Stories about Ideas from November, 2008
Thailand: Funny toilets
Bangkok Guru posts funny pictures of toilets in Thailand.
Korea: Why are you still single?
Autumn… fallen leaves and colorful trees, and a romantic season. Autumn is regarded as a season when you feel lonely, you feel a good appetite, and feel a strong reading desire. And winter is coming. Cold season and white snow. This is the moment that people strongly feel lonely if...
Syria: Love is in Stuttgart
Forget politics, Obama or the economic crisis. The new buzz in the Syrian blogosphere is about love. Mariyah, a Syrian blogger from Damascus, has been playing with the hearts of her readers with the most delicate series of posts about the story of Ghassan and Alexandra. It all starts on...
Egypt: Lawsuit calling for the devalidation of 25,000 Muslim Hadiths
Marwa Rakha translates for us today a post about an unusual lawsuit against Al Azhar University in Egypt calling for devalidation of 25,000 Muslim Hadiths. "Does Al Azhar have the right to “delete” these hadiths? Did they invent them and now they decided to negate them? So what will they do now with those 25,000 Hadiths? Burn them? Burn the books they are in? Do they have that right?"
Barbados: Russian Teen Murdered
Citizens are wondering about the motive behind the murder of a teenaged Russian girl in Barbados. Keltruth Corp and Barbados Free Press are also asking questions.
Jamaica: Leadership Roles
“Leadership has to be about prioritizing and making the unpopular decisions that may not help in getting you re-elected but will set the country on the right course for future growth and development”: Trevor Dawes at Abeng News Magazine wonders “why is it that the Jamaican government, regardless of which...
Japan: Street View and the Burakumin
The Internet, many would argue, has created the possibility for anyone to express their opinions freely. Recently, however, some have worried about an increase in the number of racist and denigrative comments against minorities spreading across the web. In Japan, the advent of Google's new Street View service has led some bloggers to discuss the relationship between areas photographed and discriminated communities.
Trinidad & Tobago: Manning & the Media
The furor surrounding the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister's recent radio station visit has not abated.
Cuba: Lomas Fired
Diaspora blogger Child of the Revolution speculates as to why “the highest ranking woman in the Castro regime…has been unexpectedly fired…from her high-profile post as Minister for Foreign Investment.”
Bermuda: Independent Thinking
21 Square thinks that “independence does not make sense for Bermuda in its present state”, while Vexed Bermoothes adds: “The PLP leadership insist that independence is the only logical endgame when most of the population do not want it.”
Puerto Rico, U.S.A.: Gay Marriage
“When I found out California and Florida were state's #29 and #30 in the banning of same-sex marriage, I was aghast”: Puerto Rican blogger Liza says that “the problem with gay marriage is not ‘the gay’ but ‘the marriage’.”.
Japan: Umbrella Loudspeaker
Edo from Pink Tentacle introduces a new design that turns umbrella into loudspeaker.
Trinidad & Tobago: Is this Development?
Trinidadian blogger Coffeewallah finds it “distasteful on so many levels that a man could be reduced to less than my dog, that as a nation stumbling towards what we call development, we still have not found a way to treat with our dispossessed.”
Japan: Granny's blog
The first of its kind, a Japanese blog called Sobolog (祖母ログ) [ literally “Grannylog”] crosses three generations, written by a nephew living in Tokyo in collaboration with her mother (who records the facts), presenting the daily life of her funky granny named Hide (82 y.o.) living in Gunma Prefecture. In...
Iran: Graffiti from Tehran
We can discover graffiti in Tehran in Alone‘s blog. Alone says “maybe I am a Vandal or Anarchist But I am glad to introduce myself as one.At least I stand for my right.I am not about politics .But I am interested on social subjects.”
Jordan: Poor and Backward
Being poor and backward go hand in hand, according to Jordanian blogger Muoffaq Qabbani, who brings us this story about how poor people insist on having more and more children.
Bermuda: Avoiding the Issue?
As the UK Foreign Affairs Committee publishes a report containing recommendations for Bermuda to improve its accountability and transparency, Vexed Bermoothes thinks that the Premier is “raising the noise level to avoid discussion of the issues – these are the real threat to Bermuda’s reputation, not the report that calls...
Japan: Mobile Suit Gundam
On the occasion of the foundation of the International Gundam Society (国際ガンダム学会) during the Hiroshima Anime Biennale in August, Kange debates the aims of the research group which will study the future of mankind through the animated series Mobile Suit Gundam(機動戦士ガンダム). The blogger explains how the researchers at IGS, captained...
KarmaTube: Promoting Change through Video Sharing
Karma Tube is an online video sharing platform to spread short videos and their causes through the World Wide Web with tips on what actions the viewer can take regarding the portrayed cause. Through KarmaTube we bring you the following videos of good people doing great things for others: Skateistan from Afghanistan, Seeds of Light from South Africa and Barrios de Paz in Ecuador.
Trinidad & Tobago: “Radio Raid” Reactions
The fallout over the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister's visit to a radio station to complain about critical comments made against him during a newscast appears to have only just begun. Local mainstream media continue to apply pressure, although in typical Trinbagonian fashion, some of the coverage is peppered with humour - but bloggers see nothing funny about what many of them consider to be the Prime Minister's attempts to muzzle free speech.
Haiti: School Collapses
The fact that Haiti didn't need another tragedy didn't stop one from striking. This time, it was a school collapse in Pétionville, which left scores of children dead and countless others injured. Haitian bloggers were quick to offer online empathy and support.
