Showing 1 - 10 of 16
Can a country build its own social media?
News, Sebastian Vogelsang, Published on 26/07/2025
» When I built my first website back in 1998, the internet felt expansive. You could publish something in Berlin, and someone in Boston or Belgrade might stumble on it within seconds. But today, as a small number of tech monopolies hoover up attention and strangle innovation, that spirit of connection has been lost.
The 'living happily ever after' rule is for everyone
Oped, Steve Ammidown, Published on 14/02/2025
» The romance genre has a single set-in-stone rule: The main characters of the story will end up happily in a relationship. The HEA (Happily Ever After) or the HFN (Happy for Now) is the expectation of every reader who picks up a romance novel in the same way a mystery reader waits for a big twisty reveal or a fantasy reader anticipates strange and arcane magic.
Is AI a curse or a blessing for education?
Oped, Matthew Robert Ferguson, Published on 17/08/2024
» My collegiate rowing coach at the University of Western Ontario was an eccentric West German named Dr Volker Nolte, a stocky and imposing figure who was only funny when he didn't mean to be. He was a biomechanics wizard, obsessing over the countervailing forces of the rower and shell, currents and winds, blades and water. In the early 80s, as part of his doctoral research, he designed a sliding rigger that moved along the hull of the boat on slides in tandem with the rower, which, when compared to a fixed rigger, effectively doubled the force and propulsion of every stroke. It made second-tier rowers competitive with the best in the world.
My breakup with TikTok was a return to reality
Oped, Vishal Karuppasamy, Published on 12/04/2023
» It was 2.30am, and I was lying in bed with my phone in my hand and my TikTok "For You" page fired up. I knew I shouldn't be awake. A month into my junior year of high school, my workload was already piling up. If I didn't get at least a few hours of sleep before my alarm went off, I would pay for it in class the next day.
Could the study of humanities be automated?
Oped, Nicholas Agar, Published on 29/09/2022
» There has been much hand-wringing about the crisis of the humanities, and recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) have added to the angst. It is not only truck drivers whose jobs are threatened by automation. Now, they are demonstrating proficiency in the tasks that occupy humanities professors when they are not giving lectures: namely, writing papers and submitting them for publication in academic journals.
Asean still toothless a year after Myanmar coup
News, Laetitia van den Assum & Kobsak Chutikul & Pou Sothirak & Kyaw Win & Dinna Prapto Raharja, Published on 24/01/2022
» The first anniversary of Myanmar's military coup is approaching. Since Feb 1 last year, the country's socio-political landscape has changed dramatically. Brutal fighting has reached many parts of the country and the economy lies in tatters, while the UN warns that half the population may soon slip below the poverty line.
Youth inclusion a must in governing
News, Editorial, Published on 08/11/2020
» As Myanmar gears up to hold its second election since its transition to democracy began in 2011, the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) -- with its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi -- looks set to retain its majority in the quasi-civilian regime. However, its projected victory hides the growing divide between its younger and older members, which, if left unaddressed, poses a risk to its ability to effectively run the government.
Crocodile tiers
Oped, Postbag, Published on 11/08/2020
» Re: "I won't be ripped off", (PostBag, Aug 6).
Clean up Klong Toey
News, Postbag, Published on 10/08/2020
» The "Thailand Country Report" by the Asian Disaster Reduction Center in 1999 records that in March 1991 a chemical fire and explosion occurred in Klong Toey port near the slum area, causing an estimated 60,000 people to be exposed to toxic chemicals, setting 642 houses on fire, and leaving 5,000 individuals homeless.
A triumph of imagination over intelligence
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 16/02/2020
» I am not a huge fan of Valentine's Day, but considering the awful events of recent weeks, a bit of "love", however contrived, was a welcome break from the daily diet of depressing news. So this week, it feels like an appropriate time to dwell on matters of the heart, as long as it is not a cardiac arrest.