The Great Firewall of China

 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/special-report/The-great-firewall-of-China/articleshow/7583878.cms

This article gives an overview of the revolt in China caused by the fear the government has of social networking sites. This explains the closure of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. 

There has been cause for further government infiltration, as a few "Twitter clone" social networking sites (Fanfou, Jiwai, and Digu) have caused civil unrest in China. The site Fanfou (which had over a million subscribers) was closed because of suspicions that rebels were using this networking site to spread awareness. 

China closely scrutinizes these social networking "clones", but information still slips through the cracks of China's internet police force. This is evident when looking at a popular trend among the young people of China: translating articles written about China (by foreign journalists) and circulating the translations in mass emails or blog posts. 
 This unrest and suspicion begs the question: will the people of China convert this "chat room" revolution to the streets?

 

Blog Topic #5

This map represents the exporting of groceries. Groceries include sugar, honey, cocoa, chocolate, tea, mate (a tea-like drink) and spices. Territories in South America and Asia Pacific together make up three quarters of net grocery exports, as you can notice from the cartogram. Net exports at regional level seem to be from South America, Asia Pacific, North America, Southeastern Africa and Northern Africa. The majority of both Asia and Europe are not visible on this map. The imports to these places exceed the exports. 

 Mauritius (an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 560 mi east of Madagascar), exports (net) the nineteenth highest value of groceries. It makes most money per person from this trade.

This map represents globalization because of the correlation between the type of land, and the reality of what it is exporting and where it is exporting it to. The majority of Asia and Europe appear to not be driven by grocery exportation; that is obvious from the map. Instead it is Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific that share the net of grocery exports.

"Who wants to be a .... Millllunnare!"

Darshan do Ghanshyam.

In the movie "Slumdog Millionaire," Latika, Jamal, and Salim are (dangers unknown to them) taken in by a man named Maman who uses orphans to earn money. Jamal, who has a decent singing voice, is asked to sing the song Darshan do Ghanshyam to Maman. Jamal is under the impression that if he sings well and pleases Maman, he will become famous and make a life for himself, gaining a ticket out of the slums. 

However when Salim, acting as a small henchman for Maman, witnesses Maman burning the eyes of another boy who sang the song previous, he knows that something is wrong. Acting upon instinct, Salim brings Jamal to Maman as ordered, but when he is motioned to pick up the chloroform to be used on Jamal, Salim splashes it in the guard's eyes instead. Chaos ensues, and the boys and Latika flee. 

 Here is a version I found of a man named Dr. Narasinha Kamath of the Ganesh Temple near Flushing, NY singing Darshan do Ghanshyam.

http://dr-narasinha-kamath.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/05/darshan-do-ghanashyam-bhajan-sung-by-dr-kamath-1.htm 

I tried to find the history of the song, but it yielded little results. So, here are the English lyrics to the Hindi song.

Darshan do Ghanshyam:
O Krishna! Bless us with your presence, our eyes are thirsty for the sight of you.
Light up the temple of our hearts, O dweller of every soul.

Lord! Every temple has your idol,
Even then I haven't seen you.
The age has come to an end, and yet
the time for seeing you hasn't arrived

O Krishna! when you open the gates of your grace,
even the dumb sing in mellifluous voices,
The blind see and even the one-legged walk to Kashi to offer obeisance.

Lord! I drink water to quench my thirst,
but how what do I tell my eyes which crave for you?
O Krishna! O Dweller of my heart! Please end these blindfolded games and appear before me.

http://musicforvanshaj.blogspot.com/2009/04/dharshan-do-ghanshyam-with-lyrics-in.html

Delicacy?

[BBC.]

I chose to post this video because of the interesting title; I couldn't imagine eating a spider, let alone touching one! This video showcases the fact that different regions and cultures have a different view of what is a delicacy. The native Cambodian seemed to enjoy the spider, but the tourist obviously found it unappetizing and not worth the price of trying to choke it down.

This video shows that the culture of Cambodia allows for a very "natural" approach to acquiring food; they will eat what is available, just as other cultures do with their tastes. It is based (basically) on the concept of supply and demand.