In London hat die erste islamische Bank Englands eine Lizenz erhalten und Filialen eröffnet. Ihr Geschäftsmodell ist nach der Scharia (clickme) (umfassende Lehre gottgewollten Verhaltens, entworfen von islamischen Rechtsgelehrten auf der Grundlage des Korans und des im Hadith überlieferten exemplarischen Handels des Propheten (Sunna)) ausgerichtet. Damit richtet sich die Islamic Bank of Britain speziell an muslimische Briten und plant bereits in europäische Länder mit großem muslimischen Bevölkerungsanteil wie Deutschland oder Frankreich zu expandieren.

->read more @ BBC|News ->ausführlicher dazu in der NZZ

Die Idee ein Geschäftsmodell an die moralischen Bedürfnisse spezieller Zielgruppen anzupassen ist nicht ganz neu in der Bankenwelt. Es gibt zB in Deutschland sogenannte Ethik-Fonds (clickme)(Investmentfonds, deren Anlagegrundsätze bestimmte Branchen ausschließt, wie z.B: Rüstung, Pharmazie, Zigarettenindustrie etc. ), die überraschend gut ankamen, und die Ethikbank.

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Since quite a time we (that is the two administrators) wonder about the reasons for the lack of communal effort to fill the Ethno::log with information. The question is: Why aren't more people posting into the Ethno::log? That's not easy to answer, for sure. One reason, at least for non-native English-speakers, may be the language-threshold. So we decided: From now on everybody is allowed and ENCOURAGED to write in her/his native-tongue here at the Ethno::log. (In German, too -- of course).

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At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991) is a critical movie about modern missionary in the amazonas area. Material greed, religious fanatism, ignorance, cultural barriers, lost identity, and finally the personal relationships between the characters involved, create (imho) a very sensitvely and well done drama, which tells the inevitably sad story of the real victims of western aberration - the indigenous people of South America.

If you haven't watched it yet, I recommend you to do so. And I'd appreciate a comment on how you liked it here in ethnolog. Don't be irritaded by the sensationalistic cover.

thanks to Robert for pointing me to this movie

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Jungle world, probably the only undogmatic left-wing weekly magazine in Germany is in danger of going bankrupt and being closed. They desperately need your support. More information

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A Ghanaian newspaper comments on "the power of film to change human behaviour and influence culture" and is alerted about the recent invasion of Nigerian films on Ghana's TV channels and about "the dangers they pose to the mental and psychological development of the people". The cultural aspect comes in when Nigerian (admittedly bloody) movies are accused of portraying "negative stereotypes of the black man" characterised as "typically superstitious, juju-seeking and materialist-minded (>>) [The movies] seem to be made for a non-thinking audience, which can only be titillated by gory and ugly scenes and plots that only show the worst in African men and women caught in situations of poverty.".

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An African woman uses a bleaching cream she hopes will lighten her skin tone. (>>)Paler hue is still equated with greater beauty in some cultures. Skin bleaching is big business, despite the fact that lighteners contain toxic chemicals that have been linked to weakened immune systems, organ failure, and even death. (National Geographic News)

Ghanaian Chronicle reports on the dangers of skin bleaching practiced among African women and laments over their desire "to change their naturally beautiful skins which God, in his Wisdom, had infused with dark pigmentation as a protection from harmful ultra-violet rays from the sun." Particularly interesting are the reasons given for this harmful practice: "[It] can only be explained by our feeling of low esteem which is a direct result of our colonial experiences." And: have a look at the 'Ads by Google' on the left side of this article. Ironically, products such as the "strongest skin lightener" or "creams with high bleaching results" are properly inflicted on the black-skinned readers of AllAfrica.com...

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Bei Antville.org wurde ein großes Update durchgeführt, und alle Antville-Weblogs wurden ordentlich durcheinandergebeutelt. Das Ethno::log auch ein bisschen, glücklicherweise ist es aber relativ nah an einem Originalweblog.

Wie auch immer. Wenn jemand Fehler findet, kann er sie mir hier als Kommetar anhängen. Ich meine, alles läuft jetzt wieder einigermaßen.

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The Indian Shankar Drum Ganesh Machine. Via Elephänt

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Isn't it paradox to have a cold in summer times? Guilty of spreading influenza epedemics are from my point of view maladapted immigrants, exilants and tourists from aequatorial parts of the earth. Descended from warmer parts of the world they constantly are becoming colds in our wet and low tempered summers. Looking for refreshment in our climate they still wear their caftans, harem pants and veils. Isn't this a little bit too aery? Furthermore it's a constant source for deseases within our society. Especially our (propper dressed) German children are targetted by viruses which originaly would not be there. But we please should not start a debate on authenticity now, as we usually do. I think we should think about consequences to protect our German society. Me with my cold I am one of the victims which is highly satisfied of the banning of the veil in Germany. It means a better adjustment to our german dresscode. But we should go some further steps for a better integration of foreigners in our country. Besides German courses every Goetheinstitute (and every other establishment caring about a better adaption of non-Germans) should have a broad palette of garment in store with the aim of demonstration. Well do you have further ideas to teach foreigners a better adaption to our country?

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"Browse the pantheons of the world, explore ancient myths, and discover Gods of everything from Fertility to Fluff with the fully searchable Holy Database Of All Known Gods."

You can Check the Gods on this funny page.

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If you're looking for witty putdowns, comebacks, off-color jokes, slang expressions or multilingual swearing in 156 languages, have a look at insultmonger.com. But beware, nobody minces matters over there!

thanx to Vicki and Mark!

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While reading different blogs and comments about a disputed New York Times article about blog addiction (which sadly is no longer available on the internet without subscription. Subscribers can read it here) I found a today's NYT news entry about Nike testing the usage of a blog as advertorial. Nike's Blog is called Art of Speed and is published by a small company called Gawker Media.

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