Latest posts by Merlin Franco
Love the dogs, hate the kids-Indian elites and the stray dog problem
AI generated image of a street dogIn 2022, a 4-year old child was mauled to death by street dogs in Telangana, a state in Southern India. Late, on 11 June 2023, a 8-year old child was mauled by street dogs in Kerala. These precious lives have been reduced to mere statistical figures in the ever-expl...
Posted on 26 August 2025 | 5:11 pm
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Book Review: Evie Woods' The Lost Bookshop
T𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 (𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧) 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆?The Lost Bookshop is a blatant ripoff of Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. Hats off to Evie Woods for lifting the story, plot, and characters from a popular movie, that too, an Academy A...
Posted on 3 June 2025 | 4:17 pm
Read postA radical proposal to rebrand Valentine's Day as Asian Kindness Day, in Singapore
Today is Valentine's day, which is not only for romantic lovers, but a day for celebrating kindness and goodness of humans around us. I was looking around for some inspiration, and came across this heartwarming incident.An 'Asian' lady has revolutionised the whole kindness influencer industry in Sin...
Posted on 14 February 2025 | 6:19 pm
Read postThis Global Handwashing Day (October 15), let's say NO to antiseptic soaps!
Every year, October 15 is celebrated as the Global Handwashing Day (GHD), an occasion promoted by the "Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap (PPPHW)", which is a coalition of international stakeholders whose focus is handwashing and child health. However, what most of us do not...
Posted on 14 October 2013 | 10:06 am
Read postBook review: Fruit Trees and Useful Plants in Amazonian Life
Patricia Shanley, Margaret Cymerys, Murilo Serra and Gabriel Medina, editors. 2011. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Pp. 353. ISBN 978-92-5-107007-9. Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2360e/i2360e00.htm Where have all our fish gone, that used to live in the sea? An...
Posted on 10 November 2012 | 10:34 am
Read postProgress and Development, in a nutshell
Posted on 28 September 2012 | 9:35 am
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