A very matter-of-fact clip in today’s Guardian on how open source technology is helping the British civil servants keep up with their work load — through the creation of “compelling digital services for government.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iahpVvPkCf4
Tips from an article in today’s New Scientist on how to resist the efforts of governments to encroach on their privacy. “… for citizens who want to guard their privacy, there are a number of options. Apps like Silent Circle and RedPhone can already encrypt your calls and send them over a data connection or […]
By Krysta Kalachani Maria Houkli has a point in her editorial on the closure of ERT in glimatikotika.gr Friday morning. But there can also be strong criticism to what she says. In my view the way that the government decided to close down ERT sends messages drawn from other political systems: the public or state […]
“People should appreciate who gets to run for office when you have a [public financing election] system [like the one in New York City]. Librarians run for office, ex-teachers run for office — not just people who have a rolodex of prospective donors. It’s good for the candidates and the voters alike.” Dan Cantor (Executive […]
By Krysta Kalachani Radiobubble is asking for help from abroad (spreading the word and with donations) in order to keep up their good work and be able to continue to communicate news and information from Greece in 8 foreign languages. The have mounted a campaign on Facebook here. They have also come up with a […]
What is the expression again, “up a creek without a paddle?”
By Nick Malkoutzis It is one year to the day since Greece held its second general election in two months and third in three years. What better way to celebrate the occasion than trying to relive the uncertainty and tension we experienced during the summer of 2012? The leaders of Greece’s three coalition parties go […]
“We didn’t decide that Greece was in trouble; Greece was in trouble…” — Jean-Claude Juncker
By Maria Patsarika Did you know about Bitcoin, the virtual currency? I didn’t. I found out this weekend reading the FT magazine. Bitcoin is one of the many entrepreneurial initiatives that feature all too often in the media. It is a monetary storage and distribution digital system, which enables transactions through exchange of codes, rather […]
By Kevin Featherstone Last week’s dramatic decision to close down Greece’s state broadcaster, ERT answers a question Greece’s political leaders – in and out of government – have lacked the will to confront for a generation. At one level, the move is gesture politics: a sudden, unilateral act intended to impress the Troika (the EU, […]
“J’ai mal à la Grèce.” Angélique Kourounis
“To me, achieving a global classroom means using education to erase barriers between people of different cultures and backgrounds; it means giving people the opportunity to learn without the limits imposed by physical or socio-economic circumstances; and it means giving schools and instructors around the world the ability to transcend boundaries to bring high-quality education […]
An award-winning public service message from Metro Trains, Melbourne, Australia.
A striking scene from the Copacabana.
By Alexis Papahelas It won’t be long before the relationship between Greece and the troika starts resembling that of the United States with Afghanistan. The efficient Americans entered that historical and complex country and tried to set up a modern state, an open economy etc. Not long after they started to realize that they were […]
By Tom McLaughlin Our first prime minster, Sir John A. Macdonald, said “A public man should have no resentments.” His seething successors demonstrate that this adage is in desperate short supply in Canadian politics today. Faithful to the partisan glue binding them to their parties, our political class is doing everything possible to diminish, demean, […]
The Second Annual Stavros Niarchos Foundation International Conference on Philanthropy will take place in Athens on June 27th and 28th. The conference will be broadcast live on the Stavros Niarchos Foundation website (www.SNF.org). Featured speakers include Andreas Dracopoulos, Anders Aslund, Olga Kefalogianni, George Soros, Garry Kasparov, and many more.
By Marty Kaplan I have outrage envy. For nearly two weeks, more than a million citizens across Brazil have taken to the streets to protest political corruption, economic injustice, poor health care, inadequate schools, lousy mass transit, a crumbling infrastructure and — yes, in the land of Pelé — billions blown on sports. “Brazil, wake up, any […]
COULD Adolf Hitler come to power today? Timur Vermes poses this question in his debut novel “He’s Back” (“Er Ist Wieder Da”). Told in the first person, the plot sees Hitler randomly wake up from a 66-year sleep in 2011 Berlin. There is no explanation for how or why this has happened, but that is […]