Dabbler. Wanderluster. Nine Nations of China, from the Atlantic
c(loud) eight
Dream louder.
Many explanations have been offered for the housing bubble and subsequent crash: interest rates were too low; regulation failed; rising real-estate prices induced a sort of temporary insanity in America’s middle class. But there is one explanation that speaks to a lasting and fundamental shift in American culture—a shift in the American conception of divine Providence and its relationship to wealth.
Hanna Rosin, Prosperity Gospel
The bankruptcy of Dubai - in every sense
Dubai is finally financially bankrupt – but it has been morally bankrupt all along. The idea that Dubai is an oasis of freedom on the Arabian peninsular is one of the great lies of our time. Yes, it has Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts and the Gucci styles, but beneath these accoutrements, there is a dictatorship built by slaves.
If you go there with your eyes open – as I did earlier this year – the truth is hidden in plain view. The tour-books and the bragging Emiratis will tell you the city was built by Sheikh Mohammed, the country’s hereditary ruler. It is untrue. The people who really built the city can be seen in long chain-gangs by the side of the road, or toiling all day at the top of the tallest buildings in the world, in heat that Westerners are told not to stay in for more than ten minutes. They were conned into coming, and trapped into staying.
In their home country – Bangladesh or the Philippines or India – these workers are told they can earn a fortune in Dubai if they pay a large upfront fee. When they arrive, their passports are taken from them, and they are told their wages are a tenth of the rate they were promised. They end up working in extremely dangerous conditions for years, just to pay back their initial debt. They are ringed-off in filthy tent-cities outside Dubai, where they sleep in weeping heat, next to open sewage. They have no way to go home. If they try to strike for better conditions, they are beaten by the police.
I met so many men in this position I stopped counting, just as the embassies were told to stop counting how many workers die in these conditions every year after they figured it topped more than 1000 among the Indians alone.
Human Rights Watch right calls this system “slavery.” Yet the Westerners who have flocked to Dubai brag that they “love” the city, because they don’t have to pay any taxes, and they have domestic slaves to do all the hard work. They train themselves not to see the pain.
Candy store.
Pakistanis will be celebrating the religious festival of Eid-ul-Adha tomorrow.
The festival commemorates the sacrifice of his son by Prophet Abraham in the way of God. Muslims use it to sacrifice animals whose meat is later divided in three equal parts; for themselves, their relatives and most importantly for the needy.
This “Punk-bakra” (trans Urdu. Punk-Goat) is a photo-manipulation by an anonymous artist. If you are the artist, please get in touch - we will be more than happy to credit it to you. Or if desired, remove it.
To read more about the festival, Wikipedia.
Bring the sexy back to blog posts please. Smashing Mag has a great overview on blogazines. I’m starting to notice a few bloggers breaking away from the boring style and short content conventions that dominates the blogosphere by applying unique designs for each of their posts. Great for inspiration, but hard on time.
I still love my Tumblr, but I have forgotten how exhilarating it is to craft a well thought out blog post that has a middle, beginning, end and thesis.
Japanese companies are worried that herbivorous boys aren’t the status-conscious consumers their parents once were. They love to putter around the house … They are more likely to want to spend time by themselves or with close friends, more likely to shop for things to decorate their homes, and more likely to buy little luxuries than big-ticket items. They prefer vacationing in Japan to venturing abroad. They’re often close to their mothers and have female friends, but they’re in no rush to get married themselves…
Alexandra Harney, Japan panics about the rise of “grass-eating men
I am totally fascinated by the dramatic changing mores and values in Japanese societies over the past 50 years. Post war, rapid mechanization, and economic boom/bust sure did a number on the island race. In some ways, it’s honest and brave and frightening.
