Archive | March, 2012
Posted on 26 March 2012. Tags: AMC, Betty Francis, Don Draper, drama, Mad Men, Madison Avenue, Peggy Olson, Pete Campbell, Review, Roger Sterling, Sterling Cooper Draper Price, Synopsis, Television, Video
The much awaited return of AMC’s masterful tale of Madison Avenue advertising executives in 1960′s Manhattan, Mad Men, premiered yesterday evening after an 18 month hiatus. Will Don Draper find happiness with his new, young wife Megan? Will Joan fool her husband into believing Roger’s baby is his own? Will Peggy ever get the recognition [...]
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Posted in Life & Arts
Posted on 18 March 2012. Tags: Charles Duhigg, Ira Glass, Mike Daisey, National Public Radio, North America, NPR, Rob Schmitz, Steve Jobs, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, This American Life
When Mike Daisey’s off-broadway monologue “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” aired on NPR’s This American Life, it sparked a controversy around one of the world’s most valuable companies, Apple, and its suppliers in China, particularly Foxconn. The monologue, derived from a collection of first-hand accounts Daisey had during a Foxconn factory visit [...]
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Posted in Science & Technology
Posted on 16 March 2012. Tags: Asia, Fruit, Fuji Melon, Ginza, Japan, Japanese Culture, Japanese Gift Giving, Luxury Fruits, Masaomi Suzuki, Melons, Sembikiya, Senbikiya, Shizuoka Method, Tokyo, Ushio Oshima
The varied cultures of the globe each have their own unique way of commemorating special occasions, whether personal, religious, or national in nature. Typically accompanying such events are expressions of love, gratitude and kinship between people in the forms of traditional gifts, feasts, and festivals. In Japan, it is customary to give the gift of [...]
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Posted in Life & Arts
Posted on 14 March 2012. Tags: Asia, Balarama Varma, Courts, Hindu Temple Riches, India, Indian Temple Treasure, Kerala, Law, Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Sunda Rarajan, Travancore Dynasty
Worshipers have used the Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, India for over 1,000 years, many completely oblivious to the vast treasure of gems and gold stored within worth over $21 billion today and protected by constant security. The size of the temple’s fortune has led to increased security measures for visitors to Padmanabhaswamy Temple. Temples in [...]
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Posted in News
Posted on 13 March 2012. Tags: Anders Bering Breivik, British National Party, British Politics, Ethnic Conflict, Europe, European Union, Far Right Extremism, Norway, Right Wing, UK, UK Independence Party, United Kingdom, Utøya
“From Voting to Violence? Rightwing Extremists in Modern Britain,” a study by Matthew Goodwin of the University of Nottingham and Jocelyn Evans of Salford University questioned over 2,000 voters for ‘radical right’ and ‘far-right’ political groups and found that most endorsed violence and were willing to prepare for such events. The study’s findings provide a [...]
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Posted in World Politics
Posted on 12 March 2012. Tags: Christian Churches, Christian Holy Sites, Graffiti, Holy Land, Israel, Jewish Extremists, Middle East, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Tolerance, Vandalism, Vatican
The Vatican’s custodian of religious sites in the Holy Land, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has requested that Israel’s President Shimon Peres defend Christian holy sites in Israel from vandalism by Jewish extremists. This request follows an incident in February in which two churches were defaced with graffiti in Jerusalem. Peres has promised that Israeli police will redouble [...]
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Posted in World Politics
Posted on 12 March 2012. Tags: 2009 Iranian Presidential Election, Abdolfattah Soltani, Evin, Human Rights, Iran, Iranian Human Rights lawyer, Maede Soltani, Middle East, Shirin Ebadi, Tehran
A Tehran revolutionary court has sentenced prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani to prison and banned him from practicing law for 20 years. Soltani co-founded a human rights group with Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and is being held in Evin prison. Soltani’s daughter Maede hopes that the sentence will be overturned, [...]
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Posted in World
Posted on 12 March 2012. Tags: Asia, incarceration, Kanthoop, King Rama IX, lese-majesty, pro-monarchy laws, Thai Monarchy, Thailand
Thailand has some of the world’s harshest laws in defense of its monarchy. A young, modern university girl by the name of Kanthoop is under scrutiny for violation of the country’s tough pro-monarchy laws which could send her to jail for 15 years for what she calls ‘having opinions.’ Thai people are extremely patriotic, and [...]
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Posted in News
Posted on 11 March 2012. Tags: Cold War, COMECON, COMINFORM, Communism, Czechoslovakia, East, George Marshall, Marshall Plan, NATO, post-war, post-World War II Europe, Soviet Union, United States, USA, USSR, Warsaw Pact, West
The end of World War II and the devastation experienced by the nations of Europe left it fertile ground for revolution, particularly a communist revolution. The United States became concerned with the spread of communism in the former occupied nations of Europe and this led to the formation of the “Marshall Plan” for Europe’s postwar [...]
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Posted in World
Posted on 11 March 2012. Tags: 2008 Global Financial Crisis, botellon, Business & Finance, credit markets, Europe, European Debt Crisis, European Union, Housing Crisis, Housing market implosion, los indignados, lost generation, Spain, Spanish Youth Unemployment, the indignant ones
Over half of all youth in Spain are unemployed, raising anew concerns that Spain’s economic woes may lead to a ‘lost generation.’ Unemployed youth in Spain hit 51.4% in December 2011, double the European Union average while the national unemployment rate was at 22.85%, its highest level in 17 years and according the The Telegraph, [...]
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Posted in Global Economy