Stories about Ideas from September, 2008
Arabeyes: Snapshots of Eid
It's Eid today, or tomorrow. Eid Al Fitr is a celebration which marks the end of the Muslim month of Ramadhan, and here are a few reactions on the occasion from around the Arab world.
Jordan: Hypocrisy, Freedom or Disrespect?
From Jordan, Ahmed Humeid shares his thoughts on Ramadhan, hypocrisy, freedom and disrespect after the closure of a popular cafe for serving alcohol in Ramadhan in this post. Find out why when you click on the link.
Brazil: The Brazilian behind the new twitter design
Did you know that the designer behind the new Twitter interface is Brazilian? Futuro.vc [pt] brings an exclusive interview with Vitor Lourenço. “One of the goals was to make the application more elegant and functional. We've made very small changes, which together makes the difference.”
Jordan: Hypocrisy, Freedom or Disrespect?
From Jordan, Ahmed Humeid shares his thoughts on Ramadhan, hypocrisy, freedom and disrespect after the closure of a popular cafe for serving alcohol in Ramadhan in this post. Find out why when you click on the link.
Brazil: Bloggers’ magazine on democracy
The latest issue of blogger magazine Feed-se: Democracia, available in PDF for free download (in Portuguese), is a special edition on democracy, by Brazilian bloggers Nospheratt, Alex, Lu Monte and Lúcia Freitas.
Jamaica: Power Struggle
“Portia Simpson-Miller…represents to the elite and middle class in Jamaica what Obama represents to white, bible-thumping, gun-toting mainstream America. Which is worse I wonder: To be black (socially speaking) in a black country or to be black in a white country?” Annie Paul provides thoughtful commentary on the recent opposition...
Palestine: Retaining a sense of humanity in Gaza
As the situation in Gaza deteriorates from one day to the next, many are struggling not only with the enormous difficulties of daily life, but with the change in values they see around them, in a society that has become dominated by Islamist thinking. In this post, a blogger in Gaza writes a passionate cry of despair.
Bahamas: Culture of Agriculture
“There’s a myth, see, in the world, see, that says that technology is hierarchically stacked and that agriculture is better than horticulture which is better than foraging and fishing…and in this world, it’s true that agriculture failed in The Bahamas. But what nobody tells you is why it failed.”: Nicolette...
Japan: The psychology of prostitution, and why it should be legalized
id:fromdusktildawn delves into the the roots and social context of prostitution [ja], arguing that by looking down on women who work in the sex industry, men offload feelings of guilt about their lust for prostitutes onto the prostitutes themselves. The blogger claims that by legalizing the 5 trillion yen prostitution...
Jamaica: Cell Phone Etiquette
Jamaican blogger Stunner is amazed that “people can't get it through their heads that it is a common courtesy to silence their phones when at a function.”
Japan: MIRAI brings together gadgets and the Internet
Alpha Bloggers announces a free event [ja] in Tokyo entitled, “Mirai: synthesis of gadgets and the net” (MIRAI：ネットとガジェットの融合), to be held on October 20th from 7pm to 10pm near Kudanshita station (see map [ja]). The event will discuss the possibilities of a future in which gadgets and the Internet are...
Korea: Ceremonial Expenses
What is your biggest expense? A website, www.career.co.kr, did a survey of 1,676 employees, and asked them which of their expenses they consider worthless. The highest percentage answered drinking and the second highest was for payment of other peoples’ ceremonies. The top answer could be understood anywhere. Then, what do...
Japan: Group Bookmarking with 4dk
Osamu Higuchi at Higuchi.com introduces a free bookmarking service [ja] (in Japanese) called 4dk [ja], where bookmarks are visible only to those within a closed group. Higuchi refers to this idea as “group bookmarking”, explaining that it is different from the “group catharsis” of open bookmarking services like del.icio.us and...
Blogger of the Week: Sami Ben Gharbia
This week's Blogger of the Week is none other than Global Voices Advocacy Director Sami Ben Gharbia, known for his dedication to the fight against oppression and censorship. Sami is originally from Tunisia, but has been based in The Netherlands since 1998. He blogs at fikra.
Brazil: Free download of books under CC license
The book Além das Redes de Colaboração (Beyond the Collaboration Networks, pt), a compilation of texts organized by professors Nelson Pretto and Sergio Amadeu, has been published by EDUFBA (Federal University of Bahia publisher) under a Creative Commons license and is now available for free download. “The book, which tackles...
Cuba: Back to Normal?
Things appear to be getting back to normal in Cuba post-Hurricane Ike, but Generation Y questions the definition of “normalcy”: “I do not believe that a month ago we had anything resembling ‘normal.’ Furthermore, in the three decades that I have under my belt I do not think I have...
Jordan: Nothing Wrong in Not Knowing
Jordanian Qwaider remarks that there is nothing wrong in admitting that you don't know something.
Japan: Mapping the News with Newsgraphy
Hatena user id:kaiseh introduces a news mapping mashup service they created [ja] called “Newsgraphy“, based on an earlier mapping service for Hatena blogs released in June (with much fanfare [ja]) called HatenarMaps (also by id:kaiseh). The new service creates a 2-dimensional visualization of news stories from Yahoo News using Voronoi...
Iran: Iranian American Writers
Parsarts says that the Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW) has just launched their website, iranianamericanwriters.org, which features member profiles, excerpts of member work, and a blog.
Japan: Google or Galapagos?
Blogger and economist Nobuo Ikeda [池田信夫] remarks in an article [ja] that whereas U.S. papers are making their sites more Google-friendly, articles on Japanese news sites do not even have permalinks. His comparison of the isolation of the Japanese web to Galapagos sparks a response from Fukuyuki Murakami [村上福之] at...
India: Gandhi's spinning wheel or a power plant
Applied Gandhi blog reports that e-charkhas (spinning wheels), with their electricity-generating attachments would provide a means of economic independence to spinners in remote places of India.
