching on the land the tribes inhabit.  From the BBC:

Authorities in Peru’s Amazon state of Madre de Dios now say they will stop illegal loggers who travel deep into the forest in search of tropical hardwoods.

They are often the first people to encounter the tribes.

Aside from destroying the tribes’ homes, the loggers also can bring diseases fatal to the tribespeople - even something as simple as the common cold can kill.

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Social networking, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Youtube… Did you ever stop to think how our interaction on these sites would transfer to the real world? Are the ways we keep in touch actually normal? The answer might lie below:

Perhaps when we left high school, we were really supposed to leave high school….

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The potential effect of China’s pollution on the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is becoming more and more obvious, as the world record holder in the men’s marathon stated a few months back he will not compete due to pollution, and now the woman’s world record holder says that the pollution could force her to wear a mask when not competing.  Yesterday, Paula Radcliffe stated that the use of a mask while in Beijing may be necessary to help keep her asthma in check.  In an interview with BBC Radio, she said,

“I think the biggest factor is going to be runny eyes, runny nose and sore throat after the event - and if things go according to plan in the race, I don’t particularly care. The biggest thing for me is to make sure my asthma is under control - which it is - and minimise the effects of pollution in the lead-up to the race.” [news.scotsman.com]

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The interwebs are all abuzz with a video that’s making the rounds today which purports to be the official trailer for Disneynature’s first feature, Earth, which opens next year on Earth Day. Now, the video looks cool and all, but I’m almost 100% positive that all the footage was ripped off from the Planet Earth documentary. I’ve wasted spent enough of my life watching the series to notice a lot of the trailer (polar bear swimming, bird hopping, monkey swimming with other monkey on it, shark jumping…I can continue) looks suspiciously totally and completely like the stuff in Planet Earth. You can be the judge, after the jump.

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It’s quite difficult to hold back tears and vomit as I read the disgusting report of a 73-year-old man in Austria who confessed to holding his daughter captive in his home cellar for nearly 24 years and fathering seven children by her! WTF!?

The father, called Mr. F, lived upstairs with his oblivious wife Rose F while his captive daughter and three of their kids remained locked in the basement! Again, in case you didn’t catch that, Rose F lived above four of her husbands prisoners and never noticed a thing!?

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In England, a man recently got hassled about having a “camera license” when he tried to take photos of a woman turning on her Christmas lights:

After explaining he[Phil Smith] didn’t need one, he was taken down a side-street for a formal “stop and search”, then asked to delete the photos and ordered not take any more. So he slunk home with his camera.

“People were still taking photos with mobile phones and pocket cameras, so maybe it was because mine looked like a professional camera with a flash on top,” he says.

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A recent survey shows a quarter of Scots think that a raped woman is partially responsible for her assault if she is a bit tipsy or wearing sexy clothes. Additionally, nearly one in five Scots surveyed believe rape can be a woman’s fault if she is known to have had several sexual partners.

In response to this ignorant victim blaming, Rape Crisis Scotland has developed a series of ads showing a scantily clad female and bearing the slogan “This is not an invitation to rape me.”

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Don’t miss these excellent posts on some very engaging and thoughtful topics - from going green at the office to Julian Beever to dystopian film telling us to take action now. Check out our most popular articles of the week on a variety of subjects, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.

Katie:

Katoucha’s Body Found: Model Helped African Women Escape Mutiliation

Julian Beever Brings Art to New Orleans Sidewalks

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Nicole:

Heath Ledger Nick Drake Video for “Black Eyed Dog” Hits Web

Top 10 Ways to Go Green in the Office

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Giulia:

Crate & Barrel Goes Green

The Black Comedy Project

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Gina:

Top 10 Dystopian Future Films Telling Us to Take Action Now

Going to “The Edge of Heaven” with Fatih Akin

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Kerry:

Sustainable Songstrees Sue West’s Rural Revival

No Impact Home A Hit At Ecobuild Exhibition

Oh when will the ignorant humor epidemic end? You know, lame comedians perpetuating racial and ethnic stereotypes through lame shticks. We’ve seen it, we’ve heard it, and we still don’t think it’s very clever.

Fear not intelligent comedy fans! There are comedians out there who are making an effort to explore and celebrate their heritage on stage without being hacky. Better yet, there are groups of comedians joining forces to explore and celebrate their heritage without being hacky. One of those groups is The Black Comedy Project.

As explained on their site “there’s a difference between what people think “Black Comedy” is and what it actually happens to be. NYC Based comedians Baron Vaughn and Elon James White have reached out to comedians across the nation to finally let the world know that there’s very different voices within the community. Let us bring them to you.”

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Remember that I Love Lucy episode where Lucy got a gig at the candy factory? Ricky and Fred thought doing housework was easier than earning money. Lucy and Ethel think the opposite so they switch roles for a day. The boys stay in and try to hold down the fort while Lucy and Ethel unsuccessfully work a chocolate assembly line.

As a kid I recall suggesting a similar experiment between my housewife mom and my electrician dad. My parents told me to “go read a book.” This was their common comeback whenever they wanted me to be quiet leave them alone.

Well a town in Canada did a little Lucy-like switch of their own. Sorta. According to Reuters, 70% of Canadian households are run by women, and most of those women are also holding down full-time jobs. The Canadian national channel, the CBC, is using these statistics as the backbone for a forthcoming special called The Week The Women Went,based on a BBC documentary of the same name. CBC producers set up shop in the tiny (population: 760) town of Hardisty, Alberta, then took all the women and sent them on holiday, leaving the children and domestic duties solely to the men for a week. Hardisty’s Kelly Weatherly predicted, “It will be a disaster, a complete disaster,” but the original BBC version of The Week The Women Went showed that the stunt actually helped create a greater sense of parity between husbands and wives in the domestic sphere.

I have a feeling both programs provided some insight , and few laughs. Probably not as many laughs as this classic clip…