Stories from 6 March 2008
Bulgaria: Facebook Ads Off Target
The Balkan Yankee – a Bulgaria-based American – writes that “targeted advertising [is] not so targeted on Facebook.”
Greece, Macedonia: More on the Name Conflict
Balkan Baby writes about the the conflict between Greece and the neighboring country known as “Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Skopje, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, New Macedonia, Upper Macedonia, Slavo-Macedonia, Nova Makedonija, Macedonia (Skopje), Vardar Republic, FYROM, Republika Makedonija–Skopje, Republika Makedonia or Republic of Skopje.” (Also, there's a lively...
Barbados: Neighbours at War?
“In case you haven’t noticed, a few of our neighbours are making noises that sound very much like war”: Barbados Free Press wonders whether the Venezuela/Ecuador/Colombia issue will have an impact on Barbados.
Bermuda: Dehabilitation?
“Bermuda’s criminal recidivism rate is now 78%. In other words, 78% of prisoners who complete their sentence will reoffend and serve more jail time”: Vexed Bermoothes blogs about “dehabilitation”.
Jamaica: Ackee
Montego By Day By Day blogs about the national fruit of Jamaica.
Japan: Reflections on a life in Silicon Valley
Well-known Japanese web visionary Umeda Mochio, blogging at My Life Between Silicon Valley and Japan, reflects on his life over the past 20 years [ja] since the time in 1988 when he first joined the world of IT consulting. In the past few years, his most recent books such as...
Turkey: Raising Murderers
Following on from photographs of young children watching mock hangings of Armenians in the Turkish city of Erzurum, Blogian comments on concerns expressed by some Turkish columnists that the nation is “raising murders.”
Armenia: Elections
Registan has posted an entry on the post-election situation in Armenia. The pioneering blog on Central Asia also touches upon the recent clashes on the front line between Armenia and Azerbaijan and appears to conclude that the overall situation is unpredictable.
Iran: Students protest against “gender apartheid”
Hundreds of students continued a protest at Shiraz University against “gender apartheid” on Tuesday 4th of March. The students want their university to put an end to a policy that began in February of separating men and women into different classrooms. The students also asked the President of the university...
Azerbaijan: Managed Democracy
With presidential elections in neighboring Georgia and Armenia having been shrouded in some controversy, Asking Tough Questions in Tough Places turns its attention to Azerbaijan which goes to the polls in October. The blog says that Azerbaijan will be sparing no efforts to convince the international community that the vote...
Sri Lanka: Life in Conflict
Prasanna continues the excellent series – “Travels in a Militarised Society” – on life in Sri Lanka at groundviews.
India: Identity and Conflict
Talkies explores identity, conflict and the politics of apathy in India.
South Asia: On the Ganges
End Poverty in South Asia on the importance of the Ganges river to the people of the sub-continent.
Armenia: King Without a Crown
Faced with restrictions introduced under the current state of emergency in the country, the Armenia Now online weekly magazine has started up its own blog in an attempt to circumvent attempts to limit information to official sources only. In one of the first posts, an anonymous blogger compares the opposition...
Venezuela: More on the Crisis
Kira Kirakin's new blog is called Anotaciones Al Borde [es] and her recent entry has to do with the tool Google Earth and the possibility of seeing FARC campsites.
Kazkahstan: State's Ineffectivess and Expansion
While the government continues to take steps towards expansion into most lucrative and strategic sectors of national economy, simulaneously undergoing an administrative self-restructurization, Kazakhstani bloggers discuss effectiveness of the state bureaucracy. KZBlog reports on the authorities’ voiced intention to keep on renegotiation of contracts with foreign investors: “What is more,...
China: Ten Years In Jail For Uploading 28 Obscene Photos?
ESWN translated a local forum post discussing the jail time of uploading obscene Photos. According to existing regulation in China, the jail time for 28 photos with 250,000 plus hits can be up to 10 years!
Hong Kong: Cats in the University
Lingnan University in Hong Kong is popular for its friendly attitude towards cats. Duke of Aberdeen visited the university and took some photos of the cats in the university. There is a photo set at flickr.
Hong Kong: Privatization of Public Space
Littleolso comments on the privatization of public space by Time square [zh], a super shopping mall at Causeway Bay, a most expensive district in Hong Kong Island. The shopping mall rented out the public space and made huge profit while deprived the right of ordinary citizens to use the space...
Hong Kong and Japan: Maiderland
Ben Ng visited a cafe called Maiderland during the weekend (zh). The cafe is run by a group of Japanese ACG (anime, comic, game) lovers in Hong Kong.
Japan: Cat Challenge
James from Japan Probe posted a funny video on a cat challenge in walking through 10 people's shoulders.
