Bangladeshi authorities have ordered mobile phone operators to stop offering free calls after midnight, to protect the morals of young people.
A telecommunications regulator said it had received scores of complaints from parents that children were using the service to form romantic attachments . They said children were losing sleep and some indulged in “vulgar talk”.
hmm, so i guess no phone sex business in Bangladesh?
Indian newspaper The Hindu reports today that construction of a five megawatt solar power facility, claimed to be the largest in Asia, is set to beging in the Rashtrapati Bhavan region of India. Most solar power generation in India is currently in the kilowatt or smaller range, providing local and community power in off-grid areas. Programs like the Barefoot Solar Engineers have helped to expand the use of off-grid solar in India. The five megawatt project will be part of an ongoing attempt to increase the use of renewable sources for grid electricity.
(Posted by Jamais Cascio in QuickChanges at 12:57 PM)
We noted the advent of religious podcasting last spring… and it appears that so-called “godcasting” is catching on, if it hasn’t yet hit the mainstream.
According to one estimate, as many as 20% of all podcasts have a spiritual context. Listeners say they enjoy podcasts of their pastor’s sermons when they travel, and on Sundays when they miss church. Instead of seeing it as a replacement for “live” worship, listeners see podcasts as an extension.
For churches, podcasting is a relatively inexpensive way to distribute sermons, music and other material to a wide audience — especially if that audience consists of tech-savvy young people with hectic schedules. With podcasting, churches can promote themselves and increase their reach far beyond their physical radius.
No less a force than the Vatican itself is jumping on the godcasting trend. Vatican Radio has been streaming media for some time, and both popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have strongly endorsed the use of technology in support of the Catholic Church (indeed, Vatican Radio has been a major part of the Church’s ministry since 1931). “The church should not pass up the opportunity to make liturgies and prayers available via podcast, as well as downloadable sermons by ‘podpreachers,’” said the magazine La Civilta Cattolica recently.
RELATED: Japanese Buddhists can now “tele-pray” using a webcam and a remote control to manipulate a sacred artifact called a kin.
Source: ipod.pureosx.com
gotta love the term!
UK online retailer Good Gifts wants you to buy a Kalashnikov rifle (most likely an AK-47) — £25. Or perhaps a rocket launcher (£55). Or a tank, for £1000. Not for your own use, mind you, but to provide the raw materials for enterprising blacksmiths and metalworkers in Sierra Leone, who turn the iron and such into “farm implements… hoes and axe heads… pickaxes, sickles and even school bells.” A single tank will provide a year’s work for 5 blacksmiths, they say, and convert into 3,000 items.
This sounds amazing and clever. Although the Good Gifts site provides few details about how it’s accomplished (and how everyone’s certain that the AK-47 goes to the blacksmith and not the local militia), the organization behind the site, the Charities Advisory Trust, is reputable, and several UK media outlets have profiled the Good Gifts program.
It’s not every day we actually get to turn the modern equivalent of swords into plowshares.
(Via HippyShopper)
(Posted by Jamais Cascio in QuickChanges at 03:21 PM)
Cory Doctorow:
British backpackers in India are taking call-centre jobs for wages that are very low by UK standards, but which can bankroll an extension to a trekking holiday by a month or two.
Among the first to land in the subcontinent was Kenny Rooney, a 28-year-old from Livingston in Scotland. He had worked in a call centre at home, but after nine months in India says he does not want to return. “This is an incredible country,” he said, speaking from Bombay. “I have had a brilliant time and met people from all over the world…”
Young Britons of Indian origin are also finding the jobs offer them a chance to rediscover their roots. Among them is Hasmita Patel, who is also working in Pune. “This has been the best thing I’ve ever done,” said Ms Patel, from Leicester. “It has really allowed me to see the country and get to know people. I’ve learned so much about myself.”
Brilliant! Here\’s your tip to travel India!
A Dutch MP forced into hiding for working with director Theo van Gogh is to make a new film about Islam and homosexuals.
Cory Doctorow:
Croatia is planning a big blowout for the 150th anniversary of the birth of my hero, Nikola Tesla.
The government will finance the finishing of restoration of Tesla’s home in a village in central Croatia and turn it into a museum. Conferences and lectures on Tesla’s work are also planned.
The French leader vows to create new opportunities for young people, saying France faces “a crisis of identity”.
British design firm Arup is set to announce that the Chinese government wants them to take their “eco-friendly city” model to up to four more major Chinese cities, the UK Guardian reports.
Up to four more eco-cities will be built, though exact locations have not yet been revealed. [...] The eco-cities are intended to be self-sufficient in energy, water and most food products, with the aim of zero emissions of greenhouse gases in transport systems.
Arup’s work with the Shanghai expansion, Dongtan, is underway. The first phase, a 630-hectare development intended to house a 50,000-person community, is set to be completed by 2010.
(Posted by Jamais Cascio in QuickChanges at 12:05 PM)
The number of mobile phone subscribers in China is predicted to top 380 million by the end of this year and rise to 520 million by 2008 and 600 million by 2010, according to Xinhua.
that\’s just madness!
Copyright © 2004–2009. All rights reserved.
RSS Feed. This is the Fabrica blog and is powered by Wordpress, based on the theme Modern Clix.
