Best of the Web: 18 June

Best of the Web: 18 June

Rethinking the “Third World”; Hey, executives: It's okay to say "F@#k"!; 100 greatest World Cup moments.

June 18, 2010 12:14 by Rasha Reslan

Rethinking the “Third World”

The World Bank president, Bob Zoellick, announced earlier this year, “2009 saw the end of what was known as the Third World.” In this piece, the Economist ponders his declaration, with a nod to the fact that the term itself has been out of vogue for quite some time.

“While the rich world stumbles out of recession, Asia, Africa and Latin America are accelerating and contributing more than ever to world output,” the Economist contends.

Indeed, we may have substituted the term “Third world,” with more politically correct monikers like, “developing nation” and “emerging economy,” but if the World Bank sees an end to the Third World, the Economist aptly notes that the “bank is not in any danger of going out of business. Aid still flows. Last month Western donors were debating whether an increase of nearly $14 billion in aid to Africa over the past five years was enough.”

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Hey, executives: It’s okay to say “f**k”!

Now Harvard Business Review reports what we’ve always known: a little populist profanity in the office conveys a camaraderie to the ranks that may be good for morale. Depending on the type of vulgarity you employ, the academics believe that a little workplace profanity can “manifest and signal solidarity,” and help “release stress and tension.”

And when President Obama doesn’t mind telling the world he’s “looking for an ass to kick,” then they just might be on to something.

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100 greatest World Cup moments

Looking to make up some value on that overpriced or defective World Cup viewing card? Check out this selection of 100 classic World Cup moments.

Go old school with England’s triumph in ’66, relive Maradona’s “hand of god,” the Cruyff Turn, and Baqqio’s miss: “They’re all here, complete with video links so you can re-live the moments,” says the Independent.

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Sign language

If you don’t mind getting lost in translation, check out this eclectic mix of linguistic goofs, complete with readers’ photos from travels around the world.

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Push to market pill stirs debate on sexual desire

A Viagra-like pill for women? If it sounds like the punch line of a joke, rest assured, it could mean big business for the first pharmaceutical company that manages to bring it to market. And now, “a German drug giant says it has stumbled upon such a pill and is trying to persuade the Food and Drug Administration that its drug can help restore a depressed female sex drive,” the New York Times reports. Critics say it’s just another case of big drug companies inventing disorders in the quest for pharmaceutical profits. But not everyone agrees, and a potential boatload of money divides the two camps.