I have no idea what this sign is telling me….but I see a cat with his mouth covered, the word “love”, and a kid catching a baseball.

Ghanaians love to celebrate. Weddings, christenings, birthdays, funerals—doesn’t matter. It’s a celebration. And yes, you read that correctly. It includes funerals, which are usually the loudest, longest and liveliest of them all.

You’ve heard the term “wedding crasher” before—popularized by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in the film of the same name, it is the idea of strangers dropping in on open-food, open-bar wedding receptions because there are so many guests coming together anyway that nobody will notice an extra few faces. In Ghana, that term applies just as much, if not more so, to funerals. This is especially popular among students, who will always keep their eyes open for free food and drinks.

For most people in the world, death is something to be feared and funerals have an eerie somberness about them. Ghanaians take a different approach, however. Rather than mourning the loss of someone, they try to festively celebrate his or her life. Rich or poor, families invest a huge sum of money into sending their departed loved ones off appropriately. Just about everyone is invited to the weekend- or week-long extravaganza, sometimes not even mattering if the guest knew the deceased or not, and coffins can often times resemble themed chambers (think soccer star getting buried in a huge soccer ball casket).

Forget weddings, for Ghanaians, the funeral is likely the biggest single expenditure they will ever have, and how grand and successful a funeral is can influence a family’s social status. As such, guests are typically expected to make a donation to help cover the extravagant costs, though many do not.

If you’re lucky enough to get invited to a funeral here, don’t try to think of any excuses to get out of it. Go, and you may find it was the most fun you had in Ghana!

Just a little scene that sums up the business scene at the Fraser River waterfront in Steveston, Richmond, BC.

How many people do you know that this could be applied to?

The West Coast, especially San Francisco, has always been on the cutting edge of any environmentalist movement that has occurred in America. It was right here that recycling became cool and commonplace a few decades ago, then the organic movement, then the vegan movement, and so on. If there was any kind of movement in the US, it’s likely that it either began or received a significant boost from activists here.

But forget veganism—that’s so last-decade. A more recent trend popularized here is freeganism: the practice of reclaiming and eating food that has been discarded.

The first traces of freeganism here date back to the mid-1990s, as part of the environmentalist and anti-globalization movements. But it has gained enough traction in recent years that the city of San Francisco and local businesses have had to alter their waste practices. It is not uncommon to see padlocked dumpsters around here, and by going to these extremes, it is also hopeful that businesses are finding ways to be more conscious about waste.

There is even a “Why Freegan” manifesto, which defines the practice as “an anti-consumeristic ethic about eating” and describes several alternates to actually paying for food. It also gets into water conservation, recycling, using solar energy and even employment.

Freegans themselves are also very diverse in regards to what they participate in. For example, some just dumpster dive with the goal of securing their own food, while others do so in hopes of gathering food to distribute to other people. There are also wild foragers who attempt to harvest and gather fruits or other foods that happen to be growing wildly within their communities.

So next time you want to impress your vegan friends, tell them that you’ve gone freegan—just beware, it may not be for the faint of heart.

You may not always be crazy about what you get… (image credit: sykes77.blogspot.com)

One of the places to be in the DXB!

Ever since ABBA dancing queened us through the 1970s, Sweden has become a surprisingly prominent exporter of music around the world. With a thriving pop rock scene, many Swedish artists have enjoyed huge success in the realms of American and British popular music. We have compiled a list of some of the best and most popular Swedish singles on a global stage…let’s see how many you didn’t know were from there! And if you have any other suggestions that we’ve omitted, please leave a comment!

• Blue Swede: Hooked on a Feeling (1974)
• ABBA: Waterloo (1974)
• ABBA: “S.O.S” (1975)
• ABBA: “Fernando” (1976)
• ABBA: Dancing Queen (1977)
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad: I Know There’s Something Going On (1982)
• Chess Musical: “One Night in Bangkok” (1985)
• Europe: “The Final Countdown” (1986)
• Europe: “Superstitious” (1987)
• Roxette: “The Look” (1989)
• Roxette: “Listen To Your Heart” (1989)
• Roxette: “It Must Have Been Love” (1990)
• Roxette: “Joyride” (1991)
• Roxette: “Dangerous” (1990)
• Neneh Cherry: “Buffalo Stance” (1988)
• Ace of Base: “All That She Wants” (1993)
• Ace of Base: “The Sign” (1994)
• Ace of Base: “Cruel Summer” (1998)
• Rednex: “Cotton Eye Joe” (1994)
• The Cardigans: “Lovefoot” (1996)
• Robyn: “Show Me Love” (1997)
• Eagle-Eye Cherry: “Save Tonight” (1998)
• Andreas Johnson: “Glorious” (2000)
• Alcazar: “Crying at the Discoteque” (2000)
• Play: “Us Against the World” (2004)
• Eric Prydz: “Call On Me” (2004)
• Robyn: “With Every Heartbeat” (2007)
• Basshunter: “Now You’re Gone” (2007)
• Lykke Li: “Get Some” (2008)
• Lykke Li: “I Follow Rivers” (2008)
• Avicii: “Levels” (2011)

It is also worth nothing that Swedish/Moroccan songwriter and producer RedOne is the man behind Lady Gaga, among others, and has won two Grammy Awards.