Stories about Ideas from September, 2008
China: Morality Crisis
Xujun Eberlein from Inside-Out China have some discussions about the morality crisis happening in China. And whether a new ideology can solve the problem.
Saudi Arabia: Compound life
Stranger in this Dunya explains what life on a compound in Saudi Arabia is like.
Saudi Arabia: Part of the tribe
Saudiwoman explains the significance of belonging to a tribe in Saudi Arabia: “To urban families, being called Bedouin has connotations of being unrefined and unruly. And in Bedouin families, being called an urban essentially means sissy.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Film Festival
“We need a film festival like America needs to not vote for McCain,” says Trinidadian blogger Attillah Springer, but warns: “It shouldn’t just be about film as business. What about art for art’s sake? Money can’t be the only thing that motivates our capacity to create.”
Jordan: When do you say Enough?
The more you have, the more you want. When do you say you have had enough and become content with the blessings bestowed upon you, asks Ola Eliwat from Jordan.
Japan: The true revolution of Google Street View
Blogger id:bohemian_style reflects on the launch of Google Street View in Japan [ja], noting that the way the service is viewed differs depending on where people are living: in modern urban areas, people's sense of privacy tends to be limited their immediate living space, which ends at the entrance to...
Japan: The changing value of knowledge
Japanese Hatena user id:TomoMachi argues that now that everything on the Internet is so easily accessible to everyone, the value of simply “knowing something” is disappearing [ja]. User id:aureliano follows with a post pointing out that while rote memorization is becoming meaningless, the same is not true of writing an...
Saudi Arabia: Happy National Day
“The country is changing, but at a glacial pace that is leaving me and many others dejected and frustrated. It is just disheartening to move in slow baby steps when we can — and should — take leaps ahead to the future,” writes Saudi Jeans on his country's national day.
Qatar: Ramadhan Post Sparks Debate
A Global Voices Online post on Ramadhan in the Arab world sparked a debate at Qatar Living.
Trinidad & Tobago: Reaching for the Sky?
“In Trinidad and Tobago, we have a sadly comical way of only seeing the outer trappings of first world grandeur and not the basic infrastructure and social foundation behind it”: Alien in the Caribbean maintains that skyscrapers alone are not a mark of true development.
Cuba: The Power of Books
Both Uncommon Sense and Generation Y blog about three Cuban political prisoners who have started hunger strikes after they were prevented from receiving books and magazines: “They suspect that when Adolfo, Pedro and Antonio are engrossed in an essay or a story the bars disappear, the jail fades away, and...
Japan: Not just Hatena, the whole Internet has too many ads
Hatena user id:gnarl responds to id:rycotan's complaint that Japanese bookmarking service Hatena has too many ads on its keyword page with a post arguing that it's not just Hatena: the whole Internet has too many ads [ja].
Kuwait: Animals are not Toys
From Kuwait, Madred's Weblog sheds light on animal rights. “A number of people these days view animals as nothing but toys, an object for entertainment so that their children can play and kill time with,” writes the blogger.
Japan: The Birth of Blog Critique
Hiroshi Yamaguchi at H-Yamaguchi.net discusses [ja] Japanese journalist, author and Internet commentator Toshinao Sasaki‘s latest book, “The Birth of Blog Critique” [ブログ論壇の誕生]. In the book, Sasaki describes the circumstances through which statements in blogs have come to genuinely affect modern Japanese society, in a variety of different contexts.
Bahamas: The Writer
Bahamian Nicolette Bethel examines the role of the writer in society.
Jamaica: Slaves
Jamaican Geoffrey Philp has “had enough of these latter day heroes whose bravery exists only in their febrile imaginations. They denigrate the memory of our ancestors who sucked salt, bore the whip and the yoke of slavery, and invented stories in the dark so that one day their children could...
Japan: Japanese input on iPhone 2.1
Views on the usability of Japanese characters on iPhone 2.1: At Thir's notes, thir reports that while many have complained that the input of characters is too slow on iPhone, 2.1 firmware offers a great improvement [ja]. Blogger wa-ren at Cross the Chasm! [キャズムを超えろ！] approves of these improvements, but reports...
Mexico: The City of Ideas Conference
La Ciudad de las Ideas (The City of Ideas) is a conference that will be held in Puebla, Mexico. Andrés Bianciotto already has his ticket and looks forwards to the ideas presented by a diverse group of speakers [es].
Japan: The Unhealthy Image of “Ladylike”
Japanese blogger Miyakichi at Miyakichi Nikki writes about why the image of ladylike beauty in the world today so unhealthy [ja], tracing the preference for pale skin, 40cm waists and high heels back to the histories of Europe, America and China and connecting them to modern styles in Japan.
Bermuda: Economic Reality
Bermudian blogger Politics.bm finally notices “a change in tone from the Government on economic issues.”
Trinidad & Tobago, U.S.A.: Six Weeks
“It looks to me as if Obama peaked too early, and that America is reassessing him…of course a lot can happen in six weeks”: Notes from Port of Spain is afraid he might be staring down the barrel of the US electorate choosing McCain/Palin.
