· December, 2006

Stories about Ideas from December, 2006

Iran:A Happy New Year?

  31 December 2006

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, reformist politician and blogger, says probably situation in Iran and many other parts of the world, in 2007 won't be better than previous year. He adds, but there are events in the world that you can never predict.The blogger writes,we live in hope, happy new year to...

Kenya: DIY phone booth

  27 December 2006

Local innovation at work: the DIY phone booth in Kenya,”The person who modified it ripped an old Siemens C25 phone apart and installed its display instead of the one that came along with this phone. The keypad is soldered to the phone and a rechargeable battery is inside the box...

Libya:A view into the blogging scene

  25 December 2006

The Libyan blogosphere is rich and diverse, but quietly apolitical. I'm constantly surprised at how it has sprouted during the last three years. It may have less bloggers than other countries, but the fact that some people are actually blogging is a miracle per se. Libyans blog from inside Libya...

China: Nary Xmas?

  23 December 2006

A group of PhD students at several of China's biggest and best universities came together last week to release a letter calling for Chinese to boycott Christmas—a holiday they see as representing waning interest in traditional Chinese culture—and all the rest of non-native cultural trends. Presumably not a very popular...

Philippines: Learning from Seoul City Planners

  22 December 2006

Urbano dela Cruz writes about South Korean capital Seoul's bold restoration of a river and a park by demolishing a highway in the city centre. The blogger says that Manila city should learn from Seoul's example.

Trinidad & Tobago: Minshall's Vision

  22 December 2006

“T&T Carnival has become a celebrity thing and mas’, in its purest sense, is not about celebrity. In fact, it’s the antithesis of it,” writes Francomenz, as she reports on Peter Minshall's vision for the festival.

Guyana: Letter to Santa

  21 December 2006

“Santa, ask not what Guyana can do for you, ask what you can do for Guyana”: GuyanaGyal writes a letter to St. Nick.

Jamaica: Manley and the new global politics

  21 December 2006

The Latin America News Review posts an article by Claude Robinson about Jamaica's former Prime Minister, Michael Manley: “Professor Marable, one of America's most published and controversial academics, believes that Manley's central ideas about social justice in both the domestic and global contexts can have a new resonance in the...

Trinidad & Tobago: The Nutcracker

  20 December 2006

The Full Belly Project is a non-profit organization that designs and provides simple agricultural machines for people in developing countries: Taran Rampersad thinks it's “probably the best technology use” he's heard of all year.

Brunei: Waking up Librarians

  20 December 2006

Jewelle, a former librarian now living in Brunei is asking the librarians to get up to date with what library visitors want. “From working with books and printed matters, we now have multimedia. From providing reading materials we now have to offer information. From being a place to relax and...

Aruba: Thank you, Time Magazine!

  19 December 2006

On being nominated Time Magazine's Person of the Year, Arubagirl writes: “Blogging isn't going to replace mainstream media anytime soon. What it is doing right now, and that is hugely important, is keeping it honest. In check. Technology has caused great, great evil in the world. But this? Computers /...

Puerto Rico: Critical Mass

  19 December 2006

“What do We call the moment in which an active mass becomes inert because its size is no longer enough to sustain action/reaction?” Gil the Jenius explores the concept of critical mass in sociological terms.

Cuba: New Book, “Khrushchev’s Cold War”

  18 December 2006

A new book has captured Luis M. Garcia's attention: Khrushchev’s Cold War attributes the decision to place nuclear missiles on Cuban soil at the height of the Cold War to do more with the Soviet Union wanting to be taken seriously by the U.S. and less to do with Khrushchev...

Bahamas: Personal Responsibility

  15 December 2006

Rick Lowe, writing at WeblogBahamas.com, quotes several sources to prove his theory that people should stop waiting for governments to do something and instead, take personal responsibility.

Peru: Blogger Wins Essayist Prize

  14 December 2006

Carlos Chang of BlogsPeru congratulates Elizabeth [ES], author of the blog Mujer de Lluvia for winning the “oral memory” category of the Iberoamerican Andres Bello Memory and Thought Prize. “She has sought out testimony of numerous voices of residents around Lima's international airport … the work transmits a special perception...