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03 Nov 2011 20:23

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World: Cuba’s crazy non-communist-sounding idea: Property sales

  • then For decades, Cuban gave its citizens socialist housing, which was tough to move out of because that required government approval; many families and even divorced couples stayed together under the same roof as a result.
  • now Cuba’s changing its policies in reaction to economic concerns, it’s now allowing people to buy and sell property — which sounds kinda like capitalism. The government, however, says they’re working hard to protect socialism.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Aug 2011 15:38

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World: Unprecedented access of the day: Crazy photos from North Korea

  • The Associated Press got unprecedented access to North Korea. The photos from The Atlantic website are absolutely stunning and show a different side to North Korea. Easily the most interesting thing you’ll see today. (Thanks to ProducerMatthew for these!)source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jul 2011 22:18

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World: How heavily does the Chinese government censor the Internet?

  • 1.3 million websites shut down by the Chinese gov’t last year source
  • » This means there were 41% fewer websites accessible to China’s residents at the end of last year, compared to a year earlier. And the statistic comes directly from the Chinese government itself (well, a government-run think tank, at least), so it’s probably not an overstatement.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jun 2011 14:32

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World: North Korea is looking to avert a revolution

  • fear North Korea seems afraid of a revolution similar to those we’ve seen in the Middle East. They bought a lot of anti-riot gear from China, and there’s been extra police forces around. But where do the revolutions usually start? With the kids in college.
  • reaction North Korea has closed all of their universities until April 2012, blaming it on their ailing economy — all the students have to go work in factories. This might be true, but more than likely it’s not — they’re trying to keep those most likely to revolt from doing it. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Mar 2011 12:42

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World: China completely downplays Middle East protests’ influence

  • problem People in China are getting inspired by the wave of Middle East protests and – in small pockets, mind you – attempting protests of their own. China is hard-core communist and limits free information, so this is a problem.
  • solution An editorial! Today in the Beijing Daily (run by the Chinese Communist Party), a front-page editorial suggested that “the vast majority of the people are strongly dissatisfied” by the protests in the Middle East. You sure? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Feb 2011 11:31

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Biz: It’s official: Coca-Cola has broken through the Soviet wall

  • 3% the increase in sales volume the company has had in North America in its most recent quarter
  • 5% the sales volume increase the brand has had worldwide in its just-ended fourth quarter
  • 31% the increase in sales volume in Russia; insert hilarious communism joke here source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Dec 2010 12:07

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Tech: Will China force Skype off the mainland? It’s a strong possibility

  • China wants to stamp out “unauthorized” VOIP services. The country’s Ministry of Information and Industry Technology said as much in a statement a couple of weeks ago – pointing out that the only services that could run VOIP services were China’s big telecom companies. Skype, still inexplicably partly owned by eBay for some reason, has been gaining major popularity in China lately. Which suggests that, while not explicitly stating it, that the Ministry’s statement was targeted at Skype, with the possibility of lawsuits. Skype, by the way, is on track to make $1 billion from an IPO next year, or more money than God. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

17 Nov 2010 10:23

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World: A modest proposal: Give ShortFormBlog Ireland’s bailout money

  • Hey, if Ireland doesn’t want any of this bailout money, give it to us. For days now, the European Union – and now Britain proper – have been pushing to give Ireland lots of money to ensure its solvency. However, Ireland doesn’t seem to have any interest in taking it, at least right now. So, we’d like to offer a proposal to the European Union. Give us the bailout money. We’d use the money to build our own country (tentatively titled ShortLandia) where we’d build an army of coffee shops and have dozens of bloggers working away, producing short content for the masses of other countries throughout the world. It’d be communism. Except in content farm form. And instead of eating soviet bread, we’d be drinking ShortLandia lattes. With an extra kick. So you don’t fall asleep and prevent another piece of content from hitting the Intersphere. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Oct 2010 10:19

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World: North Korea appears ready to expand its internet usage

  • 1,024 .kp domains are ready for use anytime source
  • » Expanded usage elsewhere: While North Korea is keeping a tight lid on internet usage within the country, many foreign reporters in the country this weekend noted that they could actually use the internet on THEIR OWN COMPUTERS. Before, they had to use officially designated computers to do that. (By the way, check out the design on this site. Epic.)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Sep 2010 20:33

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World: Cuba finding full communism not working so well for them

  • 500,000 commie jobs are going away source
  • » And they’re going private: The country, with its economy in steep decline, had made a pledge to shed a million state workers and allowed them to be replaced by private jobs. But instead of sticking to the five-year timeframe that they put forward, these jobs are going to dissipate in the next six months. Hopefully the private sector can keep up.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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